Daily Archives: April 15, 2013

Research travel grant award winners announced

The Eberly Family Special Collections Library is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 research travel awards program. All winners will visit the Special Collections Library between May and August.

Dorothy Foehr Huck award winners
Professor Paul Kerry, Brigham Young University, will be researching the life of Bayard Taylor, using the papers of this Pennsylvania-born author, translator and diplomat in the library’s collection.

Professor Kristine Thompson, Louisiana State University, will be researching photographic representations of death and mourning, from the 19th century to the present day, using the Jay Ruby Collection and other related materials.

Helen F. Faust Women Writers award winners:
Professor Emily VanDette, State University of New York at Fredonia, will do research on “Six Scribbling Women and the Politics of Literary Reputation,” using Fred Lewis Pattee’s papers and other related collections.

Professor Carly Woods, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, will be researching “Women Debating Society: Gender, Citizenship, and Social Change in Debating Societies, 1840-1960,” using the records of the Penn State Women’s Debate Team among other sources.

During their research visit, the winners will be invited to give a short, informal presentation about their research that will be open to the public.

Tim Pyatt, the Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair and head of The Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State University Park, sees the incentive of travel grants as an excellent way to promote use and disseminate information about our collections. Now in its second year, the awards showcase the wealth of materials in the library.

Additional details are available at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/speccolls/travel.html or call Tim Pyatt at 814-865-7931. For an interview with Pyatt, see http://www.rps.psu.edu/indepth/special_collections.html

Penn State celebrates National Library Week April 14-20

Penn State’s University Libraries celebrate National Library Week, April 14–20, and National Library Workers Day on April 16

Dean Barbara I. Dewey thanks all staff, and she emphasizes, “Libraries work because you do.”

To commemorate the occasion, an impressive list of unit highlights can be viewed at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/humanresources/Appreciation.html

Dean Dewey urges everyone to take a look at each unit’s accomplishments, listed under Administrative Services, Campus Libraries, Public Services, and Technical Services tabs.

Update on Elsevier divestiture

By Ann Snowman

In accordance with Collection Services Advisory Group’s decision on March 13, 2013, Access Services has begun to identify our Elsevier serial print holdings with the intent to withdraw them. This project follows the recommendations of the Collection Retention Policy Working Group Report and will serve as the pilot for future withdrawal projects.

The Center for Library Initiatives (CLI) of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) entered into a formal agreement to collect and hold the print holdings of all Elsevier serial publications at University of Indiana’s ALF storage facility. That project is well underway; recently Rebecca Crist was hired to manage both the Shared Print Storage project and the government documents digitization project in which we also participate. Confidence in the CIC project and has led us to withdraw print holdings from both off-site and on-site locations.

Penn State’s initiative will rely on the titles held in the Elsevier digital back files to which we have purchased permanent access to inform the selection process for divestiture. We will begin by identifying the stakeholders, designing the workflow and the actors, testing and refining the process. Serials & Acquisitions assisted by requesting a list of titles covered by the back files. The vendor responded with more than 1,600 titles and title changes, their ISSNs and the span of years covered by each title. Our task was to find call numbers and locations to match them all before we begin.

Because our primary goal is to open up space in the annex we will begin withdrawing volumes there before we move into a library. We anticipate a workflow that will alert selectors as we approach providing sufficient time for them to respond with special considerations, such as a designation of distinction, and a clear justification for a volume or series to be excepted from the project.

Progress reports will be issued as the work advances.

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Events: April 15 – 21

National Library Week
April 14–20. This year’s theme is “Communities matter @ your Library.”

Library Workers Day
April 16. This year’s theme is “Libraries work because we do.”

Embodying the Avant-garde: Corporeal Visions in Spain and Italy
April 16, 2 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
Brad Epps, professor, University of Cambridge and formerly of Harvard University, will speak on “Mimesis, Mimicry and Movement: Formic and Other Deformations in Salvador Dalí.” His academic interests include 19th- and 20th-century Spanish and Latin American language, culture and urban studies.

Budgeting 101: Making dollars with sense
April 17, 3–4:30 p. m., 302 Paterno Library (registration required, see details here: www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/researchguides/business/financialliteracy.html
Presented by Dr. Daad Rizk, co-sponsored by the Adult Learner Advocacy Initiative’s Financial Literacy Curriculum and the University Libraries.

Film: The Devil’s Miner – Part 2
April 17, 12:15 p.m., Earth and Mineral Sciences Library, 105 Deike (41 min). The story of 14-year-old Basilio Vargas and his 12 year-old brother as they work in 16th century Bolivian silver mines.

LLS Showcase
April 18, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Mann Assembly Room. Come sample our dessert bar while sampling our wide range of programs and services. If you have questions, please contact Megan Gilpin (mcg13) at 7-0069.

The Truth Revealed: Academic Uses of Sports Archives, Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Penn State’s Sports Archives, 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 18,  Foster Auditorium.

Julia Spicher Kasdorf presentation
April 19, 4–5 p.m., Foster Auditorium. The presentation will be on Fred Lewis Pattee’s novel, “The House of the Black Ring: A Romance of the Seven Mountains.”

MediaTech Technology Expo
April 22, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dean’s Hall, Penn Stater Conference Center

Save the date:   Elsevier E-Journal Forum, April 30, 10-11 a.m., Foster Auditorium (and MediaSite).

Penn State’s current contract with Elsevier for e-journals ends in 2013. To inform the decision about whether and what to renew, a small group has been gathering data on usage of Elsevier titles, our costs and other factors. Some of the highlights of these data will be shared at the forum but a primary goal is to get input from you. Should we do another “big deal” with Elsevier? What other factors ought to be considered? Please join us as we share thoughts and considerations, or simply come and be dazzled by data! — Linda Musser (Elsevier E-Journals Evaluation Team — David Brennan, Nan Butkovich and Linda Musser)

New Access Services training bulletin for E-Z Borrow processing staff

By Barbara Coopey
Announcements for Service Desks

What should staff do if a book needed for course reserves is checked out to an E-ZBorrow library? The PALCI consortium E-ZBorrow policies recommend that a book not be recalled unless it is needed for course reserves; and there is no recall function within the E-ZBorrow system. Training Bulletin No. 35, “How to recall a book for Course Reserves when it is charged out to an E-ZBorrow Library,” details the procedure staff can follow to recall a book needed for course reserves.

Continue reading

Feed the Future fellows from Africa to share indigenous knowledge perspectives

Ten women scientists from five African countries will share their perspectives on indigenous knowledge at a presentation on April 24 in the University Libraries. “Bringing Indigenous Knowledge of the People of Rural Africa into the Academy: A Presentation” will be held in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The presenters are visiting Penn State after being selected to take part in the USDA–Borlaug Global Food Security program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to expand the pool of food security professionals in Africa.

Feed the Future Fellows group picture

The scientists will share their indigenous knowledge perspectives

Continue reading

Deadline approaching for undergraduate scholarship applications

Undergraduate scholarship applications are due on April 26. If you know of undergraduates with an interest in information or library science, tell them to apply now for a University Libraries scholarship, which can help with current school costs. The awards include the Adma Hammam Shibley Memorial Scholarship in Library Science, the Martha Conner Memorial Award, and the Ava Faltz-Miller Memorial Scholarship. They are presented annually to outstanding Penn State undergraduates.

The deadline for submission is Friday, April 26. Details about each award and an application form are available online: www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/scholarships.html. For more information, contact Sandy Confer at 814-863-3665 or slb3@psu.edu

MediaTech Expo on April 22

See what’s new for 2013 at this year’s Technology Expo on April 22, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., in the Dean’s Hall, Penn Stater Conference Center, University Park. Organized by Media and Technology Support Services (MediaTech), the event will bring together more than twenty vendors under one roof, and feature the latest in plasma and LCD flat-panel displays, projectors, touch-screen control systems, whole-house sound systems, digital cameras, podiums and more.

Product vendors and MediaTech staff will be on hand to answer questions and demo the use of the equipment.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 814-865-5400.

New features in CMS Version 5.6

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

The CMS Development Team will be releasing a new version of the CMS, CQ5.6, in May. Over the next few weeks, I will review some of the new changes.

This week I will highlight the new Search Features available in the Website and Digital Assets console. Continue reading

LHR News: April 15

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Part-time:
Matthew Breslof – Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library
Laura Ferguson – Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library

Internal Moves:
04/15/13 Darla Baker – Financial Assistant, Business Office

Green Matters: Household hazardous waste collection event

Date: Friday, April 26, 2013, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 27, 2013, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority located at 253 Transfer Road near the Nittany Mall off Route 26.

What: Insecticides, weed killers, pool chemicals, cleaners, poisons, corrosives, flammables, oil based paints, CFL bulbs and most other hazardous chemicals from households only.

We are not accepting latex paint, used motor oil, antifreeze, medications and alkaline batteries.
Please call with any questions.

Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority
(814) 238-7005 or wasted5@uplink.net
www.centrecountyrecycles.org