Anthropologists and architects to study students’ use of library at UIS

The Brookens Library at the University of Illinois at Springfield is one of five recipients of a grant from the Illinois State Library. An award of $177,000 will be shared by five Illinois universities to study the research methods of non-traditional and underserved students in an endeavor called the Illinois “Anthropologists in the Library” project.

Additionally, a master plan study of the Brookens Library will be conducted this spring with funding provided from the University of Illinois Academic Facility Maintenance Fee Assessment (AFMFA). Information gathered from the “Anthropologists in the Library” project at UIS will be utilized by those involved in the master plan study to increase their understanding of how students use the Brookens Library.

The grant for the Illinois “Anthropologists in the Library” project is from the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the Illinois State Library, a part of the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office. It was awarded to address the question: “What do students, especially those in the underserved and non-traditional group identified by each library, actually do when they are assigned a research project for one of their class assignments, and what are the expectations of students, faculty and librarians of each other with regard to this assignment?”

The Brookens Library will study the approaches to research of traditional college-aged students and those of non-traditional, older students who commute to campus. Guided by project anthropologist Dr. Andrew Asher, the library will employ methods such as photo diaries, interviews and observation to gain understanding of how research assignments are approached by students.

Four other universities will focus on different populations. Northeastern Illinois University, the coordinator of the grant project, will study Hispanic populations. DePaul University will look at first-generation college students, first-generation Americans and students who work more than 20 hours a week off campus. The University of Illinois at Chicago will also study first-generation students, and Illinois Wesleyan University will focus their research on international, African-American, Latino-American and Native American students. UIS is the only member of the grant project that will also be studying students’ library facility requirements.

This study is based upon and extends the methodology of a groundbreaking study performed at the University of Rochester library in 2005 that used ethnographic methods to understand students’ needs and improve library services. One of the authors of the Rochester study, Dr. Nancy Foster, is serving as an adviser to the Illinois “Anthropologists in the Library” project.

The Chicago architectural firm Holabird and Root has been chosen to work with the UIS campus on the master plan study to produce a master plan for the Brookens Library. The architectural team will work with the “Anthropologists in the Library” project to get a multifaceted picture of students’ wants and needs from the library building. The Brookens Library building, dedicated in 1976, is the oldest permanent building on campus. The master plan will recommend a direction for the building to meet 21st century needs for library services and related teaching and learning services.

“These projects will allow us to hear from the students themselves as well as faculty members who assign research projects,” said Jane Treadwell, university librarian and dean of Library Instructional Services at UIS. “We will use findings from the studies to modify existing services or begin new ones, and the feedback from students will inform the design process for a renovated Brookens Library. We’re going to learn so much about what our students need and want from the library, and we plan to use our findings to make the library a better place.”

For more information, contact Jane Treadwell at 217/206-6597.

UIS Brookens Library to hold student art exhibit and competition

Brookens Library at the University of Illinois at Springfield will host a juried student art exhibit and competition, based on themes from the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The event is part of the library's participation in the Big Read program and is open to all currently registered students at UIS.

Entries must be received by 4:30 p.m. on Monday, November 3. The grand prize winner will have an opportunity to display his or her work at jimiArt gallery in downtown Springfield.

An opening night reception and awards ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, November 7, in Mary Jane's Café, located in Brookens' lower level. To accommodate the event, which is free and open to the public, the library will remain open until 7 p.m. that evening.

Artwork will remain on display on the second level of Brookens Library through Saturday, December 20, which is the end of UIS' 2008 fall semester.

Sponsors of the event are Bevande's, The Friends of Brookens Library, jimiArt, Jeffrey Alans, Walmart, and the UIS Bookstore.

Additional information, including a downloadable entry form

UIS Archives is source of materials for PBS documentary

Program on the Handy Writers' Colony will air nationwide

Inside the Handy Writers' Colony, a PBS documentary that will air nationwide on Thursday, October 23, drew extensively on archival materials housed in Brookens Library at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The program will air locally on the HD (High Definition) channels of WILL and WSEC at 9 p.m.

Founded in 1950 by Lowney and Harry Handy in Marshall, Illinois, the Handy Writers' Colony flourished for approximately 15 years. During that time it supported numerous young writers, many of whom subsequently published their work. Its most famous resident was novelist James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity.

The program explores the turbulent years of this literary experiment through flashback sequences and interviews with former colony residents, Marshall townspeople, and scholars. Narrated by Nick Clooney, the film features the voice of Jane Alexander as Lowney Turner Handy.

In 1983, J. Michael Lennon and Jeffrey Van Davis of then-Sangamon State University produced a television documentary titled James Jones: Reveille to Taps, which also aired nationally on PBS. While researching this documentary, Lennon and Van Davis acquired a large collection of material – photographs and hundreds of letters and pages of manuscripts written by Jones and others associated with the Colony – that is now preserved in the UIS Archives as the Handy Colony Collection. This collection is open to researchers, and has been a resource for several books, articles, and papers.

For the new documentary, UIS Archivist Thomas Wood assisted writer/director/producer Dawn Shapiro of Chicago-based Woodlawn Avenue Productions in selecting materials from the Handy Colony Collection. Some interview footage from the earlier documentary is also featured in Inside the Handy Writers' Colony.

For more information, go to www.pbs.org/insidethehandywriterscolony/ or www.insidethehandywriterscolony.com, or contact Thomas Wood at 217/206-6520.

Nominations open for I Love My Librarian Awards

Members of the campus community can place the name of their favorite librarians in nomination for a Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award now through October 15.

The award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college, and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.

Up to 10 librarians will be selected. Winners will receive a $5,000 cash award and will be honored at a ceremony and reception hosted by The New York Times.

For more information, including nominating criteria, visit www.ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.