Spotlight on Student Worker Travis Nykaza

Travis Nykaza, a Scranton native, began his work here in June of 2011, just days after graduating from Scranton Preparatory School.  He was eager to begin working and got a good head start working with us all summer before his freshman year began.  He has faithfully continued his tradition of working every summer since then.  Those summers included several “shifting” projects in the stacks that most student workers just hear about later.  Of course he has put in many hours during the Academic years as well.

Although his family is just across town, he lives on campus in order to get the full college experience.  However, having his family nearby allows him to visit his parents and his beloved cat “Snowball” often enough.  In his spare time he enjoys chess, writing, watching movies and reading.  Some of his favorite movies are Interstellar, Twilight Samurai and Spirited Away to name a few.  His favorite books are A Song of Ice and Fire Series, Dune, Ender’s Game Series and Shogun.

The thing he loves most about working in the Weinberg Library is that he gets to interact with people from every level of The University community.  Working in the Library has helped him to learn more about the many services the Library has to offer.  His advice to other students is to explore the Library’s web pages and the building itself.

Travis is majoring in Education with a concentration in English.  After his 2015 graduation, he hopes to find a job teaching at the Middle School level.  He enjoys the classroom experience so far and loves to tell the tales of interacting with the young people he meets.  This semester may be his last time working with us.  He will spend spring 2015 student-teaching.  We’ll miss him and look forward to the occasional visits and stories of student teaching.  Thank you Travis and good luck!

Newly Digitized: Penman Photographs from the Zaner-Bloser Collection

Penman PhotographsOne of the most highly prized jewels in our Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections is the Zaner-Bloser Penmanship Collection, one of the most extensive collections of American ornamental penmanship from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Over time, we’ve been digitizing parts of the Zaner-Bloser Collection to make it more accessible to researchers and penmanship enthusiasts around the world.

We’re now happy to announce that more than 500 photographs of celebrated masters and instructors of penmanship from the Zaner-Bloser Collection are now publicly available online. The photographs (96 portraits of women and 453 of men) were gathered by Zaner-Bloser for publication in penmanship journals like the Business Educator. Few of the photographs are dated, but we estimate that most of them were taken between the early 1900s and early 1940s.

Some of the photographs are portraits of celebrated master penmen, including several members of Michael Sull‘s Penman’s Hall of Fame. Others are lesser known teachers and instructors, some of whom we weren’t able to identify (please contact us if you recognize them!).

None of these photographs would be online today were it not for Thomas W. Costello, who spent many hours carefully digitizing the portraits for us. Tom’s great-grandfather is Scranton’s own master penman P. W. Costello, who has three portraits in the collection. Tom described the photograph collection as a “wonderful, well-deserved tribute to the masters and many of the dedicated unsung heroes who worked under the radar teaching penmanship.” We couldn’t say it better ourselves. Thank you, Tom, for bringing the men and women behind the pen into the spotlight.

Santa is Coming!

Santa will be available for photos in Weinberg Library’s 5th Floor Heritage Room on Friday, December 5  from 2:30-6:30pm. Informal (cell phone) photos are available for a donation, and framed copies can be ordered for $5.00. All proceeds will benefit the Weinberg Memorial Library 20th Anniversary Fund.  For more information, please contact Barbara Evans at (570)941-4078 or Barbara.Evans@scranton.edu

December 4th – Philanthropy in America: A Wide-Angle View

Schemel-Forum-logo
In collaboration with the Scranton Area Foundation, the Schemel Forum will host Grant Oliphant, President of the Heinz Endowments on Thursday, December 4, 2014, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Oliphant-GrantPhilanthropy in American: A Wide-Angle View

Mr. Oliphant will address the unique role that philanthropy has in American society, why that is and what the future holds in terms of shared responsibility for the public good.

Brennan Hall, Pearn Auditorium, Room 228
Reception to follow

FREE EVENTRSVP requested to emily.brees@scranton.edu or 941-6206.

Making, Modeling, and Materializing: 3D Printing in Teaching and Research

3Dprinting

UofS librarians Sheli McHugh and Kristen Yarmey are hosting an Office of Research and Sponsored Programs research seminar on 3D printing, featuring lightning talks by faculty members Dr. Ben Bishop (Computing Sciences), Dr. Alan Brumagim (Marketing and Management/Entrepreneurship), Dr. Tim Cannon (Psychology/Neuroscience), and Prof. Nick Truncale. Come join us this Friday, November 21 at 3:15pm in Brennan 509!

 

 

Enter to Win the $500 Library Research Prize

500 Words = $500!

500 Smackeroos

Image by Flickr user nyer82 via CC BY-NC 2.0 license (a human-readable summary of this license may be found here)

Are you working on a research project this semester? Did you use the library’s resources, services, collections, or spaces in order to complete your research? Then the Weinberg Memorial Library Research Prize is for you!

Two prizes of $500 each are awarded every year to the winning Undergraduate and the winning Graduate submission. All you need to do is write a 500-word essay describing your research process and how you used the library in completing the project. Click here for some tips on how to craft the best 500-word essay you can about your research.

Then, submit the application materials for your project through the Library Research Prize website by the Fall 2014 deadline: Friday, December 5, 2014 by 4:00 pm. This deadline is for projects completed in Summer 2014 or Fall 2014. There will be another deadline for Spring 2015 research projects. Winners are announced at the end of the Spring 2015 semester.

Research projects can be individual or group projects, though winning group projects will receive one $500 prize for the group.

A statement of faculty support from the instructor who assigned the research project is also required for each submission.

Details on how to apply, what to include in a completed application, and what the selection criteria are, can be found at the Library Research Prize website. Any additional questions can be sent to Prof. Bonnie Oldham, Information Literacy Coordinator (bonnie.oldham@scranton.edu).

We look forward to hearing about your research!

The Great Learning Gap and Why We Must Do Something About It

Join us on Monday 11/24 for a
Schemel Forum World Affairs Luncheon
with Judith Renyi, Ph.D.

Executive Director, The Mayor’s Commission on Literacy, Philadelphia

The Great Learning Gap & Why We Must Do Something About It

In October 2013 an international study of literacy revealed that the US had fallen below average among 23 first world countries. It found that 36 million US adults are functioning too low in reading, writing and mathematics and the ability to solve problems in a technology-rich environment to get or keep jobs. Dr. Renyi will discuss the US Department of Education’s response to workforce development crisis and the innovations piloted In Philadelphia to reskill Americans on a large scale.

Noon to 1:30pm, Brennan Hall, Rose Room, 509

RSVP Here or email emily.brees@scranton.edu

An Uncanny Era: The Underpinnings of Democratic Transformation in Eastern Europe

Join the Schemel Forum on Wednesday, November 12th
for a collaborative event with the Polish Cultural Institute of New York &
New School for Social Research in NYC

 

An Uncanny Era: The Underpinnings of Democratic Transformation in Eastern Europe

bookAdam Michnik in conversation with Elzbieta Matynia, editor and translator of An Uncanny Era: Conversations between Vaclav Havel and Adam Michnik, will address the essential question of post-revolutionary life: How does one preserve the revolution’s ideals in the real world? The discussion will help us to understand how the struggles between democratic aspirations and pragmatic realities are at work even more widely in today’s world.

Adam Michnik is cofounder of the Solidarity Movement in Poland and editor-in-chief of Poland’s largest newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza.

Elzbieta Matynia is a professor of sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York City.

Free Event
5:30 to 7pm  – Brennan Hall, Pearn Auditorium, Room 228

Book signing to follow

RSVP Required to emily.brees@scranton.edu or click here.

Nov. 10th – War and Peace: the Challenges of the Islamic State and Ukraine

Joiserwer Blog Imagen us on Monday 11/10 for a
Schemel Forum World Affairs Luncheon
with Daniel Serwer, Ph.D.

Professor of Conflict Management, Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

War and Peace: the Challenges of the Islamic State and Ukraine

While the United States has been trying to disengage from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it now faces new challenges from Russia in the Ukraine and from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. How did this come about? What risks do Ukraine and the Islamic State pose for the United States? Are we going back to a Cold War with Russia and a hot one with the Islamic State? How can we best respond to these challenges?

Noon to 1:30pm, Brennan Hall, Rose Room, 509

RSVP Here or email emily.brees@scranton.edu

Job Posting: Seeking Public Services/Reference Librarian (part-time)

The University of Scranton seeks a Public Services/Reference Librarian. This is a part-time, twelve month, professional staff position. The part-time Public Services Librarian participates in Library public service activities including: provides research services virtually and in person, provides instruction in the strategy and techniques of research and information evaluation, oversees Library services and staff in the absence of the full-time librarian, participates on the collection development team, and maintains an atmosphere conducive to study including proper operation of equipment, good order of materials, absence of disruption, and supervision of closing the building.

Qualifications: Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited program is required. Library experience is required.

Required knowledge, skills, and abilities include: research and information evaluation skills, supervisory skills, communication skills, including the ability to instruct students individually and in groups, and the ability to deal well with members of the public.

Hours are Tuesday from 6:00 pm-11:30 p.m. and Saturday from 12 noon to 8 p.m. Flexibility in working additional hours or adjusting hours as required by the academic calendar is preferred.

This position will remain open until filled.

All applications must be submitted electronically:
Click “Search Postings” on the Human Resources page to create an application and then apply for a position. Please note you will not be considered an applicant until you apply for a specific, open position. If you need assistance, please call Human Resources at (570) 941-7767 or e-mail your questions to hr@scranton.edu. Thank you for your interest in working for The University of Scranton!

Posting number and position title are:
Posting Number: 6000756; Title: Public Service/Reference Librarian-Part Time

The University of Scranton is committed to developing a diverse faculty, staff, and student body embracing an inclusive campus community which values the expression of differences in ways that promote excellence in teaching, learning, personal development, and institutional success. The University welcomes Veterans, minority persons, women, and persons with disabilities to apply. The University of Scranton is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer/Educator.