Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Guide to Ancient Greek Art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Ancient Greek art.
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Moving Pictures: An Introduction to Cinema
Russell Sharman · University of Arkansas · 2020
Textbook for 1000- level Communication course: Introduction to Films Studies
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Guide to Ancient Etruscan Art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for the Ancient Etruscan art.
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Guide to Ancient Aegean Art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for the Ancient Aegean, including Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean art.
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Guide to Ancient Egyptian Art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Ancient Egyptian art.
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Guide to Ancient Near Eastern Art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Sumerian, Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian / Ur III, Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian art.
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Sight-Reading for Guitar
Chelsea Green · Rebus Community · 2020
Sight-Reading for Guitar: The Keep Going Method Book and Video Series teaches guitar players from all musical backgrounds to understand, read and play modern staff notation in real time. The Keep Going Method is designed to impart the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for sight-reading with efficiency, fun and encouragement. The skill of sight-reading is a difficult to develop, primarily because it is traditionally taught inefficiently. Further, students encounter high levels of emotional discomfort in the beginning stages of skill acquisition. The method in this book is designed to impart the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for sight-reading with efficiency, clarity and encouragement. All types of guitars apply: electric, steel-string and nylon-string. Each unit contains brief descriptions of musical symbols, play-along duet exercises and compositions, encouragement and methods for self-assessment. The series contains 20 units that start at the beginner level and progress to the intermediate/advanced level. At the completion of the series guitarists will be able to sight-read most rhythms, pitches and other notations relevant to guitar notation. The series also features 30 original duet compositions, of varying styles, created exclusively for this series!
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An Introduction to Technical Theatre
Tal Sanders · Pacific University Press · 2018
An Introduction to Technical Theatre draws on the author’s experience in both the theatre and the classroom over the last 30 years. Intended as a resource for both secondary and post-secondary theatre courses, this text provides a comprehensive overview of technical theatre, including terminology and general practices. Introduction to Technical Theatre’s accessible format is ideal for students at all levels, including those studying technical theatre as an elective part of their education. The text’s modular format is also intended to assist teachers approach the subject at their own pace and structure, a necessity for those who may regularly rearrange their syllabi around productions and space scheduling.
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No-Nonsense Filmmaking
Jessy Livingstone; Mischa Livingstone; Vanessa Newell · Loyola Marymount University · 2025
No-Nonsense Filmmaking is an OER textbook uniquely designed for student filmmakers who have a story to tell. It guides students through the key choices professionals make, while providing comprehensive technical information. From inception of ideas to shot design to modes of storytelling, this text demystifies complex concepts and makes film production accessible to all.
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Westonia: Selected Works of Elizabeth Jane Weston
Bret Mulligan; Mary Ball; Felix Bieneman; Hannah Cohen · Pixelia Publishing · 2025
Elizabeth Jane Weston (1581-1612) was born in England, but spent most of her life in the intellectual hub of early-modern Europe: the imperial court of Rudolph II in Prague. She is remarkable for her determination to work professionally as a poet and to publish her writings, a path not generally open to women of the time. Her numerous Latin poems and letters were widely read and admired, both within the court and across the informal “republic of letters” that stretched across Europe. Although she became one of the most successful women poets in the history of Latin, her works have long been inaccessible to students in the absence of editions meant for the classroom. This volume presents, for the first time, a collection of Weston’s works in the original Latin alongside aids to her vocabulary and grammar.
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Documenting Community Stories: Arkansas Legends and Lore
Lauren Willette · University of Arkansas · 2025
Lesson Plans developed as part of Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts’ Engaging Students with Folklore Documentation: Professional Development for K-12 Educators conference hosted at University of Arkansas, Mullins Library July 17-19, 2024. Supported by funding from Arkansas Humanities Council.
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American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity
Angela Miller; Janet Berlo; Bryan Wolf; Jennifer Roberts · Washington University Libraries · 2018
American Encounters provides a narrative of the history of American art that focuses on historical encounters among diverse cultures, upon broad structural transformations such as the rise of the middle classes and the emergence of consumer and mass culture, and on the fluid conversations between "high" art and vernacular expressions. The text emphasizes the intersections among cultures and populations, as well as the exchanges, borrowings, and appropriations that have enriched and vitalized our collective cultural heritage.
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Just YA
Sarah Donovan · Oklahoma State University · 2024
This open-access anthology features short texts that can be read in a single class period and are designed to spark deep conversations. Organized around themes of being, love, land, world, and futures, these poems, essays, and flash fiction offer inclusive and affirming perspectives to align with junior high and high school English language arts (ELA) curriculum. With contributions from acclaimed young adult authors, flash fiction writers, and teacher-poets, Just YA provides educators with contemporary texts that resonate with and inspire today’s students to write their own stories. The overall work, JustYA, is licensed CC BY. Each of the chapters, however, are licensed CC-BY-NC-ND. This means you may re-use and share portions of the book, but the authors request that individual pieces be left intact as originally written when used in subsequent works.
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Ancient Greek II: A 21st-Century Approach
Philip Peek · Open Book Publishers · 2025
In this elementary textbook, Philip S. Peek draws on his twenty-five years of teaching experience to present the ancient Greek language in an imaginative and accessible way that promotes creativity, deep learning, and diversity. The course is built on three pillars: memory, analysis, and logic. Readers memorize the top 550 most frequently occurring ancient Greek words, the essential word endings, the eight parts of speech, and the grammatical concepts they will most frequently encounter when reading authentic ancient texts. Analysis and logic exercises enable the identification of clitics and full words as well as the translation and parsing of genuine ancient Greek sentences, with compelling reading selections in English and in Greek offering starting points for contemplation, debate, and reflection. A series of thirty entries by James F. Patterson, using a simplified morphophonemic approach to understanding language improve readers’ understanding of word formation, their vocabulary, and their ability to read and understand Ancient Greek. This combination of memory-based learning and concept- and skill-based learning gradually builds the confidence of the reader, teaching them how to learn by guiding them from a familiarity with the basics to proficiency in reading this beautiful language. Ancient Greek II: A 21st-Century Approach is written for high-school and university students, but is an instructive and rewarding text for anyone who wishes to learn ancient Greek.
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Learning Digital Photography
Eric Demattos · North Idaho College · 2024
This textbook is designed to guide you through the essential skills and techniques needed to become a proficient photographer. Over the course of this book, you will learn how to: Understand Your Camera: Get to know the functions and features of your camera, from basic DSLR models to advanced DSLRs and mirrorless systems. Control Exposure: Learn how to use aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to achieve the perfect exposure in any lighting condition. Harness Light: Explore the different qualities of natural and artificial light, and how to manipulate them to enhance your photographs. Master Composition: Discover the rules and guidelines that can help you create visually compelling images, including the rule of thirds, leading lines, and symmetry. Color Theory: Understand some of the basic color relationships and how to use them effectively in your images. Thinking Creatively: Exercise the creative side of your brain to see the world in a new way and develop creative ways to make your vision into pictures. Develop Your Style: Find your unique photographic voice by experimenting with different genres, from landscape and portrait photography to macro and street photography.
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Vocal Techniques for the Instrumentalist
Amy Rosine · New Prairie Press · 2021
Vocal Techniques, the course title used at many institutions, is essentially a voice class for instrumentalists, and is often a required course for instrumental music education majors seeking all-level certification. Students take at least one Vocal Techniques course to learn proper singing technique along with basic pedagogy. Some courses include teaching techniques as they apply to adolescent singers. The focus of the course is the development of the individual singing voice. This includes breathing, tone production, articulation, musicality and textual expression and understanding. Students also develop confidence in front of groups, improve their general vocal quality, and learn that a healthy voice serves them well in general and performance classrooms. The purpose of this text is to teach instrumental music education students about vocal production as it applies to solo singing. Beginning with a foundational understanding of breathing, singers will learn about the vocal instrument (anatomy), how to create clear, pleasant, tone (phonation and resonance), pronounce words clearly (articulation and diction) and the similarities and differences of singing technique when compared to that of their major instrument. This is the first textbook to explore teaching voice as it directly pertains to playing an instrument.
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Semillas: Elementary Spanish I
Gabriela Olivares; eden jones; Rachel Klevar; Giovanni Zimotti · University of Iowa · 2024
Semillas: Elementary Spanish I is a comprehensive introductory Spanish open-access textbook with reading, listening, speaking, and writing practice. This Open Educational Resource (OER) aims to help students begin learning Spanish in a comprehensive manner. This textbook was created in Pressbooks, a versatile platform that allows us to integrate interactive activities (h5p) and present authentic material such as video interviews with Spanish speakers and other resources. Grammar is not presented just as a standalone topic, but rather is seamlessly integrated into all parts of this book. To ensure that our textbook is diverse and inclusive we have built a team of writers who cross gender, age, and nationality. We have consulted with people whose voices represent diverse demographic segments of the Spanish-speaking world to include a plurality of pronunciations and appearances. We have elected to use the feminine as the base form in our vocabulary lists and have introduced students to non-binary endings. This textbook underwent a rigorous review process that included professionals from more than ten higher education organizations in the United States.
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Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context
Esther Morgan-Ellis · University of North Georgia Press · 2020
Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context offers a fresh curriculum for the college-level music appreciation course. The musical examples are drawn from classical, popular, and folk traditions from around the globe. These examples are organized into thematic chapters, each of which explores a particular way in which human beings use music. Topics include storytelling, political expression, spirituality, dance, domestic entertainment, and more. The chapters and examples can be taught in any order, making Resonances a flexible resource that can be adapted to your teaching or learning needs. This textbook is accompanied by a complete set of PowerPoint slides and learning objectives.
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History of International Relations
Erik Ringmar · Open Book Publishers · 2019
Existing textbooks on international relations treat history in a cursory fashion and perpetuate a Euro-centric perspective. This textbook pioneers a new approach by historicizing the material traditionally taught in International Relations courses, and by explicitly focusing on non-European cases, debates and issues. The volume is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the international systems that traditionally existed in Europe, East Asia, pre-Columbian Central and South America, Africa and Polynesia. The second part discusses the ways in which these international systems were brought into contact with each other through the agency of Mongols in Central Asia, Arabs in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, Indic and Sinic societies in South East Asia, and the Europeans through their travels and colonial expansion. The concluding section concerns contemporary issues: the processes of decolonization, neo-colonialism and globalization – and their consequences on contemporary society. History of International Relations provides a unique textbook for undergraduate and graduate students of international relations, and anybody interested in international relations theory, history, and contemporary politics.
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Zombie Apocalypse: Holy Land, Haiti, Hollywood
Terry Rey · North Broad Press · 2024
Zombie Apocalypse: Holy Land, Haiti, Hollywood explores the intellectual and cultural histories of two highly influential and essentially religious ideas, that of the zombie and that of the apocalypse. The former is a modern idea rooted in Haitian Vodou and its popular African and European religious antecedents, while the latter is an ancient one rooted in Zoroastrianism and the Bible and widely expanded in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and is arguably one of the most influential ideas in world history. Today the merger of the zombie and the apocalypse has pervaded popular culture, with the zombie surpassing the vampire and Frankenstein as the most prolific monster in popular American consciousness. Drawing on biblical studies, African studies, Caribbean studies, and the sociology and history of religion, Parts I (Holy Land) and II (Haiti) explore the religious origins of these ideas. Part III (Hollywood) uses aspects of cultural studies, literary analysis, critical race theory, and cinema studies to document the (primarily) American obsession with the zombie and the zombie apocalypse. The apocalypse and the zombie have been momentous intellectual, historical, and cultural realities and social forces in both very ancient and very recent human history and culture. As such, Zombie Apocalypse provides a focused analysis of certain fundamental aspects of human existence. It challenges readers to cultivate their critical thinking skills while learning about two of the most compelling notions in human religious history and the impact they continue to have.