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P5 TRANSITIONS
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P6 DATABASE SPOTLIGHT
NEWSLETTER FOR THE DAVID L. RICE LIBRARY Editor: Mona Meyer
Treasures in the Archives In the summer of 1972, the Lilly Endowment, Inc. awarded the then Indiana State University Evansville a three-year grant to establish an archival project for the acquisition, preservation and processing of regional material. At the end of the third year, the University was to assume responsibility for continuing to collect, preserve, and make these materials accessible. This early grant project was the beginning of what is now the University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) unit at USI’s David L. Rice Library. It started with just a few regional history books from the general collection of the library; today the UASC consists of 408 personal collections, over 700 audio/video tapes, and 5,435 monographs. We’d like to bring three individual collections to your attention here— something new, something little known, and an “oldie but a goodie.” What’s new is our Oral History Collection, recently made available online. The collection includes 514 interviews with local citizens about World War II, including soldiers who were involved in battle and citizens who were here on the homefront. The interviews cover such topics as local
history, education, and what it meant to be a black American living in this region, dealing with segregation, race relations, the Ku Klux Klan, African-American schools, and more. A large number of these interviews were conducted by local historian Dr. Richard Litov, and others were completed by those affiliated with the University of Southern Indiana, such as Dr. Darrel Bigham (professor emeritus of History), Dr. Thomas Rodgers (History department adjunct), Dr. David L. Rice (USI president 1967-1994), Dr. Leigh Ann Howard (professor of Communication Studies), and Jon Carl ’95 M.S.E.’98, history teacher at Reitz High School. Items in this collection include transcripts, video recordings, audio recordings, or some combination thereof. Caveat: these recordings were not done by professionals, so quality may vary, and some videos must be downloaded to view. Listen to Ada McClurkin and Anna Johnson, both of whom worked at Republic Aviation during WWII, talk about what it was like to be a “Rosie the Riveter.” Read about the time Dr. Charles E. Rochelle, an educator in Evansville for 41 years and the principal of Lincoln High School, met Booker T. Washington. Listen to Dr. Alan Rankin, (continued on page 3)
Spring 2018
Streaming Video Options Rice Library now offers expanded streaming video options for USI faculty members. You will find complete information on the library’s webpage under "Services for Faculty/Streaming Video Options." Here’s a brief overview of the options available. According to its website, Filmmakers Library Online “provides award-winning documentaries with relevance across the curriculum—race and gender studies, human rights, globalization and global studies, multiculturalism, international relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more. It presents points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions world-wide.” You may be familiar with this Alexander Street/ ProQuest product as it has been available for some time. You can search the database if you know what you’re looking for, or browse by title, discipline, publisher, or people. Kanopy is broader in scope, offering 26,000+ films, about one half of them (continued on page 3)
From the Director's Desk I recently celebrated my fifth anniversary as director of the David L. Rice Library. The time has gone by quickly because we have been busy!! The librarians and staff members at Rice Library continue to amaze me with their skill, enthusiasm, and dedication to serving the USI community. Last year, the library staff updated its strategic plan, available on the library’s website under “About the Library.” The library’s plan resulted from the staff’s explorations into the changing nature of academic libraries. Each unit in the library submitted objectives for the new strategic plan. These objectives were then placed under four broad, library-wide goals: Collections, Services, Spaces – both physical and virtual – and Library Staff. This document will provide us with a road map for the next five years. New library resources include African American Newspapers (1827-1998); American Antiquarian Society’s Historical Periodicals (1691-1877); Oxford Handbooks Online for 2012-2016, and the Oxford Scholarship Online collections in Classical Studies, Business and Management, Economics, History, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, Social Work and Sociology for 2016-2017. Enhancements to the now 11 year-old library building continue. In 2016, part of the library’s first floor was re-purposed for a
Demand-driven Acquisition Demand-driven acquisition is a hot topic in today’s libraries. This approach allows users to have more input into collection development decisions. We have received catalog records for all available electronic books from one of our biggest vendors, and these records are now in the library’s online catalog. From July 2017 through February 2018, we have added 8,367 titles. When you search for something in our catalog, you might find one of these titles. When you click on the Online Access link, you will be able to see the table of contents and to read and download portions. Using one of these books will trigger its purchase and it will become a permanent part of the library’s collection. Titles will be added to and/or deleted from this collection as the vendor dictates, but any title that has been purchased will be retained by the library.
collaborative, multi-use space, including two media hubs to facilitate group project work. I hope that these changes result in a more usable and comfortable space for our users. Through its active Publicity, Outreach, and Marketing Committee, the library continues to offer many events and programs. Our most popular event continues to be Paws N Play, which brings certified therapy dogs to campus just before final exams each semester. This semester, for the first time, we will have a therapy cat, Ghostbuster! In past semesters, hundreds of students visited the Paws N Play event, co-sponsored with the Recreation, Fitness, and Wellness Center and the Counseling Center. Other popular events are Board Game Night, the Reading Eagles Book Club, and Lemonade @ the Library, held during Welcome Week in August. These activities draw students to the library and help to make library staff members more approachable for students. The library’s staff continues to learn and grow together, as we work to improve the library for our users. Please stop by and visit us, and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you may have about the David L. Rice Library.
Marna Hostetler, Director David L. Rice Library Marna.Hostetler@usi.edu 812-464-1824
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… bring a combined total of 490 years of service in a library setting, not merely at USI. Experience gained in other library settings enriches the creativity pot.
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… have a combined total of 380 years of service to the University!
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… have a combined total of 370 years of service to Rice Library -that's 37 decades of experience to draw upon.
BY THE NUMBERS: RICE LIBRARY STAFF...
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FUN FACT: Thirteen current staff members of Rice Library were student workers in a library before coming to work here full time. Four of these were student workers at Rice Library. Library staff members are great role models!
… have a combined total of 87 areas of library expertise.
… hold a combined total of 26 undergraduate degrees and 17 masters' degrees. Five staff members are working on a degree at either the undergraduate level or graduate level. … are a polyglot group, speaking and/or reading 12 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, American Sign Language, Greek, Latin, Japanese, Russian, Catalan, Portuguese, and Romanian.
Casual Reading Collection
collection development priorities. These books are identifiable through our online catalog, and will have the location Casual Reading Collection, 1st Floor.
At a conference attended by Library Director Marna Hostetler, she learned about partnerships between public and academic libraries where some public libraries share at least a portion of their older fiction collections with nearby academic libraries. Intrigued by this, she approached Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library (EVPL) Director Cyndee Sturgis-Landrum to see if there was interest in a similar project here. The public library was interested and discussions began. Staff members at Rice Library gathered statistics about our own Leisure Reading fiction collection to determine which genres circulated most. During the spring of 2017, EVPL staff members created a collection of some 800 titles that were checked out to Rice Library. This collection contains graphic novels, manga, and young adult books— genres we wished to explore but had not been able to support amidst our other
To help judge the success of this project, monthly circulation statistics are gathered and shared. For the period of June 2017-February 2018, nearly 300 titles have been checked out. An additional 77 were browsed, meaning that while they were not checked out, a user looked at them and may have read them in the library. Most checkouts were to undergraduates, and their genre of choice was the young adult titles. We at Rice Library hope that this collaboration can continue in the future.
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Treasures in the Archives (continued from front page) former president of Indiana State University, talk about the founding of Indiana State University Evansville/ University of Southern Indiana. Watch Arlin McRae, retired Harrison High School teacher, talk about what it was like to be a Marine in WWII, and his experiences at Iwo Jima. One collection that is little known but rich in value is the artwork of Helen Wallace, soon to be available online. Helen Wallace was born in Mt. Carmel, Illinois on December 5, 1891, and buried there after her November 22, 1979 death. She was a portrait painter, illustrator, and fashion sketcher who studied at the Chicago Art Institute and various summer institutes around the United States, and abroad in Italy. During the 1920s she was a staff artist for the Chicago Herald-Examiner. After her retirement, Wallace was artist in residence in New Harmony for a time under the sponsorship of Jane Owen, and lived in Evansville for several years in the 1940s. The collection includes fashion sketches, portraits of socialites, and advertising for movies. This caricature of Syd Chaplin advertises the 1926 Warner Brothers silent film Oh What a Nurse! (Syd Chaplin is a halfbrother to Charlie Chaplin.)
The Sonny Brown Collection is our “oldie but goodie.” Brown was a long time photographer for the Evansville Courier newspaper, and photographed everything from politicians to entertainers performing in this area during the 1950s through the 1970s. He had a personal friendship with Grandpa Jones of Hee Haw television show fame, and this
collection contains an extensive set of photographs of cast members. Here’s a favorite cast member, Beauregard the Wonder Dog. Some 104 of Brown's photographs chronicle the “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” odyssey that was the Bull Island music festival. Over the Labor Day weekend in 1972, two promoters planned to hold a rock music festival on the grounds of a racetrack in Chandler, Indiana, billed as the Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival. Indiana officials prohibited the use of the initial site, forcing promoters into a last minute move to Bull Island, a piece of land jutting out into the Wabash River. Only accessible from Indiana, Bull Island was on the east side of the river, but through a technicality based on the original course of the river, it was officially in Illinois' jurisdiction. The festival became known simply as “Bull Island.” Expected crowds of 55,000 swelled to 200,000-300,000, and law enforcement sanitation, food, and water were hopelessly inadequate. Many of the promised performers did not appear, and a torrential rainstorm furthered the chaos. The event ended with two deaths, overturned and pillaged food trucks, a burned stage, mounds of debris, and massive legal problems for the two promoters. The political campaigns of Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Vance Hartke, George Wallace, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, and Robert Kennedy, among others, visited Evansville and were recorded by Brown’s lens. In the 1950s, Evansville's 17th Rifle Co. Marine Reserves attended summer training at Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot in Nevada, now called Hawthorne Army Depot. Covering 226 square miles, it is the world's largest depot and a frequent (continued on page 5)
AAS Historical Periodicals The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) maintains the largest collection of pre-20th century documents found in the United States. Rice Library is proud to offer access to the AAS Historical Periodicals collection, covering 1691-1877. These are available in full image. Even if you’re not a historian, there’s some fascinating stuff here. These resources are divided into five series, by date. Go to our Databases A to Z listing, explore, and enjoy!
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Streaming Video Options (continued from front page) documentaries. If you are a Netflix user, you will find that this service operates in a similar fashion. You can search without creating an account for yourself, but if you wish to create a watchlist or playlist for yourself, or to include these in Blackboard (a learning management system) for your students to watch, you must create an account. Closed captioning is available. Swank Digital Campus requires you to create an account to search its catalog. The default search is by title. You can browse by clicking on the advanced search option and then looking at “Subjects & Themes.” After you locate the title in which you are interested, click on “Request” and this information will be sent to the library’s acquisitions unit. Please note that it generally will take 24-48 hours (longer for weekends and holidays) for a title to become available for your use. We hope these services prove useful to you. The key is planning ahead! Titles come and go from catalogs, and licensing agreements vary for length of access, title by title. These factors are out of the library’s control, but if you will let us know in advance of your needs, we’ll do our best to help you. Contact Dianne Grayson, assistant director for Collections and Resource Management, at dgrayson@usi.edu or 812-464-1905 for more information or assistance.
In Memoriam
NEW ROLES
Phil Orr first came to work in the David L. Rice Library on November 20, 2000 as a call-in reference librarian, helping provide reference assistance during evening and weekend hours. When a full time position opened up in 2001, he applied and was hired as the Distance Learning Librarian. Phil’s academic achievements (a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in education, both from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois) qualified him for this position, and his experiences as a teacher in the Nashville Community Consolidated School District and as a librarian in Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky, equipped him to succeed. But these are merely the facts about Phil. They don’t begin to paint the portrait of the Phil Orr we knew and loved. He had an unwavering focus on wanting the best for USI faculty, staff and students. When asked for assistance, he always followed through on searching and finding information, and could be counted on to go the extra mile. He was well-respected by students and the university community as a whole; in fact, he was often requested by name by those with research needs. His patience, kindness and generosity were obvious to all who dealt with him. Phil was a humble man, never wanting to take credit for anything. He lived out his deep faith daily. Phil retired from the University and Rice Library in December 2016, to what all hoped would be a fulfilling and well deserved retirement. In February 2017 came the terrible news that he had been killed in a traffic accident. Phil touched many lives, both at USI and beyond, and is remembered with love. At the time of his retirement, one of his USI Bible study group friends shared these heartfelt words, “We are truly sad to see you go, but we know that to everything there is a season. We want you to know that we hold you in high esteem. You most definitely will be missed.”
Rest in peace, dear friend.
Reading Eagles Book Club Rice Library has begun a book club, and you’re invited to join! The next title will be The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore. In 1888, George Westinghouse of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company sued Thomas Edison in the “War of Currents,” to see if alternating or direct current would power the world. Edison favored direct current, and waged a no holds barred war to prove his point. Inventor Nikola Tesla had briefly worked for Edison and tried to persuade him of the superiority of alternating current. Unsuccessful at persuasion, and apparently not compensated for his work, Tesla left Edison and later sold some of his patents to Westinghouse. The gloves came off, the battle began, and take no prisoners was the modus operandi.
There will be two discussion sessions held, April 4 at noon or April 5 at 9 a.m., both to be held in the University Center on the USI campus, in room UC 2203. Come to the session that best fits your schedule, and feel free to bring in your lunch/ breakfast/snack. Previous titles read by the book club are Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami, Kindred by Octavia Butler, Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee, A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman, and most recently, A Greater Monster by David David [sic] Katzman. The Reading Eagles book club attempts to read and discuss two books per semester. No reservations are necessary---just show up and join in, and feel free to invite your students and friends. Contact Kirsten Williams at kdwilliams@usi.edu or 812-465-1683 with any questions. Title suggestions are always welcome! Follow us on Facebook, too.
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As of Fall 2017, Peter Whiting is Rice Library’s Scholarly Communication Librarian. He defines scholarly communication as “the system through which research and other scholarly writings and knowledge are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use.” It expands access to research through open access and supports students, faculty, and researchers and the advancement of knowledge. Peter’s long-term plans include: assisting faculty and students in promoting their digital identities and boosting their scholarly profiles with open access, further promoting open access initiatives such as Open Educational Resources, and supporting an institutional repository to showcase faculty and student research and thus raise visibility and awareness. The library will take the lead in creating this repository. Peter came to Rice Library in 1999 as Serials Technical Services Librarian. He holds a bachelor’s in graphic arts management from the University of Central Missouri, a master’s of library and information science from Dominican University, and a master’s of public administration from the University of Southern Indiana.
New Librarian on the Block
TRANSITIONS Joanne Artz, assistant director and head of user services, has announced her retirement and will be on sabbatical beginning in July 2018. Joanne came to work at Rice Library as reference services librarian in July 1997, and has had a 43-year career in academic libraries in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. She has a bachelor of arts in ancient history and classics from the University of Vermont, a master’s of library science from the University of Michigan, and a master’s in history from the University of West Georgia. Joanne enjoyed the variety of new experiences she got to experience here, including working on collection development for both the reference collection and with the College of Nursing and Health Professions, and serving as liaison with those faculty members. She long had a desire to be the director of a reference department, and appreciates the faith demonstrated in her as she undertook this role, learning day-today management and supervisory skills. Her particular joy has been working with student assistants. She believes they taught her nearly as much as she taught them, sharing lots of laughs and gaining valuable supervisory experience. Joanne says that her library colleagues over the past 21 years have been wonderful to work with, and while she may not miss coming to work every day, she is “going to miss being a part of a library team that works its heart out to help students succeed at USI. Thanks to all of you for helping me be the best librarian and student advocate I could be.” Martha Niemeier, associate director of library services and collection development librarian, has announced her retirement, and is on sabbatical spring 2018. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Evansville, and earned her master’s in library science from Indiana University. Her tenure with the University goes back to ISUE days, coming aboard in 1970. She has held responsibilities for cataloging, acquisitions, collection development, government documents, and university archives, as well as serving as a reference librarian. When called upon, she has held the reins of the library and kept it functioning well during the absence of a director. She was acting director July 1995-November 1996, and interim director September 2011-October 2012. Martha served on the University Curriculum Committee from 1977 until she retired, witnessing many, many changes over those decades. She helped improve the library’s collection, both in terms of numbers and variety of materials. She was actively involved in the planning for and the move into the new library building during the summer of 2006. Martha said, “It’s been great knowing and working with everyone in the library and university over the past 47 years, but all things come to an end. There have been lots of changes and fun times, and great support during the not-so-fun times. I have experienced much personal fulfillment and satisfaction during those years. I will always treasure your advice and guidance. I hope to have more time to enjoy my family, friends and home now and in the months ahead, and to develop new interests and goals. I want to thank everyone for the opportunity to serve you and to serve alongside you and for the friendships and the time we spent together here. It has been a great time, and I will look back fondly when I think of you.”
We welcome a new Reference and Online Learning Librarian to Rice Library, Becca Neel. Becca double-majored in Linguistics and Spanish as an undergraduate at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (IUB), and went on to get her master of library science from IUB. Before coming to the University of Southern Indiana, she worked in various capacities at the Herman B. Wells Library at IUB. Becca was raised in Evansville and graduated from Central High School. Her favorite food is ice cream —she says she could eat it for every meal! Becca is working on having more active involvement with online learners, to be a consistent presence in their lives. To this end she’s made it a priority to design learning modules that instructors can embed into Blackboard, and to introduce these modules to faculty members. She is updating and encouraging the use of our research guides, too. Recently the library began offering one on one, in-depth reference consultations with students, and Becca is now offering this service via the video conference solution, Zoom. She plans to offer information literacy instruction via the Zoom to College Advanced Placement (CAP) students who cannot make it to campus. This instruction could also be delivered via Blackboard course modules. Approximately 25 percent of our freshmen class are CAP students who need, but often fail to receive, academic library instruction. Becca reports she is very happy to be here! Stop by and meet her, and/or contact her to see how she can work with you and your students. Becca Neel: rlneel@usi.edu / 812-461-5328
Treasures in the Archives (continued from page 3)
used materials from University Archives and Special Collections but do not find your “personal favorites” available online, feel free to contact University Archivist Jennifer Greene (email: jagreene@usi.edu, 812-464-1832) to inquire about the feasibility of getting them in the pipeline. And above all, come to Rice Library, visit the University Archives and Special Collections unit (look toward the boulevard side of the building when you reach the floor), and introduce yourself to Jennifer, Library Associate Deanna Engler, and/or Library Assistant James Wethington, and explore how you may benefit from the many resources available here.
site for desert training. Brown was there for the July 1959 training session, and 52 of his photographs of this event are available for viewing. These and other individual collections are available online through Rice Library Digital Collections. Efforts continue to scan more collections, add appropriate metadata, and post them online, so check back often to see any newly-added collections. If you have
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Database Spotlight:
Springer eBooks In Spring 2017 the library’s University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) promoted awareness of its resources through a contest called “Arch Madness.” Modeled after the NCAA basketball tournament, 16 items from various collections (the “Sweet Sixteen”) were selected, displayed, and cleverly described. Brackets were created and displayed, with a wide-ranging publicity push to invite participants to determine the “coolest” artifact of 2017. Over 1,800 people voted in the various rounds, online and in person. Votes came in from all over the globe, a testament to the power of social media. This year the UASC is pitting its collections against those of the USI art collection and the Lawrence Library, located in the Liberal Arts Center and home to the University’s collection of medieval manuscripts and other artifacts. This year’s championship winning artifact will determine bragging rights through 2018!
Microbiology students working on a project about bacteriophages need the latest methods and protocols. Sonography students need books describing imaging of the liver. Environmental engineering students need the most recent books on wastewater management. Health professions students seek books covering public health informatics. A group of students reviewing immigration policies needs recent books in addition to the articles they’ve found. They need these books at 10 p.m., 2 a.m., or over the weekend. Some are distance education students and may never set foot in Rice Library. Where can these students and faculty turn for current, authoritative books from a trusted publisher? The library’s Springer eBooks database is the largest collection of scientific, technical, and medical titles, combined with books in the humanities and social sciences. These include monographs, textbooks, handbooks, atlases, reference works, and protocols. Librarians choose Springer because it is a global publisher serving the research community and advancing discovery by publishing robust, insightful science from the world’s foremost scholars. Faculty and students will appreciate that Springer eBooks have no Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions, thus allowing unlimited simultaneous users of a single title, and unlimited printing or downloads. Using either a single keyword or phrase, searchers can refine their results by specific discipline and sub-discipline; they can also choose to see “preview only” content, which is not full text. To take a test drive, find Springer eBooks on the library’s Databases A-Z list, or on the eBooks list. There are some additional tips for searching that the library’s reference librarians are eager to share. You can reach them MondayFriday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 812-464-1907, libref@usi.edu, or text 812-496-4466. Faculty members, please recommend Springer eBooks to your students!
David L. Rice Library 8600 University Boulevard Evansville, IN 47712 www.usi.edu/library 10001-01230
David L. Rice Library | 8600 University Boulevard | Evansville, IN 47712 Telephone: 812-464-1824 | Hours Line: 812-465-7127 | Toll Free Number: 1-800-246-6173