The Andersen Library Blog

New Stuff Tuesday – April 26, 2016

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Carol

The Greatest Shows on Earth

The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus
by Linda Simon
GV 1801 .S56 2014
Main Collection, 3rd floor

If you’ve ever been to Delavan or to Circus World in Baraboo, you’ve had a little taste of Wisconsin’s circus history.

English professor Linda Simon sketches out a global history of the circus, starting with figures of acrobats from ancient civilizations all the way to modern day theater circuses, like Cirque du Soleil.

Circuses have delighted children and adults for generations. They provided the extreme sports of their day like tight-rope walking, trick riding, and aerial acrobatics. And they introduced menageries of exotic animals into the everyday world of circus-goers. Although fewer and farther between, circuses are still around. If you enjoy watching the animals, you can find full-blown three-ring circuses or smaller operations like the one-ring Big Apple Circus from New York.

If you’re interested in learning more, Andersen Library has a number of other books on the history of the circus.

Posted in new stuff tuesdays | Tagged circus | Comments Off

Improve Your Financial Fitness: Money Smart Week

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Amanda Howell

This week marks the start of Andersen Library’s Money Smart Week events! Join us throughout the week in Andersen Library 1105 to learn more about financial aid, credit scores, negotiating salaries, and more.

Money Smart Week Schedule of Events

Money Smart Week was first established in 2002 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to help people manage their money more effectively. Check out the Money Smart Week website for resources that can help you become more financially stable. The UW Credit Union is also a great resource for personal finance information. They hold seminars throughout the year, some of them geared toward college students.

Andersen Library also has a page dedicated to personal finance topics. Also, check out some of the Library’s books on personal finance.

Posted in money mondays | Tagged financial literacy, money smart week, personal finance | Comments Off

T³: WINS Mobile Apps

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Diana

WINS Mobile App

ICIT has just released a new Android app for WINS. The app, which joins the iOS app released last semester, allows students to register for classes, check grades, drop a course, and view class schedules.

You can access further instructions from the Registrar’s website.

Posted in campus connection, tech tips | Tagged android, apps, iOS, mobile, mobile devices, WINS | Comments Off

The Sixth Extinction

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Barbara

Elizabeth Kolbert, journalist and author of The sixth extinction: An unnatural history, for which she won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction will deliver the last Contemporary Issues Lecture of the year at 7pm on Wed, Apr 20, in the Irvin L Young Auditorium.

Andersen Library has a copy of The Sixth Extinction (3rd-floor Main Collection, QE721.2.E97 K65 2014), and UWW students and staff also may request copies from other UW campus libraries via the free UW Request service (requested items arrive in 2-5 weekdays). A preview is available online via Google Books.

Andersen Library can help you can learn more! Other publications by Kolbert are available, including her book Field notes from a catastrophe: man, nature, and climate change (3rd-floor Main Collection, QC981.8.G56 K655 2006) and many articles, such as “Building the ark” (National Geographic, 2013, vol.224:no.4, pp.132-155), “Unnatural selection” (New Yorker, 2016, vol.92:no.10, pp.22-28), “The acid sea” (National Geographic, 2011, vol.219:no.4, pp.100-121), and “Enter the Anthropocene Age of Man” (National Geographic, 2011, vol.219:no.3, pp.60-85).

There are several interviews available online, including these:

National Public Radio provides an interview with Kolbert from the Fresh Air program, “In the world’s ‘sixth extinction,’ are humans the asteroid?“
National Geographic published an interview in 2014, “The sixth extinction: A conversation with Elizabeth Kolbert.”
The Guardian provides an interview from 2014 titled “Elizabeth Kolbert: ‘The whole world is becoming a kind of zoo’” In this interview, she reveals that she

… read a paper in the [Proceedings of the] National Academy of Sciences that set me down this whole road. That came out in 2008 and it was called Are We In the Midst of The Sixth [Mass] Extinction? That was sort of the beginning of this whole project. Then I wrote a piece for the New Yorker called “The Sixth Extinction?“, and it involved amphibian-hunting in Panama. I knew I hadn’t scratched the surface, that there was a book there.

Ask a librarian (visit the Reference Desk, call 262.472.1032, or choose to email or chat) for assistance with finding additional materials.

Posted in campus connection | Tagged authors, climate change, conservation, contemporary issues lecture series, Earth Week, environment, extinction, global warming, interviews, lectures, species, web sites | Comments Off

New Stuff Tuesday – April 19, 2016

Posted on April 19, 2016 by James Castrillo

cover for Dog Whistle Politics. Title of the book is in red text and the image of a dog's head peers up from the bottom of the cover. The dog appears to be a doberman pinscher.

Dog Whistle Politics
how coded racial appeals have reinvented racism and wrecked the middle class
by Ian Haney Lopez
E185.615 .H278 2015
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

In Ian Haney Lopez’s work, we learn that the words we use matter a great deal. Words are sometimes used strategically to have a coded meaning that we must be critical in interpreting. Dog Whistle Politics deconstructs the coded racial appeals that are often used to sow resentment in white voters. Lopez seeks to identify the imagery that racial coded dog-whistles convey and explore how they have developed and been used in American politics since the 1970s. This book will stir debate, but allows for much needed conversations about what people think when they hear comments about undocumented immigrants, crime, Islamic faith, and many other topics. This is a book about racial attitudes and how they can motivate and influence voting behaviors of the middle class.

Other works by Ian Haney Lopez owned by Andersen Library include Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice.

Posted in new stuff tuesdays | Tagged politics, racism, united states | Comments Off

Earth Week

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Barbara

UW-Whitewater offers several Earth Week (April 18-22, 2016) events, including these:

The documentary This changes everything will be shown on Mon, Apr 18, from 5-7pm in Summers Auditorium (UC). If you miss it, Andersen Library has the book by Naomi Klein This changes everything: Capitalism vs. the climate (2nd-floor New Arrivals Island, HC79.E5 K56 2014).

A photo of the greenhouse from my tour in 2012 I’ve taken a tour of the greenhouse, so I can highly recommend it. The tour is available on Mon, Apr 18, starting at 6pm at the back entrance to Upham Hall, or on Tues, Apr 19, noon-1:30pm meeting at the greenhouse attached to Upham Hall (also included: the campus garden and information for prospective volunteers).

Teach-in on water resources issues, both global and here in Wisconsin, organized by SAGE (Students Allied for a Green Earth) on Tues, Apr 19, from 6-7:30pm in Upham 141.

The last Contemporary Issues Lecture will be delivered at 7pm on Wed Apr 20 (Young Auditorium) by Elizabeth Kolbert, journalist and author of The Sixth Extinction: An unnatural history, for which she won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. Andersen Library has a copy of The Sixth Extinction (3rd-floor Main Collection, QE721.2.E97 K65 2014), and UWW students and staff may request copies from other UW campus libraries via the free UW Request service (requested items arrive in 2-5 weekdays). The title link above will provide a preview via Google Books.

Fri, Apr 22 (Earth Day) features the opportunity to help plant fruit trees in the campus garden, weather permitting. Meet at the campus garden near the Ambrose Health Center at 10am.

And much more! Please visit the Earth Week web page for a full listing of events. There is a lot to choose from!

As always, please ask a librarian (visit the Reference Desk, call 262.472.1032, or choose to email or chat) for assistance with finding additional materials.

Posted in campus connection | Tagged activism, anniversaries, books, documentaries, environment, gardening, lectures, nature, tours, videos, web sites | Comments Off

Stuffed Animal Sleepover Success!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Rebecca Jones

Did you notice little children and stuffed animals in the library this past weekend? Us too! Twenty-nine children from ages 11-months to 7-years visited Andersen Library on April 8, 2016 to participate in the library’s fourth Annual Stuffed Animal Sleepover and celebrate the Week of the Young Child, along with the Children’s Center. The children, from the families of UW-Whitewater students, staff, faculty, and the Children’s Center, participated in a library story time and song activity.

Children gather for a sing-a-long during the Stuffed Animal Sleepover

The theme of this year’s event was a masquerade party. Parents and grandparents helped the kids create name tags for their stuffed animals, and color masks for the kids and their animals. Once their masks were in place, the children joined in singing a couple songs, including Cow Parked in My Driveway, and enjoyed story time.

Before heading home, the children tucked their stuffed animals into bed in a dark group study room. Do you think they stayed in bed? Not a chance! The stuffed animals stayed up all night exploring the library after hours and taking photos in the photo booths set up for them. The event volunteers created laminated photo memories of the children’s animals, which the children kept as mementos.

Our business librarian and her family participating in the Stuffed Animal Sleepover

A big thank you to the volunteers that helped make the event a success! We are so grateful for community member volunteers, staff members volunteers, and many student workers and staff members involved behind the scenes. Two students from the College of Education and Professional Studies assisted in leading the 3-6 year old story times, and one of the students stayed late to assist in completing the photo memories for the kids. We couldn’t have done it without you all.

Curious about what was read during story time? Here’s a list! Check them out and read your favorites again at home.

Bigger Kids: Where’s Walrus, Secret Pizza Party, When the Library Lights Go Out, Thank You and Good Night .

Infants: Froodle, Wiggle, Waddle Waddle Quack Quack Quack, Blankie, Time for Bed.

Posted in around the library, campus connection, education | Tagged children's center, Kids, masquerade, photo booth, reading, sing-a-long, story time, Stuffed Animal Sleepover, stuffed animals, week of the young child | 3 Comments

New Stuff Tuesday – April 12, 2016

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Martha

Movies in the Age of Obama book cover

Movies in the Age of Obama
The Era of Post-racial and Neo-racist Cinema
by David Garrett Izzo
PN1995.9.N4 M68 2015
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Each of this book’s eighteen essays is written by a different author who has a unique bent on the over-arching themes of race and otherness in the movies. These have been major themes, both overtly and covertly expressed, since Barack Obama was elected president of the United States and are reflected in the representative films discussed here. The films covered range from The Help to The Hunger Games and show changes in the popular media during and sometimes before the Obama era. There is even an entire section on 12 Years a Slave, which won the award for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2013. This book will make you think about yourself and your experiences, and you will likely want to (re)watch the films discussed to see them in a fresh light.

Posted in new stuff tuesdays | Tagged books, films, movies, new stuff tuesdays, race, racism | Comments Off

First Past the Post and Public Opinion: Do Early Primaries Matter?

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Barbara

Dr. Jolly Emrey*, Associate Professor and Chair of the Political Science Dept., will talk about “First past the post and public opinion: Do early primaries matter?” on Tues, Apr 12, at 7:30pm at The Fort Atkinson Club Community Center (211 S. Water St. East, Fort Atkinson). It’s part of the Club’s free Spring 2016 Lecture Series (although donations are welcome).

* Due to illness, Dr. Emrey is unable to provide the lecture tonight. However, she has arranged for Dr. Eric Loepp to deliver the talk!

It’s a presidential election year and common wisdom states that winning early primaries matters for candidates in many ways, especially when it comes to public perception and public opinion. This talk will explore how much of the common wisdom is true, according to political scientists, and whether or not this election is really all that different from past primary races.

Andersen Library has resources for learning more! Search databases for resources such as “Early primaries, viability and changing preferences for presidential candidates” (Presidential Studies Quarterly, 2012, vol.42:no.2, pp.231-255 doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2012.03964.x), “Prescient primaries?: A spatial voting model of US primaries with early commitment and uncertainty over future preferences” (Conference Papers – Midwestern Political Science Association, 2008), “Voter awareness in early presidential primaries” (Conference Papers – New England Political Science Association, 2007), and “Forecasting the presidential primary vote: Viability, ideology and momentum” (International Journal of Forecasting, 2008, vol.24, pp.193-208).