Happy Holidays - from the Library and Learning Center

Textbooks on Electronic Reserve

Due to delays in the receipt of financial aid refunds, students are often unable to purchase their textbooks until several weeks into the semester.  In an effort to support students who find themselves in this situation, the Lehman Library is implementing a new service which allows a faculty member to place one or two chapters (or 10%) of a textbook on electronic reserve.  This service will enable students to access required readings until they can acquire their own textbook.

Faculty can submit textbook content in various ways:

· Bring the textbook to the Lehman Library Circulation Department for staff to scan the appropriate content and upload it into Ares.  The textbook will be returned to the faculty member after the content is scanned.

· Bring a photocopy of the content to the Lehman Library Circulation Department for staff to scan the appropriate content and upload it into Ares.  The photocopy will be returned to the faculty member after the content is scanned.

· Scan the appropriate content and upload it into Ares.  Circulation staff will review the content for copyright adherence and approve the submission in Ares.  Note:  Scanning equipment is available at the Lehman Library if the Academic Department does not have any.

Copyright:

By adhering to the “one or two chapters or 10% guidelines,” the electronic reserve content will be copyright compliant.  NOTE:  Faculty must provide Circulation Department staff with the total number of pages in the textbook when providing photocopies or scanned content in order to assure copyright compliance.

Processing Time:

Faculty scanning their own chapters and uploading directly to Ares for approval is the fastest process, taking approximately three to five days.  If scanning is provided by Circulation Department staff scanning will take five to seven days.

Contact Information:

Questions can be directed to any staff person at the Circulation Desk at 477-1461 or libcirc@ship.edu.  Staff contacts are Sue Hockenberry, Mary Mowery, and Denise Wietry.

Additional information about placing Reserve and Electronic Reserve requests is available at the Library’s home page (http://www.ship.edu/library/) under “Services for Faculty/Library Reserves.”

History 201 Student Exhibits in the Library

Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward has developed an exciting approach for introducing students to Public History through the development of museum-style exhibits as part of his survey course on U.S. History until 1877. Throughout the semester, groups of students are responsible for envisioning, researching, developing and presenting an exhibit related to course themes. Students present their projects in the style of a poster session during the final week of class. These displays are judged by outside experts.  The projects with the highest ranking from the judges are displayed in the Library.

This year the highest ranking projects are:

The Industrial Economy of the South
[Matt Chestnut, TJ Thomas, Luke Zampelli, Jen Filer]

New York City: The Boiling Pot [Carson Glusco, Joseph Malpas, Steph Williams,
Christian Reed, Adam Seidel, Jason Walters]

State's Rights
[Andrew Castles, Faythe Grace,
Caitlin Kant, Nick Sentman and Ali Moats]

Republican Resolution 
[Kelly Volpi, Robert DiCarlo, Wes Ginrich,
Tom Fite, Cody Ditze, Chad Jones]

Threads of the Civil War
[Mitch Dandignac, Alyssa Eaton,
Zach Flaharty, Kasey Ross, Nate Reutlinger]

Librarian Retires After 43 Years at Ship

The following article is about Berk Laite who has been a Ship Librarian for 43 years.

by Signe Kelker

       At about the time that the ARPANET (an ancestor of the modern internet) was coming to life, Berk Laite, a freshly-minted graduate of Pitt’s Library and Information Science program, returned to Shippensburg, his alma mater, as a General Reference Librarian. The “new” library was under construction and Berk knew that when it was finished (1969) he would have responsibility for a “cutting edge” technology called DAIRS (Dial Access Information Retrieval System). Comprised of a bank of reel-to-reel tape decks, DAIRS allowed students to access lectures, commercial video and audio and instruction exercises, such as “How to Use the Readers’ Guide”(one of many instruction tapes done by Berk in this period), by dialing an assigned number for a particular program from individual work carrels. Berk said that it came on the scene at an unfortunate juncture in that it was about to be overtaken by cassette and video tape technology.

After the use and utility of the system declined and it was eventually removed, Berk donned the next of several other hats that he wore over the years. He was designated Music Librarian and developed the LP collection (an ancestor of the modern mp3 file) which endeavored to have folk music from every country in the world, as complete a library as possible of the classical and operatic genres, and representative  musical theater and spoken word records.  At its height the collection contained several thousand albums (many of which still reside on the lower level of the library). After this, he became head of the Curriculum Laboratory, later renamed the Media/Curricular Center (M/CC).

In more recent years, as the Library has become more student-centered and less book-centered, he has been a mainstay in our library instruction program. He was elected Department Chair in the early eighties, which position he has held since then with only a brief hiatus in the late eighties. He has been a major player and leader in consortial activities within the PASSHE and beyond via ACLCP (Associated College Libraries of Central Pennsylvania) which he was instrumental in founding. He was also elected as President of ACLCP for a term. This has naturally led to his focus in recent years on library outreach activities both on- and off-campus. 

Berk is the originator of the Reference Desk’s motto - “Ask Us Anything.”  Berk has many great “Ask Us Anything” stories.  He told me that out of the thousands of questions he has answered, one stands out in his memory as representative of the need for librarians on campus.

This story occurred as he was walking through the Reference Area. “I was approached by a couple of young men who politely said, ‘Excuse me, Sir, can we ask you a question?’ I answered, ‘Sure.’”  They showed him several photocopies they had made from reference books [an ancestor of e-books].  They explained that they were doing a presentation on the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address and weren’t sure which came first! Berk continues, “I explained that they were from different centuries (18^th and 19^th) and different wars, etc. One of them, puzzled, asked ‘Are you sure, Sir?’ and pointed to the number “1756”  in the upper corner of the photocopy about the Gettysburg Address. The students thought that the page number - 1756 -  was the year that Lincoln gave his famous speech.” Berk concluded, “Students are pretty much the same in any era!”

In 2005, Berk became the first librarian in the PASSHE to be promoted to full professor without a Ph.D. or its equivalent. (Only this year has a second librarian in the system achieved this distinction.) When asked if he was glad he had stayed at Ship all these years, he said that he was.  He said that the late eighties were a bit boring but the nineties were fun because of the introduction of the Internet to the library. The possibilities that it presented rekindled his enthusiasm as he explored how we could best use it to continue to improve services to students.

His immediate retirement plans are an extended vacation in the South including a two-month stay in a condo on St. Simon’s Island, GA, followed by the month of March in Ft. Myers Beach, FL. After that, he will “explore possibilities,” perhaps finding an outlet for his planning and organizational abilities which he so successfully used during his years at Ship.

Berk exits the library after four-plus decades, having amassed an outstanding record of contributions to the library. He takes with him a large chunk of institutional memory, the likes of which we are not likely to see again, any time soon. Even more, however, he also takes with him the love and gratitude of his grateful colleagues.  As a final academic send-off, Berk will be carrying the mace and will be honored at both December graduation ceremonies.

Berk we wish you well!

"Visual Musings" - in the Main Gallery

Geraniums (oil)

Visual Musings - Cumberland Valley Reflections

Paintings by Mary Hickman

Library - Main Gallery

Mary Hickman paints and lives in Shippensburg, PA.  She works realistically, often painting on location (en plein-air) in our beautiful countryside.  Mary says, "I believe that the visual arts are a separate language that speaks to the human spirit.  A meaningful work of art can greatly enhance ones' day-to-day life.  Often, the viewer will see things particular to themself, things that the artist didn't consciously include.  Thus, the viewer contributes to the creative process."

Learning Center Offers Writing Drop-in Hours

Karen Johnson

The Writing Center is pleased to announce drop-in hours for writing tutoring. Every Thursday between 6 and 9pm, students from all courses and departments can stop by room 134 in the Lehman Library to receive assistance with a variety of writing topics. Multiple tutors are available to provide help with grammar, citations, thesis and topic sentence writing, as well as proofreading. Drop-in tutoring is a great option for students with busy schedules who may not be able to schedule appointments in advance. It also offers the opportunity to drop in for just a few minutes, or to stay for a long period of time to work with other student writers. Please note that this is not a drop-off service; you will be asked to stay and work with a tutor and/or a group of your peers.

Learning Center Offers Subject-Specific Tutoring Nights

Karen Johnson

The Learning Center is excited to now offer subject-specific drop-in tutoring nights! Students currently taking Biology or Chemistry courses can visit FSC 356 every Sunday and Thursday evening from 5pm – 9pm for assistance from three on-duty tutors. Drop-in Economics tutoring is also offered every Wednesday evening from 5:30pm – 8:30pm in Lehman Library room 205.

Students can stop by to ask a quick question, or they are free to stay for more in-depth assistance. Students will often form small study groups with other students from the same class, guided with the support of a tutor. This is an excellent opportunity for students to receive academic support without pre-scheduling an appointment while also getting to know some of the other students from their class.

There will be additional drop-in evenings and subjects announced for the spring 2011 semester. A full schedule can be found at - www.ship.edu/learning