Friday Fun: World UFO Day

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Barbara

It’s World UFO Day on Saturday, July 2! How will you celebrate? Sure, you can see the new Independence Day: Resurgence film in theaters, but you also can read books or watch older movies to enjoy the day!

cover of Lure of the edgeAndersen Library can help! Search Research@UWW to find books such as UFOs and government: A historical inquiry (3rd-Floor Main Collection, TL789 .U22 2012), Lure of the edge: Scientific passions, religious beliefs, and the pursuit of UFOs (online via ebrary), Close encounters of the fourth kind: Alien abduction, UFOs, and the conference at M.I.T. (3rd-floor Main Collection, TL789 .B79 1995), and UFO crash at Roswell: The genesis of a modern myth (3rd-floor Main Collection, TL789.5.N6 S25 1997). There also are reports related to the Roswell incident, such as The Roswell report: Case closed (2nd-floor Federal Documents, D 301.2:R 73), Report of Air Force research regarding the “Roswell Incident” (online), and The flying saucers are real, a book that investigated encounters between Air Force and other aircraft and UFOs in the late 1940’s that UWW faculty/staff and students may obtain from other UWs by using the free UW Request service (requested items arrive in 2-5 weekdays). Movies such as Men in Black, Men in Black II, Alien, District 9, Avatar, etc. are available as well (2nd-floor Browsing DVDs, alphabetical by title). The Telegraph provides 140 years of UFO sightings (photos): Part I, Part II, and Part III.

screenshot of The Telegraph site of UFO photos

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.

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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4th of July: Library hours, local celebrations

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Barbara

Andersen Library will be closed Sat. (July 2nd) through Mon. (July 4th), because of the holiday weekend. Of course, online access to databases (including articles), the library holdings listed in Books, media and more (UW Whitewater) (including ebooks) and Ask a Librarian online assistance via chat will be available.

Flag and fireworks imageBut if you’re taking a break from studies, you can celebrate the holiday!

Whitewater’s Family Festival runs Fri.-Mon., July 1-4. The schedule includes a parade at 10am on Monday, the 4th (parade route map), preceded by the Whippet City Mile along the same route and starting at about 9:50am. The Festival also includes midway games, food (pickle on a stick!), music, the annual car & bike show (on the 4th, 8am-3pm), Minneiska ski show (on the 4th, after the parade, on Cravath Lake), fireworks, and more.

Many nearby communities will be celebrating as well, e.g., Milton offers softball games, carnival, parade (1pm on the 4th), music, fireworks, and more. The Hoard Historical Museum (401 Whitewater Ave) in Fort Atkinson will host its annual ice cream social on the 4th from 1-3pm with live music and patriotic readings. Fort Atkinson has additional events scheduled on Saturday July 2nd from 4-9:30pm at the high school (925 Lexington Blvd), such as music, dunk tanks, obstacle course, fireworks and more. Events going on in various Walworth County communities can be found at http://www.visitwalworthcounty.com/ by selecting a date on the calendar. To find events in other communities, please search the Internet or ask a librarian (call 262.472.1032, come in, email or chat) for assistance.

Enjoy. Happy Fourth! Andersen Library will see you on Tuesday, July 5th, when we will be open for our usual summer sessions hours (7:30am-9pm).

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Summer Reading – Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Martha

The cover of Vanessa Diffenbaugh's novel The Language of Flowers

The cover of Vanessa Diffenbaugh's novel We Never Asked for Wings

Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s first novel, The Language of Flowers, was published in over 30 countries, where it was well received both critically and popularly. Based in part on her multiple experiences as a foster mother, this novel follows the eighteen year old Victoria Jones who is forced to leave the foster care system when she becomes an adult. This aging or transitioning out of the foster care system is especially rough for her as she was abandoned as a baby and has no known family. Although it is not an unique situation, it happens to about 20,000 new adults each year, it is still a difficult one. Set in San Francisco, Victoria finds herself out on the streets but eventually is given the opportunity to work in a flower shop where her knowledge of flowers is a boon to her and she is able to come into her own. You can listen to Diffenbaugh speak about adoption on the Penguin Random House website.

Her second novel, We Never Asked for Wings, was released last year. It also focuses on a pressing social issue and is set in San Francisco. This novel is about Letty Espinoza, a poor, undocumented single mother. One night her mother leaves her and her two children, Alex and Luna, whom she’s been essentially raising, to return to Mexico. Deeply upset by the abandonment and herself inexperienced with motherhood, Letty leaves her children alone and chases after her mother, but her mother doesn’t return. Now Letty has to learn to act like and be a parent and cope as an adult.

Watch this Kirkus TV video of bestselling author Vanessa Diffenbaugh talking about her novel We Never Asked for Wings.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/_pkUFphj1Fw[/youtube]

Or this video of Vanessa Diffenbaugh discussing The Language of Flowers on BBC Breakfast

  • The Language of Flowers: A Novel (2011)
    Main Collection, 3rd Floor (PS3604.I2255 L36 2011)
  • We Never Asked for Wings: A Novel (2015)
    Browsing Collection, Books, 2nd Floor (PS3604.I2255 W4 2015)
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New Stuff Tuesday – June 28, 2016

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Ellen Latorraca

Moonshot: the Indigenous comics collection

Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection
Edited by Hope Nicholson
F Moo
Curriculum Collection, Fiction, 2nd floor

Hope Nicholson has gathered 14 stories in this anthology which explores the vast of array of indigenous storytelling in North America. The first is an excerpt from Daredevil/Echo: Vision Quest.  Echo, an indigenous and Latin superhero who is deaf, tells how as a child she learned to communicate through sign, music, art, dance, and gesture, “listening” to her father and a tribal elder’s storytelling. The rich artwork depicts these many layers of communication, overlapping indigenous sign language, the child’s school drawings, detailed portraits, pencil drawings, callouts, and objects such as lace and children’s toy blocks. Another selection, Ochek, a retelling of the Cree story of the Dog Star constellation, draws a stark contrast with it’s vivid, eye popping design. Although Moonshot is shelved in the Curriculum Collection along with children’s and young adult titles, this graphic anthology of traditional and new stories will draw in readers of all ages.

What began as a Kickstarter campaign received the Bronze Medal in the 20th Annual Independent Publisher’s Awards  for “Best Graphic Novel” as well as “The Best Book of 2015”  by the School Library Journal in the Young Adult category.

 

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T3: Google Spaces

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Diana

Google Spaces

Google has introduced a new app, Spaces, designed to make it easier to chat, share content, and collaborate with other people for work and for fun. Once you and your friends or colleagues have all signed into a space, you can share links, videos, and conversations. Google designed Spaces so that groups could stay focused on a task and have everything (web links, chats) stay within one app. If you use it in the full web version, that’s not such a big deal. If you use it in the Android or iOS apps, however, it’s great to not have to leave the app to cut and paste links or videos.

Give it a try!

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Summer Reading – The Fireman

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Martha

The cover of Joe Hill's novel The Fireman

The Fireman is the latest thriller from speculative fiction author Joe Hill, who is one of Stephen and Tabitha King’s two author sons. He has written in many formats, from awarding winning graphic novels and short fiction to novels such as this one.

In this lengthy apocalyptic tale, nurse Harper Grayson has contracted a new and deadly plague of combustion, Dragonscale. The epidemic, which causes people to spontaneously burst into flame, is spreading quickly and wrecking havoc on the populace. Her mission now is to save her unborn child. Enter John Rookwood, the “Fireman” of the title, who helps her along the way. Jakob, her husband, has other ideas.

Catch this promotional video for the book [youtube]https://youtu.be/xvgy1C7Z40U[/youtube]

And listen to Hill’s The Fireman reading and Q&A at Coralville Library [youtube]https://youtu.be/eSNE8HTwr34[/youtube]

If you like The Fireman and would like to find similar books to read (read alikes) check NoveList.

If you’d like to read other books by Joe Hill, here are the titles we have:

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New Stuff Tuesday: June 21, 2016

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Amanda Howell

Book cover for The Science of Growth: How Facebook Beat Friendster - And How Nine Other Startups Left the Rest in the Dust

The Science of Growth:
How Facebook Beat Friendster – And How Nine Other Startups Left the Rest in the Dust
Sean Ammirati
HD62.5 .A48 2016
New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor

If you’re interested in entrepreneurship and devoured books like The $100 Startup and The Lean Startup, The Science of Growth should be at the top of your “To Read” list. Sean Ammirati explores how to successfully take a startup to the next level through growth. The book examines ten pairs of companies who started around the same time and targeted similar customers, but one of the companies succeeded and the other failed. Examples include Tumblr and Posterous, Mint and Wesabe, and YouTube and Revver. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ll be much better informed about successful growth strategies after reading Ammirati’s book.

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Summer Reading – Zero K

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Martha

The cover of Don Delillo's Zero K: A Novel

Don Delillo’s latest science fiction work, Zero K, is his 16th novel and it looks to be another great one.

Narrated by Jeff Lockhart, Ross Lockhart’s son from his first marriage, this is the novel about New York billionaire mover and shaker Ross and his much younger second wife Artis Martineau. They are a couple around which an existential dilemma revolves. She’s ailing and it looks like he’ll outlive her, which he really doesn’t want to do. Enter the “Convergence,” an amorphous organization that works towards preserving life through cryogenics, which Ross backs. They travel to the far off Soviet hinterland to see what the future might hold.

Listen to Zero K by Don DeLillo. The excerpt is read by Thomas Sadoski.

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Broadway!

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Barbara

Well, the Tony Awards are over for another year, and Hamilton was the big winner overall. Now you’d like to learn more, wouldn’t you? Here are two free sources on the Internet for information about theatre productions:

    Cover of book Alexander Hamilton

  • The Internet Broadway Database is an archive of Broadway theatre information, with “records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today.” It has all kinds of information about particular shows, people, theatres, characters, awards, songs, and grosses. Don’t know how to spell someone’s last name? The first name will get you a list you can browse. What are the songs, and what characters sing them, in various shows? Who won Tony awards, and who were the other nominees? You can learn all kinds of tidbits, e.g., Hamilton is based on the book Alexander Hamilton by Chernow (available from Andersen Library’s 3rd-floor Main Collection, at E302.6.H2 C48 2004).
  • See also the The Lortel Archives, the Internet Off-Broadway Database,about productions in Manhattan theatres with a seating capacity of 100-499 that were “intended to run a closed-ended or open-ended schedule of performances of more than one week” and were “offered to critics and general audiences alike.”

Enjoy.

cover of ShowtimeAnd if you’d like to learn more about all different aspects of Broadway theatre, Andersen Library has resources. Search the Books, Media and more (UW Whitewater) segment of Research@UWW for books such as Showtime: A history of the Broadway musical theater (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML1711.8.N3 S73 2010), The performing set: The Broadway designs of William and Jean Eckart (3rd-floor Main OVERSIZE, PN2096.E23 H37 2006), The Broadway musical: A critical and musical survey (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML1711 .S95 1990), and Hamilton: The revolution: Being the complete libretto of the Broadway musical, with a true account of its creation, and concise remarks on hip-hop, the power of stories, and the new America (2nd-floor New Arrivals Island, ML50.M6733 H3 2016). There is music for various voices, such as Broadway repertoire for mezzo-soprano: A selection of Broadway’s best in their original keys for mezzo-soprano voice (3rd-floor Main OVERSIZE, M1507 .B762 1979). You also can find original Broadway cast recordings, including Sunday in the park with George: Original Broadway cast recording (2nd-floor Browsing CDs, SOU Son Son). Search article databases for articles such as “A Theatre Historian’s Perspective” (TDR: The Drama Review, 2001, vol.45:no.4, pp.125-128), “The history of the Broadway costume business” (TD&T: Theatre Design & Technology, 2011, vol.47:no.1, pp.10-19), “Megamusicals, spectacle and the postdramatic aesthetics of late capitalism” (Studies in Musical Theatre, 2011, vol.5:no.1, pp.13-34), and ‘Is this what it takes just to make it to Broadway?!’: Marketing In the Heights in the twenty-first century (Studies in Musical Theatre, 2011, vol.5:no.1, pp. 49-69).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.

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New Stuff Tuesday – The Revival – June 14, 2016

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Ellen Latorraca

Hamilton: the Revolution

Hamilton: The Revolution: Being the Complete Libretto of the Broadway Musical, With a True Account of Its Creation, and Concise Remarks on Hip-Hop, the Power of Stories, and the New America
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
ML50.M6733 H3 2016
New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor

The Revival? Why, yes! In light of the musical taking home 11 Tony Awards, a revival of the May 24 New Stuff Tuesday with a few added twists is timely.

For those of us who are unlikely to get to New York City, much less score tickets to Hamilton: The Revolution, or who anxiously await the national tour not scheduled to begin until March 2017, this illustrated companion book will likely just feed the impatience. Lin-Manuel Miranda, author, lyricist, and actor in the production, provides biographical and historical context in annotations throughout the book. It also includes the complete libretto, photos from the production, interviews with the show’s actors and crew, and excerpts from emails illustrating the creative process.

If this leads you to delve deeper into Alexander Hamilton’s legacy, find additional titles at Andersen Library, such as Duel with the Devil : The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed up to Take on America’s First Sensational Murder Mystery, Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow’s 2004 book which inspired Miranda’s theatrical creation, and much more.

If finding more musical librettos, information about Broadway, or the Tony Awards, search Research@UWW for more. Looking for online information? Our previous blog post will show you to the Internet Broadway Database and The Lortel Archives, the Internet Off-Broadway Database.

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