By Alice Bampton

University Librarian and Library Director Joe Lucia announced that Linda Hauck, team coordinator for the Business Research team, is Falvey Memorial Library’s new University Staff Council (USC) representative. “I am extremely confident that she will represent the Library well,” Lucia says.

Hauck came to Falvey as a part-time research librarian in December 2005. She has been full-time since 2007.

“I’m looking forward to working with the energetic USC team that rallied around Phylis Wright (including Jeannine Ahern, Gina Duffy, Joanne Quinn, Marie Roman, Bill Greene, Mary Heyman and Becky Whidden) to do fun and successful fund raisers for hunger relief. I hope by representing the Library at USC meetings I can carry on the work of improving interdepartmental coordination and ensuring healthy dialogue between staff members and the University,” she says.

Hauck replaces Phylis Wright, Falvey’s first USC representative who served two terms (four years). (more…)

Today, at an informal “brown bag lunch,” we are excited to introduce the Aurelius Digital Humanities Initiative, a project of Falvey Memorial Library to support digital humanities (DH) projects and promote a DH community here at Villanova.

Humanities scholarship and technology are intersecting in interesting ways and the Library believes it is important to facilitate and support these connections.

Our digital humanities initiative is still a work-in-progress as we get a feel for the interests and scope of those interested in DH at Villanova. What should a Villanova DH program look like? We hope you’ll be part of the conversation!

By Gerald Dierkes

What do Harry Potter, the Villanova School of Business, the Irish Studies Program and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies have in common? Falvey Memorial Library hosted events for each of these on Oct. 3, the day Falvey participated in Snapshot PA: One Day in the Life of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Cold, hard facts—Within an hour of opening, a fire alarm (later discovered to be a false alarm, triggered by a contractor working on renovations) forced everybody to enjoy the comfortable weather for a few minutes. Falvey’s gate count for Oct. 3, excluding reentry after the alarm, totaled 3,258 patrons. In addition, the Library experienced

3,682 website visits

96 new items added to our collection

641 library books checked out

123 InterLibrary Loan requested items received

4 course-related instruction sessions, 126 total number of students attending.

The top blog story on our homepage was “Election News: Student Groups Promote ‘Ignite Change, Go Vote!’”

And librarians helped students to research questions ranging from “I want to find information about the physical and facial representations of embarrassment for a psychology of emotions class” to “How can I find out about the economic, social and technological trends impacting the newspaper industry?”

The supernatural—Falvey’s 24/7 lounge featured Sorcerer’s Semester: marathon readings of the Harry Potter stories. Students, staff and faculty took turns at the microphone until they finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and had read well into Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. A promotional life-sized cardboard cutout of a wand-bearing Harry Potter guarded the doorway.

At some point that evening, the cardboard Harry Potter disappeared.

Falvey’s Facebook message: “REWARD for bringing back Harry: all-u-can-eat jelly beans & a rare coveted ‘HP @ Falvey 2012 LIVE’ button, usually given only to LIVE readers.”

Falvey’s Twitter message: “One does not simply … walk away with a life-sized Harry Potter display!?”

Warm fuzzies—Dozens of students responded to our informal survey. To the question “What does the library mean to you?” one student responds, “It stands as a pinnacle of knowledge and human achievement, a depository of near infinite information. A place to inspire dreams and fuel greatness. (And pick up cute ladies who like to read).” This word cloud illustrates the survey results.

That’s just another day at Falvey (we’re still awaiting the return of our cardboard Harry Potter).

(Visit the SnapShot PA Flickr account to see more photos from Falvey Memorial Library and other PA libraries.)

Also contributing: Jutta Seibert, Linda Hauck, Barbara Quintiliano, Luisa Cywinski, Melanie Wood

Photographs by Alice Bampton, Laura Hutelmyer, Joanne Quinn; Graphic Design by Joanne Quinn

By Luisa Cywinski

During the October semester break at Villanova University, the Tech Trifecta, a series of three technology-centered conferences, was held in Falvey Memorial Library and welcomed librarians and technologists from all over the world, including Nepal, Portugal, Germany and Norway.

Code{4}Lib presenters, l. to r. Chris Hallberg, Kathryn Lynch, Demian Katz, Karen Coombs, Mohan Raj Pradhan, John Mark Ockerbloom, Michelle Suranofsky, Daria Norris.

The Trifecta consisted of the VuFind Summit, Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic and VuStuff III. All three events focused heavily on technology although VuStuff offered an integrated view of technology and scholarly communication, including the work of Villanova professors and librarians.

The VuFind Summit brought together current and potential VuFind developers, some of whom presented on projects that rely on VuFind to enhance online accessibility of library resources. Demain Katz, technology development specialist, also previewed VuFind 2.0 and facilitated a detailed discussion of the new release.

Code4Lib, according to their wiki, is an online community of “hackers, designers, architects, curators, catalogers, artists and instigators from around the world, who largely work for and with libraries, archives and museums on technology ‘stuff.'” Participants gathered at our University for the inaugural Mid-Atlantic conference, which included in-depth presentations from nearby universities, like Drexel University and The University of Pennsylvania, and from faraway places, like HealthNet Nepal in Kathmandu, Nepal.

(l. to r.) Michael Mafodda, Dr. Judith Giesberg, Joe Lucia, Rebecca Capobianco, Ruby Johnson

Of interest to both scholars and technologists, the VuStuff conference focuses on the intersections between technology and scholarly communications. As a departure from previous VuStuff conferences, a Villanova history professor, Judith Giesberg, PhD, delivered a presentation on the use of Web resources, specifically the “Emilie Davis Diaries in the Classroom.” Her graduate students, Rebecca Capobianco and Ruby Johnson, co-presented with her. Michael Mafodda, Communication Department, assisted with multimedia production of the project.

Rebecca Goldman, LaSalle University, won the Vuie Award for Best Presentation for her talk on the preservation of digital materials.

As noted by Joe Lucia, University librarian, the week reflected the enormous “investment of time and energy” on the part of the Tech Trifecta planning team. Their aim was to provide a central location for “valuable conversations,” said Lucia.

Members of Falvey’s Technology team and Digital Library team, David Uspal, Demian Katz, Michael Foight, David Lacy, Laura Bang and Stephen Spatz all collaborated with colleagues from other institutions to make the Tech Trifecta a huge success.

Additional support of the event was provided by Falvey’s Scholarly Outreach Team staff, Gina Duffy, Marie Roman, and Communication & Publication Team staff, Laura Hutelmyer, Luisa Cywinski and Alice Bampton. Advance web and print publicity, as well as printed materials for each conference, were created by Joanne Quinn, Falvey graphic designer.

(l. to r.) Karen Coombs, Demian Katz and Mohan Raj Pradhan

Using one of the new spaces in the Library, the Speakers’ Corner, Falvey was able to accommodate up to 100 guests, with comfortable seating, suitable furniture for laptop, tablet, and mobile devices and plentiful power strips. Some attendees made use of social media to chronicle their experience. (Search Twitter for the hashtags #VuFind2012, #c4lma, and #VuStuff2012.) Many of the presentations were recorded and can be found on the individual conference websites.

Photographss by Alice Bampton & Laura Hutelmyer

Posted for: Diane Biunno, Ph.D., Digital Library Intern:

Dante’s Illustrated Adventure highlights several illustrated editions of the Divine Comedy owned by the Special Collections Department of Falvey Library. The online exhibit includes hundreds of illustrations, a video recording of Father Peter Donohue, O.S.A reading the opening canto of the Inferno, audio recordings in Italian of famous verses from the Commedia and the Vita Nuova, as well as recordings of Latin hymns from the Purgatorio and the Paradiso.

Dante’s (1265 – 1321) epic journey to the other side has captured the imagination of readers for the past seven hundred years, and has inspired countless artists and painters from the Middle Ages to the present. In 1481 Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici (1463 – 1503) commissioned Sandro Botticelli (1444-45 – 1510), whose famous works include the Primavera and the Birth of Venus, to sketch each of the one hundred cantos. Botticelli’s large illustrations were drawn on parchment made of sheepskin, and today only 92 of the original sketches have been found. Centuries later an English sculptor created over one hundred illustrations of the epic poem. John Flaxman’s (1775 – 1826) line drawings are known for their classic style and remained hidden from the public for decades in an English aristocrat’s private library. In 1861 the French artist Gustave Doré (1832 – 1883) sketched perhaps the most well known illustrations of Dante’s work. Unlike Botticelli and Flaxman, no one commissioned Gustave Doré to illustrate the Inferno. Instead, the project was entirely his own idea, and he spent his own money to fund most of it.

Dante’s Illustrated Adventure explores the Poet’s pilgrimage through the Otherworld as it is told through the drawings and illustrations of Sandro Botticelli, John Flaxman, and Gustave Doré. The exhibit provides visitors with a brief biographical account of the Poet and then guides them through the major themes of the Divine Comedy. On this site visitors can travel alongside Dante through hell, as he meets sinners, gruesome monsters, and Satan himself.

The Library is hosting a trial to Data Citation Index, a brand new Thomson Reuters database for discovering data sets and studies in persistent and stable repositories, such as the Pennsylvania State University,  the National Cancer Institute and Stanford School of Medicine, to name a few. The trial only lasts until Nov. 30.

Research data from the social sciences, physical sciences, life science, and arts and humanities is included, and discoverable data sets are linked to the scholarship it informs.

This new resource has the potential for facilitating the creation of Data Management Plans required by the National Science Foundation for funding.

For additional information about the Falvey trial to this important initiative see Linda Hauck’s blog.

Christine Bochanski, a senior nursing major from Lansdowne, Pa., is now in her fifth year as a student worker in Falvey’s Resource Management Center (RMC).

Christine performs several duties for RMC: she prepares books to be processed by a professional bindery; she also unpacks the approval-plan book boxes and separates the books into categories; and she inserts a security device into each item, applies a call-number label and stamps the library’s name on new books and videos, preparing them for shelving.

Roberta (Robbie) Rosci, a Resource Management specialist and Christine’s supervisor, says, “She is a great worker and always pleasant to have in our department. She keeps the work moving and is always willing to help with any project … I’m sure she will be a great nurse, sharing her personality and friendliness with everyone in her professional career.”

The University Staff Council at Falvey selects a Student Employee of the Month based upon nominations from the department supervisors of student employees.

Christine received the Daniel M. and Christine A. Finnegan Endowed Nursing Scholarship in Memory of Eileen S. Lupton ’03 in her junior and senior years.

She loves ballet (watching and dancing); she studied classical ballet and taught ballet and tap dancing. She enjoys going to trails, such as those at Ridley Creek State Park or Valley Forge National Historical Park, and going to the beach. She enjoys “summertime when school is not in session.” Christine is looking forward to graduation with excitement.

Associations are terrific sources for learning about businesses, professions and interest groups. Typically, trade and professional associations provide insight on trends, regulatory developments, employment opportunities and best practices. They publish newsletters, statistical profiles, research reports and membership directories.

I rely on associations for many facets of my daily work. Not long ago I took an online continuing education course on geo-spatial information resources via my national professional association, the American Library Association (ALA). I have, in addition, used ALA’s local and national association databanks to post Falvey Memorial Library’s employment opportunities.

In fact, the reputations of association publishers inform my collection-development choices. When looking for practice-related materials for human resource development, I don’t hesitate to buy guides published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). I am pleased that association websites often help me to guide student researchers to just the right bit of information needed to make a good analysis great.

This week, for example, a student was having a tough time doing a comparative analysis of cable TV stations using customary sources, such as news and business reports. After identifying a few cable broadcasting associations, she had what she needed to do a stellar estimation of her target station’s performance. (more…)

By Maria Möller

Kensington Riots Project Team

Recently, the library’s first floor window exhibit has featured artifacts from the Kensington Riots Project. The project represents a unique effort to re-examine the story of an important but underrepresented moment in Philadelphia’s history. To tell us more about this fascinating project, the Library News Blog welcomes guest writer Maria Möller. Be sure to check out the exhibit, which will be on display in the Library through Thursday, Nov. 8. For more information, including photos of the various project installations, you can peruse the Kensington Riots Project blog.

The Kensington Riots Project is a collaboration among Arab American youth, artist Jebney Lewis and me, creating site-based art that explores our country’s challenging history of immigration through the lens of the anti-Irish-Catholic Kensington Riots of 1844.

Over the course of six Saturdays this past spring, our team used photography, poetry, and installation to reclaim the sites where the riots occurred. The blocks surrounding the intersection of American Street and Master Street in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia reveal no physical traces of their past. No buildings from that time survived the Riots or the neighborhood’s subsequent industrialization and deindustrialization, and no plaques mark the sites. By re-envisioning the past and overlaying personal experiences onto the blank canvas of this landscape, the project asked both participants and the public to interrogate our assumptions about who we are and where we come from.

The Kensington Riots occurred during a time of economic uncertainty, increased immigration, religious fervor, and fears of foreign encroachment. Native-born Americans targeted recent Irish Catholic immigrants as the enemies of America, leading to three days of violence. The “nativists” destroyed blocks of houses and businesses, over twenty people were killed, and Saint Michael’s Church—the first Irish immigrant parish in Philadelphia—was burned to the ground.

Today, the identities have changed, but many of the same conflicts remain.

“The parallels between what happened 168 years ago and what is happening today are striking,” says Marwan Kreidie, PhD, professor at Villanova University’s Center for Arab and Islamic Studies and Executive Director of the Arab American Community Development Corporation, the project’s community partner. “In the 1840s, many Americans felt threatened by Irish Catholics and lashed out against them. Today, many people feel the same way about Arab Americans. The CDC hopes this project helps our young people better interpret their own experiences, and also helps to build bridges and encourage dialogue with our fellow Philadelphians.”

The library is hosting a trial to Data Citation Index a brand new Thomson Reuters database for discovering data sets and studies in persistent and stable repositories.  Research data from the social sciences, physical sciences, life science and arts and humanities is included.  Discoverable data sets are linked to the scholarship it informs. The interface and search options will be familiar to users of other Web of Knowledge databases such as Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

This new resource has the potential for facilitating the creation of Data Management Plans required by the National Science Foundation for funding.  It also contributes to the movement to share, provide attribution and scholarly credit for data generation activities.

For additional information about this initiative see the Thomson Reuters promotional materials, contact your subject librarian or Linda.Hauck@villanova.edu