Ball State University Libraries' News

20 Things to Do Outside of Bracken Library

2009-07-15T09:06:00.001-04:00

During the academic year, the doors of Bracken Library are in constant motion. It is at the library that one can get a snapshot of life on campus.

Indoors or out, Bracken Library is at the heart of the Ball State campus. With more than 1,000 square feet of open space on both the south and north plazas, there is plenty of space for students to enjoy fresh air and a myriad of activities.

20 Things to do on Bracken’s Plaza
- Study for a test
- Wait for a friend
- Sketch an assignment for art class
- Exercise your First Amendment rights
- Play four-square
- Sit on the lawn and discuss current events
- Take advantage of wireless outside and research on your laptop
- People-watch
- Research on your laptop
- Throw a Frisbee
- Work on a project with a classmate
- Play Hacky-sack
- Practice playing an instrument
Listen to the birds
Read a chapter in the latest bestseller
Sit on a bench and make a phone call
Study how the light changes on the building and take a series of photographs
Take a nap
Spread a blanket on the grass and enjoy a picnic
Have some quiet time for reflection

State University Libraries are Awarded Runner-up in IGI Global

2009-06-30T13:32:00.001-04:00

The Ball State University Libraries were recently recognized for technology excellence by IGI Global, an international publishing company specializing in research publications in the fields of computer science and information technology management.

The corporation created an award and recognition program for an organization judged to use and promote innovative technological programs or systems that have proven critical to the successful integration, implementation, and diffusion of electronic resources within an academic library setting.

The submission by Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, and John B. Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, focused on the Libraries’ development of the Digital Media Repository (DMR). The submission was sent to IGI Global on April 29, 2009. Dr. Hafner was notified of the award in May. The interested reader can learn more about it at
www.igi-global.com/campaign/award.asp.

The focus of the submission centered on Ball State University Libraries’ collaborative resource, the Digital Media Repository, http://libx.bsu.edu, which offers 72 collections with more than 120,000 digital objects.

It provides a centralized, coordinated, and user-focused resource to serve the teaching, learning, academic achievement, and research needs of students, faculty, and others. The DMR brings together the digital collections and projects of the University Libraries into a single, cohesive, accessible, easy to navigate, Web-based environment, while also providing access to external digital resources that support the educational processes for instructional objectives and learning outcomes.

An analysis of visits to the DMR during the seven-month period of September 2008 through March 2009 showed 286,476 hits. In March 2009, for example, there were 89,151 visits to different collections in the DMR. These statistics reflect use by Ball State students, faculty, international researchers, the media, and many other users who are both local and global.

The DMR is a key component of the Libraries’ goal to expand digital initiatives and facilitate development of emerging media opportunities for learning, research, and classroom enhancement and it continues to be a highly successful resource in the ongoing transition from print to digital resources that meet the expectations and information needs of the Ball State academic community and the continually growing international global research community.

As runner-up, the University Libraries received a plaque and the opportunity to publish an academic article featuring best practices and examples of transitions from print to electronic resources in one of IGI Global’s premier reference books.

Muncie’s Railroad History is Subject of New Publication, Exhibit, and Digital Collection

2009-06-30T13:27:00.002-04:00

As anyone driving around Muncie knows, railroads are very prominent in this community as they are in many cities and towns throughout the country. The many tracks you may cross each day are reminders of the importance of railroads in the history and development of our local community and our nation. As Michael L. Johnston states inhistory of railroads in Muncie, Indiana, “Throughout the history of the United States, the railroad industry has been a prominent contributor to the development and growth of states and communities.”

Thanks to Mr. Johnston, others can learn about the history of railroads in this locale by reading his publication in the Ball State Virtual Press,
www.bsu.edu/libraries/virtualpress/johnston/index.html.

This publication and a recent Friends of the Library program on the history of local railroads given by Larry Campbell are the inspirations for a forthcoming exhibit by Archives and Special Collections in Bracken Library. Railroads of Delaware County will feature photographs, timetables, histories, and other items documenting the history of the local railroad industry. It will run from July 1 through mid-September. A digital collection of railroad history materials is also planned for the Digital Media Repository, http://libx.bsu.edu.

According to Johnston’s history, the railroad industry began about 1810 in the United States, and railroad construction became rampant after the Civil War. He writes that Muncie attracted railroads earlier than many cities because of the gas boom and the resulting rapid industrial growth starting as early as 1848. The first railroad line in Delaware County was completed through Muncie in 1852. By 1902, six intercity railroads, a local industrial railroad, and a belt-switching railroad served Muncie. During the peak railroad period, Muncie had five railroad freight houses, five agency offices, and a railroad division headquarters. In the first half of the 20th century, Muncie enjoyed direct or indirect railroad passenger service to all major cities.

The railroad history by Michael Johnston published in the Ball State Virtual Press is just one more example of his and his wife’s many contributions to Ball State and the University Libraries. A Ball State alumnus with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration and marketing, Mr. Johnston served 20 years as an adjunct professor of international transportation in the Miller College of Business. He worked for many years in logistics and transportation.

Mr. Johnston is a member of the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library’s Board of Governors, and he serves on Ball State’s Beneficence Society Advisory Committee, the National Philanthropy Council of the Ball State University Foundation, and other university and community organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston donated a collection of contemporary art works to the University Libraries in memory of their late son, Michael Gregory Johnston.

For more information on the Railroads of Delaware County exhibit, or railroad research materials in Archives and Special Collections, contact John B. Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.

Indiana Highlights in Ball State Libraries' Architecture Images Collection

2009-06-30T13:25:00.002-04:00

The Architecture Images Collection in the Digital Media Repository (DMR) is made up of images of buildings, gardens, parks, city streetscapes, and aerial photos of sites around the world. It also offers images of many sites closer to home. More than 7,500 images in the collection feature works in Indiana, from historic courthouses to modern architecture in Columbus and beyond.

There are world-renowned works in the collection such as Richard Meier’s Atheneum building in New Harmony, Indiana, which was awarded the American Institute of Architect’s Twenty-Five Year award in 2008 for architecture that has stood the test of time. The collection also offers images of typical local houses and views of ordinary main streets.

Users looking for Indiana images can search for specific buildings, like Meier’s Atheneum, or specific designers or firms such as the Indianapolis-based firm of Pierre & Wright. The rich metadata that accompanies every image in the collection also supports searches for building and site types as well as geographic areas. For example, by searching specific fields in the DMR, users can search for parks or courthouses in the state. Users may also wish to search by town or county for all of the images from the area. Combine these building type and geographic area searches and users are able to find churches in a particular county or houses in a specific town.

Many of the collection’s Indiana images were contributed by student and faculty photographers. Some were donated as 35mm slides and the University Libraries later created digital scans for online access. Old and new images of sites are both important parts of the collection. Historic images can help create a picture of how a site, such as a park, has changed over time or document a building that has been lost or significantly altered.

Take, for example, the Delaware County Courthouse. In the Architecture Images Collection, there are historic images of the 1837 courthouse that was demolished in 1884, images of the building that replaced it in 1885 as well as photographs taken as that courthouse was being demolished in 1966, and there are pictures of the courthouse as it stands in Muncie today.

Joseph Cezar Architectural Records Collection

2009-06-30T13:22:00.002-04:00

As you recline on a lawn chair in your backyard this summer, you might consider for a moment how you would design your own perfect lawn chair. A recent discovery in the Drawings and Documents Archive at Ball State University Libraries illustrates one architect’s classic, yet innovative, design for the perfect lawn chair.

One of many interesting items in the Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records Collection, this 1943 drawing titled Lawn Chair is an interpretation of the classic Adirondack style chair with its sloping back, plank boards and wide armrests. The history of the Adirondack chair began, not surprisingly, in the Adirondack Mountain resort area of New York. Created in 1903, its popularity quickly spread throughout the country due to its rugged construction combined with the high level of comfort it provides despite its lack of cushions. Forty years later, Indianapolis architect Joseph O. Cezar (1903-1991) updated what was already a classic Adirondack design and incorporated two discrete wheels under the front chair legs for increased mobility. Clearly, he was familiar with the design but felt he could improve upon it by making a few alterations.

This drawing illustrates a period in Cezar’s life when he was establishing an architecture practice in Indiana and raising a growing family. Born in Austria in 1903, Cezar found his way to Indianapolis in 1938 after he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Chicago Technical College. He worked in architecture firms until he began his own practice in 1944.

Architecture and landscape architecture students and faculty can utilize design drawings, such as this one, to learn about the decision-making process involved in matching need, such as comfort in the out-of-doors, with a design solution, in this case a sturdy and mobile chair. The technology of creating a simple functional object like a chair that bears appropriate weight, maintains its shape, and is comfortably reliable for an extended use is communicated in the clear, concise drawing and exact specifications Cezar incorporated into his drawing.

Cezar’s creativity is evident in his creation of a chair design, but one can also see his superb artistic talents on display in other drawings often containing interior or exterior elevation drawings of the room or building, which serve to give the client a visual representation of the space that is often difficult to decipher solely from the architectural drawings. This extra touch must have been successful for Cezar, as the collection attests to clients who employed him for multiple jobs.

The Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records Collection will soon be available for online viewing through the Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository, http://libx.bsu.edu.

University Libraries Featured in Digital Scanner’s Customer Profile

2009-06-30T13:20:00.001-04:00

Recently, the University Libraries were featured by Atiz Innovations, Inc., a scanning equipment manufacturer, in a profile of some of its customers,
www.atiz.com/customers.

The profile was about the company’s BookDrive DIY Scanner. This unit is one of the significant pieces of equipment used in the University Libraries’ Digitization Center that helps advance the creation of Ball State-produced digital content. The unit is like a double copy stand with two digital cameras set at 90 degree angles so that a book can be photographed in a cradle position rather than laid flat to protect the book’s spine. The unit produces a high quality digital image and minimizes damage to fragile pages.

Size, Versatility, Low Cost — Contributing Factors to Netbooks’ Popularity

2009-05-28T09:29:00.000-04:00

Recently, some of the University Libraries’ personnel spoke about how they use their netbooks, citing convenience and cost as top attributes. The name, netbook, is apt for this small-size laptop computer because of its reliance on an Internet connection.

James Bradley, Head of Metadata & Digital Initiatives, spent about $375 on his black ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Netbook. It features a 10-inch screen and wireless N connection with Bluetooth connectability. It has a battery life of over seven hours on a charge. He spent another $25 to upgrade the memory to 2 GB RAM.

“I love it,” he said. “During work hours, I use it for e-mail, Web, and word processing. It is portable and easy to take to meetings, thus my notes on a meeting can be saved to my main workstation when I return and then form an electronic and searchable archive of meeting notes and agendas.”

Jim said that, when away from work, he also uses his netbook to watch videos, such as YouTube or Hulu, and he uses Adobe PhotoShop and publishes family photos on his Web site.

When John Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, recently attended the 2009 annual meeting of the Academic Libraries of Indiana, he saw several people using netbooks to take notes, view Web sites that the speakers mentioned, and to keep up with their e-mail.

“I have one now, too,” he said. “I just used it at a meeting. It is very compact and useful to take to meetings and to work on-the-go.”

Denise Kinney, Secretary to Library Assistant Deans, really likes her ASUS Eee 1000HA. It features a 160 GB hard drive, sports 1 GB RAM, and offers wireless G capability.

“Big things come in small packages,” she said. “It weighs only three pounds and can operate for five or six hours on the fully charged six-cell battery.”

Denise used her netbook recently while on a trip to access "Microsoft Street Tips and Maps" to locate a library in Michigan and other locations. She has used the wireless connectivity to locate genealogy information and to download knitting and crochet patterns, which she reads as she knits. Like Jim, she enjoys staying in touch with her family and friends, watching movies through Hulu and YouTube, and viewing digital photographs.

“Truly, there is no limit as to what may be accessed or stored on this netbook,” she said. “I have the world at my fingertips through my netbook.”

Robert Seaton, University Libraries’ Web Development Specialist, said he likes the portability of his Acer Aspire One with its 10.1-inch screen and 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor. He paid about $350 for the sapphire blue unit.

“I can take it with me everywhere,” he said. “The size is small so it’s like carrying a paper notebook, and it is a fast machine. It’s small enough that I can take it to a meeting and it won’t be distracting.”

Robert said that his netbook even plays some of today’s more popular 3D games. The units do not come standard with a CD-ROM drive, although it makes up for that by having several USB ports and an SD card reader as well as a multi-card reader. It has built-in wireless so any software that he wants can usually be downloaded and installed.

Because the price of the netbook is so reasonable and its performance is so high, the unit seems to be perfectly suited for almost everyone. For less than $400, the user can have a powerful, portable computer that offers word processing, video playback, e-mail, and other functionality. From any WiFi hotspot or ubiquitous 3G network, the netbook is perfect for providing convenient access to the Internet from home, work, or school.

Libraries Provide Desktop and Wireless Printing Services for Students and Faculty

2009-05-28T09:26:00.000-04:00

The University Libraries provide students and faculty with access to more than 380 computer workstations, including 18 Mac units. All of the popular productivity software used across campus are accessible at these workstations through a key server. The Libraries also provide access to almost 200 specialized, research-oriented, information e-resources including Academic Search Premier, LexisNexis Academic, Web of Science, as well as access to over 16,701 unique full-text e-journals.

Throughout the Libraries, the public workstations are always busy. One sees students working collaboratively in groups or individually on Word documents, creating PowerPoints, performing literature searches, viewing streaming video, videoconferencing, or performing a host of other coursework or research activities. Students can also be seen writing or reading e-mail and staying in contact with friends and family via instant messenger utilities.

A highly used service that we provide clientele is our printing capabilities. The Libraries have 10 laser printers that print documents from students, faculty, and others using the public workstations or submitting wireless print jobs from their personal laptops.

During the 257 day period from August 25, 2008 to May 8, 2009, which spans a few days more than the fall and spring semesters, the Libraries’ users printed 6,212,041 pages for an average of 24,171 pages per day. Of these, 16,748 persons printed 51.2% of the pages during fall semester 2008 and 16,011 persons printed 48.8% of them during spring semester 2009.

The interested reader can find data for fiscal year 2007-2008 published in The Library Insider 6(8): 2, 2008.

The accompanying table reveals the breakdown by user classification for each semester for persons printing documents in the Libraries. This percentage can be interpreted as the Libraries’ penetration into each user group for providing printing services. For example, during fall semester, 64% of Ball State’s freshmen students printed at least one page in the Libraries. As a whole, during fall semester, 75.5% of Ball State’s undergraduate students used the Libraries to print documents, and 62.8% of the university’s graduate students used the service.

The table also shows the average number of pages printed by user group for each semester. For example, among undergraduates, seniors printed the most pages each semester, 277.7 pages in the fall and 264.5 in the spring.
Analysis of the Type of Documents Printed

An analysis of the types of documents printed, as identified by the VendPrint Print Management Solution software, shows similar results for each semester. For fall semester, for example, the breakdown was as follows: Word (36.4%), PDFs (20.9%), PowerPoint (14.7%), non-BSU Web pages (11.1%), BSU Web pages (2.4%) Photo/Images (1.7%), Excel (1.1%), Publisher (0.5%), Miscellaneous (0.1), and Other (11.1%). The first seven of these categories account for 88.3% of the types of documents.

These data show that making it easy for students and faculty to print their documents in the Libraries is an important part of shaping their informational activities and enhancing their overall library experiences. The volume and types of documents printed suggest that the Libraries’ printing service is an important element for students’ and faculty’s research, teaching, academic achievement, and learning needs.

Outside Furniture Provides Gathering Spaces, Expands Use of Plazas

2009-05-28T09:24:00.000-04:00

Recently, five outdoor tables were added to Bracken Library’s north and south plazas for student and faculty enjoyment. Already this furniture is popular with those who want to catch some sunshine while studying outside, taking a break, or grabbing a bite to eat al fresco.

Ball State University's plazas on the north and south sides of the library offer full wireless connectivity so that students and faculty can access the Libraries’ resources through their laptops or other portable devices. The tables are manufactured using 68% recycled material.

Providing the tables is another step toward making the University Libraries the most inviting, friendly space on campus for research, learning, and friends.

University Libraries’ Sixth Annual Faculty Technology Showcase a Success

2009-05-28T09:21:00.000-04:00

The sixth annual Faculty Technology Showcase featured one-on-one demonstrations of blogs, video, and iClicker at Bracken Library. This annual event, hosted by the Technology Training Support Services unit, is an exciting and popular event for those who want to see how technology is used in the classroom.

The showcase took place from 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, 2009. Bracken Library’s New Books/Bestsellers corner was temporarily transformed into an area for discussions and demonstrations so faculty could share with others the many ways they use technology in the classroom.

The event was well attended and informative. The following faculty provided sessions:

* Dr. Timothy C. Carter, Assistant Professor of Biology, demonstrated the use of iClicker Classroom Response System.

* Drs. Alice A. Spangler and Sue H. Whitaker from the Department of Family & Consumer Sciences, with their research assistant Jamarcus L. Fanning, displayed a Community Outreach project that made use of blogs.

* Dr. Mathew J. Stuve, Associate Professor of Educational Technology, and Julie A. Biddle, an alum of the college, demonstrated the use of video in the student reflective process as a part of their development as educators. In absentia, Megan S. Noel contributed to the poster.

* Dr. Keith Kothman, Associate Professor of Music Composition and Music Technology, demonstrated how blogs are quick and easy tools which help one to stay organized and allow for posting of course materials. He also showed how he uses Ning.com (a do-it-yourself social networking site) for collaborative class projects.

Recent Art Purchase Award Helps to Beautify Bracken Library

2009-05-28T09:19:00.000-04:00

The 74th Annual Student Art Show, held at Ball State University’s Museum of Art, featured student artwork in all media, from painting and sculpture to video and furniture. Each year, a panel of jurors considers hundreds of student works for selection in this show, narrowing the final selection to between 100 and 125. The result is a student exhibition that showcases outstanding talent and quality artwork.

For purchase, the Ball State University Libraries selected New English by artist Michael R. Hurt, a senior from Redkey, Indiana. Originally, Professor Marilyn Derwenskus, Ball State Department of Art, started the painting. Upon her retirement this past year, she gave almost all of her unfinished sketches and paintings to students while encouraging them to reuse the canvas or paint over them, if desired. Michael chose this particular canvas for its composition and mysterious nature.

“I liked how the pillar on the left enclosed the scene while adding a sort of two-dimensional border uncommon to artworks,” he said. “I had sort of an immediate connection to this piece.”

Michael had always enjoyed the graffiti art found on railroad cars and in many urban settings. He was inspired by a graffiti artist named Heist from Toledo, Ohio. Michael commented that he had seen Heist paint whole freight train cars, from top to bottom and from side to side.

New English examines the differences and commonalities between two generations of artists – Marilyn’s generation, which covers periods of Abstract Expressionism, Neo-Expressionism, Pop Art, Op Art with influences from movements of the earlier 1900s, and Michael’s generation of graffiti artists who widely ignore the traditional artistic heritage in exchange for a self-satisfying culture.

“In the future, this style of art may be viewed as the most influential artistic movement in centuries,” he said. “Amidst this huge gap in artistic background, I think the piece holds together well while speaking volumes both conceptually and visually to the passing of the torch to a new set of artists and the remembrance of those who have come before us.”

The Libraries Upgrade E-Journal Access with MultiLink

2009-05-28T09:16:00.000-04:00

In January 2009, the University Libraries embarked on a major project to overhaul how we manage access to online journals. We are now achieving a major milestone with the unveiling of SerialsSolution’s 360 Link software, which we are calling MultiLink.

MultiLink succeeds FindIt@BSU. From a user’s perspective, it works much the same way. Something that the user will notice that is different with MultiLink is a new blue button with some of the citations. Clicking the button produces a menu of links to multiple options for obtaining the citation’s full text.

In many cases, the University Libraries provide direct access to journal articles on the Web. However, when we do not have access, ILLiad provides speedy access via interlibrary loan. As always, there is an option to check the online catalog, CardCat. With MultiLink, we have added some new alternatives, including WorldCat, a global database of library resources, and Google Scholar, which indexes both commercially published and open access scholarly materials.

While the basic operation of MultiLink is not new to the University Libraries, it represents several major improvements in access to online scholarship. For example, we have implemented a 1-Click feature, where a click of the MultiLink button goes straight to a full-text article when one is available. MultiLink, as before with FindIt@BSU, is also accessible with the Citation Linker and an integrated Electronic Journals portal.

Very significant benefits arise from the fact that MultiLink and the Electronic Journals portal are integrated. Both services are driven by the same underlying database – the massive electronic journals database maintained by the Seattle-based SerialsSolutions, Inc. Prior to beginning our relationship with SerialsSolutions, Inc., the Libraries maintained links to electronic journals in three different “silos,” not an efficient arrangement. The single Electronic Resource Management System streamlines maintenance and will dramatically improve accuracy, which should translate to increased user success in finding full text.

Another improvement in electronic resource management will come with an integrated usage statistics component. This component will increase our capacity to make optimal collection and spending decisions.

For more information, contact James W. Hammons, Head of Library Technologies, JHammons@bsu.edu, 765-285-8032.

Bracken Library Voted “Best Place to Study” by Ball State Community

2009-05-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

The Ball State Daily News, a student-run newspaper with a circulation of 14,000, recently asked the campus community to vote for the “best” in several categories. More than 2,000 votes were cast online and at various ballot boxes around campus.

With helpful librarians, outstanding digital and print resources, and hundreds of PC and Mac workstations, it is no wonder Bracken Library was voted Best Place to Study. Bracken Library, located in the heart of campus, is the place to meet friends, study, research, and to finalize projects. Our doors are in constant motion 120.5 hours per week.

The University Libraries’ tagline is “A destination for research, learning, and friends.” These seven words summarize and convey the personality of our brand and its promise. Students know when they visit Bracken they are at a place where they can accomplish their work and achieve what they set out to do.

Ball State University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections Now Providing Reference Services in Second Life

2009-05-26T09:34:00.000-04:00

Ball State University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections now offer reference hours in Second Life, a free online virtual world.

Archivists Maren Read, a.k.a. Em Ziplon, and Carolyn Runyon, a.k.a. Carolyn Robonaught, are available to answer questions on Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon and Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. A “drop box” is also available at the reference desk to leave questions and comments about the University Libraries and the Middletown Studies Library and Archives 24/7.

This new service has been made possible, in part, through an Innovative Library Program Grant for 2008-09 to the University Libraries as part of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), funding for which was appropriated by the U.S. Congress in 1996 and administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Indiana State Library.

In collaboration with Ball State’s Center for Middletown Studies and the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts and Animation (IDIAA), the University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections has been working this past year to develop the virtual Bracken Library and the virtual Middletown Studies Library and Archives on the Ball State University Island in Second Life.

When the project is complete in June 2009, students, faculty, and researchers will be able to chat with archivists, explore an exhibit on the history of Muncie as Middletown, watch films such as The Man Haters (35 mm silent movie filmed in Muncie in 1915) in the library screening room, and gather for classes and meetings “inworld.”

For more information, contact Maren L. Read, Archivist for Manuscript Collections, or Carolyn Runyon, Archivist for Digital Development and University Records, LibArchives@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.

Scott McFadden Reaches Quarterfinals in Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest

2009-05-26T09:31:00.002-04:00

Scott McFadden, Head of Serials Cataloging at Ball State University Libraries, was named a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. An excerpt of his unpublished novel, The Lover’s Tree, is available for free download from the Amazon.com Web site.

View http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG39JW to be linked directly to the download page for McFadden’s excerpt. Readers are also able to post reviews of the excerpt on the Amazon site.

The contest, which culminates with the awarding of a $25,000 book contract from Penguin Group to the winning entry, is sponsored by Amazon.com in partnership with Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace. The entry period lasted for a week, or until 10,000 entries were received, whichever came first.

Entries consisted of a pitch, an excerpt of 3,000 to 5,000 words, and the complete manuscript of an original novel, as well as author biographical information.

As a quarterfinalist, Scott was one of 500 entrants to advance to this point in the contest. His pitch was judged by a panel of Amazon editors, and his excerpt was evaluated by a number of expert reviewers. Now the excerpt is available for download, and may be reviewed by any interested reader. Editors from Publishers Weekly will be reading the applicants’ full manuscript during this period.

The semi-finals were announced on April 15 and reduced the number of entrants to 100. Three finalists were announced on May 15. The finalists’ complete novels will be reviewed by a panel of judges which includes Sue Grafton, the well-known mystery writer, and Sue Monk Kidd, author of the best-selling novel The Secret Life of Bees. Amazon.com readers will also be able to vote for the winner from among the three finalists. All three finalists will be flown to Seattle, Washington to take part in an awards dinner and to hear the announcement of the winner.

Scott has been writing short stories and novels since he was a teenager. The Lover’s Tree, an urban fantasy that tells the story of a strong-willed newspaper reporter and her investigation of a series of mysterious deaths at an idyllic lakeside resort, is his second completed novel.

Profile: The University Libraries’ Metadata and Digital Initiatives Unit

2009-05-26T09:23:00.003-04:00

Ball State University Libraries offer an ever-expanding virtual collection for research and learning. In essence, today’s library increasingly comes into the consumer’s living and work space, making the library a virtual mobile resource – mobile and ubiquitous – or mobiquitous.

This mobiquitous environment is possible, in part, because of the tags that are embedded in digital content so that people can find the items easily online. Contributing to the anytime/anywhere access to data is a group of University Libraries employees who work behind the scenes. Over the past four years, the Metadata and Digital Initiatives (MADI) unit has expanded to six full-time employees, eight to ten student workers, and occasional grant-supported part-time contract personnel. The growth of this unit is because of the demand for digital assets.

James Bradley is head of Metadata & Digital Initiatives. He also serves as a liaison to Ball State’s academic departments and frequently collaborates with on-campus partners to bring classroom materials to the Web. Such projects enhance student learning by increasing accessibility and interactivity of educational media.

For example, a current project between the Department of Art and the University Libraries will allow students to view online specific art history images that coincide with their course needs and textbook illustrations. Other collaborative efforts in progress are with the Ball State Museum of Art, the Center for Media Design, and the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts and Animation.

Jim and other MADI librarians, Jonathan Brinley and Amanda Hurford, apply digital standards and metadata sets which are used to create a digital collection that now contains more than 120,000 objects. They supervise the many processes through which digital assets must pass before they are added to online collections in a searchable format. Jim, Jonathan, and Amanda often give presentations and workshops to local, regional, and national groups. Their topics are often based on a variety of ongoing projects or problems they have encountered in working with digital assets.

MADI personnel digitize physical objects using various photographic and scanning technology. They describe and catalog the digital artifacts consistent with metadata Some items have never before been cataloged, so MADI and Cataloging and Metadata Services personnel collaborate in these instances to create new metadata records. Other items already have records in the Libraries’ catalog or in various other systems. These records often have to be cross-walked using a combination of custom programming and manual intervention, transforming the data into a new format for the Digital Media Repository.

Paraprofessionals Melanie Davis and Ken Fadely engage in digital processing – transforming traditional library materials into a digital form. Along with several student workers in their area, they digitize a variety of formats in large quantities. From text-based materials, to large-scale maps, to photographs and transparencies, MADI has the equipment and the expertise to convert them to digital formats.

Tony Reynolds, Digital Media Description Analyst, also participates in digitization in varying forms. He assists with scanning and photography for grant-based projects and other special or fragile materials. He often participates in metadata repurposing of catalog data and asset description, as well as optical character recognition (OCR) of text-based materials. OCR can turn a static image of a page into a searchable document suited for Web display.

Jim reports that the challenge in information technology, specifically with regard to digital access, is the issue of storing items in our system today and predicting what manner of storage will allow the items to be shared in other environments tomorrow.

“We are putting our digital assets into what might be thought of as containers, and we have to be sure that those containers are flexible enough to serve a wide variety of user needs,” Jim said.

Libraries’ Support a Teaching, Learning, and Research Environment

2009-03-17T14:18:00.002-04:00

Our librarians and paraprofessional personnel are committed to providing consistently gracious service to our students and faculty through our Roll Out the Red personal commitments of great care and through the Libraries’ many programs, services, and rich collections that are a strategic part of each student’s academic achievement and success plan.

Bracken Library supports immersive learning by being open Sunday nights through Thursday nights until 3 a.m. On Fridays, we open at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. with Saturday hours from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Altogether, we provide 120.5 hours per week, which ranks us high among all U.S. libraries that support late hours.

Housed in modern and spacious facilities, our libraries provide students with access to rich resource collections of print and digital resources and assets. Our librarians help students with research projects and they also help find resources not owned by Ball State that are necessary for research, including obtaining print and digital items through interlibrary loan services.

Bracken Library offers public access to over 460 PC workstations and 20 Macs. These computers provide students and faculty with access to all of the common software used in courses across campus. Large format scanners are available at various locations for free use.

Bracken offers students a variety of spaces for collaborative group projects and individual study. The facility is wireless throughout. There are group study rooms that accommodate from 4 to 18 persons, videoconferencing rooms that support classroom instruction, and the Bookmark Café providing access to sandwiches, coffees, teas, and other beverages.

Laptops and other technologies are available for checkout. High volume laser printers offer free printing for students and faculty. All public workstations provide USB and audio cables at the desktop for alternative printing, storage, retrieval, as well as for listening to audio files and viewing video formats.

I personally invite students and faculty to check out the University Libraries as a destination for research, learning, and friends. The Libraries offer students and faculty access to personnel for research assistance, collections for discovery and exploration of ideas, and technology for learning, classroom assignment enhancements, and experimentation.

Videos of First Division Veterans Now Accessible

2009-03-17T14:16:00.002-04:00

Students, faculty, and other researchers worldwide now have 24/7 access to videotaped interviews with veterans of the United States Army’s First Infantry Division, commonly known as the “Big Red One.” Forty high definition videos, along with transcripts, comprise the Cantigny First Division Oral Histories Collection in the Ball State University Digital Media Repository,
http://libx.bsu.edu, a project of the University Libraries.

The interviews were conducted by Ball State history students Chris Reidy, Steven Brown, and Rachel (Fulton) Coleman under the supervision of history professors Dr. Michael W. Doyle and Dr. David Ulbrich (now at Ohio University) as part of a project funded by the Chicago-based McCormick Foundation with administrative support from the staff of the First Division Museum. The goal of the project was to preserve the memories of First Division soldiers who have served around the globe since World War II. The interviews focus on veterans currently residing in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.

The University Teleplex Services videotaped the interviews and digitized them. Ball State University Libraries’ personnel transcribed the interviews so that they can be read and viewed simultaneously.

According to Professor Doyle in a press release about the project, “Even the youngest veterans who saw action in Operation Desert Storm are now approaching their 40s. We do not want to let these soldiers’ stories go unrecorded.”

He said that the Cantigny First Division Oral History Project was intended to do for newer generations what Ken Burns did for the World War II veterans.

You can learn more about the grant project by viewing the Conversations Across Generations: The Cantigny First Division Oral History Project video by Chris Reidy available on the collection splash page in the Digital Media Repository.

National Road Program to be Presented at Library Friends Annual Dinner

2009-03-17T14:15:00.002-04:00

Movers and Stakers: Stories Along the Indiana National Road will be the topic of the E. Bruce Kirkham Lecture given by Nancy B. Carlson, Associate Professor of Telecommunications, at the annual dinner of the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library, April 1, 2009. Mrs. Carlson will talk about and show clips from her upcoming documentary on the National Road, U.S. 40, in Indiana.

The Library Friends annual dinner will be held in the Ball State Alumni Center. A reception begins at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m., and then a brief business meeting followed by the Kirkham Lecture.

For more information on the dinner or joining the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library, contact John B. Straw, executive secretary of the Friends and Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.

Archetype: Future Designers Inspired by the Past on Exhibit in Bracken Library

2009-03-17T14:13:00.000-04:00

Starting April 6 through June 15, 2009, students and faculty, along with Muncie community members and visitors, are invited to view the University Libraries' exhibit which will showcase student artwork inspired by pop culture and the expressive graphic style of the '60s.

The exhibit titled Archetype: Future Designers Inspired by the Past will be on display in Bracken Library on the second floor area of Archives and Special Collections. This exhibit is in collaboration with Associate Professors Christine Satory and Sam Minor, Department of Art, and junior visual communication majors.

The exhibition is meant to allow students to display their artwork to inform and educate. Items to be featured from the Archives and Special Collections will be student publications, poetry, highlights from Robert Kennedy’s 1968 Muncie visit, and graphic design from the '60s.

Finale® Music Notation Software Added on Selected Music Collection Computers

2009-03-17T14:12:00.000-04:00

Four Windows-based and three Mac Pro computers now provide students and faculty with access to Finale® music notation software which allows them to compose, arrange, and notate their music.

Dr. Eleanor F. Trawick, Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Music Theory and Composition, said that students use Finale® to edit and hear a computer-generated playback of their music, a feature that helps them to make adjustments to their work. They can also print engraver-quality sheet music.

“Having Finale® available in the library will be extremely helpful for students” said Professor Trawick.

Several midi interface keyboards with high-quality headphones are available for checkout at the Music Collection counter. Staff are available to help students, faculty, and staff who wish to use the program.

For more information, contact Amy L. Edmonds, Ball State University’s Music Librarian, ALEdmonds@bsu.edu,
765-285-5065.

University Libraries Initiate an Events Calendar by Applying Google Apps Calendar and HTML

2009-03-17T14:10:00.001-04:00

To improve customer service and user experiences, the University Libraries recently introduced a Web-based events calendar for activities in Bracken Library.

The events calendar makes it easier for students, faculty, and visitors to find a meeting, locate an event, or learn what is happening in Bracken Library.

To develop the events calendar, we applied the powerful Google Apps Calendar program and some Web development experience. Our new directional application was online in less than 48 hours, and it already has proven to be successful. View it at www.bsu.edu/libraries/events

Ball State’s Music Librarian Presents Poster Session about Interlibrary Loan of Music CDs

2009-03-17T14:09:00.002-04:00

This past February 15-21, 2009, over 500 music librarians and exhibitors from around the world attended the 78th Annual Music Library Association Conference in Chicago. Ball State’s music librarian, Amy L. Edmonds presented a poster session with examples of the secure packaging used by Ball State’s Interlibrary Loan Services’ personnel to protect music CDs in transit when sharing them with other libraries.

The University Libraries began lending music CDs in July, 2007. Since that time, we have not had any breakage during transit despite the fragile nature of CDs and their jewel cases. This potential breakage is one of the reasons often given by many libraries for not lending CDs.

Many persons who saw Amy’s poster session commented that they were considering loaning their CDs and that this exhibit, Amy’s data, and actually viewing the packing materials, were helpful to them in considering their decision.

Amy studied the approximate 18-month period between late May 2007 and mid-November, 2008 during which time Amy determined that the University Libraries had loaned 380 music CDs to other libraries and borrowed 2,071 music CDs for use by Ball State students and faculty.

Other facts that Music Library Association conference attendees found interesting included:

- Only about 3% of libraries around the country lend CDs.
- Classical music was the most frequently borrowed category of music from Ball State, followed by popular music from before 1990.
- The protective cases we use cost $1.44 each and are reusable.
- We own about 15,900 CDs.
- In the past two years, only one CD booklet has been lost by an interlibrary loan borrower and no CDs have been returned damaged.

Web. 2.0: My Library @ BSU

2009-03-17T14:06:00.001-04:00

Ball State University Libraries are a great place for conducting research, working on assignments and papers, or finding a quiet place to study. The Libraries offer a vast array of top-quality resources to support student research in all subject areas. In today’s user-customizable, Web 2.0 environment, students need library resources to be organized around their needs for gathering information based on their classes. The University Libraries now offer an online tool that allows them to accomplish just that: My Library @ BSU.

My Library @ BSU is a customizable library Web portal page for students, inspired by iGoogle and MyYahoo. It is designed to create a one-stop shop for students who are seeking resources tailored to the courses they are taking.

When users first log on to the My Library @ BSU,
http://libix.bsu.edu/mylibrary, they are invited to select three subject areas that match the courses they are currently taking. Once selected, My Library creates a personalized library Web portal page with tabs for each subject, plus a customizable “My Stuff” tab.

Each subject tab contains a short list of links to specialized information resources, such as subscription databases and other e-resources in a given area. The “My Stuff” tab is customizable, allowing users to add links to other electronic resources such as RSS feeds (news feeds, blogs, etc.), library quick-search modules, and widgets of all kinds from sites such as Widgetbox, www.widgetbox.com. Future modules may include subject-relevant RSS feeds, summary of the user’s library account, and an “assignment calculator.” Tabs can be added and deleted as needed.

This release is a “beta” version of My Library, and we are seeking feedback on the usefulness of this tool. Students and faculty with a valid Ball State user ID and password are invited to create their own My Library @ BSU page, peruse the site, then send us feedback via the BSU Libraries Web Lab, www.bsu.edu/libraries/weblab/index.htm#mylibrary. A demo login will soon be available for those outside BSU who are interested.

For more information, contact Roy “Todd” Vandenbark, University Libraries’ Part-time Temporary Special Project Developer, RTVandenbark@bsu.edu, 765-285-8032.

Simultaneous Searching of Multiple Databases with the Libraries’ New MultiSearch Tool

2009-02-24T11:21:00.001-05:00

Since early January, students and faculty have had a powerful new tool available to them for conducting their research and learning with the introduction of MultiSearch. This software, developed by SerialsSolutions, Inc., allows for the simultaneous multiple searching of up to 50 specialized information resources, such as Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, the Web of Science, and the Libraries’ online CardCat.

Subject specific databases like America: History and Life and PsycINFO are also included.

“It’s one of the most significant improvements in providing access to information that this library has made recently,” said James W. Hammons, University Libraries’ Head of Library Technologies.

MultiSearch allows students and faculty to search databases produced by different vendors with one single search interface so that they no longer need to search each database individually. The product also allows users to access full-text articles and citations in a variety of disciplines with one search.

A significant feature of MultiSearch is that users can access it from remote locations such as residence halls, laboratories, classrooms, or off-campus.

MultiSearch is rapidly becoming popular with students and faculty. The University Libraries Instructional Services have offered a number of workshops to introduce MultiSearch. Students and faculty are impressed with the new resource.