OK, so we had a little snow pelt us this week (my coworker says that stuff is called graupel), and the Library had to be evacuated because the fire alarms went off for a while on Tuesday. Would you prefer a volcanic ash cloud and the evacuation of entire communities? The Calbuco volcano erupted Wednesday, producing a huge ash cloud in southern Chile and prompting the evacuation of people living in the area.
Experiencing a real volcano erupting isn’t “fun” of course, but learning more about them is because they’re, well, fascinating. And Andersen Library can help! Search Research@UWW for books such as Volcanoes (3rd-floor OVERSIZE, QE522 .B7713 2002), Encyclopedia of volcanoes (2nd-floor Reference Collection, QE522 .E53 2000), Volcanoes: Global perspectives (3rd-floor Main Collection, QE522 .L63 2010), Volcanoes in human history: The far-reaching effects of major eruptions (3rd-floor Main Collection, QE522 .Z33 2002), the travel guide The volcano adventure guide (3rd-floor OVERSIZE, QE522 .L66 2005), and many, many others.
Volcanoes have inspired feature movies such as Dante’s Peak with Pierce Brosnan (available from another UW campus library–UWW students and staff may request it for free), Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones, Joe versus the Volcano with Tom Hanks (2nd-floor Browsing DVDs, Feature Films, at “call number” Joe), and 2012 with John Cusack (available from other UW campus libraries–UWW students and staff may request it for free). Items requested from other UWs take 3-5 weekdays to arrive. There also are fiction books, such as Harry Turtledove’s Supervolcano series (Things fall apart, no. 3 in the series, is in 2nd-floor Browsing Books at PS3570.U76 S89 2013).
The government provides information about real volcanic activity. The Global Volcanism Project, a product of cooperation between the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program, lists and maps volcanic activity all over the globe, updated every Wednesday.
We’ve barely scratched the surface! If you’re interested in finding more resources, please Ask a librarian for assistance.
Andersen Library is a federal and Wisconsin depository library with federal and state government documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in various formats (print, DVD/CD-ROM, online). Check out your government at Andersen Library!
