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Collage of screenshots from the featured films.

Our library student assistants are back with the second round of curated picks from Docuseek. Offering more than 3,000 high-quality independent films with an emphasis on social and environmental issues, Docuseek is an invaluable resource for teaching and learning. Why not get started with one of the following standout selections?


Become inspired and emotionally invested in a facet of life that is commonly taken for granted: music. A classical pianist worthy of eternal preservation across time and space, take a look at how impactful Ludwig van Beethoven’s compositions have been on people from different backgrounds. To most, Beethoven’s music pieces are simply works of art, but to the individuals in this documentary, they mean salvation, hope, and freedom. By Kianna

Motherhood is a beautiful thing, but there is a side to it that is often not seen. The wife of a passionate film director, Valerie’s happiness was captured through a camera lens, but it failed to document her descent into depression. Once a respected and renowned makeup artist, she slowly fell apart after having to trade her old life to fulfill her role as a mother of two. Emotional and intimate, this documentary is an ode to all women like Valerie who feel like they sacrificed their freedom for family. By Kianna

This documentary follows a woman who helps connect families with those who have loved ones incarcerated. The film follows a van and the woman named Kristal who drives it and her story with her own family being in and out of prison and how that has affected her life and her loved ones as well. Their story revolves around love, the unsureness of it all, hope, and their rocky journey. The film emphasizes the flaws in the criminal justice system and the disproportionate impact on Black and Brown people. By Gabby

Vincent Van Gogh’s rise to become one of the most renowned artists is a tale of struggle and perseverance. This documentary follows his sister-in-law, Johanna Van Gogh, facing over 15 years of disdain in order to follow her late husband’s ambition for the world to see Vincent’s artwork. With beautiful impressionistic-style animations and rich emotions, this documentary brings their story to life, one of passion and resilience--if people can understand the man, perhaps they will understand his craft.

This film discusses the use of pharmaceuticals that help the consumer find happiness, lessen pain, or even attain peace. The documentary follows six individuals from six different countries who face different personal issues such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, tiredness from work, etc. It shows how everyone faces similar struggles despite living different scenarios, and questions if humans use pharmaceuticals as a crutch rather than constructing their own happiness.

In the second installment of A Perfect Meal, researchers explore the many benefits of olive oil, also known as liquid gold. During this episode, a study involving approximately 7,500 participants was conducted to examine the benefits of adopting a diet rich in fats from olive oil. Tune in to find out the results! By Nadia


Many thanks to our library student assistants for their summaries. We'll be posting these throughout the summer, so stay tuned!

As a reminder, our electronic resources are available to all current Leeward CC faculty, staff and students. When accessing our resources from off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your UH credentials first. If you have any questions, please reach out to our friendly librarians at lccref@hawaii.edu.

Docuseek student picks, part 1.

Summer is here! It's the perfect time to expand your worldview and gain fresh perspectives. Fortunately, the Leeward CC community has access to Docuseek, the premier resource for curious minds. But with more than 3,000 high-quality documentaries to choose from, how do you get started?

We consulted with members of our most important campus community: our students! Please enjoy these film recommendations, personally selected and summarized by our awesome library student assistants.


Kianna's Picks

Take a trip through the history of the Olympics to learn about the women athletes whose achievements were lost to rigid gender stereotypes during their time. This short film highlights game-changing competitors that were never taken seriously simply due to their gender. The discrimination and scrutiny faced by women in the past persists into the modern world of athletics, additionally impacting women of color and the LGBTQ+ community.

Follow filmmaker Martina Radwan’s touching six year journey, as she guides and mentors three Mongolian children, Baaskaa, Baani, and Nasaa, through their youth in an emotional documentary. From orphans living on the street and being forced into child labor, Martina was the one person who stayed to help equip these kids with skills, education, and values so they could have a chance at success and survival in their merciless world.


Nadia's Picks

In the first episode of The Perfect Meal series, we dive into the health risks associated with the Western diet and explore the benefits of embracing a Mediterranean way of eating. Through vivid storytelling and expert insights, this episode unveils the impact of highly processed foods and contrasts them with the wholesome, nutrient-rich meals of the Mediterranean. Discover why this age-old diet could be the key to healthier living in a world increasingly overwhelmed by unhealthy food choices.

In this short film, Adonis, the director explores the underground world of bodybuilding, shedding light on the impact of steroid use and the unhealthy body image that dominates modern society. The story follows a group of young men as they navigate their journeys with fitness, self-esteem, and peer pressure. As they delve deeper into the world of extreme bodybuilding, the film emphasizes the physical and psychological consequences of their choices, particularly focusing on how societal expectations and toxic masculinity drive them toward dangerous solutions for self-improvement. The director's aim is to raise awareness of the harmful effects of steroid use and the societal pressures that contribute to male body insecurities.


Gabby's Picks

This 93-minute documentary looks into the US housing crisis with its racial inequality and classism. The film interviews those who have experienced being houseless and their feelings on the housing crisis along with their own individual experiences. They share their stories on the hardships and how they can advocate within their own community through this crisis. The film features groups that advocate for affordable housing, one of them being Moms4housing which is an activist group created by three formerly homeless Black women that advocate for housing rights. The film talks about the importance of finding solutions and working together to solve this crisis so that others do not have to go through this forever. The film also emphasizes the history of how people of color and ex-convicts face the brunt of the housing crisis and continue to do so affecting every aspect of their lives.

This 28-minute documentary relates a women’s perspective on abortion from a liberation point of view. The women interviewed in this video reveal their experiences with abortion in America during the time in which it was still illegal to obtain one safely, before the Supreme Court decision of 1973 which made it legal. This first-hand perspective on abortion from the women who got one is the first account made in a documentary in support of abortion rights for women in the US. It gives insight into how the women felt, their headspace when pregnant, and their abortion stories. The video also includes the forced sterilization stories of women of color in a time where the discrimination and genocide of people of color in many areas of the US happened through sterilization. These are their intersectional stories to tell and the inequality of it which all comes down to women being allowed to have the choice.

Many thanks to Kianna, Nadia and Gabby for their summaries. More to come!

As a reminder, our electronic resources are available to all current Leeward CC faculty, staff and students. When accessing our resources from off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your UH credentials first. If you have any questions, please reach out to our friendly librarians at lccref@hawaii.edu.

Screenshot of the new EBSCOhost user interface displayed on a laptop.

The EBSCO databases you know and (hopefully) love are getting a makeover!

This summer, our EBSCO databases will migrate to a brand new user interface. Highlights include:

  • simplified, clean design
  • improved accessibility
  • intuitive filters
  • personalized dashboard
  • AI insights
  • and much more!

EBSCO aims to make the transition to the new user interface as seamless as possible, but some users who have saved items to their personal accounts may want to take action prior to the migration.

If you have a personal MyEBSCO account, any articles and books you have saved to My Folder will migrate to the new user interface, and you do not need to take any action.

Screenshot showing My Folder items that will migrate to the new user interface.

However, if you have created My Custom folders, these will NOT migrate to the new user interface.

Screenshot showing My Custom folder items that will not migrate to the new user interface.

If you want to retain the contents of My Custom folders, these are your options:

  1. Move any articles, ebooks, and saved searches from My Custom folders to My Folder. This guide with video demonstrates how do to this.
  2. Save or export the items from My Custom folders (for use outside EBSCO). Refer to this guide with video.
  3. Take no action. After migration, you should be able to download an Excel file of the contents of My Custom folders.

How do you know if you have items in My Custom folders? Just Sign In to your EBSCOhost account (if you ever created one), then click on the Folder icon to check.

Screenshot showing EBSCOhost login procedure.

Additionally, if you have Search Alerts, you may want to change them to Saved Searches, since Search Alerts will not migrate. Please see this guide for more information.

Look for additional information to come. In the meantime, click on the image below for a brief introduction to the new user interface. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our friendly librarians at lccref@hawaii.edu.

Screenshot of EBSCO new interface tutorial.
Cartoon robot pointing to the words Ebook Central Research Assistant shown on a laptop.

Artificial intelligence is making its way into nearly every aspect of our lives, and the library is no exception. Several of our electronic resources are actively incorporating AI tools, with many more to come. Ebook Central, our largest ebook platform, has recently implemented its AI-driven Research Assistant.

Researchers may leverage Ebook Central Research Assistant to quickly assess relevance and identify resources that merit further investigation. The tool also facilitates discovery by offering concepts and additional titles that may be of interest. Ready to check it out?

To get started, navigate to Ebook Central from our A-Z Databases list. If you are currently off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your UH credentials first. With more than 280,000 titles available, you're sure to find something of interest. Select a title to reach the book detail page, then click on Read Online.

Screenshot of book detail page prompting you to click on Read Online.

The Research Assistant will automatically load in either the left or right sidebar, depending on the format of the selected ebook. Click on Find chapter in table of contents to see the Research Assistant in action.

Screenshot showing how to select a chapter from within an ebook.

The table of contents will load in the sidebar. Select a chapter from the list.

Screenshot showing how to select a chapter from the list within an ebook.

The chapter text will display in the main screen. Now click on the stars icon to re-load the Research Assistant in the sidebar.

Screenshot showing how to click on the stars to open the Research Assistant.

Research Assistant currently offers three functions. The first is to provide a brief "key takeaway" from the chapter. Click on Show key takeaway from this chapter and the Research Assistant tool will generate it.

Screenshot showing how to generate a key takeaway of the chapter.

The second function is to summarize five important concepts from the chapter. Click on Show concepts discussed in this chapter to generate them.

Screenshot showing how to click on the button to generate key concepts for the chapter.

The third function is to display other Ebook Central titles that feature a key concept generated by Research Assistant. Click on the search icon next to any concept to see additional titles that may be relevant.

Screenshot showing how to click on the search icon to find additional titles that discuss the key concept.
Screenshot showing other titles identified as relevant to the key concept.

Ebook Central Research Assistant is still in beta mode, so we can expect it to evolve and change over time. Important notes:

  • Research Assistant may work better in Firefox or Edge rather than Chrome.
  • The tool is not available for all content in Ebook Central; authors/publishers may opt out, and brief chapters may not provide enough material.
  • The tool analyzes text only (no images).
  • Research Assistant operates on the individual book chapter level, NOT across an entire book or across multiple titles.
  • As always, AI-generated content may not be 100% accurate. Additionally, sensitive terms/content may be blocked.

How do YOU feel about the recent proliferation of AI tools? Personally, I'm remembering all those hours I spent in the library stacks flipping through volume after volume, and feeling a bit jealous right now!

Collage of National Geographic Magazine covers.

Great news! Just in time for Earth Day, the Leeward CC community now has access to the National Geographic Magazine Archive (1888-2020). A longtime fixture in homes, schools, and libraries, this iconic magazine offers insightful articles and gorgeous photography in the areas of geography, science, history, anthropology, and much more.

Our access on the GALE platform includes full digital reproductions of more than 1,500 issues dating back to the very first one published in October 1888. Select any issue to read from cover to cover, or search for keywords within the issue.

Screenshot of National Geographic Magazine archive home page.
Screenshot of an article within an issue of National Geographic.

You may also search across all issues, with options to filter by date, content type, and more. Searching for articles on Hawaii from the early 1900s unearths "Hawaii, Then and Now: Boyhood Recollections and Recent Observations by an American Whose Grandfather Came to the Islands 102 Years Ago" (October 1938) and a "map to explain how the golden plover is able to navigate to the Hawaiian Islands in the Mid-Pacific" (April 1911).

Screenshot of two old articles from National Geographic.

You can even search for advertisements. A full-page illustration from the February 1908 issue advertises "Winter sport in Hawaii," while the November 1935 issue includes a photograph of Waimea Canyon, enticing potential visitors to make the voyage "less than five days from Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Vancouver, B.C. on swift, new ships." The advertising copy also notes, "Fares, and living costs in Hawaii, are most moderate." It seems that things have changed quite a bit over the last 90 years!

Screenshot of two advertisements from old issues of National Geographic.

Current Leeward CC faculty, staff, and students may access the National Geographic Magazine Archive (1888-2020) through our Primo library catalog or from our A-Z Databases list. If you are currently off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your UH credentials first.

Collage of screenshots from four Docuseek titles.

Docuseek continues to add interesting new documentaries to its streaming platform. Here are just a few of the more than 2,800 titles available.

A fascinating look at the Haenyeo, female divers in Jeju Province, South Korea. These fearless women, some well into their 80s, work tirelessly year-round, diving deep into frigid and often dangerous waters to retrieve abalone, conch, and other treasures of the sea. Shunning underwater breathing devices and modern tools, their breath-holding capacity is their greatest asset.

La Paloma is one of the most frequently played songs in the world. This film traces its journey through history from its birth in the 1860s to the diverse settings across the globe where the haunting melody lives on. From a political rally in Mexico to a burial in Romania; from Nazi Germany to a wedding in Zanzibar; La Paloma has even left its mark on Hawaiian slack key guitar.

After serving in Afghanistan, an Islamophobic former U.S. Marine hatches a plan to bomb the Islamic Center of Muncie, hoping to kill at least 200 people. But what happens when he goes to assess his target and is welcomed warmly by his enemies? Interviews with the ex-Marine, his family, and members of the close-knit Muslim community reveal the surprising outcome of this story.

Equal parts repellent and fascinating, this short film is like a visual poem, narrated and set to music. Time-lapse photography reveals the natural process of food and animals molding, decomposing, and ultimately transforming into new forms. Who knew that putrefaction could be so beautiful? Even so, watching this film during your lunch break is probably not a good idea!

As a reminder, all current Leeward CC faculty, staff and students are welcome to use our streaming video services. When accessing our electronic resources from off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your UH credentials first.

Over the winter break, we made an adjustment to our library homepage to more prominently feature our Library Research Center page. It’s designed to present our research and information resources in a way that accommodates people with different levels of search experience and familiarity with our resources. Key features include:

  • Quick links to our most popular databases at the top
  • Simple searching & advanced searching with the Primo multi-database search system
  • Guidance for novice searchers
  • Links to in-depth information about our resources, and strategies for specific information needs

To make Library Research Center easier to find, we made it one of the six prominent links on the library homepage. This new link replaces the “Research Databases” link to our A-Z Databases page.

homepage with the new link circled

A-Z Databases lists the 100+ databases and online publications we have access to. It has filters and a search function to help find useful databases. We did find that some students misunderstood the nature of the page, assuming it to be a topical search tool rather than a database-finding tool. This sometimes led to erroneous conclusions about the availability of materials on their research topic. Hopefully the more descriptive labels for our other links to A-Z Databases, which can be found in places including the Library Research Center page and in the “Research” menu that appears at the top of almost every library web page, will help reduce confusion.

Library Research Center page with the See the full list of databases: A-Z Databases link highlighted
The Library Research Center and A-Z Databases pages are easily reachable from the menu.
Website research submenu with first two links circled.

Due to high cost and low usage, access to Feature Films for Education will end on 1/31/2024. Other options for streaming videos include Kanopy, Swank Digital Campus, Academic Video Online, and Docuseek. Please see our Videos collection page for more information.

If you need help finding a film for your class, please reach out to your librarian subject liaison for assistance. Not every film is available for academic streaming, but we always try our best to get you what you need.

 


 

New videos from Docuseek image with screenshots of 5 videos.

Docuseek continues to add interesting new documentaries to its streaming platform. One of our awesome library student assistants, Izumi Watt, selected and summarized five of these new titles below.

This film combines four short documentaries highlighting stories of immigrants to America from Korea, Cambodia, China, and Japan. The films are: A Portrait of Us, directed by Sarah Park; Conversations at the Register by Brandon Soun and Lan Nguyen; What Remains by Ginger Yifan Chen; and Sincerely Miné Okubo, directed by Yuka Murakami.

The phrase “Matter Out of Place” refers to any object or impact not native to the immediate environment. Nikolaus Geyrhalter, the director, travels all over the world to put a spotlight on various examples of matter out of place. The documentary focuses on the expanding problem of human-made refuse and the endless struggle to control it.

Directed by Eric Khoo, this film shares the life and creations of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, inspired by his book A Drifting Life and five of his iconic stories. Tatsumi’s works follow his experiences with high and low moments in life. His artistic style of gekiga (dramatic pictures) transformed the manga landscape in the mid-1900s.

The Pretendians, directed by Paul Kemp with Drew Hayden Taylor, discusses indigenous identity and appropriation of the rights of native people in Canada and the United States. Drew Hayden Taylor, an Anishinaabe author from Curve Lake First Nations, visits gift shops, universities, and reservation gas stations to investigate instances of fraud related to falsely claimed indigenous identity by “Pretend Indians.”

The Apollonia is a schooner, a type of sailing ship with two or more masts. She is captained by Sam Merrett as the crew ships freight up and down the Hudson River. Windshipped, directed by Jon Bowermaster, follows the ship and crew as they revive an age-old method of moving products to cities along the banks of the river. This practice of sail freight attracts businesses interested in sustainable and carbon neutral options for shipping their products.

We hope you find these videos as interesting and informative as we did!

As a reminder, all current Leeward CC faculty, staff and students are welcome to use our streaming video services. When accessing our electronic resources from off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your UH credentials first.

Collage of partial screenshots of 3 ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

As the old saying goes, history tends to repeat itself. Maybe as a farce. Or perhaps only if you failed to learn from it the first time.

In any case, we now have additional resources to help us unravel this mystery! Through a UH system-wide license, the Leeward CC community has gained access to 3 historical newspaper archives from ProQuest: The Wall Street Journal (1889-2011), Los Angeles Times (1881-2014), and The New York Times (1851-2019).

To get started, visit our A-Z Databases page and find your newspaper in the alphabetical list, or search for it in our Primo library catalog. If you are off campus, you may be prompted to enter your UH username and password before being granted access. Once you are in the database, it is easy to search the full text, or browse by issue date. You may view and download articles or full pages in PDF format.

Our coverage of the Los Angeles Times goes all the way back to the very first issue in 1881. Here's an interesting article from January 17, 1960 about the impact of a writers' guild strike on the television and film industries:

Writers Guild Strike Spreads to Film Studios

The New York Times archive dates back to antebellum times, so you're sure to strike a goldmine of history. This article from February 23, 1947 details Hawaiʻi's reopening to tourism after the trauma of World War II:

A Welcome to Hawaii: Vacationers Return to the Crowded Islands

The Wall Street Journal has been an important source for business and financial news for over 130 years. Our coverage goes back to the beginning, but you can also find more recent articles, such as this February 9, 2001 story about Barbie's big break:

Barbie Learns Ballet and Launches a Movie Career

Wait a second . . . an impactful writers' strike? Hawaiʻi's reopening to tourism, following a major worldwide crisis? A Barbie movie? Maybe it IS true that history repeats itself!

If history isn't your thing, don't forget that we also have recent newspaper coverage (including stories from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser) through ProQuest US West Newsstream. In addition, all current Leeward faculty, staff and students are welcome to sign up for a free New York Times group pass. Once registered, you will have access to news, Cooking, and Wirecutter product reviews on NYTimes.com for one year (renewable).

Past or present, weʻve got you covered!


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