The Andersen Library Blog

Parental Units’ Days

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Martha

The venerated parental units’ days are swiftly approaching. Mother’s Day on May 12 and Father’s Day on June 16. What better a gift to give than a book? I can think of few. This May the book sale will include a plethora of subject areas, including a lot of books on psychological and political topics, but little fiction. There are also sets of books such as The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of Family Health: Doctor’s Answers. These are books that we didn’t sell the first time around, and now they’ve been drastically discounted to SUPER LOW PRICES. Just 25 cents each or $1/bag. Not bad. Most of the books were originally out between March 2012 and February 2013, although there are a few from March 2013. Books will be replenished as the shelves get bare, so come back often!

Happy Mother’s and Father’s Days, and all the holidays in between!

Posted in around the library | Tagged book sale, books | Comments Off

Stuffed Animal Sleepover at Andersen Library

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Ellen Latorraca

If you happened through Andersen Library this past Friday, Saturday, or Monday, you may have noticed children and librarians with stuffed animals in tow. You were witnessing the Stuffed Animal Sleepover.

Parents and grandparents helped the stuffed animals’ kid-friends create name tags for their animals, after which the children joined in a couple of songs and a story time.

Before heading home, the children tucked in their stuffed animals for an afternoon nap. That ensured plenty of energy for their nighttime adventures. Once the stuffed animals were roused, there was more than a bit of silliness to go around. Although the monkeys rather unsuccessfully tried to teach the other animals to climb, the zebra and okapi were quite impressed by their tutors’ daring do. Madeline was up to her usual antics, teaching her new friends all about photocopy machines, a device for which the stuffed critters heretofore had no imaginable use. All of the nighttime antics were caught on camera and printed in booklets for the children to pick up the following day along with their stuffed animals.

I think it safe to say that the library staff was pretty tuckered out after chasing various stuffed critters around the stacks throughout the night – but not so much that they’re not looking forward to this event next year!

Trisha used the bulletin board display to talk about places in our town – our nod to the Big Read.

Let me shift to my “academic librarian” writer’s voice for a moment. Given the positive response from the children, their parents and grandparents, the student and staff volunteers, we are looking forward to repeating this event next year. What we hope to do differently is to involve more of our UW-Whitewater students in organizing and carrying out various aspects of the event. If your student group has a passion for working with children, the willingness to share some energy, and a desire to put expertise into practice, please contact Diana Shull or the education librarian, Ellen Latorraca. We’re happy to share the fun!

Posted in around the library, education | Tagged Children's Area, fun stuff, library events, storytime | 2 Comments

T³: Save Time with Text Expansion

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Diana

Do you ever find yourself typing out the same word, phrase, or even a whole email message over and over? Text expansion software saves you time by expanding a snippet of text into the full word or phrase—think of the software as a large clipboard that you access with predefined keystrokes.

Text expansion software ranges from free and simple to paid and complex. All Macs have built-in text expansion (turn on the feature and add your shortcut snippets by going to “Keyboard” and then “Text” within the System Preferences) and PhraseExpress is free for personal use on Windows. These programs will help you expand frequently-used words, phrases, or even more complicated, formatted text. If you want to add flexibility to your expansions, many software programs, such as aText for Mac ($5) and Breevy ($35) for Windows, allow you to create forms that you can fill out on the fly, insert text from your clipboard into the expanded text, or execute other commands within the program.

Ways to use text expansion software in academia (and life!):

Replying to Student Email: Developing an Electronic Communication Policy
Grading: Using Text-Expansion Software to Respond to Student Writing
Writing Code and HTML: New (and Simple) Twists on Text Expansion
Writing: Using Text-Expansion Software in Your Workflow

Posted in tech tips | Tagged software, technology, text expansion, writing | 2 Comments

New Stuff Tuesday – April 23

Posted on April 23, 2013 by kyle

Atomic Comics

The Org:
The Underlying Logic of the Office
by Ray Fisman & Tim Sullivan
HD58.7 .F573 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

As we look towards graduation, all of us for different reasons, many of you are probably starting to prepare for interviews or for the first job. This week’s featured title looks at the jump from the classroom to the cubicle [or corner office, depending on how high you’re aiming].

Fisman and Sullivan, professor at Columbia Business School and editorial director at the Harvard Business Reivew Press, respectively, team up to examine politics in a different setting, the office. The authors tackle the issue of why organizations exist in the first place, and why they are so complicated and inherently flawed. Does that mean that they’re pointless? Nope. They explain the bureaucracy of the organizations, make a case for the reason for the existence of meetings [and why CEOs spend so much time in them, as they should]. Of course, it’s not all theory, as the authors do integrate examples from the public and private sectors. Looking to understand how and why these machines, some well-oiled and some not-so-much, run? This book’s for you.

Posted in new stuff tuesdays | Tagged books, business, management, new stuff, organizational behavior | 1 Comment

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Barbara

Walk A Mile In Her Shoes®, a men’s march in high-heeled shoes to stop rape, sexual assault, and gender violence, comes to UWW on Wed., April 24, from 5-7pm in the UC Hamilton Room. The event is sponsored by University Health and Counseling Services (UHCS), People Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (PADA), the Inter-Fraternity Council, and DECA. Proceeds from this walk benefit PADA (the registration deadline has passed already).

Schedule: Speakers at 5:30pm, walk around campus starts at 6pm, and the event concludes with various awards, e.g., best team spirit, highest shoes, and best walk.

Events like this are aimed at increasing awareness and empathy toward victims of sexual assault, demonstrating opposition to sexual violence, and fundraising. There are related research resources available. Search article databases to find, for example, “It’s Cool to Care about Sexual Violence: Men’s Experiences with Sexual Assault Prevention” (Men & Masculinities, 2012, vol.15:no.5, pp.507-525) and “Effects of Two Versions of an Empathy-Based Rape Prevention Program on Fraternity Men’s Survivor Empathy, Attitudes, and Behavioral Intent to Commit Rape or Sexual Assault” (Journal of college student development, 2006, vol.47:no.2, pp.133-148). There also are articles in newspapers about walks held in other locations, such as “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes sets record for participants, money raised” about the walk held in Janesville last fall (also see video at YouTube:) [youtube]http://youtu.be/Tyh0HsgzB9Q[/youtube]

If you would appreciate assistance with finding additional materials, please ask a librarian.

Posted in campus connection | Tagged articles, demonstrations, domestic violence prevention, empathy, sexual abuse, sexual assault prevention, sexual violence, video, web sites, youtube | Comments Off

New Stuff Tuesday – April 16

Posted on April 16, 2013 by kyle

Atomic Comics

Atomic Comics:
Cartoonists Confront the Nuclear World
PN6714 .S97 2012
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Last week, we got a comment on the New Stuff Tuesday entry asking whether or not we buy comic books. While we have an entire collection of graphic novels, we also purchase books that talk about comic books. Look what I found this week!

Who says that the funny pages are only meant to entertain? Szasz, a forty-three year veteran professor at the University of New Mexico, studies the impact of comics over time, and in particular during the Cold War era. Cartoonists took advantage of the world events to serve as educators about the complex issues involved with nuclear warfare, and as Szasz seeks to demonstrate, pretty effectively. The author examines all aspects of the graphic representations of the treatment of the pro-atomic energy and later anti-nuclear movements, mainly from a US perspective, and its effects on public opinion. This book serves as an excellent addition to the scholarship on the atomic culture of the mid-twentieth century.

Posted in new stuff tuesdays | Tagged books, Cold War, comic books, history, new stuff, politics | 1 Comment

Stuffed Animal Sleepover in the Library!

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Ellen Latorraca

UW-Whitewater students, staff, faculty and Children’s Center families accompanied by a child 6 years of age or younger, are invited to Andersen Library’s first annual Stuffed Animal Sleepover on Friday, April 19th. We are joining the Children’s Center in celebrating the Week of the Young Child, and we at the Library heartily salute our local early childhood educators. Child participants bring a stuffed animal friend to join them in a library storytime and craft activity around the theme of Our Town, this year’s Big Read selection. Their stuffed animals get to stay the night and explore the library after hours! Children will pick up their stuffed animal and a photo memory book of their animal’s night-time adventures on Saturday, April 20th, or Monday, April 22nd.

Note: Children need to be accompanied by an adult, but chaperones will be provided for the stuffed animals during the night. ~~Please fill out the form below to register your child~~.

Note: As of April 17, we have a full house for both sessions so will not be able to take more registrations for this event.

Posted in around the library, education | Tagged Children's Area, library events | 1 Comment

Medicine Wheel Workshop

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Martha

Come learn more about yourself and the world around you! The Medicine Wheel is representative of Native American spirituality. As we grow, we change like the seasons, passing through the sections of the circle, learning from each. The medicine wheel embodies this idea and symbolizes it for many tribes. Here’s your chance to make one!

During this two-hour Native Pride Workshop you will create a medicine wheel of traditional or Warhawk colors.

This workshop is open everyone. Preregistration is not required. If you need special accommodations, please contact Dona Yahola at yaholad@uww.edu.

Date: Tuesday 04/23/2013
Time: 12-2 pm
Location: UC Warhawk Connections Center

Presented by Professor Dona Yahola – Ojibwe
Sponsored by UW-Whitewater’s Native American Cultural Awareness Association (NACAA)

Posted in campus connection | Tagged American Indian, medicine wheel, Native American | Comments Off

Kidding Around in the Library with Children’s Books

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Ellen Latorraca

In celebration of the Week of the Young Child™, Andersen Library sends an extra shout out to the UW-Whitewater Children’s Center staff and intern students who nurture our littlest UW-W community members. They are our local heroes, cultivating early reading habits in many ways, one of those by making the special trek to Andersen Library with their classes for story times and free reading. Have you read a little one a book lately? If you’re like me, you have favorites from “back when” that you can’t wait to share again and again. Cat in the Hat is one of my earliest reading memories. Does Andersen Library have a copy? Sure does! Are there other books like it if I wanted to pull together a collection of similarly themed books for a reading corner, a teaching unit, or just for fun? And who is this Pete the Cat character that I keep hearing about?

Let’s find out by using NoveList K-8, the kid sibling of NoveList and also a Badgerlink resource available to all Wisconsin residents. I can search for Stop that Ball! by title, and find recommendations for read-alikes. I also notice that I can browse books that share qualities of Cat in the Hat such as “stories in rhyme.” I might browse through the genres to “children’s poetry” and find just the one for an aspiring reader or just the right collection for celebrating Poetry Month. NoveList K-8 also includes many picture book extenders to help build your story time activities. These are great time savers!

Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database *(CLCD) is another excellent resource for pointing parents, teachers and adults to books to use for specific interest and reading levels, and includes full-text reviews from 27 sources of reviews including Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center. CLCD is getting ready to roll out a new interface and new services*. Besides finding 7 full-text reviews for Splat the Cat, you will find themed book lists* which are added monthly. Also new to CCLD will be a live WorldCat connection; look for Splat the Cat in the new interface*, click the WorldCat tab, and when the new site is fully functional you will be able to see whether Andersen Library has the book without performing a separate HALCat search. Isn’t that just the cat’s meow?

As always, if you’d like assistance with finding additional materials, please ask a librarian.

*When the new CCLD site becomes active, the links to the beta site will no longer be funtional, so you will need to use the link from the library’s A-Z Databases listing.

Posted in education, featured resource | Tagged book reviews, children's literature, childrens books, databases | Comments Off