From the Dean 
Last week, the LSU Libraries held its first annual Donor Appreciation Dinner. Under the capable direction of Development Director Lauren Cathey, the event drew a remarkable crowd, beginning with LSU President King Alexander, and including members of the Libraries' new Board of Directors, the Faculty Senate Library Committee, veteran Friends of the Libraries volunteers, and a public relations firm owned and operated by LSU undergraduates. The highlight of the evening was a talk on 19th century botanical art that was entertaining beyond all reasonable expectation.
The dinner was a fundraising event, and sure enough, it did raise funds. We are fortunate to have passionate, energetic supporters determined to see the Libraries succeed. Their generosity is, as it has always been, humbling and inspiring.
But the dinner accomplished something at least as important as money. It marked the Libraries' commitment to renewing its relationships, or in some cases beginning new relationships, with its broader community. The sense of shared stewardship is palpable here: the roles each of us plays in handing to future generations of LSU students and faculty the truly world class library that they need and deserve. The work ahead of us is considerable, but by no means overwhelming. For that matter, if last week's dinner is any indication that work will actually be fun.
Thanks to all of you for your unflagging support of the LSU Libraries.
Stanley Wilder
Dean, LSU Libraries
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Cara Key Hired as Metadata Librarian
 Cara Key has joined the LSU Libraries as the Metadata Librarian in the Resource Description & Metadata Services department. Key has a master's degree in library and information science from Florida State University and a BA in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her professional library career began at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where she spent time in technical services, access services, and finally special collections. She further developed her archival knowledge as a librarian in the Naval Historical Collection at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and has also worked at a naval base library in Japan, and at South University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Most recently, she was a Research Analyst for the United States Joint Staff in Suffolk, Virginia.
As Metadata Librarian, Key will develop standards, policies, and workflows for the implementation of metadata to support discovery and management of digital resources. She is looking forward to collaborating across departments, and in particular to contributing to the development of the Louisiana Digital Library. She is thrilled to join LSU's forward-thinking library community and hopes she can make a significant long-term impact. Key lived in six states and overseas before arriving in Louisiana; she calls Greensboro, North Carolina home. She relocated with her husband and young daughter, and they are all excited to explore Baton Rouge's rich culture and history.
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Laver Appointed as Special Collections Head of Public and Research Services
 Tara Laver, longtime Curator of Manuscripts, began a new role on May 1, 2016 as the Head of Public and Research Services in Special Collections. This position focuses on coordinating and enhancing the patron experience in Special Collections, whether that be in the reading room, through a virtual request, or with a class. Laver brings 16 years of experience in Special Collections to the position, and has an extensive knowledge of the holdings in Hill Memorial Library. Her new role allows Special Collections to continue to expand its growing reach with classroom visits and integration of primary source materials into courses across campus. She will also work with teaching faculty and coordinate with Curators and the Head of Special Collections on instruction, outreach, and other activities that further the researcher experience at every level, for undergraduates, to graduate students, faculty, and the community at large. "I am so excited to be stepping into this new role in Special Collections. Working with researchers and classes was one of the most rewarding aspects of my work as curator, so I look forward to the opportunity to do more of that in a programmatic way," said Laver.
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Braunstein Receives Carolyn H. Hargrave Faculty Leadership Award
On March 22, 2016, in the Hill Memorial Library lecture hall, the LSU Libraries' Faculty Awards Committee (Tom Diamond, Jessica Lacher-Feldman, Paul Hrycaj) announced Stephanie Braunstein as the first recipient of the Carolyn H. Hargrave Faculty Leadership Award. Dr. Hargrave attended the ceremony and presented Braunstein with the award.
Braunstein is the Head of Government Documents at LSU Libraries, and has served in this position since coming to the LSU Libraries in 2007. Under her leadership, the LSU Libraries' Government Documents department received the 2015 Government Publishing Office, Federal Depository Library Program's Regional Federal Depository Library of the Year Award. Colleague Kelly Blessinger noted that "Stephanie has been an asset and a wonderful colleague. I couldn't think of a more deserving candidate for this award." Since 2010, Braunstein has also represented Louisiana on the Council of the American Library Association, the governing body of ALA. Each state association elects one representative to serve on the council of the ALA , and as Louisiana's representative, Braunstein is also on the Executive Board of the Louisiana Library Association. Her leadership has already been recognized with the 2015 Louisiana Library Association's Margaret T. Lane Award, sponsored by the Government Documents Round Table of the Louisiana Library Association, which recognizes an individual or organization that has made an especially significant contribution in advancing access to, or use of government information in Louisiana. The award is named in honor of Dr. Carolyn H. Hargrave, retired Vice President for Academic Affairs of the LSU System. Hargrave's leadership and vision played an instrumental and critical role in the establishment of the Louisiana Online University Information System (LOUIS) and the Louisiana Library Network.
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Primary Sources Illuminate African American Life in Louisiana
Special Collections Provides Artifacts from Antebellum to Recent History
Primary source materials are newly-available in LSU Special Collections, including materials from the antebellum period through the early 20th century. The recently processed items include slave lists and inventories; World War I correspondence of an African American soldier; records from a St. Landry Parish doctor who treated patients, including slaves, prior to and during the Civil War; and a photograph album from the Fournier family, an African American family about whom little is known, but whose tintype portraits date from the later 19th century.
Together, the materials contain representations of a variety of African American experiences and daily life in Louisiana. These resources are available in the Hill Memorial Library reading room.
Read more.
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Final Exams at Middleton Library
Extra Services and Activities Offered to Students During Exams
 Middleton Library buzzes 24/7 during exam time, with thousands of students reviewing for exams, finishing papers, and trying to stay awake during late night study sessions. Library staff members are ready to help with the stress and long hours that inevitably accompany exam time: students can contact librarians for help with research; use the millions of books, journal articles, and online resources available through the Libraries; and, when they are ready for a break, look no further than the second floor. In March, library staff transformed Middleton Library Room 241 into a place for students to relax during midterm exams. The room was a fun, safe, and stress-free place to take a break with jigsaw puzzles, coloring, postcards to write home on, and even bubble wrap to pop. Free pizza was offered on one night, and a library-wide game provided additional fun.
Students appreciated the activities so much that more fun and relaxation is planned for finals week, May 2-7. In addition to the relaxation room and pizza, there will be therapy dogs on Monday, and a guided meditation session on Thursday.
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Faculty Have Thousands of E-textbooks to Choose From through the Libraries
Selecting Library E-textbooks Results in Significant Savings to Students
LSU estimates that each undergraduate spends $1,500 on books and supplies every year. The LSU Libraries' e-textbook initiative successfully offsets some of these costs by providing ebooks for a number of courses. Now, librarians have developed a platform for faculty members at LSU to login to look for books to assign with no textbook costs to students. "The faculty e-textbook search enables faculty to proactively design courses with reduced textbook costs," explains Emily Frank, one of the LSU librarians contributing to the effort, "In conversations across campus, professors repeatedly shared how they didn't want to assign costly textbooks because of the financial burden this placed on students but that they weren't sure how to identify and explore alternatives. We know some students will decide not to buy a textbook if it is too expensive, even though this material is essential for academic achievement. As a result, an expensive textbook forces a student to decide between a hit to their wallet or GPA."
The hundreds of thousands of titles in this search are already in the Libraries' collection or will be purchased upon faculty request. Once purchased, they are freely available to the campus community for reading and downloading by an entire class simultaneously. The titles come from major academic publishers including Springer, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, and university presses.
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Studying Sherlock
Russell Mann Sherlock Holmes Research Collection
 A large selection of Sherlock Holmes fiction, scholarship, and memorabilia was recently donated to the LSU Libraries' Special Collections by Russell Mann, a retired professor of journalism at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Mann started building his collection in the 1990s. It is especially strong in "non-canonical" fiction (Holmes stories written by authors other than Arthur Conan Doyle), comic books and graphic novels featuring Holmes, and rare scholarly publications, including journals of Holmes societies from around the world. The collection will join the ranks of about a dozen major Holmes collections in the United States and will be one of the largest in the South.
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887, he could not have known that within a decade, his fictional detective would take on a life of his own. The four original Holmes novels and 56 short stories, in fact, have inspired thousands of derivative works, from pastiches and parodies, to films, plays, musicals, radio broadcasts, comics, graphic novels, video games, and even cookbooks. A vast scholarly literature on Holmes and Doyle also exists, shedding light on the Victorian super sleuth and his equally fascinating creator, who played a key role in raising public awareness of forensic science and modern crime-scene investigation techniques. "We are thrilled that Dr. Mann has donated his collection to LSU, along with funding to support processing and cataloging," commented Jessica Lacher-Feldman, Head of Special Collections. "Our holdings are already strong in mystery and detective fiction, British literature, and comic books, so this is a natural fit for us." The Russell Mann Sherlock Holmes Research Collection is currently being cataloged and will be available to researchers later this year. Curator of Books Michael Taylor will feature materials from the collection in an exhibition this fall.
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Digital Scholarship Lab Open for Business
Computer Software, Hardware, and Collaboration Space Available for Digital Projects
 The LSU Libraries Digital Scholarship Lab now has space and equipment available for use by students, faculty, and staff. The lab houses Mac and PC workstations with specialized software and hardware ideal for digitalization, video and sound editing, xml encoding, and digital humanities projects. A scanner with automatic document feeder, a flatbed photo scanner that can accommodate large documents, and software including Adobe Creative Cloud, oXygen XML, Garageband, FinalCut Pro, and ABBYY FineReader, all funded by the Student Technology Fee, are available for student use. In addition, the DSL offers workspace for small classes or groups collaborating on digital projects, complete with a smartboard, whiteboards, and movable furniture for up to 15 people. Faculty or students interested in using the space for course-based digital projects should contact dsl@lsu.edu.
The physical space complements the intellectual community that the DSL is forging. This spring, the lab brought together people across the campus interested in digital scholarship through collaborative projects, speakers, and workshops. Seven workshops on digital tools and methods - from historical GIS to Python for text mining - offered faculty and students the chance to gain new skills. Several talks and working group meetings provided the opportunity for the LSU community to learn about each other's work and interests.
Inside the classroom, the DSL helped faculty members incorporate digital projects into spring humanities courses. Professor Aaron Sheehan-Dean taught the university's first Digital History course, in which students used digital tools and methods to analyze a digitized collection of runaway slave ads from Louisiana newspapers. In an introductory Shakespeare class, Professor Chris Barrett launched the Geaux Shax site, in collaboration with the DSL and LSU Libraries Special Collections. The site features Shakespeare-related items from Special Collections, items that are contextualized, curated, and reimagined by LSU students. In addition to these course-based projects, the DSL supported a research project on a nineteenth-century journal edited by Edgar Allan Poe, The Broadway Journal. Graduate students from English and History learned to digitally encode textual features, focusing on ways to mark authorship that will help scholars study author networks of the time. A digital media graduate student is working on the project website. All of these projects supported the DSL's mission to help LSU students, faculty, and staff expand their digital expertise, and provide opportunities to critically and creatively engage digital technologies and methods.
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May 2016
Give to the LSU Libraries
