Psychoactive What?

BY STEPHANIE SCHMITZ

An exhibit entitled The Science of Psychoactive Substances: Opening the Doors of Perception is currently on display at the Archives and Special Collections. The display, which features items from the Psychoactive Substances Research Collection, includes documentation of past and present research initiatives involving hallucinogenic substances. Many of the items on display are related to research that explores the therapeutic properties of hallucinogenic substances such as LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA (more commonly known as “ecstasy”).

Among the items on display are materials pertaining to Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who was the first to synthesize LSD; unique small press publications with remarkably illustrated covers; rare and historical works on addiction; correspondence between English novelist Aldous Huxley and researcher Sanford Unger; and selections from the personal papers of researchers Stanislav Grof, Walter Pahnke and Charles Savage.

The exhibit also includes materials that illustrate the resurgence of psychoactive research, including recent articles from The New York Times and The Washington Post. This portion of the display demonstrates that substances such as psilocybin and MDMA are currently being used to treat anxiety in terminal cancer patients and in those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Psychoactive Substances Research Collection is a collecting effort that began in 2006 through the generosity of the Betsy Gordon Foundation and under the stewardship of Purdue Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology David Nichols. Nichols’ research is focused on the relationship between molecular structure and the action of psychedelic agents that modify behavioral states, and he is well known and highly respected among the researchers who are exploring the potential benefits of these substances.

The exhibit is open Monday through Friday, 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., and will be on display through August 13.

That was the response Dan Yeoman and I had when we were asked if we’d be willing to go on a little road trip down to Houston to return some loaned items and pick up some gifts from a donor for Archives and Special Collections (ASC). It would be a nice change of pace to get away from campus and hit the open road, but we were a little puzzled. Why not just send the items back UPS and have the donor send the gifts to the Libraries? Well, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that it all had to do with the nature of the items and the identity of the donor. These items were mostly one of a kind, held enormous historical significance, and some had even been to the Moon! Better yet, the donor was Gene Cernan, a Purdue Alumnus NASA astronaut, the last man on the Moon, and an international hero! Yes, we were definitely willing to travel down to Texas.

After some careful planning, reserving an appropriate university vehicle, gathering the necessary packaging supplies, choosing an efficient route to take, and booking a hotel in Houston, we rolled out of Lafayette in our white eight passenger cargo van on Sunday, May 16 at 6:30 am. Then came two days of driving and over 1,100 miles before we arrived in Houston. The next morning we met Judy Schumaker, who was handling all the negotiations and paperwork involved with the gift, at the Cernan's’ home. We were greeted by his wife, Jan, and his dog, Baron. She then took us up to the office and introduced us to his assistant, Claire, and her husband, Gene. It was truly an honor and a pleasure meeting this accomplished gentleman. He is a retired captain in the U.S. Navy, flew on three missions for NASA, started his own business (The Cernan Corporation), was a contributor on ABC News, and is chairman of the board of Johnson Engineering Corporation.

First, we returned five boxes of items that Mr. Cernan had loaned to ASC for an astronaut exhibit. These items included a heat shield plug, his toothbrush from Apollo 17, a mission checklist used on the Moon, a congratulatory postcard from John Wayne signed “Duke,”and a map of the Moon used on the Moon! Then we began loading what would become 17 boxes and over 25 framed items and plaques, which included photographs, awards, certificates, postcards, telegrams, manuscripts, tapes, films, and souvenirs from his incredible life. He showed us pictures of himself with celebrities like Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, and Tom Hanks and with foreign dignitaries, including presidents, premiers, prime ministers, kings, queens, and popes. The “coolest” item was a glove he wore during Apollo 17 that still was covered in moon dust. We also met his daughter, Tracy, whose initials her father had traced on the lunar surface in 1972 when she was nine years old. He explained that they would remain there indefinitely because of the lack of weather on the Moon. 

After several hours at his home, we had the van packed up and ready to go and Gene needed to leave to give a talk at his granddaughters’ middle school. We were then treated to a delicious lunch with Claire that included authentic Texas BBQ. The next day, the Dans headed for home. It took two more days of driving, another stop in Arkansas, and another 1,100 miles before we were “back home again in Indiana.” I would say the trip was a success. Both of us and our cargo made it down and back in one piece, and after all those hours in a cargo van, there was no physical violence, only some minor disagreements on musical tastes, and only one wrong turn (which was my fault). On a personal note, I had the privilege of meeting Neil Armstrong while working security for Purdue Football a couple years ago. So it’s kind of a thrill to have shaken hands with the first and last people to have walked on the Moon!

LCSSAC was formed in 1993 to serve as a communication link between the Libraries’ administration and the clerical service staff. To learn more about LCSSAC, visit out intranet Web site. From this site you can contact any member of LCSSAC, check on Library events, access the By-Laws, read minutes from our monthly meetings, and use our LINK Letter to make suggestions and voice concerns.

Each library unit has been assigned to a district with a representative being elected to a three year term by all clerical service staff. A sixth district is represented by an at-large representative elected to a three year term by all clerical service staff.

Please extend congratulations to new members, Dacia Wiesler and Linda Foster as they begin their three year terms in June.

District 1

Dacia Wiesler works in HIKS as a library clerk for Circulation Services. She has worked in the Libraries for a year and a half.  Dacia says, “I thought serving on LCSSAC would give me a broader perspective of the Purdue University Libraries system and to better serve the internal and external customers.” Contact Dacia at 49-40369 or dwiesler@purdue.edu

District 2

Linda Foster works in the Libraries Administrative Offices.  She has worked in the Libraries for almost two years. Linda says, “I have been on many committees in the small town in which I live. Being a transplant from New York to Indiana, joining these committees enabled me to meet people and learn where things were and how things were run. It also made me feel a part of the community. By becoming a member of LCSSAC I am hoping to meet and get to know more of the people I work with and learn more about the libraries. I look forward to being an active participant in all of LCSSAC’s endeavors.” Contact Linda at 49-42900 or foster2@purdue.edu

Continuing members include:
District 3 – Jill Begley (2008 – 2011)
District 4 – Becky Hunt (2008 – 2011)
District 5 – Laura Patnaude (2009 – 2012)
District 6 – Mary Sego (2009 – 2012) At-Large representative

Thank you to retiring members, Marsha Hill, Chair, and Teresa Brown, secretary, for their dedication to making LCSSAC a success.

Circulation Services is coordinating the next routine purge of catalog records marked as "missing" for over six months. The purge program will only delete those records still marked as "missing" with 180 or more days from the date that the missing status was set. During the past month staff members have searched for missing items one more time, changing catalog records for any found items. The "missing" records, for those items not found, will be purged on or shortly after June 25. For more information, please contact Laurie Sadler.

Purdue Librarian Wins Award

The PAM Achievement Award is awarded to recognize members of the Physics - Astronomy - Mathematics division of SLA for distinction and dedication to librarianship as well as outstanding contributions to the division. Michael Fosmire was presented this year’s award at the June meeting of Special Libraries Association (SLA).

Kris Fowler, PAM chair, said, “Michael is known for scholarly contributions of distinction: he is an active conference presenter and author, often focusing on information literacy in the sciences. He has won awards from IATUL and ALA, for Best Conference Poster and as a co-author of one of ALA-LIRT's Top 20 Library Instruction articles a few years ago. He has served as an editor for Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, and produced the Physics and General Science sections of ALA's most recent Guide to Reference as well as the Physics section of ALA's Resources for College Libraries.”

In addition to Michael’s wide-ranging contributions to PAM he is a founding member of the Professional Development Committee's Mentoring Sub-Committee, has been instrumental in the conference buddy system, and in creating and delivering annual conference programs and CE courses on Developing Science Librarians and Let’s Get Physical!: Physical Science Reference for Non-Scientists.

The Information Literacy Operations Committee (ILOC) has just completed its first six months. Progress so far includes: 

• Digital Literacy Contest – the Spring 2010 contest was successful. ILOC is exploring the possibilities with some of our CIC colleagues for a multi-institutional event next year.   Penn State has expressed interest and Indiana University is also considering participating.  Stay tuned for this potentially exciting Big Ten academic rivalry.
• Orientation – ILOC created and is working with the new Orientation Committee, which is organizing a repository of information about the libraries collective efforts related to orientation activities.  
  
• Finally, ILOC is working with WESC (the Libraries Web Environment Steering Committee) to improve the web presence of our information literacy related tools and resources.

Next up: ILOC is working on a plan for all information literacy related web tools (tutorials, subject guides, videos, etc.) to improve tools and access to them for Purdue faculty, staff, and students. 

Library Construction Projects

The Libraries are experiencing some renovations and upgrades over the summer months.

The Math Library is having new lighting and sprinkling system installed which is limiting access to their collections as well as their work space. Summer hours are Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and closed on the weekends. Please contact Jane Yatcilla or library staff members at 765-494-2855.

MEL is currently in phase II of its renovation project. Check out more photos of their construction progress on Flicker at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kranlib/sets
/72157624094497146/.

Photos by Dale White.

Information Resources Update

Safari Tech Books Online
By Charlotte Erdmann

The annual review of the Safari Tech Books Online subscription is complete. Library users read more than 40,000 sections from the book, Beautiful Code by Oram and Wilson in the last 17 months. O’Reilly published the book in 2007. This is the highest number of sections read for any book in Purdue’s Safari subscription. Local users read more than 208,950 total sections. Given Safari’s current single page display, a section probably means one page.

Statistics showed use for approximately 85% of the 1000+ books. Here are five books that had more than 3000 sections read:

Once a year, we remove lesser-used titles so that so that newer ones may be added. Charlotte Erdmann recently finished the statistical analysis and recommended 200 titles for removal. Donna Slone removed titles and also adds new ones every two weeks. Sue Long loads new catalog records and removes others. It may take 30-45 days before catalog records are available for new materials. Sue reported that over 900 of the 1,030 titles now have records in the catalog. Users may also go directly to the Safari database and search the current titles.

Donna, under Charlotte’s direction, adds books every two weeks from four major publishers: O’Reilly, Addison-Wesley, Sams, and Prentice-Hall. We may also add books on request. This year, Charlotte added some published by Cisco and several books on computer security. The flexibility of the current plan serves our clients well. If you cannot find a title that was formerly available or is needed, please email Charlotte Erdmann erdmann@purdue.edu or complete a request through the Engineering Library’s purchase request http://gemini.lib.purdue.edu/resform/purchase.cfm.

I only came in to buy a mattress—a Serta, with a fluffy pillow top—a few hundred dollars less than I had seen them other places. 

Dora stood behind the membership counter at the mega club. She didn’t smile. She didn’t look up to make eye contact. I asked for a membership. She shoved a brochure at me and ordered me to read it and then fill out an application.

I was confused. “What is the difference between the Advantage Plus and the Advantage memberships?” I asked. Dora looked down at the brochure and studied it for a long, long while. 

Very seriously, she said, “One is $100 and the other is $40. So, $60.” I started to laugh, but saw right away that she wasn’t joking. I didn’t mean it as a math question.

I filled out the information, checking the $40 membership, (saving $60 on who knows what benefits), and handed it back to her. She worked about fifteen minutes while I waited.

Type. Type. Type. Type.

She finally turned to her co-worker, “Sheila, this stupid computer won’t let me sign in!” Gasp. Fifteen minutes and she wasn’t even signed in! Sheila came to assist, finishing a second person. Well, now she was at least signed in.

Type. Type. Type. Type. Ten more minutes pass. Sheila waited on another person.

“Arrrrgh…I can’t get this stupid computer to take her name!”
“Type her name in the name box and enter.” 

Type. Type. Type. Type.  Five more minutes pass.

“This stupid computer still won’t do it!” She slammed her pen on the counter. After a few minutes, Sheila finishes with yet another customer and comes over and asks Dora to show her what she is doing.

Sheila watches.

“Geez, Dora! You are supposed to type her name and then HIT the ‘enter’ button, not TYPE ‘E-N-T-E-R.’” Sheila stopped and looked irately at me, “Hey…she isn’t MY responsibility to train.” 

Another half hour later, after a computer change, a camera malfunction, and Dora accidentally turning off the computer, I had the this picture taken. I was as unhappy as I looked--no lunch and no mattress. I had to sleep on the floor of my new apartment that night.  This is a true story—every word.

I try to teach the “ACE” of customer service—Attitude, Communication and Effort. The mega club failed in all aspects. The people in the other line got speedy customer service albeit, unfriendly. Attitude means everything in customer service. A smile and thank you go a long way. I challenge you to think about your customer service today, both internal and external. Would you want to be your customer? If you were to take a picture of your last customer for identification what would they look like?