ASC now using new online form for image requests

June 18th, 2010

The ASC has worked with the Digitization Unit and ITD to created a new image request system for staff and patrons interested in receiving high resolution duplicates of ASC images. Follow the link below, click on Request Images Here, fill out the Digital Image Request form, and you will receive your confirmation and communications by email.

Requesting Images web site

Purdue Libraries awarded IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant

June 17th, 2010

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded Purdue University a $187,000 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant. Purdue received funding for its “Understanding Curation through the use of Data Curation Profiles” project, which will create a series of workshops to expand the expertise of academic librarians about data curation issues. Purdue Libraries cited that the needs of researchers and data producers are changing radically because of the disruptive effects of technology on research and its dissemination. The university’s continuing education program will teach an estimated 370 librarians to be more effective data curators.

Purdue was one of 38 universities and library organizations nationwide to receive a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant. IMLS awarded a total of $22,623,984 in grants that provide scholarships for students in master’s and doctoral programs in library and information science, support the research of early career faculty in graduate schools of library and information science, and provide continuing education opportunities to enhance the skills of practitioners in libraries and archives.

Libraries workstations to transition to ITaP-managed computers

June 16th, 2010

Purdue Libraries are partnering with ITaP to update computer workstations in all libraries across campus. Through the end of August, ITaP will be replacing the existing computer workstations with ITaP computers. This will give patrons access to ITaP-provided software and support within libraries.

During the transition, computer workstations may be unavailable in some libraries. Tentative timelines for the updates are listed below.

6/21/10 – Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Library

6/21/10 – Siegesmund Engineering Library

6/21/10 – Physics Library

6/22/10 – M. G. Mellon Library of Chemistry

6/22/10 – Life Sciences Library

6/22/10 – Mathematical Sciences Library

6/22/10 – Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences Library

6/23/10 – Humanities, Social Science, and Education Library Collaborative Study Center (CSC)

6/24/10 – Humanities, Social Science, and Education Library

The Management and Economics Library and the Hicks Undergraduate Library’s iLab are scheduled to be updated sometime in August.

A Fish in the Moonlight Author Interviewed

June 16th, 2010

Mike Loizzo, news director at WBAA, Indiana’s oldest public radio station, has recently been interviewing some of Purdue University presses authors and editors to celebrate the Press’s 50th anniversary. Sidney Homan’s interview, broadcast on June 17, explores the motivations behind the writing of A Fish in the Moonlight, one the the Press’s most awarded books of recent years. Written for children in the cancer ward at a Pennsylvania hospital where Homan was artist in residence, the stories in this volume come from real experiences growing up in Philadelphia in the 1940s and 1950s. Some are comic, others are bittersweet. By combining the stories themselves with descriptions of the children he read them to, Sidney Homan provides a powerful and uplifting piece of work. All WBAA interviews conducted as part of the 50th anniversary celebration are archived on a dedicated website, where they can be listened to again.

Purdue Libraries professor headed to Egypt as Fulbright Scholar

June 16th, 2010

Michael Witt, an assistant professor of library science and interdisciplinary research librarian at Purdue University, has been named a Fulbright Scholar.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is the U.S. government’s flagship academic exchange effort. It is administered by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars for the U.S. Department of State.

The award will support Witt in relocating his family to Alexandria, Egypt, where he will lecture and conduct research at the Bibliotheca Alexandria from January to May 2011. The city once housed the Library of Alexandria, which was founded in the third century B.C., and is widely recognized as the first and greatest library of its kind in ancient times.

The Arab Republic of Egypt began construction of the modern Bibliotheca Alexandria in 1995. The library has capacity to hold 8 million books and houses three museums, four art galleries, a planetarium, conference center and other specialized facilities.

Witt’s lecturing and research will benefit Egyptian librarians who are managing electronic resource collections and help them assess technologies to improve access, such as link resolvers, federated search engines and resource selection tools. His research focuses on new roles for librarians in curating non-traditional digital information such as datasets and applying library science principles to e-science. He also has been invited to speak at Alexandria University and the October (City) University for Modern Sciences and Arts in Cairo.

Witt said his Egyptian students at Purdue inspired him to apply for the award. His family invites international graduate research assistants from his lab to Thanksgiving dinner at their home every year. During Ramadan last year, one of the students returned the invitation to Witt to join his family for Iftar, an evening feast, and it piqued his interest.

Writer: Jim Bush, 765-494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

Source: Michael Witt, 765-494-8703, mwitt@purdue.edu

PHOTO -Michael Witt,http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/2010/witt-m10.jpg

Original posting: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/faculty/2010/100616WittFulbright.html