Neil Armstrong Gives Papers to Archives

BY SAMMIE MORRIS

On Saturday, November 1, President Córdova announced that Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong is giving Archives and Special Collections his personal papers. These papers will serve as the launch pad for building a comprehensive flight archives in the Purdue Libraries. To read the full announcement, click here.

This gift has been years in the making for the Libraries. Archives will also be receiving items from James Hansen, official Armstrong biographer and a former Libraries distinguished lecturer, who will be donating the materials he used in writing Armstrong’s biography including 55 hours of tape-recorded interviews. Other astronauts have been approached about donating their materials to the growing flight archives.

Archives and Special Collections has received two boxes of materials from Armstrong to date, including items detailing his association with the Royal Academy of the Kingdom of Morrocco from 1977-2004, and flight manuals and NASA documents from Project Mercury (1961-1963) and Project Gemini (1966, 1969). Armstrong’s materials will be available to qualified researchers, and will become an invaluable resource for students and faculty at Purdue.

Archives and Special Collections is looking forward to receiving more items from Armstrong as he goes through his materials.

On August 14, 1986, I began employment in the Purdue Libraries as Associate Director for Public Services and Collection Development. My plan was to stay for about five years and then move on to a directorship at another university. My psyche was always challenged by going into situations where change was needed. It was fun to work with colleagues and administrators in order to “turn a ship” around and had never taken more than three to five years to create organizational success. After a few weeks here, it was apparent that the Purdue Libraries ship was terribly “heavy” and the anchor was cemented in bedrock. In addition, external forces, such as the university administration’s attitudes toward the library as well as an overall lack of monies in the university made it obvious that creating organizational success here was going to be a long and arduous struggle. The only hope was to develop a strategic plan for the libraries even though the university did not have one. Unfortunately, as we began to make progress on the background work (surveys, focus group discussions, etc.), Joe Dagnese, the Libraries director, died and I was thrust into the top leadership of the Libraries. At that point I knew that accepting the position of dean would mean that I would need to stay longer than five years. Now here its 22 years later and I’m just leaving. Geez, I must have really been having fun.

With the very hard work of many people in the Libraries, we cut the anchor and sailed off, full steam ahead, into a new direction. Within ten years, we had remarkable success. Prime among the successes was a change in the university administration’s perception of the Libraries. We gained a reputation for a “can do” attitude. Rather than “begging” for money, we would use our own budget and/or money from donors to develop “glimpses” of the future. This strategy resulted in previously unheard of influxes of new funds for technology and digital resources. I could go on and on about our many successes. It was truly a situation of WE did it. The best part of my years here was working with the vast majority of the libraries’ staff, even the “I’m from Missouri, show me” ones. Not everything on our list was done but we always took advantage of opportunities to help us reach our goals. The DLC is one example of absolutely seizing an opportunity.

What are my plans for retirement? On Saturday (11/8), I’m flying to Houston, TX, where my husband and I built our retirement home (at least for now). I’m going to spend at least a week just sitting on the patio drinking coffee and watching the many varieties of birds flying by. Our property is on a natural waterway so the birds have lots to eat. However, we also watch alligators swim down the creek as well as poisonous snakes slithering by. This is why we had the patio enclosed. I enjoy growing tropical flowers both outdoors and inside. When I’m not sitting on the patio, I’ll be at LA Fitness trying to find the body I used to have (no laughing now). To keep my brain from rotting, I do income tax preparation for AARP (at no charge). I have to pass an exam every year so the brain cells must work some. My next volunteer effort will be to teach English as a second language and teach adults basic education. Bill (my husband) and I also have a “bucket list” of travel desires. Next year should find us in Australia, Paris, or Egypt along with a short cruise or two.

As they say, “It’s been real.” I’ll miss all the wonderful people I’ve met and worked with but it’s time to move on.  I did not want to die “with my boots on” as my predecessor did. Good luck to all in the future.

Purdue has recently been pushing some new tools to promote campus programs and events online. The Libraries marketing office has been taking advantage of three of these tools – Purdue eBoard,  eSidewalk, and the University News Service RSS feeds.

The Libraries folder on Purdue eBoard has an RSS feed that students, faculty, and staff can subscribe to in order to receive the latest Libraries news. With the help of ITRS, the Libraries eBoard RSS feed is displayed in the News & Announcements box on the Libraries homepage. Anyone is free to submit events to the Libraries folder on eBoard, but submissions will be sent for approval to the Libraries marketing office before they are posted.

Purdue eSidewalk is a collection of graphic “flyers” that would have previously been posted around campus. eSidewalk content is not library-specific, but some libraries have already started submitting their flyers to the folder. Submissions to eSidewalk are not approved by the Libraries marketing office, but we are glad to help you create e-flyers and post them for you.

The University News Service RSS feed includes the latest Libraries press releases. These are items that are sent to local and national media to promote our programs and events.

You can subscribe to any of these RSS feeds using feed readers like Google Reader, Bloglines, or even through Firefox’s Live Bookmarks feature. Microsoft Outlook 2007 also has an RSS folder where you can receive feeds as you would your email.

We’re excited about these new tools to help us promote the Libraries services, programs, and events. As always, the marketing office is glad to post news items for you or assist with using these new tools, and we encourage you to subscribe to our feeds to keep track of our latest news! If you have questions, feel free to contact Kayla Gregory, kgregory@purdue.edu.

Pappy's Murals Depict Scenes from Campus

Pappy's has a new look, thanks in part to the Purdue Archives and Special Collections. Gary Goldberg, director of PMU dining, and mixdesigns, Inc., worked with Archives to obtain photographs for use in the murals that were used in the recently remolded dining area of Pappy's.

Photos were selected using eArchives and then high resolution images were provided for the final production of the murals and new signage.

"It was very easy to work with Archives and Special Collections," said Brandon Dzunda, mixdesigns, Inc. "Carl Snow was extremely helpful. He had all the pictures scanned and ready for me in just a few days; all it took was a phone call and a fax and I had everything I needed."

Be sure and check out the fun, retro look next time you're in the Memorial Union!

Purdue Libraries will host a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day celebration on Wednesday, November 19, 2008. With support from the Office of the Vice President for Research, the College of Engineering, and the College of Science, this year’s event will be significantly bigger than last year’s and will feature several events aimed at a more general academic population.

GIS, typically defined, is a collection of software applications, hardware devices such as GPS receivers and data sensors, and various processes that take maps and statistical data and put them together in a digital mapping environment in order to ask questions of it all collectively. More loosely defined, GIS is appearing in most facets of the connected, networked life, from the driving directions and maps on our phones to the routes your UPS driver takes to your house to the coordinates attached to the Wikipedia articles you read. In academia specifically, geospatial information and data are becoming increasingly important and applicable to researchers and students across the curriculum, allowing Agricultural Economics students to analyze market trends at increasingly high spatial resolutions, helping atmospheric scientists produce inventories of carbon emissions, and empowering Agronomy faculty to include increasingly realistic, visualized depictions of earth data in their curricula.

Purdue’s GIS Day will feature a poster session and two presentation sessions that depict and describe various GIS projects and research from students, faculty, and labs across the campus. In addition, a geocaching contest (a kind of GPS-led scavenger hunt) and a map mashup workshop have been added to the GIS Day schedule this year. All sessions and events are free and open to the public. See gis.lib.purdue.edu for details and schedules.

For the President’s Council Annual Back to Class Program, Sammie Morris and Stephanie Schmitz co-instructed a class on the Susan Bulkeley Butler Women’s Archives. In this class, Purdue alumni and donors learned about the role women have played in the University’s rich history and viewed some treasures of the Women’s Archives, including Susan Butler’s cord skirt, a women’s residence hall application from 1934, and the diaries of renowned plant-geneticist Anne Mae Lutz. Sammie talked about some of the key women in Purdue history, such as mountain climber Annie Peck Smith, “Queen of American Agriculture” Virginia Claypool Meredith, and creator of Stove Top Stuffing, Ruth Siems. She described how many of their contributions have gone undocumented, and discussed the importance of remembering the legacy of the women pioneers at Purdue. Stephanie touched on the nuts-and-bolts of archival processing, pointed out some key features of the Women’s Archives Web site, and described some of the acquisitions that have recently come into the archives. After the presentation, many women alumnae shared the unique experiences they had as students, including how an unofficial mandate required them to wear skirts up until the 1960s. Others shared stories about the women’s swimming pool, which was located off-campus.

Susan Bulkeley Butler, who was in attendance at the event, emphasized how important it was to capture and document the recollections and stories exchanged during the program. “Your experiences and accomplishments are an integral part of Purdue history, and the archives is a place where they can be stored forever so that others can learn about your experiences," Butler said. "This is your chance to document your time at Purdue."

Many class attendees were thrilled to discover that the Women’s Archives was a place where they could deposit memories of their time at Purdue. Several names were suggested for oral history interviews, which will bring a human interest element to documenting the experience of the University’s women students. 

New Faculty & Staff

Annapurni Subramaniam
Administrator for Library Enterprise Applications

Hello to everyone in the Libraries! Thanks to all of you who made me feel welcome to Purdue University. I joined the IT department of the Libraries Administration as Administrator for Library Enterprise Applications in July 2008. My primary job responsibility is to support users of all library departments with their Software Applications.

Programming and Databases have been my passion for 20 years. I worked with the Space Management and Academic Scheduling (SMAS) department in Purdue University as a Programmer, programming scheduling systems and reports for the department.  Before moving to West Lafayette I worked at May Merchandising Company, as a Programmer Analyst in St. Louis, MO.  I worked with databases and programming multi-user applications for buyers and in-department users. In India, I worked as a Data Entry Operator and progressed to a Systems Analyst & Programmer, all in the Financial Accounting area.

My education is in Computer Science and Business. I graduated with an MS in computer Science from the University of Missouri – Rolla, my first home in the United States.  I also graduated with a Master’s in Commerce (Business) from the University of Bombay, India.
 
I have been a West Lafayette resident for 12 years and enjoy the community very much. I am married to Subramaniam Narayan, Sr. Research Scientist at Chemtura Corporation (previously Great Lakes Chemical Corporation) and have two children, Krithika and Amrit. I participate in community activities and volunteer for many of them.  My hobbies include music, dance, cooking and nature related activities.

I look forward to meeting and working with many of you in the Libraries. My office is located in STEW 363 and I can be reached at 496-6202 and subrama@purdue.edu.

Thanks for a Job Well Done

Manage office equipment energy use better
Office equipment and electronics use energy even when idle or on stand-by. To save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at work, always activate the power management features on your computer and monitor, unplug laptop power cords when not in use and turn off equipment and lights at the end of the day. Consider using a power strip that can be turned off when you're done using your computers, printers, wireless routers and other electronics.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Recycle office paper, newspapers, beverage containers, electronic equipment and batteries.. Reducing, reusing, and recycling in your office helps conserve energy, and reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal. You can reduce, reuse and recycle at the office by using two-sided printing and copying; buying supplies made with recycled content; and recycling used printer cartridges. For your old electronics, investigate leasing programs to ensure reuse and recycling or donate used equipment to schools or other organizations.

Source: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

LibQUAL+™ By the Numbers

The final tally included 1,412 completed responses to the survey:

• 623 undergrads
• 505 graduate students
• 262 faculty
• 8 library staff
• 14 university staff

The task force will begin analyzing the data as soon as it is available from ARL. Look for a presentation on the results at the spring all-staff meeting!