Daily Archives: January 22, 2018

Penn State Human Library

Human Book flyer Wed., Feb. 7, 2018

Feb. 7, 2018, 1-5 p.m. Pattee Library and Paterno Library 

The phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” means even more at the Human Library. Penn State’s second annual Human Library encourages participants to engage in conversations and challenge stereotypes. Difficult questions will be expected, appreciated and answered.

Readers can sign up to hear the life stories told by “human books.” Read the 2018 human book titles and sign up to “read” a human book during 45-minute sessions from 1 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, in Pattee Library and Paterno Library.

Those unable to “borrow” a human book are encouraged to attend the 11 a.m. Showcase Panel in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, featuring a synopsis of several “books” chosen for their earlier audience popularity. Penn State faculty, students and staff can also attend via livestream on MediaSite Live. Read more here about the upcoming Penn State Human Library.

Sabbatical Approvals for Libraries Faculty

By: Sandra  Confer

Sabbatical leaves for the following University Libraries faculty have been approved:

Paige Andrew — (7/1/18 – 12/31/18) To explore and apply current standards and professional practices of cataloging to create instructional materials for advanced level cataloging of digital cartographic resources.

Joe Fennewald — (1/1/19 – 6/30/19) To report on research on students who use the Knowledge Commons resources and services and explore how the library can better prepare its student employees with meaningful work experience that would appeal to future employers.

Dolores Fidishun — (2/1/18 – 7/31/18) To study the informational needs of female truckers.

Kevin Harwell — 8/1/18 – 1/13/19)  To analyze corporate social responsibility initiatives in the areas of environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and outreach to communities by select Fortune 1000 companies for the years 2017-2017.

John Shank — 1/1/19 – 6/30/19) To investigate the use of open educational resources (OER) to determine best practices in academic libraries.

Libraries host executive architect of National Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

By: Lana  Munip and Alia Gant

Last week, as part of the MLK Commemoration celebrations, the University Libraries hosted Dr. Ed Jackson Jr., executive architect of the National Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, in Washington D.C. From 1996 to 2012, Jackson was responsible for directing and managing the programming, planning, site selection, design and construction process for the four-acre site located in West Potomac Park, by the Tidal Basin.

In a riveting two-hour-long presentation, Jackson described how the winning design, selected from 900 entries, was inspired by a line from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech—“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” Approximately 50 people, mostly students, attended his talk in Freeman Auditorium, in the HUB. During the presentation, Jackson touched on some of the pushback he had experienced at different stages of the construction process (among them: “Why didn’t you hire an American sculptor?”, “Dr. King looks angry!”, “Why didn’t you choose a chocolate-brown stone?”) and how he overcame those challenges to oversee the completion of what he describes as a “living memorial”—a 30-ft-high stone sculpture of King emerging from the mountain, flanked by a granite inscription wall with 14 quotes from King’s speeches and sermons. “The image of Dr. King draws you here, but his words are the living legacy,” said Jackson.

As part of Jackson’s visit, he also attended the 43rd Annual MLK Banquet organized by the Forum on Black Affairs, where he met Dean Barbara Dewey and members of the diversity committee.

 

Tech Tip: Using the Tell Me Assistant

By: Ryan T Johnson

Screen shot for Tell Me Assistant tech tip tutorial

You’ll notice a text box on the ribbon in Office 2016 on Windows apps that says Tell me what you want to do. This is a text field where you can enter words and phrases about what you want to do next and quickly get to features you want to use or actions you want to perform. You can also use Tell Me to find help about what you’re looking for, or to use Smart Lookup to research or define the term you entered.

For example, if I want to insert a picture in my document but I’m not sure how to do it, all you have to do is go up to Tell Me what you want to do, click there, and start typing Insert Picture.  You will begin to see the options available and can select one from the drop down menu that appears.

Inset picture screenshot for tech tip tutorial

Green Tip:  Energy Saving Tips for the Cold Months

By: Amy  White

Not looking forward to your energy bills this winter?  Here are a few ways to reduce your energy consumption over the winter, helping not only the environment but also your wallet:

• Have south-facing windows?  Open the curtains to let the sun do some of the warming.  It’s solar power at its simplest (and cheapest).

• Use your ceiling fans in winter. Ceiling fans not only provide cooling in the summer but also help push warm air back down in the winter.  Just set the fan to rotate in the clockwise direction in order to push warm air down.

• Get an adjustable thermostat and set the night temperature to 61 degrees. The cooler night-time temperature might help you sleep better in addition to reducing your heating costs.

• Invest in LED lighting for your holiday decorations. These use vastly less energy than the incandescent lights used in older holiday lights and decor.

• Consider checking out a Kill-A-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor from the University Libraries for a 14-day loan.  These monitors can be plugged into your home electrical devices (computers, appliances, etc.) in order to see how much energy they are using.  You can then adjust usage to reduce your personal energy consumption.

Getting To Know You: Amanda Peters

Photo of Amanda Peters and her dog, Teddy, a border collie/brittany mix and her two cats.

By: Jennifer  Cywinski

Amanda Peters has always had a love for history. It may have started when she
began working at The Frick Art and Historical Center in Pittsburgh, where she
was introduced to the history of the coal and coke industry back in
Pittsburgh and she has loved the subject ever since.

In 2016 Amanda became the Archivist at the Coal and Coke Heritage Center
located at the Fayette campus and is in charge of overseeing the collection,
which includes over 1,200 oral histories on the coal industry. These are
stories of people whose lives were intertwined with the coal industry and
their experiences. Amanda also gives presentations, sets up displays, and
provides outreach for the museum.

Amanda received her Bachelors’ Degree in History at the University of
Pittsburgh in Johnstown and went on to receive a Masters of History at IUP
(Indiana University of Pennsylvania). She was exposed to archiving and
museums while going for her Masters and she decided to go back for a Library
Science degree to make her History Degree more marketable. The decision
definitely paid off!

Amanda lives near Pittsburgh and she and her partner Joe live within walking
distance to the downtown area. She has 2 cats and a dog named Teddy. Teddy is
a two-year-old Border collie/Brittany mix and he keeps Amanda on her toes!
She has also decided to train for a half-marathon this year in Pittsburgh!

Amanda loves working at Penn State and even though she is far from
University Park, she feels that she is still well connected to the main
campus and that her work still matters. Everyone is nice and very accessible.
Penn State has a great network of people and we are fortunate to work here!

Events: Jan. 22

Spring 2018
Academic calendar information for all campuses is available online.

graphic of vertical book spines encircling exhibit title "Academic Libraries Around the World," exhibit, Diversity Studies Room, 203 Pattee Library, free and open to the public

Through Feb. 12: “Academic Libraries Around the World” exhibit, Diversity Studies Room, 203 Pattee Library, University Park.

 

vertical graphic, collage of black-and-white images Martin Luther King Jr. poster with text “Deconstructing the Dream: At Whose Expense?”

MLK 2018 poster by Addie Ruston

 

 

Through Feb. 28: “Deconstructing the Dream: At Whose Expense?” student poster exhibition, Sidewater Commons, with adjacent central entrance exhibit case chronicling the life and work of King using University Libraries resources, first floor Central Pattee Library, University Park.

"What Big Eyes You Have! Looking at the Wolf in Fairy Tales" exhibition, image from "The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault," illustration by Harry Clarke

 

 

Jan. 16–May 13, “What Big Eyes You Have! Looking at the Wolf in Fairy Tales”exhibition, Eberly Family Special Collections Library Exhibition Room, 104 Paterno Library.

 

 

 

Jan. 22: COMM Career Conversations – Breaking Into the Entertainment Industry, Foster Auditorium, 6-7 p.m.

Jan. 23: “Academic Libraries Abroad: An Open Discussion,” featuring five open discussion panelists Jade Atwill, Asian studies librarian; Sylvia Owiny, social sciences librarian; Manuel Ostos, librarian for romance languages and literature; Joi Jackson, reference and instruction librarian, Penn State Harrisburg; and Binh Le, reference and instruction librarian, Penn State Abington. The panelists will begin the discussion with a brief overview of their geographic areas of expertise, touching on topics such as lending and borrowing, collection development and access, library free or fee-based policies, and the availability of online and digital resources. Following the discussion’s introduction, the floor will be open to audience questions; 2-3 p.m., Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, and online via Adobe Connect at https://meeting.psu.edu/libglobal.

Wednesday, Jan. 24: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – Ancestry.com, A resource for conducting historical research, with Brett Spencer. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018: Shara McCallum to read as part of the Mary E. Rolling Reading Series. Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 31: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – Databrary, a digital data library developed at PSU for storing, sharing and annotating video and audio recordings, with Rick Gilmore . Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 6: The Trajectory of Document Preservation in Brazil Through the 21st Century, with Visiting Scholar Fabiana Franco Barbosa Oda. Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, 2-3 p.m. and MediaSite.

Wednesday, Feb 7: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – OpenRefine, a free and open-source resource for cleaning, regularizing, and organizing complex data, with Jose Guerrero. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 7: Geospatial Exploration — Explore mapping and location topics and applications. An introduction to geospatial data, introductory topics of projects, data manipulation, and geoprocessing techniques. Pattee Library 211A, 3-4 p.m. and Zoom. 

Wednesday, Feb. 7: Exploring Open Source GIS — QGIS. An introduction to using QGIS; Participants are encouraged to bring their laptop and if desired have QGIS installed to experience first-hand some of the software’s options. Pattee Library 211A, 4-5 p.m. and Zoom.

Wednesday, Feb 14: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – Upwork, a network for building and establishing a writing portfolio, with Jenna Spinelle. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 14: Geospatial Online: Overview of Online mapping options. An introduction to ArcGIS Online, used to communicate spatial research interests across the disciplines. 211A Pattee Library, 3-4 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 14: Geospatial Analysis — Introduction to Working with location data and demographic data. An introduction to using ArcMap software to work with location data and demographic data.  211A Pattee Library, 4-5 p.m.,

Thursday, Feb. 15, 3-5 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 21, 5-7 p.m.: “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” A Winter Olympics Pop-up Exhibit, featuring books, materials, artifacts and memorabilia from the history of the Olympic Games. Mann Assembly Room, 102 Paterno Library.

Feb. 20: Hindi Pronunciation Workshop

Wednesday, Feb 21: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – QGIS, a free and open-source geographic information system for viewing, editing, and analyzing spatial data with graphical maps, with Zhiyue Xia. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 21: Geospatial Data: Diving into Library Resources and beyond. 3-4 p.m., 211A Pattee Library.

Wednesday, Feb. 21: Focus on PolicyMap — Data sources and visualization options. 4-5 p.m., 211A Pattee Library.

Wednesday, Feb. 21: Mary Gaitskill 2017 Fisher Famiy Writer in Residence Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, 7:30-9 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb 28: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – Hadoop, a way to process very large datasets efficiently, with Juniun Yin. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Wednesday, Mar. 7: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a popular program for encryption and authentication of digital messages like email, with Andrew Singer. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Wednesday, Mar. 14: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – ggplot2, makes pretty, easily reproducible and modifiable graphs for publication, with Nathan Piekielek. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.   

Wednesday, Mar. 21: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – Pandoc,  convert documents from one file type to another and back again, all from the command line, with Grant Wythoff. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Tuesday, Apr. 3: Jillian Cantor to read as part of the Mary E Rolling Reading Series, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, 7:30-9 p.m.

Wednesday, Apr. 4: Software in the Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop – IIIF, with Karen Estlund. Bring a bag lunch. 403 Paterno Library, noon-1 p.m.

Thursday, Apr. 5: Lecture by Professor Leo Bersani, “Force in Progress” Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, 5-7 p.m.

Sunday, Apr. 22: International Write-In. Two sessions, 3:30-7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.-midnight. Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library. Interested writers can sign up today at: http://tinyurl.com/psuwritein

Please submit event information — and all Library News submissions — to Public Relations and Marketing via the Library News submission form. *Please note: The content submissions process may be changing soon; please stay tuned for updates.*