Jim Udden, Professor of Cinema & Media Studies

In this Next Page column, we ask Jim Udden, Professor of Cinema & Media Studies, to talk books instead of films. Find out which authors make him laugh, his go-to source for reading about new books, and what he is planning to read as soon as his end-of-semester grading is complete

Ernest N. Stevens Correspondence

Entries include brief biographical information, a typed biography describing the writing that became his novel Simon Hastings, his friends Ralph E. and Louise Dickinson Rich, lumbering and farming with his wife in Maine, and typed letters on personal note stationery to include correspondence from 1955 with the Maine State Library concerning his health and the hopes of a another book

Key dating features for timber-framed dwellings in Surrey

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ The Vernacular Architecture Group 2013. MORE OpenChoice articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.The main component of the Surrey Dendrochronology Project is the accurate dating of 177 ‘dwellings’, nearly all by tree-ring analysis. The dates are used to establish date ranges for 52 ‘key features’, which cover many aspects of timber-framing from building type to details of carpentry. It is shown that changes of method and fashion were in many cases surprisingly rapid, almost abrupt in historical terms. Previous dating criteria for timber-framed dwellings in the county have been refined and new criteria introduced. Clusters of change from the 1440s and the 1540s are shown and some possible historical links suggested.The Heritage Lottery Fund, the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey), the Surrey Archaeological Society and the historical societies of Charlwood, Farnham and Nutfield

Francis McKelden Smith Correspondence

Entries include brief biographical information, typed letters on plain paper and personal stationery concerning grammar and language, synthetic DNA, how to join the Maine State Library, notice of his plans to start a novel, and a handwritten letter of inquiry from his apartment at the Watchtower in Washington, D.C., as to whether his books are being read in library circulation

Dominion cartoon satire as trench culture narratives: complaints, endurance and stoicism

Although Dominion soldiers’ Great War field publications are relatively well known, the way troops created cartoon multi-panel formats in some of them has been neglected as a record of satirical social observation. Visual narrative humour provides a ‘bottom-up’ perspective for journalistic observations that in many cases capture the spirit of the army in terms of stoicism, buoyed by a culture of internal complaints. Troop concerns expressed in the early comic strips of Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and British were similar. They shared a collective editorial purpose of morale boosting among the ranks through the use of everyday narratives that elevated the anti-heroism of the citizen soldier, portrayed as a transnational everyman in the service of empire. The regenerative value of disparagement humour provided a redefinition of courage as the very act of endurance on the Western Front

George N. Barrett Correspondence

Entries include typed and hand written correspondence in search of the author, and a typed letter from Barrett on dramatic Jones Inn stationer

Employment mobility in high-technology agglomerations: the cases of Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire

This paper examines labour market behaviour of the highly skilled in high-tech local economies, taking the UK examples of Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire as case studies. It reports on data from a survey of members of three scientific institutes to compare rates of employee mobility in the two locations and considers the likely explanations and implications of those patterns

Availability of Library Aesthetics for Enhanced Educational Purpose of Library Patronage by Users in Federal University Libraries in South East, Nigeria.

The study investigated the availability of library aesthetics for enhanced educational purpose of library patronage by users in federal university libraries in South East, Nigeria. Three specific objectives guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study. The population consist of twenty-four thousand, two hundred and sixty three (24,263) users. The sample size is three hundred and eighty-eight (388). Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the sample respondents. A questionnaire titled Influence of Library Aesthetes on Users’ Patronage Questionnaire (ILAUPQ) and observation checklist were used in data collection. Simple percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. The result shows that theavailable library aesthetics facilities are ventilation, signage, lightning, art drawing; interior and exterior decoration; library aesthetics influence users’ educational purpose of library patronage; and users’ perception is that library aesthetics make the library conducive, comfortable and exciting for reading, learning and research.Based on these findings it was recommended that library aesthetics should be considered in the design, renovation, refurbishment and redesign of university libraries to appeal to the taste of users. High quality and standardized library aesthetics facilities should be used in building university libraries for sustainability and long lifespan. Proper maintenance measures should be created in order to preserve the library aesthetics facilities

Availability of Library Aesthetics for Enhanced Educational Purpose of Library Patronage by Users in Federal University Libraries in South East, Nigeria.

The study investigated the availability of library aesthetics for enhanced educational purpose of library patronage by users in federal university libraries in South East, Nigeria. Three specific objectives guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study. The population consist of twenty-four thousand, two hundred and sixty three (24,263) users. The sample size is three hundred and eighty-eight (388). Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the sample respondents. A questionnaire titled Influence of Library Aesthetes on Users’ Patronage Questionnaire (ILAUPQ) and observation checklist were used in data collection. Simple percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. The result shows that theavailable library aesthetics facilities are ventilation, signage, lightning, art drawing; interior and exterior decoration; library aesthetics influence users’ educational purpose of library patronage; and users’ perception is that library aesthetics make the library conducive, comfortable and exciting for reading, learning and research.Based on these findings it was recommended that library aesthetics should be considered in the design, renovation, refurbishment and redesign of university libraries to appeal to the taste of users. High quality and standardized library aesthetics facilities should be used in building university libraries for sustainability and long lifespan. Proper maintenance measures should be created in order to preserve the library aesthetics facilities