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In addition to the great services they provide, libraries are defined by
their collections— the quality, quantity, depth, and breadth of their physical
and digital holdings. The collections at Murphy Library are greatly enhanced by
the generosity of individual donors, the proceeds of the Murphy Library
Endowment Fund, and grant awards from faculty across campus.
Library Book Sales
Not all books that are donated to the library end up in the library’s
collections. However, these books still greatly benefit the library by providing
items for the library book sales. Book sales fund staff training, purchase of library materials,
and add to the library's Endowment Fund. The entire library staff is extremely
grateful for the substantial growth of our collections due to these
highly-regarded donations.
Grants
Murphy Library benefited from grants that were obtained by faculty members. Tim
Gerber (Biology) and John Jax (Murphy Library) worked together on obtaining
another grant from the Paul Stry Foundation to provide monies for additional
PK-8 STEM material purchases and to keep the annual Teacher Resource Day going.
Endowment Awards
The Murphy Library Endowment Fund benefits library collections in many ways.
One needs only to browse the various physical collections and note the numerous Endowment
Fund bookplates to see the wealth and breadth of these contributions. In recent years, endowment funds have significantly expanded Curriculum
Center holdings of award-winning materials in the areas of science, technology, engineering, math
and social studies (STEMSS), making these collections even more vital to
partners such as the UW-L School of Education and area schools.
Endowment monies are also used to improve electronic or virtual collections. For
instance, access to the heavily-used periodical, Science, was made possible
with a one-time purchase of the Science Classic Archives, 1880-1996.
Additionally, a word of thanks goes to Marcia Thompson (Art) who obtained School
of Education funding to buy children’s themed art books, which were later given
to the Curriculum Center.
If you have questions about book donations, endowments, or the book sale, please
contact John Jax (5-8567) or Karen Lange (5-8305).
John Jax, Collection and Resource
Development Librarian
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Have you checked out a book at Murphy Library sometime in the last 40 years? Gone into Special Collections in the last 25 years looking for genealogy
information on your ancestors or for that special historic photograph?
Then, there is a good possibility you received help from Linda Sondreal, who is
retiring in January of 2009 after 42 years of continuous employment at Wing
Library and Murphy Library. 
Murphy Library subscribes to the EBSCOhost “version” of MEDLINE. MEDLINE is
“…the largest component of PubMed (
ebb) has
re-designed the Murphy Library web site using the UW-L campus template.
Because of the graphical nature of the new template, we were not able to include
as many links on the library home page as we could with our old design. As a
result, many links have changed, and users may have to click through additional
pages to get to their links. 
One of the information literacy instruction options for freshmen enrolled in
UWL100 is the Free Speech Zone problem-based learning experience, more commonly
known as the Street Preacher Problem. The problem was created in 2003 by Petra
Roter, Emily Johnson, Cristine Prucha, and Stefan Smith. This summer it was
revised by a team of UWL 100 instructors including Sharie Brunk, April Handtke,
Cecilia Manrique, Betsy Morgan, Cristine Prucha, and Kaye Schendel. The newest
version of the problem requires students to work in 6 groups (Racquet Reporters,
Senators, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), PUFSC (People
United for Speech Codes) and SASZ (Students Advocating Speech Zones), to
research and present their group’s position in response to a street preacher’s
controversial visit to the UWL campus. Students are introduced to the concept of
primary and secondary sources and library databases. Each group gives an oral
presentation to course instructors playing the roles of Chancellor and Provost,
and a decision is made based upon arguments best supported by sources. 
This site combines descriptive text with historic and contemporary
photographs to 30 properties in downtown commercial La Crosse. It allows
you to explore the history of the city from the boomtown riverboat days through
the roaring 20’s through the evolution of building styles and details. Begin
with the map interface on the home page to select a building you are interested
in and click on the “details” link. As you “walk” the three blocks from
Second Street to Fifth Avenue away from the riverfront and Riverside Park, you
will see the progression of architectural styles that reflect the historical
development of downtown La Crosse. Nearly one hundred years of La Crosse
commercial history can be observed in the earliest surviving buildings that date
from the 1860s on Second Avenue to the historic styles of the mid-twentieth
century seen along Fifth Avenue. Along the way you will be introduced to
excellent commercial examples of Italianate, Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne
architecture from the 19th century as well as Chicago Commercial, Art Deco and
Art Moderne buildings from the early to mid twentieth century.
August
Moon by Michael Blaser 