University Libraries Hosts International Festival

University Libraries Welcomes the World with International Festival

The annual Rinker Center for International Programs’ International Festival was held in the lobby of Bracken Library on Friday, November 10. The festival featured booths representing over thirty countries from around the world. (Ball State University is home to international students from 91 countries).

Students shared information about their home countries, displaying artifacts, artwork, maps, photographs, food and drinks. Music from around the world played throughout the festival, and a fashion show exhibited the beautiful clothing worn across the globe.

The Geospatial Resources & Map Collection provided maps used during the festival. Displays featured maps of Africa, Iceland, Germany, France, and the Netherlands from the Map Collection. “The Americas” section of the festival used several maps from the GRMC for their display. Maps of all of Latin America, South America, the Caribbean, Colombia, Uruguay, and the Amazon rainforest were featured for the festival. Many of the international students were surprised to find a map of their hometown in the GRMC.

University Libraries is a great destination for international resources. In addition to the thousands of maps and atlases in the GRMC and Atlas Collection, researchers can explore the Educational Resources Collections’ variety of materials to support learning about cultures, including videos, pictures, artifacts, flags, globes, kits, international dolls, musical instruments, realia and more.

Find international music resources using the “World Music” Media Finder on the University Libraries’ Web site. This media finder will locate CD’s, books, scores and thousands of titles and artists featuring music from all over the world.

Rare books, art books, copies of The Bible and great works of fiction and poetry can be found in many different languages in the Archives & Special Collections. Pamphlets from the French Revolution, Nazi atlases, brochures, and books, and many other materials are located in the Archives, and historic photographs, speeches, magazines, films, and oral histories are available on the Digital Media Repository on the University Libraries’ Web site.

The Digital Media Repository also includes images from the Architecture Library’s Visual Resources Collection. High quality images of architecture from around the world are featured, along with photographs taken during the World Tour and CAPAsia trip. The Architecture Library also includes books on international architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning.

Visit the University Libraries’ Web site located at www.bsu.edu/library/
for more information about international resources available from this great destination for research and learning.