INFORMED LEARNING IN THE PSET DIVISION

Many of the librarians in the PSET Division have been quite busy this past year writing chapters for a forthcoming Purdue Press title, the inaugural volume of the Information Literacy Handbook series, edited by Sharon Weiner. A little over a year ago, Weiner approached me with the idea for developing a pragmatic, evidence-based IL series volume, and it resonated with me, as I'd been thinking for a while how to articulate a deep, integrated model for information use in engineering. The opportunity to edit an engineering-flavored volume provided the catalyst for turning some general ideas into a richer, more detailed process model for thinking about information gathering in the context of engineering design. She also suggested I enlist David Radcliffe, Kamyar Haghighi Head and Epistemology Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue to co-edit the book, which has been an excellent collaboration, enabling us to look at information use from the perspectives of both engineers and librarians. 

Radcliff and I put our heads together to develop an integrated Information-Rich Engineering Design (IRED) model, in time to present at the annual conference of engineering educators and to help recruit authors for the book. Basically, the IRED model takes a generic engineering design model and describes the information inputs and outputs for each stage of the process. With the generous support of the Purdue Press and School of Engineering Education, we were able to bring the authors on campus last fall for a two day workshop to flesh out the model and figure out what we wanted to accomplish with the book. Over the ensuing six months, authors created multiple drafts that we peer reviewed as a group, to make sure the book was staying fairly coherent and cohesive. As a result, the book is a true collaborative effort, benefitting from the experiences and insights of the best engineering librarians (including our own) and engineering educators in the country. We turned in the manuscript in April, and although the book is still under peer review, all of the authors have already benefitted from really digging deep into what information literacy means in the engineering context, which will help immensely as we engage with the Colleges of Engineering and Technology in determining how to meet Purdue’s embedded information literacy core curriculum outcomes. 

The authors of the book chapters include:

• Megan Sapp Nelson, Amy Van Epps and Jeremy Garritano (with help on IP from Donna Ferullo), Purdue Libraries
• Monica Cardella, Carla Zoltowski, Senay Purzer and Ruth Wertz, Purdue Engineering Education
• Patrice Buzzanell, Purdue Communications
• Jon Jeffryes, University of Minnesota
• Bonnie Osif, Penn State University
• Jay Bhatt, Drexel University
• Jim Clarke, Miami University

FUNKHOUSER RECEIVES RECOGNITION FOR GIFT TO LIBRARIES

On May 9, Richard L. Funkhouser was the recipient of a 2013 Purdue University President’s Council Pinnacle Award. The award was given in recognition of a gift to the Purdue University Libraries of a million dollars or more. The gift consisted of farmland purchased by his great-great grandfather William Whistler in 1853 and was owned by five generations of the Whistler-Funkhouser family. 

Funkhouser retired from Purdue University Libraries in August 2001, after serving for over 44 years. He grew up on the family farm and attended Delphi Community Schools. He began his Purdue career as an assistant in the Reference Unit of the General Library on June 11, 1957, the day after he received his graduate degree from Indiana University. In 1958, he became the Engineering Librarian and later took on responsibilities for the Mathematical Sciences and Aviation Technology Libraries. He was the Science Librarian from 1975 until his retirement.  He also served as the Coordinator of Physical Sciences and Engineering Libraries for several years. He held a two-year appointment as Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India where he advised on the development of the new university’s library, especially in collection development and the architectural design of its new library building. Upon retirement, the University granted Funkhouser professor emeritus status in recognition of his distinguished career.

In June 2002, Funkhouser was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). He served on the SLA Board of Directors, as treasurer and chair of the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division, and as chair of the Science-Technology Division. In addition, he was a member and chair of several national committees and was treasurer, vice-president, and president of the Indiana Chapter. 

During his career he received the John H. Moriarty Award from Purdue Libraries, the John H. Moriarty Award from the Indiana Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, and the Achievement Award from the PAM Division of SLA.  He was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by the Governor of Indiana in 2001.

Funkhouser continues to be a guest at many of the Libraries events and activities and is a great resource for stories about the Libraries’ history. Now in his eightieth year, he continues to travel, having gone to China last year and to China and Canada this year. He does research on his family’s history and recently wrote a book on a cousin who died on the ill-fated, 1881-1884 “Greely Expedition” to the Arctic. He is now working on a book on this cousin’s brother who was the world champion Greco-Roman wrestler in the 1880s.

LIBRARIES VISITNG SCHOLAR

Antti Rousi
Visiting Scholar
Aalto University Library

Warm greetings from usually rather cold Finland! It is with great pleasure that I will join Purdue University Libraries as a visiting scholar for the forthcoming summer. At the Aalto University Library we really felt that my invitation to Purdue was a compliment to us all.

Aalto University is a result of a recent merger of the following traditional academic institutions of Finland: Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics and the School of Arts and Design and currently operate in three campuses situated around the Helsinki area. Aalto University Library is a merger of the individual libraries of the previous institutions. It is a very exciting place to work! For example, the team responsible of information literacy instruction is comprised of experts from various backgrounds and traditions.

At the Aalto University Library my duties include the following: I am very involved with our information literacy teaching; embedded in the bachelor-level seminars and lecture to student groups such as architects, electrical engineers and management students. I have also been involved in designing new ways of mediating digital library services into new kinds of learning environments. These tasks are complemented by participation in the research and publishing support services. I am also a LIS PhD student in University of Tampere and my dissertation will examine theses related self-directed learning of the university students.

While at Purdue, I will be working with or learning about several exciting projects. I will be observing and contributing to the collection of Data Curation Profiles. I will learn about PURR and data services offered by the Libraries, participate in the InfoSkills research group meetings and review Purdue’s work on Data Information Literacy. I will also share my experience here at Purdue through this blog: https://blogs.aalto.fi/purdue/

You can find me in the Engineering Library, Room B51 and contact me at 49-47080 or arouse@purdue.edu. I look forward to meeting many of you and learning about Purdue Libraries over the summer.

Thanks for the warm welcome! I hope to see you at next year’s IATUL in Otaniemi, Finland.

LCSSAC WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

The Libraries Clerical Service Staff Advisory Committee (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 the page on the Libraries intranet. From this site you can contact any member of LCSSAC, check on Library events, access the By-Laws, read minutes from monthly meetings and use the 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 members from their district. 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:

Will Ferrall
District 1
(HKRP, CIRC, LIFE, PNHS, VETM)
wferrall@purdue.edu

Dan Rotello
District 2
(ADMN, ADV, AUXS, BUS, HR, PUP, COPY)
drotello@purdue.edu

Connie Richards
District 5
(DIGI, Metadata, ILL, Resource Services, IT)
crichard@purdue.edu

Dan Yeoman
District 3
(ASC, HSSE, Hicks, Parrish)
dsyeoman@purdue.edu
Yeoman is completing the one year remaining on Teresa Balser's term due to her retirement from the committee.

Continuing members include:
Sharon Sturgeon, District 4 (AVTE, CHEM, EAS, ENGR, MATH, PHYS), ssturgeo@purdue.edu
Allen Bol, District 6 (At-Large, representing all Libraries), rbol@purdue.edu

If you have suggestions, concerns, etc. please feel free to send a LCSSAC LINK Letter to lcssac@purdue.edu. Not sure what the LINK Letter is, check it out here.

Thank you to retiring members, Dacia Wiesler and Teresa Balser for their dedication to making LCSSAC a success.

LIBRARIES STAFF A-Z