SLRC Treasures: Sights & Sounds Department

The Sights & Sounds Department (SAS) of the Central Library/State Library Resource Center houses a collection of audio-visual materials reflecting the general scope of most Pratt subject areas. But there’s more to SAS than just popular and world music CDs, fiction audiobooks (on cassette tape and CD), and educational and popular movies on DVD and video. Some of its lesser-known gems include:

16mm Films: Did you know that SAS maintains a collection of over 2,100 16mm film titles, including many obscure and hard-to-find titles not available in other media formats? There is a concentration in the areas of independently produced films (including many Baltimore Film Festival entries), student films, film history, children's films, animation, experimental and avant-garde shorts, and documentary films. The collection also boasts an impressive number of feature films, including films from the silent era, Hollywood classics and a broad representation of world cinema. And because all of SAS’s 16mm films have "public performance rights" (meaning they can be shown at free public screenings without having to get clearance from the copyright owners), they are frequently used by local film curators, including Station North’s Windup Space, Hexagon/Magic Eye Cinema, and the 14K Cabaret’s Nineteen23 non-theatrical film series. (All 16mm films are stored in the third floor A/V Inspection Room; although this room is not open to the public, staff will bring films down to the Sights & Sounds Department upon patron request.)

Phonograph Records: Long considered a “dead medium” in the era of digital CDs, vinyl records are coming a comeback, with a growing number of popular musicians now releasing their works on 33 1/3 albums (with the vinyl version sometimes more expensive than the CD!). Although SAS no longers adds to its phonograph collection, it boasts an impressive collection of both musical and spoken word records, including many that have never been released on CD. Strengths include ‘50s and ‘60s jazz, obscure children’s records (including a number of hard-to-find titles by electronic music pioneer Bruce Haack), UNESCO’s renowned world/folk library, and its spoken word collection that features famous authors and poets reading their works, like the extremely rare H. L. Mencken Conversing with Donald Howe Kirkley (used copies of this out-of-print 1957 interview conducted by the Baltimore Sun’s Kirkley fetch up to $60 on eBay!). You can even hear world-famous mime Marcel Marceau speak (it’s true!) on his instruction record Marcel Marceau Speaks in English. (Like its 16mm film collection, records are stored in SAS’s third floor A/V Inspection Room; staff will bring records down to the Sights & Sounds Department upon request.)

More SAS treasures to be revealed next week!

Review Thursday: Nonfiction

The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America by James Sullivan, 2008

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Twenty-four hours later, James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul,” took the stage in Boston for a now-legendary concert, simulcast throughout Boston on PBS, that has been considered as the beginning of America’s healing process. The story of the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to this broadcast, as well as Brown’s tumultuous relationship with the civil rights movement, is the focus of this fascinating story of music, politics, and American culture. Recommended not only to James Brown fans, but to anybody interested in the political and cultural clashes of the 1960s.

Essential Resources and Other Sources: Sights and Sounds

The Sights and Sounds Department at the State Library Resource Center includes all of the audio-visual materials, covering CDs, audiobooks, DVDs, and videos.

Essential Resources

Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook and Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide are annual guides that are quick and reliable sources for patron’s seeking movie reviews.

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, written by film critics and historians, is a thoughtfully compiled list of movies selected for their historical importance and popular acclaim.   

501 Movie Stars: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Screen Actors is filled with bios and filmographies, as well as an entertaining collection of quotes from the stars off-camera.

501 Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers profiles important film directors, including a discussion of their work and influences, their complete filmography, and listing of awards they have received.

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, authored by jazz historians, features more than 14,000 reviews of CDs and 400 new artist entries. Entries include very brief descriptions of the artists and a list of their recordings, with reviews and ratings by the authors.

Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings surveys the recorded work of more than a thousand blues artists with crisp, expert, and witty reviews of almost six thousand recordings

Classical Music: Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion is an excellent guide to classical music which ranges over the entire history of recorded sound, with 50-plus contributors covering some 500 composers.

The New Penguin Opera Guide presents an encyclopedia of major operas, offering text sources, premiere dates, character names with voice types, synopses, and some critical remarks.

Books Out Loud: Bowker’s Guide to Audiobooks contains bibliographic information on over 120,050 titles, including more than 16,500 on CD.  Listings include reader's name, price, running time, number of cassettes or CD's, content summary, release date, abridged or unabridged version, and availability.

Other Sources

Bowker’s Complete Video Directory together with The Video Source Book are the most comprehensive video directories on the market.  They are good for tracking down hard-to-find titles and providing patrons with a definitive reference and selection guide to the video market.

AV Marketplace is a directory of companies that create, apply, or distribute Audio-Visual equipment and services for business, education, science, and government.

VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever is the most extensive single volume resource for movie reviews available, containing reviews of more than 22,000 movies written with wit and humor.

VideoHound’s World Cinema: The Adventurer’s Guide to Movie Watching is a highly subjective but always entertaining work of short critiques of hundreds of non-U.S. movies from all times and countries. Interspersed are short biographies of major directors and performers.  The book concludes with an excellent index

Animation on DVD is an extensive guide to animation and anime films available on DVD.  Entries include storylines, reviews, history, ratings, and technical data.

Schwann Opus is the primary consumer listing of classical, jazz and pop recordings, and is supplemented by a constantly updated Web site.

The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States is an authoritative resource on American film information for the years 1893-1972, containing plot summaries, full production credits, details of cast and music, and indexing by both subject and genre.

Film Index International to Film Periodicals is a major information resource for entertainment films and personalities. With a scholarly, inclusive approach to all film genres, this work provides international coverage, indexing films from over 170 countries.

The Encyclopedia of Television includes histories of major television networks as well as broadcasting systems around the world and is complemented by resource materials, photos and bibliographical information.

Encyclopedia of Documentary Film is a fully international reference work on the history of the documentary film that explains concepts and themes in the study of documentary film, the techniques used in making films, and the institutions that support their production, appreciation, and preservation.

Essential Resources and Other Sources: Fine Arts and Recreation

The Fine Arts and Recreation Department of the State Library Resource Center covers such subjects as art, music, architecture, dance, antiques, and sports.

Essential Resources

The Dictionary of Architecture and Construction offers comprehensive coverage of architectural and construction terms, with nearly 25,000 definitions and 2,500 illustrations.

Grove’s Dictionary of Art is a 34 volume encyclopedic reference set covering all aspects of art, including history, techniques, places, artist biographies and more.

Janson’s History of Art is considered one of the definitive reference sources on Western art, this book is arranged chronologically from ancient times to postmodernism, and includes a helpful glossary.

Maloney’s Antiques and Collectibles Resource Directory is a first source subject guide to identify collectors, dealers, experts, businesses and publications that assist in the location, authentication, replacement, repair, and valuation when and buying and selling antiques and collectibles.

The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia includes statistics, standings, and historical information on the history, growth and game of professional football.

ESPN Sports Almanac offers an in-depth look at the previous year in sports, updated annually.

Hoyle's Rules of Games contains rules and advice on how to play many different card games and board games.

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is, despite its name, a hugely comprehensive encyclopedia that informative entries about music, musical terms, composers and performers.

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music covers popular music from 1900 to today with entries about everything from Broadway musicals to heavy metal music.

The Harvard Dictionary of Music is great for shorter, easy to understand explanations of musical terms.

Other Sources

Kovels’ Antiques and Collectibles Price List offers an alphabetically arranged price guide for collectors, with historical backgrounds of the items included.

Warman’s Antiques and Collectibles Price Guide is an illustrated, large-format guide that also refers readers to pertinent publications, museums, collectors, clubs and auction houses.

The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms is a concise dictionary containing over 2,000 entries on the subjects of painting and sculpture, architecture and photography, as well as the decorative, applied, and graphic arts.

The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques is an excellent resource for detailed information related to the technical side of painting, including descriptions of pigments, different paint media, a pigment catalog, and an extensive index.

Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport is a four volume set that covers the histories of world sport, as well as issues that affect and have affected the history of sports around the world.

International Encyclopedia of Dance set covers all forms of dance as well as biographical information about its most well known practitioners in a six volumes.

Martial Arts of the World contains a wealth of information on many forms of martial arts from around the world.

The Great Song Thesaurus includes information for over 11,000 popular songs from the 16th century to the 1980’s.

The Popular Song Index, now on it’s fourth supplement, is one of the best sources out there for finding sheet music.

This Business of Music is considered the standard text on music business, with information about recording contracts, copyright, performance rights and much more.