Blog

  • Explore: Multimedia Archive Projects

    ibiblio hosts many sites that house collections of songs, photos, videos, articles, and more! Here is a list of a few interesting archive projects containing content from all around the world.

    The Internet Chinese Music Archive

    Here you can find a variety of music from China, including: traditional music, modern music, popular music, folk music, ceremonial music, music of foreign influences, Beijing opera, historical sounds, and children’s songs.

    Philm Freax Photo Archive

    This site is a gallery of original pictures by photographer Phil Franks of rock stars, celebrities, and hippies from the 60s–90s.

    The Vietnam Multimedia Archive

    A collection of photographs, songs, art, and poetry from Vietnam. The site is from 1996, but still contains many interesting historical art pieces and images of Vietnamese landmarks!

    Guruguha

    Guruguha is a site dedicated to South Indian classical music. Here you can find sheet music and information about musical notation, along with copies of historical texts available in English and Sanskrit written about music practices from centuries ago.

    Animation!

    This site is an archive of animations from the 80s and 90s which were created for VT100 terminals. For instructions on how to get these animations to run, read through this post!

  • National Library Week 2022

    This year, National Library Week is April 3rd–9th. ibiblio is one of the world’s first online libraries and hosts a collection of over 2,500 sites, ranging from book archives to nonprofits along with radio stations and even freely available software. Not only does ibiblio host a collection of amazing resources, it also hosts many library-related websites as well. Be sure to check out these sites and browse ibiblio’s collection during National Library Week!

    Vermont Library Association

    The Vermont Library Association is Vermont’s chapter of the American Library Association, their goal is to provide education and opportunities for library professionals and library lovers. They also publish a quarterly newsletter, and they focus on advocating for libraries and librarians in Vermont on statewide and local levels. Their website has many resources on how to get involved with libraries in Vermont!

    Project Gutenberg

    Project Gutenberg provides free eBooks and other additional content such as musical scores, movies, and sound files. It’s a great resource for accessing classic books by popular historical authors, and all text files come in a variety of formats so you can choose to view the content any way you like. 

    librarian.net

    Librarian.net is librarian Jessamyn West’s blog for all things library-related! She posts technology tips, news about national policies concerning information and literacy, personal reading updates, and more. 

    ibiblio Alumni

    North Carolina Library Association

    The NCLA is a statewide American Library Association-affiliated organization whose goal is to promote and assist NC’s library community. They host meetings to discuss library-related issues, promote information and library science research, and provide education for library personnel. The NCLA also publishes a journal devoted to library issues, which can be found here! 

     

  • National Hollerin’ Contest

    For nearly 50 years, the National Hollerin’ Contest was held every third Saturday of June in Spivey’s Corner, North Carolina. Although the contest ended in 2016, it is a great piece of North Carolina history and the “semi-official” website is hosted by ibiblio!

    The contest celebrates the folk tradition of hollering as a form of communication, which was popular in communities across the Southeast United States during the 18th and 19 centuries. In North Carolina, loggers transporting wood from Sampson County (where Spivey’s Corner is located) to Wilmington would holler to each other in order to avoid raft crashes and call for aid. To natives of Sampson County, hollering is viewed as an art form and taken very seriously!

    Types of Hollers

    While hollers can be used for basically any purpose imaginable, there are generally four types of hollers that are heard at the National Hollerin’ Contest. They are:

    Distress Hollers

    These hollers were historically used to alert neighbors of danger. This tone was commonly used to find lost children and bring attention to house fires.

    Communicative Hollers

    Since farmers often worked a mile or two away from each other, they would use hollers to say hello or confirm someone’s location. Nothing else was loud enough to be heard from that distance!

    Functional Hollers

    These were commonly used to round up animals such as pigs and cows. Each farmer had a set of unique calls so they wouldn’t disturb their neighbors’ dogs while trying to round up their own animals. Women also used functional hollers to call home to their families while working outside during the day.

    Expressive Hollers

    While the other forms of hollers are more functional, expressive hollers are just for fun! They can be to the tune of a song or be an impression, or they can be something completely made up. Many contestants have won the contest with this type of holler.

    More Resources

    If you want to see what it is like to be at the contest, check out this video from the 2015 event. Don’t forget to browse the Hollerin’ History site hosted by ibiblio!