Daily Archives: January 20, 2014

Penn State Libraries acquire Chip Kidd archives

Kidd with drawing

All photos by Wilson Hutton

Penn State’s University Libraries have acquired the archives of the renowned designer and writer Chip Kidd. Kidd, dubbed the “the closest thing to a rock star in graphic design” by USA Today, studied graphic design at Penn State before starting work at Alfred A. Knopf in 1986. At Knopf he has created memorable book jackets for authors such as John Updike and Michael Crichton, including the iconic cover for “Jurassic Park” (pictured left). Kidd is the recipient of the National Design Award for Communications (presented by the Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian) and will receive the AIGA medal for lifetime achievement in April.

Kidd is also the author of several books, including “The Cheese Monkeys” and “The Learners,” both fictional accounts of his time at Penn State, as well as an original graphic novel, “Batman: Death by Design.” He has also authored several books about comics, most notably “Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz,” “The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross” and “Bat-Manga: The Secret History of Batman in Japan,” among many others. His most recent work is the highly acclaimed “Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design.” Continue reading

Penn State’s participation in Access Pennsylvania

By Barbara Coopey, assistant head of Access Services 

Access PA recently completed a catalog reload of our holdings in the Access PA database. More than a decade ago Penn State joined Access Pennsylvania and added our holdings to their database. There were yearly holdings updates until 2008 when at that time Access Pennsylvania no longer was able to process the updates. Since then, the database has been lacking accurate Penn State holdings.

During Fall Semester 2013 Access Pennsylvania did a reload of our holdings and deleted our old records. Thanks to the efforts of Maryam Kutchemeshgi of I-Tech and E-ZBorrow Expert Team members Shane Burris, Barbara Coopey, Amy Miller, Trish Notartomas, Barb Woods, and Fay Youngmark, our holdings records were examined and the size of the files sent to Access PA were reduced to make the reload easier. Continue reading

Preview of Discovery Day 2014

Submitted by the Discovery Day Project team

Discovery Day 2014 at University Park is set for Friday, March 7. You suggested and we listened. Here is a preview of the coming attractions:

Images of the Bridget A. and the late Heinz K. Henisch Collection
Special Collections will be showcasing striking examples of virtually every type of 19th century photographic process and teaching participants how to identify them. These daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, tintypes, and stereo cards will be displayed to illuminate the early social role of photography and the ways in which photography was used for a great variety of purposes.

Stump Al and the Green Team (The Green Team)
Get the newest guidelines on what to recycle, how, and where. Bring your toughest recyclables and/or questions and try to stump Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of Central Support Services.

Sign up for these and other classes in TechSmart in February.

Box Sync

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

box logoHave you tried Box at Penn State ? Box allows content to be storied online so it can be managed and shared from anywhere.

Box Sync is a feature that allows you to automatically sync files and folders between their Box Account and their desktop. Any changes made on the desktop will automatically sync’d to your Box account. Continue reading

LHR News: Jan. 20

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Full-time:
1/20/14 Andrew Gearhart – Publishing Services Web Developer, Publishing and Curation Services

Part-time:
Lisa Maine –  Penn State Lehigh Valley
Sarah Kwon- Penn State York
Jesus Joe Bennie Ayala – Penn State York
Shelbie McCurdy – Penn State Greater Allegheny
Aaron Procious – Earth and Mineral Sciences Library
Gajanie Golding – Research Hub and Knowledge Commons
Rashmi Shukla – Publishing and Curation Services
Josette Schluter – Digitization and Preservation

Wishing the following employees well as they leave us:
1/23/14 Keith Farwell – Lending Services

Engineering Library Open House for students

Civil and Environmental Engineering students are invited to an Open House on January 30, 1:00-4:00 p.m., in the Engineering Library, 325 Hammond Building.

Highlights will include library resources used in the study of civil and environmental engineering. Several displays will include a timeline of historically important civil and environmental engineering events, new books, and a demonstration of an engineering database.

Light snacks will be served. All majors are invited, and bring a friend!

If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided and for more information, please contact Angela Davis at ard21@psu.edu or 814-865-7005.

Events: Week of Jan. 20

January 20, 10-11 a.m. and 3-4 p.m.: “Have You Heard? Notable Speeches at Penn State” Audio broadcast of Martin Luther King Jr.’s address at Rec Hall on January 21, 1965, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Special event for 29th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration 2014.

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

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

January 21, 6–7 p.m. “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. Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library

January 22, 12:15 p.m.: 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? EMS Museum,  Deike Bldg

January 22, 5:30–7 p.m.: “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. Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library

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

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

January 28, noon -1:00 p.m.: Brown Bag Talk on “Visualization of Historic Maps and Special Collections to Optimize Teaching and Research,” by Kathy Weimer, Coordinator of Map and GIS Library at Texas A&M University Library. Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library

January 29, 12:15 p.m.: 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. EMS Museum, Deike Building.

 January 30, 2–3 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.” Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library

** Save the Date** Annual Dean’s Diversity Forum, Monday, February 24, 1:30-2:30 p.m., Foster Auditorium (and on Media Site). Mark Puente, director of Diversity and Leadership Programs at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) will be the speaker. More information will be forthcoming.