Simmons OneView

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Naomi Schemm

Simmons is a very cool database recently acquired by Andersen Library. Simmons is a standard market research tool used by marketers, media planners, entrepreneurs, and others.

So what kinds of data can you get out of Simmons? Tons:

  • Individual and household demographics, including all the obvious ones and the not-so-obvious too (military service, club memberships, recent job change, do you recycle?)
  • Internet, cable, radio, cell phone, print media use habits
  • Purchasing habits and ownership for everything from mascara to bratwursts to car insurance to leaf blowers
  • Leisure, hobbies, travel habits
    And much more! You can really get lost in the piles of data (not that I would know about such a thing, ahem…)

    The real power of Simmons is, you can create a cross-tabulation to compare virtually any of their criteria.

    A couple of caveats about our subscription: since it’s quite expensive, we only have purchased the dataset that is 3 years out of date, and it has a user limit of 10 users at a time — try back in a few minutes if you can’t get in.

    Simmons is a bit non-intuitive to use at first. Try these two video tutorials to get you started: How to create a crosstab (select your data for comparison) and Understanding your results. If you have more questions, feel free to contact me or any of the librarians at the Reference Desk.

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    New Stuff Tuesday – February 28, 2017

    Posted on February 28, 2017 by Ellen Latorraca

    Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer bookcover

    Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer
    by Diane Stanley; Illustrated by Jessie Hartland
    E Sta
    Curriculum Collection, Easy Books, 2nd floor

    Starting with the title, this biography of Ada Lovelace in picture book format focuses on the genius that emerges when artistic creativity and scientific precision work in tandem. She was born to poet Lord Byron, whom she never knew, and a mother who had a love of math and science and little patience for fantasy. With little interest in pursuits expected of a young woman of her time and social standing, she found herself drawn by the company of the likes of Dickens, Darwin, and Charles Babbage, often referred to as the father of computing. Babbage wrote an article about how to build a machine that would calculate mathematics, but not how to make it work. Given her understanding machines, Ada Lovelace translated the work from French to English, adding footnotes which explained how such a machine could be programmed for practical uses even beyond that of mathematical calculation. The picture book story is appended with discussion of some controversy concerning her contributions, as well as a timeline and bibliography.

    To locate additional inspiration for the young creative scientist, more titles featuring Ada Lovelace can be found in the Curriculum Collection.

    For a more in depth reading, check out Ada’s Legacy by Robin Hammerman and Andrew L. Russell, from Andersen Library’s Main Collection.

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    Warhawk Book Talks – Feb.

    Posted on February 27, 2017 by Rebecca Jones

    Ever wonder what your faculty or colleagues are reading? Here’s your chance to find out! Warhawk Book Talks is a series where professors, staff, and students at UW-W talk about their favorite books!

    Ozalle Toms, Freedom Writers Diary

    Steve Anderson, Linus Pauling in His Own Words

    Feb 20th: Joanna Stradusky, Caves of Steel; Dragonriders of Pern

    Linda Nortier, People of the Masks

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    Using social media for social good

    Posted on February 27, 2017 by Barbara

    Luvvie Ajayi will talk about “Using social media for social good” at 7pm on Mon., Feb. 27, in the Young Auditorium. It’s part of the Contemporary Issues Lecture Series!

    Ajayi is a writer, speaker and digital strategist, which, according to her bio at the site of her popular culture blog Awesonely Luvvie, is someone who helps “figure out how to use the web strategically (not just to loiter and take selfies).” On the site of her tech blog, Awesomely Techie, she says she “believes in using the power of technology for social change.”

    Ajayi is a co-founder of The Red Pump Project®, a “nonprofit organization raising awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls” that uses the red pump shoe to symbolize “empowerment representing the strength and courage of women affected by HIV/AIDS”. Every March it runs a Rock the Red Pump® (#RocktheRedPump) Campaign, asking “bloggers and other digital influencers” to promote awareness and facilitate conversation about the issue.

    Luvvie is a columnist for the digital news platform theGrio.com* and also has contributed her writing to XOJane, EBONY, Clutch Magazine and Uptown Magazine, and she has been featured by the Chicago Sun-Times, Africa.com, Essence.com, AOL.com, Black Enterprise, The Root and more. She received the 2012 Women’s Media Center Social Media Award and was among Jet magazine’s first “Forty under 40” honorees in 2013.

    If you’d like assistance with finding additional resources, please ask a librarian (choose chat or email, phone 262-472-1032, or visit the Reference Desk).

    *Read more about theGrio.com in “Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios acquires digital news community platform: TheGrio” (PR Newswire, 2016:Jun.14).

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    Employment Discrimination and Asian American Communities

    Posted on February 22, 2017 by Barbara

    Maria Flores, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), will speak about “Civil Rights Focus: Employment Discrimination Issues Faced by Asian American Communities” on Thurs., Feb. 23, from 3:30pm-4:30pm in UC 275A. It’s part of the Southeast Asian Heritage Lecture Series!

    You can learn more, and Andersen Library can help! The EEOC has a web page on Asian-Americans in the American Workforce. Search Library databases to find articles such as “Culture matters: Cultural differences in the reporting of employment discrimination claims” (William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 2011, vol.20, pp.405-1373), “Spatial assimilation and its discontents: Asian ethnic neighborhood change in California (Urban Geography, 2016 published online, pp.1-26), and “Korean entrepreneurs in Kansas City metropolitan area” (Journal of Enterprising Communities, 2014, vol.8:no.4, pp.287-299), and books such as The contemporary Asian American experience: Beyond the model minority (available from other UW libraries via free UW Request service, by which requested items typically take 2-5 weekdays to arrive) and Asian American women and men: Labor, laws, and love (3rd-Floor Main Collection, E184.A75 E85 2008).

    If you’d like assistance with finding additional resources, please ask a librarian (choose chat or email, phone 262-472-1032, or visit the Reference Desk).

    Andersen Library is a federal and Wisconsin depository library with federal and state government documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in various formats (print, DVD/CD-ROM, online). Check out your government at Andersen Library!

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    New Stuff Tuesday – February 21, 2017

    Posted on February 21, 2017 by Carol

    The Art of Crayon

    The Art of Crayon: Draw, Color, Resist, Sculpt, Carve!
    by Lorraine Bell
    NC855 .B445 2016
    New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor

    A brand new box of crayons. Remember the funny waxy scent, the perfectly chiselled tips — and how they never quite fit back into the box afterwards? Not that I ever had my own box, mind you — not with nine older siblings. But we can dream, right?!

    Artist and studio owner Lorraine Bell offers a richly-textured and brilliantly-colored work (could crayons deliver anything less?) with nifty techniques for drawing, coloring, carving and more. She highlights artists and their crayon projects, whether used as tools or media. How about a sculpted Yoda crayon for Star Wars fans — or crayon batik for craftsy types? Whether you like creating or consuming art, this book is a good choice.

    Andersen Library has a number of other books about creating art with crayons for you to explore and enjoy.

    You can learn more about the author in this video:

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    New Stuff Tuesday – February 14, 2017

    Posted on February 14, 2017 by Naomi Schemm

    How to Speak Midwestern bookcover

    How to Speak Midwestern
    by Edward McClelland
    PE2932 .M33 2016
    New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor

    In what state might you eat a “brain sandwich,” a “gooey butter cake,” or a “St. Paul Sandwich”? Attend school at “Ooey Pooey”? Go to the “Factory of Sadness” for fun and perhaps see “party plates” on your way there? *

    You don’t have to be a linguist to enjoy this lighthearted trip through Midwestern accents (yes, we do have an accent), regional sayings, and cultural touchstones. The author breaks the Midwest into three regions, each with its own distinct linguistic influences: North Central, Midland, and Inland North – and Wisconsin is the only state to include all three regions. The book begins with a few pages of introduction to the unique traits of each region, and while the author has clearly done his research into the waves of immigration, dominant economies, quirks of geography, sports loyalties, and political climates that all affect language development, the details don’t bog down a reader – it’s a quick skim.

    Then the second half of the book provides a dictionary of regional gems. As a recent transplant to Wisconsin who’s also lived in and has family across the Midwest states, I enjoyed browsing the WI section of the dictionary to help me sound like a local (maybe) – I had heard about brats and bubblers, but now I know about Sconnies and Fondy and the famed Hodag of Rhinelander. Pick this book up from the New Arrivals shelf if you need a fun break from the academic reading!

    * Answers: Try all – if you’re brave – in St. Louis, MO. Ooey Pooey is Indiana’s nickname for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, or IUPUI. Finally, that’s Ohio’s stadium home of the Cleveland Browns, but watch out for the red-on-yellow license plates issued to DUI offenders.)

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    New Stuff Tuesday – February 7, 2017

    Posted on February 10, 2017 by James Castrillo

    The Undoing Project bookcover

    The Undoing Project
    :A Friendship That Changed Our Mind
    by Michael Lewis
    QP360.5 .L49 2017
    Browsing Books, 2nd floor

    Michael Lewis’ latest books looks at the fascinating relationship between Tversky and Kahneman. These two men single handedly founded a new discipline that we now call behavioral economics. This book is driven by the relationship of two psychologists who opened the gates on understanding why humans do the things they do and the effects are behaviors have on the world. The most compelling part of this story is perhaps just how different these two men were in terms of their personalities. What often began as a heated argument in their offices about how humans behave would eventually turn into a groundbreaking academic paper. By the time the paper was to be published, neither men had a good sense of who first proposed the idea so they began to just alternate their names as the lead author on the paper. What began as the work of two Israeli academics in the 1960s soon became it’s own field and affected the way business, economics, and the stock market were approached by various companies.

    Check out other books written by Michael Lewis at Andersen Library.

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    Friday Fun: Atlas Obscura

    Posted on February 10, 2017 by Barbara

    Here’s some Friday fun, if you’re in need of some fun or armchair travel right about now. Atlas Obscura is a web site that claims to be “the definitive guide to the world’s wondrous and curious places.” Anyone can create an account and submit curious places not already captured in the atlas. At the bottom you can click to see “Random,” “Recently Added,” or “Most Popular” entries. You can subscribe to have the newsletter sent to your email.

    cover of book Atlas ObscuraOr, get the book based on the site, Atlas obscura: An explorer’s guide to the world’s hidden wonders. Andersen Library does not have a copy, but UWW students and staff may request it from other UW campus libraries by using the free UW Request service. Requested items arrive at Andersen Library in 2-5 weekdays. A review of the book appears in Booklist (2016:Sept.15, vol. 113:no.2, p.18) and Google Books offers a searchable preview, which allowed me to learn that Wisconsin has some sites in the book, such as House on the Rock and Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron (a sculpture in Dr. Evermor’s Park in Sumpter, WI).

    Enjoy.

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    Student Book Club

    Posted on February 9, 2017 by Rebecca Jones

    Join us for the Spring 2017 Andersen Library’s Student Book Club!

    Andersen Library Student Book Club features topics related to diversity and one book is discussed each semester. This Spring we will be reading and discussing The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida. Meetings will be held on Feb. 22, March 1, and March 8 from 3:30-4:30pm. Discussion facilitated by: Karen Fisher – Disability Services Coordinator
    focusing on Psychological Disabilities, Autism Spectrum & Learning Disabilities, and Sara Vogt – Associate Director of the Center for Students With Disabilities.

    Feb. 22- Books will be dispersed to participants (free copies for the first 15 to sign up). Discussion will focus on introducing the book and providing insight into living with autism.
    *Please note that the distribution of books will take place within the first 10 minutes of the January 22 meeting. If you are not there, your book will go to the next available “drop in” attendee. Know you will be late? Let Rebecca Jones (jonesrl@uww.edu) know beforehand.

    March 1- Discussion of the first half of The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida (approx. 65 pages)

    March 8 – Discussion of the second half of The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida (approx. 65 pages)

    Light snacks and refreshments will be provided and are sponsored by Undergraduate Research and Honors Programs.

    Questions or require accommodations? Contact Rebecca Jones at 262.472.7164 or jonesrl@uww.edu.

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