The University Library Blog

on May 14, 2008

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GovGab may be the blog for you if you are looking for consumer advice from the federal government, such as help selecting a good auto repair shop or a day care, how to get off all those catalog mailing lists, or tips for saving energy (and money) or dealing with a stolen wallet. These and more items are categorized under money, health, travel, home and family and more.

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The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Economic Stimulus Payments

Published

on May 1, 2008

. 1 Comment

money image When are you getting your economic stimulus payment? The IRS has published information about when and how you’ll get your payment.

You’re eligible for the payment if you have a valid Social Security Number, can’t be claimed as a dependent on a tax return and have either an income tax liability or “qualifying income” of at least $3,000. Most 2007 federal income tax return filers will qualify, but there’s a phase out for individuals with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) over $75,000 and married couples filing joint returns with AGI over $150,000.

If the IRS processed your return by April 15, and you use direct deposit, your payment should arrive on May 2, May 9 or May 16, depending on the last 2 digits of your social security number. If you do not use direct deposit, checks will be mailed between mid-May and mid-July. People who filed tax returns after April 15 will receive their payments about two weeks later than others. A return must be filed by October 15 in order to receive any stimulus payment this year.

For more information visit the IRS Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center online.

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Remembering Vietnam 1975

Published

on April 28, 2008

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According to the Vietnam War Almanac (Reference Collection DS557.7 .S94 1985), the Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975. On May 1st, “Communist troops of North Vietnam … poured into Saigon today as a century of Western influence came to an end.” [from The Vietnam War, v.2, p.770 (Reference Collection DS 557.4 .V57 2001)]

As this anniversary approaches, I want to call your attention to the Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial, provided by the National Archives and Records Administration and Footnote.com. You can search for names on the wall and leave messages or images. Digitized war photos from the Archives are here also.

Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War cover

Carried to the Wall cover

More information is at the University Library. Browse the Reference Collection for the titles mentioned above (and titles near them). Do a Subject Keyword search in the Library Catalog for “vietnam war” for a huge list of related topics to choose. There’s even a book about the memorial itself: Carried to the wall: American memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (3rd-floor Main Collection DS559.83.W18 H33 1998).

There are of course also numerous articles in magazines, journals and newspapers…even articles that appeared during the war (search the New York Times Historical database). Ask a reference librarian for assistance if needed.

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Earth Day (April 22)

Published

on April 17, 2008

in around the world, campus connection and info.gov

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Every April 22nd we celebrate Earth Day. Information about UWW’s Earth Day conference on April 22nd and other campus events is online.

Earth image from NASA

The federal government’s earthday.gov web site has suggestions for things you can do at home, at work or in the classroom. The Environmental Protection Agency provides a history of Earth Day, which was proposed by Gaylord Nelson, then U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, and first celebrated in 1970 (the same year the EPA was created). The web site includes listings of major U.S. environmental legislation and links to articles and reports related to Earth Day history.

Library resources are available for more information:

Beyond Earth Day cover

A keyword search of the Library catalog for “earth day” finds some materials that could be used with children, as well as Gaylord Nelson’s 2002 book Beyond Earth Day: fulfilling the promise (3rd-floor Main Collection, GE195 .N45 2002). Some materials are government publications, including State of Wisconsin’s natural resources (Wisconsin documents NAT 1/2:S 73/2001).

Blessed Unrest cover

Catalog searches for other keywords find additional related materials. A search for environmentalism, for example, brings up the book Blessed unrest: how the largest movement in the world came into being and why no one saw it coming (3rd-floor Main Collection GE195 .H388 2007). Here’s a quote from it:

“Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act. It is a massive enterprise undertaken by ordinary citizens everywhere, not by self-appointed governments or oligarchies.”

Economics of Climate Change cover

A keyword search for “environmental policy” finds titles like The economics of climate change: the Stern Review (3rd-floor Main Collection QC981.8.C5 G738 2007) and First along the river: a brief history of the U.S. environmental movement (3rd-floor Main Collection, GE195 .K578 2007).

Articles are also available through Library databases such as EBSCOhost’s Academic Search Premier and WilsonWeb’s General Science Full Text. In the latter database, for example, a search for environmentalism finds “Where the Green is: examining the paradox of environmentally conscious consumption,” an article in Electronic Green Journal. In both of these databases results may be limited to scholarly/peer-reviewed articles if desired.

Finally, you can locate organizations and their websites by using the Associations Unlimited database. A search for earth day finds Earth Day Network, and many other organizations.

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United Nations data to go

Published

on April 9, 2008

in around the world, info.gov and tips for research

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An earlier blog entry mentioned several United Nations statistical databases…now the UN is trying to make data easier to find! Announcing UNdata, the one-stop search box for several UN statistical databases at once.

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FDA has new home page

Published

on April 3, 2008

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The Food and Drug Administration has redone its home page, and it looks good! They have made an effort to listen to their users and make the page understandable.

The navigation aids are at the top right: a search box and an a to z list. The top of the page has menus of information divided into the major categories of the FDA’s business: food, drugs, cosmetics, etc. They also have links to the most popular topics, such as Lasik surgery and animal cloning. Beneath the top half of the page are 3 columns:

Column 1 (left) has links to reference information (research, regulations and laws, and information about the FDA)
Column 2 (center) is all about news and information divided by the intended audience (consumers, industry, medical professionals, government officials)
Column 3 (right) is about services (report problems; check recalls, alerts or approvals; get RSS feeds, videos or podcasts)

Check it out! There’s news here we can all use, such as information about the recent recall of Honduran cantaloupes, and recently-issued warnings about certain dietary supplements.

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March: Women’s History Month

Published

on March 20, 2008

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March is Women’s History Month. If you’re interested in researching a topic related to women’s history, resources are plentiful.

National Women's History Month ribbon

The Library of Congress is providing information and resources online in celebration of women, using materials it has collected over the last 200 years. Resources include lesson plans; images of notable women; a selection of audio/video files, photographs, memoirs of women’s experiences at war from the Veterans History Project; and more.

The National Women’s History Project provides a history of National Women’s History Month.

The National Women’s History Museum has many online exhibits, including “First But Not the Last: Women Who Ran for President.” This exhibit highlights the campaigns of 12 women who announced their intentions to run for the Presidency, out of about 35 known to have done so over the years.

Your University Library has many resources about women’s history also, including reference works such as Encyclopedia of American women in business: from colonial times to the present, circulating books such as Inventing black women: African American women poets and self-representation, 1877-2000, and articles and other materials in various Library databases. Do a subject keyword search in the Library catalog for women history to see a sampling of subject topics on which materials are available, or ask a librarian for assistance in formulating a search to find materials on more specific topics, such as “women political candidates.”

An especially relevant database is Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000. This database includes documents, images, web links, a dictionary of social movements and organizations, a chronology of women’s history in the U.S., and teaching tools such as lesson plans. Learn, for example, about the Guerrilla Girls organization and their efforts to expose sexism in art and film, read excerpts from the hospital diary of Mary E. Shelton (a Civil War era nurse in Nashville), find speeches given at the Congress of Women (held as part of the the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago) such as “Study of Greek Art” and “Progress of Fifty Years,” or research the Hull House of Chicago (a settlement house that attracted many female residents who later became prominent and influential reformers at various levels).

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NIH-funded research & mandatory public access

Published

on March 13, 2008

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) ’s public access submission policy will be mandatory as of April 7, 2008.

The NIH Public Access Policy implements Division G, Title II, Section 218 of PL 110-161 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008). The law states:

The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.

Investigators whose research is funded by NIH in whole or in part must submit their final, peer-reviewed journal articles to PubMed Central, a free, online archive of full-text biomedical and life sciences journal articles. NIH has a list of journals that submit articles directly to PubMed Central on behalf of their authors.

More information is available online:

The NIH has a Public Access FAQ web page.
UW-Madison has an NIH Public Access Policy web page.

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“Buggy” Research (Entomology)

Published

on March 6, 2008

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The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service publishes Agricultural Research, a science magazine online since 1996. Selected articles have been collected in ARS Entomology Research Highlights 2000-2006 (available in the Library’s Federal documents collection at A 77.2/A:EN 8).

Now, let me disclose up front that I am not fond of bugs. But these articles and the work they discuss are fascinating even to me. And it isn’t quite all bugs either–plant and animal tidbits are mentioned too (like Annie the Jersey cow who has a bioengineered defense against mastitis).

ARS Entomology cover

One article is: “We don’t cotton to boll weevil ’round here anymore” (pp. 16-20)

Abstract: The boll weevil has plagued the U.S. cotton industry since it entered the U.S. from Mexico in 1892, costing more than $22 billion. Georgia’s 1915 cotton production (pre-weevil) was 2.8 million cotton bales, which dropped to 112,000 bales by 1983. The weevil has been considered by many experts as “second only to the Civil War as an agent of change in the South.” Enterprise, AL, even erected a Boll Weevil Monument in 1919! But thanks to research and hard work since the 1970’s, boll weevil eradication has almost become a reality. Georgia began its eradication program in 1987, and in 2000 its cotton production was up to 1.66 million bales. Very good news, because the cotton industry in Georgia provides 53,000 jobs and has an annual economic impact of more than $3 billion. How does eradication work? Read the article…

Africanized bee image
Other articles discuss a whole host of creepy crawlies (termites, honey bees, Africanized honey bees, fire ants, wheat aphids, mealybugs, whiteflies, red flour beetles, and many more), genetic engineering of crops to increase pest resistance, and the search for alternatives to DEET to provide a more pleasant insect-repelling experience. ant image

Check it out!

Interested in more information on these topics? Try searching the Library’s science databases.

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It’s YOUR web: Do you add content?

Published

on February 27, 2008