- University Librarian Note
- Library Building Project Update – 3/1/2020
- Scholarly Commons Podcast
- New IOPN Title
- ILS Coordination Team Report
- Grant Announcements for External Funders
- Did You Know? A Monthly Factoid from Library Assessment
- Library Tip of the Month
- Collection Development Committee Notes
- Content Access Policy & Technology Meeting Minutes
- Recognizing Excellence
IT NEWS
FACILITIES NEWS
HR NEWS
EVENTS AND TRAINING
- Staff Events Calendar
- Mindful Meditation
- Open Education Week Presentation & Workshop (March 3-4)
- NISO Webinar Part One (March 11)
- NISO Webinar Part One (March 18)
ANNOUNCEMENTS: University Librarian Note
As part of the Library’s annual budget process, I meet with the Provost and the Vice Provosts to review our annual report and budget request. I hope this executive summary, prepared for this year’s meeting, is a useful overview of the report, which we will share later this month. Read more…
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Library Building Project Update – 3/1/2020
Tom Teper, Associate Dean for Collections and Technical Services
Overall
With the final submission of the conceptual design drawings, the University Library has completed the Conceptual Design phase of the planning process. The next step associated with the building process for the Library and campus partners involves developing a program statement. This program statement will draw heavily upon the conceptual plans, input received from the LCWG, and other individuals on campus. This process is anticipated to take between six – eight months. After that point, the University Library will enter a phase of Schematic Design.
In the meantime, other work continues. Efforts have begun to solicit more direct input from student constituents. Conceptual design documents were posted in the Undergraduate Library in mid-February, the Library held its second Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) associated with the building project, and a small assessment team consisting of John Laskowski, Tom Teper, David Ward, and Jen Yu have begun outlining several options for gathering further input in the spring semester.
In the realm of communications, John Laskowski, Heather Murphy, and Tom Teper have met to discuss updating the Library Building Project’s website; Tom Teper is reviewing updates to the FAQ page; and Advancement is developing new materials to help the fundraising process.
Committees and Working Groups – Programming the Main Library
The Programming the Main Library WG completed its work and submitted a final report to the Library’s Executive Committee in mid-February 2020. The document itself outlines a number of items that will need to be addressed as the project moves forward. Their report has been discussed by the Executive Committee, which is considering next steps.
Kirstin Johnson chaired the working group, and more information on its efforts can be found at https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/committee/the-library-as-catalyst-project-programming-the-main-library-building-wg/. Questions or comments can be directed to the group at any time.
Committees and Working Groups – Special Collections Research Center (SCRC)
The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) Working Group continues to meet. Recently, the working group focused on discussing steps that might be taken among the units anticipated to move into the facility to address topics such as (a) preparing collections to be moved, (b) discussing high-level security protocols for the facility, and (c) continuing to develop a better cross-unit understanding of operations.
The framework under which these and other working groups directly associated with this project will work is posted here: https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/committee/the-library-as-catalyst-project-a-framework-for-working-groups-and-input-solicitation/
Committees and Working Groups – Library Consultation Working Group (Campus Level Cmte)
The LCWG submitted its final report to the Provost shortly before the end of February 2020. With that submission, the working group’s official charge comes to an end. There may be subsequent meetings involving members of the working group and others in the campus administration; however, the LCWG is largely sunsetting its operations.
Communications
- Monthly Updates – Monthly updates about the Library Building Project are distributed via LibNews. These will be posted in a separate section of LON. The intent of both is to ensure open communication of specific information related to the Library Building Project.
- Library Quarterly Updates – The Library’s next Quarterly Update is scheduled for March 5th, 2020 from 3:00 – 4:30 in 66 Main Library. We anticipate that the live stream provided by the Media Commons will be available at this location: https://go.library.illinois.edu/livestream
- Website – The Library Building Project has a website located at https://www.library.illinois.edu/library-building-project/. Here you can read about the vision behind this program, seek answers to many of the Frequently Asked Questions that might arise, and read about upcoming events or project news. You can also submit additional questions to the project team at librarybuildingproject@library.illinois.edu.
- Reddit AMA – Tom Teper recently held an Ask Me Anything on reddit related to the Library Building Project. If you are interested in reading the questions and posts, they can be viewed by following the following links (the third is a related post that was user-generated):
- https://www.reddit.com/r/UIUC/comments/f5d1ti/we_are_the_university_library_ask_me_tom_teper/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
- https://www.reddit.com/r/UIUC/comments/f29c8w/the_university_library_will_host_an_ama_on/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
- https://www.reddit.com/r/UIUC/comments/f1t5o8/ugl_is_moving_into_the_main_library_building/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
Facilities & Services and Project Schedules
The assigned project coordinator from F&S is Dennis Craig. Dennis has been involved in numerous projects across the University Library. He also serves as the Campus Historic Preservation Officer and is serving on the feasibility study being conducted related to the developing south campus instructional facility.
Presently, we are waiting to get an updated project schedule based on the dates that the conceptual design phase was completed.
Outreach and Engagement
Tom Teper will be talking with the Library Student Ambassadors on March 27, 2020.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Scholarly Commons Podcast
The Scholarly Commons has entered the brave not-so-new world of podcasting. It Takes A Campus is published as part of our blog at http://publish.illinois.edu/commonsknowledge/. Choose Podcast as a category to see all episodes, though right now there is just one. We think that librarians who are interested in how to support digital scholarship will be particularly interested in this, and all episodes are transcribed for those who choose to read rather than listen.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: New IOPN Title
The Illinois Open Publishing Network has published its latest title, The Sweet Public Domain: Celebrating Copyright Expiration with the Honey Bunch Series. Edited by Sara Benson and Kaylen Dwyer, The Sweet Public Domain began as a library outreach project calling attention to the resumption of material entering the public domain in 2019 after a 20-year hiatus due to the Copyright Term Extension Act, but has been elaborated and revised into a fuller edition of the first five books in the Honey Bunch series along with scholarly introductory essays related to the production of the books and copyright issues related to their republication here. The Honey Bunch series follows the adventures of four-year-old Honey Bunch, along with cat Lady Clare and doll Eleanor, as the child encounters a succession of firsts—her first visit to the city, her first days on the farm, her first little garden, her first visit to the seashore, and more. Accompanying essays provide an introduction to and history of the series, exploring its themes of domesticity, materialism, and childhood bliss within the context of the Great Depression, girls’ series books, and the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The collection is rounded off by essays on copyright and the public domain in celebration of the impact of the end of extended copyright terms on the collective imagination. The Sweet Public Domain is our first foray at IOPN into building out digital editions of texts and will be the basis for further work with authors to publish scholarly digital editions.
The book can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.21900/wd.11.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: ILS Coordination Team Report
Michael Norman, Discovery Services Librarian and ILS Coordinator
We are 3.5 months out from the Go-Live date of June 24, 2020, for implementing the Alma and Primo VE systems. We are continuing to configure Alma and the Primo Library Catalog to the optimum settings for the Library. We are close to finalizing these setups and ready to go into production. Many individuals in the Library and at the CARLI Office are currently helping test these settings for Acquisitions, Cataloging, Fulfillment, Resource Sharing, and Discovery functionality.
We will continue to highlight many of these changes and upgrades to Alma, the Primo Library Catalog, and its interaction with Easy Search Bento in the weekly Zoom sessions occurring each Tuesday at 2 pm. To see the new Alma and Primo VE systems in action, link into these Zoom sessions to stay up-to-date and see live demos of the new Primo Library Catalog and overall navigation of the Alma backend functionalities. These Zoom webinars are recorded and can be accessed at the ILS Coordination Team website.
In addition to these weekly Zoom interactive webinars, there will be two new Alma/Primo Catalog information sessions later in the semester as well:
- Friday, March 27, 2020, at 10am
- Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at 10am
Several weeks ago, we introduced an INTERNAL Library launch (not available for public use yet) of the Primo Library Catalog. You can access and explore the new beta instance of the new Primo Library Catalog at:
https://i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CARLI_UIU:UX2019&lang=en
And, we also released a test instance of Easy Search Bento with Primo Library Catalog integrated into the search results. That link to the developmental instance of Easy Search Bento is at:
https://search.grainger.illinois.edu/discovery/splitsearch.asp?typeofsearch=keyword&searcharg=stone+circles+astronomy&OPERATE=GO&selection=primo
We do ask that everyone in the Library go into both the Primo Library Catalog and Easy Search Bento Test version and let us know your critiques of both systems and report any problems, issues, criticisms and accolades you encounter. There is a Feedback Button located at the top of each landing and display page in the Primo Library Catalog to input your comments.
For more information about the Alma/Primo implementation, the most recent report of the ILS Coordination Team is posted at:
https://www.library.illinois.edu/geninfo/discoveryservices/ils-coordination-team/
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Grant Announcements for External Funders
Our monthly list will be updated once an individual has been hired for our Grants and Contracts position. Please check back then and in the meantime, please subscribe to the OVCRI’s list at: https://groups.webservices.illinois.edu/subscribe/19149
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Did You Know? A Monthly Factoid from Library Assessment
Since September 2019, the Library has been using Splunk (a large scale data analysis tool) to process EZProxy logs in order to record the aggregate use of electronic resources by off-campus users. From September to December 2019, 33% of faculty, as well as 32% of students, have accessed the library resources from off-campus. The chart below shows that during the same time period, 32.4% of the off-campus student logins were initiated by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) students, 17.1% by the Grainger College of Engineering (ENGR) students, and 16.5% by the Gies College of Business (BUS) students.
The data analysis and visualization of usage logs would not be possible without extensive work by the Library IT, especially Jon Gorman and Jason Colwell.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Library Tip of the Month
The Library sends a monthly email to new faculty at Illinois during the fall and spring semesters. These emails introduce many of our services and resources to this important audience.
You can view the February LTOTM at https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/259333.html.
If you have ideas for future emails, please feel free to share them with Heather Murphy.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Collection Development Committee Notes
The most recent meetings minutes of the CDC are posted at:
https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/committee/collection-development-committee/
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Content Access Policy & Technology Meeting Minutes
The meetings minutes of CAPT (including work group reports) are posted at:
https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/committee/content-access-policy-technology-capt/
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Recognizing Excellence
- Jennifer Hain Teper Awarded 2020 Banks Harris Preservation Award
- Pinkney Awarded Grant from the Caxton Club of Chicago
Please forward journal editorships or editorial board membership, elected and invited external service appointments, honors, and awards information to Heather Murphy.
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IT NEWS: Adobe Named User Licenses
Tracy Tolliver, Director of Library IT
You no longer need Adobe named user licenses for your graduate assistants/student employees!
Our campus Adobe licensing agreement has been updated to allow the use of Shared Device Licensing (SDL) to be used not only on University-owned lab and classroom computers, but also on other shared University-owned computers used by student employees or staff. The SDL license type cannot be used on laptops. The SDL license type no longer prompts individuals to sign in every two hours. Sign-in windows will indicate that the computer is a shared device. And, signing into an SDL computer does not count against the two-device sign-in limit for the Named User Licenses. SDL licenses will be installed on all University-owned desktop computers managed by Library IT.
Adobe’s Named User License type will be installed on University-owned laptops managed by Library IT. Each Adobe Creative Cloud Enterprise ID account, which are available to faculty and staff, will allow an individual to be signed in and use Adobe apps on up to two computers at a time with the Named User License. Departments should purchase Student Intern-Employee Personal Use Semester Access licenses if they would like a Student to use Adobe software on a personal computer.
Access to any license type requires an Adobe Enterprise ID. Faculty and Staff can request an Adobe Enterprise ID from this WebStore offer. Students are automatically assigned a free Adobe Enterprise Student Spark ID to use SDL computers.
Library IT is in the process of testing update packages to be deployed across all managed machines. More specific deployment information, like timing, will be sent to LibNews.
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IT NEWS: Another Plug for Zoom Pro for Library Faculty and Staff
Tracy Tolliver, Director of Library IT
Beginning July 1, 2019, Library faculty and staff were granted a Zoom Pro license when using the University of Illinois Zoom Service found at https://illinois.zoom.us.
Zoom Pro video conferencing provides meeting and webinar functionality that enhances learning and collaboration among students, faculty, staff, and research partners. In addition, various plugins are available providing integrated scheduling of meetings/classes from within a variety of applications like Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and several Learning Management Systems.
To access Zoom Pro, navigate to the URL noted with a Zoom supported web browser (Google Chrome is recommended) and click on “Sign in” and then login using your University credentials.
Zoom Pro features include:
- Include up to 300 meeting participants (increase to 500 or 1000 for additional fee).
- 24-hour meeting duration limit.
- Create a waiting room or allow attendees to join before host.
- Assign unique roles to meeting participants.
- Create breakout rooms – Split your meeting into separate sessions.
- In-meeting chat, nonverbal feedback (raise hand), create polls.
- Host can mute or un-mute all participants.
- Outlook, Google Calendar, Compass 2G, Moodle, Kaltura integrations.
- Record meetings locally or to the cloud (a 1-hour recording is roughly 100mb in size).
- Cloud Recording is limited to 1GB per user, and recordings are kept for 120 days.
- Allow user-initiated recordings.
- Recordings can include transcriptions.
For questions, support, or the purchase of add-on features such as meetings larger than 300 participants, webinars, or Zoom Rooms, contact Library Information Technology Help Desk via email (help@library.illinois.edu) or phone (217-244-4688).
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FACILITIES NEWS: Update
Timothy Newman, Assistant Dean for Facilities
Pardon our dust, as I wanted to give a quick update regarding some of the projects the Library is currently working on:
- Main Library Information Desk – This project is now complete with the relocation of the Main Library Information Desk from the 2nd to the 1st. If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to stop on by.
- Reading Room 200 – Flooring replacement continues as raised access flooring has been installed and electrical flooring work will be complete the first week in March, followed by installation of the floor tile. We apologize for the amplified drilling noise, as the contractors will now try to complete all drilling before 9am. It’s anticipated that by mid- to end-March, work will shift from the north to the south end. Lastly, starting March 16th, work on air handler 10 will begin. This will turn off the heat for the Reading Room, but we anticipate the weather warming up at this time.
- Room 220 – We received approval on options for mobile collaboration rooms and are moving forward with scheduling of construction for early summer/late spring. With work in Room 200 moving from the North to the South, access into Room 200 will most likely be through Room 220. We want to ensure safe and open access for all patrons into Room 200 and will coordinate construction between both projects accordingly.
- ACES Office Project – We have started construction of three new offices near the ACES circulation desk. Anticipated completion expected in May 2020.
For a complete list of projects in planning and construction, please see https://wordpress.library.illinois.edu/staff/facilities/.
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HR NEWS: Departures
- Candice Woodrum – BHRSC – Resigning Feb 28, 2020
- William Weathers – Library IT – Resigning March 1, 2020
HR NEWS: Filled Positions
- Mike Dickinson, Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Agriculture Librarian – May 16, 2020
HR NEWS: Vacancies
- Library Specialist with Asian language specialty – ACS
- Library Specialist with Spanish specialty – ACS
- Office Support Specialist – Mortenson Center
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: Staff Events Calendar
To see the most up-to-date staff events calendar, please visit https://uiuc.libcal.com/calendar/staff.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: Mindful Meditation
The Wellness Committee is pleased to announce a new, multi-part Mindful Meditation course open to Library employees this spring.
The instructor is Kristina Reese from Hatha Yoga and Fitness. At each session, Kristina will guide participants through gentle meditation techniques. Methods vary across sessions to give participants a taste of different ways of approaching meditation. The program builds gradually over six sessions as participants become more comfortable meditating. The sessions are appropriate for all levels of practice. Attending all sessions is recommended and helpful for learning and practicing the various tools presented, but not required.
Dates:
- Thursday, February 13
- Tuesday, February 25
- Thursday, March 12
- Thursday, April 2
- Tuesday, April 14
- Thursday, April 30
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Place: 106 Main Library
Cost: There is no cost to attend but class size is limited, so please register for each session.
Register: https://uiuc.libcal.com/event/6472786
What is Mindful Meditation & Why is it Helpful
Whether you’re thinking about family life, work, school, what you’re going to make for dinner, what you said at yesterday’s meeting, or all of the above, it’s easy to get caught in a pattern of swirling thoughts. Mindfulness meditation is a mental training practice that can be helpful in these situations. It brings you and your thoughts into the present, focusing on emotions, thoughts, and sensations that you’re experiencing “in the now.” Through this series, you will learn how to cultivate tools for mindfulness including breath awareness, visualization, body scan practices, and focus techniques. Each session includes specific mindfulness meditation tips and techniques, a guided meditation session, and time for reflection. By the end of the series, participants will be equipped to integrate mindfulness into their daily lives and maintain their own meditation practice (again, participation for all sessions recommended, but not required).
Mindfulness can help you:
- Reduce stress hormones linked to heart disease and immune function
- Improve emotional steadiness, gain mental clarity and peace of mind
- Build techniques for managing pain, anxiety, and sleeplessness
- Enhance brain efficiency and improve concentration and focus
- Increase compassion and improve communication and relationships
This series is sponsored by the Wellness Committee with the generous support of Dean Wilkin. For questions, please email Zoe Revell at revell@illinois.edu.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: Open Education Week Presentation & Workshop
Presentation by Dr. Jasmine Roberts
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library will host an in-person and livestream event in celebration of Open Education Week on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, from 3:30-4:30pm.
Professor Jasmine Roberts from The Ohio State University has been invited to present her talk titled, “Beyond Free Textbooks: How OER Addresses Access, Inclusion, and Academic Excellence.”
Individuals are welcome to attend in person at the University of Illinois Main Library in Room 220 on the Urbana campus, located at 1408 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, or tune in to the livestream of the event.
This keynote address will evolve current open educational resource (OER) discussions that typically center on cost-savings themes to a conversation about how using these resources improves pedagogy and addresses diversity and inclusion themes related to teaching in higher education. More specifically, this talk will address how OER improves the conditions of marginalized student and faculty populations through more inclusive and equitable practices. The keynote will also challenge the audience to think more critically about traditional academic practices, procedures, and infrastructure by encouraging the adoption of open education philosophies at the institutional level.
Open Educational Textbook Review
Are you interested in reviewing an Open Textbook? Would you like to earn $200 for your peer review? If so, come and learn more about Open Educational Resources and how they can enhance your teaching.
When? Wednesday, March 4 from noon-1pm
Where? Room 314 of the Main Library
Why? Earn $200 while reviewing an Open Educational Textbook
Register here for the workshop.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: NISO Webinar Part One
March 11, 2020, at 12:0 pm – 1:30pm, Main Library Room 428
About this Two-Part Webinar
Labor and Capacity for Research Data Management, Part One:
For any library serving a research community, research data management continues to be a significant area of interest and concern. Significant labor must be applied to the curation and preservation of such data and additional resources allocated to ensure on-going access. This program will consider the combined roles of archivists, data librarians, and administrators in formulating and delivering suitable and effective services. What communities of practice exist? Which is preferred — a general purpose data repository or one that is discipline specific? How varied is the form of such data? What practices and policies have proven effective? This session will update practitioners and administrators.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: NISO Webinar Part Two
March 18, 2020, at 12:00pm – 1:30pm, Main Library Room 428
About this Two-Part Webinar
Building Data Science Skills: Strategic Support for the Work, Part Two:
This roundtable discussion will focus on the on-going need for information professionals to be well-versed in data science skills in order to successfully support the work of students, scholars, and other professionals. While the community may be quite familiar with the research data lifecycle, it is likely that additional tools or support are needed for information professionals as they extract, wrangle, analyze, and present data? From the perspective of administrators, where are the challenges in ensuring staff are sufficiently prepared and supported by their institution? How does such expertise bolster the position of the library? What is the best way for data science education to permeate the institution? What policies or practices have proven useful?
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If you would like to submit content for the April issue of Library Office Notes, please submit it to Heather Murphy or Tom Teper by March 20, 2020.