Welcome to the IU Southeast Library newsletter!
Featuring the latest Library news, featured articles, research help info, and much more!
Cast Your Votes in the Library
photo by Courtney Block
In case you haven't visited the Library lately, there have been riveting debates on various Fall-related activities. Last month featured everyone's preferred pastry, and this month asked folks to choose between hayrides or corn mazes. But as you can see, the people took matters into their own hands...
The Library is pleased to announce the addition of Mitchell Scott to our crew! Mitchell is the new Coordinator of Collections & Online Resources, filling the role vacated by Kate Moore as she became our new Director. Mitchell was previously the Collection Management Librarian at St. Norbert College in Green Bay. If you see Mitchell around, be sure to welcome him to IU Southeast!
Upcoming Events:
Tell Your Story Series, Session 4: Workshopping Our Stories
The Common Experience committee (including the Library's very own Melanie Hughes) has been hard at work on providing this series of events. Join us Tuesday, Nov. 30th from 6:30-8:30 pm for the 4th session in the 'Tell Your Story' series featuring personal narratives. Hear sample narratives and get feedback on your own from experienced storytellers!
Spotlight On: Peer Mentor Jake Ackley!
This month we sat down with Peer Mentor Jake Ackley to ask him a few questions about his hobbies, sustainability, his thoughts on libraries, and more! See his answers below:
Q: Tell us a bit more about yourself. In addition to being a student, what are some of your interests and hobbies?
A: I am a 27-year-old non-traditional student who moved to Southern Indiana at the beginning of 2020. I moved here in order to get a degree in Sustainability for IUS. I moved with my partner Casey and cat Winston, and later adopted another cat from a local shelter named Nola. I run a weekly game of Dungeons and Dragons online with some friends back east. I enjoy reading, hiking, camping, playing boardgames and video games.
Q: We know you're interested in sustainability. Tell us about some of your work and involvement with that.
A: I am the current President of the GREENadiers, IUS’ Sustainability club. I am leading a project to attempt to get a community garden going on the IUS campus. I am a student representative on the Faculty Senate Sustainability Committee at IUS. I also try to live a sustainable life which involves growing my own food and buying bulk orders of food to cut down on transit costs, buying thrifted clothes and goods, upcycling things just as holiday decorations and home décor, and generally just being conscious of my actions and their effects.
Q: How do enjoy being a Peer Mentor? What are some of the benefits you've noticed from being involved with that program and from working in the library?
A: I really enjoy being a peer mentor. I learned a lot about the reference side of library work, which is beneficial in areas that extend beyond my work study duties. I also have some experience in leadership roles, but I like this position because it doesn’t assume the implication, or feel like, I am the boss of anyone. Which is nice because it doesn’t lead to any weird power dynamics or awkward feelings, I can still just be another student and interact with the other work study members in that way. Also, my work in the library has generally led me to be able to further pursue roles in different sustainability initiatives on campus. Melanie Hughes, the libraries archivist, is also a faculty sponsor of the sustainability club, and I learned about the club through her. She has also been an invaluable resource in attempting to get the community garden project up and running. Also, Christopher Proctor, the coordinator of access services, knew about my interest in sustainability, and offered me the position of student representative on the Faculty Senate Sustainability Committee.
This months' featured database is Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Provided by the Library of Congress and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, this database contains digitized newspapers from 37 states ranging from the years 1777 - 1963.
Within this database you can even find select research guides on topics like the 16th Amendment, the Alaskan Gold Rush, Lizzie Borden, suffragettes, Babe Ruth, presidential elections, sporting events, and much, much more!
This database is a great resource to locate primary sources on a wide array of research topics. Browse the research guides or search by your own keywords and/or dates!
Here's an historical image from 1909 of some very good doggos - just one example of the things you can find in this database.
Are those end-of-semester papers piling up? Don't forget that librarians are here to assist with all your research and information needs? Having trouble finding that one article that's just *perfect* for your essay? There are a number of ways we can help:
Live chat with us!
Drop by the Service Desk
The IU Southeast Library is just one branch of a larger library system to which you have access! You can request physical items from any other IU Library to be sent here to IUS. This, coupled with our Interlibrary Loan service, ensures that you're never without the resources you need!