Monthly Archives: July 2013

Library News for the week of July 29

Exhibit showcases digitized collections

“Libraries of the Future: Digitized Collections,” is on display through September 4, in Sidewater Commons, 102 Pattee Library. Penn State University Libraries’ Digitized Collections, numbering nearly 100, cover a wide range of subject areas, including agriculture, the Civil War era, geology and geography of Pennsylvania, labor history, Pennsylvania history, Penn State history, and political protest. The collection includes thousands of fascinating images and documents, from blueprints to bookplates, and from diaries to published academic research, many of which were digitized from holdings in The Eberly Family Special Collections Library.

Images from the Art History Department Visual Resource Collection include Sallie Gardner at a Gallop; also known as The Horse in Motion, the pioneering work of English photographer Eadweard Muybridge that forever changed the perception of artists rendering motion.

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Liberal Arts Scholarship and Technology Summit

The Liberal Arts Scholarship and Technology Summit 2013 (LASTS) will be held on August 14–15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Pattee Library and Paterno Library. It will give faculty, graduate students and undergraduates in the liberal arts an opportunity to collaborate with other scholars at the intersection of the humanities and technology to explore through presentations, panel sessions, workshops and lightning talks:

•Digital Research Tools and Methods,
•Digital Pedagogy,
•Digital Publishing and Scholarly Communication and
•Digital Scholarly Workflow.

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Librarians gather for information literacy summit

Here are some photos from last week’s event. (All photos by Wilson Hutton)

Ellysa Stern Cahoy, education and behavioral sciences librarian, was a keynote speaker at the event.

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Upcoming events

August 1: Book Sale
The University Libraries United Way committee will hold a used book sale on Thursday, August 1, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Mann Assembly Room, first floor, Paterno Library. Please support this worthy event. Click on this link to view the flyer: Booksale flyer 2013

August 20: Annual Picnic
Please join us for the 23rd Annual University Libraries’ Faculty/Staff Family Picnic, from 5:00 p.m. – sunset, in Sunset Park, Pavilions #1 and #2 (Buffet dinner service to begin at 5:30 p.m.)
MENU: Hamburgers & Hot Dogs with rolls, potato salad, grilled vegetables, freshly cut fruits, and desserts
Please RSVP (by Tue., 8/06/13) using the online form at http://bit.ly/18aUWPp, by visiting the University Libraries’ Picnic page (http://bit.ly/176TOJi), or by printing and sending the form via campus mail to Sandy Confer, 510 Paterno. Sorry, we cannot fund travel expenses for those coming from other campuses, but we promise good fun and fun! We hope to see you there!

September 5: UPLEA Arts Fest

11am-3pm, in the Mann Assembly Room.

September 16: The University Libraries will host Megan Oakleaf of Syracuse University for a visit focused on library assessment. Dr. Oakleaf will help us learn more about assessing library services so that we can document the value that we provide to our users. More details of her visit will be forthcoming.

Employees reach service milestones

Cataloging and Metadata Services, Information Technologies (I-Tech), and Serials and Acquisitions Services held their annual joint service awards program on Thursday, July 25. Associate Dean Lisa German welcomed everyone who attended, and Robert Alan, Annie Copeland and Lisa German presented awards to the following employees who have recently achieved service milestones:

45 years: Linda Schreck
35 years: John Attig
20 years: Grace Brooks, Carolyn Hertzog, Dan Keller, Sue Owens, and Katherine Strenko
15 years: Susanne Coetzee
10 years: Lisa Morgan

Cataloging and Metadata Services, Information Technologies (I-Tech), and Serials and Acquisitions Services group shot

Cataloging and Metadata Services, ITech and Serials and Acquisitions Services employees gathered for the annual event. Photo by Wilson Hutton

UPLEA to hold pet supplies drive

Danielle…can be found in the Cat Room at Pets Come First

For the entire month of August, UPLEA will be holding a pet supplies drive for Pets Come First. Pets Come First is a 501c (3) non-profit, all-volunteer organization, dedicated to finding homes for homeless animals and educating the public on the importance of spaying and neutering pets. In 2013, year to date, PCF has found homes for 240 animals and has spayed or neutered almost 500 cats. Pets Come First is run almost entirely by volunteers and through donations of money and supplies.

Below is a list of items that are urgently needed. Please consider purchasing an item or two to help local animals. Any donation is greatly appreciated!

Gift cards for Tractor Supply & Wal-Mart
Gas cards for Kwik Fill or Sheetz
Non-scoopable, inexpensive cat litter
Nine Lives cat food & kitten food
Purina One dog food
Canned cat and dog food
Paper towels

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Create delegates in UCS 8

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

The ability to create a delegate is a new feature in UCS 8. When you delegate someone in UCS, the delegate can send mail on your behalf without having granting manager rights to your inbox.

To enable a delegate select the Preferences tab. In the Accounts category, navigate to the Primary Account Settings section.

Select Add Delegate and enter the email address. Finally, select Send As or Send on Behalf Of and select OK.

LHR News for July 29

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Full-time:

8/1/13 Derrick Beckner – Information Resources & Services Supervisor/Manager, Music & Media Center
Sarah Harkleroad, Information Resources & Services Support Specialist, Architecture & Landscape Architecture Library

Part-time:

Jesse Brown, Arts and Humanities Library

Wishing the following employees well as they leave us:

7/31/13 Jenny Dimeler, Penn State Harrisburg Library
Jeff Marker, Cato Annex
Bruce Reid, Nesbitt Library, Penn State Wilkes Barre

Take Care of Your Health Wellness Initiative

If you are enrolled in Penn State’s medical benefits, you should have recently received an email and a mailing (sent to your home address) about this initiative. If you have not received it, full details can be found on the Employee Benefits website, at bit.ly/14aAVRd. This page has complete details, step-by-step instructions, and complete FAQs, at http://bit.ly/19kzEiG. If you have any questions, please contact LHR.

UPLEA Arts Fest

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 25, 11am-3pm, for the 3rd Annual UPLEA Arts Fest. The event will be held in the Mann Assembly Room. Reserve your space by clicking on the following link to register (even if you have presented in former shows):

https://surveys.libraries.psu.edu/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=m4LLmm6

ARTISTS NEEDED in photography, painting, needlecrafts, fiber arts, ceramics and sculpture, wood crafts, jewelry making, culinary arts, performing arts, music and much more. Demonstrations are also welcome and encouraged.

Added attractions: This year’s Arts Fest will include a category for literary creations. So if you’re an aspiring writer and you would like to share your works with your colleagues, please consider reserving a space. Time slots will be reserved in Foster Auditorium for you if you would like to present a short piece of your work.

Remote artists: Once again, we are inviting our colleagues at the Commonwealth campuses to submit their art. Faculty and staff of the campuses are encouraged to submit text, photos or audio/video clips of their art which will be presented in a slide show in our virtual artist category.

Bibload Meeting Minutes

https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/cataloging/deptinfo/deptgroups/bibload/intranet/bibloadminutes/2013.html#071513

Library News: Week of July 22

This week in Library News:

Libraries to host Pennsylvania information literacy summit

The University Libraries are hosting the first Pennsylvania Forward Information Literacy Summit, on Wednesday, July 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, first floor, Paterno Library. The summit is organized by the Pennsylvania Information Literacy Learning Community, an online group of librarians from K-12 schools, higher education and public libraries, who share their strategies, experiences and best practices in the field of information literacy instruction.

Ellysa Stern Cahoy (left), Penn State education and behavioral sciences librarian and assistant director of The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, is on the planning team and will be one of the keynote speakers at the event. Cahoy notes, “This event is the first of its kind. Public, school, and academic librarians from across Pennsylvania will come together to strategize on how to maximize students’ ability to find, evaluate and use information. I am honored to be a speaker at this event, and look forward to learning new educational strategies from my state-wide library colleagues.”

“I am so pleased that the Penn State University Libraries can host this exciting summit on Information Literacy in Pennsylvania, and that Library Learning Services can support it,” says Loanne Snavely, head of Library Learning Services. “This summit will provide the groundwork for collaboration and progress between and among libraries of all types in promoting information literacy for Pennsylvanians of all ages,” she adds.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Information Literacy Learning Community, go to https://sites.google.com/site/painfolit/.

iPhone accessibility features you may not know about

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

There are a few great features in your iPhone accessibility options that everyone can use. To enable any of the features below, go under: Settings -> General> Accessibility.

Read Any Text Out Loud:

1. Head into Settings -> General -> Accessibility.

2. Turn on Speak Selection.

Now, when you select a block of text you’ll get the option to speak it out loud.

Get LED Flashes for Notifications:

1. Head into Settings -> General -> Accessibility.

2. Tap the LED Flash for Alerts button.

Now, when you get a call or other notifications, the LED flash on the backside of your phone will light up.

Enable Custom Gestures with Assistive Touch:

AssistiveTouch is to help people who have problems with the touch screen, and subsequently you can do all kinds of cool stuff with it, including creating your own set of gestures:

1. Turn on AssistiveTouch in Settings-> General Accessibility -> AssistiveTouch.

2. Tap the new icon in the top left corner of your screen.

3. Tap the Favorites button.

4. Tap the + to create a new gesture.

Here is a blog that has a few examples of gestures including making scrolling easy.

Upcoming events

September 5: UPLEA Arts Fest

11am-3pm, in the Mann Assembly Room. Registration details coming soon.
Even if you have presented in former shows, please consider participating again. Artists needed in photography, painting, needlecrafts, fiber arts, ceramics and sculpture, wood crafts, jewelry making, culinary arts, performing arts, music and much more. Demonstrations are also welcome and encouraged. So start planning which of your works of art, literature and music you would like to share with your colleagues and friends in the libraries.

Added attractions: Welcome literary giants! This year’s Arts Fest will include a category for literary creations. So if you’re an aspiring writer and you would like to share your works with your colleagues, please consider reserving a space. Time slots will be reserved in Foster Auditorium for you if you would like to present a short piece of your work.

Remote artists: Once again, we are inviting our colleagues at the Commonwealth campuses to submit their art. Faculty and staff of the campuses are encouraged to submit text, photos or audio/video clips of their art which will be presented in a slide show in our virtual artist category.

Pilot of new claims returned process begins

By Stephanie Movahedi-Lankarani

On July 15, the University Libraries began a six-month pilot of a streamlined Claims Returned procedure for library staff who work with materials that patrons believe they have returned to the library. The changes are intended to make the Claims Returned work flow as effective, efficient, and responsive to patron service needs as possible.

Highlights of the new procedure include:

All Claims Returned claims are made via the Libraries’ online Claims Returned form at: https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/secure/forms/lendingforms/claimreturned.html
Search for materials begins at the location where the patron indicates they returned the item(s)
Number of searches and schedule of searches restructured and streamlined to reflect typical found (by staff) or returned (by patron) data
Claims Returned staff in Pattee/Paterno Libraries maintain a Claims Returned database and email Search Reports (at 2-days, 1-week, 1-month, and 6-months) to each Branch Library location which has Claims Returned items

In October and November feedback will be formally sought from staff working with the procedure by the Claims Returned Subgroup (a part of Access Services Council) and incorporated into the Claims Returned process. The final version of the procedure will be rolled-out In January 2014.
For questions or more information, contact the Claims Returned Subgroup:
Barb Lessig, Berks Thun Library (bzl1, 610-396-6244)
Stephanie Movahedi-Lankarani, Architecture & Landscape Architecture Library (qum7, 814-863-0511) (Chair)
Amy Pfeffer, Pattee/Paterno Library (amp17, 814-863-2542)

LHR news for July 22

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Part-time:
Jaramy Nope, Commons Services
Ryan Truitte, Inactive Records Center

Wishing the following employees well as they leave us:

7/26/13
Elaine Julian, George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library
Ignacio Sanchez, Music & Media Center

Syracuse professor to present on library assessment

The University Libraries will host Megan Oakleaf of Syracuse University, on Monday, September 16, for a visit focused on library assessment. Dr. Oakleaf will help us learn more about assessing library services so that we can document the value that we provide to our users. More specific details of her visit will be forthcoming. Please save the date and consider participating in this exciting day. Continue reading →