Category Archives: SSH

Co-Lab Artist Led Workshops, 28th January – 1st February

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Radar, Loughborough University’s in-house arts initiative, presents a week of artist-led workshops exploring process of working that cross disciplinary and methodological boundaries. 

Co-Lab is a week of workshops organised by Radar to explore a range of contemporary issues. They’re led by leading artists who work across disciplines and are designed to provide insights into different ways of creatively approaching a range of topics: from architecture for the social good to poetry to ceramics to coding. You’ll learn new skills, meet people from a range of backgrounds and be encouraged to think about problems differently.

Co-Lab is open to all Loughborough University students, regardless of their artistic skill or experience. Sessions are free. There’s a £3 deposit per session, which is refunded after you attend. There’ll be a trip at the end of the week which may require a larger deposit.

For a full list of the available workshops, visit http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/calendar/event/co-lab_2019/

Database Trials – Women & Social Movements and Revolution & Protest

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We’re trialling two resources from the Alexander Street stable of databases for the next couple of months that should interest social science and politics students.

Women and Social Movements, International (1840-present) is a landmark collection of primary materials on the subject. Through the writings of women activists, their personal letters and diaries, and the proceedings of conferences at which pivotal decisions were made, this collection lets you see how women’s social movements shaped much of the events and attitudes that have defined modern life.

Secondly, we have Revolution and Protest Online, which explores the protest movements, revolutions, and civil wars that have transformed societies and human experience from the 18th century through the present. Organized around more than thirty events and areas, representing a variety of time periods, regions, and topics, this collection will include at completion 175 hours of video, 100,000 pages of printed materials (personal papers, organizations, government documents, journals, reports, monographs, and speeches), and more than 1,000 images.

To begin searching WASI, go to http://search.alexanderstreet.com/wasi , and to sample RPO visit https://search.alexanderstreet.com/revo – access to both databases is via IP address and the trials run until 6th March.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn ( s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk) with your comments.

‘Reading Ahead’ Launch – Book Reading Event

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The Student Union will be visited by an acclaimed literary guest at the launch of a new reading initiative next week in the form of alternate history, fantasy and contemporary crime author Rob Duncan, whose novels have been shortlisted for the Philip K. Dick Award, the East Midlands Book Award and the John Creasey Dagger of the Crime Writers’ Association. 

Rob will be reading an excerpt from his brand new novel The Outlaw and the Upstart King followed up with an exclusive interview and Q&A conducted by Loughborough University academic Deirdre O’Byrne.

Reading Ahead is an initiative spearheaded by the Reading Agency which is run in different workplaces by UNISON. The launch event will be a chance to browse their book selection, receive a complementary reading diary and meet other people from the challenge, plus the chance to enter a prize draw. There will also be literary-themed activities, a mystery book raffle and refreshments will be available.

All staff, students and friends and family are welcome to attend, though booking is necessary – check this link for further details: https://loughboroughuniversity.unison.site/events/unison-reading-ahead-2019-launch-event/

The launch commences at 12pm on Wednesday 9th January in Cognito at the Student Union. Rob will be presenting between 12:30pm and 1:30pm.

Free Times Newspaper Subscription for all Loughborough Students

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Loughborough University is partnering with The Times and Sunday Times to offer all students a complimentary subscription to the newspaper’s digital content.

For the next 12 months, students will have digital access to The Times website and its smartphone and tablet apps.

The newspaper will also be hosting a series of exclusive events over the next year featuring its journalists and key political figures.

As a subscriber, you’ll be able to access a number of benefits, including:

  • Smartphone and tablet apps with exclusive interactive features
  • Access to special events with journalists, movie previews and private views
  • Get Odean 2-for-1 cinema tickets every weekend
  • Exclusive access to Premier League and Premiership Rugby video highlights
  • Download a free ebook each month from Times+

To start your subscription, simply follow the instructions you will have been sent to your student email.

Hall Arts Takeover 26th-30th November

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LU Arts has an exciting jam-packed week of FREE creative activities for you to get stuck in to!

From the 26th–30th November, all halls on and off campus will have the opportunity to bring their creative flair and inspire their inner artist. With a wide variety of performances and workshops lined up over the course of a week, there is something for everyone to get involved with!

All workshops will be open to students from all halls and will feature in places such as common rooms and dining rooms, although you will need to book first in order to attend. Visit this link for booking information and a full details of the scheduled events – http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/calendar/event/hall_arts_takeover/

“What’s On the Box?” World Television Day

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Watching TV by Aaron Escobar, reproduced under CC License

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”

As librarians, we tend to agree with Groucho Marx’s oft-quoted remark about the medium of television – even in the digital age, we still love a good book – but there is no denying that television is still one of the world’s biggest phenomenons – and is likely to remain so for long years ahead.

And so it was in 1996 that the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21st November as World Television Day, in recognition of the increasing impact television has on decision-making by bringing world attention to conflicts and threats to peace and security and its potential role in sharpening the focus on other major issues, including economic and social issues. It is not so much a celebration of television as a communication tool, but as a symbol for communication and globalisation in the contemporary world.

We hold a huge range of books about every aspect of the medium among our collection, from historic studies to the nuts-and-bolts of television engineering and broadcasting. We also provide access to a number of very popular online resources all about television, most notably Box of Broadcasts (BoB), from which you can not only catch up with the latest episodes of your favourite shows, but also easily create your own clips from TV programmes, and create useful playlists of clips to refer to at a later date for further study or research. And if you’re more interested in more vintage television, try dipping into the British Film Institute’s archives in BFI Screenonline, where you can watch old episodes of classics like Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, and even University Challenge!

“It was all started by a Mouse…”

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Plastic Mickey Mouse figure from the Glud Museum, Denmark, reproduced under CC License

One of the most iconic characters of modern times celebrates their 90th birthday this very day – the one and only Mickey Mouse!

Created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928 for Steamboat Willie, one of the Disney Studios’ earliest sound animations, the character has gone on to appear in over 130 films and countless spin-offs in every conceivable medium – and became the figurehead of the Disney phenomenon. Walt Disney himself acknowledged the debt his studio owed to the lovable cartoon rodent – “it was all started by a mouse”, he declared in an interview in 1954!

We have a wide range of books about Walt Disney, his films and Mickey Mouse among our art and cinema books on Level 2.

You can also explore more about the history and influence of Disney (and Mickey!) at the British Film Institute website and our online art databases including Art Retrospective and Art & Architecture Source.

Spotlight On… Vogue

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Interested in fashion, either for your studies or just in general? Then settle down and treat yourself to a browse through the archives of the world’s foremost fashion magazine, Vogue.

The Vogue Archive contains the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Vogue Archive preserves the work of the world’s greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day.

In addition to the editorial content, all covers, advertisements and pictorial features have been captured as separate documents to allow for searching and discovery. For advertisements, the featured company and brand names have been assigned to the document records, and all image captions are captured to a high accuracy, allowing accurate retrieval of photographs and illustrations. Contributor names that appear in image credits, such as photographers, stylists and illustrators, are also indexed.

You can also limit your search by journal editor, and specialist indexing of full-page images from photo features. There are separate designated fields for Fashion Items, Trends, Colour and Prints.

The Vogue Archive is available through Library Catalogue Plus and seperately via Proquest here.

‘Co-working with Things’ – Exhibition Preview at the Martin Hall

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Join LU Arts for the opening of Assunta Ruocco’s ‘Co-Working with Things’ in the Martin Hall Exhibition Space on Wednesday 14th November, from 4-6pm. Wine and refreshments provided, and the artist and curator will be present to discuss the work.

In 1947, artist Anni Albers urged us to consider ‘materials as our co-workers’. In so doing she invited us to develop new relationships with machines, tools, materials and working spaces. This exhibition explores how the things with which artists work can be seen as co-workers. All the artworks presented are based on simple sets of rules derived from what was possible within a particular, contingent context: working at home or in the printmaking workshop. The works are ongoing, and insist on labour intensive relationships with materials, tools and machines arranged within particular furnished spaces.

An exhibition of artistic research conducted as part of the practice-based PhD project ‘Co-working with Things. How Furnished Spaces Contribute to the Emergence of Artworks’, supervised by Gillian Whiteley and­­­­ Eleanor Morgan, within Loughborough University School of the Arts, English and Drama. All prints were produced within SAED Printmaking Workshop with the help and advice of printmaking tutor Pete Dobson. Exhibition curated by David Bell, with support from Radar­.

For further details visit the LU Arts website here.

Take Something Horrible Home This Halloween!

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Trick or treating not your thing? Then why not experience the spooky season from the comfort of your armchair by taking a dip into our very own Twilight Zone of horror & the supernatural here in the Library… if you dare!

We have an ever-expanding stock of horror novels among our Leisure Reading collection upstairs on Level 4, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks, as well as graphic novels such as Alan Moore’s From Hell and the first book in the ever-popular Walking Dead series, as well as a wide selection of more classic spine-chillers downstairs in our literature section on Level 2 including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and a wide range of classic supernatural tales by M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood.

If your taste for the macabre is more visual than textual, then we have a comprehensive selection of books exploring every aspect of the horror genre on the big (and small) screen among our cinema & television collection down in the 791 section on Level 2, ranging from Alfred Hitchcock to Hannibal Lecter and Dr Jekyll to Dr Who.

Don’t forget that you can also explore the cobwebbed vaults of the British Film Institute and Box of Broadcasts (BoB) online if you’re looking for something creepy to watch… just don’t watch it alone!