Daily Archives: February 1, 2016

Exhibit features educational toys, games, movable books

“Playing to Learn, Learning as Play: 17th- to 19th-century ‘Play-things’ for Children” is a new exhibition on display through June 3 in the Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, on Penn State’s University Park campus. The exhibition features dozens of 17th- to 19th-century children’s ‘play-things’ — including toys, games and books once owned by busy, active children.  A complementary website, Learning as Play, is at http://sites.psu.edu/play.

Read the full story on Penn State News.

masquerade blocks - vertical

Masquerade blocks — photo by Jill Shockey

Exhibit highlights history of student life, involvement on campus

“We are … Involved and Engaged!” is a new exhibition on display through May 2016 in the Hintz Family Alumni Center on Penn State’s University Park campus. Featuring dozens of images from the Penn State University Archives, the exhibition spotlights life as a Penn State student over the past 150 years — a brief panoply of the extracurricular activities available to students within Pennsylvania’s land-grant university. Read the full story on Penn State News.

students Lion atop Old Main bell tower

Image: Penn State University Archives

Events: Feb. 1

Tuesday, Feb. 2: The Great Book Move (transportation of books with “Plastic” in the title from the Libraries to the College of Art and Architecture). Details in this post.

Wednesday, Feb. 3, 3 p.m. & 6 p.m.: Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health documentary screening, 403 Paterno Library. Action on Aids: “Fire in the Blood” is a gripping look at corporate greed, government collusion, the cutthroat economics of medicine and healthcare, and the power of ordinary people to make meaningful change on a global scale.

Monday, Feb. 4, 1 p.m. –1:30 p.m.: Short staff training workshop: What the Libraries Can Do for You, Foster Aud. See blog post

Monday, Feb. 4, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.: Art tour at Borland Building. See blog post for details

*** Note: Tuesday, February 9 Tech Update has been cancelled***

Wednesday, Feb. 10, 3 p.m. & 6 p.m.: Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health documentary screening, 403 Paterno Library. The Legacy of War: “The Sore Problem of Prosthetic Limbs” and how David Sengeh, with his MIT Media Lab Team created a comfortable prosthetic limb.
“Out on a Limb” takes us on a trip through an intriguing science that is changing what it means to lose a limb.

Friday, February 12, 5 to 7 p.m.: Library League of Centre County networking event, Mann Assembly Room. This free reception is for all full-time and part-time employees from any library in Centre County, and offers a great opportunity to meet, network and share experiences with local colleagues. Last year, the reception was held in Schlow Library, in downtown State College. This year, the University Libraries will host the event. Light refreshments and wine will be served. To register, please e-mail organizer Ann Snowman, ams32@psu.edu. The Library League of Centre County aims to promote networking among employees from academic, public, school, historical, museum and all other types of libraries in the area.

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 3 p.m. & 6 p.m.: Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health documentary screening, 403 Paterno Library. Preventing Disease: “How We Will Stop Polio for Good” and “VSI: Vaccine Scene Investigation,” which focuses on the importance of vaccinating against diseases such as influenza, pneumococcus, shingles, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 4-5 p.m.: Getting your map project started! 211A Pattee Library. Tara LaLonde will provide an overview of key elements and decision factors for the inclusion of a map or spatial component in a project related to a class assignment, thesis or individual research. Elements discussed will include project planning principles, spatial thinking concepts and more. This session will present items to consider in relation to mapping and working with geospatial data. Faculty and staff should register using the Learning Resource Network (lrn.psu.edu) and students should email datalearning@psu.edu. Also available for remote participation at https://meeting.psu.edu/ul-dlc.

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 3 p.m. & 6 p.m.: Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health documentary screening, 403 Paterno Library. Global Collaboration: “Global Disease Detectives” provides an overview of CDC’s activities worldwide to identify and contain infectious disease threats, confirm their sources, treat the victims, and refine their surveillance.
“Michael Green: How we can make the world a better place by 2030” asks whether we can end hunger and poverty, halt climate change and achieve gender equality in the next 15 years.

We need YOUR ideas!

The Discovery Day 2016 Committee is seeking ideas, suggestions, and volunteers from faculty, staff, and part-timers alike for presentations and poster sessions for Discovery Day, which will be held on Thursday, June 2, 2016.

The survey contains two relevant areas:

1. Teaching/presenting a session and
2. Presenting a poster or infographic

To submit suggestions or volunteer for a session or a poster, please go to: https://surveys.libraries.psu.edu/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=m8KH7793

Everyone is welcome to send in suggestions and we look forward to receiving them. The deadline for responding to the survey is February 12, 2016.

LHR News: Feb. 1

Please join us in welcoming the following new hires:

Full-time:
2/1/16 Rachel White – Information Resources and Services Supervisor/Manager (Supervisor, Lending and Reserves Services)
2/1/16 Kelsey Conn – Information Resources and Services Support Specialist, Fayette Campus Library

Part-time:
Ward Reeder – Annex
Steven Smith – I-Tech
Jean Voigt – Interlibrary Loan Lending
Alina Yarmakovich – Penn State Abington
Joshua Simmons – Peer Educator Intern, William and Joan Schreyer Business Library
Sumil Patel – Peer Educator Intern, William and Joan Schreyer Business Library
Seongha Kim – Welcome Desk, Knowledge Commons

Make that weird character with Windows Character Map

by Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

Ever been typing an e-mail or creating a document and you need to make a character that isn’t on the keyboard? Maybe you want to make the copyright sign, or a subscript 1 on a footnote. Windows Character Map is a good way to create them. To open it up, go to your Start menu and search for charmap or character map.
charmap

Once it’s open, scroll through it, change to many other fonts even. Then just copy and paste. Or look at the bottom of the window for the Alt code.

Each character has its own little code. Hold down your ALT key, type the plus sign on your number pad and then the code for the character. When you release the Alt key, your special character will appear. This works in most Windows-based programs.

computer-desktop-keyboard-alt-number-pad

Faculty news

Binh Le, Penn State Abington Campus librarian, had the following articles accepted for publication:

“Choosing to Lead: Success Characteristics of Asian American Academic Leaders” to be published in Library Management, Vol. 37, No. 1/2 , 2016.

“Leadership Aspirations of Asian Academic Librarians” (invited article) to be published in International Information & Library Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2016.

In addition, Le’s conference proposal “Characteristics of Library Leaders in the 21st Century” has been accepted for presentation at The 8th Shanghai International Library Forum to be held in Shanghai, China, July 2016.