See these CDs (Ya hear what I did there?)

Every now and then, when I check out the Fondren library catalog, I find some interesting box set no one has ever bothered to check out before. Here are a few of the best, which together, provide a great snapshot of some of the greatest music the 20^th century produced:

·         Works of Stravinsky

o   If you asked the average classical music critic which composer defined 20^th century classical music, he would likely drop the name of Igor Stravinsky. This 22-CD set covers a lot of (including the revolutionary Rite of Spring and the Firebird Suite). It also contains some rather obscure works, such as Stravinsky’s lesser-known forays into the world of sacred music and jazz. Overall, it is certainly worth a listen, whether or not you are a classical music aficionado. After all, you have nothing to lose except a minute at the Fondren checkout counter.

·         Complete Glenn Gould Jacket Collection

o   You really can’t beat this collection of Glenn Gould’s—it simply has everything, and in the original jacket too! A must-have for those who are OCD about having a musician’s entire catalogue (I proudly confess that I am among this crowd). In such a case, you’re better of just buying the $300 box set off of Amazon and listening to the 80 CDs at your own leisure.

·         The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books

o   Seemingly a world away from the Fondren music library that is composed of predominantly classical music. But Ella sings through the works of Tin Pally geniuses like Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Irving Berlin with such skill that she elevates their popular music to the level of art achieved by the greatest of classical music.

I Still haven't Found what I'm looking for

Knowing-or at least thinking you know—how to use a library catalog is one of the most important traits of the successful library patron. Knowing what you want to check out is the first step; actually finding what you’re looking for is the next, and possibly the hardest, step. But obviously, the more you know (cue NBC “The More you Know” music), the easier it will be to find your item.

And so, here are my evaluations of the different strategies for finding items in Fondren:

·         Search by title

o   It’s best if you know the exact title of the item you're seeking so that you can search by title and quickly end your fling with the Fondren Catalog. From my experience, searching by General Keyword or Subject usually returns results that are quite irrelevant.

·         Search by author’s last name

o   This is the next best thing. If you feel like putting in the first name—because the last name is not unique enough, for instance—then always put it after the last name. Otherwise, the great Fondren catalog will assume that the first name is the last name and vice versa.

·         Search by Subject

o   This is usually an inefficient method of finding what you’re looking for, unless you’re content in finding a list of items that may or may not relate to what you’re looking for. Who knows? You may actually get lucky with this method.

·         Search for “Words anywhere”

o   Again, this method of searching is just far too general and hardly ever works, unless you’re searching for something extremely specific (e.g. The Rise and fall of the Monarch butterfly in the Himalayan Mountains). I don’t really recommend it since you’re likely to be much better served by the “Title” search.

·         Search by series or periodical

o   This only really applies to certain items (i.e. volumes of an encyclopedia or journal series), so it’s not quite a great general method of searching.

·         Ask a librarian

o   This is usually the searcher’s last resort, but just keep in mind that the Fondren librarians don’t bite. 

Dr. Collins (or How I learned to Stop Hating and Love Poetry)

But there is hope for you to still discover the literary world. For the student who was scared away from poetry by horrible English teachers, I recommend a healthy diet of Billy Collins. 

Who is Billy Collins, you ask? He’s the poet who turned me from a poetry-hater into a poet. In my senior year of high school, I picked up a copy of his book, Nine Horses, which changed my literary life around. 

His poems are extremely lucid and work on two levels: if you’re a literary snob, there are plenty of allusions in there for you to ponder over. If you’re a poetry simpleton who can barely pronounce Shakespeare, you’ll still be able to sift through these poems without consulting Google to decipher a literary reference.

Fondren has most of Billy Collins’ slim volumes. They’re not too long, and they’re not too dense. Check them out, and maybe you’ll fall in love with literature all over again.

Full disclosure and shameless advertisement: I have a poem coming out in R2, the Rice University literary magazine, this spring. Check it out if you dare. 

Why people hate poetry

During my middle school and elementary school years, poetry had always been something of an enigmatic subject for me. The poet, in my mind, was a dead, gray-haired, bearded British or American guy who had nothing better to do than sit around all day BSing around like a philosopher—except they were even worse than philosophers since they were too lazy to even write essays. Instead, they wrote these baffling miniature items called “poems,” which no one—including themselves—could understand.

English class had always been about finding “meaning” and answering that eternal question posed by English teachers everywhere: “What is the author trying to say?” But I used to always wonder, “Is the author ever really trying to say anything?” (Of course, I kept thoughts like these in my head, for I knew that they would certainly not help me to pass 7^th grade English).

The tradition of meaning-searching continued and worsened in high school. Except now we had to write, rather, BS essays on this BS poetry with the new 50-dollar words we had used to describe it. So instead of just analyzing the rhyme scheme, or the alliteration, or the assonance, or the anaphora, or the polysyndeton, we had to write about why the author was using said devices (to those who know what polysyndeton is: you see what I did there?)

Essentially, high school English makes students want to forsake the world of literature if they haven’t already done so in middle school. English teachers and curricula force students into reading works that do not appeal to the average teenage male or female. For instance, it’s understandable that a 15-year-old may fail to see any ado about Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Some things take maturity to appreciate. I used to hate Shakespeare as a kid, but now that.

To a certain extent, students who forsake the pursuit of discovering literature can’t really be blamed. The poor teaching of literature really leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It’s kind of like how some kids avoid eating cheese their entire lives just because their mothers packed them a spoiled ham and cheese sandwich for lunch one time in the second grade; you know they’re missing out on something fantastic, but can you blame them for their decision?

What IS Librariphilia?

At my high school, the library was really just an enormous, quiet computer playhouse, where students would battle each other in one of a wide array of first-person shooter games.  Books would remain untouched.

When I came to Rice University, I thought the library situation would be different. But I still frequently find that I am the only one to check out many worthwhile books, DVDs, and CDs.  When I walk through Fondren’s stacks, most people are hunched over dimly lit desks, poring over textbooks—not eagerly shuffling through the copious shelves of materials nearby.

With the advent of the Internet and new hi-technologies, there seems to be an increasingly enormous vacuum in society which needs to be filled by “Librariphiles,” that segment of the population which enjoys using physical—rather than digital--resources; there is just something irreplaceable about the fresh,-out-of-the plastic scent of the 2011 edition of The Best American Poetry.

Since most libraries are not run for profit, they don’t have to advertise. But if someone were to make a list of interesting items found at a certain library, people would be less likely to shell out dough at Barnes and Noble when they can acquire the same materials free of charge at their local library.

Ideally, I hope my blog reaches out to those who remain unaware of the library’s treasures, but I would also like to appeal to lovers of art, literature, comics, music, and film everywhere.