Tag Archive for 'databases'

Quasars, Black Holes & Galaxies talk Nov. 20

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Barbara
on November 18, 2009
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Dr. Marsha Wolf, UW-Madison Astronomy Dept. research scientist, will talk about “Quasars, Black Holes and Galaxies: Which Came First?” (UWW Physics Dept.’s 4th Fall 2009 Whitewater Observatory Public Lecture) on Fri., Nov. 20, 8pm, 141 Upham Hall. Public viewing at the Whitewater Observatory will follow, weather permitting. Also enjoy Upham’s lobby exhibit, “From Earth to the Universe.”

ABSTRACT:  As a result of research using telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, we know that most galaxies contain a supermassive black hole whose mass is nearly a constant fraction of its galaxy’s mass. Quasars are supermassive black holes (SBHs) consuming matter at a prodigious rate and giving off light & radio waves in proportion to the matter consumed. Most SBHs in nearby galaxies are not quasars, and quasars as a group are quite distant — implying that a SBH’s quasar phase happens early in its galaxy’s life. Some scientists theorize that SBHs, while growing in their quasar phase, control the rate of growth in mass of their galaxies. If true, which came first: the galaxy feeding the SBH, or the supermassive black hole controlling the growth of the host galaxy?

Chasing Hubbles Shadow coverRelated materials are available in Andersen Library! For example, a search of the HALCat library catalog would find titles such as Chasing Hubble’s Shadows (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB500.262 .K36 2006) and Bright galaxies, dark matters (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB857 .R83 1997). Searching the Library’s article databases, such as the Institute of Physics electronic journals, would find articles such as “Co-Evolution of Supermassive Black Hole and Host Galaxy From z ~ 1 TO z = 0” (The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 696, pp. 1051-1062, doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/696/1/1051).

The European Space Agency’s web pages devoted to the Hubble Space Telescope include the page “Black holes, quasars, and active galaxies.” You also can learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope and its accomplishments and images from NASA’s web site.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

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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!

Play the CNN Challenge

Published
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Barbara
on November 13, 2009
in around the world
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Do you keep up with news from around the country and the world, or is your head stuck in the Whitewater sand? There’s a lot going on! Take the CNN Challenge and see what you know. Some questions test knowledge of old news (aka history).
CNN Challenge screenshot

Feeling like you need to learn more? There are daily newspapers to read in Andersen Library (see 2nd-floor newspaper rack for current issues), web sites of news organizations, and of course, news on radio and TV. For older topics, Andersen Library has books, videos and government publications that can be found by searching the HALCat library catalog, and articles in newspapers and magazines can be found by searching article databases such as the ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2006).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

Researching dialects?

Published
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Barbara
on November 12, 2009
in tips for research
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Where can you find scholarly/peer-reviewed articles on dialects?

Try these article databases:

American History Videos & the 1918 Influenza

Published
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Barbara
on October 22, 2009
in online @ the library
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Through November 15th we have access to Alexander Street Press’s “American History in Video” collection, which contains more than 1500 titles (500 hours) of newsreels and documentaries from such sources as PBS.

Screenshot of Influenza 1918 video Since seasonal and H1N1 flu references are everywhere this fall, of course I searched for something about flu. I was not disappointed.

See the “Influenza 1918” episode of the PBS American Experience series (1998).

Of course, you can search for other topics that interest you. You can search for and view Universal newsreels from particular dates. For example, for October 22nd there are narrated newsreels of the opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum in New York City (1959) and the 1964 Presidential candidates Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Baines Johnson. You can find videos on Amelia Earhart and “Two Days in October” that juxtaposes a day (Oct. 17, 1967) in the Vietnam War and a day (Oct. 18, 1967) at a non-violent protest in Madison, WI.

Use it while you can!

John F. Kennedy & Warren Commission

Published
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Barbara
on September 24, 2009
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On Sept. 24, 1964, the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (aka the Warren Commission) delivered its report on John F. Kennedy’s assassination to President Lyndon B. Johnson. President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX, on November 22, 1963. You may be aware that there was a lot of controversy about this assassination. Who dunnit? Was it really just “lone gunman” Lee Harvey Oswald, as the Warren Commission concluded? There have been other theories over time, some pointing to conflicting details within the Commission’s own report.

Killing of a President coverIf you are interested in this bit of history, Andersen Library has materials that you could use! You can read the Warren Commission report and supporting volumes of evidence (2nd-floor Federal Documents Collection, PR 36.8:R 29 or 3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .A55 1964a). There also are many books about the assassination and the investigation that can be identified by searching the HALCat Andersen Library Catalog, Conpsiracy title coversuch as Rush to judgment: A critique of the Warren Commission’s inquiry into the murders of President John F. Kennedy, Officer J. D. Tippitt, and Lee Harvey Oswald (3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .L3), The weight of the evidence; the Warren report and its critics (3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .A68), The killing of a president: the complete photographic record of the JFK Assassination, the conspiracy and the cover-up (3rd-floor Main Collection, E842.9 .G76 1993), and Conspiracy in Camelot: The complete history of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (NetLibrary online book).

There also are many articles in journals, magazines and newspapers that could be found using the Library’s article databases. For example, searching America: History and Life would find articles including “Top ten myths of the Kennedy assassination” (American History, 2003, v.38, no.5, pp58+).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

Government Printing Office logo

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!

September Feature: Wow – new databases

Published
by
Carol
on September 2, 2009
in featured resource and online @ the library
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Using some shopping savvy, Andersen Library has added a number of new databases despite the shaky global economy and the Library’s flat budget.

EBSCO Databases

Back in the summer, Kyle blogged about the new EBSCO databases available through the Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction’s Badgerlink site. Not only do we have those 12 new databases, but we’ve added a few of our own. With the money we saved when Badgerlink picked up the tab for some databases we already paid for, we were able to add 8 additional databases:

eBooks

In addition to article databases, we also added more ebook collections. Last winter, we started a subscription to Literature Criticism Online. Then a deal with the CIC Consortium (Big Ten schools, plus U of Chicago) extended access to the archives of many of the Gale literature criticism series to the other UW campuses. This deal gave us more than $100,000 in literature criticism without cost to UW-W (thanks, UW Madison!). So try out some of these ebook subscriptions:

Literature Criticism Online - Gale

Publishing Opportunities

For those looking to publish articles in the fields of business and economics, the Cabell’s directories of publishing opportunities in Accounting, Economics & Finance, Management, and Marketing will help you find the best places to publish your work. The College of Business and Economics has picked up the tab for several of these directories.

Africa’s challenges in articles

Published
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Barbara
on August 6, 2009
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Image of AfricaAre you interested in learning more about Africa and its challenges? Andersen Library has resources you can use.

The  Journal of International Affairs Spring/Summer 2009 issue’s theme is “Africa in the 21st Century” (available in Andersen Library’s 1st-floor Periodicals Collection current issues & online through the Academic Search Premier database). Articles include: “Obama and Africa,” “U.S. Foreign Assistance to Africa,” “The United States and China Court the Continent,” “Maritime Piracy in East Africa,” “The African Union,” “Governance and Leadership in Africa,” “Zimbabwe’s Cyber-Guerrilla Warfare,” and more.

There also are many journals devoted to Africa, such as African Journal of International Affairs, Africa Today, African Studies Quarterly, and many others. To identify other journals that are specifically about Africa, try searching the Journal Holdings List for africa.

Africa in World Politics coverThere are also books: Search the Library Catalog to find titles such as the 2009 book Africa in world politics: Reforming political order (3rd-floor Main Collection, DT30.5 .A3544 2009).

Please ask a librarian for help with finding resources.

Eastman & color for everyone

Published
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Barbara
on July 30, 2009
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On July 30, 1928, George Eastman demonstrated his “kodacolor” process that allowed anyone to make color motion picture films. He was 74 at that time and had never even finished high school. But his inventions, such as roll film, brought photography to the masses. I even remember my parents having a cheap Brownie camera. One wonders what he would have done with the technologies we have now.

It was front-page news in the New York Times of July 31, 1928 – you can read it by searching for “home movies in colors” in the ProQuest Historical Newspapers – The New York Times database.

There is more relevant material in Andersen Library’s collections; please ask a librarian for assistance.

Cover of Reader's Companion titleCover of They made America title For example, the Library Catalog lists books with entries for Eastman such as The Reader’s companion to American history (2nd-floor Reference Collection, E174 .R43 1991) and They made America: From the steam engine to the search engine: Two centuries of innovators (3rd-floor Main Oversize Collection, T39 .E83 2004).

Dillinger d. July 22, 1934

Published
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Barbara
on July 22, 2009
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John Dillinger was killed as he left Chicago’s Biograph Theatre after attending the gangster film Manhattan Melodrama on this date (July 22nd) in 1934.

You may have seen the currently-playing film Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp (I did!), which was partially filmed in Wisconsin. It’s based on the book Public enemies: America’s greatest crime wave and the birth of the FBI, 1933–34. The book is available to UWW students and staff from other UW campus libraries by using the free Universal Borrowing service (requested materials arrive in 2-4 weekdays). Other titles, such as Dillinger: The untold story, are also available.

Madison newspaper image day after Dillinger's deathMore information is available from Library article databases and reference materials, such as full-text newspaper databases including NewspaperARCHIVE or ProQuest Historical Newspapers – The New York Times.

Other article databases provide access to articles such as Public enemies keystone cops (American History, Aug. 2009, vol. 44:no. 3, pp. 34-39).

You can also read a 20-page entry (with several photos) on Dillinger in the 2nd-floor Reference Collection title Bloodletters and badmen (Ref HV 6785 .N37).

FBI book coverAnd check out The FBI: A Centennial History, 1908-2008 which details Dillinger and other gangsters as well as other intriguing cases encountered by the FBI in its history. It’s in our 2nd-floor Federal Government Documents collection (call number J 1.14/2:C 33/3) and available online at http://fbi.gov/book.htm. Dillinger is on the cover. Can you spot him?

Please ask a librarian for assistance in finding materials.

Government Printing Office logo

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!

Moon landing’s 40th anniversary

Published
by
Barbara
on July 20, 2009
in around the library and info.gov
. 1 Comment

“Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969.” – NASA’s “Apollo 40th Anniversary” web pages (Didn’t see it? You can watch NASA’s videos of the 1969 event).

Moon Landing coverAndersen Library has many related materials for children and adults. Search the library catalog for children’s materials such as the pop-up book Moon landing (2nd-floor Curriculum Collection, Oversize Juvenile Nonfiction, 629.45 Pla) and Buzz Aldrin’s autobiography Reaching for the moon (2nd-floor Curriculum Collection, Oversize Easy Book, E Ald). Carrying the Fire coverAdults may be interested in items such as the 29-minute NASA video The Eagle has landed (2nd-floor Browsing VHS, TL799 .M6 E2x), Michael Collins‘ autobiography Carrying the fire: An astronaut’s journeys (3rd-floor Main Collection, TL789.85 .C64 A33 1974), or The moonlandings: An eyewitness account (3rd-floor Main Collection, TL789.8.U6 A5844 2003).

New York Times newspaper image of moon landing articleThere also are many articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers about Apollo 11, and spaceflight in general. For example, read articles from the New York Times using the ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times database (pictured at right is part of the front page from July 21, 1969).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.

Government Printing Office logo

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!