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March 2nd, 2018
Faculty and staff in the Library of Engineering & Science & D-VELoP (Data-Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue) are hosting two more of the popular Mobile Making workshops in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) in March.
This month, each workshop will feature 3D-printed jewelry- and keychain-making activities.
D-VELoP workshops, which are free and open to all those at Purdue University, are set from 1-4 p.m. Thursday, March 8 and Thursday, March 22, and are located just to the east of the first floor information desk in the WALC.
“We’ll have the 3D printed items already printed, so all you have to do is turn them into earrings or key chains,” noted Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor Sarah Huber.
Learn more about D-VELoP at www.lib.purdue.edu/d-velop.
Filed under: ENGR, general, PSET, Uncategorized, WALC
February 25th, 2018
Purdue students have always enjoyed hands-on activities as part of their coursework, gaining real world experience as they prepare for their future careers. What course of study are these students following? What are they doing? Where are they? Share your ideas in the comments and check back on Friday for the reveal!
UPDATE:
These Dairy Production students are working in the Purdue Creamery in Agriculture Hall, which still exists today as Pfendler Hall. In Purdue’s fully functioning dairy operation, College of Agriculture students gained practical experience making cheese, butter, and ice cream. In this image, circa 1911, they are making and packaging butter, which was later sold to the public under the Purdue University Creamery label. The dairy moved to Smith Hall when it opened in 1913 and continued selling dairy products to the public until 1969.
A butter box from the Purdue University Creamery
Join us on March 12 for the next From the Archives mystery photo.
Filed under: general, SPECFebruary 22nd, 2018
Throughout history, libraries have often provided a way for historically disenfranchised individuals and groups to gain access to knowledge and information.
“So the library helps you to see, not only that you are not alone, but that you’re not really any different from everyone else,” noted the poet and author Maya Angelou in the 2014 “American Libraries” article “Remembering Maya Angelou.” In it, the author of the piece, Mariam Pera, looks back at how Angelou valued and spoke about libraries and education during her life.
A unique part of the overall Purdue Libraries’ collections at Purdue University are the materials in the Black Cultural Center Library, located on the second floor of the Black Cultural Center on campus. With more than 7,000 books, journals, and media, the BCC Library includes materials and information dedicated to African-American culture and experiences and his managed by BCC Librarian E. Nikki Johnson, who came to Purdue last November.
According to Johnson, in addition to a slate of events commemorating Black History Month (held throughout February), the BCC also has an exhibit of banned books written by African-American authors. Incidentally, Pera’s “American Libraries” article notes that Angelou has been “one of the most frequently challenged authors (and authors of color) of the 20th and 21st centuries,” per the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
“The goal [of this exhibit] is to stimulate discussion about the content of these literary works and why they were considered for censorship,” explained Johnson.
With the BCC’s 50th anniversary falling in 2019, Johnson has arrived at Purdue in time to help plan this important milestone celebration for the Black Cultural Center. Below is a brief Q&A with Johnson, in which she shares a bit about her background and her interest in library and information science and African-American collections and studies and, briefly, plans for the Golden Anniversary milestone the Purdue community will commemorate next year.
Q. Tell me a little bit about your background and how you came to serve in your current position at Purdue.
Johnson: I have always been very strongly attached to the discipline of African-American history, culture, and social impact. As an undergraduate student, I declared a double major in political science and African and African-American studies. This decision caused me to fully appreciate and embrace my academic journey, and it helped me to define my professional goals.
Upon completion of my degree, I became both familiar with and fond of the authentic academic research process, which led me to my interest in library and information science. I was encouraged by my undergraduate professor and mentor to consider a career as an academic librarian, as she recognized my desire to cultivate a professional presence within a scholarly environment. I was grateful for her direction because it provided me with purpose for my goals, and I gladly accepted her guidance and completed my graduate degree in library and information science.
Considering how these experiences and ambitions culminated, pursuing the position of librarian at Purdue’s Black Cultural Center felt incredibly consistent with my academic and professional journey, and I am privileged to serve and develop within this role.
Q. What are some of your favorite materials in the BCC Library’s collections?
Johnson: I am still in the preliminary stage of exploring our collection, but at this time I am most fond of our assortment of vinyl records. I have a collection very similar to it at home, and I closely identify with the genre of music within it.
Q. What is information about the BCC Library you would like to impart to the Purdue campus, perhaps information that may not be widely known?
Johnson: The BCC Library has a collection of “Debris” yearbooks that are available for circulation. The issues that we have available to patrons date back to 1955.
Q. In 2019, the BCC will have reached an important milestone at Purdue. What are the plans to celebrate the BCC and BCC Library?
Johnson: Next year, the BCC will celebrate its 50th Anniversary as a vital resource to Purdue University. We are working to create a calendar of events that will commemorate the existence and contributions of the Black Cultural Center and how it has served and will continue to impact this campus and community.
Editor’s Note: Another interesting exhibit to check out at the BCC is “We Wear the Mask: The Black Heroes and Sheroes of the Comic Book Universe.” The exhibit includes comic books and action figures of popular and lesser known comic book heroes and sheroes. Some of the items in the exhibit are featured in the photos below.
February 14th, 2018
Show your data some love during this week, “Love Data Week” (or LDW) and all year long using the six tips listed in the graphic below.
According to the LDW website, the event is designed “to raise awareness and build a community to engage on topics related to research data management, sharing, preservation, reuse, and library-based research data services.”
“We believe research data are the foundation of the scholarly record and crucial for advancing our knowledge of the world around us,” notes the LDW organizers on the website.
For more information from Purdue Libraries, visit our “Data Management for Undergraduate Researchers: Introduction” LibGuide, at http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/undergraddata, and learn more about our Data Visualization Experience Lab of Purdue (D-VELoP) at www.lib.purdue.edu/d-velop.
February 11th, 2018
Many buildings have housed Purdue’s departments and organizations. Those that are gone often played an important role in the foundation and growth of programs that still exist on campus today. Do you know what organization was based in this structure? How long was this building its home? Where was it located? Share your ideas in the comments and we’ll reveal the story behind this image on Friday.
UPDATE:
The Black Cultural Center (BCC) was established in 1969 and moved into its first home, this house at 315 University Street, in late 1970. At that time, coordinator of black student programs Dr. Singer A. Buchanan said the BCC would be a place “where anyone feels welcome to come in for discussions, readings, social events – or to just sit down and talk for a while. If people…can get to know a bit more about each other it will go a long way toward mutual understanding and appreciation” (Journal & Courier, Dec. 14, 1970). The house included offices, meeting rooms, kitchen facilities, lounges, and space for events and presentations.
This remained the home of the BCC until the current Black Cultural Center building opened at the corner of Russell and 3rd Streets in 1999. Centrally located between the academic and residential communities of Purdue, the BCC features distinctive architectural design inspired by the art and architecture of ancient Africa.
Today, the Black Cultural Center “provides purposeful, holistic, scholarly and co-curricular programming designed to strengthen understanding of African American heritage. It enhances the academic, cultural and social development of the entire Purdue community.”
Filed under: general, SPECFebruary 7th, 2018
Welcome to Database of the Month, a feature from the Parrish Library. Each of these monthly snapshots will give you a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of our specialized subscription databases. This month’s database is SimplyAnalytics brought to you by SimplyAnalytics, Inc.
Link: http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/businessdatabases 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: SimplyAnalytics enables non-technical users to quickly create professional quality thematic maps and reports using extensive demographic, business and marketing data.
Search: Click here to see the basics of searching SimplyAnalytics.
Start with this hint: SimplyAnalytics works best with the creation of a personal account, but you can login as a guest to try it out. To begin, create a new project by searching for the location or locations you’d like to analyze, then select variables such as population, income, or education. There are thousands of data variables which you can select once you’ve created your project.
Why you should know this database: SimplyAnalytics currently offers 75,000 data variables related to demographics, employment, housing, market segments, business, consumer spending, brand preferences, public health and more; and everything you create in SimplyAnalytics can be exported or emailed to any email address.
Interested in Consumer and Market Research?
Some other databases you might want to check out, are:
Database of the Month 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 monthly feature.
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, MGMT
February 5th, 2018
Two Purdue University faculty members have been named recipients of the 2017-18 Library Scholars Grant, which supports each grant recipient’s access to unique collections of information around the country and the world.
Indiana (University) Purdue (University) Fort Wayne (IPFW) Assistant Professor of Philosophy Charlene Elsby was awarded $5,000 to travel to the Husserl Archives at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium) to continue her research about the roots of phenomenology. Purdue University Libraries Assistant Professor Kendall Roark was awarded $5,000 to conduct archival research within organizational and community collections housed in the Arizona Queer Archives (University of Arizona).
Established in 1985 by the 50th anniversary gift of members of the Class of 1935, the Library Scholars Grant Program is available for non-tenured and recently tenured Purdue faculty in all disciplines from the West Lafayette, Fort Wayne, IUPUI, and Northwest campuses, as well as those in the Statewide Technology Program.
The archival research that both Elsby and Roark will undertake will be used for an individual book, a monograph, and/or a project based on their research.
According to Elsby, whose research project is titled, “Time-Consciousness and Transcendental Idealism,” the 2017-18 grant award will enable her to access the Husserl Archives, where she has previously conducted research supported by the Library Scholars Grant Program.
“When I left the archives in 2016, I was halfway through translating Husserl’s essay on Berkeleyan idealism, ‘Esse und Percipi,’ a work which I hope to continue, with the ultimate goal of producing an examination of the relevant differences between Husserlian and Berkeleyan idealism,” noted Elsby, who is also the interim director of the philosophy program in the IPFW Department of English and Linguistics.
Roark noted that materials from the Arizona Queer Archives, “which engages the local community in the development of its collections and prioritizes the everyday lives of LGBTQ Arizonans,” will be used to complete a final chapter of a book manuscript, tentatively titled “Oasis: Imaginative Geographies and the Marginal Locations of Queer,” as well as an online exhibit related to the history of LGBTQ activism and civic engagements along the U.S. and Mexico border.
“‘Oasis’ draws on my past ethnographic multi-modal fieldwork and archival research on hate crime memorials and anti-gay ballot initiative campaigns in Southern Arizona,” Roark explained. “The book will complement recent ethnographic work and intersectional and transnational borderlands research such as, ‘Queer Migration Politics’ by Karma Chavez (2013) and contributions to the history of sexuality such as ‘Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence’ by Christina Hanhardt (2013). Through this work, I seek to contribute to discussions around participatory/collaborative research, as well as material and political implications of movement, ethnographic, and archival memory practices.”
The grant program, which the Class of 1935 has supported continuously over the last 33 years, covers the recipients’ expenses associated with the cost of transportation, lodging, meals, and fees charged by the library or other collection owner.
For more information about the program, and to see the past recipients of the Library Scholars Grant Program, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/scholars/past_recipients.
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, Library Scholars Grant, press_release, RSRCH, UncategorizedJanuary 31st, 2018
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” — Stephen King
The Contemporary Literature collection has moved to the Hicks Undergraduate Library from the Humanities, Social Science, and Education (HSSE) Library. The collection includes titles from many popular and contemporary authors, including Dan Brown, Neil Gaiman, Jodi Picoult, and J. D. Robb.
The Hicks Library has recently undergone other improvements, according to Operations Manager RaeLynn Boes.
“The service desk has been relocated closer to the main entrance to improve service, visibility, and access,” Boes explained. “The west side of the desk is the service point staffed by Hicks Library staff members and student workers. The east side of this service point is staffed by ITaP Teaching and Learning (TLT) lab assistants. We hope to have signage soon directing patrons appropriately,” she added.
Other improvements within Hicks Library include:
January 28th, 2018
It’s always a good time to celebrate Purdue! In this image, we see a large group of people parading along a West Lafayette street. Can you identify the location and the time period? Where might they have been going?
Share your guesses in the comments and check back on Friday when we reveal the full story behind the photo!
UPDATE:
The October 20, 1923, football game was a special event not just for Purdue but also for the whole Lafayette community thanks to a “Lafayette Day” theme. At 12:30 p.m., a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered at Sixth and Columbia Streets in downtown Lafayette to form one of the largest parades in the city’s history. Led by the Purdue Military Band, they marched over the bridge, up the hill, and across campus to Stuart Field and a specially reserved seating area for parade participants. This photograph captured the parade moving up the hill on State Street in West Lafayette near the intersection of River Road.
In addition to a ticket for the game, everyone in the parade received a gold-colored balloon emblazoned with the words “Let’s Go, Purdue!” The words are just visible some of the balloons in this close look at the original photo.
On the field, Purdue and Wabash were evenly matched and ended the game with a 7-7 tie.
Organizers hoped that Lafayette Day would become an annual tradition that would encourage Boilermaker spirit on both sides of the river.
University photographer J.C. Allen captured the images of the parade and they are now part of the J.C. Allen negatives and photographs collection. Information about Lafayette Day comes from the contemporary news coverage in The Purdue Exponent.
We’ll be back on February 12 with our next From the Archives challenge!
Filed under: general, SPECJanuary 25th, 2018
In early February, Purdue University alumna Kassandra Agee Chandler will be back on the West Lafayette campus to present “My Pieces of History: A Queen’s Journey to Archival Peace (and Release).” Agee Chandler — who was crowned Purdue University’s first (and currently only) African-American Homecoming Queen in 1978 — will deliver her lecture as part of a lecture and presentation program to begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, in the Krannert Auditorium (Krannert Building, Room 140).
Sponsored by the Zeta Theta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Agee Chandler’s visit to her alma mater will also include the presentation of her papers to the Purdue University Archives and Special Collections (a division of Purdue University Libraries). A reception in the Krannert Drawing Room will follow the formal lecture and presentation program. The event is free and open to the public.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to return to my alma mater and share my experience as Purdue’s first African-American homecoming queen,” said Agee Chandler. “During this critical time of divisiveness in our nation, I hope that revisiting this significant milestone in Purdue history inspires students to engage in an enlightened dialogue on race, class, gender equality, and other relevant issues facing us today.”
Agee Chandler, who earned her Bachelor of Science in Management in 1980, is the founder and principal consultant at Systematic Design Consultants, a boutique information-technology consulting firm based in the Houston, Texas area.
While at Purdue, Agee Chandler distinguished herself academically and as a student leader, serving as a counselor for the Business Opportunity Program (BOP), member of Mortar Board, and a founding member of the Society of Minority Managers.
After earning her degree from Purdue, Agee Chandler worked in the private sector for such companies as Proctor & Gamble, Dow Chemical, and Exxon. Additionally, she served as Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Chief Information Officer, as well as Director of Computing Services at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.
In July 2015, she and two other Purdue alumni formed the Dr. Cornell A. Bell Business Opportunity Program (BOP) Alumni Network, a Purdue alumni group “committed to continuing the legacy and vision of Dr. Cornell A. Bell” (see http://bopalumni.org/about/ and www.krannert.purdue.edu/centers/bop/about-us/dr-cornell-a-bell.php).
Agee Chandler’s visit is co-sponsored by the Black Cultural Center (BCC) and the Purdue Archives and Special Collections.
For more information about Agee Chandler’s lecture, contact BCC Director Renee Thomas at rathomas@purdue.edu or Emma Noelke (Delta Sigma Theta) at enoelke@purdue.edu.
For inquiries regarding Agee Chandler’s gift of her papers, contact University Archivist/Head, Archives and Special Collections Sammie Morris at morris18@purdue.edu.
Filed under: general