World Digital Library: Cultural treasures, at your fingertips

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Ronna

On April 21, 2009, the World Digital Library debuted. Its mission: “[to make] available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.”

Developed by the Library of Congress with the support of UNESCO (the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), and many other partner institutions, the WDL contains books, journals, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, prints and photographs, and sound recordings. At its launch, the site contained contributions from 25 institutions in 19 countries.

You can browse the site by place, time, topic, type of item, or by institution. The movable timeline at the bottom of the home page starts at 8000 BC, and runs up to the present time. Keyword searching is also available. Both browsing and searching can be done in seven different languages: Arabic, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian. Many more languages are found in the actual materials, which are shown in their original languages.

Browsing by type of item, I found and listened to a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, played on bagpipes by a military band from Scotland in 1972 (contributed by the Library of Congress). Browsing by place, I looked at the pages of The Four Books in Chapter and Verse with Collected Commentaries (in Chinese), created in China in 1217 (contributed by the National Library of China). And finally, I browsed by time, and studied a 1775 Latin map of the world (contributed by the National Library of Brazil).

As you can see, there are lots of fascinating cultural treasures in this online library, and it will continue to grow. Take a look, and see what treasures you can find!

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Green guidelines help consumers

Posted on April 22, 2009 by goldsmid

Good Housekeeping is adding a new seal to help protect consumers from tainted products and false claims. This new green seal will provide a standard criteria for consumers to make an informed decision about their product use based on its energy use, composition, waste, water use, effort to reduce packaging and health impacts.

Interested in finding out more, check out the following:

Or request this book from UB:

What can you do to go green? Let us know what products you see with the Good Housekeeping’s Green Seal of approval or other tips you might have to help preserve the planet we live on. Every little bit helps.

What you do today does make a difference in the future.

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2009 Pulitzer Prizes

Posted on April 21, 2009 by Carol

The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, letters, drama and music were announced on April 20 at Columbia University. The Library provides access to many of these newspapers through its databases. Any of the Prize winning books that are not available in our Library are available to UWW students, faculty and staff from other UW libraries via Universal Borrowing.

JOURNALISM:

LETTERS, DRAMA and MUSIC:

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New Stuff Tuesday – April 21

Posted on April 21, 2009 by kyle

Motoring

Motoring:
The Highway Experience in America
By John Jakle & Keith Sculle
GV1021 .J33 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor

With spring on the verge of breaking through, our minds instantly begin to think to summer. When you think of summer, what comes to mind? Personally, I think of road trips. In the last two and a half years, I’ve put over 50,000 miles on my car from driving to Virginia (twice), Colorado, Pennsylvania and countless trips over to the wrong side of the Wisconsin-Illinois border. With that in mind, I thought that Motoring would be a perfect title for New Stuff Tuesday.

Jakle, emeritus professor from the University of Illinois, and Sculle, head of research at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, primarily investigate recreational travel from 1900 to 1960, placing particular emphasis on the driver’s experience. The authors cover everything from dealerships and garages, filling stations and roadside attractions, all the way to the rise of the convenience store. The book tackles the subjects of not only American history, but urban planning, business history, technology, psychology and much more.

The authors have written several other books together – the Library has Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age (TX945 .J35 1999) and Gas Station in America (TL153 .J27 1994) available in the Main Collection on the third floor.

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Author David Rhodes @public library 4/23

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Barbara

David Rhodes will read from his novel Driftless on April 23rd at 7 p.m. at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library (Whitewater’s public library, at 431 W. Center Street). Read a review from the California Literary Review.

Driftless coverA copy of Driftless is in Andersen Library’s 3rd-floor Main Collection (PS3568.H55 D75 2008). If UWW’s copy is checked out UWW students and staff can request copies available from other UW campus libraries using the free Universal Borrowing service (online video of how to do it).

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National Poetry Month (April)

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Barbara

Celebrate National Poetry Month, an annual observance started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Read some poetry, write some, and give poems away (especially on April 30th, aka Poem In Your Pocket Day).

Where, oh where, can one find poetry?!

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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Washington’s Top Dog

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Susan

For those of you anxiously awaiting the “first dog’s” arrival at the White House, the wait is over.  In case you haven’t heard yet, the Obama’s black and white 6-month-old Portuguese water dog has arrived in the White House. Check out the White House blog for photos and more details.

If all this news about the country’s “first dog” has gotten you more interested in dogs in general, you might want to learn more about the history of canines.

Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History

The book, Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History (call# QL737.C22 W36 2008) is a recent library purchase located in the New Book Island.

The library has plenty of children’s books about dogs as well in the Curriculum Collection on the 2nd floor. Education majors in particular might be interested in the children’s books, The Leanin’ Dog by K. A. Nuzum (call# F Nuz) or Cracker, the Best Dog in Vietnam (call# F Kad). Cracker, the Best Dog in Vietnam

There are many more children’s books about dogs in the Curriculum Collection including novels, nonfiction, and picture books. Search in the library catalog using “dog” as a keyword, and use the Quick Limit to choose “Curriculum Collection” from the drop down menu.

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New Stuff Tuesday – April 14

Posted on April 14, 2009 by kyle

Measuring Up

Measuring Up:
What Educational Testing Really Tells Us
By Daniel Koretz
LB3051 .K667 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor

I wish that I had a longer name for only one reason. When I was doing the achievement tests in elementary school, I only got to fill in eight lettered circles. I was jealous of the Christophers and Elizabeths in my class because they got more of a challenge when spelling their names in bubbles. Yet, as a young student, I didn’t realize that the stakes are higher than just making a pretty design with the scantron sheets. These tests place a lot of weight on teachers and schools to ensure that students are learning ‘what they should’ and performing in line with their counterparts in other districts in their states and across the country. This week’s featured title addresses what standardized testing really does and what it means for all involved.

Koretz, education professor at Harvard, takes a hard look at educational testing and its effects on the school system. Rather than take sides, the author presents both sides of the coin by examining the strengths and weaknesses of achievement testing. He provides a background of the history of testing in the United States and analyzes the major controversies surrounding the subject, like high-stakes testing and inflated scores, cultural bias and the evaluation of aggregate scores. The work also includes references for further investigation on the topic.

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Research on student research habits

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Barbara

The University of Washington’s Information School has been investigating how university & college students conduct research, and among the preliminary findings are:

  • Wikipedia was a common starting point for “presearch,” getting background on a topic and some search words to use in article databases. Many students were aware of concerns about relying on Wikipedia for research, but “most students depended on and used Wikipedia for information cited in papers, but just never included Wikipedia entries on their Works Cited page.”
  • Students often started research near the deadline. Eight out of 10 students were “self-described procrastinators.” Students at larger institutions started later than students at smaller institutions because they were more confident of finding plenty of usable material at the last minute. Students at smaller institutions were more likely to start weeks before their research was due, to allow time for obtaining materials from beyond the campus.
  • Students expressed several frustrations with conducting research, such as seeking relevant resources among too many irrelevant items, needing access to relevant materials not locally available (e.g., a full-text article not in the library’s databases, or a book not on the shelf), and difficulties with language–both in coming up with appropriate search words and in interpreting the language in resources found.

Interested in learning more? See the Project Information Literacy web site.

Thank you, Ronna, for alerting your colleagues to this research on one of our favorite subjects (students)!

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University Library’s Book Sale Begins this Week

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Susan

The University Library’s annual book sale is starting this week! There will be over 3,000 items for sale including new and used books (fiction, non-fiction, biography, mystery, children’s books), videos in various academic subjects, LP’s, magazines, cassettes, and more.

The presale, which is for UWW faculty, staff, students, and members of the Friends of the Library, takes place this evening from 6-8 p.m. Beginning tomorrow, the sale is open to everyone and runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.  and again on Wednesday. On Thursday, remaining items will be sold for half-price until the sale ends at 4 p.m. Proceeds will be used for library purchases.

See you at the sale!

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