New Cookbooks and Culinary Resources

The Library supports the Culinary Arts program and the Durham Tech community with cookbooks, ebooks, databases, and streaming video collections related to cooking, nutrition, food science, and more.

Enjoy cooking and baking with this global collection of new cookbooks! We hope you find some inspiration here with new recipes and ideas.

We also have cookbook ebooks available through the NC LIVE Home Grown eBooks, which includes a Food and Wine collection

The library also provides the Gale Culinary Arts database which features academic journals and magazines on all aspects of cooking and nutrition and includes thousands of searchable recipes and industry information.

Gale OneFile Culinary Arts database search page

You can also explore the Films on Demand Culinary Collection of videos featuring PBS and BBC series like Food-Delicious Science, Food Detectives, The Story of and much more.

AVON, Academic Video Online Cooking Collection has great videos including the Culinary Journeys series featuring twenty one international chefs talking about their unique cuisines.

You can also browse our Culinary Arts Subject Guide for links to even more library resources.

Explore the stage with our live theater database Digital Theater+

Durham Tech Libraries recently added a very exciting new database resource: Digital Theater+!

When Durham Tech students and instructors use Digital Theater+, they can explore high quality videos of award-winning plays, dig into the history of various genres of theater, and enjoy a Spotify-like curation of stories by theme. It’s an all-encompassing theatrical experience*.

*Stage fright not included.

Continue reading to see what the fuss is all about!

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Films on Demand: Nursing Current Concepts and Practices Collection

Calling all nursing students and instructors—we have a new audio and video collection for you!

Films on Demand Nursing Collection

Nursing: Current Concepts and Practices Collection from Films on Demand is designed to help students pass licensure exams and prepare for long-term job success. 

It includes titles from the last 5 years from trusted nursing education sources such as Medcom-Trainex, Elsevier, Medivision, American Academy of Pediatrics, and more! 

Because this is a database of only video and audio resources, it’s perfect for visual and auditory learners (and those who don’t have a preference but want to switch it up). 

Stuck in traffic? NCLEX coming up? It’s the perfect time to listen to a nursing podcast such as Nurse-Led Rapid Responses  

Nurse-Led Rapid Responses Podcast

Films on Demand is mobile friendly too, so you’re not tied to your computer. You can download the Films on Demand app from either Google or Apple and have it ready to go on your phone. 

Off-campus access is easy– just log in with your Durham Tech username and password (same as for Sakai or Self-Service) when prompted. 

Instructors can embed links to videos in your Sakai pages, create and share video playlists for your students, or even create quizzes. All videos have captions, interactive transcripts, citations, translation options, and public performance rights. Remember to use the Share button to get the link in order for everyone to access materials off-campus.

Want to learn more? Have questions? 

Connect with a Librarian to ask! 

Celebrate Black History Month With These 9 Streaming Documentaries

We don’t like to boast around here, but with the arrival of Black History Month, we want to shout from the rooftops about Durham Tech Libraries’ robust collection of documentary films about famous Black activists, artists, athletes.

Have you seen a movie about New York slam poets?

How about a survey of the history of Black Feminism?

Click “Continue Reading” to see what films we’re talking about!

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What We’re Watching: Summer of Soul

Title: Summer of Soul (…or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

Genre: Documentary film, available on Hulu

This movie was reviewed by Julie Humphrey, Durham Tech Library Director.


Why did you choose to watch this film?

I’ve missed live music and concerts so much during the pandemic. I relished the chance to watch some amazing live performances from incredible African American musicians from the 1960’s.

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What We’re Watching: Exterminate All the Brutes

Exterminate All The Brutes (HBO Original)
Available through Durham Tech’s Films on Demand database

Exterminate All the Brutes, Raoul Peck’s four-part documentary series, portrays the historic patterns of colonialist violence and genocide through powerful dramatizations. Peck includes pockets of deadpan comedy through his direct, sneering narration by having white western actors verbally deliver the thin historic justification for conquest directly to indigenous audiences. The result is a unique series of visual essays that trace this historic pattern of violence right up to the political tensions that characterize our present moment.


This documentary was watched by Kyle Minton, Reference Librarian for the Main Campus and Northern Durham Center. 

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Meet AVON

Alexander Street Academic Video Online (AVON)

Can’t get enough streaming video?

You’re in luck–the Durham Tech Library now has more online video content! 


AVON (Academic Video Online) is a new library database we’re excited to offer.  It features 70,000 searchable, citable, closed captioned titles spanning a wide range of subject areas (allied health, art, automotive technologies, business, counseling, communication studies, criminal justice, engineering, history, psychology, sociology) and even feature films and award winners. 

Want to see some of AVON’s options? Keep reading! 

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What We’re Watching: Bridgerton! (and Romance Reading through Dogwood Digital)

bridgerton, on Netflix December 25, 2020

Title: Bridgerton, Season 1 (available streaming on Netflix)

Genre: Period drama; Romance; Regency Romance

This series was watched by Rachel Smith, Northern Durham Center Librarian. 


Set in 19th-century London, Bridgerton centers on the aristocratic Bridgerton family. The widow Violet, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton is mother to eight children. As eldest daughter Daphne Bridgerton enters her first courting season with Queen Charlotte’s favor, she meets Simon Bassett, Duke of Hastings and best friend of her eldest brother, Anthony. Despite being encouraged by his mentor, Lady Danbury, the Duke is determined not to ever get married and he plots with Daphne to secure his bachelordom and to secure her a suitable marriage.

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Celebrate Black History Month with Streaming Films

We are highlighting three important films from our Library’s streaming video collections.  Simply log in with your Durham Tech username and password to watch the films or clips from the films. A transcript and closed captioning are provided for each film.


February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four film cover, showing the backs of 4 men sitting at the counter of a lunch counter

Do you know the history of the Greensboro Four?  You can watch the documentary film, February One, to learn about the four NC A&T University students who sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. in 1960 as part of the civil rights movement. 


John Lewis 'Good Trouble' documentary film cover showing a drawing of the mugshot a young John Lewis, slightly smiling

John Lewis: Good Trouble is an inspirational new film that shares the life and legacy of legendary U.S. Representative John Lewis and his 60 years of  activism for civil rights. 


Fannie Lou Hamer speaking into a handheld microphone and surrounded by people

Learn more about Mississippi civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer and her work for voting rights and women’s rights in the 1960’s, in the film The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer: Never Turn Back.  


To discover additional streaming films, explore Films on Demand and AVON: Academic Video Online.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Streaming Films

During National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15) we recognize Hispanic and Latinx Americans and celebrate their heritage and culture.

Hispanic Heritage Month colorful graphic
Image from https://www.nbcwashington.com/

Use your Durham Tech credentials to view the films below from Films on Demand.

Habla y Vota comprises over 200 testimonials from U.S. Latinos—including celebrities, recognized professionals, and everyday Latinos—who’ve shared their funny, poignant, and honest stories about being Latino in the U.S.

The Latino Americans is a six episode PBS series which chronicles Latinos in the United States from the 1500’s to present day. It is a story of people, politics, and culture, intersecting with much that is central to the history of the United States while also going to places where standard U.S. histories do not tend to tread. Latino Americans relies on historical accounts and personal experiences to vividly tell the stories of early settlement, conquest and immigration; of tradition and reinvention; and of anguish and celebration, from the millions of people who come to the U.S. from Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, and countries in Central and South America.

Inner Borderlines: Visions of America Through the Eyes of Alejandro Morales follows Morales’ journey around Southern California as he tries to understand issues concerning the Latino population in California and the U.S. 

Our World Cinema Collection from Films on Demand features more than 75 streaming Spanish language films.  The Spanish Language and Culture Research Guide also highlights some of the Spanish films and Latin American authors in the library’s collection.