Posts

Showing posts from 2016

Featured Book: News of the World by Paulette Jiles

Image
News of the World:  a novel By Paulette Jiles Call Number:  PR 9199.3 J54 N49 2016 Review from the New York Times Book Review National Book Award Finalist - Fiction Publisher's Description:  It is 1870 and Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence. In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows. Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the En

Exam Cram Time! Mon. Dec. 19th

Image
It's that time of the semester! Need help with citations? A statistic? Help with a paper or final exam?  The Library and Tutoring Learning Center staff will be here on  Monday, Dec. 19th  from 6:00 pm - 11:00 pm to help you! We will also have free coffee, cookies, fruit, some surprises and Andy's infamous announcements.  Monday, Dec. 19 - Library Lobby & IMC (3rd flr) 6:00 pm - 11:00 pm FREE COFFEE, COOKIES, FRUIT and more! Good luck with studying from all of us at the Library and TLC!

Library Labs Workshop - Learn how to 3D Scan 12/6 @ noon

Image
Description: Learn how to 3D scan using an Xbox Kinect. Get hands-on experience scanning objects (or even people) to see how this technology opens up unique possibilities, especially in collaboration with 3D Printing. Date(s) and Time(s): Tuesday, Dec 6, Noon Location: ALB 107 Presenter(s): Matt Sonnenberg Audience: Campus Wide Register Here - Approved for SBE Events Credit

The Moth Snowstorm by Michael McCarthy

Image
The Moth Snowstorm:  Nature and Joy By Michael McCarthy Call Number:   GE 195 .M425 2015 Review from the New York Times Book Review Publisher's Description :  The moth snowstorm, a phenomenon Michael McCarthy remembers from his boyhood when moths “would pack a car’s headlight beams like snowflakes in a blizzard,” is a distant memory. Wildlife is being lost, not only in the wholesale extinctions of species but also in the dwindling of those species that still exist. The Moth Snowstorm is unlike any other book about climate change today; combining the personal with the polemical, it is a manifesto rooted in experience, a poignant memoir of the author’s first love: nature. McCarthy traces his adoration of the natural world to when he was seven, when the discovery of butterflies and birds brought sudden joy to a boy whose mother had just been hospitalized and whose family life was deteriorating. He goes on to record in painful detail the rapid dissolution of nature’s

Library Labs Workshop: Promote Your Scholarship

Image
Faculty and Staff . Please join us for our next Library Labs Workshop.  Description: ​Explore and discuss using web-based tools and social media to promote your scholarship activities. An introduction to building an online presence using Kudos, LinkedIn, and other free sites for researchers. Intended Audience:  Faculty and Staff Date & Time:   Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016 at noon-1:00 p.m. Location:  LRC 318 (now Albertson Hall) Presenter:  Terri Muraski The workshop is free, but we would like you to  register here . We hope to see you there!  

New Trial Database - Issue Briefs by Credo

Image
New Trial Database: Credo Issue Briefs Description:   Issue Briefs includes concise articles on current topics, exposing both sides of controversial issues. The articles are reviewed by an editorial board of seasoned journalism professionals, and 3-4 topics are added every week and direct-published with no delay. Trial expiration:  December 15, 2016 Access: Find Databases  (for campus community only)

Featured Book: Free Speech by Timothy Garton Ash

Image
In recognition of University Press Week (Nov 14-19) from Yale University Press: Free Speech:  Ten Principles for a Connected World By Timothy Garton Ash Call Number:  JC 591 .G37 2016 Review from the NY Times Publisher's Description :   One of the great political writers of our time offers a manifesto for global free speech in the digital age Never in human history was there such a chance for freedom of expression. If we have Internet access, any one of us can publish almost anything we like and potentially reach an audience of millions. Never was there a time when the evils of unlimited speech flowed so easily across frontiers: violent intimidation, gross violations of privacy, tidal waves of abuse. A pastor burns a Koran in Florida and UN officials die in Afghanistan.   Drawing on a lifetime of writing about dictatorships and dissidents, Timothy Garton Ash argues that in this connected world that he calls cosmopolis, the way to combine freedom and diversity is to ha

Library Labs Workshop - 3D Printing

Image
Description: Curious about 3D printing?  Explore the equipment and software surrounding this new technology and turn your ideas into reality.  Intended Audience:  Campus wide (Approved for SBE event credit for students) Date & Time:   Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016 at noon-1:00 p.m. Location:  LRC 107 (now Albertson Hall) Presenter:  Matt Sonnenberg The workshop is free, but we would like you to  register here .   We hope to see you there!

Featured Book: The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins

Image
The Rain in Portugal: Poems By Billy Collins Call Number:  PS 3553 .O47478 A6 2016 Publisher's Description:   From former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins comes a twelfth collection of poetry offering nearly fifty new poems that showcase the generosity, wit, and imaginative play that prompted The Wall Street Journal to call him “America’s favorite poet.” The Rain in Portugal —a title that admits he’s not much of a rhymer—sheds Collins’s ironic light on such subjects as travel and art, cats and dogs, loneliness and love, beauty and death. His tones range from the whimsical—“the dogs of Minneapolis . . . / have no idea they’re in Minneapolis”—to the elegiac in a reaction to the death of Seamus Heaney. A student of the everyday, here Collins contemplates a weather vane, a still life painting, the calendar, and a child lost at a beach. His imaginative fabrications have Shakespeare flying comfortably in first class and Keith Richards supporting the globe on his head. By turn

Featured Faculty: Prof. Kevin Hefferan and Open Access Week

Image
Today kicks off  Open Access Week 2016 . Open Access Week is an annual week-long event that highlights the importance of sharing scholarly research and data. Its goal is to educate people on the benefits of open publishing, advocate for changes to policy and practice, and build a community to collaborate on these issues.  This year, we feature Prof. Kevin Hefferan, Geology, who recently published his article, " Determining age of Pan African metamorphism using Sm-Nd garnet-whole rock geochronology and phase equilibria modeling in the Tasriwine ophiolite, Sirwa, Anti-Atlas Morocco" in the Journal of African Earth Sciences , an Elsevier journal that supports content innovations, such as open access and open data.   What is Open Access? "Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What makes it possible is the internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder." The Univer

Library Labs Workshop: Intro to Text Analysis with HathiTrust Research Ctr

Image
Description:  Learn how to build a workset of texts from the HathiTrust Digital Library, run analyses on them using algorithms of the main portal, and generate visualizations based on these analyses. Intended Audience:  Campus wide Date & Time:   Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 at noon-1:00 p.m. Location:  LRC 107 (now Albertson Hall) Presenter:  Mindy King  The workshop is free, but we would like you to  register here .   We hope to see you there!

Voting Information for Students

Dear students, Below are helpful links for voting locations, identification required, polling places, and registration.  Nonpartisan Special Registration Deputies will be assisting students every weekday in various locations across the campus until October 19 . To avoid long lines on election day, students are encouraged to register to vote early.  Questions about voting location, candidates and registration can be answered online at www.myvote.wi.gov .   Voter ID information is available at www.bringitwisconsin.com .  Student Voting Guide from the UW System https://www.wisconsin.edu/voting

Featured Book: The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan

Image
The Association of Small Bombs:  A Novel By Karan Mahajan Call number:  PS 3613.A34925 A93 2016  Publisher's Description :   When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana, two Delhi schoolboys, pick up their family’s television set at a repair shop with their friend Mansoor Ahmed one day in 1996, disaster strikes without warning. A bomb—one of the many “small” bombs that go off seemingly unheralded across the world—detonates in the Delhi marketplace, instantly claiming the lives of the Khurana boys, to the devastation of their parents. Mansoor survives, bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb. After a brief stint at university in America, Mansoor returns to Delhi, where his life becomes entangled with the mysterious and charismatic Ayub, a fearless young activist whose own allegiances and beliefs are more malleable than Mansoor could imagine. Woven among the story of the Khuranas and the Ahmeds is the gripping tale of Shockie, a Kashmiri bomb maker who has forsa

Library Labs Workshop - Industry and Market Research

Image
Description: Learn about several authoritative business databases available via the Library and take your research to the next level.  Intended Audience:  Students (Approved for SBE Events credit) Date & Time:   Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016 at noon-1:00 p.m. Location:  LRC 316 (now Albertson Hall) Presenter: Mindy King  The workshop is free, but we would like you to  register here.   We hope to see you there!

More Showings! Movie Night "This is Our Town: Stevens Point, WI"

Image
Oct. 25: UPDATE! Due to the overwhelming success of the first screening of "This is Our Town," there will be more showings. Please reserve your seats for these showings by contacting the UWSP ticket office for the DUC Theatre screenings at 715-346-4100 and the Portage County Public Library for the Nov. 12th showing at 715-346-1548. All are free and open to the public! Tue, Nov. 1st @ 5:00 p.m. (DUC Theatre) Mon, Nov 7th @ 6:00 p.m. (DUC Theatre) Sat, Nov. 12th @ 2:00 p.m. (Pinery Room, Portage County Public Library) Oct 6: We are excited to announce an upcoming movie about Stevens Point hosted by the University Archives with an intro by Dr. Neil Prendergast, History Department.  Please join us for this free and public showing, and spread the word!  Movie: “This is Our Town: Stevens Point, WI” When: Tuesday, October 18 th Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Where: DUC Theatre Cost : Free and open to the public. Spread the word! Contact: Brad Casselberry

Family Day - Oct. 8th

Image
The University Library will participate in UWSP Family Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Albertson Hall east entrance, 900 Reserve St. The Library, Museum of Natural History, and Tutoring-Learning Center will provide information, exhibits, tours, demos, pink lemonade and cookies. For more information about Family Day, visit www.uwsp.edu/familyday

Featured Book: Evicted by Matthew Desmond

Image
Evicted:  poverty and profit in the American city By Matthew Desmond Call Number:  HD 7287.96.U6 D47 2016 Publisher's Description : From Harvard sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond, a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America   In this brilliant, heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind. The fates of these families are in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver,

Celebrate Banned Books Week - Sept 25 - Oct 1

Image
Banned Books Week is a national celebration of free and open access to information, and the freedom to seek and express ideas — even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. Why are books challenged? Most challenges to books are made by parents. They are challenged based on religious grounds, offensive language, sexual grounds, and political grounds.  Banned books range from the latest bestsellers to classics, and nonfiction biographies to children's books.  Check out our display in the Library Lobby of some of the titles that were challenged in 2015, and take one of this year's Banned Books Week bookmark.  According to the American Library Association, more than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982, most often for being sexually explicit or containing offensive language. Other resources you might be interested in: UWSP University Library Research Guide on Banned Books ALA Banned Books Week - Celebrating the Freedom to Read

Tech Tutors and 3D Printing for Students!

Image
The University Library and the Tutoring-Learning Center's Technology Tutoring program are teaming up to offer 3D printing services to students during evening hours. This fall semester the TLC Tech Tutors will be available to help with 3D printing: Mondays & Wednesdays - 6-8 pm (Room 319 - IMC area of Library) During these times, the Tech Tutors will also be available to assist students with D2L, Outlook, Excel, Photoshop, EndNote and a number of other computer applications. Visit their page to learn more . The Library now has two 3D printers available for students. The printers have been used by students to print items ranging from fun things (figurines, chess sets), to practical things (phone cases, fishing reels), and to course related materials (modular design, 3D campus map).  The possibilities are endless! Learn more about the 3D printers here .

Featured Book: Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan

Image
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This:  The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads (5th Ed) By Luke Sullivan, with Edward Boches Call Number:   HF 5825 .S88 2016 Publisher's Description :   The classic guide to creating great advertising now covers all media: Digital, Social, and Traditional Hey Whipple, Squeeze This  has helped generations of young creatives make their mark in the field. From starting out and getting work, to building successful campaigns, you gain a real-world perspective on what it means to be great in a fast-moving, sometimes harsh industry. You'll learn how to tell brand stories and create brand experiences online and in traditional media outlets, and you'll learn more about the value of authenticity, simplicity, storytelling, and conflict. Advertising is in the midst of  a massive upheaval, and while creativity is still king, it's not nearly enough. This book is an essential resource for advertising professionals who need up-to-date digital skills

Book of the Week: Paper by Mark Kurlansky

Image
Paper:  Paging Through History By Mark Kurlansky Call number:  TS 1090 .K87 2016 Review from the New York Times Publisher's description :  From the New York Times best-selling author of Cod and Salt , a definitive history of paper and the astonishing ways it has shaped today’s world.  Paper is one of the simplest and most essential pieces of human technology. For the past two millennia, the ability to produce it in ever more efficient ways has supported the proliferation of literacy, media, religion, education, commerce, and art; it has formed the foundation of civilizations, promoting revolutions and restoring stability. One has only to look at history’s greatest press run, which produced 6.5 billion copies of Máo zhuxí yulu, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Zedong) ―which doesn’t include editions in 37 foreign languages and in braille―to appreciate the range and influence of a single publication, in paper. Or take the fact that one of history’s most revered

Introducting ArtSource

Image
The library is now subscribing to a new full text database,  ArtSource from Ebsco.  This is an expansion of our former subscription to Ebsco's Art Full Text.  It includes the full text articles from over 700 journals and more than 200 online books.  It also offers podcasts about artists and more than 60,000 searchable images.  It is international in scope and covers a wide range of topics including:     Archaeology     Architecture and Architectural History     Art History     Contemporary Art     Textiles and Costume Design     Decorative and Folk Arts     Graphic Arts     Industrial Design     Interior Design     Landscape Architecture     Motion Pictures, Video and Television     Painting     Photography     Sculpture Give ArtSource a try!   You can access it, and many other online resources, by exploring the Find Databases link from the library's home page . 

Featured Book: Somethingtofoodabout by Questlove

Image
Somethingtofoodabout By Questlove and Ben Greenman Call number:  TX 649 .A1 S66 2016 Review from the New York Times Publisher's description :  Questlove is a drummer, producer, musical director, culinary entrepreneur, and  New York Times  best-selling author. What unites all of his work is a profound interest in creativity. In somethingtofoodabout , Questlove applies his boundless curiosity to the world of food. In conversations with ten innovative chefs in America, he explores what makes their creativity tick, how they see the world through their cooking and how their cooking teaches them to see the world. The conversations begin with food but they end wherever food takes them. Food is fuel. Food is culture. Food is history. And food is food for thought. Featuring conversations with: Nathan Myhrvold, Modernist Cuisine Lab, Seattle;  Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park, and NoMad, NYC;  Michael Solomonov, Zahav, Philadelphia; Ludo Lefebvre, Trois Mec, L.A.; Dave

Featured Book: Lab GIrl by Hope Jahren

Image
Lab Girl By Hope Jahren Call Number:  QH 31 .J344 A3 2016 Review from the New York Times Book Review Publisher's Description :  An illuminating debut memoir of a woman in science; a moving portrait of a longtime friendship; and a stunningly fresh look at plants that will forever change how you see the natural world.   Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more. Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s remarkable stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father who encouraged hours of play in his classroom’s labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work done “with both the heart and the hands”; and about the inevitable disappointmen

Book of the Week: The Polar Regions by Adrian Howkins

Image
The Polar Regions:  An Environmental History By Adrian Howkins Call Number:  G 587 .H69 2016 Review from the Journal of Historical Geography  Publisher's Description:   The environmental histories of the Arctic and Antarctica are characterized by contrast and contradiction. These are places that have witnessed some of the worst environmental degradation in recent history. But they are also the locations of some of the most farsighted measures of environmental protection. They are places where people have sought to conquer nature through exploration and economic development, but in many ways they remain wild and untamed. They are the coldest places on Earth, yet have come to occupy an important role in the science and politics of global warming. Despite being located at opposite ends of the planet and being significantly different in many ways, Adrian Howkins argues that the environmental histories of the Arctic and Antarctica share much in common and have of

Book of the Week: My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Image
My Name is Lucy Barton By Elizabeth Strout Call Number:  PS 3569 .T736 M9 2016 Review from the New York Times Publisher's Description:  A new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout is cause for celebration. Her bestselling novels, including Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys,  have illuminated our most tender relationships. Now, in My Name Is Lucy Barton, this extraordinary writer shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all—the one between mother and daughter. Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two

Book of the Week: The Healing Power of Hip Hop by Raphael Travis, Jr.

Image
The Healing Power of Hip Hop By Raphael Travis, Jr. Call Number:  ML 3918 .R37 T73 2016 Publisher's description :  Using the latest research, real-world examples, and a new theory of healthy development, this book explains Hip Hop culture's ongoing role in helping Black youths to live long, healthy, and productive lives. • Connects the latest research conclusions about Hip Hop's influences with actual examples of its practice and applied value in action • Identifies education, health and mental health, and afterschool settings as key to promoting health and well-being • Disentangles arguments about whether Hip Hop culture is more of a tool for empowerment or a tool for risk promotion • Explains Hip Hop's ongoing contributions to health and learning, with attention to the Black community • Provides a common language and structure for helping professionals, researchers, and policymakers to organize work related to Hip Hop and well-being • Introduces

Exam Cram! May 16th starting at 6:00 p.m.

Image
It's that time of the semester! Need help with citations? A statistic? Help with a paper or final exam?  The Library and Tutoring Learning Center staff will be here on  Monday, May 16th  from 6:00 pm - midnight to help you! We will also have free coffee, cookies, fruit, surprises from the Office of Sustainability, and Andy's infamous announcements.  Rocket the therapy dog will also be here!  Monday, May 16 - Library Lobby & IMC (3rd flr) 6 - MIDNIGHT FREE COFFEE, COOKIES, FRUIT and more! Good luck with studying from all of us at the Library and TLC!

Children's Book Week - May 2-8

Image
Children’s Book Week is May 2-8. This will be the 97th annual celebration commemorating books for young people and the joy of reading. Please check out our Children's Book Display in the Library Lobby area.  The University Library also has a rich collection of children's literature in the IMC area on the 3rd floor. We encourage you to browse the collection.  This year, in conjunction to Children's Book Week, the Library has a craft activity for all! Please join us and make really cool book cover bags. We often do not keep the book covers on our materials due to wear and tear, but we think about ways in which some of these beautiful works of art can be preserved. So, learn how to make some cool bags! The Library will provide the materials and the event is free. No need to register, just show up and bring your inner craft person to the party!  Tuesday, May 10 - 11:00 am - Noon (LRC 103A Idea Studio) Thursday, May 12 - 11:00 am - Noon (LRC 103A Idea S