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October 16th, 2017
Read more from Inform Purdue at blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/inform-purdue/
Over the last few years, the U.S. government, as well as governments in various states, have commemorated October as Information Literacy Awareness month. This October, Purdue University Libraries continues the tradition with our own celebration of the importance of information literacy through “Inform Purdue,” a social media campaign that will share Purdue faculty members’ and students’ own stories of teaching and learning about information literacy and how it helps them accomplish their educational and professional goals. All content will be posted on Purdue Libraries’ various social media feeds (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram) over the next few weeks.
“It is extremely challenging to navigate and make sense of the information we need to make good decisions in today’s information environment,” notes Purdue University Libraries Associate Professor and Information Literacy Specialist Clarence Maybee. “That is true if one is deciding which history journals to use to research a topic for class, purchasing a new car, or presenting to the boss on a new direction the company should embark upon.”
At Purdue, this challenging navigation is where Maybee and his fellow colleagues at Purdue Libraries come in to steer learners onto the path of finding, evaluating, interpreting, and applying information to solve problems and construct new meanings.
First up in the multi-week campaign is a short video featuring Nancy Peleaz, associate professor in the Purdue University Department of Biological Sciences. But before you watch the video, take a moment to read–via the brief Q&A below–more about Dr. Maybee’s role as Purdue’s information literacy specialist, as well as the other ways Purdue Libraries personnel contribute to information literacy and learning at Purdue.
Q. Tell me a bit about your role as the information literacy specialist at Purdue University Libraries, e.g., what kinds of responsibilities do you have in this position in regard to: Purdue students? Purdue faculty? other Purdue Libraries users?
Maybee: I have the best job at Purdue! I work with Libraries faculty and staff to address the challenges students often face in this era, one in which they are inundated with an excess of information. We meet with students in their courses and teach them how to use information critically to complete their assignments. We also work regularly with Purdue instructors to develop class activities and assignments in which students learn about using information as they engage with the course content. I also conduct information literacy research and use the findings to inform my teaching efforts at Purdue. I work with closely with Libraries faculty and staff to keep them abreast of advances in information literacy discussed in the field and to continue to develop our excellence in teaching.
Additionally, I lead the Libraries’ involvement in the Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) program, in which Libraries faculty and staff work in teams with instructional developers and teachers to redesign courses to make them more student-centered. The Libraries faculty and staff involved in IMPACT work with teachers to help their students critically use information to learn in the active and dynamic environments that are the hallmark of IMPACT courses.
Q. Why is it important for the Purdue Libraries to have an information literacy specialist?
Maybee: There was a time when most of the information a student needed for class was handed out by the instructor or delivered via the instructor’s lecture. That is not true today—students may gather a wide variety of materials from online, or even collect first-hand information through interviews or observations. They need to be able to critically evaluate and analyze the information they are using to learn, inside and outside of the classroom. An information literacy specialist, through teaching and research, sheds light on the needs of the 21st century learner and offers pedagogic tools for enabling learners to navigate the complexity of today’s information landscape.
Q. How do you provide information literacy resources to Purdue, e.g., through particular programs, like IMPACT, or through other initiatives?
Maybee: The Purdue Libraries information literacy efforts align with the Purdue Moves initiative’s goal of creating Transformative Education, which emphasizes the development of innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Working with campus partners to create IMPACT is one of many efforts through which the Libraries is working to transform education.
Information literacy plays a big role in educational innovation, which often encourages learners to use information in new and challenging ways. Purdue Libraries personnel focus their information literacy efforts on teaching students to use information in the context of learning. Libraries faculty, who liaise with departments at Purdue, work with teachers to integrate information literacy into curricula. Many Libraries faculty and staff also work with other campus learning initiatives, such as partnering with The Graduate School to teach graduate students to use and manage data, or working with the office of Undergraduate Research to provide workshops for undergraduate researchers on different aspects of the research process and communicating as a scholar.
Q. Who else in Purdue Libraries provides information literacy resources for Purdue students and faculty?
Maybee: The Libraries faculty and staff at Purdue all endeavor to enable learners to find and critically use information for their coursework or other activities. The Libraries faculty who liaise with specific departments work very closely with those faculty and students. Libraries faculty and staff are also dedicated to teaching students and faculty at Purdue to use and manage data and take part in scholarly communication. Libraries faculty also serve on campus committees, such as the Undergraduate Curriculum Council (UCC), where our expertise is put to use to help ensure that information literacy is part of the student learning experience at Purdue.
That said, a few people in the Libraries have very specific roles in advancing information literacy on campus. For example, Rachel Fundator, the information literacy instruction designer, works to advance information literacy through the IMPACT program and on information literacy efforts across the Libraries. Michael Flierl, the learning design specialist, works closely with students in transition, such as first-year or international students, to enable them to use information to learn. Rachel, Michael, and I work as a team to inform the Libraries’ efforts to address the information literacy needs of faculty and students at Purdue.
Q. Any other important information to include about information literacy and its role in the information age?
Maybee: When people are learning, they are almost always using information. Purdue Libraries’ information literacy efforts aim to teach students to critically use information to learn and make informed decisions while at Purdue and in their lives after graduation.
Nancy Peleaz, Associate Professor, Purdue University Department of Biological Sciences
“Inform Purdue,” Purdue Libraries’ Information Literacy Social Media Campaign, to Launch Oct. 16
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, UncategorizedOctober 16th, 2017
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 Data-Planet brought to you by Conquest Systems, 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: Data-Planet provides easy access to an extensive repository of standardized and structured statistical data containing more than 90 billion data points from more than 70 source organizations.
Search: Click here to see the basics of searching Data-Planet.
Start with this hint: From the Data-Planet homepage, try searching for keywords in the search box, then refine your results by either subject, source, or database.
Why you should know this database: Data-Planet contains over 2 billion time series that provide immediate access to data presented in charts, maps, graphs, and table form, via multiple points of entry.
Why students should know this database: Data-Planet pulls data from all types of sources which include Public, Private, Domestic, and International data. Data can be searched by key economic indicators like Dow Jones and S&P 500 Index, by subject, or by source.
Like Data-Planet?
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
October 13th, 2017
The Hicks Undergraduate Library will be open again 24/7 (with Purdue University ID swipe access overnight) starting Monday, Oct. 16 for the remainder of the fall semester 2017.
According to Dean of Purdue University Libraries James Mullins, after gathering data about use at WALC, it was determined there is a need for Hicks to provide 24/7 access due to the high number of student-group meetings taking place in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) classrooms in the evening, reducing its capacity.
A task force will soon be formed comprised of Libraries faculty and staff members, Registrar staff members, and Purdue Student Government president to determine the appropriate use of the WALC classrooms for the Spring 2018 semester.
No student groups have been approved to schedule a classroom in the WALC for spring semester until this Task Force makes its recommendation.
Also, use statistics will be collected for both Hicks and WALC during the late-night and early-morning hours to determine level of demand and whether it warrants maintaining Hicks as a 24/7 facility after the Spring 2018 semester.
Filed under: general, press_releaseOctober 12th, 2017
To access all the Inform Purdue posts, visit https://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/inform-purdue/
One of the pillars of the Purdue University Libraries’ learning model is to cultivate information literacy among students to support Purdue University’s goal to deliver student-centered learning. Student-centered learning requires that learners know how to find, evaluate, interpret, and apply information to solve problems and construct new meanings.
According to Purdue Libraries Associate Professor and Information Literacy Specialist Clarence Maybee, to support learners in today’s information-rich environment, the Purdue Libraries faculty and staff members are committed to enhancing student information literacy by advancing educational practice and research.
To highlight the importance of information literacy, on Monday, Oct. 16, Purdue Libraries is launching “Inform Purdue,” an information literacy social media campaign. In a series of videos and images, the campaign will feature Purdue University faculty and students talking about how they have applied information literacy in their courses and research.
“Purdue Libraries’ approach to information literacy is to teach students to use information in the context of learning about something—much as they will do on the job, or to make personal decisions after graduation,” Maybee explained. “In the ‘Inform Purdue’ campaign, Purdue students, faculty, and staff share their own ‘stories’ of teaching and learning about information literacy, and how it helps them to accomplish their educational and professional goals.”
Content in the “Inform Purdue” campaign will be posted on Purdue Libraries Facebook page and Instagram and Twitter feeds (see www.facebook.com/PurdueLibraries/; twitter.com/PurdueLibraries; and www.instagram.com/purdueulibraries/). Purdue students, faculty, and staff will be encouraged to share how they apply information literacy in comments and in retweets (with the hashtag #InformPurdue).
For more information about Purdue Libraries’ information literacy resources, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/infolit, Purdue Libraries’ Information Literacy blog at http://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/infolit/, or contact Maybee at (765) 494-7603 or via email at cmaybee@purdue.edu.
Filed under: general, press_releaseOctober 9th, 2017
Yvonne Pitts, assistant professor of history, was awarded $3,380.00 by the Purdue Library Scholars Grant Program to conduct research for her article, “’Vile Characters’ and Property Law: Regulating Prostitution and Creating Property in Civil War Era Nashville, 1860-1868,” which examines the short-lived system of regulated prostitution during wartime in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Library Scholars grant is awarded to untenured and associate professors tenured after July 1, 2015, to support research-related travel expenses to archives and collections outside of Purdue. For guideline and submission instructions to the Library Scholars Grant Program — now accepting applications no later than 5 p.m., Friday, November 10 — visit www.lib.purdue.edu/scholars/guidelines.
In her answers below, Dr. Pitts shared a bit about her travel to two different archives for her research, which the Library Scholars Grant Program supported.
Q: Yvonne, what is the focus of the research you conducted with the Library Scholars Grant Program?
A: My project examines crime and vice regulation and the system of regulated prostitution imposed by Union military authorities in occupied Nashville during the American Civil War. I am concerned with the exercise of legal authority on the ground in Nashville, which after occupied by the forces of General Ulysses S. Grant, had several competing law enforcement forces. My work at the two archives I visited reveal a complex, often haphazard system of multiple law enforcement actors that evolved in response to military demands, civilian hostility, and the threat of public disorder. During this period, soldiers often became the object of scrutiny for law enforcement agents while prostitutes, while subject to licensing and inspection, gained greater zones of legal autonomy.
Q: When did you travel to the unique collection/archives and what did you find there?
A: I traveled to two archives. The first, the Nashville Public Library holds the local civilian court and government records, including case files and the Aldermen’s minutes. The National Archives and Records Administration in Washington D.C. holds the federal government records which includes the Army records, the Provost Marshal (military’s law enforcement force), and Surgeon General’s reports. Access to these records, which are rarely digitized or even indexed in any detail is essential to my project.
Q: How did this grant enable you to complete or add to your research?
A: The Library Scholars Grant allowed me to study important local law enforcement records. After these trips, I have been able to write grants for more research funding, develop a plan of research for a book manuscript, and write an article draft.
Q: What are some highlights and memories from your travels?
A: One highlight was finding the Jail Record books in the National Archives. As I discovered at the Nashville Public Library, many of the criminal case files from Nashville had been destroyed, so I was not able to read transcripts and judgments from local civil arrests by the Nashville Police. At the National Archives, I discovered the U.S. Army Provost Martial’s Jail Record Books. These books contained information about charges, prisoners, sentences, and locations of arrests. They are a wealth of information. On another note, after I left the Nashville Public Library at closing, I had some of the best barbeque of my life in Nashville.
Q: What tips would you give to scholars applying for this grant?
A: Be specific about the collections you hope to access. I called and emailed with archivists from both locations for about two weeks before I finished the application. I included their names and the specific collections, sometimes to the volume or folder level, that I planned to access. I sought to convince the Library Scholars Grant Committee that I would hit the ground running on my first day.
Filed under: Applications, general, Library Scholars GrantOctober 9th, 2017
The 2017 Purdue GIS Day Conference is set from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9 in Stewart Center, rooms 206 and 214. The daylong event is open free to Purdue students, faculty, staff, and to the public.
The Purdue GIS Day Conference 2017 includes a variety of events and activities, including the 10 a.m. keynote presentation, “Spatiotemporal Computing for Enabling Scientific Research and Engineering Development” by Chaowei (Phil) Yang, Professor of Geography and Geoinformation Science, George Mason University, and Purdue University Honor College’s Visiting Scholar.
The conference also includes career discussions, a GIS Career Luncheon, student lightning talk presentations, a poster competition, and, new this year, the Esri Development Center (EDC) Student of the Year Award at Purdue, which will recognize one Purdue University student who demonstrates advanced GIS knowledge and innovation with an emphasis on development and programming (see below or www.lib.purdue.edu/gis/edc for more information).
The full 2017 Purdue GIS Day Conference schedule is below, with links to: the Career Luncheon registration (required) and the instructions and entry form for lightning talk and poster presentations, which are due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3.
More information about the EDC Student of the Year at Purdue Award competition is available at www.lib.purdue.edu/gis/edc.
Entries are due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3 and should be entered via the online form at https://purdue.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6mtqdiq7mvDG6tT.
The winner of the EDC Student of the Year at Purdue contest will be awarded limited travel reimbursement (from Purdue Libraries) to attend the Esri International Developer Summit in Palm Springs, CA, during the spring of 2018.
Across the globe, GIS Day is a celebration of geospatial research and geographic information systems technology. At Purdue University, Purdue Libraries faculty and staff work with the GIS Day planning committee, which is comprised of faculty, staff, and graduate students from various departments across the University, to organize this multidisciplinary, campus-wide event.
For more information, contact Nicole Kong, GIS specialist at Purdue Libraries, at geohelp@purdue.edu.
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9
Stewart Center, rooms 206 and 214
October 8th, 2017
Throughout Purdue’s history, students, faculty, and staff have enjoyed recreational activities on all parts of campus. This photograph shows one of the more popular activities that was enjoyed throughout the year. Can you tell what is happening here, when, and where this picture was taken? Share your theories in the comments and we’ll reveal the whole story on Friday.
UPDATE:
This mystery photo shows students enjoying the old horseshoe pitch that stood outside Memorial Gymnasium. According to a 1927 booklet on “Purdue in Athletics” published by the Department of Physical Education for Men, horseshoe pitching was a popular activity between class sessions and in the evenings, enjoyed by both students and faculty.
Following its dedication in 1909, the Memorial Gymnasium served as a space for various athletic and recreational events, commencement ceremonies, and later as a gymnasium for women. In 1985, the facility was renovated into the Computer Science Building. Since 2006, it has been known as Felix Haas Hall in honor of Felix Haas, a former faculty member and administrator who helped develop Purdue’s computer science program.
The location of this photograph is now the site of Honor Tracks, the newest monument on campus, which spells out the words of the student honor pledge within a railroad track. Honor Tracks is visible in this photograph with Haas Hall in the background.
Please join us again on Monday, October 23, for our next From the Archives mystery challenge.
Filed under: general, SPECOctober 6th, 2017
Show what you love about the new Wilmeth Active Learning Center and the Library of Engineering and Science and you could win $1,000 in the 2017 Purdue University Libraries’ Video Contest!
This year, with the opening of the new Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC), the Purdue Libraries’ annual video contest will have the theme: “Why I Love Purdue Libraries’ WALC.”
All students who attend Purdue University on the West Lafayette campus are eligible to enter. Prizes are as follows:
Deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6. Complete rules and guidelines are listed below.
Students interested in entering video productions are encouraged to focus on the many resources offered in the building, including, but not limited to:
Winners will be announced in mid-November, early December.
This video contest is an opportunity for Purdue University undergraduate and graduate students to communicate in a visual, video format why they love the Purdue University Libraries’ newly opened library building, the Wilmeth Active Learning Center, which houses the Library of Engineering and Science.
Finalists will be selected by a student panel comprised of the Undergraduate Student Libraries Advisory Council (USLAC). Winners will be selected by the Dean of Libraries and Libraries Associate Deans.
Purdue undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled at Purdue University (West Lafayette campus) are eligible to enter the contest.
The Undergraduate Student Libraries Advisory Council (USLAC) will judge all eligible videos and make recommendations to the Dean of Libraries and Associate Deans of Libraries for final approval.
Winning first-, second-, and third-place video producers will be awarded the following: 1st Place = $1,000; 2nd Place = $750; and 3rd Place = $500. The monetary award will be given to an individual, or divided evenly among the group if the submission is a team project. All monetary awards will run through financial aid and post to any outstanding balance first before payment is made to any winner.
The winning videos may be used by Purdue University Libraries in marketing and promotional materials. The videos selected as finalists may appear on Purdue University Libraries’ website (lib.purdue.edu) or via Purdue University’s social media channels.
Questions can be directed to Teresa Koltzenburg, director of strategic communication at Purdue Libraries, @ tkoltzen@purdue.edu.
Filed under: general, WALCOctober 5th, 2017
Purdue University Libraries will host Maureen Corrigan, book critic on National Public Radio’s popular “Fresh Air,” the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine covering contemporary arts and issues.
Part of the Purdue Libraries Annual Distinguished Lecture Series, Corrigan’s presentation, “And So We Read On,” is co-sponsored by the Purdue University College of Liberal Arts and is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31 in the Hiler Theater, Wilmeth Active Learning Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Corrigan is a columnist for “The Washington Post” and serves as The Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. She is also the author of two books, “Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books” and “So We Read On: How the Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures,” which was named one of the 10 best books of the year by “Library Journal.”
In addition to her contributions to the “The Washington Post” and “The Village Voice,” Corrigan has also written reviews for “The New York Times,” “The Boston Globe,” and “The Nation.” She is also an associate editor of and contributor to “Mystery and Suspense Writers: The Literature of Crime, Detection, and Espionage” (Scribner), which won an Edgar Award for Criticism from Mystery Writers of America in 1999, and has served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
This 15th lecture in the Purdue Libraries Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible by major funding to Purdue Libraries from the estate of Anna M. Akeley.
Filed under: general, press_releaseSeptember 28th, 2017
Purdue University Libraries will once again sponsor its Library Scholars Grant Program in 2017-18. The program is for untenured tenure-track faculty members and associate professors tenured effective July 1, 2015, or later. More information is available at www.lib.purdue.edu/scholars.
Applicants are required to have a conversation with a librarian, who must write a letter of support for a proposal.
All proposals must be submitted by email to Libraries Administration, libinfo@purdue.edu, with the Subject: Library Scholars Grant, no later than 5 p.m., Friday, November 10, 2017.
For questions about the Library Scholars Grant Program, contact D. Scott Brandt, interim associate dean for research, at techman@purdue.edu.
Additional information about eligibility and submission guidelines is available at www.lib.purdue.edu/scholars/guidelines.
Filed under: general