By Linda Hauck

One of the favorite parts of my job is to support students in their search for data and statistics. Some students needs are met by a quick search in Statista, a database that aggregates data and statistics on a wide range of topics or a smart google search employing filetype:xls or site:.gov. These quick solutions are satisfying, for sure, but the real fun happens when students need multiple datasets for data analysis, or a research methods project.

To help these students, I start the conversation by asking about their topic and how they envision using data. We talk about their ideal dataset keeping in mind how it might be generated, who is likely to collect the data, what frequency, granularity, time period, populations, and geographies are needed. If there is an agency or organization that is obviously most likely to compile the idea dataset, it makes sense to start there. If not, doing a scholarly literature review and focusing on the data or methods section of papers will point to potential sources.

This data exploration process can be time consuming but fun!

Grace Liu, Business Librarian at West Chester University, with the advice of Bobray Bordelon, Economics & Finance Librarian/Data Services Librarian at Princeton University distilled the process in this neat infographic.

Linda Hauck, MLS, MBA is Business Librarian at Falvey Library.

Lia Chaleva, Acquisitions & Licensing Librarian. Photo by Kallie Stahl, Communication & Marketing Specialist.

Iliana “Lia” Chaleva recently joined Resource Management and Description as Acquisitions & Licensing Librarian. Resource Management & Description “builds and cultivates collections through acquisitions, licensing, description, discovery, and access to resources for Villanova scholars and community.”

Before joining the Falvey Library staff, Chaleva was the e-Resource Librarian at West Chester University. She also worked as an e-Resource Librarian at Bryn Mawr College for nearly 15 years. After coming across the job posting for Falvey Library, Chaleva knew she wanted to explore the opportunity at Villanova University. “I live on the Main Line and I’ve always had an affinity for Villanova’s campus. Especially these last few years, driving past and seeing all the progress that has been made. Its such an inviting place.”

Originally from Bulgaria, Chaleva earned her Master’s in Library & Information Science (LIS) from Rutgers University. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from the American University in Bulgaria. Her interest in LIS began when she worked at the European Union (EU) Information Center in Bulgaria after graduating from the American University in Bulgaria. “The space had a small library with documents about the EU, work stations, free brochures. I worked at the public information desk answering questions: It felt like I was working in a mini library. I became interested in learning how to effectively organize information. Rutgers University was a perfect fit for me. I was able to conduct research and work on a variety of library information projects while completing my degree.”

Chaleva compliments her colleagues when discussing her role as Acquisitions & Licensing Librarian. “I work with a wonderful team. We are always working to get access for all users. I am responsible for reviewing current contracts with publishers and ensuring those terms and conditions are favorable for the Villanova community. My role entails a lot of technical information, but ultimately those technicalities can benefit Falvey Library patrons. Acquiring new resources is a collaborative process. Everyone has input, and we all work together to ensure we are obtaining the best information from vendors.”

In her free time, Chaleva enjoys spending time with her family and watching her children’s sporting events. “My family and I like to be outside. We like to kayak, hike, and fish. (‘We catch the fish, but always put them back!)'” She enjoys reading and watching historical movies. Her reading recommendations for Falvey patrons: Antarctica by David Day, Pennsylvania Good Eats by Brian Yarvin, and True Crime Philadelphia by Kathryn Caravan.

Chaleva’s office is located on the second floor of Falvey Library, room 232. Email iliana.chaleva@villanova.edu; 610-519-4731.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

Jacqueline (Jackie) Mirabile.

“She was unflappable, kind, and had a wonderful dry humor. Above all she was kind, always kind.” —Jutta Seibert, Librarian for History, Art History and Global Interdisciplinary Studies

The campus community and Falvey Memorial Library are saddened to hear the news of the passing of former library staff member Jacqueline (Jackie) Mirabile. Born and raised in Vermont, Mirabile, a devoted Catholic, played the piano and organ at local parishes to help fund her education. She was Valedictorian of her class at Mount Saint Mary Academy, graduated Trinity College with a major in history, and earned a master’s degree in library science from Simmons College.

Before joining the Falvey Library staff, Mirabile worked at the Free Library of Philadelphia and a regional patent company. She was the second full-time reference librarian hired at Falvey Library by then head of reference Louise Green in 1982. “For nearly thirty years, Jackie provided dedicated, exemplary professionalism as a reference librarian (and team leader for information and research assistance) at Falvey Library until retirement in 2011.” She taught numerous research sessions as the liaison librarian to the psychology and education & human resource departments. “Mirabile also served on Falvey’s Management Policy Group (MPG), communication team, and the University-wide Villanova Quality Improvement (VQI).”

Mirabile was dedicated to providing exceptional service to the Villanova community. As former co-worker Barbara Quintiliano wrote, “The real effort to provide service is the one thing that has remained constant throughout the evolution of her profession, and her favorite aspect of the job was ‘finding what the patron wants’—something all librarians know well as the love of the hunt.” She was a great resource for Villanova University students, faculty, staff, and her Falvey co-workers. As Seibert reflected, “I was lucky enough to work with Jackie for more than 10 years. She never tired of mentoring new staff members and her extensive knowledge of Catholic reference sources, Villanova history, and census data were often a lifeline for me. After she retired we bought season tickets for the Villanova Theatre as a way to stay in touch and we had a great time going to the shows together.”

Her colleague Laura Hutelmyer, former Acquisitions & Electronic Resources Coordinator, expressed her gratitude in working alongside Mirabile. “Jackie was always such a great resource for so many things, but what I appreciated the most were her book recommendations. While we worked together it was easy to find Jackie, discuss our favorite books and get ideas for new reads. When she retired I really missed her and our discussions. Fortunately, one spring I was invited as a guest to the Retiree Luncheon, and there was Jackie! I made a bee line for my book buddy and we picked up right where we left off. When I think of Jackie I will always remember her calm demeanor, her smile, and the friendship we developed over the love of books.”

When she wasn’t reading (or sharing recommendations), Mirabile enjoyed gardening and puzzles—specifically Scrabble. Demian Katz, Director of Library Technology, credits Mirabile with helping to start the first Falvey Library “game lunch,” a tradition that continues with library staff. “I very much enjoyed working with her,” said Katz. “The first iteration of ‘game lunch’ was a small group of us, including Jackie, playing Scrabble on a regular basis. Jackie always won—she was an astonishing Scrabble player—but it was fun regardless of its inevitable end.” Luisa Cywinski, Director of Access Services, often referred to Mirabile as “The Queen of Scrabble.”

Mirabile passed away on Dec. 31, 2021, in Haddonfield, NJ. She was 84. View her full obituary here. For more on Mirabile’s work at Falvey Library, view her retirement announcement. Jackie will be greatly missed at the Library and throughout the community.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

Please join us on Tuesday, April 13, from 12-1 p.m., for a webinar to learn more about a new Gale primary source collection available at Falvey Memorial Library: British Library Newspapers.

Enhance your understanding of regional life and culture in Britain across parts of three centuries with a trove of local newspaper coverage and first-hand accounts with British Library Newspapers. This resource provides researchers with the most comprehensive collection of national and regional newspapers of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and early twentieth-century Britain. Taken directly from the extensive holdings of the British Library, the selected publications provide coverage of well-known historic events, cultural icons, sporting events, the arts, culture, and other national pastimes.

In this webinar, we’ll explore best practices for finding what you need in the collection, how to share it with students, and ways to incorporate it into research and syllabi.

REGISTER here to attend or receive a link to the recording after.

You can browse Falvey’s extensive Databases A-Z list here and dive deeper into British Library Newspapers as well as the countless other databases available to help you with your research needs!

For one-on-one help using Gale, we suggest that you reach out to Sarah Wingo or Jutta Seibert.

Sarah Wingo specializes in the areas of English literature, theatre, and romance languages and literature. More information about how to book an appointment with Sarah is available here.

Jutta Seibert specializes in the areas of history, art history, and global interdisciplinary studies. More information about how to book an appointment with Jutta is available here.

You can connect with one of our other expert subject librarians for help using library resources as well. A full list of Falvey librarians and their subject specializations are listed here.

Erica Hayes recently joined Research Services and Scholarly Engagement (RSSE) as Digital Scholarship Librarian. RSSE works to support research, teaching, and learning at Villanova University; enabling the discovery of, access to, and stewardship of a vast array of scholarly resources.

Hayes earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Chapman University in Orange, CA; a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, specializing in poetics from California State University, Long Beach; and a Master of Library Science and Master of Information Science from Indiana University, Bloomington.

She is passionate about scholarship and was an Adjunct Professor teaching English Literature and Composition courses when a colleague’s spouse, who was a Digital Humanities Librarian, introduced her to the world of digital scholarship. Encompassing a variety of subjects, digital scholarship lies at the intersection between technology and research. She is excited to collaborate with Villanova faculty and students to help bring their research to life.

“Integrating digital tools into research methods can extend traditional methods of scholarship, sharing knowledge and pedagogy beyond the page,” she says.

While at IU Bloomington, Hayes worked on several projects including the Petrarchive Project, an open access “rich-text” digital edition of Francesco Petrarca’s songbook Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta. “The project proposes a new digital way of visualizing, studying, and investigating Petrarch’s work by offering a more ‘authentic’ text as well as multiple indices and tools to access the diverse strata of the work’s composition and cultural contextualization.”

Exhibit: Bird by Bird
She also worked at the Lilly Library, IU Bloomington’s Rare Books and Special Collections Library, as the Web Development Assistant, managing digital collections, Omeka online exhibits, and their website. Collaborating with faculty, Hayes assisted in developing touchscreen exhibits for the library’s special collection exhibits: One of which accompanied the permanent exhibition of John James Audubon’s double elephant folio, Birds of America. “The touchscreen exhibit featured 50 plates of North American bird species from the collection and was created to make the volumes more accessible to library visitors. The touchscreen helped make the collection more interactive while offering an opportunity for patrons to learn more about Audubon and his life,” she explains.

Before starting at Falvey Memorial Library, Hayes completed a two-year fellowship at the NC State University Libraries working in the Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center and the User Experience Department. She led a variety of Digital Scholarship workshops including storytelling with GIS, georeferencing historical maps, and text and data mining.

As the Project Manager on the Immersive Scholar Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant at the NC State University Libraries, Hayes also worked with a group of scholars to create large-scale visualizations and extensible models for the James B. Hunt Jr. Library’s visualization walls. She says, “managing the grant’s workflows, I worked closely with creative residents we hosted at the NC State University Libraries on developing open source visualization projects to be shared across institutions.”

Mapping African Coinage
In her free time, Hayes enjoys traveling, experiencing new cultures, and is looking forward to exploring Philadelphia. Currently, she is also collaborating with her friend, Dr. Kacie Wills, on a digital humanities project, entitled “Exploring the Collections of Sarah Sophia Banks,” which was recently awarded a research grant from the Keats-Shelley Association of America. Sarah Sophia Banks was the sister to Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society and famed botanist on the Cook Voyages. “While her life has often been overshadowed by her brother, Sarah Sophia was an avid collector of coins, medals, and tokens from around the world. It was most unusual for a woman to study numismatics during the eighteenth century and some of her coins are incredibly rare.  For our project, we are mapping the African coins detailed in her coin catalogues that are housed at the British Museum and the Royal Mint,” she says. “Our GIS map features coins from her catalogues, which connects the coin’s location of authority to their places of issue in order to display these unique coins, tokens, and medals while showing how money was being distributed during the growing British Empire.”

As she works to build a digital scholarship program at Villanova, Hayes invites the campus community to reach out and set up an appointment with her: “I can help students incorporate digital tools into their scholarship and assist faculty with developing digital pedagogy assignments in the classroom.”

Hayes’ office is in the Learning Commons of Falvey Memorial Library, room 229. Email: erica.hayes@villanova.edu.

Kallie Stahl, MA ’17 CLAS, is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library. 

Sarah Hughes recently joined Research Services and Scholarly Engagement as the Nursing and Life Sciences Librarian. Research Services and Scholarly Engagement works to support research, teaching, and learning at Villanova University; enabling the discovery of, access to, and stewardship of a vast array of scholarly resources.

A native of New Jersey, Hughes has a passion for research, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Rutgers University and a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the Pratt Institute. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Professional Communication from William Paterson University.

“I enjoyed spending time in the library as an undergrad and eventually discovered that I wanted to pursue a career that was both research oriented, but also personal, where I helped people,” she says.

Her interest in the field began when she enrolled in a medical librarianship course taught onsite at Weil Cornell Medicine in Manhattan. “I was in the same building that was being used by the doctors, residents, and nurses. It was exciting. I liked the idea that the research I was assisting the community in could be used for making advances in medicine,” Hughes says.

Furthering her knowledge of the profession, Hughes worked several internships in various hospitals and institutions, including the New York Academy of Medicine, the Manhattan VA Medical Center, and the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. The experience she gained helped make for a smooth transition from medical librarian to academic librarian.

Hughes is familiar with academic libraries due to her work with nursing students at Dominican College and teaching library instruction courses to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students at William Paterson University before transitioning to Falvey Memorial Library. Hughes knew Falvey Library was right for her when she saw that the scholarly librarian position focused exclusively on nursing and life sciences. “I have a deep respect for nurses. Working in the emergency department at Princeton, I was amazed by all of the tasks the nurses dealt with during their shifts.”

Hughes says she is excited to meet the students and faculty in the fall and encourages the Villanova community to reach out and set up an appointment. “I can assist nursing students with finding and using databases, utilizing citation management tools, and pointing them towards great evidence-based practice resources.” Faculty in the Fitzpatrick College of Nursing can also contact Hughes about research consultations. “Research is a big undertaking and takes a great amount of time—months, sometimes years. We’re exploring what tools the library can offer to help scholars in the sciences and other disciplines. Given that Villanova is R2: doctoral university, the stakes and the expectations are higher, and we need to support them.”

In her free time, Hughes enjoys going to see live music, watching foreign and documentary films, exploring new restaurants, traveling, and spending time outdoors kayaking. An avid tennis fan, she likes watching her favorite players Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“My door is always open to students and faculty. The Fitzpatrick College of Nursing is very prestigious, so I’m thrilled to have a great group of students with which to work. There’s so many different avenues they can take once they finish their degree. I’m excited to help prepare students for their time at Villanova and beyond.”