Monthly Archives: May 2020

Tech Tip: Microsoft quarantine notification

By: Ryan JohnsonMicrosoft quarantine screenshot for tech tip

When Office 365 quarantines a message or file sent to a Penn State user it should generate an email that looks like the image above.

This message is usually legitimate. If you do not recognize the sender mentioned in the message it is very likely that the contents referred to are malicious and should not be opened.

If you recognize the sender and when you hover over a link in the message if it does not resolve to protection.microsoft.com or a subdomain of protection.microsoft.com please do not click the link and forward the message as an attachment to phishing@psu.edu.

Customer Service Tip: How to help your team cope with empathy fatigue

By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Empathy is a critical customer service skill that’s hard to master.

Showing customers a little empathy requires two things:
1. We must be able to relate to how our customer is feeling.
2. We must have the presence of mind to acknowledge and understand those feelings.

Empathy is fairly easy if you’ve been in your customer’s shoes. Just think about how you felt when it happened to you and try to show the customer you understand.

It gets trickier if it’s never happened to you. For example, someone working in tech support might find it hard to empathize with a confused customer because they can fix their own computer.

Here’s what you can do to demonstrate empathy when you don’t have a relatable experience:
1. Ask yourself, “Why is this customer upset?”
2. Think about a time when you had a similar feeling.
3. Try to demonstrate to the customer that you know how they feel.

Learn more about empathy fatigue here.

Events: May 26

Summer 2020
Academic calendar information for all campuses is available online.

UPDATE: In light of the University’s March 11 announcement regarding measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, nonessential events and meetings scheduled at University Libraries locations throughout the spring semester have been canceled, rescheduled or will be offered virtually. 

Earth Archives exhibition posterEXHIBITION: Earth Archives: Stories of Human Impact. To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Earth Archives explores the intersection of the environment, human activity, and the documentary record. Highlights of the virtual exhibition include representations of varied print, manuscript, and art works that invites the viewer to consider a range of environmental-related topics and will serve as a growing, centralized resource.

 

buttons from INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: Highlights From the Ken Lawrence Collection

EXHIBITION: International Solidarity: Highlights from the Ken Lawrence Collection. A virtual look at the visual culture of political protest in the late 20th-century, to provoke thought about international solidarity in our own time, including human and civil rights, immigration, and independence movements.

 

Wednesdays, Apr. 22-June 10, Remote Research Webinar Series. Free webinars to assist Penn State researchers with shifting their research from onsite to offsite. The series highlights various University services and infrastructure to support remote research. All sessions will be held via Zoom. Additional resources for remote research may be found at https://remoteresearch.psu.edu.

Thursdays, Apr. 23-June 4, Research Data Skills for Graduate Students. Learn more about and improve skills in the areas of data management, data analysis, data visualization and data publishing. in collaboration with the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, the free virtual seminars highlight essential data skills that graduate students can utilize throughout the research data life cycle.All sessions begin at 3 p.m. Advance registration is required.

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.

Penn State University Press announces new books and journals for Fall/Winter 2020

By: Cate Fricke

Penn State University Press has unveiled its Fall/Winter 2020 catalog featuring new general interest and scholarly books in the fields of American history, literature, art history, religious
studies, rhetoric and communication, medieval and early modern studies, animal studies, and more.

Penn State Press cover art Notable forthcoming titles include A Pre-Columbian Bestiary: Fantastic Creatures of Indigenous Latin America, a whimsical compendium of imaginary and mythical Latin American beasts by Ilan Stavans, with vivid illustrations by Eko; The First Inauguration: George Washington and the Invention of the Republic by Stephen Howard Browne, Penn State Liberal Arts Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences; The Objects That Remain, a poignant memoir by Laura Levitt that explores how physical objects inform our understanding of trauma; and Menopause: A Comic Treatment, a collection of hilarious and insightful comics on hot flashes and much more, edited by MK Czerwiec.

Scholarly highlights include Deportable and Disposable: Public Rhetoric and the Making of the “Illegal” Immigrant by Lisa A. Flores, an important look at the history of language used to describe Mexican immigrants; Designing a New Tradition: Loïs Mailou Jones and the Aesthetics of Blackness, an exploration of the art and legacy of African American artist Loïs Mailou Jones
by Rebecca VanDiver; Robert de Reims: Songs and Motets, a critical edition of the work of the thirteenth-century French “trouvère,” edited and translated by Eglal Doss-Quinby, Gaël Saint-Cricq, and Samuel N. Rosenberg; and On Transhumanism, an essential and clarifying volume by noted metahumanist philosopher Stefan Lorenz Sorgner.

The Fall/Winter 2020 catalog also includes new titles in ancient Near Eastern and biblical studies from Eisenbrauns, which the Press acquired as an imprint in November 2017, and new journals
now available from PSU Press such as The Langston Hughes Review and Studies in the American Short Story. The Press is also pleased to release Field Language: The Painting and Poetry of Warren and Jane Rohrer, a publication of the Palmer Museum of Art that marks the occasion of a retrospective exhibition devoted to the working relationship between abstract painter Warren Rohrer and his wife, poet Jane Turner Rohrer.

To see all of Penn State University Press’s forthcoming Fall/Winter 2020 titles, visit
http://www.psupress.org/catalogs/PDFs/FW20_web.pdf

University Libraries Job Bank

By: Binky Lush

Do you have projects or tasks that need to be done, but haven’t had the time or resources to complete them?

Please consider submitting a job bank posting. The Libraries Job Bank is designed to match up work that needs to be done with Libraries’ employees who have extra time to help! These projects can be big or small, with varying degrees of complexity and skill needed. (Please note: All project postings should be approved by your supervisor or Department Head.)

Do you have extra time in your schedule, and are looking to help out on a Libraries’ task or project?

If you have more capacity in your schedule during this remote work time and you are interested in helping out with some interesting projects and learning more about work in other areas of the Libraries, please review the Job Bank postings and apply!

More information about the Job Bank is available on the Staff Site.

Tech Tip: Kaltura – Ordering machine captions for media in Kaltura MediaSpace

By: Ryan Johnson

Kaltura caption screen shot

Kaltura is a “Media Management and Streaming Platform” used to stream video and audio supported at Penn State. You can go to the Penn State Kaltura page to access the service.

Captions for audio or video media make your media more accessible.

In Kaltura, you can order captions through an automated process built into Kaltura Mediaspace.

To learn how to order captions step-by-step, please visit the new staff site page:

https://staff.libraries.psu.edu/libraries-strategic-technologies/technology-training/kaltura/kaltura-captions

Events: May 18

Spring 2020
Academic calendar information for all campuses is available online.

UPDATE: In light of the University’s March 11 announcement regarding measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, nonessential events and meetings scheduled at University Libraries locations throughout the spring semester have been canceled, rescheduled or will be offered virtually. 

Earth Archives exhibition posterEXHIBITION: Earth Archives: Stories of Human Impact. To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Earth Archives explores the intersection of the environment, human activity, and the documentary record. Highlights of the virtual exhibition include representations of varied print, manuscript, and art works that invites the viewer to consider a range of environmental-related topics and will serve as a growing, centralized resource.

 

buttons from INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: Highlights From the Ken Lawrence Collection

EXHIBITION: International Solidarity: Highlights from the Ken Lawrence Collection. A virtual look at the visual culture of political protest in the late 20th-century, to provoke thought about international solidarity in our own time, including human and civil rights, immigration, and independence movements.

 

Wednesdays, Apr. 22-June 10, Remote Research Webinar Series. Free webinars to assist Penn State researchers with shifting their research from onsite to offsite. The series highlights various University services and infrastructure to support remote research. All sessions will be held via Zoom. Additional resources for remote research may be found at https://remoteresearch.psu.edu.

Thursdays, Apr. 23-June 4, Research Data Skills for Graduate Students. Learn more about and improve skills in the areas of data management, data analysis, data visualization and data publishing. in collaboration with the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, the free virtual seminars highlight essential data skills that graduate students can utilize throughout the research data life cycle.All sessions begin at 3 p.m. Advance registration is required.

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.

Customer Service Tip: How to get a talkative customer to cut to the chase

By: Myra Golden (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Research shows the average business call lasts two minutes longer than it needs to. The bitter truth is most of us spend far too much time on the phone with customers and co-workers in idle small talk or listening to the whiner, rambler, or storyteller.

So how do you politely end a call when you know it’s no longer productive? I’ll give you six of my favorite strategies for graciously bringing a long-winded caller back to focus. Read more here.

Tech Tip: Zoom security updates coming May 11

By: Ryan Johnson

To address increased security threats and recent security breaches during Zoom meetings—also known as “Zoom bombings”—new security updates will be implemented on May 11. These include changing the default settings of some features you may be accustomed to using in your meetings, including the chat feature, screen sharing, and meeting passwords.

What will be changed?
Many features will have new default settings. For a complete list of features affected, please visit the new Zoom Meetings page on the Office of Information Security website.

Who will be affected?
All Penn State students, faculty, and staff who use the most recent version of Zoom.

What is the best way to make sure my future meetings are secure?
Once you are using the latest version of Zoom, you can delete and recreate your previously scheduled meetings to apply the new security settings to those meetings. You should also alter as few of the new default feature settings as possible to maintain the greatest level of security against intruders and disruptions.

What actions do I need to take?
It is recommended to have the latest version of Zoom by May 11 to have easier access to make changes to settings. You must be using the latest version of Zoom by May 30, 2020 on all of your electronic devices—including desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices—to ensure that the program continues to run properly.

To update to the latest version of Zoom, follow the instructions below:

University Libraries Staff Laptop (PC and Mac) currently at home (including department/wireless-only laptops)
To install the latest version of Zoom on a University Libraries Staff Laptop at home, Connect to the VPN and download the Zoom update from Self Service.

Note: Any machines currently located at work, will be updated automatically. 

Staff Members who are using a Borrowed Laptops from Library Strategic Technologies
The users of the “Corona” laptops should download and install the Zoom update file and run it from the Box location below.

https://psu.box.com/v/psulibrarieszoom

Note: These machines will have to be upgraded to the latest version of zoom manually since these laptops are not connected to the Self-Service Application.

University Libraries Staff Using Personal Computers
For anyone running Zoom on their personal computers, please download the Zoom update from the link below and follow any on-screen instructions to update.

https://psu.box.com/v/psulibrarieszoom

Mobile Devices (Android, iPhone) iPads, Surface, etc.
Please update Zoom via your device’s app store.

Where to get help:
If you would like to reconfigure feature settings, instructions are available on the Zoom Meetings page and a step-by-step screencast is currently being developed that will be added to the page by May 8.

Ryan Johnson will also offer ½ hours Zoom Update Training Sessions at 10:00am and again at 2pm on both Friday May 8th and Monday May 11th.

All sessions will occur at https://psu.zoom.us/my/ultraining or by entering the meeting ID of 8148674095

Questions regarding the changes to Zoom or how to use them can also be directed to the Libraries Service Desk. 

 

Events: May 11

Spring 2020
Academic calendar information for all campuses is available online.

UPDATE: In light of the University’s March 11 announcement regarding measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, nonessential events and meetings scheduled at University Libraries locations throughout the spring semester have been canceled, rescheduled or will be offered virtually. 

Earth Archives exhibition posterEXHIBITION: Earth Archives: Stories of Human Impact. To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Earth Archives explores the intersection of the environment, human activity, and the documentary record. Highlights of the virtual exhibition include representations of varied print, manuscript, and art works that invites the viewer to consider a range of environmental-related topics and will serve as a growing, centralized resource.

 

buttons from INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: Highlights From the Ken Lawrence Collection

EXHIBITION: International Solidarity: Highlights from the Ken Lawrence Collection. A virtual look at the visual culture of political protest in the late 20th-century, to provoke thought about international solidarity in our own time, including human and civil rights, immigration, and independence movements.

 

Wednesdays, Apr. 22-June 10, Remote Research Webinar Series. Free webinars to assist Penn State researchers with shifting their research from onsite to offsite. The series highlights various University services and infrastructure to support remote research. All sessions will be held via Zoom. Additional resources for remote research may be found at https://remoteresearch.psu.edu.

Thursdays, Apr. 23-June 4, Research Data Skills for Graduate Students. Learn more about and improve skills in the areas of data management, data analysis, data visualization and data publishing. in collaboration with the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, the free virtual seminars highlight essential data skills that graduate students can utilize throughout the research data life cycle.All sessions begin at 3 p.m. Advance registration is required.

Friday, May 15, Diversity Day & LFO Colloquium: Accessibility in Action. Two events combined into one online offering, co-Sponsored by University Libraries Diversity Committee and Library Faculty Organization. Featuring a day of programming including Keynote Speakers Amelia Gibson, assistant professor in the UNC School of Information and Library Science, and Marisa Vicere, President Jana Marie Foundation. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

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.

Maps and GIS Assistant projects: fall and spring updates

By: Tara Anthony

Maps and GIS Assistant Projects: Fall and Spring Updates

The Maps and GIS Assistants of the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information focused on the following collaborative ArcGIS Online StoryMap projects during the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters. Maps and GIS Assistants contributing to these projects included Ishaan Anavkar, Zhaogeng Ding, Jamie Friedken, Nicholas Friedken, Katie Giesa, Milan Liu, Daniel Valadas, Brittany Waltemate, and Thomas Whalon.

Office of Strategic Services (OSS) World War II Maps Project: These print maps in the collection were scanned previously, which were used in this project focused on georeferencing and digitizing content. This collection includes an international focus and represents multiple geospatial themes. This project was both an exercise for Maps and GIS Assistants to become more familiar with the process of georeferencing and digitizing, but also the process of creating ArcGIS online layers and a collective ArcGIS Online StoryMap. Example themes of OSS World War II maps include agricultural, transportation, and military topics.  See this page for more information on the project.

World War II OSS Maps StoryMap title page

Historic Altoona, Pennsylvania Landmarks Project: This project focused on 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the Penn State Libraries’ Digital Collection as the source of geospatial information for the creation of an ArcGIS StoryMap using a newer interface. This project focused on the newer functionality built into ArcGIS StoryMaps including the creation of a guided tour and functionality for scrolling media and text content. Maps and GIS Assistants chose landmarks and buildings of interest to highlight from these Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps to learn more about features of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and the setting of Altoona, Pennsylvania in the 1909 timeframe. See this page for more information on the project.

Historic Altoona, Pennsylvania Landmarks StoryMap title page

Historic Altoona, Pennsylvania Landmarks StoryMap title page

Access Services Training Bulletin update

By: Lisa Moyer

Access Service Training Bulletin #10, Accepting Replacement Copies, has been updated to reflect that patrons will not be charged a rebind fee when providing a replacement book. The
binding fee will remain on the fee schedule and may be applied if necessary and at the discretion of the owning library. If the replacement copy needs to be bound, the patron is responsible for the cost of binding.

The complete training bulletin can be found on the Access Services training bulletin web page at
https://staff.libraries.psu.edu/access-services-council/training-bulletins-numerical.

Tech Tip: Outlook training

By: Ryan Johnson

Please join me for Getting Started with OneDrive training this Wednesday, May 6, at 10 a.m.

During this session, I will discuss current backup options, including what the current status of Box, Google Drive (part of GSuite) and OneDrive. I will also review the basics of OneDrive and how to get started and using it.

All training(s) will occur in my zoom room at https://psu.zoom.us/my/ultraining or by entering the meeting ID of 8148674095.

The session will be recorded and shared after the session for all of those who can’t attend live.

Events: May 4

Spring 2020
Academic calendar information for all campuses is available online.

UPDATE: In light of the University’s March 11 announcement regarding measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, nonessential events and meetings scheduled at University Libraries locations throughout the spring semester have been canceled, rescheduled or will be offered virtually. 

Earth Archives exhibition posterEXHIBITION: Earth Archives: Stories of Human Impact. To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Earth Archives explores the intersection of the environment, human activity, and the documentary record. Highlights of the virtual exhibition include representations of varied print, manuscript, and art works that invites the viewer to consider a range of environmental-related topics and will serve as a growing, centralized resource.

 

buttons from INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: Highlights From the Ken Lawrence Collection

EXHIBITION: International Solidarity: Highlights from the Ken Lawrence Collection. A virtual look at the visual culture of political protest in the late 20th-century, to provoke thought about international solidarity in our own time, including human and civil rights, immigration, and independence movements.

 

Wednesdays, Apr. 22-June 10, Remote Research Webinar Series. Free webinars to assist Penn State researchers with shifting their research from onsite to offsite. The series highlights various University services and infrastructure to support remote research. All sessions will be held via Zoom. Additional resources for remote research may be found at https://remoteresearch.psu.edu.

Thursdays, Apr. 23-June 4, Research Data Skills for Graduate Students. Learn more about and improve skills in the areas of data management, data analysis, data visualization and data publishing. in collaboration with the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, the free virtual seminars highlight essential data skills that graduate students can utilize throughout the research data life cycle.All sessions begin at 3 p.m. Advance registration is required.  

Through Friday, May 8, Online De-Stress Fest. A virtual version of the popular end-of-semester event to help students relax and unwind while completing end-of-term reports and studying for final exams. Visit Online Destress Fest for a curated list of links, tutorials and homegrown videos that showcase the talents of University Libraries’ faculty and staff.

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.