By Barbara I. Dewey
Colleagues, we are headed into one of the busiest couple of weeks of the year at all of our locations. Thank you in advance for your fantastic work supporting students who need you so much. Everyone in our wonderful library system contributes to their success as the clock ticks down. I am very proud of your efforts now and every day.
This is also the time to see friends and family. Whether you stay close to home or travel far please be safe and have a very wonderful holiday season. I know 2014 is going to be rewarding and fun. Best wishes for a very Happy New Year!!
Title: Sustainability and Strategic Planning
Presenters: Jeremy Bean and Rob Andrejewski, Penn State Sustainability Institute
Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2:00 p.m., Foster Auditorium, UP / Media Site Live
By Mike Furlough
As part of our strategic planning efforts this year, the University has asked that the Libraries and all units address sustainability planning. The Libraries have taken environmental sustainability very seriously in recent years, expanding our recycling efforts and forming “green teams” to help us reduce our environmental impacts. But how should the Libraries think about Sustainability as a strategic issue? What are the unique contributions we can make to the University’s sustainability efforts?
For finals week, Penn State University Libraries are hosting a De-stress Fest, beginning Saturday, December 14 through Wednesday, December 18. Activities in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, include:
Plus De-stress stations set up near the Welcome Desks at the entrances to Pattee and Paterno Libraries, offer crafts and a Wii playstation, Saturday–Wednesday, 1–8 p.m.
The De-stress Fest is sponsored by the University Libraries. For more information or for questions regarding special needs or physical access, contact Joe Fennewald at jaf23@psu.edu or 814-865-0666.
** NOTE: December 10 Tech Update has been cancelled **
December 10, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Penn State Press Holiday Book Sale, Kern Building Lobby
December 11, 1 p.m.: LFO Forensic presented by Courtney Young, Foster Aud. Presentation title: “Diversity, Development, and Engagement: Penn State University Libraries and the Presidential Initiatives of ALA President-elect Courtney L. Young”
December 11, 12:15 p.m.: Polar Bear Fever (film), EMS Library, 105 Deike. Looks at the plight of polar bears. (44 min)
Save the Date:
January 23, 2 p.m.: Visiting scholar Ellen Gruber Garvey will give a presentation, “Hidden Histories: African American Scrapbooks Talk Back to the White Press in the 19th Century,” on Thursday, January 30, 2–3 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Garvey is the author of “Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance,” a recent book from Oxford University Press that breaks new ground analyzing and discussing scrapbooking as an historical and cultural practice. A book signing in Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, will follow the presentation and books will be available for sale.
Garvey’s talk is jointly sponsored by the Penn State University Libraries and the Richards Civil War Era Center. It is held in conjunction with a research grant funded by the Penn State Africana Research Center that is supporting Penn State Libraries Digitization and Preservation Department’s condition assessment of the monumental William Dorsey Scrapbook Collection, currently on loan from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.
By Lisa Moyer
In February of 2013, as a result of renewed discussions regarding collection retention practices, a subgroup for the Access Services Council (ASC) was formed and charged to evaluate and recommend revisions to the Libraries missing items procedures. During initial subgroup meetings, members determined that in order to successfully meet the expectations set, items marked lost would also be added to the group’s original charge. The goal of the subgroup is to create uniform procedures for all libraries to follow concerning the complete processing of items marked missing and lost.
At the September 27th ASC meeting, the subgroup presented the following recommendations to the Council:
Thanks to a generous challenge grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and a matching donation from the King Family Foundation, the Libraries were able to create a new full-time position for a senior book conservator to be based in the Department of Digitization and Preservation.
We are pleased that Bill Minter has accepted the position of senior book conservator. With more than 30 years of experience in fine bookbinding and conservation, Bill will provide the leadership to expand the current conservation program to include enhanced conservation treatments; planning and implementing conservation policies; and training and outreach services to the campus, the region and to the public. Bill will start his Penn State career on January 6, 2014. — Mike Furlough
Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:
Full-time:
12/02/13 Brenda Catherman – Shipping Clerk, Receiving Room
Reporting changes in vehicles on University parking permits
The Parking Office is now able to keep on file the make/model/and color of vehicles that are registered to park on campus. Therefore, if you have a parking permit and you change the “type” of vehicle that is registered (even if the license plate does not change), you will need to complete a Permit Information Modification form which is available in Libraries Human Resources, 511 Paterno Library.
Discovery Day 2014 at University Park is set for Friday, March 7
The Discovery Day planning committee is hard at work to make the 2014 event an exceptional experience for all participants. We would like to thank everybody who submitted responses to the survey. We are excited for all of the new responses and we are working on a schedule.
You will soon be receiving regular announcements about Discovery Day activities. — submitted by the Discovery Day Project Team
By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator
Did you know you can sort your read and unread messages by clicking on the 
column header in UCS?
If this column header is not present in the web client, right click on any column to bring up the menu for available columns to display and make sure Read/Unread has a check box next to it.
Any unread messages will appear with a blue dot selected when this column is present.
Note: The Read/Unread column can be moved and appear in a different location in your UCS)
To only see your unread messages, click on the blue button column header. Only your unread messages will now appear in the main display window.
Penn State Librarian Amanda Clossen’s informative online tutorial “Choosing a Topic” was recently featured as Site of the Month by PRIMO, a committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Instruction Section. PRIMO (Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online) promotes instructional materials created by librarians to help users find and evaluate information. Clossen’s tutorial, which was chosen as PRIMO’s site of the month for November, focuses on a problem that many new students face: how to decide what topic to write about. The tutorial can be viewed at www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/tutorials/choose_topic.html, and her full interview with PRIMO can be read online.
By Jade Atwill
In 2013, the University Libraries received a generous gift from the Jenks family given in Memory of Darrell A. Jenks by his widow, Thelma Coyoc Jenks and his parents, George and Zoya Jenks. The Jenks gift contains about 2,500 volumes of publications from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, ranging from the 1980s, 1990s to the early 2000s, covering the areas of history, languages and literature, political sciences, economics, popular culture, folk music, and children’s literature. Processing of the gift is underway and items will be added into Libraries’ collections accordingly. The gift greatly enhances University Libraries’ East Asian collection and provides a broader selection on contemporary East Asian Studies.