Did you know that you can print remotely from your laptop to any of the General Access lab printers (including the printers in Andersen Library)?
The process is quick and easy to install the necessary software on your computer. Follow the instructions for Windows and Mac laptops and start printing!
Peace, Education and Activism through Creative Engagement (P.E.A.C.E.), a UWW student organization, will show the documentary “Shadows of Liberty” on Thurs., Oct. 16th at 5:30pm in UC Summers Auditorium. This 90-minute award-winning documentary examines the impact of corporate ownership on the U.S. media and freedom of the press.
You can learn more about the documentary from reviews or press releases, e.g., “KCETLink Premieres ‘Shadows of Liberty,’ A Revealing Film Exploring America’s Corporate Controlled Media” (PR Newswire US, 03/20/2013) or “Shadows of Liberty” (Library Journal, 2013, vol.138:no.16, p.52).
You also can learn more about the topic by looking at Library resources, e.g., articles like “Markets, ownership, and the quality of campaign news coverage” (Journal of Politics, 2008, vol.70:no.4, pp.1193-1202), “Interfering owners or meddling advertisers: How network television news correspondents feel about ownership and advertiser influence on news stories” (Journal of Media Economics, 2003, vol.16:no.3, pp.175-188), and “Corporate ownership and news bias: Newspaper coverage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act” (Journal of Politics, 2000, vol.62:no.2, pp.369-386). Other relevant Library resources include the streaming video “Media manipulation: New game for big business” (1998, available via Films on Demand), book chapters such as “Media ownership, concentration, and control: The evolution of debate” (In The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications, 2011, Wiley-Blackwell, chapter 7, pp.140-168), and books like “The handbook of mass media ethics” (Main Collection, 3rd Floor, P94 .H355 2009), which includes a chapter called “Media ownership in a corporate age.”
Can’t attend the free event? UWW students and staff may borrow the DVD of Shadows of Liberty from another UW campus library by using the free universal borrowing service. Requested items arrive in 2-5 weekdays.
Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.
The Passenger Pigeon
by Errol Fuller
QL696 .C6 F8 2015
New Arrivals, 2nd floor
The Passenger Pigeon is one of my favorite species, even though it’s been extinct for exactly 100 years. Sadly, the last bird died in a Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
What is so tragic and fascinating about the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon is that it was likely the most plentiful bird species in the world in its heydey (p. 9). The sheer size of their migrating flocks made the birds’ co-habitation with humans problematic. They migrated in massive flocks, estimated in the 19th Century at 2-3 billion birds, in search of food. You can imagine what they left behind — or didn’t — when they moved on. But they were rarely allowed to move on undisturbed as you will learn from these pages.
The author’s goal is simply to celebrate the existence of the species. Though not an academic treatise, I learned a number of new things about Ectopistes Migratorius from this nicely-crafted volume, which features lovely images documenting the birds’ natural history and interaction with humans. The baby bird photos are particularly endearing.
UW-Whitewater professors and book authors, Erin Celello and Ann Garvin will speak at Andersen Library on Monday, Oct. 13 from 3:30 – 4:30pm with book signing to follow. Celello teaches in the Languages and Literatures Department and Garvin teaches courses related to Health, Nutrition, Stress Management, and Research Methods, with a focus on media literacy.
During the presentation you will have a chance to hear the authors talk about their books, the process of writing, and ask any questions you may have. Books will be available for sale on site through collaboration from the campus book store, or bring your own copy!
The library has copies of Garvin’s “The Dog Days” and Celello’s “Learning to Stay” available for check-out. Visit the display case in the library lobby for these and a fewother books by UW-W faculty.
This is an excellent opportunity to meet local authors and get insight into what it takes to get published.
Last week we talked about opportunity cost, or the cost of choosing to do or buy one thing rather than another. Think back on some of the big decisions you’ve made, such as choosing a college. When you made that decision, whether you were aware of it or not, you probably conducted a cost-benefit analysis. While that may sound incredibly formal, you’re basically just comparing the positives and the negatives of each option. For example, one of the schools you were considering may have had a 90% job placement rate. However, the cost of tuition was $40,000. For some, that cost may outweigh the benefit of a high job placement rate. Comparing benefits and costs helps you make well-informed decisions.
One of the costs you should consider is the opportunity cost of not choosing an alternative. For example, in addition to the cost of tuition, consider the opportunity cost incurred by choosing not to go directly to work after high school. Perhaps you could be making $20,000 right now rather than the small amount you might make as a student worker. That’s a big lost cost and should be factored into your cost-benefit analysis.
The government uses cost-benefit analyses to assist in making decisions regarding policies. At this level, a cost-benefit analysis is not as simple as it is when utilized by you or I. The decision-makers have to consider things such as consumer surplus (the difference between what a consumer would be willing to pay and what they actually pay) and inflation.
For examples of how cost-benefit analysis is used in politics, check out some of these books available at Andersen Library:
For October, the book sale is highlighting sets of books from 2-20 volumes. The cost ranges from $1 for 2-3 volumes to $5 for 7 or more volumes. A variety of topics are included, from botany, history, and literature to general encyclopedias, and more.
Come and peruse! You might just find something that you want for your book shelves.
Do you have questions about Excel, Access, SPSS, or other software? Want to learn the finer points of Photoshop or digital animation?
UW-Whitewater has a subscription to Lynda.com, a clearinghouse of professional video tutorials for all types of software. Lynda.com has a great user interface that lets you easily browse the available courses or search for a short video clip to answer a quick question about a particular piece of software.
Teach yourself something new!
This is the most interesting book written in recent times illustrating how big data is transforming our daily lives. Computing power has increased so rapidly in the past decade that the capacity to process and analyze data has grown exponentially. The examples outlined in this book are thought provoking. Examples such as the predicting flu outbreaks based on analyzing Google search results and predicting water main breaks. This book illustrates how powerful computers have become in recent years by drawing on examples of its usage in all facets of the world. Beyond where we have come from, the book also does a great job of looking forward to where big data is heading and provides warning on how to use data ethically and effectively. For anyone interested in where the future of computing is heading, this is the book for you.
Two weeks ago we talked about supply and demand. Whenever you buy something (playing a role in demand), you give up the opportunity to buy something else. Alternatively, whenever you decide to do something with your time (such as watch a movie), you forgo the opportunity to do something else (such as finish your homework). Whether the alternative option has a monetary value or not, there is a cost to not choosing that option. This is referred to as opportunity cost.
Here’s an example from Investopedia: “The opportunity cost of going to college is the money you would have earned if you worked instead. On the one hand, you lose four years of salary while getting your degree; on the other hand, you hope to earn more during your career, thanks to your education, to offset the lost wages.”
You have to think about which option may give you the greatest amount of benefit in the long-term. If you hadn’t gone to college, maybe you could be making $20,000 a year right now rather than spending almost that much on tuition. However, when you leave college you may find a job that pays you $40,000 a year. That’s twice as much as you would be making if you had not gone to college! Whenever you choose to purchase (or not purchase) something, you are making a choice that has an effect on the economy.
If you’re still feeling unsure about what opportunity cost is, check out this podcast from the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Economic Lowdown site. Or try playing the Game of Life, available in Andersen Library’s Teaching Tools Collection on the main floor.
Adam Braun, New York Times bestselling author and founder/CEO of Pencils of Promise, will talk about “The promise of a pencil: How an ordinary person can create extraordinary change” on Mon., Oct. 6, at 7pm in the Young Auditorium. It’s the first Fall 2014 Contemporary Issues Lecture!
Pencils of Promise was founded in 2008, and funds programs including building schools, training teachers, and providing secondary school scholarships to students in several countries, to fulfill its mission of every child having access to quality education. You can watch Braun’s Google Zeitgeist talk online from the organization’s “Founder’s Story” web page. You also can read “Adam Braun: How he started Pencils of Promise” from Forbes.com or find articles in Library databases including “Children and Youth: Child Beggar Who Asked for Pencil Inspires Man to Build 206 Schools” (Africa News, May 12, 2014, Retrieved from LexisNexis Academic).
Charity Navigator has not yet rated Pencils of Promise, because it has not filed seven years’ worth of IRS form 990 (“Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax”), however, at the site you can create a free account and read the 990s filed for several years (2008-2012).
