NEWS
from WSU Libraries
Check out
our April Event Schedule!
Libraries to Host 2008 Wheatshocker Library Professional
Development Seminar
Lewis and Clark Exhibit Comes to the Library
Libraries To
Celebrate Constitution Day September 17,2007
Forever Free Exhibit Arrives May 5, 2007.
Spring Break Means Game
Night At the Libraries
WSU Libraries
Celebrates Jazz
Celebrate Kansas Day
Moore Returns to Ablah
Library
LibQUAL Survey Completed
Analysis Underway
New collections available at University Libraries,
Department of Special Collections
General
News About the Collections (Get the latest on new databases
here)
News
Archive
Libraries To
Celebrate Constitution Day
Wichita State
University Libraries is honoring Constitution Day 2007 with a two
week celebration. In support of the celebration, a Constitution Day
exhibit will be in the display case on the main floor of Ablah
Library beginning September 5. The exhibit will highlight some of
the information resources available in the University Libraries that
provide a better understanding of the origins and structure of the
U.S. constitution.
To test your
knowledge of the Constitution, the University Libraries has compiled
a short quiz. The quiz is available in paper format at University
Libraries circulation desks and on the Web at
www.library.wichita.edu/quiz. Individuals who correctly answer
all of the questions will be entered into a drawing for a flash
drive and other WSU prizes. The drawing will be held at 1:15 p.m.
by the Circulation Desk of Ablah Library on Constitution Day,
Monday, September 17.
Preceding the
drawing, a short broadcast will feature General Colin Powell leading
a nationwide recitation of the Preamble to the Constitution. The
recitation, which is dedicated to our military all around the world,
will be broadcast simultaneously in schools and military bases
across the United States. All are invited to join in the
recitation.
Forever Free Arrives May 5th
Wichita
State University Libraries has been selected as one of 63 sites for
the national traveling exhibition titled: “Forever Free: Abraham
Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation.” This national tour kicks
off in September 2006 and runs through May 2010. Wichita State
University Libraries is the only academic library in Kansas selected
to host this exhibit! Exhibit dates are May 5 to June 15th.
Forever
Free is a traveling panel exhibit that reexamines President
Lincoln’s efforts toward the abolition of slavery during the Civil
War. Organized by The Huntington’s John Rhodehamel, Norris
Foundation Curator of American Historical Manuscripts, the exhibit
consists of reproductions of rare historical documents from The
Huntington’s collections and those of the Gilder LEHRMAN Institute,
and draws on the latest scholarship in the field.
The
exhibit consists of six section of panels running 75 feet in
length. Each panel contains reproductions of rare historical
documents, period photographs, and illustrative materials, such as
engravings, lithographs, cartoons, and political ephemera. The
sections of the exhibition focus on young Lincoln’s America, the
House dividing, war for the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation,
the role of black soldiers in the Civil War, and the final months of
the Civil War and Lincoln’s life.
Sponsors
for this exhibit: National Endowment for the Humanities, The
Huntington Library, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American
History, American Library Association, and the Abraham Lincoln
Bicentennial 2009 Commission.
Several
associated events have been planned to celebrate the exhibit. For
more information about events go to:
http://library.wichita.edu/foreverfree/
This exhibition and all associated events are free
and open to the general public.
Join Us for Game Night – Bring
Your Friends!
Students, faculty, and staff are invited to Ablah Library Game Night
from 5-9 p.m. Friday, March 23 during Spring Break. Snacks and
beverages will be served and board games, cards, and Internet gaming
will be featured. The grand door prize for some lucky winner is a
model red convertible automobile, which is conveniently sized for
parking in a dorm room bookshelf. Guests are requested to bring
Shocker ID cards for admission.
Game available
include:
Video Games:
Dance Dance Revolution
Various console games (Playstation, Nintendo, XBox)
Board Games:
Trivial Pursuit - Totally '80s!,Trivial Pursuit - 20th Anniversary
Edition, Monopoly, Battleships
Dominos, cards, Milles Borne, Boggle, Scrabble, Chess, Jenga, Yahtzi...and
more!
WSU Libraries
Celebrates Jazz
Wichita State University Libraries is proud to present
Looking At Jazz: America’s Art Form . This is a six part series
that will include lectures, documentary film screenings, music
performances, readings of works by scholars and discussions on the
history of jazz. The first program, focusing on New Orleans: the
Birthplace of Jazz, will be held on Monday, April 2, 2007 at 7:00
p.m. Additional sessions will be held each evening at 7:00 p.m.,
April 3-7, in Ablah Library on the main campus of Wichita State
University. For a complete schedule and more information about
the series check out the Looking at Jazz website at:
http://www.nvr.org/lookingatjazz/?institution_id=89
Celebrate Kansas Day At the Library
On January 29th Kansas will be celebrating its
146th birthday. On January 29, 1861, Kansas became the 34th
state in the Union. To celebrate this day, the Libraries has
prepared a bibliography of recently received items that document
of Kansas. the full bibiliography is available at:
http://library.wichita.edu/kansasday.htm
Moore Returns to Ablah
Library
On October 25, 2006, the Library joined in the
University's celebration of the return of the Henry Moore sculpture,
Reclining Figure (Hand), which graces the front of the library.
The sculpture had been removed for approximately seven months for
refurbishing and general repairs. A rededication ceremony lead
by Ted Ayres, Vice President and General Council, was held in the
Library's foyer. The repairs and restoration were funded by
the WSU Student Government Association.
LibQUAL Survey
Coming To WSU Libraries
In May 2006, the WSU Libraries completed a
three week survey of library user satisfaction using the Association
for Research Libraries LibQUAL+(TM) survey. This web-based
survey has been rigorously tested and used for over 6 years by
400 plus libraries world-wide. The results of the survey are
being analyzed and will
allow the WSU Libraries to better understand user perceptions
of library service quality and to plan for the future.
Early results show that 881 members of the University community
completed the survey and 319 additional comments were made.
Overall the Libraries received a satisfaction rating of 7.13 on a
nine point scale.
New collections available at University Libraries,
Department of Special Collections
Several local and regional administrative and historical collections
of interest to historians, urban planning, public policy making, and
criminal justice have been acquired recently by the Wichita State
University Libraries’ Department of Special Collections. Papers of
Federal Judge, Patrick F. Kelly; former Sedgwick County Sheriff,
Michael D. Hill; former U.S. Marshall, Bert Cantwell; former city
manager, Chris Churches; and the Wichita-Sedgwick County Metropolitan
Area Planning Department have been or will soon be made available to
students, faculty and staff, researchers and community users. Finding
aids or guides to the manuscript collections held by Special
Collections are online at
http://specialcollections.wichita.edu/. Contact Mary Nelson for
more information (mary.nelson@wichita.edu,
316-978-3590). Details of the new collection follow:
•
The collection of
Federal Judge and WSU alumnus Patrick F. Kelly includes case files,
informational files, correspondence, opinions and other manuscript
materials all documenting his career as an attorney and U.S. District
Court Judge based in Wichita. The finding aid to the collection is
available at http://specialcollections.wichita.edu/collections/ms/2004-01/2004-1-a.html.
•
Former Sedgwick County
Sheriff Michael D. Hill donated his papers consisting of
correspondence, subject files, budget materials, annual reports and
other documents. The materials date between 1984 and 1999. Of note
are the materials about the expansion of the Sedgwick County Jail.
The finding aid to the collection is available at
http://specialcollections.wichita.edu/collections/ms/2004-03/2004-3-a.html.
•
Former U.S. Marshal for
Kansas Bert Cantwell, a WSU alumnus, amassed a sizeable collection
documenting the history of the Marshal Service in Kansas. His
personal rise in Kansas’ law enforcement ranks – from Wyandotte County
sheriff to Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent to U.S. Marshal – also
is chronicled by his papers.
•
The papers of former
Wichita city manager Chris Cherches have been received and are slated
for processing. Special Collections also holds a collection of one of
Cherches' predecessors, Wichita city manager Russell McClure.
•
Over 60 linear feet of
planning materials related to Wichita, Sedgwick County, South Central
Kansas and the state of Kansas comprise the Wichita-Sedgwick County
Metropolitan Area Planning Department collection. This multifaceted
collection contains publications, reports and other materials that
document many aspects of planning including transportation, housing,
historic preservation and the environment.
The Department of
Special Collections is a department of Wichita State University
Libraries that acquires, preserves, arranges, and makes available
collections of rare books, manuscripts, University Archives, Kansas
maps and atlases, and photographs. Its purpose is to enhance the
Wichita State University Libraries' general collection, to support the
research and teaching
