A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
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UPCOMING EVENTS AND EXHIBITS
RESEARCH IMPACT EVENTS
Can I Post This Online?: RSCA Artifacts, Open Access, and Scholarly Identity
Open Access Week Conference Wednesday, October 23, 2019, 2-3 p.m.
Register at: https://tinyurl.com/SJSU2019RSCAImpactEvents
Format: Presentation
SJSU King Library 213
This presentation will discuss what you can post/display as part of your online identity. You will also learn how disseminating artifacts can help increase your research impact and create a fully fleshed out online scholarly presence. This session will help you to better understand topics such as institutional repositories, open access journals, online networks, and reprints, post-prints, publisher versions.
Finding Funding Opportunities with Pivot
Friday, November 15, 2019, 2-3 p.m.
Register at: https://tinyurl.com/SJSU2019RSCAImpactEvents
Format: Webinar
Pivot is an incredible tool for identifying funding opportunities for researchers in any discipline. This webinar will help you use this tool to locate funding opportunities to support your RSCA activities.
Managing Your Online Scholarly Identity
Tuesday, December 10, 2019, 10-11 a.m.
Register at: https://tinyurl.com/SJSU2019RSCAImpactEvents
Format: Webinar
Our online identities are becoming even more important for finding RSCA collaborators, receiving funding, and in demonstrating our expertise and impact to a broad audience. This webinar will discuss different places and strategies for managing your online scholarly identity.
Enhance Your Research Skills
For October and November workshops, please contact Yen Tran at yen.tran@sjsu.edu.
FALL 2019 UNIVERSITY SCHOLAR SERIES
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Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, University Library, Division of Research and Innovation, and the Spartan Bookstore, the University Scholar Series showcases the important research and scholarly activities of SJSU faculty members. Speakers are recommended in collaboration with the RSCA Advisory Council.
Three Scholar Series events are planned for the spring of 2019 from noon to 1 p.m. in SJSU King Library 255/229 (second floor). For more information, please visit the University Scholar Series.
OPEN ACCESS CONFERENCE 2019
Open for Whom?: Research Equity for Campus and Community
October 21, 2019, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., SJSU King Library
The widening gap between research output in the Global North and South is arguably an extension of historical structural power when colonial capitals were centers of knowledge production and poorer colonized countries were providers of data. In our upcoming conference, we question for whom is the research made accessible? How is the research made accessible? What should scholars do? Why should they do it? How will scholars find Open Access research? How can librarians work with scholars both in the Global South and North?
Open Access and Faculty Research: A Keynote Panel
October 21, 2019, 9:30-10:15 a.m., SJSU King Library
Three faculty members from the School of Information, College of Education, and Department of Political Science at SJSU, and an Associate University Librarian from UC Davis will discuss faculty members’ response to Open Access.
For more information, please visit the conference website.
Right the Immigrant Story: An Edit-a-Thon
Thursday, October 24, 1-3 p.m. Fourth Floor of the SJSU King Library
Friday, October 25, 11-1 p.m., Fourth Floor of the SJSU King Library
Join us for a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon as part of Open Access Week! Librarians can help novice editors, and experienced Wikipedians can share their expertise. We are focusing on the topic of immigration, but you are welcome to contribute to any issues you are passionate about. This is a great opportunity to be an advocate for the underrepresented.
SJSU Annual Author and Artist Awards
The Annual Author & Artist Awards event will be taking place on Friday, November 1, 2019 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in SJSU King Library's 8th floor Grand Reading Room. We will honor faculty and staff who have recently authored a published first edition book or exhibited a significant work of art.
Books may be scholarly books, works of fiction or non-fiction, poetry, art books, textbooks, anthologies or edited books. Vanity press books, self-published books, unpublished manuscripts, pamphlets, brochures, custom-published course anthologies, book chapters and course packs do not qualify. Significant works such as documentaries, plays, screenplays, scripts, film, juried exhibits, designs and music will be considered. All items must have been published, distributed, exhibited or bear a copyright date between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2019.
Interested authors and artists should complete and submit the following online form Request for Submission: SJSU Annual Authors & Artists Awards 2019 by Monday, September 30, 2019 by 5 p.m.
For more information or questions, please contact Senior Assistant Librarian, Annina Wyss-Lockner, at annina.wyss-lockner@sjsu.edu.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS EXHIBITS
Bay Area Pride: 50 Years of LGBTQ History, Politics, and Culture
August 19–December 20, 2019
Special Collections Exhibit Hall, Fifth Floor, SJSU King Library
The exhibit highlights Bay Area LGBTQ history, politics, and culture over the last 50 years. Featuring materials from SJSU Special Collections & Archives, this exhibit includes original photographs from the Ted Sahl Archives: A Collection of Gay and Lesbian History, as well as materials from the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center Papers, Mark Porsche Papers, High Tech Gays Records, The Ladder Periodical Collection, and Lesbian Feminist Publications.
Bay Area Pride Exhibit Reception
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Schiro Room, Fifth Floor, SJSU King Library
4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Treasures from the Vault: Medieval Manuscripts and Beyond
August 15, 2019–December 9, 2019
Fifth Floor (elevator cases), SJSU King Library
Before the advent of the printing press in the Western world, everything was made by hand; ink, paper and parchment, writing implements, book bindings and beyond. This exhibit explores books produced between the 14th and 16th centuries, covering medieval music, liturgical books, personal devotional books, writing implements, religious scholarship and incunabula–the very first printed books in Western history.
AFRICANA, ASIAN AMERICAN, CHICANO AND NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER EXHIBITS
Every year the AAACNA Studies Center hosts exhibits that provide educational programming highlighting the culture, heritage, and contributions of various ethnic groups in the United States. Exhibits are located on the Fifth Floor of the SJSU King Library.
El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo: Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, A History in Photos
August 19, 2019–September 27, 2019
This exhibit is based on a set of photographs that chart the history of Mariachi Vargas in the decades after the Mexican Revolution to the establishment of the group as the greatest mariachi of its day by the 1950s and '60s. It also provides a look into the process by which the mariachi becomes a national symbol not only amongst Mexicans, but also for a global audience.
El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo Exhibit Reception
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Fifth Floor Gallery, SJSU King Library
6:30 p.m.
Join us to hear the youth mariachi group El Mariachi Los Toritos, Harpist William Faulkner, and original curators Jonathan Clark and Lissa Jones.
13th Annual Art of Remembrance Altar Exhibit
October 7, 2019–November 8, 2019
Fifth & Second Floor, SJSU King Library
In collaboration with the San José Multicultural Artists Guild, an exhibit of traditional and contemporary visual arts and altars by local and Bay Area artists.
Art of Remembrance Exhibit Reception
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Fifth Floor Gallery, SJSU King Library
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Music by Panaderos and entertainment by Teatro Familia Aztlan. Tamales, pan de muerto and hot chocolate will be served.
22nd Annual 2019 Día de los Muertos Procession and Festival
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Downtown San José, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Join us for this free family friendly celebration honoring the true spirit of this Mexican holiday. Don't miss lively traditional performances from local cultural groups, colorful and elaborate ofrendas (altars), Day of the Dead inspired activities for the kids and unique crafts. The procession gathers at 11 a.m. and starts at noon at City View Plaza across the street from the César Chávez Park on Market St. and ends at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, corner of San Fernando and 4th St.
Events are in collaboration with the San José Multicultural Artists Guild. For more information call 408-272-9924 or visit sjmag.org.
Art of Remembrance VR Experience
Explore the Art of Remembrance Altar Exhibit in virtual reality. This interactive 3D experience will give you an opportunity to learn the meanings and history of this 3,000 year old ritual. This ritual honors the spirit of the dead by welcoming them and celebrating their legacy. For more information, please contact Lesley Seacrist at lesley.seacrist@sjsu.edu.
OTHER EXHIBIT(S)
"Recollections" by Radha Rao
August 3–September 29, 2019
DiNapoli Gallery, Second Floor, SJSU King Library
Radha explores different emotions through observation, imagination, color and design—utilizing bold colors and varied textures in their work. Although not limited to, Radha often focuses on Bay Area landscapes, bringing the beauty of California indoors. Radha’s “Recollections” will include both studio and Plein Air based works focusing on their travels over the course of several years.
NEW FACULTY
Carli Lowe, University Archivist
Carli Lowe believes in the power of information. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with a minor in performing arts and social justice from the University of San Francisco. She went on to receive a teaching credential through San Francisco State University and was an elementary educator for 11 years.
“The best moment of my day would be when students would ask me to find a book for them,” Lowe said.
These experiences in the classroom taught Lowe about the impact of information for individuals and communities. She went on to earn a Master of Library Information Science degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She had the honor to become both an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar and Association of Research Libraries Kaleidoscope Scholar.
An internship at the Freedom Archives cemented her commitment to working with historic documents. At the Freedom Archives, she enhanced metadata for accessibility online by adding descriptions to cataloged collections.
As the first University Archivist at San José State, she is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities in developing a robust program for records management, as well as documenting and amplifying the stories of communities whose voices too often go unheard.
Kate Steffens, Special Collections Librarian
Special Collections Librarian Kate Steffens has been interested in archiving her whole life. Kate’s passion for conservation stemmed from archiving photographs at an early age. In the 1960s, her father took thousands of photographs of historical places and people—spanning from Big Sur to Mendocino to Berkeley. Kate began posting, curating and archiving her father’s photographs.
In an effort to learn how to conserve and archive photographs properly, she enrolled in the Master of Library Information Science (MLIS) program at SJSU. As a graduate student in the MLIS program, she worked in the Special Collections & Archives unit doing hands-on archival work while learning about online preservation and simultaneously running her family’s archival photography business. She graduated in May 2019 from the program.
Kate’s new role will involve providing and facilitating Special Collections & Archives Reading Room services by responding to on- and off-site requests for information. However, her main focus will be on providing SJSU students with insight and knowledge about the wealth of resources the SJSU Special Collections & Archives contain.
“My main goal is to get students to use more primary sources, we have a lot of them available for students to use in their studies,” Steffens said.
KLEVR IN THE CLASSROOM
SJSU Professors Integrate VR in Curriculum
Assistant Professor Yu Chen teaches business at the School of Information Systems and Technology in the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business. With the help of the SJSU King Library’s KLEVR Lab, Chen is integrating virtual reality assignments into BUS 188: Business Systems, a course that focuses on applying new technology in businesses and large organizations.
“In the past, I taught virtual reality and their applications using videos. However, teaching using videos only involves visual and audio thinking; virtual reality experience, however, involves spatial thinking, which is difficult to fully present only using videos,” Chen said.
The tech integration has many students excited about using this new and innovative resource for their studies. “Much like how the internet changed our lives two decades ago or mobile phones changed our lives a decade ago, VR and other emerging technologies might also bring new industry,” said Chen.
SJSU King Library’s technology coordinator Jon Oakes guided the students in VR by allowing them to find their hometowns or favorite cities using Google Earth.
“Google Earth VR was a perfect introduction for using VR technology in the classroom because their projects were geared toward aligning business opportunities with social needs,” said Oakes. “Google Earth VR allowed students to think about the scope of their projects from a bird's eye view.”
After this introduction to VR, students then broke into small groups to discuss how this technology can be applied to their in-class group projects and assignments.
“VR can help the brainstorming process for us to develop ideas for a startup,” said Andrew Dixon, a business analytics student.
One team proposed using VR to find unused land in order to design affordable housing and building infrastructure for new public transportation systems.
“We can use VR by visualizing how we want to promote in our target marketing, especially if it’s in a new country. We can just prepare better with VR,” said Celina Luna, a marketing and business analytics student.
Assistant Professor in Graphic Design, Yoon Chung Han, is also integrating the SJSU King Library KLEVR Lab into a core graphic design course for her senior BFA students. DSGD 131 is a motion graphics course that teaches aesthetics and fundamentals of motion and how to design and apply these concepts to moving images.
“Motion graphics can be applied to not only just 2D screens, but many different mediums/environments,” said Han. “VR/AR is a new and active environment where artists, designers and engineers work to create immersive environments with dynamic motions.”
Students applied ideas of graphic design projects to media environments using VR. “Some students might create a small WebVR project by the end of this semester, and they might come back to KLEVR Lab to explore the VR deeper,” Han shared.
Since VR has become more approachable and open for anyone, Han felt it is important to include it in course lessons.
“I believe that graphic designers should understand the new changes in conjunction with art and technology, see what is coming in the near future, and learn how to apply user experience and interaction design to the new environment.”
If you are interested in integrating the KLEVR Lab in your curriculum, please contact Jon Oakes at jon.oakes@sjsu.edu or get started by reading this Faculty Guide for KLEVR in the Curriculum.
STUDENT AMBASSADOR BECOMES OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCE ADVOCATE
By Christa Bailey, Academic Liaison & Affordable Learning $olutions Librarian
The average San José State University student will spend about $2,000 on textbooks per academic year. In an effort to combat this expensive barrier to learning, SJSU Affordable Learning $olutions (AL$/ALS) unit was created and coordinated by SJSU King Library. Jenifer Vang joined the AL$ team as one of the very first student ambassadors two years ago. Since day one, she has helped raise awareness of the program within the student body by collaborating with other organizations across campus and giving a student voice to the initiative. However, her most recent collaborative efforts could provide a significant lasting impact not only at San José State, but across both the California State University (CSU) and California Community College (CCC) systems. Vang is now working with other students from the CSU as well as from CCCs as an open education resource (OER) advocate.
In what is believed to be the first student collaborative across both systems, this group of students is working to develop an OER toolkit for student use. The group was brought together through a Michelson 20MM Foundation grant. In addition to constructing a student toolkit, the group also hopes to sustain and grow student OER advocacy. Not only does Vang actively participate in the advocacy group, but her experience was recognized when she was identified as one of the three leads for the team. Vang uses her experience to provide guidance to other students in the group who may be newer to the OER landscape.
“Joining the AL$ team has made a tremendous impact on my SJSU experience. As a student ambassador, I not only learned how to advocate for open textbooks, but my school spirit and sense of pride in SJSU also grew in leaps and bounds,” said Vang. “ Student voice makes the difference in a successful program and that’s why I believe there’s a lot that students can bring to the OER community.”
By enabling students to work together with faculty members and administrators, their college education becomes more affordable. “Saving each student a couple hundred dollars in their pockets means students can spend that money on food, rent or transportation,” said Vang. “Every little bit saved is a little bit that counts.”
Once the OER toolkit is completed, it will be uploaded to OER Commons where anyone will be able to access, adapt and/or reuse the content for their own campus initiatives. The students began working on the toolkit after the AL$ conference 2019 held on February 6, 2019 in Los Angeles. Their submission to present at the 16th Annual Open Education Conference has been accepted. They will present ‘A CCC/CSU Collaborative for OER Student Advocacy Development’ at the conference to be held in Phoenix, Arizona October 30-November 1.
To learn more about Open Educational Resources for your classroom, visit libguides.sjsu.edu/openresources.
PASEO PROTOTYPING CHALLENGE
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The SJSU Paseo Prototyping Challenge is designed to incubate solutions to pressing social and environmental problems through multidisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation. Envision and build innovative prototypes using your skills, talent and ambition for the City of San José and the world.
The 2018-19 Paseo Prototyping Challenge had 11 finalist teams total, the 3 winning teams were:
1st Place — Medixflow, a digital voice assistant for senior care documentation
2nd Place — Empath, a chatbot for people facing homelessness in San José to find resources
3rd Place — Hydra, community-oriented urban farms
To learn more about the teams, visit paseoprototyping.org.
Go to tinyurl.com/sjsuhexbadges to get your SJSU Library Hex Stickers.
PRESENTATION PRACTICE ROOM
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Reserve the room at: booking.sjlibrary.org/reserve/presentation.
KATE BARRON SELECTED FOR THE 2019 IRDL SCHOLAR COHORT
By Yen Tran, Research Impact Librarian, IRDL Scholar 2017
Designing and implementing a research project can be a daunting task for new academic tenure-track librarians. For this reason, two librarians at Loyola Marymount University’s William H. Hannon Library, in partnership with San José State University (SJSU) School of Information and the statewide California Electronic Library Consortium, created the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL).
We are excited to announce that Data Services Librarian Kate Barron was accepted into the 2019 IRDL cohort.
This year-long research experience is funded by a $400,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Service, making participation in IRDL competitive and selective—the percentage of applicants accepted in the program each year is approximately 20 percent.
Barron will develop her research skills as an academic librarian, implement and design a research project and then share her research findings and scholarship through publications or presentations.
Barron’s proposed project will explore research data management practices among SJSU faculty. She anticipates identifying pain points in those processes and how the library can create solutions. As SJSU increases its research profile, Barron hopes her projects’ findings will inform the direction and growth of library data services, contributing to a robust research infrastructure for faculty.
Producing and sharing research that is grounded in good research design and methodology benefits everyone. Since IRDL began in 2016, the research produced by the scholars have contributed to enhancing the work that librarians do and have tremendously benefitted the populations they serve.
ELECTRONIC DATABASES
Statista, our newest resource for market and consumer data, provides datasets on more than 80,000 topics from over 22,500 data sources. Covering most trades and industries, Statista also allows users to download, manipulate and visualize data for original infographics.
SJSU King Library is happy to announce its membership to the HathiTrust (hathitrust.org), a global collaborative of more than 140 research and academic libraries working to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and accessible long into the future. HathiTrust holds the largest set of digitized books managed by the academic, research and library community, and offers an unprecedented opportunity to steward the cultural record through increasingly interdependent work that develops capacity and sparks innovation.
Founded in 2008, HathiTrust members have contributed more than 17 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. More than 6.4 million of the contributed volumes are in the public domain and freely available online.
HathiTrust serves a dual role. First, as a trusted repository it guarantees the long-term preservation of the materials it holds, providing the expert curation and consistent access long associated with research libraries. Second, as a service for members and the public good, HathiTrust offers persistent access to the digital collections. This includes viewing, downloading and searching public domain volumes, and searching access to copyrighted works. Member features include in-copyright access to works by persons with print disabilities; the ability to gather subsets of the digital library into “collections” that can be searched, browsed and data mined; and the ability to leverage the HathiTrust Research Center to computationally analyze the digitized works for digital scholarship projects.
HathiTrust was named for the Hindi word for elephant, hathi, symbolic of the qualities of memory, wisdom and strength evoked by elephants, as well as the huge undertaking of congregating the digital collections of libraries in the United States and beyond. HathiTrust is funded by member libraries and governed by members of the libraries through its Board of Governors. More information on HathiTrust is available at: hathitrust.org.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT FACILITATES LEARNING IN NEW LIBRARY SPACE
SJSU King Library is a hub of knowledge and ideation—a place to innovate, create and collaborate. We emphasize interdisciplinary work among Spartans because we know that collaboration results in transformative ideas that can change our world. To facilitate that collaboration, the Innovative Design Collaborative created a space in the lower level that provides students an opportunity to incubate their ideas.
BMEidea is one example of a student organization that fosters creative thinking and solutions in the field of biomedical equipment. Students meet and amalgamate their ideas into plans to build innovative medical devices.
Biomedical Engineering senior, Pranit Sharva Ravuri, is the president of BMEidea for the 2019-20 academic year.
As president, he leads the student-run organization’s executive team in making primary decisions for the club and its promotion, directs BMEidea teams on their projects’ journey over the course of the academic year and acts as an overall guide in carrying the club.
Ravuri demonstrates charisma and leadership at every meeting and fosters innovation among his peers in creating biomedical technology. The biomedical engineering student guides BMEidea members in the discovery of their own creativity and ingenuity.
As a member of BMEidea, Ravuri was involved in the creation of a project to build a durable, wearable electrocardiogram using a single ergonomic system. As president of the club this academic year, Ravuri was heavily connected with the growth and development of five of this year’s team projects. “For my senior project I am currently working with my team to build a modular wearable ECG to accurately and precisely track and record waveforms,” Ravuri said.
A career in diagnostic technologies is where Ravuri sees himself moving toward upon graduating from San José State University.
His involvement in BMEidea has allowed him to develop wearable technology with human health at the forefront of every design. He dreams of improving the methodology and technology available for early detection of diseases.
“My passion is diagnostic technologies for rapid detection and prevention of disease that includes PPG, ECG, MRI and gene sequencing,” he shared. As acting president this academic year Ravuri has gained critical experience in project management and organization building.
SJSU King Library’s incubator space has been integral to the facilitation of student work and the club’s activities. Ravuri said students appreciate the incubator space’s beautiful new monitors, whiteboards and especially its flexibility. “We can move all the furniture to suit our needs, the monitors to display our work and whiteboards to write down thoughts on the fly.”
The space hosts the organization’s bi-annual project review sessions every semester, which allows teams to efficiently relay their findings and collaborate with ease.
“Previously our review sessions had trouble with poor presentation capacity and lack of professionalism. This year we made vast improvements in our procedure and setup that impressed every single visitor we had!” Ravuri said.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FOSTERS STUDENT SUCCESS
Students Take Their Research Skills to the Next Level in the Library's Research Scholars Program
The SJSU Library Research Scholars Program is a unique opportunity for students interested in investigating a single research project over the course of one academic year with the guidance of a librarian mentor. “Research is a strategy for learning and communicating meaningful answers to complex questions–a way to make sense of details in their varied contexts. Working with a librarian who has either asked such questions or knows how to organize questions is invaluable,” said Alexander Werdmuller von Elgg, a student selected for the research program for the 2019-20 academic year.
Werdmuller von Elgg said he plans to develop his art practice while in the research program. His goal is to gain a more comprehensive understanding about the history of—and arguments for—art education by the end of the program. “Some research questions include, ‘what is expected of art instructors?’ and ‘how has art education changed over time?’ All such questions return greater, more refined questions,” he said. As an introspective student, Werdmuller von Elgg said he has found the library to be a place he frequents to organize his tasks and gain clarity of mind. “I love the library’s commitment to offering a clean and clear space to contemplate ideas—a space to reflect,” he said.
Geology sophomore Cyril Hazen said she was immediately drawn to SJSU King Library because of the sheer breadth of information available to students and the public. Before she was accepted into the Library Research Scholars Program, she visited the library often as a child to satisfy her curiosity. “I’ve loved books since I was little, and so libraries have always been places of infinite adventure to me,” Hazen said. The program was a perfect fit for Hazen, who was looking for an opportunity to delve further into geology and anthropology. For this San José native, the research program checks all the boxes: an accommodating schedule and a way to improve academic skills while studying a flexible research topic. A bulk of the program will take place at SJSU King Library.
World history intrigues Ricardo Pimentel—the third fellow in the program— who is studying justice studies at SJSU and minoring in psychology. He is curious to learn more about war propaganda, from its efficacy to the psychology behind the appeal. “Libraries contain our history, the good, the bad and all else in between. If you have a question about something, chances are it has been answered in a book already,” Pimentel said. The aeronautical engineering fellow is eager to begin the program. Pimentel is most excited that he will be able to research and write about what he learns without having to adhere to typical classroom protocols. “I won’t have the pressure nor the hesitation one often has trying to follow strict guidelines when writing in their traditional classroom settings,” Pimentel said. By the end of the program, he hopes to become skilled enough in his research that he will gain a profound understanding of the various facets of the topic he chooses.
This program will enable students to delve further into their topics of choice, while refining their research skills. We are excited to see what these students will unveil in their research. To keep up-to-date with our fellows' progress throughout the year, we encourage you to follow our social media, @sjsulibrary on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Student Assistants Develop Professional Skills
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SJSU Library student assistants are integral to the facilitation of our library services. Without them, the library could not continue to be the exemplary place to learn and work in that it is. MarcianaMarie Suela, a double major in journalism and art, is a social media specialist for the library’s marketing team. She has been a student assistant for SJSU King Library for over a year, creating engaging content for the library’s social media accounts. Suela said working at the library is one of the catalysts that propelled her to feel more comfortable with critique. Under the supervision of SJSU King Library’s Project and Communication Manager Lesley Seacrist, Suela said she has been able to strengthen her skills in social media and learn more about motion graphics. “Even though I had no prior experience with motion graphics, she has allowed me to experiment with the medium to showcase SJSU King Library’s resources online,” Suela said. Because of the encouragement, the social media specialist has been able to build her design portfolio and skills at a professional institution.
Weita Tung works in Media Services at SJSU King Library and recently took on coordinating the library's meeting rooms. He will be graduating in December with a bachelor’s in industrial and systems engineering. “Working here at the library feels very different than any other workplace, we all strive to improve our library and provide great service to students as well as the public,” said Tung.
He attributes his profound appreciation for the library to working with a variety of employees throughout the university library’s departments and their willingness to help each other as a team. “From all the events that the library hosted, I have gained many friends through networking, confidence through working under pressure, as well as learned how to become a better team player,” Tung said. He said he is grateful for the opportunity he has had to work, learn and grow at SJSU King Library. “I have learned many technical skills and communication skills that have helped me to become a better version of myself and have contributed to my success as a student,” Tung said.
Cristine Nguyen, a mathematics major, works as a student assistant to the dean. “Easy access to learning resources and education is so important, and working at the library gives me the chance to be able to see just how much dedication from staff and faculty goes into ensuring students have dependable resources available,” Nguyen said. She is studying to become a math teacher, though eventually, she aims to move onto educational administration.
During the academic year, Nguyen processes applications for SJSU students' late-night guest passes. The library is open 24 hours, five days a week for CSU students and the passes allow SJSU students to bring a guest to accompany them during the extended study hours. “Not many other libraries stay open for as long as ours does, and I’m glad that I get to help in providing more students with the ability to study later in the night,” Nguyen said.
The work our student assistants accomplish here at SJSU King Library not only contributes to student success but also acts as a stepping stone for their career and professional goals.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOARD UPDATE
The University Library Board (ULB) spent most of the 2018-19 academic year discussing an issue weighing heavily on university librarians across the country: the steep and rising price of electronic journals and databases. San José State University students and faculty rely on electronic resources provided by the university library for their research and also for course materials. With publishers increasing prices 10 percent annually in recent years, the university library has been forced to cancel some subscriptions while it seeks additional funding from SJSU and the California State University Chancellor's Office. Every university has dealt with this crisis differently. The University of California system, for example, recently dropped its subscription to one of the most popular publishers of science journals over a price dispute.
As a policy-making body, the ULB has been studying the issue and presenting recommendations and resolutions to the SJSU Academic Senate. In May 2019 the Senate passed a ULB-sponsored resolution asking the Chancellor's Office to increase funding for the Electronic Core Collection, a set of essential electronic resources, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, provided to all 23 CSU campuses as a baseline electronic collection. This fall the ULB and the University Library will host an open forum about transformative agreements and the future of large journal package subscriptions.
