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August 29th, 2018
We are currently experiencing access issues with IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The vendor is aware of the issue and hopes to have access restored soon. We apologize for the inconvenience!
Filed under: Alerts: ExpiredAugust 28th, 2018
Purdue University Libraries Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities (DH) Matthew Hannah is seeking proposals from Purdue University graduate students for DH travel grants and from Purdue faculty for DH innovation grants. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the deadline of May 1, 2019. More information about each grant opportunity is below.
These travel grants are available for Purdue University graduate students who are traveling to a conference to present original work occurring at the intersection of the humanities and technology. Funded areas of scholarship include: Digital Humanities, media studies, Science and Technology Studies, humanities informatics, scholarly editing, book studies, data science, archives, or museum studies. As part of the Integrative Data Science Education Ecosystem, and provided by the Digital Humanities Studio and Purdue Libraries, these travel grants will provide up to $600 for travel to a conference. While any graduate student is eligible, the presentation must relate to the intersection of technology and the humanities.
To apply or request more information, submit your abstract and a brief CV to Hannah at hannah8@purdue.edu by May 1, 2019. (Applications will be accepted until the deadline.)
Are you a Purdue University faculty member planning to add digital tools, methods, or media into your existing humanities course? Are you planning to propose a new course with digital tools, methods, or content in the next few years? As part of the Integrative Data Science Education Ecosystem, the Digital Humanities Studio and Purdue Libraries are offering innovation grants of $2,000 to faculty who will be significantly redesigning or revising their syllabi in the coming years to incorporate more digital methods, tools, or content into existing or new courses. These incentives provide funds for training, conference travel, equipment, or other support in the development or redevelopment of courses to include innovative digital methods and tools.
To apply or request more information, submit a brief CV, the syllabus you plan to revise, and a 1-2 page course proposal detailing the planned modifications, including discussion of new tools, methods, assignments, content, or other changes to Hannah at hannah8@purdue.edu by May 1, 2019. (Applications will be accepted until the deadline.)
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, HSSEAugust 24th, 2018
In Gershwin’s classic “Summertime,” the “livin’ is easy,” and for many who work in education, the summer months may be a bit easier—a time to take a break from the hectic pace of the regular academic year. But many faculty also take advantage of their summer downtime to take part in professional-development activities to advance their skills, hone their expertise, and become better educators for the school year ahead. That is exactly what more than 100 librarians did this summer in the Association of College and Research Libraries’ “Immersion” program.
In 2017, Purdue Libraries Associate Professor Clarence Maybee—who also is the Libraries information literacy specialist—was selected as an instructor for ACRL’s five-day long intensive learning program. The program is designed for those who contribute to the educational role of libraries in higher education.
Maybee is an advisor for IMPACT, or Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation, and he is a zealous advocate for librarians’ roles in higher education. Recently, he authored “IMPACT Learning: Librarians at the Forefront of Change in Higher Education,” a book that presents the ways in which academic librarians are making a difference in student learning and success, using IMPACT as an example.
In the short Q&A below, Dr. Maybee talks about the structure and benefits of Immersion and how he uses the opportunity to teach and to learn.
Q: Why is the program called Immersion?
Maybee: Immersion is an intense five-day long experience in which librarians, who support the educational mission of libraries, take a deep dive into exploring and planning for a change in practice they want to take back to their campuses. This year, we sequestered ourselves at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Each day of the week brought a combination of learning about new ideas, receiving constructive feedback from colleagues, reflecting on what we heard, and working individually. Participants were truly “immersed” in their work—ending the week with a plan for what they want to enact when they get back home.
Q. How was Immersion 2018 structured?
Maybee: The 120 participants were divided up into eight cohorts. The program is built upon four cornerstones: critical reflective practice, design thinking, leadership, and information literacy. Before attending the ACRL Immersion program, participants were asked to identify a “change in practice” they are considering in their educational work. The change in practice could be anything, such as a new lesson, a new approach to teaching overall, or a new communication plan. The first few days of the program focused on introducing participants to new ideas related to each of the four cornerstone concepts. At the end of the week, the participants received peer feedback to help them advance their plans. Many participants told me this was the most useful experience of the week—allowing them to draw many ideas together and see things in a new way! As a teacher, I loved seeing what each group came up with on the last day of the program. On this day, the 15 participants in each of the eight cohorts created a visual representation of what they collectively learned through the week. Yes, there were scissors and colored markers involved!
Q. What was the most Tweetable comment/discussion point from Immersion this year and why?
Maybee: A participant pointed out that the program did not explicitly address the racism that exists in higher education learning environments. She volunteered to give a talk to participants about anti-racist pedagogy. Of course, we took her up on that. She introduced the group to many books that aim to help us see racism in teaching and learning situations and various ways of responding to it! I was so grateful for this participant’s willingness to share her knowledge with us. It was a memorable and important addition to the program.
Q. How do you take what you learned at Immersion and apply it to your work at Purdue?
Maybee: It is a two-way street! Many of the insights I have gleaned from working with Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) helped me in my efforts to support participants in the Immersion program. Specifically, the techniques we use in working with Purdue instructors to think through pedagogic concerns were particularly applicable to working with Immersion participants. Of course, everyone at Immersion brings so much to the table. When working with the teachers and participants in the program, I am constantly learning innovative pedagogic ideas, which I bring back to my work at Purdue.
Q. How did you feel (and why do you think you felt this way) when the program concluded?
Maybee: Although I was very tired by the end of the week, I took solace in knowing that the participants, having really poured their hearts into their work, were even more exhausted. Everyone worked so hard on thinking through the change in practice each wanted to enact back at his or her institution. At the end of the week, everyone was invigorated—excited to get back home and improve education!
Filed under: faculty_staff, generalAugust 22nd, 2018
Purdue University Archives and Special Collections (ASC) latest exhibit highlights the physical growth and evolution of Purdue‘s West Lafayette campus since the University was founded in 1869. “Building Purdue: 150 Years of the West Lafayette Campus” will be on display from Monday, Aug. 27–Friday, Dec. 14 in the ASC (located on the fourth floor of the Humanities, Social Science, and Education, or HSSE, Library in Stewart Center). Exhibition hours are 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and it is free and open to the public.
According to Digital Archivist Neal Harmeyer, who curated the exhibit, the display will include selected maps, photographs, documents, and artifacts that tell the story of campus—with a focus on its construction—as Purdue nears the sesquicentennial.
“Prominent topics are the fire of Heavilon Hall that inspired ‘One Brick Higher,’ the creation of the Purdue Memorial Union, the University during and after the World Wars, and the ever-changing nature of the campus all Boilermakers call home,” Harmeyer noted.
Later this year, Archives and Special Collections will launch the Campus Buildings and Facilities Project, a searchable database documenting the full history of the physical West Lafayette campus.
The exhibit helps Purdue Archives and Special Collections, a division of Purdue Libraries, kick off Purdue University’s Sesquicentennial Campaign, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. The campaign is a yearlong celebration of Purdue, its remarkable people, its unique history, and its visionary drive to meet the world’s future challenges. From Homecoming 2018 through Homecoming 2019, the Purdue community will spend the year celebrating its unique legacy, which has included giant leaps across every field of endeavor, and further advancing the mission set forth since its founding as a land-grant university in 1869. With the campaign serving as a springboard for a renewed commitment to growth, innovation, and discovery, Purdue’s call is simple: Whatever your pursuit, take Giant Leaps.
For more information about “Building Purdue: 150 Years of the West Lafayette Campus,” contact Harmeyer at harmeyna@purdue.edu.
#TakeGiantLeaps
Filed under: collections, events, general, HSSE, SPECAugust 17th, 2018
Many at Purdue know about (and have likely benefited from using) Purdue University Libraries’ robust research resources (online and in print), as well as cutting-edge services (e.g., 3D printing, data visualization, data management, research and scholarly communication support… the list goes on). What some individuals may not completely understand, though: How Purdue University Libraries faculty members contribute to instruction, teaching, and learning at Purdue.
In addition to serving as instructors and co-instructors in courses across the disciplines and majors here at Purdue, Libraries’ faculty members also perform important liaison duties to help faculty in all disciplines connect their students to important and authoritative information in their respective fields.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll introduce you to the Purdue Libraries faculty liaisons and share a bit about what they each do in their librarian, instructor, liaison, and/or information specialist roles.
This week, we start by introducing David (“Dave”) Zwicky, assistant professor of library science and chemical information specialist at Purdue Libraries. His liaison responsibilities include the departments of chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials engineering. He is also a patent and trademark specialist, affiliated with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent & Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) program.
His work through the PTRC is an invaluable resource here at Purdue, particularly for those who are interested in patents and want to understand how they are and can be used in business and industry.
“Patents help you avoid repeating work other people have done, they can inspire new designs, and expired patents are pieces of technology that are in the public domain, free to be built upon and adapted,” explained Zwicky. They also let you know what technologies other companies are exploring (they’re a key part of competitive intelligence analysis). And, of course, if you can get a patent on your own invention, that’s incredibly powerful when you want to commercialize it,” he added.
Following is a brief overview, through a short Q&A, of how Professor Zwicky advances teaching and learning at Purdue, through his direct work with students and faculty.
Q. Tell me a bit about your background, what you do here as a faculty member in Purdue Libraries, and your role as the patent and trademark specialist in the Libraries.
Professor Zwicky: As the chemical information specialist, I work with folks in my liaison departments to support research, incorporate information literacy into courses, build collections, and just generally see that their information needs are met.
Before I became a librarian, I was actually a chemical engineer (with my B.S. and M.S. in the field), and I was on my way to a Ph.D., but I decided I couldn’t see myself working in the field. I had worked in my undergraduate university’s engineering library and I knew that STEM and library science could be complementary, so I switched over and got an master’s degree in library and information science. It’s been a great experience, and my two different areas of study and former career practice work really well together.
I’m also Purdue University’s representative to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s PTRC (Patent & Trademark Resource Center) program. We’re an outreach organization affiliated with the USPTO, which tries to help people in our communities learn more about patents and trademarks. This usually means teaching students and entrepreneurs about the basics of the patent system and how they can do their own patent searching.
I do this through courses, through workshops, and through one-on-one consultations. Patents are a different beast than other forms of information, harder to search, and harder to use. One of my specialties is breaking them down and showing people how to work with them effectively. I’ve been a patent librarian for about nine years (at my last job and here at Purdue), and I’m currently the president of the PTRC Association (the professional group for PTRC reps).
Q. Why are patents important sources of information for faculty and student researchers?
Professor Zwicky: Patents are important for researchers for a few reasons. The big, obvious reason is that researchers might want to get patents of their own. If they invent something novel and useful, they may want to patent and commercialize it, which is great for both the researcher and for the University. That said, I really want to get people to think how patents can be useful beyond their entrepreneurial applications. Patents have the potential to give researchers insight into research and development that goes on outside of academia. If you’re working in industry and you invent something important, you may not write an academic article or present at a scholarly conference; you’re almost certainly going to apply for a patent. These publicly available documents dramatically expand the scope of the scientific literature, particularly in applied areas.
Q. Through you, how does Purdue Libraries and Purdue U. collaborate with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent and Trademark Research Center?
Professor Zwicky: The PTRC program is aimed at outreach. Personnel at the USPTO realize that entrepreneurs around the country need to know about intellectual property (especially independent inventors), and they know not everyone can come to the main patent office in Alexandria (Virginia). So they’ve set up this program, which links 80-odd libraries (public, government, and academic) from around the country with the USPTO and each other. If someone in our area has a need for a patent or trademark consultation, the USPTO can refer that individual to us for the basic level of training. In exchange, the Purdue Libraries get access to USPTO training and resources.
In practice, this means that I meet with people from Purdue, Lafayette, and West Lafayette, and our general area of Indiana and Illinois (the other PTRCs in our area are Chicago Public Library and Indianapolis Public Library) and talk to them about patents and trademarks. I am not a lawyer and I can’t answer any legal questions, but I can explain the overall process and show them the publicly available tools they can use to do their own searching. I also use what I’ve learned through this program to teach about intellectual property.
Q. What does it mean that you have liaison responsibilities with the Purdue departments of chemistry, chemical engineering and materials engineering?
Professor Zwicky: My liaison responsibilities mean I’m the point of contact for people in those departments (faculty, staff, and students) when they have information needs. Is there a book they think we should add to the Libraries’ collection? Do they need help finding a specific reference or doing a broader literature search? Do they want to incorporate information literacy into their courses? I’m here to help with all of that and more.
Q. How does patent research apply to the work you do with faculty and students teaching and learning in these disciplines/departments?
Professor Zwicky: Patents are particularly relevant in that last area of teaching and learning. Not only do students—especially students who are interested in pursuing careers outside of academia—need to know basic information about patents; patents represent an incredible opportunity for students to engage with information in a different way. Patents, among other applications, can be used as case studies, showing students how other people have tried to solve real-world problems, and they’re incredibly potent in the context of design courses.
Q. Why is it important for faculty and even student researchers to be aware of patents and trademark information? How can they become more knowledgeable about the importance of patents?
Professor Zwicky: Patents help you avoid repeating work other people have done, they can inspire new designs, and expired patents are pieces of technology that are in the public domain, free to be built upon and adapted. They also let you know what technologies other companies are exploring (they’re a key part of competitive intelligence analysis). And, of course, if you can get a patent on your own invention, that’s incredibly powerful when you want to commercialize it.
Trademarks are a little simpler and a little more niche. They’re vitally important in terms of marketing your company and making sure your customers can easily identify your goods and services, but they’re a bit less relevant in purely academic settings.
In terms of learning about patents and trademarks, contact me. I’m happy to set up one-on-one consultation appointments, training sessions, and so on. I also have a LibGuide page at http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/patents.
Patents and trademarks have applications beyond science and technology; I tend to focus on STEM, but that’s more about me than about the information. I’d love the opportunity to talk to someone working in the graphic design space, studying the history of science, or doing any other kind of research where patents or trademarks may be relevant. If anyone out there is interested, by all means, contact me.
Contact Professor Zwicky at dzwicky@purdue.edu.
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, PSET, UncategorizedAugust 9th, 2018
As of Monday, Aug. 13, gaining access to Purdue University Libraries’ valuable online scholarly resources while on campus will require students, faculty, and staff to log in using their Purdue University career account credentials.
Formerly, users accessing Purdue Libraries’ online resources while working anywhere on the West Lafayette campus would be logged in automatically (through IP address detection) to view and download Libraries’ online materials. The new log-in requirement creates an extra layer of security and is consistent with the Purdue log-in systems used across campus.
However, users who have already logged into a Purdue system (e.g., OnePurdue) on any given day via their computers and devices while on campus will not have to log in again; the only time the new log-in requirement will apply is when users attempt to log in to Libraries’ online resources without having logged into another Purdue system. Users who log in to access Libraries’ online resources as the initial way they access a Purdue online system will either be able to use their career account credentials or their BoilerKey passwords.
When users are not physically present on the West Lafayette campus, the process for gaining online access to Purdue Libraries’ online resources will remain the same; users will be prompted to log in upon attempting to access Libraries’ resources.
For more information, contact Purdue Libraries’ LibAnswers service at http://answers.lib.purdue.edu/ or via eResources support at www.lib.purdue.edu/help/eresources-support.
Filed under: generalAugust 9th, 2018
As of Monday, Aug. 13, gaining access to Purdue University Libraries’ valuable online scholarly resources while on campus will require students, faculty, and staff to log in using their Purdue University career account credentials.
Formerly, users accessing Purdue Libraries’ online resources while working anywhere on the West Lafayette campus would be logged in automatically (through IP address detection) to view and download Libraries’ online materials. The new log-in requirement creates an extra layer of security and is consistent with the Purdue log-in systems used across campus.
However, users who have already logged into a Purdue system (e.g., OnePurdue) on any given day via their computers and devices while on campus will not have to log in again; the only time the new log-in requirement will apply is when users attempt to log in to Libraries’ online resources without having logged into another Purdue system. Users who log in to access Libraries’ online resources as the initial way they access a Purdue online system will either be able to use their career account credentials or their BoilerKey passwords.
When users are not physically present on the West Lafayette campus, the process for gaining online access to Purdue Libraries’ online resources will remain the same; users will be prompted to log in upon attempting to access Libraries’ resources.
For more information, contact Purdue Libraries’ LibAnswers service at http://answers.lib.purdue.edu/ or via eResources support at www.lib.purdue.edu/help/eresources-support.
Filed under: generalAugust 8th, 2018
This blog post is written by Jonathan Bloch, son of Chana Bloch. The 36.2 (Summer 2018) issue of Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies is a tribute issue for writer, poet, teacher, and mother: Chana Bloch (1940-2017). In the words of the special issue editors, Rachel Tzvia Back and Dara Barnat, “We gather together in the pages of this special issue for Chana Bloch to sing of her a funeral plainsong of profound appreciation, of enduring love, of great sorrow at her leaving.” This special issue includes essays and poems from her students, loved ones, and friends. We are especially excited and grateful for the final two pieces in the issue, an artwork contributed by Jonathan Bloch and a never before published poem by Chana Bloch which was discovered by Bloch’s sons after her passing.
Most people who know my mother know her through her words. I know her the same way – because Ima and me talked constantly. We would sit at the kitchen table and talk, one thing
leading to another, in conversations that meandered for hours, for the joy of it. But then she died. Now, I am left holding my end of the conversation, which we never finished. I will never be able to tell her how my life has changed. She will never see my daughters grow up. We will never sit at the kitchen table again.
But she gave me words. It’s because of her that words have flavor for me; that words have meaning for me. And I think that all the words between us were our connection, but also a barrier. She was always saying, “you know, isn’t it amazing that so-and-so, and I’m so happy that this, and isn’t it a wonderful surprise that that” – it was lovely, but also kind of exhausting. But I think I understand why she did that. She grew up in a difficult family, and had to maintain a constant note of joviality on top of the anxiety.
But this reflexive habit of hers matured, over time, into a deeper ability – to laugh; to deal with pain, even to find joy in dealing with it; to find poetry in dealing with it; to make use of it. She made much use of pain. The quality she admired in Mark O’Brien1 – his ability to choose his attitude even in unimaginably difficult circumstances – had become a core attribute of her self.
That attribute – the ability to cope with difficulty – is primarily a practical one, and my mother’s overriding tendency was to be practical. I think, though, that she secretly wanted something else in her life, a kind of sensuality, which she never got enough of. At her core there was innocence and joy, which, in a less harsh world, would have been met with sensuality. It’s probably one of the reasons why she wrote poetry. That, and also because she was a dauntingly brilliant human being with a profoundly artistic soul.
Another ideal she cherished, for herself and in her poetry, was clarity. When I was a child, Ima wrote the word ‘clarity’ in black marker on an index card and taped it to the wall above her typewriter, where she would see it when she looked up from writing. I remember seeing that index card with the word clarity, in fading marker, hanging there for many years. I think that clarity was her lifeline, to the end. On her deathbed, two days before she died, she opened her eyes suddenly and asked, “Do I still have my head?” I asked, “Ima, do you mean do you still have your wits about you”? And she nodded. And I said, “Yes, Ima, that fact that you asked that, means that you definitely still have your head”. Even at the point of death, that clarity – do I still have my head – was still her concern.
And when she had to go, she left us. I think not when she was ready – but at a certain point she had to accept it, and then she became ready. And she accomplished the last thing she wanted to do in her life: to choose when, and where, and how she would die. It was her wish to come home from the hospital, to lie in her study overlooking the garden, with her family around her. At the end, she found the strength to give up her strength.
I know she would have been happy living on for many more years – writing, working, traveling, watching her grandchildren grow up. I feel that Ima got interrupted in the springtime of a life that was glorious with creation, and wisdom, and humor and love. She never really became an old person; she was full of youth, the life force, till the end. After all she had gone through, she still had such lightness of spirit. And so she remains forever young.
1Mark O’Brien was a poet who spent his entire adult life in an iron lung.
Filed under: UncategorizedAugust 7th, 2018
Parrish Library’s Featured Database, formerly Database of the Month, will give you a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of our specialized subscription databases. This time we’re featuring Small Business Resource Center brought to you by Gale, a Cengage company.
Link: http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/az.php?s=71213 is the alphabetical list of the databases specially selected for those in a business program of study. Access the databases off-campus with your Purdue login and password.
Focus: Small Business Resource Center is a portal for entrepreneurs containing business plans, entrepreneurial articles, small business forms and related information. It also includes small business encyclopedias.
Tutorial: Click here see the basics of using the Small Business Resource Center.
Start with this hint: Use the How To section to easily find information and answers to the most asked questions by small business owners.
Why you should know this database: Small Business Resource Center is a comprehensive database that covers all aspects of starting and operating a business, including accounting, finance, human resources, management, marketing, tax, and more.
Interested in Entrepreneurship Articles?
Some other databases you might want to check out, are:
This Featured Database comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu. Also let us know if you know of a colleague who would benefit from this, or future Featured Databases.
Since usage statistics are an important barometer when databases are up for renewal, tell us your favorite database, and we will gladly promote it. Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu.
Filed under: database, general, MGMTJuly 27th, 2018
Last month, Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor and Business Information Specialist Heather Howard was honored with the annual Achievement in Academic Business Librarianship Award from the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Business and Finance Division.
According to the SLA website, the award recognizes the accomplishments of librarians who are new to the field of academic business librarianship. Qualifying criteria for this award include evidence of exemplary librarianship, such as published journal articles and/or books, conference presentations, excellence in teaching, online tutorials, or innovative services at nominees’ institutions. In addition to the recognition, Howard received a $1,000 gift.
For more information about the award, visit http://bf.sla1.org/awards/award-descriptions/.
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, HSSEB, press_release, Uncategorized