New Stuff Tuesday – October 1, 2013

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Martha

How English Became the Global Language

How English Became the Global Language
by David Northrup
PE1073 .N67 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Thoughts of this book and last week’s new book, Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, brought up memories of my first time visiting Norway (the country, not the Wisconsin town). While Norway does have it’s own Norwegian swear words, everyone I met swore in English. Where did that come from? While I have my own suspicions, the historian David Northrup has done some in-depth research into the broader topic of the English language and has the weight of scholarship behind him. He doesn’t cover the topic of cursing, but does get into British and American colonial English, Scientific English, Academic language, popular culture, such as Rap and Mac, and the World Wide Web, to name a few of the subjects.

This short, fascinating, and well documented book seems at first geared more towards the lay person than the research scholar, but they will get something out of it too. The extensive references and notes are quite informative and useful. In the introduction, Northrup states that over the millenia, the number of languages has both grown and shrunk. Some becoming extinct, while at the same time others grow and prosper. English has been in the latter group for quite some time, and he details reasons this is so. One reason is that “English is the new Latin” (p. 148) in Europe and is increasingly important in Asia and the Middle Ease as well. In other words, academics and the educated across the world are embracing it. You’ll have to read How English Became the Global Language to find out more.

If you’ve read this book and/or have something to say about it we’d love to hear from you. Just reply below.

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Mayan Prophecy & Calendar talk Oct 4

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Barbara

Dr. Joanne Burkholder, Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, and Dr. Paul Rybski, Dept. of Physics, will give a one-hour talk about “The Mayan Prophecy and the Mayan Calendar: The Anthropological and Astronomical Facts” on Fri., Oct. 4, at 8pm in Upham 140. It’s the first 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 The Mayan Calendar bookExamples of items you could find are the book The Mayan calendar and the transformation of consciousness (3rd-floor Main Collection, F1435.3.C14 C35 2004), a four-minute video from NASA, “Why the world didn’t end yesterday,” and the article “It’s not the end of the world: What the Ancient Maya tell us about 2012” (Archaeoastronomy, 2011, vol.24, pp.12-36).

LECTURE ABSTRACT:

The ancient Maya supported a class of time-obsessed calendar priests who made remarkable calculations, given the limits of their naked-eye observations. Many people today attribute to them the ability to predict both calamitous and fortuitous celestial events. But what did the Classic Maya actually know and believe about the heavens? What were they looking at, and why? Did they really think the world was going to end with the last ‘baktun’ in December 2012? A review of archaeological and textual data from the central Maya region helps to put Mayan astronomy in context.

Unscrupulous people worldwide chose to interpret the apparent end of the Mayan calendar, as it was known before 2008, as predicting a world-changing or even world-destroying cataclysm that would occur on December 21, 2012. This cataclysm was supposed to be triggered by one or more highly improbable events. This lecture will address the implausibility of the Earth’s destruction by a gigantic explosion in the Sun’s atmosphere, by a shifting to Earth’s North and South Poles and by the alignment the Earth was supposed to experience last December 21st with the Sun and with the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

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

  • Oct. 11: future collision of the Earth with an asteroid or with an unknown Planet X
  • Oct. 18: a possible comet collision during the Pleistocene era
  • 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.

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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Clear and Present Safety talk M Oct 7

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Barbara

Michael Cohen, author of Live from the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Campaign Speeches of the 20th Century and How They Shaped Modern America, columnist for The Guardian on U.S. politics and foreign policy, and Century Foundation Fellow, will talk about “Clear and Present Safety: America Has Never Been Safer” at 7 p.m. on Mon., Oct. 7th, in the Young Auditorium. This is the first Fall 2013 Contemporary Issues Lecture.

Looking for more information about Mr. Cohen and his views?

  • While Andersen Library does not have Mr. Cohen’s book, UWW students and faculty/staff may request that it be sent here from other UW libraries via the free Universal Borrowing service. Requested items arrive in 2-4 weekdays.
  • You can read his comments at the web site of The Guardian.
  • Some of his articles may be read by searching for him as an author in the Library’s article databases. Among those articles is one he co-authored with M. Zenko, “Clear and Present Safety” (Foreign Affairs, 2012, vol.91:no.2, pp.79-93).

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

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eBooks are eVerywhere

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Carol

Although Andersen Library has offered a variety of ebook collections for many years, this year we are finally launching into the ebook orbit in earnest.

EBSCO eBook Collections

In July, we began a subscription to EBSCO’s eBook Academic Collection which gives us access to 113,000 academic and association press books in a wide range of subject areas. As with our older eBook Collection – EBSCO (formerly netLibrary), these are our first ebooks that are actually downloadable. Our other ebook titles allow users to read the books online.

The older EBSCO ebook records are already in HALCAT. But the best way to search all the EBSCO ebooks is directly through this link that will search both databases. The goal is to eventually have all our ebook records in HALCAT so they can be “discovered” along with the print books.

Wiley Online Library Pilot

Because ebooks from other UW libraries cannot be borrowed via Universal Borrowing as can print books, the UW System has investigated ways to purchase ebooks jointly so they’re available to all UW users. This year, the UW System is conducting a pilot of the Wiley Online Library. Based on our usage of this collection over the year, the UW System will collectively purchased a set of titles from Wiley that will be permanently available to all UW users. The Wiley records will be loaded into Research@UWW, our new discovery tool, but won’t be loaded into HALCAT. The Wiley Online Library also includes access to 1,200 scholary journals in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.

Other eBook Collections

  • ABC-CLIO – this collection includes mainly history titles
  • ACLS Humanities E-book – this collection includes mainly history titles
  • eBook Academic Collection (EBSCO) – more than 100,000 academic books, including many reference titles
  • eBook Collection (EBSCO) – this ebook collection contains thousands of e-books including many reference titles
  • Encyclopedia Britannica Online – this comprehensive encyclopedia has current, in-depth articles on many topics
  • Gale Directory Library – provides access to Gale’s authoritative directories inclduing Market Share Reporter and Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media are available in this platform
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library – this resource has 150 reference books in areas like business, education, history, literature, medicine, sciences and social sciences

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  • Oxford Reference Online – more than 200 dictionaries, encyclopedias and guides provide short articles on art, business, history, law, literature, medicine, performing arts, philosophy, religion, science
  • Sage eReference – this is a small collection of ereference titles in psychology, sociology, education, and science
  • Salem History – this is a small collection of ereference titles in history
  • Salem Literature – this is a small collection of ereference titles in literature
  • Salem Science – this is a small collection of ereference titles in science
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New(er) Book Sale Books

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Martha

October is well-nigh upon us and the books for that most scary of months have been put out on the book sale carts. What ghoulish topics have we chosen this month? Few, if any, are of that ilk. In fact, this month the sale focuses on literature and history again, but also geography, communication, communicative disorders, computers, and a virtual extravaganza of other topics. What will the mighty dollar get you? Well, an awesome book that’s for sure. To tempt your interest, take a look at these Google Books pages for select titles from October’s sale:

Read long and prosper.

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Global Café Oct. 2 (Sri Lanka, Australia, Ecuador)

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Barbara

The Fall 2013 Global Café series kicks off on Wed., Oct. 2nd, at 5:30pm with a focus on Sri Lanka, Australia and Ecuador (location: Andersen Library’s big-screen TV area, near the Food for Thought café). In this series, co-sponsored by the Center for Global Education and and International Student Association, international, study abroad, and travel study students talk about their home countries or international experiences.

graphic from Center for Global Education web page

Check it out! Andersen Library has resources on cross-cultural communication and travel.

In a Sunburned Country book coverSearch HALCat, the online catalog, for books or videos, such as
the Culture Smart series book Sri Lanka (3rd-floor Main Collection, DS489.15 .B6 2009), Kiss, bow, or shake hands: Latin America: How to do business in 18 Latin American countries (2nd-floor Reference Collection, HF5389.3.L3 M67 2007), and In a sunburned country (3rd-floor Main Collection, DU105.2 .B83 2000) [I really enjoyed this armchair travel book, by the way!].

Or, check out the information on these and other countries in Library resources such as the Global Road Warrior! The Ultimate Guide to the World and Europa World Plus database. There also are authoritative free sources online, such as the State Dept.’s Country Background Notes or Fact Sheets and the CIA’s World Factbook.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

FDLP logo Andersen Library is a federal and Wisconsin depository library with many federal and state government documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in many formats, including online. Check out your government at Andersen Library!

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New Stuff Tuesday – 23 September

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Diana

Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing

Holy Sh*t:
A Brief History of Swearing
by Melissa Mohr
PE3724.S85 M65 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Monday was a tough day at work. I needed to understand a computer problem and, instead of either understanding or fixing the problem, I ended up making it worse. By the end of the day, I had managed to get everything back the way it was but I still did not understand the underlying issues. Let’s just say that a fly on the wall would have heard me muttering some choice words under my breath occasionally. On the other hand, when it came time to write the New Stuff Tuesday post I knew just which book to pick!

Melissa Mohr has written an entertaining and informative history of swearing in the western world.  She traces the origins of modern American swear words to the ancient Romans and medieval Europeans. The contrast between the Romans, who were much more creative in their use of words related to filth and excrement than we are, and medieval Europeans, who believed that oaths such as “By God’s bones!” could actually injure God himself, provide the inspiration for Mohr’s division of swearing into roughly two categories: the “holy” and the “sh*t.”

This book provides a good overview of the history of Western Europe and the United States, although at the cost of ignoring swearing in the rest of the world.  Mohr’s chapters on racially-charged words are difficult to read even though she took care to write sensitively about the subjects. If you need a break from your regularly scheduled academic reading, this is a kick@$$ read.

If you’ve read this book and/or have something to say about it we’d love to hear from you. Just reply below.

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Reagan’s Democrats, Clinton’s Impeachment & the 2000 Election

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Barbara

On Mon., Sept. 30, at 3 p.m., Susan Johnson, Assistant Dean of Student Success of College Letters and Sciences and Associate Professor of Political Science, will talk about “Reagan’s Democrats, Clinton’s Impeachment and the 2000 Election: How Did Dysfunctional Become The Way Our Government Functions?” as part of the Fall 2013 Fairhaven Lecture Series. The weekly lectures in the fall series have the theme “Turning Points: Critical Events and Influential People of the Past 30 Years.” All lectures are open to everyone, free, and take place at 3 p.m. on Mondays in the Fairhaven Retirement Community’s Fellowship Hall (435 West Starin Road).

Can’t get to the lecture? Don’t worry, these lectures are recorded! You can watch the video later from the lecture series web site.

Interested in knowing more before or after the lecture? Andersen Library can help! Search HALCat to find titles such as The age of Reagan: A history, 1974-2008 (3rd-floor Main Collection, E839.5 .W535 2008), An affair of state: The investigation, impeachment, and trial of President Clinton (3rd-floor Main Collection, KF5076.C57 P67 1999), and The election of 2000: Reports and interpretations (3rd-floor Main Collection, JK526 2001).

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

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New Stuff Tuesday — September 17

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Ellen Latorraca

Damocles

Damocles
by S. G. Redling
performed by Angela Dawe
PS3618.E4344 D36 2013
Browsing Books Audio
Temporarily shelved at New Arrivals, 2nd floor

With the trend toward the dystopian in YA and science fiction, a steady stream of Independence Day style science fiction story lines in film, and The Big Read 2013 selection Farenheit 451 coming into focus, S. G. Redling takes a pleasant departure from the dark side of science fiction. Even if you aren’t an avid science fiction reader, you may find Damocles an enjoyable read – or listen, in this case, as you’ll find the audiobook in Andersen Library’s collection.

Author S. G. Redling imagines the attempts of the Damocles’ crew to bridge understanding and build a common language with inhabitants of planet Didet. Redling conjures no Trekkian universal translator to conveniently solve the language barrier and ease the plot along. The story is driven by linguist Meg Dupris, her crewmates, and their Dideto hosts as they discover ways to communicate where their knowledge of language, technology, sciences and a possible common ancestry converge. How does a person describe night in a place where numerous suns are always present? How can one indicate agreement or approval when a nodding head means nothing or conveys potentially different message altogether? By shifting the narrator’s voice between Meg and the Dideto Loul, the reader shares the exhilaration of both when understanding is achieved, and the frustration of both when confounded. Although hopeful, the Dideto and Earthers alike are in a precarious position, both sides often uncertain of their trust in the other, and the crew of the Damocles uncertain of their ability to return home.

Science fiction? Yes, perhaps; but this is a story I’ll place on my shelves with tales of clashing cultures and other such adventures.

 

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Can Environmental Justice and Economic Development Co-exist in the African American Community?

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Martha

Next Wednesday, September 25, 2013 Linda Loubert will be giving a lecture titled Can Environmental Justice and Economic Development Co-exist in the African American Community? at 5:30pm in UC 259A. If you have any questions about the event, contact Chobanian Taylor at chobaniaTR26@uww.edu.

This lecture sounds particularly relevant in today’s society, and I hope you will be able fit it in between classes. Whether you can or not, the Andersen Library is the best place to go to find books and articles related to the topics of the presentation. Below are links to a few (not all) databases where you can find related articles you might find interesting and useful. The links lead directly into search results for articles on the general topic of the presentation, many of which could be relevant. Once in, you can easily do additional searches to focus your research.

If you go to this lecture we’d love to read your impressions, just comment below.

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