By: Tara LaLonde

Base map layers are common reference geographic information portrayed in many print and digital mapping projects (e.g. elevation, transportation networks, political boundaries, populated places etc.). Patrons often come (in person and virtually) to the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information looking for base map information for current and historical time-periods. Library staff now have a new resource for recommending good base map layers for the state over the past 200 years – the Pennsylvania historic base map layers table.

The PSU historic base map project was conceived as an effort to explore the library’s physical and electronic collections of geographic information. The project was inspired by the Pennsylvania Geospatial Coordinating Board’s effort to implement authoritative modern base map layers for Pennsylvania. The coordinating board identified specific “themes” for categorizing map layers, such as transportation and hydrography. Similar thematic divisions to categorize base maps in the Pennsylvania historic base map layers.

Thematic categories are:

• Geographic Names
• Landmarks
• Transportation
• Hydrography
• Municipal Boundaries
• Land Ownership
• Elevation
• Land Use & Land Cover
• Remote sensing

Maps included in the table were judged by staff to be the best available examples of their category for a 10-year period (for maps published between 1900 and the present) or for a 50-year period (for maps published between 1800 and 1899). The results of the project identify both existing library holdings of historic base map information as well as serving as a guide for future collection development of missing historic base map information for Pennsylvania.

For more information on the process of reviewing content for inclusion in this project, check out our project page.

By: Rachael Dreyer

Are you working on a research project using archives or Special Collections materials? Are you thinking about using archives or Special Collections in your research? Yes? Excellent! Join us for
our next Research Coffee Hour on June 27 from 10am to 11am in the Mann Assembly Room (Room 103), on the first floor of the Paterno Library.

We’ll get things rolling with a brief lightning talk that will give you tips and tricks for expanding your search for material that is relevant to your research topics. You’ll learn how to read a finding aid for helpful research clues, and how to continue your research beyond Penn State’s Special Collections Library.

Continue the discussion as you share your research challenges and gain ideas from others and learn more about the collections and research assistance available in the Special Collections Library. Participants will also have the option to engage in research consultations with members of the Research Services Team; if you would like to take advantage of brief research consultations immediately following the event, please register here: https://tinyurl.com/y9dh7q74.

This event is open to all Penn State students, faculty, staff, and community members. We look forward to seeing you there!

By: Tara LaLonde

Two new Garmin GPSMap 64st units are now available to check out from the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information. These GPS units have some enhanced features compared to the old GPS units. The three older Garmin Oregon 450 GPS units will remain available for circulation. Each GPS unit is available to borrow for 7 days.

Garmin GPSMap 64st unit, holder, computer cable, and manual. (Photo by Heather Ross)

Additional information on these Garmin GPSMap 64st GPS units are on the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information Libguide on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) guide.

A highlight of some enhanced features of these GPSMap St units include preloaded TOPO U.S. 100K maps and a 1-year BirdsEye satellite imagery subscription. The BirdsEye satellite imagery is accessed through the Garmin BaseCamp software, which is available on public computers within the Center for Maps and Geospatial Information. Another enhanced feature of the new units is that they can access GLONASS (Russia’s counterpart to the United States’ GPS system), which significantly improves their performance relative to older units.

Garmin GPSMap 64st unit with imagery and track. (Photo by Tara LaLonde) 

BY: Ann Snowman

When browsing the CAT we sometimes run across an item with a non-library location, for example, “Leave the light on : a memoir of recovery and self-discovery” by Jennifer Storm, located in Boucke. These items are held by Associate or Affiliate Libraries at University Park. These highly focused collections are not University Libraries’ collections per se, but are
maintained by the various University departments and organizations that house them. University Libraries catalogs them and includes them in our catalog to make them discoverable.

Training Bulletin #45 provides an explanation of these materials and how to gain access to them. The term XTernal comes from a note field in the Workflows record that describes the item as something other than a University Libraries holding.

Link to Access Services Training Bulletins:
https://staff.libraries.psu.edu/access-services-council/training-bulletins-numerical

Summer 2018
Academic calendar information for all campuses is available online.

Jan. 16–Aug. 26, “What Big Eyes You Have! Looking at the Wolf in Fairy Tales”exhibition, Eberly Family Special Collections Library Exhibition Room, 104 Paterno Library.

Feb. 18-Aug. 13, “Depth of Field” exhibit, Diversity Studies Room, 203 Pattee Library, seeks to highlight the intersections of war in the Middle East with the history of war photograph

Mar. 27-July 31, “1968: Student Activism at Penn State and Beyond” exhibit, Highlighting archival documents, photographs, and books from The Eberly Family Special Collections, this exhibit ties into a College of the Liberal Arts project titled Moments of Change: Remembering ‘68. Learn more about this project at 1968.psu.edu. Barbara Hackman Atrium, Pattee Library.

Please submit event information — and all Library News submissions — to Public Relations and Marketing via the Library News submission form. *Please note: The content submissions process may be changing soon; please stay tuned for updates.*