In this article, I will share some of the new developments in information literacy I presented with Clarence Maybee at the last Deans Advisory Council (DAC) meeting. The DAC is a wonderfully engaged group of Purdue University Libraries supporters who very much enjoy hearing about what we are doing. This was a great opportunity to tell them about what we are doing, our challenges, and what we are planning for the future.

I often begin presentations by discussing what information literacy (IL) is so that everyone has the same understanding. Fundamentally, it is the ability to effectively find, evaluate, synthesize, communicate and use information for any particular purpose.

At Purdue, IL is one of the expected learning outcomes for students through the Core Curriculum. The “Transformative Education” aspect of Purdue Moves implies it. The signature IMPACT program includes it. Agencies that accredit a number of Purdue’s programs expect it. It is an issue for college students because of the lack of preparation in IL in K-12 education due to the decline in school libraries and school librarians.

We informed the DAC about some of our successes and some of our challenges with information literacy. We showed them our new IL mission statement and the strategic plan goals that relate to IL. Our successes include:

• Our substantial involvement in IMPACT
• Having an endowed chair in IL
• Establishing the Purdue Information Literacy Handbook Series
• Working with the Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research to develop educational offerings and a regular, formal assessment of student learning
• Being recognized as international experts on IL
• Obtaining state and federal proclamations to declare October as IL Month
• Developing archival literacy competencies

Some of our challenges are:

• Need extensive curriculum integration of IL
• Need to extend IL more widely and deeply to such groups as international students, graduate students, cultural groups, at-risk students, etc.
• Need to work with P-12 education on IL

Some of the projects on the horizon are Libraries faculty mentoring of first generation college students; a teen health information literacy project; and an informed learning toolkit.

It was an honor to speak to the DAC!

Gretchen Stephens joined Purdue University Libraries on December 6, 1976, as an assistant life sciences librarian in the Life Science Library. She received a BA (History/Math) in 1969 and a MLS in 1970 both from George Peabody College, Nashville, TN, and then held library faculty positions at the University of Georgia Libraries in social sciences reference, science reference and later interlibrary loan prior to coming to West Lafayette. Two months after Gretchen arrived on campus, Ann Kerker, the first veterinary medical librarian at Purdue, announced her retirement. After several outside interviews, Gretchen was invited to apply and became veterinary medical librarian on July 1, 1977.

During her 40-year career, Gretchen certified as a health sciences librarian, later a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals [Medical Library Association], from 1980-2000, and published a number of articles as well as a book chapter on “Animal Health and Veterinary Science” literature in Hutchinson & Greider’s Using the Agricultural, Environmental and Food Literature [Marcel Decker, 2002]. “Being library liaison to the College of Veterinary Medicine faculty and staff has been a highlight of my career as they are all focused on quality teaching and excellent research in service to their profession,” said Gretchen. During the past five years, she has served as senior bibliographer for the Human-Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI) Central grant to develop a digital library/hub for human-animal interaction research, and was part of the HABRI Central implemental team that received a Dean’s Award for Team Achievement in 2012.

“Of the many library committees I have had a chance to serve on the ones that stand out the most are the Ad Hoc Committee on Dewey vs Library of Congress Classification led by Marjorie Zumstein (Psychology Library), which recommended in 1981 moving from Dewey to LC Classification [which was not done until 2009], and the long-running Libraries Special Events Committee led by Katie Markee. I also appreciated the camaraderie of Libraries colleagues and staff when faced with system-wide projects such as moving from our home-grown online catalog known as THOR (The Online Resource) to the integrated library management system, Voyager; barcoding the entire Libraries collection, and now the “rightsizing” of the collection toward moving into the Wilmeth Active Learning Center.”

This year, Gretchen received the John H. Moriarty Award for Excellence in Library Service.

Gretchen has been active in the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association including serving as chair of the section [1989-1990]; section alternate and later section representative to the MLA Section Council [1991-1994; 1995-1997]; Section Bylaws Committee Chair [1979-1989; 1991-2011]; and Section Archivist [1996-2016]. In May, she had the opportunity to accept the MLA Section of the Year Award on behalf of VMLS 40th Anniversary Committee and the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section at the Association annual meeting in Toronto.

In addition, Gretchen served as president of the Indiana Health Science Librarians Association [1983-1984] and president of the Indiana Chapter of the Special Libraries Association [1985-1986]. In 2010, she received the Indiana Health Sciences Librarians Association’s Ovation Award.

“I greatly appreciate the numerous librarians and libraries staff I have had an opportunity to learn from and work with over the years. Best wishes in the coming years to each and every one of you!”

A Retirement reception honoring Gretchen will be held
Tuesday, June 28
2-3:30 p.m.
Remarks at 2:30 p.m.
Veterinary Medical Library
Lynn Hall

If you plan to attend, please respond by June 23, 2016
http://go.lib.purdue.edu/events/stephens

The Libraries Clerical Service Staff Advisory Committe (LCSSAC) recently met and elected new officers for the upcoming fiscal year and welcomed new members, Liz Lukens and Aimee McComb.

To learn more about LCSSAC, visit 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.

Retiring members, Cheryl Oliver and Dan Rotello, were recognized for their dedication to making LCSSAC a success.

Nina Collins
Scholarly Publishing Specialist
Scholarly Publishing Division

If I had grown up somewhere other than Northeastern Indiana, my affinity for climbing may have taken a different form. I spent much of my childhood hanging out in trees; and I have never quite outgrown my love of tree-climbing. As a rule, I don’t climb trees at my place of employment; however, my neighborhood is a different story. I may or may not have been seen climbing trees with my troop of children in the tree below me.

Not surprisingly, my favorite comic book hero is a climber. I have been a Spiderman fan since high school. I used to drive to the bookstore on the first of every month to collect the newest publications — looking over my shoulder to see if my activities had been observed by someone “cool”. During snippets of free time, I still read comic books, though I no longer care who knows.

I am delighted to join the Scholarly Publishing Division of the Purdue University Libraries as our new Scholarly Publishing Specialist. As an undergraduate, I recognized the role of librarians as partners in the research process, and made plans to position myself to become a partner to researchers — assisting the research process to the best of my professional abilities. As the mother of a cancer survivor, I can attest to being an advocate for Open Scholarship before I knew that such things as Open Access, Open Science, and paywalls were part of academic discourse. I count myself exceptionally fortunate to work for an institution that has demonstrated a long standing and strong commitment to supporting Open Access; and, look forward to continuing to help spur innovation.

My office is located in STEW 190 and my contact information is nkcollin@purdue.edu or by phone at 49-48511.

Jenny Jackson
Marketing & Outreach Specialist
Scholarly Publishing Division

I am very excited to see what my next chapter holds here at the Purdue University Press, but to begin with how I got here.

I grew up in the cornfields of north eastern Indiana, raised by my grandparents. Feeling trapped by the square patchworks of farmland, I found an escape in reading. Books became my way out, my way to travel, to experience, and to learn about the world around me. I read everything I could get my hands on, loving the way the words painted pictures.

It was my love for books that led me to writing. I wanted to put my own words on paper. I wanted to write about what was important: something that mattered and made people turn the page.

I wrote for my high school newspaper and I wrote creatively in my spare time.

When it came time for college, I knew I wanted to be creative and write, but I didn’t know how to make a living off of it. This is when I found communication. I could use my creativity to help tell other's stories. Purdue was always the college I wanted to go to. I was raised to be a Boilermaker. It was fate that they happened to have the exact program for me. I majored in Public Relations and Strategic Communication with a minor in Religious Studies.

As a freshman I began growing my Purdue network early by starting at WBAA my second semester and remained there until I graduated. During my senior year I continued to write and I took an internship at the Purdue Newsroom for Marketing and Media.

Along the way as graduation approached I realized I was not ready to leave Purdue. I began applying for positions on campus and was extremely excited to become a member of the Purdue University Libraries and Purdue University Press.

A few fun things about me. My favorite dog is a corgi. I have been to 4 of the 7 continents. Coffee is my weakness, I used to say that I should own stock in Starbucks, but I now work there part time.

My office is located in STEW 190 and you can email me at jacks152@purdue.edu. I look forward to meeting you all.

Rightsizing Project — Government Documents

The relocation of Government Documents from PNHS, LIFE, ENGR and EAPS into HSSE continues to make progress over the summer. HSSE student staff, Claudia Mena and D’Andre House, have been spending mornings in the stacks shifting items to add in the relocated documents. Needless to say they are getting a good physical workout while dealing with the intense heat and humidity.

“It’s really sweaty
In the periodicals
Thank God for the fans!”
– By Claudia Mena