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October 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: generalSeptember 24th, 2017
As the State Street Project continues to update the appearance of Purdue and West Lafayette, we look back on another construction project that changed the area. Can you guess what is being built in this photo, where it is located, and when this photo was taken? Share your ideas in the comments and check back on Friday for the reveal!
UPDATE:
The construction site in the center of this photograph soon became the Krannert School of Management, completed in 1963. This construction site photo is looking southeast at the intersection of State and Grant Streets. Since 2001, the corner that once held the Standard Oil Gas Station has been the site of Jerry S. Rawls Hall, which was dedicated on October 2, 2003.
The gas station is visible in this aerial photo of Krannert taken in the final stages of its construction, along with Young Hall in the background.
Please join us again on Monday, October 9, for our next From the Archives mystery!
Filed under: general, SPECSeptember 21st, 2017
Hal Kirkwood, associate professor and business information specialist at the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics at Purdue University Libraries, was recently elected the president of the Special Libraries Association; he will serve as the SLA’s president in 2019.
Since joining SLA in 1992, Kirkwood has held several leadership roles within the association, including serving as president of the Indiana Chapter, chair of the Business & Finance Division, and director on the SLA Board of Directors (2012-2014). He will rejoin the SLA Board of Directors January 1, 2018, and serve as president-elect in 2018, president in 2019, and past president in 2020.
According to Kirkwood, the Special Libraries Association is an international and interdisciplinary organization representing information professionals in academic, corporate, government, intergovernmental, and other areas often not fully represented by the American Library Association, the other national organization that represents information professionals.
“As SLA president, I hope to influence its role, services, and mission by seeking creative solutions, developing unique collaborations, and listening to the members to fulfill their expectations and needs,” he noted.
For more information, see the official SLA release at www.sla.org/hal-kirkwood-lead-sla-2019/.
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, UncategorizedSeptember 10th, 2017
It’s football season, which means it’s band season. The “All-American” Marching Band has been a Purdue tradition since the 1880s and has seen thousands of proud Boilermakers join its ranks. This young member of the band went on to become one of Purdue’s most recognizable graduates, but can you identify him before he was famous? Share your theories in the comments and check back on Friday for the full story!
UPDATE:
Our mystery tuba player is Purdue class of 1928 graduate Orville Redenbacher, best known for revolutionizing the popcorn industry. Redenbacher was a very active student, part of Alpha Gamma Rho, Agricultural Society, Agricultural Editor Society, Press Club, Band, Union Work, Class Track, Class Cross Country, Debris Yearbook Editor, and Exponent Editor.
Redenbacher didn’t slow down after graduation. He worked in various agriculture-related positions across the state of Indiana until 1951, when he turned his full focus to the perfect popping corn. Orville Redenbacher Popcorn launched in 1970 with its namesake front and center in all advertising. The Purdue grad has been a recognizable face ever since!
Purdue Archives and Special Collections houses Redenbacher’s papers, including a selection of his personalized bow ties, donated by his grandson Kevin Fish.
Please join us again on September 25 for our next From the Archives post.
Filed under: SPEC