Daily Archives: April 14, 2014

Library News: April 14

Dean’s News

I hope you are enjoying the recent good weather. We had a very busy weekend at Penn State and in the library where we hosted the Library Development Board. University-wide numerous events were taking place to celebrate the successful end of the campaign – For the Future. I thought you might like to know about these general numbers announced over the weekend. Penn State received 2.1 million individual gifts totaling $2.157 billion exceeding the $2 billion goal. 600,000 people donated and 167,000 were Penn State alumni. Penn State faculty and staff donated $61 million. Vice President Rod Kirsch indicated only 12 universities have ever raised as much money in a campaign. The library was no exception blowing past our $40 million goal raising over $44 million to date (and we are not done yet!). Many thanks go to the Library Development Team – Nicki Hendrix, Marcus Fowler, Chris Brida, Karen McCaulley, and Shirley Davis for their tireless work. Of course we will continue raising funds for the library to meet our growing needs.

Penn State also celebrated the opening of the Census Research Data Center last week housed in Paterno Library Social Sciences Library. This important research facility will complement the Research Hub and its growing array of services. Over 160 researchers attended a two-day conference in honor of the opening. In particular, I would like to thank Stephen Woods and Lisa German for their efforts to attract the center to the library where it will be more accessible than any of the other 16 centers scattered throughout the country and the only one situated in a library. Ron Servello worked tirelessly with the various partners to make the needed renovations a success.

I invite you to join me for two upcoming events, a coffee on April 23, at 9:30 – 10:30 a.m., in Mann, honoring Mike Furlough before he leaves to take on the position of executive director, Hathi Trust. Also coming up on May 16, at 2:30 p.m., is the University Libraries Awards event. Mark your calendars for both. — Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

How games fit your library

Librarians, library staff and library advocates are invited to “Finding the Missing Piece: How Games Fit Your Library,” on Thursday, May 15, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, Penn State University Park. The program is the PALA Juniata-Conemaugh Chapter Spring Workshop.

More than light entertainment, games have grown to become a dominant form of media today. Gaming helps to shape library programs, and games have a positive, transformative impact on the patrons and communities that libraries serve. Brian Mayer, author, game designer and council member of ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table, will present a fun, hands-on exploration of some of the ways that games and gaming programs may fit into library programs. He will discuss game design and maker opportunities, curricular support for students, gamification, and gaming events.

The registration deadline is May 3, 2014. The cost is $45 for PaLA members (log-in for member discount) and $65 for nonmembers and includes morning refreshments and lunch. Please note there are no refunds, but a substitute may be sent. More details and a registration form are available online.

This program has been partially funded with Federal Library Services and Technology (LSTA) funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries.

For more information or if you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Juniata-Conemaugh Chapter Chair Lori Lysiak at lal29@psu.edu or 814-867-4924.

Teaching about American Indians in the K-12 classroom

“Teaching about American Indians in Your K-12 Classroom: How to Select Children’s Books and Talk about Native People” will be held on April 22, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., in 108 Chambers, on Penn State’s University Park campus. This informative session for educators will be conducted by education specialist Susan Chavez Cameron and Vine Deloria Jr. Librarian Elayne Silversmith, from the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).

This presentation will provide suggestions on how to select children’s books and how to effectively teach about American Indians, and will be of interest to teachers, students majoring in elementary education and graduate students in education. The goal is to help educators consider the complexities of teaching about this topic and delivering sensitive and accurate information. Read the full story on Penn State News

Event looks at program that transformed American Indian communities

“Transformation from Violence, Disease, and Abuse to Self-Determination and Sovereignty in American Indian Communities” will be presented by Susan Chavez Cameron and Elayne Silversmith, on Wednesday, April 23, 10:30–11:30 a.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, Penn State University Park. The event will be followed by a reception in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library. The program will also be broadcast online. Read the full story on Penn State News.

Ancestry database available to Penn Staters with access ID

Penn State students, faculty and staff with an access ID can now search Ancestry Library Edition from the Databases A-Z list or the University Libraries’ homepage (http://www.libraries.psu.edu). While best known as the premiere genealogy database, Ancestry also offers scholars rich primary sources for advanced biographical research. Original census records from the United States, United Kingdom and Canadian censuses, beginning in the 18th and 19th century; military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; passenger lists and more are digitized and supported by a powerful search engine. These collections are continuously updated with new content every business day.

For more information about database content and search features, please contact Dolores Fidishun at dxf19@psu.edu or Susan Ware at saw4@psu.edu. If you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Susan Ware at saw4@psu.edu or 610-892-1380.

Events

April 15, 7 p.m.: “A Voyage with Mary Roach,” a presentation by award-winning science writer Mary Roach, HUB-Robeson Auditorium.

April 16, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.: 22nd Annual Kenneth Burke Lecture in Rhetoric:
“Teaching as Moral Injury: The Ethics of Educational Injustice,” Foster Aud. Presenter Meira Levinson is associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The event is free and open to the public.

April 16, noon to 1 p.m.: Maize Diversity and the Value of Chaos: Indigenous Imaginaries and Agricultural Innovation in Mexico’s Central Highlands, Foster Aud. and MediaSite Live.

April 17, 1-4 p.m., Engineering Library Open House to celebrate Sustainability in Engineering, 325 Hammond.

April 22, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.: Teaching about American Indians in Your K-12 Classroom: How to Select Children’s Books and Talk about Native People, 108 Chambers.

April 23, 10:30 a.m.: Transformation from Violence, Disease, and Abuse to Self-Determination and Sovereignty in American Indian Communities. Foster Aud., followed by a reception in Mann Assembly Room. All welcome.

April 23, 5:30 – 7 p.m.: Spring Clean Financial Clutter Foster Aud. Presented by Penn State financial literacy coordinator Daad Rizk.

April 24, 7-8:30 p.m.: No Superheroes: Creating Underground Comics, Foster Aud. Presented by Joyce Farmer, co-creator of “Tits & Clits Comix.”

April 29, 3-4:30 p.m.: Cultural and Economic Perspectives of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Foster Aud. Presented by Kyunghwa Lee, University of Georgia.

May 1, 10-11 a.m.: Penn State LibQUAL+® 2013: Results and Recommendations, Foster Auditorium, or MediaSite Live. Frank Shen, a graduate student in statistics, will discuss his research methodologies and findings as well as provide the University Libraries with conclusions and recommendations based on the 2013 LibQUAL+® survey results. There will also be time for questions.

Save the date: May 15: Find the Missing Piece: How Games Fit Your Library, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mann Assembly Room.

Which survey tool is best for you?

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

selectsurvey1Recently a Web forms and Survey Tools assessment was done at the University Libraries. Many tools exist but which one is best for your needs? If you want to more about the assessment, please watch the most recent Tech Update on Mediasite.

To help you decide which tool is best for your needs, please visit this new Survey Tools Comparison Chart which is available on the Libraries Intranet.

Collection maintenance sea change: see change

By Ann Snowman and Frank Schrader

Like the tides, library collections are constantly ebbing and flowing; they flow out through the semester and turn at semesters’ end. New books are added continuously, more in some areas than in others creating crowded areas. Projects to weed, relocate, and redistribute collections keep Collection Maintenance staff busy maintaining order and keeping projects on track.

It takes more than a little bit of effort and a lot of applied knowledge to keep up. Before they can begin any project they have to know what resources are available, not just in terms of time and personnel but also space. They must gauge the amount of space available and the demands on that space. Their assessment begins with a census of available shelving. (The 2008 census tells us we had 23,769–23” shelves; 34,648–29” shelves; and 2,533,330–35” shelves in Pattee/Paterno.) Then comes a measurement of occupied shelf space broken down by call number range. All of the assessment data is loaded into a formula-rich spreadsheet to calculate growth since the previous measurement, and to project future demand.

Targeting the distribution density at 80% or less to allow for adequate growth, they often find that allocated space exceeds the desired density, and despite reduced print acquisition, selectors must weed for withdrawal or reassign collections to the annex. Once the output is analyzed, a diagram or “map” of collections is created depicting a new arrangement. Selectors are asked to weigh in with suggestions for where to split collections between aisles and floors. (e. g. Don’t split North and South Korea between floors, they advise.) Recent projects included Arts & Humanities’ SpaceMakers that moved more than 80,000 volumes to the annex and resulted in shifting more than 1.2 million volumes in the Central Pattee Stacks followed by another project that resulted in the relocation of 271,000 items from West Pattee to multiple temporary and permanent locations.

Coming up is a major shift in Paterno to accommodate the Research HUB. Small projects are interspersed with the major moves. If you are considering a collection move, please fill out the Collections Move Request Form to get the conversation started.

Notes

This week we debut a new column which focuses on the professional achievements of our staff members.

Article published
“WorldCat, the Other ETD Database: An Exploratory Study,” an article by Aaron W. Procious, a staff member in the Earth and Mineral Sciences Library, was recently published in The Reference Librarian, vol. 55, Iss. 2, 2014.

Libraries staff: Did you present a paper or poster at a recent conference? Did you have an article published on a library-related topic? Please submit a brief note for inclusion in this new column. Please use the Monday Messages form. Our deadline is still Thursday, at noon, for the following Monday’s blog post.

Faculty News

Librarians edit book on collection development and management

“Rethinking Collection Development and Management” (Becky Albitz, Christine Avery, and Diane Zabel, editors) has been published by Libraries Unlimited.This collection of 29 essays demonstrates how collection development has changed in academic and public libraries. Chapters discuss current trends, best practices and future scenarios. Contributors include five Penn State colleagues: Robert Alan, Anne Behler, Linda Musser, Christopher Walker and Sue Kellerman. More information can be found at www.LibrariesUnlimited.com.

Sustainability in Engineering Open House

On Thursday, April 17, from 1-4 p.m., the Engineering Library (325 Hammond) will be holding an Open House to celebrate Sustainability in Engineering.

The purpose of the event is to promote library resources that support sustainability in engineering. Activities will include displays and pictures of the major accomplishments within the College of Engineering regarding sustainability and a demonstration of major online library resources will be provided. All are welcome and cake will be served.

Please contact the Engineering Library at 814-865-3451, UL-ENGR@lists.psu.edu, Vanessa Eyer vld5011@psu.edu, or Angela Davis ard21@psu.edu for more information.