NC STATE STUDENT

Matthew Woodward, graduating in 2012 with a Major in Applied Sociology and a Minor in Forensic Science

Hometown: Huntington Beach, CA

1. What are your top three favorite books?

Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan Johnson

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life by Marshall Frady

2. What is your ideal job after you graduate from NCSU?

After graduation I’ll be working at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA.

3. What is your special talent or skill?

Mixed Martial Arts

4. Where in the library is your favorite place to study?

The Terrace

5. What do you like most about the NCSU libraries?

My favorite thing about the NC State libraries is the culture of innovation. Whether it’s providing Microsoft surface tables, HD camcorders, or iPads – the staff continually looks for ways to put new technologies in the hands of students and ultimately prepare us for a high-tech workforce.

NC STATE FACULTY

Dr. Lucian A. Lucia, Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Biomaterials (Wood & Paper Science)

Courses Taught: PSE 220, WPS 721 & PSE ??? (new class- “Principles of Green Chemistry”)

1. What are your top three favorite books?

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Edgar Allen Poe’s anthologies

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

2. If you didn’t work as a professor, what would your ideal job be?

A better professor

3. What three things do you do on weekends?

Garden, read and play chess

4. What do you like most about the NCSU Libraries?

The libraries have not only the best collection of books, but the very best and most wonderful collection of people I know.

NCSU LIBRARIES STAFF

Brian Clossey, University Library Technician for Access and Delivery Services at D.H. Hill Library

1. What are your top three favorite books?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

2. If you didn’t work at the library, what would your ideal job be?

Working abroad for an NGO establishing community-based tourism programs in developing areas; particularly Southeast Asia.
3. What three things do you do on weekends?

Clean, socialize and go to the gym

4. What do you like most about the NCSU libraries?

The willingness to try new things and the desire to innovate.  Libraries run the risk of becoming stagnant, getting left behind in an increasingly digital age, but not here.

National Library Week, April 8-14, was created to celebrate the role of libraries in our lives. In honor of this year’s theme You Belong @ Your Library, we have asked NC State students, faculty and library staff to share a little about themselves and how the library enriches their lives.  New profiles will appear each weekday.

NC STATE STUDENT

Chandler Thompson, graduating in 2012 with a Major in Economics and a Minor in Political Science

Hometown: High Point, NC

1. What are your top three favorite books?

North Carolina State University, A narrative history by Alice Regan

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

2. What is your ideal job after you graduate from NCSU?

Working at NC State! (after graduate school.)

3. What is your special talent or skill?

I know almost everything about NC State!

4. Where in the library is your favorite place to study?

The West Wing Silent Reading Room.

5. What do you like most about the NCSU libraries?

I love that NCSU Libraries is quick to listen to student feedback and make adjustments based on the input they receive. The library is a great place to study and work with other students.

NC STATE FACULTY

Dr. Melissa Pasquinelli, Assistant Professor in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science

Courses taught: Computer Based Modeling for Engineers, Thermodynamics for Textile Engineers, Sustainability of Soft Materials

1. What are your top three favorite books?

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things by William McDonough

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

Any Joseph Finder novel

2. If you didn’t work as a professor, what would your ideal job be?

Chief Technology Officer of a company

3. What are three things you do on weekends?

Yoga and sports, Try cooking new things, Spend time with friends and family

4. What do you like most about the NCSU libraries?

The people!

NCSU LIBRARIES STAFF

Greg Tourino, Associate Director, Textiles Library

1. What are your top three favorite books?

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela – Nelson Mandela

Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau: 1968 – 2000 – John English

Gone Fishin’ – Walter Mosley

2.     If you didn’t work at the library, what would your ideal job be?

I have always had an interest in law and at one time wanted to be an attorney.

3.     What are three things you do on weekends?

Going to the movies or watching independent cinema, two of my favorite theatres in Raleigh are the Rialto and Colony Theatres.

Checking out local bands, the Triangle is an excellent area for live music with great venues in Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill.

Attending festivals in downtown Raleigh such as Artsplosure and the Hopscotch Music Festival.

4.     What do you like most about the NCSU libraries?

The innovative atmosphere of the NCSU libraries. I have worked at several academic libraries and NCSU is by far the most cutting edge and forward thinking library that I have seen. It is an exciting place and I really enjoy working with my library colleagues and collaborating with our outstanding students and faculty.

Red, White & Black Walking Tour
Tuesday, April 17 at 3 p.m.
The tour will begin in front of Holladay Hall

Dr. Walter Jackson explains the integration of NC State.

Dr. Walter Jackson and Ms. Toni Thorpe following the first Red, White & Black tour

Join us to learn about the spaces and places on NC State’s campus that have had significant impact on the lives and experiences of African American students and the larger community. Dr. Walter Jackson, NC State associate professor of history, and Ms. Toni Thorpe, program coordinator at NC State’s African American Cultural Center, will lead the tour. The walking tour will conclude with refreshments and reflection at the Witherspoon Student Center. Please wear comfortable walking shoes.

Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Marian Fragola at 919-513-3481 or marian_fragola@ncsu.edu.

The Red, White & Black tour is presented by the NCSU Libraries in collaboration with the African American Cultural Center. If you are unable to join us, we encourage you to try out the Red, White & Black mobile web app that allows users to employ their smart phones and other mobile devices to embark on a self-guided walking tour that highlights the rich history of African Americans at NC State (www.lib.ncsu.edu/m/exhibits/redwhiteblack).

The NCSU Libraries is proud to announce the opening of “Saul Flores Photographs: The Walk of the Immigrants,” an exhibit of photographs taken by student Saul Flores on an epic trip to document the communities through which much of the recent immigration into the United States takes place.

Glue, Atencingo, Mexico
(Photo courtesy of Saul Flores)

In the summer of 2010, Flores–then a 20-year-old North Carolina State University junior studying business marketing and graphic design–undertook a ten-country, 5,000-mile trip, much of it on foot, from Ecuador, where he was participating in a university-sponsored service program, to his home in Charlotte, NC.  On this journey, which paralleled the arduous and often dangerous trip that many take as they travel north to attempt to move into the U.S., he took over 20,000 photos of the lives of people and places along the way.  Proceeds from the sale of his photographs and sponsorships of his journey are aiding an elementary school in his mother’s hometown, the small rural community of Atencingo, Mexico.

The NCSU Libraries’ “Saul Flores Photographs” exhibit highlights some of the most striking work from Flores’ collection, both to honor the exemplary spirit of service and courage demonstrated by this student and to make widely accessible photographic art of the highest emotional impact and beauty.

Flores’ project began with an earlier service trip to Mexico taken by the NC State Caldwell Fellows (http://www.ncsu.edu/fellows/), an intensive leadership-development scholarship program that brings together young people who share a passion for learning, growing, and serving others.

Inspired to act by what he discovered during his service, Flores took his walk to “raise awareness of the beauty of these Latin American countries as well as the struggles that the people face.”

The overall impact of the photos Flores took on the trip is, as NC State’s Bulletin has suggested, to “bring a measure of compassion and understanding to the ongoing national debate about immigration.”

Car Pool (Photo courtesy of Saul Flores)

“The NCSU Libraries always strives to encourage, enable, and display student growth and excellent student work, especially work that furthers NC State’s mission to transform lives and provide leadership for social, economic, and technological development,” explains Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries. “Saul Flores lives out all that is best in NC State’s ethic of service, as imagined in the Caldwell Fellows program that inspired him. His beautiful work was sparked in part by encouragement, mentoring, and teaching from countless faculty and staff at the university—and we are proud to display it.”

“Saul Flores Photographs” is open and free to the public in the Exhibit Gallery at the D. H. Hill Library during regular hours from January 18 through July 27th.  The exhibit has been produced with generous support from the Goodnight Educational Foundation Library Endowment for Special Collections.

Looking for an opportunity to discuss the latest popular books with some of the smartest people around (your friends and North Carolina State University’s most engaged scholars)?

NCSU Libraries and Wake County Public Libraries teamed up to make that easy with READ SMART, a series of informal discussions moderated by members of NC State’s faculty.

READ SMART is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Friends of the Library of North Carolina State University. All discussions will be held at the Cameron Village Regional Library, 1930 Clark Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27605. For more information, please call 919-513-3481.

We hope to see you for our upcoming discussions.

Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain moderated by Martha Crowley, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University.

This New York Times Best Seller is the first book from Susan Cain, a former corporate lawyer and self-  proclaimed introvert, that explores how introverts have come to be undervalued in our extrovert-oriented  culture.  This thought provoking title will inspire readers to consider how introverts and extroverts approach  their personal and professional lives and perhaps, compel us to wonder just what the quiet people in our  lives are thinking.

Praise for Quiet:

“Like the powerful introverts that fill its pages, this book is brilliant, profound, full of feeling and brimming  with insights.” — Sheri Fink, Pulitzer-Prize winning author and journalist.

“Once in a blue moon, a book comes along that gives us startling new insights. QUIET is that book: it will  change the way you see yourself, other people, and the world. It’s part page-turner, part cutting-edge science. The implications for business are especially valuable: QUIET offers tips on how introverts can lead effectively, give winning speeches, avoid burnout, and choose the right roles. This charming, gracefully written, thoroughly researched book is simply masterful.” — Adam Grant, Associate Professor of Management, The Wharton School

Every year the Spring Meeting of the Friends of the Library offers up something special—last year, for instance, it was a chance to hear William Friday talk with our then newly-minted chancellor, Randy Woodson.

The bookBot won'be loaded yet, but it's impressive nonetheless!

This year, it’s the chance to see a dream in the process of transforming into a physical reality.

This year’s Spring Meeting will actually be held in the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, still under construction but close enough to completion that you’ll be able to get a real sense of why this building will soon be an iconic place at NC State.

The keynote speaker will be Craig Dykers, principal with Snøhetta, one of the hottest design firms in the world.  Snøhetta is the lead designer of the Hunt Library and is responsible, for example, for the National Opera House in Oslo, the redesign currently underway of New York’s Times Square, and the National September 11th Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center site.  Designers and architects from Snøhetta and pearce brinkley cease + lee–the project’s executive architects–will lead optional tours of the building.

The evening will also include cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres.

The program will take place April 20 in the Hunt Library on NC State’s Centennial Campus.  Remarks will start at 6:00 p.m., and cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres will begin at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $45 each for Friends members and guests and $70 for the general public.  NC State students are entitled to a Friends membership at no charge.

Please call 919-515-2841 for reservations by April 16–or email us at friends_of_the_library@ncsu.edu.

Libraries' director of communications David Hiscoe congratulates first place winner Vann Dwiggins

In the fall semester of 2012, NC State University students were challenged to create a “Super Bowl Commercial” for the NCSU Libraries, a video that “captures what the NCSU Libraries means to you, to your friends, to NC State, to North Carolina, to the world—to any or all of these.”  We received a ton of great entries, all of which in one way or another caught, as we had asked, “the essence of the spirit of the NCSU Libraries.”

We had a great time watching the entries as they came in—and wanted to give everyone else a chance to enjoy the best of the best.  A big “thanks” to all of you who submitted videos–and get your cameras ready for next year, when we’ll ask you what you think of the new Hunt Library.

First Prize
Vann Dwiggins—Learn to Fall in Love All Over Again
The surprise ended brought the medal home for Vann.

Second Prize
Chris Lange—What Does D. H. Hill Library Mean to NC State Students?
An epic struggle with whiteboard whales and other contemplative adventures.

Third Prize
Kairsten Fay and Max Feldman—NCSU Libraries
A swirling tour of the best of D. H. Hill.

The Contenders

Adaria Coulter—Ideas Should Be Free
A probing sense of thoughtfulness about the ultimate place of libraries in the modern world.

Graham Dean—A Place to . . .
Stop-motion photography captures the frantic nature (and silent study) that dominates the scene at the D. H. Hill Library.

Daniel Gallagher, Cameron McCarty, and Julia Venegas—There’s a Book for That
One for whatever information you need. You’ll want to especially check out the “Hair Style Cool-O-Meter.

Miles Holst—The Library Show
Books and more, with a retro approach and sly, shy style.

Corey Howard—D. H. Hill People
An arch sense of humor and a wolf costume to die for.

Sana Hussain—It’s Not Over
Brings home an “A+”.

Edward Lane—The Key to Success
Explores what happens when you ask an “astro-bio-chemical (with physics)” professor how to do well at a technologically advanced university like NC State.

Alyssa Riddle—DH Dance
Definitely shows us that D. H. Hill is for more than just studying. Watching the crowd reactions is half the fun.

Jacqueline Marie Yanchocik—What Will You Find Next?
Explores the D. H. Hill Library as a center for community, learning, and scholarship.

(Raleigh, N.C.)—The renovation of the west wing of North Carolina State University’s D. H. Hill Library has been recognized in multiple categories in the prestigious Library Design Showcase 2012. Held by American Libraries, the magazine of the American Library Association, the annual design review honors what the ALA considers “the best in new and renovated library facilities.”

The NCSU Libraries’ spaces were called out for praise in three of the design showcase categories: The Outdoor Library, Technology Enabled Spaces, and Collaborative Learning.

With two million visits a year and the ability to seat less than 5% of the university’s student body, the NCSU Libraries is often in danger of being overrun by it own success in providing students with inspiring, technology-rich spaces, especially since the popular Learning Commons opened in the east wing in 2007.   Over the past two years, the Libraries has seized the opportunity to transform a lackluster area in the west wing that formerly housed print periodicals and traditional seating into a vibrant collaboration and study community with over 13,600 square feet of adventurous spaces.

A bold use of furnishings, a flood of natural light, open sight lines throughout the area, and easy access to the technologies that NC State University’s digitally savvy students need have made the transformed area an instant favorite.  The project has also allowed the Libraries to trial the sorts of creative spaces, furnishings and immersive technologies that will be at the core of the university’s new James B. Hunt Jr. Library when it opens in early 2013, a library designed to be nothing less than the best learning and collaborative space in the country.

Spaces that the American Libraries Design Showcase recognized include:

• The Technology Sandbox
  Giving a taste of what is to come with the new Hunt Library, the Technology Sandbox lets students and faculty put their talents to work on the large-scale, multi-touch display and gesture-based computing technologies that are revolutionizing the visualization of data and the creation of digital media.  The space is also equipped with a variety of interactive, multi-touch tables, gaming stations, and whiteboards.

• The Terrace
  Built in 1954 as the university’s student union, the west wing of the D. H. Hill Library hosted dances that often spilled out onto the outdoor terrace.  After sitting vacant for decades, the Terrace now provides 54 seats at tables and colorful lounge chairs, with power outlets around the entire space, including in the railing.

• The Silent Reading Room
  Transforming space that once held print periodicals, the Silent Reading Room provides 70 quiet seats for individual study. This room is defined by a new interior glass wall and rows of white, marble-topped tables.  New power outlets in the glass wall and new floor boxes provide access to power.  The original exterior glass wall was replaced with new, energy-efficient glazing, allowing views across the campus’s central quad.

The NCSU Libraries’ west wing renovation will also be featured in the March/April print edition of American Libraries magazine and in the Spring Digital Supplement, which will be e-mailed to ALA members in April.

Three librarians from the NCSU Libraries have been honored for transforming how first-year students learn to use library resources to perform the skilled writing and research expected in university courses.

Anne Burke, Adrienne Lai, and Adam Rogers have been named the 2012 recipients of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) College Libraries Section (CLS) ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award for their work on the NCSU Libraries Mobile Scavenger Hunt.  This annual award from the American Library Association honors “an ALA member who has demonstrated a capacity for innovation in . . . work with undergraduates, instructors and/or the library community.”

Lai, Rogers, and Burke

The Mobile Scavenger Hunt has radically transformed how undergraduates are oriented to spaces, services, and collections at the NCSU Libraries—and to the sophisticated, college-level research that these enable.  Rather than asking students to follow a librarian on a traditional tour of the physical building or to work through a website-centered computer lab session, the Scavenger Hunt throws teams of first-year scholars into a fast-paced game using iPod Touches and the cloud-based multimedia note-taking app Evernote. As a result, students don’t just learn about the library; they interact with it by exploring spaces and the Libraries’ website, asking questions of library staff, taking photos, and texting information back to librarians. Using the mobile and online technologies that today’s students live and breathe, the mobile scavenger hunt presents the library in a fun, low-stakes way that reduces library anxiety by using situated, problem-based learning.

After a small beta trial in the 2011 summer session, more than 900 students, mostly from the university’s first-year writing courses, participated in the scavenger hunt in the Fall 2011 semester.   In surveys given after the hunt, 93% said that “they learned something new,” and 95% said they now “feel comfortable asking a library staff member for help.” The project has also sparked productive conversations about teaching and gaming among NC State’s First-Year Writing faculty.

According to Dr. Casie Fedukovich, associate director of the First-Year Writing Program at NC State, “I found that this activity engaged students with library operations on a level that led to increased understanding, deeper learning, and almost complete recall of important library functions . . . . The Scavenger Hunt was able to meet a tough but necessary goal: to engage first-year students in practical methods of academic research in a way that leads to deep learning and which transfers between contexts.”

“The NCSU Libraries embraces the role of incubating new technologies and innovative learning approaches, both for our own university and for the library community around the world,” says Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director of the NCSU Libraries.  “We are proud to continue to explore the use of mobile technologies that we pioneered through such tools as WolfWalk, an app that uses GPS-enabled devices to give students self-guided historical tours of campus, and Red, White & Black, another popular self-guided mobile tool that lets the NC State community explore of the rich history of African Americans at NC State.”

Other recent awards to the NCSU Libraries for adventurous and effective use of technology include the 2010 and 2011 ALA “Cutting-Edge Technology” awards for the Libraries’ website and for the Course Tools service, an application that pinpoints useful library resources for students by automatically creating a library web page for every course taught at NC State.

In January 2013, the NCSU Libraries will open the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library, which will be one of the most technology-enabled learning and collaborative spaces in the country.