State Marching Band Championships 10/16

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Barbara

WSMA logoDid you know that the 2010 (26th annual) Wisconsin State Marching Band Championship competition is Sat., Oct. 16, at UWW’s Perkins Stadium? The fun starts at noon with the novice class performance, and the Whitewater High School Marching Band (Class A) is scheduled to perform at 1pm, while Fort Atkinson High School Marching Band (Class AA) is scheduled for 5:45pm. The UWW Warhawk marching band will provide exhibition performances at 4pm and 9:15pm (yup, that’s right…it’s quite a long event if you try to watch the whole thing). For more information, including ticket prices, please see the Wisconsin School Music Association web site.

Did you also know that Andersen Library actually has some resources related to marching bands? Search the HALCAT catalog to find titles such as The marching band handbook and Multiple-option, marching band techniques. And in the Book Collection Nonfiction: High School Edition database (available via EBSCOhost) you can read chapters from the books Color Guard Competition (2003) and Techniques of Marching Bands (2003). Search the Education Research Complete database for citations to articles in The Instrumentalist such as “Transition Tips” in the June 2010 issue and “Colorguard Designs For Maximum Effect” in the August 2000 issue. This magazine’s issues are available in the 1st-floor Periodicals Collection.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

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The 1st Floor’s new look

Posted on October 14, 2010 by kolde

Have you been down to the 1st floor of the library lately? It sure looks different!

Most of the shorter shelves have been taken down. This permitted us to change the configuration of the front computers to allow for a more comfortable work area with increased space to spread books and materials out.  A computer with a scanner attached has been relocated to the area across from the stairwell.

We have also moved some soft furniture and round tables to the area-perfect for solo studying or reading!

So far, we have heard many positive comments about the changes, thank you to those of you who have offered your input!

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New Stuff Tuesday – October 12

Posted on October 12, 2010 by kyle

In Brown's Wake

In Brown’s Wake:
Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark
by Martha Minow
KF4155 .M56 2010
New Book Island, 2nd floor

Whenever I log onto Campus Research to look for court cases, I notice the quick links on the left to seminal cases in our nation’s judicial history. Right at the top of the alphabetical list of famous documents is the topic of this week’s featured book.

Minow, Dean of the Harvard Law School, takes a look back at the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, in which segregation of schools based on race was declared unconstitutional. She examines its impact in the schools over the past fifty-six years, a legacy that has spawned the promotion educational attainment for all students, regardless of race, gender, language or other discriminable characteristic. The author assesses the progress made with the ruling, as well as the future strides that must be taken to ensure a quality educational system for all. The best part: plenty of notes and references for further research – the bibliography takes up a third of the book!

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Agate Nesaule

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Barbara

The 2010 (sixth annual) UW-Whitewater Chancellor’s Regional Literary Award recipient is Agate Nesaule, professor emerita of UWW’s English and Women’s Studies departments. She will give a reading on Monday, Oct. 11, at 7pm (Timmerman Auditorium, Hyland Hall).

Andersen Library has two novels by Nesaule:
In Love... cover

If Andersen Library’s copies are checked out, UWW students and staff may request them from other UW campus libraries by using the free Universal Borrowing service. Requested items arrive in 2-4 weekdays.

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Postcards/WI Archives Month

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Barbara

October is Wisconsin Archives Month, and this year’s theme is postcards, which many people use to preserve and share their experiences and stories. You can see a display of historical and contemporary Wisconsin postcards in Special Collections (Andersen Library 1st floor, room 1230). Some are of the campus and others are from around the state.

You also can view postcards on the Internet, e.g., a selection of historical postcards showing sites in Wisconsin counties and cities, including Whitewater, from the USGenWeb Archives “Penny Postcards” Web Site. Another interesting web site shows tall-tale postcards “extolling Wisconsin’s agricultural abundance through images of oversized produce and animals” from around the turn of the 20th century.

So “celebrate” the month by sending a postcard to someone!

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Alien Planets Presentation 10/8

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Barbara

Dr. Paul Rybski, UWW Dept. of Physics, will talk about “Alien Planets: What we know and don’t know about some planetary systems beyond our own” on Fri., Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. (Upham Hall 140), followed by a public viewing session at the Whitewater Observatory at 9:15 p.m. (weather permitting). This is the first of the fall 2010 Observatory Lecture Series, all of which are free and open to all!

If you’re interested in learning more about exoplanets:

Infinite Worlds coverSearch HALCAT (library catalog) for “extrasolar planets” to find books such as Infinite worlds: An illustrated voyage to planets beyond our sun (3rd-floor Main Collection QB820 .V595 2005).

Astronomy coverSearch the Library’s article databases to find articles such as “How astronomers will find another EARTH” (the cover story of Astronomy, Oct. 2010, vol.38:no.10, pp.28-33, available in the 1st-floor Current Periodicals area).

Read the e-print of the Gliese 581g discovery article “The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A 3.1 M_Earth Planet in the Habitable Zone of the Nearby M3V Star Gliese 581” (accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal). The NASA web site provides an “artist’s conception” of the Gliese 581 system.

NAS book coverAnd if you’re wondering about the importance of this: The “search for habitable planets outside our solar system” is one of three science objectives for 2012-2021 set by the National Academy of Science’s Committee for a Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics (You can get a free download of the New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics report for personal use.).

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Lecture Abstract from Dr. Rybski:

“On October 4th, 2010, a Lick Observatory team of astronomers led by Dr. Steven Vogt announced the discovery of the planet Gliese 581g in orbit around the cool red dwarf star Gliese 581. This planet’s mass is close to Earth’s, and it orbits Gliese 581 in the “Goldilock’s Zone“, a distance from the star within which water can exist as a solid, liquid and vapor somewhere on a planet. Other than the presence of the correct gases in its atmosphere, having water in all three of its phases on Gliese 581g is a precondition for life as we know it existing on this planet. In addition to reviewing the two observational methods by which exoplanets are found around other stars and surveying how many exoplanets have been found to date, I will present what we know about at present about the living conditions on Gliese 581c.”

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New Stuff Tuesday – October 5

Posted on October 5, 2010 by kyle

Parasites

Parasites:
Tales of Humanity’s Most Unwelcome Guests
by Rosemary Drisdelle
QL757 .D75 2010
New Book Island, 2nd floor

As I showed this week’s featured title, shown at the right, to Ronna, her response: “Ewww.” That’s pretty much the answer that I would expect from the majority of people [except for maybe the scientists that research them].

Drisdelle, a clinical parasitologist, gives a voice to a group of organisms that have a not-so-positive reputation. She paints the picture of parasites and their involvement in shaping history – from invading food and drinking supplies to spreading far beyond their ‘birthplaces’ with humans as their traveling companions. The author explores the origins of the lifeforms that survive and thrive on others, as well as the future of them: will humans ever rid themselves of these pests? Like other researchers, the included bibliography allows you to delve further into the topic of the ‘most unwelcome’ parasites.

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Featured Resource: The Children’s Collection

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Susan

Maybe you’ve noticed the colorful, newly revamped area on the Library’s 2nd floor, the Children’s Collection? Perhaps you even attended the Grand Opening of this area on September 15th. This part of the Library contains children’s books, music CD’s, teaching materials, and even K-12 textbooks. It’s a wonderful resource for students studying to be teachers, but is open to all students, community members, and  university faculty and staff as well.

There are over 25,000 items in this collection, so if you’re looking for a book on a specific topic and/or for a certain age, you might want to check out the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) first. If you want to access this database from off-campus, you will need to enter your Net ID and password when prompted. Once in the database, enter a word or phrase in the search box, and then use the limits on the right side to choose the correct age and/or grade level, book category, genre, and other limits. After doing a search, you can click on a title from the results list to find out more about the book including a summary, reading level, book reviews if they’re available, and more. Not every book listed in the database is available in our Library, so be sure to check the Library Catalog (HALCAT) and search by title to see if we have a book in our collection. Here is a link to a short tutorial showing you how to use the CLCD database .

If we don’t have a book that you need, there’s a good chance that another UW-System Library will, so be sure to check Universal Borrowing (or UB) to find out. Not sure how to use UB? Watch a short video about UB to learn more.

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Fire Prevention Week 10/3-9

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Barbara

October 3-9 is Fire Prevention Week. Yes, there’ll be fire drills on campus. The intent is to remind everyone of the importance of fire prevention and safety.

The National Fire Protection Association provides a lot of information, including a history of Fire Prevention Week, which was established to commemorate the famous Chicago fire that started on Oct. 8, 1871. The fire that destroyed Peshtigo, WI, which began on the same day, was actually “the most devastating forest fire in American history.” In fact, Wisconsin Statutes 995.225 officially designates this week to commemorate both fires.

Read more about these famous fires in newspaper articles written at the time (historians would call them primary sources).  Search the Chicago Tribune Historical Newspapers database or ACCESS NewspaperARCHIVE (part of the statewide BadgerLink database suite). Ask a librarian for assistance if needed.

two newspapers showing coverage of the fires

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Media Month at the “Book Sale”

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Susan

cart with media for book saleIt’s Media Month at the Library’s ongoing book sale. Check out the carts near the Library entrance for 16mm films and LP records! All items are only 25¢. Items will be changed weekly. Keep an eye out for videotapes later in October.

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