Comments Off on Get Your Indy Public Library Card!

By hahoward, November 17, 2014 9:36 am

As a Butler University student, staff, or faculty member you are eligible for an Indianapolis Public Library card! You can get yours on Wednesday, Nov 19th from 8:30am – 1pm in the Holcomb Building Lobby!  Just bring your Butler ID!

Get your library card so you can take advantage of their great services such as:

• A large fiction collection
• A large music collection
• The nearby College Ave branch
• Streaming video
• eBooks
• Audiobooks
• Databases different from those offered here at BU
• A variety of classes and workshops

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Comments Off on Fall Family Fun at Irwin Library

By jlmille5, November 12, 2014 5:08 pm

With the help of student volunteers and our awesome library staff, Irwin was able to have its first big trick-or-treat celebration. While we passed out candy to students and their visiting families, like several other spots on campus, we offered a few other activities and treats as well.

Because many siblings visiting for family weekend may not have packed along a costume, we provided several Halloween themed masks and offered face painting. Though our student volunteers had never face painted before, they gladly accepted the opportunity to flex their artistic muscles.

By 5:30, they were full out pros. Among the painted faces there was a pizza face, puppy, penguin, and a few other creative designs.

Though the event was advertised to students and their siblings, parents were accommodated at the Halloween festivities as well. Several families collected Halloween candy, used our coffee machine, and took refuge from the snow in our new soft spaces.

Events at Irwin are designed to show students that Irwin is an active part of the Butler community. Through events like the Halloween event and our bi-annual 24-hour study nights, students are given the opportunity to utilize their library in a totally different way. While Irwin is a place to study and do research, it is also a place in which fun, creativity, and collaboration are welcomed and celebrated.

–Akeira Jennings

Library Student Liaison

Comments Off on Digital Commons @ Butler University Reaches Major Milestone

By hahoward, November 4, 2014 2:09 pm

Digital Commons @ Butler University, the institutional repository for Butler University, reached a major milestone during its celebration of Open Access Week 2014, logging its one-millionth download.

Launched in 2009 and sponsored by Butler University Libraries, Digital Commons was created to preserve and make freely available the creative and intellectual output of the University. Over seven-thousand articles, book chapters, poems, podcasts, conference proceedings, theses, and herbarium specimen have been made globally accessible. To date, Digital Commons has received visits from 185 different countries.

A number of Butler-related journals are hosted in Digital Commons, including the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Word Ways, the Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research, and the forthcoming BU Well. The literary journal Booth and undergraduate literary magazine Manuscripts are digitally archived on the site.

Student, staff, and faculty works are highlighted in Digital Commons, dramatically increasing the reach of their scholarship and giving back to the global community. If you would like more information or are interested in participating, please contact Scholarly Communication Librarian Franny Gaede at 940-9549 or fgaede@butler.edu.

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Comments (2)

By hahoward, October 20, 2014 10:33 am

Help us celebrate Open Access Week 2014!

As we begin Butler University Libraries’ first annual celebration of Open Access Week, October 20 – 24, 2014, we would like to invite you to the Public Domain Movie Festival and the Open Access Roundtable. Read on for more information…

Public Domain Movie Festival

Everyone is welcome! We’re hosting screenings of some great public domain films, replete with snacks and sodas. Schedule is as follows:

Monday: His Girl Friday, 7-9pm, Great Books Room, Irwin Library

Tuesday: The 39 Steps, 7-9pm, 007, Irwin Library

Wednesday: Night of the Living Dead, 7-9pm, Great Books Room, Irwin Library

Thursday: The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, 7-9pm, Great Books Room, Irwin Library

Open Access Roundtable

Please join us for a collegial discussion about Open Access, author’s rights, data management, and Digital Commons! Answer your burning questions…

• Is this “open access” journal a scam? Why do they want me to pay them?
• I wrote this article earlier this year. Can I post it on Moodle?
• Why should I be interested in Digital Commons when I have this Academia.edu account?

Friday, October 24, 2014

2:00 – 3:30pm in the Great Books Room

Light refreshments provided

What is Open Access (OA)?

OA is a movement that makes scholarly research free to access, re-use, and redistribute on the web.

How can I make my work Open Access?

OA is a blanket term for a variety of publishing and hosting avenues with the ultimate goal of making scholastic work freely available. The Digital Commons @ Butler University is an archive for the scholarly and creative output of the Butler University community. If you’re already as part of Digital Commons, now is a great time to update your profile! Contact fgaede@butler.edu for more information. Alternatively, you may be interested in publishing in one of the many peer-reviewed OA journals. For more information, visit the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Fight for your (authorial) rights!  

When you sign a traditional publication agreement, you give up all your rights to the journal. Sometimes they’ll give you back permission to send a limited number of copies to colleagues. Sometimes you can post your article in Moodle. Sometimes you can publish parts of your article in a future essay. But sometimes you can’t. If you want to ensure wide exposure for your article and keep these those key rights, come talk with your Scholarly Communication Librarian, Franny Gaede, for more information on  how to negotiate those Copyright Transfer Agreements.

Is Open Access just for publications?

No! A variety of scholastic, professional, and creative output can be made freely available. Are you keeping your research data on a hard drive in your closet? Make sure it’s preserved by making it available in Digital Commons and share it with researchers around the world! Many major grant-making agencies require a data management plan as part of the application process; ask BIRS if Digital Commons is right for you.

For more info regarding Creative Commons Licensing, click here

To request disability-related accommodations or inquire about accessibility, please contact Franny Gaede at 317-940-9711 or fgaede@butler.edu.  Please provide us with as much advance notice as possible.  All attempts will be made to provide a reasonable accommodation for this event.

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Comments Off on Butler Students, Meet Your Library Student Liaison

By jlmille5, October 3, 2014 7:16 pm

Hello Butler Students!

My name is Akeira Jennings, and I am your friendly neighborhood library student liaison!

I’m sure many of you are wondering exactly what a student liaison is, so I wanted to let you know a little bit about my position and what I do.

The role of a liaison is to facilitate communication between different groups or organizations. As a member of the Butler student population, I communicate with the library administration, staff, and faculty to express student interests and needs. I identify what student opinions are by offering surveys and through suggestion boxes. Because technology is constantly changing, as well as the ways in which we study, student opinions and perspectives are essential.

As part of my liaison responsibilities, I plan many of the fun events held in the libraries. Last year we hosted a College Mentors for Kids Halloween party and a Good Boy Blue Book signing at Irwin Library. We also hosted “stress less” events in both the fall and spring semesters. Although the year has just begun, we already have several fun and exciting events planned for this semester.

Part of my job is to help make the libraries welcoming to students. For example, I have created simple surveys to identify students’ preferences for library furniture. (Students chose the café chairs now in the atrium of Irwin Library.) Last semester, I photographed students and faculty for new READ posters for the Lilly Science Library. The posters showcase students and faculty in the sciences, health science, and business fields, each holding a favorite book.

My job is essentially all about you. It is my responsibility to make sure that Butler University Libraries effectively meet your needs and hear your concerns. The Irwin Library and Lilly Science Library are yours, so help us shape them into places you’ll be proud to call your own.

If you have any questions or concerns about Butler Libraries and our upcoming events, please feel free to e-mail me at acjennin@butler.edu or to stop by Room 206 in Irwin Library.

Akeira