New Stuff Tuesday — September 10, 2013

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Carol

The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light

The End of Night:
Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light
by Paul Bogard
TD195.L52 B64 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

During my teenage years in the Chicago suburbs, nights took on a perpetual orange glow as Chicago installed its sodium streetlights. The stars of my childhood faded into the oblivion of artificial twilight.

So when I came across a review of this book, it naturally caught my eye. James Madison University creative writing professor, Paul Bogard, takes readers on a jaunt around the globe in search of the night. He starts out in Las Vegas, the city of perpetual light as he examines how cities wreak havoc with darkess.

Bogard’s book is pretty much a natural history of the night as it’s chased ever further away by man-made intrusions. Spending time at Walden Pond, he waxes philosophical on Thoreau’s experience of night and darkness. He explores our primal fears of the darkness as well as our bodies’ biological need for it.

After traveling overseas the author ends his quest at the Great Basin National Park in Nevada, only a few hundred miles away from its beginning. The park is such an incredible star-gazing site that it hosts an annual astronomy festival.

This book reminds me that in the inky black winter nights of the Wisconsin northwoods, the stars of my childhood still shimmer. And on another happy note, Chicago is nixing some of those nasty sodium lights.

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Friday Fun: How to Treat the Freshmen

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Diana

Watching all the new students flood campus, I am reminded that UW-Whitewater’s first year students have a much better experience than some of their historical counterpoints. If you just finished your first week or are reminiscing fondly about your first week of college, be glad you didn’t have to duck flying dirt (or worse!). Read all about Leipzig University’s rules protecting the class of ’95 (FOURTEEN-95, that is) at a great blog, Ask the Past: Advice from Old Books.

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New Stuff Tuesday — September 3

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Ronna

The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels

The Attacking Ocean:
The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels
by Brian Fagan
GC89 .F35 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

I’ll admit that what drew me to this week’s book was simply the picture on the cover. I’d love to be somewhere just watching the waves crash, over and over and over. Unfortunately, the subject matter of this book is not as relaxing as the cover photo might seem.

The Attacking Ocean discusses the history of global sea levels, beginning thousands of years B.C.E., the changes over the years, and its effects on countries, cities, and people. Many storms and floods that have occurred during these years are mentioned. Global warming and its effects are also discussed. Fagan cites some sobering statistics, such as “If current rates of greenhouse gas emissions continue, global temperatures will rise to an average of thirteen degrees Celsius warmer than today by 2100….[T]his would lock us into at least 4 to 6 meters of sea level rise in subsequent centuries, as parts of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets dissolve. With an almost 3-meter rise, nine large cities, including Boston and New York, will have lost 10 percent of their current land areas. With a near 6-meter rise, about a third of the land area within US coastal cities will have vanished” (p. 228). Some of those politicians who don’t believe in global warming might want to read this book for a reality check.

What I don’t like about this book is that I found no fewer than 9 footnotes referencing Wikipedia. Most of his other sources–based on what I could see in the citations–seem credible, although I question strongly whether “factsanddetails.com” is the best place to find a quote from the Washington Post (footnote 6, p. 134), given that the website doesn’t list any other source details other than to claim the quote in question was from the Washington Post. I know, because I checked the website myself. The author of The Attacking Ocean, Brian Fagan, is an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California-Santa Barbara. I wonder if he’d accept these types of sources from one of his students?

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New Stuff Tuesday – August 27, 2013

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Martha

Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness

Facebook Nation:

Total Information Awareness
by Newton Lee
QA76.575 .L44 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

This was my second choice for a book this week, as I discovered that Ellen wrote about Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate a mere two weeks ago!

That sounds fascinating, but after digging for a bit I found this one, which is even better.

It certainly seems like everyone around here is on Facebook, from little kids (they’re supposed to be at least 13) to college students to grandparents (the oldest Facebook user is 105). In fact, if Facebook were its own nation, in 2012 it would have been the third largest country in the world, after China and India. How safe is it though? How secure? How private? You can limit the viewing of your posts to just yourself, your friends, friends of your friends, or the known world, but does that really work? WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called Facebook “the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented.”

The author of this book, the multitalented Newton Lee, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) with BS and MS degrees in Computer Science, and later earned an AS degree in Electrical Engineering from Vincennes University. He has worked at places as varied as The Walt Disney Company and the Institute for Defense Analyses. Here he provides an approachable introduction to social media privacy, heavy on the endnotes and quotes, but not so as to be detrimental to the flow of his arguments.

Anyone interested in social media and related technology, whether academically or recreationally, should check out this book. It is full of interesting information and practical knowledge. It provides useful advice on social media related privacy issues in sections such as “Privacy in the Age of Big Data,” “The Rise of Facebook Nation,” and “Total Information Awareness in Facebook Nation.” It starts with President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 National Security Decision Directive in the Prologue and ends with George Orwell’s dystopic novel 1984 in the Epilogue. Issues and topics addressed include cyberbullying, SOPA/PIPA, facial recognition apps, smart phones, and even Google Easter Eggs.

Are you intrigued, but not yet hooked? Perhaps reading these Google Books snippets will convince you to check Facebook Nation out.

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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Andersen Library Hours Aug 27-Sept 8

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Barbara

Andersen Library is open from 8am until 4:30pm Tues.-Fri. (Aug. 27-30). Then the Library closes for the long Labor Day weekend (Sat-Mon), but the article databases, library catalog, and Ask a Librarian chat service will be available.

The Library will open for Fall Semester on Tues., Sept. 3, at 7:30am. Please note that for the first week of classes the Library will close at 10pm instead of 2am on Tues.-Thurs. (Sept. 3-5).

Regular Fall Semester hours will start on Fri., Sept. 6:

Mondays-Thursdays 7:30am-2am (1st & 3rd floors close at midnight)
Fridays 7:30am-6pm
Saturdays 9am-5pm
Sundays 11am-2am (1st & 3rd floors close at midnight)

The Library doors are locked 15 minutes prior to closing; we appreciate your cooperation with the closing times.

Enjoy the Labor Day weekend!

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Book Sale – September 2013

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Martha

New books for the book sale have been put out on the carts by the Food for Thought Cafe near the entrance to the Andersen Library. They will be there until the end of September and sell for the low, low price of $1 each. This time around we’re focusing on history, literature and psychology. There are also a smattering books on other topics such as social psychology, religion, sociology, and literary research. I hope you can make it here and find some good deals for yourself or a friend. If you buy something, why not send out a “reply” below and tell us about it.

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Construction Around Andersen Building

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Diana

During the fall 2013 semester, a construction project on the north side of the Andersen Library building will block access to several entrances to the Andersen Library building. This includes entrance number 3, which is the usual way patrons access the Library from Parking Lot 12. If arriving at the east side of the building, please enter the Andersen Building from entrance number 7 (one of the entrances closest to Parking Lot 12), walk straight ahead down the hallway past the UW-Whitewater TV station offices, turn right at the end of the hallway, and exit the building into the courtyard. There is access to entrance number 3 through the courtyard to the left. The west entrance to Andersen Building (entrance number 12), located along the pedestrian mall, will remain open as usual.

Construction Fall 2013 Library Access Map

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Friday Fun: Librarians Do Gaga (video)

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Barbara

Oh, those wacky librarians. Here are some librarians, library school graduates and library school faculty touting the library catalog while getting their Lady Gaga on.

Of course, the library catalog is a useful tool, for finding books, videos, video games, and other things available through Andersen Library–search by titles, subjects or keywords. Ask a librarian to learn more! We’ll blow your mind, show you how to find!!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/a_uzUh1VT98[/youtube]

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Andersen Library @ Orientation Week Events!

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Barbara

Welcome (back) to UWW! Come see us at various Orientation Week events! Here’s where we’ll be:

  • Mon., Aug 26, 9:30-10:30am: Involvement Opportunity Fair for UWW employees (Kachel Center)
  • Mon., Aug 26, 1-2pm: Library Services & Online Resources for UWW faculty & staff (Library Instruction Lab, L2211)
  • Mon., Aug 26, 5-7pm: Graduate School & Nontraditional Student Orientation (UC Hamilton Center)
  • Fri., Aug. 30, 3:30-4:30pm: TRANSFERmation in Andersen Library for transfer students
  • Fri., Aug. 30, 4:30-6:30pm: HawkFest!! for first year students (parking lot off Prince St.)

Andersen Library entrance photoDon’t see an event for you? Can’t make it? Well, c’mon in, or give us a call or an email and we’ll be happy to set up a time to meet with you! Call the Reference Desk at (262) 472-1032 or email refdesk@uww.edu.

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New Stuff Tuesday — Aug 20

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Diana

Servants:
A Downstairs View of Twentieth-century Britain
by Lucy Lethbridge
HD8039.D52 G776 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd Floor

I recently came across a book on the New Arrivals Island that will help fill some time during the months of waiting for the next season of Downton Abbey (view the countdown clock here!). Lucy Lethbridge writes about domestic servants and their changing status in British households during the twentieth century with a keen eye for detail and lively narration. Although more women worked in domestic service than in any other form of paid employment by the beginning of the 1930s, the number of women (and men) in service rapidly declined throughout the rest of the century. The author discusses the changes in British family life, technology, and the economy that contributed to this decline. Lethbridge, a writer living in London, relies on the voices of servants themselves, as well as their employers and evidence from popular depictions in advertising and popular culture, to construct this comprehensive account of “downstairs” life.

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