LibraryRunner - Research Guides at Butte College

The library is excited to announce our new staff member. I'll let Michael introduce himself:

Hey there! My name is Michael Zenkus. I'm a Library Technician here at Butte College. I get to oversee circulation, reserves and supervise our great student workers. I’ve been working in libraries for over 4 years now. I just recently graduated with my bachelor's in history. I’m a firm believer that libraries are necessary to ensure student success by providing students with accessible books, computers, and other resources. When I’m not at work I’m either writing short stories, hiking, camping, or reading a book beside my dog, Norman. Feel free to stop by and say hi (or just ramble about history with me) at LB 212.

Recent Posts

Women's History Month at the Library

March is Women's History Month and as always, the library has a number of great resources to help you learn more about how women have shaped history as well as the fight for equality. Drop by to see what we have on display. Remember all books on display are available for you to check out. We also have a curated collection and research guide in case you want to explore more online. ...

Public Domain Works 2025!

Popeye's first appearance, January 1929Every year, the copyrights on works expire and those works come into the public domain, which means that anyone can use them for performances or as material to produce new works -- of art, music, literature, or whatever. Modern copyright law gives quite a long time of protection: for most works, it's 95 years, so at the end of 2024, works from 1929 became available to the public domain. Disney has been a major force in pushing to make copyright protection that long, and protecting Mickey Mouse from being used by other artists is one of the main reasons. 2025 gives us 12 more Mickey Mouse movies to use, but you still can't use the Mickey from the 1980s or from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. And now, Popeye and Tintin have been added to the list of characters entering the public domain; you may now use early Popeye in your art.Quite a few famous books have come into the public domain this year, including: William Faulkner, The Sound and the FuryErnest Hemingway, A Farewell to ArmsVirginia Woolf, A Room of One's OwnDashiell Hammett, Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon (as serialized in Black Mask magazine)John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold (Steinbeck's first novel)Agatha Christie, Seven Dials MysteryRobert Graves, Good-bye to All ThatE. B. White and James Thurber, Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You DoMovies were huge in 1929 and had started to include sound, and there is some great stuff, including everyone's favorite, the Skeleton Dance!A dozen more Mickey Mouse animations (including Mickey’s first talking appearance in The Karnival Kid)The Cocoanuts (the first Marx Brothers feature film)The Broadway Melody (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture)The Hollywood Revue of 1929, directed by Charles Reisner (featuring the song “Singin’ in the Rain”)The Skeleton Dance, directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks (the first Silly Symphony short from Disney)Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s first sound film)Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor (one of the first films from a major studio with an all African-American cast)The Wild Party, directed by Dorothy Arzner (Clara Bow’s first “talkie”)The copyright on sound recordings is a little longer, so we are now getting songs from 1924, including some well-known numbers like:Singin’ in the RainAin’t Misbehavin’An American in ParisBoléroTiptoe Through the TulipsHappy Days Are Here AgainAm I Blue?California Here I Come, as recorded by Al JolsonBecause of the importance of movies now coming into the public domain, the Internet Archive celebrated 2025 with a film contest, asking artists to submit short films constructed from public domain songs and films. The results are inspiring! The three top winners are so good that I'm including them here: Take off for the moon and leave the world behind… Do the Archive Boogie with old-timey dancers… And watch Clara Bow in this Sapphic romance. If you're interested in questions around public domain, copyright, and what's coming into play right now, here are some excellent and straightforward articles to read:Public Domain Day at Yale LawInternet Archive on Public Domain Day ...

New Displays in the Library

We have two new mobile displays up in the library. The first has a very simple concept, purple books! Drop by the new books section to see all the purple books available in the library along with some famous quotes about the color purple. Our other new display, Short and Sweet, features books you can read in one sitting or over the course of a few hours. If you want to start reading more, or are short on time but want to finish a whole book, then these titles are for you. We have lots of different genres to choose from so there is surely something to suit your mood. ...

Black History Month at the Library

Celebrate Black History Month in the library! We have online resources and collections as well as a great display. Here are a few resources to check out:Black History Collection - A curated selection of books about Black history as well as art, culture, social issues, and other topics that inform Black history and culture in the United States and around the world.Black History Month Research Guide - Celebrate Black History Month by using the tabs to choose an ebook to read, attend an online event, and explore images and items from museums. Everything here is free to use for Butte College students.Ethnic Studies: African-American Experiences Research Guide - A guide to library resources about African-Americans.Racial Justice and Anti-Racist E-Reading List - E-books on racial justice.Make sure to stop by both main Campus and Chico Center to see our displays and take a book or two home with you.And just for fun, check out the National Museum of African American History and Culture's exhibition of Afrofuturism. Though you may not be able to see the exhibit in person, the museum has lots of materials online including articles such as Five You Should Know: Black Women Icons of Afrofuturism, as well as videos, interactive online collection highlights, and more. ...

Meet Our New Staff Member

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