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!