New Stuff Tuesday – June 9

Permissions, A Survival Guide

Permissions, A Survival Guide:
Blunt Talk About Art As Intellectual Property
By Susan Bielstein
KF3050 .B54 2006
New Book Island, 2nd floor

I love pretty pictures when flipping through the pages of a magazine or a book. Have you ever wondered about how authors and/or publishers get those images? They may have gone to great lengths to receive one thing for those photos, illustrations, graphics, etc.: permission (and maybe some money too). The digital age has made things both easier and more complicated for this task, and this week’s feature title spells it all out.

Bielstein, executive editor for art, architecture, classical studies and film at the University of Chicago Press, channels her years of experience to decode the complex world of artistic intellectual property. In the publishing industry, one must learn the ins and outs of copyright, fair use, reproduction rights and more to successfully avoid legal dramas that could bankrupt you. The author guides you on what goes into providing visual interest for readers in print and electronic media. While the intricacies of copyright law may leave you scratching your head, Bielstein presents the topic in a readable and accessible fashion. The final chapter also breaks down just how much money was spent to reproduce the images in the book. If you’re looking for insight into the often-confusing process of image reproduction, this book’s for you.

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Earth 2100

Image of earth from NASADid you see the televised special Earth 2100 last week? I hadn’t planned to watch, but got sucked in. It was an interesting mix of fact, science, and speculation in a fiction wrapper to make it palatable to the general public, kind of like sugar-coating a pill–perfect for someone like me who likes sci fi and popular science books. If you missed it you can still see it on the ABC web site (linked above).

The gist of the predictions we’ve heard before: “Scientists predict that by 2020, global catastrophes may well begin to accelerate. The human population is expected to explode and animal species may be dying off at a rapid rate.” In addition, climate change will lead to water shortages in some places, while other locations such as New York City will be desperately trying to protect themselves from rising sea levels by building large walls. Populations will shift in response to water stresses and other changes.

The experts interviewed made several thought-provoking statements. I was struck by the notion that Earth has experienced five mass extinctions in which at least half the species on the planet disappeared, all caused by natural disasters such as massive volcanic eruptions and rapid climate changes. Now some scientists say we are in a sixth extinction, this time caused by us.

“Every society that collapsed thought it couldn’t happen to them,” says Joseph Tainter, an expert in anthropology and societal collapse. “The Roman Empire thought it couldn’t happen. The Maya civilization thought it couldn’t happen. Everyone thought it couldn’t happen to them. But it did.”

Collapse of Complex Societies coverI hope to track down some of the experts’ publications, including Joseph Tainter’s book, The Collapse of Complex Societies (3rd-Floor Main Collection CB311 .T245 1988). Another interviewed expert was Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us (2nd-floor Reserves/Circulation Desk GF75 .W455 2007), who was a speaker on campus in October 2008.

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New Stuff Tuesday – June 3

Two Billion Cars

Two Billions Cars:
Driving Towards Sustainability
By Daniel Sperling & Deborah Gordon
HE5611 .S67 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor

Yes, I understand that it’s actually Wednesday (and really almost Thursday). However, I found myself stuck in Illinois until last night due to the unexpected passing of my car (well, Lil Red technically isn’t dead yet – he’s still in the shop). With that in mind, I found the perfect book to honor him and his years of dedicated service to getting me from Point A to Point B without complaining or killing my wallet (that’s right, 38-42 MPG). Driving just won’t be the same without you, Lil Red.

Sperling and Gordon, experts in the area of transportation, address America and the world’s addiction to the automobile. With an estimated billion cars on the road worldwide, the energy and environmental crises will only continue to worsen as more and more cars take to the streets. The authors take on all parties involved, from the stagnant (and slightly bankrupt) American auto industry, to the skyrocketing overseas markets that threaten to deepen the impact on our natural resources. It’s not all doom and gloom though – they examine promising signs from California and China, two of the worst offenders, leading the way with their policies and measures to soften the blow of our gas-guzzling ways.

Special treat – the Governator wrote the foreward.

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Jux2 v. Google v. Yahoo

I admit that my computers have Google search boxes at the ready all the time. But recently I read something about jux2, which tries to combine the best results from Google, Yahoo, and MSN/Live Search. These search engines had the top U.S. search engine shares according to Nielsen Online’s December 2008 data. However, comparisons of search results suggest there is less overlap between search results using these search engines than most people might expect (“typically sharing fewer than 3.5 of their top 10 results”).

Well, so I tried jux2. I wasn’t that impressed, but you should try it for yourself.

My test was “swine flu” and I liked Google’s results, because the Centers for Disease Control’s page was the first result listed. Yahoo at least had it within the first 5 results. All three search engines returned Wikipedia as one of the first resources, of course. I was still very satisfied with what I got using Google.

UC Berkeley’s Library has a web page on “Recommended Search Engines” that lists Google, Yahoo, and Exalead. They note that searching Google alone is not always sufficient, and recommend getting a “second opinion” using another search engine. You should also note, as they do, that “The contents of most of the searchable databases mounted on the web, such as library catalogs and article databases, are excluded because search engine spiders cannot access them. All this material is referred to as the “Invisible Web” — what you don’t see in search engine results.

However, for those concerned about searching for academic resources, things may be changing. The article “How Scholarly Is Google Scholar? A Comparison to Library Databases” (College and Research Libraries, May 2009) “found that Google Scholar is, on average, 17.6% more scholarly than materials found only in library databases and that there is no statistically significant difference between the scholarliness of materials found in Google Scholar across disciplines.” Why isn’t this worrying me? Well, you still need access to the full text of the articles and other resources a discovery tool like Google Scholar lists–yup, usually subscription resources you access through your library.

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Federal Govt. on YouTube

From the CitizenTube blog I learned of the U.S. Government’s channel on YouTube. From there you can view and subscribe to videos from NASA, EPA, White House, FEMA, Census Bureau, and other federal agencies.

The videos are on all kinds of subjects, e.g., FBI videos on “Inside the Questioned Documents Unit” and “Bullet ballistics through various objects” (linked below), “Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War II” from the Library of Congress, “Wetlands and Wonder” from the EPA (linked below), and NASA’s “Kepler – A Search for Habitable Planets.” Enjoy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjUTZH_Vdxs[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX5yT7QSyc4[/youtube]

Government Printing Office logo

The University 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 electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

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Supreme Court nominations

The Supreme Court is in the news: On May 26th President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appellate court judge (U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit), to replace retiring Justice David Souter.

Curious about how this process works? After all, Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, not just for a President’s term. Here are places for more info:

You can read Sotomayor’s decisions also, using the LexisNexis Academic database: Select the Legal portion of the database, then on the left select “Federal & State Cases” and then search for her as a judge:
screen shot for searching LexisNexis database

Government Printing Office logo

The University 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 electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

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New Stuff Tuesday – May 26

Making Milwaukee Mightier

Making Milwaukee Mightier:
Planning and the Politics of Growth, 1910-1960
By John McCarthy
HT177 .M48 M33 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor

As a person that is from the “wrong” side of the border, I can’t say that I know a whole about the city of Milwaukee (you mean there’s more there than just Summerfest?). So when I saw this title on the shelf, I was intrigued learn more. When I showed the book to my colleague (and Milwaukee native), her eyes lit up and she thought it was perfect to feature on New Stuff Tuesday.

McCarthy, a history professor from Robert Morris University, investigates the growth of the city of Milwaukee in the first half of the twentieth century. While the rest of the Midwest’s urban centers were stagnating, Milwaukee’s population and size continued to expand. The author details the influential players, such as Charles Whitnall, city planner, and Frank Zeidler, the last Socialist mayor in modern US history, as well as the turf wars with the surrounding suburban neighbors. The book provides an excellent starting point for learning more about Milwaukee, as it is extensively researched and gives many opportunities for further exploration.

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Summer Library Hours start May 26

Summer Library Hours 2009: IMAGE NO LONGER AVAILABLE
Exceptions: CLOSED on Sunday, July 5th & Sunday, August 16th
For details see http://library.uww.edu/hours.html.

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Memorial Day weekend library hours

The Library will be closed Saturday-Monday, May 23-25. Summer hours will start on Tuesday, May 26th (7am-9pm).

Remember that even when the Library is closed:

  • The Library’s article databases are available…just login when prompted with your campus Net-ID (same as for your campus email or D2L).
  • You can search the Library Catalog and use links to the titles that are online, including ereserves for classes.
  • You can renew your checked-out books, DVDs, etc. online (once) through your Personal Record.
  • You can ask a librarian for help using email or chat, or phone us at the Reference Desk during open hours (262-472-1032).
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Calvary Cemetery Tour

The Whitewater Historical Society and Walworth County Genealogical Society will be hosting a tour of the Calvary Cemetery, Memorial Day, Monday, May 25. 

VFW/Knights of Columbus memorial ceremony begins 1:30 pm at the flagpole.  Tours will be given between 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm.

To get to the Calvary Cemetery: Take North Prairie Street into the dormitory area of UW-Whitewater.  There will be a sign telling you which street to turn into.  There is parking at the university parking lot right by the cemetery.

People portrayed include accused murderer Nellie Horan, harness-maker Joseph Haubert, musician and professor William Thiele, beloved policeman Joe Monahan, and a member of the Cummings family, early pioneers in the Town of Whitewater.

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