Daily Archives: January 13, 2014

Library News: Jan. 13

Exhibition highlights rich political, cultural, and historical contributions of African Americans

“Historical figures from The Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora,” an exhibition, is on display January 13 to March 3, 2014, in Sidewater Commons, 102 Pattee Library.

Celebrating Blockson’s Penn State legacy, the current exhibit highlights a wide variety of rich political, cultural, and historical contributions of African Americans. Charles L. Blockson, born in 1933 in Norrristown, Pennsylvania, is a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus and a black bibliophile. When he was in the fourth grade, his teacher claimed that African Americans had not made any historical contributions. In disbelief, Blockson embarked on a lifelong quest to collect books and artifacts on the African American and the African Diaspora experience.

While at Penn State, Blockson played football and was recruited by the New York Giants, whose assistant coach was Vince Lombardi. Blockson recalls, “Vince Lombardi said that he could really use me, but I chose collecting books.” He has built a legacy to the African American experience and made an important contribution to African American history by building two library collections that are important cornerstones and testaments to his work.

In 1983, he donated the Charles L. Blockson African American Collection to Temple University in Philadelphia. In addition to serving as the curator of the Temple University collection, he has written a dozen historical guides on African American history, including several devoted to black Pennsylvania history: “Philadelphia’s Guide. African-American State Historical Markers” (1992), “Pennsylvania’s Black History” (1975) and “The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania” (1982).

Pictured here: One historical figure featured in the exhibition is Zora Neale Hurston, an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” but she published more than 50 short stories, plays, and essays. She received a scholarship to Barnard College, Columbia University, in 1925, and at the time, she was the college’s only black student. After graduating, she traveled extensively to work on her anthropological research. Continue reading →

Author to discuss 19th century African American scrapbooks

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. The presentation will also be available for viewing live online.

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.

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Events: Week of Jan. 13

January 14, 10–11 a.m., 315 Pattee Library, west: Introduction to LionSearch

January 14, 3 – 4 p.m., Mann Assembly Room: First UPLEA meeting of the year.

January 15, 10–11 a.m., 302 Paterno Library: LIbrary Research Basics

January 15, 12:15 p.m., EMS Museum, Deike Building: What is One Degree? (film – 50 min.)
Beginning with a visit to Britain’s National Physical Laboratory, the institution tasked with formally defining one degree, the video looks at the atomic aspects of temperature and their fundamental relationship with molecular energy.

January 21, 4 to 6 p.m., Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library: Grand opening reception of the Student Financial Education Center

Tuesday, January 21, 1:30–3 p.m.315 Pattee Library, west: Introduction to Zotero

January 21, 6–7 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library: “Budgeting—a presentation by SFEC Peer Educators.” The Peer Educators are students who have been trained in specific areas of personal finance (budgeting, credit cards and student loans), who will work one-on-one with students in the Financial Education Center to improve and sustain financial literacy at Penn State.

January 22, 12:15 p.m., EMS Library, 105 Deike:: Science Under Attack: Has the public lost faith in scientists? (film – 52 min.) The consensus of the world’s science academies is that climate change is real, and that it’s caused by human activity. Why, then, do so many people doubt these findings?

January 22, 5:30–7 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library: “Wage and Tax Fundamentals,” a workshop on taxes for students and part of “MoneyCounts: A Financial Literacy Series” by SFEC Advisers Dr. Daad Rizk and Dr. Cathy Bowen

January 23, 5:30–6:30 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library: “Student Financial Aid,” by SFEC Adviser Brad Yeckley

January 23, 10–11:30 a.m., 302 Paterno Library: Introduction to Mendeley

January 29, 12:15 p.m., EMS Museum, Deike Building: Secret Life of Ice (film – 49 min.)
Ice may be one of the strangest substances in the world. Full of contradictions, it is powerful enough to shatter rock but can melt in the blink of an eye; it is transparent, yet can glow with color.

January 30, 2–3 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library: Visiting scholar Ellen Gruber Garvey will give a presentation, “Hidden Histories: African American Scrapbooks Talk Back to the White Press in the 19th Century.”

Call for proposals: Indigenous Knowledge research awards

Penn State University Libraries and the Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) announce a call for proposals for the 2nd annual Student Indigenous Knowledge Research Awards. The application deadline is March 1, 2014. Two awards of up to $2000 will be presented. All full-time Penn State students, undergraduate and graduate at any Penn State campus, including Penn State World Campus, are eligible to apply. Research, to be conducted between April 2014 and January 2015, must be related to approved undergraduate coursework (e.g. capstone courses) or honors, masters or doctoral thesis topics. This is a competitive award process and proposal requirements are available at icik.psu.edu/psul/icik/IKGrants.html.

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Apply now: Undergraduate award for sustainability and the environment

Penn State’s University Libraries announce an “Award for Undergraduate Research in Sustainability and the Environment,” open to Penn State students at all campus locations, including the World Campus. Penn State’s Social Sciences Library, Cengage Learning and Penn State’s Sustainability Institute have partnered to award a total of $4000 to Penn State undergraduates to be presented on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22, 2014.

The deadline for submitting application, paper or project and supporting materials is March 31. Two $1,000 prizes and four $500 prizes will be awarded. Award money was provided by Cengage Learning and the Penn State Sustainability Institute.

Both traditional papers (text) submissions and multimedia projects are eligible. In addition to the research project, students are required to submit a nominating letter from a faculty member, an essay outlining their research methods, plus a bibliography of works consulted. Librarians and other appropriate faculty and staff will judge the submissions based on the research strategy essay, nominating letter, and technical criteria. Full details are available at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/socialsciences/sustainability_award.html#about

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Libraries launch Research Hub

Penn State University Libraries have recently launched a Research Hub to provide upper-division students and faculty researchers with access to specialized consultants in subjects such as GIS, data, statistics and research methodology. Located on the second floor of Paterno Library, appointments are recommended to ensure availability of the Research Hub consultants. Make an appointment online.

Services will help researchers:

collect, manage, and cite research;
find data and statistics;
design quantitative and qualitative research studies;
use statistical analysis and
use geospatial data.

To contact the Research Hub service desk, call 814-865-4861 or email ul-rschhub@lists.psu.edu To contact the Data/Statistics Consultant email ul-up-statconsult@lists.psu.edu.

Statistical Consulting Service hours set for spring

A Statistical Consulting Service for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and research staff offers assistance with quantitative and qualitative research, including research design, data collection, data manipulation and statistical analysis.

The service, provided by Penn State’s University Libraries, is located in the Research Hub, in 208 Paterno Library and hours for spring, beginning the week of January 13, include:
Tuesday: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 1:00–6:30 p.m.
Thursday: 2:30–5:30 p.m.
and by appointment as well as virtual assistance to campuses, please email UL-UP-STATCONSULT@lists.psu.edu

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Jan. 31 deadline for Stand Up Award nominations

January 31 is the deadline for nominations for the 2014 Stand Up Award at http://rockethics.psu.edu/leadership/stand-up-award/nominations. Nominators can mail the forms to The Rock Ethics Institute, 131 Sparks Building, University Park, PA 16802 or submit them by email at rockethics@psu.edu.

Any faculty, staff, student, or community member at any Penn State campus may nominate undergraduate students who are ethical leaders and have accomplished much during their time at Penn State. Selected honorees will receive an award of $1,000 each, be recognized at a spring 2014 ceremony and in a short video, and highlighted in traditional and digital publicity throughout the University. Questions: Rob Peeler at rjp218@psu.edu.