Staff successes lead to global recognition

BY JIM MULLINS
 

PILLAR: Infrastructure

Jim MullinsOne of my responsibilities as dean is to represent Purdue and the Libraries within the University and at state, national and international levels. This frequently involves participation in professional association board meetings and conferences, speaking at meetings and presenting papers, attending alumni and fundraising events and meeting with current and prospective donors to the Libraries. These commitments take me away from the Libraries more than I would like, however, the benefit is the opportunity to discuss and address national and international challenges being faced by libraries and universities. And, as a result of the great work all of you are doing, it is with pride that I am able to talk about how we, the Purdue University Libraries, Purdue University Press and Copyright Office are making important contributions to ways to address issues…and to explore opportunities they present.

At the recent Association of Research Libraries (ARL) meeting, a primary topic was the changing role of academic research libraries within the university environment. Topics included realignment of human resources, information resources and facilities. As I listened to issues other universities are coping with (or not) I realized how advanced we, at Purdue, are with so many aspects of these discussions.

Several people focused on their need to begin strategic planning while others said they had developed a strategic plan but didn't know how to effectively implement it within the organization. With pride I reflected on our "Pillar Plan" over the past two years, reflecting on how effective it has been with bringing the strategic plan into an annual focus across the Libraries, as well as enabling each of us to look at our own role and how we contribute to the operation and strategic direction of the Libraries.

With ease, I could fill the remainder of this issue of INSIDE with comments on our collective success and advancements, but, I’m told to keep my words brief. Therefore, I will highlight a few of the areas where the Libraries are receiving national attention:

  • Redefinition of the role of librarians and staff with Libraries faculty increasing and redefining collaboration with disciplinary faculty in instruction (information literacy) and research (e-Science and data management).
  • The administrative/professional and clerical/service staffs taking greater responsibility for the services and operations provided by the Libraries.
  • Across-system collaboration and enhanced vision to reduce the "silo" view of what we do.
  • Leadership in development of the data digital repository through collaboration with the Libraries, ITaP and the Office for Vice President for Research.
  • Recognition that digital initiatives extend from digitization of print materials held by the Libraries — to digitization of University publications — to the acceptance that data sets for research are a collection worth stewarding.
  • Open access and a revised view of the publication process through the work to promote e-Pubs and e-Archives, along with the open access publications now offered by the Press.

I want to close by acknowledging that over the past year several of our valued colleagues left the Libraries either through retirement, resignation, or sadly, through death. It is never easy to see colleagues depart; it is an impact we all feel. But, I’m looking forward to this summer and fall when we will welcome new colleagues…they will soon become an important of the Libraries, Press and Copyright family.

The health of an organization is its people and our collective ability to adapt to change, to welcome new ideas and to embrace new ways of doing things. The Libraries, Press and Copyright are perceived by many other institutions to be among the healthiest in the nation…for that, I thank each and every one of you!


Google Government Documents digitization project update

BY SUE WARD

PILLAR: Robust Local Collections (Digital and Print)

As you may remember from a previous article in INSIDE, the Purdue University Libraries has joined with other libraries in our consortium, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), to provide items for the Google Books digitization project. Our contribution at the moment is to supply U.S. government documents that Google has identified from our collection as titles needed to expand its coverage.

Google sent us a pick list of about 50,000 titles in March. By the end of that month, we had sent a small test shipment and started working on the project in earnest. The list of 50,000 titles is being broken down into pull lists of about 150 items each. The initial focus was on documents in the Humanities, Social Science and Education (HSSE) Library since most of the requested documents were there. Since then, staff have also processed some titles from other campus libraries such as Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) and Engineering (ENGR). The lists have been prepared for the Hicks Repository (HKRP); book pulling began there recently. Luckily most of the 10,000 items needed from HKRP already had shelf locations, but about 1,200 titles must be looked up manually to identify their locations within the facility.

Our Google project staff pull the needed items from the shelves and then box them for shipment.  Forty boxes equals one pallet. The staff has completed eight pallets (320 boxes) containing 24,179 volumes! When we have ten completed pallets we will make arrangements for our first shipment. These volumes will be digitized at a Google scanning facility, and they will not be returned to us. A few months after they leave Purdue, the scanned documents will be available for access on both Google Books and HathiTrust.

Processing monographs is easy: just pull and box (with some updating and editing of the corresponding Excel files). Processing serials is more of a challenge. Many are bound together and Google prefers that these be individually barcoded so that each piece will be scanned as a separate document. In addition, many titles that we cataloged as serials also have individual titles which Google also prefers, if available. After serial volumes are pulled, they are reviewed for instances of “bound withs” and individual catalog records. Lori Bryant then makes all the changes needed to the volumes, catalog records and project records. After this, the volumes are boxed for shipment.

As each pull list is boxed, the records are suppressed from the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). For books, the records are changed within a few days of leaving the shelves. Because of the extra processing time needed for serials, the time lag is a little longer.

Many people are working hard on this project. Wendy Kelly, Dan Yeoman, Lori Bryant, Candy Sheagley, Sue Long and Lu Ann Gooden all spend some time each day on the project. HKRP staff have also started to pull items from that location. Many other staff have also provided assistance on various aspects of list preparation, pulling items from shelves and moving boxes from one location to another.

Now that we are past most of the start-up growing pains the project is proceeding smoothly and in very good time. It’s exciting to be working on a project that will benefit not only our own users but researchers from around the world once this content is digitized and available on Google Books.

 

Report on LILAC Conference

BY SHARON WEINER

PILLAR: Campuswide Information Literacy

I attended and gave a presentation at the Librarians and Information Literacy Annual Conference (LILAC) in London from Apr. 18-20. There were around 300 attendees and 90 were from 26 countries outside of the United Kingdom! It was a great way to network and learn about the latest in information literacy from around the world. The conference was held at the British Library, which had a fantastic exhibit of illuminated manuscripts on display, and the London School of Economics.

My presentation was on “Institutionalizing Information Literacy.” I presented the organizational models for colleges and universities that Robert Birnbaum describes in his book, How Colleges Work, and applied strategies for effectiveness in those models to integrating information literacy. I received positive feedback. As an example of the global reach of Libraries, I received an email from an attendee who commented that she was pleased that she had the opportunity to “meet a librarian from Purdue University, to which I point its learning objectives to my students!”

Here are a few provocative tidbits from the conference:

  • “Now is the future.” Libraries will be decoupled from the information process if we don’t change. (Keynote David Nicholas)  
  • The Welsh Information Literacy Project is addressing information literacy of a nation.
  • The SCONUL Seven Pillars model of information literacy is being updated to reflect a change in thinking from teaching skills, to thinking differently and demonstrating awareness.
  • There was a debate on whether there is a need for information literacy standards at all.
  • Librarians are moving from reactive to supportive and ultimately to partner roles with faculty. (An example of a reactive role is finding out what texts faculty need. In a supportive role, the librarian is viewed as knowledgeable, but not integral.)
  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is developing international indicators of information literacy. They will include the contexts of society, work, education and well-being.
  • Sheila Webber posted information about individual sessions and the addresses for Second Life and Twitter reports on her blog: http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

 

Internship at Purdue Libraries: a six week learning experience

BY SUNETTE STEYNBERG

PILLAR: New Relationships

Sunette Steynberg internship at Purdue LibrariesThe six weeks spent at Purdue University Libraries certainly was of great value to me. I am very fortunate to have had this opportunity here at Purdue University. My experience at the Engineering Library was a good fit for my own interests.

I am grateful to everyone for their kindness and friendship towards me while I was here. Everyone was so generous with their time and willing to share their ideas, work and experiences with me. I enjoyed every meeting, talk, lunch and dinner, you all kept me so busy that the time went by too fast. I am truly going to miss everyone.

The following are some observations that I am taking back to my home institution, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

  • Professionalism: Librarians are true scholars. Since they are faculty, they do research and also publish their results.
  • Application: Several librarians taught me the value of truly knowing what the profession is about and being able to apply the knowledge of information science to other, seemingly unrelated, disciplines. These would include using their skills to analyze and understand a problem (conceptualization), similar to what they would have done in a client interview for a literature survey.
  • Information literacy: In their pursuit of teaching information literacy, librarians have been very creative. I came across many teaching models in this regard. I have seen how interactive teaching happened, how critical thinking was stimulated and also how assessment was implemented. Everybody was very helpful at sharing their thoughts and products.
  • Second Life: I learned how this could be used for simulated social studies.
  • Common Reading Program: This is an interesting concept and the applications thereof for different disciplines of students.
  • Brown bag and reading discussions: I enjoyed not only hearing of people’s successes, but also their failures. It gave a much more realistic picture. I liked how people asked questions not only for discussion, but also because they were willing to learn from colleagues’ experiences.
  • Collection development: The book approval plan interested me. If set up properly, this saves a lot of time in collection development and also ensures that the collection is well balanced.
  • Patent searching: This is done at a very high level at Purdue University Libraries. Intellectual property awareness needs to be better cultivated amongst University of Pretoria students. Innovative ideas need more stimulation and development to become patentable and marketable.
  • Grant writing: A lot of time is spent on grant writing. I am not quite convinced that that would be the best way to go for South African librarians. If money is really needed, I would suggest that South African librarians apply for National Research Funding (NRF) for their projects. If one could do it without the grants, I would recommend that librarians proceed without it, as long as the results of their research get published. South African librarians have not been good at publishing our research.

I do hope that we will keep in touch and keep exchanging ideas. Would it not be wonderful if we could start an exchange program for librarians between the Universities of Pretoria and Purdue? It would truly benefit my colleagues to spend some time here at Purdue as I have done, and it might also be very interesting for Purdue librarians to see how things are being done in South Africa.

 

Auxiliary Services' student staff are an integral part of Libraries

PILLAR: Infrastructure

Auxiliary Services students 2011For several semesters this group of Auxiliary Services (AUXS) students has probably been in contact with every Libraries' staff member in one way or another.

"They are the heart and soul of this department providing us with some of the simplest tasks to the most demanding and physical jobs and probably some jobs that don’t exist out in the real world," said Candy Scott. "This group of students makes up one of the best crews I have ever worked with. Most of them have worked together for 2-3 years and have formed strong bonds with each other. They are a great group of young adults who work hard and manage to have a good time while providing excellent service to the Libraries. I will miss them as they complete their degrees at Purdue and move on into the working world. But in the meantime, I enjoy the opportunity of working with each of them."

 

JESSICA DENBY, graduating senior, Krannert School of Management from Valparaiso, Indiana
AUXS three years

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. I’ve made a lot of my best friends at work which makes even the worst days bearable. Power tools are a definite plus.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. We were at Purdue Salvage and a worker had a photocopier on the forklift. As he was backing up it fell off and shattered. His response, “Guess we’re not selling that one.”

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. I’ve learned a lot of patience and how to use tools that actually might be useful in real life.

Auxiliary Services students 2011MEGHAN COMPTON, graduating senior, Organizational Leadership and Supervision from Valparaiso, Indiana
AUX three semesters

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. The fact that we are all friends in AUXS. We get the work done yet we get to hang out at the same time.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. I love all the parties that we get to drop-in on. Staff were always recognizing us for our hard work and accomplishments and it really meant a lot. We got eat delicious food, which is always a plus, and it was nice to know that people appreciated our efforts.

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. I learned a lot about power tools! After I got over the fear of using them, I learned lots of useful information on how to use them and what to use them on that will help me in the future. I also learned a lot about Purdue and the Libraries that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise known.

KODY HALL, junior, Secondary Social Studies Education from Lafayette, Indiana
AUXS three years

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. Getting off of work at 3 p.m.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. A former graduate staff student talking to girls from the back of the truck while making deliveries to the Libraries.

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. How to use my talents to fix a variety of things.

Auxiliary Services studnets 2011MARK HUNTER, graduating senior, Building Construction Management from Fishers, Indiana
AUXS two years

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. I like the people that I work with, usually laid back and never too demanding, also the flexibility in the work schedule.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. Racing pallet jacks in the attic or going down the ramp in Lynn on a pallet jack.

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. I have learned just how much work actually goes into keeping the Libraries running and how valuable they are to the University. Also, to never take a job too seriously.

KOREY JACKSON, senior, Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences from South Bend, Indiana
AUXS four years

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. I enjoy the interaction we have with each library’s staff. It seems like the librarians know us specifically.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. One of the memorable moments for me was the moving and reorganizing of Archives and Special Collections into its new space on the fourth floor of Stewart Center.

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. Over the past years, I’ve learned the importance of team work and communication skills to get the job done.

MARCELO LEONE, junior, Computer Engineering from Hilliard, Ohio
AUXS four semesters

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. I enjoy the change in work tasks, not doing the same thing day after day.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. Just working with the people in AUXS and getting to know everyone, inside and outside of the workplace.

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. I’ve learned about the individual libraries, physically – from front to back.

ASHLEY SOMMERS, senior, Youth, Adult and Family Services from Fort Wayne, Indiana
AUXS seven semesters

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. The people we work with and the atmosphere. Even though some of the work orders aren't the most enjoyable, it doesn't matter because the people are awesome — students and supervisors.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. The multiple time my fellow coworkers tried to get me over my fear of the dark by turning the lights off on me while in the attic.

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. How to use power tools! And patience, cooperation, leadership and other things like that.

TIM VENDERLEY, senior, Industrial Engineering from Fort Wayne, Indiana
AUXS two years

Q. What do you enjoy most about working in the Libraries?
A. I enjoyed working with my peers and working in small groups. I also enjoyed working with power tools and different tools.

Q. What is one memorable moment you’ve experienced while working in the Libraries?
A. Most memorable would be when I switched Jessica’s diet Coke can with an old can filled with extremely old diet coke. She threw up out the back of the truck. Awesome!

Q. What have you learned while working in AUXS?
A. I’ve learned patience and how to work in teams.

JOHN NGUYEN, senior, History and Pre-Optometry from Fort Wayne, Indiana
AUXS nine semesters

WES ZURBRUGG, junior, College of Agriculture from Fort Wayne, Indiana
AUXS one semester

 

CONTENTS
  • Google Government Documents digitization project update
  • Report on LILAC Conference
  • Internship at Purdue Libraries: a six week learning experience
  • Auxiliary Services student staff
  • Off the Shelf
  • Announcements
  • Farewell
  • One Book Higher posters featured at Academic Libraries of Indiana Conference
  • Libraries in the News
  • Staff Publications, Presentations and Awards
  • Libraries Staff A-Z
  • Graduating Student Staff
  • Connect with Libraries
  • What's Cooking?

 

OFF THE SHELF

Continuing Vacancies

New Hires

  • Jennifer Theriot, production editor, Purdue Press, May 3.
  • Sammie Morris, head, Division of Archives and Special Collections and University Archivist, Jun. 27.
  • Eugenia Kim, visiting assistant professor of library science, data services specialist, Jul. 5.
  • Alaina Morales, visiting assistant professor of library science, virtual user experience specialist, Jul. 1.

To view all Purdue job postings visit the Purdue employment page. If you have additional questions, contact Julie Hillgrove or 494-2903.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Spring Fling
May 19
11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Purdue Memorial Mall
Registration deadline May 6

From Master Mix to Farming Tips: 100 Years of Agricultural Extension Exhibit
Archives and Special Collections
Mar. 3-May31
HASSE 4th floor
STEW

 

FAREWELL

Carolyn Laffoon retirement 2011


May 31 will be my final day as a Purdue Librarian. With mixed emotions, I prepare for departure and a new chapter in my life, being open to whatever God has in mind. Tying up loose ends of undone projects consumes my time before Megan Sapp Nelson settles into my office, Room 2215B, CIVL, which will become her office on June 1. Boxing up photos posted on my bulletin board and many other personal items will be delayed until the last moment as they represent too many treasured memories to count. Framed cat pictures will come off the walls and door, preparing the way for a new occupant. Two-thirds of my life has been spent on this campus, all the while making amazing friends and relationships with co-workers, staff, faculty and students, friendships that will last a lifetime. Saying thank you seems so inadequate. There are no words to express how appreciative I am of all you! So I am going to leave it at that. (Don't make me cry.)

What do I plan to do with my extra time? Sleep in, sit in the sun in my hammock swing and read, talk to my daughter on Skype and perhaps take an Alaskan cruise.

So I am not really saying goodbye to all of you, as I will continue to live in my home in West Lafayette and my Purdue email will remain active. My home phone still works and I am learning to text on my cell (yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks). So, feel free to contact me and let's do lunch!

(Angie E., do you have a truck to help me move out of my office?)

Love to you all!
Carolyn J. Laffoon
Soon-to-be-former EAS and Physics Librarian

 

LIBRARIES IN THE NEWS

Library Journal.com, May 12
Full Bleed: Libraries and Publishing | Peer to Peer Review

Purdue Exponent, May 16
UPDATE: Board of Trustees committees meet, discuss new majors and name changes; MEL name change

UNS Press Release, May 17
Purdue approves improvements to fitness center, library, chiller plant; MEL renovation and name change

Lafayette Journal & Courier, May 17
Purdue trustee's farewell message pointed; MEL renovation

 

ONE BOOK HIGHER POSTERS FEATURED AT ACADEMIC LIBRARIES OF INDIANA

The Libraries dean and associate deans selected two posters from One Book Higher to be presented at the May 11 Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI) in Indianapolis. 

  • “Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn: Redesigning a Chemical Information Literacy Course” by Jeremy Garritano and Jessica Weller. Weller is a graduate student from the Departments of Chemistry and Curriculum & Instruction.
  • “Developing Curious and Persistent Continuous Learners: Information Skills of First-Year Engineering Student” by Michael Fosmire, Ruth Wertz, Meagan Ross, Monica Cardella and Senay Purzer. Wertz and Ross are graduate students from the School of Engineering Education and Cardella and Purzer are assistant professors in the School of Engineering Education. 

Garritano represented the two posters at the conference.

 

STAFF PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Donna L. Ferullo made multiple presentations at the Ball State University Libraries 8th Annual Copyright Conference on Apr. 20. Topics included: Copyright Glossary and Academic Copyright Policymaking with Dwayne Buttler; K-12 and Academic Ownership with Dwayne Buttler, Michelle Cooper and Janice Pilch; E-Reserves and Fair Use. For more about the conference check here http://cms.bsu.edu/
Academics/Libraries/CollectionsandDept/ Copyright/CopyrightConference.aspx

Michael Witt received notification from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that Purdue University and Penn State University libraries have been awarded $24,594. The schools will partner to create a new online information resource for research data producers, users, publishers, librarians and funding agencies, Databib. For more information visit http://www.imls.gov/
news/2011/050311.shtm

 

LIBRARIES STAFF A-Z

Vivkie McLaughlinVICTORIA “VICKIE” McLAUGHLIN
Interlibrary Loan
Library Assistant

Q. What do you enjoy most about your job and why?
A. Mostly I enjoy the people I work with — great group. I very much like what I do, which is finding articles for staff and students.

Q. How long have you worked in the Libraries and at Purdue?
A. Going on 21 years.

Q. What is one unforgettable experience that has happened to you or your coworkers while working in the library?
A. Getting stuck in the delivery elevator in the Potter building.

Q. What’s your favorite book, website, movie or database?
A. I don’t have a favorite book but I very much like reading murder mysteries. Favorite movie is Gone with the Wind.

Q. Coffee, tea, water or soft drink?
A. First is coffee, second is soft drinks.

Q. What do you like to do for fun?
A. Reading, gardening, being with family and friends and taking a ride through the country on a motorcycle.

Q. Feel free to include any information about yourself that you would like to share with the staff?
A. Purdue is a great place to work. The Libraries is a great department. Looking forward to that day when I don’t have to set the alarm before I go to bed!

 

GRADUATING STUDENT STAFF

Graduating senior, Matthew Howard, Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences, was recognized by Dean Mullins for his dedicated service to the Purdue Libraries. Howard was presented with a Purdue mug, a letter of appreciation and a copy of the book plate that will be permanently placed in a Purdue Libraries’ book.

 

CONNECT WITH LIBRARIES

 

 

WHAT'S COOKING?

Pecan Pie Cake
Visit the Libraries Intranet site for this recipe.

Send recipes to Teresa Brown.

 

COPY DEADLINE

Copy for the June 1issue is due by May 31. Send to Teresa Brown.