ACRL Oregon/OLA Academic Division Blog » news

The Learning Ground at PSU Library

Joan — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:21:58 +0000

The first floor computer lab in Portland State University Library has undergone a significant renovation over the past several months. The Learning Ground, the new name for this updated space, occupies the north corner of the Library building and traditionally has been the most popular computer lab on campus. The Library and Office of Information Technologies jointly proposed renovating this space to the Associated Students of PSU, who were looking for projects to fund from student fees.

The Learning Ground at Portland State Library

With funding from ASPSU, OIT, and the Library, the new lab space opened during the fall term. The lab area features additional desktop PCs and Macs as well as several quick-print workstations and a dedicated counter area for laptop users.

In January, we opened the Sandbox, an expansion into the area formerly occupied by the New Books browsing area and adjacent to the computer lab. The Sandbox is an experimental, collaborative space with a range of technologies aimed at fostering student collaboration, including wall-embedded LCD displays, touch-screen computers, floor-to-ceiling writeable wall surfaces and whiteboards, and a variety of seating and workspaces.

A view into the Sandbox through the windows from the Library lobby.

All the furniture is easily moved. This table can be adjusted to seating or standing height.

: This room was vacated by the Campus Public Safety Office and is now part of the Sandbox. Students can keep the space open or close the sliding barn doors.

: The view from inside the Sandbox out to the Park Blocks at PSU.

The Sandbox is designed to evolve; the technology and space will change with students’ use and needs, and we are glad to have this new space to meet the needs of Portland State University students.

Pacific University Open Access Resolution Passes

gilmani — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:50:05 +0000

On December 8th, the University Council of Pacific University, a governance body composed of representatives from the undergraduate and graduate student bodies, the faculty and the staff and administration, voted unanimously in support of a resolution [PDF] that encourages more open and accessible scholarly practices. The resolution had previously been approved by the Faculty Senate (November 2011).

Through its inclusion of student and staff voices, the University Council’s action represents a unique contribution to the growing number of statements and policies in support of open access to scholarship.

Special study and reading rooms at PSU Library

Joan — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:10:55 +0000

Like most academic libraries, Portland State University Library has several study rooms for students. But we also have a few rooms that are a little bit different.

The Family Friendly Study Room was designed for student-parents and their children. This room can accommodate two family groups at a time and includes two workstations for students and a play/reading area for children. The room is the result of the Library’s collaboration with the Helen Gordon Child Development Center with the support of the Office of Information Technologies.

The Faculty Reading Room was a joint project of the PSU Library and campus AAUP chapter. The room is designed as a well-equipped library carrel in which faculty members can get away from their offices for quiet reading, reflection, writing, and study. When fully occupied, the room can accommodate six people, four in armchairs and two at workstations equipped with scanners and connected to the campus network and networked printing in the Library.

Does your library have any special reading rooms?

PSU Library Exhibit: Of Place and Memory: The Yizkor Book as a Window into a World Destroyed

Joan — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:25:49 +0000

The exhibit “Of Place and Memory: The Yizkor Book as a Window into a World Destroyed” at the Portland State University Library tells the stories of Eastern European Jews and their communities destroyed in the Holocaust. It is the result of a first-time collaboration between the University Library and the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies.

Yizkor books were assembled by survivors from all over Eastern Europe to document their lives, those of their lost family members and friends and their obliterated shtetls (towns). Part memoir, part family tree, part family photo album, Yizkor books tell not only of a people and culture destroyed, but also of a people’s renewal and post-1945 regeneration that followed in Israel and the Diaspora.

Portland State University Library’s Special Collections is the steward of 136 Yizkor books—the largest collection of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Its Yizkor holdings include a volume dating back to 1929, published in Pinsk, well prior to World War II, as well as unique copies not yet included in the recent digitization project undertaken by the New York Public Library’s Dorot Jewish Division. “Of Place and Memory” is curated by Natan M. Meir, the Lorry I. Lokey Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies, with assistance from Special Collections.

The exhibit is in the first floor elevator lobby of the library and will be open until December 16.

Interactive Historical SOU Campus Map

cedarface — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:30:09 +0000

Curious how the Southern Oregon University campus has changed over time? Check out our new website that features a campus map with a year slider at http://hanlib.sou.edu/historicalcampusmap/. The new interactive map shows the addition (and sometimes subtraction) of buildings over time. You can change the year and see what buildings existed at that point in time. You might try clicking on a building to see a picture of it. If you’re curious to learn about the school before it came to be at this campus location, you can click on the Pre-1926 link.

Development of this site was a collaborative effort between one of our librarians, Emily Miller-Francisco, and her husband Grant Miller-Francisco, a GIS Analyst. Grant provided the map-making expertise and Emily contributed her web skills and historical research. Making the site work the way it does involved some sophisticated web programming including utilization of Google Fusion Tables, Google Maps API, jQuery, MySQL, and PHP. Images are from the University Archives.

Check out the historical background of the SOU campus. We hope you enjoy the new site! Questions? Contact SOU librarian Emily Miller-Francisco at millere@sou.edu.

SOU’s New Institutional Repository

cedarface — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:20:23 +0000

Hannon Library’s archive of SOU student and faculty scholarship is growing with the addition of recently completed capstones, projects, research papers, and theses. Student scholarship from 2010-2011 is being added to the institutional repository, scholarship@SOU. The new SOU Institutional Repository archives and makes accessible reports, theses, papers, presentations, University publications, and other scholarly and creative artifacts of faculty, students, and departments.

Each of the three areas of Scholarship@SOU – Faculty Scholarship, Student Scholarship, and eUniversity Archives – can be browsed by academic program or searched across all collections. To browse or find information about the Institutional Repository, go to: http://hanlib.sou.edu/ir/.

Hannon Library Website Goes Mobile

cedarface — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:17:28 +0000

Web enabled cell phones are becoming more and more ubiquitous, especially among students. In response to this, we’re unveiling our new mobile-friendly version of the Hannon Library Website. If you’d like to see it, go to http://hanlib.sou.edu/m. The goal of this site is to distill our main site content into the most useful portions for someone accessing the Library from their phone. It focuses on the types of questions people are likely to have while on the move: What are the Library hours? What’s happening today in the Library? Can I text a quick question to a reference librarian? Who is the librarian for my subject area so that I can send them a more specific question? Do you have a particular book? There will also be links to the databases that have developed mobile-friendly interfaces, including Ebsco and Encyclopedia Britannica.

This Website is a work in progress. Do you have a smartphone? If so, please try it out and let us know what you think. There’s a “feedback” link on the bottom of most pages.

Hannon Library Acquires Eugene Bennett Collection

cedarface — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:12:16 +0000

Hannon Library was bequeathed the book collection of Eugene Bennett, prominent Jacksonville artist who died on November 2, 2010. A Central Point native, Bennett graduated from Medford High School and attended the University of Oregon before serving in the Navy. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Art Institute of Chicago, where he later taught. After a year in Europe, Bennett moved back to the Rogue Valley in 1958, where he taught art and, with other area artists, founded the Rogue Gallery & Art Center in 1960. Bennett continued to exhibit in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, and was a tireless supporter of local arts groups. The collection, which contains nearly 1,400 books covering all areas of art and art history, is currently being processed.

Northwest by Midwest: Reed and Grinnell collaborate on digital initiatives in the liberal arts college environment

rbridgewater — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:14:08 +0000

Grinnell College hopes to implement a campus-wide digital initiatives program to support interdisciplinary teaching and scholarly research. This past April, they invited a Reed team to visit, share experiences, and collaborate. The Reed contingency was comprised of Joanna Burgess, Digital Assets Librarian, Jason Parker, Academic Web Specialist, and Douglas Fix, Professor of Asian Studies & Humanities in the history department at Reed. Our hosts were Grinnell’s college librarian, the director of their campus art gallery, and an instructional technologist. During the course of our two-day visit, we met with numerous staff members from the library and IT, and faculty from various departments. We spoke about the impact our 2006 digital initiatives grant project has had on pedagogy, collection development, and technology at Reed; relayed what we’ve accomplished since the grant was completed in 2009; and in general shared many of our challenges and successes. It was an engaging and thought provoking visit, and a terrific opportunity for collaboration.

Portland State U librarian goes to Uzbekistan

Joan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:25:11 +0000

Claudia Weston, Government Information Librarian at Portland State Library, was selected by the U.S. Department of State to conduct an American Speaker Program in Uzbekistan. Through this program, the Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs arranges for American experts ranging from best-selling authors to Supreme Court Justices, former Secretaries of State, and professional coaches and athletes to engage with foreign audiences worldwide. Claudia will work with the newly built National Library of Uzbekistan in Tashkent and regional libraries throughout the country on the formation of a national catalog, creation of digital information resources, and bolstering the qualifications of library personnel.