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INFORMATION RESOURCES COUNCIL AND LEARNING COUNCIL — PLANNING FOR THE NEW FISCAL YEAR |
| BY BETH McNEIL |
 "It's a cruel season that makes you get ready for bed while it's light out." — BILL WATTERSON
Summertime can evoke strong feelings and childhood memories for many people: a time for fun and relaxing, summer readings lists, no homework, summer camp, grilling, the countdown to the first day of school and often a general sense of a carefree time with lots of possibilities. The quote above from Bill Watterson, the artist and author of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip always makes me laugh because it sums up exactly how I felt about summer as a child: so many fun things and never enough time in the day to do them.
Summertime for Purdue Libraries is also a very busy time. Since our Libraries are open year round, and our fiscal year begins with July 1, our days can be pretty busy and interesting. We are wrapping up details from one year and planning for a new year all in the same week. Sometimes this feels a little frenetic to me, and when it does I remind myself to bring it all back to our 2011-2016 strategic plan, to focus on our three main goal areas: learning, scholarly communication, and global challenges and the infrastructure that makes it possible for us to achieve objectives for each of these goals.
With the new fiscal year, we have the opportunity to make plans for the coming year. Councils, divisions, units and departments can take time each summer to make plans for activities in support of the Libraries’ goals. Last week Information Resources Council (IRC) met for an afternoon planning retreat, to decide on actions or activities for the coming year in support of the Libraries goals. Paul Bracke joined IRC for the meeting, to help us to consider assessment and performance indicators as we determined our goals for the year. Many of IRC’s activities will be in support of the Scholarly Communication goal area, but IRC will also have work to do in support of Learning and Global Challenges. Learning Council (LC) will have its planning retreat meeting on September 3. We anticipate most of Learning Council’s actions or activities will happen in support of the Learning goal. Please watch for news on IRC’s and LC’s activities in future INSIDe articles. While the summer months have been busy — wrapping up one fiscal year and planning for the next — we can look forward to embarking on a fresh path with new goals, opportunities and possibilities for Purdue Libraries.
"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
— F. SCOTT FITZGERALD |
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ALI INFORMATION LITERACY COMMITTEE MET AT PURDUE |
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Academic Libraries of Indiana's (ALI) Information Literacy Committee met at Purdue in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Library on Monday, July 9. The ALI Information Literacy Committee is comprised of academic librarians from around the state. The Committee is charged to explore information literacy issues, discuss opportunities, facilitate collaboration and be aware of and promote best practices. The Committee currently hosts Hoosiers and Information Literacy (HAIL), a collaborative group of librarians from public, school and academic libraries that aim to work across boundaries to promote information literacy in Indiana. Clarence Maybee, assistant professor and Purdue Libraries Information Literacy Specialist, will chair the committee for the 2013-2014 academic year.
The Committee is hosting UnConferences at the end of July (registration is now closed) at three locations in different areas of Indiana. An unconference is a participant-driven meeting model in which attendees identify the topics they would like to discuss and share their expertise. The aim of the ALI Information Literacy UnConferences are for Indiana academic librarians to be able to share ideas and best practices, and collaborate to find solutions to challenges we all face in teaching.
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COMMON READING PROGRAM |
| BY ROBERT FREEMAN |
 The Common Reading Program is bringing Colin Beavan, the author of No Impact Man to the Purdue University campus for a convocation on Sunday, August 18 at 3:00 p.m., in Elliott Hall of Music. This event is free and, for the first time, it is open to the whole campus community and the general public, not just incoming freshmen.
Because of widespread interest in sustainability efforts across campus and the community, the Common Reading Program is reaching out to invite more people to the convocation, and to involve more people in curricular and co-curricular sustainability activities and discussions. For example, students in the Honors College will have several assignments relating to environmental impacts and the Office of University Sustainability is co-sponsoring an essay/video contest that is tied into the Common Reading Assignment. The winners of the contest, who will receive up to $300 in prize money, will be honored during Purdue’s Green Week, October 21-25.
In conjunction with the Common Reading Program the Purdue Libraries will host sustainability displays, rotating through various libraries throughout the 2013-2014 academic year, beginning in the newly renovated Hicks Library. Anne O'Donnell, HSSEB division, is coordinating this effort with campus partners.
For more information, visit the Common Reading website:
http://www.purdue.edu/studentsuccess/orientation/commonreading/ |
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LIBRARIES CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS |
Progress continues to be made in Hicks Library. The new carpet has been installed and walls are being repaired and primed for painting. In the photo below you can see the area that once was the circulation workroom has been opened up and the metal strips on the floor will allow electrical outlets to be available at the study tables.
On the fourth floor of the Humanities, Social Science and Education Library construction of office space for Archives and Special Collections has begun. In the photo below framing is being installed to partition off the new space from the study area of the library. Drywall will begin to go up sometime this week.
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LIBRARIES STAFF A-Z |
 Sam Wehrspann
Web Applications Developer
IDPS
Q. What do you enjoy most about your job and why?
A. The thing I enjoy most about my job as a web developer is the variety of projects I get to work on. Every day into the office is different. You never know what type of request is going to come next which helps to keep the job interesting and fun.
Q. How long have you worked in the Libraries and at Purdue?
A. I have been at the Libraries for almost 2 years now. I have been at Purdue for close to 4, working for ITaP before coming to the Libraries.
Q. What is one unforgettable experience that has happened to you or your coworkers while working in the library?
A. Nothing too unforgettable or crazy yet. I am a huge Purdue Basketball fan however, so running into Hammons, the Johnsons, or any other players in the union is always exciting.
Q. What is your favorite book, website, movie or database?
A. As a web developer, you can imagine how extensive my list of favorite websites is. My current book series that I am reading is Game of Thrones, though with the amount of detail in Martin’s writing style, I may be reading the same series years from now.
Q. Coffee, tea, water or soft drink?
A. Can’t beat a McDonald’s Vanilla Iced Coffee…now with Monopoly pieces!
Q. What do you like to do for fun?
A. My wife and I like to go on road trips. We are playing in the West Lafayette softball League (D division, no pro here). I also like to attempt golf every so often. |
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SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION: Libraries facilitate and enhance the continuum of the scholarly communication process.