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House of Horrors: HSSL Edition

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It’s that time of year again! The ghosts are boo-ing, the zombies are asking for “bRaiiNS” and midterms seem much scarier now that they are back in person. But we’ve got your back through all of this. Featured in this post are some of the Top Horror Titles from our collections, and our favourite streaming content! Scroll through it all if you dare *spooky noises**ghost emoji*

Some Scary Reading Stuff

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Perhaps one of the most frightening books ever written and it’s in our collection! Based on a classic but effective premise (house small on the outside but dizzyingly huge and spooky on the inside), this book will make you feel like you’re in an escape room adventure- and it’s a not supremely pleasant one. But that’s what this season’s about, eh?

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Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Yes, the movie was great, it was amazing, and it was chilling. But. The. Book. Is. Always. Better! If you’ve loved this plot of a terrified mother facing paranoia as a film, we should tell you the book is better- or worse? You get it. Even though its main twist is known to many, we assure you, the book will still keep you awake at night.

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The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

If you haven’t read Jackson, can you even call yourself a horror fanatic? (And King too, but you’ll see him in a sec!). You’ve read and streamed plenty of Haunted House titles, but we assure you, no one does it like Jackson. She perfects the Haunted House trope, we’re not just talking jump scares, we’re talking unreliable narrator that will make you want to reach for the lights, but also hide under the covers. Read it if you dare!

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Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Do you know what’s even more horrifying than supernatural beings defying natural laws and rendering everything possible? The answer is insufficiently socialised human beings stuck in a race for survival, or as Golding portrays it; a group of children stranded on an island without supplies or adult supervision. This is no Home Alone, this is pure savagery.

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Pet Sematary by Stephen King

The King of horror is here (get it? hehe), and he’s got a long list of titles competing for this spot. But unlike his other works that are rich with humanity in characterisation and deal with narrators that make us question the world around us,  Pet Sematary manages to be his most terrifying novel by dint of its simple, devastating concept: a magical cemetery where buried things come back to a sort-of life—but aren’t quite what they once were. See how King turns one of the most precious things in the world (our pets) into a living, breathing nightmare. 

But these are just some of our top picks. Here’s a list of more titles old and new, pop and classics to satisfy your horror needs this trick-or-treat season.

  1. Dracula by Bram Stoker 
  2. We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
  3. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
  4. Ring by Koji Suzuki 
  5. Blindness by José Saramago
  6. The Shining by Stephen King
  7. The Only Good Indians by Stepehn Graham Jones
  8. Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
  9. Boo by Shinie Antony et al (Short story collection) 
  10. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Some Spooky Streaming Stuff

To get into the spirit, we have picked out some horror/Halloween movies that are free for all McGill students through available streaming services. Cosy up, take some time for yourself this Halloween (or better yet, have a horror movie marathon with your closest buds), and SCREAM with these picks.

To refresh how to use these services click here to read our McGill Films 101 blog post.

Find the favourites in the bibliography here (with much more being added than what is featured): https://mcgill.on.worldcat.org:443/list/18173632

Criterion on Demand

A single click on your VPN and you have access to so many wonderful horror films.

Our favourites on Criterion:

  • Scoob (Tony Cervone)
  • Midsommar (Ari Aster)
  • Ready or Not (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett)
  • The Conjuring (James Wan)

Kanopy

The Monsters Among Us Series is a look into the history of creatures in pop culture and how they came to be!

Some highlighted movies are down below and to check out the rest of the Kanopy horror section, click here: https://mcgill.kanopy.com/category/29299

  • Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcocks)
  • The Love Witch (Anna Biller)
  • A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Kino Lorber)

These are just a few picks to get you in the spirit if you’re looking for spooky Halloween movies using McGill Library Resources. Tag @mcgilllib on Instagram with the #spookystreaming to be featured on this blog post. We’d love to see what the HSSL community is watching this week.

If you have any questions email us at hssl.library@mcgill.ca!

This post has been co-authored by Vanja Lugonjic

Digital Scholarship Hub: Workshop Lineup

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As with every pre-midterm season at McGill, the campus is buzzing with life! Students are enjoying the last bouts of September sun, lining up for free plants, and queuing at McGill Farmers’ Market.

In the midst of all the havoc, McGill Library’s Digital Scholarship Hub (DSH) is back again with its Fall workshop lineup!


We’ve got numerous amazing workshops lined up from September through October. To help you through the rather extensive list, below we highlight some of our personal favourites;

Bias, Ethics, & Artificial Intelligence – September 29, 11am

Are you someone who closely follows the roller coaster ride that is the tech industry? With its continuously growing market and Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations, it is the point of discussion from every household to every seminar room.

What side of the debate are you on? How ethical do you find the everyday innovations in the industry? Focused on understanding the impact of AI on society as we know it, this workshop aims to dip a toe into these tumultuous waters in order to find ethical solutions to AI development.

Join presenters Amanda Wheatley and Sanday Hervieux as they explore the core issues surrounding AI ethics and how we can overcome these issues to broaden our understanding of technology. 

How to Write a Data Management Plan – October 3, 12pm

This workshop will provide attendees with practical tips and examples on how to write a data management plan for funders, journals, or other oversight organizations. We will demo an online interactive tool, Portage DMP Assistant, which has built-in templates particular to the Canadian research context. Attendees will also have a chance to discuss discipline-specific issues related to planning for the management of data actively during the research process and for long-term archival purposes.

Making Your Work Open Access (psst: it doesn’t have to cost money) – October 25, 12pm

Are you a student-run journal considering the latest trends in scholarly publications? Or perhaps a graduate student looking at the implications of making your thesis public? Well worry no more, you’re not the only one!

This online presentation brings together a group of people looking to make their work open to access. While the discussion will be focused on the role of grant-holders and the support they can find on-campus for making their work open access, the presentation is open to everyone!

Ready to Publish? Selecting a Journal – November 3, 12pm

Finished your research and looking to publish? This 45-minute workshop will outline how to locate and assess relevant journals in your discipline. This workshop will also discuss the basics of the peer review process, journal selection considerations, and frequently asked questions about publishing. This workshop will serve as an introduction to the topic for new researchers and those just starting to publish.

At the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

  • Describe tools and strategies to identify appropriate journals in their discipline
  • Describe the peer review process
  • Describe main considerations when choosing a journal

Also, stay tuned for our Workshop Spotlights over the next few weeks!

Check out DSH’s calendar for their upcoming workshops and office hours schedule. And for further queries, email us at hssl.library@mcgill.ca.

Accessing the Sage Collections

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A Multitude of Resources at your Fingertips

Over the years, McGill University has acquired a leading position in the Canadian research arena. With this innovation-driven environment in mind, the McGill Library has subscribed to the complete package of SAGE e-resources, equipping students, researchers, and faculty with an expansive reference collection; research methods journals, videos, and texts; and content emphasizing critical thinking, data analysis, and computational tools. 

source: https://sk.sagepub.com

For a brief outline of the resources available and links to the databases, read the following:

  • SAGE Books: hosts titles on topics across the social sciences. It includes academic and supplementary titles that contribute to the knowledge base of students and researchers, foundational books in core areas of research and debate, accessible student references, and numerous practical professional titles in education. The SAGE Book platform allows you to search by Discipline or Content Type, making research all the more streamlined. 
  • SAGE Journals: supporting both gold open access publication and green open access archiving, the database covers e-journals in areas of business & management, communication & media studies, humanities & social sciences, health, psychiatry, nursing, pharmacology and neuroscience.
  • SAGE Knowledge:cross-media platform for SAGE books, business cases, research and video content for the social sciences.
  • SAGE Research Methods: provides material to guide users through every step of the research process. A methods library with more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by academics from across the social sciences.
  • SAGE Skills Business: self-guided content for students to learn essential business skills in the areas of entrepreneurship, leadership, organizational communication, professionalism, and data analytics.
  • SAGE Video: platform for educational video content across key social, behavioural, and health science disciplines. Includes closed-captioning and selected audio description. Content is cite-able with searchable transcripts, custom clip creation, embedding options.

All the resources cited above can be accessed through your McGill Library account. Simply sign in with your institutional (McGill) email, and from the Library Homepage go to ‘Databases A-Z’ under ‘Find’. You may type ‘Sage’ in the database search bar, or alternatively, click on ‘S’ to be taken directly to a list of the databases. 

You may direct any related queries or general questions through email to us at hssl.library@mcgill.ca.