Universal Borrowing (UB) down

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Barbara

The Universal Borrowing (UB) service, which allows UWW students and staff to borrow materials from other UW libraries, will be down starting on Monday, July 26th. The service will likely resume on Monday, August 16th.

All System libraries will be undergoing an upgrade to the “Voyager” system that powers their catalogs as well as UB. The catalogs will still be available for searching, however, and local check-out will continue to be possible.

Questions? Please contact Circulation staff at 262-472-5511 (or email circdesk@uww.edu)

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Local author’s book signing

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Barbara

Whitewater author Dr. Suzanne Popke will give a book reading and signing on Sunday, July 25, at 2pm (location: 143 W. Main St., Whitewater, Office of Wisconsin Community Mental Health Counseling Center & Deeper Insight Art Gallery).

Birth of a new race: Poems for a dead storyteller, Popke’s third book, is about “a grandmother from Sioux Indian country in the late 1800s that still has things to teach her great grandchildren in the 21st century.” It combines one family’s personal story with Wisconsin history and traditional Lakota tales through narrative poems.

Andersen Library’s 1st-floor Special Collections has a copy of Popke’s book on intercountry adoption, Siberian Pearls: A Buryat journey.

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“Monkey” trial anniversary

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Barbara

Heard of the Scopes “Monkey” trial (aka The State of Tennessee vs. Scopes)? On July 21, 1925 schoolteacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of violating Tennessee’s Anti-Evolution Act, which outlawed teaching evolution in public schools. The verdict was set aside later by the Tennessee Supreme Court–on a technicality. Read more about it, e.g., excerpts of the trial transcript from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law’s “Famous Trials” web site.

Andersen Library has materials on the trial as well. Search the HALCAT online catalog to find items including these videos: 10 days that unexpectedly changed America (2nd-floor Academic DVDs E178 .T46 2006; disc 2 has the segment called “Scopes: The battle over America’s soul”), Monkey trial (2nd-floor VHS KF224.S3 M64 2002), and Inherit the wind (a drama based on the trial in 2nd-floor feature film DVDs, “call no.” Inh). You will find books also, such as The great monkey trial (3rd-floor Main Collection KF224 .S3 D4) and Summer for the gods: The Scopes trial and America’s continuing debate over science and religion (3rd-floor Main Collection KF224.S3 L37 1998). Articles in magazines, journals, and newspapers are available, including New York Times articles from the time of the trial.

Image of New York Times with Scopes article from 1925 Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

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New Stuff Tuesday – July 20

Posted on July 20, 2010 by kyle

Popular Culture and the Future of Politics

Popular Culture and the Future of Politics
Cultural Studies and the Tao of South Park
by Ted Gournelos
PN1992.6 .G67 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor

Good ol’ South Park. I remember when the show first starting airing when I was in junior high, and it was all the rage. Its foul language and questionable content meant that I wasn’t “allowed” to watch it [like the rebellious teenager that I was, I still did catch a number of episodes]. The creators of the hit series didn’t shy away from the touchy subjects then, and they continue to push the envelope today. This week’s featured title takes a look at the four kids from Colorado and their effect on the critique of society.

Gournelos, a communication professor at Maryville University, utilizes the controversial television show as a vehicle to demonstrate how popular culture pushes the limits of political and social discourse within the context of three techniques for reshaping said discourse (allusive, responsive and distruptive). Using examples such as Mr. Garrison’s sex change and Muhammad, the author details South Park’s approaches to responding to current events in a satirical manner. He also pulls in other popular voices of opposition, such as the Daily Show, the Boondocks and the Simpsons to fill out his argument. If you need a scholarly source to defend your paper on why South Park is more than just a silly cartoon, this is the one to use.

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Guilty pleasures

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Ronna

All right, I’ll admit it. I am a big fan of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, on the Bravo channel. I watch it every Monday night, and if I can’t, I try to watch the re-run sometime during the week. I always feel a little silly watching it, but I can’t help it. It’s definitely one of my guilty pleasures.

Books can be guilty pleasures, too. For instance, I still love to read the Trixie Belden series. Remember Trixie? She had a great group of friends, lived in the awesome Crabapple Farm, and hated algebra. And, she solved mysteries wherever she went. Who wouldn’t want to be Trixie? I discovered her in junior high and she’s been a friend of mine ever since. You can order books from the Trixie series (free!) from another UW System library via Universal Borrowing.

There’s even been some research on this topic. A keyword search in the online catalog on the phrase “guilty pleasures” yielded books such as The feminist, the housewife, and the soap opera (Main Collection, PN1992.8.S4 B78 2000), and The taste of sweet: our complicated love affair with our favorite treats (Browsing Books, QP456 .C475 2008).

If you’ve got a favorite book or movie or TV series you just love to read or watch over and over again, check the online catalog to see if it is available, or ask a librarian for help.

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Are You Prepared?

Posted on July 16, 2010 by kyle

Coming to college can seem like a daunting task. It’s not like grade school where you pick up the school supplies and head to Target. You’ve got to pack up your whole life and move to a faraway place (or just down the road). You’ve got to buy all the stuff for your new life out of the direct reach of the parentals. In addition to all of the things for your dorm room, there’s also the electronic side of the coin to consider. What do you do for that?

The fantastically useful Lifehacker recently posted their list of tech essentials for college. The article highlights the factors to consider when laying down the money for the new digital digs. Mac or PC? Microsoft Office or an open-source alternative? External hard drive or flash drive? While the PC v Mac question is easy (duh.), the others might require a little thought. With their help, you can make the informed decisions for yourself.

Read the list for yourself:
Preparing for College: Tech Essentials for Your First Year – Lifehacker

Any suggestions from the more experienced students out there?

Thanks to Patty for the link!

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Old Spice Guy Loves Libraries

Posted on July 16, 2010 by kyle

Here’s your Friday Fun video (it’s been a while, hasn’t it?)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu-KBxOtJxs[/youtube]

There’s also been a marriage proposal as well!

UPDATE
The Harold B Lee Library at Brigham Young University has taken the Old Spice guy to the next level for libraries. See for yourself.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs[/youtube]

Love it.

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Notable Government Documents 2009

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Barbara

Every year the best government publications (federal, state and international) are honored in Library Journal as the “notable government documents” of that year, and the 2009 list reflects the variety of topics on which the government publishes each year–history, government policy (duh!), mental and physical health, biology, global warming, environmental protection, and more.

covers of some notable docsSo take a look at the list! You’re almost sure to find something of interest, and a couple are even Wisconsin agency publications.

Some are available online (links are given on the list) and some are available in Andersen Library if you prefer print, such as American Place: The Historic American buildings survey at seventy-five years, Approaching storm: Conflict in Asia, 1945-1965, and The Sun, the Earth, and Near-Earth Space: A Guide to the Sun-Earth System. Search the HALCat online catalog for locations and call numbers for those available here.

Ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials, if desired.

Government Printing Office logo

UWW’s Andersen Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and online. Come check out your government at Andersen Library!

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Ctrl+X → Ctrl+V

Posted on July 14, 2010 by kyle

Technology is great, isn’t it? Back in the day (not that long ago), doing research for a paper meant pulling a book off the shelf, photocopying pages from a journal, breaking out a highlighter, all in the name of referencing sources for the term paper. The digital age has enabled not only access to greater amounts of information, but to also greater amounts of plagiarism.

As I shared last week with scientists behaving badly, the trend of cutting and pasting isn’t just of concern for the professional researchers, but students as well. An editorial published Monday on the New York Times website points out this cultural shift and its effect on higher education. I’d recommend taking a look at the article, which goes beyond the act of “borrowing” and speaks more to a lack of individuals coming up with their own thoughts and ideas.

Read the full editorial:
Cutting and Pasting: A Senior Thesis by (Insert Name), Brent Staples, New York Times

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Politics: There’s No More Deniability

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Martha

If you’re a typical UW-W undergraduate, every congressional session that occured during your entire life time is available gratis online. What a bargain!

C-Span has put their archives on the web for free. The three C-SPAN cable channels, which cover every Congressional session, for both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and also committee hearings, press briefings, conferences, and more, have put their archives on the Web. All the way back to 1987. Another 10,000 hours of coverage will be loaded for earlier recordings, but a lot of what was produced between 1979 and 1986 has not been saved.

For the full article in the New York Times, see C-Span Puts Full Archives on the Web.

To visit the Archives, go to C-SPAN Video Library.

For newer recordings, visit C-SPAN.org.

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