As we begin a new academic year, it is always a time to look forward and anticipate what we will cheer, as well as challenge us as we work to provide instruction, collaboration, service and resources to our students and faculty. This year, we have a golden opportunity to explore new options as the Library of Engineering and Science (LOES) and the entire Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) makes its debut. The opportunities provided by the WALC only enhance what has always been outstanding collaboration and commitment by Libraries to our students and faculty. 

On September 22, the university community will come together to celebrate the WALC when it is dedicated by President Mitch Daniels as he acknowledges the donors that helped make it possible, as well as the combined work of so many people from university administrators, architects, contractors, construction workers, and, of course, so many of us within the Libraries. I do hope that from 3–5 p.m. on that day as many of you as possible will participate in the dedication, since this is not only a celebration of the completion of the WALC, rather it is what can be accomplished when people put their mind to making a vision a reality. 

It wasn’t that many years ago it was assumed that the old Power Plant would never come down, instead the center of campus would have a dead zone where students passed by but had no relationship or reason to linger. Now, the entire area in front of the WALC, the Bell Tower and the Reflection Pond, provides a place for the university community to come together in a way never possible before. 

We can all take pride in what has been accomplished by the creation of a new model of the 21st academic library.

Project Management Tools & Techniques Talk
Learn how project-management tools and techniques can help you successfully reach your project goals in a one-hour presentation sponsored by the Purdue Libraries Seminar Committee.

Sasja Huijts, a certified project management professional (PMP), will present “Project Management: A Roadmap to Reaching Your Goals” on Friday, August. 25, at 11 a.m. in Stewart Center 278. The presentation, which is sponsored by the Purdue University Libraries Seminar Committee, is open and free to the public.

In her talk, Huijts will provide a general overview of the key aspects of project management and outline how employing project-management techniques not only can benefit your professional and personal projects, but also the programs and projects within your organization.

Workshop for Libraries Staff
In the afternoon Huijts will offer a workshop from 1-4 p.m. in Stewart Center 278 for all those employed by Purdue Libraries (please gain supervisor approval if required by your position). 

This 3-hour workshop, “Project Management: Using the project toolbox for your project” will be a hands-on and interactive training in which you will apply some of the project management tools and techniques to a project use case provided during the workshop. Following the overall framework of the project life cycle, you will gain an understanding of the fundamentals of project management, learn what the components of a project plan are, how to identify stakeholders, what steps to take to build a project schedule, how to manage risks and most of all, how to develop a project manager’s mindset that will help you successfully manage your project. 

As this workshop builds on the general project management overview provided during the 1-hour presentation, attendance at the 1-hour presentation is required. Please follow the registration link to register by 5 p.m. August 22. https://purdue.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1XGGKVgDmIbqpAp

Huijts is certified in project management by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and serves as the principal and senior management consultant at PPM Consulting. She has 20 years of experience in the project-management field. Huijts specializes in leading large and complex program and project efforts, leveraging project management practices to seek strategic alignment, driving informed decision making, and working to develop high-performing teams that successfully deliver solutions in highly diverse and decentralized organizations.

Huijts earned her master’s degree in communications science from the University of Amsterdam. In addition, she has completed several leadership programs with Educause and Cornell University.

On August 29, the Purdue Libraries Seminar Committee will present “Xenophilia: How the Love of Difference Is Essential for Information Literacy,” a lecture delivered by Andrew Whitworth, director of teaching and learning strategy, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, U.K.

Whitworth’s talk, which is set for August 29, from 10-11:30 a.m. in the Purdue Memorial Union’s West Faculty Lounge, will focus on the notion of “xenophilia” and how it can support information literacy practices. Online registration is available at https://purdue.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1MTFxeCG7hEppVb.

“We should see information literacy as a set of practices that emerge as practitioners in various settings learn to navigate ‘information landscapes.’ As with real landscapes, while these may come in particular types, each is essentially unique; thus, information literacy — the ability to make critical judgments about the relevance of informational resources — is a set of context-specific practices,” Whitworth explained.

According to Whitworth, although this view compels attention to the role of brokers and boundary zones that allow dialogue between different contexts, in these zones, different practices are negotiated and shared visions can potentially emerge.

“What is required to make best use of these zones is not an information literacy focused on searching strategies, but on an openness to difference and variation — thus ‘xenophilia’: the love of difference,” he added.

Whitworth’s presentation will expand on the notion of xenophilia — not only how it can be defined as a moral and ethical principle, but also as a pedagogy and a feature that can be designed into information systems.

“In a world where political currents took notable shifts toward insularity in 2016, it may be one basis for practical strategies of resistance to these trends,” Whitworth said.

Whitworth, whose scholarship focuses on critical theory and education, information practice and information literacy, mapping of information landscapes, and workplace and community learning, is the author of two books on digital and information literacy, “Information Obesity” (2009) and “Radical Information Literacy” (2014). He is also a co-author of the 2012 “Moscow Declaration on Media and Information Literacy.”

For more information, contact Clarence Maybee, associate professor and information literacy specialist, at (765) 494-7603 or via email at cmaybee@purdue.edu.

Rachel Moore will be retiring from Purdue Libraries on August 18. Rachel began her employment with Purdue Libraries on July 1, 1996, in the Serials Unit and has been working with print serials for twenty-one years. She has served on many committees during her career including LCSSAC, Safety Committee, One Book Higher, Dagnese and Pulse Award Committees, and completed the Purdue ACE program. In 2016, she was a recipient of the Joseph M. Dagnese Award for Excellence in Service.

“Rachel has been a pleasure to work with. She has a pleasant demeanor, positive attitude and one of the first to ask, ‘What can I do to help?’ Rachel was readily available to those who wanted to learn about print serial holdings and processes. She made many trips to library locations to answer questions and provide assistance. Rachel has greatly assisted with the serial withdrawal and transfer project. We will miss her knowledge and skills as a print serials resource person,” said Dianna Grove, Rachel’s supervisor.

A reception to celebrate Rachel’s retirement will be held on Friday, August 18, from 2-3:30 p.m. in the HSSE Conference Room, Stewart Center 353.

Thank You
I have been asked, “Why are you retiring?” It is time for me to finish this journey and start a new one. It is a little exciting and scary at the same time. I will miss the many people I have had the privilege to know here at Purdue and in the Libraries.

Quite a few wonderful people assisted me in my 21 years at Purdue. Some are still here and others have gone on to new adventures. They were all willing to share their knowledge and skills with me which made me a better serials clerk; I did not get to my understanding of serials all by myself. I will remember the good times I had at the unit holiday parties where we shared food, games and friendships. I will remember the times working on the first floor and work being done in the attics forcing the bats down to visit us.

I want to thank all that have helped and guided me on this 21-year journey. I appreciate your friendship, kindness and thoughtfulness. I will miss seeing my co-workers each day.

I plan to do some traveling after retirement. Other than that, no real plans. I will be enjoying my granddaughters and hope to join some groups at church.

Thank you all,
Rachel

Janna Bennett
Library Assistant
Hicks Repository

I started working in Hicks Repository (HKRP) in July and I am fascinated by the variety of journals and monographs on the shelves waiting to be read! It’s truly a great place for someone like me who has been told “curiosity killed the cat” because of all of the questions I’ve asked over the years. I’m always sure to finish the phrase saying “and satisfaction brought it [the cat] back” with all the things I learned. I'm a historian by training and am finishing my thesis on Indiana education and museums in the 1930s.

My philosophy can be summed up as this: “Life is like ‘choose your own adventure’ – pick yours!” To that end I’ve been working in museums and libraries for the past 20+ years including The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. In these positions, I’ve worked on many different projects including installing a 17-foot Bumblebee life-size movie prop from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, interviewing Vietnam veterans, and helping patrons research their own family genealogy. 

Away from work, I enjoy hiking, bird watching and hanging out with my husband, Fritz, and our 17-year-old dog and 11-year-old cat. Reading, seeing live theatre and dance performances and cooking also top the list. 

You can find me at the HKRP, HIKS B849, through email at benne204@purdue.edu, or by phone 496-8418.

LCSSAC cordially invites all Libraries’ faculty, staff and retirees, along with their families, to the Annual Fall Picnic on September 19, from 5 p.m. - dusk at Happy Hollow Park, Shelter 1.

LCSSAC and Dean Mullins will provide paper goods, napkins, plastic ware, hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, bottled water and condiments.

Please bring a covered dish or desert to share and a “white elephant” gift. Don't go out and buy anything, bring something you already have. Make sure it is usable and not broken, and bring it in a brown paper bag or something you can't see through. Many interesting gifts have been received and exchanged over the years.

We hope to have a big group this year for good food, the crossword puzzle, fellowship, the Boilermaker Special (5:30-7), Purdue Pete (5:30-6) and the ever popular “white elephant” challenge! If you have never been before, give it a try this year.

RSVP at https://purdue.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0oFTIS2xoBdAnzL

Opening Day in the WALC

The Thomas S. and Harvey D. Active Learning Center (WALC) opened on Monday, August 7, with several users taking advantage of the services and many areas available for studying, working and catching up on emails from home.

Photos left to right:

• Karl Ang, a senior in Mechanical Engineering, taking advantage of the quiet study space.
• Kevin V. Solomon, Ph.D. and assistant professor, working at one of the study carrels in the stacks.
• Wei Guo, a visitor from China and a student at Agricultural University, catching up on emails from home.