Monthly Archives: September 2013

Library News for September 30

In this week’s Library News:

Dean’s News

By Barbara I. Dewey

I hope you will attend in person or on Media Site the first Dean’s Forum of the year where you will hear about important developments in strategic planning and space planning as well as exciting kudos from our faculty and staff. I especially want to invite our new faculty and staff. We are thrilled to have you on the library team for many years to come. The Dean’s Forum is Wednesday, October 2nd from 2-3pm in Foster Auditorium and through Media Site. Many of you know that I am the current chair of Penn State’s Academic Leadership Council, an elected role for 2013-14. As ALC chair I am a voting representative of the Faculty Senate, a nonvoting attendee of the Board of Trustees meetings and a member of the Penn State Facilities Resources Council. I am excited by the visibility this role brings to your activities and initiatives. Let me know if I can answer any questions about these groups and their meetings as the year proceeds.

Earlier in the month I was on a conference call with the CIC Library Directors. Some of the projects discussed included:

Shared Print Repository Project – Ohio State is piloting with Indiana University on an initial transfer of 12,000 Elsevier titles to the shared storage facility located in Bloomington, IN. In the coming years this project will provide us with additional flexibility in our collections retention decision-making.
Digitization – CIC Libraries continue working on digitization with Google including a focus on government documents. There is some interest in collaborating on special collections digitization projects or other projects.
Task Force on Discovery – Barbara Coopey is part of this group working on issues related to discovery, ILL, and the various platforms in use today.
Collection Development – CIC libraries continue to be involved in large-scale joint acquisitions. The priorities for 2013-14 include serials back files, historic monograph purchases, and historic digitized collections. Also in the works is the Springer e-book renewal.

Many thanks to all who participated in and worked on the UPLEA Arts Fest last week. The talent of our faculty and staff is simply outstanding.

Create a new survey from an existing survey in SelectSurvey

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

New Surveys can either be created from scratch or by copying an existing survey. When creating a survey by copying an existing survey, the existing survey is copied in its entirety. All survey options, questions, page conditions, etc. are copied to the new survey. If the survey being copied has responses, none of the responses are copied. After copying the survey, you can then change the name of the survey, and modify.

To use an existing survey, first choose Create Survey from the Manage Surveys screen. By default, From Scratch will be selected. Select the Copy Existing button instead and choose from the dropdown list of surveys you have access to. Then select Save and design your survey.

select survey instructions

Exhibit highlights Penn State memories

“When I was at Penn State…,” an exhibit from the Penn State University Archives, is on display September 19 to January 20, 2014, in Robb Hall, Hintz Alumni Center.

Whenever two or more Penn Staters gather together, the listener will hear these time-honored words, “When I was at Penn State…” The words are always followed by a story depicting some aspect of student life. Whether the narrator is describing classes, socials, clubs, activities, friends or sporting events, every Penn Stater has a memory that brings a smile to their face and a twinkle to their eye. This exhibit of photographs attempts to capture some of those momentous occasions. Among the scrapbooked images, the exhibit features: dinks, Lion’s coats, songs, mascots, scraps including pushball and tug o’war, dances, bonfires, tailgating, class registration, moving in, guarding the shrine, May Day queens, Spring Week flings, student rules, freshman proclamations, military drills and much, much more.

Visit this exhibit and bring your memories of the days when you were at Penn State.

Additional information about the University Archives and this exhibit, including accessibility accommodations or questions about the physical access, can be obtained by contacting Jackie Esposito at 814-863-3791 or jxe2@psu.edu.

Libraries welcome parents and families

Parents and families are invited to discover the many treasures of the University Libraries on Saturday, October 5, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with small group tours, during Parents and Families Weekend. Tours begin in Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, near the Curtin Road entrance, and refreshments will be provided.

Tours include a comprehensive look at the Tombros and McWhirter Knowledge Commons in Pattee Library that offers a 24-hour facility, technology and research help in one location, a Media Commons, circulating laptops and iPads, collaborative study spaces with Mediascapes, solo space when desired, other equipment, and more—all in a comfortable environment.

Continue reading →

Events

September 30, 2-3 p.m.: Advanced LionSearch, W315 Pattee. Register online

October 1, 1-2:30 p.m.: Introduction to Mendeley, 211 Davey. Register online

October 2, 12:15 p.m.: Film: Birth of an Ocean,  EMS Library, 105 Deike Building. Where did all this water come from and how has the ocean shaped this planet over the last 4 billion years? (44 min)

October 2, 2 p.m.: Dean’s Forum, Foster Auditorium and mediasite live

October 2, 6 p.m.: Film screening: “Bully,” Foster Auditorium. Co-sponsored by the Libraries Diversity Committee and the LGBTA Student Resource Center. Free and open to the public. More information about the film: http://www.thebullyproject.com/about_film

October 3, 11a.m. – noon: Library Research Basics, online via Adobe Connect. Register online

October 4, 7:30 p.m.: Mary Rolling Reader Series presents W.S. DiPiero. Foster Auditorium.

October 5, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Parents and Families Weekend small group tours of the Libraries.

October 8, 3 p.m.: Tech Update, Read the agenda in this post. Foster Auditorium and MediaSite Live

October 8, 1-2 p.m.: Data Management Workshop, 211 Davey Lab. Register online

October 10, 1:30 – 3 p.m.: Introduction to Zotero, W315 Pattee. Join wait list

October 15, 10-11:30 a.m.: Introduction to EndNote, W315 Pattee. Register online

October 16, 2-3 p.m.: What is big “D” and small “d” deaf culture? Panel discussion, Foster Aud. Full story

October 17, 7-8:30 p.m.: A Memoir of Deafness, presented by Josh Swiller, Foster Aud.

Delbanco addresses the purpose of college

Andrew Delbanco will give a public presentation, “What Is College For?” on Wednesday, October 30, 6:30–7:30 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park. It will also be broadcast online at live.libraries.psu.edu. Dr. Delbanco is currently the Mendelson Family Chair of American Studies and Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University.

A high-profile speaker and prolific author, Delbanco was awarded the 2011 National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama “for his writing that spans the literature of Melville and Emerson to contemporary issues in higher education.” His most recent books are “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be,” (Princeton University Press, 2012) and “The Abolitionist Imagination,” (Harvard University Press, 2012).

Continue reading →

Open Access Week features talk by Shakespeare scholar

Katherine Rowe, professor of English at Bryn Mawr College, will give a presentation, “A Walking Guide to Virtual Shakespeare,” on Wednesday, October 23, 2–3 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park. In her talk Rowe will explore the rhetoric of scholarly walking in the context of a small set of virtual Shakespearean locales—thereby creating a distinctive motor connection to the design of these virtual environments.

Rowe has a Ph.D. from Harvard and teaches and writes about literature and media change. Trained as a Shakespeare scholar, she turned her attention to questions of media history and adaptation. Her courses explore the history of reading, writing and performance, from the Renaissance to the digital age. Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education support her work in the digital humanities. She is the associate editor of the Cambridge World Shakespeare Online, a principle investigator for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s F21 Project and a trustee of the Shakespeare Association of America. She has longstanding interests in faculty development, undergraduate research and curricular innovation. Rowe is also cofounder of Luminary Digital Media, a small commercial publisher of next-generation mobile reading experiences, including Shakespeare’s “The Tempest for iPad.”

Continue reading →

Libraries aim to measure quality of customer service and collections

Penn State University Libraries want to hear from all library patrons about perceptions of the quality of library services and resources to inform future planning. Beginning in October, Penn State faculty, staff and students will receive an email invitation to participate in the web-based survey.

Called LibQUAL+®, it is a suite of services that libraries use to solicit, track, understand and act upon users’ opinions of service quality. Created by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). LibQUAL+® aims to:

  • foster a culture of excellence in providing library service,
  • help libraries better understand user perceptions of library service quality, collect and interpret library user feedback systematically over time,
  • provide libraries with comparable assessment information from peer institutions,
  • identify best practices in library service and
  • enhance library staff members’ analytical skills for interpreting and acting on data.

Continue reading →

Exhibit features photography of F. S. Lincoln

bayonne bridge nyc

Bayonne Bridge, New York City

An exhibition, “Through Many Lenses: the Photographic Styles of Fay S. Lincoln” is on display September 26 through January 10, 2014, in The Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library. Hours, during fall semester when classes are in session, are Monday–Thursday, 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m., Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. and Sunday 1:00–5:00 p.m.

The exhibition features original selections from the extensive photographic portfolio of Fay S. (F.S.) Lincoln (b. 1894–d. 1975), one of America’s foremost architectural photographers whose work, during the 1930s and 1940s, documented the influence of the International Style and Art Deco in New York City architecture. Lincoln established an eclectic career as a commercial photographer, merging both technical and artistic styles and blurring the lines of the photographer as documentarian and artist.

Continue reading →

Josh Swiller speaks during Disabilities Awareness Month

In recognition of October as Disabilities Awareness Month, Penn State University Libraries are hosting a panel discussion, “What is big “D” and small “d” deaf culture,” on Wednesday, October 16, 2–3 p.m., and a presentation by Josh Swiller, “A Memoir of Deafness,” on Thursday, October 17, 7–8:30 p.m., followed by a Q&A session. Both events are in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, and will be facilitated by interpreters, with captioning. The October 17 presentation will also be available at live.libraries.psu.edu

Swiller, deaf since the age of 4 and recently returned to hearing through a computer implanted in his skull, is the author of “The Unheard: a Memoir of Deafness and Africa,” a story about his growing up deaf and living for two years in a rural African village. A New York Times best seller, it has been optioned for a movie. He has been lauded for his compassion, humor and literary skill.

Continue reading →

Access Services subgroup reviews statistics collection by campus library locations

By Barb Kopshina

In November of 2011, a subgroup for the Access Services Council was formed with the charge of “Reviewing Statistics Collected by Campus Library Locations for Resource Sharing Activity.” Many campus library locations were keeping a wide variety of statistics. Some of these statistics were outdated, while others were being recorded manually when they could have been pulled from library web-based systems. Our group’s goal was to reduce the collection of redundant or unnecessary statistics and to educate fellow library faculty and staff about current best practices related to this issue.

Continue reading →

Tech Update agenda for October 8

Save the Date! The next Tech Update is on Tuesday, October 8, from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m., in Foster Auditorium.

Topics to include:

  • Box: An overview of this soon to be available cloud-based service that lets you store all of your content online, so you can access, manage and share it from anywhere.
  • I-Tech Website Redesign: The I-Tech Website was recently redesigned – we’ll show you what’s new!
  • Recent CMS Changes: An overview and a heads-up on upcoming changes.
  • BrowZine – Emily Rimland will demo this iPad app that allows you to browse, read, and monitor many of the library’s scholarly journals, or in other words, virtual journal browsing.
  • UCS Account Space – Want to learn how to free up file space in your UCS account? Ryan Johnson has tips on how to increase your available space.

If you cannot participate in person please join us via MediaSite Live: http://live.libraries.psu.edu/ (Log in information)

LionSearch newly indexed content

The following content will be indexed and available in LionSearch on October 9.

Chadwyck Healey – LION Biographies

Federal Reserve Archive of Economic History (FRASER) – Provides access to the U.S. economic history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System—through digitization of documents related to the U.S. financial system. FRASER provides digital access to historic policy documents including publications of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the District Federal Reserve Banks, statements and speeches of Fed policymakers, archival materials of Fed policymakers and more. We have indexed over 85,000 records.

Wolters Kluwer Health – The entire journal offering of approximately 370 medical journals from Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins/Ovid Technologies have been indexed in Summon. Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading provider of information for professionals and students in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy.

Continue reading →

LHR News for September 30

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Part-time:
Commons Services – Yelizaveta Kotova
George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library – Helaine Crawford
Lehigh Valley Campus Library – Maria Matos
Mont Alto Campus Library – Kendall-Rae Baptiste, Ryan Klinedinst, Daniel Nace, Tyler Simmons
Research Hub and Knowledge Commons – Lydia Martin, Jasmine Osley, Lauren Tremaglio
Robert E. Eiche Library, Penn State Altoona – Donovan Bell

Wishing the following employees well as they leave us:
9/30/13 Laurel Fetterolf – Cataloging & Metadata Services
Cindy McCarty – Robert E. Eiche Library, Penn State Altoona Continue reading →

New Digital Access Team formed

By Jeff Edmunds

The role of Cataloging and Metadata Services has shifted significantly over the past several years, from the creation of metadata for primarily physical collections to re-purposing and maintenance of metadata for electronic collections and digital projects. In response to this shift, the department recently created the Digital Access Team (DAT). DAT is charged with ensuring seamless access to the Libraries’ digital assets by creating, managing, and re-purposing metadata. The team oversees the Bibload workflow, the MARC 360 eBook service from SerialsSolutions, the processing of URL checking reports in The CAT, and the transformation of existing metadata for digital collections in CONTENTdm and other platforms. The team also works closely with I-TECH on repurposing existing catalog records for mass digitization partnerships in which the Libraries participate, such as HathiTrust and the Internet Archive.

Continue reading →