By: Rebecca Peterson

Between construction and the start of fall semester, meeting spaces for internal library work have become a bit scarce in the Pattee Library and Paterno Library building. To help alleviate
the situation, we’d like to share this information about available meeting spaces.

The following meeting spaces can be scheduled through Outlook for internal library meetings:

Paterno 001F I-Tech Conference Room
Paterno 001E I-Tech Meeting Room
Paterno 510A Dean’s Conference Room
Paterno 510 M Small Conference Room

The following seminar room can be scheduled for meetings through Outlook, when not in use for instruction:

Pattee W325 Music Seminar Room

The Music Seminar Room is prioritized for instruction, so your group may be asked to move if your meeting interferes with a class.

Just a reminder, all instruction rooms are prioritized for instruction, so if you use 25Live to schedule a meeting in an instruction room, your group may be asked to move if your meeting
interferes with a class.

If you have any questions about scheduling, feel free to contact Rebecca Peterson at 865-9257 or rmr28@psu.edu.

By: Jessica Showalter

Have you had patrons ask about how the University Libraries supports digital humanities projects?

Recently Penn State Altoona library director Bonnie Imler fielded several such questions from faculty interested in starting digital humanities projects and, in response, she invited John
Russell and Heather Froehlich to speak at the Altoona campus’s Teaching and Learning Conference, held August 15, 2018.

Russell, digital humanities librarian, and Froehlich, literary informatics librarian, presented “Digital Humanities in the Classroom” to an audience of faculty and staff.

Russell introduced digital humanities with a brief survey of several model projects, including two created by Penn State faculty and students. One, “Remembering ’68: Moments of Change,” is an online archive created by a team of University Park liberal arts and history faculty that includes oral histories of alumni, scanned issues of the Collegian, photographs, videos, and audio.

The other, “Cooking in the Archives,” is a public history project co-created by Penn State Abington assistant professor of English Marissa Nicosia that updates recipes from the 1600s-1800s for a modern kitchen.

Froehlich then led the audience through a hands-on demonstration of Voyant, a free web-based text analysis tool. Faculty brainstormed ways that they might incorporate the tool into their
teaching, including using it to identify key words and concepts in texts, to generate vocabulary lists, and to allow students to analyze their own writing.

Both emphasized that even though they are located at University Park, they are happy to collaborate with faculty, staff, and students from across the commonwealth. They can suggest project models, tools, and resources.

If you or your patrons have questions about digital humanities, please reach out to Russell or Froehlich. Also, check out their digital humanities LibGuide, which offers an annotated bibliography, links to tools and tutorials, and a list of related journals, conferences, and
other resources.

By: Matthew Ciszek

Angela Davis

Did you know that the School of Engineering (SOE) at Penn State Behrend is ranked in the Top 50 Undergraduate Schools in Engineering according to “U.S. News and World Report”? And that the SOE is the first engineering school in the U.S. to be co-located with an AACSB accredited school of business? And that it offers the only undergraduate software engineering degree University-wide at Penn State? And that the Plastics Engineering Technology program at Behrend is one of only a handful of such programs in the country and at 10,500 square feet, the plastics processing lab is the largest educational plastics laboratory in the country?

As a result of enrollment growth and additional specializations in the Behrend School of Engineering, it has become increasingly clear that a librarian with a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background would be an excellent addition to Lilley Library. In a fortunate turn of events, Angela Davis, Engineering Liaison Librarian, was interested in joining the library faculty at one of the regional campuses. When Matt Ciszek, library director at the John M. Lilley Library, learned of Angela’s passion for undergraduate education and her desire to participate in reference and instruction in a “generalist” model, it seemed like a perfect opportunity on a number of levels.

Thus, on January 2, 2019, Angela Davis will officially begin her new role as an Engineering Librarian at Penn State Behrend. Angela is a native of nearby Buffalo, NY and is a graduate of the LIS program at the University at Buffalo. She shares (with Matt Ciszek) a love of all things Buffalo (it’s more than just wings!). Angela will complete the Fall 2018 semester at the Engineering Library at University Park and transition to Penn State Behrend for the start of the spring 2019 semester.

On a recent visit to campus Angela had the opportunity to meet the interim director of the School of Engineering while on a campus tour. Matt Ciszek states, “When he heard that she was an engineer, and a librarian, and was interested in joining us at Behrend, his eyes lit up, and I knew she would be an excellent fit for our campus. We look forward to her arrival!”

By: Rebecca Peterson

Library Learning Services is happy to report some upgrades to  W315 Pattee as the room is transitioned into a more flexible space. Anticipate new, mobile furniture in the future. For the
time being, the desktops have been removed and a cart of 40 Chromebooks is now available in W315.

There are instructions on the wall for how to login and connect to the internet on the Chromebooks. The key to unlock the charging cart are in the clear kit inside of the podium. Library staff and faculty who teach in the space are responsible for making sure the Chromebooks are returned, plugged in, and the cart locked at the end of class.

If you have any questions about this space or would like a review of the Chromebooks, don’t hesitate to contact Rebecca Peterson at rmr28@psu.edu or at 865-9257.

By Amy Miller (submitted by Meg Massey)

PALCI/ E-ZBorrow has become a very popular part of our Interlibrary Loan Services here at Penn State, but many patrons and staff have questions about the service.  As Penn State’s     E-ZBorrow Specialist, I wanted to address some of the most common questions we receive about the service.

1. Who can use E-ZBorrow ?

• All current faculty, staff, graduate student, undergraduate student, post-doctoral student, or a retired faculty or staff, including world and distance patrons (as long as they are in the US) with a valid Penn State Access ID card.
• The patron must have a current library account in good standing.

2. Why is it different than ILL?

• E-ZBorrow is a consortium of academic libraries in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia that loan materials to each other.
• It is a smaller more local pool of lenders than ILL (which accesses libraries all over the world).
• E-ZBorrow is directly connected to our circulation system. ILLIAD is an entirely separate system.

3. Why do books that are requested through ILL come through E-ZBorrow ?

 Materials often arrive faster and it is less expensive for the libraries to borrow books from an E-ZBorrow library than to go to a library across the country or even internationally with ILL.

• E-ZBorrow provides current availability for items in the consortium so we know how many copies might be available when the request is made.
• Because of the speed and convenience, ILL staff search the E-ZBorrow system for all ILL requests before going to other libraries.

4. Why do E-ZBorrow items appear on My Library Account and not in ILLIAD?

• E-ZBorrow is connected to the library circulation system. When items come in for our patrons, a PSU barcode is assigned to the item and they are checked out just like Penn State books.

5. How long can patrons keep E-ZBorrow items?

• E-ZBorrow items have a 12 week loan period from the day that the patron checks it out.

6. Why can’t E-ZBorrow items be renewed?

• E-ZBorrow items are not part of the Penn State Collection. The consortium has agreed on a 12 week loan.

7. What if I need more than 12 weeks with an E-ZBorrow item?

• E-ZBorrow items follow the same overdue and fine policies as Penn State books.
• We can’t renew them, but there is a 30 day grace period on the materials.
• If an E-ZBorrow item is marked to lost, the fees are forgiven once it is returned.
• If the patron needs the material for much longer, we recommend making another ILL or E-ZBorrow request for the material.

8. Will my E-ZBorrow item be recalled?

• No, Penn State Patrons cannot recall E-ZBorrow items from you.
• However, if the lending library needs it for Course Reserves, ILL staff will recall it.

By: Ally Laird

The Libraries Open Publishing Program has published its very first Open Access monograph, tilted “Back Into the Future of Immigration: Personal Stories by the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic”. The monograph is edited by the founder and director of the Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrant’s Rights Clinic, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Esq. The publication showcases the personal stories from 11 past and current students of the clinic, many of whom are now practicing immigration law at large firms, as solo practitioners, for non-profit organizations, and in the federal government.

From Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia’s prologue, she notes, “I hope these essays showcase some of the projects and cases students have worked on during their time at the Clinic and the impact they have made to individuals, institutions, and the community. Importantly, these essays also reveal how the authors’ personal experiences have shaped how they entered law school and how they define themselves as lawyers. I hope readers can taste the sweat, blood, and heart of gold it takes to work in the immigration space — especially in a climate of ever changing policy and heightened uncertainty about the future. Beyond the essays, are photographs by each author to place a face on a story as well as selected excerpts of clinic projects and cases over the last decade.” The publication also includes a closing from Hari M. Osofsky, Dean, Penn State Law and School of International Affairs.

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia is the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and Clinical Professor of Law at Penn State Law. She is an expert on immigration law, with research focusing on prosecutorial discretion’s role in immigration law, and the intersections of race, national security, and immigration. She teaches doctrinal courses on immigration and asylum, and refugee law. She is also the founder/director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, where she supervises students.

The Libraries Open Publishing Program, a part of the new Digital Scholarship and Data Services department, currently publishes eight Open Access journals, five bibliographies, a topical web portal publication, and now one Open Access monograph. For more information on the Open Publishing Program, please visit https://openpublishing.psu.edu, or contact Ally Laird at alaird@psu.edu.