Sunday, December 14, 2008

Chicago's movable bridges

Becker, D.N. "Early movable bridges of Chicago." Civil Engineering (New York) v 13 no 9 (Sept 1943): 421-4. Engineering Village. Compendex. UWM Lib. 10 Nov 2008. http://www.engineeringvillage2.org.

This article discusses the early history and developments of movable bridges in Chicago, beginning with the city's first bridge in the early 1830s, through its growth to 48 bridges by 1890. Building developments in bridge types – from wooden to wood and iron combinations to solely iron – and the rising costs of each, are covered in the article. One also learns briefly of how citizens complained of traffic and crossing delays due to the opening and closing of the various bridges and how Board ordinances and advancements in technology led to swifter and better-scheduled bridge operations. Mentioned are the first drawbridge, which was chopped to bits in an act of rage by Chicago citizens; the later wood and combination wood & iron bridges, which were unable to withstand the wear and tear of automobiles and the great Chicago fire of 1871; and the more modern iron structures, of which discussion is continued in a later article.



American Society of Civil Engineers, Journal of the Construction Division v 101 no 3 (Sept 1975): 545-557. Engineering Village. Compendex. UWM Lib. 10 Nov 2008. http://www.engineeringvillage2.org.

This article from 1975 takes a good look at the construction elements of the Chicago movable bridges. It covers different eras of bridge building in Chicago from the first bridge in the 1800s and the pros and cons of each, to the more modern structures of the times. Readers learn about the transition from swing bridges to rolling bascules to trunnion bascules and lift bridges, the latter of which were used in some areas for railroad traffic. The article also discusses the construction process of some of the city's bridges as they were replaced with more modern-day structures. Included are photographs of various bridges over the Chicago River and construction illustrations for a trunnion bascule bridge.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Genealogy

I am not sure if I have done the annotations correctly and so would not mind any feedback. Thanks!

Davidsson, Robert I. “Providing Genealogy Research Services in Public Libraries: Guidelines and Ethics.” Public Libraries 43 no3 142-4 My/Je 2004.
Library Lit & Inf Science Retro, Library. Wilson Web. UW-M Lib. 8 Nov 2008.


This article states that in the last five years, tracing family geneaology has become something of interest. Davidsson also mentions how the public library collection is where people are going to look for their ancestry history. This article gives tips on how to assist these patrons with their questions and the databases that public libraries are investing in to assist these patrons with their quest in geneaology.


Nguyen, Lan N. "Going Online to Mine The Growing Wealth Of Genealogy Data." Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition 248, no. 40 (August 17, 2006): D1-D2. Academic Search Elite. EBSCOhost .UW-M Lib. 13 Nov 2008.

This article discusses how genealogy research has increased the amount of websites available to help people in their search for their histories and relatives. It also describes how one person’s struggles with trying to research her husband’s grandfather and any relative who might be related to them. Genealogy has become a huge success for websites, as some of them charge for their services. This may be a downside to researching and make for an expensive hobby, but the upside is that, with the internet, you are able to contact many more people who you may be related to.

Technorati tags

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Jon's Anotated citations

These are two of my anotated citations. They are in the Chicago style:

Alvarez, W. and E.G. Kauffman. Jan 1984. Impact theory of mass extinctions and the invertebrate fossil
record. Science. 223(4641): 1135-45. Available from GEOBASE (Geography) Database.
FirstSearch. October 2008.

Walter Alvarez, Erle Kauffman and others reviewed data from previous fossil digs at the K/T boundary from multiple locations where scientists concluded reasons other than extraterrestrial impact as probable cause for mass extinction. The evaluation examined the fossils of four groups of shelled invertebrates including: Ammonites, Cheilostomate byrozoans, Brachiopods, and Bivalves. The team concluded what they had suspected: that mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period; and, thus provides evidence which supports an extraterrestrial impact.
Alvarez, L.W. and W. Alvarez. Jun 1980. Extraterrestrial Cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction.
Science. 208(4448): 1095-108. Available from JSTOR Database. JSTOR. October 2008.

Luis Alvarez, Walter Alvarez and others preformed chemical analyses of K/T boundary limestone deposits from Denmark, Italy and New Zealand. Abnormally high amounts of Platinum metals (Platinum, Iridium, Osmium, and Rhodium) were found consistently in limestone samples from all locations. Alvarez and team suggest that Platinum metal amounts are consistent with the chemical structure of asteroids. The paper of further explains the details of further evidence of a asteroid impact and how an asteroid’s influence on the environment would cause mass extinction.

Should they be less/more scientific?

Ericka's annotations 3

Thompson, G., et al. How the Accelerated Reader progam can Become Counterproductive for High School Students. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. April 2008. Vol. 51, Iss. 7; pg. 550-560.
When this study took lace, the high school highlighted in the article had recently purchased the AR program. All English teachers no only were required to use the program but also had to tie it to the student's course grade. Consequently, 15-20% of students' overall English grade was ased on the number of AR points they had earned. Two prevailing issues emerged: 1. The way that the program was being ued had been counterproductive and had acutally made some students who had previously loved reading develop an aversion to recreational reading. 2. The program had led to widespread cheating on the required tests.

Ericka's Annotations 2

Groce, R.D. et al. Deconstructing the Accelerated Reader Program. Reading Horizons. Sept/Oct 2005. Vol. 46, Iss. 1; pg. 17-30.
Teacher implemenation of the Accelerated Reader program is as widespread as it is diverse in terms of classroom and campus application. Seventy-five percent of the teachers surveyed use the AR program as a focus of their reading instruction. With such heavy emphasis being placed on the adoption of the AR program in districts and schools across the country, it is important to consider some modifications and ways of enriching the program to best meet the neeeds of all students and to acutally promote the lifelong reading habits.

Ericka's Annotations

Franklin, Pat and Claire Gatrell Stephens. Manage Your Computerized Reading Program-Before It Manages You! School Library Media Activities Monthly. Baltimore: Dec 2006. Vol. 23, Iss. 4: pg. 53-55.
Franklin and Stephens discuss the role of library media specialists and that of the library media center in relationship to computerized reading programs. Among other things, they cite that the attitude of the library media specialist makes or breaks any reading program whether it is computer based or a community reading anitiative.