By Barbara I. Dewey

We had a very successful Promotion & Tenure Reception on Oct. 23 with close to 100 newly tenured and promoted faculty attending from a wide variety of departments and campuses. Our “new” class in the Libraries is large and outstanding including Anne Behler, Emily Rimland, Russ Hall, John Meier, Heidi Abbey, Matt Ciszek, Karla Schmit, (all tenured and promoted to associate librarian) Cynthia Robinson (tenured), and John Shank (promoted to full rank). President Erickson and I were very excited to honor them along with the other guests at a lovely reception in Paterno Reading Room last week.

We also hosted the Commissions’ (CFW, CORED, and CLGBTE) Promotion & Tenure Symposium on Oct. 25 in Foster Auditorium “Equity and Inclusion: Successfully Navigating the Promotion and Tenure Process.” The P & T Symposium provides Penn State faculty with support and useful information for their Penn State journey. Participants in the symposium included Dr. Terrell Jones, Provost Nick Jones, Diane Zabel (a panelist on publishing), and a host of faculty discussing important aspects of promotion and tenure at Penn State.

I continue to be excited about our new Provost, Dr. Nick Jones. I hope many of you will stop by the Open House at the Nittany Lion Inn to meet him on Wednesday, Oct. 30, from 3-5 p.m.. He is very enthusiastic about the Libraries.

By Barbara I. Dewey

We had an incredibly busy week. The Library Development Board met on Friday and I would like to thank all faculty and staff who contributed to an outstanding day for them. John Meier gave a terrific presentation on PAMS. Sue Kellerman and Mike Furlough provided remarks on the library’s preservation and digitization program. Lisa German set the stage for a fun and fascinating tour of Cato II where the Board saw the Access Services operations with Verne Neff; the Inactive Records Center with Jackie Esposito and her staff; and the preservation/conservation operation with Sue Kellerman and Diane Kurtz (wet and dry lab). The Board was very excited to get an in-depth behind the scenes look at these important library operations.

Later the Board and library donors could attend one of three special events – the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award, in the Pennsylvania Center for the Book with Steven Herb; the Heinz and Bridget Henisch Photo History Collection with Bridget Henisch, Sandy Stelts and Meredith Weber; and the student tutors and employees of the Knowledge Commons with Joe Fennewald. The Libraries’ development team – Nicki Hendrix, Marcus Fowler, Chris Brida, Shirley Davis, Karen McCulley, and Roberta Stern did an excellent job organizing and implementing the day and the evening donor reception. I would also like to thank Jack Sulzer and Sandy Confer for their assistance throughout the day. The Libraries have raised $42 million in the For the Future Campaign (our goal was $40 million) so far from our generous donors and we are not done yet!

Also, I attended the ARL Director’s meeting briefly. I’m on two ARL committees this year, Statistics & Assessment and Scholarly Communication. The Statistics & Assessment Committee included discussions on the activities of the program and their strategic alignment, metrics and qualitative indicators regarding the value of special collections, next steps regarding development of a facilities toolkit/inventory, and plans for training new assessment librarians. The Advancing Scholarly Communications Steering Committee discussed several topics including the SHARE (Shared Access Research Ecosystem) initiative, licensing issues, a presentation by Dr. Pamela Samuelson on her work to advance copyright perspectives of academic authors, and a presentation on the Force 11 movement ( www.force11.org ). I had to return to State College for the Library Development Board activities and Nan Butkovitch represented Penn State at the ARL membership meeting. Nan and Patricia Hswe also attended the ARL Fall Forum: Mobilizing the Research Enterprise which focused on SHARE.

By Barbara I. Dewey

Colleagues, please see the message below from Provost Nick Jones about some very good news for Penn State.

“I am excited and honored to join Penn State as Executive Vice President and Provost, and I am learning more every day about this remarkable institution and its mission, legacy and global impact.

As many of you know, the U.S. News & World Report “2014 Best Colleges Rankings” were released Tuesday morning (Sept. 10). While many of us view rankings with some degree of skepticism, the fact remains that Penn State fared extraordinarily well, moving to No. 8 from No. 13 nationally among public universities, and to No. 37 from No. 46 nationally among both public and private institutions. Regardless of our views on rankings and ranking methodology, an acknowledgment of the strong national reputation that our great institution enjoys is a reflection of the accomplishments and commitment of our faculty, staff and students.

I am very proud—and we all should be proud—that Penn State has been recognized in this way. I would like to express my appreciation to Rod Erickson for his leadership and to each of you for your dedication to excellence, and your hard work on behalf of your students, colleagues and the larger community. We have been through a difficult time, but the academic vigor and reputation of Penn State are clearly intact, which bodes well for our future. Thank you for all you do for Penn State.”   — Provost Nick Jones

We are now no. 8 in public institutions and, according to ARL statistics, no. 8 of ALL research libraries. Provost Jones took time out of his busy schedule to stop in the Open House last week. He was excited! President Erickson also walked through during the very successful event.

Save the date – October 2, 2013, 2-3 p.m. for the Dean’s Forum (on MediaSite too)

By Barbara Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

It’s hard to believe that another fall semester is about to begin. I hope you’ve had the chance to see the Penn State Welcome Back video. The library is highlighted in a number of places. Over the summer we were able to complete a number of projects at University Park and on the campuses to further improve facilities and services for our students and faculty. Examples include new furnishings, classroom upgrades, renovations in EMS, new online reference service, new video monitors with room availability, and a retreat devoted to University Park space planning. We have also begun to discuss the strategic planning process for the Libraries. Mike Furlough is leading this effort and you will hear more details soon. If you have other projects to add let me know.

I have been meeting lately with our new Provost, Dr. Nick Jones. He is very enthusiastic about the library and mentioned us as one of Penn State’s shining stars at the Academic Leadership Council retreat last week. Dr. Jones, along with President Erickson, hope to stop in at the Open House in September. We are very fortunate to have support at the highest levels of the university. This year I am chair of the Academic Leadership Council comprising deans, chancellors, and vice presidents. I will provide you with periodic updates on university-wide initiatives and issues based on this work.

I am delighted to welcome all of our new faculty and staff. We are excited to have you on our team. Many thanks to everyone who participated in interviews and are making our new employees feel welcome.

I hope you will save the date, October 2, 2013, 2-3 p.m. for the first Dean’s Forum of the year in Foster Auditorium and on Mediasite Live. The agenda will be forthcoming but we will discuss strategic planning and our process. Let me or Sandy know if there are other items or if you have good news I can share in the Kudos section.