Schemel Forum Courses Starting in October
RSVP Here or email emily.brees@scranton.edu
Reilly Learning Commons Ribbon Cutting and Vendor Fair
Join us for the official grand opening! We will be holding the Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening for the Reilly Learning Commons in the Weinberg Memorial Library on Wednesday, September 17 at 10am. The Reilly Learning Commons features state of the art computers including Macs and PCs, collaboration spaces, a lecture capture room, as well as space for the Writing Center to provide tutoring. Come to the ribbon cutting and see what this newly renovated space has for our students. Coffee, tea, and cake will be served.
Immediately following the Grand Opening will be a vendor fair from 10am-12pm and 1-3pm on both September 17th and 18th. We have invited some of our major information providers to our campus to show interested students, faculty, and staff how these products can meet their research needs as well as answer any questions they may might have about using these resources for their research. There will also be raffle prizes and give-aways! A full schedule of vendors is listed below.
Our Digital Services Librarian, Kristen Yarmey, will also be demonstrating the Library’s Digital Collections and its rich assortment of resources from the Aquinas to the Yearbook; Basketball and Football collections to Commencement Programs and Newspaper Clippings. Professor Yarmey will also be demoing the Digital Public Library of America. The DPLA is a website that unites digital collections from many different libraries, universities, museums, and historical societies, to one place.
There will also be Writing Center and CTLE staff on hand to discuss the services they provide through the Learning Commons. You will be able to learn about the lecture capture room and how students can practice presentations, record them, and save a digital copy. The Writing Center will be providing evening hours and drop-in times for students to get help where and when they need it.
Please, join us for two full days of information and celebration, snacks and prizes! We are excited for everyone to see our new space and learn about its features and services. We hope that you will stop by and encourage your friends and colleagues to attend as well.
Wednesday, September 17
- 10am Ribbon Cutting
- 10am-12pm: JSTOR, Springer, Project Muse
- 1pm-3pm: ProQuest, Alexander Street Press, IEEE
Thursday, September 18
- 10am-12pm: EBSCO, OVID
- 1pm-3pm: Sage, Elsevier
Drone Days of Summer: Flying High at the Library with Access Aerial
One of our goals here at the Weinberg Memorial Library is to encourage thoughtful exploration of new technologies – we see experimentation as an important part of thinking and learning. Also, sometimes we just like to play with cool new toys. For both reasons, we were delighted to receive a visit earlier this summer from local drone photography team Access Aerial, who gave us the Library’s very first drone flyover along with a demonstration of their equipment.
We’ll confess – we had an in! Access Aerial’s two pilots, Lee DeAngelis and John Culkin, are also staff members in the University of Scranton’s Information Resources division. In their day jobs as Senior Systems Administrators, Lee and John help us keep the Library’s infrastructure running smoothly. Off hours, though, they’re out flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over community events, giving us a new perspective on our local landscape. Back in June, Lee used his drone to capture aerial footage of the Scranton Cooperage fire, demonstrating the potential value of drones in local journalism (and even getting a mention in Fortune). In July, Access Aerial photographed the construction of the brand new library at nearby Marywood University (we’ll admit that a tiny bit of librarian jealousy may have prompted us to set up our own appointment).
At the end of August, Lee and John brought over one of their Phantom drones for a demonstration at the Library. Their Information Resources coworker Ray Frey, also a UAV enthusiast, brought his own homemade drone along for the fun.
The results were phenomenal: a beautiful video of our Library and campus and gorgeous drone’s-eye-view photographs.
As an added bonus, Lee and John came back to see us a few days later to do a “fly through” promotional video for our new Reilly Learning Commons!
We may have cheated a *tiny* bit. Shhh!
Overall, the experience has left us feeling quite majestic. From all of us here at the Weinberg Memorial Library, huge thanks to Access Aerial! We can’t wait to see what you’ll photograph next.
P.S. Feel like you missed out on the fun? Lee and John will be bringing a drone back to the Library on November 13, 2014 at 12pm for “Everything You Wanted To Know About Drones, But Were Afraid to Ask!” They’ll be giving a presentation and demonstration (weather permitting) as part of the Library’s Technology On Your Own Terms workshop series. Faculty and staff can sign up at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration.
Tech Support in The Reilly Learning Commons
The Tech Support office in the Reilly Learning Commons is now available Monday through Friday, 2pm till 6pm. You can visit them with questions concerning the PCs and Macs in the Learning Commons, connecting laptops to the new large monitors, reserving study rooms, or any issue you encounter with technology in the Learning Commons.
Dedication of the Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections
On Tuesday, September 2nd, the Weinberg Memorial Library hosted the dedication of the Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections. The dedication ceremony included comments by Dean Charles Kratz, an invocation by Rev. Ronald McKinney, S.J., and remarks by Vice-President for University Advancement Gary Olsen, followed by the unveiling of the dedicatory plaque by donor Brian McHugh ’59 and Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies.
Mr. McHugh provided remarks about his mother, for whom the department has been named. Mrs. McHugh was born in Kingston and resided in Plymouth.
Mr. McHugh is a graduate of Kingston High School. He attended the University of Havana, Cuba, and earned a master’s degree in psychology from The University of Scranton in 1959. A resident of Kingston, Mr. McHugh is a Korean War Veteran who served in U.S.A.F. as a member of an aircrew. His background includes positions in instruction, banking, construction and development. Mr. McHugh is a field consultant for business development at present. He is a member of the the Schemel Forum, serves on the Advisory Board of the Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library, and is an active member of the Luzerne County Historical Society.
The ceremony concluded with remarks by Provost Donald Boomgaarden, Ph.D., which included a brief musical interlude when he sang from the Library’s 14th century illuminated Italian choral book.
Following the dedication, there was a reception in the Heritage Room, where there is an exhibit on display of “Highlights from the Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections.” The exhibit runs through September 25th.
Listen to WVIA’s Interview with Schemel Forum Director Sondra Myers
Erika Funke from WVIA’s Artscene interviewed Sondra Myers, Schemel Forum Director. Tune in to listen to the discussion on the new and exciting offerings the Schemel Forum is bringing to campus starting on September 20th with University for a Day!
Don’t miss out! Listen here.
Library Exhibit: Highlights from the Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections
Brian E. McHugh ’59 recently announced a planned estate gift to the Weinberg Memorial Library in memory of his mother, Helen Gallagher McHugh. In memory of Mr. McHugh’s mother, the Weinberg Memorial Library’s Special Collections were named the Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections. Mrs. McHugh was born in Kingston and resided in Plymouth.
In honor of the naming and dedication, the Library is currently hosting an exhibit with a small and selective sample of the Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections. Most of this material has been assembled since 1996, starting with the acquisition of the Joseph Polakoff Papers followed by the Joseph McDade Congressional Papers Collection. Although the Library had a small rare book collection, including four mostly complete medieval manuscripts and a handful of books printed prior to 1500, the collection has been significantly expanded through the creation of the Hill-Davis Jesuit Collection with initial funding from the Rousseau Memorial Fund and subsequent funding from the Jesuit Community. Other items have been acquired through the generosity of the Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library, as well as through donations and purchases.
This exhibit is concentrating on the Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections. The department also contains the University Archives, which are not featured in this exhibit. Material from the University Archives was featured last year in an exhibit celebrating the 125th anniversary of the University. Archival material is regularly featured in Heritage Room exhibits and a significant amount is available online in the Library’s Digital Collections.
The exhibit is on display in the Library’s fifth floor Heritage Room until September 25. For more information about the exhibit, please contact Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies. michael.knies@scranton.edu (570) 941-6341
Schemel Forum Courses Begin Soon!
Reilly Learning Commons–Technology and Features
The Reilly Learning Commons is now open 24 hours!! HURRAH!! As you enter the space you’ll notice lounge seating and a large digital sign to share news and updates about the Learning Commons.
The first two rooms as you enter the space are for the Writing Center. They’ll be providing tutoring here with both appointments and drop-in hours. To see their full hours for the space visit the new webpage. When tutoring is not scheduled, the rooms will be available for students to reserve.
There are 5 additional group study rooms around the perimeter. They also have large monitors with HDMI wires for students to view their laptops as a group. The group study rooms are reservable by visiting the website. We are encouraging students to always reserve a room so another group does not show up and ask them to leave. In each of the rooms, the blue walls are writeable! Some have chalk and some have dry-erase markers.
There are four booth seating, or collaboration areas with large monitors and HDMI cords. You just have to plug the cord into the HDMI outlet on your laptop, this turns the TV on automatically. Once the TV is on, just push the play button on the wire and it will send the screen to the large monitor. You’ll be able to work on group projects more easily! Four students can have their devices plugged in at a time and switch between them by pushing the play button on each cord. These seating areas also have two stools and a high counter for additional students to work together.
In addition to the group study rooms and the collaborative booth areas, we’ve also added 6 new high end PCs and 6 new iMacs! They each have dual monitors and have brand new software including Adobe Creative Suite, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, and more. We’ve ordered additional chairs so students will be able to work in pairs at these stations. We also have our 19 old lab PCs, and several open stations for students to bring their own device.
Along the back wall you’ll find the Tech Support office that will be staffed by student workers throughout the semester to help with technology in the space. The middle room along the back wall is for Lecture Capture. Students will be able to reserve this room and it will be used to practice presentations and record them online using Panopto, the same software used in classrooms for lecture capture.
The funding for the Reilly Learning Commons was done entirely through fundraising by the Library Dean, Charles Kratz and the University’s Development Office. The planning was done by a team of librarians, teaching faculty, members of IT Services, CTLE, campus facilities, and a design from architects Hemmler and Camayd.