C&RL News February 2015 62 N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l dDavid Free A selection of archival covers from NCSU’s student newspaper the Technician. NCSU Libraries digitize student newspaper As part of its mandate to preserve the history of North Carolina State Univer- sity (NCSU) and distribute that history widely to scholars, alumni, and the public, the NCSU Librar- ies has made the first 70 years of the Technician, the university’s student news- paper, available online in a for- mat that is easy to browse and search. S i n c e i t b e - g a n p u b l i s h i n g o n F e b r u a r y 2 , 1920, the Tech- nician has been the school’s most powerful way for students to tell their own stories, to give their perspective on the issues of the times, to influence the direction of the university and the com- munity, and—quite often—to tweak the nose of authority. The 4,000 issues from 1920 through 1990, which are digitized and indexed in the NCSU Libraries’ online collection, open a valuable window for historians, social scientists, and others who study the history of NCSU and the attitudes and ac- complishments of this important slice of the campus population. Future plans call for adding issues from the years after 1990 to the Technician collection. The Technician is available at https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collec- tions/technician. MSU Libraries Special Collections offers increased manuscript collections access The Mississippi State University Libraries Special Collections Department re- cently announced the inclusion of more than 300 manuscript collec- tion finding aids to the library’s online catalog and OCLC WorldCat. These collection finding aids, which were previously accessi- ble only in-house, have been linked to the library’s website and cor- responding bib- liographic records added to the on- line catalog and WorldCat. Subjects include agriculture, slavery, the Civil War in Mississippi, the lumber indus- try, African American history, clubs and organi- zations, the Civil Rights movement, journalism in Mississippi, church histories, and numerous other subjects. Types of materials found in the manuscripts collections include correspon- dence, diaries, journals, plantation records, slave schedules, ledgers, newspaper articles, photographs, audio and video recordings, microfilm, and a variety of articles of clothing and artifacts. More information is available through the Special Collections website at http://library.msstate.edu/specialcollections. Case Western Reserve University joins HathiTrust The Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western February 2015 63 C&RL News Assessment in Action applications available ACRL is seeking applications from all types of higher education institutions for 125 teams to participate in the third year of “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Suc- cess (AiA),” made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Librarians will each lead a campus team in developing and implementing an action-learning project, which examines the impact of the librar y on student success and contributes to assessment activities on campus. They will be supported in this work by a professional development program with sequenced learning events and activities at key junctures. AiA employs a blended learning envi- ronment and a peer-to-peer community of practice over the course of the 14-month program, which runs from April 2015 to June 2016. The AiA program, undertaken by ACRL in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, is a cornerstone of ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries initiative. In order to apply, each prospective in- stitution must identify a team consisting of a librarian team leader and at least two ad- ditional team members from other campus units (e.g., faculty member, student affairs representative, institutional researcher, or academic administrator). The application requires two essays—the first describes the team’s project goals and the second describes the goals of the librarian team leader—and statements of support from the library dean/director and campus chief academic offi cer. There is a registration fee of $1,200 for participating in the third year of the AiA program. For the fi rst two years, the IMLS grant covered the majority of the costs for developing and delivering the AiA program; in the third year, the grant will subsidize only part of the costs. Read full details about participating in the third year and apply online by 5 p.m. Central, Wednesday, March 4, 2015. There will be an online forum in February (date TBA) where you can learn more. Or attend the session Update on ACRL’s Value of Aca- demic Libraries Initiative to be held from 1:00—2:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 1, 2015, during the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago. Complete details are available at www. ala.org/acrl/AiA. Reserve University is now a member of HathiTrust, a large-scale collaborative repos- itory of digital content from major research institutions and libraries. With more than 90 partners, Ha- thiTrust aims to ensure that the cul- tural record is preserved and accessible long into the future. As a member of HathiTrust, authorized Case Western Reserve users will now have access to download full digital versions of public domain materials that reside in the HathiTrust collection. Over the last fi ve years, HathiTrust part- ners have contributed more than 11 million volumes to the digital library, digitized from their library collections through a number of means, including Google and Internet Archive digitization and in-house initiatives. As one of these partners, Case Western Reserve users will have the ability to access the more than 3.7 million contributed volumes that are in the public domain. UF Smathers Libraries produces IR video Explaining what an Institutional Repository (IR) is and how it benefi ts faculty and stu- dents has long been a diffi cult task not only C&RL News February 2015 64 Assessing Liaison Librarians ACRL announces the publication of As- sessing Liaison Librarians: Documenting Impact for Positive Change (PIL #67), edited by Daniel C. Mack and Gary W. White. Assessment is increasingly important to higher education. Tight budgets and scarce resources demand accountability from the entire academy, including the library. Librarians must be prepared to document the impact of the programs they create, the collections they develop, and the services they offer. Liaison librarians in academic libraries focus on engagement with aca- demic units and outreach to students, faculty, and the com- munity of scholars. In a series of scholarly es- says, Assessing Liaison Librarians examines how academic libraries assess liaison activities and offers recommendations for documenting the impact of programs and services. Individual chapters address liaison activities relating to collection development; library instruction; research services; engagement and outreach; online, blended, and other learning environ- ments, including MOOCs; scholarly commu- nication and information technology; the im- portance of assessment in the 21st-century research library; and professional development of liaisons librarians. Assessing Liaison Librar- ians is #67 in the ACRL Pub- lications in Librarianship monograph series and is suitable for all types of aca- demic libraries and schools of library and information science. Assessing Liaison Librari- ans: Documenting Impact for Positive Change is available for purchase in print, as an e- book, and as a print/e-book bundle through the ALA Online Store; in print and for Kindle through Amazon.com; and by telephone or- der at (866) 746-7252 in the United States or (770) 442-8633 for international customers. at the University of Florida (UF), but also at universities across the United States. The UF George A. Smathers Libraries recently launched a video and accompanying post- er that explains their IR in a graphical and humorous manner, including what types of content can be uploaded, how to upload content, and the benefi ts of placing materi- als in the IR. The $5,000 project was funded by an internal library mini-grant awarded to Scholarly Communications Librarian Chris- tine Fruin and a project team of library fac- ulty and staff. The video can be viewed at http://ufdc. ufl .edu/AA00026849/00001 and the poster at http://ufdc.ufl .edu/l/AA00027045/00001. 2015 Western Archives Institute The 29th annual Western Archives Institute will be held at Santa Clara University from July 5 to 17, 2015. The Western Archives Institute is an intensive, two-week program that provides integrated instruction in basic archival practices to individuals with a vari- ety of backgrounds, including those whose jobs require a fundamental understanding of archival skills, but who have little or no previous archives education; those who have expanding responsibility for archival materi- als; those who are practicing archivists, but have not received formal instruction; and those who demonstrate a commitment to an archival career. The application deadline for February 2015 65 C&RL News Tech Bits . . . Brought to you by the ACRL ULS Technol- ogy in University Libraries Committee Need to add some design flair to your flyers, posters, or presentations? Check out Canva, a web-based design software created with the nondesigner in mind. A free account provides templates for pre-sized social media graphics, presentations, posters, photo collages, and more. Or, create your own design using custom dimen- sions. Finish your design with hundreds of free fonts, graphics, and images, upload and edit your own images, or purchase a $1, one-time use license for one of Canva’s premium images and graphics. Share designs via social media, and download them as an image or as a PDF. You can also share a link to your designs with collaborators. Visit Canva’s “Design School” for tutorials and other teaching materials to take your designs to the next level. — Kimberly Miller Towson University . . . Canva www.canva.com the 2015 Western Archives Institute is March 1, 2015. For complete details, visit www.calarchivists.org/WAI. 2015 Native American Library Services Enhancement Grants The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting appli- cations for Native American Library Services Enhancement Grants. The Native American Library Services Enhancement grants award up to $150,000 with terms of up to two years. They are available to tribes that have active IMLS Native American Li- brary Services Basic grants and are for expanding services for learning, ac- cess to information, and partnerships. Learn more online at the 2015 Native American Library Services webpage for enhancement grants applicants at www.imls.gov/applicants/detail. aspx?GrantId=16. The application deadline is March 2, 2015. 2015 Columbia University Libraries Research Awards applications Columbia University Libraries/Information Services invites applications from schol- ars and researchers to its annual program designed to facilitate access to Columbia’s special and unique collections, the Librar- ies Research Awards. The libraries awards ten annual grants of $2,500 each on a com- petitive basis to researchers who can demon- strate a compelling need to consult Colum- bia University Libraries/Information Services holdings for their work. Applications will be accepted until February 28, 2015, with award notifica- tions will be sent to applicants by April 30, 2015, for research conducted at Co- lumbia during the period July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016. For more information and application materials, please visit the Libraries Research Awards page at http://library.columbia.edu /about/awards/research-awards.html. Plum Analytics adds data visualization Plum Analytics recently expanded its ability to provide answers about the impact of research with a new data visualization feature. Plum Analytics introduced a new section of analytics into PlumX that moves beyond reporting on big data to provide novel insights. The new analy- tics feature gives anyone who interacts and uses research key insights into the trends and stories behind the citation, usage, social media, and other data. PlumX is an impact dashboard that provides information on how research output is being used, interacted with, and talked about around the world. It delivers a more complete picture of research and answers questions about research impact by gathering metrics from the places peo- ple interact with research artifacts such as articles, clinical trials, blog posts, grants, books, theses/ dissertations, webpages, and more. For more information, visit www.plumanalytics.com.