Film
The library has many videorecordings that present popular culture. To find them, go to the
Library Catalog and search for your keyword followed by the word videorecording. Limit your retrieval to Location: Lone Star College-North Harris Library to see what we have in our own collection.
Example: a search for "rap music videorecording" gives you 8 results. Limit your results to our specific location, and you'll see that one of them is at the Lone Star College-North Harris library:
Material Witness: Race, Identity, and the Politics of Gansta Rap.
Music
The library has books about and recordings (CD and DVD) of popular music. To find the books, do a search in the
Library Catalog for your subject, such as rock music, and limit your results to our location. To find the recordings, search for your subject or title and add the phrase "sound recording."
Example: a search for "Venezuela sound recording" shows you that the recording
Folk Music from Venezuela is in the NHC Library's music collection.
Sports
We have some books about sports which can be located through the Library Catalog. The most up-to-date sports information, however, must be found in newspapers, on television, and on the Internet. Several of the library's Article Databases provide articles from newspapers, for example, the Houston Chronicle, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post are available from National Newspapers via ProQuest. When searching the Internet for sports information, remember to look for authoritative sites, for example the world federation for a particular sport or a well-known sports information source like ESPN or the magazine Sports Illustrated.
Reading
Comic books have been part of popular culture since their inception, as have comic strips in the newspapers. These are increasingly found online: from the syndicators, from the newspapers, and on enthusiasts' webpages.
Genre fiction includes science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and romance novels. A new wrinkle in the arena of books is the "graphic novel." The NHC Library has all of these genres represented on its shelves, and more titles can be borrowed from our partner libraries across the college district and in the Montgomery County Memorial Library System.
Examples: In the
Library Catalog, search for the mystery Hark! by Ed McBain and you'll find that you can request it from the Montgomery County libraries as either a printed book or an audio book. Search for the romance by Elizabeth Crane titled
Reflections in Time and you'll see that the NHC library has it.
Mass Media & Advertising
Trends in clothing, language, food, toys, games, decor, vices and activities are often promoted by mass media and advertising. When you are looking for examples of current or recent phenomena, try the library's collection but be prepared to look elsewhere--the mass media themselves. When looking for historical examples, try one of the library's multi-volume reference books, like
American Decades or
Countries and Their Cultures. You should also look for books on the subject in general, for example the history of advertising, or the history of fashion.
Search in the
Library Catalog for materials on these concepts.
Activities & Traditions
Things that people do for fun are usually part of popular culture: making jewelry, playing board games, dancing, singing, buying the latest fashion, eating trendy food, getting bobble-head dolls at the ballpark, etc. This holds true across cultures and countries.
Search in the Library Catalog for materials on these concepts and on the various countries. Also search the Article Databases for more specific material; try the CountryWatch database, and The World & I database.
Library Displays
The NHC Library has an active display program which brings the popular culture of different cultures to you on a regular basis. We have presented Tanzania, Francophone countries, Dias de los Muertos, and other cultures. To see a list of the displays since 2001, with some accompanying photographs,
click here.
Need Help??
If you need additional help, please feel free to contact a librarian during open hours.