April 2013 > Features > Audio + Visual

Audio + Visual

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Headphones and glasses and Takao Tanabe bookmarks for Duthie Books (1950s). Tanabe was a Vancouver artist and printer who worked with Robert Reid.
Takao Tanabe bookmarks (right) for Duthie Books (1950s). Tanabe was a Vancouver artist and printer who worked with Robert Reid.
By Barry Shell

The W.A.C. Bennett Library’s multimedia resources and special collections
engage SFU’s communities.

Don Taylor with part of SFU’s 16 mm film collection, which includes many documentaries, experimental films, and silver screen classics.
Don Taylor with part of SFU’s 16 mm film collection, which includes many documentaries, experimental films, and silver screen classics.

Want to watch a film classic in its original format?

Use the film screening room at SFU’s Bennett Library on the Burnaby campus, and enjoy a vintage 16 mm classic like High Sierra or Hiroshima Mon Amour from the SFU movie collection. Library staff can help set up the 16 mm film projector and the deluxe surround sound audio. This service and a wealth of other audiovisual resources in the library are available to SFU faculty, students, staff and alumni.

“Our multimedia resources and special collections reflect the cultural, economic, social, and political diversity of the people of British Columbia,” says dean of Library Services Chuck Eckman. For instance, the library has a fantastic collection of Indonesian shadow puppets, donated to SFU in 1996 and kept at the Simon Fraser Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The entire collection is digitized and can be viewed online in ultra-high resolution. It is part of Multicultural Canada, managed by the library.

The digital collections are available with only a few mouse clicks. Explore your own cultural heritage at http://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/digital-collections (One elderly user found the announcement of her son’s birth in the Canadian Jewish Review, part of a collection of 89 Canadian historic newspapers that are all digitized and online.) Or listen to more than 20 oral histories of Scottish immigrants to British Columbia recorded by SFU’s Centre for Scottish Studies, all from the comfort of your own home, for free.

At the library, the Media Resource Centre has fine art slides, vinyl records, cassette and videotapes, DVDs, and 16 mm films, most of which may be borrowed from the library for a few days. The climate-controlled vault of special collections contains some of the first books ever printed from the 15th century. Or, you may be interested in reviewing an issue of Snot Rag, Vancouver’s punk rock magazine from the 1970s featuring interviews with Elvis Costello and Talking Heads.

Eckman says, “This resource is open to all. Alumni and others are encouraged to explore. Start with our online digital collections website, then come in or set up an appointment to view one of our special
collections.”

Library audiovisual special collections

Four of the 10 ceramic figurines representing the cartoon characters of Len Norris, cartoonist for the Vancouver Sun
Four of the 10 ceramic figurines representing the cartoon characters of Len Norris, cartoonist for the Vancouver Sun from the 1950s through the 1990s. The Norris cartoon collection is digitized and available online.
From the Doukhobor collection: pictures taken at the New Denver internment camp, when children were taken from their parents in 1956–57. Much of the Doukhobor collection is digitized.
From the Doukhobor collection: pictures taken at the New Denver internment camp, when children were taken from their parents in 1956–57. Much of the Doukhobor collection is digitized.
From a collection of 55 Chinese documents focusing on the history of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association founded in 1884.
From a collection of 55 Chinese documents focusing on the history of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association founded in 1884.
Special Collections librarian Eric Swanick with one of Grace McCarthy’s 88 scrapbooks. Grace McCarthy was a prominant B.C. politician.
Special Collections librarian Eric Swanick with one of Grace McCarthy’s 88 scrapbooks. Grace McCarthy was a prominant B.C. politician.
High-resolution digital image from the Wayang Kulit Collection of Indonesian Shadow Puppets.
High-resolution digital image from the Wayang Kulit Collection of Indonesian Shadow Puppets. Such puppets date back to at least AD 930. The SFU collection was commissioned and created between 1870 and 1920, and was brought to Canada during the 1960s. SFU’s extensive digitized collection includes images of the puppets and videos of performances.
Harry Jerome, North Vancouver Olympic track medallist from the 1960s. The library has a substantial collection of his and his sister’s materials.
Harry Jerome (second from right), North Vancouver Olympic track medallist from the 1960s. The library has a substantial collection of his and his sister’s materials.
Jerome-track
Harry Jerome on the track.
Anyone can come to the Bennett Library and use this booth to digitize their own vinyl records.
Anyone can come to the Bennett Library and use this booth to digitize their own vinyl records.
Daryl-Duke-1
Part of the Daryl Duke collection. Duke was an Emmy award-  and Leo award-winning member of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He directed and produced many celebrated films, and in the mid-1970s he established the Vancouver TV station CKVU.
Part of the Daryl Duke collection. Duke was an Emmy award-  and Leo award-winning member of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He directed and produced many celebrated films, and in the mid-1970s he established the Vancouver TV station CKVU.
One of Vancouver poet bp Nichol’s notebooks and some of his toys from the extensive bp Nichol collection.
One of Vancouver poet bp Nichol’s notebooks and some of his toys from the extensive bp Nichol collection.
Photos from the Komagata Maru collection
Photos from the Komagata Maru collection documenting the incident in May 1914 when a crowded ship from Hong Kong carrying 376 passengers, mostly immigrants from Punjab, arrived in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet and was refused entry. The library’s multimedia interactive website about the incident links to freedom movements in India and the right to vote for South Asians in Canada. It addresses how we build communities, understand official multiculturalism, and remember our past. The collection includes rare government documents, newspaper articles, academic texts, videos, and even a diary.
<p>Punk Collection ephemera, part of SFU’s expanding collection including posters, T-shirts, vinyl records, CDs, and even concert ticket stubs. SFU is contacted frequently for access to this extensive collection.</p> <p>AIDS postcard and stamp collection of Blair Henshaw, who came to Vancouver in the 1980s from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. Henshaw collected AIDS stamps from around the world and lobbied the federal government to create the only Canadian AIDS stamp, which came out in 1993, designed by Joe Average. The postcard, encouraging the use of condoms, is from Poland.</p> <p><i>Pixie Meat</i>, an art print book by Robert Reid, 1990, featuring graphic artists Terry Berger, Tom Dehaven, Gary Panter, Charles Burns, and Susan Moorelettering. </p> <p>The Crow: three selections from Aesop’s Fables, designed and printed by Jim Rimmer for Tim Girvin, Seattle-based art promoter. Only one copy was ever printed. The library has the printer’s archive copy from August 1993.</p> <p>The library’s Norris cartoon collection consists of 1,660 images, making it the largest collection of Len Norris cartoons in the world, and a snapshot of the social history of B.C.</p>
From Left to Right:

Punk Collection ephemera, part of SFU’s expanding collection including posters, T-shirts, vinyl records, CDs, and even concert ticket stubs. SFU is contacted frequently for access to this extensive collection.

AIDS postcard and stamp collection of Blair Henshaw, who came to Vancouver in the 1980s from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. Henshaw collected AIDS stamps from around the world and lobbied the federal government to create the only Canadian AIDS stamp, which came out in 1993, designed by Joe Average. The postcard, encouraging the use of condoms, is from Poland.

Pixie Meat, an art print book by Robert Reid, 1990, featuring graphic artists Terry Berger, Tom Dehaven, Gary Panter, Charles Burns, and Susan Moorelettering.

The Crow: three selections from Aesop’s Fables, designed and printed by Jim Rimmer for Tim Girvin, Seattle-based art promoter. Only one copy was ever printed. The library has the printer’s archive copy from August 1993.

The library’s Norris cartoon collection consists of 1,660 images, making it the largest collection of Len Norris cartoons in the world, and a snapshot of the social history of B.C.

Other credits (if needed)