Compiling a Lit Review in Life Sciences (Sept 30)

Drop by Steenbock Library this Wednesday afternoon for a workshop designed for those beginning a literature review for a research project, proposal, dissertation, or publication. Specifically, this workshop will focus upon resources and techniques useful for seeking and retrieving the life sciences literature. Participants will learn the key steps for conducting a search and have an opportunity to explore the core databases that are important for mining the academic literature in these fields.

Compiling a Lit Review in the Life Sciences
Wednesday, September 30 (4:00-5:15 PM)
Room 105, Steenbock Library

No registration is necessary in order to attend; all workshops are free to students, faculty and staff.

Managing Citations with RefWorks (Sept 30)

Have you discovered RefWorks?! Use this citation manager to organize a personal database and format bibliographies with ease.

The drop-in workshop will cover RefWorks’ essentials, including organizing, searching and sorting records, importing records from MadCat and journal databases, and preparing bibliographies. Hands-on practice will be encouraged.

Managing Your Citations with RefWorks
Wednesday, September 30 (noon – 1:15 PM)
Room 105, Steenbock Library

No registration is necessary in order to attend, and all workshops are free to students, faculty and staff.

Should you not be able to attend the September workshop, another is scheduled for October 22 (3:00-4:15 PM) at Steenbock Library. Check the campus libraries workshops page for information and dates for all upcoming library workshops.

Banned Books Week (Sept 26-Oct 3)

Celebrate your freedom to read during Banned Books Week 2009.

Some of the most profound and inspiring works of literature have faced challenges to their access from groups or individuals who have felt threatened by their content. How many have you read?

Check out the lists of the most-banned or challenged books by year or by decade (1990-1999). This data has been compiled by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Food for Thought Festival (Sept 26)

The annual Food for Thought Festival, sponsored by the REAP Food Group, will celebrate healthy food traditions and the quest to eat sustainably by tapping the seasonal harvest of local producers.

Saturday festival events will be held just off the Capitol Square on Martin Luther King Blvd. from 8:00 AM until 1:30 PM. Enjoy cooking demonstrations, information tables, tasty samples, activities and raffle prize opportunities.

Special guest, Michael Pollan, will speak at the festival at 10:00 am. Seating for his Saturday festival talk (speakers’ tent) may be limited.

Go Big Read, Author Lecture Tonight!

Plan to attend the free Go Big Read/Humanities Without Boundaries public lecture, In Defense of Food: The Omnivore’s Solution this evening, September 24 (7:00 PM), Kohl Center.

No tickets are required for this event; it is FREE and open to the public. Doors open at 6:00 PM.

Special events parking will be available for $5 after 4:30 PM in the following lots: 91, 46, 29, 88. See map.

For those who are unable to attend the event at the Kohl Center, there will be a live video stream (7:00 PM, Central Standard Time). Details can be found at the Wisconsin Alumni Association website.

Author Michael Pollan will also be on hand, Friday, September 25 (3:30 PM) for a panel discussion in the Wisconsin Union Theater. The author will be joined by Andrea Bloom, Susan Lampert Smith, and John Vrieze.

Whet Your Appetite with New Food Books

This year’s Go Big Read title, In Defense of Food, has sparked animated debate regarding what we consume and how it is produced and absorbed--quite literally and figuratively--into our bodies and our cultures, (traditions and expectations).

As an academic library devoted to the robust examination of these ideas, Steenbock Library collects titles about food--be they of popular interest (cookbooks, essays) or academic (nutritional analyses, farm production, foodways).

In order to explore what new titles we are adding to the stacks, be sure to follow the New Food Books feed generated by staff librarian, Bev P.

Speak with librarians at our Information Services/Reference Desk for locating these and related titles.

Extend Your Library Access

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month with Madison Public Library!

Madison Public Library invites all Madison residents to sign up for its free library card. This additional library card will give you access to the public library system’s materials and resources which include its research databases, job and business resources, magazines, media, and popular reading collections.

While campus and public library systems are not set up for mutual book retrieval and return, there are many public branch libraries throughout the city to make for a convenient visit. The public library system is a great way to extend your reach to library materials and to supplement that which you obtain from the campus system.

During September, Madison Public Library will also be giving a small gift to everyone who signs up for a new library card.

For more information on signing up for a library card, visit one of Madison’s nine public libraries or visit its FAQ page for borrowing materials.

It's Good For You!

In conjunction with Go Big Read, Ebling Library will host an exhibit of historical interest: It’s Good for You! 100 Years of the Art & Science of Eating (September 22, 2009 - March 31, 2010).

The exhibit will explore such themes as the history of the food pyramid, the story of Victory Gardens, the confusion inherent in diet advice, the "voice of authority" in cookbooks and nutrition literature, the marketing of food products, and the evolution of hospital diets.

An opening reception will be held, September 22 from 4:00-6:00PM, in the Historical Reading Room (Third Floor, Ebling Library).

SociETAS Panel, Go Big Read (Sept 21)

The SociETAS Seminar (Department of Community & Environmental Sociology) will host a panel discussion on Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, September 21 (noon -1:00PM) in the Buttel Conference Room (3rd floor, Agriculture Hall).

The featured panelists are Jack Kloppenburg, Jill Harrison, and Madeleine Fairbairn.

For more information about the panelists, visit the SociETAS site.

Go Big Read, Author Lecture (Sept 24)

Save the date! Plan to attend the Go Big Read/Humanities Without Boundaries public lecture, In Defense of Food: The Omnivore’s Solution on Thursday, September 24 (7:00 PM), Kohl Center.

No tickets are required for this event; it is FREE and open to the public. Doors open at 6:00 PM.

A host of sponsors….the Center for the Humanities in partnership with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; the Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE); the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy; the Bradshaw-Knight Foundation; UW-Madison Libraries; the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; the Distinguished Lecture Series; UW-Madison Athletics; and the Research, Education, Action and Policy on Food Group (REAP)...are pleased to announce this public lecture by Michael Pollan.

Influenza Updates (Campus) and Research

UW-Madison has supplied the campus community with an Influenza Information and Prevention site to provide news, information, self-care and prevention strategies.

Additionally, librarians with Ebling Health Sciences have produced a Swine Flu/2009-H1N1 Research Guide to provide quick access to information resources from the CDC, WHO, and the State of Wisconsin.

The guide also supplies links to consumer health information, international and foreign language resources, and additional sites with which to keep current on developing health events.

Suggest Questions for Pollan Lecture

For those of you who have been reading the Go Big Read selection, In Defense of Food, are there any questions you would like to ask the author?

Due to the scale of the author event at the Kohl Center, the question and answer period will be moderated. If you would like to suggest a question, please post it as a comment to the original Go Big Read blog post by September 21. Please also consider including some very brief information about yourself. The moderator will select a representative group of questions and ask them of Michael Pollan during the event.

Save the date! Michael Pollan will speak at the Kohl Center on September 24, 2009. This event is free and open to all; we hope that you will attend.

Stay Connected with Go Big Read

"Go Big Read" has joined the Facebook community. Become a fan to engage with the issues sparked by your reading of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. Go Big Read is also blogging and tweeting.

"Go Big Read" is UW-Madison’s first common book program where students, staff and the community are invited to read the same book and to participate in a variety of related events in-and-out of the classroom.

C Helen Party (Sept 10)

Campus libraries are the place to be--not only as spaces for serious study, but as interesting social spaces for group work and the occasional party.

Check out the fun when College Library (Helen C White) hosts its house party, September 10 (7:00-11:00PM).

The schedule of events includes a courtyard carnival, poker tournament, dance party, Ninja Tag and more--with plenty of free snacks on the side.

Enjoy!

Assignment Calculator

Calendar your steps to completing class assignments. The Assignment Calculator, hosted by College Library, enables you to enter your start and anticipated end dates to generate a step-by-step plan of action for developing your topic, finding and evaluating resources, and beginning the writing process. Each stage of the plan will suggest strategies for successfully completing that stage.

When you come to that stage of needing to pull together information from library collections (books and journal articles), do speak with a librarian for assistance. Library staff is happy to answer your questions about how to use our databases to find what you need.

Of related interest and support, check out the services offered by the UW-Madison Writing Center:

• Free Workshops
• Help for individuals
• Writer’s Handbook