Taco USA

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Barbara

Gustavo Arellano will talk about “Taco USA” at 7pm on Mon, Oct 28 (Young Auditorium). This is the second Fall 2013 Contemporary Issues Lecture.

Arellano, author of Orange County: A personal history; ¡Ask a Mexican!; and Taco USA: How Mexican food conquered America, is a lecturer with the Chicana and Chicano Studies Dept at California State University, Fullerton. He also is an award-winning writer, investigative reporter, and editor for OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County CA, for which he writes the nationally-syndicated weekly column “¡Ask a Mexican!.” Arellano is the recipient of the Los Angeles Press Club’s 2007 President’s Award and an Impact Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his “exceptional vision, creativity, and work ethic.”

Andersen Library owns a copy of Taco USA (3rd-floor Main Collection, TX716.M4 A74 2012), but if it’s checked out UWW faculty/staff and students may request copies of that title from other UW libraries via the free Universal Borrowing service. You can read a biography of Arellano in the Biography Reference Bank database. You can search for him in broadcast transcripts using the LexisNexis Academic database to find, for example, his remarks on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation on January 15, 2013 on “Shifts in race relations since Obama’s election.” You also can search for him in YouTube and find videos, such as “Ask a Mexican Already! Q&A with Gustavo Arellano ” (http://youtu.be/d9EZUof8N48) and Arellano reading from Taco USA:[youtube]http://youtu.be/_okQ7CJiNoU[/youtube]

If you’d like assistance with finding additional materials, please ask a librarian.

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Happy Birthday, UN!

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Barbara

October 24 is United Nations Day because the United Nations was officially established on October 24, 1945 when its charter was ratified. The purpose of the new organization was to maintain peace. You can learn all about the United Nations at its web site, including more about its history.

Cover of Kofi Annan memoirAndersen Library has many resources about the United Nations. Search HALCat for books or videos such as the memoir of Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General, of Interventions: A life in war and peace (2nd-floor Browsing Books, D839.7.A56 A3 2012), No enchanted palace: The end of empire and the ideological origins of the United Nations (3rd-floor Main Collection JZ4986 .M39 2009), and Peacekeeping under fire: Culture and intervention (3rd-floor Main Collection JZ6374 .R83 2008). The catalog will also identify federal government documents related to the UN, including Reforming the United Nations: The future of U.S. policy, a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs on April 7, 2011 (2nd-floor U.S. Documents Y 4.F 76/1:112-35 or online), and U.N. climate talks and power politics: It’s not about the temperature, a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on May 25, 2011 (2nd-floor U.S. Documents Y 4.F 76/1:112-22 or online).

Ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

FDLP logo 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!

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T3: Audio Books

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Diana

Did you know that you can listen to our audio books on your own MP3 device? Here’s how to upload the files to your computer using RealPlayer (Windows) or iTunes (Mac/Windows):

  • Open RealPlayer or iTunes then insert the disc
  • Select the “Add Files to my Library” option from the File menu
    • In iTunes for Windows, press the Alt key to show the menu options
  • Open the disc containing the audio book files and then select ALL of the mp3 files
    • If the computer asks you to add files from a “networked, removable
      CD-ROM” click “Yes”
  • Depending on the speed of your computer the uploading process may take several minutes
  • Follow your normal syncing procedure to transfer the audio book chapters to your MP3 player
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Neverwhere challenged

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Barbara

Neverwhere cover imageUse of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere as reading material at Alamagordo High School in NM was challenged earlier in October. The school has temporarily removed it from classroom use (but not from the school’s library), pending a review by a district committee. The review committee is accepting public comments (via email) until 4pm (Mountain time zone, so 5pm here) on October 25.

The CBLDF (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) has posted information about the suspension and submitted a letter in defense of “the professional judgment of teachers and freedom to read of students.” The CBLDF also posted some reactions from teachers and librarians.

Have you read this book? Andersen Library has a copy (2nd-floor Juvenile Fiction, Curriculum Collection, at F Gai). OK, curious about the part that was considered objectionable? Go to Neil Gaiman’s Tumblr.

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New Stuff Tuesday – October 22

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Ellen Latorraca

Debt to the Dog: How the Domestic Dog Helped Shape Human Societies

Our Debt to the Dog:
How the Domestic Dog Helped Shape Human Societies
by Bryan D. Cummins
SF422.5 .C85 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

I work surrounded by cat people. Really. I make up part of the mere 18% of my colleagues who have no feline friend to greet me after my work day. I have no cat tales to add to the banter at the office printer, no experience to add to the collective wisdom for helping a colleague discourage his cat from prowling the kitchen countertops. When I saw Richard Cummins’ Our Debt to the Dog: How the Domestic Dog Helped Shape Human Societies on the New Arrivals Island, I felt it a fine opportunity to demonstrate the Library’s commitment to representing varied points of view by including publications espousing the virtues of the minority canine community.*

Cummins characterizes his approach in the opening sentence of his preface, stating that “This  is an absurdly ambitious book.” He has woven his extensive research into a narrative spanning  the 15,000 years of the relationship between Canis lupus familiaris and Homo sapiens sapiens. This book invites a cover-to-cover reading (a full-out scratching from belly to back?), as easily as a sampling of chapters (a scratch behind the ears?) each of which can stand on it’s own, from “Hail Anubis: The Dog in Religion and Myth” and “By Our Side: Assistance Dogs and the Enabling of the Disabled,” to “Blood Sports.”

While I have neither cat, nor dog, ferret or otherwise as part of my household, I am fascinated by Cummins’ presentation of the hound in literature, having missed Shakespeare’s references in Midsummer Night’s Dream to the hound “With ears that sweep away the morning dew” (Act IV, scene 1). I respectfully salute my cousin, the Connecticut state trooper and his canine colleague, on reading chapter eight, “To Serve and Protect,” and learning that their partnership has a history dating back as early as the 1300s. These are merely a few of the details that have drawn me into Our Debt to the Dog, a wealth of fascinating and occasionally troubling research into how we have treated our canine companions since their – and our – domestication.

Dog or Cat or…? Click here to take our completely unscientific survey!

*It should be noted that while this group is a minority in the Library, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (2012) 36.5% of U.S. households reported having a canine companion, yet only 30.4% reported sharing their home with a cat  (https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Statistics/Pages/Market-research-statistics-US-pet-ownership.aspx).
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Friday fun: “Life made easier”

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Barbara

While wandering among the current periodical issues on 1st floor the other day, I discovered a magazine called REALSIMPLE. Under the title it says “Life made easier.” Aha! Now that sounds like a magazine I should read on a regular basis.

image of Real Simple issue coverA randomly-selected issue’s cover and table of contents promised information on

  • trends that never go out of style,
  • “surprising” sandwiches good enough for guests,
  • diet vs. exercise,
  • mentoring,
  • job hunting and social media,
  • new uses for a pool noodle (that’s for you, Katie!),
  • ballet-barre workout,
  • de-germifying the bathroom,
  • an autumn reading list, and more.

Inside it also advertises the realsimple.com web site (when I visited, the “New Use of the Day” was unflavored, waxed dental floss as a cake slicer, which one of my coworkers claims to have heard before). My favorite bit of text came from a University of Arizona professor of microbiology (for the article on de-germifying the bathroom): “…a flushing toilet, when viewed in slow motion, resembles a fireworks display.”

In spite of the mental image of a spraying toilet, I enjoyed the magazine, I enjoyed the web site, and if I have time I’ll enjoy more issues. I think it offers a nice break from concentrated periods of work or study. The colorful content is an important part of the magazine’s value, but if you haven’t the time to visit 1st floor, UWW students and staff can read the text via the MasterFILE Premier database.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Keep it real simple!!

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ARTstor Digital Library – Image Repository

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Carol

ARTstor Digital Library

ARTstor Digital Library is an online image repository of 1.5 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. Take a look and see for yourself how ARTstor Digital Library can enhance your teaching.

The Library’s ARTstor Guide will help you get started using this powerful teaching tool. Online training webinars are held regularly, so take a look at the ARTstor Digital Library Training page to sign up.

The Chancellor’s Office has provided funding for this valuable teaching tool.

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Did a Cosmic Event Kill The Pleistocene Megafauna? F 10/18

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Barbara

Dr. Rex Hanger, UWW Dept. of Geography and Geology, will give a one-hour talk about ““Did a Cosmic Event Kill The Pleistocene Megafauna?”” on Fri., Oct. 18, at 8pm in Upham 140. It’s the third lecture in the 2013-2014 Whitewater Observatory Lecture Series. A public viewing session at Whitewater Observatory will follow the lecture at 9:15pm, weather permitting. All lectures are free, and everyone is invited to attend!

Andersen Library may be able to provide additional materials if you’d like to learn more. Search HALCat for books, government documents, and videos. Search article databases for articles in journals, magazines, or newspapers. Ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

Cover art of Fire on Earth bookExamples of items you could find are the book (I love this title!) Fire on Earth: Doomsday, dinosaurs, and humankind (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB377 .G83 1996). Try, for example, a keyword search for “collisions with earth.” Search article databases to find articles such as “The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis: A requiem” (Earth-Science Reviews, 2011, vol.106:no.3/4, pp.247-264) and “An independent evaluation of the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis” (Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America, 2009, vol.106:no.43, pp.18155-18158).

LECTURE ABSTRACT:

Near the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (~12,900 years ago), the mammalian megafauna of North America suffered a mass extinction that altered terrestrial ecosystems ever after. Historical debate on the potential causes of the event center around an either/or scenario invoking rapid climate change or overkill by humans.

A new hypothesis of an asteroid impact forcing the biological catastrophe has recently been proposed. Evidence for this impact
includes the existence of a charred, carbon-rich soil layer (the “black mat”) at over 50 sites in North America at that age,
containing various high-temperature melt products. In addition, nanodiamonds produced by the impact are present at the horizon that corresponds with that date in ice cores from Greenland. Tonight’s lecture will reveal the current state of the argument, with a review of the megafauna that suffered extinction, a summary of the historical (climate or kill) debate, and the evidence for and against the asteroid impact hypothesis.

And plan ahead to attend other lectures in this series, which will address damage to or the destruction of the Earth!

  • Nov. 1: future blasting of Earth by a supernova explosion of a nearby star
  • Nov. 8: future loss of Earth’s magnetic field, and
  • Nov. 15: unpredicted meteor that exploded over Russia last February.
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New Stuff Tuesday – October 15, 2013

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Carol

Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology

Alexander Wilson:
The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology
by Edwart H. Burtt, Jr. and William E. Davis, Jr.
QL31 .W7 B87 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Alexander Wilson first caught my attention when was when I was doing a literature review of the extinction of the passenger pigeon. In 1806 Wilson was in Kentucky when he witnessed a flock of passenger pigeons overhead that he calculated at more than 2 billion birds (pp. 325-326). This staggering figure was repeated continually in the literature.

But I didn’t realize it was Wilson, rather than the more famous John James Audubon, who founded the field of ornithology in the United States. And although Wilson was a journalist rather than a scientist, he is even credited with creating the scientific approach to the study of ornithology (p. 333) and with putting the United States on par with Europe in the study of natural history (p. 331).

This volume chronicles Wilson’s far too brief, but incredibly productive life as he travelled across the North American continent to study, draw, and document its birds.

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Journey (Rock Band)

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Barbara

Did you miss the performance by the Journey tribute group DSB last Saturday?

Cover of Escape CDWell, don’t fret! Andersen Library has the CDs Greatest Hits Journey and Escape! You can check for them (and other great rock recordings) from the 2nd floor Browsing CD collection (look under the genre ROC for Journey!).

Please ask a librarian if you’d appreciate assistance with finding materials.

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