HLS news

BY VICKI KILLION

PILLAR: Learning and Infrastructure

In the past eighteen months, the Health and Life Sciences Division (HLS) filled three vacancies with two new faces and one familiar one.

Ashley Reisert joined the Life Sciences Library as reference assistant in March 2011. In addition to staffing the service desk and other responsibilities, she is assisting in the preliminary inventory of Purdue agricultural extension and agricultural education publications. There is currently a great interest in preserving access to these publications, not only at the local level, but also nationally. At the recent United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) conference, we learned of a project for which the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is seeking partnerships with USAIN, the National Agriculture Library and university libraries supporting schools/colleges of agriculture. Reisert’s work of determining exactly what we have and reconciling our holdings records is the first step in contributing to the preservation of our unique collections.

Will Ferrall started at the Life Sciences Library last fall as a reference assistant. His previous experience in developing and maintaining web pages was immediately put to use. Recently he assisted Clarence Maybee and Alaina Morales in creating the first of several tutorials that will soon debut. Ferrall also works regularly scheduled hours in the Engineering Library.

The third new HLS-er, Jane Yatcilla, has had an incredibly busy year transitioning from math and computer sciences librarian to liaison to the departments of speech and audiology and health kinesiology and the School of Health Sciences. Yatcilla’s past experience as a veterinary medical librarian and her involvement on a Discovery Park project that included developing a taxonomy led to her inclusion in the HABRI Central project — again creating a taxonomy to describe the human-animal bond knowledge base on HubZero. Gretchen Stephens is also a member of the HABRI project developing an EndNote library of bibliographic citations culled from the many multi-disciplinary databases indexing this literature.

Information literacy
Several of us have been involved with Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) this past year. Maribeth Slebodnik and Yatcilla are faculty support team members, each for four courses. They attend classes taught by the Center for Instructional Excellence with the course instructors and work closely with the faculty to integrate information literacy into the transformed courses. In addition to this and maintaining active information literacy programs in a number of established courses, Yatcilla, Slebodnik and I also worked with the College of Pharmacy Professional Practice Labs (PPL) coordinator in revising the drug information component in the first professional year. Yatcilla and Slebodnik will be taking on additional responsibilities in the fall when the college begins the roll-out of the revised curriculum.

Marianne Stowell Bracke continued her partnership with John Graveel in AG 101, the foundation course in the College of Agriculture that all incoming students must take. Stowell Bracke utilized Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) to assess the 500+ students as they completed their assignments in locating and evaluating information about current science issues. She is also partnering with Jake Carlson, Chris Miller, Megan Sapp Nelson and Michael Fosmire on an ILMS-funded project to determine data information literacy needs of researchers. She has presented both projects at national conferences this past year: American Libraries Association, Tri-Societies (soil) and USAIN.

Alignment of space
With one day’s notice, the VetMed team of Monica Kirkwood, Tonya Wichterman, Marilyn Rogers and their student assistants, leapt into action and packed up, threw out or shoved aside cabinets, reserves shelves, carts and a lot of accumulated stuff to accommodate carpet tile installation in the staff work area. The flurry of activity resulted in reclaiming an area for staff to meet and relax away from their desks for breaks, lunch or informal meetings. An office area was cleared for Kirkwood’s use and temporarily for Tertia Coetsee, our visiting librarian from South Africa.

Plans for additional space alignment in Veterinary Medical, Life Sciences and Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences libraries are currently being developed — it’s going to be a busy summer!

Dean Mullins and Purdue Libraries honored by ARL

PILLAR: Infrastructure

On April 4, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) honored Dean James Mullins and the Purdue University Libraries for their enduring commitment to ARL’s Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW) and for advancing the cause of diversity and inclusion in academic and research libraries. Since 2005, Dean Mullins and the Purdue Libraries have hosted IRDW Diversity Scholars at an annual research library visit designed to provide an inside look at operations in a major research library in the Midwest. During the closing reception for the eighth visit, held at the Purdue Black Cultural Center, Dean Mullins was presented an engraved trophy in recognition of this continued dedication to hosting the site visit.

The visit to Purdue includes programs on a broad range of topics such as e-science, scholarly communication, embedded librarianship, special collections and emerging library roles. Past programs have included discussions with the university Provost, the Vice-Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, and representatives from Purdue University cultural centers and other student services groups. A committee of staff and faculty from the Libraries plans this important component of the IRDW with input from the Diversity Scholars and ARL staff.

Roy Brooks, 2009 Diversity Scholar, reflected on his experience, “Nearing the end of my last semester in my LIS program, the Purdue trip was perfectly timed. It served to be both invigorating and inspiring. The exposure to the dynamic leadership, the motivated faculty, and the innovative service models were the breath of fresh air I needed to keep pace and finish strong. I deeply appreciate the commitment Purdue has made to support the IRDW program and to serve as a model for research institutions across the global campus in the appreciation for and recruitment of a representative workforce.”

The ARL IRDW is a diversity recruitment program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and ARL member libraries. The IRDW provides financial support and career development to master of library and information science students from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority students. The IRDW reflects the commitment of ARL members to create a diverse research library workforce that will better reflect the changing demographics in higher education and the emphasis on global perspectives in the academy. More information about the IRDW can be found on the ARL website at http://www.arl.org/diversity/init/call.shtml.

2012 ACE graduates

PILLAR: Infrastructure

Linda Foster, Lu Ann Gooden, Donna Slone and Victoria Thomas recently graduated from the two-year Accomplished Clerical Excellence (ACE) program. The ACE program offers high potential clerical employees an opportunity to enhance their established skills, broaden their knowledge and perspectives and develop a valuable peer network.

“I have been asked if the ACE program was really worth it and yes, it was. I’ve improved many of my office skills, learned new networking connections and it has provided me the big picture on how Purdue operates. I would highly recommend it to everyone.” - Linda Foster, secretary, Administrative Offices

“I am happy to have been a part of the ACE program. It has provided me with a great source of networking, campus knowledge and personal enrichment. Not to mention, the privilege of meeting a great group of people. Thank you ACE!” - Lu Ann Gooden, library assistant, Academic Affairs

“The ACE program is a very worthwhile program. It helps the departments across campus to network together.” - Donna Slone, library assistant, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Physics

"The ACE program gave me the opportunity to explore many avenues provided by Purdue. In addition, the program gave me the tools through continuous improvement lectures for personal and professional growth and interpersonal skills using the Myers-Briggs foundation. ACE is a great experience for everyone." - Victoria Thomas, library assistant, Life Sciences

Libraries new staff

PILLAR: Infrastructure

Kristen Twardowski
Library Assistant
HSSEB Libraries

This past February I was fortunate enough to join the staff of the Hicks Undergraduate Library and the newly renovated Parrish Library of Management and Economics. Through my role scheduling rooms, managing course reserves, and consolidating the Parrish serials collection, I have been lucky enough to meet many members of the Purdue community.

Before coming to Purdue, my quest to understand people led me to study Eastern European History and Art History at Oberlin College in Ohio. Eastern Europe captured my interest because of the complex, often contradictory, and always very human actions of the people who live there. While at Oberlin, I spent three years working with the College Libraries where I discovered the joys of assisting students and retrieving books from a repository with glass floors. The key to helping students is discovering what they need rather than what they want. The key to dealing with glass floors is not looking down.

Moving to Lafayette has allowed me to embrace my passion for animals and the outdoors. I have a terrible tendency to adopt strays, which has caused me to raise Lolly, an orphaned raccoon, Judy Barr Topinka, an abandoned hamster with too long a name, and several shelter dogs. Rather than caring for every lost animal in Lafayette I volunteer at Wolf Park, a wolf research and education facility in Battle Ground. During the summer of 2010 I interned with the Park and now that I am back in the area I cannot imagine staying away from it.

Working with the Purdue Libraries is a wonderful opportunity and I am thrilled to be a member of HSSEB. I can be found bouncing between my offices at Hicks and Parrish. With all of that bouncing around, the most reliable way to reach me is by email at ktwardow@purdue.edu.

PILLAR: Scholarly Communication

The long awaited decision in the Georgia State e-reserves case was handed down on May 11. Georgia State was sued in 2008 by three publishers, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Sage Publications, for materials in the library e-reserves system. The trial was held a year ago. In many ways it was a win for Georgia State but there are still some unanswered questions.

Georgia State won on all but five of the 99 infringement claims. The Court only looked at books and not journal articles. Before the judge even applied a fair use analysis to each work, she reviewed whether or not the publisher had a valid copyright claim to the work. There were several cases where the publisher could not definitively prove ownership so Georgia State won on those claims without fair use ever being applied.

The following are some of the highlights of the 350 page decision:

1. Repeated use of the same work qualifies for fair use.
2. Fair use is applied to the entire book including the table of contents, index, etc. and not just the chapters. The judge also ruled that chapters are not complete works.
3. If a book is ten chapters or more in length, then only one chapter can be used under fair use. If the book is less than ten chapters, then 10% of the work can be used.
4. If there are licensed digital excerpts available at a reasonable cost, then the license should be utilized.
5. The Court set aside the Classroom Guidelines which were part of the 1976 legislative history stating that they are contrary to the intent of the actual law of fair use.
6. The following is the breakdown of the five books that were found to be infringing:
1. Book 1 – four chapters or 8.38% of the work was used.
2. Book 2 – two chapters or 8.38% of the work was used.
3. Book 3 – seven chapters of 12.29% of the work was used.
4. Book 4 – two chapters that were also considered the heart of the work or 12.57% of the work was used.
5. Book 5 – two chapters or 8.28% of the work was used.
7. The publishers have 30 days in which to petition the court to request damages for the five works that were infringed.

This case was argued in the 11th Circuit and Indiana is in the 7th Circuit. We have to follow the case law in our Circuit so technically this ruling does not apply to us. However, should a similar case be litigated in the 7th Circuit, the Court will look to see if other Circuits have rendered any decisions with similar fact patterns and many times will follow the lead of other Circuits. In other words, we do need to take this ruling seriously. There is also certainly the likelihood that this case will be appealed. If that happens, then we can look forward to many more years of litigation on this case.

Libraries staff recognize the importance of student staff members

PILLAR: Infrastructure

"Our student workers are invaluable in keeping the Chemistry Library staffed for the optimum customer service! They take pride and ownership in our library and their knowledge rivals many full time staff members. Our student workers make each day new and interesting…and they keep me young!" – Sharon Sturgeon

Chemistry Library student assistant, Ethan Ross, assists Cyrus Baker with a Libraries search.

"Advising and collaborating on research with graduate students is one of the best parts of my job as a faculty librarian. Last fall Siddharth Singh and I traveled to work with collaborators at Penn State on the Databib project. We stayed an extra day for their homecoming parade and football game, which unfortunately Purdue lost. But thanks to Singh’s programming, the public beta test of Databib has been a win that is featured by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on their blog." - Michael Witt

Witt and Singh at the Penn State University airport.

Libraries Staff A-Z

Matt Riehle
Web Applications Developer
Instruction and Digital Programs Services

Q. What do you enjoy most about your job and why?
A. I enjoy finding solutions to problems and solutions are often needed when working in web development. It’s always great to hear about how a program you developed has made someone else’s work easier or more satisfying.

Q. How long have you worked in the Libraries and at Purdue?
A. I’ve worked in the Libraries for 5 ½ years.

Q. What is one unforgettable experience that has happened to you or your coworkers while working in the library?
A. After receiving an automated message that the catalog was down, I attempted to resurrect it from home, however it would not respond. I drove into campus and arrived to the STEW server room door around 11 p.m. only to hear a chorus of computer beeps coming through the door. I entered the room which is normally cooled to the mid-60s, but had risen to a temp of 105 degrees. All of the Libraries servers were beeping and blinking warning lights. I powered off all the servers so that they wouldn’t get fried and tried to track down as many fans as possible to cool off the room while waiting for the emergency air conditioner repair. The next morning, once the AC was fixed and the room cooled off, all the servers came back online and we took a deep breath of relief!

Q. What’s your favorite book, website, movie or database?
A. Books: “Lunch Poems” by Frank O’Hara, “Paterson” by William Carlos Williams, “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. Websites: http://news.google.com and http://lifehacker.com. Movies: “This is Spinal Tap” and “Amélie.”

Q. Coffee, tea, water or soft drink?
A. I enjoy Coca-Cola way too much.

Q. What do you like to do for fun?
A. I enjoy working in the yard and garden during the growing season, baking, exploring new places and spending time with my wife, Catherine.

Q. Feel free to include any information about yourself that you would like to share with the staff?
A. I love music and learning how to play different instruments. This leads to an unhealthy amount of musical instruments lying around the house that often do not get played. Currently in the house there are several guitars, bass, piano, several synthesizers, sampler, trombone, banjo, violin, ukulele, banjo-ukulele, small accordion, a 5-piece drum set and two very annoyed cats.