Please visit DMC Gallery website to learn some of exciting projects the DMC has supported recently, such as how students and staff used our state-of-art video studio to record green screen footage, how people use DMC equipment to record campus debate, musical performances, or vocals, and much more…
Woodson Research Center has several new exhibits now on display in Fondren. One of our fantastic student workers, Camille created two exhibits this fall. In the Lovett Lounge on the 3rd Floor, Camille created an exhibit focusing on Houston in 1912.
View of downtown Houston in 1912
Camille also created the exhibit in the cases outside the Woodson Research Center about the Sallyport. The Sallyport was once a central spot for socializing in Rice’s early days, but now Rice undergrads avoid walking through the Sallyport except for Matriculation and Commencement or else risk not graduating within 4 years.
View through Sallyport on opening day of Rice Institute, October 6, 1912
“From Tennessee kid to Texas businessman: the Story of Jesse H. Jones” selections from the Jesse H. Jones Family and Personal Papers are displayed in the cases near the east entrance of the library. Through images and memorabilia, this exhibit chronicles the life and times of Jesse H. Jones from childhood to his political career during both world wars in Washington DC among the powerful and elite. Images of the many buildings he constructed, owned and operated in Houston are highlighted.
In the 1st floor hallway, “Postcard Charm at Rice” features historic postcards of Rice’s campus.
Residential Hall for Men, Rice Institute, 1912
Happy International Open Access Week! This year’s theme, “Open In Action,” focuses on steps being taken to open research and scholarship while encouraging others to do the same.
In this spirit, we encourage everyone who has published an article or presented at a conference (paper, poster, etc.) in the past year to make a copy of their work available in the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive, Rice’s institutional repository. By contributing to the collection of existing staff work, you can help to highlight the work being done at Fondren and make available scholarship that colleagues at other institutions will likely find very useful.
Making your work available is easy! You can either deposit the work yourself or DSS staff can deposit it for you. Simply email cds@rice.edu with your preference.
Thanks for helping to further open access at Rice!
As Rice promotes undergraduate research and experiential education, Fondren is sponsoring library-based research opportunities through the new Fondren Fellows program. The inaugural group of Fondren Fellows– three graduate students and one undergraduate– are working on a range of projects, from examining Rice’s research data management environment to mapping Civil War narratives. Learn about their research and dream up your own ideas for potential student projects; the call for the next round of Fellows projects will be going out soon.
Graduate student in Anthropology
Mentor: Shannon Kipphut-Smith
This project aims to understand more about how tenure-stream faculty at Rice think about and act on their author rights in connection with their published work. Many faculty want to make their scholarly and professional output more accessible, whether by uploading it to Rice’s institutional depository or by posting it to an academic social network. However, faculty members may not always have a clear understanding of how and where they are permitted to share their work under the terms of the author agreements they have signed. This project uses interviews and document analysis to piece together the values, beliefs, and actually existing practices of faculty members, using participants’ most recent publication as a case study. The results will be used to improve the resources and services that Fondren offers to faculty, and they also stand to fill a gap in the scholarly communication research literature
Graduate student in Anthropology
Mentor: Lisa Spiro
Data management has become a more pressing issue for researchers lately, as funding agencies are increasingly requiring researchers to present rationalized data management plans and to ensure access to their research data well after the completion of their funded research. However, institutional support for research data management is still a relatively new field, without established best practices. This project uses interviews with Rice faculty and data librarians at peer institutions to develop insight into the research data management environment at Rice, and develop comprehensive recommendations for how Fondren might best support ongoing efforts to develop policies and infrastructure to support research data management by both faculty and student researchers. It suggests that the existing Rice Digital Scholarship Archive could be profitably used to facilitate sharing and archiving of research data, and identifies a number of key areas where Fondren might assist departments in educating researchers about the importance and technical aspects of rationalized research data management
Junior, Will Rice College
Mentor: Sue Garrison and Melinda Flannery
During the Fall 2016 semester, Fondren Library will be reviewing alternative seating arrangements for possible student use. This can include bike desks, under desk ellipticals, treadmill desks and more! Alternative desks can improve students’ cognitive function while studying and keep them active. With increasing research showing the dangers of extended sitting, alternative seating arrangements at Fondren can improve student health and grades. Student input is essential to this project to ensure Rice University students will positively benefit from this possible change.
Graduate student in History
Mentors: Amanda Focke and Rebecca Russell
We designed our project, entitled “Mapping Civil War Narratives,” to make the Woodson Research Center’s rich Civil War-related collections more accessible to researchers. I will use ArcGIS to map where people wrote these documents and what locations they discussed in these documents. This interactive “bird’s-eye view” map will give these collections a new dynamism. Researchers will be able to see the multiple geographies of these collections and the interactions between them. A researcher, for example, could follow the particular route of a soldier in the Army of the Potomac, trace the exchange of letters between Confederate officers and Richmond, or use filters to see where men and women discussed race, politics, violence, or disease. This semester, I will focus first on mapping soldiers’ letters to their families in order to build a framework and methodology for the future expansion of this project to all of the Woodson’s Civil War-related collections. Additionally, I will use Esri Story Maps to highlight one particular collection in order to further show the interpretive possibilities of the Woodson’s collections.
Executive Committee Meeting Summary August 25, 2016
Lowman announced that Pecht and Lowery are new members of the group and that the Executive Committee will now meet every other week.
Galvin reported on conversations about developing a shared catalog with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, or perhaps sharing a discovery layer. It was agreed that the costs and benefits of such a complex collaboration would be better considered if and when Fondren considers a new library service platform.
Lowman shared a historic list of topics that have been discussed at meetings of the University Faculty Committee on the Library. The group meets twice per semester. Possible topics for this year include space planning, Fondren’s support for the current Quality Enhancement Program on experiential learning, outside support for academic libraries (including friends groups), Fondren Fellows projects and Fondren website revisions.
Lowman asked that the group bring to the next meeting ideas for Executive Committee discussion topics. There was brief discussion of mirroring the university’s current focus on research competitiveness and exploring library support for the Deans Council’s continuing focus on diversity. Lowman and Flannery will refine the diversity topic, possibly meeting with Russell Barnes.
Lowman inquired about the library’s need to plan for the upcoming transition from Owlspace to Canvas for course management. As the library’s primary use of Owlspace is not for course management, but rather for projects and committees, our access to Owlspace should not change through the transition. Galvin will double-check how project and committee work will be supported after the Canvas transition.
Executive Committee Meeting Summary September 8, 2016
The group welcomed new WebTeam co-chairs Debra Kolah and Jiun Kuo, and discussed with them the group’s updated charge.
Pecht reported that the WRC has been approached to discuss accepting an important art historical archive.
Lowman reported on a recent Deans’ Council meeting. Emphases for this year are: 1) culture of performance, growth and development, 2) diversity (continued from previous year) and 3) Capital Campaign. Members of the Horizon Group will be asked to the Sept. 21 Executive Committee meeting to discuss working on 1). Lowman and Flannery will begin exploring how the library can address diversity issues (2)) in hiring and promotion. In order to participate well in 3), the library will need to update its planning document. Where we are and how to update the document should be discussed at the Sept. 21 meeting.
Lowman asked the group by Sept. 16 to comment on a very preliminary document developed by Matt Taylor (Associate Vice-Provost for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean of Undergraduates, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Humanities), exploring affinities between the library and the functions of the Center for Teaching Excellence. She noted that space use will be one of the topics on the agenda of the University Committee on the Library.
Flannery offered interim updates on the Acquisitions Data Work Group and the Linked Data Work Group, as well as soliciting suggestions for articles for the fall issue of News from Fondren.
The next meeting will be on September 21, 1-2:30 pm
Executive Committee Meeting Summary September 21, 2016
Horizon Group co-chairs Rebecca Russell and Siu Min Yu attended for discussions of two topics: 1) Fondren’s support for the university’s latest Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) on Experiential Learning and 2) coming up with a library-wide process for a planning document to be completed before the university’s next capital campaign, i.e., by March.
Lowman asked the Horizon Group to plan a staff retreat on Fondren’s support for the new QEP. Relevant Rice faculty as well as current Fondren Fellows and their mentors should be involved. The retreat should occur in the fall. The Horizon Group will meet and then share their thoughts with Lowman.
The university will be gearing up for another capital campaign, the first since the one connected to the Vision for the Second Century. This campaign should be more focused on programs than buildings. Lowman is asking the Horizon Group to come up with a process for involving staff in reviewing and fleshing out Fondren’s planning document. She will visit an upcoming Horizon Group meeting to discuss further.
Janet Thompson visited to discuss time-keeping procedures in light of recent attention to existing and new provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Concern was expressed that the implementation of the current online system decouples signoff from direct supervisory responsibility for time worked. System limitations and a need for central control have been named as the reasons alternative implementations are not possible. Thompson will follow up with Human Resources, and possibly Facilities, Engineering and Planning as well as Athletics. The group discussed the ongoing Human Resources training on the recent FLSA changes.
Lowman noted that the capital budget process is underway. She plans to propose an engineering study on the feasibility of converting the unused bay of the off-campus Data Center to use for library storage. Additionally, she plans to propose a new building study, in which Shepley-Bulfinch would review and revise unimplemented portions of the existing building plan. User studies would be included in the review.
Lowman shared that the Dean’s Council recently reviewed an Enterprise Risk Management Study prepared by the university’s Strategy and Planning Committee. The study identified the top 100 risks to the university along with plans for study and mitigation. The library may undertake a similar study.
John O’Neil
Taquaritinga,1974
acrylic on canvas
John O’Neil (1915-2004) was one of the first professors of art and art history at Rice. He was head of the Art Department until 1970 when he became the first director of the Sewell Art Gallery.
Robin Utterback
Number 2 1980, 1980
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Preamble to the Constitution, signed, Sept. 17, 1787, ratified, June 21, 1788.
Happy Constitution Day! Staff from the Kelley Center for Government Information, Data and Geospatial Services are hosting an event on Thursday, Sept. 15th to celebrate Constitution Day. At the same time, volunteer voter registrars will be helping folks register to vote! This dual-purpose event will spotlight key elements in our country’s founding and governance structure. In addition to the four-hour event, two exhibit cases in Fondren Library showcase materials on each of these topics. The “Voting” exhibit can be found in the first floor elevator lobby, and “Constitution Day” is located in the basement elevator lobby. Materials in the exhibit cases are borrowed from the Federal Depository Library collection held at the Kelley Center for Government Information, Data and Geospatial Services.
Join us Thursday, September 15th, from 1 – 5 pm, at the lobby in front of the Circulation Desk. Those attending the event are encouraged to share their thoughts about the Constitution through social media, and enter the raffle for a chance at a cool prize.
For more information about Constitution Day and Elections, see the extensive resources found on our LibGuides: http://libguides.rice.edu/constitution_day and http://libguides.rice.edu/elections_voting
Last week, on Tuesday, August 30, Fondren Library hosted its annual bingo scavenger hunt with great success!
Jean shows students how to fill out the bingo card.
C-MACS members placed bingo code cards at over 25 different points of interest within the building, such as the giant owl sculpture and the moon rock. Students could pick up bingo cards at a snack station on the 1st floor with icons matching those on the code cards. They would then write in the codes for that space on their bingo cards. Once they had a bingo (full horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line), they could bring the card back to the snack station to pick a prize (or two if they had a blackout)–Fondy swag!
This year, over 25 students took part in the event, which lasted from 7pm-9pm. C-MACS would like to thank Debra Kolah, Norie Guthrie, Jean Aroom, Michael Chiles, Mary Lowery, and Sue Garrison (and her friend Nicole!) for staffing the snack stations throughout the library.
The UX Office, in collaboration with the C-MACS committee, held our first 2016-2017 Fondren Library Student Ambassador meeting on Friday, September 2nd. Norie Guthrie, Amanda Thomas, and Debra Kolah facilitated the meeting. The Library Ambassador program was started by the UX Office in 2014, but became a funded program by the Executive Committee in the Spring of 2016. We currently have 7 student representatives from: Lovett, Brown, Baker, Sid Rich, the GSA, Will Rice, and Jones College.
Current ambassadors are recruiting students from the remaining unrepresented colleges. Students can sign up at: https://library.rice.edu/news/we-are-looking-fondren-library-student-ambassadors and the Feedback owlcard has a small blurb about the program.
The 2016 Fall issue of News from Fondren will include a brief story on the program, and include a photograph of the students. The Ambassadors will:
The kick-off meeting on Friday, September 2nd, included conversations about the new student conference room (Room 156) which will be open soon, Labor Day hours, safety and signage in the library, and upcoming events. Students will receive a weekly email that they will share with their colleges. All of the ambassadors also received a small bag of Fondren promotional items.
Additionally, Kathy Weimer gave a brief tour of the Kelley Center for Government Information, Data and Geospatial Services, and talked about the GIS/Data Center. She also informed the students of two upcoming events: Constitution Day, on September 16th, and the Digital Frontiers Conference https://digital-frontiers.org/ on September 22nd-24rd. She encouraged them to come to the two keynote talks at the conference, which are free to attend. The students will help promote these events at their colleges, and make other students aware of the range of programs, events and classes that Fondren offers.
Future meetings will include tours of other departments, and help the students gain a deep understanding of the role of an academic library in the University. They will share feedback on their experience of the library, and gather feedback from their colleges that will help improve and develop library services.
Kathy Weimer gives tour to the Ambassadors.
Marketing items from Fondren Library.
–Summer Hiatus–