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G.R.I.P. Workshop Schedule Set for 2018-19; Libraries and Graduate School Series Enhances Student Research Skills

G.R.I.P. Workshop Schedule Set for 2018-19; Libraries and Graduate School Series Enhances Student Research Skills

July 26th, 2018

Purdue Libraries' Graduate Research Information ProgramThe Graduate Research Information Program, or G.R.I.P., workshop series schedule is set for the 2018-19 academic year. The series is designed to enhance graduate students’ research skills. Each workshop session is led by a Purdue Libraries faculty member.

The series is sponsored by the Libraries and The Graduate School. All G.R.I.P. workshops are open free to graduate students at Purdue University.

The 2018-19 schedule is listed below; registration will be available soon via a link on the G.R.I.P. library guide (LibGuide) at guides.lib.purdue.edu/grip.

  • Introduction to Citation Management | 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC), room 3045
    What is a citation manager? What is the difference between EndNote and Zotero? What about the others? If you have ever wondered about any of these questions, this is the session for you. We will discuss the benefits and challenges with using a citation manager and discuss how to choose which one will work best for you. Facilitator: Nastasha Johnson
  • Do You Get Data? Understanding Data Visualization | 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, WALC, room 3049
    As data visualizations become more popular, are you prepared to think critically about the stories and messages conveyed in visualizations? Can you accurately tell the story the data wants to tell in your own visualizations? In this session, we will introduce you to a framework for critically engaging with everyday data. Facilitator: Sarah Huber
  • Endnote Basic for Education Students | 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, HSSE (Humanities, Social Science, and Education) Library CSC (Customer Service Center), room 142
    EndNote Basic citation management software is a clever tool to store, organize, and manipulate your citations. Users will be able to build a personal library of citations that can be used to create in-text citations and bibliogra-phies for documents, proposals, dissertations, and journal submissions. In this session, we will discuss importing citations, exporting citations, “Cite While You Write” feature, and sharing with a group. If possible, please bring your laptop. Only for education students. Facilitator: Judy Nixon
  • Zotero | 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, WALC, room 3045
    Zotero is a free citation management program that can help you collect, organize, and share your research. This session is designed to help graduate students get started with Zotero. Attendees will learn how to set up Zotero, gather citations, and generate bibliographies. Facilitator: David Zwicky
  • Endnote Desktop | 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, WALC, room 3045
    EndNote Desktop citation management software is a clever tool to store, organize, and manipulate your citations. With EndNote, users are able to build a personal library of citations that can be used to create in-text citations and bibliographies for documents, proposals, dissertations, and journal submissions. In this session, we will discuss importing citations, exporting citations, “Cite While You Write” feature, and sharing with a group. If possible, please bring your laptop. Facilitator: Nastasha Johnson
  • BibTex | 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 19, WALC, room 3045
    Are you a LaTeX user confused by citation management? BibTex is reference management software that allows you to easily cite papers, create formatted bibliographies in your LaTeX documents, and connect to citation managers like EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero. This workshop will be an introduction to BibTeX, using the Overleaf platform licensed by Purdue. Facilitator: David Zwicky
  • Introduction to PURR | 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, WALC, room 3045
    One way to extend your research reputation and get credit for work is to publish data in PURR, the Purdue University Research Repository. PURR allows you to set up a private account where you can store and selectively share data with colleagues. It also allows you to publish data sets to get a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and citation for the data. This will allow you to link data to a thesis or dissertation, facilitate others finding your data (e.g. via Google), and provide reports on how often data has been downloaded. Bring a laptop to start an account and get hands-on experience and advice. Facilitator: Sandi Caldrone
  • Introduction to Systematic Reviews 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7, WALC, room 3045
    Systematic reviews are becoming more prevalent, and increasingly, students are becoming part of the review teams, but there can be confusion around what constitutes a systematic review. Participants in this class will learn about the different review types, including systematic, scoping, and narrative. Participants will also develop an understanding for choosing the appropriate review, based on the research question and the resources available, including time and size of the research team. Common standards for structuring the review, encompassing a variety of topic areas, will be provided. This workshop is ideal for first-time members or PIs on a systematic or scoping review. Facilitator: Jason Reed
  • Voyant Tools for Systematic Reviews | 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, WALC, room 3045
    Using a Text Analysis Tool to Develop Your Search Strategy Text analysis tools are helpful in the development of search strategies for systematic reviews. In this workshop, we’ll conduct a literature search. Then, we’ll use Voyant Tools to generate a set of search terms and apply text analysis procedures to develop, test, and validate a search strategy. Facilitator: Bethany McGowan
  • Conducting a Literature Review | 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13,  WALC, room 3045
    A literature review requires the writer to extensively gather and analyze scholarship related to their topic, to explain how their work fits into the larger conversation, and to justify their own research project. This session will help you find the most relevant and useful sources to review the literature related to your research question and to keep track of what you find. Facilitators: Clarence Maybee and Heather Howard (tentative)
  • Open Refine | 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, WALC, room 3045
    Do you use research strategies like text mining, social networking analysis, or data cleaning in your research? In this series of workshops, we’ll demonstrate research tools and provide datasets for hands-on exploration. You’ll walk away with exposure to tools and techniques that support your research and a better idea of the support systems available through Purdue University Libraries. In this workshop you’ll use OpenRefine to import data in various formats, easily explore large datasets, and clean and transform data with basic and advanced cell transformations. Facilitator: Bethany McGowan (tentative)
  • Introduction to PURR | 2 p.m. Tuesday, January 15, 2019, WALC, room 3045
    Data sharing and publication: One way to extend your research reputation and get credit for work is to publish data in PURR, the Purdue University Research Repository. PURR allows you to set up a private account where you can store and selectively share data with colleagues. It also allows you to publish data sets to get a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and citation for the data. This will allow you to link data to a thesis or dissertation, facilitate others finding your data (e.g. via Google), and provide reports on how often data has been downloaded. Bring a laptop to start an account and get hands-on experience and advice. Facilitator: Sandi Caldrone
  • Introduction to Citation Management | 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019, WALC, room 3045
    What is a citation manager? What is the difference between EndNote and Zotero? What about the others? If you have ever wondered about any of the questions, this is the session for you. We will discuss the benefits and challenges with using a citation manager and discuss how to choose which one will work best for you. Facilitator: Nastasha Johnson
  • Conducting a Literature Review | 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, 2019, WALC, room 3045
    A literature review requires the writer to extensively gather and analyze scholarship related to their topic, to explain how their work fits into the larger conversation, and to justify their own research project. This session will help you find the most relevant and useful sources to review the literature related to your research question and to keep track of what you find. Facilitators: Clarence Maybee and Heather Howard (tentative)

Libraries Researchers Awarded Funding for Proposals in Purdue’s Integrative Data Science Initiative

July 26th, 2018

Integrative Data Science Initiative at Purdue University Purdue University Libraries faculty are part of two research teams to receive funding in Purdue University’s initial round of research for the Integrative Data Science Initiative (IDSI). According to the IDSI website, the vision for the initiative is “to be at the forefront of advancing data science-enabled research and education by tightly coupling theory, discovery, and applications while providing students with an integrated, data science-fluent campus ecosystem.”

Last March, Purdue University administrators and researchers working on the initiative disseminated an initial request for proposals (RFP) as “the first investment towards achieving the goals of the Integrative Data Science Initiative.” The areas of focus/themes for the RFP included: health care; defense; ethics, society, and policy; fundamentals, methods, and algorithms; and cross-cutting data science-enabled research.

The RFP resulted in 52 separate highly competitive proposals addressing data science applications in the theme areas. Libraries faculty are part of two research teams that received funding, including the following research projects and investigators:

For more information about the initiative, visit www.purdue.edu/data-science/.
Libraries Researchers Awarded Funding for Proposals in Purdue’s Integrative Data Science Initiative Research


Your Story Is Purdue’s History! Purdue Libraries Hosting Digital History Harvest for Homecoming 2018

July 24th, 2018

At the Purdue University 2018 Homecoming Celebration, Purdue University Libraries invites you to share your treasured Purdue University memories and preserve them for posterity in the first-ever Digital History Harvest hosted by Purdue Libraries.

Purdue University Alumni are invited to bring their Purdue-related papers, objects, texts, and other materials or memorabilia back to campus for Homecoming 2018. Then, please join us from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21 in the Humanities, Social Science, and Education (HSSE) Library (first floor) in Stewart Center, where Purdue Libraries personnel will help alumni digitally preserve these materials.

After Purdue Libraries’ personnel capture the materials through scanning, we will store them in a digital archive and make them visible to the public. Because we digitize the materials, you will keep your original papers and objects.

This event is open free to Purdue alumni.

For more information, contact Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities Matt Hannah at hannah8@purdue.edu.

Your Story Is Purdue's History! Purdue Libraries' Digital History Harvest - Homecoming 2018


Stonebraker Recognized in 2018 TCYP Top 10 Young Professionals Under 40

June 27th, 2018

Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and Business Information Specialist Ilana Stonebraker
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and Business Information Specialist Ilana Stonebraker

Purdue University Libraries Associate Professor Ilana Stonebraker is among the 10 individuals recognized by the Tippy Connect Young Professionals (TCYP) in the organization’s 2018 TCYP Top 10 Young Professionals Under 40 Award program.

According to TCYP, annually, the organization honors 10 individuals (between 21-39 years old) based on their professional and philanthropic work in the community. Nominations for the recognition program come from the selected individuals’ coworkers, peers, friends, and family in the community.

The individuals selected live in the greater Lafayette community, excel in professional development, demonstrate service and strong leadership skills, and are actively involved in the community. Nominees are then reviewed and ranked by a panel comprised of community leaders, past winners, and peers, notes the TCYP website.

Stonebraker, who is a business information specialist in Purdue Libraries’ Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics, also was recognized recently by the ALA Library Instruction Roundtable (LIRT) as an author of one of the Top Twenty Library Instruction Articles of 2017. In addition, last month, she was inducted into the Purdue University Teaching Academy for 2018 in recognition of her outstanding and scholarly teaching in graduate, undergraduate, or engagement programs.


Purdue Libraries Faculty Recognized with Research and Instruction Awards

June 7th, 2018

Purdue Libraries Professor Jean-Pierre Hérubel
Purdue Libraries Professor Jean-Pierre Hérubel

In May and early June, members of Purdue University Libraries faculty were recognized by internal and external units and organizations for their contributions to research and scholarship, instruction and teaching, and service and engagement. Below is a list of the recognized faculty members and information about their recent honors and awards.

Jean-Pierre Hérubel, professor of library science, was honored with the 2018 ILA/ACRL (Iowa Library Association/Association of College and Research Libraries) Research Award for the article, “Two Sides of the Same Coin? Trade and University Press Publishing of Revised Dissertations, 2007-2016, Some Observations.” The article was co-authored by Edward A. Goedeken, professor of library science, Iowa State University Library.

Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor Heather Howard
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and Business Information Specialist Heather Howard

Heather Howard, assistant professor and business information specialist, was selected to receive Purdue University’s Teaching for Tomorrow Fellowship Award and will serve as junior fellow for the 2018-19 academic year.

 

Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and GIS Information Specialist Nicole Kong
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and GIS Information Specialist Nicole Kong

Nicole Kong, assistant professor and geographic information systems (GIS) specialist, was recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) Library Instruction Roundtable as an author of one of the Top Twenty Library Instruction Articles of 2017. Kong’s and her co-authors’ article, “Spatial Information Literacy for Digital Humanities: The Case Study of Leveraging Geospatial Information for African-American History Education,” appeared in College & Undergraduate Libraries (vol. 24, 2017).

 

Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and Business Information Specialist Ilana Stonebraker
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and Business Information Specialist Ilana Stonebraker

Ilana Stonebraker, assistant professor and business information specialist, was recognized by the ALA Library Instruction Roundtable as an author of one of the Top Twenty Library Instruction Articles of 2017. Stonebraker’s and her co-authors’ article, “Realizing Critical Business Information Literacy: Opportunities, Definitions, and Best Practices” appeared in the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship (vol. 22, 2017).

Stonebraker has also been inducted into the Purdue University Teaching Academy for 2018 in recognition of her outstanding and scholarly teaching in graduate, undergraduate, or engagement programs. She is the first member of Purdue Libraries faculty to be inducted into the Purdue University Teaching Academy.


Purdue Student Developed “GripIt” Device-Holder Prototype with Purdue Libraries’ 3D Printing Resources; Launching Start-Up with Crowdfunding Campaign

June 1st, 2018

Purdue Univeristy student Jacob Nolley and Ball State University student Collin Clevenger, co-presidents of The Graphite Lab and developers of the GripIt mobile device holder.
Purdue University student Jacob Nolley and Ball State University student Collin Clevenger, co-presidents of The Graphite Lab and developers of the GripIt mobile device holder.

by Teresa Koltzenburg, Purdue Libraries

Purdue University senior Jacob Nolley is in no danger of lacking entrepreneurial ideas and endeavor. Nolley—a dual marketing and management major in the Purdue Krannert School of Management and president of the Purdue Honors College Mentor Council—and his business partner and best friend, Collin Clevenger (who attends Ball State University), have both embodied the entrepreneurial spirit since they were in fourth grade together many years ago. Back then, the Shelbyville (IN) natives started a business selling lollipops and pencil erasers to their elementary-school classmates. The pair’s business partnership continued into their high school years, when they founded a headband business together and sold their headband products to fellow students and friends.

The GripIt Mobile Device Holder
The GripIt mobile device holder

Most recently, Nolley and Clevenger started the product-development venture The Graphite Lab, through which they hope to help other young entrepreneurs take their product ideas to market successfully. As a proof of their product-development company concept, Nolley and Clevenger have developed their very own product, the GripIt, a holder for mobile devices, which they describe as “the most comfortable, customizable, and care-free way to hold your device.” Sleeker (for carrying a device in one’s pocket) than the popular pop-up holders—and still creating a more secure grip on one’s valuable mobile device—GripIt attaches easily to mobile devices (including tablets) and features 16 different band colors. Nolley said, too, those who order GripIt in bulk orders (for giveaways and brand awareness “swag”) will have even more customizable options (e.g., printing the bands and/or more color options).

Recently, the pair launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to help them purchase start-up capital, including a printer so they can make some of the product pieces themselves. But before they could start marketing GripIt (and the services of The Graphite Lab) and launch their Indiegogo campaign, Nolley and Clevenger needed a product prototype to show to prospective investors and to take to manufacturing partners. That’s where the 3D printing resources in the Purdue University Libraries’ Data-Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue (D-VELoP) proved to be integral. (D-VELoP is part of the Library of Engineering and Science in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center.) After creating a design using OnShape online product-design software, Nolley used D-VELoP’s 3D printing resources and the D-VELoP staff members’ expertise to help him hone the prototype.

(Top photo) Purdue Libraries Instructional Developer Aly Edmondson wearing a prototype pair of 3D-printed earrings she and her fellow Library of Engineering and Science (LoES) personnel (faculty and staff) produced. To demonstrate the resources in the Libraries' Data Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue (D-VELoP), Edmondson and LoES personnel offer a number of Mobile Making activities and events throughout the regular academic year at Purdue University. (Bottom photo) D-VELoP offers a number of data-visualization tools, including 3D printing, for research and development. Paired with the expertise of the LoES faculty and staff, D-VELoP offers many learning and research resources, tools, and services within the Purdue Libraries' Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC).
(Top photo) Purdue Libraries Instructional Developer Aly Edmondson wearing a prototype pair of 3D-printed earrings she and her fellow Library of Engineering and Science (LoES) personnel (faculty and staff) produced. To demonstrate the resources in the Libraries’ Data Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue (D-VELoP), Edmondson and LoES personnel offer a number of Mobile Making activities and events throughout the regular academic year at Purdue University. (Bottom photo) D-VELoP offers a number of data-visualization tools, including 3D printing, for research and development. Paired with the expertise of the LoES faculty and staff, D-VELoP offers many learning and research resources, tools, and services within the Purdue Libraries’ Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC).

“Libraries personnel, like [Instructional Developer] Aly Edmondson helped me a great deal,” Nolley explained. “I talked with her and other D-VELoP personnel about what they would recommend for this particular prototype design. Through this process, I learned how to design a product to be manufactured, as there are lot of different things that need to be implemented in this type of design—one that will be 3D printed and injection molded— for it to work. I went through about 25 iterations before I came to the final prototype design, and every time I sent a design to be 3D printed, I got it back promptly, and they gave me great feedback, which was super helpful,” he added.

Nolley—who is also minoring in creative writing and completed Purdue University’s Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program—not only credits D-VELoP’s resources and personnel for helping him and his partner get to this point with the start-up The Graphite Lab and the GripIt product, but he also noted that many people, resources, and services at Purdue have been invaluable during his college career.

“No one has helped me more at Purdue than Debbi Bearden, my academic advisor in the Krannert Leaders Academy. She has helped provide me with all the many, wonderful opportunities I have benefited from as a Purdue student. Debbi has made my time at Purdue absolutely the most fruitful experience I have had in my life,” he noted.

Nolley also took advantage of Purdue University’s Foundry, which, according to the Purdue Foundry website, “exists to help Purdue students, faculty, and local alumni move ideas to the marketplace more quickly.”

“My freshman year at Purdue, I founded ‘Jacob’s Loom,’ a start-up project that I ended up closing because of financing problems, which is part of the inspiration for using the crowdfunding approach for Collin’s and my current start-up project,” he explained. “The resources at the Purdue Foundry and the staff there—like Tim Peoples, Purdue Foundry managing director, and John Hanak, managing director of Purdue Ventures—were pivotal in providing me with the skills to be successful with The Graphite Lab and GripIt.”

Nolley also credits his former Purdue instructor Beth Carroll (who now works in the retail sector)—who taught courses in Purdue University’s Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program—for helping him learn and hone his entrepreneurial knowledge and skills.

Purdue University student Jacob Nolley and friends demonstrate how the GripIt product works to take a selfie.
Purdue University student Jacob Nolley and friends demonstrate how the GripIt product works to take a selfie.

“She is one of the most helpful faculty members I have ever worked with,” Nolley said.

Nolley and Clevenger launched their Indiegogo campaign just this week, and they only have short window, about a month, to get to their fundraising goal of $15,000. The good news is that, as of June 1, they already have close to 100 backers and have raised more than $1,000.

“We used Indiegogo because we wanted to show it is possible that you do not have to sell your ideas and efforts to get your company off the ground. That is what we want to do with our customers of The Graphite Lab,” Nolley explained. “So, when people bring their products to us, we want to help them get their ideas off the ground and sell their products through our sales channels, but we do not want to own their products. Many times, what happens with young entrepreneurs, in order to get their ideas to market, they have to ‘sell their souls to the devil,’ so to speak, and sell off their companies and product-development ideas and efforts. So, in the long term, they do not earn those profits. We want to lead by example, and we are trying to show young entrepreneurs that they do not have to sell their companies and/or ideas. We are providing them with another option through The Graphite Lab.”

For more information, check out the GripIt Indiegogo campaign at www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-gripit-iphone-security#/ and/or contact Nolley at JacobNolley@gmail.com or Clevenger at CollinAClevenger@gmail.com.

 


Purdue Libraries to Host “Tinkering Humanist” Digital Humanities Workshop Series This Summer

May 30th, 2018

The Tinkering Humanist Workshop Series sponsored by Purdue University Libraries
Registration for each workshop is required and available online at https://bit.ly/2Jja8m6. Please complete one registration form for each workshop you plan to attend.

One of the hallmarks of Digital Humanities is the notion of “tinkering,” of exploring new tools and technologies that faculty and educators can use in their scholarship and teaching. In a series of workshops sponsored by Purdue University Libraries, Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities Matthew Hannah (based in the Humanities, Social Science, and Education, or HSSE, Library) will introduce you to these new tools and discuss some ways to implement them in your research and pedagogy.

The individual workshop descriptions, with time/date location information, are listed below. All workshops are open free to Purdue University faculty members, students (undergraduate and graduate), and staff members, but registration is required and is available online at https://bit.ly/2Jja8m6. Please complete one registration form for each workshop you plan to attend.

Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities Matt Hannah
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities Matt Hannah

Topic Modelling with Voyant Tools

3-4:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 27
Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) 3045

Have you ever wished you could simply press a button and see the major topics of a novel or book of poetry? With this workshop on Voyant Tools, you can easily create topic models of any text. A topic model shows the most frequently used words in any given body of text, which allows scholars and teachers to design interesting and innovative lesson plans. Professor Hannah will begin with a discussion of “data” in the humanities, and he will direct you to some great online resources for accessing the plain text documents you will need for analysis. Workshop participants will then create a topic model of a corpus of poems, including word frequencies, text visualizations, and word tracking. Instructor will provide text to analyze. No technical expertise required. Register (required) at https://bit.ly/2Jja8m6.

Social Network Analysis Using Gephi

3-4:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 11
WALC 3045
Social network analysis is one of the growing areas in Digital Humanities research. Scholars and teachers are increasingly looking for easy-to-use software to visualize connections and relationships. In this workshop, you will learn the basic theory behind social network analysis including how to generate and insert data. We will create visualizations of some data provided by the instructor or you can bring your own! We will conclude by considering the pedagogical possibilities of social network analysis for the humanities classroom. No technical expertise required. Register (required) at https://bit.ly/2Jja8m6.

Digital Publishing with Scalar

3-4:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 25
WALC 3045
If you have ever wished you could have your students build a multimedia project for your class but weren’t sure how to do it, this workshop is for you! We will discuss the basics of Scalar, a free software platform for innovative digital publishing. With Scalar, you can add photos, text, music, videos, and other media to an essay, creating a hyperlinked rhizomatic publication that fully immerses the reader in a topic through a multitude of media. Even more exciting, Scalar allows you to visualize your materials, and we will consider the ways that adding quantitative data to your project’s benefits or detracts from your work. Because Scalar is so widely adopted by online repositories such as Hathi Trust, you can access the materials in the workshop or bring your own. We will also discuss the pedagogical possibilities for Scalar and look at some sample student projects. Materials needed: digital objects videos, sound files, and pictures. No technical expertise required. Register (required) at https://bit.ly/2Jja8m6.

Mapping Time with Timemapper

3-4:45 p.m. Wednesday, August 1
WALC 3045
Timelines are important components of humanities education and research. Whether charting the transmission of knowledge or the march of history, timelines allow us to visualize vast periods of time into easy-to-read infographics. With this workshop, participants will create their own timeline visualizations using Timemapper, a free and accessible timeline software. The skills you learn here will allow you to assign your students new explorations into the humanities and social sciences. No technical expertise required. Register (required) at https://bit.ly/2Jja8m6.

Digital Archiving with Omeka

3-4:45 p.m. Wednesday, August 22
WALC 3045

Have you ever wanted to incorporate archival research into your classroom? With Omeka’s free archiving platform, you can assign students to upload content and create their own archives. This easy-to-use platform offers exciting possibilities for your lesson plans, allowing students to explore original material using the Dublin Core metadata standards used by libraries and museums for digital content. In this workshop, we will discuss what Dublin Core is and how to access and use Omeka. Each participant will bring three digital items (music, video, PDFs, texts) to begin creating an original archive, and we will discuss the various metadata categories, as well as the plug-ins, offered by Omeka. Materials needed: 3 digital items. No technical expertise required. Register (required) at https://bit.ly/2Jja8m6.

For more information, contact Hannah at hannah8@purdue.edu.


Real Results in Research Practice: Information Literacy Visiting Scholar Program Concludes at Purdue Libraries

May 17th, 2018

Project Information Literacy's Founder Dr. Alison Head discussing how students conduct research at Purdue University, May 17, 2018.
Project Information Literacy’s Founder Dr. Alison Head discussing how students conduct research at Purdue University, May 17, 2018.

For faculty in academic libraries around the globe, understanding how students use information for school—as well as on into their post-college professional working and personal lives—is gold standard stuff. Over the past decade, Dr. Alison Head and her team of researchers at the non-profit Project Information Literacy (PIL) organization have been diligently contributing to this important standard of information literacy data through ongoing research. Since 2008, Head—the founder and executive director of PIL—and her fellow PIL researchers have interviewed and surveyed more than 16,000 undergraduates at over 88 U.S. four-year public and private universities and colleges and two-year community colleges. PIL has published nine open-access research reports as part of the ongoing project, and the researchers plan to publish a 10th study about college students’ news consumption this fall.

Over the 2017-18 academic year, faculty in Purdue University Libraries have had the benefit of working with Head one on one (virtually) through the PIL’s inaugural Visiting Research Scholar program, a unique professional-development opportunity for faculty and staff in the academic library community. Last summer, Head selected Purdue Libraries as the initial site for the program, after a completing a successful pilot phase at University of Nebraska Library. As part of the wrap-up of the yearlong program at Purdue Libraries, Thursday, she was on campus to present, “How Today’s Students Conduct Research.”

Purdue Libraries Associate Professor and Information Literacy Specialist, Project Information Literacy Founder Dr. Alison Head, and Information Literacy Instructional Designer Rachel Fundator pose for a photograph at Purdue Libraries' Wilmeth Active Learning Center, home of the Library of Engineering and Science and the Mullins Reading Room.
Purdue Libraries Associate Professor and Information Literacy Specialist Dr. Clarence Maybee, Project Information Literacy Founder Dr. Alison Head, and Information Literacy Instructional Designer Rachel Fundator pose for a photograph at Purdue Libraries’ Wilmeth Active Learning Center, home of the Library of Engineering and Science, Mullins Reading Room, and the Data-Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue (D-VELoP).

“Purdue Libraries has been the perfect setting for a program like this,” Head explained. “In addition to being known as an innovative and award-winning academic library organization, the opportunity to work individually and collaboratively with the mix of young, excited, and engaged faculty members has been very gratifying for me.”

According to Dr. Clarence Maybee, associate professor and information literacy specialist at Purdue Libraries, bringing in and working with experts such as Head will have long-term results, well beyond the Visiting Scholar program.

“In our educational efforts to teach Purdue learners to use information, Purdue Libraries faculty and staff engage in ‘praxis,’ meaning we apply theory to practice. As a community, we are continually exploring new scholarly ideas. Visits from information literacy scholars, such as Dr. Head, engage Purdue Libraries faculty and staff in the latest research findings and theories, prompting deep discussions of the most effective approaches to information literacy education that we may draw into our efforts at Purdue,” he noted.

Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor Heather Howard
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor Heather Howard

Faculty members like Heather Howard, an assistant professor and librarian in the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics, and David Zwicky, an assistant professor and librarian in the Library of Engineering and Science, described working with Head as “very helpful.”

Purdue Libfraries Assistant Professor David Zwicky
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor David Zwicky

“Dave and I had several phone calls with her while designing some assessment research for the work we do with the Soybean Innovation Competition. We went in with an idea to set up pre- and post-tests for next year, and she talked us through what information we were trying to get and what we wanted to accomplish,” Howard said. “With her guidance, we decided to run mini focus groups this semester with the students who had just completed the competition. We are going to be able to use the information from these focus groups to inform our assessment and instruction next year. She also helped us develop our questions for the focus group to make sure they were on track with our research questions,” she noted.

“She was generous with her time, meeting with us over the phone pretty early in the morning, as PIL is based in California,” Zwicky added.

Purdue Libraries Head of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, and Business Division and Associate Professor Erla Heyns
Purdue Libraries Head of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, and Business Division and Associate Professor Erla Heyns

“Alison helped me think through the projects, and her extensive research experience allowed me to clarify some details of a couple of my projects. I appreciated her insight, practical advice, and ability to think broadly about the subject of the research,” noted Dr. Erla Heyns, associate professor and Head, Humanities, Social Sciences, Education and Business (HSSE-B) Division of Purdue Libraries.

Although Head and her research team at PIL have plenty on their research “plates”—currently, among the many research projects she is involved in, she’s leading a multidisciplinary team looking into the complex issue of how young adults gather news in today’s world, a study supported by the Knight Foundation and the American Library Association’s largest division, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)—she established the Visiting Research Scholar Program to be able to help individual academic librarian researchers in their own information literacy research projects.

Project Information Literacy Founder Dr. Alison Head discussing how students conduct research at Purdue University, May 17, 2018.
In Project Information Literacy’s ongoing examination of college students’ information-seeking practices and behaviors, the researchers have found that students experience the feelings of fear, dread, and being overwhelmed when it comes to conducting research.

“I think it is imperative for library and information science research to increase and for the overall quality to become more rigorous, so I started the program to begin working with individual researchers, to help them work toward these goals,” Head explained. “For me, most importantly, it keeps me current and provides me with a much wider view of the kind of research being conducted, as well as what kind of research is coming up and the different kinds of methods being used,” Head explained.

Since the program began last summer, Head has met virtually (over the phone and online) with several Purdue Libraries faculty members, both individually and in groups.

“I think one of my favorite things, which was new for us at PIL, was ‘an early researcher’ brown bag discussion via a Google Hangout. In that discussion, we had about 15 young faculty on tenure track, and we talked about how to put together a first research study for publication. I enjoy playing that mentor role for people who are starting out,” Head noted. “In addition, I had conversations with faculty members who have quite good research publication methods and wanted to know, based on conference presentations and what they’re hearing, where they could take their research for their upcoming publication goals.”

Head and her team at PIL will be taking applications in June from academic libraries for second installment of the Visiting Research Scholar Program. She can be contacted at Alison@projectinfolit.org.

Learn more about Project Information Literacy at www.projectinfolit.org.


Project Information Literacy Visiting Research Scholar Alison Head to Present “How Today’s Students Conduct Research” May 17 in WALC

April 30th, 2018

Dr. Alison J. Head
Dr. Alison J. Head

Last July, Purdue University Libraries was selected as the site for Project Information Literacy’s inaugural Visiting Research Scholar program. The program—implemented over the 2017-18 academic year—enabled Purdue Libraries faculty researchers to consult with expert information-literacy researcher Dr. Alison Head, the founder and executive director of Project Information Literacy, a non-profit organization based in California.

Throughout 2017-18, Head—who is also a senior researcher at the metaLAB at Harvard—has mentored Purdue Libraries researchers on their scholarly research projects, both large and small, through the program. She will be on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus in mid-May to complete the program with Purdue Libraries faculty, as well as deliver a talk that is open, free to the Purdue campus.

Head will present, “How Today’s Students Conduct Research” from 10-11 a.m. Thursday, May 17, in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center, room 1132. According Head, the talk will cover what she and her fellow PIL researchers have learned from students about students’ research practices. Registration is available at https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_exERowtW6fjZBWt.

“We are now working on our 10th research study at Project Information Literacy,” Head noted. “My talk will cover what students have taught us about their research practices and information seeking and how they go about fulfilling course-related research, e.g., what their strategies, techniques, and workarounds are. I will also touch on our current news consumption study (which comes out in October) and what we are finding out about students’ personal uses of news—where they are getting news, what their consumption habits are, and how confident they feel about fake news. This study looks at students through the lens of their experiences, and my presentation will help shed light on something that very few educators and librarians know much about,” she added.

About PIL and the Visiting Research Scholar Program

According to Head, the PIL Visiting Research Scholar program began with a pilot phase in 2016-17 at the University of Nebraska Library.

“The program’s sole purpose has been for PIL to provide a year of research consultations, so that librarians may be become more qualified and improved information literacy researchers,” Head explained.

Since 2008, Head and her team of PIL researchers have interviewed and surveyed over 16,000 undergraduates at more than 88 U.S. four-year public and private universities and colleges and two-year community colleges. PIL has published nine open-access research reports as part of the ongoing study.

In a 2016 Inside Higher Education column, Barbara Fister called PIL: “hands-down the most important long-term, multi-institutional research project ever launched on how students use information for school and beyond.”

Articles about PIL’s work have also appeared in The Atlantic Magazine, The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Week, Inside Higher Education, Library Journal, and The Seattle Times.

Head also led the 2007 exploratory information literacy study, a forerunner to PIL, at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she taught as the Disney Visiting Professor in New Media for 10 years.

Head earned her Ph.D. in information science, as well as her MLS and BA degrees, from U.C. Berkeley. She was awarded the inaugural S. T. Lee Lectureship in Library Leadership and Innovation at Harvard Library for 2017-19. In addition, she has been a Research Fellow and a Faculty Associate and at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, as well as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, where she studied human-computer interaction.

Learn more about PIL at www.projectinfolit.org.


Purdue Archives’ New Exhibit Tells Story of “The Sixties: A Decade of Triumph, Struggle, and Change at Purdue”

April 27th, 2018

A new exhibit, “The Sixties: A Decade of Triumph, Struggle, and Change” from Purdue University Archives and Special Collections, a division of Purdue Libraries, features a rich variety of artifacts, photographs, and documents, all from the Archives’ collections. According to Archivist for University History Adriana Harmeyer, the artifacts and displays spotlight the student experience at Purdue throughout the eventful decade.

The exhibit is free and open to the public from 1-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday in the Archives and Special Collections, located on the fourth floor of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education (HSSE) Library, Stewart Center. An exhibit open house is set from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 in the Archives and Special Collections, and the event will include light refreshments, activities for children, and a chance to meet the exhibit curators.

“Student scrapbooks, senior cords, and underground student newspapers appear alongside aeronautics textbooks, Rose Bowl tickets, and Grand Prix programs,” noted Harmeyer and Digital Preservation and Electronic Records Archivist Carly Dearborn, who both curated the exhibit. “Topics range from Purdue’s astronaut alumni to the 1969 centennial celebrations to student protests that marked the final years of the decade.”

“The Sixties: A Decade of Triumph, Struggle, and Change” is on display through Friday, Aug. 10 in Purdue University Archives and Special Collections.

For more information, contact Harmeyer at aharmey@purdue.edu or Dearborn at cdearbor@purdue.edu.