The Nobel committee has awarded Svetlana Alexievich “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time”. Svetlana is known for her expansive oral history writings that document the breakdown of the Soviet Union.

Sara Danius, the permanent secretary to the academy explained that “For the past 30 or 40 years she’s been busy mapping the Soviet and post soviet individual,” and additionally, “it’s not really about a history of events. It’s a history of emotions – what she’s offering us is really an emotional world, so these historical events she’s covering in her various books, for example the Chernobyl disaster, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, these are in a way just pretexts for exploring the Soviet individual and the post-Soviet individual.” and “She’s devised a new kind of literary genre. It’s a true achievement not only in material but also in form.”

In the book, “Voices from Chernobyl“, Alexievich talks to hundreds of people affected in different ways by the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Another highly acclaimed book by Alexievich is “War’s Unwomanly Face” (1988), based on interviews with hundreds of women who took part in World War II. Here at the Consortium Library, we have among other titles, her book “Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War“.

Are you teaching a course?  Do you need to incorporate library content into your courseware or website?  We have just the resource for you.  A library guide that provides information about how to incorporate articles, ebooks, streaming video, and other content into your course.

For Students

Groups of five or more students can request a workshop tailored to their needs by calling the Reference Desk (786-1848) at least one week prior to the requested workshop date. Individual (or fewer than five) students can also directly contact a subject liaison librarian.

For Faculty

Library faculty can provide workshops that give faculty hands-on training with library resources. Please contact the appropriate subject liaison librarian for your discipline.

Research Consultations

Students, staff, and faculty may request an in-depth research consultation appointment with their liaison librarian for a research project that requires additional expertise of the subject liaison librarian. The reference desk is also available for assistance with research questions that require an answer on the spot.

Did you know that you can search beyond the holdings in the Consortium Library simply by checking a box in Quick Search?

Once you’ve done a search, look for the check box (below the search box and to the right of the number of results) that says:

Add results beyond your library’s collection

Using this feature will search all +900 million items known to QuickSearch.  Click on the title of the item to place an interlibrary loan.

Are you at a dead end in your research and need help finding sources? Or have you found a citation that you need help accessing? Chat with a Research and Instruction Librarian to get assistance with these and other questions related to succeeding in research.  Librarians are also available via email, phone and in-person at the reference desk on the 1st floor of the UAA/APU Consortium Library.