In celebration of National Library Week’s theme of “there’s more to the story” here are a few databases, from popular sports to international dance, opera performance, documentary film and the opportunity to further develop your own tech skills, perhaps demonstrating there’s more to Gleeson’s e-resources than you may realize.
Sports Illustrated Magazine Archive
With content ranging from the August 1954 first issue on up through December 2000, this archive is chock full of storied lore for any sports aficionado.
There’s plentiful historical perspective on San Francisco sports.
This 1958 article highlights the “smash hit” success of a Giants baseball team newly arrived to San Francisco from their Brooklyn origins.
While this April 7 1997 feature article on then Chicago Bulls player Steve Kerr gives anecdotal insight into the early antics of the now Golden State Warriors’ head coach, whether late night partying with unrepentant bad boy Dennis Rodman or coming to blows with phenomenal star player Michael Jordan during a heated practice session, Kerr always held his ground on his own terms.
Music Online: Opera in Video
From much celebrated classic operas available in full stage performance, such as La Bohème, to those perhaps lesser known, say Orfeo ed Euridice, there are also hundreds of hours of interviews and documentary footage from behind-the-scenes. In addition, you might also compare performances, for instance, how does a 2002 performance of L’Orfeo stack up against one from 2006.
DocuSeek
A gathering of documentary films with emphasis on global social-issue and environmental concerns.
For decades psychiatrist Dr. Vamik Volkan has dedicated himself to resolving conflict between armed groups around the world. Blind Trust delves into the life and work of this five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Filmmaker David Kaplowitz questions past instances of U.S. foreign policy of intervention in Guatemala, Vietnam, East Timor, El Salvador, and Palestine/Israel in In Whose Interest? revealing 50 years of troubling not-so-public policy and behavior.
O’Reilly for Higher Education
A great resource for advancing your tech skills in order to achieve both current and future educational/employment goals.
There are more than 30,000 technology and business books, as well as over 30,000 hours of videos, tutorials, learning paths, etc. to explore to advance your individual skill set.
This broad range of material is searchable via keyword and may also be perused by “topics” such as: Cloud Computing, Data Engineering, Data Science, Programming Languages, Software Architecture, and IT/ops.
Under the “Start Learning” heading you can develop your own set of “Courses” to “build new skills based on tech role.” Possible tech roles include Analytics Engineer, Business Analyst, Cloud Solutions Architect, Product Manager, Go Developer, Backend Developer, Software Developer, KL/AI Architect, Python Developer, C++ Developer, iOs Developer, etc.
Once a role has been selected, a list of “skills” are offered to further focus your set of courses. For instance, for Python Developer there are 17 skills available, including Coding Practices, Design Patterns, and Test-Driven Development (TDD). The resulting list of courses generated includes those running about an hour such as Clean Code Fundamentals to others with more in depth commentary and analysis running to several hours in length such as Design Patterns in the Real World, an Analysis-Based Approach. The average course generally runs 2-4 hours.
There’s also an “Answers” option where questions may be posed, such as “How do I protect Java code from reverse engineering?” and search results will be generated displaying passages from the most relevant material within the database.
International Encyclopedia of Dance
With nearly 2,000 articles written by scholars from fifty countries, the Encyclopedia covers the full spectrum of dance—theatrical, ritual, dance-drama, folk, traditional, ethnic, and social dance. Cultural and national overviews are accompanied by entries on dance forms, music and costumes, performances, and biographies of dancers as well as choreographers.
For instance, the entry on West Africa provides an enlighteningly broad overview of the vast diversity of specific dance practices found in several locales among various regional peoples: Bamana Dance; Cameroon; Dogan Dance; Ghana; Hausa Dance; Tiv Dance; Ubakala Dance; and Yoruba Dance.
Entries also touch upon the relationship between religious practice and dance, such as Islam and Dance, and one on the Orthodox Christian sect, the Anastenáridēs, “particularly devoted to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen, and [who] express this devotion by dancing on live coals, a practice proscribed by the church authorities”.
Not unsurprisingly, there’s an entry on Edwin Denby, innovative 20th century dance critic and poet of New York City.
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All these databases and many more await your perusal.
Featured image: “Good morning servers” by not4rthur is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.