What’s that in the sky? A meteor shower!

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Barbara

What are you planning to do for the next couple of nights? You might try looking up at the night sky to see the Perseids meteor shower! This meteor shower appears every August around this time, when Earth crosses the debris-strewn orbital path of its parent, Comet Swift-Tuttle. Advice on how to watch (especially Wednesday night into the wee hours of Thursday morning) is available from the Washington Post.

NASA’s research indicates that the Perseid meteor shower is more likely to produce ‘fireballs’ (really bright meteors) than others. See NASA’s “Perseid Fireballs” web page.

Andersen Library can help you learn more, with resources from the ebook Patrick Moore’s practical astronomy: Field guide to meteors and meteorites (ebrary) to articles including “Properties of the lunar exosphere during the Perseid 2009 meteor shower” (Planetary and Space Science, 2014:June, vol.96, pp.90–98) and “Dark nights for fine Perseids” (Sky & Telescope, 2015, vol.130:no.2, pp.48-50).

Enjoy.

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Library web site issues – links to databases, catalog

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Barbara

Yes, something is awry with the Library’s web pages at the moment. Until the tech people can resolve the issue, you can still get to online resources!

Research@UWW – Find “everything” (articles, books, & more)
This discovery tool searches multiple resources simultaneously (articles from many disciplines, books, ebooks, videos, digital resources, government documents, etc.), or you can change from searching “everything” to articles only or the local catalog only, i.e., UWW’s books, media, government documents, and more.

EBSCOhost databases, like Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, PsycINFO, Education Research Complete, American History & Life, and more

JSTOR

ProQuest for databases like Sociological Abstracts, ProQuest Newsstand, or the New York Times and Chicago Tribune historical newspapers.

ScienceDirect

Go to online Library guides, then select a relevant subject area, for more links to resources. The “Articles” tab on many guides will link to relevant article databases.

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New Stuff Tuesday: August 11, 2015

Posted on August 11, 2015 by James Castrillo

Cool: How the brain's hidden quest for cool drives our economy and shapes our world

The Rebirth of Professional Soccer in America:
the strange days of the united soccer association
by Dennis J. Seese
GV 944 .U5 S44 2015 New Arrivals, 2nd floor

In light of the recent victory of the U.S. Women’s National Team in the World Cup and the U.S. Men’s National Team playing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, it only seems appropriate to reflect on soccer and its tumultuous history in the United States. Seese’s book covers a revival of soccer in the United States that occurred in the late 1960s. This revival is remembered less for its passion of the sport, and more for a bitter rivalry between opposing factions. While capitalizing upon a rise in interest in soccer, two different leagues the United Soccer Association (USA) and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) had different approaches to promoting the sport that ultimately separated fans rather than joining together to build a base. Seese’s book goes in depth to examine the history behind this rise in soccer popularity. This book focuses on events that happened almost exclusively in 1967 and show the quick rise and fall that was professional soccer in the United States. This book will be of great interest to young soccer fans who may be unaware of the history of U.S. Soccer prior to the foundation of the MLS in the mid-1990s.

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New Stuff Tuesday – August 4, 2015

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Martha

The Story of Alice book cover

The Story of Alice:
Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland
by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
PR4612 .D67 2015 New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Yay, another book about Alice and her escapades, this one just in time for the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland). Despite being a Victorian children’s story, this book continues to have contemporary themes and appeals to both children and adults.

Douglas-Fairhurst’s book explores the lives of Charles Dodgeson (Lewis Carroll), the author, and Alice Liddell, his young muse, and covers the creation of the books (including Through the Looking Glass) through Liddell’s death. Meanwhile incorporating contemporaneous culture, such as Victorian and modern literature, the rise of photography, the definition of childhood, and sexual issues. Based on both previously unpublished and published sources, there is much new here to consider.

By far the largest section of the books is “After Alice,” which focuses on the time following the publication of these stories and covers Carroll’s and Liddell’s personal lives, their artistic and other public endeavors, and even approaches the “gaps” in what is known. There are a few interesting photos and other illustrations interspersed amongst the text. Academians and my fellow librarians will be pleased to know that there are copious unobtrusive endnotes with useful citation information as well.

I hope you get a chance to read this book, and if you do we’d love to hear about it.

Coming in October the library is doing an Alice display, which I think you’ll enjoy.

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Time to Go Says Ms. Picoult

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Martha

Leaving Time: A Novel

Leaving Time:
A Novel
by Jodi Picoult
PS3566.I372 L43 2014
Browsing Collection, Books, 2nd floor

Jodi Picoult is at it again with last year’s best selling book Leaving Time: A Novel. It’s a good option if you’re waiting for her next book, Living Color, to be released this coming November. Leaving Time is about Jenna Metcalf, who’s elephant researcher mother disappeared one night under mysterious circumstances. Jenna remembers nothing about what happened that night. Even though she was there, she was just a toddler at the time. Now 13 she’s pursuing the truth with the help of several allies.This book focuses on mother-daughter relationships.

If you’d like to know more about the motivation and personal experiences that helped form this book, check out this Picoult’s interview with the National Geographic Editor-at-Large.

If you’d like to watch elephants live in the wilds in Tennessee, take a look at the Elecam at the U.S. elephant sanctuary website. They’ve also archived some highlights on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Thank you.

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New Stuff Tuesday – July 28, 2015

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Diana

worldatlasofcoffee

The World Atlas of Coffee:
From Beans to Brewing-Coffees Explored, Explained, and Enjoyed
by James Hoffmann
TX415 .H63 2014 New Arrivals, 2nd floor

As astute readers of this blog may note, this New Stuff Tuesday entry is published on a Thursday. Clearly, I need to consume more of the delicious beverage that is the subject of this book! Even if I did not already enjoy coffee, this book would make me want to have a cup. Hoffmann packed his atlas with beautiful pictures and information from many aspects of coffee cultivation and consumption: economic, agricultural, design, and culinary.

For example, did you know there are two varieties of the coffee plant? Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora are the two types, commonly known as Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is most highly prized by many coffee connoisseurs. Robusta is used for instant soluble coffee (K-cups!) and also Italian espresso (it has a higher caffeine content than Arabica).

Brew a cup (in a french press, moka pot, aeropress, electric filter machine, or vacuum pot) and settle in with this new arrival.

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T3: Protecting Your Information Online

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Diana

We generally trust the companies that we do business with online to protect our targetinformation.  Many high-profile hacking episodes and company missteps, such as those that occurred at Target and Snapchat, over the last few years have shown how important it is for everyone to monitor their information.

This week, the New York Times has an interactive quiz that allows you to see how many times your information may have been compromised and what type of information may have been targeted in security breaches at well-known companies.

If you have been a victim of a breach, here’s what the Times suggests you do now:

“Review your account statements for any fraudulent purchases, as well as your credit snapchatreport. Make sure you have different passwords for different accounts: in particular, don’t use the same password for your bank accounts, email and e-commerce accounts. If you were the victim of more than one breach, some security experts recommend freezing your credit. To do so, call Equifax , Experian or TransUnion and ask to have your account frozen. The credit agency will mail you a one-time PIN or password to unfreeze your account later. If you plan on applying for a new job, renting an apartment or buying insurance, you will have to thaw a freeze temporarily and pay a fee to refreeze the account.”

 

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Friday fun: Historical newsreels on YouTube

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Barbara

Digitized historical newsreels from the Associated Press and British Movietone have been made available on YouTube. The films go back as far as 1895, and cover almost everything you can think of…live footage of significant historical events such as the burning of the Belsen concentration camp and bombing of Pearl Harbor, fashion including ridiculous sunglasses in 1971, sports (Highland games!), entertainment such as “50 years of movies” celebrating fifty years of moving film, interviews and portraits of notable individuals, and real oddities like the dog walking machines from 1937 and a barrel rolling contest.

Search YouTube for “british movietone” and whatever else you want.

Enjoy. And thank you, James, for bringing this to my attention.

screenshot of British Movietone via YouTube

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T3: Access Library Resources when UW-Whitewater Websites Unavailable

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Diana

All of UW-Whitewater’s websites (including the Library’s homepage) will be down for maintenance Friday, July 24, from 7 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. Even when the Library’s website is down you can still access many of our resources. Here’s how:

  • Research@UWW – find articles, ebooks, and more
  • LibGuides – Look at a guide for the subject you are researching, you’ll see a tab for Articles/Databases on almost every guide. These will link you to the databases.
  • Google Scholar – find articles and use the Find It@UW-W links to get to see if we have the full text. (To set up your Google Scholar preferences so that you see the Find It@UW-W links, please see this guide How to Use Find It with Google Scholar.)

You may want to bookmark these links in your browsers so that you can quickly access our resources anytime there is a planned or unplanned outage.

Here is the message from iCIT:

The entire campus network access (including all buildings and the data center) and all associated services will be unavailable on Friday, July 24, from 7 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. due to maintenance.

This planned outage will affect all services that utilize the network including email, WINS, and the UW-Whitewater Website. Planned system outages are announced via email and at uww.edu/icit. If you have questions, please contact the Technology Support Center (TSC) Helpdesk at 262-472-HELP (4357), or helpdesk@uww.edu.

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New Stuff Tuesday: July 21, 2015

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Amanda Howell

Cool: How the brain's hidden quest for cool drives our economy and shapes our world

Cool:
How the brain’s hidden quest for cool drives our economy and shapes our world
by Steven Quartz and Anette Asp
HF5415.32 .Q37 2015 New Arrivals, 2nd floor

What do designer jeans and neuroscience have in common? Steven Quartz and Anette Asp explain in this fascinating book. Cool explores why we buy what they buy and how our purchases give the world an indication of our social status and the group of which we are a part. The book presents scientific and historical evidence of the pursuit of cool around the world. If you’re interested in how consumer trends come to be or would like to learn more about the brain or marketing, this book is highly recommended.

You might also be interested in watching The Merchants of Cool, available through Films on Demand.

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