Minority Voices in Middletown Oral History Collections

Oral histories provide an added dimension to the historical record that cannot always be found in written documents. Additionally, these personal narratives often provide historical evidence in the complete absence of any written record.

The Archives and Special Collections Research Center holds several oral history collections as part of the Middletown Studies Collection and the Stoeckel Archives of Local History. While all these audio interviews (and a few video interviews) illuminate the lives of Indiana citizens, several provide research material on populations that were neglected in the seminal studies conducted and published by sociologists Robert and Helen Lynd in the 1920s using Muncie as “Middletown,” a representative American community.

Five oral history collections provide insight into the lives of the African-American and Jewish communities in Muncie/Middletown.

- The Black Muncie History Project conducted in the 1970s by Hurley Goodall and Ball State professor J. Paul Mitchell includes 38 interviews with African-Americans in Muncie from 1971 to 1978.
- The Black Middletown Project done by researchers from the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University as part of the Middletown III project contains 54 interviews.
- The Other Side of Middletown collaborative ethnography project on Muncie’s African-American community conducted by Ball State professor Eric Lassiter and his students as part of a class through the Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry resulted in 78 interviews.
- The Middletown Jewish Oral History Project I done in 1978-79 by Ball State professors C. Warren Vander Hill and Dwight Hoover, under the sponsorship of Mr. Martin Schwartz, has 21 interviews with Jewish residents who had lived in Muncie in the 1920s and 1930s.
- The Middletown Jewish Oral History Project II, a follow-up to the 1978-79 project also sponsored by Mr. Martin Schwartz, includes 24 interviews conducted by C. Warren Vander Hill with members of the Muncie Temple Beth El congregation.

In addition to African-Americans and Jewish residents, another group of Muncie citizens underrepresented in the original Middletown studies was the members of Catholic congregations. Collaboration between the Ball State University Libraries, the Center for Middletown Studies, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, St. Lawrence Catholic Church, and St. Mary Catholic Church will produce a collection of interviews to add to Archives and Special Collections. Trained volunteers from each of the churches will conduct the interviews. Three Emeriti faculty (Nancy Turner, James MacDougall, John Weakland) from Ball State who attend the respective churches will coordinate the volunteers and the interview process. Dr. Michael Doyle, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Public History Internship Program, will conduct a workshop on “Oral History Methods” to train the volunteers.

Digital Voices
Digital technology makes it possible for the “voices of history” to be heard throughout the world without users having to visit an archives to listen to them on often deteriorating media such as cassette and reel-to-reel tapes.

The University Libraries are applying for a Library Services Technology Act digitization grant to purchase equipment and hire project personnel to digitize the “minority voices” from the Middletown oral history collections described above. The grant application also includes funds for conducting the Catholic churches’ oral histories.

To augment the “voices” that will be able to be heard from the digitized audio tapes, transcriptions will be provided for researchers. The digital collections will be included in the Digital Media Repository where they will be searchable and usable for teaching, learning, and research.

By being able to listen to these digital voices of the past anywhere, anytime, the students, faculty, and researchers at Ball State University and beyond will have a rich new source for study.

For information, contact John B. Straw, Director for Archives & Special Collections Research Center, JStraw@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5078.

This article was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 8.

Color Aerial Photography Data Available

Do you need color aerial photography of Indiana for a research project, or are you interested in looking at a specific place in Indiana from a bird’s eye view?

If you need Indiana aerial photography, stop by the Geospatial Center and Map Collection (GCMC) in Bracken Library. You will have access, via the Indiana Spatial Data Portal (http://gis.iu.edu) to downloadable high resolution color images of the entire state of Indiana. Currently the website offers state-wide color orthophotography that was created in 2003. Soon, the site will be adding color orthophotography taken by the county in 2005.

With funding by the National Agricultural Inventory Program (NAIP), the 2003 images are one meter resolution photos that are projected into a coordinate system so that they can be easily viewed by GIS software and fitted under a user’s existing data. These images also come in a .TIFF format so they can be viewed in AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or any software that can view .TIFF images.
The 2005 aerial photography is available courtesy of the Indiana Statewide Orthophotography Project. The new aerials offer slightly better resolution than the 2003 photos and are projected into a coordinate system and available in TIFF
format.

These images are free to download from the Indiana Spatial Data Portal website. But a word of caution is that these files can be extremely large! If your computer does not have a lot of RAM memory, it may freeze up sporadically when viewing the photos. The high-end computers in the GCMC have more than enough available memory to handle these photos, and we welcome you to come in and use the computers to view and download the images you need.

For more information about the Statewide Orthophotography Project, visit the Indiana Geographic Information Council website, www.in.gov/ingisi,
and click on orthophotography.

For information, contact Angela S. Gibson, GIS Specialist, at ASGibson2@bsu.edu or call (765) 285-1097.

This article was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 9.

BSU Libraries to Offer News & Info Using RSS

You have probably seen the small orange ovals or rectangles that are labeled RSS or XML. They seem to be popping up on Web sites everywhere. They indicate that the site offers a new way to access its news.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds allow people to receive news content from several sources in one location. Instead of going to a site for news daily, for example, news on a topic is published to a news reader, called an aggregator as it becomes available.

The University Libraries expect to begin using RSS technology in early May 2006. Using this technology, we will expand the type and variety of news and information that we provide our students and faculty about our programs, services, and collections.

For more information, contact Bradley D. Faust, Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5082.

This article was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 7

High School Students Get Jump Start on Using Libraries' Resources

While many parts of campus are quiet during Spring Break, the Ball State University Libraries' Instruction office and classrooms are buzzing with activity. Every year we teach 8 to 10 research orientation sessions for visiting high school English classes. This year during Spring Break we accommodated about 220 students, grades 10, 11 and 12 who needed assistance with research paper assignments.

Teachers from high schools in Cowan, Oak Hill, and Hagerstown decided that visiting Bracken and receiving library instruction was the introduction to library research that students needed.

Instructional Services librarians conduct instruction sessions for these students in one of two electronic classrooms at Bracken Library. They instruct the students on concepts like constructing good searches, narrowing research topics, and evaluating sources. They also provide demonstrations and recommendations for databases, reference materials, and CardCat. Class sizes usually range from 15 to 35.
A typical visit by one of these high school groups begins with a 40- to 60-minute drive to the Ball State campus. They enter the instruction sessions, which generally last about 30 minutes, and then begin working on their research while the library instructors provide one-on-one assistance. After about 30 minutes of work with the librarians close at hand, the classes will exit the classrooms and filter into the main part of Bracken, continuing to work for another hour or two. The students will finish their day with lunch at the Atrium or the Village before heading back to school by 3 p.m.
University Libraries Serves the Community
Spring Break isn’t the only time that Instructional Services conducts sessions for high school classes. Blue River Valley High School usually visits in November and April. Heritage Hall Christian School has a standing appointment for the first week of January. Indiana Academy will bring a few sections of science students in the fall and English students in the spring.

Eastern Hancock often brings their Library Media class in the fall. Students from Jay County, Burris, and Delta also make regular visits in the late fall or early spring semesters. A group of 14 home schooled students also received library instruction this year.

To date for the 2005-06 academic year, 657 high school students have passed through the doors of our library instruction classrooms, and two more classes are expected in the next week.

For more information, contact Jeremiah Kinney, Library Teaching Assistant, JSKinney2@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8017.

This story was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 7.

Update on Re-Learning an Old Lesson: Back up Data

In the March 2006 issue of The Library Insider, I reported that one of our Gateway 935C file servers failed. It had been in service for over three years.

This failure became a calamity because there was no backup copy of the data. The server was one of several general purpose file servers. It hosted miscellaneous data, application files, and Access databases.

We were fortunate that none of the “lost” files affected public services. The next step was to send server components to a company that specializes in data recovery from failed devices.

We shipped 3 hard drives and the RAID [Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks] controller to CBL Data Recovery Technologies in El Cajon, California.

After analyzing the components, CBL reported that much of the data could be recovered. In mid-March, we received 6 DVD discs containing recovered data files. We estimate that 95% of the data was recovered.

Our Windows server specialist Budi Wibowo analyzed the recovered data and began the process of restoring the files and securing appropriate access permissions. This time the data is available on a HP ProLiant DL360 server that has quality backup processes in place. The cost was $3,550.

Notwithstanding lost productivity and the anxiety caused by our server crash and subsequent concern for weeks about lost data, our story has had a good outcome because we recovered almost all of our otherwise lost data. From this experience, we also re-learned an important lesson, which is to back up our operational and strategic data.

For information, contact Bradley D. Faust, Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8032.

This story was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 7.

Reference Services for the After-Five Crowd at BSU Libraries

It’s Tuesday night and Bracken Library’s lobby is buzzing with the energy of a hip night club. Students are meeting at the “naked lady” statue (artist Albin Polasek’s Forest Idyll) to discuss their days and plan their evenings, checking their e-mail on laptops through the Libraries’ wireless network, relaxing in cushy chairs with the latest issue of The Ball State Daily News, and reserving rooms for group study sessions. Everyone knows that the University Libraries is the place to go for the excellent services and sources necessary for successful scholarship in the modern age, but, for many Ball State students, Bracken Library is also the place to see and be seen.

Students and faculty enjoy interactive and customizable experiences that surpass the traditional functions of the academic library. These users create communities and form friendships while enjoying programs and services such as the following:

Librarians to assist with research papers
A wide variety of DVDs and CDs for personal enrichment and entertainment
A bestsellers book collection for recreational reading
Student art work on display throughout the Libraries
Meeting rooms for study sessions and student organizations
Access to the wireless network throughout
Soft chairs for a relaxing study session or break
Live musical and theatrical performances

Students find their libraries’ experience enhanced by the new Student Virtual Library Web page which is designed to better serve the research needs of undergraduates. Lots of students comment about using great resources through the Libraries’ “Digital Media Repository,” a collection of digital resources for teaching and learning.

Librarians utilize blogs to open communication channels, share information, and solicit feedback from students and faculty.

As Librarian Liaison to the School of Extended Education, I created a blog at http://distancelibrarian.blogspot.com to help keep distance learners and instructors abreast of changes in the University Libraries and to foster and deepen a sense of community among distance library users.

We librarians are always looking for additional ways to make the University Libraries the most enjoyable and convenient places to study and socialize on campus, making them the best places for learning after the classroom.

Beginning in mid-August 2006, students can look forward to a full coffee bar “Bookmark Café @ Bracken Library,” expanded library hours to include 24-Access Mondays through Thursdays, and a monthly foreign film series in Bracken.

For information, contact Kelli Keclik, Information Services Librarian, at KKeclik@bsu.edu or (765) 285-1101.

This story was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 6.

Ball State Libraries' Videos Give Tips on Research How-to’s

A creative and interesting set of videos was created by the University Libraries’ Information Services Librarians in order to help students learn to use library resources more efficiently.

“The videos are a unique way to assist students. They are short and informative, but also meant to be fun,” said Lisa Barnett, Instructional Services Librarian.

The short streaming video clips are located on the University Libraries’ web site and cover topics such as locating materials determining whether an article is scholarly or popular and deciding which web sites are trustworthy sources of information

Theatre majors Natalie Sallee, Sean Riggs, Nicole Hansel, Jamie Boalbey, Lauren Sheffield, Josh Carver, and Kevin Anderson acted in the videos. Prof. Robert Habich, Department of English, also made a special appearance. Thanks to the production staff at Teleplex for their assistance. View the videos at
Tutorials

This article was published in The Library Insider, April 2006, pg. 5.

'Millennials' Shape Future Directions for Library Services

With the introduction of the personal computer in the early 1980’s, current college students are the first generation to have grown-up literally surrounded by technology. The Internet, iPods, PDAs, and cellular phones are not luxuries but everyday communication tools to today’s students.

These developments were underscored at the recent 21st Annual Computers in Libraries Conference, a three-day immersion on the latest in searching, search engines, web design, digital content management, e-learning, e-collections, and digital trends in general.

Throughout the conference, formal presentations and informal discussions could be found on the characteristics of today’s students, the ‘Millenials’ born between 1982 and 2000. Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, offered a summary* at the conference showing that today’s undergraduates:

Are involved in world of media and gadgetry
Have mobile technology
Are very involved in using the Internet
Are multi-taskers
Are often unaware of or indifferent to the consequences of using technology
Will face radical technology changes in the next decade
Shape their approaches to learning and research based on this new technology

These are points to bear in mind as we seek ways to expand the University Libraries’ collections and services to keep pace with new learning styles, technological developments and their uses.

The conference confirmed the Libraries’ efforts are on the right track: many innovations mentioned in presentations are already in place in Bracken Library and the branch libraries, but look for more changes as we continually strive to offer collections and services to best meet the teaching, learning, and research needs of Ball State University’s students and faculty.

*Rainie, Lee. (24 March 2006) The Internet: Enhancing Digital Work & Play. Presented at the Computers in Libraries 2006 conference

For information, contact Suzanne Rice, Assistant Dean for Public Services, SRice@bsu.edu or (765) 285-1305.

This story was published in The Libray Insider April 2006, pg. 5.

Student Assistants Receive Customer Service Training

Many areas of the Ball State University Libraries rely heavily on student employees in order to deliver services and implement programs. They are often the “first face” of the library presented to our users. Students answer phones, staff service counters, provide information for other units, and assist both internal and external users of the Libraries in myriad ways.

During March, the Services Excellence Working Group conducted seven sessions of a workshop entitled, “Customer Service 101” for student assistants. At the sessions, students received basic principles of customer service.

Out of approximately 150 student assistants employed by the Libraries, 92 attended from 13 separate units. Much of the student assistant training deals with content rather than interpersonal skills. That is, student assistant training focuses on specific job duties, library policies and guidelines, and library procedures rather than communication skills and the dynamics of interaction. This workshop was meant to help fill that gap.

Although the workshop focused primarily on “over-the-counter” interactions, we emphasized the importance and applicability of the concepts discussed to “behind-the-counter” interactions with library co-workers and supervisors as well.

Some student participants noted on their evaluation forms that they had already received customer service training for jobs in retail, restaurants, and so forth. But the overall reaction was very positive.

This first round of workshops was a pilot project for training that we plan to offer each semester for newly-hired student employees.

For information, contact Kevin Brooks, Manager of the Science Health-Science Library, KBrooks2@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5079.

This article was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 4.

Frank Bracken Speaks at Friends Dinner, Ball State University Libraries

Sixty-six Friends and supporters of the Ball State University Libraries attended the annual dinner and meeting of the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library on March 30 at the Alumni Center.

Dr. Arthur Hafner, Dean of University Libraries and President, Board of Governors, accompanied by Dr. Jo Ann Gora, President of Ball State, welcomed the attendees.

Dr. Hafner presented President Gora with a Friends lapel pin to represent her membership in the Friends organization.

Following the dinner and business meeting, Dr. Gora introduced Frank A. Bracken, Vice President of the Ball State Board of Trustees, who delivered the Kirkham Lecture on “Civil War Battlefield Preservation.”

Near the end of his presentation, Mr. Bracken presented to Roy Budd, husband of Dr. Gora, a replica of a red shirt that would have been worn by Budd’s ancestor General A. P. Hill, the last Confederate general killed in the war.

During the reception prior to the dinner, attendees had enjoyed seeing several Civil War artifacts that Mr. Bracken brought that belonged to his relatives that fought in the war.

Four student assistants who work at the University Libraries received Student Recognition Awards and each student received a check for $100. The recipients were Lindsay Bacurin, Amanda Pollard, Jeffrey Rukes, and Kallay Swihart. University Libraries’ employees Kevin Brooks and Michael Twigg were recognized for receiving Staff Scholarships from the Friends.

Wayne Meyer, Head of Specialized Services, was presented with a Friends lapel pin in honor of his forthcoming retirement after 27 years of service to the University Libraries. The forthcoming retirement of Dr. Michael Wood was also recognized.

Jack Carmichael and Dr. Frank Felsenstein received certificates of appreciation at the conclusion of their three-year terms. Joe Duncan and Dr. Nicole Etcheson were given Friends lapel pins as they began their terms on the Board of Governors.
During the dinner, the Friends enjoyed a PowerPoint presentation with slides of the dedication of Bracken Library on March 26, 1976. Several people at the dinner, including Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bracken, took a walk down memory lane while viewing photographs of themselves and friends during the slide presentation.

Those interested in the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library may visit www.bsu.edu/library/collections/fambl or contact John Straw, Executive Secretary of the Friends, at JStraw@bsu.edu or call 285-5078.

This article was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 8.

Civil War Material in the Digital Media Repository

Letters, diaries, photographs, and other items from the U. S. Civil War are now available 24/7 for learning, teaching, and research through Ball State’s Digital Media Repository, a project of the University Libraries. You can visit the Repository of U. S. Civil War Materials from East Central Indiana at http://libx.bsu.edu

Funded by a Library Technology Services Act (LSATA) grant, the University Libraries partnered with the Delaware County Historical Society, Henry County Historical Society, Muncie Public Library, and the Dan Quayle Center and U. S. Vice Presidential Museum to digitize and provide Web access to Civil War items from their collections along with materials from the Archives and Special Collections Research Center of the University Libraries. Researchers can view digital images of the original documents and read transcriptions. More Civil War materials will be added to the collections in the near future.

For information, contact John Straw, Director, Archives & Special Collections Research Center, at JStraw@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5078.

This article was printed in The Library Insider April 2006, page 3.

BSU Copyright Conference Draws Large Gathering

On Wednesday, April 12, 2006 librarians, technologists, attorneys, administrators, and media specialists from Indiana and eight surrounding states visited the Ball State campus for the third annual copyright conference, “Copyright Challenges and Opportunities.”

Hosted by the Ball State University Libraries and chaired by Dr. Fritz Dolak, Manager of the University Copyright Center, more than 125 individuals gained insights on a variety of intellectual property topics, such as orphan works, digital licensing, the top ten digital legal issues facing educational institutions, Google, Fair Use, and more.
Dr. O’Neal Smitherman, Ball State University’s Vice President for Information Technology and Executive Assistant to the President, welcomed attendees and set the conference’s tone and agenda. In his comments, he highlighted our need to understand the importance of owner’s intellectual property rights as well as those of the users of intellectual property in the Digital Age.

Diane Norton, Wabash College’s Music Librarian, commented that the conference was “…truly one of the most well-organized, interesting, and informative conferences I have ever attended. Your speakers were stellar and explored a lot of material.” Diane will use the new information she gained from the conference to develop standard intellectual property guidelines for faculty at Wabash College.

The nationally-known speakers were Jule Sigall, J.D., Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., Dr. Kenneth Crews, J.D., from Indiana University, Dwayne Buttler, J.D., from the University of Louisville, Kevin Smith, J.D., from Duke University, and Michelle Cooper, J.D., from the Indianapolis law firm of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP.

At the close of the conference attendees had the opportunity to ask questions from a panel of four intellectual property lawyers in an open microphone, open forum session. Barry Umansky, J.D., a professor in the Department of Telecommunications at BSU and representing Ball State University’s Digital Policy Institute, moderated the panel.

For information, contact Fritz Dolak, Copyright & Intellectual Property Manager, at FDolak@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5330.

This story can be found in www.bsu.edu/libraries/virtualpress/libinsider/libinsiderv4i4.pdf April 2006, pg. 3.

New Look on Ball State University Libraries’ Home Page

The University Libraries unveiled a new homepage on April 4

Designed by the Libraries’ Web Development Working Group (WDWG), this new page joins the Student Virtual Library Student Virtual Library as an important gateway to the resources accessible through the University Libraries.

When designing this new homepage, the Web Development Working Group sought to allow users to quickly find desired resources and to facilitate independent use of information.

One method used to fulfill these goals was to categorize links and options into six main groups for easy navigation. They are
Find …
Library Services
Research Assistance
About the Libraries
Libraries/Collections
News Gallery

A column on the left side of the homepage includes commonly used library links, which will appear on every University Libraries web page.

The homepage will continue to improve as the WDWG conducts usability tests against the new page and also incorporates comments and suggestions from students, faculty, and staff. One future development will be adding a search box, which will allow users to launch different searches directly from the homepage.

Members of the Web Development Working Group are Jim Bradley, Katie Bohnert, Hilde Calvert, Stacy Chaney, Steve Duecker, Randy Lewandowski, Matthew Shaw, and chairperson Daniel Hartwig. Brad Faust provided additional leadership.

The web site is

For information, contact Kathryn Bohnert, Library Enterprise Services & Systems Support Analyst, KBohnert@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8032.

This story was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 8.

CAMIO at BSU Libraries Shows Art Around the World

Students, faculty and Ball State University community members are now able to experience art from around the world without leaving their seats.

The University Libraries now offer a database with an online collection of artwork called CAMIO (Catalog of Art Museum Images Online). This collection of art from around the world will be valuable to students and faculty for use in projects, art history research, lectures, presentations, course Web sites, and numerous research projects.

The new database offers copyright-cleared images, text, and multimedia in a broad range of works of art from prominent museum collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. From prehistoric to contemporary times, this online collection highlights the creative output of cultures from around the world. It covers a complete range of expressive forms, which include photographs, prints, textiles, paintings, sculptures, decorative art, books, manuscripts, and types of architecture. Each high-resolution image is accompanied by information about its origin, size, and other details. Some have multiple views, sound, video, and curatorial notes.

Students and faculty can access the database 24/7 on campus and from remote locations to find art images to supplement and support their research, learning and teaching. Those interested can access Camio through the University Libraries’ database page. View this resource at


For information, contact Dr. Hilde Calvert, Head of Collections Development, HCalvert@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8033.

This article was printed in The Library Insider, April 2006, page 2.
The Library Insider
The artwork is by Stuart Davis, an example of the artwork pictured in the CAMIO database.

LSTA Grant Awarded to Ball State University Libraries

Indiana State Library’s Interim Director, Roberta Brooker, recently notified Dean Arthur W. Hafner that the LSTA grant application submitted by he and co-PI Suzanne Rice had been funded. The $2,000 grant is for the purchase of a SmartBoard.

The SmartBoard will increase the effectiveness of Bracken’s group study and meeting rooms for enhanced learning opportunities.

Examples of participating populations using the group study rooms include students working collaboratively on team projects and presentations, small-scale tutoring including special needs students, graduates in seminars, student organization meetings, and selected high school students. Rooms vary in size, accommodating between 4 and 18 persons.

Bracken group study rooms are multi-functional facilities, available by reservation to students and faculty and on a drop-in basis to all library users whenever Bracken is open. These rooms are heavily used, being reserved an average of 38 times a day. They are also used spontaneously by students at other times.

For information, contact Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, AHafner@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5277.

This article was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 2.

Charter Service Escorts Students from One Campus Location to Another

After campus shuttle busses have stopped running, people can rely on Charlie’s Charter for a safe escort to any Ball State University-owned property, such as from Bracken Library, late at night to the stadium parking lot or to a residence hall.
During the regular semester, Charlie’s Charter operates Sunday through Thursday from 6 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. This important, university-wide service is co-sponsored by the Department of Public Safety and the Student Government Association. The charter service is available on a first-come, first-serve basis so at busy times there may be a short wait.

Charlie’s Charter provides community members more than just a free ride. By providing transportation from one BSU-owned property to another, they are able to take an active part in campus life regardless of weather or distance and are able to participate in learning and research opportunities on campus during the evening.
Mark Lytle, one of Charlie’s Charter drivers, reports that they complete an average of 25 to 28 calls each night. Of course, these numbers increase during inclement weather. Mark estimates that about one-half of his calls come from students taking advantage of Bracken Library’s late night hours which are until 3 a.m.

Deepti Gopalagari, who is working toward a M.A. in Computer Science, frequently calls for a ride following her 3 a.m. shift in Bracken’s Educational Resources Center. Without this service, she would have to walk unescorted for the 1.7 miles to her home in Sheidler Apartments, or give up her hours. For Deepti, the service by Charlie’s Charter allows her to work on campus while pursuing an advanced degree. For other students, Charlie’s Charter gets them back safely to the front door of their dormitory or to their car in one of the many parking lots around campus.

For information, contact Kathleen Pickens, Library Night Supervisor, KEPickens@bsu.edu or (765) 285-3330.

This article was published in The Library Insider April 2006, pg. 1.

Dance Students Perform at Ball State University Libraries

The ceramic tiles of Bracken’s lobby were temporarily transformed into a dance floor during a 30-minute performance by students from the Department of Theatre on Dance on Wednesday, April 19. Artistic Director Lou Ann Young said the four numbers performed were a sample of the complete program entitled, “Festival of Dance" which is scheduled to run from April 26 through April 29 at the Ball State University Theatre.