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?

Related 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.

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!

LECTURE ABSTRACT:  In October 1609, Galileo Galilei began observing astronomical objects. Over the next several years he carefully recorded observations of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Milky Way and the Sun. In so doing, he laid the groundwork for the eventual acceptance  of a Sun-centered solar system. This lecture will cover what observations Galileo attempted, what he found in them and what he missed, either accidentally or because he felt he did not have sufficient evidence to announce a discovery.

Andersen Library has materials on Galileo if you are interested in learning more about him. Search HALCat, the Library catalog, to find titles such as Galileo, courtier: The practice of science in the culture of absolutism (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB36.G2 B54 1993).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

“Alma Guillermoprieto is considered an authority on the cultural and political life of Mexico and South America, especially as they relate to the United States. For the last thirty years, she has traced the history of Latin America incorporating her personal experiences.” She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, won the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting in 2000, and she is a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Three of her books are available in Andersen Library:

• Looking for history: Dispatches from Latin America, 2001 (3rd-floor Main Collection, F1414.2 .G773 2002)
• The heart that bleeds: Latin America now, 1994 (3rd-floor Main Collection, F1414.2 .G77 1994), and
• Dancing with Cuba: A memoir of the revolution, 2004 (3rd-floor Main Collection, F1765.3 .G85 2004).

If Andersen Library’s copies are checked out, UWW students and staff may borrow titles from other UW libraries by using the free Universal Borrowing service. Requested titles arrive in 2-4 weekdays.

Alma Guillermoprieto also writes frequently for publications such as the New Yorker and National Geographic. Search article databases such as Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) for au Guillermoprieto to find her articles, including “Days of the dead” (New Yorker, 11/10/2008, pp. 44-51) on the violence of the illegal drug trade in Mexico and its social repercussions.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

• Mon., Oct. 5, 6:45 pm: The “Day of Dialogue” program will include stories from students, faculty & staff about alcohol and other drug experiences. Thomas Farley, brother of the late comedian Chris Farley, will speak at 7 pm about his brother’s struggles with addiction. (Hamilton Center, James R. Connor University Center)
• Tues., Oct. 6, 6:30 pm: Former UW-Whitewater prof. Dan Sable’s video presentation will chronicle his wife’s battle with alcoholism. Sable lost both his wife and son to alcohol-related circumstances. (Room 1303, Hyland Hall)
• Wed., Oct. 7, 8 pm: Party without drinking–root beer pong, simulated sobriety testing through UW-Whitewater Police Services, a pouring station to illustrate the amount of alcohol in one serving, and musical guest De La Buena. (Down Under, James R. Connor University Center)

Interested in research about alcoholism? Andersen Library has materials. Searching HALCat (Andersen Library’s catalog) could find titles on various aspects of alcohol and alcoholism, such as College drinking: reframing a social problem (3rd-floor Main Collection, HV5135 .D69 2009) which explores why students binge drink, what are links to campus crime and sexual assault, and what are effective prevention programs and countermeasures. Another title that could be found is Secondary effects of heavy drinking on campus, an online government publication from the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention. A search of the Library’s article databases will find many articles as well.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

For more about the Library’s Banned Books Week events, see our previous post.

• Mon., Sept. 28 @4pm: Concert of Latino music by Felipe Rodriguez and Jesus “Chuy” Negrete
• Wed., Sept. 30 @6:30 pm: Film, “A Class Apart”
• Mon., Oct. 5 @4 pm: Maria Josefa Canino (professor emerita at Rutgers and founder of its Department of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caribbean Studies) speaks on “Harnessing the Power of Educational Institutions to Create Positive Social Change.”

If you are interested in related materials, check out Andersen Library! For example, a search of HALCat, Andersen Library’s catalog, will find CDs such as Somos boricuas/We are Puerto Rican (Browsing CDs, 2nd floor, Call Number: M1681.P6 P57 1996) and books such as Improving schools for Latinos: Creating better learning environments (Main Collection, 3rd Floor, Call Number: LC2670.3 .V35 2006.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

• Sept. 14: Prospects for Economic Revitalization in Urban and Underserved Communities (Richard McGregory, Academic Support Services)
• Sept. 21: What Happened to the Greatest Companies on Earth? (Nikki Mandell, History Dept.)
• Sept. 28: Why Prices are Good, Trade is the Same as Technology, and Other Fun Things in Economics (David Welsch, Economics Dept.)
• Oct. 5: The Spillover Benefit of Student Housing on Property Values and Tax Revenues in Whitewater (Russ Kashian, Economics Dept.)
• Oct. 12: Commercial Bank Reform in China (Nancy Tao, Economics Dept.)
• Oct. 19: What’s New in Monetary Policy: Moving Into a New Universe (Stuart Glosser, Economics Dept.)
• Oct. 26: How Politics Drives Economic Policy Making (Susan Johnson, Political Science Dept.)
• Nov. 2: The Stimulus Package, Bailouts, and How They Relate to Globalization (John Dominguez, Economics Dept.)
• Nov. 9: The Local Economic Impact of the Stimulus Package (Bud Gayhart, Business Outreach Services, College of Business & Economics)
• Nov. 16: An Armchair Economist’s Dusty Crystal Ball: Seeing the Economic Future and Other Reckless Prognostications (Jeff Heinrich, Economics Dept.)

Videos and podcasts of previous lecture series are available:
Fall 2007 “Big Ideas at UW-Whitewater”
Spring 2008 “Our natural Wonders”
Fall 2008 “Election 2008″
Spring 2009 “My Favorite Lecture”

And if you are interested in doing research on these topics, Andersen Library has materials! Books that can be identified through HALCat (Harold Andersen Library catalog) and articles found in the article databases. Please ask a librarian for assistance.

UWW’s Andersen Library has some of his books, including Ringlingville USA: The stupendous story of seven siblings and their stunning circus success (3rd-floor Main Collection, GV1821.R5 A66 2005) and Cheese: The making of a Wisconsin tradition (3rd-floor Main Collection, SF274.U6 A66 1998).

UWW students and staff also can get Apps’ titles from other UW libraries by using the free Universal Borrowing service, which brings requested materials here in 2-4 weekdays. Among the titles available are
Living a country year: Wit and wisdom from the good old days and Every farm tells a story: A tale of family farm values .

Please ask a librarian if you would like assistance with finding and requesting materials.

Anna Balzer is a Jewish-American graduate of Columbia University, a Fulbright scholar, granddaughter of Holocaust refugees and an award-winning lecturer, author and activist for Palestinian rights who has appeared on television and at over 300 universities, schools, churches, mosques and synagogues around the world. She recently traveled through Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Her “Anna’s Eyewitness Reports from Palestine” blog has more info, photos, and sample pages from her book, Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories. UWW students and staff may request the book from other UW libraries via the free Universal Borrowing service.

Andersen Library has materials on Palestine. Search the HalCat library catalog to find titles such as The case for Palestine: an international law perspective (3rd-floor Main Collection, DS119.7 .Q7219 2005) and Culture and customs of the Palestinians (3rd-floor Main Collection, GN635.P19 F37 2004).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

It’s hard to believe, but some practices you think are merely historical, like piracy, still exist today. The forward to Skinner’s 2008 book, A Crime So Monstrous, states

Of course, we all know what slavery is. We’ve read about it in countless history books, seen it in documentaries and movies. Slavery is awful. Slavery is inhuman. Slavery is dead.

But that last point isn’t true. In fact, slavery is very much alive on every continent. In fact, as Ben Skinner points out, there are more slaves in the world today than ever before…

Andersen Library does not own a copy of Skinner’s book, but UW-W students and staff may borrow it from other UW campus libraries using the free Universal Borrowing service. Requested items arrive in 2-4 weekdays. A search of the Library Catalog for keywords such as slavery or “human trafficking” will find other titles available locally, such as The war on human trafficking: U.S. policy assessed (3rd-floor Main Collection HQ125.U6 D47 2008).