University Libraries’ Instructional Services Program Reaches Across Ball State Campus with Research Strategies and Tools

During February 2010, the University Libraries’ Information Services librarians conducted 129 instructional sessions that reached 2,377 students. These sessions are presented in academic partnership with classroom faculty. Librarians discuss the faculty member’s instructional objectives and then prepare a presentation specifically tailored to the assignment.

Of these 129 sessions, 69 were provided for core composition classes, and 48 were presented to undergraduate and graduate classes in a variety of academic disciplines. The remaining sessions were presentations to visiting high school groups and workshops on topics like thesis research, EndNote application usage, career research, and advanced Google usage.

Librarians teach students how to access peer-reviewed articles through subscription databases that access thousands of journal and magazine subscriptions not available freely on the Web. They also explain how to explore topics using library resources, find background information, track down statistical data, evaluate what one finds on the Web, and effectively use the right research tool for the task at hand. Frequently, instructors will inform the librarians, at the conclusion of the presentation, that they, too, learned something new. The focus of this instruction is to expand the student’s knowledge well beyond Google.

Library instruction also consists of hands-on time. After the librarian’s presentation, students have the chance to work on the topics for their research assignments while the librarian remains available in the room to answer questions and help guide individualized research endeavors.

University Libraries Professional Personnel to be Recognized for Years of Service

Ball State University will host a formal luncheon on April 7, 2010, at the L. A. Pittenger Student Center to recognize and thank faculty and professional personnel for their years of service.

Several of the honorees are from the University Libraries. We happily recognize them for the professionalism, experience, and service they have provided to the Libraries and our academic community.

Rebecca S. Sheffeld, 35 years. Rebecca, “Becky,” first began working for Ball State as a student assistant in the “old library,” currently North Quad, while earning her Ball State degree in Elementary Education. Following graduation, she began full-time at the library in 1974, taking the position of Periodicals Receiving Clerk. Subsequently, Becky held a number of classified staff positions, including Technical Cataloging Assistant and Reference Services Supervisor, receiving a 1988 Meritorious Service Award in recognition of her expertise and strong customer service commitment. In 1992, Becky earned a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University – Bloomington and joined the professional ranks at the University Libraries as Library Instruction Librarian, then Assistant Acquisitions Librarian, and currently Head of Acquisitions Services, the position that she has held since 1999.

Brenda Yates Habich, 15 years. Brenda joined Ball State as an Assistant to the Directors of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in the English Department. After earning a Master’s Degree in Library Science, she joined University Libraries in 2003 as an Information Services Librarian. Brenda is frequently in demand for library instruction classes and research consultations because of her excellent teaching skills and friendly demeanor.

Kirk M. VanOoteghem, 15 years. Kirk is the University Libraries’ Lead Microcomputer/Systems/Network Analyst. He has been involved in the management, support, and configuration of public and staff workstations in the libraries since 1998. Kirk has also worked in the Educational Resources Collections and Support Services areas in the University Libraries. Kirk holds two degrees from Ball State University, is a member of Phi Kappa Phi (ΦΚΦ), and is a Certified Training Consultant. ◙

Study of University Libraries’ Computer Workstation Utilization Shows Location and Area Ambience as Key Factors

Throughout the University Libraries, the computer workstations are always busy. Wherever you look, no matter what floor you are on, students are working individually or cooperatively in small and large groups on their scholarly pursuits and class projects that include creating documents and presentations, performing literature searches, checking assignment updates on Blackboard, viewing streaming video, engaging in videoconferencing, or performing a host of other educative activities. Students can also be seen staying in contact with friends and family via e-mail or instant messenger utilities and even participating in educational simulations and gaming.

This prompted me to wonder, “During an average session on one of the Libraries’ workstations, how much time do our students spend?”

In order to determine the answer to this question, James W. Hammons, Head of Library Technologies, analyzed data collected automatically by the Libraries from our 368 computer workstations. He selected the 54-day period of Monday, January 11 through Friday, March 5, 2010. In all, he analyzed 143,557 computer sessions for this period using statistical software such as SPSS and Excel.

Jim’s objective was to determine the median time that students spent at a workstation in Bracken Library and at the two branch libraries, the Architecture Library and the Science-Health Science Library. Additionally, by analyzing data by any given area within the University Libraries, he wanted to determine if students spent different amounts of time depending upon the location of where they chose to study.

The median was selected as the average measure since outliers at the extremes of the data do not influence it. That is, a very large value or small value cannot overly influence the median unlike it can the mean. Jim’s findings proved to be informative.

Analysis of the Median Time Spent at Workstations by Area
The accompanying bar graph and table (page 3) depict the breakdown by floor or area within the University Libraries. Overall, the median time spent by students using any of the Libraries’ 368 computer workstations was 22.1 minutes.

• Bracken’s Quiet Zone fourth floor (41 workstations available) — Students spent the longest median time here, 50.7 minutes.
• Bracken’s third floor (71 workstations) — Students working in small groups tend to be attracted to this area. The median time spent was 47.6 minutes.
• Bracken’s first floor east side (39 workstations) — In this relatively quiet area, the median time spent was 40.7 minutes.
• Bracken’s first floor west (105 workstations) — Often referred to as the Reference Learning Center because of its proximity to the Reference Desk, this area is the most visible to Bracken’s visitors and hosts most of the public printers. The median time was 18.8 minutes.
• Science-Health Science Library (11 workstations) — Median session time was 20.1 minutes.
• Architecture Library (14 workstations) — Median session time was 11.8 minutes.



Conclusion
These data show that ambience influenced by location is a prime factor in how students select computer workstations for use in the University Libraries. When students are working on activities that require
in-depth study, extended research, writing, and intricate computational analyses, among other tasks, they choose Bracken’s fourth floor Quiet Zone or some other generally quiet areas like first floor east, with its refined, artful decor. If they are working collaboratively, the third-floor cluster of workstations is a popular choice due to its projection as a collective study space.

The branch libraries and Bracken’s Reference area have proven to be highly functional places. Students stop in before or between classes to make final adjustments to assignments, printing papers or class notes, checking Blackboard or e-mail, posting remarks to Facebook, scanning drawings for projects, or reviewing course reserves, to name a few of the many endeavors that are being pursued.

For all of these activities, the University Libraries provide a setting to accommodate student’s needs by making it easy to access computer workstations and course-oriented software. The median time students spent at the workstations more than suggest that the workstations are an integral element for our student’s research, learning, and scholarly achievement.

We invite members of the academic community to visit the University Libraries often for their research and learning needs. ◙

Cardinal Scholar Repository: Opening Ball State Scholarship to the World

Open access (OA) publishing is an emergent model of scholarly communication, which promotes the free, online availability of information. In February 2007, the University Libraries launched Cardinal Scholar (www.bsu.edu/cardinalscholar), Ball State’s institutional repository, establishing an OA digital archive for the deposit of intellectual capital developed at Ball State University and made available to a worldwide, Internet audience.

While Cardinal Scholar has experienced steady content growth, the adoption of an institution-wide Open Access Mandate could serve as a major catalyst in the expansion of the repository’s potential to be an integral element of the University’s research publishing distribution strategy and increase the reach and impact of the university’s scholarly product.

Open Access initiatives primarily respond to the growing scholarly communications crisis created by static resource budgets and exorbitant price increases imposed by journal publishers. Open Access mandates are a logical correlative of the OA journal model and have been implemented at several leading research universities including Stanford, Kansas, MIT, and Harvard. The implementation of an OA policy at Ball State University would offer our researchers a vehicle for increasing the discoverability and exposure of their publications through the Cardinal Scholar portal.

OA mandates do not impact an author’s ability to publish where s/he chooses, and the author retains all rights to his or her work. The OA policy serves as a pre-existing institutional license to make the article available to a worldwide audience and does not conflict with a publisher’s copyright requirements, protecting both the institution and the author from liability. Extant OA policies also include “opt out” provisions for faculty who may encounter extenuating requirements by a publisher.

Currently, discussions about a BSU Open Access mandate are occurring in appropriate University Senate committees. With the guidance of university administration and faculty stakeholders, the establishment of an OA policy at Ball State, coupled with the robust infrastructural capacity of Cardinal Scholar, represents an unprecedented opportunity for Ball State University to share the valuable intellectual capital of our distinguished faculty researchers, promoting scholarly exchange, collective innovation, and dynamic knowledge synthesis.

Through the aggregation and branding of our outstanding institutional contributions in scholarship and creative work through Cardinal Scholar, an Open Access mandate allows us to demonstrate and emphasize our distinctive and immersive model for teaching, learning, and collaboration, reaching well beyond the brick-and-mortar boundaries of our campus or the borders of our location to maximize the broader impact and inestimable potential and influence of Ball State University well into the future.

My Favorites Feature in CONTENTdm: Providing Students and Faculty with More Digital Library Power for Research and Study

The Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository (DMR) system includes more than 200,000 digital assets across 89 collections. These digital resources, each of which has a research and teaching focus, can be searched, read, played, and captured for class presentations, lectures and other research endeavors. The My Favorites module in the CONTENTdm system includes a variety of useful tools for repurposing these digital assets for academic use.

The My Favorites link can be found on the Global Menu bar in the DMR, http://libx.bsu.edu. At this site, users are presented with the My Favorites page, which includes controls in the left column and any objects marked for inclusion in My Favorites on the right. Of course, users must select digital assets as they search or browse the DMR with the “add to favorites” option to populate My Favorites. CONTENTdm allows up to 100 digital objects to be saved in My Favorites.

The BSU PowerPoint Generator is the last option in the My Favorites left column. This powerful tool was developed by library personnel for use with the CONTENTdm system. The BSU PowerPoint Generator creates presentation files with images and metadata that can be used on Windows and Mac OS X systems. The Library Insider highlighted this timesaving tool in an article in the October 2009 issue, page 11, a link to which is available on the University Libraries’ homepage.

The first four options in the My Favorites left column are viewing and sorting features for digital objects:

Slideshow viewer – Create a display of digital image files saved in My Favorites for viewing in a new window with slideshow controls. Available within every installation of CONTENTdm.

Compare feature – Select two objects in My Favorites for a side-by-side comparison in a new window. From the new window, choose another digital image to compare.

Remove item – Easily remove items from My Favorites by selecting the object number and clicking the remove button. An “are you sure” prompt is presented before the object is removed from My Favorites.

Move item – Sort or rearrange items in My Favorites using their object numbers.

The fifth option in the left column, “Save as a Web page,” provides the opportunity to create a new Web page with links to objects in My Favorites. Click the “Create” button to build a custom HTML-formatted Web page that can be loaded into Blackboard or linked on a Web site for use by students or colleagues. The objects on the saved page are clickable, leading the viewer back to the record for the object in the DMR. The filename under which the file is saved will be used to create a title presented at the top of the page.

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

University Libraries Utilize Facebook: Promoting Programs, Collections, and Services

The University Libraries have recently revised their strategy for utilizing Facebook. Previously, Libraries staff updated the account periodically with photos and selected articles from the Library Insider, which were posted as photos. Beginning in December 2009, the Libraries began to keep the account more current and stepped up active promotion of the account in order to reach students, faculty, and other University Libraries fans.

The Ball State University Libraries’ Facebook account is ballstatelibraries. Anyone interested in following the Libraries can go to www.facebook.com/ballstatelibraries instead of having to search within Facebook.

Katie M. Bohnert, Marketing and Communications Manager, took on the task of regularly posting fresh and timely content to the Libraries’ Facebook account. New items and services, current and upcoming exhibits, workshops and instructional sessions have all been highlighted on the Libraries’ Facebook account. There are also reminders and links to timely services, such as reserving study rooms, checking print balances online, and employing wireless printing services. Katie also began posting selected Library Insider newsletter articles as notes instead of images, which makes the text searchable and more likely to be indexed by search engines such as Google.

Facebook also proved to be a valuable tool for communicating with students and faculty in December 2009, when the University’s Web site experienced a brief campus-wide interruption. The Libraries were able to share with our Facebook fans the direct links to unaffected resources, such as CardCat, Articles and Databases, E-Journals, and the Digital Media Repository. When service was restored, another posting alerted fans that the problem had been resolved and thanked them for their patience.

Future possibilities for the ballstatelibraries Facebook account include promotion of musical and theatrical previews in Bracken Library, taking advantage of the photo and video sharing capabilities native to Facebook, and using the Facebook Markup Language (FBML) to provide a way to search the online catalog, CardCat, as well as Articles and Databases from within Facebook, which would be especially helpful for those using mobile devices.

If you are a Facebook user and would like to be a fan of the University Libraries, join us at www.facebook.com/ballstatelibraries.

University Libraries Provide a New Look for e-Journal Access in the Online Catalog

Users seeking electronic journals through the University Libraries’ online catalog, CardCat, have undoubtedly noticed a change in the way their search results are presented. Formerly, it was common practice to find a record on which multiple formats, print and electronic, were consolidated. Current searchers will discover separate entries for multiple formats, with e-journals now having a record of their own. These records are often identified by the presence of the word “Online” in parentheses following the title.

An even more significant improvement is within the bibliographic record itself. Now each record for an e-journal contains a single, convenient link to the University Libraries’ familiar MultiLink interface. MultiLink searches the Libraries’
e-collections for available full-text and will display multiple options for full-text access when available. Rather than seeing a list of various electronic links, users can now click one easily identified link to take advantage of the complete range of electronic full-text options offered by the University Libraries.

This results from the University Libraries’ relationship with SerialsSolutions, Inc., a Seattle-based e-resource access and management service provider. SerialsSolutions provides the University Libraries with the MultiLink and MultiSearch services. Bibliographic records in CardCat have been integrated into these services. From a user perspective, this results in a unified presentation of e-journal information. Whether users are searching for e-journals through CardCat, Citation Linker, the e-journals list, or MultiSearch, the results are displayed in the same way.

As a result of this integration, there are significant benefits to both users and librarians. All of the University Libraries’ e-journal services are now driven by the same underlying database that is maintained by SerialsSolutions, Inc. Rather than maintaining a separate database of electronic access points within CardCat, serials cataloging personnel can now perform all necessary maintenance within the SerialsSolutions database itself. This kind of “one-stop shopping” dramatically increases the efficiency of e-journal management and should greatly improve users’ success in obtaining electronic full-text.

Significant Gift to the Libraries Supports Classical Guitarists

Ball State students studying classical guitar now have greatly expanded access to repertoire due to a generous gift by Dr. Peter A. McAllister.

Dr. McAllister, formerly Director of the School of Music in the College of Fine Arts, was a virtuoso guitarist before he moved into music education and administration. He gave concerts in both the U.S. and Europe, always to high acclaim, and premiered over 30 classical guitar compositions. He recorded professionally on Carleton Records and with Donald Wilson as a duo-guitarist on the Fanfare label.

The gift is Dr. McAllister’s private library of guitar music. Numbering nearly 400 items, it is mainly pieces for guitar solo, with some guitar duets and a sprinkling of technical exercises. The collection contains the works of the acknowledged Spanish and Italian masters of the guitar and also composers from all over Europe and the western hemisphere – a virtual who’s who of guitar composers. The collection is also rich in transcriptions for modern six-string guitar of pieces originally for similar earlier instruments: lute, the five-course baroque guitar, and the Spanish vihuela. Harpsichord music, especially that of J.S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, transfers well to guitar, and these types of pieces appear in the collection as well.

Once the gift arrived, the next step was to make it available. All 400 pieces were cataloged, folded into the regular work of two music catalogers. Since the pieces are typically only a few pages long, each was then protected by a slim, rigid binder and labeled. As Dr. McAllister intended, his library has now joined the Libraries’ Music Collection on the lower level of Bracken Library, for use by guitar majors and all interested in classical guitar.

“The legacy of music that Dr. McAllister so wonderfully donated to Ball State is quite extensive,” said Paul Reilly, professor of guitar. “A good deal of the music is material that has gone out-of-print and is therefore difficult to obtain. I will use this gift to the benefit of the Ball State guitar students as soon as possible.”

Expanded GIS Services Available at the University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection

Students, faculty, and staff visiting the University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library, will find the space has been rearranged and transformed. Many important changes allow the facility to provide more access to GIS resources for the entire Ball State community, positioning the GRMC to meet campus needs for increased GIS-enabled research and instructional space.

The University Libraries have increased the amount of space devoted to the GIS research area. There is now nearly 1,200 square feet equipped with 28 high-end Lenovo ThinkCentre computers with dual 22” widescreen monitors. The units provide students and faculty with access to the type of software required for any GIS or mapping project, including the following:

• Adobe Design Premium CS3
• Autodesk AutoCAD 2009
• ERDAS Imagine 9.3 and
• ESRI ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1
• ESRI ArcPad 8.0
• Google Earth
• Google SketchUp
• Intergraph GeoMedia 6.1.6
• Rhino 4.0

Two LG 55” widescreen LED monitors and an ELMO projector are connected to an instructor station, facilitating the use of the equipment for workshops and classes. GRMC staff plan to offer workshops and tutorials and to facilitate instructional sessions in the space.

Ball State faculty and students who require GIS and other related geospatial software for instructional purposes can reserve the area. The space is also available for use by students and faculty for group and individual learning. A certified GIS staff member is available to answer questions and help users with their projects.

GIS-enabled computers are also available throughout Bracken Library since the software is deployed on more than 140 public workstations throughout the building. Visit the University Libraries’ Software Locator Web site to find these public access stations: www.bsu.edu/libraries/swsearch/swsearch.

The GRMC also provides users with access to a broad collection of over 145,000 print maps.

The GRMC provides members of the campus community with access to wide-format plotting and lamination services, both of which are offered at a modest cost.

For more information or to reserve the GIS Research Area for group projects, contact Angela Gibson, University Libraries’ GIS Specialist, ASGibson2@bsu.edu, 765-285-1097.

Ball State’s Digital Media Repository Receives New Public Interface:

The Ball State Digital Media Repository (http://libx.bsu.edu), a project of the University Libraries, now has a new look. Students, faculty, and other researchers who use this online repository, which currently consists of 89 collections and almost 200,000 digital assets, will find many improvements, ranging from a new design to enhanced searching capabilities.

Some of the highlights to the new public interface for the DMR include these:

• Faceted and improved collection search options
• Improved navigation and browsing
• Implementation of Web 2.0 social networking tools
• An interactive media viewer on the homepage

One highly visible change is the use of cooliris media viewer to allow researchers new to the DMR to browse selected resources in an interactive environment. AddThis, a social bookmarking tool, lets users easily share DMR content on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Users will be able to search content by subject, location, format, contributor, and individual collections directly from the browse pages in the new interface.

A DMR Public Interface working group has been evaluating and designing the new look since September 2009. The working group consists of Eric B. Fisher, Information Services Librarian; Amanda A. Hurford (co-chair), Digital Initiatives Multimedia Developer; Carolyn F. Runyon (co-chair), Archivist for Digital Development and University Records; Amy E. Trendler, Architecture Librarian; and Budi Wibowo, Head of Digital Libraries and Web Services.

The working group conducted user surveys, analyzed use statistics, and surveyed other repositories to identify and select effective ways to enhance the usability of the DMR through the public interface. The new interface will provide better ways for students and faculty to select and utilize the rich digital resources available in the DMR for teaching, learning, and research.

Watch for an article with more descriptive details about the new interface in next month’s newsletter. And visit the new and improved DMR soon.

Bracken Library Will Host Marathon Screening of Ken Burns’ The War

Bracken Library will host a two-day marathon showing of The War, a film by Ken Burns, on January 30-31, 2010, as part of the Muncie Public Library/Ball State Public History Program’s upcoming speakers series, “America and the World in the 1940s.” The film is fifteen hours long and was six years in the making.

Dr. Michael Doyle is the Academic Advisor for Adult Programming at Muncie Public Library. After making the decision to show the film to the public, he began looking for a place that had high student traffic, was conveniently accessible for Muncie community members, and comfortable for viewing such a long presentation. Bracken Library’s room 104 was the perfect choice. Dr. Doyle said, “I am always looking to foster more town and gown relationships for Ball State.”

With Bracken Library being so well-known by both students and community members, Doyle imagines that many people will find it convenient to slip in and slip out, as desired.

“World War II is a perennial subject of fascination,” says Dr. Doyle, since it touched everyone’s lives, whether soldiering in the European or Pacific Theaters or staying on the home front growing victory gardens, working in assembly plants, or watching loved ones go off to war. Doyle notes that through the years, many veterans of the war have not been talkative about their experiences in the war, which “enhances its mystique” for so many family members of all ages, from college students on up.

Dr. Doyle says that the Ken Burns film is the first in our generation to interweave the European, Pacific, and home front activities, rather than treat them separately. It “gives a sense of what it was like to be alive in the 1940s, when you did not know what would happen from one day to the next.” The film also pays special attention to the affect of the war on and the involvement of African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

When The War originally aired on PBS in September 2007, many local PBS stations were given the opportunity to develop related
programming. For WIPB, Ball State personnel directed and produced the Telly-winning Echoes of War, a live 60-minute interactive educational program (www.bsu.edu/wipb/echoesofwar/about.asp), which Ken Burns introduced and closed. Because of Burns’ involvement in 2007, he personally made the decision that his production company, Florentine Films, would waive the usual public screening fee for this upcoming 2010 showing of The War at Bracken Library.

The marathon screening of Ken Burns’ The War will take place in Bracken Library’s room 104 over the weekend of January 30-31, 2010, from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. both days. The War was directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

Libraries’ Circulation Notices Sent to Students and Faculty by e-Mail Only

In an important time- and cost-savings initiative, the University Libraries are now using e-mail as the primary means of communicating with students, faculty, and staff about circulation services. This initiative was implemented by using the SirsiDynix API and built-in reporting features of the Symphony integrated library management system.

Dr. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, said, “This action will eliminate about 90% of the average daily volume of mailed notices. And it will reduce paper, printer supplies, postage costs, and personnel time required to produce and process the notices.”

For many years, the University Libraries have sent electronic circulation notices for due date reminders, overdue notices, hold pickup alerts, recalls, and billing notifications. The Libraries duplicated most of these types of notices by also sending a printed letter through the mail.

With this change, the Libraries will send a duplicate notice only for recalls and overdue reserve item checkouts, both cases where there is a demonstrated high demand for an item. Otherwise, the only persons who will receive a letter through the mail about a borrowing transaction are those for whom the University Libraries have no e-mail address on file, mostly Indiana resident library cardholders who are not affiliated with Ball State.

Ball State students, faculty, and staff receive circulation notices at the e-mail address on file, which is their official Ball State account. To set up a Ball State e-mail forward to another account, visit the Ball State Email Support Console at www.bsu.edu/email.

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

University Libraries Collaborate to Make Friends Memorial Church Records Available in Digital Media Repository

When Muncie’s Friends Memorial Church celebrated their centennial in 2008 by removing the contents of a time capsule placed in the cornerstone of their building in 1908, they found an unpleasant surprise. Water had seeped in through a hole in the metal container holding the historical objects carefully placed there a hundred years before. Many of the items were damaged, mildewed, or moldy. Some seemed beyond repair or salvage.

Mrs. Pat Barnett and other members of the congregation contacted John Straw in the University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections to see what might be done to preserve these valuable relics of the church’s past. John Straw and Maren L. Read, Archivist for Manuscript Collections, paid a visit to inspect the items and provide professional advice. The result was a collaborative project between the Friends Memorial Church and the University Libraries to digitize the contents of the time capsule and make them available in the Digital Media Repository (http://libx.bsu.edu). The same was done for other items in the church’s archives and for materials in the Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections about the history of the church.

The Friends Memorial Church Collection is now available online at the following address:
http://libx.bsu.edu/collection.php?CISOROOT=/FrndsMem. Items in the digital collection include photographs, a handwritten church roster from 1906, the building contract, histories, directories, reports, and issues of the Muncie Evening Press and the Muncie Evening Star with articles and photographs about the church. The water damage done to the items is apparent in several of the digital images.

The Friends congregation held their first meeting in 1876. The first meetings were in a private home north of the Courthouse Square and later in a public hall above retail rooms across from the old Delaware County Courthouse in the 100 block of North High Street. The first church building was erected at Mulberry and Seymour streets in 1903, and the current church was built in 1908.

The Libraries’ collaboration with the Friends Memorial Church will continue as more items from their archives are digitized and made available over time.
For more information on the Digital Media Repository, contact John B. Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.

University Libraries’ Online Catalog CardCat Gets New Look and Feel

Ball State University students, faculty, staff, and guests using CardCat, the University Libraries’ online catalog, will notice a new look and feel to the catalog at the start of Spring Semester. James W. Hammons, Head of Library Technologies, unveiled the redesigned catalog at a presentation for Libraries’ personnel on Thursday, December 17, 2009.

Major highlights of the new interface include these:

• Bookmarking of any page and easily viewing permanent links. Before, because each CardCat session has a different URL, users could not reliably bookmark items or search results. This new feature allows users to add bookmarks with a single mouse click or to view a persistent link to items or search results.

• Permanent Lists, for logged-in users. Users now have the ability to create, modify, and view lists of items without losing the lists after ending a CardCat session. Users can create several different lists. Temporary lists will still be available as well, for both logged-in and guest users.

• A new look and feel to the My Account section. Checkouts, holds, and bookings will display on different tabs, include links to item details, and feature sortable columns.

Throughout CardCat, users will notice a more streamlined look and feel, with text links replacing images, and design elements featured in other University Libraries’ services. Many customizations that the Libraries have added to CardCat will also appear in the new version, such as links to GoogleBooks and HathiTrust.

CardCat is the Libraries’ implementation of SirsiDynix’s e-Library, which replaces SirsiDynix’s iLink. Jim Hammons expects to put the new version of CardCat into production during the last week of December 2009. In addition to James W. Hammons, Katie M. Bohnert (in her previous position as Library Technologies Support Analyst), and Robert L. Seaton, Web Development Analyst, contributed to this project.

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

The University Libraries Introduce OpenRoom, an Online Room Reservation Scheduling Software

On November 9, 2009, the University Libraries released an upgraded version of OpenRoom, an online Web-based reservation software utility designed by Libraries’ personnel to aid with the management of study rooms in Bracken Library. An enhancement to this upgrade is that its source code can be shared with other organizations interested in using it.

OpenRoom offers many customizable features, such as themes for changing the look and feel of the interface, form customization for changing the type of information users must submit, and even flexibility for specifying the way users log into the system. If a feature is not available in OpenRoom, its modular design makes it easy to plug in a custom-made component.

Through the optimization of the code and the prominent use of AJAX—a set of popular Web development techniques—OpenRoom offers a fast load time and requires fewer page refreshes, providing its users with a faster and less confusing online reservation utility.

OpenRoom is configured to allow students and faculty to make reservations during the current year for the coming year. The OpenRoom system has many controls, including the earliest date a reservation can be made (e.g. 01/01/10) and the latest date a reservation can be made (e.g. 05/04/10.)

The first version of the software was originally introduced in early January 2008 to make it easier for students and faculty to reserve spaces in Bracken Library for study groups, meetings, and classes. Since its introduction, more than 3,500 users have made more than 22,000 reservations using the system, and that number is growing.

The University Libraries invite others who are interested to license this software for scheduling space and other resources. There is no cost to non-profit organizations. Please contact Bradley D. Faust, Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu, 765-285-8032.

If you have technical questions regarding OpenRoom, contact Robert L. Seaton, Web Development Analyst, RLSeaton@bsu.edu, 765-285-8032.

Librarians Participate in Ball State’s Diversity Research Symposium

Brenda Yates Habich and Lisa Jarrell presented a workshop at Ball State’s first Diversity Research Symposium: Exploring Diversity Research and Writing Across Disciplines held on Saturday, November 14, 2009. The session, entitled “Publishing Diversity-Related Research,” described ways to identify journals for submitting manuscripts for publication. The librarians highlighted the many useful resources provided by the University Libraries to support scholars’ diversity-related research.

Habich and Jarrell discussed strategies for identifying journals that publish diversity-related research and described methods for determining the relative importance of a given journal in a discipline. They provided lists of impact scores for journals in a variety of fields, as well as other indicators of journal quality. “We wanted to provide people with a sense of what journals are out there and how to identify the best possible places for publication,” said Lisa Jarrell, Instructional Services Librarian.

The session was repeated twice throughout the day-long conference and attracted a number of participants. The audience members represented various universities, including the University of Louisville and the University of Cincinnati. Many Ball State faculty members also attended, representing various areas of study such as Architecture, English, and Social Work.

University Libraries Collaborate with Honors College Peer Mentor’s Program

Recently, the Ball State University Libraries took part in the Honors College Peer Mentor’s Program by conducting 25 instructional sessions during September and October for new Honors College students and their mentors.

The Honors College is made up of freshmen through seniors who have met specific admission requirements, take a rigorous selection of Honors classes, and write a thesis. This year, more than 300 new students are enrolled in the Honors College.

Besides being assigned to specific advisors as freshmen, students also take part in the HONRS 100 course that provides a peer mentor for new students and an opportunity for students to work in small groups. The beauty of this design is that it provides for an in-depth orientation to the Honors College curriculum and expectations, and to Ball State’s campus. This semester, Library Information Services’ librarians had an increased role in helping these new Honors students learn about the library for important resources they are likely to need for their courses and various personal interests.

With the support of Dean James S. Ruebel, Associate Dean John W. Emert, and Dr. Laurie K. Lindberg, Coordinator of the Honors Peer Mentors Program, mentors coordinated with Brenda Yates Habich, Information Services Librarian and Lisa J. Jarrell, Instructional Services Librarian to arrange a time for their groups of new students to come to Bracken Library. The session was planned with individual mentors as a time for students to have a physical tour of the main library, followed by a “computer tour” in order for the students to learn how to locate various materials they will need for their research and learning. The librarians introduced students to different locations in Bracken where they can find CDs or DVDs, print posters for presentations, check out books and laptops, and find realia for use in their studies and presentations. The librarians also familiarized the students with the numerous academic databases available for their research.

This partnering enabled the honors students to become familiar with librarians who can assist them with their research. Several of the participating students commented that the tour and orientation helped them to feel more comfortable using Bracken Library and that they felt better informed about the resources available to them.

For more information, contact Brenda Yates Habich, Information Services Librarian, BHabich@bsu.edu, 765-285-3324.

Cultural Diversity for the Campus Community: International Festival (I-Fest) Hosted at Bracken Library

Bracken Library hosted a glimpse of cultures from around the world on Friday, November 13, 2009. Booths spread across Bracken’s first floor, designed by Ball State’s international student population, represented about twenty countries in the annual International Festival (I-Fest), sponsored by the Rinker Center for International Programs.

Individuals wandering through the festival had the opportunity to learn about jewelry from Pakistan, scrolls from China, reggae and calypso music from the Caribbean, architecture in Russia, bracelets and women’s clothing from Kenya, calligraphy from South Korea, various forms of art and art techniques from Sri Lanka, architecture and terrain in Yemen, and so much more.

Food sampling included brie from France, a pastry called kush tili from Uzbekistan, shrimp chips from Vietnam, a whole buffet from Saudi Arabia, and onion glaze from India, as well as other delicious fare.

Just as important as the tables were the interactions between the students. Bracken was buzzing with activity throughout the event, which lasted from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., as students staffed their booths, visited others, took group photos, introduced themselves to American students and faculty, and explained their cultures and perspectives.

Jovid Kamolov (Tajikistan) and Farana Abdullayeva (Azerbaijan) were seated near each other. “I have enjoyed meeting a lot of new people,” Jovid said. Farana added, “I am looking forward to the next one,” and she already had ideas for improving her booth and presentation. Jovid made an observation that it was helpful to draw a map of the world for curious visitors to his booth “since Tajikistan is so small.” Both students were delighted to comment that their visitors were “extremely interested to learn more” about their countries and cultures.

Jonathan Pierrel (France) is an instructor in the English Department. He said, “I have enjoyed talking to many people.” For example, he had discussed “the Russian influence on certain parts of Turkey [with a student from Turkey] and the educational system in Kenya [at the Kenya table].”

Anca Topliceanu (Romania) was at her table for the entire event. Did she enjoy the I-Fest? “It has been very long, but very fun. I have talked with people the whole time and feel that I did not talk about the same thing more than once in six hours. Many people’s questions have helped me learn more about my own country. Their perceptions are different than mine. I have learned about what people find interesting about Romania, and we have talked about theater, music, sports, religion, not just political things. Romania is a very cultural country, and I am happy to talk about its culture.”

Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, said that the University Libraries were happy to host this event for the third consecutive year to promote international awareness and to help campus community members learn about the customs and traditions of Ball State’s international students.

I-Fest was organized this year by Trevor J. Foley, Events Coordinator at the Rinker Center for International Programs. His goal for the day was “to build awareness of the international community and opportunities that exist at Ball State and in the Muncie community.” He explained that the Rinker Center is looking to create connections between international students and domestic students as well as greater collaboration between programs and groups that already exist at our university.

Over 575 international students from 86 countries currently take classes at Ball State. To mobilize so many across campus, the Rinker Center contacted organized student groups, sent out emails, and shared the information through word of mouth about the opportunity to creatively design a presentation at the festival, making use of displays, food, clothing, maps, music, slideshows, cultural objects, or anything else the students could imagine.

I-Fest was part of Ball State’s Culture Week, November 9-14, designed by Ball State’s Multicultural Center to broaden the cultural horizons of Ball State’s students, faculty, and staff. The exciting day at Bracken Library was free and open to the public.

More Digital Resources Now Accessible through the University Libraries’ Public Catalog

Three recent enhancements to the University Libraries’ public catalog, CardCat, dramatically enhance its power as a discovery tool for digital resources. Two of these involve links to two major, freely available repositories of digitized books. The third makes CardCat a comprehensive source for access to the University Libraries’ electronic journal collections.

Google Book Search Previews. Introduced in August 2009, CardCat now presents both a Google Preview search button and a preview pane on full-item views when an item is available in Google’s massive digital repository. CardCat users can browse the books directly in CardCat or follow the “More about this Book” link to use all the features of Google Book Search, including reviews, user tags, and links to related books. Limited previews are available for most Google Books, with many public domain books (items published prior to about 1924) available free in full text. In many cases, the Libraries’ local holdings of these titles are available in our Archives and Special Collections. The advantage of having digital access is that they are now freely available for access outside of the University Libraries.

Hathi Trust Digital Library. Added to CardCat in early October 2009, this new button leads to the growing Hathi Trust catalog of digitized books. According to its Web site, the Hathi Trust “was conceived as a collaboration of the thirteen universities of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and the University of California system to establish a repository for these universities to archive and share their digitized collections.” The link button currently appears in over 15,000 CardCat records with matching titles in the Hathi Trust. All the titles we link to are in the public domain and can be freely accessed in full text. For more information about the Hathi Trust, see www.hathitrust.org.

Serials Solutions 360 MARC Updates Service. As a follow up to the suite of Serials Solutions products which the University Libraries rolled out during the spring and summer of 2009, including MultiSearch, MultiLink, and the re-launched Electronic Journals portal, the University Libraries have begun to catalog records for the electronic journals in MultiLink and the Electronic Journals portal. The new CardCat records link to the Electronic Journals portal will list one or more online sources for the journal title. With these 35,000-plus records, as well as monthly updates, CardCat now offers an additional, comprehensive access point for electronic journals.

Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, said that increasing access to informational resources at the desktop for students and faculty is one of the Libraries’ strategic initiatives. He said that these three enhancements to CardCat were achieved through the efforts of many personnel, particularly Kathryn M. Bohnert and James W. Hammons from Library Information Technology Services and Katharine D. James, Scott R. McFadden, and Kelley C. McGrath from Collection Resources Management.

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

The Charles E. Bracker Collection Acquired: 30,000 Digital Photographs of Orchids at Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries are now the proud home of a collection of more than 30,000 digital photographs and nearly 2,000 prints of orchids. These outstandingly beautiful photographs are the work of Charles E. Bracker, retired professor of botany and plant pathology at Purdue University. The collection of digital photographs is being made available to students, researchers, and orchid-enthusiasts around the world through the Ball State Digital Media Repository (DMR), http://libxi.bsu.edu, a project of the University Libraries.

Dr. Bracker’s wife Anri began their personal collection of orchids in the late 1980s after purchasing two plants on a trip to Hawaii. After his wife passed away in 2001, Dr. Bracker wanted to keep her collection alive and thriving. He installed a basement greenhouse in his home and began adding orchids to the collection. He combined his passion for orchids and photography to create more than 30,000 stunning photographs of orchids.

In 2008, Professor Bracker donated 1,000 orchids to Ball State University’s nationally renowned Wheeler Orchid Collection and Species Bank. Recently, he also decided to give his collection of orchid photographs to Ball State University.

According to Cheryl M. LeBlanc, Wheeler Collection curator, “The combination of the plants and the photographs brings Ball State University to the forefront as having the largest university-based orchid collection in the country.”

The collection of prints and digital images are housed in the University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections. More than 300 of the images are now in the Charles E. Bracker Orchid Photographs collection in the DMR, http://libx.bsu.edu/collection.php?CISOROOT=/BrckrOrchd, and the remainder of the 30,000 images are being added to the collection.

The Bracker Orchid Photographs join a collection of rare orchid books held by Archives and Special Collections. One particularly interesting title is the four-volume set, Reichenbachia, a nineteenth century work containing magnificent color prints of orchids. The title comes from orchidologist Heinrich Gustave Reichenbach. Bound in leather with marbled end pages, these large books were published in two series with each volume dedicated to a queen or empress: Queen Victoria, the Empress of Germany and Queen of Persia, the Empress of Russia, and the Queen of Belgium.

Each book includes color lithography, notes on the orchid’s history and cultures, and structural drawings of each flower.

For more information, contact John B. Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.

Orchid Photographs on Exhibit

A selection of 60 Charles E. Bracker Orchid Photographs are on exhibit outside of the Archives and Special Collections, Bracken Library BL-210, and in exhibit cases on first floor east through December 2009.

The exhibit illustrates the diversity of orchids captured in Dr. Bracker’s superb photography. In a 2006 article in Purdue Agriculture Connections Magazine, Bracker was quoted as saying, “When I take pictures, I take a lot of them.” He said he typically took about 20 exposures for each flower.

Viewers of the exhibit will see that, as a rule, the flowers were only photographed when they were in full bloom. Dr. Bracker’s orchid photographs have been on exhibit in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and various other places in the past.

For more information on the exhibit, contact Lajmar D. Anderson, Archives and Special Collections Supervisor, LDAnderson@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.