WVU Libraries

There is still time to participate in the Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge, a collaborative effort between the WVU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the WVU Libraries that enables alumni and fans to support the Libraries while cheering for the Gold and Blue.

Challenge participants pledge a certain dollar figure per touchdown the Mountaineers score during the 2012 season and in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Funds raised will support library resources.

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BY ALEX LANG

The Dominion Post

TO COMMEMORATE the 150th anniversary of West Virginia, The Dominion Post will be publishing weekly columns by Robert O’Connor, a historian, scholar and author of six Civil War books. The first column will appear Jan. 2.

A state is born.

The Dec. 9, 1862, edition of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer features various reports about the possibility of a West Virginia.

A headline on Page 3 states “The New State in Congress to-day.”

“To day the bill for the admission of the new State comes up in the United States House of Representatives. It is possible, but hardly to be expected, that we shall know before another issue the fate of the measure,” the article reads.

It continues, “We the shining pillar of a prosperous future before us and the sweet hope of deliverance in our hearts, we of West Virginia have followed on, till this morning we stand, as the children of Israel stood up on the Red Sea beach, and look across the only tide that rolls between us and the friendly shore which our feet are eager to press, and whose beauties our longing eyes already faintly discern. Here we stand and yonder is the land of promise, the tide be tween and the dark hosts of a worse than Pharaoh following on our track. Pray God that some Moses this day in Congress smite the turbulent waves and roll them back till we pass through in safety.”

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The Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries will remain open for extended hours during the last week of classes and finals weeks.

The Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries will open at 9 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, and remain open until 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7. Both will be open from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8.

The libraries will open at 9 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 9 and remain open until 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14. They will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15.

For more information, check out the Libraries’ calendar: www.libraries.wvu.edu/hours

Thanksgiving Break hours begin at 5 p.m. Friday. The Downtown Campus, Evansdale, and Health Sciences libraries will be closed November 18, 21, 22 & 23. The Libraries will be open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on November 19 & 20, and 1-5 p.m. on November 17 & 24. Regular hours resume November 25. For more information, check the Libraries website, www.libraries.wvu.edu/hours.

A search committee has been formed to select a new dean for West Virginia University Libraries.

The committee will be led by Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Jones. Library faculty will be represented by Beth Royall and Hilary Fredette, while Library staff will be represented by Thea Browne.

Four faculty members were chosen at-large. They are: Lisa Weihman, associate professor in English; Robert Tallaksen, professor and vice chair, radiology; Rebecca Chory, professor, communication studies; and Richard Turton, professor in chemical engineering.

Two students will also serve. They are Paul Garton, an undergraduate student in the Honors College, and Juan Mundel, a graduate student in journalism.

Dr. John Stealey, a member of the Library Visiting Committee and the Capital Campaign Committee, has also agreed to serve.

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This year, archives across the region are celebrating American Archives Month with the theme of “Archives and Lifelong Learning.”

Archives like the West Virginia & Regional History Collection exist not just for the use of history scholars doing “serious research,” but also for high school students working on History Day papers, families researching the ownership of their land, and individuals writing their family histories.

Nearly half of the several thousand visitors to the WVRHC each year fall into the latter categories. The WVRHC is open to the public, and admission is free.

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Tutors are available at the Downtown Campus Library from 6-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday. Tutoring is offered in biology, chemistry, geology, math, physics, psychology, statistics, accounting, economics, finance, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish.

Tutors for most subjects are here on all five days, except:

Math tutors are on hand Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

Geology: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Psychology: Monday and Wednesday.

Arabic: Monday and Thursday.

Spanish: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

The Downtown Campus Library is home to an Academic Resource Center, an initiative from the Office of Retention and Research in Student Affairs. For more information on Academic Research Centers, visit this website: http://retention.wvu.edu/tutoring

A visit to the WVU Libraries has already paid off for nine freshmen. Their names were picked in a drawing of students who participated in “Discover! WVU Libraries,” part of the 2012 First Year Academy.

Rafael Andrade, pre-economics, won a Kindle Fire.

Caitlyn Lewis, journalism, won a Panasonic digital camera.

Caitlynne Kibler, pre-sports and exercise psychology, won an Amazon gift card.

Rebecca Henderson, pre-nursing, won an iPod.

Hannah Hendrick, World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics; Tess Marunich, pre-biochemistry; Eli Meador, general studies; and Caitlin Sawyers, pre-political science, won iTunes cards.

The Libraries sponsored “Discover! WVU Libraries” to introduce students to the library in order to assist them through their academic endeavors at WVU.

Depending on their major, students visited the Downtown Campus Library, the Evansdale Library, or the Health Sciences Library to learn about the array of available resources and services and to meet the librarians and staff who can guide them when writing a paper or doing research.

The WVU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will again team up with the WVU Libraries this fall on the Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge, a fundraising campaign to benefit the Libraries.

Last year, Athletics and the Libraries partnered to launch the initiative in which participants pledged a dollar figure per touchdown the Mountaineers scored during the 2011 season and subsequent Orange Bowl. The 63 touchdowns resulted in numerous donations for the Libraries.

“I’m pleased that our alumni and fans made the initial Touchdown Challenge a success,” Athletic Director Oliver Luck said. “As anticipation over our first season in the Big 12 continues to build, I want to encourage Mountaineers everywhere to express their enthusiasm by stepping up to support the Libraries through the Touchdown Challenge.”

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Does heredity or diet dictate a person’s disposition? What about the amount of sleep one gets or how about the phases of the moon?

If you ask William Shakespeare, he might encourage you to watch a few of his plays to learn about how people are guided by the four humors.

Or you could stop by the WVU Health Sciences Library. The Bard’s use of ancient medical theory is the subject of a current exhibit.

The Health Sciences Library is hosting “And there’s the humor of it”: Shakespeare and The Four Humors, a National Library of Medicine (NLM) traveling exhibit through Oct. 6.  The exhibit, consisting of six free-standing banners, is on display in the Library’s lobby.

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Before taking any notes, listening to any lectures, or sitting through any classes, freshman Jesse Bradt went to the Downtown Campus Library.

That’s where he and more than 2,000 other incoming freshmen spent part of their Saturday afternoon. Close to 1,800 students visited the Evansdale Library, and about 600 toured the Health Sciences Library.

The event, Discover! WVU Libraries, was part of the 2012 First Year Academy. Its goal was to introduce students to the particular library and the people who will help them with their academic endeavors. Depending on their major, students visited the Downtown Campus Library, the Evansdale Library, or the Health Sciences Library to learn about the services and resources they offer.

“I thought it was cool,” said Bradt, a business and economics major from Delaware. “I like how it got everyone involved. It was an interesting way to get you used to how the Library works.”

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As of July 16, ILLiad has become the newest library service to switch to the MyID username and password for logging on. All current users should now logon using their MyID account information. After re-registering, historical information from their ILLiad account will be transferred to their new MyID ILLiad account.

The Health Sciences Library will be closed on Saturday, July 28, because of electrical upgrade work at Health Science Center North. Work, which will involve a helicopter lift of materials, is expected to start at 8 a.m. and continue most of the day.

HSC Facilities Management has requested that the top three floors of HSC North be unoccupied to comply with federal safety regulations. The public is encouraged to avoid the building and adjacent parking lots and green space while work is ongoing.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, maybe literature is in the eye of the reader or viewer.

An upcoming exhibit at the Downtown Campus Library will showcase a relatively new literary genre called electronic literature. “Electrifying Literature: Affordances and Constraints,” the 2012 Media Art Show curated by the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO), will run in conjunction with the ELO conference in Morgantown from June 20-23.

“Electronic literature is as old as the computer,” said Sandy Baldwin, an English professor in the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences and chair of the ELO conference. “As long as there have been computers, there have been people using them to do creative things.”

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Three Honors graduates have been named Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars. Abigail Cioffi, Miriah Hamrick, and Jared Jones received the award at a ceremony in the Charles C. Wise Library during Commencement Weekend.

“These students did a tremendous job researching their topics and presenting their findings,” said Keith Garbutt, Dean of the Honors College. “They are excellent examples of the undergraduates at West Virginia University who are engaged in extraordinary research. We are pleased these students are being recognized for their scholarship and hard work.”

The WVU Libraries and the Honors College established the Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars Award in 2009 to honor Dr. Robert F. Munn, Dean of Library Services from 1957-1986.

The award goes to one or more graduating Honors students for outstanding humanities or social sciences research that is done in the WVU Libraries and results in an exceptional thesis. Writing a thesis is a graduation requirement for Honors students. Along with receiving a $1,000 award, the scholar’s name is added to a plaque in the Downtown Campus Library.

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As part of Faculty Academy, the WVU Libraries are spotlighting their Information Literacy Course Enhancement Program (ILCEP) and its participants.

This year’s showcase will be held in the Milano Reading Room, Wise Library, on May 7 and will include professor/librarian teams for the 2011-12 academic year. Poster sessions are scheduled from 8-9 a.m. and 10:30-11 a.m. There will be a presentation and panel discussion at 9 a.m. in Room 104, Downtown Campus Library. It is titled “What Have We Learned from Three Years of the Libraries’ Information Literacy Course Enhancement Project?”

“The WVU Libraries’ Information Literacy Course Enhancement Program has grown remarkably since its inception in the summer of 2009,” said Carroll Wilkinson, WVU Libraries’ Director of Instruction and Information Literacy.

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The Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries will remain open for extended hours during Dead and Finals weeks.

The Downtown Campus Library will open at 9 a.m. Sunday and remain open until 10 p.m. Friday, April 27. The Evansdale Library will open at 9 a.m. Sunday and remain open until 8 p.m. Friday, April 27. Both libraries will be open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. on Saturday, April 28.

The Downtown Campus Library will open at 9 a.m. Sunday, April 29, and remain open until 10 p.m. Friday, May 4. The Evansdale Library will open at 9 a.m. Sunday, April 29, and remain open until 8 p.m. Friday, May 4.

For more information, check out the Libraries’ calendar: www.libraries.wvu.edu/hours

Beverly Shumaker (right), historian for the WVU Campus Club, presents two copies of her book, A Century of Support for “Our Girls,” to Myra N. Lowe, Interim Dean of Libraries.

The book chronicles the history of the Campus Club, the oldest continuous organization on campus. The group marks its 100^th anniversary this year. To celebrate, members welcome the University community to join them for refreshments at 3 p.m. April 18 at Elizabeth Moore Hall.

When initially formed in 1912, the club provided financial support to female students. Today, both male and female undergraduates benefit from the organization’s scholarships. The group’s membership includes active and retired faculty and staff.

Long before any children attended Hogwarts, visited Narnia, or met a vampire, a scrawny nine-year old boy raised his empty bowl and asked for more food.

He had no wand, magic spell, nor lion to protect him. Yet the orphan set fear aside and stood up to authority. That literacy moment has inspired millions since Charles Dickens first penned the classic tale Oliver Twist, serially published, 1837-1839.

“We all appreciate stories in which the little guy fights against the powers that be. That’s a theme with broad appeal,” said Kelly Diamond, a librarian at the Downtown Campus Library.

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