This week we’re going global in our exploration of excellent library resources, as we chat with Coordinator of Cataloging and Gifts, Librarian Shahrzad Khosrowpour, who is the subject liaison librarian for the subjects of International Studies, Languages, and Peace Studies. In addition to her librarian duties, Shahrzad also serves on the Chapman Diversity Project and the Advisory Group on the Status of Women. Last year she spoke with us about International Women’s Day.

A woman in a white shirt and black cardigan smiles for the camera, with a shelf filled with books behind her

Librarian Shahrzad Khosrowpour

Shahrzad writes, “I have had the pleasure of being the subject liaison librarian at Chapman University to the Departments of World Languages and Cultures, Peace Studies, and International Studies, all within the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. In this role, I help the students and faculty with their research needs by pointing them towards the rich resources the Leatherby Libraries has. In this journey, as an educator and often in collaboration with our incredible faculty members, I provide bibliographic instruction and/or research methodology sessions to undergraduate and graduate classes, to a group, or in one-on-one student consultations.

I have a few favorite resources that I would like to emphasize:

JSTOR is an interdisciplinary journal and e-Book platform to support research, teaching, and scholarship. Currently, it provides access to select current subscriptions as well as millions of primary sources, and the archives of over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

ProQuest also offers a wide range of databases supporting different topics of research from primary sources to congressional documents, education, historical newspapers, linguistics, social sciences, and political science. Two of them that are helpful for the departments of Peace Studies and International Studies are as follows: ProQuest Social Science Database covers core disciplines across the social sciences including sociology, social work, anthropology, politics, and other areas, and features journals from over 50 countries. Ethnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press providing a historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-1989. It is also unique in presenting ethnic categories such as African American/Caribbean/African, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, European/Eastern European, Hispanic, Jewish, and Native people.

Mango Languages is a database that facilitates an engaging online language-learning system for over 70 languages from around the world while also introducing a little bit of the culture of the countries speaking those languages. It has a useful feature from which the users can record their own speech to compare to native speakers. It also has a mobile app that makes it easier for the user to keep up with their learning and their progress from where they are while traveling or commuting. I suggest our Chapman users create an individual login/password. This way, they can pick up from where they have left off to continue their practice.

My other favorite databases which have been extremely supportive of virtual teaching/learning are two video streaming services the Leatherby Libraries offers:

Kanopy provides streaming films and documentaries from the Criterion Collection, Kino Lorber, The Great Courses, and Psychotherapy.net. Titles have full transcripts, and users may create accounts to create clips and playlists.

SWANK Digital Campus provides streaming documentaries and feature films from over 30 major studios, including Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, NBCUniversal, Columbia Pictures, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, and more. Our subscription gives us access to the 1,000 most-requested videos on the platform, but our faculty may create accounts to browse and request additional titles.

For more resources, please visit the Peace Studies Research Guide, International Studies Research Guide, and Languages Research Guide.”