By: Carmen Gass
“Discovery Day makes me feel like a valued part of a team and is yet another reason I feel lucky to work here. It’s a day to get out of my cubicle, connect with others, and learn. And now, thanks to Jenny C and Rebecca P, I’ve got some easy yoga moves and breathing techniques to do from my chair or in the office!” Sarah Bacon, Administrative Support Coordinator
By: Tara LaLonde
By: Megan Mac Gregor
On a quiet Monday afternoon Jonathan Pineno, director of the Friedman Art Gallery went to the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Library to borrow a gallery key from the library staff. Outreach and Engagement Librarian, Megan Mac Gregor went down with him to open the door. When they entered the gallery, Pineno was disappointed to discover that almost all of the canvases for the Penn State student art display had fallen off the hanging rods. Using the limited available art gallery resources, Jonathan explained that attaching Velcro to the paintings was one of the last efforts to secure the canvases to the existing gallery hanging system. By the time Megan returned to the library, she devised a possible hanging solution.
The Nesbitt Library at Penn State Wilkes-Barre has had 3D printers for the last four years. The printers are open to everyone on the campus to use, and the librarians have basic design skills to help students who would like to try it. “We encourage students, faculty, and staff to experiment with printers,” says Megan, “We want them to see the printers as just another tool in their box of tricks they can draw on to solve problems, and the best way to do that is for them to mess around with them.”
Megan introduced her possible hanging solution to John Owens, Information Resources Support Specialist at the library, and “go to guy” for the 3D printing. He mocked up her idea in
Tinkercad, an easy to use, free design tool for creating 3D printed objects. “John has extensive experience using Tinkercad and designing projects with specific measurements,” said Megan.
Using measurements from the canvas frames and the hangers that were available in the gallery, John created a 3D printed attachment that clips onto the old hangers and supports the
student canvases. After creating several printed prototypes, he had a working design, so they mass printed a batch on the MakerBot Replicator+. “Pineno was not scheduled to be on
campus the next day so we left two of them in the Gallery with a sign to surprise him,” said Megan.
When Jonathan arrived on campus and opened the Friedman Art Gallery, he literally shouted with joy to see the simple, effective, durable, hanging solution created by the library staff. The 3D printed hangers are easy to reproduce and will provide years of hanging support for the multiple sizes of canvas frames that will be displayed in the Friedman Art Gallery.
The Friedman Art Gallery features five to six annual exhibits of student, faculty, staff and community artworks. The gallery is located on the lower level of the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Nesbitt Academic Commons building and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. For further information about the exhibits, contact Jonathan Pineno friedmanartgallery@psu.edu or call 570-675-9159.
By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)
We’ve all heard an employee say something cringeworthy when explaining an unfriendly policy or procedure to a customer.
“It’s our policy, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“That’s not my department, you have to talk to someone else.”
“You have to do it this way. It’s our procedure.”
These unfriendly statements frustrate customers, and it feels like common sense to avoid making such prickly statements. So why do employees say these things? Read more here.
By: Ryan Johnson
In August 2019, Penn State IT will be upgrading Lynda.com accounts to LinkedIn Learning in order to take advantage of the newly-named service’s upgraded features and capability to work with LinkedIn to bolster your learning needs.
Although you will notice changes to the longtime learning and professional development platform, many of the features that are popular with Lynda.com users will remain intact.
As a reminder, you do not need to take any action during the transition and you will not lose any information associated with your account as all admin and learner data including groups, assigned content, account settings, and histories will carry over to LinkedIn Learning.
For news and updates, please visit linkedinlearning.psu.edu. If you have any questions about the upgrade, please contact linkedinlearning@psu.edu.
Jan. 28-Sept. 1, 2019, Exhibit: “The Secret Lives of Girls and Women” Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library. Through the examination of books, letters, hand-written diaries and other archival materials, The Secret Lives of Girls and Women exposes a wide spectrum of feminine mysteries. The exhibition includes many hidden or concealed aspects of female life found within beauty secrets, secret languages created by women, literary secrets, social taboos and more throughout history. On display during Special Collections Library hours.
Mar. 11-Sept. 26, 2019, Exhibit: “The Future is Now.” Diversity Studies Room, 203 Pattee Library. Highlights from current and forthcoming equipment and assistance available to support students’ academic success from the Libraries’ Media and Technology Support Services and Adaptive Technology and Services departments.
Thursday, May 2, Public Tour: Secret Lives of Girls and Women. Curated free tours of the Special Collections exhibit “The Secret Lives of Girls and Women” will offer background information and provenance to the books and objects on display, as well discussion about the their meaning and importance. Registration requested. 10-11 a.m., 104 Paterno Library on the University Park Campus.
Monday, May 6: Technology Expo 2019. The annual Technology Expo hosted by Media Technology Services and Support (MediaTech) to bring vendors and state-of-the-art technology equipment to regional I.T. specialists, facilities managers, and others interested in the latest multimedia and related devices and products available for educational, nonprofit and commercial use. 11 a.m.–3 p.m., Presidents Hall, The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, Innovation Park, State College, Pa.
Please submit event information — and all Library News submissions — to Public Relations and Marketing via its Staff Site request form and selecting the “Library News blog article” button.