January 15th, 2018
Winter break is over and classes are back in session, but Purdue’s campus still looks like a winter wonderland. Students have been trekking through snow to travel between their classes, dorms, and activities, just as they always have. The features in this photograph are no longer part of the campus landscape, but can you identify what campus landmarks appear here and approximately when the image was taken? Take a close look and share your theories in the comments. The full story of this scene will be revealed on Friday.
UPDATE:
This picture of campus, circa 1909, shows students walking across The Oval along the hedge walk toward Ladies Hall. The Oval still exists today as Memorial Mall, but the hedge walks that used to circle The Oval have long since been removed. Here’s another view of that scene during warmer weather:
Ladies Hall, also known as Art Hall, was the women’s dorm and for many years the site of home economics and art classes. Its unusual architectural style and ivy-covered walls stood out among the traditional brick buildings on the rest of campus, making it a popular subject of campus imagery like the postcard below. Ladies Hall stood along State Street on the site of what is now Founders Park between Matthews Hall and Stone Hall. It was demolished in 1927.
This snowy photograph and many other views of Purdue student life in the 1900s can be found in the photo album of Loretta Mae Wallace, available online in e-Archives.
We’ll be back on January 29 with our next From the Archives mystery photo.
Filed under: general, SPEC if(!is_single()) echo "|"; ?>January 12th, 2018
All Purdue University Libraries will be closed Monday, Jan. 15 in observance of the national Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. Individuals with a Purdue ID will be able to gain access to the Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) via swipe card access.
For a comprehensive list of the hours of all the Purdue Libraries, please see www.lib.purdue.edu/hoursList.
Filed under: general if(!is_single()) echo "|"; ?>January 8th, 2018
There is currently a problem linking from EBSCO databases (e.g. Academic Search Premier) within Library Search to full-text articles. You may see the error, “A System Problem has Occurred.” The issue has been reported.
If you need help obtaining library materials, please use Ask a Librarian.
Filed under: Alerts: Expired if(!is_single()) echo "|"; ?>January 5th, 2018
There is currently an issue with off-campus access to many of our electronic resources. When attempting to log in with your Purdue Career Account, you may see the following error, “That username or password was incorrect. Please try again.” We are working on a solution.
In the meantime, if you need help, please try Ask a Librarian or use Interlibrary Loan (please note that turnaround times for ILL vary during holidays and breaks).
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December 15th, 2017
In 2018, the long respected publication Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies welcomes a new look, a new schedule, and new editors. Purdue University Press reflects upon and celebrates the past 35 successful volumes in preparation for the Association for Jewish Studies annual conference, where the future of Shofar will be unveiled in our exhibit booth.
In recognition of the hard work of so many scholars over more than three decades, the Press has composed a special issue, “Shofar’s 35-Year Retrospective,” which is freely available via open access on Project MUSE through the end of January 2018. After January 31, the special issue may be accessed through your institution’s subscription to Project MUSE.
This special issue includes a 25-year retrospective article written by Shofar Founding Editor Joseph Haberer and published in 2008. It also contains a never-before-published 35-year retrospective article written by Shofar Editor Emeritus Zev Garber. Finally, the issue features the top 10 most downloaded articles from online journal distribution partners Project MUSE and JSTOR.
Purdue University Press will exhibit in booth 130 at the Association for Jewish Studies annual conference December 17-19. Please stop by the booth at any time and meet the new editors of Shofar, Eugene M. Avrutin and Ranen Omer-Sherman, during the Monday morning coffee break hosted by the Press. If you’re unable to attend but would like to learn more about Shofar, visit www.shofarjournal.com or contact shofar@purdue.edu.
Filed under: Open_Access, press_release if(!is_single()) echo "|"; ?>December 12th, 2017
Several Purdue University students showed the many reasons why they love Purdue Libraries in the Purdue University Libraries’ fifth “Why I Love Purdue Libraries” video contest. This fall, we added a twist to the contest theme and asked students to produce video entries that show why they love the newly opened Purdue Libraries’ Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC), home of the Library of Engineering and Science.
The contest–which was announced in Fall 2017 and is supported by the Purdue Federal Credit Union–was open to Purdue students and received 24 entries for the Fall 2017 competition. All entries were judged by members of the Undergraduate Student Libraries Advisory Council.
Four videos – first, second, and two videos for a third-place tie – were selected as winners of the first $1,000 prize, second $750 prize, and third $500 prize. Five students produced the videos. They include:
View the winning videos on the “Why I Love Purdue Libraries’ WALC” Fall 2017 Video Contest YouTube Playlist at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfiLH31ZZsO136sTrEir-exeiBi1X30wI
First Place: Cole Griffin and Anna Magner
Second Place: Jake Heidecker
Third Place (Tie): Matt Schnelker
Third Place (Tie): Jason Kelly
December 4th, 2017
In addition to Christmas and snow, Purdue students know that December means finals. Students are filling study spaces across campus as they prepare for exams and term papers, just as they have throughout Purdue’s history. Can you identify this location filled with studying students, what it was called, and where it was located? Share your theories in the comments and check back on Friday for the full reveal!
UPDATE:
The Bookstall on the second floor of the Humanities, Social Science, and Education Library in Stewart Center was a student destination. The large open space, the result of a 1961 renovation, housed newspapers and periodicals and included ample room for dozens of students to complete assignments or study for exams. It remained a popular study spot until a new Bookstall opened with the Hicks Undergraduate Library in 1982.
In addition to study space, the HSSE Bookstall was sometimes an event destination. It hosted a series of “coffee concerts” as musicians performed and crowds assembled in the space.
December 1st, 2017
A retirement reception held in honor of Dean of Purdue University Libraries and Esther Ellis Norton Professor James L. Mullins is set from 3-5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, in the Mullins Reading Room, Library of Engineering and Science, Wilmeth Active Learning Center. Formal remarks at the event will begin at 3:45 p.m.
Mullins has been the dean of Purdue Libraries since 2004. He came to Purdue from MIT Libraries, where he was associate director for administration. Prior to MIT, he held senior administrative positions at Indiana University and Villanova University.
During his tenure at Purdue, Mullins’ leadership propelled Purdue Libraries to the forefront of academic and research library innovation, and he strengthened Purdue Libraries in all areas; championed the active-learning concept on campus; and established the W. Wayne Booker Endowed Chair in Information Literacy, a first of its kind in higher education, in Purdue Libraries. Additionally, Mullins was integral in establishing the Purdue University Research Repository (PURR), the Libraries Scholarly Publishing Services Division to advance scholarly communication, and the Distributed Data Curation Center in the Libraries’ Research Data unit.
In late September, Purdue University President Mitch Daniels announced that the Reading Room in the new Thomas S. and Harvey D. Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) is named after Mullins, who played an integral role in envisioning and designing the new building.
“Jim Mullins has dedicated his life to serving students and transforming and improving the way we educate them. It is truly fitting for his name to forever be a part of something as innovative as the Wilmeth Active Learning Center,” Daniels noted.
The Mullins Reading Room is among the many now well-used study spaces in the innovative new building, which opened in August 2017. The WALC—home of the Library of Engineering and Science and 27 active-learning classrooms—marries library and classroom space in a first-of-its-kind structure and is situated in the heart of the Purdue West Lafayette campus.
“Due to Jim’s vision and pioneering work, Purdue Libraries is internationally recognized as a creative and visionary leader in the academic and research library profession,” said D. Scott Brandt, interim associate dean for research, Purdue Libraries.
Mullins has served in leadership roles within the American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, and the International Federation of Library Associations. In 2016, Mullins received the prestigious Hugh A. Atkinson Award from the American Library Association in recognition of his outstanding leadership and his many contributions to research libraries. In 2017, he was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award in Information and Library Science by the School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University.
During his tenure, Purdue University Libraries received the 2015 University Library Excellence Award by the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Mullins earned B.A. degrees in religion, history, and political science and his M.A.L.S. degree from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. from Indiana University’s School of Informatics and Computing (formerly the School of Library and Information Science).
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, Uncategorized if(!is_single()) echo "|"; ?>November 30th, 2017
Take a break from final exam stress with the Fall 2017 Hicks Study Break Events! Pet some therapy dogs or channel your inner baker and decorate cookies! Other Study Break Events include a popcorn bar, craft-making activities, as well as art-relaxation stations, bubble wrap, and
Lego-building resources available around Hicks.
All events, Tuesday and Thursday, Dec. 5 and 7, and Monday-Wednesday, Dec. 11-13, are free and open to all Purdue students and will be held in the Hicks Undergraduate Library’s main common area.
November 27th, 2017
Purdue University Libraries Associate Professor Michael Witt has been awarded a visiting research fellowship at the Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) at Lund University in Sweden, where he will spend a month as a part of a sabbatical during the Spring 2018 semester.
According to the Pufendorf IAS website, it hosts international experts on different themes that revolve around one or more current research issues. Witt will participate in the “DATA” theme, which incorporates five distinct threads that relate to archiving vanishing languages, data visualization, text mining, creating astronomical catalogs, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Witt’s research focuses on the application of library science principles to the management and curation of research data.
“The DATA theme is taking an integrated, interdisciplinary approach that includes the university library as a partner and incorporates library science as a fiber that could potentially be woven into all of its five threads,” Witt said.
The aim of his sabbatical is to gain a better understanding of data repositories and to promote the practice of using data repositories, in particular, in underrepresented disciplines and geographic regions of the world, Witt noted.
“One way of increasing the impact of research is to share the underlying datasets that support the findings in an appropriate repository and make them available to other researchers to reproduce the results and to repurpose the data for new research,” he added.
Witt, who is also the head of the Distributed Data Curation Center (D2C2) in the Research Data unit of Purdue Libraries, will begin his six-month sabbatical in February.
The Pufendorf IAS is named after Samuel von Pufendorf (1632-1694), a philosopher and a faculty member at the 350-year-old Lund University.
Witt is featured on the Pufendorf IAS website at www.pi.lu.se/en/activities/theme-data/michael-c-witt and in a video profile at www.pi.lu.se/article/videoportratt-av-tema-datas-gastforskare.
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, Uncategorized if(!is_single()) echo "|"; ?>