Text a Librarian

Beginning this week, as a pilot service for the remaining semester and next, campus library users can now text a librarian with their questions regarding library resources and services.

Text your question from phone or mobile device to 608-729-7886. Library staff will reply with an answer via text message.

The text service is one of many ways to Ask a Librarian.

We invite you to do so.

Ghastly Fun

Greet your guests this weekend with green slime and glowing pumpkins! Visit the Halloween Science tab on the "Science Projects for Kids" guide for do-it-yourself tips and recipes.

The "Science Projects for Kids" guide is just one of the many online guides created by campus librarians to assist library users with finding useful information--be it books, databases to the research literature, or Websites--available on a particular discipline or topic.

Visit the entire menu of Research Guides.

Fall Foliage Celebration

Every fall, my grandparents would reserve a weekend for a "color tour" during which they would navigate their boat of an Oldsmobile along winding Midwestern roadways to marvel at the foliage. "October is golden" my grandfather would conclude, his favorite month and also my own.

While there is some October to enjoy, I encourage you to crunch along the lake-shore path to Picnic Point, observe the fall palette, and visit the Fall Foliage Celebration Webpage. This Special Features page is a compilation of sites, organized by science librarians with the University of Buffalo, to highlight the science and spectacle of the season.

With thanks to Amanda W for proposing this Web link.

Book Discussion Forums, GBR

As you read the Go Big Read selection, Enrique’s Journey, do plan to attend a book discussion forum. There are many discussion forums planned in a variety of venues, on campus and off, including one for Wednesday, October 26 at Steenbock Library. The Steenbock Library forum will begin at 7:00 PM in Room 340.

Discussion forums provide a great opportunity to wrangle with the issues raised by a book as those issues are examined by a community of readers who bring their knowledge, experience and reflections to the table. For students, insight drawn there can often make for a more satisfying reading experience and serve to help you with related class exercises. It can be enlightening to hear what others have been thinking.

Of related information, consider this list of related articles and reviews (as shared via RefWorks) and the Libraries’ Research Guide.

Save the date! Sonia Nazario will speak in Varsity Hall, Union South on Thursday, October 27, 2011. This author event is free and open to all; doors open at 6:00 PM with the presentation to begin at 7:00 PM. We hope that you will attend!

Local Harvest: Taste of the Town (Oct 18-20)

Celebrate your local community of food growers and purveyors with REAP Food Group’s Taste of the Town event. Fourteen Madison restaurants will create special menus to showcase the bounty of locally-grown products.

Raise your fork and contribute to efforts to bolster a sustainable food system!

And, for those of you who may wish to save and "go where the locovores go", consider purchasing a coupon booklet with deals to be had from partner restaurants, market vendors and area retail shops. Purchase the coupon booklet through the REAP site or at Willy Street Coop locations. Makes a great gift!

Dine and Donate (Oct 26)

Enjoy a meal and support Allen Centennial Gardens! Perkins Restaurant (5237 University Avenue) will donate 10% of all meal and bakery sales made between 3:00-8:00 PM on October 26 to the Allen Centennial Gardens. In addition to this contribution, the Olbrich Garden Club (which has organized this fundraiser) will supply matching funds.

View or print the flyer.

The Allen Centennial Gardens comprise 2.5 acres of teaching gardens managed by staff affiliated with the University’s Department of Horticulture. The gardens feature a variety of landscaping designs and plant-communities--including experiments with culinary herb and kitchen gardens.

The gardens also afford volunteer and internship opportunities! Students and members of the public who are interested in contributing their time to a variety of gardening tasks are invited to contact Ed Lyon, Head Gardener, with that expressed interest and availability.

Keep up with what's happening in the Gardens with its blog and Facebook page.

Friends Book Sale (Oct 19-22)

In conjunction with the Wisconsin Book Festival, the Friends of UW-Madison Libraries will host a used book sale, October 19-22, 2011 in Room 116 of Memorial Library.

A preview sale, with $5.00 admission, will be held from 5:00 until 9:00 PM, Wednesday, October 19. The regular sale, which is open to all at no charge, will be held from 10:30 AM until 7:00 PM on Thursday and Friday, October 20-21.

On Saturday, October 22 (10:30 AM – 1:00 PM), you can bring a bag and fill it for $3.00.

For more information on the sales, including how to donate books or to volunteer for the next book sale, contact the Friends, or visit the Friends' book sale page.

Go Badgers! (Part 2)

As you plan to attend Homecoming festivities, take a look at the UW-Archives/UW-Digital Collections Flickr set to see how UW Madison Homecoming has been celebrated over the years.

For more information about these photos or other aspects of UW-Madison campus history, contact the UW-Madison Archives or visit the Archives Images site.

Additionally, take a peek at the UW-Madison Collection, UW Digital Collections for more imagery and digitized (print) collections that explore the history of the university and the evolution of campus life.

Ask a Question, Go Big Read

Do you have any questions for the author of this year’s Go Big Read selection, Enrique’s Journey?

Due to the scale of the author event at Union South (Varsity Hall), 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 October 18.

Please also consider including some very brief information about yourself. The moderator will select a representative group of questions and ask them of the author during the event.

Save the date! Sonia Nazario will speak in Varsity Hall, Union South on Thursday, October 27, 2011. This author event is free and open to all; doors open at 6:00 PM with the presentation to begin at 7:00 PM. We hope that you will attend!

An Evening with Sonia Nazario, GBR (Oct 27)

Plan to attend the free, Go Big Read public lecture with Sonia Nazario, Thursday, October 27 (7:00 PM), Varsity Hall, Union South.

Nazario's book, Enriques’s Journey, recounts the true story of a young boy who travels from Central America to North Carolina to reunite with his mother. In preparing to share Enrique’s story, the author spent years researching and traveling the treacherous route that many of these immigrants take to find work in the United States.

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

Go Badgers!

In the spirit of Homecoming, take a look at the UW-Archives, Flickr set of Football Uniforms and Equipment (1890s-1980s). This particular collection was organized by Marcus Bacher for the University Archives.

For more information about these photos or other aspects of UW-Madison campus history, contact the UW-Madison Archives or visit the Archives Images site.

Additionally, take a peek at the UW-Madison Collection, UW Digital Collections for more imagery and digitized (print) collections that explore the history of the university and the evolution of campus life.

Wisconsin Book Festival (Oct 19-23)

Save the date! Do you look for opportunities to feed the mind and to stir the soul? If so, consider sampling the bountiful harvest of author presentations and book discussion forums that comprise the annual, fall Wisconsin Book Festival.

The theme for the book festival this year is that of "voices" and how writers and their readers might share a discourse--both literal and literary.

Featured authors include: Diana Abu-Jaber, Dean Bakopoulos, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Jeffrey Eugenides, Myla Goldberg, and Parker Palmer, among many others.

• See the full list of presenters.

• View the festival events guide.

The Friends of UW-Madison Libraries is among the festival sponsors.