Government spending

Posted on February 26, 2009 by goldsmid

Did you watch Pres. Obama’s first Address to Congress Tues. night (Feb. 24)?  I got hooked and had to watch until the end.  He mentioned we could track government spending at http://www.recovery.gov/ Check it out and let us know what interesting stats you find. 

Also, he said his goals would be based on three topics, Education, Health Care and one other?  What was it? 

Do you agree with me that he seems to act truely as a “father” to our country, someone who cares about doing things correctly and fair?  What is your impression of his presidency so far?

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Getting the Most from the Library

Posted on February 26, 2009 by kyle

The Library is taking the show on the road to talk about getting the most out of your college experience by utilizing the library and its resources and services. We’re teaming up with the Adult Resource Center to offer three workshops about becoming familiar with doing research beyond Google and Wikipedia. The sessions provide you with the opportunity to ask all those questions you’ve always wanted to ask but never got the chance.

Getting the Most from the Library
March 2 (Monday) from 2-3 PM and 5-6 PM
March 3 (Tuesday) from 11 AM – 12 PM
Adult Resource Center, Warhawk Involvement Center, University Center

Individuals in need of accommodations should contact Bill Bowen at arc@uww.edu or 262.472.5786 as soon as possible.

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100 years of the NAACP

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Barbara

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was organized in February 1909. That’s right–this year we can look back on 100 years of hard work by this organization.

Before His Time coverInheritors of the spirit coverIf you’d like to learn more, your University’s Library can help. A search of the Library Catalog would find titles such as Inheritors of the spirit: Mary White Ovington and the founding of the NAACP (3rd-floor Main Collection, E185.98.O95 W44 1998) and Before his time: the untold story of Harry T. Moore, America’s first civil rights martyr (3rd-floor Main Collection, E185.97.M79 G74 1999).

The NAACP’s web site has a history of the organization, also, of course.

Search the Library’s article databases such as Academic Search Premier (Ebscohost) to find articles such as “The History and Rhetoric of the NAACP: The Origins” (Black History Bulletin, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 12-14).

Please ask a librarian if you would like assistance in finding materials.

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New Stuff Tuesday – February 24

Posted on February 24, 2009 by kyle

The Future of the Wild

The Future of the Wild:
Radical Conservation for a Crowded World
By Jonathan Adams
QH75 .A345 2006
New Book Island, 2nd floor

Some think of land conservation as just staking off areas here and there to prohibit future development is sufficient enough to ensure the preservation of the wildlife of the regions. While the current measures taken may work on the surface, this week’s featured book asserts that the procedures are short-sighted and will not support the wild plants and animals in the future.

Adams, a conservation biologist, writer and a program director at the Nature Conservancy, seeks to encourage you to think BIG when talking about conversation. The author contends that past conservation methods of acquiring individual parcels of land will not adequately sustain the natural ecosystems that currently inhabit our wilderness. He offers his insights to effective conservation strategies, only attainable through the integration of modern science, local community involvement and economic sense. He also provides examples of how these factors all come together to help save our natural habitats, from California to Florida.

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Native Pride lectures (2/26 & 3/12)

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Barbara

The Native pride lecture series includes

  • Feb. 26, 4 pm: Robert Warrior, professor of American Indian studies and English at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, “American Indian Intellectual Health” (UC Old Main Ballroom)
  • Mar. 12, 4 pm: Felicia Carpenter, social worker and case manager at Managed Health Services in Milwaukee, “A Native Perspective on Social Services Delivery” (3005 Carlson Hall)

Reasoning Together coverAnyone interested in these and related topics could find additional information in the University’s Library. A search of the Library Catalog would find titles such as Counseling with Native American Indians and Alaska Natives: strategies for helping professionals (3rd-floor Main Collection, E98.S46 H47 1999), Reasoning together: the native critics collective (3rd-floor Main Collection, PS153.I52 R33 2008), and The Cambridge companion to Native American literature (3rd-floor Main Collection, PS153.I52 C36 2005).

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Zydeco

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Barbara

Boy, all you who didn’t go to the performance in the Young Auditorium last night (2/19) really missed out. Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience provided an exciting, toe-tapping evening. There were people dancing, beads flying (he threw some of them into the audience with his bare feet), and of course the music (including the frottoir, descendant of the washboard). He even danced with his shiny Grammy (won for the first ever Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album: Live! Worldwide).

Not sure what zydeco is? Read about it in some Library resources found through the Library Catalog, e.g., American roots music (3rd-floor Main Collection, OVERSIZE ML3551 .A54 2001) contains a section on “Cajun and zydeco: the musics of French southwest Louisiana.” Cajun music and zydeco (3rd-floor Main Collection, OVERSIZE, ML87 .G78 1992) contains a nice introduction explaining the music’s roots.

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Comets: Multimedia Event 2/20

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Barbara

The UW-W Physics Dept.’s first 2009 Observatory Public Lecture will be Dr. Paul Rybski’s one-hour multimedia presentation “Comets and the International Year of Astronomy” (Fri., Feb. 20th, 8 pm, Upham 141), followed by (weather permitting) a public viewing session at Whitewater Observatory at about 9:15 pm. Both events are free and open to the public.

Anyone interested in additional information about comets, Galilei, or astronomy in general will find a wealth of material in the University’s Library. A search of the Library Catalog would find books such as Comet by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB721 .S34 1985) or Galileo: his science and his significance for the future of man (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB36.G2 D48 1996). More about comets may be found online, e.g., the blog “The transient sky – comets, asteroids, meteors” or NASA’s web site (“Green comet approaches Earth”).

Galileo Galilei imageLECTURE ABSTRACT: “Four hundred years ago this spring, a feisty Italian physics professor Galileo Galilei heard about the invention of the telescope in what today is Holland and set about building his own. By Summer 1609, he was showing it to important people; and by Fall 1609, he was making the first recorded astronomical observations with this telescope. These observations obtained the first real evidence that astronomical objects were not perfect and unchangeable and that the Earth probably revolved around the Sun.

In celebration of this important event, the International Astronomical Union has declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy, dedicated to bringing the universe down to Earth through lectures, exhibits and observing sessions for people of all ages. Whitewater Observatory begins its participation in the IYA with a lecture about the significance of Galileo’s first observations and about the most recent observations of Comets Lulin and Kushida, both visible in the night sky this month.”

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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Yes, the U.S. gov’t blogs & tweets

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Barbara

I have talked about specific federal government blogs before: Gov Gab, Dipnote (State Dept.), and Evolution of Security (Transportation Security Admin.), but the list of government blogs is longer than the last time I checked, and now includes several military blogs, such as America’s Marines Blog, The Obama White House blog, and cultural blogs, such as the Smithsonian Institution blogs (yep, there are several to choose from!).

The Library of Congress not only has a blog, it tweets too… follow it at http://twitter.com/librarycongress. And there’s more of the government on Twitter than you’d guess, I’ll bet. Check out http://twitter.com/dotgov, http://twitter.com/nasa, http://twitter.com/nihforhealth, http://twitter.com/National_Ag_Lib, http://twitter.com/femainfocus, and http://twitter.com/usepagov.

Good grief. Who has time to read all this?! But if you’re interested in something your government is doing, there are no excuses for being uninformed since there are so many ways to keep in touch now.

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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What’s up, Whitewater? (Freezefest 2/21)

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Barbara

I’ve mentioned a couple of web sites in the past for learning about events around Whitewater: Whitewaterbanner.com and the City of Whitewater web site. There are also web sites for the school district and the local public library.

But now a new site has appeared: MyWalworthCounty.com. It’s associated with Southern Lakes Newspapers, publisher of 21 area newspapers including the weekly Whitewater Register.

All three of these sites (Whitewater Banner, the City site, and the Walworth County site) have information on Freezefest taking place on Sat., Feb. 21st. Judging by what I saw last year, I recommend watching the polar plunge at noon at the Cravath Lakefront Park to see how many campus folks you may recognize (I’m especially looking forward to the “C&I/COE Polar Plunging Professors, et al.” team again). And hey, if you pledge to the plungers it goes to the worthy cause of Special Olympics Wisconsin. You can still see photos from last year’s plunge online (select Feb. 9, 2008 – Whitewater in the drop-down box by “Step One”).

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Friday the 13th…

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Barbara

OK, so it’s Friday the 13th. To me, it’s just another Friday at work, but some people might be home hiding under their blankets lest something bad happen to them.

Encyclopedia of Superstitions coverHave you ever wondered about superstitions? Well, you’re in luck. We have an encyclopedia on them: The encyclopedia of superstitions (2nd-floor Reference Collection, BF1775 .R34 2002). Next to it on the shelf is the Dictionary of Superstitions (Reference Collection, BF1775 .D53 1989), which is also available online through the Oxford Reference Online database.

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