Monthly Archives: July 2019

Continuing Collaboration with Information Technology Services

Information Technology Services (ITS) and The Ames Library have been partners for many years on strategic initiatives designed to promote the innovative use of technology in teaching, learning, and scholarship at Illinois Wesleyan University. In addition to working together on the provision of library technology in Ames, digital scholarship, online learning, and publishing programs across the curriculum, we have collaborated on support for classroom technology, community spaces such as the Beckman Auditorium, technology lending, and innovation spaces such as The One-Button Studio and the upcoming Light Board Studio and Sound Stage. In 2019-20, we will have new opportunities to build on this foundation of service-centered partnership as part of campus-wide initiatives around strategic planning and IT planning.

With the retirement this week of Assistant Provost and Chief Technology Officer Trey Short, Scott Walter will take on interim responsibility for the ITS Teaching, Learning, and Technology Services (TLTS) program, including the IT Help Desk and instructional design support programs currently housed in The Ames Library’s Thorpe Center.

As Co-Interim Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Walter will work with colleagues in ITS and the Library to promote greater use of technology in teaching, learning, and scholarship, and to ensure a coordinated approach to strategic planning activities in Academic Affairs and Student Affairs that depend on technology, student mastery of information technology and information literacy skills, and engagement with staff training and faculty development initiatives.

Both ITS and The Ames Library maintain robust liaison services programs designed to promote awareness and use of information and technology resources across the university, as well as the ITS Help Desk and Library Services Desk to meet immediate service needs. We look forward to bringing these teams together over the coming year while the university completes its review of our IT organization and establishes a long-term strategy for IT services that will ensure the greatest benefit to our students, staff, and faculty, and the most powerful impact in initiatives currently being pursued as part of the university strategic plan.

New Digital Content Now Available

Image from African American Serials Collection

Each year, the Ames librarians take advantage of end-of-year opportunities to acquire digital access to new content. With the new year upon us, we are happy to announce that the IWU community now has access to the digital archives of the following titles:

Esquire

Maclean’s

National Review

New Republic

Sports Illustrated

Time

In addition, we have acquired access to the African American Historical Serials Collection, which “documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922 and contains more than 170 unique titles related to African American life and culture.”

Image from African American Serials Collection

Providing access to these resources electronically promotes enhanced discoverability of these valuable resources, and facilitates student use of these resources in their own scholarly and creative work. The African American Historical Serials Collection also enhances the diversity of materials available to our students and faculty through the Ames Library, and promotes greater opportunities for discovery and analysis of information documenting diverse American cultures. Print volumes of journal titles now available digitally are being reviewed for retention as part of the current review and shifting of library materials.

You may find these resources, and more, through the Ames Library A-Z list of digital resources. If you have any questions about these new resources, please contact Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Collections and Scholarly Communications Librarian.

Coming this Fall: The Soundstage

Film equipment

The Ames Library is collaborating with the Office of the Provost, Information Technology Services, the School of Theatre Arts, and others to bring an exciting new space and set of services to the Illinois Wesleyan community in Fall 2019: The Soundstage.

The Soundstage will be a 750–square-foot film and sound recording facility that will be used by students in the Film Studies minor (as well as other courses), and by student groups with an interest in film, video, and media production, including Titan TV.

Media literacy – “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms” – is a critical component of undergraduate education in the 21st century, and a essential to the information literacy program at IWU, which is designed to shape students both as critical consumers and creative creators of information, scholarly work, and creative activity. The Soundstage will complement existing production resources in The Ames Library, including the One-Button Studio (and the upcoming Light Board Studio), audio and video editing hardware and software, and equipment available for use outside the library, including digital cameras, camcorders, GoPros, and more. More information on specialized film production equipment available for use outside the library through a dedicated Soundstage service desk will be announced in the Fall. Film Studies students, as well as other users of The Soundstage, will also have access to the Beckman Auditorium, an ideal space for both the presentation and discussion of film. According to Tom Quinn, core faculty member for the Film Studies minor: “The addition of The Soundstage to The Ames Library will revolutionize the study of videographic arts and technologies at Illinois Wesleyan. Within this new space, students will master technical skills, and explore the power of motion pictures through the creation of dramatic fiction, documentaries, educational films, and commercial communication”

The Soundstage will be located on the lower level of The Ames Library, and collections are currently being reviewed and shifted in order to make space for production space and related equipment. If you have any questions about The Soundstage, please contact Tom Quinn, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts or Scott Walter, University Librarian. If you have questions about collections being moved for construction of The Soundstage, please contact Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Collections and Scholarly Communications Librarian.

Collections on the Move

As part of our ongoing review of library collections and space, we are undertaking a number of projects over the summer that will result in materials moving to new places in the short-term (or beyond). Microform collections have already been moved from the lower level of the Ames Library to the 3rd floor, and a number of books and journals will be shifted throughout the lower level during the next several weeks as we make room for additional services in the library.

If you have any questions about the location of library materials, or require assistance placing a request for materials, please contact the Library Services Desk.

Ames Library Joins Scholarly Publishing Grant Project

IMLS logo

Illinois Wesleyan University is one of 12 partner libraries, including the Claremont Colleges, University of Alberta, University of Michigan, University of Pittsburgh, and others, joining the Library Publishing Coalition and the Educopia Institute to explore best practice in scholarly journal publishing as part of library publishing programs.

IMLS logo

The Ames Library has long been a leader in exploring the potential for academic libraries to serve as a platform for open access scholarly publishing, primarily through the use of our Digital Commons repository to provide access to a wide range of scholarly and creative works produced by IWU students, faculty and staff, including undergraduate research journals. By participating in this project, funded through a US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant, IWU will contribute to a critical discussion of workflow practices, scalability, and sustainability for open access library publishing services, including those designed to extend the reach and impact of undergraduate research programs in liberal arts colleges.

In the contemporary information environment, students must learn not only how to discover, access, and evaluate the work of others, but also about their own opportunities (and responsibilities) as content creators. Ames Library faculty collaborate with colleagues across the university to find opportunities to integrate scholarly communications education with information literacy instruction as part of teaching, learning, and scholarship in all fields.

Illinois Wesleyan University is an Initial Contributing Member of the Library Publishing Coalition, and Digital Commons has become an integral component of undergraduate research programs at the university, including the John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference (with contributed posters available here). Scholarly and creative works published through Digital Commons have been downloaded by users around the world over 350,000 times in the past year alone. If you would like to know more about open access initiatives and scholarly communications education at Illinois Wesleyan, or would like to discuss opportunities to publish your work through Digital Commons, please contact Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Collections and Scholarly Communications Librarian.

4th of July and Holiday Hours

Image of fireworks
Image of fireworks

Image licensed through Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license).

The Ames Library will be closed for the 4th of July holiday on Thursday, July 4th, and Friday, July 5th. Library users will continue to have access to digital content, including full-text articles, e-books, and digital media (including streaming media). Research assistance will also remain available through online research guides.

We wish you a happy and safe holiday and look forward to seeing you when the library re-opens on its regular summer schedule on July 8th.