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.

New Web Applications Improve Finding an Available Computer and Software in the University Libraries

At the beginning of fall semester 2009, the Ball State University Libraries unveiled two new Web applications that allow students and faculty to find resources in Bracken Library and in the two branch libraries that are located in separate buildings, the Architecture Library and the Science-Health Science Library.

The Computer Availability application allows students and faculty to find available computer workstations in the three facilities. The second utility, Software Locator, helps them to find workstations that are equipped with the particular software that they need. These new utilities are found at the bottom right on the Student Virtual Library Web page, www.bsu.edu/library/svl.

Libraries’ Student Assistant Danielle Stewart describes the Computer Availability Web page as “…something students can really use.” This online interactive map of Bracken Library updates every five seconds, displaying available or open computers on each floor. Robert L. Seaton, Web Development Analyst, offers a more technical overview of the Web page: “An agent runs on every Public Access Computer (PAC) that reports that computer’s status to a server. The Web page simply requests availability information for each computer by its location and displays them on a map.” The result is that students, faculty, and staff coming to Bracken or one of the two branch libraries can find a computer for use quickly and efficiently without having to hunt for an available workstation. To test the Computer Availability utility, view www.bsu.edu/libraries/cas.

With Software Locator, users can quickly find workstations in any of the three libraries that have the particular software they require and can see if those computers are available for use. According to Seaton, “A database is kept up-to-date with information about each Public Access Computer, including its software and its physical location. When a search is performed, the Web page checks the database to identify what computers by their location have a particular piece of software installed. This data is then reported for viewing on the Computer Availability Web page for a map.” To test the Software Locator, view www.bsu.edu/libraries/swsearch.

Information Services Librarian Eric B. Fisher says, “That Software Locator is amazing. I had a student in this weekend [at the Reference Desk]. He was looking for Microsoft Project. I used the locator to find what computers have it loaded and was able to send him right to one that he could use.”

When modifications to software on any computer occur, updating of the database immediately reflects the new software availability in the system, eliminating any lag inherent in publishing a new software list.

For more information, contact Sean Walton, Emerging Technologies Librarian, SPWalton2@bsu.edu, 765-285-1101.

University Libraries’ Public Catalog Connects to Google Books

The University Libraries have launched an exciting new discovery tool that increases the scope of desktop, point-and-click digital information delivery through the University Libraries, offering Ball State’s students and faculty a more robust and integrated virtual library experience.

This powerful new feature connects CardCat (the University Libraries online catalog) records to digital copies of books found in the expansive Google Book Search Project (GBSP). Now students and faculty performing research in CardCat can read excerpts or even the full-text of books by clicking on the Google Preview button or using the embedded Google Book’s reader located at the bottom of the record.

According to Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, “This innovative new application developed by our librarians greatly expands the volume of resources that the Libraries offer to Ball State students and faculty to achieve their educational and research objectives.”

The GBSP, a massive book digitization project begun in 2004, now includes nearly seven million books available through agreements with authors, publishers, and civic, academic, and special libraries. Through Google’s private contracts, library partnerships, and a pending legal settlement with authors, nearly 70% of the seven million books in GBSP are available for limited preview or full-text viewing. Limited previews of books are offered when a book is still in copyright. In this case, rights holders decide how much of the book will be made available online. Full-text viewing is available when a book is considered to be in the public domain, typically titles published before 1923.

While not all books in CardCat have a counterpart in Google Books, Google Preview greatly enhances the value of the Libraries’ catalog as a research portal for those items that have a link, creating a more engaging experience for the user. In addition to providing book covers, when available, students and faculty realize the real value of the service since they are able to browse or read books from their desktop. Researchers can evaluate a resource from the desktop and make informed research selections before visiting the Libraries’ stacks.

The University Libraries are fully invested in information-delivery innovations that help students and faculty discover the rich resources offered through our broad print and digital collections.

The launch of the Google Book Search Preview within the Libraries’ CardCat is just one more way in which the Libraries support teaching, learning, and research through the continual expansion of information access, redefining education and research in an environment of seamless knowledge discovery and increased digital integration.

For more information, contact Matthew C. Shaw, Collections Development Librarian, MCShaw2@bsu.edu, 765-285-1302.

Students and Faculty Return to See New Carpeting on Bracken Library’s First Floor

Students and faculty returning to the Ball State campus this fall discovered a few changes to one of their favorite destinations, Bracken Library. The most obvious was the newly completed replacement of the carpet on Bracken’s first floor and on the steps of its well-known spiral staircase.

Bracken’s new carpet is a welcome aesthetic improvement, chosen to match the permanent features of the building such as the concrete walls, brick, and oak. No matter what colors may adorn Bracken’s walls in the future, the woven carpet will match its surroundings, and its pattern will likely disguise wear from traffic patterns and will lessen any noticeable soiling.

Georgia Direct Carpet, Inc., Richmond, Indiana, installed the carpet, which was manufactured by Karastan Commercial Carpets, Inc. Part of the process of installing over 4,500 square yards of new carpet also included taking up the old carpet, some sections of which were over fifteen years old. Following removal, the old carpet was recycled or sent to a clean burn facility.

Installing carpet is a huge job that required a lot of planning, organization, and teamwork. Libraries’ personnel from various units within the Libraries were involved, including Book Stacks Management, Access Services, Support Services, and Information Services, along with team members from University Facilities and Dixie DeWitt from the Dean of Libraries’ Office. Tasks included moving several dozen ranges of books and periodicals from one end of the first floor to the other and then back. One book stack might take as many as eight people to push along using a range mover that was used to lift the stacks. Moving also involved the physical removal of thousands of boxes of microform, moving cabinets, and then the replacing the cabinets and replacing of all of the microform.

Another Libraries’ unit that was involved was Library Information Technology Services since they had to disconnect and reconnect over 150 public computer stations, nine printers and print release stations, and four scanners. There were hundreds of cables, cords, and plugs involved in moving the workstations. To minimize disruption to students and faculty, temporary computer access was added to stations on other floors, along with temporary scanning stations and moving of computer tables. After the new carpeting was in place, everything had to be set up again. As Kirk M. VanOoteghem, Lead Microcomputer/Systems/Network Analyst at the University Libraries, noted, “Taking machines out was the easy part. Putting them back together was much more time consuming because of having to measure out the proper cable lengths for network and power, having to tie up cables and lock down equipment, and getting the right machines back into the right locations.”

Along the way, Kirk and his team replaced all computers on Bracken’s first floor east and reimaged computers on first floor west. Added to that, they set up temporary office space in study rooms for several employees to work while their spaces and work areas were being carpeted, as well as a temporary circulation desk with mobile equipment while the main circulation counter area was being re-carpeted.

To keep everyone updated on the progress of the carpeting project, Reference Librarian Sean Walton made regular entries to the Libraries’ Facebook page . If you are on Facebook and want to be a fan of the University Libraries, just search Facebook for “Ball State University Libraries.” Photos can be found here.

University Libraries Continue Offering Free Printing Services, within Limits

Beginning on the first day of fall semester classes, the University Libraries announced that we would continue to offer students and faculty “free” printing. A difference from past years is that users are limited to 1,000 “free pages” per semester. A page is the printing of one side of one sheet of paper.

When a person using our printing services reaches the 1,000 free pages limit, an electronic tally is kept and a charge of 5¢ per exposure over 1,000 is charged through the Bursar’s Office at the end of the semester.

Students and faculty may check personal print balances 24/7 by using the Check Print Balance link on the Libraries’ homepage, shown in the left column, www.bsu.edu/library. Similarly, there is a link prominently displayed at the bottom right of the Student Virtual Library page, www.bsu.edu/library/svl. The balance displayed is current through the previous day at midnight. Users with guest accounts can print up to 20 pages per day.

The 1,000 page “free” printing service is based upon data collected in the 2009-2010 time frame from 6.2 million pages printed by students and faculty. Of this printing, 97% fell under the 1,000 “free” page base. Allowing 1,000 pages may help to curb some past abuse of our printing service. Last spring semester, for example, ten students together printed 101,417 pages, with one of the students printing 54,279 pages.

Analysis of last fall’s printing data, published in the May 2009 issue of The Library Insider, revealed that seniors printed an average (mean) of 278 pages each, with 79.2% of senior students using the service. At the same time, graduate students printed an average of 446 pages each, with 62.8% of BSU’s graduate students using the service. Other classes of students printed fewer pages, on average. Word documents accounted for 36.4% of the printing, followed by PDFs (20.9%), PowerPoints (14.7%), and non-BSU Web pages (11.1%).

The University Libraries also provide students and faculty with access to more than 380 computer workstations, including 18 Mac units. The Libraries have 10 high-quality, fast laser printers that print documents from those workstations as well as wirelessly processed documents from personal laptops.

Bracken Library is open 120.5 hours weekly, with longer hours immediately before and during final exams. Between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009, Bracken was open 357 days to support academic achievement, research, and learning.

Helen B. and Martin D. Schwartz Special Collections and Digital Complex Dedication Held in Bracken Library

The Helen B. and Martin D. Schwartz Special Collections and Digital Complex on the first floor of the Alexander M. Bracken Library was dedicated at 11:00 a.m. on August 17, 2009. The 30-minute ceremony included remarks from Ball State President Jo Ann Gora, Vice President for Information Technology Phil Repp, Dean of University Libraries Arthur Hafner, and Mr. Martin Schwartz.
The event was attended by Schwartz family members and friends and members of the Libraries and University administrations. Following the dedication ceremony, which included a short tribute video recognizing the Schwartz family for their long history of support of Ball State University and especially the University Libraries, guests toured the facility to see demonstrations of the technology and resources available in the areas of the Digital Complex.
The Schwartz Digital Complex is an innovative, collaborative, and interactive learning and teaching environment dedicated to serving the educational advancement of Ball State University students. This technology-rich facility in Bracken Library was made possible by a generous gift from Martin Schwartz in honor of his late wife, Helen.
In her remarks, President Gora said, “None of this would have been possible without the vision and philanthropic support of Helen B. and Martin D. Schwartz.” According to Vice President Phil Repp, the Schwartz Digital Complex will be “Ball State’s connection to the world, as well as the world’s connection to our unique collections, the kind of collections that Helen and Martin worked so hard to recognize and preserve.”
The Schwartz Digital Complex will provide a space that digitally connects students and faculty to the numerous digital media assets and special collections available through the University Libraries. It will be a place for students and faculty to reach across the globe to better understand the stories and customs of world cultures through digital media.
While making available the University Libraries’ rich array of digital media assets and special collections, the Complex also will provide access to media from around the world — a digital “newsstand” that provides access to international media, broadcasts, podcasts, and multimedia. It will be a global gallery that provides students and faculty with a media-rich gateway to connect visually and aurally to the artifacts that form the world’s cultures and societies. The Complex will also serve as an innovative and flexible space for fostering an undergraduate research culture.
The official opening of the Schwartz Digital Complex will be on September 17 as part of the first in a five-part series of Tech4U events sponsored by Information Technology and hosted in Bracken Library. The September 17 event will run from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and is open to the public.
Copies of the DVD of the dedication ceremony and tribute video are available for viewing in Archives and Special Collections, and will soon be available on the University Libraries’ Web site, www.bsu.edu/library.
For more information, contact John B. Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, JStraw@bsu.edu, 765-285-5078.

Bracken Library Features New Art Exhibit on Children’s Literature

Exploration of Narrative Art is on exhibit on Bracken’s first floor through fall semester 2009, thanks to Dr. Barbara Jo Giorgio-Booher, Assistant Professor in Ball State’s Department of Art. Paintings are on the wall and also featured in a display case.

In Professor Booher’s class, Drawing 3 (AFA 303), students read various classic children’s literature to learn how authors and illustrators use compositional elements in the creation of children’s books. They then select a story segment, line, or verse. Their objective is to comprehend the nature of the text and give life to that comprehension. The students used color, environment, figures, and common objects to explore how to support a narrative with art.

Dr. Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries, developed and implemented the idea of sharing artwork with students, faculty, staff, and visitors at the University Libraries. He believes that students benefit from sharing their artistic creativity with a larger audience, and the displayed artwork in the University Libraries enhances the physical environment while also providing artists an opportunity to exhibit their work. The outreach program to students and faculty in the Department of Art as well as on campus in general has resulted in beautifying the Libraries’ walls on three floors. Artistic works include items ready to hang such as paintings, drawings, woodblock prints, and photography, in addition to handmade books and metal works measuring less than 8” high in order to fit into specific display cases.

The University Libraries invite Ball State students, faculty, and staff to display their artwork in Bracken Library. Similarly, the Libraries invite university community members who would like to provide live artistic performances. The artist or performer begins by completing an online form: www.bsu.edu/library/artwork. Dean Hafner said, “We have exhibited some spectacular artwork created by members of the University community. We have also hosted many live performances that have helped to expose our students and faculty to the performing arts.”

For more information about loaning artwork to Bracken Library or performing in Bracken Library, contact Hank Gerhart, FHGerhart@bsu.edu, 765-285-5277.

University Libraries Upgrade to N-Wireless Connectivity

When using the University Libraries, students, faculty, staff, and other users of netbooks, notebooks, laptops, MacBooks, and other wireless hand-held devices will notice that they now have full access to n-level data network connectivity, technically known as 802.11n. This connectivity is accessible throughout the University Libraries, including the two branch libraries: Architecture Library and Science-Health Science Library.

The benefit to wireless-n device users is that the upgrade allows significantly faster network throughput. With n-wireless, for example, the theoretical capacity is 444 Mbps; whereas it was 54 Mbps with the g-wireless service. Each new access point supports 5.0 GHz band in addition to the 2.4 GHz band already in place. The 5 GHz band has substantial capacity and less radio interference. Because so many WiFi devices are b- or g-level compliant, a dual band wireless network is being configured. These features are important to Ball State students and faculty who increasingly are finding that the Internet is an indispensable tool for research and learning for accessing informational resources.

Students and faculty can also borrow laptops and MacBooks from the University Libraries for a period of up to 18 hours. This allows them to experience a laptop or substitutes one for their own that may be at home or in their residence hall room when visiting the Libraries. In addition, the Libraries provide access to almost 400 desktop computers that provide access to all of the common software used on campus to support project work and research.

Students and faculty using devices on the wireless network will also have access to the library laptop printing service through the Libraries’ homepage.