LIBRARIES AND THE PURDUE FAMILY

Last weekend in my home office I glanced over and saw a ceramic tile that I was gifted at a Yankee swap at one of our staff picnics, it is a simple tile that just says, "Family." It made me think about what family means to us. Of course, when we think of family our thoughts turn to parents, children, siblings and other members of our extended families. However, I also think that family can mean more, especially at this time of year. There are many families in which we live — friends, a neighborhood, a community, a religious denomination, or, even our workplace can serve as a family.

Our meeting this past week with President Timothy Sands and Provost Victor Lechtenberg reinforced that Purdue Libraries is an important member of the family that we know as Purdue University. Prior to their open forum with Libraries' faculty and staff, the President and Provost met with the Dean's Council and several division heads to learn how Libraries was advancing the University's strategic goals of Learning, Discovery and Engagement. The comprehensive nature of Libraries' work in the strategic areas was impressive to hear. It made me proud of the leadership that Libraries has taken to steward areas that only we can do. It was reported that the next day in his meeting with the faculty and staff of the College of Engineering President Sands spoke of the contributions of the Libraries and Press.

At this time of year when we reflect upon the accomplishments of the past year, we can look forward to next year as one that will provide opportunities to grow and enhance our work in learning, discovery and engagement. With our new President beginning in early 2013 we will have a leader who is determined to help Purdue succeed and grow. The Libraries, Press and Copyright Office will be at the center of that effort; committed to making Purdue greater than it already is. We will continue to be an important, collaborative and contributing member of the Purdue family.

INFORMATION LITERACY COURSES FOR PURDUE UNDERGRADUATES

Purdue has a core curriculum! On Dec. 6 the University Curriculum Council (UCC) met and recommended twelve courses as meeting the foundational information literacy outcome that is part of Purdue's new core curriculum. Once officially approved by the University Senate, this will bring the total of the core foundational information literacy courses to fifteen. Students starting at Purdue in 2013-14 will have to take a number of courses to meet the eight foundational core outcomes. One or more of the courses students take will be focused on developing their information literacy at the foundational level. These courses teach how to use information in fundamental ways while the students are learning about the subject matter. At first glance, someone might wonder how a statistics or physics course can enhance students' information literacy, but all of the courses approved address the key skills that are part of the core information literacy outcome.

Faculty in the Libraries have been instrumental in helping departments to nominate courses that meet the foundational information literacy outcome. This work has taken many shapes. The Libraries' Curriculum Committee partnered with the Provost's Office of Assessment to co-sponsor a workshop to help teaching faculty to determine if their course met the information literacy outcome and prepare their nomination materials. Four of the recommended courses, EDCI 270, NURS 223, STAT 113 and TECH 120, worked with librarians when redesigning the course through Purdue's IMPACT program. Two more of these courses, MGMT 175 and STAT 301, will be going through IMPACT this spring. Plus, many of the Libraries' liaisons have consulted with teaching faculty in various ways to help them identify and revise the courses recommended to be part of the new core.

It is likely that more courses will be nominated in early spring and will be added to the list of courses students can take to meet the core foundational information literacy outcome. We will once again be partnering with the Provost's Office of Assessment to offer workshops for faculty to help them identify courses and prepare their core nomination materials. In the spring, the UCC will turn its attention to reviewing departmental submissions explaining how they are addressing embedded-level core outcomes. So while the work continues on, we in the Libraries should take a moment to acknowledge the major accomplishment we have helped our campus achieve in developing a core curriculum that will greatly benefit Purdue students!

Core Foundational Information Literacy Courses
AGR 201 — Communicating Across Culture
BIOL 115 — Biology Resource Seminar
COM 251 — Communication, Information and Society
EDCI 270 — Introduction to Educational Technology
EDPS 105 — Academic and Career Planning
ENGL 106 — First Year Composition
ENGL 108 — Accelerated First Year Composition
MGMT 175 — Information Strategies for Management Students
NURS 223 — Foundations of Research and Evidence-based Practice
PHIL 120 — Critical Thinking
PHYS 235 — Seminar in Careers in Physics
PSYC 100 — Introduction to the Science and Fields of Psychology
STAT 113 — Statistics and Society
STAT 301 — Elementary Statistical Methods
TECH 120 — Technology and the Individual

The complete list of approved core courses is available at http://www.purdue.edu/senate/curriculum.cfm

PURDUE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH REPOSITORY REACHES MILESTONE

The Purdue University Research Repository (PURR) team is pleased to announce that PURR has been cited as the data management planning component in over 500 grant proposals submitted to granting agencies by Purdue researchers.

500 grant proposals represents approximately 20% of the total proposals submitted by Purdue researchers in a year.

Reaching this milestone demonstrates that PURR continues to gain traction as a data management platform and service meeting the data management planning needs of Purdue's faculty, graduate students and staff.

This early success also underlines the growth in the Libraries data service offerings and the opportunity presented to subject specialist librarians to further participate in the research data lifecycle.

By offering Purdue researchers a continuum of data management planning expertise, services, support and consultation the Libraries and librarians are cementing a reputation of valued service to, and participation in, the scholarly research process. 

We are able to announce this milestone thanks to our close collaborators at Sponsored Program Services who have been tracking all grant proposals that cite PURR as their data management planning solution.

For more information about PURR visit our website at https://purr.purdue.edu/ .

LIBRARIES STAFF A-Z

NOVEMBER'S SMILE PROGRAM RECIPIENT

THANK YOU SECRET SANTA