Highlights from Ball State University Libraries (November 2008)

Enhanced Library Materials Request online form now available for use by academic departmental library representatives and others who select materials for the Libraries’ collections

French Revolution Pamphlet and Fisher WWII Scrapbook collections in the Digital Media Repository expanded with another 40 and 279 digital images, respectively
800 metadata records for the DMR’s Museum of Art Collection enriched and standardized

The exhibit Native America at the Crossroad: Resources Celebrating Native American Heritage Month officially opened on November 12. The display is a collaborative project among Archives and Special Collections, Educational Resources Collection,

Author Stan Huseland donated audiotapes of interviews with 29 prominent Indiana political and business leaders, including former governors Otis Bowen and Edgar Whitcomb, Lt. Gov. John Mutz, and current U. S. Sen. Richard Lugar. These interviews will be digitized, transcribed, and made available in the Digital Media Repository for learning, teaching, and research

Dr. Kenan L. Metzger, Assistant Professor of English at Ball State, spoke on Indigenizing the Academy: A Call to Move from the Eurocentric to En’owkin

Created electronic copyright permission forms for use with online course reserves

Borrowed 2,153 items for BSU students and faculty and loaned 2,502 items via Interlibrary Loan

Answered 562 questions via Ask A Librarian: Live Chat, a 60% increase in live chat use over November 2007

Conducted 53 course-related library instruction sessions, including outreach sessions to student groups from Delta, Blue River Valley and Eastern Hancock high schools

Provided access to the RapidWeaver Web site editing software on the Libraries’ Mac computers

Installed Archivists' Toolkit, an open source software application, on staff workstations in Archives and Special Collections for evaluation as a means of enhancing management and manipulation of archival resources and increasing access through production of Encoded Archival Description finding aids that meet national standards

Released an updated Citation Linker to provide easier access from citation information to online full text available from the University Libraries