We have two promotions to announce, along with news of the formation of a new leadership team to share. Katherine Purple is now our Editorial, Design and Production (EDP) Strategic Manager, and Bryan Shaffer is now our Sales and Marketing Strategic Manger. Both will work on projects across all of Scholarly Publishing. Further, they will join Nina Collins, Scholarly Publishing Specialist, and me as members of our newly formed Scholarly Publishing leadership team.

At Purdue, we are not like anyone else. We were among the first to bring together our university press, publishing services and institutional repository to begin to build something greater than the sum of their parts. Others have begun to follow suit. Few are up ahead to show us the way.

As a quote from a Purdue English faculty member, Roxane Gay, notes, “When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example.” I have this on a cabinet in my office. It beautifully sums our lot in Libraries and Scholarly Publishing: we can, and indeed we must, do things differently.

Traditional university-based publishers (u presses) are highly hierarchical or ‘patriarchal’ in structure, and many still run as they did many years ago, like mid-last-century “Father-Knows-Best” shops. Judith Butler was the first I heard point out that the opposite of patriarchy isn’t matriarchy; it’s fraternity.

Put differently: Teams beat individuals. Diversity strengthens thinking and speeds innovation.

For several years, Parrish Library has produced a weekly feature called “Database of the Week” that explores one of our many business databases. Each production includes a written summary, a link to the featured database, a section about the focus, tips for, and important aspects about the database a patron would want to know. These features also include a closed-caption video with voiceover that covers all of these components as well as an application-based, guided database tutorial using Guide-on-the-Side. Covering this content three different ways appeals to a variety of learners, and each week this resource is distributed to several populations on campus who utilize our business resources.

Creating this valuable resource is no small process. Each database is chosen and investigated and the multimedia content is written and outlined. The video is then recorded, edited, produced, captioned and published on our Libraries’ YouTube channel. After creating Guide-on-the-Side, we put all the elements together and distribute it.

We are happy to report that we now have 30 different databases that have been featured in Database of the Week — many of which have been revised and repeated over the years due to interface changes. This means that we have video and Guide-on-the-Side help for at least these 30 different business databases that show up across the A-Z list and LibGuides via the and icons next to their links. For an example of these tutorials, look for those icons either here or here.

With this substantial collection, which we will continue to revise as changes arise, we plan to scale back the production of new database tutorials and will now be distributing them on a monthly basis as Database of the Month.

It is time to submit nominations for the Dagnese, Moriarty and several Dean's Awards. Please review the different criteria and eligibility for each award on the Libraries intranet at https://intranet.lib.purdue.edu/display/HOME/Libraries+Awards.

There is no limit to the number of nominations you may submit and self-nominations are accepted. All Purdue Libraries, Purdue University Press and University Copyright Office employees, who meet the criteria, are eligible for the awards. This year the amount for each individual award is $1000. The team award is $1000 shared among the team members.

Final selections are made by members of the Dean's Council for the Dean’s Awards, the Administrative Committee (AdCom) for the Moriarty Award, and the Dagnese Award Selection Committee which consists of AdCom plus last year's awardees.

The deadline for receipt of applications is 5 p.m. Friday, February 10. You may submit your nomination(s) to Mandi Gramelspacher by email at mandig@purdue.edu or by campus mail at ADM/STEW 272. The nomination form is available on the intranet link shown above.

Awards will be presented at the 13th Annual Libraries’ Staff Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, March 28, in the PMU South Ballroom from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

2016 Awards Recipients with Paul Bracke
Front Row: Rachel Moore, Libby Wahl, Marcy Wilhelm-South, Gretchen Stephens
Back Row: Paul Bracke, Nicole Kong, Michael Witt
Not pictured: Katherine Purple

“Looking Down, Looking Out, and Looking Up: Maps and the Human Experience” explores the history, art and science of maps and their interaction with the people who create and use them. The maps progress from days of “looking down” with traditional aerial maps, “looking out” with the expansion of exploration and technology such as railroads and canals, and “looking up” with star charts, flight plans and lunar maps. Along with maps, the exhibit includes books, documents, photographs and artifacts, including surveying tools, cloth maps used by a World War II pilot and map pins used by Lillian Gilbreth. All items on display are from the collections of the Purdue University Archives and Special Collections. The exhibit was curated by Outreach Archivist Adriana Harmeyer and will be open until June 23, 2017.

Kim Ringler's name was randomly drawn from all those who were SMILED upon in January. She received a $25 Von’s Book Shop gift certificate.

All faculty, administration and staff are invited to send a note of appreciation for a kindness or thoughtfulness given, assistance provided to or by a Libraries, Press or Copyright Office colleague.

To learn more about how to participate in our SMILE Program, please visit and bookmark this page on the Libraries intranet: http://intranet.lib.purdue.edu/display/HR/SMILE+Program/

It's official — the sign is up for the Wilmeth Active Learning Center