I FEEL IT IN MY FINGERS, I FEEL IT IN MY TOES: OPEN ACCESS IS ALL AROUND US

As a sucker for romantic comedies, one of my favorite movies is “Love Actually.” So perhaps that is why the theme song, “Christmas is All Around,” is running through my head as we all prepare for Open Access Week, the global event that promotes free, immediate access to scholarly information as the new norm. As Billy Mack sings, “I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes,” Open Access initiatives really do seem to be ubiquitous this year. Depending on how funding agencies, when they emerge from furlough, decide to implement the White House Directive on “expanding public access to the results of federally funded research” and when they announce their plans, Christmas may come early for all of us who advocate for a more equitable system of scholarly communication.

The push to open access to scholarly articles has been the major focus of advocacy over the last six years of Open Access Week, but this year there will be a renewed focus on how publicly sharing data advances science. The White House Directive specifically focuses on the need to open access to the underlying data as well as articles and you’ll have the opportunity to hear a major thinker in this field, Dr. Victoria Stodden from Columbia University, will speak about why this is such an important move on Friday, October 25.

As student affordability becomes a central issue of debate around the country, as well as on this campus, the need for replacements for expensive textbooks is generating a lot more interest. The average student pays $1,200 for textbooks every year, and the idea of developing alternative text materials from inside the university or referring students to materials already licensed by the libraries is attracting attention nationwide. Come and hear one of the gurus, Dave Ernst of the University of Minnesota, speak about the potential of Open Educational Resources on Wednesday, October 23.

While external speakers bring new perspectives, Open Access Week also serves as an opportunity to celebrate unique Purdue contributions to the movement. An Open Research Award will be presented to Dr. Mark Lundstrom who led the creation of NanoHUB as an alternative dissemination method for nanotechnology scholarship and to Dr. Linda Bergmann, the Director of the Online Writing Lab (OWL), the granddaddy of open educational resources that celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year.

DIRECTOR OF ARL VISITS LIBRARIES

Dr. Elliott Shore, executive director of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), visited Purdue on his swing through Indiana. He also visited Notre Dame and Indiana University. This was an occasion for him to learn about priorities that member libraries have for ARL as well as to expose him to the work and innovations taking place around the country. Dr. Shore was kept busy from his arrival on Tuesday evening, September 24, and all day Wednesday. He met with and heard presentations from many Purdue colleagues. He also met with Provost Tim Sands and Howard Zelaznik from the Office of the Vice President for Research. Dr. Shore wrote up his impressions and shared them with all 113 members of the ARL in his monthly publication. About Purdue he wrote:

South Bend’s Notre Dame is a yellow brick campus — West Lafayette’s Purdue buildings are almost all in red brick. There, I saw the total transformation of the business library into a skillfully and thoroughly integrated set of spaces that were intended to encompass the needs of its students at various times of the day and evening as they took classes and worked in between them and late into the night. Thoughtful, exquisitely modeled and successfully carried off. Like the Notre Dame Architecture School, here was another example of a complete integration of library and school. A further collaboration caught my eye: the IMPACT program brought together the library faculty with the teaching faculty and several other entities on campus to help rethink teaching in a number of the basic courses at Purdue. And a third collaboration that I witnessed was that between the press and the library — this connection seemed exceedingly strong and was evincing benefits to both entities. – Elliott Shore, Notes from Elliott Shore’s Listening Tour: Yellow Brick, Red Brick, Limestone: Three Days in Indiana and on the East and West Banks of the Mississippi, http://www.arl.org/news/arl-news/2939-notes-from-elliott-shores-listening-tour-yellow-brick-red-brick-limestone-three-days-in-indiana-and-on-the-east-and-west-banks-of-the-mississippi

Dr. Shore meets with Donna Ferullo, Charles Watkinson, Dave Scherer and Jim Mullins during his visit to Purdue Libraries.

LIBRARIES SEMINAR FEATURED DR. REICHENTAL

Purdue University Libraries Seminar Committee welcomed Jonathan Reichental, an award-winning CIO for Palo Alto, California, for a seminar on innovation and open data in local government.

Reichental focuses on modernizing the technology environment, implementing enhancements to the citywide SAP implementation, and pushing the boundaries of innovation in local government such as open data and broader civic participation through mobile devices. He was awarded the distinction of being one of the 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers in Government in America in 2013. He has also recently been named the top social government CIO on Twitter.

In the picture, Dr. Jonathan Reichental presented an interactive workshop on how vast stores of rich data, coupled with connected, mobile devices, will transform how we live, work and play. This workshop was presented on September 26 and Dr. Reichental gave the first Libraries seminar on September 27. A universal streaming archive of the event is available at: http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/
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LCSSAC FALL PICINC

About 60 people turned out for the Annual LCSSAC Fall Picnic this year and a fun time was had by all! The crossword puzzle was deemed to be the hardest one ever and the white elephant gifts were interesting. Thanks to everyone that came out to make this year’s picnic a success!

Be sure to check out the Libraries intranet for the famous “Picnic Bacon Cookies” recipe created and provided by picnic guest, Candace Holzheuer.

LIBRAIRES CONSTITUTION DAY EXHIBIT

Purdue University Libraries participated in the University’s celebration of Constitution Day in September. Events held in the Purdue Memorial Union included videos, exhibits and quiz shows aimed at educating visitors about the freedoms they enjoy as American citizens. The Libraries display included a banned book exhibit, displaying books and a continuous slide show of books that have been censored throughout history.

Photo provided by Patrick Whalen

LIBRARIES STAFF A-Z