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DATA IN THE PSET DIVISION |
| BY MICHAEL FOSMIRE |
 We’ve all been grappling with what data services means for the Libraries for several years now. This column provides an opportunity for our Division to reflect on what we’ve been up to, consolidating the learnings from the different projects we’ve been involved with and figuring out how data services will continue to evolve moving forward.
The Division’s first deep dive into data services came with the creation of a GIS Librarian position, whose responsibilities were primarily data-driven. Our inaugural GIS librarian, Chris Miller, did wonders becoming involved in cross-disciplinary research groups and sponsored research projects, providing insight into the role of visualization and metadata to enhance using, sharing and re-using data. This led to the first Libraries-led data-related course offering, EAS 591, Geoinformatics. Nicole Kong, assistant professor and GIS specialist, and Dewayne Branch, Data Curation post-doctoral fellow, have built on this foundation of geospatial data services, sustaining existing collaborations and forging new ones in areas as disparate as engineering, agriculture, science, anthropology, art history and African-American studies. Dewayne in particular has increased the excitement surrounding our campus’ GIS Day, adding a K-12 outreach component that was lacking, and bringing together units across campus to increase the success of the initiative.
The Division’s subject liaisons have been very active in data services as well. With National Science Foundation Data Management Plan mandates and the availability of Purdue University Research Repository (PURR) as a potential solution for researchers, there has been a lot of opportunity to approach investigators and discuss not only using PURR, but also in thinking about how data can be actively managed throughout the data lifecycle. I think one of the most interesting things we’ve learned is that data can mean a lot of different things, depending on the discipline. For example, before speaking with researchers, we would never have thought of computer code being data, but that is what the discipline sees as their archival product. Nastasha Johnson, assistant professor and Michael Witt, associate professor and head Distributed Data Curation Center, have even been working with Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Computer Science Walter Gautschi to deposit his equation tables and other datasets into PURR and Jeremy Garritano, associate professor and chemical information specialist, has worked with the chemistry department to help them archive their physical laboratory notebooks. As part of the fall 2013 restructuring of data, Lisa Zilinski, assistant professor and data services specialist, now works closely with PSET on data initiatives.
Brainstorming during a data curation workshop at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) led Megan Sapp Nelson, associate professor, and me to ask, what do we know about data curation training needs for students? With Jake Carlson, associate professor and data services specialist, and Chris Miller, we spent a summer analyzing Data Curation Profiles and results from the Geoinformatics course, which led to an article (double prize-winning) in portal and, ultimately, a two year IMLS grant led by Jake to fine-tune our evolving ‘data information literacy’ concepts. As a direct outcome of this project, Jake and Megan have spent the past two years working with Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) to integrate data management within the regular workflow of engineering design teams. This semester, a new team role was created, the Project Manager, who holds the team accountable for design documentation and progress on the project. This role involves helping teams to develop file structures, naming conventions, project wide documentation highlighting decision points and changes made to the project, and long-term archival of project documentation for maintenance of projects after they are delivered. This is the first time that a team role originated outside the EPICS leadership and Jake and Megan are hopeful that it will help to create more efficient EPICS team projects.
Looking back over the past few years, it is amazing how much we’ve learned about data needs and the data services we can provide, leading to many projects that allow us to engage with our subject faculty in new and effective ways.
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ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ACCEPT LUNAR MAPS FROM CAPTAIN CERNAN |
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"Touching Down, Purdue Astronauts Return Home," a series of events featuring Purdue Alumni astronauts, was held from April 10-12. During a reception in Mackey Arena, Captain Eugene Cernan donated lunar maps used on his Apollo 17 mission, to Purdue University Libraries Archives and Special Collections. Tracy Grimm, Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration, accepts the maps from Captain Cernan.
Photo provided by Mark Simons, Purdue Office of Marketing and Media. |
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ARL INITIATIVE TO RECRUIT A DIVERSE WORKFORCE 2014 VISIT TO PURDUE LIBRARIES |
| BY NANCY HEWISON |
On April 6-8, the Purdue Libraries hosted a visit from 13 graduate students who are participants in the 2013-15 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW), accompanied by Mark Puente, ARL's Director of Diversity and Leadership Programs. The ARL IRDW program is designed to recruit talented master of library and information science (MLIS) students from traditionally underrepresented ethnic and racial minority groups into careers in research libraries. Through our partnership with ARL in this initiative, we in Libraries are helping to address this challenge by giving the students an opportunity to go behind the scenes in a major research university, in order to learn about the work we do and the issues we face.
This is the 10th year we’ve hosted the ARL IRDW visit. We’ve now made this contribution to the program in all but 4 years of its existence. This year’s visit planning committee consisted of chair Ilana Barnes, Neal Harmeyer, Nancy Hewison, Nastasha Johnson, Rey Junco and Carole Tolley.
The graduate students, also known as ARL Diversity Scholars, began their visit on Sunday evening with pizza and a warm welcome from Ilana Barnes, followed by free time to explore campus and The Village. On Monday, the Scholars breakfasted with the committee and Jim Mullins, who spoke with them about the responsibilities of a library dean, including the critical role of fundraising. To learn more about leadership roles at major research universities, they had breakfast Tuesday with Vic Lechtenberg, special assistant to the president, who has held a number of Purdue leadership positions, including acting provost. They also met with Carolyn Johnson, director of the Diversity Resources Office, for a look at diversity on university campuses. The scholars lunched with recent hires from among the Libraries faculty and administrative/professional staff, providing an opportunity to explore whatever topics they wished with no set agenda.
In sessions on Monday and Tuesday, the Scholars learned about data management, promotion and tenure, archives and special collections, emerging metrics and assessment and the emerging role of researcher in academic libraries. A poster session featuring the research of Libraries faculty and administrative/professional staff enabled them to talk with researchers one-on-one or in small groups. The Scholars explored changes in the higher education learning environment in a number of ways, including in a session about IMPACT (Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation), learning spaces and the Active Learning Center. A tour of the John W. Hicks Undergraduate Library and Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics enabled them to see the results of library renovations based on the demonstrated needs of students for a variety of spaces for active learning and for group and individual study.
In addition to offering the Scholars insights into the workings of an academic library at a major research university, the visit is also designed to give them some sense of what it’s like to live and work in a community such as ours. To this end, they had lunch with the directors of cultural and other centers, who talked about how their centers contribute to the life of the campus and the larger community. Purdue center directors joining the Scholars for lunch were Renee Thomas, Black Cultural Center; Karen Nielson, Disability Resource Center; Antonia Munguia, Latino Cultural Center; Lowell Kane, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Center; as well as Liz Hansen, a student in the College of Veterinary Medicine and volunteer at the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, speaking on behalf of center director Felica Ahasteen-Bryant. Sarah Fehrman, director of the International Center, which is a non-Purdue, community-based center, rounded out the group.
In addition to the members of the visit planning committee, many others from the Libraries faculty and staff participated in making the ARL Diversity Scholars’ visit a success, including Jim Mullins, Mary Dugan, Sue Ward, Sammie Morris, Beth McNeil, Michael Fosmire, Catherine Fraser Riehle, Clarence Maybee, Megan Sapp Nelson, Sharon Weiner, Paul Bracke, Hal Kirkwood, Courtney Matthews, Dewayne Branch, Lisa Zilinski, Carly Dearborn, Tracy Grimm, Lauren White, Rebecca Richardson, Judy Nixon, Gretchen Stephens, Dave Scherer, Marcy Wilhelm-South, RaeLynn Boes, Tao Zhang, Jamillah Gabriel, Pete Pascuzzi, Scott Brandt, Jake Carlson and Amy Van Epps. In addition to her participation on the planning committee, Carole Tolley provided extensive operational support in the months leading up to the visit and during the visit itself.
Front row: Jharina Pascual, Madeline Sheldon, Sarah Pham, Saira Raza, Joanna Chen, Andrea Devlin, Rebecca Nieto. Back row: Mark Puente, Nelson Santana, Melissa Kahili, Rhonda Jones, Pia Hunter, Rhonda Evans, Joel Sanders. Not pictured James Chen and Conrad Pegues. |
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HICKS LIBRARY HOSTING EVENTS DURING PREP AND FINALS WEEKS FOR STUDENTS |
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As the end of the semester approaches, the Hicks Undergraduate Library is offering a wide array of events during Prep and Finals weeks to help Purdue students alleviate stress. Events will be offered in the evening. Each event is free and refreshments will be served, with the exception of the therapy dog sessions.
Game Break
Allowing students a chance to take a study break with some friends, Hicks will offer a variety of classic board and card games to allow them to de-stress for a while.
Location: Hicks G980D
Dates: Wednesday, April 30 and Thursday, May 8
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Therapy Dogs
Therapy Dogs, International will be bringing several dog teams to the main common area in Hicks. Students will be allowed to visit with the dogs to help lower their stress levels.
Location: Hicks Main Common Area
Dates: Tuesday, April 29 and Tuesday, May 6
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Music Therapy
Julia Lopez-Kaley, MT-BC, will provide customized activities with goals of decreasing stress and ways to recognize and manage the symptoms in a musical context.
Location: Hicks G980D
Dates: Monday, April 28 and Monday, May 5
Time: 7 p.m.
A Taste of Relaxation
Instructors from the Purdue Recreation Center will provide instruction on various stress reduction techniques including meditation, progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery.
Location: Hicks G980D
Dates: Thursday, May 1 and Wednesday, May 7
Time: 6:30 p.m.
If there are any questions regarding these events, please contact Emily Heitman (eheitman@purdue.edu), Ann O’Donnell (atodonne@purdue.edu), or Danielle Schiewer (dschiewe@purdue.edu). |
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RESEARCH GRANT AWARDED TO LIBRARIES FACULTY |
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The most recent research proposal was reviewed by Research Council and approved for research support.
Jean-Pierre Hérubel was awarded a Research and Scholarship Support Grant to present at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress 2014 in Lyon, France, August 16-22, 2014.
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VOICE EXHIBIT EXPLORES THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT PURDUE |
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If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out the display created by international students on the history of international students at Purdue, you are in for a treat! The display is currently up in the Hicks Undergraduate Library. The students who created it volunteered all of their own time, going to Archives and Special Collections over many months to research student life and experiences of international students at Purdue beginning with the first international student enrolled here. The exhibit charts the first international student organizations as well as ways the University responded to increased numbers of international students.
 The Hicks Undergraduate Library staff partnered with the students who are leaders of the VOICE (Chinese students at Purdue) magazine in making the exhibit a reality. You will be impressed by the efforts these students made to educate others about our history, and to help make international students at Purdue feel connected to our past. Neal Harmeyer, Archives and Special Collections Digital Archivist, also went above and beyond in assisting the students with their many digitization requests for use in the display.
The exhibit will be at the Hicks Library until April 17 and later be on display at the Dauch Alumni Center and Purdue residence halls. |
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LIBRARIES STUDENT STAFF |
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 Ashley Zentz
Junior
Major: Hospitality and Tourism Management
Minor: Organizational Leadership Studies
Q. What Library or Library Unit do you work in and what is your job?
A. Student Assistant at Parrish Library.
Q. Where is your hometown?
A. Noblesville, Indiana.
Q. What do you like most about your job at Purdue Libraries?
A. It is very relaxed and a good way to get your homework done.
Q. If you could add a class to Purdue’s curriculum, what would it be?
A. A class where you can play with all sorts of animals, such as puppies!
Q. Who would you like to meet and have dinner with?
A. Jennifer Lawrence, she is hilarious!
Q. What do you do for fun?
A. Watch movies, listen to music and hang out with friends and family.
Q. Future Plans?
A. Be an event planner and have my own event planning business! |
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