Holiday Wishes

BY JIM MULLINS

This quote came to mind as I reflected on the past year and looked towards the upcoming year. As we look back on a year that passed all too quickly, we all feel as if we have taken a “journey of a thousand miles” with all that the Libraries’ accomplished in 2010. The year reveals accomplishments that were made, important events that were held, and initiatives that were set in motion. We often find ourselves just being thankful that we reached the end of the year; we forget to take a moment to think about all that was accomplished in both our personal and professional life. I encourage you to take a little time to celebrate the great year we enjoyed in the Libraries, and to reflect on the many important and memorable moments in your personal life. And, most importantly, be sure to treasure all that lies ahead in 2011.  

To all of the Libraries community, thank you for joining together on our 2010 journey. Your passion and support made the journey one I will always remember!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2011.

PILLAR: Infrastructure

I would like to start by saying how happy I am to be joining Libraries as your Marketing Associate. I am glad that I am able to bring my ideas and expertise to a group of people that are in the process of strategic planning. As a marketer, that is the most exciting time at an organization.

Previous to accepting this position, I worked with Purdue’s Marketing and Media Office, dividing my time between Strategic Marketing and Research, and Brand and Advertising. I was able to play an intricate roll in Purdue’s last two creative campaigns, “Makers, all” and “Preparing tomorrow’s leaders for a changing world”, as well as campus-wide initiatives such as Green Week, smoke-free campus, Science Journalism Laureates and Healthy Planet. I think the most comparable area to Libraries that I was able to work with during this time was Purdue’s Center for Families, though on a much smaller scale. With marketing efforts, I promoted collaboration among interdisciplinary faculty partners while making sure their research and projects were in the hands of those who needed it most.  

I graduated from Purdue University Calumet, with a BA in Communication, and a focus on Public Relations. I then worked for the Porter County, IND. Tourism Bureau as their Public Relations Director, during a time where county, state and federal government entities were partnering (the bureau, Indiana Dunes State Park and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore) to build the Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitors Center. Besides working with the media on a daily basis, I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about balancing entities’ project motivations.

On a personal note, I live with my husband, Jeff, in Whitestown, just outside of northwest Indianapolis. We are two very different “brained” people (he is an accountant), but it serves as a great life-balance for both of us. We spend most of our time exploring Indianapolis as self-proclaimed foodies. Adjusting to life without immediate access to Chicago, we have definitely relied on the Purdue campus to bring that hustle and bustle back to our lives.

In direct connection with overusing exclamation points to a fault, I tend to be an optimistic person. Personal and professional mantra: when we are presented with a challenge, it is our opportunity to re-evaluate and choose the outcome of our life/the situation.    

I look forward to meeting each of you. Please feel free to connect any time. My office is located in STEW Room 264 and I can be reached at 6-9610 or kkester@purdue.edu.

PILLAR: Robust Local Collections

The CIC (Committee on Institutional Cooperation) institutions are the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago. Purdue is part of this consortium and the Libraries is active in the CIC’s Center for Library Initiatives (CLI). 

Each year CIC libraries may elect to contribute funds to a joint purchasing account at the CIC’s Center for Library Initiatives. The CLI staff, working with the collection development officers, compile a “wish list” of electronic resources and then pursues consortial pricing on the titles that interest most of the members. Publishers often price expensive databases, e-book collections or similar products on a sliding scale; it is usually less expensive per institution to buy an electronic resource as part of a consortial deal than it is for each library to buy it separately.

So far this year, the CIC consortial e-resources purchases have been:

Brill e-books, 2011-2013. — About 350 titles per year from this publisher
Periodical Archives Online, Collections 6-8. — We already have subscription access to Collections 1-5
Readex Early American Newspapers, Parts 6 & 7

Guiding Principles: Provide excellent customer service

On photo assignment from the Dean during finals week, it was quite apparent that students value Libraries. It didn’t matter if they were using the latest technology available in MEL or writing out formulas on the blackboard in MATH all the students expressed a great appreciation for the spaces provided by the Libraries for them to meet, study, conduct research and even sleep.

Pictured below, Aviation Technology senior, Adam Schade said, “The AVTE Library is a great place to study alone or with groups. Plus, they have good magazines to read to break up the intense studying.”

College of Science students, Jaytoine Milledge, Brittany Guynn and Austin Crawford all agreed, “The Life Sciences Library provides us with a quiet study area to prepare without all the distractions of our dorm rooms and roommates. It’s also nice that the resources we need are readily available, especially when we are in disagreement about what we each think is correct. We love the Libraries.”

Students also expressed sincere gratitude to all the Libraries staff who work so hard to provide extra study time, guidance, moral support and space during the last two weeks of the semester.

PILLAR: Campuswide Information Literacy

Congress passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) in 2008. Much of the Act addresses financial aid issues but there is a section on copyright and peer-to peer file sharing. Congress is requiring that universities take more of an active role in notifying students of their responsibilities under the U.S. Copyright law. Over the past several years I have worked closely with the ITAP’s security division to craft language to meet the new requirements. Purdue implemented the changes about a year ago and just recently Educause listed Purdue’s Web site as a role model for other universities. Purdue is the only Big Ten school listed as a role model. Here is the link to the Educause site: http://www.educause.edu/HEOArolemodels .

PILLAR: Infrastructure

Please don’t forget to sign up for one of these sessions. I must track all Equal Opportunity, Equal Access (ADA) training so if you attend one of the general sessions, and not a Libraries only session, please let me know jhillgro@purdue.edu.

General Purdue Sessions:

Sessions for Supervisors Only
Jan. 18, 7:30 a.m.    PFSB 1179A/B Supervisors
Jan. 18, 2 p.m.         STEW B848 Supervisors — LIBRARIES ONLY SESSION
Jan. 19, 9:30 a.m.     ROSS #130 Supervisors
Jan. 25, 2 p.m.         PFSB 1179 A/B Supervisors
Jan. 26, 4 p.m.         PFSB 1179 A/B Supervisors
Jan. 27, 8 a.m.         PFSB A/B Supervisors

Sessions for Faculty and Staff, Non-supervisors
Jan. 13, 7 a.m.         BRNG 1222 Faculty and Staff      
Jan. 20, 3 p.m.         STEW 318 Faculty and Staff
Jan. 25, 10 a.m.       STEW B848 Faculty and Staff — LIBRARIES ONLY SESSION
Jan. 27, 2:30 p.m.    STEW 318 Faculty and Staff
Jan. 28, 10 a.m.       FREH 1-2 Faculty and Staff

Instructions to register:
Go to the link below. You will be at the Office of Institutional Equity home page. There will be an underlined link Phase II Briefing Sessions Scheduling & Registration. Click here. Log on using your Purdue user name and password.
http://www.purdue.edu/ethics/oie/EqualAccessEqualOpportunityBriefing.shtml

Winter Wonderland

Photo by Patrick Whalen, HSSE

Last Minute Gift Ideas from Purdue University Press

Purdue University Press has a new Holiday 2010 Catalog which offers a 50% discount on selected titles from several of our signature areas including Purdue and Indiana, History, Agriculture and more. For a complete list of specials check the catalog at http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/pages/catalogs-leaflets.

Also, the Press has started an e-news program which allows interested people to fill out a simple online form and choose their preferred signature areas of interest. Periodic e-newsletters will be sent out regarding new titles, announcements, special sales, etc. of books and journals related to these signature areas. We invite you to sign-up today at www.thepress.purdue.edu/enews

Please share these Web sites with your friends, colleagues and others that might enjoy what the Purdue University Press has to offer.