Monthly Archives: November 2015

Giving Tuesday and Nov. 17 event focus on textbook fund

For the fourth year, following the consumer-focused Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving will be celebrated as Giving Tuesday, a day to recognize and support nonprofit organizations. This year, Tuesday, December 1, marks Penn State’s second year of participation — and the first focused on supporting the student-centered University Libraries’ textbook fund.

The purpose of the fund is to acquire textbooks and other course materials for students’ use. While it eases non-tuition costs for students with financial need, the textbook fund benefits all students by providing enhanced access to materials.

In advance of Giving Tuesday, the Libraries will celebrate the Day of Philanthropy on Tuesday, November 17, marking the start of its awareness campaign for this important event. The event, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Pattee Library’s Franklin Atrium, University Park, will celebrate the impact of philanthropy. Those not at University Park are invited to participate online via the Libraries’ Facebook page, to view the Day of Philanthropy event virtually — and to share what they love most about the Libraries.

Penn State Annual Giving’s online-focused Giving Tuesday pilot program includes the Libraries as one of three University areas of special focus. Outreach via email and social media will encourage donors to donate online at giveto.psu.edu/givingtuesday, where the Libraries’ textbook fund will have prominent visibility.

Especially noteworthy is that charitable contributions to the Libraries will have double the value during the Giving Tuesday campaign, which kicks off today (Nov. 16) and concludes at the end of the day on Dec. 1. The Penn State Bookstore on campus, managed by Barnes & Noble, has pledged to match Libraries gifts dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000.

To help the Libraries build awareness of the value of its Giving Tuesday donor-matching opportunity, social media users can help spread the word about the event using the hashtag #PSUGivingTue on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. (Follow the University Libraries at facebook.com/psulibs and via account name @psulibs on Instagram and Twitter, and tag the Libraries with the hashtag #psulibs.) Social media users also will have the chance to earn points and chances for prizes through “The Nittany Network” on the online platform SocialToaster.com.

In advance of Giving Tuesday, the Libraries will celebrate the Day of Philanthropy on Tuesday, November 17, marking the start of its awareness campaign for this important event. The event, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Pattee Library’s Franklin Atrium, University Park, will celebrate the impact of philanthropy with snacks and a fun crowd-sourcing activity and also will officially kick off the Libraries’ Giving Tuesday Textbook Fund campaign to benefit all Penn State students. The Libraries’ Facebook page, found at https://facebook.com/psulibs, will feature a photo album of images from the event.

Both the Day of Philanthropy and Giving Tuesday celebrate the generosity of Libraries donors and the impact of philanthropy on the faculty, staff, and students of Penn State.

For more information, including ways to give, please visit giveto.psu.edu/givingtuesday.

Events: Nov. 16

Monday, Nov. 16, noon: Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Panel presentation on “Higher Education Systems in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Mexico, & Pakistan,” Foster.

Mon., Nov. 16, 1-2:30 p.m.: Mapping Applications: Getting to know SimplyMap, PolicyMap, and Social Explorer, 302, Paterno Library, and online at https://meeting.psu.edu/ssltraining/

Mon, Nov. 16, 6-7 p.m., Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Keynote address: “What Entrepreneurs need to know about intellectual property and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,” Foster Auditorium. Presented by Jeanne Clark, patent examination policy advisor with the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. This presentation will also be available online via MediaSite Live. For more information on all GEW events, see http://www.gewpennstate.org/

Mon., Nov. 16, 5-6 p.m.: Free Data!…Courtesy of Uncle Sam, 302 Paterno Library. GEW event. Librarian Jeff Knapp will introduce participants to methods for finding free demographic statistics and data that can help entrepreneurs locate their potential customers. Registration max is 34.

Mon., Nov. 16, 8 p.m.: 4 under 30 panel. A GEW event. Join four recent Penn State alumni to hear of their successes and challenges in developing their start-ups.

Tues., Nov. 17, 9:30-10:30am: I want to sell to the Acme Corporation, where do I begin? 302 Paterno Library. GEW event. Learn how to find out about specific companies and the industries in which they operate. Presented by librarian Kevin Harwell. Registration max is 34.

Tues., Nov. 17, 1–2 p.m.: Highly Pragmatic Trips and Traps from the Trenches GEW event. Presented by Steve Barsh and moderated by Lee Erickson. The focus of this event is on common mistakes entrepreneurs make and how to avoid them, and much more. An open Q&A will follow the presentation.

Tues., Nov. 17, 1–2 p.m.: Financial Research, 302 Paterno Library. GEW event. Financials are a key component of any entrepreneurial endeavor. Learn the research strategies and resources available to help you find financial benchmarks for your business. Presented by librarian Lauren Reiter. Registration max is 34.

Tues, Nov. 17, 3-4:15 p.m.: Basic Patents, 140 W. Pattee Library (in the Knowledge Commons)
GEW event. This short, hands-on workshop by librarian John Meier will focus on understanding what patents are, the basic process of obtaining a patents and online searching of prior art (previous inventions). Attendees should have an interest in patents and be prepared to do practice searching in Google Patents and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Registration max is 40.

Wed., Nov. 18: GIS Day Programming
10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.: Poster Display, Franklin Atrium, Pattee Library
10 a.m.–2 p.m.: Information Fair, Leisure Reading Room, Pattee Library
All day: Speaker and Lightning Talks: Location: Foster Aud., Paterno Library (able to view remotely via Media Site Live)
Morning Session:
11:15–11:45 a.m.: Joseph Kerski, 5 Converging Forces: Geoawareness, geotechnologies, geoenablement, citizen science, and storytelling are combining to make this the most exciting time ever for GIS in education and society. Find out about these forces, why they matter,how you can get involved, and what they mean for your career pathway.
11:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m.: Lightning Talks
Afternoon Session
1:30–2:30 p.m.: HERE maps
2:30–3:00 p.m.: Joseph Kerski, Telling your story with Esri Storymaps: Combine audio, video, photographs, sketches, narratives, and other multimedia to present the results of your research, to teach, and to communicate your OWN story, using Esri’s easy-to-use yet powerful storymapping web applications.
3:00–3:30 p.m.: Lightning Talks
4:00–5:30 p.m.: Networking Reception, Mann Assembly Room
Drawing of a $75 Gift Certificate from Geographic Research, Inc. producer of SimplyMap. For more information, visit the GIS Day website

Wed., Nov. 18, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.: Standards & Tech Reports for Inventors 302 Paterno Library. GEW event. Learn what standards are and how they can aid you in developing a product that meets industry specifications. Also learn about technical reports and how they provide guidance for technical literature searching for patent applications. Presented by librarian Angela Davis. Registration max is 34.

Thurs., Nov. 19, 3-4:15pm, Advanced Patent Searching, 140 W. Pattee Library (in the Knowledge Commons). GEW event. This workshop will help inventors and entrepreneurs already familiar with patents to perform competitive intelligence, prior art searching (to find earlier inventions), and discover international patents. After a brief introduction to patents and the patent process, including international treaties, attendees will be guided in searching on the European Patent Office (EPO) website, the USPTO’s Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) public system, along with a brief overview of more powerful patent research tools. Presented by John Meier. Registration max is 40.

Fri., Nov. 20, 1:30-2:30pm: Marketing Resources, 302 Paterno Library. GEW event. Consumer Behavior and Retail Market Trends. Learn which databases tap into the latest market analysis. Presented by Kevin Harwell. Registration max is 34.

Dr. Marcus Whitehurst

Save the date: Dean’s Diversity Forum, presented by Marcus A. Whitehurst, vice provost for Educational Equity, Thurs., Dec. 10, 2:00–3:00 p.m., Foster Auditorium and Media Site Live.

How to change your default programs in Windows

by Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

You can easily change the default program that Windows uses when you open a particular type of file, such as a PDF or image. Click on the Start Menu and select Default Programs:
Select Associate a file type or protocol with a program:

Select the file type (ex. .pdf) then select Change program and select the program you want to use.

Click OK.

OpenStreetMap Mapathon

Join us on Thursday, November 19, from 6-8 p.m. in W013 Pattee Library (across from the Maps Library) for an OpenStreetMap Mapathon. Volunteers of all backgrounds and experience are welcome! Come learn how to map our world.

Free, up-to-date maps are a critical resource when relief organizations are responding to disasters or political crises and planning for a more sustainable world. This event will be in support of work by organizations such as Peace Corps, Red Cross, USAID, Doctors without Borders, and more. Learn more here about how we’ll contribute to OpenStreetMap.

Please contact Aaron Dennis (undergraduate, Department of Geography) at avd5316@psu.edu with any questions about the OpenStreetMap Mapathon.

Call for Discovery Day 2016 planning committee volunteers

by Ann Snowman

Discovery Day will be held on Thursday, May 19, 2016.
Staff and faculty alike are invited to join the Discovery Day planning committee which will be charged in late November. This will be the 11th consecutive year for this exciting event.

The University will be in session on Thursday, May 19, and University Park Libraries will be open for business. We again will be counting on supervisors and managers to commit to minimal staffing at service points to allow staff to participate as fully as possible.

To volunteer to be a member of the planning committee, please contact Ann Snowman, ams32@psu.edu, by November 20.

Craft Sale to be held Dec. 2

The University Libraries United Way Committee will be holding its Fall/ Holiday Arts and Craft Sale on Wednesday, December 2, from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the Mann Assembly Room.

Please Save the Date and plan to attend.

We are currently accepting donations of art and handmade items, including knitting, crochet, needlework, jewelry, photography, painting, woodwork.
We are also accepting supplies like yarn, fabric, beads, etc.

Donations can be given to Amy Miller (arm107) in Common Services, 107 Pattee Library.

New this year: We want to recognize you and the amazing crafts you make: We have so many great crafters in the library and we alway get so many beautiful and amazing things. Thank you to everyone who has donated in the past and to those of you who will donate this year. However so many times we get anonymous donations and can’t give you the recogniton you deserve.

If you are donating arts and craft items to the sale this year, please attach a business card or include your name and contact information along with your donations. If you have a crafting business, we’d like to recognize your work and give you some free advertising. We’d be happy to put some business cards alongside your donated items. If you just do it for fun, we’d still like people to be able to know what you made! (If you would prefer to remain anonymous, you can). All proceeds benefit the Centre County United Way. — Amy Miller

Databases landing page A/B testing

by Alex T. Brown, web analytics specialist and Web Implementation Management Team (WIMT) member

The Databases landing page was the third most accessed page on the website during AY14/15, with close to 375,000 pageviews. The average amount of time spent on this page is 5 minutes and 16 seconds. As the main purpose of the Databases page is to connect users to the database they are looking for, the lengthy average page time indicates that this page is not simplifying the process for our Library users!

A/B testing on the Databases landing page will be aimed at maximizing efficiency of the page and streamlining the ability of users to find the database they are looking for. Our A/B test will deliver a more efficient version of the page with both the databases search and the LionSearch forms on the right hand side and more of the databases A-Z list showing. This is a minor change, but if we are able to streamline the process and connect users more quickly with their desired database, user satisfaction and database usage will increase.

** Note from WIMT: Did you miss the website Content Strategy presentation last week? Watch it now on MediaSite Live. **

Meeting Minutes: Latest IT strategies meeting

https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/groups/itstrat/intranet/itstrat101315.html

Library News: Nov. 9

Events: Nov. 9

Tues., Nov. 10, 7 p.m.: Special panel discussion featuring distinguished veterans of the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. The speakers will share stories and experiences of their World War II combat service and base life overseas. This event is free and open to the public.

Wed., Nov. 11, noon to 1 p.m.: Pacific Perspectives: Music and Dance of Hawaii and Aotearoa (New Zealand), Foster Aud. This seminar will provide two different perspectives on the roles of music and dance in Hawaiian and Maori cultures. One perspective will focus on autoethnography as a means for exploring an unfamiliar culture. The other will describe how music and dance are catalysts for writing and re-righting the indigenous perspective.The seminar presenters will conduct a participatory tutorial on the Hawaiian Hula and the Maori Haka in Mann Assembly Room following their seminar. Everyone is invited to take part in this unique indigenous knowledge experience.

Nov. 11, 5:30 p.m.: Mortgages: The Financial Process of Owning a Home, Mann Assembly Room. Buying a house is one of the most important financial decisions you would have to make in your life, and you cannot afford to be pushed into it before you fully understand the financial process of owning a home. In this workshop, Penn State’s Financial Literacy Manager, Dr. Daad Rizk will help you understand how to budget for the cost, calculate your mortgage amortization schedule, improve your chances of getting a mortgage, find a monthly payment you can afford, and more.

Wed., Nov. 11, 6:30–7:30 p.m.: Poetry Without Borders,” Foster Aud. This student-run event features readings of poetry from and about different cultures, and is sponsored by several units in the College of the Liberal Arts, including the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, the School of Languages and Literatures, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Center for Global Studies, the Center for Language Science and the Woskob Family Endowment in Ukrainian Studies.

Nov. 13, 9 a.m.: Web migration forum: Focus on content strategy. Foster Aud. and MediaSite Live.

Monday, Nov. 16, noon: Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Panel presentation on “Higher Education Systems in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Mexico, & Pakistan,” Foster.

Mon., Nov. 16, 1-2:30 p.m.: Mapping Applications: Getting to know SimplyMap, PolicyMap, and Social Explorer, 302, Paterno Library, and online at https://meeting.psu.edu/ssltraining/

Mon., Nov. 16, 8 p.m.: 4 under 30 panel. A GEW event. Join four recent Penn State alumni to hear of their successes and challenges in developing their start-ups.

Save the date: Dean’s Diversity Forum, presented by Marcus A. Whitehurst, vice provost for Educational Equity, Thurs., Dec. 10, 2:00–3:00 p.m., Foster Auditorium and Media Site Live.

New Box user interface changes rolling out

by Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

Box will soon release some improvements to the Box web application. The experience has a new look and feel, is more intuitive and includes performance improvements such as increased speed of use. The changes are mainly design focused, with only minor functionality updates.

Box will also release for the first time ever, an in-product user tour to help Box users navigate through the experience. You will start to see a notification in the bottom right corner of your Box experience (in the browser) that will invite you to use the Box Tour Guide to learn more about the product. If you want to go through the tour, simply click to continue. You can also click ‘Not now’ to hide the notification and not start the tour.

The goal of these improvements is to ensure users are as productive and efficient as possible while having a high quality experience with Box. To see more of the changes, please review the following PowerPoint in Box: Box user interface changes.

Green Committee update

The Green Committee’s listserv has changed to ul-green@lists.psu.edu. Please send your recycling questions to this new email, thank you!

LHR News: Nov. 9

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Part-time:
Jessica Montanti – Penn State Press

Upcoming Holidays:

Thanksgiving Day
The Thanksgiving holiday will be on Thursday, November 26. The University is also closed on Friday, November 27, and this day is considered an Official Campus Closure.

Human Resources Guideline HRG10, “Handling ‘Weather Day’ Absences or Official University Closedowns Due to Weather Conditions,” provides the needed guidance for staff and technical-service employees. Therefore, in general, the following will apply:

Employees who normally work Fridays and are not required to work, including wage payroll employees who are eligible for earned time, will receive pay for the day as if they had worked. Employees who had previously scheduled a vacation day or other paid time off will not have such time charged.
Employees who are required to work Thanksgiving Friday, including wage payroll employees who are eligible for earned time, will receive time off equivalent to the number of hours worked.
Full-time staff and technical-service employees whose regular day off falls on Thanksgiving Friday will receive an additional day of equivalent time off to be scheduled at another time mutually agreeable to the employee and the supervisor. Although this represents an expansion of the benefit provided for in the guideline, it is in keeping with the intention of the provision of this unique benefit.

LHR Note: Full time employees who usually work Fridays should mark this time as “Official Campus Closure” in ESSIC. Employees whose normal day off is Friday will add the equivalent time in “Campus Closure Compensatory hours earned,” found on the Paid Time Off Earned page, during the submit process at the end of the month. Compensatory time balances must be used prior to vacation.

December/January Holidays

This year, December 25 will fall on a Friday, as will January 1, 2016. The official University holiday period begins Thursday, December 24 and ends Friday, January 1. Weekdays during that period are official University holidays.

The University will be closed from the end of normal operations on Wednesday, December 23, and will reopen on Monday, January 4.

Full-time employees who are asked to work on an official University holiday must be given compensatory time and/or additional compensation according to the Holidays section of HR-34. Part-time employees with Earned Time status who are required to work would be paid time and a half for working on a holiday. Supervisors should carefully plan and budget for the staff needed for minimum coverage on these dates, and employees may only work if required.

ESSIC Attendance Record Instructions for Official University Holidays:

For an employee who normally works on the day a holiday falls, who is not required to work: Select “Holiday” from the list of reasons. If an employee normally works more than his/her allowed holiday time (e.g. a 75% HR-88 employee who has a prorated 6-hour holiday, but his/her shift during this time period would normally be 8 hours), he/she should account for the remaining hours that day with vacation time, or must make arrangements to make up the remaining time during that same work week.
For an employee who is required to work on an official University holiday: If non-exempt, mark the actual hours worked (exempt employees mark nothing). Then, when submitting the attendance record at the end of the month, add the compensatory time earned in “Holiday Compensatory Time Earned” on the Paid Time Off Earned page, where vacation is added each month. As a reminder, this time must be used before vacation.
If a holiday falls on an employee’s regularly scheduled day off: The employee should add Holiday Compensatory Time when the record is submitted at the end of the month, according to the instructions in the above scenario.Nothing is marked on the actual holiday.
Employees who have HR-88 positions should follow the guidance outlined in the policy.
For guidance on other scenarios, please contact our office.

Note: Dickinson School of Law Libraries and George T. Harrell Library employees are provided with this information as employees of the University Libraries; however, day-to-day operational practices are guided by their respective Colleges. Dickinson and College of Medicine Library employees should speak to their immediate supervisor or local HR Representative for guidance, as necessary. Conditions of employment for Technical-service employees are further described in the “Agreement between The Pennsylvania State University and Teamsters Local Union No. 8.” Technical-service employees should refer to the Agreement for information related to the above topics.

Recent update of E-ZBorrow links ebooks back to The CAT

By Barbara Coopey, assistant head, Access Services

The recent E-ZBorrow upgrade brought an enhancement to E-ZBorrow searching. Now users have immediate access to Penn State ebooks from E-ZBorrow (and Uborrow as well).

Ebooks are identified in E-ZBorrow by an “e” in the results list.

click image to enlarge

With the new version, when a user selects the ebook record and Penn State is listed as owning the book, a new option appears. There is a link, “View in the PSU Catalog” that takes the user to The CAT record which then has the link to the ebook.

Before the upgrade, the user would have been presented with a “Request” link to ILLiad. Users will still see the request link if E-ZBorrow does not show that Penn State Libraries has the ebook.

However, not all of Penn State ebooks will be in E-ZBorrow since E-ZBorrow is pulling holdings from The CAT. E-ZBorrow does not interface with LionSearch where many of our ebooks are located.

Both E-ZBorrow and Uborrow are located on the Interlibrary Loan page at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/ill.html.

‘Getting to Know You’: Peggy Tromm

by Barbara Kopshina, DuBois Campus Library

Many reading this profile will recognize Peggy Tromm’s name from the numerous library committees she has served on over the years. Peggy has worked at Penn State Altoona’s Eiche Library for 31 years and is currently a library supervisor-manager. Originally from Cresson, Peggy attended Penn State Altoona as an undergraduate and received an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science and went on to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts. She started out working at the book store on campus and applied for a job at the library. The rest, as they say, is history!

Peggy serves on a number of committees including Access Services Council and many of its subgroups, CCL SAT, and she is the current chair of the Sirsi Expert Team. She supervises four full time staff members and between 15 and 20 part-time employees. Peggy’s favorite thing about working at Penn State is the friendly atmosphere and the amazing students, faculty, and staff she has had the pleasure of working with and assisting over the years.

What a cutie! Peggy’s cocker spaniel, Zoey.

In her spare time, Peggy enjoys exercising and being outdoors. She walks and jogs a total of six miles a day and loves hiking and kayaking. She has a green thumb and is an avid gardener. Peggy and her husband own a cocker spaniel named Zoey, who they adopted from a cocker spaniel rescue shelter in Baltimore, Maryland called “Oldies But Goodies.”

100 Digital Discoveries: new post

The 100 Digital Discoveries blog has a new post, http://sites.psu.edu/100digidisc/2015/11/05/penn-state-froth/, written by former Diversity Resident Librarian, Rachel McCaskill (formerly Rachel Smith).

Library News: Nov. 2

Events: Nov. 2

Mon., Nov. 9,noon: Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Panel presentation on Millennium Development Goals in Algeria, Belize, & Pakistan, Foster Auditorium

Nov. 13, 9 a.m.: Web migration forum: Focus on content strategy. Foster Aud. and MediaSite Live.

Monday, Nov. 16, noon: Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Panel presentation on “Higher Education Systems in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Mexico, & Pakistan,” Foster.

Mon., Nov. 16, 1-2:30 p.m.: Mapping Applications: Getting to know SimplyMap, PolicyMap, and Social Explorer, 302, Paterno Library, and online at https://meeting.psu.edu/ssltraining/

Mon., Nov. 16: Free Data!…Courtesy of Uncle Sam, 302 Paterno Library. Time TBA. GEW event. Librarian Jeff Knapp will introduce participants to methods for finding free demographic statistics and data that can help entrepreneurs locate their potential customers. Registration max is 34.

Wed., Nov. 18, Standards & Tech Reports for Inventors 302 Paterno Library, time TBA. GEW event. Learn what standards are and how they can aid you in developing a product that meets industry specifications. Also learn about technical reports and how they provide guidance for technical literature searching for patent applications. Presented by librarian Angela Davis. Registration max is 34.

Save the date: Dean’s Diversity Forum, presented by Marcus A. Whitehurst, vice provost for Educational Equity, Thurs., Dec. 10, 2:00–3:00 p.m., Foster Auditorium and Media Site Live.