Medici.tv provides streaming video of classical music concerts, ballet and opera performances and documentaries on performers and composers. This trial is active through October 31st, 2011. Contact Pam Juengling, Music Reference Librarian at 413-545-1858 with questions or comments.

The Paley Center Seminars is a video collection of interviews with people in the television industry about the processes of television production, the impact of media on contemporary society, and more. Full transcriptions and detailed indexing allow searching for topics, titles or speakers.

The trial continues through November 30th, 2010. Contact Jim Kelly, Film Studies Liaison Librarian, at 413-545-3981 with questions or comments.

The Libraries have 5 new Alexander Street Press databases on trial through November 14th, 2010:

• Audio Drama: The L.A. Theatre Works Collection – streaming audio from the archive of this radio theatre company
• North American Indian Drama – contains character, author, bibliographic and production information and text of 172 plays written by 33 playwrights. Includes Native Playwright’s Newsletter.
• North American Theater Online – a reference source covering all aspects of Canadian and American Theater
• Theatre in Video – 500  hours of 250 performances of the world’s leading plays representing playwrights, actors and directors
• Twentieth Century North American Drama – contains character, author, bibliographic and production information and text of 1,530 plays by 223 playwrights.

Contact Jim Kelly, Humanities Bibliographer, at 413-545-3981 with questions or comments.

The Libraries have purchased a subscription to Naxos Video Library for 5 simultaneous users. This database provides streaming video of classical music performances, opera, ballet, live concerts and documentaries. It requires that your computer runs Adobe Flash 10.

Contact Music Reference Librarian Pam Juengling, 413-545-1858, with questions or comments.

We have added web-based video collections from Alexander Street Press. Dance in Video has dance performances as well as documentaries about dance produced since the 1950′s.  Opera in Video offers opera stage productions, interviews and documentaries. You can browse or search for content by genre, material type, ensembles, roles, venues and more. Ready-made playlists are available, or you can create your own.

Contact Music Reference Librarian Pam Juengling, 413-545-1858, with questions or comments.

The following six databases are on trial from Alexander Street Press through November 9th, 2008:

• African American Music Reference – Biographies, chronologies, sheet music, images, lyrics, liner notes, and discographies about blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, and gospel.
• Classical Music Reference Library – 30,000 pages of reference materials on Western classical music. Includes Baker’s Dictionary of Music, Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, and Baker’s Student Encyclopedia of Music.
• Classical Scores Library – Thousands of classical scores and manuscripts, including in-copyright material from Boosey and Hawkes and selected material from the University Music Editions microfilm series.
• Dance in Video – Videos of ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, and improvisational dance, performed by influential 20th century performers and companies.
• Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online – Articles provide overviews of world music by region, including surveys of musical heritage, traditions and themes, and descriptions of musical genres, practices, and performances. Includes photographs, drawings, maps, and musical examples.
• Opera in Video – Staged productions, interviews, and documentaries capture performances of canonic operas by the world’s best performers, conductors, and opera houses.

For questions or comments about these databases, contact Pam Juengling, Music Reference Librarian, 545-1858.

Music and Performing Arts Online provides searching and access to content from both the International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) and the International Index to Music Periodicals Full Text (IIMP). The portal to the two combined databases offers both searching and browsing of journals and reference sources (e.g. glossary, pronunciation guide, opera synopses). You can sort search results by journal, language, date, organization, etc. IIMP also includes the full content of many sources.