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Latter-day Gamers

The world of games has become a huge industry. Sales of board games are over $3 billion each year, video games are over $90 billion in The United States alone, and even card games generate almost a billion dollars. Students who once looked forward to working in the animation industry now look to game creation. The Latter-day Saint culture has strong connections to the creation of games.

The BYU Library’s new exhibit, located in Special Collections on level 1 of the library, features a selection of games from our collections. Not only are there board games and card games, but visitors can try their hand at early electronic games such as PONG. There is even a vintage Atari console connected to an old-school cathode ray tube TV for people looking for the true 8-bit experience.

The exhibit is divided into sections with church themed games, games created by members of the church, and interactive stations where games can be played. Just outside the exhibit space there are tables with Nephite vs Lamanite chess sets and game timers that students use during study breaks.

The exhibit is open from 8:00 am until 9:00 pm Monday through Thursday, with an hour closing at 11:00 am on Tuesday for devotional, and 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Friday. On Saturday the exhibit is open from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm.

Admission is free and the public is welcome.

The exhibit will run through June 2023.

Provo Pop Music Connections Panel Q&A

 

Provo and BYU have been connected to the music industry for generations, and the local music scene is more vibrant than ever.

Join us for a discussion and Q&A with figures from Provo’s music past and present.

 

Date: Wednesday October 12

Time: 7:00 pm

Location: Reynolds Auditorium on level 1 of the library.

 

Panelists:

  • Melody Clinger: Guitar and vocals for The Clingers, America’s first all-girl rock band
  • Zach Collier: Keyboards for Michael Barrow & the Tourists, and editor of Provo Music Magazine
  • Karl Engemann: singer in The Engemann Trio, A & R Manager at Capitol Records, manager for Osmonds, Larry King, etc.
  • Paul Engemann: Vocals for 80s bands Device and Animotion and several movie soundtrack singles
  • Michael Hicks: Author of several books including Mormonism and Music: A History (1989); Sixties Rock: Garage, Psychedelic and Other Satisfactions (1990); The Mormon Tabernacle Choir: A Biography (2015), Spencer Kimball’s Record Collection (2020).

Before or after the Q&A stop by the Provo Pop Music Connections exhibit on the main floor of the BYU library.

October 6, The Alice Louise Reynolds Women in Scholarship Lecture

 

Corinna Trujillo Tanner PhD, RN, from the College of Nursing will present this year’s Alice Louise Reynolds Women in Scholarship Lecture. Her lecture is titled Treasures from the Abyss: Pathways to Posttraumatic Growth.

The unselfish touch of Alice Louise Reynolds can still be felt at Brigham Young University. The Harold B. Lee Library can trace its beginnings to a committee on which Miss Reynolds served, first as a member and later as chair. She devoted many years to building the dream of a large and comprehensive university library at BYU. Today the Harold B. Lee Library stands as a monument to her dedication and vision.

This lecture series has been established to honor Alice Louise Reynolds and to feature women in scholarship. It is through the generosity of members of the Alice Louise Reynolds Clubs and other Friends of the Library that the endowment for this annual lectureship has been made possible.

1:00 pm in the library’s Alice Louise Reynolds auditorium located on level 1.

Library Film Series Fall 2022

Join us for free classic films every month this fall.

All shows with be at 7:00 pm in the Alice Louise Reynolds Auditorium on level 1 of the library.

 

Friday, September 16

Roman Holiday

Audrey Hepburn won a Best Actress Oscar as a young European princess who breaks off an official goodwill tour so she can see the Eternal City incognito, and while doing so, falls for an American newspaperman who serves as her tour guide.

1953

119 minutes

 

Friday, October 14

Arsenic and Old Lace

Cary Grant stars as the one sane member of a charmingly lunatic family in director Frank Capra’s classic comedy. When Mortimer Brewster (Grant) brings his new bride to meet his two kindly aunts, he discovers that, among many other acts of charity, the two genteel ladies help lonely old men die happy … by feeding them a wonderful meal before poisoning them. Now, Mortimer desperately wants to protect the two serial murderers he loves, stop them from killing anyone else and keep his bride from discovering how deranged his family really is.

1944

118 minutes

 

Friday, November 11 (Date changed)

The African Queen

This film is said to be the inspiration for Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise ride, which lead to the 2021 Jungle Cruise film. All of it comes from a novel by C. S. Forester. Katharine Hepburn plays a missionary who’s brother is killed in WWI Africa. A steamer captain, played by Humphrey Bogart, offers her passage to safety. She’s not interested in hiding out and convinces him to attack the enemy.

The African Queen was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1994.

1951

105 minutes

 

Friday, December 2

Singin’ in the Rain

We’re celebrating the 70th anniversary of this great film. Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor star in one of the greatest musicals ever filmed. Musician Don Lockwood (Kelly) rises to stardom during Hollywood’s silent-movie era–paired with the beautiful, jealous and dumb Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). When Lockwood becomes attracted to young studio singer Kathy Selden (Reynolds), Lamont has her fired. But with the introduction of talking pictures, audiences laugh when they hear Lockwood speak for the first time–and the studio uses Selden to dub her voice. Set during the advent of “talkies,” this film’s classic song-and-dance numbers celebrate the beginning of movie musicals.

1952

103 minutes

 

Provo Pop Music Connections

Follow the interwoven histories of family acts like the Osmonds and the King Sisters or learn about the explosion of contemporary acts like Neon Trees and Imagine Dragons in the new exhibition on the library’s main floor.

Provo Pop Culture Music Connections looks at a century of music in Provo.

For years huge names in the music world performed here.

A remarkable number of bands started in Provo or had significant ties to the town in their early years.

Visitors are invited to share their wish list of bands they’d like to see perform in Provo.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during all library hours.

It will run until October 2022.

Mysterious Lee Society 9.23.22

Be a detective.

Solve crimes.

Uncover clues.

Come to the library and discover the truth.

Mysterious Lee Society

An event for students.

9.23.22

18:00-21:00

Discovering Wonderland: Celebrating 150 Years of Yellowstone National Park

The library is celebrating 150 years of Yellowstone National Park with a new exhibit located in Special Collections on level 1.

Discovering Wonderland features select items from the library’s large collection of Yellowstone materials.

The exhibit features guide books, photographs, and ephemera along with a brief history of the park.

The public is welcome and admission is free.

The exhibit will run through June.

Sc-Fi Summer Classic Film Series

The library is celebrating summer with a series of classic films.

There will be showtimes at 3:00 and 7:00 pm in the library’s Alice Louise Reynolds Auditorium located on level 1.

Admission is free.

We’re sorry, but no food is allowed in the venue.

 

June 10

Forbidden Planet
1956

A flying saucer travels faster than the speed of light and then lands on a desert planet. A translating robot greets the crew. A villain burns through blast doors. Force fields protect the ship. Before there was Star Wars, even before Star Trek, the science fiction film world was shaped by the 1956 film Forbidden Planet.

Loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Forbidden Planet was the first film to feature an electronic musical score. Its sound effects are still the go to audio for anyone wanting to convey a mysterious space feel.

Starring Walter Pidgeon, Ann Francis, Leslie Nielson, and Robby the Robot.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Entered into the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2013.

98 minutes/Rated G

 

July 15

Galaxy Quest
1999

Where Forbidden Planet established the world of modern science fiction films, Galaxy Quest celebrated them. Embraced by sci-fi fans as a great parody (it was voted the seventh best Star Trek film) and by the public as a popular comedy film, Galaxy Quest marked its twentieth anniversary in 2019. We’re screening it this summer as a belated celebration.

We invite the audience to pay special attention to the scenes filmed in Utah’s Goblin Valley.

Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell. It was the film debut for both Justin Long and Rainn Wilson.

102 minutes/Rated PG

 

August 5

Batman The Movie
1966

Just for fun we’re screening the request of a BYU student, Batman The Movie.

This 1966 film is the first feature length version of Batman. Sometimes forgotten between the 1940s serial version of Batman and the current, darker, Batman films, this high energy film is what generations associate with the Dynamic Duo.

Librarians like the fact that when Bruce Wayne is facing a challenge he always goes to “The Study.”

Pay attention and you might hear a reference to the multi-verse.

Starring Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredeth, and Frank Gorshin.

102 minutes/Rated PG

Figures in Action and their Latter-day Saint Influence

Figurines date back to the Stone Age, but in the Twentieth Century the entertainment industry turned figures into big business.

Today multiple companies produce a vast number of action figures and curios related to film and print.

Latter-day culture has permeated the edges of popular culture for generations with member-driven creators in all aspects of the media.

The new exhibition in Special Collections on level 1 of the library features items from television, K.I.T.T., and Cylons, as well as film, like the N.S.E.A. Protector. There are also items from comic books and graphic novels such as Dendo.

There are even church related items such as Nephi and missionaries.

 

 

It will run through the month of May.

The exhibit is open to the public and is viewable during regular Special Collections hours.

Monday through Thursday 8:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Friday 8:00 ma to 6:00 pm.

Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Admission is free.

 

 

May 13: Classic film, Rear Window

The library is celebrating James Stewart’s birthday with free screenings of Rear Window.

The BYU Library’s Special Collections are the home of James Stewart’s papers.

 

 

Considered to be one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films and nominated for four Academy Awards.

Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly.

A photographer, confined to a wheelchair while his broken leg heals, takes an interest in the lives of his neighbors and tries to solve a mystery.

Showtimes: 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm in The Alice Louise Reynolds Auditorium on level 1 of the library.

1954, 112 minutes