A quick look at library resources for exploring AI

While AI is an ever-evolving field and new technology is available at an increasingly rapid pace, some of the library’s electronic resources can provide a foundation for talking more about how we use AI and how it impacts our everyday lives. We’ve provided a few starting points below; note that all of the links provided will require you to log in with your CUNY ID if you’re not on campus internet.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context is a terrific database for overviews on major issues. Their Topic Overview on AI is a great place to start: in addition to a summary of key concepts and the history of the field, they’ve also provided some critical thinking questions.

Are you interested in some of the concrete impacts AI is currently having? A quick search for “artificial intelligence” in eMarketer pulls up very recent reports on ChatGPT and Generative AI for Social Media Marketing or ChatGPT and Generative AI in Media and Advertising, to name a few. These results also include charts compiling recent poll data on impressions and use of AI.

Looking for scholarly publications on AI? One place to dive deeper is IEEE Xplore. Start with a broad search of journal articles, or head straight to a publication specific to the topic — such as IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence.

For help navigating any of these resources or for taking your research on AI further, please get in touch! Chat with us any time via Ask a Librarian.

Spotlight on online resources for International Women’s Day

The library has a wide variety of online resources that celebrate the contributions of women and gender diverse people, and that look at the issues that impact women’s lives. Looking for material to add to your syllabus, sources to cite in your assignments, or just a good read? Check out some of these databases! If you’re off campus, you’ll be prompted to log in with your CUNY login when you click on any of the links below.

Women and Social Movements in the United States,1600-2000 includes primary and secondary sources that help us understand women’s history in the United States, and specifically the contributions that women have made to social movements. It also includes book, film, and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools. In addition to regular search tools, you can browse this collection by person or social movement. And, explore curated sets of primary sources that can support your research or teaching, such Writings by Black Women Suffragists, 1831-1965, which includes more than 1,900 items written by about 150 Black women suffragists.

North American Women’s Drama contains 1,517 plays by 330 playwrights. Written by women in the United States and Canada from Colonial times to the present, many of these works are rare, hard to find, or out of print. Almost a quarter of the collection consists of previously unpublished plays. 

Gale OneFile: Contemporary Women’s Issues provides information on issues that impact women around the globe. I love how Gale OneFile includes a topic finder that helps visualize connections between material included in my search results; clicking on “topic finder” on the home screen takes me to a search box that will provide me with a visual depiction of my search results, for example from this search for “maternal health”:

This image shows the results of a topic finder search for "maternal health" in the database Gale OneFile: Contemporary Women’s Issues. Colored bubles represent different sub-topics, including child health, mental health, medical care, maternal mortality, weekly new research, pregnant women, and public health.

Gale OneFile: Gender Studies includes material about gender studies, family and marital issues, and more. This database also provides the visually-based topic finder; this time, I started my search instead with the Subject Guides and searched for “health,” which helped me find subject guides for Personal Care Products and Wellness Programs. There’s so much to explore in these databases.

Spotlight on: Videos from the Banyan Archive

City Tech Library has access to AVON (Academic Video Online), which features over 66,000 titles across subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. We’ve been exploring those lately and wanted to put a spotlight on the Banyan Archive channel.

This thumbnail image for this video collection shows a number of still images from videos in the collection, along with the title "Caribbean Studies in Video: The Banyan Archive"

The Banyan Archive, located in Trinidad & Tobago, has digitized hundreds of hours of film footage spanning decades of events and interviews. You can head straight to their collection at this link. Explore musical performances, dance, documentary, and so much more! Banyan was founded in 1974 and has collected a wealth of video documenting life and culture across the Caribbean.

Excited to explore other video channels on AVON? Here are a few other places to start:

Everything Everywhere All At Your Library

Did you know that the library has tons of streaming video available — and not just to help with your homework? As we gear up for Oscars season, you can revisit Everything Everywhere All at Once through the library collections. Click here to head straight to the film! (If you’re off campus, you’ll be asked to log in with your CUNYfirst ID.)

This is a poster for the film Everything Everywhere All At Once.

This movie is available for streaming through Swank, one of the library’s streaming video databases; you can explore the rest of our Swank subscription at cityte.ch/swank. Or, explore more streaming video through Kanopy and Academic Video Online (AVON)

Spotlight on: Black Thought and Culture

One of the databases that City Tech Library provides access to is Black Thought and Culture, provided by Alexander Street Press. You can head straight there at cityte.ch/bltc; if you’re off campus, you’ll be asked to log in with your CUNYfirst credentials.

Black Thought and Culture is an amazing place to explore primary source materials. Not only can you read hundreds of issues of the Black Panther newspaper, but this database also includes oral histories from the Columbia University Black Panther Project. Browse by content type and select “oral histories,” and then search “Black Panther” within these results.

Or, if you’re looking for material related to a specific place, browse by location to find primary source material related to black thought and culture in that place. Interested in Black history in Denmark? This database has details on Bobby Seale’s receipt of a peace prize from a Danish high school.

Another great browsing option is by title; selecting Crisis from a list of titles brings us to content from the official magazine of the NAACP, including a transcription of W.E.B DuBois’ report on the 1919 Pan African Congress.

EResources Spotlight: New Yorker Cartoons

Sure, the library has online access to lots of great comics in the Underground & Independent Comics Collection, but did you know that you can access New Yorker cartoons through Artstor? Check out the Condé Nast collection in the Artstor Digital Library to take a look.

Series of thumbnails of New Yorker cartoons, as displayed through City Tech's institutional subscription to the Artstor Digital Library.
You’ll land at this page to explore New Yorker cartoons when you click the link above; if you’re off campus, you’ll be prompted to use your CUNYfirst login.

As Artstor notes:

The New Yorker‘s cartoons are legendary for their incisive wit and for shedding light on the lives and foibles of the city’s dwellers from the Depression through to the era of “fake news.” The magazine’s cartoonists include renowned figures like, Peter Arno, Roz Chast, Otto Soglow, William Steig, James Thurber, and Gahan Wilson.

Interested in exploring other illustrated and graphic design material through Artstor? Here are a few other collections we love:

Streaming Video now available in Swank

The library is now able to provide access to streaming video through Swank Digital Campus. Swank partners with major Hollywood studios, documentary providers, independent filmmakers and international film companies to provide a diverse library of films and TV shows. You can explore what’s available for CityTech by visiting cityte.ch/swank.

We’ve selected a list of films to license through Swank based on what’s not available in our onsite Media Library, or through other video databases like Criterion or AVON. Looking for something that you don’t see? Let us know.

Below are some of the films accessible via Swank.

Clueless (1995)

COVID Diaries NYC (2021)

Us (2019)