My Favorite Resource...

Members of the Steenbock staff have been asked to share their reflections about favorite informational products, sites and tools. In this second installment, Amanda invites the blog reader to explore Delicious (free social bookmarking).

What it is and Why I like it: First of all, Delicious helps me keep track of websites and online documents/videos/etc. by letting me tag them with words that I'll remember, then organize them by subject. Just as importantly, it allows me to follow other users' bookmarked sites, which continuously exposes me to new ideas and useful tools.

How I would recommend that you use it: To begin with, just explore some of the recently popular sites and tags, and click on some user accounts to get a sense for how they organize their bookmarks (my Delicious account is at http://delicious.com/werhane). If you want to experiment with Delicious, sign up for an account (free) and start using it, then maybe add some users to your Network and watch what they tag, or subscribe to tags to track what websites they get assigned to. Enjoy!

Job Hunting on the Internet (Feb 26)

Discover resources and strategies for job hunting on the Internet/Web. The workshop will cover resume writing resources, databases for job postings, tips for finding non-advertised jobs, and methods for researching potential employers. There will be time for hands-on exploration.

Job Hunting on the Internet
Friday, February 26 (noon – 1:15 PM)
Steenbock Instruction Lab, Room 105 (first floor, downstairs!)

No registration is necessary in order to attend.

Visit the calendar for a listing of other library workshops offered this spring.

Of related interest:

College Library also maintains a Career Collection of more than 1,000 books on writing resumes and cover letters, preparing for interviews, job hunting, and choosing and preparing for a career. This collection is located in the center area of the third floor of College Library.

In addition to College Library’s Career Collection, there are many other career guides to particular fields that can be found in the various libraries. Steenbock Library has career guides in its book stacks that are in keeping with the other collections we support for CALS, SOHE and VetMed.

Speak with your librarians for assistance locating these resources OR try using the MadCat catalog, “Words Anywhere” or “Title Words” searches.

Teach Ag Day (Feb 25)

Teach Ag Day is a national campaign to celebrate agricultural education at all levels and to foster informed consideration of this career choice.

Do what you love; love what you do. Check out the resource links supplied below.

• Lesson Plans and Activity Guides (options for K-12, post-secondary, University and Adult Education)

• Spotlight on Agricultural Education (teachers; students; agribusiness)

• Teach Ag on Facebook

• NAAE Communities of Practice (National Association of Agricultural Educators)

Managing Citations with RefWorks (Feb 24)

Have you discovered RefWorks?! Use this citation manager to organize a personal database and to 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, February 24 (3:00-4:15 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 February 24 workshop, an additional workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, April 7 (4:30-5:45 PM) at Steenbock Library. Check the campus libraries workshops page for more information and dates for all upcoming library workshops.

My Favorite Resource...

Members of the Steenbock staff have been asked to share their reflections about favorite informational products, sites and tools.
In this first installment, Bob invites the blog reader to explore Stumbleupon.com

What it is: Stumbleupon is a web search engine you can customize to deliver sites of interest to you as recommended by others who share like interests. Create a free account to begin customization.

Why I like it: The web is big and my pathways through it don't explore effectively. Stumbleupon takes me to sites I'd never visit otherwise. Users can select a profile of interests to enrich the result.

I love things that exceed my "safe" boundaries. This [resource] is exploring outside the (usual, boring) box. My favorites? Graphic Design, Science, Drawing, Photography.

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

Meeting the Demand

During this academic year, the campus community has been engaged with issues related to diet, nutrition and local food economies (Go Big Read). While few would dispute the advantages to be reaped environmentally, socially, and economically by stocking one’s pantry with food that can be sourced locally and seasonally, meeting that demand can present its own challenges.

Researchers and outreach specialists with the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the Agricultural Innovation Center have issued a new report examining the logistics of bringing food to this burgeoning market, Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food.

Eleven models for regional food aggregation and distribution are examined, with a healthy list of challenges, lessons-learned and additional resources supplied for the entrepreneur.

Taxing Time

Campus libraries do not distribute pre-printed forms and instructions; the IRS Web site, though, supplies most federal forms and guides required.

Similarly, the state of Wisconsin Department of Revenue makes forms and instructions available online.

Federal and Wisconsin state tax forms can be picked up at Madison Public Library branches. See branch hours and locations.

The Madison Public Library also hosts tax information and assistance opportunities; see its tax information page for details.

Fat Tuesday

The savory fusion of African, French, Native American and Spanish cuisines that many of us have come to adore as the quintessential Louisiana regional Cajun/Creole may be just the thing to warm you on any given February evening, and not just for your Mardi Gras and carnival celebrations.

If you favor this bit of excess, then honor the trinity of pepper, onion and celery with a recipe or two from the library’s cookbook collection. A few titles follow below.

Title: Cajun Cuisine: Authentic Cajun Recipes from Louisiana's Bayou Country
Location: Steenbock Stacks -1st Floor
Call Number: TX715 C132 1985

Author: Diamond, Ann.
Title: Taste of the Bayou: Creole and Cajun Recipes
Location: Steenbock Stacks -1st Floor
Call Number: TX715 D57 1984

Author: Guste, Roy F.
Title: Louisiana Light: Low-Fat, Low-Calorie, Low-Cholesterol, Low- Salt Cajun and Creole Cookery
Location: Steenbock Stacks -1st Floor
Call Number: TX715.2 L68 G87 1989

Author: Prudhomme, Paul.
Title: Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen
Location: Steenbock Stacks -1st Floor
Call Number: TX715 P948 1984

Bon appétit!

EndNote Workshop (Feb 16)

The EndNote workshop will explain its basic features including how to organize databases and records, import records from MadCat and research literature databases, and format bibliographies. Its Web companion, EndNote Web, will also be featured. (EndNote Web is free to campus users courtesy of UW-Madison Libraries).

Managing Your Citations with EndNote
Tuesday, February 16 (1:30-3:00)
Room 105

Should you not be able to attend the February 16 workshop, two additional workshops are scheduled for March 16 (4:30-6:00 PM) and April 9 (noon-1:15 PM) at Steenbock Library.

Check the campus libraries workshops page for more information and dates for all upcoming library workshops.

Citation Managers: Find the Right One for You

Citation Managers are software products that can help you to perform the following tasks:

• Create and organize a personal research database of references gathered from databases.
• Format manuscripts and reference lists instantly in a variety of styles (MLA, APA, Turabian, etc.).
• Share your databases with classmates and colleagues.
• Transfer references, as need be, to similar products--RefWorks, EndNote, EndNote Web, and Zotero.

In order to decide which product will work the best for you (and you may even find it useful to use more than one), visit the online chart to compare features or the flyer, “Which one is right for you?”

Additionally, the libraries will be offering workshops to introduce students and staff to these various products. Visit the online schedule and choose a date that will work for you:

EndNote & EndNote Web Workshops

RefWorks Workshops

Zotero Workshop

Darwin Day (February 13), Evolution Matters

Save the date for UW-Madison’s 5th Annual Darwin Day, Saturday, February 13, 2010.

The celebration begins at 9:00 AM and is free and open to the public. Lectures and exploration stations will be held in the Microbial Sciences building (directly across from Steenbock Library).

The UW-Madison Darwin Day website supplies the schedule of events, speakers and themes, and a list of recommended resources. Speak with your librarians for assistance finding available texts from campus and public libraries.

“There is grandeur in this view of life... from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
--Charles Darwin

Room Reservations and Equipment Checkout

Check out a laptop or reserve a group study room at Steenbock Library.

Visit the Equipment Checkout System page to find an available laptop from campus lab locations. In addition to PC or Mac laptops, you can use this system to find available cameras (still or video) and projectors.

Reserve a group study room, online, with the Study Room Reservation system page. This online system enables you to search for rooms by date and location, find amenities and policy information regarding use of the rooms and place reservations, as needed, at College, Ebling, Memorial, Steenbock and Wendt libraries.

Founders' Day (February 5)

The Wisconsin Alumni Association and University Housing wish UW-Madison a Happy 161^st Birthday with free cake for students. UW-Madison held its first day of class on February 5, 1849 and celebrated its first Founders’ Day events in 1924.

On Friday, February 5, UW-Madison students can celebrate with a free slice of birthday cake in the dining halls at Liz Waters and Gordon Commons beginning at noon and continuing while supplies last.

Faculty, staff and students can also join UW alumni for more cake and a presentation from Calvin DeWitt, Nelson Institute, at 2:00 PM, Tripp Commons, Memorial Union. Dr. DeWitt will speak about the university’s history in context with its environs, “Continual and Fearless Sifting and Winnowing: Prerequisites for Sustainability.”

See the full news release.

Undergraduate Library Research Awards

College Library invites students to apply for its annual Undergraduate Research Awards. The awards celebrate excellence and creativity in using the library to complete an undergraduate research project.

(Examples may include a literature review for a lab study, the use of primary sources in a historical research paper, or the background research for a creative arts project).

Up to three Library Research Awards and one Research in Progress Award will be presented at the Undergraduate Symposium. (The Research in Progress Award is intended for projects that will not be completed before the award deadline).

Winners of Library Research Awards receive a cash prize of $300. The winner of the Research in Progress Award receives a cash prize of $150.

(Please note: The Financial Aid Office may need to modify your aid package if you were to receive outside aid, such as this cash prize).

The deadline to apply for the Undergraduate Symposium is February 19, 2010; the deadline to apply for the Library Research Award is April 8, 2010.

How to Apply--the process:

• Meet with a librarian or attend a drop-in information session to review and discuss your research.

• Reflect on the various tools and strategies used to locate relevant materials.

• Write a 600-800-word essay describing your research strategies and reflecting upon your experience--noting the successes, difficulties, and surprises you encountered.

• Submit an application, a statement of faculty support, a final version of your project, and the essay.

Drop-in information sessions will be offered in the student services area on first floor (College Library) during the following days/times:

• Wednesday, February 17, 5:00-6:00 pm

• Tuesday, March 2, 7:30-8:30 pm

• Wednesday, March 17, 5:00-6:00 pm

• Tuesday, April 6, 5:00-6:00 pm

For more information, contact Kelli Keclik or Carrie Kruse.