Friends of the Library Summer 2012
C.G. O’Kelly Library Newsletter
Contents 3| Library Partnerships
10| Refreshing O’Kelly
Partnerships benefit both students and library services
Changes to help develop the library’s study environment
4| Friends and Stars
11| Distance Library Services
Mark your calendars! The WSSU Friends of the Library BIG EVENT, is November 2, 2012!
6| Graduation Time
Graduating students celebrate C. G. O’Kelly Library services!
9| Information Literacy
Helping students locate, measure, analyze and use information ethically.
O’Kelly Library supports WSSU students and faculty off-campus
11| Student Success and Library Services O’Kelly Library Sevices foster success in WSSU students
7| New Staff 7| Staff Development 8| O’Kelly Archives
Friends of the Library Newsletter Summer 2012 Writing & Editing Mae L. Rodney Michael Frye Photography & Editing Jeff McGill Assistant Editing Mel Rutledge Vicki Miller Publishing & Graphic Design Luchrita Fulton A C.G. O’Kelly Library Publication
Check Out These Library Services O’Kelly Library Website: www.wssu.edu/library O’Kelly Library Mobile Apps www.wssu.edu/library and look under the “Mobile Apps” link O’Kelly Library Twitter: http://twitter.com/cg_okelly O’Kelly Library Facebook: on.fb.me/KyzJzZ Proctoring services: Call any reference librarian and they will arrange to proctor a student or a class taking an online exam.
WSSU Friends of the Library
Library Partnerships The library is more than just a collection of books. Partnerships are occurring among students as they use the meeting rooms; gather in a huddle around a single computer or LCD panel or at one of the larger tables to discuss assignments. Partnerships between computer science, education and mass communications faculty members and librarians are the strongest. These partnerships benefit both students and library services. The library staff aggressively seek computer science students as employees because they can enrich their technical skills while providing the library staff the much needed technical assistance to cover routine tasks. A landmark project involving Jasmine Ferguson, a computer science student, was completed during the 2011-12 academic year. She created and deployed a Microsoft Access database to index and organize the videos and supplemental documents from the James A. Gray Lecture Series. This has been the largest digital project completed by the archives staff to date. During the last two years computer science faculty members and librarians have expanded their collaboration. Tom Flynn, Documents Librarian and computer science and history liaison has assisted computer science faculty in shaping course content to include a host of informa-
tion literacy learning experiences to better introduce students to computer science professional literature. In addition, Flynn has been able to share information with the computer science faculty about the collection and services offered on several occasions.
Graduate Assistant, Bobby Garcia helps a student in the O’Kelly Information Commons
The partnership with the School of Education and the library has resulted in at least two education graduate students being employed during 2011-12 academic year. Bobby Garcia and Linda Smith offer quality assistance and work extended hours during the traditional business day. They assist patrons with technical and research issues at the information commons desk, conduct and analyze the unobtrusive survey and scan images in archives. The results from the unobtrusive survey will help document how the library impacts student success. To complete the partnership with the school of education, Carl Leak, Associate Director for Teaching and Research, and Melina Livas, Distance Services librarian worked with Jill Miller of the physical education faculty to design a new course entitled, “Understanding Health Disparities in the United States.” This is an online course that has information literacy experiences embedded throughout the course. The library staff is always looking for new opportunities to partner with faculty and students. Contact your favorite library liaison and schedule a consultation and build a valuable learning experience for the students.
O’Kelly Librarian Carl Leak and WSSU students during a consultation session www.wssu.edu/cg-okelly-library
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WSSU Friends of the Library
Friends and Stars Community arts and entertainment is the focus of WSSU’s Friends of the Library 2012 fundraising event. The evening will be an Ed Sullivan old school variety type show for both the young and the young at heart. “Winston-Salem’s Got Talent”! Friends and Stars: An Evening of Community Performing Artists will be held Friday, November 2, 2012 at the Greek Orthodox Church, Hellenic Fellowship Hall on 435 Keating Drive, Winston-Salem. Storyteller, musician, motivational speaker, and educator, Lorenzo Meachum, is the evening’s Master of Ceremony. Meachum, will offer up a lot of free-wheeling fun and old school charm to liven up the night. His fifteen-year relationship with the WSSU Friends of the Library makes his name synonymous with the organization. During those years, he has shared his diverse talents by producing One Man One Show, which featured the writings of Langston Hughes and most recently he served as the master of ceremony for 2008’s FOL Event, HisStory. New school entertainment will include spoken word performances from Winston-Salem natives CNDestiny and Jeanette Stackhouse. Stackhouse is a 2012 honor graduate of Glenn High School where she had an outstanding record as a scholar, athlete and performing artist. She was a 2011 Rotary Club Scholar, captain of the 2010-11 track team and Glenn High School 200910 Poet Laureate. She is a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill. She has been commissioned to pen and Meachum present
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a homily to Faustina L. Holman*, our beloved former professor of music. Poet and spoken word artist, CNDestiny uses a unique blend of words and music to engage her audience. Most recently she performed for Marvstastic Talent Extravaganza - a regional Talent Competition sponsored by the NC Black Repertory Theatre and the Centennial CIAA Basketball Tournament.
CNDestiny
WSSU music department groups along with other community performers will provide the melodic and lyrical entertainment for the evening. Robert Hairston, a member of the Emmanuel Baptist Church Choir, will wow the audience with his beautiful voice. Temple Memorial Baptist Church Heavenly Mimes Dance Group from High Point and the Winston-Salem Hellenic Dance Troupe Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Dancers will share their talents. Both groups are very energetic and provide visually appealing performances. The Institute of Devine Arts will return in a repeat performance for the evening. These young performers offered a powerful and lively demonstration of Alvin Ailey’s modern dance techniques during the FOL 25th *deceased
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WSSU Friends of the Library
Anniversary Celebration. Their performance will be a special tribute to Gerald L. Pauling, Sr.* a loyal supporter and former member of the planning committee. You won’t want to miss this event! Performances start at 6:30 PM continuing throughout the evening, so program your personal digital assistant for 6:30 PM. Guests will choose and enjoy a variety of foods from self service table stations throughout the evening. Tickets for Friends and Stars are $50 for adults and $25 for students. The cost includes a meal and a full evening of entertainment. Approximately $25 is tax deductible and will assist with funding two graduate assistantships for the library. Please purchase tickets by October 25, 2012. This will greatly assist the planning committee. Adequate funding for library graduate assistantships is very important. Supporters are being offered three options for contributing. In addition to the ticket sales, the fundraising subcommittee is recruiting as many evening sponsors as possible ($2,500) from among businesses, WSSU alumni and friends. Evening sponsors will have reserved seating on the front row facing the stage. This level of contribution includes a table with 10 seats. Businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals are invited to purchase advertisement space in the printed program. Ads offset printing
costs and provide valuable revenue for the graduate assistantships. A separate insert (provided in this newsletter) includes reservation form for tickets, a price list as well as a donation form if you are unable to attend. Print-ready ad information must be received in the library by September 30, 2012. Microsoft Word or PDF documents should be sent to: washingtontl@WSSU.edu. Donations for this worthy cause are strongly encouraged and can range from $25 and upwards. A separate page will be set aside in the printed program to recognize donors. All contributions are tax deductible. Certified checks and money orders are welcomed and should be made out to the WSSU Friends of the Library. Additional information about the evening can be requested by calling (336) 750-2442 during standard business hours Monday – Friday. This will be a great evening to connect with old or new school friends. Make Friends and Stars a night for the entire family. *deceased
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WSSU Friends of the Library
Graduation Time C. G. O’Kelly Library services are being celebrated by our students! During graduation, the library received two shout-outs from the graduates – Krisharn Bunch, senior class president warmly reflected on the late night study hours in O’Kelly and the class spokesperson and honor graduate Amber C. Simmons reflected positively on her many hours in “Club O’Kelly.” In addition, the academic year closed with seven of our long–term (2-5 years of service) student interns graduating. The staff has mixed emotions because they are proud but really sad to see these graduates leave. They represented the positive values desired in employees. They were reliable, focused and very committed to providing their fellow students with quality, customer friendly service. In addition, many of the students were faithful junior hosts and hostesses at the WSSU Friends of the Library events for several years. What a year!! Graduates include Jasmine Baldwin, Education; Alesia Calhoun, Interdisciplinary Studies, Nichole Calhoun, Nursing; Ayreka Ford, Business Administration and Marketing, and Whitney Smith, Clinical Laboratory Science. Two computer science students also served the library well during their employment. James Hill worked three years assisting with maintaining and installing the computers in the library. Jasmine Ferguson’s contributions were described in the previous article.
Chris Hopkins, Management Information Systems graduate, worked between the textbook desk and information commons, assisting students with their technical issues. During his exit interview Chris said he decided before he arrived at WSSU as a freshman that he wanted to work in the library. His goal was to meet a number of persons and the library was the place to make it happen. After moving off-campus, Hopkins indicated that the library gave him a place to come between classes and allowed him to stay connected with other students. He really enjoyed helping other students. Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude and has a job in his discipline. His goal is to return to WSSU to mentor other School of Business and Economics students. During exit interviews of O’Kelly work study students, several of them indicated work experiences at the library gave them an inside hand with their studies because they knew about all the services offered and frequently took advantage of these services. One graduate indicated she was able to assist her classmates with accessing and using the electronic resources from what she had learned from working at the library. Tokens of appreciations, and certificates were shared during a May 1, 2012 pizza party for graduating students; the library director expressed the staff’s appreciation and pride in a job well done. We hope they will continue to serve others as they seek employment in their chosen professions.
Source: Garett Garms
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New Staff Ronunda Claiborne joined the O’Kelly Library staff on May 1, 2012 as the library technical assistant in Archives. This is the first full-time support position assigned to archives. Approximately one third of her work will involve cataloging the DVDs for the collection. Ronunda is currently enrolled in the University of North Carolina- Greensboro Masters in Library and Information Studies Program with an anticipated graduation date of May 2013. She will be actively engaged in assisting with transforming Friends of the Library newsletters and other documents into digital format. Ronunda became interested in a career in libraries while conducting research on her family’s genealogy. After accepting the position at Winston-Salem State, she learned that her great aunt graduated from Teachers College in the 1920’s. She confirmed her attendance through the 1935 TC Pedagogue Yearbook. As she works with the collection, she hopes that she will be able to continue adding more facts about her heritage.
Tasmin Washington joined O’Kelly Library staff on July 16, 2012 as the Administrative Associate in the Library Director’s suite. She is responsible for ensuring that daily operations occur in a consistent manner. During the fall semester, one of her primary tasks is ensuring that students and part-time employees are in place for the start of the academic year. Also, she is responsible for ordering supplies and equipment needed by staff. Tasmin is a 2011 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, with a degree in International Studies. While enrolled at UNC-Charlotte, she worked on a variety of projects which afforded her the opportunity to acquire skills in using Banner, Blackboard, and Microsoft Office Suite. In addition to her numerous office management responsibilities, Tasmin is currently creating electronic files for perspective employees and working with Luchrita Fulton, our graphic artist, to redesign the slides for the library LCD panels.
Please join the library staff in welcoming Ronunda and Tasmin to the Ram family.
Staff Development Staff members continue to engage in a variety of staff development activities—both as presenters and attendees. These opportunities further expand their areas of expertise and assist in keeping their knowledge current. Michael Frye presented for the second year in a row at the Metrolina Library Conference in Charlotte, June 14, 2012. This presentation focused on his partnership with life
science faculty member Stephanie Dance-Barnes. Through their extensive work together Dance-Barnes created the model information literacy course for the university, which included instruction sessions
Frye
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Flynn
and activities centered around the five information literacy strands. The media production team created a video that documented the partnership and illustrated how information is shared between librarians, faculty members and students. Tom Flynn presented at the Society of North Carolina Archivists annual meeting in March 2012. His presentation was a part of a larger group presentation that covered “crowd-
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WSSU Friends of the Library
sourcing” as it is used by archival institutions. The progress being made with the projects in the digital library was the focus of the presentation and specifically how it was being used to encourage students and alumni to participate in the building of larger digital collections. The attending archivists were impressed by the amount of supporting archival material being brought in by WSSU colleagues and the community at large and we hope that this relationship will continue to enrich the digital library.
Livas
Levine
Miller
Rodney
On June 22- 26, 2012 librarians, Michael Frye, Melinda Livas, Cynthia Levine, Vicki S. Miller, and Mae L. Rodney attended the American Library Association (ALA) conference in Anaheim CA. Major interest points of the conference included,
how to document the library’s value within the university’s strategic plan, additional techniques that can be used to keep the information literacy program engaging, and how to use library data to tell the library’s story.
Foster
Screen
Davis
Gamble
Forest Foster, Michael Davis and Christopher Screen attended the southeastern regional conference for EDUCAUSE in Tampa Florida, May 29-June 2, 2012. Two significant enhancements were researched—how iPads can be used more in O’Kelly Library and how social media can be utilized to better connect with students and faculty. They also focused on how to integrate in-house developed media in instruction and presentations. Patricia Gamble, Carl Leak, and Janet Malliett attended the National Council of English Teachers in St. Louis, Missouri. Members of the instruction team were interested in acquiring different teaching techniques and finding new tools to enhance collaborative techniques with faculty members.
Leak
Malliett
Archives Thomas Flynn, University Documents Librarian was able to complete his largest project to date with collaboration from automation and media colleagues and many service hours from graduate assistants. This group of technology savvy individuals transformed approximately 54 lectures from the James A. Gray Lecture Series into digital format. This is the most comprehensive collection that has ever been processed and uploaded by the staff. The James A. Gray digital library also includes approximately 50 photographs and 120 supporting documents. This documen-
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tation covers news releases, event programs and correspondence with the various speakers. You are invited to visit the site and enjoy the lectures. The university photo collection is becoming more valuable each month as more persons seek permission to use the images. The spring 2012 issue of Archways used historical pictures from this collection, which resulted in a very attractive publication. External organizations continue to access the photograph collection to build on the
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WSSU Friends of the Library
subject matter of their publications. PBS is using images from this collection to enhance a production on the Sitins in Winston-Salem and various researchers are using images in books on multiple subjects. The digital library also includes a comprehensive collection of WSSU graduation and Founders Day programs. These collections are extremely beneficial to individuals doing historical or genealogy research. Again, you are encouraged to visit the archives site regularly to see the new additions to the collection. Flynn is starting a series of oral histories, interviewing former WSSU alumni and faculty members. The biographies compiled from the Slater Book Society celebrations will be a cornerstone for the oral histories. (Judge Roland Hayes, Evon Reid (d), Sadie B. Webster, State Representative Larry Womble, and Rachel Diggs Wilkinson (d) are just a few of the individuals with biographies on file. The library staff also has interviews of the Diggs sisters on file. Victor Johnson, former football player and soldier during the late 50s and early 60s was recently interviewed. Merdis McCarter, longtime member of the WSSU faculty will be interviewed during the summer of 2012. If you would like be included in the persons who share their reflections of life at “TC” you are encouraged to call or e-mail Tom Flynn at 336-750-2426 or flynnth@wssu.edu.
Information Literacy Helping students acquire the necessary techniques to locate, measure, analyze and use information ethically is still alive and well within the library program. This major component of the library’s purpose is being addressed with all university agents engaged in the teaching and learning processes. The library’s instruction team continues developing and participating in training sessions designed to help them create multiple instructional sessions for one course. Librarians are developing lesson plans for each of the learning outcomes for the five information literacy strands. To increase the number of general education classes emphasizing information literacy, librarians worked oneon-one with nearly ten faculty members during the spring semester restructuring or constructing new information literacy based courses in human performance, education, behavioral sciences and life sciences.
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To ensure that each of the information literacy strands receive comprehensive treatment, the O’K Scholars spring 2012 institute was restructured. The goal is to help faculty become comfortable with the primary concepts of information literacy and guide them in structuring course assignments and activities to help students become information literate. Face to face time with the librarian increased and faculty members will be required to share their course assignments and course outlines that include the information literacy experiences with the librarians by the beginning of the fall semester. The staff is really excited about the new format and will continue to shape the institute because it has done much to improve the library staff’s relationship with the faculty. In addition, although the primary opportunities for library staff to offer instruction in freshman orientation and English composition courses have been reduced, approximately 50% of the faculty members who participated
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WSSU Friends of the Library
in the O’K Scholars Institute continue to schedule library instruction sessions. These sessions are how the staff will maintain a strong presence in the instructional program. In the meantime, the library staff continues enhancing library services for an ever-changing student population. For example, the instruction team is anticipating becoming a beehive of activity when they become heavily
engaged in embedding information literacy in the newly restructured general education curriculum. The goal of the newly designed general education program is for the 1,000 plus entering and transfer students to receive information literacy instruction during their initial year at the university. In addition, the staff will continue offering instruction sessions to upper level courses.
Refreshing O’Kelly So many factors play into how students make their choices when selecting a college to attend. The attractiveness of buildings and the number of perks and conveniences offered play a major role. To ensure that the library is attractive and useful to current and future students, refreshing projects continue to be planned and completed. During the spring semester major refreshment projects were completed, including painting the remainder of the building (second and third floors) and installing carpet on the east wing of the first and second floors. A new emphasis on the second floor east wing was identified - to provide alternative private study for students in a less congested and less busy area. This new emphasis resulted in existing furniture being reconfigured and the acquisition of new furniture. This new area acknowledges that learners have different study styles and that the different age groups enrolled at the university require different study environments. Efforts to provide a variety of choices for our ever-changing student population are ongoing. Approximately thirty computers are located in various sections of the second floor and are configured to four different styles. Two areas have a nest of six computers, two very private pods have three computers and a scanner and two groupings have four computers. These computers have easy access to a print management station. Round tables with bar stools and cafÊ-like booths also offer more seating choices. For the individuals that need even more privacy there are study rooms for small groups where individuals can gather to plan projects. This varied environment gives students options that will encourage more individuals to enter the building throughout the day.
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WSSU Friends of the Library
Distance Library Services Melinda Livas, Distance Services Librarian has been successful in connecting with the nursing adjunct faculty members to offer a variety of instruction sessions to the offcampus nursing program. She has provided orientation sessions to classes on how to upload videos in Blackboard and how to create minivideos as presentation tools. She offered approximately 30 sessions to the RN BSN nursing program during the 2011-12 academic year. Instruction sessions have been presented in locations as close as Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and as far away as Cleveland Community College,
Shelby North Carolina. Often much of her instructional time is devoted to how to navigate our website and access electronic resources. She is in constant contact with the students, either through e-mail, telephone or Blackboard. Melinda Livas is embedded in the majority of the distance nursing classes through Blackboard which allows the students to have direct access to her services. Skype is an option but it has not been readily embraced by the students. Students’ response to the information shared and the request for more and earlier interventions have been the primary impetus for the rise in the number of instruction sessions.
This year, the Distance Coordinators for the RN/BSN program hosted orientation sessions at three locations: Winston-Salem State University, The Appalachian Center in Hickory, NC and Wake Medical Center in Raleigh, NC. Livas facilitated a concise library introductory session at all three orientations.
Student Success and Library Services Traditionally university student success is associated with grade point average and whether the individual graduates in four years. Research has not confirmed what concrete resources are required for students to indeed be successful during their university experience. Some individuals require a quiet location, others need an environment with no distractions, some require a table and a comfortable chair. All of these environments can be found in O’Kelly Library. Providing the proper environment is as important as pen and paper in the learning experience. A host of services have been established in O’Kelly library with the goal of helping students be successful while at Winston-Salem State University. The electronic resources were the most used by the WSSU
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community, while the LibGuides created by the librarians were heavily used. Desktop and laptop computers were also very popular w/ patrons. The textbook collection was the most used among the print titles. As the academic year ends, we will be able to provide a fairly comprehensive view of how our patrons used the services and resources provided to them as we compare statistical data and the results from the unobtrusive survey which was conducted throughout the academic year. The staff may not be able to provide a direct cause and effect statement, but we will be able to confirm that the provided resources – electronic resources, technology and the print collections did provide our students with easy access to the needed supplemental items necessary to have a successful learning experience at WSSU.
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Winston-Salem State University C.G. O’Kelly Library 601 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Winston-Salem NC, 27710 wssu.edu/cg-okelly-library
Foyer Steps inside of C.G. O’Kelly Library A library patron takes a closer look at “Origins,” one of the two murals created by Dr. John Biggers. “Origins” and “Ascension” were commissioned by Winston-Salem Delta Fine Arts Inc.