Interested in how the United States’ government works? Unsure what is available to you for free? A great resource at the UAA/APU Consortium Library is the Government information LibGuide available through the library website found here: https://libguides.consortiumlibrary.org/government_inform 

The LibGuide offers great resources to get started exploring government information, two examples of such resources are: GovInfo.gov and USA.gov.

What is GovInfo.gov? 

GovInfo is a service that is provided by the Government Publishing Office (GPO) that allows for free public access to official government publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. 

GovInfo gives you options to browse alphabetically, by specific collections, within a specific timeframe, by issuing committee or by a specific government author. Basic Keyword searching is also available, as well as Advanced Search and Citation Search. 

The GPO prides itself on providing authentic documents to ensure their integrity and digitally preserves their content for future generations.

For tutorials on how to search GovInfo, check out the following links to explore the variety of videos offered:

• FDLP Tutorials
• GovInfo Tutorials

What is USA.gov?

USA.gov’s mission is to “make it easier for people to find and understand the government services and information they need-anytime, anywhere, any way they want” (USAGov, 2026, USAGov’s mission section).

They also have  a Spanish language counterpart at https://www.usa.gov/es/.

Services range from finding resources on voting/elections, government benefits, disability services, housing help and identifying scams. For a complete list of topics and services that USA.gov provides visit: https://www.usa.gov/#all-topics-header.

USA.gov also provides live agents if you would like to call or chat with one to answer your questions at  https://www.usa.gov/contact-us.

Don’t let the idea of government documents intimidate you, take advantage of free resources available to you and if you have business research inquiries, reach out to UAA/APU’s Business Librarian to set up an appointment. 

References 

GovInfo. (n.d). Discover U.S. Government Information. GovInfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/

USAGov. (n.d). Making government documents easier to find. USAGov. https://www.usa.gov/

USAGov. (2026, July 2). USAGov’s mission and history. USAGov. https://www.usa.gov/mission-history

There are so many subscriptions to keep up with and paywalls can make it hard to access the news – these can make it challenging to stay informed about what’s going on. That’s where the Library comes in – did you know that you can access some newspapers for free through the Consortium Library?

If you are on campus, you’re good to go – if you are off campus, be sure to log in for off-campus access using the link at the top of the Consortium Library website before trying to click any of the links below.

To access the Anchorage Daily News, go here. The second option listed is text only and will show you all the original articles written by local journalists in the ADN. Please note that the text only option will not show you any of the articles from other papers, such as AP News articles that the ADN might republish about national news. To see those articles, click on the third option which includes images. You’ll be able to read through the paper as if it were printed! This database includes newspapers from as far back as 1946, so it can be a great resource for historical research on local events.

Using this database, you can access the New York Times – just note that the database includes everything printed in their daily paper, but does not include web-only content. Newsbank’s America’s News Magazines database includes a number of publications from the lower 48 – you can browse those here.

Need help finding a particular article or newspaper? Reach out to us at the Information & Research Help Desk!

“Lit mag” is short for literary magazine and encompasses a wide range of publications that include literary material – which can be quite broad. Lit mags can include poetry, non-fiction essays, short fiction, interviews with writers or artists, and sometimes visual artwork such as photographs, paintings, or collages. Lit mags are full of interesting stuff!

Lit mags often include work from both new and well-established writers and artists. They can often be a way for writers new in their career to share their work with others and gain a following. Some of your favorite authors have probably published in a lit mag at some point in their lives.

The UAA/APU Consortium Library has a wide and varied collection of printed lit mags that you can read. These include (but aren’t limited to) Bayou Magazine, the Chicago Review, the Gettysburg Review, the Journal, Mid-American Review, and Poetry East. These are located in our literary journal collection on the second floor behind the computers. The Alaska Quarterly Review can be found in the Alaska Journals collection at the back of the Alaska Collection on the second floor.

You can also check out lit mags (and other ebooks and audiobooks) on your laptop, phone, or tablet using Libby! (If accessing from a computer or laptop go here, if on your phone or tablet download the Libby app). Log in by selecting “UAA/APU Consortium Library” from the drop down menu and putting in your student ID number and PIN (you can call 907-786-1871, option 3 if you’re not sure what your PIN is). You can check out the New Yorker, the Paris Review, and Poetry Magazine. While you’re there, poke around and see what other free resources are available to you through Libby!

Looking for a particular magazine, author, or topic? Reach out to us at the Information & Research Help Desk!

Have you seen Christopher Nolan’s the Odyssey in theaters? The nearly three hour long film seeks to bring the classic Homeric tale to life – relying on an incredibly stacked cast and creative use of practical effects.

Any adaptation must deviate from its source text slightly – translating text to film necessitates some changes. If you’re interested in reading the original text and discovering those differences, it’s pretty easy to find copies! We have several different editions available in print at the Consortium Library (though it’s popular right now and you may have to wait for a hold) and it’s also available as a free download through Project Gutenberg. Emily Wilson, who translated the Odyssey in 2017, includes some of the differences between the movie and the poem in her rather critical review (which in the end also celebrates the movie’s success at encouraging interest in the classics).

Explore different aspects of the Odyssey with these articles from our databases below (don’t forget to log in for off-campus access or connect to campus wifi before clicking the links!). With a text as old as this one, there has been so much discussion and analysis of almost every aspect of the story, you can dive deeper on any point of interest. The articles below are just a small selection – if there is something else that you’d like us to help you learn more about, don’t hesitate to ask us.

• Recognition and the Forgotten Senses in the Odyssey by Melissa Mueller
• Odysseus, Emotional Intelligence, and the Plot of the Odyssey by Elizabeth Minchin
• Female Ethics and Epic Rivalry:Helen in the Iliad and Penelope in the Odyssey by Rachel H. Lesser
• “If in Truth You are Odysseus” – Distrust and Persuasion in the Odyssey by René Nünlist
• What Penelope Knew: Doubt and Scepticism in the Odyssey by Michelle Zerba

The Odyssey has been the inspiration for numerous retellings and adaptations, much of which you can find through the Library. In literature, Dante’s Inferno draws from the Odyssey as Dante meets Odysseus in the 8th circle of hell. Ulysses by James Joyce was heavily influenced by the Odyssey as well. More recently, Circe, the novel by Madeline Miller draws from the text to imagine Circe’s life on her deserted island before and after Odysseus (who in the poem stays with Circe for a year). The Odyssey has been adapted for the screen several times before, as early as in 1911 in a silent Italian film and more recently by Andrei Konchalovsky in 1997 as a mini series called the Odyssey; by the Coen Brothers in 2000 (quite loosely) in the film O Brother Where Art Thou; and by Uberto Pasolini in 2024 in the film The Return.

A lot of conversation has also been sparked about the use of practice effects (as opposed to CGI) in Nolan’s rendition. You can review a list of some of the most-discussed examples here. If you want to understand more about practical effects, these books about special effects in film and TV published in the 1980s and 90s are a great place to start – they were released at a time in filmmaking that was less reliant on computer generated imagery.

• Special effects sourcebook by Robert E. McCarthy (1992)
• Special optical effects : in film by Zoran Perisic (1980)
• Creating special effects for TV and video by Bernard Wilkie (1996)
• Film tricks : special effects in the movies by by Harold Schechter and David Everitt (1980)
• Film magic : the art and science of special effects by David Hutchison (1987)

Have further questions? Reach out to us at the Information & Research Help Desk!

The World Cup is in full swing! Are you watching?

There are a number of ways to dive deeper into the World Cup – whether you want to explore the impact of the Cup on individual players or the impact that hosting has on countries, you can find a lot of information through our databases. Highlighted below are a few articles we found interesting. Be sure to be logged in for off-campus access or connected to campus WiFi to access these items.

Critical Perspectives on the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Events, Issues, and Controversies (eBook), edited by Adam Beissel, Julie E. Brice, Verity Postlethwaite, and Andrew Grainger

World Cup Challenges Are Not New: Increasing Complexity and the Evolution of Preparation Across 48 Years of FIFA World Cups by Alan McCall, Guilherme Passos‑Ramos, Gary Lewin, Zoran Bahtijarević, Oscar Luis Celada, Nicklas Dietrich, Les Gelis, Ricard Pruna, Gregory Dupont

Understanding resident support towards the 2030 FIFA World Cup: a co-hosting country’s perspective by Tiago Ribeiro & Victor Manoel Cunha de Almeida

Protecting Mental Health and Wellbeing at the Men’s Football World Cup by Adam Gledhill, Vincent Gouttebarge, Kensa K. Gunter, Kristoffer Henriksen, Andreas Ivarsson, Emma Kavanagh, Carsten Hvid Larsen, Margo Mountjoy

Reach out to us at the Information and Research Help Desk for help finding more information!