Daily Archives: December 12, 2016

Findings from the Ithaka Survey of Undergraduates

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, the Library Assessment Department held a forum to present the findings from the Ithaka Survey of Undergraduates conducted this past spring. This was a long survey asking students to respond to approximately 200 questions.

Our analysis looked at demographic characteristics to learn more about differences across sub-populations. One finding in particular, that no difference was found in terms of sense of belonging between international and domestic students, will be used as a seed for an assessment slated to be conducted in the spring.

The presentation is linked on the Ithaka Survey Intranet page along with the data, and other products resulting from the study. Findings from the study relate to major, ethnicity and first-generation status among other demographic characteristics.

Overall findings suggest that undergraduates:

Overwhelmingly value our services and facilities
Visit our facilities frequently and stay for long periods of time
Feel a sense of belonging when in our libraries and are motivated to be productive while there

Results relating to specific populations:

First-generation students:

Report a stronger sense of belonging than other students
Find librarians and core library services more useful than other students
Know where to ask for help on questions relating to resources for their coursework

Minority students (African Americans & Hispanic/Latino):

Report a stronger sense of belonging than White students
Find librarians and core services more useful than White students

International students:

No difference found in terms of sense of belonging compared to domestic students
Have more difficulty accessing resources for their coursework and research
World Campus students who have attended a library instruction session are more likely to agree that librarians help them develop research skills

Library Assessment is happy to work with units with specific questions about the data.

– submitted by Steve Borrelli, Library Assessment

EMS… UCS… CollegeNet… 25Live… Oh My!

CollegeNET is a company that creates scheduling solutions. One of the current CollegeNET scheduling solutions is 25Live, which Penn State began using for academic scheduling for the fall 2016 semester. The implementation of 25Live for other scheduling needs on campus began during the fall 2016 semester. These terms are being used interchangeably around campus. Not all locations are using 25Live at this time, but the entire University is working toward 25Live as a scheduling solution.

What does this mean for the library? How does it impact you and your work?

The Libraries have four categories of room scheduling: student group study rooms, instruction rooms, event spaces and meeting rooms. There are currently three systems being used to schedule the spaces within the library: Event Management System (EMS), University Collaboration Suite (UCS) and 25Live.

The student group study rooms are currently scheduled with EMS. The EMS solution is being used at service desks at University Park and at several campus locations. At University Park and Berks, library users are able to book rooms on their own as well as ask for group study room reservations at service desk locations. The Libraries will continue to use EMS as a scheduling solution for the group study rooms through the spring 2017 semester.

There are some features that EMS provides that 25Live is unable to provide at this time. One of those features is the ability to control the length of time library users are able to make reservations. (See the Group Study Room Policy for additional information.) From time to time, we encounter library users who say that they have requested a space in 25Live. It is not possible for library users to request library space in 25Live at this time. Library users with
questions about reserving library spaces can email UL-ROOMRESERV@lists.psu.edu.

Libraries instruction spaces are primarily being managed in UCS. However, as mentioned by Rebecca Peterson in earlier Library News Blog articles, there are two instruction spaces within the library that are being scheduled using 25Live: those rooms are 302 Paterno and 211 Davey. These two spaces have academic classes scheduled in them throughout the semester. If you have questions for these spaces, reach out to Rebecca Peterson (rmr28@psu.edu) or Rebecca Miller (rkm17@psu.edu).

Events and meetings are also still being managed in UCS. The Event Scheduling Office has been working with ITS to have UCS synced with CollegeNET. Until we are able to sync UCS with CollegeNET, the Libraries will continue to use UCS to manage the event and meeting spaces. If you are looking to reserve other spaces at Penn State, you may encounter different scheduling solutions.

Additional information for 25Live can be found at http://www.registrar.psu.edu/collegenet/.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Ann Thompson at alt6@psu.edu.

– submitted by Ann Thompson, Information Resources and Services

Swimming with the fiches: A “lost” collection rediscovered

Photo by Engineering Librarian Angela Davis.

A dark corner of the Engineering Library houses four unmarked
cabinets of microfiche. For more than forty years, the only access provided to the collection was via a single collection-level record in the catalog for the “IAA Papers”—a
cryptic title that barely hinted at the extent (nearly 60,000 unique titles)
and richness (highly specialized aeronautics texts in more than 20 languages) of the collection.

Thanks to Engineering Librarian
Angela Davis and her colleagues, working in collaboration with the Bibload Working Group, the IAA Papers have now been cataloged. A “Begins With/Title” search in The CAT of “IAA Papers” will retrieve the 59,973 records.

The MARC records were created based on spreadsheets containing metadata gathered by Angela and then transformed into MARC by the Bibload Working Group.

The IAA Papers are a collection of full-text journal articles, conference papers, monographs and theses from mostly Soviet Bloc scientists and engineers originally published between 1966 and 1973. A majority of the papers are in English or Russian, but nearly two dozen other languages are also represented. The Libraries acquired the fiche in the late 1960s and early 1970s at considerable cost: adjusting for inflation, the fiche cost somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 in 2016 dollars!

One programmatic area of the Libraries’ current strategic plan, Discovery, Access, and Preservation, includes the goal to “describe and digitize unique collections.” The IAA Papers are almost certainly unique: no other library is known to hold this collection. The project to catalog them thus serves the second goal of the same programmatic area, to “improve access for future generations through stewardship of collections and resources.”

– submitted by Jeff Edmunds, Cataloging and Metadata Services Digital Access Team

Fall blog series: Tales from Eric Novotny, a new (virtually) embedded librarian

For this week’s library news blog, Eric Novotny, history librarian, writes about his experiences as a new embedded librarian preparing for an upcoming online course. Even though he had worked with the professor previously on the course material, this was a first-time experience for both individuals and addresses the processes and current and future resources.

by Eric Novotny, history librarian

Season’s greetings! I am penning this missive in the hopes of reaching others, like me, who are new to supporting a World Campus class. I was recently asked to collaborate on an advanced level History/Jewish Studies course taught by Tobias Brinkmann. My experiences to date suggest that this will be a rewarding activity, for myself, the instructor and the students.

How do I Begin?
While I had worked with Dr. Brinkmann for years on his Holocaust course, neither of us had much experience with designing content for online courses. Fortunately this is not a solo journey and wonderful support is available. To start I met with Victoria Raish, the Online Learning librarian. Victoria shared some stimulating ideas on best practices for teaching online and helped connect me with Jennifer Grey, instructional designer, Filippelli Institute for e-Education and Outreach. Together with Dr. Brinkmann we brainstormed ideas and talked through how the traditional library support I provided for a resident course could be replicated and even enhanced in an online environment.

Rethinking Instruction
One of the exciting aspects of the World Campus experience is how it has expanded the possibilities for reaching students. In the Holocaust class previously offered, I was invited in for a single session with follow-up consultations as requested by the students. As an embedded librarian I will have multiple opportunities for student engagement. We have discussed hosting virtual library study hours at different times to interact with students across time zones. We are also exploring videos and brief tutorials that can be integrated throughout the syllabus, so students would view the content when it is most directly relevant to the course objectives.

What We’ve (actually) Done So Far
To date my work has largely involved preparation and imagination as the class is not yet live. The major concrete activity has been the recording of a brief introductory video which could not have been easier—all I had to do was show up. Stephen Tuttle, multimedia specialist with the Filippelli Institute picked a location, brought the necessary lighting and audio, and walked us through the process. I share the video not because it is a groundbreaking masterpiece, but as a demonstration of what can be (easily) accomplished. Ideally, future instructional resources will include interactive elements for both engagement and to evaluate reception.

HIST 426 Library Videos
The first video we created for this course, “Welcome to the Library,” can be viewed here. By selecting the playlist icon in the upper right corner of this video, you can see the additional videos available including, “Books and Journals,” “Personal Accounts” and “Historical Newspapers.”

After the shoot was concluded, Stephen continued to support the course. He and I worked together to identify and integrate additional images such as screenshots of specific databases being discussed (see for example images from the New York Times at 0:26 mark of the Holocaust: Media and Historical Newspapers video). This added some variety to the visuals and broke up the “talking heads” monotony. Aside from discomfort watching myself on screen, I can say I am pleased with the results.

Challenges
I hope I have conveyed my enthusiasm for this effort. Everyone involved has been generous with their time, expertise and ideas. That said, I do ruminate on the scaleability of this rather intensive approach. Rethinking instruction is invigorating, but also time-consuming. For now the time commitment has not been overwhelming and I believe it is a worthwhile investment to foster skills that should see greater demand going forward. While I may not be able to provide such ambitious support for hundreds of classes, I anticipate that routines and shortcuts will emerge over time as I gain experience delivering content to distant audiences. I look forward to it!

Save the Date: Tech Update Dec. 14

The next Tech Update is scheduled for 1:30-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14 in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. For those who cannot participate in person, please join us via Mediasite Live.

The agenda for this Tech Update includes these presentations:

Trello Basics – Task and Project Management for Individuals and Groups – Ann Passmore and Andrew Gearhart
Canvas integration with Guides and Reserves – Chris Holobar and Amanda Clossen
Workstation Backups – Michelle Dzyak
Service Now update – Michelle Dzyak

Save the Date: Internet privacy and security workshop Jan. 5

We live much of our lives online and enjoy the convenience of shopping, banking, paying bills, communication (via email or social media), entertainment, and work. This also makes it convenient for people, corporations, and governments who want to learn more about you by text mining your email, tracking your behavior online, or who want to access your accounts for nefarious purposes. The Internet makes us more connected, and that connectivity makes us more vulnerable. However, being vulnerable does not have to mean being powerless.

From 3-4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 5 in W23 Pattee Library, Karen Estlund and John Russell will lead a workshop to show simple steps anyone can take to protect themselves when using online services. Please RSVP at https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6r2a3xhy8r6stwN for this one-hour session where you will learn about:

Password managers
Securing your personal email accounts
Private Internet browsing
Private email and chat communication using encryption

You will leave this workshop with a solid overview of privacy and security basics that you can implement them in your own life, help family and friends, and share with the Penn State community.

This workshop will be set up to enable remote attendance via Zoom. It will also be hands on, so bring your mobile phones and laptops!

Green Tip: It’s time to GREEN your holidays!

by Earl Houser for the University Libraries Green Team

December is here, which means winter break and the holiday season will soon be upon us. For many, the holidays are a time spent with family and friends. This is also a time for office parties at work and social gatherings. Unfortunately, the holidays can also be a time when we create too much waste.

Consider these statistics:

Americans throw away about 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.
If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in reused materials, it would save enough to cover 45,000 football fields.
About 35% of Americans have an unused present collecting dust in their closets.

Here are a few tips to help make your office or home gathering more “Green”:

Celebrating:

Serve food with washable utensils, plates, and glasses rather than disposable items.
Research sustainable food choices in your area and buy locally if possible.
Buy snacks and beverages in bulk to avoid extra packaging.
Consider dropping off extra food at a food bank or homeless shelter. Be
sure to call ahead to find out what your local organization will accept.

Decorating:

Choose high-efficiency, long-lasting LED lights for decorating. Bring the outside in by decorating with natural materials, like pinecones and discarded evergreen branches from the outdoors.
If you are buying a live tree, look for one that is grown locally to minimize the emissions associated with long-distance transportation. Also, look for a post-holiday tree mulching program in your area.

Gifting:

Instead of wrapping paper, make the packaging part of the gift with decorative boxes, baskets, or gift bags which are easy to reuse.
Give children gifts that inspire curiosity about the natural world such as an ant/butterfly farm, science kit, a kite, or a tree that you can plant together.

Some of these suggestions can be used year round and adapted for any type of gathering such as birthdays or other celebrations!

Finally, everyone should remember that when leaving for the winter break it is very important to follow the usual “Green” practices of turning off lights and shutting off printers and other peripherals. When you save energy and resources, you protect the environment both now and for the future!

The Libraries’ Green Team wishes everyone a fun-filled winter break and holiday time!

Developing a customer-focused attitude

It is critical to evaluate the effectiveness of our customer service skills. Not only do we deal with the external customer, but we also spend time interacting with internal customers, our coworkers. From 2-3 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 4, Kathy Gates-Moore will present a workshop to help individuals develop a customer-focused attitude in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, and on Mediasite Live.

This workshop includes a self-test, which helps participants recognize their strengths and weaknesses in this area. Other topics include dealing with angry or difficult customers, diffusing a difficult situation and “five foundations for a successful customer interaction,” which helps participants recognize opportunities for improving customer service and retention.

– submitted by Carmen Gass, User Services Training

We wrote the night away: Recap of our first International Write-In event

On Dec. 4, the University Libraries hosted about 30 undergraduate and graduate students who participated in our first International Write-In at University Park. For four hours, students committed to working on writing, digging into assignments, and trying to finish off papers and articles before the end of the semester. Staged in the Mann Assembly Room, this event was planned in collaboration with the Learning Center and the Graduate Writing Center. With snacks, coffee, tea, writing consultants, and librarians, we were able to provide support and another productive space for our students.

We plan on hosting this event in the spring and due to the success of this event, we are seeking to extend the time, and, perhaps target certain student groups to support their end of semester writing endeavors.

To see photos from the Write-In, see our Storify with social media posts from the event.

We’d like to send a big thanks to Nathan Valchar and Carmen Gass for their help in promoting the event as well as Joe Fennewald, Rebecca Miller, Rebecca Peterson, Megan Gilpin, Len White, Paul Burnell, Jose Guerrero, and the News and Microforms Library Sunday staff for making sure our quiet space was clear for our writers for their support and help in setting up and run the event. We couldn’t have done it without you!

– submitted by Hailley Fargo and Alia Gant, library representatives, International Write-In Committee

The Big Book of 350 One-on-One Meeting Questions

One-on-one meetings are a critical component to the performance game. In fact, 55 percent of highly engaged organizations said employees are expected to have one-on-ones monthly or quarterly. These conversations are used as communication and development tools in the workplace… and they’re used a lot. While incredibly effective, one-on-one meetings can be intimidating. You might not know what to discuss, or you might be overwhelmed with too many topics to discuss.

This ebook, “The Big Book of 250 One-on-One Meeting Questions,” is a bank of 350 one-on-one meeting questions to help you have more effective and meaningful conversations. Plus, they’re categorized into the most common workplace topics, including:

Career Growth and Development
Feeling Valued
Goals and Goal Alignment
Job Performance
Work-Life Balance
….and more!

– submitted by Carmen Gass, User Training Services

Tech Tip: Viewing your tickets in Service Now

by Ryan Johnson, I-Tech

A new servicedesk system for IT and Facilities launched last week called Service Now. Many of the changes only affect our IT Staff, however, you will notice a couple changes:

First, a newer webform will appear when you submit a IT or Facilities request.

Please include as much information as possible in the “What are the details of your issue?” field including a description of your issue, the IP address if applicable and the email address of anyone else you would like to be included on the ticket.

You will be able to respond to any email notifications you receive and your reply will get routed to I-Tech and Facilities staff as normal.

After filling out the form, you will receive an email that will appear slightly different such as the one below:

A new feature in Service Now is the ability to review your ticket in the system itself.

You can either respond to the email with any additional information as you have in the past, or you can click on the Record number in the email.

After authenticating with your Penn State credentials, ServiceNow will open and display your ticket for you in the Interface below:

At this time, you can review your ticket activity or add additional comments to your ticket. If you add anything, make sure you click Update, in the upper right-hand corner to submit your changes.

If you don’t have the email, you can also go to https://pennstate.service-now.com/help_portal/ and click on the My Service Requests button.

This will display all your tickets that have been opened, including any tickets from OVPIT (Formerly ITS).

Events: Dec. 12

Fall 2016

Sunday-Tuesday, Dec. 11-13: DeStress Fest, 3-8 p.m., University Park library locations.

Monday, Dec. 12 through Friday, August 30, 2017: “100 Years of the Pulitzers: Celebrating Our Humanity,” exhibit, Arts and Humanities Library operating hours, Diversity Studies Room, 203 Patee Library, University Park.

Monday-Friday, Dec. 12-16: Final exams.

Wednesday, Dec. 14: Tech Update, by Libraries I-Tech staff, 1:30-2:30 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, and Mediasite Live.

Thursday, Dec. 15: Coffee with Carmen, with special guest Steven Herb speaking about storytelling, noon-1 p.m., Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library.

Saturday, Dec. 17: Fall Commencement, University Park and several Commonwealth Campus locations.

Wednesday, Dec. 21: Space planning brown bag session, Libraries’ Space Steering Committee open discussion and Q & A, noon-1 p.m., 510A Paterno Library, University Park.

Spring 2017

Wednesday, Jan. 4: “Developing a customer service-focused attitude,” presentation by Kathy Gates-Moore, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park, and Mediasite Live.

Thursday, Jan. 5: Adult CPR/AED training, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, University Park. Contact Len White at lmw6@psu.edu to register.

Thursday, Jan. 5: Internet privacy and security workshop, presentation by Karen Estlund and John Russell, 3-4 p.m., W23 Pattee Library, University Park and via Zoom.

Monday, Jan. 9 through Friday, May 5: “From the Trenches: The Great War in Sepia” exhibit, spring semester hours, Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, University Park.

Monday, Jan. 9: First day of spring classes.

Monday, January 16 through Friday, May 5: “Research Wrapped in Aesthetics: The Air Wall,” documentary exhibit, spring operating hours, Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library, 111 Stuckeman Family Building, University Park.

Tuesday, Jan. 17: Dean’s Diversity Forum, with Moses Davis, 1:30 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park and Mediasite Live.

Wednesday, Jan. 18: “Studying African Indigenous Knowledge for Improved Health and Biodiversity,” with Abderrahim Ouarghidi and Bronwen Powell, 3-4 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park.

Wednesday, Jan. 25: M.G. Whiting Award Winner presentation, with Annie Marcinek, noon-1 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park.

Wednesday, Jan. 25: “The Politics of Struggle: The National Council of Indigenous Peoples in Mexico,“ 4-5 p.m., presentation by Maria Muñoz, Susquehanna University, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park.

Thursday, Jan. 26: TEAM Library, 2-3:30 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library & Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, University Park.

Friday, Jan. 27: Coffee with Carmen: Diversity Component, noon-1 p.m., with speakers Alia Gant, Jose Guerrero and Athena Jackson, Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, University Park.

Monday, Jan. 30: Dean’s Forum, 10 a.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park and Mediasite Live.

Wednesday, Feb. 1: M.G. Whiting Award Winner presentation, with Nari Senanayaki, 1-2 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park.

Wednesday, Feb. 15: Human Library, 1-7 p.m., multiple locations at University Park.

Thursday, Feb. 23: TEAM Library, 2-3:30 p.m., with Moses Davis, Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, University Park.

Saturday, Feb. 25: One-day workshop on Indigenous Knowledge, with Abderrahim Ouarghidi and Bronwen Powell, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park. RSVP to Mark Mattson at mam1196@psu.edu.

Sunday-Saturday, March 5-11: Spring break, no classes.

Thursday, March 23: TEAM Library, 2-3:30 p.m., Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, University Park.

Friday-Saturday, April 7-8: “Boundaries of the Human in the Age of the Life Sciences,” 4-5 p.m., with speaker Scott Gilbert, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, University Park.

Friday, April 28: Last day of spring classes.

Sunday-Tuesday, April 30-May 2: DeStress Fest.

Monday-Friday, May 1-5: Final exams.

Friday-Sunday, May 5-7: Spring commencement weekend, most campuses.

Please submit event information to Public Relations and Marketing via the Library News submission form.