Daily Archives: February 4, 2013

Hendrix Named New Director of Development for the Libraries

NHendrixNicole Hendrix has been named the new director of the Office of Development for Penn State University Libraries. She will lead the Libraries’ effort to raise $40 million in the For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students. To date the Libraries have raised more than $31 million in the ongoing campaign, set to end in 2014. Hendrix began her appointment January 28.
Since November 2009, Hendrix has served as the director of major gifts in the College of the Liberal Arts, where she helped her unit to achieve 84 percent of their campaign goal. Before joining Penn State, she spent eight years working in development at The University of Georgia where her duties included supporting the fundraising efforts for the university’s libraries. Prior to entering the fundraising profession, Hendrix spent four years in private industry in sales and public relations. Hendrix holds a bachelor of arts degree from The University of Georgia.

Looking forward to this next step in her career, Hendrix notes, “Fundraising for our University Libraries offers the best of all worlds–an opportunity to connect those whose education has led to success with aspiring young students. At the end of the day, I feel I have made a positive difference.”

Welcoming Hendrix to her staff, Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications at Penn State, observes, “Nicki’s understanding of the research needs of students in the College of the Liberal Arts positions her perfectly to explain to alumni the evolution of library resources and the expanding horizons of digital resources.” For more information, contact 814-863-4240 or cqg3@psu.edu

Textbook Purchasing: How We’re Supporting our Students

By Lisa German

“Back in the day” it was common practice for libraries to exclude textbooks from approval plans and from firm order purchases. “We don’t buy textbooks” was a standard phrase. This is not the case anymore. The University Libraries is helping our students mitigate the high price of textbooks by purchasing textbooks and putting them on reserve.
Where can textbooks be found? 
  • Engineering Library — Buys a copy of textbooks that are required for all undergraduate and graduate courses. Additionally, they purchase textbooks in math, chemistry, and physics that engineering students are required to take and they also have the copies of the CAS 100 texts required by engineering students.
  • Earth & Mineral Sciences Library – Purchases required textbooks for all undergraduate and graduate courses taught by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. If the textbooks are available in e-version, they are purchased in that format.
  • Physical & Mathematical Sciences Library – Purchases required and recommended textbooks taught in Astronomy, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics and some selected texts in Chemical Engineering, EMECH, BMB and other areas based on the number of student requests or if a faculty member requests a purchase. Supplemental materials, sky charts, for example, are purchased as requested.
  • Business Library – Purchases one copy of recommended and required textbooks (including solution manuals) for undergrad and grad courses offered the College of IST, the Smeal College of Business, School of Hospitality Management, Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Management, and the Department of Economics.
  • Life Sciences, Education & Behavioral Sciences, and Social Sciences – Purchase textbooks on a case by case basis
  • Commons Services Desk – Many textbooks are on course reserve. Additionally, many articles are available on e-reserve that are available anywhere, anytime to students enrolled in the course.
Textbooks aren’t the only high demand types of material that is put on reserve. Many of you probably know that two very high demand resources are the anatomical models and molecule sets on reserve in the Life Sciences Library. While the Arts and Humanities Library doesn’t typically purchase textbooks, many of the readings students need to do in their classes are often from from university press books that available in the Libraries.
Is your unit purchasing textbooks, but not mentioned here? 
Please let me know so that we can get the word out to the student organizations so they know that we are aware of the expense for textbooks and that we’re trying to help them.

Sheehy Receives Award from ALA Government Documents Roundtable

Submitted by Stephen Woods

The University Libraries is pleased to announce that Helen Sheehy has recently been awarded the Bernadine Abbott Hoduski Founders Award from the Government Documents Roundtable, an organization within the American Libraries Association. Sheehy has been an active member of GODORT for almost 25 years. She represents an important microcosm of government information specialists that is quickly becoming a rarity within the profession. Namely, librarians who are knowledgeable advocates that empower others in the use of international government information.

For eight years, Helen has been a chief contributor to the work of the Government Information and Official Publications Section (GIOPS) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). As Chair of GIOPS, the organization sponsored a three day seminar at the Russian State Library in Moscow in May of 1999. This outreach effort to government information specialist in the former Soviet Republics was duplicated by GIOPS four years later at Sudak, Crimea, Ukraine, and attended by around 1700 participants. Locally, Helen is equal to the task.

For the last four years, she has been an active member of the United Nations Association of Centre County. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to building understanding of and support for the ideals and vital work of the United Nations. As an executive board member, she actively helps sponsor programs through UNACC that inform the citizens of issues important to the United Nations. Her mastery of information resources from the United Nations and standing with UNACC has provided her opportunities to work with the local High Schools Model UN program. For more information about UNACC go to: http://www.unacentrecountypa.org/

In 2010, Helen spearheaded efforts for the University Libraries to acquire the original Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Rural Development (CIKARD) collection of more than 2,000 items from Iowa State. This collection is part of 20 global networks of indigenous knowledge resources centers and the only one located in the United States. Indigenous knowledge is an emerging area of study that focuses on the ways of knowing, seeing, and thinking that are passed down orally from generation to generation. Helen’s understanding of international government information and ability to promote internationally focused collections provide some interesting opportunities.

Recently, she was invited to speak with librarians in Ethiopia about the relationship of indigenous knowledge and international government resources. This has fascinating ramifications for our understanding of government information in a paper-based society. She has also been able to make valuable connections with the study of indigenous knowledge and her work with the United Nations. This is demonstrated in the UNACC’s promotion of “International Day of the World’s Indigenous People”. For more information about the Inter-institutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) go to: http://icik.psu.edu/psul/icik.html

There is so much more that I could say about Helen’s contributions to our community. Please join me in celebrating Helen’s accomplishments and recognition of her commitment to the library profession.

‘Life and Limb’ Exhibit Explores Toll of Civil War

See the flyer for this exhibit: CIVIL WAR FLIER.pdf

The George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library, Penn State Hershey, will host a National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit that explores the experiences of disabled Civil War veterans. “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War,” will be on display from February 13 to March 21, and will feature images, Civil War ephemera and books. It is hosted in partnership with The Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine and the Department of Humanities and coincides with the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Two lectures will be held in conjunction with the exhibition. On March 8, at noon, in the Junker Auditorium, Susan Rosenvold will present “Clara Barton and Battlefield Medicine.” Rosenvold is the superintendent of the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office, in Washington, DC. Her lecture will shed light on how the approach to battlefield medicine during the Civil War was challenged by advocates including Clara Barton, who saw a need for better and faster medical care during and after battles.

On March 13, at 6 p.m., in Room T2500, in the Cancer Institute, Barbara Sanders will present “The Fields of Gettysburg through the Eyes of Battlefield Surgeons.” Sanders, an education specialist at the Gettysburg National Military Park, will explore the preparedness of the Medical Corps on both the North and South before and during the Civil War, focusing on the events of the Battle of Gettysburg.

The exhibit will be open during normal library hours: 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to midnight on Sunday. It is located within the Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center, 500 University Drive, Hershey. For more information, or if you need accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Ben Hoover at 717-531- 8627. The exhibit and both events are free and open to the public.

Blind Date with a Book

The Libraries are playing matchmaker!

Blind Date with a Book pic by Sandy Hoffmaster.jpg Patrons browsing the Leisure Reading Collection in Pattee Library this month can check out one of the covered books (see above), and in the process, perhaps discover a new favorite author or genre.

They’ve also been asked to tweet how they liked their “blind dates” to @psulibs. Photo by Sandy Hoffmaster.

ACRL Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success

By Alan W. Shay, data analyst

ACRL is seeking applications from all types of higher education institutions for 75 teams to participate in the first cohort of “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success (AiA),” made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and described on the AiA program homepage.

Librarians will each lead a campus team in developing and implementing an action learning project which examines the impact of the library on student success and contributes to assessment activities on campus. They will be supported in this work by a professional development program with sequenced learning events and activities at key junctures. The AiA program, part of ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries initiative, employs a blended learning environment and a peer-to-peer network over the course of the 14-month long program, which runs from April 2013-June 2014.

The Library Assessment and Metrics Council is seeking individuals who have an idea for a project topic with the potential to contribute to the greater library and higher education community. Neither a complete plan nor a list of team members are necessary to have in place at this time.

If you have a potential project topic and/or an interest to participate in the AiA program, please contact the Library Assessment and Metrics Council via ul-assessment-council@lists.psu.edu by Friday, February 8, 2013. For more information on the AiA application process, please visit the AiA application website.

Events; Feb. 4 – 10

What is One Degree? (film, 50 min)

Wed., Feb. 6, 12:15 p.m., EMS Library, 105 Deike
What exactly is a degree of temperature? How is it defined and measured? Will answering these questions shed light on the complexities of climate change?

Save the Date: Tech Update
Tuesday, February 12, 3:00-4:00, Foster Aud. and Media Site Live
More details next week

Access Services Open House
Thursday, February 14, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m., Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library
Open House for all faculty and staff. A prize drawing will be held and light refreshments will be served.

Changing Formatting in Excel with Find & Replace

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

Have you ever needed to change the formatting of a whole bunch of cells in a spreadsheet? Of course, if those cells are all in a single column, all you have to do is select the column by clicking the letter heading it, right-clicking and selecting Format Cells. If there are a few different cells that you need to change and you know exactly where they are, you can hold down the Ctrl key, click on them one by one and then right-click and select Format Cells. However, if you have cells all over the place that you need to change from one format to another and you have no clue where they all might be, you have another option.

FindandReplaceScreenshot.JPGPress Ctrl+H to open the Find and Replace dialog with the Replace tab selected. Click on the Options button to expand the dialog if the Within, Search and Look In options are not visible. Click on Format next to Find What. Choose the format of the cells that you want to find and replace. Click OK. Click Format next to Replace With. Choose the format you want to apply to the cells, replacing the current format and click OK. If you want to change the format of the cells in the entire workbook, select Workbook in the Within list. There are countless ways that you can use this feature. Change the appearance of borders or the fill color of the cells. Change the font, alignment or number format. Whatever formatting you want to change, Find and Replace is the way to go.

Access Services Updates: Training Bulletin, Circulate Box Fix

Submitted by Barbara Coopey

New Training Bulletin
There is a new Access Services training bulletin (link: https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/access/intranet/trainingbulletins.html). No. 33, located under the “Item Maintenance” section of the Training Bulletins, is Using SirsiDynix Symphony to find Penn State owned material currently checked out to non-Penn State libraries. When material is supplied to E-ZBorrow, Access Pa, or other libraries outside the Penn State system, it is checked out in WorkFlows. This training bulletin explains how to search in SirsiDynix Directors Station and/or WorkFlows to retrieve a list of titles currently checked out to non-Penn State libraries.

Circulate Box in WorkFlows Project reaching Completion
Customer service issue resolved! Since the migration to SirsiDynix in 2000, there were times when a user placed a hold on an item but library staff were unaware of the hold. Thus, the user never received the item unless he or she inquired about it at a service desk where staff would uncover the inactive hold. It was discovered that holdable item types without the circulate box checked in WorkFlows were not listed on hold reports. Since 2009, Access Services Council (ASC), the Circ/Reserves and Cataloging Expert Teams, and Serials and Acquisitions Services have been working together to correct the problem. There are a few projects left to complete this project. The Circulate Box in WorkFlows website explains the issue and includes a timeline of the projects conducted to remedy this customer service issue.

LLS Hosts International Students

By Megan Gilpin, photo by Wilson Hutton

On January 23, Library Learning Services hosted 11 participants from Penn State’s Intensive English Communication Program. A four semester program, IECP prepares international students for study at Penn State, or any other American university, as well as readying them for the Test of English as a Foreign Language. After a brief LionSearch demonstration and library website orientation session with librarian Dawn Amsberry, the students enjoyed a tour of Pattee and Paterno Libraries, ending with a small reception in the Mann Assembly Room.

international student tour
For questions about this program or other outreach initiatives, please contact Megan Gilpin (mcg13).

LFO Research Colloquium

February 26, 2013, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., Foster Auditorium (and via Media Site Live)

Ellysa Stern Cahoy, ” Grant Seeking: Tackling the Essential Questions”
Procuring an internal or external grant is a terrific way to move an initiative or research project forward, quickly bypassing traditional funding obstacles. Before you apply for a grant, however, you must consider a number of questions relative to your workload, research agenda, collaborative partnerships, and overall goals. This presentation will work through these essential questions, providing a roadmap for dynamic decision making that will help librarians know when it is the right time to seek grant funding, and how to easily and effectively begin the grant seeking process. Ellysa Stern Cahoy is an education and behavioral sciences librarian in the Penn State University Libraries, University Park. In 2012, she was awarded a $143,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund the exploration of faculty’s personal scholarly archiving practices and needs.

Bonnie Imler, “Why Are Our Students Printing Abstracts Instead of Full-Text Articles?”
The impetus for this study was piles of orphaned abstracts at library printers and a previous study on SFX usage, in which a large number of student participants printed abstracts when instructed to print entire articles. In this quantitative study, 40 undergraduate participants were asked to print entire articles from 5 commercial library databases, and were surveyed on their understanding of the terms “abstract,” “full-text,” and “pdf.” Bonnie Imler is head librarian at Penn State Altoona. Her research interest is in actual student use of library technologies and screen capture software. Recent publications with co-researcher Michelle Eichelberger include “Using Screen Capture to Study User Research Behavior” in Library Hi Tech and “Do They ‘Get It’? Student Usage of SFX Citation Linking Software” in College & Research Libraries. The results of this study have been accepted for publication and are available on the College & Research Libraries pre-print web site.

Henry Pisciotta, “Researching ‘Art’s Critique of the Library'”
Henry Pisciotta’s 2009-2010 sabbatical research was an investigation of edgy or humorous artworks that criticize the basic principals of libraries. That work has been presented at 3 conferences, is the basis for a current exhibit in our Special Collections Library, and has been slowly wending toward publication. After identifying about 50 works, from 1960 to the present, that engage in this sort of institutional critique, some key themes emerged. Some of these artworks suggest that we have a cultural compulsion to see the library represent the interests of the community and to see the library as a site for complications of authorship and ownership. Others of these works urge us to regard with suspicion the order that characterizes a library and to ponder the relationship between order and disorder that seems integral to creative processes. The LFO Research Colloquium presentation will not present the results of this research but will instead informally discuss the processes involved, and perhaps some implications for librarianship. Librarians interested in this topic are urged to attend the more substantive talk that will be presented the evening before the colloquium (“Art’s Critique of the Library,” Monday, February 25, 6 p.m., in Foster Auditorium) and/or visit the exhibit in Special Collections (February 1 though May 31.) Henry Pisciotta is the Arts and Architecture Librarian at Penn State and in that capacity specializes in all aspects of the visual arts (including architecture, design, etc.) He holds master’s degrees in art history and library science and has completed the coursework toward a Ph.D. in art history. Most of his research and publication centers on arts librarianship (most recently a statistical study of university press publications in the arts) but he has also published research in art history, such as a 2001 study “The Avery Monument: The Elevation of Race in Public Sculpture and the Republican Party.” This research into the institutional critique of the library is his first foray in the study of contemporary art.

Lightning Talks
David P. Brennan, “eJournal Data Analysis to Support Decision-Making”
Making decisions regarding online journals requires an analysis of varied types of data from a number of sources. This talk will illustrate issues surrounding extracting, merging and analyzing a number of data points such as usage, cost, and interlibrary loan to support decision-making when negotiating renewals for online journals. Sources include Serials Solutions, ILLiad, and vendor supplied data. David Brennan is assistant librarian, Collection Development/Digital Resources Management at the George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania. He has more than 20 years experience in academic libraries both as a systems librarian (Clifford E. Barbour Library, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) and as a library director (St. Francis Health System, Pittsburgh). He has presented at MLA and PaLA conferences and has published numerous articles on technology topics.
 
Amanda Clossen, “Flipping the Classroom: Collaborative Use of Learning Objects”
Amanda will be discussing her collaborative venture with English Department lecturer, Josephine Pirrone. The two have worked together to create a series of ENGL15 library sessions that work to present more abstract concepts of researching in class, while supporting the “nuts and bolts” of database searching through an online learning object. Amanda is the learning design librarian in the Library Learning Services department. Currently she is working to expand and support the creation of online learning objects and tutorials at Penn State University Libraries.

Latest LionSearch News

Newly indexed content in LionSearch:

Key Databases and Packages
(Full-Text) http://www.serialssolutions.com/en/resources/detail/summon-key-databases-and-packages-full-text

Summon Participating Publishers
http://www.serialssolutions.com/en/resources/detail/summon-participating-publishers

Summon Serials Titles
http://www.serialssolutions.com/en/resources/detail/summon-serials-titles

Please contact DAST with any questions! UL-DAST@LISTS.PSU.EDU

Reserve Your Spot In New Webcast Series – Library Value

By Sherry Lonsdale, database specialist

A new Library Value Webcast Series has been launched by ARL and LibValue Project. The series of webcasts will be held from February through August.

Topics include: Undergraduate Student Success, Commons Spaces Value, Books and E-Books, Comprehensive Approaches to Defining Library Value, Success in Teaching and Research, and Digitized Special Collections.

The LibValue project is a collaboration among the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Libraries, and the Association of Research Libraries, with partners at Syracuse University and Bryant University. The webcasts will highlight the findings and results of a three year study outlining the various ways Libraries create value.

The first topic in the series focuses on Undergraduate Student Success. Thursday, February 14, 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Presented by: Rachel Fleming-May, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee; Regina Mays, assistant professor and assessment librarian, University of Tennessee Libraries; Teresa Walker, associate professor and head, Integrated User Services, University of Tennessee Libraries. You can sign up for one or all six sessions and see them live. To register for the series or obtain more details, please see the program website. There is no fee for attending these webcasts, and they will be recorded and available on ARL’s YouTube channel after each live event.

LHR News: Feb. 4

New Hires:
2/1/13 Alexandra Bainbridge, Information Resources and Services Support Specialist (Archives Assistant), Special Collections

Departures:
2/1/13 Valerie Sebestyen, Donald W. Hamer Maps Library

Dependent Verification Update
Now that the Dependent Verification Program is underway, privacy and security has remained a top concern. A new link has been added to the OHR website Dependent Verification Program page, http://ohr.psu.edu/benefits/dependent-verification/, specifically addressing Aon Hewitt’s policy and how they are safeguarding our submitted documentation. (Aon Hewitt is the human resource company hired by Penn State to assist with this documentation.)

Additionally, below are some of the most recent questions regarding the program. They have been added to the Frequently Asked Questions document:
What if I have not received copies of my vital records before March 30, 2013? Or if I have extenuating circumstances, such as a sabbatical leave, that prevents me from accessing my records until after March 30, 2013?
If you have a circumstance that prevents you from effectively submitting your documents prior to March 30, 2013, we strongly encourage you to contact Aon Hewitt so they can notate your record with the information. Extensions may be made on a case-by-case basis only, depending on the circumstance. Additionally, consideration for an extension beyond the March 30, 2013 deadline will be made only if the issue is on record with Aon Hewitt.
My child’s Pennsylvania birth certificate indicates “Warning: it is illegal to duplicate this copy by photostat or photograph” at the bottom. Should I be concerned?
No, Aon Hewitt has verified with all state agencies that photocopying the birth certificate for this “administrative purpose” is permitted.
For verification of spouses, a marriage certificate is required. How will I know if my marriage certificate will be accepted?
The marriage certificate must be “government issued”, which must include the COUNTY NAME. It is important to note that each county has their own layout for their marriage certificate, but if the county name is on it, those typically are the government-issued documents that are acceptable. If you are unsure if your marriage certificate will be accepted, please submit it and Aon Hewitt will contact you if further information is needed. Employees should contact Aon Hewitt directly at 1-888-223-3338 with questions and/or concerns.

Health Information Flyer (opens PDF)
ff_eatbetter.pdf