Daily Archives: September 16, 2013

Library News: September 16

 

Dean’s News

By Barbara I. Dewey

Colleagues, please see the message below from Provost Nick Jones about some very good news for Penn State.

“I am excited and honored to join Penn State as Executive Vice President and Provost, and I am learning more every day about this remarkable institution and its mission, legacy and global impact.

As many of you know, the U.S. News & World Report “2014 Best Colleges Rankings” were released Tuesday morning (Sept. 10). While many of us view rankings with some degree of skepticism, the fact remains that Penn State fared extraordinarily well, moving to No. 8 from No. 13 nationally among public universities, and to No. 37 from No. 46 nationally among both public and private institutions. Regardless of our views on rankings and ranking methodology, an acknowledgment of the strong national reputation that our great institution enjoys is a reflection of the accomplishments and commitment of our faculty, staff and students.

I am very proud—and we all should be proud—that Penn State has been recognized in this way. I would like to express my appreciation to Rod Erickson for his leadership and to each of you for your dedication to excellence, and your hard work on behalf of your students, colleagues and the larger community. We have been through a difficult time, but the academic vigor and reputation of Penn State are clearly intact, which bodes well for our future. Thank you for all you do for Penn State.”   — Provost Nick Jones

We are now no. 8 in public institutions and, according to ARL statistics, no. 8 of ALL research libraries. Provost Jones took time out of his busy schedule to stop in the Open House last week. He was excited! President Erickson also walked through during the very successful event.

Save the date – October 2, 2013, 2-3 p.m. for the Dean’s Forum (on MediaSite too)

 

Online exhibition highlights Latina/o collections

dreaming in cubanAn online exhibition, “Celebrating the Hispanic Heritage Month: Highlights from the Latina/o Collections at Penn State University Libraries,” is available at https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/artshumanities/hispanic/collectionpromotion.html

Hispanic Heritage Month is a national recognition of the cultures, contributions and heritage of the Hispanic American and Latinos in the United States. Selected by Manuel Ostos, humanities librarian for Spanish and Latin American studies, this online selection of books celebrates diversity and pays tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society.

For more information or if you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations, please contact Manuel Ostos at manuel.ostos@psu.edu or 814-865-3693.

Penn State Libraries rank among top ten

According to most recent reports for 2013, Penn State University Libraries rank 8th among North American research libraries, measured on the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Library Investment Index Rankings for 2011–2012.

The ranking system is based on dollars spent for total library expenditures, salaries and wages and library materials plus the number of professional plus support staff employees. Among the top ten are Harvard, Yale, Toronto, Columbia, Michigan, California Berkeley, New York University, Penn State, Princeton, and Cornell.

“The recognition of the scale of our Libraries is good news for Penn State in the recruitment and retention of undergraduate and graduate students as well as attracting and meeting the needs of top-notch faculty,” notes Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications. “It also reinforces our role as a leader in research projects with other top libraries in North America.”

For more information about the Libraries collections and services, go to www.libraries.psu.edu or contact Catherine Grigor at 814-863-4240 or cqg3@psu.edu

Digital Navigator Project receives PaLA Best Practices Award

The Digital Navigator Project, a collaboration among the Penn State University Libraries; the Office of Commonwealth Libraries; and the Altoona, Central Pennsylvania and Johnstown Public Library Districts, has been awarded the 2013 Pennsylvania Libraries Association (PaLA) Best Practices Award for “a unique program for children between the ages of 6 and 12, incorporating the PA Forward Literacy of Information Literacy.” The project reaches across academic and public library boundaries and acknowledges the fact that both entities serve the same individuals but at different life stages.

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Libraries hire consultant to assist research

Penn State University Libraries have recently hired Stefanie Austin to offer a statistical consulting service in 208 Paterno Library. A master’s candidate in statistics and operations research, Austin will consult with undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and research staff needing assistance with quantitative and qualitative research. She will advise patrons on research design, data collection, data manipulation and statistical analysis.

Austin’s fall semester office hours will be:
Monday: 6–8 p.m.
Tuesday: 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Thursday: 2–6 p.m.
and by appointment.

For an appointment, please email UL-UP-STATCONSULT@lists.psu.edu

Statistical consulting is a key component of the Research Hub that has recently been implemented by the Libraries’ Reference, Collections and Research Department. In addition to providing onsite service in Pattee and Paterno Libraries and delivering occasional introductory workshops on statistical methods, Austin can provide virtual assistance to Penn State faculty and students at Penn State campuses.

The Research Hub, located on the floor 2 of Paterno Library, provides consolidated high level reference and referral services for faculty and students in business, education, and the behavioral and social sciences. As always, librarians in all of the subject libraries are also available for individual research consultations.

For more information or if you have questions regarding physical access, contact Diane Zabel at 814-865-1013.

Events

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. 

September 16, 3 – 4  p.m.: Library Research Basics

September 16, 1 – 2:15 p.m., 202 Chambers Building : Introduction to EndNote

September 16: Indigenous Geography Workshop
1:00 p.m. – 4:00p.m., Mann Assembly Room in Paterno Library. Presented by: Dr. Douglas Herman senior geographer, National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institution.

September 18, 12:15 p.m.: “Data Mining: Big Data’s Increasing Challenge and Payoff.” 25 min. Just as raw materials buried in the Earth yield the occasional gem, raw data can also be mined for value. This program explores the methods, processes, and key functions of data analysis. EMS Library, 105 Deike.

September 20, 3:30–6:30 p.m., “Flying Fish (Igillena Maluwo)” a film by Sri Lankan filmmaker Sanjeewa Pushpakumara in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Q&A with Pushpakumara follows.

September 24, 7:30 p.m.: Mary E. Rolling Reader Series presents Cary Holladay, Foster Auditorium. Free and open to the public.

September 24, 2:30 p.m.: Introduction to LionSearch, W315 Pattee
September 25: UPLEA Arts Fest

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

September 25, 12:15 p.m.: “Sun Come Up.” 38 min, Follow the relocation of the Carteret Islander, some of the world’s first environmental refugees.

Presenters to describe course on Ojibwe culture and related field experience

** Note: This course is available to students at all campuses and University Park. **

Students are invited to learn more about the spring 2014 course  “Exploring Indigenous Ways of Knowing in a North American Context” and related field experience in northern Minnesota (CED497B and 497C), on Friday, September 27, 2013, from noon to 1:30 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. The presentation can also be viewed live online. The course is available to students at the campuses as well as at University Park.

Instructors Dr. Bruce Martin, Danna Jayne Seballos and Nonny Scholtzhauer will talk about the course and past students will share how the course has affected their worldviews and values.

Martin has led Penn State seminars in Ojibwe country for 10 years and has an intimate understanding of the people and the culture, having grown up in the northernmost point of the Red Lake Nation on Lake of the Woods, Angle Inlet, in Minnesota. Co-presenter Seballos is assistant director of the Penn State World in Conversation Project and Schlotzhauer is social sciences librarian and subject specialist for anthropology and psychology.

CED 497B is a 2.5 credit course designed to prepare students for an intensive engagement with Ojibwe culture. Students will meet weekly face-to-face or on Skype to discuss assigned readings. A field trip will be held in March to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania to highlight the process of assimilation that was imposed upon American Indian youth. Students will be introduced to library resources in indigenous knowledge, including primary source materials on Native American culture and history.

The variable credit (0.5-3.0) CED 497C field experience offers intensive cultural engagement with Ojibwe communities. After traveling by van on the route taken by the Ojibwe to reach the lakes of Minnesota, students will learn about Ojibwe culture and ways of knowing from tribal elders, leaders and those living on the reservations. They will take an active part in celebrations and ceremonies that are not generally open to visitors and spend time in the homes of families on the closed Red Lake Reservation. Students will have the opportunity to reflect orally and in writing on their experiences.

If you anticipate needing any kind of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided please contact Helen Sheehy at hms2@psu.edu or 814-863-1347, in advance of your visit. For more information, please visit icik.psu.edu.

Click here to download a flyer of the event: IndigenousWaysofKnowing

Exhibition highlights Lee Bennett Hopkins Award

“The Best Poetry for Children in the U.S.: A Celebration of the First 21 Years of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award,” an exhibit, is on display September 13 to October 31, in Sidewater Commons, 102 Pattee Library, University Park.

Established in 1993, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award is presented annually to an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of poetry for children published in the previous calendar year. This prestigious award is named for Lee Bennett Hopkins, the internationally renowned educator, poet, anthologist and passionate advocate of poetry for young people. Selected by a panel of teachers, librarians, and scholars, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was the first award of its kind in the United States. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the Penn State University Libraries, and Lee Bennett Hopkins share joint administration of the annual award.

The exhibition is open during regular library hours at 814-865-3063. For more information about the Hopkins Award and questions regarding physical access to the exhibition, contact Karla Schmit at kms454 @psu.edu or 814.863.5521 or visit the web site at www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/activities/hopkins/index.html.

Arts and humanities periodicals relocated

The arts and humanities current periodicals (all 1,200 of them) have been moved from the Music and Media Center, second floor of Pattee Library, west, to the second floor, Pattee Library, central—room 202, just across from the Paterno Family Humanities Reading Room and adjacent to the second floor Pattee Stacks entrance. The location displayed in The CAT, the Libraries online catalog, remains Arts and Humanities, Pattee, 2nd floor, Current Periodicals.

The move provides greater visibility for the periodicals. It also frees up space for a soon-to-be-announced public display of movie DVDs in the Music and Media Center.

For more information or if you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Eric Novotny, head of the Arts and Humanities Library, at ecn1@psu.edu or 814-865-1014.

University staff bowling league

The University Staff Bowling league is about to start soon. Will your department, friends and family be able to get a team or two together? The staff league will be a mini league, so not as big of a commitment as a full season league. (Starts 9/24 ends 12/10). Weekly dues are $12 per person and they are 4-person teams with as many subs as you like. If anyone is interested in creating a team, the flier on the league can be found at http://www.northlandbowl.com/documents/University-Staff-League-Fall-2013.pdf.

Redirect a message in UCS

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

redirect ucs messageRedirecting a message lets you send an email message you received as if the original author sent the message. Redirect a message instead of forwarding it makes it easier for the recipient to reply to the original sender.

To Redirect a message you can select a message in UCS and go to the Actions Button and Select Redirect or follow the steps below:

1. Right-click on the message and select Redirect.

2. In the Redirect text box, enter the recipients’ addresses.

3. Click OK.

LHR News for September 16

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Part-time:

Architecture and Landscape Architecture – Landion Donovan-Green
Commons Services – Emily Song
Digitization & Preservation – Stephen Shiflett (Bednar Intern)
Interlibrary Loan – Kayla Montgomery
MTSS – Richard Kruppenbach, Animesh Shah
Penn State Press – Danielle Rubino (intern)
Penn State Altoona – Gia Canovali, Jordan Goldman
Penn State Behrend John M. Lilley Library – Miranda Miller
Penn State Berks Thun Library – Savannah Baller
Penn State DuBois – Jessica Reirdon
Penn State Greater Allegheny – Carrie McGinnis, Jocelyn Randolph
Penn State Lehigh Valley Campus Library – Perla Lopez
Penn State Mont Alto Library – Donnesha McBride
Penn State Schuylkill Ciletti Memorial Library – Shaquasia Fuller, Shaquira Tramell
Research Hub – Antoinette Mastropieri (Bednar Intern)
Serials & Acquisitions – Michelle Kline
Scholarly Publishing Services – Caitlyn Schaeppi (Bednar Intern)
Special Collections Library – Aziza Sumler

Full-time:
9/16/13 Chris Brida – Assistant Director of Development, University Libraries Development

Wishing the following employees well as they leave us:
9/15/2013 Curt Krebs, Digitization and Preservation

Updated Privacy Information Available
Please note that privacy information on the Take Care of Your Health Initiative website, http://ohr.psu.edu/benefits/benefits-enrollment/take-care-of-your-health/, has been updated to clarify how personal data is being used by Integrated Corporate Health, the biometric screening provider.

Why did my book requested on ILLiad arrive from an E-ZBorrow Library?

By Barbara Coopey assistant head of Access Services

Since July 2013 Interlibrary Loan staff have been placing books requested via ILLiad on E-ZBorrow. If ILL Staff find that a book request submitted on ILLiad is available at an E-ZBorrow library, they will request it via E-ZBorrow.
There are several advantages for users:

  • E-ZBorrow books arrive faster
  • E-ZBorrow books have a 12-week loan period (weeks longer than the standard ILL loan period)
  • Books are checked out on the user’s CAT Library Account

If the book cannot be supplied from an E-ZBorrow library (this does not happen often) the user will receive an email from the E-ZBorrow system stating, “UNFILLED REQUEST: If you still want this book, please forward this email to ul-ILLiad-support@lists.psu.edu so staff can assist you with this unfilled request.” The email has the book information attached so ILL staff can easily request the book elsewhere. Users can find the original ILLiad request under View – History of Requests, then by selecting the transaction number. Under “Tracking” there will be a status of “Requested via Palci E-ZBorrow.” ILL staff placed over 500 book requests on E-ZBorrow since July 1. ILLiad and E-ZBorrow are located on the Interlibrary Loan website.

Changes to the Advanced Search in The CAT

Submitted by Binky Lush for the Digital Access Working Team

The Digital Access Working Team, with support from members of the Sirsi Steering Team, has made some changes affecting the Advanced Search in The CAT. The list of Material Types has been simplified. Similar types have been merged into a single menu choice, and some names have been changed to group similar types together. These changes will be implemented on September 19, 2013.

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