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A special energy comes with the beginning of each academic year. Suddenly, Middleton Library's computer labs, study spaces, hallways, and book stacks bustle with students, seeking information, research help, quiet study space, or a place to work collaboratively with classmates. Across the quad to the west, the pace in Hill Memorial Library quickens as faculty schedule class visits so students can learn about Special Collections materials. Art, agriculture, political science, history, geography, music, environmental studies, literature - the unique resources in Hill support research in many disciplines.

 

Thirty-two faculty and fifty-eight staff work daily to keep the Libraries open for business. Much of our work is behind the scenes, negotiating with vendors, working with software and hardware to make e-resources accessible, digitizing, cataloging, processing, and paying bills. These efforts support our "on-stage" role, helping students and faculty conduct research, and teaching students information literacy and critical thinking skills that serve them at LSU and throughout their lives.

 

This year, we are also focused on four initiatives with campus-wide impact. The first is launching an institutional repository (IR), which will assist faculty in managing research data and strengthen public access to the intellectual capital that LSU faculty and students create. Bill Armstrong will lead this effort. Bill's knowledge of e-publishing and electronic rights management, his involvement with the innovative InChI project, his experience as liaison to multiple science disciplines, and his interest in scholarly communications make him the ideal person for the job. He will work closely with other proponents of the IR, including CCT, ITS, and ORED, as well as the faculty whose participation will make the IR successful.

 

Second, the Libraries will strongly support LSU Discover, the university's quality enhancement plan to promote and enhance undergraduate research. With the launch date approaching, pilot projects and planning are well under way. Librarians will work closely with other faculty involved in the initiative to promote information literacy and critical thinking skills in courses and mentoring activities, and they will participate in an array of co-curricular activities, collaborating with Student Life and Enrollment.

 

Third, we will assess our facilities needs. Middleton Library is heavily used by students as a space to study and collaborate. Building upgrades and renovations will provide more spaces furnished and equipped to meet their needs. Special Collections needs room to grow, as we continue to document the twentieth-century history and culture of Louisiana. Over the next nine months, we will ask our users to help assess these needs and develop a "road map" for future improvement of facilities.

 

Finally, we will reach out across campus to market library services and resources. Sigrid Kelsey, Director of Library Communications and Publications, is leading this effort. Sigrid has extensive experience as a web designer, writer, and editor. Part of this effort is the inauguration of this newsletter, which we hope you will subscribe to and find useful.  We welcome your comments and suggestions! Please send them to me at esmyth@lsu.edu or Sigrid at skelsey@lsu.edu.

	Jessica Lacher-Feldman, the new Head of Special Collections at the Hill Memorial Library, came to LSU from The University of Alabama where she worked for thirteen years as Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections and Public and Outreach Services Coordinator at the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library. Jessica is thrilled to be working with the rich and historically significant collections held at Hill, bringing new generations of scholars, students, and the public to better understand and appreciate the importance of archival materials through public programming, exhibitions, and fostering research within Special Collections. Read more about Jessica on our blog.
	Emily Frank is the new Engineering and Instructional Technologies Librarian. She came to LSU after completing an International Master's degree in Digital Library Learning. Emily has experience as a grants manager at the University of Kentucky's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, and has completed an internship at the Scientific Information Service at CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Emily says she is "excited to contribute to the user-centered research and instruction services offered by the LSU Libraries. One of my focuses is on finding ways technology can enhance and extend these services." Read more about Emily on our blog.
	Marty Miller is the new Art and Design Librarian. Before coming to LSU, she spent twelve years in the Metropolitan Community College-Longview campus library as a reference librarian. She has also worked at the Murphy Art and Architecture Library at the University of Kansas, the media center at St. Teresa's Academy, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Spencer Art Research Library and Archives. "My position at LSU is an opportunity to focus on the art and architecture research needs of students and faculty at all levels," says Marty, "and I'm looking forward to furthering the advancement of art librarianship through more extensive research and publication."   Read more about Marty on our blog.

Becoming Information Literate Prepares Students for College and Beyond

LSU Interlibrary Loan Services has expanded their document delivery service to include graduate students.

Save the date! The LSU Libraries will host a viewing of the famed double elephant folio edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America (London, 1827-1838). The viewing will be held in the McIlhenny Room of Hill Memorial Library on the LSU campus, on Saturday, November 16, from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m.

  

Audubon Day in 2011 was the focus of a feature article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "The Joys of Slow Looking," by Willard Spiegelman, who noted the dazzling colors and rich visual texture of the original etchings.

 

Audubon Day is free and the public is invited, but reservations are required. Viewings of the folio volumes are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 noon, and 1 p.m. Only 40 people per hour will be admitted, so that everyone has a chance to view the four folio volumes.

 

To request a reservation, please use our online registration form or call 225-578-6544 during business hours.

Read more about Audubon Day.

Maude Turnbull, a descendant of Baton Rouge free people of color Dudley and Aldometer Mather Turnbull. The family's papers are included in the project.

The National Endowment for the Humanities recently awarded a grant of $194,152 to the LSU Libraries Special Collections to digitize, index, and provide free access to family papers, business records, and public documents pertaining to free people of color in Louisiana and the lower Mississippi Valley. The project, entitled "Free People of Color in Louisiana: Revealing an Unknown Past," will bring together collections held by LSU Special Collections, the primary grant recipient, and partners including the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans, the New Orleans Public Library, The Historic New Orleans Collection, and Tulane University's Louisiana Research Collection. The collection will be accessible through the Louisiana Digital Library. "Relatively few collections of papers from free families of color survive in archives in Louisiana, nor are they numerous in archives elsewhere in the United States," said Curator of Manuscripts and Project Co-Director Tara Laver, who authored the grant. "The most extensive collections of family papers for free people of color held by Louisiana repositories are, in fact, split across institutions. Digitizing these records will allow us to bring together divided collections and scattered documents, making these materials accessible in one place for the use of historians, genealogists, students, teachers, and the general public."

 

Grant activities will take place between May 2013 and April 2015. The end product will include 25,000+ digitized items, data sets, full finding aids for the selected collections, links to collections related to free people of color at other repositories and online exhibitions, bibliographies, contextual information about free people of color, and other scholarly resources.

 

For additional information about the grant contact Tara Laver at tzachar@lsu.edu or 225-578-6544.

Read more.  

 

During the summer months, the Reference Services Department undertook a self-study to select a new department name and mission statement. The new name, Research & Instruction Services, more accurately reflects the services provided to the university community, including information literacy instruction, outreach, assistance with patents and trademarks, research, and expertise provided by the subject specialists. The mission statement will guide the department's decisions and services. The new mission statement emphasizes that the R&IS "is dedicated to support, enhance, and collaborate in the instructional and research activities of the LSU community."

 

These are exciting times, and the Research & Instruction Services librarians look forward to the academic year!

  

Access to Excellence

LSU Libraries News 225.578.8875 LSULibraries@lsu.edu

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