Palmer College of Chiropractic Health Sciences Library  

The library has been a very busy place since last summer. At that time we were prepping for a migration to a new catalog system, Symphony from Sirsi-Dynix. We went live in October and have been tweaking things and having additional training since that time. The students seem to like the new interface. In addition, the library has added several new online resources. Dynamed is an evidence-based, clinical reference tool for healthcare professionals with summaries for over 3000 conditions; the Rehabilitation Reference Center is a comprehensive collection of evidence-based rehabilitation information including clinical reviews; SPORTDiscus with Full Text contains full text for over 490 sports and sports medicine journals. Our students and clinicians have appreciated the addition of these clinical resources to our vast collection of databases.

Dunn Library, Simpson College

We now have a LibQUAL+ results web page. Check out what was perceived as important to our students and faculty; 17% of the faculty and 24% of the students participated. After this survey, we have been making many changes including:

• working on noise concerns and collaborating with SGA to find more solutions (Library as place);
• adding electronic resources: America: History and Life, ATLA Religion, First Research, Oxford Language Dictionaries and all Wiley InterScience journals for more science access (Library information); and
• placing updates in Campus Pulse and The Simpsonian, on the Dunn web site and the new Dunn Library fan page (Library service). Please check out the results page to see other improvements.

Wartburg Seminary

1.Theological Libraries Month:

• We again received a small grant to celebrate Theological Libraries Month in October.
• Book sale: The book sale was October 6-9.
• Cookie Fest: We had a study break on Tuesday, October 13, during Research & Study Days.
• Ambassador Dan Mozena reception: We hosted and paid for a reception for the ambassador to Angola after his lecture on October 19.
• Scavenger Hunt: We had a scavenger hunt in the library from October 20-22 and gave away two books as prizes.
• Rare Book Presentation: October 27 and 29, library staff showed some of our rare books after chapel.
• Halloween candy: October 30, we had lots of candy in the library from after chapel to closing.

2. We celebrated Johann Michael Reu’s ( our library’s namesake)140th birthday in the library on November 16, after chapel. Professor Craig Nessan shared stories about Reu.

3. We hosted the Rev. Eliakim Shaanika, General Secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, for an hour during his visit to Wartburg, showing him and his two hosts the theses and projects of our alum from Namibia. We also took a tour of the Namibian Archives.

4. The Namibian Archives, which is under the Center for Global Theologies, now has a home. In March we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the independence of Namibia. Wartburg Seminary was instrumental in helping Namibia’s struggle for independence. Our Namibian Archives includes items from that time.

Grinnell College

1. Students Teaching Students at Grinnell College Libraries

Have you ever needed to know how many books you had checked out from the library, or which database to use for a particular subject or class? The Libraries have trained the 40+ students already working at service desks in Burling (circulation, Listening Room, and the Iowa Room) and Kistle Science Libraries to serve as Peer Information Advisors (PIAs). These students, as well as their desk supervisors, can now help with a range of commonly asked research questions—such as the two listed above.

The Libraries have also trained three students as Reference Assistants (or RAs) who can help with more advanced research inquires. Look for our RAs on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at Burling’s reference desk; the RAs will also be available from 10 pm-12 midnight on Sunday thru Thursday evenings.

Please direct comments or suggestions on these new services to Phil Jones ( jonesphi@grinnell.edu) or Beth Bohstedt (bohstedt@grinnell.edu).

2. Library Student Assistants Honor Cinema’s “Golden Year”

1939 was a monumental year for cinema. Some historians have minted it as the greatest year in film history. Indeed, some of the 20th Century’s most memorable titles, including Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, came out during that year. The selections for 1939’s Oscars were so great that instead of the normal five nominations for Best Picture, ten films were nominated in this category.

Throughout November, student assistants from Burling Library’s Listening Room are honoring the seventieth anniversary of this memorable year in cinema by creating posters, presentations, and displays about films released in 1939. Be sure to check out the display of books on the first floor of Burling about the political, social, and cultural landscape that inspired the explosion of excellent cinema during this historic year. Related projects by Listening Room student assistants are also on display in the Listening Room and on the library’s first floor. The topics, ranging from censorship in 1939 films to film directors, are listed in more detail below.

The Libraries will co-sponsor an evening of “Pizza and a Movie” with SGA Films and the Student Government Association on Thursday, November 19th, at 7:00 pm in the Forum South Lounge. The featured film is one of 1939’s finest, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Appetizers, pizza, and beverages will be provided, and the event is free and open to the public. (Organized by Madeleine Allen ’10 and Rachel Smith ’11)

3.New Faces in the Libraries!

Amy Roberson has joined us as a one-year term Reference & Instruction Librarian, filling in for Gail Bonath, who is on sabbatical leave this year. Amy is a recent graduate of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her professional interests include reference services, information literacy, and Web usability. When not at work, Amy enjoys cooking, playing music, knitting, and hiking.

Maharishi University of Management Library

Maharishi University of Management Library succeeded in getting administration approval of a new policy requiring information literacy for completion of all programs. The policy identifies three required exposures to IL: New student orientation, Composition II, and information literacy-intensive courses identified for each department.

In December, Director Martin Schmidt and Reference/Instruction Librarian Suzanne Vesely introduced the concept of IL to the Faculty Senate, explaining the ALA/ACRL five points of information literacy, some materials developed by another Iowa block system school, Cornell College, a rubric that we developed for grading IL papers, and more. The presentation was followed by a breakout session of cognate groups focused on key questions that would help them pinpoint different types of IL needs.

Since then, we have had a good response from the faculty and are very busy scheduling and teaching research skills sessions in many departments, covering specialized topics such as “Critical Thinking for Sustainability Majors,” “Visual Cultures,” “Discrete Mathematics,” and more fascinating fields. We also approach the course instructors of programs identified as “IL intensive” for meetings.

In other news, Suzanne Araas Vesely was elected Treasurer of GODORT for ILA/ACRL.

Wilcox Library of William Penn University

Staff at the Wilcox Library of William Penn University are working on a collaborative project with the Oskaloosa Public Library and Mahaska County Historical Society. They are using Content DM software to digitize college historical documents and archival photographs. There are also plans to digitize the student newspapers. These documents are an important part of the history of William Penn University and the history of Quakers in Oskaloosa. You can view the digital archives on the Wilcox Library website : http://cdm270701.cdmhost.com/index.php

Jennifer Sterling, Instructional Services Librarian, is in the beginning stages of a collaborative project with faculty to revamp information literacy instruction.

Briar Cliff University

Briar Cliff University has hired Debora Robertson as the new Director of Library and Information Services. Deb came to Sioux City from Blountville, Tennessee where she was working for Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon, Virginia as the Director of Library and Instructional Services. With this recent change in leadership, the library staff decided to host a day of formal focus group sessions in January. Two retired BCU professors spent the day meeting with students and faculty to learn what the library at BCU means to them and what it might look like if it were the "perfect" library. With the feedback from these sessions the library staff is now working to find ways to meet the needs and expectations of their user community.