Student Assistants Value Employment at the University Libraries, Citing Excellent Work Experience and Flexible Scheduling

The Ball State University Libraries employ approximately 170 students part-time during the regular academic year, making the Libraries one of the top employers of students on campus. Over the summer sessions, there are about 80 student assistants.

There are always several projects in various stages at the University Libraries — and student assistants are a valuable resource in completing these projects or in serving the students and faculty who use the programs, services, and collections of the Libraries.

Student assistants who work at the University Libraries report that they value the experience, saying the work contributes to their professional and personal growth.

“This job has taught me how to quickly adapt to many different situations,” said Jonathan A. Byrd, a graduate student from Muncie. Currently, Jonathan works in the Education Resources Collections (ERC) and helps people to find materials and check out the items from the ERC. He also works on projects that improve the unit’s programs, services, and collections.

“I appreciate my supervisors who provide a good work environment and understand the scheduling demands placed on students,” he said. Jonathan plans to obtain a doctorate degree in English and teach at a university.

Holly C. Hampton, from Anderson, is another student assistant who works in the Educational Resources Collections. She is enrolled in Ball State’s elementary education program. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in elementary education or school psychology. In the course of a day, Holly works on a variety of tasks, such as shelving material, equipment inventory, and answering the telephones. She also assists students and faculty at the ERC circulation desk by retrieving material they need for research and learning.

“Working in Educational Resources has been very helpful for my elementary education major because I am exposed to children’s books, textbooks, videos, and realia items that I can use in lesson plans and unit plans,” she said. “I have also learned valuable customer service skills through workshops and interactions with patrons.”

Holly says working at the University Libraries has provided her with a better understanding of the importance of always greeting people with a positive attitude and helping them get their questions answered as completely as possible.

“Customer service is really about taking that extra step to make sure that a patron finds what he or she needs and has a positive experience in the Library,” Holly added.

“This is so much more than a job to me. It is a valuable opportunity to work with other motivated students in an educational environment,” she said. “This job has really helped me feel like a connected, contributing part of the Ball State community. Bracken Library is the central location on campus where learning and social interaction take place and it is rewarding to be part of that on a daily basis.”

Abby J. Foltz, a junior student from Greenville, Ohio, works in the University Libraries’ Dean's Office. Abby performs office tasks such as filing, making folders, organizing, running errands, and various computer tasks.

“Most of the students on campus complain about their jobs, but my job has taught me that work doesn't have to be a pain! I'm very fortunate,” she said. “Working at the Library has proved to be beneficial to me because I have become acquainted with all the resources it has to offer, and it has helped me do well in school!”

Abby is in the speech pathology program and plans to attend graduate school to prepare for employment in a hospital or rehabilitation center to work with those who have traumatic brain injuries.

Kylee B. Younts, a student assistant in Access Services, helps students, faculty, and staff as they check out materials. She also handles searches, organizes carts of materials to be re-shelved, and sometimes answers questions from library visitors.

“Ever since I was seventeen, I’ve been working in customer service, so I’ve understood the value of hard work, service, and working with others. However, from working at Bracken Library, I’ve come to a complete understanding of working with others. It’s important to have a professional and friendly relationship with your coworkers,” she said.

Kylee is from Centerville, Indiana, near Richmond, and she is majoring in elementary education with a concentration in kindergarten. After teaching a few years, Kylee says she may attend graduate school for a degree in library science or return to Ball State for a degree in nursing.

“Working at the library has been a wonderful opportunity, and it’s given me a chance to meet amazing people. This job works well around my schedule and gives me a few extra dollars in my pocket!”

Amanda D. Hunt, a student assistant in Archives and Special Collections, said that she has learned a lot about archival practices, and this fits perfectly with her long-term goals to become an archivist. Amanda, who is from Vincennes, Indiana, is working toward a degree in history and plans to obtain a master’s degree in library science some day.

“I’m growing more confident in what I am able to do and am more willing to try new projects,” Amanda said. “I’m always learning how to do something new.”

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s Sculpture Scherzo Helps Beautify Bracken Library and Expose Thousands of Students Daily to Fine Art

Bracken Library proudly exhibits one of Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s first and most popular garden fountains, Scherzo. The title refers to a playful musical composition, which perfectly describes the figure’s reaction, in dance-like movement, to having her toes splashed with cold water. Pipes emerge from the mouths of the five fish circling the base of the eighty-one inch bronze sculpture, which was designed for use as a fountain at the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The sculpture, one of six editions, is enjoyed by thousands of visitors daily at Bracken Library. Located on the main floor near the north entrance, the statue remains on loan from The Ball State University Museum of Art.

American sculptor Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980) was known for her work in bronze and was interested in depicting stylized movement, especially of the female figure, as exemplified by Scherzo.

She studied briefly with Auguste Rodin at the École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris. From Rodin, she said she learned two important things: first, always look at the silhouette of a subject and be guided by it, and secondly to remember that movement is the transition from one attitude to another. It is a bit of what was and a bit of what is to be, someone once said.

Frishmuth studied for two years with Professor Cuno von Euchtriz in Berlin and then at the Art Students’ League in New York before setting up her own studio around 1908. Her first commissioned piece was in 1910 from the New York County Medical Society. Frishmuth’s early pieces, such as ashtrays, bookends and small figures, are highly sought after by collectors. Her large bronzes often grace elaborate garden settings.

Frishmuth’s skillful rendering of the female physique is especially evident in the subtle definition of the figure’s muscles and ribs. The model for this 1917 statute was a Belgian girl named Janette Ransome. Dancer Desha Delteil modeled for the second edition. Both bronzes were among the sculptor’s most popular works during the 1920s, a period of heightened vogue in America for garden sculpture and fountains.

Ball State University Libraries Collaborate on Immersive Learning Educational Experience for Students

The development of University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections as a teaching archive continues to expand, providing a new partnership opportunity for an immersive learning experience for 24 students from the Teachers College.

Archives’ personnel are working with Dr. Mark Malaby, Dr. Jon M. Clausen, and graduate student Mr. Chia-Kun Lee on a new and exciting way to prepare pre-service teachers to enter the profession with a broader understanding of factors that affect schools, teachers, and students.

Students in the Educational Foundations 420 class being taught by Professors Malaby and Clausen, and Mr. Lee are taking part in this new immersive concept for the course during the first summer session. The professors intend to continue the concept with two more sections in the fall.

Learning Objectives Involve Muncie’s Community Schools
In addition to Archives and Special Collections, the Center for Middletown Studies and the Muncie Community School system are partners in the endeavor. Dr. Marlin B. Creasy, Superintendent of Muncie Community Schools, and the assistant superintendents for instruction and elementary education are enthusiastic in their support of the project. Data from the research conducted by the students will be used for staff training, to satisfy certain requirements of the No Child Left Behind program, and to recruit teachers.
The goals established by the professors for the class are
· To help understand the social, historical, and philosophical perspectives of people who live and work within the Muncie Community School district
· To provide students an immersive experience, offering a model for actions they should take into their future teaching communities
· To increase teacher education students’ understanding of the potential for meaningful teaching and community engagement
· To inspire more Ball State University students to apply for jobs within the Muncie Community School district
· To model and use technology effectively in both the teaching of the course and the artifacts developed by the students

The school chosen for the summer class is Garfield Elementary School. Course activities include researching materials in the Archives and Special Collections to understand ways in which the neighborhood and school district has been constructed, a school tour, interviews with school personnel and community members, exploring the neighborhood, and guest speakers including the Director of the Center for Middletown Studies and the Director for the Archives and Special Collections.

Students Using Digital Resources as Part of Learning
The students are utilizing digital resources from the Ball State University Digital Media Repository, a project of the University Libraries, http://libx.bsu.edu. They are producing digital stories about the school and neighborhood and creating a multimedia artifact that will incorporate archival data, photographs, audio, interview data, and secondary textual sources.

“The oral histories, photographs, and other digital materials generated by the class will be made available in the Digital Media Repository, a project of the University Libraries,” said Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries. “Providing access to these types of resources is an important role for the University Libraries for facilitating and strengthening new developments in teaching and learning at Ball State University.”

In addition to interacting with Archives and Special Collections personnel and using archival and digital resources, the students are able to take advantage of many other services and resources of the University Libraries to make their projects successful. These include
· Geospatial Resources and Map Collection personnel who are helping them with neighborhood information and mapping
· Library Information Technology Services personnel who are providing students with access to external hard drives and server space for working on their projects
· Metadata and Data Initiatives personnel who provided forms for compiling metadata so that the student products will be searchable in the Digital Media Repository

The role of the Archives and Special Collections and other units of the University Libraries in this innovative, immersive class is an example of a holistic approach to the educational experience, where the convergence of the traditional archives, the teaching archives, and the digital archives is a key element.

Dr. Malaby and Dr. Clausen are to be applauded for their vision in providing this experience to their students. Archives and Special Collections and the University Libraries are pleased to be a part of the experience.

Profile: Danny L. Taylor, Ball State University Libraries’ Periodical/Reserve Assistant

Muncie’s own Danny L. Taylor, Periodical/Reserve Assistant, is well known on the Ball State campus and has a longer history than almost anyone at the University Libraries. Thirty-six years ago, he began working part-time in Periodicals. At that time, Periodicals and Reserves were separate units. They merged in 1984.

In Danny’s job, he creates reserve records for the permanent reserve current periodicals so that they can be checked out by students and faculty. After a certain period, Danny removes the reserve records from the permanent reserves system and prepares the items for processing in serials cataloging. Danny said one of the joys of his job is being around students and working on the computer.

“Like a lot of people, at first I was afraid to work on a computer,” he said. “But over the years, I have learned how convenient it is and now I’m comfortable with it.”

“Danny’s enthusiasm for and dedication to his job, Bracken Library, and Ball State University are absolutely unparalleled,” said Christy A. Groves, Head of Access Services. “He always has a smile for everyone he meets.”

After graduating from Muncie Central High School, Danny obtained a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Ball State. He says that he enjoys cultural events and sports. He is a regular at the local civic theater and Main Street Studio Theatre as well as Ball State’s women’s basketball and volleyball games.

This summer Danny plans to again participate in Ball Memorial Hospital’s therapeutic recreation program, just as he has for the past 12 years. This is an important event to Danny because he has cerebral palsy, a medical condition that results in reduced control of movement and posture. The three-day adaptive water skiing clinic is held in Cicero, Indiana and is conducted by the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana Sports Program.

Danny enjoys water skiing, a sport he can enjoy through the use of custom-made extra-wide skis that allow those with disabilities to enjoy the thrill of gliding across Morse Lake.

Danny’s younger brother, Scott, is a Doctor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He accompanies Danny to the event. Speaking about his brother, Danny said, “My handicap inspired him to become a doctor.”

“Dan is one of the most active people I know,” said Jan A. Vance, his supervisor. “He is the true spirit of live strong.”

University Libraries’ Public Workstation Keyboards Regularly Cleaned

The University Libraries are high-traffic locations with an average of 4,600 visitors daily during the academic semesters. Many visitors make use of the 345 computers available throughout the facilities during the 120.5 hours each week that the Libraries are open. The chatter of clacking keyboards underscores the active research environment.

In an effort to maintain an inviting atmosphere, personnel in Public Services strive to keep computer equipment in good working order by engaging in a regular cleaning schedule. Light dusting of tabletops and monitors happens daily in some areas. The comparatively quieter times that accompany holiday and semester breaks provide the time necessary for thorough cleaning and sanitizing, particularly of each computer mouse and keyboard. During these times, one hears the sounds of mini-vacuums, compressed air, and other cleaning equipment.

These activities, and other work performed by Facilities custodial crews, insure that Bracken Library, the Architecture Library, and the Science Health-Science Library present a clean and welcoming environment for library users.

Intellectual Property Issues in Higher Education: Faculty Academic Ownership

The basic, bottom line rule in the U.S. Copyright Law is that the person who creates an original work is the owner of the work. With ownership come rights guaranteed by law. For example, our U.S. Copyright law gives both immediate and automatic protection for any original work, including text, audio/visual materials, photographs, web pages, podcasts, vodcasts, music, lyrics, art works, and other types of creative works. The law even covers an original boat hull design.

There are two requirements for this automatic copyright protection:
1. The work has to be an original work of authorship
2. The creation has to be fixed in a tangible medium

Copyright Law provides automatic protection to these works, even without the use of a copyright notice, i.e., ©. Further, the work does not need to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. However, an advantage to having a work officially registered is a larger sum for infringement and having your attorney’s fees reimbursed if you win in court.

Classroom educators who provide face-to-face instruction and distance educators are involved in creating new works for their courses and/or their scholarly work. These typically include syllabi, course descriptions, course notes, online course enhancements, and all of the other various works that faculty create to meet instructional objectives and learning outcomes. Published articles and books are owned by the faculty member producing them as well.

Distance educators typically have multiple contributions made in their online classes by college or university support staff such as instructional designers, graphic specialists, technical personnel and the like. The completed distance education course then might be a collaborative effort with multiple claims on content in the same course; in other words, joint authorship may be involved. However, another doctrine in the Copyright Law might be in play with distance education courses, e.g., work-for-hire.

Joint ownership might be obviated by the work-for-hire doctrine for the non-teaching aspects of the course if the contribution to the distance education course was made as part of the contributor’s employment. If that is the case, then the university might be a joint author. In this case, joint authorship may be resolved by an agreement – or assignment – between the instructor and the university. This written agreement between the distance ed instructor and their institution should be made detailing how the instructor and the university can use the work. For example, these uses might include how the university can use the course if the instructor obtains employment elsewhere and whether or not a derivative work of the course can be made. A derivative work is one that is recast, transformed, or adapted from the original, including such modifications as making editorial revisions, condensing it, adding to it, or translating it, among others.

This article only covers a small part of faculty academic ownership of intellectual property. Ownership issues are usually important for the faculty creating new works and also for the dynamic life of the university itself.

For additional information or to have your questions answered, please contact The Copyright and Intellectual Property Office, FDolak@bsu.edu, (765) 285-8032.

Student Artwork Continues to Beautify Bracken Library

The 72nd 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 professional jurors considers as many as 500 works for selection in this show, narrowing the final selection to at most 100. The result is a student exhibition that showcases outstanding student talent and quality artwork.

Some of the students’ artwork is purchased by various colleges on campus. These works are called The Dean’s Purchase Award. One of the participating colleges is the College of Fine Arts.

The University Libraries are very pleased that Dr. Robert A. Kvam, Dean of the College of Fine Arts, has graciously allowed three of his College’s Purchase Awards to be exhibited in Bracken Library on extended loan. One of the artworks, shown above, is an oil painting by Shandi Clark.

“It’s great for a student to be able to say on his or her résumé that their work was actually purchased and will become part of a permanent collection,” said Prof. David T. Hannon, Department of the Art.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 13; May 2007.

Small Cities Conference Welcome Session Held April 12, 2007 at Bracken Library

The Small Cities Conference, titled “The Small City in a Global Context” was held at Ball State University beginning Thursday, April 12 through Saturday, April 14, 2007. The well-attended event was sponsored by The Center for Middletown Studies and co-sponsored by the Urban History Association, Ball State University Libraries, and the Ball State Mu Beta Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta History Honorary Society.

The conference attracted attendees from across the nation and from other countries, in addition to Ball State students, faculty, and Muncie area community persons.

The Welcome Session, Digital History and the Small City: The Plains Gilded Age City Digital Project, was held at Bracken Library in the Forum Room, attended by over 70 students, faculty, and community members. Open to the public, the speaker was Dr. Timothy Mahoney, Department of History, University of Nebraska. The session moderator was History Department chair E. Bruce Geelhoed.

Professor Mahoney’s areas of specialization are 19th century United States social and urban history. He is also interested in local and regional history with an emphasis on the early Midwest including Nebraska, gender history, comparative history of the middle class, and historiography.

The Center for Middletown Studies’ mission is to build on the research and scholarship inaugurated by Robert S. and Helen Merrell Lynd, in their landmark studies Middletown (1929) and Middletown in Transition (1937). Between 1924 and 1937, the Lynds led a team of researchers investigating life in Muncie, Indiana. The two books became classic sociological studies and they identified Muncie as a barometer of social trends in the United States.

In the years since, scholars in a variety of fields have returned to Muncie to follow up on the Lynds' work, making this small city perhaps the most studied community in the nation.

The University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections preserves and provides access to the Middletown Studies Collection, which includes publications, surveys, photographs, oral histories, and other documentation on Muncie as “Middletown.” The Middletown Digital Archives consisting of thousands of photographs and other research resources and the newly created Middletown Digital Oral History Collection are available in the Ball State Digital Media Repository, a project of the University Libraries.

The Center for Middletown Studies sponsors and promotes research on Muncie as Middletown and on the themes and issues the Lynds explored. For more information, visit www.bsu.edu/middletown.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 9; May 2007.

Profile: Kathy S. Reed, Bibliographic Control Supervisor

Many changes have taken place at Ball State University since Kathy S. Reed began employment on campus in the late 1960s, her first regular job. After beginning in the Bursar’s Office, Kathy came to the University Library in 1971. At that time, the University Library was located in North Quad. Her job was as a Pre-Cataloging Clerk. She received the Library’s approval plan books and found cataloging copy for them.

A year later, Kathy recalls that the Library purchased its first microform reader/printer. This was a “big deal” because she no longer had to take a Polaroid picture from books called Mansell’s and the National Union Catalog. These large volumes were used to create catalog cards. The Polaroid photography was photocopied and applied to card stock to create the actual card which was placed in the Library’s card catalog. The catalog card print-outs created by the microform reader were put on card stock by personnel in Support Services. Students would then type the title, subject or name headings on the cards.

In 1975, the newly constructed Bracken Library opened and Kathy helped move material to the new building. During the following year, the library began using OCLC for searching and cataloging new materials. “And so began our computer age,” Kathy said.

The Pre-Cataloging Unit became part of Cataloging. Acquisitions took over receiving the approval plan books. In 1989, Kathy said the library administration began looking at the online catalogs, which replaced the traditional card catalog.

“As part of our preparation, the University Library undertook a large bar coding project. I was chosen to help organize it,” Kathy said. “We bar coded all the materials owned by University Libraries during the summer of 1991, and it was during that year I became Bibliographic Control Supervisor.”

Since then, the Cataloging unit has completed another migration to an upgraded system, created a database for thesis, creative projects and senior honors papers, created an e-journals database, began digitizing and enhancing architecture slide records for CONTENTdm, and streamlined and enhanced procedures for basic bibliographic maintenance.

“I look forward to fresh challenges and learning new programs and procedures,” Kathy said.

Kathy and her husband, Frank, have been married for 36 years. They are the proud parents of two children, Melissa Hullinger and Brian Reed. They have grandchildren, too, who bring them much joy and happiness. Their names are Anastacia, Alicia, Katie, and Zachary.

Kathy and Frank enjoy decorating their home for all of the traditional holidays and have even been featured in the local newspaper for their Christmas villages and outside decorations. In their spare time, the Reeds enjoy spending time with family, landscaping, and relaxing by their pool.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 9; May 2007.

Health Psychology Outreach Team Comes to Bracken Library to Connect with Students

The Health Psychology Outreach Team of the Department of Counseling and Health Services set up a table at Bracken Library during a very important, yet stressful, time in the lives of Ball State students: the last two weeks of the academic year.

“We thought Bracken Library would be a convenient location to reach students because of the high foot traffic there,” said Lisa K. Thomason, Health Educator at Ball State University. “We wanted to help students study effectively for their final exams without sacrificing their physical, mental, or emotional health in the process.”

The topics were timely and relevant to students who were stressed and perhaps out of their normal routines prior to and during Finals Week. The team shared information on a few topics, such as:
· Time and stress management
· Improving sleep
· Coping with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
· Caffeine use

The objective of the outreach team was to provide support to students by providing them with information to plan adequate time to study, to identify strategies to make their study sessions more effective, and to emphasize the importance of sleep so students’ minds and bodies are well-rested for exams and their other daily activities.

The Health Psychology Outreach Team is supervised by Gina Zanardelli, Ellen Lucas, and Lisa Thomason of Counseling and Health Services. Team members — Kayte Kaminski, Eric Lester, Chip Link, and John Meteer — believe the University Libraries are a great partner in their outreach efforts, and the plan to set up in Bracken Library again in the future.

For more information, contact Susan G. Akers, Ball State University Libraries’ Marketing Communications Manager, SAkers@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5031.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 8; May 2007.

Students and Faculty Benefit from Recent Updates to the Architecture Library

Thanks to several recent updates, the Architecture Library boasts a new look, which includes a new circulation desk and flooring. Students, faculty and staff members say they appreciate studying, researching, and preparing assignments in the space.

Over spring break 2007, carpet tiles in muted neutral tones were installed in the stacks. New carpet was added and bright bamboo wood flooring was installed around the entrance and circulation desk where there is heavy foot traffic.

Ball State University carpenters designed and constructed the new circulation desk, which more efficiently uses the library’s space, provides more storage than the former counter, and offers a lower table-top section for easy wheelchair access. The new desk is angled to match the flow of traffic into the library and is positioned so that this important service point is more accessible to library users.

Comments from College of Architecture and Planning students and faculty have been favorable. Professor Glen Sweitzer says that the library entrance has been pleasantly brightened by the new light wood floor. He also says that the new angled counter is more user-friendly.

Professor Karen Keddy agrees. “This small renovation illustrates how a few simple changes can improve the experience of being in the space for both the library users and the library staff,” she said.

Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, said that improvements in the Architecture Library began in 2004 when more tables, chairs, and computer workstations were installed to facilitate access to the Architecture Library’s online resources. A year later, tall tables and stools were added to take advantage of the library’s north windows.

Some additional enhancements are expected this summer, such as changes to the ceiling lighting, upgrading of the public computers with faster and more powerful units to handle the more demanding applications used by architecture students and faculty, and completion of the carpet installation.

Architecture student Jake Keirn said, “The improvements to the [Architecture Library] over the years have been impressive.” Historic preservation graduate student, Chad Slider, who logged in many hours in the Architecture Library working on his thesis, had a similar reaction, adding, “The Architecture Library is a really pleasant place to spend time. The recent improvements … make it that much nicer.”

For more information, contact Amy E. Trendler, Ball State University Libraries’ Architecture Librarian, AETrendler@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5858.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 1; May 2007.

Going Global: Institutional and Corporate Collaboration Advances Digital Future for Teaching & Learning

The Global Digital Library is taking shape. Mass digitization efforts are springing up everywhere, and projects like Google Book Search (http://books.google.com) and the Open Content Alliance (www.opencontentalliance.org) are moving quickly to create huge, searchable collections of digitized books available via the Internet.

These massive digitization projects provide unparalleled, 24/7/365 access to books and other materials from some of the world’s most important research libraries and centers. For Ball State University’s students and faculty, these projects represent a wide-open portal into an expanding universe of information and unprecedented opportunities for knowledge discovery. The University Libraries are utilizing these resources, promoting access to the rich and often rare collections of important materials for teaching, learning, and research.

Google Book Search currently offers cover-to-cover viewing and searching of 525,000 public domain books. One can find titles in virtually any discipline and period from the 16th through 20th centuries, many of which are primary research sources. For example:
George Fox’s Trumpet Sounding in the Wilderness, published 1694
Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man for the Use & Benefit of All Mankind, published 1795
Thomas Cooke’s A Practical and Familiar View of the Science of Physiognomy, published 1819
Woodrow Wilson’s Democracy Today: An American Interpretation, published 1917

Before Google, digital libraries were largely localized efforts by individual institutions, which meant that online collections, even good ones, were often unnoticed by the global community of scholars and the academy. Google’s “ready or not” approach to digitization, and the ensuing controversies about copyright and intellectual property rights, certainly raised popular awareness of Google Book Search and digitization projects in general.

Google’s high-profile partnerships with leading universities and civic libraries like Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, and New York Public Library promise open access to millions of texts by the end of the decade.

Another important initiative, the Open Content Alliance (OCA), emerged from a 2005 agreement between the Internet Archive and Yahoo! This is a nonprofit entity working to advance digital materials contributions, and OCA has partnered with Microsoft for library collections digitization projects, focusing only on public domain titles. Meanwhile, the Internet Archive is collecting and indexing links to digital content and serves as a central nexus for searching and accessing a myriad of digitized texts, images, audio files, and movies from around the world.

The corporate and institutional alliance behind major digitization initiatives have some librarians and information professionals concerned. For example, Richard K. Johnson, Senior Advisor at the Association of Research Libraries, wrote a key article entitled “In Google’s Broad Wake: Taking Responsibility for Shaping the Global Digital Library,” which appeared in the February 2007 issue of ARL; a Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC.

Johnson speculates about future problems with such relationships, calling on libraries to carefully and strategically negotiate digitization agreements that favor open access and guarantee preservation. While the details of the Google agreements are not fully disclosed, Johnson postulates that Google, as a publicly-traded corporation, may eventually claim ownership of the digital files they create from libraries’ public domain books, asserting proprietary rights to the distribution and use of digitized information.

Johnson is less critical of the Open Content Alliance, which has partnered with Microsoft on several digitization projects and seems to be in greater accord with traditional library notions of unrestricted access and copyright restriction compliance. Microsoft has at least agreed to provide high-quality digital images of all digitized materials to the partner library and will deposit copies of their collection internationally for preservation purposes.

As Johnson indicates, libraries and library associations are responding to the new challenges of business interests in digitization. He surveys several emerging statements of principle related to digitization and digital library environments drafted by groups and institutions including the American Library Association, Cornell University, OCLC, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. The statements demonstrate the continued evolution and reinvention of libraries, which have historically championed intellectual freedom and open access. While Johnson’s comments merit consideration and could help to balance future digitization agreements, current efforts and projects appear to be collaborative rather than mercenary, and libraries are well-equipped for navigating the digital future and managing the complex issues of copyright and intellectual property ownership

While institutions and civic centers must be scrupulous about protecting their collections and interests in information dissemination, it seems unlikely that these unique partnerships are a harbinger of ominous eventualities. Google, OCA and individual libraries, museums, and cultural centers are all pursuing digital futures, and the diversity of stakeholders will likely mean a win/win for the international community of scholars and researchers.

The work of Google, Microsoft, and other corporate digitizers seems parallel to the early development of the print publishing industry itself, which has maintained a workable balance between capital entrepreneurship and public access for centuries.

As work continues on these projects, the cultural and scholarly record will become more vivid, and old information will become the raw material of new knowledge synthesis and discovery. The horizons for open access and information sharing have never been more expansive and bright, and Ball State’s students and faculty, and the students and faculty at other universities and colleges, will continue to benefit from these broad undertakings as retrospective digitization of public domain titles continues to move us closer to the realization of the Global Digital Library.

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

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 2; May 2007.

Using Technology to Facilitate Search Committee Work in Academic Library Environment

When there is a vacancy at the Ball State University Libraries, the Dean of University Libraries forms a search committee of generally three persons. In discharging their responsibility, the search committee carefully follows many procedures and protocols that lead to identifying the best candidates to invite to interview on campus.

Part of this selection process requires collecting the applicant’s curriculum vitae or résumé, transcripts, and his/her letters of recommendation. Committee members can review, study, and discuss these items by visiting the Dean’s Office where the credentials are held in paper format.

When a candidate is invited to campus for an interview, the job description, interview schedule, and the candidate’s curriculum vitae are posted on the Libraries’ Intranet after a PDF file is made of each of these documents and sent to the Libraries’ Web Developer for posting. After each interview, the Web Developer then removes the documents.

In early March 2007, the University Libraries began to use version 1.0 of software it developed to simplify and streamline the posting of candidate materials to the Libraries’ Intranet.

Calling the software Online Candidate Information System (OCIS), the Dean’s Office Administrator posts digital documents directly to the Intranet. This eliminates the step of sending e-mail and PDF file attachments to the Web Developer. It also reduces posting delays and eliminates the need for the Web Developer to remove a candidate’s documents at the end of a campus interview.

Between now and the end of the calendar year, the University Libraries expect to incorporate several software enhancements to further streamline the handling of each applicant’s documents.

For example, the new version will allow search committee members to view all applicant files at their desktop without requiring them to come to the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office Administrator will be able to identify which documents for each candidate can be seen and by whom. This enhancement holds much promise for improving workflow and access to an applicant’s credentials by search committee members and the viewing of selected documents by the Libraries’ personnel when candidates visit campus.

When the new version of OCIS software is available and after it has been tested, it will be offered to interested libraries for additional testing and improvement.

For more information, contact Robert L. Seaton, Ball State University Libraries’ Web Developer, Library Information Technology Services, RLSeaton@bsu.edu, (765) 285-8032.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 3; May 2007.

Proactive Enforcement of Terms of Use Agreements as Part of the Modern Academic Library’s Responsibility

The Ball State University Libraries are serious about protecting copyright and honoring Terms of Use agreements with vendors. A recent set of Terms of Use violations reminds us of the importance of this task. It also makes us happy that we have a protocol in place for responding immediately to a violation.

Recently, the vendor of one of the academic databases we license notified the University Libraries that their intrusion system detected the systematic downloading of content through the Ball State subscription. The purpose of their notice to us was to indicate a Terms of Use violation and to put us on notice that access to the resource was suspended for a short period of time.

Online content, which the University Libraries license, is valuable to our students and faculty as well as to the publishers who make it available. Its use is defined by the license and restricted to the persons who are authorized to access it. In Fall 2006, the University Libraries formalized the processes for reacting and responding to a violation of these Terms of Use.

The University Libraries use a number of tools to monitor, restrict, and protect licensed content that is included in subscription academic databases. For example, the Ball State computer username is the first level of control. That is, all Ball State community members have unique usernames that provides access to a number of important and sensitive information systems. Advising community members to be careful and to use hard-to-guess passwords is a deterrent and safeguard.

Another tool used to protect licensed content is part of the proxy service that provides a gateway for community members to access academic databases from off-campus computers. EZProxy, the proxy server software, can be configured to block specific Internet IP addresses, entire network segments, or individual users. In the most recent incident, usernames with easy-to-guess passwords were at the root of the Terms of Use violation.

The campus network firewall provides another layer of control and protection for licensed content. By carefully controlling what traffic flows onto and from the campus network, the firewall eliminates and prevents much malicious activity.

Lastly, the vendor systems have detection services that monitor usage and activity. Unusual spikes in activity from a single session, or use and systematic downloading of content, can trigger an automatic action that disables access until activity returns to normal.

A proactive stance regarding access to academic resources is valuable since it positions the University Libraries to minimize downtime and service interruption, and it ensures that students and faculty have maximum access to the online academic subscription resources that support teaching, learning and research.

For more information, contact Bradley Faust, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu, (765) 285-8032.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 3; May 2007.

Activity Report Shows Graduate Students are Most Frequent Users of Interlibrary Loan Services

Interlibrary Loan Services (ILS) is the place to go for hard-to-find books, journal articles, and other research materials not held in the Ball State University Libraries’ collections. Last fiscal year, the area obtained 17,587 items for use by members of the Ball State community.

A review of activity during the Fall Semester 2006 showed that graduate students are the heaviest users of ILS, submitting 57% of all requests. They were followed by undergraduates (21%), faculty (15%), and staff (7%).

Not surprisingly, usage by undergraduates increased proportionally with class rank reflecting the increasing sophistication of student research needs as they progress in their college careers.

Undergraduates and university staff were more interested in borrowing books. Graduate students had a much heavier preference for journal articles, while faculty were almost evenly divided in their requests for books and journal articles.

The ability to supply a request, known as the “fill rate,” was very high: 89% for faculty requests, 85% for staff requests, 80% for graduates, and 78% for undergraduate requests.

However, the actual fill rate is significantly higher because the primary reason for canceling an interlibrary loan request is the item is actually available in the Ball State University Libraries’ collections. When such requests come through, the library users are notified so they may readily obtain the requested materials.

The small percentage of remaining unfilled requests is due to circumstances beyond the control of the University Libraries, most often for one of three reasons:
Charges to borrow an item
Copyright limitations
Lending restrictions from the holding institution

Interlibrary Loan Services consistently garners positive comments from library users for the timely services they provide in helping meet the research, teaching, and learning needs of the university community.

For more information, contact Elaine S. Nelson, Ball State University Libraries’ Interlibrary Loan Supervisor, ENelson@bsu.edu, (765) 285-1323.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 4; May 2007.

Historic Anti-Klan Newspaper to be Available in the Ball State University Digital Media Repository, a Project of Ball State University Libraries

The announcement that the Ball State University Libraries have received a Library Services and Technology Act digitization mini-grant for 2007-2008 for $23,041 means that a historically significant newspaper will soon be available globally for research, learning, and teaching. The grant funds will be used to digitize The Muncie Post-Democrat and provide access to it through the Ball State University Digital Media Repository, a project of the University Libraries.

The Muncie Post-Democrat was published by former Muncie mayor George Dale from 1921 through 1936, and continued after his death until 1950. During Dale’s tenure, the newspaper was a strong voice against the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, especially the Muncie Klan. Dale was nationally prominent for his fight against the Klan. He was beaten, shot, and even spent time in prison because of his strong anti-Klan position.

Dale used the newspaper as a weapon against the Klan and its many prominent local members, including Muncie’s mayor, chief of police, lawyers, judges, and other politicians. The newspaper is a unique historical artifact that is extremely valuable for researchers on the Klan in Indiana during the 1920s and 1930s.

After Dale’s death, the newspaper continued, although the battle with the Klan was basically over. The later issues provide a pro-Democratic Party, pro-labor viewpoint. While the anti-Klan years may be of the greatest historical interest to researchers, the entire run of the newspaper has educational and research value.

The newspaper is used by students, faculty, historians, and the general public. Digitizing this rich resource will make it available 24/7/365 to a vastly increased number of users globally through the Internet.

The digitization of the Muncie Post-Democrat will also serve as a key element in another project. Ball State University’s Center for Middletown Studies, in collaboration with Archives and Special Collections, has begun to work to develop an online teaching archive to explore the impact of the Great Depression on Muncie, the site of the seminal Middletown research.

Writing in support of the grant application, Dr. James J. Connolly, Director of the Center for Middletown Studies, said that the digital archive will permit students, researchers, and the general public to investigate the ways the Great Depression changed (or did not change) the experiences of Middletown residents in the six areas identified by sociologists Robert and Helen Lynd in their original 1920s study.

The original newspapers are quickly deteriorating. A vast majority of them are very fragile, brittle, and virtually falling apart when handled. For the project, the paper copies will be encapsulated so that they can be scanned without harming them. Digitizing them will help preserve the originals as well as make the newspaper more accessible. Optical Character Recognition will be done to make the text of the newspapers searchable.

The grant project begins in July, with 1,198 issues and 4,924 pages to be digitized and made available through the Digital Media Repository by mid-2008.

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

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 5; May 2007.

University Libraries Receive Notice of a LSTA Grant to Digitize the Muncie Post-Democrat Newspaper

The Ball State University Libraries have received notification that they have been awarded a $23,041 Library Services and Technology (LSTA) Digitization Mini-Grant for 2007-2008 to digitize The Muncie Post-Democrat. This grant support will result in the creation of The Muncie Post-Democrat Newspaper Collection.

John Straw, Director for Archives and Special Collections and Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, are co-Principal Investigators.

LSTA digitization grants are supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and administered by the Indiana State Library. The 2007-2008 grant will be the third consecutive LSTA digitization grant awarded to the University Libraries.

The two previous grants have resulted in the Digital Repository of U. S. Civil War Resources for East Central Indiana and the Middletown Digital Oral History Collection, both of which are available in the Digital Media Repository.

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

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 5; May 2007.

Improvements in Authentication Process to Allow Mac Users Access to Streaming Digital Content

Recently, the University Libraries began an ambitious project that holds great promise for increasing access to digital audio and video assets available in the Ball State University Digital Media Repository (http://libx.bsu.edu). This important new resource, which is a project of the University Libraries, offers rich and diverse digital resources for students, faculty, and others to use for teaching, learning, and research.

Access to audio and video content is an important service offered through the Digital Media Repository. Currently, the University Libraries utilize a Windows Media Services 9 system to stream much of the digital audio and video content that is part of the DMR. Unprotected content from the Windows Media platform is easily streamed to students and faculty using both Windows and Mac client systems. However, access to protected content is a problem for users of Mac systems.

Protected content are digital objects with access restrictions set to comply with copyright and intellectual property rights. This content is easily accessed from a Windows Media Player on Microsoft Windows computers. Mac systems, however, cannot complete the authentication process and persons are denied access to the protected content. Because the Digital Media Repository receives a large number of hits from Mac users from both on- and off-campus, this is a real problem for the University Libraries and our content partners.

In early February 2007, we decided to explore the possibility of solving this Mac access problem without changing the streaming technology we had adopted. We knew that we could adopt a different streaming technology to address this issue, yet we wanted to explore more fully options with our Windows Media Service 9 streaming solution.

Another reason we chose not to move away from our current Windows Media solution is that Microsoft’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) solution holds promise. That is, the Windows Media DRM technology makes it possible to protect, deliver, and play individual, subscription, and promotional digital media content on computers, portable audio devices, Portable Media Center devices, or networked devices that are connected to an Internet protocol (IP) network.

Our research to solve this problem revealed that one reason Mac clients cannot authenticate to Windows Media Services 9 is incompatible authentication methods used by Windows and Mac systems. The Windows Media Services 9 system, for example, supports two types of authentication methods, Negotiate and Digest Authentication. The Mac systems support the Basic Authentication method. After further research and analysis, our conclusion was to resolve the problem by writing a server-side authentication plug-in for Windows Media Services 9. This is exactly what we have done over the past two months. That is, we have developed a plug-in, and we are now ready to beta test it in a production environment.

The plug-in, developed on a Virtual Server test environment in the University Libraries, is a server side component that uses Basic Authentication to provide Mac systems access to protected assets. It is a COM object written using VB.NET, the Microsoft Windows Media Services 9 SDK (Software Development Kit) and .NET Framework v1.1 architecture.

The plug-in, when enabled, will prompt Mac users for a Ball State computer username and password. The authentication process is accomplished by checking a user’s credential against the Windows domain (Active Directory). A nice feature is that it can also be modified to authenticate against any database, e.g. SQL Server, MySQL, etc. This plug-in is intended to operate alongside existing authentication methods currently in place.

The plug-in will allow protected content to be accessed using the Windows Media Player for Mac. We are continuing to investigate options for authenticating access to protected content from other Mac media players such as the QuickTime player with Flip4Mac and iTunes.

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

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 6; May 2007.

Ball State University’s Brent J. Royster Revives Mississinewa Press to Print Poetry Chapbook Collections

Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Brent J. Royster, Assistant Professor in the Department of English, the Mississinewa Press, which is committed to publishing innovative poetry chapbooks biannually, is again operational and accepting manuscripts for possible publication.

The small press, originally founded by Dr. Patty White, is financed in-house and requires no commercial or contributor funding.

The first collection of poetry, Howard McCord’s Swamp Songs and Tales, is a paperback that the Press published this year. In early May, Mississinewa Press owner/publisher Dr. Royster presented a copy of it to Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of the University Libraries. The 54-page book was printed and bound by the Ball State University Print Shop on acid-free paper (ISBN 1-928835-09-0).

Dr. Royster said that he became acquainted with well known author McCord while he was a graduate student at Bowling Green State University where he received his MFA and Ph.D.

When speaking about the Mississinewa Press, Dr. Royster said, “Right now, we’re looking for chapbook length collections, 32 to 48 pages long, and in any style as we have a wide range of tastes. We are building a new Web site and hope to have readings at Bracken Library in the future.” View, http://bjroyster.iweb.bsu.edu.

Persons interested in more information or to inquire about publishing opportunities can contact Dr. Royster directly, mississinewa@poetrypress.net.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 8; May 2007.

Ball State University Libraries Identify 2006-2007 Accomplishments

In late April 2007, the University Libraries’ assistant deans and directors prepared a listing of their unit’s most significant accomplishments achieved over the academic year, view www.bsu.edu/library/article/0,,43179--,00.html.

The 25-page listing chronicles many of the University Libraries’ significant accomplishments. The listing is organized under ten categories and by performing unit. This listing illustrates the success of our professional and paraprofessional personnel at improving and expanding our libraries’ role in the academic life of the university.

Listed also is a University Libraries also has posted a copy of its 20-page report, Selective Listing of the University Libraries’ Services, Programs, and Collections 2006-2007. This listing is also organized by performing unit. The value of this listing is to inform members of the academic community about what all goes on inside an academic library.

A small selection of our 2006-2007 accomplishments includes:
· Developing Cardinal Scholar, the University’s institutional repository for faculty and student digital media
· Developing the Libraries’ Digital Commons for media
· Exceeding last year’s turnstile count by 3.3% for persons entering the University Libraries
· Hosting the Libraries’ Fourth Annual Copyright Conference
· Initiating free laptop printing as a student service
· Opening of the Bookmark Café @ Bracken Library
· Remodeling the Architecture Library, including a new circulation desk, carpet, and more
For more information, contact Arthur W. Hafner Ph.D., M.B.A., Ball State University’s Dean of University Libraries, AHafner@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5277.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider: 5(5): 13; May 2007.