- Events round up
- Participants needed for ScholarSphere usability tests
- Exhibit highlights 25 years of Sports Archives at Penn State
- Great weather and food at UPLEA picnic
- Penn State team wins 2013 AgNIC Partner of the Year award
- Letters About Literature winners announced
- Marty Goldberg to retire June 30
- YouTube tips you should know
- Library Clean Up Day
- LHR News for June 24
Daily Archives: June 24, 2013
Events: Week of June 24
June 29, 1:30–2:30 p.m., “Phytophthora, the plant pathogen,” Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Dr. Beth Gugino, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, will talk about Phytophthora, the plant pathogen that won’t go away. Phytophthora infestans is the plant pathogen that precipitated the Irish potato famine and devastated potato crops in northern Europe in the mid- to late-1800s, and its study led directly to the establishment of plant pathology as a science. This pathogen, which devastated tomato plants throughout eastern North America in 2009, has changed American history and continues to threaten crops worldwide. Also: 2:30–3:30 p.m., Campus plant tour
Ongoing:
Register for free citation management seminars offered by Library Learning Services:
Introduction to Zotero: July 10
Introduction to EndNote: July 11
Introduction to Mendeley: July 17
Participants needed for ScholarSphere usability tests
Researchers are needed to participate in a series of usability tests for a new release of ScholarSphere, a secure repository service that enables the Penn State community to share research and scholarly work with a worldwide audience. The usability tests will be conducted from July 8 to 31, in Davey Laboratory, Instruction Room 211 (in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library) and anyone in the Penn State community can sign up to participate. Sign up for a session here: http://portal.outreach.psu.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=190361. Up to 10 participants will be accepted for each session. Participants will need to bring a flash drive with files to deposit into ScholarSphere. (More than one file is needed in order to test the “sets/collections” feature.)
The sessions will focus primarily on these features of the service:
- Organizing files into collections for easier management and discovery
- Uploading files via your Dropbox account
- Depositing files on behalf of another user
Exhibit highlights 25 years of Sports Archives at Penn State
“Glory Days: Celebrating 25 Years of Sports Archives at Penn State,” an exhibition, is on display in June 19–September 19, 2013, in Robb Hall, Hintz Alumni Center, Penn State University Park. Horace Ashenfelter, Wally Triplett, Mary Ellen Clark, John Montgomery Ward, Sue Whiteside – the names of such Penn State athletes remind the visitor to the newly installed Hintz Alumni Center exhibit of the role of sports in helping Penn State achieve national recognition.
Long before joining the ranks of the Big Ten, Penn State was concerned about the ways in which shifts in the organization and governance of athletic programs have affected its reputation for excellence; but without access to primary archival sources, it is impossible to answer such academic research questions. In 1988, the Penn State University Archives, a unit within the Special Collections Library, began a concentrated effort to locate historical records that would document the growth of athletic policies and the achievements of Penn State’s numerous teams. The resources were discovered in Rec Hall, the White Building, Beaver Stadium and other athletic facilities awaiting organization, arrangement and description, and access to users of all categories. Continue reading
Great weather and food at UPLEA picnic
University Park Libraries employees enjoyed good food and great company at a picnic last week organized by UPLEA, the University Park Libraries Employee Association. Thanks go out to the UPLEA members Tracie Wickersham, Josh Wilkins, Barb Woods, Lisa Morgan, Anna Letowski, Rachelle Eisenhower, Megan Gilpin, Nikky Corrigan, and Cathy O’Connell, for planning what has become a popular annual event.
Photos by Wilson Hutton
Penn State team wins the 2013 AgNIC Partner of the Year Award
Representing the University Libraries, left to right, are Amy Paster, Helen Smith, Sherry Lonsdale, and Wayne Ellenberger. Not pictured: from the University Libraries is Linda Klimczyk and from the College of Agricultural Sciences are Jan Scholl, David Abler, and Bruce Grinder. Photo by Wilson Hutton
A Penn State team has won the 2013 AgNIC Partner of the Year Award that recognizes outstanding contribution to the vision and goals of the Agriculture Network Information Collaborative (AgNIC).
Since becoming a member in 1999, Penn State has demonstrated leadership and innovation as an AgNIC partner. Penn State supports AgNIC subject websites in the areas of Home Gardening and Turfgrass and of particular note are two additional sites: Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and Youth Development. These resources are the products of a highly successful collaboration between the Penn State Life Sciences Library and the College of Agricultural Sciences, with support from the USDA and the National Agricultural Library through a specific cooperative agreement.
EFNEP, which has been in existence for forty years, educates low income families in the areas of nutrition, food preparation, and food management. The AgNIC site provides a database of professional and graduate research studies conducted about the program.
Letters About Literature contest winners announced
The Pennsylvania Center for the Book announces the Pennsylvania winners of the 2013 Letters About Literature contest, a nationwide event sponsored by the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. The Center for the Book was established in 1977 as a public-private partnership to use the resources of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books and reading.
This contest invites students in three grade categories to write letters to authors—living or dead—explaining how the author’s words affected them or their worldview. Michaela Cameron of Shippensburg wins the Level I award (grades four through six) for writing to John F. Wukovits about “The Importance of Anne Frank,” Sophia Paterno of State College wins the Level II award (grades seven and eight) and Taylor Grace Bean of Harborcreek wins the Level III award (grades nine and ten) writing to Laurie Halse Anderson about “Wintergirls.” Each winner received a $300 cash prize and celebrated at a lunch in their honor with their families in State College, Pennsylvania, on April 27. Continue reading
Marty Goldberg to retire June 30
By Amy M. Krebs, director, Campus and Community Relations, Penn State Beaver
Martin (Marty) Goldberg, Penn State Beaver associate librarian, will retire June 30.
Marty Goldberg joined Beaver campus in 1990 and has worked with all facets of the library’s operation, staffing, and acquisitions; the library has more than 50,000 volumes. He oversaw the establishment of the African-American Autobiography Collection honoring Dr. Russell C. Brignano, professor emeritus of English. The collection contains more than 600 African-American autobiographies representing a variety of professions and experiences.
He has worked on a variety of special projects for the campus and University, including the Freshman Portal Project, the Teaching and Learning with Technology Faculty Engagement Initiative Project, and Project SAILS (Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills). He and his staff provide regularly scheduled support for students using the Center for Academic Achievement. Goldberg also implemented a multi-year program of phased upgrades to the library’s interior furnishings for a more useable, technology-oriented, group learning environment.
Goldberg has published articles in a variety of refereed journals, given presentations at numerous national conferences, and conducted research and written extensively about the Holocaust. Continue reading
YouTube tips you should know
By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator
LeanBack
YouTube’s Lean back functionality was introduced to make it easier to browse content on connected TVs, but there is no reason you can’t use it on your computer. Turn YouTube into a keyboard-only interactive website that allows you to search for videos, while only using the arrow and enter keys by going to the following URL: https://www.youtube.com/tv
Library Clean-Up Day: Mark your calendars and start collecting!
Submitted by Cathy O’Connell
Library Clean-Up Day has been scheduled for August 20, so mark your calendars! Take some time in the quieter summer months to look around your office and start collecting unused items to donate to Clean-Up Day. Start your gathering early and make your space cleaner and greener.
If you have things you’d like to get rid of before Clean-Up Day, you can post items Libraries’ Green Exchange, a Free-cycle type exchange for workplace items that are no longer used.
LHR News: June 24
Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:
Full-time:
6/28/13 Penny Huffman – IST and Business Librarian, William and Joan Schreyer Business Library
Part-time:
Jennifer Braun – Commons Services
Christine Yeager – Penn State Harrisburg Library
Robert Peterson – Arts and Humanities Library
Wishing the following employees well as they leave us:
6/30/13 • Smiljana Antonijevich, Reference, Collections, and Research
• Susanna Coetzee, Cataloging and Metadata Services
• Carol Folk, Penn State Great Valley Library
• Cecily Giardina, H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library
• Marty Goldberg – Penn State Beaver Campus Library
• Elaine Julian, George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library
• Nancy Schneider, Media and Technology Services
• Robert Tolliver, Fletcher L. Byrom Earth and Mineral Sciences Library
Next page: REMINDER: Annual ESSIC Attendance System Audit