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August 28th, 2017
Purdue Libraries to host the prominent EDC Program for GIS Research
Purdue University has recently been designated an Esri Development Center (EDC Program) by Esri, the developer of the ArcGIS mapping and spatial analytics software. According to Esri, the program provides special status and benefits “to a select few leading university departments that challenge their students to develop innovative applications based upon the ArcGIS platform.” The opportunity to participate in the EDC program will augment GIS (Geographic Information Systems) research and activities currently conducted at Purdue University.
As an EDC Program, faculty and students gain special access to Esri’s training and support application platform, which connects users from any field of academic research. As a member of the program, Purdue University students and faculty can benefit from exclusive professional development in data integration and geospatial analysis and training.
This fall, Purdue Libraries will sponsor the EDC GIS Development Contest, in which students participating in the EDC program will have the opportunity to compete for Purdue University’s EDC Student of the Year Award.
According to Assistant Professor and GIS Specialist at Purdue University Libraries Nicole Kong, the winner will have the chance to be internationally recognized at the annual Esri Developer Summit. All Purdue students are eligible to participate in the EDC Program and GIS contest, and the winner will be announced on Purdue Libraries’ annual GIS Day event, which is set for Thursday, Nov. 9 in Stewart Center, room 214.
“Purdue University was selected to participate in this prestigious program based on outstanding teaching and research in GIS. The EDC Program provides a centralized place to connect developers and GIS users across disciplines, which will promote many fruitful collaborations,” Kong noted.
More information about the EDC Student of the Year Award Contest will be forthcoming. For more information, contact Kong at (765) 496-9474 or via email at kongn@purdue.edu.
Filed under: general, GISAugust 27th, 2017
The From the Archives photo series returns with the start of the new school year. On alternating Mondays throughout the academic year, we will feature a photo from Purdue Libraries Archives and Special Collections in conjunction with Purdue Today and give readers a chance to answer what’s taking place in the image. The full story behind the photo will be revealed on the following Friday.
To kick off a new year, we look at a beginning. Can you identify this Purdue location and tell us what – aside from crowds of students – is missing from the finished space? Share your theories in the comments and we’ll reveal the full story on Friday!
UPDATE:
In 1954, construction began on Purdue’s Memorial Center, a new campus building that would incorporate the existing University Library, a newly reconstructed Fowler Hall, and new classroom and activity space. Construction finished in 1958 and crowds filled the new space for its dedication ceremony.
When Memorial Center first opened it was missing its most striking feature, “The Spirit of the Land Grant College” mural above what is now the entrance to the Humanities, Social Science, and Education Library. The mural was completed and dedicated on October 4, 1961.
In 1972, the building was renamed in honor of University Treasurer R.B. Stewart, becoming the Stewart Center we know today.
Congratulations to everyone who commented and recognized this building! Please join us again on Monday, September 11, and on alternating Mondays throughout the semester as we present mystery photos From the Archives.
Filed under: general, SPECAugust 25th, 2017
EBSCO databases are currently returning errors when attempting to search. We have a ticket into their support team. If you need assistance in the meantime, please Ask a Librarian.
Filed under: Alerts: ExpiredAugust 24th, 2017
The unification at Purdue Northwest (PNW) and the coming separation of Indiana University (IU) and Purdue at IPFW (Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne) are resulting in significant changes at those campuses. For the libraries at Purdue Northwest, soon-to-be Purdue Fort Wayne, and Purdue West Lafayette, these changes come at a time when libraries are in flux as more resources and services are available online. These circumstances create an opportunity to explore strategies to more fully integrate the three libraries.
As a commitment to positive change, the Purdue University Office of the Provost has created a Purdue System Library Working Group.
Principles for the work of this group are outlined below.
The goal—enhance the research and learning at each campus:
Members of the task force include:
Candiss Vibbert and Alex Macklin will serve as co-chairs for the Working Group.
To see full charge, see Purdue System Library Working Group Charge on the Purdue Libraries’ website.
The Purdue System Library Working Group is asked to explore the following points:
After the data is provided to answer these questions, the larger more inclusive questions follow:
Questions and comments to assist the work of this group are encouraged. Contact one of the individuals below for comments or questions.
August 15th, 2017
Starting Monday, Aug. 21, the Wilmeth Active Learning Center, which houses the Library of Engineering and Science, will be open 24 hours per day, seven days a week (most of the year) with Purdue University ID (PUID) swipe access. Hicks Undergraduate Library will provide 24/7 access through Sunday, Aug. 20.
For a comprehensive list of Purdue Libraries’ hours, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/hoursList.
Filed under: general, Uncategorized, WALCAugust 10th, 2017
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,” at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 25 in Stewart Center 278. The presentation is open 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.
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.
Filed under: events, faculty_staff, generalAugust 9th, 2017
Later this month, 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 from 10-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29 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.
Filed under: events, generalAugust 4th, 2017
By Michael Witt, Associate Professor of Library Science, Purdue University Libraries; Joan Starr, EZID Service Manager, California Digital Library; and Patricia Cruse, Executive Director, DataCite
The California Digital Library (CDL) and Purdue University are adopting a new strategic direction for their EZID digital object identifier (DOI) services to support DataCite’s long-term sustainability and to improve DOI services for the broader community.
Over the course of the next two years, EZID DOI service will be phased out for users outside of the University of California. Purdue and CDL will work together to support EZID users in joining and migrating their services to use DataCite directly or to help them evaluate other options.
The new membership model and recent change in fee structure make the cost of DataCite membership comparable to EZID for most current users. The most popular features of EZID are in the process of being incorporated into DataCite’s service, such as a web-based management interface, broken link reporting, and ability to reserve a DOI. This development means that EZID users will not lose major functionality in migrating to DataCite and that these new features will enhance service for other DataCite members around the world.
In addition to DOIs, EZID supports ARK identifiers. CDL is committed to maintaining a global scope of business for ARKs as an open, library-based identifier infrastructure, consistent with University of California open access initiatives.
As two of the founding members of DataCite, Purdue and CDL played a key role in promoting data citation and in expanding the footprint of DataCite in the United States. This change augments their contribution to DataCite’s mission and sustainability, while they continue to provide DOI services to their respective institutions.
Together we are committed to making this transition positive for all of our users to enable a growing, responsive and vibrant set of services for the research community. For CDL clients, please send any questions you may have about this new direction to ezid@ucop.edu. For Purdue clients, please e-mail datacite@purdue.edu. For questions regarding DataCite services, benefits and fees, DataCite can be contacted directly at support@datacite.org.
Filed under: D2C2, generalAugust 2nd, 2017
Purdue University’s newest building, the Thomas S. and Harvey D. Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) will open to the public Monday, August 7.
Over the summer, Purdue Libraries faculty and staff consolidated the Chemistry; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS); Engineering; Life Sciences; Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences; and Physics libraries to form the Library of Engineering and Science in one location at the heart of campus.
The WALC houses 27 collaborative active-learning classrooms and will be a daily academic destination for approximately 5,000 Purdue students and faculty. (Read more about the background of the facility at www.lib.purdue.edu/walc/.)
The WALC exemplifies Purdue University’s commitment to undergraduate education. The 1924 Heat and Power Plant (HPN), with its iconic smoke stack, stood for nearly 90 years on the site of the WALC. HPN not only provided power and heat to the dynamic university community, but it also served as a laboratory for engineering students. Today, we would refer to that learning experience as “active learning.”
Below are some FAQs about the new facility.
.Q. What does the Library of Engineering and Science offer?
A. The Library of Engineering and Science (LOES) in the WALC holds approximately 30,000 print volumes, emphasizes the focus on provision of digital resources, and consolidates the holdings and services of six formerly separate libraries into one easily accessible location.
The materials selected for the physical collection of the Library of Engineering and Science have been evaluated by Libraries faculty with input from departmental faculty. The books, reference collection, and standards have been identified as high-use, high-demand materials that best support the teaching and learning goals of the curricula within the schools and departments.
LOES also houses Libraries faculty and staff members, who specialize in access to information resources in engineering and science, as well as in instructing students on how to identify, locate, critique, and retrieve scholarly information. In collaboration with their faculty colleagues in the colleges and schools, the Libraries faculty teach specialized courses and/or participate as team faculty members.
Although the focus of LOES is to provide access to information in engineering and science, the use of resources and space is open to all Purdue students and faculty.
Q. How are the active-learning classrooms different from what many would consider a “traditional” classroom, with student seating and a lectern for the instructor?
WALC’s design reflects the most contemporary methods for teaching and learning. The 27 active-learning classrooms are designed with flexible, collaborative seating options that offer a range of team-based learning experiences. Library spaces are adjacent to classrooms throughout the WALC.
At the close of regular instructional hours, the entire WALC, including the classrooms, becomes a library, with all spaces providing opportunities for individual and collaborative study. The WALC is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week nearly the entire year, with a few exceptions.*
Q. What else does the Wilmeth Active Learning Center offer for Purdue students and faculty?
Reading Room: Since their inception, a traditional element of libraries has been the large reading room. Here, students and faculty can consult materials held by the library, as well as work in a space designed to be conducive to thinking, reflection, and writing. The Reading Room in the WALC serves as a link between the historic role of libraries and the dynamics of an active-learning environment. The view of the iconic Clock Tower, with its bells denoting each hour and at the beginning and end of a class session, serves as a unique reminder that one is truly at Purdue University.
Data Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue (D-VELoP): D-VELoP provides a space where students, staff and faculty can explore different visualization tools designed to turn their data into knowledge. D-VELoP includes a staffed, open-use 16-seat teaching computer lab. The computers are loaded with visualization programs, and each set up includes large and/or multiple monitors enabling the viewing of data at different scales. A 3×3 tile wall of 4k monitors can be used for presentations, class discussions, or exhibits of data visualizations. Technological tools, such as micro-controller kits and GoPro cameras, allow students to experiment without having to purchase their own. Additionally, four Lulzbot TAZ6 3d printers allow students to visualize their data and designs in a tactile, manipulatable format.
Robust workshops and training programs, in coordination with other maker-related units on campus, help students and faculty to become familiar with technologies they can employ in order to carry out their class projects, pursue personal interests, or advance their research programs.
Hiler Theater: Designed to accommodate an audience of 308 people, the Hiler Theater can serve as a venue for such active-learning instructional activities as drama, film, and lectures during the day, as well as special evening programs for the campus and community. The seats are equipped with tablet arms to accommodate note-taking during presentations and lectures.
Artifacts and Audio Tour: The walls of the WALC are rich with reproductions of historic photographs of the Purdue University campus from the Purdue University Libraries’ Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center. Artifacts and photographs from the working 1924 Power and Heating Plant can be found throughout the building. These items memorialize the rich legacy of this central site on the Purdue campus.
A smartphone tour enhances the exhibits in the WALC by providing information and interactive activities designed to make a visitor’s experience an extension of the WALC active-learning philosophy.
An Au Bon Pain Café is located on the main level of the WALC. It is known for serving fresh baked goods, as well as other morning and lunchtime sandwiches.
Additionally, the 164,000-square-foot facility offers 100 ITaP computers, both open and enclosed group study spaces, large monitors/screens and whiteboards for group collaboration, poster printing and other printing resources, and much more!
Q. With the consolidation of libraries, how many libraries are open on the West Lafayette Campus?
A. Below is a list of the libraries on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus before and after the WALC:
| The Purdue Libraries on West Lafayette campus before WALC |
The list of Purdue Libraries as of August 2017 (opening of WALC) |
| Archives and Special Collections | Archives and Special Collections |
| Aviation Technology | Aviation Technology |
| Black Cultural Center | Black Cultural Center |
| Chemistry* | Engineering and Science** |
| Earth, Atmospheric, Planetary Sciences (EAPS)* | Hicks Undergraduate |
| Engineering* | Humanities, Social Science, and Education (HSSE) |
| Hicks Undergraduate | Mathematical Sciences |
| Humanities, Social Science, and Education (HSSE) | Parrish Management and Economics |
| Life Sciences* | Veterinary Medical |
| Mathematical Sciences | |
| Parrish Management and Economics | |
| Pharmacy, Nursing, Health* | |
| Physics* | |
| Veterinary Medical |
* These libraries were combined in the new Library of Engineering and Science** in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center.
Q. What are the libraries’ hours?
A. The hours of each of Purdue University Libraries are listed at www.lib.purdue.edu/hoursList.
*After the Fall 2017 semester begins, the WALC will remain open 24 hours per day (with PUID card swipe), and, as of Sunday, Aug. 20, the Hicks Undergraduate Library will no longer be open 24 hours per day.
***