Historic 1915 Film Available in University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository

Almost 15 years after it was discovered and restored, the historic film The Man Haters is now accessible online through the Ball State University Libraries Digital Media Repository.

This rare 1915 silent movie is one of the few surviving films documenting life in the World War I years, and it provides a rich resource for film and history students at Ball State University and researchers around the world.

The film was produced by Basil McHenry, a traveling film producer from Akron, Ohio. He financed the film with sponsorship by Muncie's Majestic Theater and The Muncie Evening Press newspaper.

Readers of the Press were asked to cast their votes for the leading actresses using coupons printed in the newspaper. Out of Muncie’s population of 34,000, there were over 22,000 votes cast in the contest.

Dora Grim, a 17-year-old telephone operator, won the starring role of Ruth and 16-year old Vernon Davis was cast as the male lead. Filming began in Muncie, Indiana on November 3, 1915. The movie opened at the Majestic Theater at 417 South Walnut on November 15, 1915.

The film contains rich documentation of the Muncie landscape and local life in the early 20th century. Basil McHenry also produced similar films in other towns in Indiana and Ohio.

Archives and Special Collections acquired the film from the Dora Grim-Vlaskamp family in 1994. The family found it in storage at a local car dealership. Nancy Turner, former director of Archives and Special Collections, and the late William (Bill) Barnett, former Director of Library Business Services, recognized the importance of the film and applied for a $3,000 grant from the Indiana Humanities Council to have the original 35mm nitrate film transferred to VHS and music, narration, and additional footage added. The film was shown at numerous screenings in Indiana and nationwide and a documentary on the film aired on the History Channel.

The Man Haters Collection contains the 10-minute original version and the longer documentary version of the film, newspaper clippings about the contest, still photographs from the film, and a booklet about the history of the film by Nancy Turner. The collection can be accessed in the Digital Media Repository, at http://libx.bsu.edu, under the “The Man Haters Film Collection.”

For more information, contact Maren L. Read, Assistant Archivist for Manuscript Collections, Ball State University Libraries, MLRead@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.

How to Implement Google Analytics in a CONTENTdm System

I recently received a question regarding how to add Google Analytics code to CONTENTdm system web pages in response to a Library Insider article I wrote in February 2007, “Discovering More Information about Your CONTENTdm Users by Using W3C Format or Google Analytics” (v. 5, no. 2, page 2). In response to that question, and for the benefit of others who may be interested to know, I will elaborate here.

The fundamental question is, “Where do I plug in the Google Analytic code?” If you are familiar with CONTENTdm, you know that there are many PHP pages in the system so determining where to insert the Google code can be a challenge.
The following CONTENTdm pages are ones that I selected for Analytics code to be inserted:
• item_viewer.php
• document.php
• meta_viewer.php
• viewer.php
• page_text.php(optional)
• side_side.php(optional)
• any entry pages you desire(Optional)

If you are interested to know why I chose these pages, keep on reading. The item_viewer.php is required for viewing non-compound objects. There are also other PHP pages called when item_viewer.php is displayed, although we do not need to worry about them because they are all rendered into a single page, item_viewer.php.

The next three pages, document.php, meta_viewer.php, and page_text.php, are required to view compound objects in CONTENTdm. One might ask, “Isn’t document.php enough?” The answer is “No.”

Inserting the Analytics code in only the document.php page will result in untracked hits when someone is viewing the item description, side description, side and text, side by side, next page, and previous page assets associated with a compound object. Document.php consists of three frames. Two of the frames are static and will not be tracked when users are navigating using the functions I mentioned above. If you want to track which compound objects and their corresponding metadata are used, meta_viewer.php and viewer.php also need to be registered with Google Analytics.

Page_text.php is used to display the page and text of a compound object. Side_side.php is used to display two compound objects side by side. If you would like Google Analytics to tell you how often these two functionalities are used, you should insert the Analytics code in these two pages. These two are optional because ultimately, these two pages will use viewer.php and meta_viewer.php to display contents. Now that you know where to insert your Analytics code, the hardest part is done. Let us move on to actually inserting the code.

On its Google Analytics how-to page is an explanation of how to insert the code in a dynamic PHP page by writing a PHP script that produces Javascript code. You do not need to follow this step. You can just follow the instruction for static pages, which is to insert the Google code right before the closing body tag. Once you have completed these steps, Google will begin providing you with incredible information about usage of your CONTENTdm system.

For more information, contact P. Budi Wibowo, Ball State University Libraries’ Head of Digital Libraries and Web Services, BWibowo@bsu.edu, (765) 285-8032

Artist Jared L. Applegate’s Rehabilitation Painting Acquired by the Ball State University Libraries

Rehabilitation, (oil, 60”x 47”) by senior Jared L. Applegate was recently acquired by the Ball State University Libraries as a Purchase Award.

The artwork, now on exhibit on the west side of Bracken Library’s first floor, was one of 85 items selected for showing at the 72nd Annual Student Art Show this past spring, 2007. This popular, exciting exhibition held at the Ball State Museum of Art features student artwork in all media, from painting and sculpture to video and furniture.

A panel of professional jurors considers as many as 500 works for selection in this show, which showcases outstanding quality and skill.

The variety of art on exhibit at Bracken Library provides students and faculty with a unique opportunity to view and appreciate others’ artistic endeavors. The student and faculty artwork beautifies Bracken Library and adds to the ambience of the facilities for everyone’s enjoyment.

Several University Librarians Attend the 2007 American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

In June 2007, the American Library Association held its Annual Conference in Washington D.C. for a record attendance of 28,635 according to the ALA Conference website. Several librarians from the University Libraries attended and took advantage of the opportunity to hear and discuss ideas, give presentations, see exhibits and displays, and speak with colleagues.

Following the conference, the University Libraries’ attendees met to discuss the ideas, products, exhibits, and demonstrations for possible implementation at the Ball State University Libraries. While discussing the Conference experience, attendees observed that many of the current programs and services offered by the University Libraries are in line with activity at other academic libraries. In some cases, we are offering activities that other libraries had singled out as creative and inventive to talk about at the Conference.

Some of the Conference take-a-ways the group discussed include the following:

• CONTENTdm 4.3 upgrade major enhancements, a release that is scheduled for Fall 2007
• Current status of e-books and audio books in library collections
• Discussion about the future of the MARC record and MARC field usage patterns
• Information on long-term digital asset and metadata preservation research
• Mobile Reference, using text messaging to connect with library users
• New service opportunities for Find It @ BSU (SFX Link Resolver)
• Opportunities for social networking, social bookmarking, and other 2.0 based services
• PBS Point of View (P.O.V.) 20, offering independent TV documentaries for local PBS stations
• PennTags, which are a form of social bookmarking with applications for academic library users
• Use of wiki technology to manage internal projects and workflow
• Using video objects to address information literacy
• Using WorldCat Local in the academic library

For more information on these and other ideas generated by the ALA conference this year, contact Bradley D. Faust, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu, (765) 285-8032.

OCLC Unveils WorldCat Local Pilot

Imagine having access to information about your own institution’s library resources along with those of more than 9,000 libraries around the world in one seamless search and delivery interface. That and more is what the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), Inc., envisions for WorldCat Local, its latest initiative to make access to information as easy as possible for users.

On June 14, 2007, over 70 registrants in Indianapolis and at satellite locations in Indiana attended a presentation on WorldCat Local given by Mindy Pozenel, OCLC Global Product Manager, WorldCat Discovery Services. Pozenel also demonstrated the public beta version of WorldCat Local, currently implemented at the University of Washington, www.lib.washington.edu.

As explained by Pozenel, WorldCat Local is a new discovery and delivery service, built on WorldCat.org and configured to work with a library’s existing local systems and services, including the integrated library system (ILS), resource sharing software, open URL link resolver, and proxy server.

With WorldCat Local, users at OCLC member institutions are able to search the entire WorldCat database and display results beginning with those that are in locations most accessible to the individual researcher, whether it is his or her home library, other libraries in a consortium, or another member WorldCat library in a nearby community.

Searching is accomplished through a single, customizable search box from a locally branded interface that retains the look and feel of the home library’s own online catalog. Interoperability with locally maintained circulation systems means that the patron is able to see the item’s location, local call number, and status (available, checked out, due date, library use only, etc.) in holding libraries. The researcher may then place a hold, search for online availability, or initiate an Interlibrary Loan request.

Since WorldCat Local is based on WorldCat.org, it is populated with the resources of all OCLC member libraries and shares functional features of WorldCat.org, including:
• Results displays that use one record to represent multiple versions of a title
• Relevancy ranking of search results giving most accessible first
• Faceted browse capability
• Citation formatting options
• Enrichment and evaluative content, such as cover art, reviews, excerpts, etc.

New content added to WorldCat.org will be made accessible automatically through WorldCat Local. A recent addition is the more than 30 million article citation records from four OCLC FirstSearch databases (ArticleFirst, GPO, Medline, and ERIC), allowing users to locate libraries where they can access full text through databases or link resolver services licensed by the library or by requesting articles via document delivery. Future plans call for the expansion of access to public domain and open access collections.

Other future enhancements include social and collaborative services that will allow users to set up public or private profiles for such purposes as
• Reviewing or rating WorldCat resources
• Creating/maintaining personalized lists of resources
• Receiving RSS feeds/alerts
• Consulting maps and calendars
• Participating in online groups, forums, and clubs drawn from an aggregated user base of more than 9,000 WorldCat libraries

Exciting as WorldCat sounds, there are important issues for OCLC to resolve before the product’s general release, currently projected for late 2007. Some of these are the following:

• OCLC has yet to develop a pricing model and is still wrestling with ways to display local ownership and status information for serial publications. If WorldCat Local is to be successful, resolution of the serials issue is particularly crucial.
• A challenge is how to make discoverable those local collections, which many libraries have but which are not represented by records in WorldCat, including those cataloged through third party vendors.
• OCLC is still in the process of testing interoperability with the major ILS vendors, including SirsiDynix, the integrated library information system used by Ball State University Libraries.

WorldCat Local bears watching as a number of additional pilot sites in California and Illinois are brought up later this summer. With many libraries struggling to provide their clientele with convenient access to resources, regardless of format or source, WorldCat Local is a promising first step in the effort to create an unbroken discovery-to-delivery experience for the information seeker.

For more information, contact Sharon A. Roberts, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Collection Resources Management, SRoberts@bsu.edu, (765) 285-1305.

Global E-Book Survey Finds Challenges and Benefits of E-Books

In 1982, Professor F. Wilfrid Lancaster, a pioneer in Information Sciences, coined the term “electrobook” to describe digital volumes of the future. Over two decades later, the electronic book, or e-book, is still an evolving species, and libraries are discovering the benefits and challenges of migrating from print to electronic texts.

The collections of Ball State University Libraries include thousands of e-books ranging from almost 2,000 technical, scholarly, and popular books in NetLibrary.com to nearly 400 reference titles in databases from Gale, Oxford, and Credo Reference, and over 37,000 books, pamphlets, and broadsides from Early American Imprints. Additionally, the University Libraries link users to hundreds of thousands of e-books available through Project Gutenberg and the expansive Google Book Search Project.

While e-books provide users with excellent advantages, including 24/7/365 desktop access and full-text searchability, electronic book collections have experienced slow to moderate growth in most academic libraries. There are a number of obstacles that keep the e-book evolution from becoming an e-book revolution.

The Global EBook Survey, conducted in March 2007 by ebrary, a leading electronic content provider, synthesizes results from a poll of 552 individual libraries (77% were academic libraries) about their development and usage of their digital book collections. The survey results present a number of variables responsible for stunting the growth of e-book collections of libraries, and it offers immediate challenges for both libraries and electronic book publishers and vendors.

According to the study, the largest inhibitor to e-book usage is lack of user awareness. Many libraries are grappling with effective marketing strategies for electronic formats. The primary avenue of access is the library public catalog. At the Ball State University Libraries, for example, each purchased title appears in the online public catalog, CardCat, with a live link to the actual resource.
This, of course, presumes that users can successfully use the catalog to locate electronic resources and raises questions about taxonomy and information architecture, building into websites logical paths to information. The University Libraries diligently provides multiple access points to e-books. Additionally, we provide our users with multiple avenues for learning about the assets we provide including newsletters, blogs, liaison programs, and library instruction programs, all of which are designed to connect students and faculty with the rich teaching and learning resources available at the University Libraries.

According to the survey, vendor business models are another major hindrance to e-book collection growth. With their advent, electronic resources sounded like an economical solution to rising publisher costs. Unfortunately, libraries soon discovered that expensive printing, processing, and shipping costs morphed into more expensive technical costs. In most cases, format conversion from print to electronic does not represent a savings for libraries. Early distributors of electronic book content did not offer libraries flexible purchasing or subscription options, often selling e-books in subject-specific packages, preventing libraries from making title-level collection decisions based on curricular and budgetary need. These packages, which still exist, are often very costly and contain a mixture of desirable and undesirable titles. There is some noticeable improvement in models, and many vendors have realized the importance of offering libraries maximum selection flexibility.

The survey results also call on vendors to develop more intuitive and useful interfaces. If a library user cannot figure out how to access or use an e-book, they will simply ignore the resource! Initial players attempted to mimic library circulation by forcing users to create individual accounts and check out virtual copies of books, which were then unavailable to other users while in use. In an electronic environment where simultaneous use should be possible, this model seems artificial and senseless. Furthermore, vendors must consider the demand for anywhere, anytime use of electronic resources. E-book downloads should be available for external memory device transport and should never be tied to a specific workstation. Again, with the rapid growth of technology, many vendors are offering end users more options and usable interface features. In many cases, libraries can purchase simultaneous user seats without buying additional electronic copies of books and more sophisticated licensing terms may be allaying publisher fears about intellectual property theft translating into greater file portability. The good news is that libraries are at once delivering their message to the communities they serve while persuading publishers and vendors of the need for better deals, better products, and better access to information. The ebrary survey is tacit evidence that corporate content providers are looking to librarians to steer the future of scholarly communication.

E-books have not yet reached their ultimate maturation. There is still room for growth and expansion of products and services, which will accompany the refinement of electronic books. E-books have not become a viable surrogate for the printed book. Portable readers have not gained predicted popularity, yet there may be some promise in the improved displays of cell phones that are integrated with web and document reading capabilities. Users must also come to understand the e-book in its own right, not as a book meant to be read cover-to-cover on a computer monitor or hand-held device, but as a utilitarian information source, equipped with a set of powerful navigation and repurposing tools.

Despite the challenges ahead, the e-book is not destined for the grave of flash-in-the-pan technological casualties of the past. E-books are an integral part of tomorrow’s libraries, and the developing landscape of electronic text, spurred by market competition, individual library digitization projects, and user demand for desktop access, will continue to take rapid and progressive shape.

The Ball State University Libraries are committed to building strong, integrated collections and are engaged in discovering and selecting the best resources for supporting the teaching, learning, and knowledge discovery endeavors of our Ball State students and faculty.

For more information, contact Matthew C. Shaw, Ball State University Libraries’ Electronic Resources Librarian, MCShaw2@bsu.edu, (765) 285-1302.

Ball State University Libraries’ Circulation Statistics, FY 2006-2007

During the past fiscal year, July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007, the University Libraries circulated 282,143 items. There are 47 categories of materials, such as art items, books, 16mm films, music scores, theses/dissertations, and youth books.

There are nine categories of materials that account for 91.1% of the Libraries’ circulating items:

Books 43.8% Youth books 8.7% Music scores 1.9%
DVD videos 13.3% Periodicals 5.0% Bestsellers 1.5%
Music CDs 10.7% VHSs 4.9% Audio CDs 1.3%

We can learn more about our customer segments by analyzing the percentage of their borrowing. For example, 123,858 books were borrowed by these users:

Undergraduates 49.4%
Faculty 7.2%
External Users 19.0%
Graduates 18.3%
University Staff 4.9%
Others 1.2%

When analyzing undergraduate borrowing, we see the following results for circulation among each student segment: Freshmen 10.4%, Sophomores 9.8%, Juniors 10.8%, Seniors 15.9%, and other undergraduates 2.5%.

Ball State University Libraries Complete the Middletown Digital Oral Histories Project

The University Libraries successfully completed the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Digitization Grant project for 2006-2007 in June. The LSTA funds were used to digitize, transcribe, and make available collections of oral histories in the Ball State University Digital Media Repository, http://libx.bsu.edu.

• The complete Middletown Digital Oral History Collection contains digital audio and transcripts of 188 interviews and is now available globally at
http://libx.bsu.edu/MidOrHist/midorhist.php for research and classroom use. The oral history collections include:
• Black Middletown Project, 35 interviews conducted with African-Americans in Muncie by Rutledge M. Dennis and Vivian W. Gordon from the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University respectively in 1981
• Black Muncie Project, 23 interviews conducted with African-Americans in Muncie by Mr. Hurley Goodall, Ball State professor J. Paul Mitchell, and Ball State graduate students between 1971 and 1978
• Middletown Jewish Oral History Project I, 20 interviews conducted with members of Muncie’s Jewish community by Ball State professors C. Warren Vander Hill and Dwight Hoover in 1978-1979
• Middletown Jewish Oral History Project II, 24 interviews conducted with members of Muncie’s Jewish community by Ball State professor C. Warren Vander Hill in 2003-2004
• Other Side of Middletown Project, 56 interviews conducted with African-American in Muncie by Ball State professor Eric Lassiter and a group of students as part of a collaborative ethnographic project and funded by the Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry in 2003
• St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church Project, 10 interviews conducted with members of the St. Francis of Assisi parish in 2006
• St. Lawrence Catholic Church Project, 10 interviews conducted with members of the St. Lawrence Parish in Muncie in 2006.
• St. Mary Catholic Church Project, 10 interviews conducted with members of the St. Mary Parish in Muncie in 2006

The oral histories were selected for the grant project based on the lack of representation of the African-American, Jewish, and Catholic populations of Muncie in the original Middletown study conducted by Robert and Helen Lynd in the 1920s. Students and scholars now have increased access to these resources through the Internet.

This project was truly a University Libraries-wide effort. In particular, staff from throughout the library contributed to the time-consuming and difficult task of transcribing many of the interviews. Special thanks go to all of the individuals involved in making this a successful grant project.

For information, contact John B. Straw, Director for Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries, JStraw@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.

Dean of Libraries Expresses Appreciation to the University Libraries’ Personnel for their Work and Service during Fiscal Year 2006-2007

I want to express my thanks and appreciation to everyone who works in the University Libraries providing library and information services — professional and paraprofessional personnel, graduate assistants, and student assistants. Each of you, individually and collectively, has provided another year of thoughtful, caring, and creative service for the Ball State University Community.

Over the course of fiscal year 2006-2007, our turnstiles counted 1,301,390 visits to the University Libraries. This is an increase of 2.5% over the previous fiscal year. Thousands of students take advantage of the programs, services, and collections that our personnel manage and provide for research, learning, and classroom instruction.

Over the past 12 months, many times your specific work made a difference in the lives of our customers. Through using the University Libraries, our customers receive many benefits:
• Librarians and other specialists to help them with their research and papers
• Access to rich content for knowledge building and creation
• Physical and digital space for pursuing research and learning projects
• Computers, software, and other technology for their creative use
• Individual and collaborative spaces for group learning, study, and classroom enhancement

We are now in the first few weeks of the new fiscal year. Each of us is busy implementing various plans for excelling again during the academic year to further delight and serve our students and faculty through library and information services. Our objective is to increase the role of the Libraries in the academic life of Ball State University.

As Dean of University Libraries, each day I am grateful for the privilege to serve our students and faculty, and I hope you are, too. Our work — yours and mine — is an opportunity for us to be part of a great university like Ball State and to help others to pursue academic success and achieve their dreams.

As we move into the new fiscal year 2007-2008, I look forward to all of the spectacular happenings that are ahead as we develop and promote the University Libraries for the benefit of our students and faculty.

Student Ownership of Coursework

When it comes to student intellectual property rights, the Ball State University Libraries are unique. This is because they are the only higher education library in Indiana, and just one of the few nationwide, to have a copyright page dedicated solely to student ownership rights. The page can be viewed at www.bsu.edu/library/collections/copyright/students.

The Copyright for Students page emphasizes the fact that students have copyright protection in any and all of the works they create for any purpose, including anything created for their class assignments. The exclusive rights guaranteed by the U.S. Copyright Law to students, faculty, and any creator of intellectual property are these:

1. The right to allow or decline the making of copies of your work
2. The right to allow or decline the distribution of your work
3. The right to allow or decline a public performance of your work
4. The right to allow or decline a public display of the work
5. The right to allow or decline the making of a derivative work

A good question to ask is, “What is a derivative work?” as mentioned in the fifth point above. A derivative work is any work or works created from the original, including translations, musical arrangements, dramatizations, fictionalizations, a motion picture, a sound recording, an art reproduction, an abridgment, a condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted.

The Copyright for Students page has important information on academic integrity including three videos and the link to the “Ball State Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities” that addresses academic dishonesty.

The videos at the Copyright for Students page includes, first of all, a 30-second video that briefly iterates the student rights defined by the Copyright Law and the need for Ball State University faculty to seek permission to use student-produced intellectual property. The second is another 30-second video on plagiarism. The third video is entitled, “What Do You Think about Intellectual Property?” sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America. This video stresses the proper use of someone else’s intellectual property.

Using someone else’s materials for research, articles, papers, audiovisuals, PowerPoints, etc., can rely on a Fair Use analysis or these educational uses can rely on materials that are in the public domain, royalty free, and/or licensed for educational use.

The Copyright for Students page includes several useful links to these latter types of materials including:
• Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects
• Free Listening and Free Music Clips
• Free Retro Ringtones
• Royalty Free Pictures for Your Blogs, Homepage, Research Paper, etc.
• Royalty Free Sites for Pictures, Graphics, Video & Audio Podcasts

The Royalty Free Pictures link provides access to hundreds of thousands of Associated Press photos that can be used for any educational use at Ball State by students and faculty as well. The licensed, educational royalties for these AP photos for use anywhere on the Ball State campus have been paid for by the University Libraries.

The University Libraries’ unique Copyright for Students page is applicable and useful for basic understanding of using intellectual property and for an understanding of the rights involved in materials created for course assignments, research, course enhancements, instructional objectives, learning outcomes, etc., to name just a few ways and activities in which this page can be used.

It should be obvious that students and faculty have the very same, exclusive rights as defined and guaranteed by the Copyright Law. The Copyright for Students page helps our young scholars to identify a baseline in how to legally use someone else’s copyrighted materials for educational purposes. The wide scope of the Copyright for Students page is such that it can be useful for faculty as well.

This article is the second in a series of articles on Intellectual Property Issues in Higher Education. Next time: How to Copyright Your Work.

For additional information or to have your questions answered, please contact Dr. Fritz Dolak, The University Libraries’ Copyright and Intellectual Property Office, FDolak@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5330.

Students, Faculty Can Use their Ball State Computer Account to Log in to the Libraries’ Online Public Catalog

In June 2007, the University Libraries introduced new features of the University Libraries’ online public catalog, CardCat, to give library users more control over their individual library accounts.

Ball State students, faculty, staff, and retirees can log in to CardCat using the same Ball State computer user name and password they use for Outlook e-mail and many other online campus services. While logging-in is optional, there are two major advantages to doing so:

• Logging-in makes the “My Library Account” link available from all screens without having to log in a second time. A redesigned account page consolidates information about items checked out, active hold/recall requests and scheduled video bookings on a single page. It is now possible to renew items on this page, too.
• Logging-in allows users to place recall/hold requests directly from CardCat. When an item is checked out, the left side of the detailed record view displays a “Recall/Hold Request” link. After clicking the link, you will have a chance to specify a pickup library and, optionally, enter an expiration date or “suspension dates.” Clicking “Place Hold” confirms the request. You can then check My Library Account to monitor your position in the holds queue or edit the hold.

More details and answers to frequently asked questions about these features are available at http://liblink.bsu.edu/iBistro_helps/English/loginfaq.htm.

In speaking about this initiative, Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, said “The success of this project is due in large part to the tremendous work of Jim Hammons of our Library Information Technology Services (LITS) unit. He solved the problem of how to use BSU e-mail credentials (name, password) to log on to CardCat.”

I collaborated with library information technology personnel at Vanderbilt University, Brigham Young University, and SirsiDynix Corporation to develop a log in solution using a common protocol known as LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol) and the Perl programming language. Additional support was provided by Katie Bohnert, also of LITS, and Daniel K. Fortriede of Ball State’s University Computing Services.

This initiative represents another example of where University Libraries’ personnel strive to make the Libraries’ programs, services, and collections easier to use and more responsive to the Ball State community. Early results are promising since there is data to show that hold requests in June increased 26% from the previous year.

For more information, contact James W. Hammons, Ball State University Libraries’ Head of Library Enterprise Services and Systems, JHammons@bsu.edu,
(765) 285-8032.

Bradley D. Faust Presents Paper about the University Libraries’ Mobile Computing Project at the 2007 American Library Association Annual Meeting

Bradley D. Faust, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, participated in a panel presentation at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Washington D.C. in June, 2007.

Brad presented "The Mobile Computing Project at Ball State University Libraries" during the Reference and Users Services Association (RUSA) Machine Assisted Reference Services (MARS) Hot Topics Discussion Group Session. The session title was "Libraries2Go: Library Services for Handhelds." A copy of Brad's Presentation is available on the University Libraries' Mobile Computing Project web page,
www.bsu.edu/libraries/viewpage.aspx?SRC=./lits/mobileproject/articles.html.
The University Libraries Mobile Computing Project is a development project to bring library services, resources, and programs to the increasing number of library users who carry small screen handheld devices.

University Libraries’ Personnel to Conduct Digitization Workshop for LSTA Grant Recipients at the Indiana State Library July 18, 2007

Ball State University Libraries’ Metadata and Digital Initiatives librarians will share their expertise at an Indiana State Library workshop on Wednesday, July 18, 2007.

The one-day digitization workshop is being offered to assist Indiana libraries that are recipients of Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants for 2007-2008 and ones who will use CONTENTdm Acquisition Station software from the Indiana State Library.

The workshop will be team-taught by James A. Bradley, Head of Metadata and Digital Initiatives; Jonathan M. Brinley, Metadata and Digital Initiatives Developer; and Amanda A. Hurford, Digital Initiatives Multimedia Developer. Topics covered will include digitization processes, archival standards, metadata production, and preservation of digital objects in a content management system, specifically CONTENTdm.

According to Bradley, the focus of the training is to present the attendees with various strategies for completing a successful digital library project.

Connie Rendfeld, LSTA Consultant at the Indiana State Library, reports that more than 30 people from throughout Indiana have already registered to attend the workshop.

For more information, contact James A. Bradley, Ball State University Libraries’ Head of Metadata & Digital Initiatives, JABradley2@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5718.

Profile: Jan A. Vance, Ball State University Libraries’ Periodical/Reserve/Microforms Collection Supervisor

Twenty-five years ago, Jan A. Vance, Periodical/Reserve/Microforms Collection Supervisor, came to Ball State University Libraries as Periodical Services Counter Clerk. One might say that her middle initial stands for adaptability. In the past 25 years, Jan has moved offices six times and has had seven unit heads. She has moved the current collections of periodicals, newspapers, and microforms four times, has assisted in the Libraries’ targeting and bar coding projects, and she has experienced the multi-faceted changes of the computer age and its affect on the print/paper age.

In the normal course of the day, Jan will schedule, hire and train student assistants and staff, oversee reserve processing, and provide good customer service. She takes on the challenge of training new people with aplomb. She has trained 12 evening supervisors throughout her career.

“Each time, training proves more of a challenge because of the changes that have occurred between the last person and the new person. A training manual helps, although it always seems to be in a state of revision!” she said.

“I enjoy the interaction with the staff, faculty, and students,” Jan said. “I get great satisfaction from helping someone find the resources they need and providing services that help others.”

University Libraries Offer Digitizing Oral Histories Conference — September 20, 2007

Ball State University Libraries personnel learned a great deal about the issues involved in digitizing oral histories during the recent Middletown Digital Oral History Collection Project funded by a 2006-2007 Library Services and Technology (LSTA) Digitization Grant. They are planning to share their experiences with other library, archives, and information technology professionals through a conference hosted by the University Libraries.

Can You Hear Me Now? Digitizing the Voices of the Past, a one-day conference on digitizing oral history, will be held Thursday, September 20, 2007, at the Ball State Alumni Center. The conference will focus on the needs, opportunities, and challenges of transferring audio documentation of the past to new digital formats for preservation and global access. Key issues to be discussed include:
• Planning and funding
• Copyright issues
• Audio digitization procedures, equipment, and standards
• Transcription
• Metadata
• Demonstration of current projects

Using CONTENTdm for making digital oral histories available will be a focus of the conference, but other systems will be discussed also.

In addition to participants from the Ball State University Libraries, the program will include:

• Brenda Burk, Philanthropic Studies Archivist, Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI)
• Carrie Daniels, Assistant Professor and Associate Director, University Archives and Records Center, and Co-Director, Oral History Center, University of Louisville
• Jeffrey Green, Sweetwater Sound, Inc.
• Cinda May, Assistant Librarian and Project Director for Wabash Valley Visions and Voices, Indiana State University
• Kathleen Medicus, Cataloger, Special Collections and Archives and Media Services, Kent State University
• Connie Rendfeld, Library Services and Technology Act Consultant, Indiana State Library

The luncheon and keynote address will be given by Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter, Marshall University, and Elizabeth Campbell, University of Indiana, Pennsylvania. They will discuss The Other Side of Middletown oral history project that they conducted while at Ball State University. The interviews from that project have now been digitized and transcribed and are available as part of the Middletown Digital Oral History Collection in the Ball State University Digital Media Repository, a project of the University Libraries.

Co-sponsors of the conference include the Center for Middletown Studies, the Ball State Department of History, and the Society of Indiana Archivists.

For more information on the conference or to register online, go to www.bsu.edu/library/conference/oralhistory or contact John B. Straw, conference chair and Director for Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries, at JStraw@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.

Pirate Theme Chosen for Visit to Bracken Library by Cardinal Kids Camp

More than 100 children from kindergarten through eighth grade visited Bracken Library during the week of June 11, 2007, as part of Cardinal Kids Camp. The campus outings expose children to various aspects of the college environment. Staff counselors are Ball State students, many of whom use these experiences to prepare for future teaching. During the visit, some of the University Libraries’ personnel collaborated with Kids Camp organizers from Ball State’s Office of Recreation Services to host the visit and to use items from the Libraries’ extensive collection relevant to teacher training.

“The kids really enjoyed their time and had a lot of cool things to go home with,” said Emily Clark, a member of the administrative staff for Cardinal Kids Camp. “The map-making, learning about pirates' way of life, and the scavenger hunt really enhanced our Pirates of the Caribbean week.”

Ariki and Bosse Receive First Ditsky Awards for Steinbeck Research at Ball State University Libraries

Through the generosity and support of donors, the Ball State University Libraries provide opportunities for students and scholars to advance their education and research.

One outstanding example is found in the recent establishment of the Steinbeck Research Fund in Honor of Dr. John M. Ditsky that was established by his wife, Mrs. C. Suzette Ditsky of Detroit, Michigan.

Dr. Kyoko Ariki and Ms. Kay Bosse are the first two recipients of the Ditsky Award. They will visit the University Libraries in late summer to conduct intensive research on Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck, using the resources of Archives and Special Collections.

Dr. Ariki is a professor of American Literature at Shujitsu University in Japan and Director of the John Steinbeck Society of Japan. Her Steinbeck-related publications include numerous articles, translations, and two recent books, Sutainbekku-wo Yominaosu (Rereading Steinbeck) and the Main Thematic Current in John Steinbeck’s Works: A Positive View of Man’s Survival.

Ariki will travel to Muncie for a week in September 2007 to study the scope of Steinbeck-related research holdings in Archives and Special Collections and collect essential data for a series of articles on “A Study of the Origin, Development, and Growth of Ball State University-Centered Steinbeck Projects.” Her research will also include the historical evolution of the Steinbeck Newsletter, Steinbeck Quarterly, Steinbeck Monograph Series, and other publications that have benefited students and scholars of Steinbeck in Japan.

Ms. Bosse teaches in the Department of Communications/Theatre at the University of Dayton. She has written, adapted, and directed plays by and about Steinbeck. Her most recent Steinbeck-related publication, John Steinbeck’s Global Dimensions, was based on a paper titled “Detached Participation: Steinbeck’s Theatrical Vision” that she presented at the Sixth International Steinbeck Congress in Kyoto, Japan.

The focus of Bosse’s research during her visit in August will be John Steinbeck and the Vietnam War. She will concentrate on Steinbeck’s response to the Vietnam War, his friendship with President Lyndon B. Johnson, and how the escalation of the war during the final years of Steinbeck’s life greatly influenced his artistic, political, and personal life and his work. Her goal is to formulate and articulate the significance of these years in relationship to Steinbeck’s legacy.

The Steinbeck Reseach Fund is intended to assist and encourage emerging Steinbeck visiting scholars and/or doctoral candidates in conducting intensive research in Ball State University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections on an appropriate scholarly topic related to author John Steinbeck.

Dr. John Michael Ditsky (March 9, 1938 – May 15, 2006) was Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He was a world-renowned Steinbeck scholar, Vice President of the International Steinbeck Society, former President of the New Steinbeck Society of America, a poet and poetry editor, a music critic, and former Chair of the Editorial Board of the Steinbeck Quarterly. Dr. and Mrs. Ditsky were long-time friends and colleagues of noted Steinbeck scholar and Ball State University professor Dr. Tetsumaro Hayashi, who was instrumental in establishing the outstanding Steinbeck Collection in the University Libraries.

For more information on the Steinbeck Research Fund in Honor of Dr. John M. Ditsky, contact John B. Straw, Ball State University Libraries’ Director for Archives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.

Ball State University Libraries Exhibit Historic Magazines

Bernarr Macfadden and the Physical Culture Magazine will be on display on the second floor of Bracken Library from July 16 through September 30, 2007. This Archives and Special Collections exhibit will include articles, advertisements, and magazines from the Physical Culture Magazine Collection.

For more information, contact Hannah D. Cox, Archives and Special Collections Supervisor, HDCox@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.