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We have started a 30-day trial of the Metropolitan Opera's video and audio database of opera productions. This includes 80+ HD videos, 70+ TV broadcasts, and 375+ radio broadcasts. All productions have English subtitles and synopses. These are excellent productions with major opera stars and wonderful sets and costumes. On the site, just scroll down to see a list of operas, and click on one to see the video and audio options available. Keep in mind that the opera titles are usually in their original languages (typically Italian, French, or German), and the alphabetical list ignores initial articles (equivalents of English "a," "an," and "the").

We have also included a link to the database at the top of our Databases page, which is accessible from the top menu of any library page.

The trial will run through April 10th. Please let us know what you think of the database; we want to make sure we subscribe to sources our university community will find useful!

We have a few announcements that really don't go together, but here they are:

1. Spring Break Hours

Due to popular request, we will be open for special hours over Spring Break. The upper part of the library (book stacks, study spaces, etc.) will be open from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday (March 14th-17th). As always, the 24/7 lab in the basement will continue to be open 24/7!

2. Long Night at Nash

We are hosting a new event, Long Night at Nash, on April 11, 2016 from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. This should be a lot of fun and should be a good opportunity to get a lot of work done at once before finals. We're working in cooperation with the Student Success Center, the Writing Center, and the Math & Science Tutoring Center, who will have tutors there to help the entire time. The event was suggested by Jennifer Long (who thinks we named the event after her) after reading this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

It doesn't matter what kind of studying, writing, or creative work you're doing--every student is welcome (unless you plan to practice singing or playing an instrument. That would be better accomplished in Davis Hall). You can write your goals for the night on a community bulletin board when you arrive, and when you leave, you'll write down what you've accomplished.

The night will be full of studying and regular breaks with short games. Snacks will be available the entire night. We will hand out stress balls in the shape of a human brain, t-shirts that say “I like big brains and I cannot lie,” and door prizes. The longer you stay, the more chances you'll have to win. Nicole McMonagle will also bring her amazing dog, Beau, to provide comfort to students. Addison is trying to renegotiate her contract to include additional compensation (salmon-flavored treats) for the evening; her presence is tentative.

3. Music Pocket Library Progress

The glass walls are up for the Music Pocket Library! That was really fast, and they look great! Here's a preview showing off the group study/classroom space:

We will be getting a tv for the wall of this room. Some of the walls are erasable, and we'll equip the room with markers so you can brainstorm, draw music staves, work computational problems, or draw/write anything else!

USAO IT in Austin Hall will be performing a hardware upgrade on university servers on Thursday, March 3 from 5:15-6:00 p.m. Per the email IT sent to all faculty, staff, and students, access to Nash Library's webpages will be unavailable during that time, along with access to many other USAO web services. It is possible the work may be done before 6. However, if you have work to do requiring use of the Nash Library website, we advise you to plan around the 45-minute window. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.