Watch movies on OverDrive

OverDrive offers more than just books! you can also stream videos. OverDrive has hundreds of movies, audio books and popular books to keep you entertained over the holiday break. Kick back with a hot cup of coca and take a well deserved break. 

Here's how to access the videos (note: you must be a Tarleton student or a staff or faculty member to use Overdrive. If you are not a student, you may have access through your local library).

Note: the screenshots below were taken from a desktop computer.

HOW TO ACCESS STREAMING VIDEOS ON OVERDRIVE

1.  Go to the library's home page at www.tarleton.edu/library.

2.  Click on Databases A-Z.

      

3.  Under N-O, click on Overdrive.

4.  You will be asked to sign in  with your NTNET credentials.
You will then be taken to Overdrive's home page.

5. If you are on a desktop or laptop computer, click Collections on the top left of the screen and go to Videos.
                                           

If you are on a smartphone, click the three horizontal lines on the top right of the screen.  They will open a drop-down menu. Scroll down the menu section until you reach Videos.

6.  Under Videos, you can click on Available Now, New Video Additions, Most Popular or See All.

7.  Click on a video title to get information.

 

8.  You can click Borrow on an individual title.  A pop up window will confirm that you are borrowing the movie.  You then have 3 days to view it on your browser (laptop or desktop computer) or on your mobile device.  You can also click Sample to view a movie trailer.

Fun for the summer!

If you're ready to sit back and relax, you can find something for just about everyone at the library - we have books, graphic novels, DVDs, and more. The above picture shows just a few of the things in our collection. From left to right:

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel - A steampunk YA novel.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, performed by Stephen Briggs - A fantasy audiobook featuring magically intelligent rats and a cat, set in the Discworld.

Angel by Erica Sakurazawa - A standalone Japanese manga.

Cadfael: The Complete Collection - A historical mystery series on DVD.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn - A historical mystery novel.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling - J.K. Rowling's first novel written for adults.

Cowboy Bebop - A Japanese anime TV series. It's a space western centered on a bunch of bounty hunters.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy - A humorous Middle Grade fantasy starring a bunch of princes from various fairy tales.

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich - Another installment in Evanovich's popular Stephanie Plum series.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - A popular thriller.

Avengers Forever - One of several Marvel graphic novels in the library's collection.

Spirited Away - An anime movie both kids and adults can enjoy. A girl works at a bathhouse for spirits in order to rescue her parents, who've been turned into pigs.

COWABUNGA, DUDE!

I grew up with the Ninja Turtles. Every Saturday morning, I would be glued to the television in anticipation of watching the TMNT and Captain Planet. I have all of the Jim Henson movies from the 90s and I can never pass up the opportunity to include the Ninja Turtles at an event or special occasion. This year, I'll be having a TMNT themed 30th birthday party. Why not? You only live once and you might as well enjoy it. I'm a huge Donatello fan. He's the nerdy one, of course. So what do the TMNT have to do with the library you may be asking yourself?

Well, a new TMNT movie will be coming out soon. I'm kind of on the fence about it because it doesn't follow the original story line from the comics/movies. I will go watch the movie just to see what it is all about. I found that using the library's Discovery@Tarleton, you can find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles on the TMNT. Most of the articles are from the mid to late 90s, but there are a few recent ones that critique the new film or give insight to the new film and its characters. It is interesting to see how the Ninja Turtles from the 90s were used to discuss war and character portrayals. I'd love to know what you all think about the Ninja Turtles, new and old. The new movie releases on Friday, August 8th.

http://thesixersense.com/2014/07/16/sixers-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/

http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/scifi/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-extended-tv-spot-banner.html

Movies That Were Originally Books

In case you missed it, here's Huffington Post's "14 Movies You Definitely Didn't Know Were Based on Books." I only knew that two or three of these were originally books.

For those who'd like to give some of these a try, the library has:

• The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
• Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
• Jaws by Peter Benchley
• Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter
• The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
• Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

Top Ten Tuesday - Ready for Halloween?

Tomorrow is the big day!  I have my candy, and my jack-o-laterns are made.  I thought I would give you a list of fun movies you might watch as you wait for the trick-or-treaters. (Sorry I don't do scarey.)

• Beetle Juice - 1988
• Hocus Pocus - 1993
• The Goonies -  1985
• The Nightmare Before Christmas - 1993
• Corpse Bride - 2005
• Casper - 1995
• Monsters, Inc. - 2001
• Ghost Busters - 1984
• Young Frankenstein -1974
• Germlins - 1984

Hope you all have a GREAT Halloween!

Top Ten Tuesday: Japanese Anime

Did you know that the library now has a few Japanese anime movies in its collection? This list is a little more than 10 items long, but I wanted to include them all.

• Roujin Z - In this sci-fi comedy, an elderly invalid is forced to take part in an experiment designed to replace human nurses with machines.
• Ghost in the Shell - A cyberpunk classic. It's set in a future where few people lack cyber enhancements of some sort. An elite assault team tries to track down a hacker responsible for "ghost-hacking" several people's minds.
• Grave of the Fireflies - An adaptation of Akiyuki Nosaka's semi-autobiographical novel. Two children try to survive in the the aftermath of a World War II bombing that destroyed their home and killed their mother.
• Perfect Blue - A psychological thriller about a pop star who quits her singing career in order to become an actress, only to be stalked by one of her fans.
• Princess Mononoke - A historical fantasy that starts with a young man defending his village from a giant boar-demon. Although the young man is able to kill the boar, one of his arms is cursed in the process, and he must journey to find a way to remove the curse.
• Spirited Away - While on their way to their new home, 10-year-old Chihiro and her family end up at a bathhouse intended for spirits. After Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs, Chihiro works at the bathhouse and looks for a way to save them.
• Millennium Actress - A filmmaker interviews a reclusive former actress about her life and her career. Fantasy and reality mix, as happens in many of director Satoshi Kon's films.
• R.O.D. (Read or Die) - An action movie starring a special agent working for the British Library Special Operations Division. Bibliophile Yomiko Readman has the ability to manipulate paper into any object she can imagine. She and a couple other agents work together to stop reincarnated historical figures from controlling the world.
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence - Another cyberpunk thriller. Batou, a heavily cyborged police officer, works with his mostly human partner to investigate a series of murders.
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - A girl discovers she has the ability to move backwards through time. While she has fun with this ability at first, she eventually realizes that changing the past can have serious consequences on those around her.
• Tokyo Godfathers - Three homeless people find an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve and try to locate its parents.

Top Ten Tuesdays: Top 10 Christmas Movies

Since soon most people will be watching their favorite Christmas movies today's top ten comes from the Celebrating Christmas website http://www.celebrating-christmas.com/ This is their list of peoples favorite Christmas movies.

10. The Nightmare Before Christmas
9. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 animated)
8. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
7. A Christmas Carol (1951 version)
6. A Christmas Story
5. The Santa Clause
4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
3. Home Alone
2. It's a Wonderful Life
1. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Summer Movies

I like to get out of the house, relax, and enjoy a good movie. Summer is the best time to see a movie because theaters are kept icy cold! Here is list of the proposed 10 best summer movies. If you watch them, post a comment and let me know if It is worth viewing.

• Brüno (Opens July 10)
  
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Opens July 15)
  
• Inglourious Basterds (Opens Aug. 21)
  
• Julie & Julia (Opens Aug. 7)
  
• Public Enemies (Opens July 1) –
  
• Star Trek
  
• Taking Woodstock (TBA)
  
• Terminator Salvation
  
• Up
  
• Whatever Works (TBA)
  

Not of their list, but movies I can't wait to see are Transformers: Revenge of the fallen which opens June 23, and The Proposal with Sandra Bullock opening June 19. I hope you enjoy the summer movies, but don't forget to visit the library! Having fun is great, but School work is important too.

...should've been a librarian

Anyone seen the new Star Trek movie?

Audiovisual Collection

As you exit the stairs or elevator onto the lower level of the Dick Smith Library, just to the right is the Audiovisual (AV) Collection. For you commuters or anyone about to take a long road trip, there is a growing collection of audiobooks in CD format, with many audiobooks still available in cassette format. Suggestions for CD format audiobook purchases are always welcome; use the comments area below!

There are also small but growing collections of DVDs and music and other information on CD, primarily to support the university’s educational programs. There are also (for now) VHS videocassettes, audio cassette tapes, 35 mm slides, and even vinyl phonograph records. Faculty may check out items for a full semester; students, staff, and others may check out CDs and DVDs for 7 days and all other media (except records) for 28 days.

Listening and viewing equipment is provided for individual and group use, in a small AV room in the area, plus some individual study carrels. Media equipment available for use on-site includes televisions with VCR and DVD players, a slide projector, a stereo phonograph, and an audio cassette and CD player. Microphones and headphones are available for use with this equipment.

Some specialized equipment is also available for public use in this area, such as a VideoEye video magnification system and a TeleSensory Vantage CCD (both used to magnify print and objects), and an opaque projector (to enlarge drawings for tracing, as in the photograph to the left).

Special Services Librarian Amanda Pape and Special Services Assistant Vickie Sowell are available to assist patrons in locating all media materials and in using the media equipment from 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. For assistance beyond these hours contact the Information Desk or the Circulation Desk on the main floor.

[photo: opaque projector in use - Special Services Department]

Top Ten Tuesday – Thanksgiving Movies

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful holiday. Here is a list of Thanksgiving movies for top ten Tuesday. Take some time over the break to relax and enjoy one or two!

From Kaboose movie expert Jane Louise Boursaw, her picks for the top Thanksgiving-themed movies of all time:

• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
  
• Pieces of April
  
• Mouse on the Mayflower
  
• The New World
  
• Holiday for Drumsticks
  
• The Little Orphan
  
• Dutch
  
• Hannah and Her Sisters
  
• Pocahontas
  
• Home For the Holidays
  

Again, Happy Thanksgiving! Remember many library materials are available from off-campus. The library will reopen at 12 noon on Sunday, November 30 with extended hours to get you ready for final exams.