A useful search tool for Oscar trivia

The Official Academy Awards Database (updated through the 2008 Academy Awards) is a very helpful online resource. You are able to search by film title, nominee, and song title. You can also choose to Browse Statistics and check out lists that include "Oldest/Youngest Acting Nominees" and "Winners or Films Winning Both Best Actor and Best Actress."

Example question: How many Oscar nominations did Marlon Brando receive?

Nominee Search: marlon brando

Results: Brando was nominated for 8 Oscars; he won two (Best Actor in 1954 for On the Waterfront and Best Actor in 1972 for The Godfather):

As you can see, for each nomination we see the year, award category, movie title, and name of the character played that earned him the nomination. You are also able to see the other nominations in the category by clicking on category name. So if you want to see who Brando was nominated with in 1951, click on ACTOR. If you click on a movie title you will see all the other nominations received by that film.

Finding eBooks and eAudiobooks

If an audiobook is checked out at the library, your only option is to place it on hold and wait for another library to send it to Dundee, right? Not necessarily. We also have a collection of digital (or electronic) books, audiobooks, and videos that you can download to your home computer. You will need your library card number, personal computer, and free reader software (Adobe or Mobipocket Reader for eBooks, OverDrive Media Console for AV downloads) in order to download the titles. Loan periods vary for the titles, and at the end of the load period the file automatically expires on your computer. For help and frequently asked questions click here.

Browsing and Searching for eBooks
Just to give you an idea of what's available, if you do a search for electronic books you'll retrieve over 4,500 results because the search will return both books and audiobooks. If you only want to browse the digital collection of audiobooks (eAudiobooks), search electronic books and audiobooks. In order to browse the digital collection of videos (eVideos), search electronic videos. By the way, you only want to search Dundee's holdings. Do not select "All libraries" from the drop-down menu next to the search box.

To see which books by a particular author are available to download, search the author's name and electronic books. Ex: Charles Dickens and electronic books

Checking out eBooks

Click on Details to view the record for the eBook or eAudiobook you want to download. In this case I picked the eAudiobook of Bleak House. Click to download the audiobook; you will be taken to the North Suburban Digial Consortium - Digital Catalog and Download Center page.

As long as the item is not already checked out, you can add it to your BookBag:

The item record will also tell you what formats the audiobook will play on:

The BookBag is similar to your shopping cart. You are able to checkout up to 15 eBooks at a time. After you click on Proceed to Checkout you will select Dundee Township Public Library District from the drop-down menu and then enter your library card number.

Have fun! More to come soon on eVideos!

History repeats itself: Historical figures on TV and in the movies

The Young Victoria, currently playing in movie theaters, tells the story of Queen Victoria's early years on the English throne and her romance with Prince Albert. Emily Blunt gives a wonderful performance as Victoria, and Rupert Friend is a perfect match as Albert. Many other historical figures have been given the big-screen treatment, where their lives are portrayed by combining both fictional and actual events. Check out this selection of DVDs that deal with the life of a historical figure. This list provides only a fraction of what we have available at the library (see the Search Tip at the end of this post for more!).

Amadeus
DVD FICTION AMADEUS
Antonio Salieri, composer (1750-1825)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer (1756-1791)
Find it in the catalog!

Amazing Grace
DVD FICTION AMAZING
William Wilberforce, British politician and abolitionist (1759-1833)
John Newton, clergyman and former slave ship captain (1725-1807)
Find it in the catalog!

The Aviator
DVD FICTION AVIATOR
Howard Hughes (1905-1976)
Find it in the catalog!

Braveheart
DVD FICTION BRAVEHEART
Sir William Wallace (d. 1305)
Find it in the catalog!

Buffalo Bill and the Indians: Or, Sitting Bull's History Lesson
DVD WESTERN BUFFALO
Buffalo Bill (1846-1917)
Sitting Bull (1831-1890)
Find it in the catalog!

The Duchess
DVD FICTION DUCHESS
Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806)
Find it in the catalog!

Elizabeth
DVD FICTION ELIZABETH
Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603)
Find it in the catalog!

Elizabeth, The Golden Age
DVD FICTION ELIZABETH
Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603)

Find it in the catalog!

Gandhi

DVD FICTION GANDHI

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Find it in the catalog!

Iron Jawed Angels

DVD FICTION IRON

Alice Paul, suffragist (1885-1977)

Lucy Burns, suffragist (1879-1966)

Find it in the catalog!

John Adams

DVD TELEVISION JOHN

John Adams (1735-1826)

Abigail Adams (1744-1818)

Find it in the catalog!

Malcolm X

DVD FICTION MALCOLM

Malcolm X (1925-1965)

Find it in the catalog!

Marie Antoinette

DVD FICTION MARIE

Queen Marie Antoinette, consort of Louis XVI, King of France (1755-1793)

Find it in the catalog!

Mary of Scotland

DVD FICTION MARY

Mary, Queen of Scotts (1542-1587)

Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533-1603)

Find it in the catalog!

The Queen

DVD FICTION QUEEN

Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain (1926-)

Tony Blair (1953-)

Find it in the catalog!

The Rosa Parks Story

DVD FICTION ROSA

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Find it in the catalog!

The Scarlet Empress

DVD FICTION SCARLET

Catherine II, Empress of Russia (1729-1796)

Find it in the catalog!

Spartacus

DVD FICTION SPARTACUS

Spartacus, gladiator (d. 71 B.C.)

Find it in the catalog!

The Tudors

DVD TELEVISION TUDORS

Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547)

Season 1: Find it in the catalog!

Season 2: Find it in the catalog!

Search tip!

To find movies that focus on a historical period or person like the ones listed above, try either of these keyword searches:

biographical films and dvd

historical films and dvd

You'll retrieve a long list of DVDs that you can browse through. As long as a DVD was indexed under biographical films or historical films it should turn up in the search.

Books are going to the movies

Have you read any of the recent movies playing in theaters? Several movies in theaters or coming to theaters are based on popular books: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, Push by Sapphire (which Precious is based on), Me and Orson Welles by Robert Kaplow, and Up in the Air by Walter Kirn.

To browse a list of movies we have on DVD that are based on books, you can do an easy catalog search. Enter the search phrase based on the novel and dvd and hit enter or click on the "words or phrase" button. Be prepared for a long list of DVDs (over 500 results). Movies based on short stories or plays won't turn up in the results, though.

If you're wondering what novel a particular movie is based on, first click the "Details" button for the item. Then, click on the "Catalog Record" tab. The phrase "Based on the novel by [Author Name]" will be in one of the general notes. In the catalog record for Slumdog Millionaire we see that this movie is based on Vikas Swarup's book Q & A:

A good source to find a list of books and short stories made into movies is provided by the Mid-Continent Public Library in Missouri, on their Based on the Book website.

Here are some fairly recent movies on DVD I have seen and enjoyed that were adapted from books. Watch them or read them in their original book forms!

• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) starring Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, based on the 1983 novel by Ron Hansen
• Atonement (2007) starring Keira Knightley and James McEvoy, based on the 2002 novel by Ian McEwan
• Children of Men (2006) starring Clive Owen, based on the 1993 novel by P.D. James
• The Devil Wears Prada (2006) starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, based on the 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger
• Gone Baby Gone (2007) starring Casey Affleck, based on the 1998 novel by Dennis Lehane
• Little Children (2006) starring Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson, based on the 2004 novel by Tom Perrotta
• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, based on the 2006 novel by Rachel Cohn
• No Country for Old Men (2007) starring Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Tommy Lee Jones; based on the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy
• The Notebook (2004) starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, based on the 1996 novel by Nicholas Sparks
• The Prestige (2006) starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, based on the 1985 novel The Glamour by Christopher Priest
• Revolutionary Road (2008) starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, based on the 1961 novel by Richard Yates
• There Will Be Blood (2007) starring Daniel Day-Lewis, based on the 1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair
• Watchmen (2009) starring Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup, based on the 1987 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Finding scary fare

Get in the mood for Halloween by picking up some scary movies. We have plenty-- over 200 titles. Here are some tips to help you find one to enjoy (or should I say have nightmares about?). Begin in our online catalog iBistro.

For a general look at our horror collection, use the search phrase horror films and dvd, then click the words or phrase button.

If you're looking up a movie with a particular actor or actress search by typing the actor's name and once again include the terms and dvd. So, let's say you're looking for the movie that starred Linda Blair as a young girl possessed by the devil, type: linda blair and dvd and then click the words or phrase button (you can also click the author button, but you will then need to click her name reference to bring up her titles.) Note that you do not need to capitalize her name.

If you have a title in mind, use the same scheme by typing the title and the phrase and dvd. Click the title button to submit. I would also recommend limiting your search to Adult (found among the radio buttons above the search box, labeled "Reading Level"). If you leave the reading level at All you might get more results than you'll care to look through.

Don't forget to have your library card handy in case you need to place a hold on a movie that is checked out. (Once you've found the title amongst the results list, click the details button; once in the item record click the hold button on the left side.)

Lastly, If you're unable to find what you're looking for at our library, you may expand the search to all libraries in our computer system by selecting ALL in the drop-down menu to the right of the search box. You can then place a hold for the title you want.

Happy hunting!

Find Twilight audiobooks

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer continues to grow in popularity as new and old fans of the series watch the movie on DVD and await the movie release of the second installment, New Moon, in November. Are you interested in listening to Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, or Breaking Dawn on CD? Here are some tips on searching the online catalog that will help you easily locate those titles in audiobook format.

One method is to type the title of the specific book followed by “and cd” and click on the title button. Instead of searching just Dundee’s holdings, click on the dropdown menu to select ALL to search all the libraries in our computer system.

To find a copy of Breaking Dawn on CD, type in breaking dawn and cd (limit to title):

A second way is to search for all four books in the Twilight series at once. To do this we combine several terms to narrow down the search. Just searching twilight and cd brings up way too many results to look through. If we search stephenie meyer and cd, that brings up the Twilight books plus anything else Meyer has available on CD. By combining author, series name, and the CD format, we narrow our results to just what we were looking for. Search stephenie meyer and twilight and cd (hit enter or search words or phrase):

Try out these search strategies the next time you want to find audiobooks by your favorite authors.

Just what are Playways, anyway?

You may have noticed an addition to the media department collection by the audiobooks: Playaways. Playaways come pre-loaded with one particular title, require your own set of earphones or earbuds (we sell earbuds at the Circulation Desk for a $1.00, if you don't have a pair yourself), and one AAA battery to operate. We carry both fiction and non-fiction titles. To search our Playaway collection in the catalog, use the search terms "digital player."

They're an excellent option for those who don't have an MP3 player, but want the portablility they offer. A patron recently stopped by the media desk and asked if we were planning to expand that collection because "they're great for walking; you can just turn it on and go." They're also a convenient option for your car (if you have the proper cables for audio output) because you won't have to change out discs while driving.

Consider checking out a Playaway the next time you visit the library and see how you like it!

Some recent additions to the collection:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy Find it in the catalog!

Dirty Martini by J.A. Konrath Find it in the catalog!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Find it in the catalog!

You On a Diet: The Owner's Manual by Michael Roizen & Mehmet Oz Find it in the catalog!