Daily Archives: May 8, 2015

Penn State announces winner of the Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year

University Park, PA–Penn State’s University Libraries and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book are pleased to announce that “This One Summer ” by Mariko Tamaki (writer) and Jillian Tamaki (artist), published by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, has won the 2015 Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year.

“It’s an honor to have this book recognized and we are thrilled to accept,” said co-creators Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. “Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki are major talents, and it’s wonderful that the power of their work is resonating across the whole literary landscape,” says Mark Siegel, editorial director of First Second.

“This One Summer,” says the jury, “is a beautifully drawn, keenly observed story. It is told with a fluid line and a sensitive eye to the emblematic moments that convey character, time, and place—the surf at night, the sound of flip-flops, a guarded sigh—all at the meandering pace of a summer’s vacation. The Tamakis astutely orchestrate the formal complexities of the graphic novel in the service of an evocative, immersive story. At first blush a coming of age story centered on two young girls, the book belongs equally to all its cast of characters, any of whom feel realized enough to have supported a narrative in their own right. Striking, relatable, and poignant, this graphic novel lingers with readers long after their eyes have left the pages.”

The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize honors Ward’s influence in the development of the graphic novel and celebrates the gift of an extensive collection of Ward’s wood engravings, original book illustrations and other graphic art donated to Penn State’s University Libraries by his daughters Robin Ward Savage and Nanda Weedon Ward. Between 1929 and 1937, Ward published his six groundbreaking wordless novels: “Gods’ Man,” “Madman’s Drum,” “Wild Pilgrimage,” “Prelude to a Million Years,” “Song without Words” and “Vertigo.”

Sponsored by Penn State’s University Libraries and administered by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize is presented annually to the best graphic novel, fiction or non-fiction, published in the previous calendar year by a living U.S. or Canadian citizen or resident. Mariko and Jillian Tamaki will share a cash prize of $2,500, and will each receive a two-volume set of Ward’s six novels published by The Library of America and a framed commemorative presented at a ceremony at Penn State University in the fall.

The jury also awarded one honor book: “Here,” by Richard McGuire and published by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House. Of “Here” the jury says, “Making literal the idiom ‘if these walls could talk…’ McGuire’s ‘Here’ curates the long history of events transpiring in one location. Through the subtle transposition of objects and individuals in a room, the book teaches us that space is defined over time. … Evoking our longing for place, the book performs this cumulative effect for the reader, by layering people, experiences, and events in the context of a single environment. …”
The selection jury had representatives from various Penn State academic departments who use the graphic novel in their teaching or research, as well as representatives with graphic novel expertise from among Penn State’s alumni and students.

The selection jury for the 2015 prize included Chair, Brandon Hyde, an undergraduate student majoring in English with a longstanding interest in comics and graphic novels; Joel D. Priddy, an associate professor of Graphic Design; Veronica Hicks, a dual PhD candidate in Art Education and Women’s Studies; Brent Book, pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, Boalsburg, PA, who received his Liberal Arts baccalaureate degree from Penn State, and maintains a strong interest in the art and structure of storytelling through graphic novels; and Jonathan E. Abel, an assistant professor of Comparative Literature and Japanese.

For more information about the selection criteria and how to submit books for consideration for the 2016 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, contact Ellysa Cahoy at ellysa@psu.edu or 814-865-9696 or visit the Pennsylvania Center for the Book website.

Editor’s contact: Lana Munip, assistant editor, Public Relations and Marketing, Penn State University Libraries. 814-863-4265.

WIMT Update: Your questions answered

Starting this week, the Web Implementation and Management Team (WIMT) will field questions about the team and the website, including questions about how the new site will look, the migration timeline for specific units, training and other topics. This week, the focus is on the site’s goals.

Q. What are the goals of the Libraries’ site?

A. WIMT has gathered information and input from stakeholders and Libraries employees to finalize our website goals. We will use these as guiding principles as we work towards delivering an optimal web experience to our users.

Goal 1: Website

The Libraries website will meet the needs of current and future users – whoever or wherever they may be and on whatever device they use.

Strategies:
•        Site will be organized based on Libraries services rather than institutional organization
•        Site will be user-centered, personalized and interactive
•        Deliver customized content based on user (personalization)
•        Site will be updated incrementally to remain contemporary
•        Site will maintain consistent terminology and branding between virtual and physical spaces.
•        Site will be friendly, warm and welcoming
•        Site will reflect the diversity of the Penn State community and contribute to the Libraries’ environment of respect and inclusion

Goal 2: Content

The content of the Libraries website will be discoverable and current. Content reuse and integration with other content sources will be a guiding principle.

Strategies:
•        Content will be modular and portable (not bound by format)
•        Content will be organized thematically
•        Content will use a consistent voice that is jargon-free and comprehensible to all users
•        Content will be created once and shared and used in multiple places
•        Obsolete information will be weeded on a regular basis

Goal 3: Technology

The content management system will be optimized to meet web and accessibility standards, to integrate with other library systems, to support ease of authoring and to promote creativity and flexibility.

Strategies:
•        System will employ leading edge web technologies and features and will integrate with social networks
•        System will be reliable, lightweight and based on standards and open source principles
•        System will be easily integrated into learning management systems, and will provide direct linking through to Libraries’ resources
•        System will be accessible to users of all abilities

Goal 4: People

The leadership, management, developers and authors for the Libraries Web Presence will be strategic, accessible, agile, creative, collaborative and responsive.

Strategies:
•        Decisions will be informed from usability studies, assessment and metrics and based on user needs
•        Libraries’ personnel will have skills and confidence to contribute to CMS for content optimization
•        Changes in web strategy and direction and author and user functionality will be clearly communicated to all authors, faculty and staff

Goal 5: Discovery

Website, content and technology will be optimized to facilitate ease of discovery, access and use

Strategies:
•        Libraries’ resources will be easy to use, easy to find and easy to access
•        Libraries’ discovery tools will be integrated into the website to promote seamless search, discovery and access throughout the Libraries’ web pages

Next week, we will highlight the migration timeline for different libraries and departments. Currently, WIMT is working on what are called “microsites” (for example, ICIK and the People’s Contest sites). Once these are completed, we will start work on other units. More on this next week! For more information, e-mail UL-WIMT@LISTS.PSU.EDU

To read previous WIMT blog entries, see https://sites.psu.edu/librarynews/category/website-migration-updates/

Undergraduate Thesis Award winner and finalists announced

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Award winners…(from left) Myers, Henrici, and Durham. — photo by Wilson Hutton

The Penn State University Libraries announce the results of the 2015 Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Award. Top winner of the $1, 250 award is Ryan Henrici, biochemistry and molecular biology, for his thesis “Structural and Biochemical Characterization of Chromatin Enzymes.”

Jessica Myers, English, was awarded $750 for her thesis “Transcending Body: Lucretius, Whitman, and the Atoms in Between.” Brooke Durham, history and international politics, was awarded $500 for her thesis “‘What Society Refused You, Books Gave You: Self-Identification and French Education in the Written Works of Mouloud Feraoun, Yasmina Khadra, Mariama Bâ and Ken Bugul.”

The annual competition, coordinated by Endowed/Distinguished Chairs/Librarians, includes a review of the submitted theses by a faculty jury and a public oral presentation by the students chosen as finalists. It provides an opportunity to fully appreciate the academic quality of Penn State students and the depth of their undergraduate research.

This year’s panel of judges included Diane Zabel, chair and the Louis and Virginia Benzak Business Librarian; Deryck Holdsworth, professor of geography; Charles E. Jones, Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities; Vandana Kalia, assistant professor of immunology; Jeffrey A. Knapp, the Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian and Linda Musser, Distinguished Librarian.

Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications, explains, “The Libraries initiated this award as a way to emphasize the importance of utilizing quality research methods and employing a thorough understanding of the legal and ethical issues related to the use of information—both key components of academic excellence. Through this award, the University Libraries and the Schreyer Honors College seek to encourage excellence in the research process of locating, evaluating, and utilizing appropriate scholarly resources.”

For more about the award and last year’s winners, see http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/admin/thesisaward.html.

For more information, contact Sandy Confer at slb3@psu.edu or 814-863-4723.