Archive for February 2015
Up the Women!
Posted February 25, 2015
on:Today 25 February a new series starts on BBC2 called Suffragettes, For Ever! The Story of Women and Power. It’s a 3-part series looking at the beginnings of the suffragette movement fighting for women’s rights to vote going right up to the battles of the twentieth century for equality.
To chart the history Amanda Vickery looks at women’s legal rights from the eighteenth century before the suffragettes began. You can catch clips of episode 1 on the BBC Two Suffragettes For Ever! The Story of Women and Power Episode 1 page.
Our Access to Humanities and Social Science students have just finished studying the suffragette movement. Here’s an embedded search to our library catalogue to find out what we have on the suffragettes. It includes ebooks, TV recordings, DVDs and websites Or you can take a look at what we hold on women and equality.
All happening in March
Posted February 20, 2015
on:We have been updating the VLE calendar and the YELLOW FOLDER with events going on next month. It is fun to find out all the exciting things you can do – often for only a tenner or for free!
It’s International Women’s Day on the 8th March so there are lots of cultural events going on to celebrate and support women.
The Southbank Centre has a whole host of great speakers and guests, performances and comedy shows as part of the WoW Festival. It stands for Women of the World – and the whole world wants to be there! I am particularly interested in the debate on What will the next government do for women? It’s on at 7.45 on Monday 2nd March. I now need to book a couple of tickets before you all jump on it! You can follow all the action on Twitter or Facebook searching the hashtag #WOWLDN.
The Museum of London Docklands is also putting on a family weekend event on the Saturday 7th March. Rich Mix in the East End has a poetry reading on 6th March – but don’t yawn – it sounds like it will be a really exciting and unusual take on poetry. It is run by Scottee who, according to the website plumpf, “a dyslexic who thinks poems should rhyme.” Intriguing!
If there are any events going on in the nearby area to Surbiton I will be on the lookout, but please let us know of anything that might appeal to the wonderful women of Hillcroft.
Beyond the Rainbow
Posted February 13, 2015
on:February is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) History Month. This year’s theme is Hidden Histories and Coded Lives. It explores the lives of people like Anne Lister who created a coded set of diaries in the 18th century, the actor Kenneth Williams who used Polari to speak in a coded language which was prolific when homosexuality was outlawed and the artist Frida Kahlo who expressed her bisexuality and disability through her paintings.
Here is a sample of some of our material which covers this theme:
Frida directed by Julie Taymor
Tipping the Velvet directed by Geoffrey Sax
Frida Kahlo by Emma Dexter.
Loving Libraries
Posted February 9, 2015
on:It was National Libraries Day last Saturday with lots of events going on all over the country to celebrate libraries. Libraries are often unappreciated because people don’t know much about them. What actually goes on behind the scenes in virtual, academic, public law, company, art and museum libraries to make them so important? Are libraries in different countries different from those in the UK? You can browse the international library collections online though the World Digital Library.
So for our part, we have been thinking of fun ways to promote our resources and services to our staff and students. We want to make sure what we do day-to-day and overall is not a mystery. Plus it is fun to share the library love and talk to students and staff.
- We are having a book vote for new books on the VLE. The 11 titles we selected came from awards lists and feature some challenging themes and most are written by women.
- We are also displaying what staff and students are currently reading in the LRC which we hope will inspire everyone to borrow not just from us but from your friends and tutors too.
- At lunchtime on Wednesday (11th Feb) we are holding a live Padlet session where everyone can post to our virtual wall to share what makes libraries special. On the day we will email everyone the link so you can post from your smartphone or computer wherever you happen to be. Or come into the LRC and post on one of our iPads.
We would love to know what you think here too. If you would like to leave a comment with a question about resources or libraries in general. For example, you can ask us about: ebooks, textbooks, reference books, DVDs, pdf versions of books, using the VLE, referencing, study skills.
Get into the Euro
Posted February 6, 2015
on:Hillcroft students have commented in their feedback surveys that they’d like to learn about other cultures. BBC Radio 4’s focus on European literature can help them and you learn more about European nations’ fiction through their Reading Europe set of programmes.
On Sunday 8 February @ 1500 you can catch Radio 4 turning contemporary European literature into radio plays. The first one is France: Three Powerful Women by Marie NDiaye who was the first Black woman to win the French literary prize the Prix Goncourt. This is an inspirational tale of 3 different women grappling with their lives. Nora who’s forced to go back to her father in Dakar to help him when he abandoned her as a child. Fanta who’s left her life behind in Senegal is abused by her husband Rudy. Khady leaves Africa to find Fanta having lost her husband who has died. Her husband’s family send her to on a journey to find Khady.
If you are keen on world literature then you might to take a look at the BBC World Service’s World Book Club. There are highlights from programmes on current day authors and podcasts.