Monthly Archive for July, 2008

It’s No One You Know, but read it anyway

Published
by
Ronna
on July 30, 2008
in summer reading
. 0 Comments

No One You Know

No One You Know
by Michelle Richmond
MCN Ric
McNaughton Collection, 2nd floor

First, let me say, I liked this book. But, I thought it moved a little slow. And the ending was, well, let’s say it’s not what I expected.

Unlike my last three reviews, this title is not from a series. I thought you might like a break from series fiction, since a colleague told me that thanks to me, she now has a very long list of books to read! Michelle Richmond’s No One You Know is a murder mystery, a family drama, and a tale of growing up, all rolled into one. And it is a standalone title.

Ellie Enderlin’s older sister, Lila, a math genius in the doctoral program at Stanford University, was murdered when Ellie was in college. A best-selling true crime book pointed the finger at one man. There was no real proof, but everyone thought he did it. Ellie’s family struggled to get through the tragedy, and the aftershocks of the murder and the bestseller effect the way Ellie ultimately lives her life.

Ellie finally decides to find out what really happened, and along the way she comes to terms with who she is and why she became the person she did. As an interesting twist, because of who Lila was, all throughout the book are stories of mathematical personas, theorems, and unsolvable problems. Not being a math genius myself, I can’t tell you how much of that is fiction and how much is truth. But I like to think I am a little smarter after reading the book.

Take a look at No One You Know. You might learn something (sorry about that, I know it’s summer), but it’s also a good story. Available in the University Library’s McNaughton Collection under the call number RIC.

New Stuff Tuesday – July 29

Published
by
kyle
on July 29, 2008
in new stuff tuesdays
. 1 Comment

Thanking the Monkey

Thanking the Monkey:
Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals
HV4708 .D39 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor

The title of this week’s featured stuff sort of jumped out at me while I was browsing the shelves to find the topic for NST. It’s not everyday that you think about thanking the monkey.

But that’s just what animal rights activist Dawn thinks we should do. Jam-packed with information about every aspect of the animal’s impact on society, the book exposes the reader to all forms of animal cruelty without the sermon-like tone. In addition its light-hearted delivery of serious matters, comics from Bizarro and others make you laugh and think at the same time. As if the information weren’t enough, it also features well-known individuals showing their support for animal rights. In the end, the author allows you to draw your own conclusions, although she does make a pretty convincing case for the vegans and the vegetarians.

And for the Wisconsinites, she does tackle the everyone’s favorite topic – California and their ‘happy cows.’ That’s right – she says they’re not happy.

Universal Borrowing 7/28-8/17

Published
by
Barbara
on July 28, 2008
in around the library
. 0 Comments

Universal Borrowing will be unavailable July 28-August 17 while UW System libraries undergo a software upgrade.

You can still get materials from other UW libraries:

During this period please use BadgerCat (WI) and limit your search to University of Wisconsin Libraries. Initiate an Interlibrary loan by clicking on the “ILLiad request” link. Materials should arrive within 2-5 days.

Summer’s a good time to…dance!

Published
by
Barbara
on July 24, 2008
in around the library
. 1 Comment

Dancing couple imageLearn to dance! Sure, why not? There’s more to summer than school!
The University Library has videos that can help.

Latin dancing for beginners (1st-floor Media Center Video Collection, GV1751 .L44 1997) covers all the good stuff (five basic steps for meringue, paso doble, tango, bolero and mambo with tips on leading and following) in 45 minutes!

If you fall in love with one dance more than the others, search for just that dance in the Library Catalog, e.g., search for “tango dance?” and videorecording and you’ll get a list of videos, most of which are all about tango, including one simply called Tango (1st-floor Media Center Video Collection, GV1796.T3 T3 1997).

There are also videos on YouTube, including the one below (lesson no. 1 of 20):YouTube Preview Image

Economy Got You Down?

Published
by
kyle
on July 23, 2008
in around the world
. 1 Comment

I hate to sound like a downer, but with all of the news reports about the lackluster economy, it’s hard not to think about the difficult times upon us. On the other hand, Consumerist shared a reader’s comments about seven ways your public library can help you during a bad economy – and it’s not just about summer reading. As a library of a public university, we serve not only the faculty, staff and students of UW-Whitewater, but also community members from Whitewater and the surrounding area.

Of course, we’re not the only library in town. You can also walk about six blocks east of the University Library to the Irvin L. Young Public Library on Center Street.

New Stuff Tuesday – July 15

Published
by
kyle
on July 15, 2008
in new stuff tuesdays
. 2 Comments

The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture:
A Love Story For Your Life
QA76.2 .P38 L3 2008 DVD
Center Video Collection, 1st floor

This week’s featured item came highly recommended from Char… almost a month ago. She said that we had just gotten it in and that I should feature it on the blog. Well, now it is now in my possession after being checked out right away. And instead of writing anything, I’ll let the focus of the video, Professor Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University, speak for himself.

For the background to Pausch’s amazing story, check out the ABC News website. In addition to the video, we also have the book by the same title in the McNaugton Collection – 2nd floor (call number MCN Pau).

YouTube Preview Image

International Year of the Potato

Published
by
Barbara
on July 11, 2008
in around the world, info.gov and tips for research
. 2 Comments

potatoesDid you know that 2008 is the International Year of the Potato? Yup, thank the United Nations and eat a spud today.

Why?!

The International Year of the Potato (IYP) “will raise awareness of the importance of the potato – and of agriculture in general – in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment. ”

This seems to be asking a lot of the humble potato, but promoting its production and consumption is a step toward fulfilling the UN’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 (Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger), while ensuring environmental stability (MDG7). For an explanation of the potato’s importance to these goals (nutritional benefits & sustainability as a crop), statistics, etc., see Buried treasure (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) and the IYP official web site:

“The potato is already an integral part of the global food system. It is the world’s number one non-grain food commodity, with production reaching a record 320 million tonnes in 2007. Potato consumption is expanding strongly in developing countries, which now account for more than half of the global harvest and where the potato’s ease of cultivation and high energy content have made it a valuable cash crop for millions of farmers.

At the same time, the potato – unlike major cereals – is not a globally traded commodity. Only a fraction of total production enters foreign trade, and potato prices are determined usually by local production costs, not the vagaries of international markets. It is, therefore, a highly recommended food security crop that can help low-income farmers and vulnerable consumers ride out current turmoil in world food supply and demand.“

The University Library has resources for more info, maybe for a research paper.

  • Search the Library Catalog for potato? and find titles such as Seeds for the future: the impact of genetically modified crops on the environment (3rd-floor Main Collection, SB123.57 .T494 2007) that discusses genetic engineering to improve the virus resistance of potatoes. Search for “food supply” to get books and government documents such as World hunger (Main Collection HC79.F3 W65 2007)
  • Search Library databases such as Academic Search Premier to find articles such as “Spud we like” in The Economist (March 1st, 2008 issue), which reports on the economic importance of the potato as a food crop (providing more calories, more quickly, while using less land and in a wider range of climates than any other plant), and “Global food security under climate change” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 12/11/2007, v.104 ,no.50).
  • You can also look for more on the Millennium Development Goals, finding such sources as the December 2007 issue of UN Chronicle (also available in the Library’s 1st-floor current periodicals collection) “The MDGs: Are we on track?”
  • Websites may be helpful also, such as UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s World Food Summit, 1996, which called for cutting the number of the world’s undernourished people in half by 2015. FAO also has web pages monitoring progress toward this hunger reduction goal as well as the MDGs, and a 2006 report, The state of food insecurity in the world.

potatoes

You’ll want to read: I Shall Not Want

Published
by
Ronna
on July 9, 2008
in summer reading
. 0 Comments

I Shall Not Want

I Shall Not Want
by Julia Spencer-Fleming
MCN Spe
McNaughton Collection, 2nd floor

In case you’re wondering if I ever read anything other than series fiction, the answer is yes. In fact, I intended to review a non-series title in this week’s post. But, then I found the latest from Julia Spencer-Fleming, I Shall Not Want, and I just had to find out the latest goings-on in Millers Kill, New York. Did the Reverend Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, finally get together with Russ Van Alstyne, the town’s chief of police? What kind of crime would they be solving this time? Another murder? How many murders can a small town like Millers Kill have, anyway?

Apparently a lot, because once again someone’s been killed and once again, Russ and Clare are on the case. Illegal immigration, family violence, and a “junkyard dog vicious” gang are all part of I Shall Not Want. It is a thrilling read. And those of you who’ve read the previous book in the series, All Mortal Flesh, know that Russ is now available for romance with Clare. Will their smoldering attraction finally ignite?

I highly recommend starting at the beginning of this series and reading each book in order. But, if you don’t want to do that, at least read All Mortal Flesh first, because the ending of that book plays a huge role in I Shall Not Want. Both books are available in the University Library’s McNaughton Collection under the call number SPE. All other titles in the series are available at the Whitewater Public Library.

New Stuff Tuesday – July 8

Published
by
kyle
on July 8, 2008
in new stuff tuesdays
. 0 Comments

Healthcare Tsunami

Healthcare Tsunami:
The Wave of Consumerism That Will Change US Business
by Dean Halverson & Wayne Glowac
RA410.53 .H35 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor

The skyrocketing cost of oil isn’t the only concern of the minds of many Americans. Access to adequate and affordable health care for families and individuals is also a hot topic these days and the theme of this week’s featured book.

The healthcare industry is a complex animal, with the many hands in the pot. You’ve got the providers, insurance companies, government regulators, legislators and of course, the consumers. Halverson and Glowac, experts in the areas of market research and residents of Wisconsin, argue that the industry in for a wave of change – and not just any wave, a tsunami. As they explain in the introduction, the term tsunami generally pertains to an ocean wave caused by underwater earthquake or volcano. After seeing the aftereffects of the tsunamis in Asia, apply it to the context of business and it gets messy. They detail the past and present of healthcare and what the future holds. The question is, “Who will survive the tsunami?” (no pun intended) Check out the authors’ website for the book for more information.

YouTube, Privacy, & Copyright

Published
by
Barbara
on July 7, 2008
in around the world
. 1 Comment

embedded video imageEver post a video to YouTube? Ever embed a YouTube video in your blog or webpage? Have you ever viewed a YouTube video that may have come from a movie or television show protected under copyright?

Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, has been pursuing a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube and its parent, Google, since March 2007. An issue is whether YouTube is protected by the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

On July 1st 2008, Judge Louis Stanton (U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York) ordered Google to release data including copies of all videos that were once available for public viewing on YouTube.com but later removed and the “logging” database that contains information about each instance when a video is watched, either through YouTube or through embedding on another site. The logging database includes data such as usernames of YouTube viewers and users’ computer IP addresses.

UWW students and staff can read this latest decision in the legal research database LexisNexis Academic (search for 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50614).

Further information can be found in magazine, law review, and newspaper articles. For example, search ProQuest Newsstand Complete to find related New York Times articles such as “Google Told To Turn Over User Data Of YouTube” in the (July 4th, p.C1) and “Google Takes Step on Video Copyrights” (Oct 16, 2007, p.C7).