2nd Call For Art!
The library is seeking submissions for the 6th Annual Environmental Art Show. The art show will be held from April 15th until the 21st.
The purpose of the Environmental Art Show is to promote the natural beauty of our environment and the ideal practice of sustainable living through artworks of all types, including painting, photography, repurposed goods, sculpture, and more. The show is comprised entirely of University of Scranton student, staff, and faculty submissions, so please consider contributing!
The deadline for submissions is set for Thursday, April 14, 2016. All works of art can be dropped off at either the circulation or reference desks of the library. All artwork is returned after the exhibit has closed.
For photos from the past Environmental Art Shows see the following links:
Spotlight on Student Worker: Alexis Kuhner
Alexis Kuhner began working in Media Resources in June of 2015 and quickly became accustomed to the department. She immediately began working on summer projects and her friendly personality made her a natural at assisting patrons.
Alexis is a Business Administration major from Philadelphia. She chose Scranton because the Jesuit mission appealed to her, and the location provided her the opportunity to be fairly close to home, while still having the distance and opportunities to become her own person.
In addition to her studies and work, Alexis handles social media for Octaves, the University’s a capella group. She uploads their videos to YouTube and posts to their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. She’s also the audio specialist for the club. Alexis is on the senior class committee for Shamrockin’ Eve where she manages the social media accounts.
The class Alexis most enjoyed during her four years at the University was Introduction to Finance and Investments and her favorite professor is Dr. Jinghan Cai. In her spare time Alexis likes to cook, read and hike, and her favorite book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The advice Alexis would give to other University of Scranton students would be to take advantage of the resources available at the Library and to check the Media Resources collection before you rent a movie.
A surprising fact about Alexis is that she plans to attend culinary school after graduation, and her career goal is to open her own restaurant!
Thank you, Alexis, for all your hard work. We wish you all the best!
Civic and Social Literacy
Civics is the study of the rights and duties of citizenship.
The Civics Education Initiative proposes that all high school students take and pass the 100-question US Citizenship Civics test, from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), the test that all new US immigrants must learn. Try some random questions from the test. You will get immediate feedback. If you get some wrong, give it another try. A PDF version of the test in multiple languages is available on the USCIS Web site.
The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia is the first and only institution in America established by Congress to “disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a non-partisan basis in order to increase the awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.” The Constitution Center brings the United States Constitution to life by hosting interactive exhibits and constitutional conversations and inspires active citizenship by celebrating the American constitutional tradition. Read the Constitution.
There are three branches of the US government. Learn about each of them by clicking on these links:
The Executive Branch – Includes the President, the Vice-President, the Cabinet, which is an advisory body made up of the heads of the 15 executive departments
The Legislative Branch – The US House of Representatives, The US Senate
The Judicial Branch – The Supreme Court, the Federal Courts
Health Literacy
You want to be an informed consumer of healthcare who is able to manage your own and your family’s well-being, empowered to be an effective partner with your healtcare providers, and live a longer, more productive life. Here are some resources:
PubMed Health provides information for consumers and clinicians on prevention and treatment of diseases and conditions and is a service provided by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). From this page, you can link to other pages on the Web site that explain Clinical effectiveness research and How to read health news. There is an A-Z glossary of health terms Click on a letter, then click on the term you want, for example, Plantar Fascitis, to get a definition as well as more information about “What Works,” a summary of the research about plantar fasciits. The A-Z lsit of drugs works in a similar way. Click on a letter, then click on the drug you want, for example, ibuprofen, which gives you information about the drug and its uses.
The Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support its mission. Physicians, scientists and other medical experts dedicate a portion of their clinical time to this Web site, thereby providing access to the knowledge and experience of Mayo Clinic. Click on the Patient Care and Health Information link to search for information about Diseases and Conditions, Symptoms, Tests and Procedures, Drugs and supplements. Although there are ads on this site (proceeds help support their mission), Mayo Clinic does not endorse non-Mayo products and services.
These two soucres Web sites are good places to find highly reliable health information.
Spotlight on Student Worker – Olivia Gillespie
Olivia Gillespie of Ocean City, New Jersey began studying at The University of Scranton in the fall of 2012 as an Exercise Science major. Before the end of the spring 2013 semester, she had changed her major to English Literature with minors in Spanish and Theology. It was just around that time when she approached me at the Circulation Desk inquiring about a work-study position. We corresponded over the summer and she began her work here at the Circulation desk with the start of the fall 2013 semester.
She loves being able to watch the campus community as they pass through the library. Her job allows her to meet new people while meeting their needs. She advises fellow students to utilize the library. There are so many librarians and resources that can inform you and make your education easier and more fulfilling.
Olivia is a member of the Sigma Tau Delta English National Honor Society. She enjoys writing stories and poems. She’s won the Berrier Prose Award for her entries in Esprit, a literary magazine published by the students of The University of Scranton. In fact, Olivia is currently its Editor-in-Chief! She tutors English students in the CTLE and last semester she was a teaching assistant for Freshman Seminar.
Though English is her first language, she loves studying Spanish and Portuguese. Not only can she speak in all three languages, but she dreams in all three languages every night! In her spare time, she enjoys beat boxing and rapping. Her favorite movie is The World According to Garp.
Currently, Olivia is a semi-national finalist for a Fulbright Scholarship. If selected, she will travel to Brazil in March of 2017 to teach English in a college classroom. Her career aspirations are to become either a teacher, a lawyer or an interpreter or perhaps all of the above. Whatever the future brings, we wish her all the best.
Thank you Olivia!
Can It Possibly Get Worse for Europe and The Middle East?
For more information and to RSVP contact:
Emily Brees at 570-941-6206 or email Emily.Brees@scranton.edu
For more information on upcoming Schemel Forum events, click here.
Wikipedia and the Library
On Saturday, March 5th, the Weinberg Memorial Library will host its first Wikipedia workshop and edit-a-thon. Each year, international edit-a-thons bring together libraries, archives and museums to improve and generate content on Wikipedia. These events help to improve our collective understanding of Wikipedia─ its structure and the way its content is created─ and also provide a venue to discuss and debate its value. At the Library, we support improving public access to information and promoting digital literacy, and we possess the tools and resources to improve Wikipedia’s content.
Wikipedia and Libraries
In 2014, OCLC began a pilot project to develop innovative ways of integrating library resources with Wikipedia’s content. OCLC sought library partners who were willing to host a Wikipedia editor and give that editor access to their materials and collections in order to enhance the article citation process on Wikipedia. The cooperative’s goal for this project is to make library e-collections available online via the WorldCat knowledge base, so that students and others on campus can see links in Wikipedia to full-text articles.
Other library initiatives that are helping to improve the scope and quality of Wikipedia articles and citations include:
- #1Lib1Ref – This collaborative project encourages public and university librarians to add credible references to Wikipedia articles.
- VIAFbot project – A case study project, led by Wikipedians-in-Residence at OCLC and the British Library, to integrate authority data with biographical Wikipedia articles.
- Wikipedia Visiting Scholars Program – A program through which experienced Wikipedia editors gain remote access to library resources like databases, ebooks, and special collections.
You can learn more about the many other case studies of collaborations between Wikipedia and libraries here:
- Case studies of Libraries participating in the Wikipedia Community: Example projects documented by the Wikimedia community on how Libraries successfully engage with Wikipedia
- Case studies of archives participating in the Wikipedia Community: Example projects documented by the Wikimedia community on how Libraries successfully engage with Wikipedia and the larger Wikimedia Community
Wikipedia and Students
A recent study published in The Internet and Higher Education found that 87.5% of students use Wikipedia in their academic work. A 2015 study from the Reference Services Review investigated ways in which Wikipedia could be used as a tool for information literacy. This case study engaged students in Wikipedia-editing activities and Wikipedia-related discussions. The study found that, following these discussions, students could effectively identify gaps in Wikipedia articles, critically evaluate and use sources to address those gaps and appropriately document their references.
Educating students on how articles on Wikipedia are created and audited helps them to think critically about information sources and understand knowledge production, while also instructing them on how they can contribute. The pedagogical benefits of learning how to edit on Wikipedia include:
- Engaging students in a global effort with an educational purpose
- Encouraging media and digital literacy
- Exercising critical thinking to analyze and interpret information for fairness, accuracy, and credibility
- Constructing knowledge and identifying content gaps
- Learning about fair-use and copyright
- Learning wiki code and getting hands-on experience with technology
- Fostering digital citizenship and online etiquette
Here is a list of projects that incorporate Wikipedia training into school and university courses.
Wikipedia and the Weinberg Memorial Library
Contributing content to Wikipedia that relates to the University of Scranton provides another way of highlighting the library’s collections and resources. The upcoming edit-a-thon is not the Library’s first venture into how its digital collections and resources could be used to support articles on Wikipedia. Last year, Kate Reilly ’17, a student working in Digital Services at the Library, wanted to learn how Wikipedia articles are created and edited. Using information made available in the Library’s digital collections, she began editing articles that related to the University of Scranton, its leaders and events. Through this project, Kate sought to “share the abundant historical knowledge documented in the Library’s collections.” You can read more about Kate’s experience with Wikipedia in the Library’s newsletter here.
Why Art+Feminism?
One of the founding organizers of the annual Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, Siân Evans, stated last year on the ACRL blog that librarians should care about Wikipedia because “it is so often where our patrons start their research process and, because it’s open source, we have the tools to improve it.” Each year, academic and cultural partners from around the globe organize Wikipedia edit-a-thons that are focused on creating a networked collaboration between libraries, Wikipedia and scholars. The goal of Art+Feminism’s edit-a-thon is to improve the coverage of women on Wikipedia and encourage female editorship. Less than 10% of editors on Wikipedia are female and, as a result, there are many articles missing from Wikipedia on noteworthy women in history. In honor of Women’s History Month, the Weinberg Memorial Library will take part in this international campaign to close the gender gap on Wikipedia and host its first workshop and edit-a-thon.
You can read more about Art+Feminism’s Wikipedia project here:
- Evans, Siân, Jacqueline Mabey, and Michael Mandiberg. 2015. “Editing for Equality: The Outcomes of the Art+feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thons”. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 34 (2). [University of Chicago Press, Art Libraries Society of North America]: 194–203. doi:10.1086/683380.
At the Weinberg Memorial Library, we’re helping to broaden the conversation about the legitimate uses of Wikipedia and helping students learn how they can play a role in contributing to its content. Please join us on Saturday, March 5th, from 12-4pm in Rooms 305 & 306. RSVP: archives@scranton.edu
Environmental Art Show – Call For Art!
The library is seeking submissions for the 6th Annual Environmental Art Show. The art show will be held from April 15th until the 21st.
The purpose of the Environmental Art Show is to promote the natural beauty of our environment and the ideal practice of sustainable living through artworks of all types, including painting, photography, repurposed goods, sculpture, and more. The show is comprised entirely of University of Scranton student, staff, and faculty submissions, so please consider contributing!
The deadline for submissions is set for Thursday, April 14, 2016. All works of art can be dropped off at either the circulation or reference desks of the library. All artwork is returned after the exhibit has closed.
For photos from the past Environmental Art Shows see the following links:
Spotlight on Student Worker – Brianna Blozen
Brianna Blozen of Nutley, New Jersey has been a student worker in the Library since the Fall of 2013. You’ll find her most evenings, working at the Circulation Desk where she loves the atmosphere and seeing her friends and professors moving through. She enjoys helping other students and advises them to save money by looking in the Library first before spending too much money on required readings.
Bri is a Counseling and Human Services major who is planning a career as a parole/probation officer after graduation in May. She is an active member of the Counseling and Human Services Association. The club’s moderator, Dr. Paul Datti is her favorite professor.
When Bri is not studying or working, she volunteers her time in the community whenever possible. In her spare time, she enjoys watching television and hanging out with her friends. Her favorite movie is West Side Story.
A fun fact about Bri is that she loves cats! She loved her cat Sheena so much that her face is tattooed across her back. In warmer months to come, you just might see Sheena peeking out over the edge of a tank top!
Thank you Bri!