Alien Invasions, Darwin Day 2014

Celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday (February 12) by exploring the evolution of our alien invaders, otherwise known as parasites!
The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery and Union South will play host to the JF Crow Institute's annual Darwin Day(s) series of films, lectures and hands-on stations, February 6-8, 2014.

Visit the website to view the schedule of events, speakers and list of teacher resources.  Follow it on Facebook!

Stop in to Steenbock Library to "check-out" our display of selected book titles, to theme, from the collection.

"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

Staying Current

How do you stay current with the literature in your field of study or research?  If you find this a challenging prospect, our librarians have the tools to help.

Staying up-to-date with what is happening in your area of research may take several forms.  Are you interested in having browsing access to the most current volume of a favorite journal or magazine?  Or, would you prefer to receive an email message or RSS feed to newly-published research on a topic of interest?  In similar fashion, would you like to know when your published article is cited by other researchers?  Or, do your enjoy reading blogs and current news from News sites and the popular press?

If any and all of these apply to the information you would like to retrieve and your workflow (more on that question of management, below), note that there are open Web resources and library-licensed tools that can serve this process of keeping current.  A selection of these tools and assists are listed, below, by approach or form.

Table of Contents (your favorite or essential journals)

• Browzine (see our previous post)
• Journal TOCs (free, scholarly journal TOCs)
• Database Alerts (via email or RSS)
• Publisher Websites (some offer free TOCs)

Search and Citation Alerts (your area of research interest or by publication)

• Database Alerts (via email or RSS)
• Google Scholar Alerts (via email with Google Account--either to "My Citations" or to a topic search)
• Google Book Alerts (an option as from the Result Type menu)

Blogs, News Media, Website Updates

• Subscribe to feeds using feed readers or Web browser.

Library Guides, Liaisons and Workshops
You do not need to do this alone.  Speak to your librarians for assistance and customization.  Attend a drop-in workshop or do-it-yourself by reading our Web guides.

• Research Guide to Keeping Current in the Literature
• MyUW, Research Tab (Create a customized, browsing access list of your "Favorite Library E-Resources")

Managing the Information you Retrieve
Campus Libraries provide support for several software products for managing your citations and formatting your reference list.  Evaluate these tools and attend a drop-in workshop to explore their features.  The beauty of these tools is that they can communicate well with library-licensed databases making it relatively easy and efficient to move records from database to manager. 

Have any tips and resources to share?  If so, please reply to this post.

Cool Science Images Contest, 2014

Share your work or share your passionate interest in science by contributing an entry to the Why Files’ Cool Science Images contest.


The contest is open to currently-enrolled UW-Madison students, faculty and staff and can depict objects or phenomena from any discipline. 

Visit the site for details about how to enter (and to complete an entry form). Entries, which are judged on their "aesthetic and informational qualities", will be accepted from January 23 until the deadline date, February 28, 2014.

Winners will be announced mid-March and receive gift certificates, a large format print, and the honor of having their images posted to the Why Files site.

For inspiration, take a look at the winners and finalists from last year’s contest.

Nominate the Next Go Big Read!

What should be our next big read?
Chancellor Rebecca Blank and a review committee of campus faculty, staff and students are calling for your suggestions for the 2014-2015 common book program.

As a theme for this next year, your suggestions--either fiction or nonfiction titles--should be those that examine issues of "service" or what it may mean "to serve" in one's immediate or global communities.  Submit your recommendations, before the deadline, February 1, by completing the online form.  

The ideal book selection should meet and exceed the following qualities:

• Be readable (relevant, engaging, and well-written)
• Appeal to readers with diverse backgrounds and experiences
• Encompass sufficient depth and scope to generate discussions from different points of view
• Be conducive to teaching and learning with opportunities for integration into academic programs
• Lend itself to a variety of activities and programming (maybe even an author visit!)

A running list of nominated titles can be viewed at the Go Big Read site.  

Go Big Read is UW-Madison’s common book program where students, staff and the community are invited to read the same book then participate in a variety of related programs in-and-out of the classroom. Go Big Read will welcome your participation with this new title during the forthcoming academic year.

Read the Press Release!

Sowing Seeds

After weathering the recent polar vortex, spring, for many, cannot come soon enough.  Plan your next garden with inspiration from our selection of seed catalogs.  Current issues of these catalogs can be browsed in-house and are located on the first floor near the rear stacks and vending area (older copies are in the neighboring filing cabinets).

Use the collection to record ideas for particular garden products and to locate suitable vendors for your plant hardiness zone. Otherwise, do speak with our librarians to assist you with using the campus library catalog to determine specific titles within your gardening topics of interest.

Spring Semester Workshops

Learn more about the library resources and services that can make your work easier. Campus Libraries offer free workshops to satisfy many interests and needs--whether that is to use citation management software effectively, to identify sources of funding for your research, or to incorporate a variety of Web-based productivity tools into your workflow.

Plan to attend any of the workshops on the current spring schedule. If you cannot attend one of these particular workshops, Steenbock librarians can work with you to arrange additional individual or small group sessions. Send us your request using our online form.  As need or interest warrants, our library staff can come to your office, lab, or instructional space.

Workshops will include hands-on time to explore the resource or technology tool.  And, apart from selections within the "Graduate Support Series", advance registration is not necessary for most workshops.