Category Archives: Faculty/Staff

Giving Tuesday

Give Back.

Give Now.

After Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday comes Giving Tuesday. There are many ways to give – of yourself, your talents, your dollars – to support students at Illinois Wesleyan.

#GivingTuesday.

On Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, non-profits, families, businesses and students will come together for one common purpose – to celebrate generosity and to give.

There are many ways to give back and support students at Illinois Wesleyan:

It’s been 13 years…

9-11 at IWU (2)Thirteen years ago terrorists attacked the East Coast cities of New York and Washington, D.C. Thousands of people died.

The Argus and other IWU publications from those months are available, digitally, through the Tate Archives & Special Collections.

On the 10 year anniversary, the New York Public Library called for us to look back and remember; now, think about where we were and where we are now.

The following resources are taken directly from the NYPL’s blog.

Oral Histories and Archives

Personal Narratives in the NYPL Catalog

Scholarly Walls & Bridges: Paywalls and Open Access

Over 20 courses are being offered in the 2014-2015 academic year related to the course cluster theme of Walls & Bridges. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this theme seeks to question the purpose of walls and bridges: are they built for protection to keep the “bad” out or as an exercise of power to keep the “good” in?

From the course cluster themopen access logoe description:

“The world continues to be mark
ed by the construction and demolition of both walls and bridges, physical, economic, ideological, and political. Walls and bridges serve to both separate and unite; however, the reasons for building walls and bridges is complex – informed by history, power, and ideas.”
Libraries deal with these sort of complex issues daily as they relate to scholarship. Many libraries pay millions of dollars each year in order for you to access scholarly resources. There are normal costs associated with publishing scholarship, but what happens when the costs of journals rises so far that even elite research-intensive universities cannot afford to keep up.

Are publishers building walls around scholarship by charging so much for access?

If publishers are building walls, are there “bridges” into scholarship? The Open Access movement has gained momentum in challenging the publishing industry to account for increasing profit margins. There are, however, many misconceptions about open access
, perpetuated by the publishing industry.

Want to learn more? Check out our display on the first floor of the Ames Library or ask a librarian about how licenses, paywalls, embargoes, and open access affect your experience at IWU.

Therapy Dogs at Ames – Reading Day

5843023076_159ff65fda_zStressed out?  IWUF1RST is bringing therapy dogs to The Ames Library Patio on Wednesday, April 23 from 2 pm – 6 pm.  There will also be massage chairs and yoga, and we’re excited about those too, but mostly we’re looking forward to hanging out and snuggling with cute dogs.  Thanks to IWUF1RST for sponsoring this event! (“Black Labrador Lotte” by Andreas, CC-BY-NC-ND)

John Wesley Powell Conference, April 12

John Wesley Powell Conference logo

You are invited to the 25th John Wesley Powell Undergraduate Research Conference beginning on Friday, April 11 with posters and presentations by students from Educational Studies in The Ames Library from 4 pm – 7 pm.  On Saturday, April 12, the conference begins at 9 am in the Center for Natural Sciences with posters and presentations from students in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Composition students will present their work during the luncheon, and students from the School of Art will present their work beginning at 1 pm in the Ames School of Art. Our keynote this year is Paul Black, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow from Wake Forest Baptist Health.  For the full schedule, please see the conference website.  For programs and presentations from past conferences, please visit the conference archive.

For presenters: If you are printing a poster at the library, you can pick it up at the Circulation Desk during regular library hours.  If you’d like to add your work (poster, presentation, art work, composition, photos) to the conference archive, please contact Stephanie Davis-Kahl.

Congratulations to the Newly Tenured and Promoted!

The IWU Board of Trustees recently approved tenure and promotions for nine faculty, including Ames’ own Meg Miner, University Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, and Chris Sweet, Information Literacy Librarian!  Congratulations to Meg and Chris and to our faculty colleagues on this momentous achievement!

What does IWU’s archives collect?

This image is part of a brief overview on how you can help your archivist save your history for the future.

Follow the link or click on the image to read more about it!

portal to a brief slide show on what IWU's university archives collects

 

Open Access Week Events

open access logoThe library is sponsoring three events to celebrate Open Access Week:

Open Access Exhibit – Definitions & Debates
All week, Circulation Desk
Thanks to Sciences Library Crystal Boyce for creating this exhibit!

Open Access, Social Justice and Information Literacy
Monday, October 21, 12:10 pm – 1 pm
Davidson Room

Please join Stephanie Davis-Kahl and Chris Sweet from the Ames Library for a presentation about the connections between open access, information literacy and social justice, and how these play out in the classroom, on campus, statewide and nationally.

 

Open Forum with Nick Shockey, Director of the Right to Research Coalition
Thursday, October 24, 4 pm
State Farm Hall Case Study Room

Nick Shockey is the Director of the Right to Research Coalition, an international network of undergraduate and graduate students working towards open access to research. Nick is a graduate of Trinity University in Texas, where he helped pass an open access policy for faculty. He is an experienced speaker on issues related to Open Access, including author rights and taxpayer access, and has been active in working with his SPARC colleagues in Washington, D.C. to advocate with House and Senate representatives for legislation and policy at the national level. Please join us for discussion and debate!

To learn more about Open Access, please watch this video from Ph.D. Comics, or read about it here or here.  We’ll be adding more information about how IWU promotes Open Access in the coming days!

Finding Government Information During the Shutdown

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The government shutdown has cut off access to many key resources provided by federal agencies.  Mashable has a summary and links to where    some government data can be found, and EBSCO has provided access to the ERIC database for free.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States is available in print from 1966-2008 (2nd floor, call number HA202.A2), and electronically via  ProQuest from 2009 – present.  ICPSR is also a great place for data and statistics from government agencies.

 

If you have any questions about finding government information, please contact the Help@Ames Desk!

(image by Nick Papakyriazis, CC BY-NC-SA)

 

Ames Catalog & I-Share Scheduled Maintenance

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The Ames Library Catalog and I-Share will be down for scheduled maintenance from Friday, June 21 – Sunday, June 23.