JEWL Spring 2020

SPRING 2020 | Vol. 7, No. 1

MTSU library veterans reflect on 20 years of progress

Staying on Course Middle Tennessee State University library.mtsu.edu Spring 2020 | Volume 7, No. 1 INTERIM DEAN Jason Martin EXTERNAL RELATIONS Clay Trainum DEVELOPMENT Paul Wydra EDITOR Drew Ruble DESIGNER Sherry Wiser George SR. DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE MARKETING SOLUTIONS Kara Hooper UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHERS Cat Curtis-Murphy, James Cessna, Andy Heidt, J. Intintoli

In March, Middle Tennessee State University as well as the rest of the world found itself in uncharted territory as the University took its first major steps in combating the dangerous novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. Walker Library, which prides itself on being a vital resource to MTSU’s faculty and students, wasted no time in putting in place a remote services plan to ensure the safety of its patrons and staff while continuing to supply many of the same services faculty and students have come to enjoy over the years. In addition to providing remote instruction and access to millions of full-text articles, e-books, and other online resources, the library also extended its textbook program (page 6) from a three-hour checkout to seven days.

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Carol Stuart CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Clay Trainum, Gina. K. Logue, Alissa Miller, Patsy Weiler UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT Sidney A. McPhee UNIVERSITY PROVOST Mark Byrnes VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Andrew Oppmann 1,000 copies, printed at Lithographics, Nashville, Tenn. Designed by Creative Marketing Solutions

0220-8744​/ Middle Tennessee State University does not discriminate against students, employees, or applicants for admission or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, age, status as a protected veteran, genetic information, or any other legally protected class with respect to all employment, programs, and activities sponsored by MTSU. The Assistant to the President for Institutional Equity and Compliance has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies and can be reached at Cope Administration Building 116, 1301 East Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37132; Marian.Wilson@mtsu.edu; or 615-898-2185 The MTSU policy on non-discrimination can be found at mtsu.edu/iec.

In this picture, Paul Burt, a circulation assistant in James E. Walker Library, prepares books in the library vestibule to be checked out as part of the library’s service early during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Cover photo (interior shot) and this photo by J. Intintoli

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Dean’s Letter A Textbook Example

MTSU’s students can get some relief from rising textbook prices

A Worthy Exhibition

Evocative and timely library exhibits help campus partners tell their stories

Building on a Legacy

Walker family donation jump-starts library's "20 for 20" campaign

Past to Present

MTSU library veterans reflect on 20 years of progress

Update from the Development Office The Atrium

News and notes from inside Walker Library

All photos in this edition of JEWL are provided by student photographer Priyanka Modi except where noted.

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DEAN’S LETTER

From the Desk of Jason Martin I want to take a moment to introduce myself. I am Jason Martin, the interim dean of James E. Walker Library.

As many of you know, Bonnie Allen retired at the end of the Spring 2019 semester after serving as dean of the library for seven years. We want to thank her for all her hard work and dedication to the library and the University.

A search for a new library dean began in January 2020, with the search committee chaired by Lana Seivers, dean of the College of Education.

I have been interim dean since May 2019, and I must say I have enjoyed every minute of my new duties. Mostly, I have enjoyed getting to know and work more closely with the great people of the library. A lot has been happening, and I want to bring you up to speed on the great work we have been doing.

Walker Library spent the summer developing our 2025 Strategic Vision and Goals. The library’s strategic vision: As the intellectual center of the University, Walker Library is dedicated to being a campus leader in innovative research, teaching, and learning; providing a positive user experience for the MTSU community; and fostering an academic community.

The vision reaffirms Walker Library’s role not only as a campus innovator but as an across-campus collaborator as well. The library has much to offer faculty, staff, and students at Middle Tennessee State University, and our unique resources, services, and skill sets make us great partners in teaching and research.

Our three broad strategic goals are: 1. Provide effective, high-impact services targeted to meet student-learning needs.

2. Design purposeful spaces that foster teaching and learning opportunities for faculty and students as well as build academic community.

3. Develop a collection strategy to support the varying curricular and research needs of undergraduate and graduate students and the faculty.

Photo by James Cessna

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We have been doing much during the 2019–20 academic year to meet these goals. Highlights include the development of a graduate student reading room, a redesign of the quiet areas in the library, implementation of a new outreach model, and development of the Library Textbook Program, a textbook affordability collection.

A large focus of the library’s new strategic vision is student success. This aligns with the University’s Quest for Student Success and continues Walker Library’s efforts in helping students grow intellectually while at MTSU. Our analyses show students who use the library’s subscription resources are more successful as measured by GPA than their college and campus peers.

When MTSU decided to move to remote classes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Walker Library building was closed to the public. But our resources and services have remained available. We kept access to our physical collection through our Pull and Hold service, while supporting research and learning through virtual instruction and online reference chat, and, as always, by providing millions of full-text articles, e-books, streaming audio and video files, and many more online resources.

Walker Library also partnered with other state colleges and universities to 3D-print headbands to be used for medical face shields. I could not be prouder of the work Walker Library has done to support teaching, learning, research, and health and safety.

We expect to build on the work this year and transform the library over the next few years. I see no reason why James E. Walker Library cannot become the leading library not only of its peer institutions but also in the whole Southeast.

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas about Walker Library, please email me at jason.martin@mtsu.edu.

Jason Martin, Interim Dean, James E. Walker Library

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Thanks to the library’s innovative initiative, financially overburdened students enrolled in MTSU’s most populated courses can get some relief from rising textbook prices

by Gina K. Logue and Drew Ruble

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FEATURE STORY

The Economist recently reported that the price of textbooks has risen fifteenfold since 1970.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals that textbook prices went up more than three times the rate of inflation from January 1977 to June 2015, a staggering 1,041% increase.

According to Applied Educational Systems, textbook costs rose even faster than medical services, new home costs, and the consumer price index.

During the 2017–18 year, college students spent an average of $484 on nine required course materials, the National Association of College Stores said.

Andrew Perry, a fellow at The Brookings Institution, recently wrote that “nothing says welcome to college like exorbitant textbook prices.”

Citing federal guidelines establishing the poverty line for a family of three in America in 2018 at $20,780, Perry computed that the $1,400 annual textbook expenditure by his friend’s daughter while attending Louisiana State University to be “7% of a poor family’s annual income.”

At MTSU, Walker Library recently developed a textbook affordability collection to help students with the rising cost of textbooks, aid in retention, and contribute to student success.

Books can be checked out for three hours at a time for use inside the library, said Jason Martin, MTSU’s interim library dean. If a textbook requires an authorization code, only a copy of the textbook will be made available.

“This is one of the best things libraries can do to help students,” said Martin, who added that the average cost of textbooks is $400 per student. “Many of our students are on a tight budget. It just helps them out financially.”

The plan involves 200-plus textbooks for general education courses with enrollments of at least 500 students, said Martin, who praised Suzanne Mangrum, acquisitions librarian, for leading the initiative.

Mangrum said the new program is very popular.

“By and large, the students have been incredibly grateful,” she said.

Materials for Spring 2019 included textbooks in astronomy, biology, chemistry, communication, economics, English, geology, history, mathematics, psychology, and theater.

Mangrum said the idea sprang from a University group dedicated to redesigning the general education curriculum. She added that more college libraries are taking this step, and they’re also receiving good feedback about it from students.

University libraries had long been reluctant to take a chance on purchasing textbooks, she continued, because it was cheaper for students to keep textbooks they’d checked out and pay the library fines for lost books than it was for the student to buy the books outright.

By purchasing textbooks for the most heavily populated courses and restricting access to library use only, Mangrum said Walker Library hopes it is providing a compromise that will be helpful to students.

To view a complete list of the textbooks available for in-library checkout, visit the library catalog at library.mtsu.edu/home.

For more information, contact Mangrum at 615-904-8517 or suzanne.mangrum@mtsu.edu.

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A Worthy

EXHIBITION Evocative and timely library exhibits help campus partners tell their stories from staff reports

Al Gore, former U.S. vice president, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and MTSU Distinguished Visiting Professor meets students Madeline Portilla and Jenna Moulder.

Photo by J. Intintoli 8 JEWL M A GA Z I N E

FEATURE STORY

It’s a busy Friday afternoon at Walker Library, and Clay Trainum is having a long day. The third-year external relations specialist for Walker Library has been hopping on and off a golf cart while running a circuit between the library, MTSU’s Albert Gore Research Center, and MTSU’s Blue Print shop, with the hope of completing the library’s latest exhibit, “A Southern Statesman: Albert Gore Sr. in Congress, 1939–1971,” by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, it appears that Trainum will not be getting his wish. There’s been a snag with a couple of panels, and despite all the running around, the exhibit’s installation will run right to the brink of its hard deadline, 2 p.m. on a Monday last September.

With most exhibits in the library, this much of a rush is uncommon, but this is no ordinary exhibit at the library. Featuring one of Tennessee’s most prominent 20th-century politicians and the namesake of the University’s archive, this exhibit has drawn interest from another important Tennessean—the late senator’s son and former U.S. vice president Al Gore, who is set to visit MTSU and the library on that very Monday afternoon.

“It always seems to work this way with exhibits,” explained Sarah Calise, who serves as the archivist for the political and regional collections at the Gore Center.

“It doesn’t matter how much you plan ahead or set up your backup plans, inevitably something will go wrong a few days before, and things come down to the wire. You just have to adjust.”

CREATING SPACES

While the exhibit on MTSU alumnus Albert Gore Sr. may have piqued the interest of a few powerful people, it is just the latest of a number of exhibits that have taken place in the library over the past three years.

The development of the space was somewhat happenstance, but it’s now become a regularly requested area for a number of campus partners.

In the Fall 2017 semester, the library served as the conduit for a partnership between the Gospel Music Association, MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, and the School of Music. The library offered to host an exhibit about prominent artists that are enshrined in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame as well as a handful of performances. Unlike previous library exhibits, this was to be a longstanding display that would stay up all semester, and as such, it was moved out of the Atrium and into an area just beyond the elevators and across from a student lounge.

Between the two table-height flat cases, a pair of tall cases at the entrance, and the blank wall space between the cases, it almost felt purpose-built as an exhibit area and it sparked an idea. Trainum, who had just joined the library in the preceding summer, began looking into whether there would be interest in setting up the same area as a regular home for rotating exhibits.

While there were some early hurdles with generating ideas for the area, there was a willing partner with the Albert Gore Research Center.

The Gore Center, located on the first floor of the library-turnedart-building Todd Hall, houses some of the most important artifacts in the University’s history along with the elder Gore’s papers and other collections.

However, with a location that doesn’t quite get the foot traffic of Walker Library, branching out to a space that has the potential to catch thousands of sets of eyes per day just made sense.

“As an archive, our No. 1 thing is access,” Calise said. “We’ve been very aware for a long time that our place in Todd isn’t the most accessible for students, faculty, staff, or the public. We want people to come in and be able to research with us and see our exhibits. When Clay reached out to me wanting to create a set exhibit schedule, it was like the lights were shining and sirens were going off. This was the kind of opportunity that we had been looking for.”

Art featured in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame exhibit

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“Libraries are about access to and the preservation of information,” added interim library dean Jason Martin.

“These exhibits have become a natural fit for what we want to do. They connect us to the campus and the Murfreesboro community, and it’s another kind of information that we can disseminate. It was kind of a no-brainer for us to partner with the Gore Center.”

“Any archive would love to have the library’s numbers,” Calise said. “Being able to inject our materials into the library’s space, where it sees so many students, can only benefit us. I think it also benefits the library as well because they now have an area where they can show off the excellent historical and archival materials that are housed on this campus.”

A PERFECT PAIRING

The first go-round with the Gore Center was for an exhibit about the Murfreesboro Loves initiative, a movement that came about after the announcement of planned white supremacist marches in the wake of the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally that had turned tragic in Virginia.

“Starting with Murfreesboro Loves kind of checked all the boxes for what we’re trying to do with the space,” Trainum said. “We want something that is topical, has meaning to our students, and ties into the MTSU or Murfreesboro community in some way. That exhibit worked on every level, and I think the interest in it gave us kind of a road map on where to go from there.”

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With its role as the official MTSU archive, the Gore Center is also heavily involved in a number of other exhibits that take place in the building in partnership with other parts of the University. Following the Murfreesboro Loves exhibit, MTSU’s Intercultural and Diversity Affairs Center put together an exhibit featuring the history of the LGBTQ+ movement on campus. The display took visitors through six decades of history, paying special attention to MTSU graduate Aleshia Brevard, who was one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery in the U.S. The Gore Center was also a key part of the library’s first partnership with MT Athletics last spring. Trainum worked with the Blue Raider Sports Hall of Fame on an exhibit about the history of the MTSU track and field program—specifically the role it played in the integration of MTSU in the 1960s and ’70s. The exhibit also featured the exploits of head coach Dean Hayes, who has led the program for more than 50 years.

Following those exhibits, the Gore Center was back in the driver’s seat for another one of its collections, this time featuring Tennessee’s involvement in World War II as well as the role that the middle Tennessee region played in training soldiers for battle.

FEATURE STORY Photos from "A Great and Noble Undertaking: Remembering Tennesseans in World War II"

“The World War II exhibit was a chance to take a grand narrative and provide a local emphasis,” Calise said.

“Students can feel a little detached at times from the local community while they’re in college, and the exhibit was a great way of bringing the story of the war into context in Tennessee and in middle Tennessee specifically.”

“We have a large military culture here in middle Tennessee, and that includes a lot of veterans right here on this campus,” the library’s Martin added.

“The World War II exhibit was really great, and it highlighted a lot of the important work that those who fought in the war did for this country. That generation is unfortunately dying, and it’s important to highlight their stories when we can, so future generations can know what they did.”

The exhibit, entitled “A Great and Noble Undertaking: Remembering Tennesseans in World War II,” also was curated by current Public History graduate student Marley Abbott.

“These types of exhibits give a whole new perspective on the kinds of things that the Gore Center and the History Department are doing,” Calise said. “Public History students are involved in all of our exhibits, and we’ve definitely seen an uptick in interest as a result.

I’ve had a lot more students asking about our World War II materials since the exhibit went up, and in the past couple of months, I’ve even had a few World War II veterans contact me saying that they saw it and wanted to provide oral histories and donate materials to our collection.”

IN THE NICK OF TIME

It’s Monday, and it’s finally the big day for the “Southern Statesman” exhibit about the elder Gore. Calise had just finished putting the finishing touches on some of the cases at the library when the good news came rolling in. The panels are ready to go. Trainum hopped on the library golf cart, made a pit stop at the Gore Center, and within minutes, everything was all set.

The clock had just ticked past 10:30 a.m.

Done with more than three hours to spare.

Barry McClure and Tommy Haynes, national champion triple-jumpers for MTSU in the 1970s.

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Legacy BUILDING ON A

Walker family donation jump-starts library’s “20 for 20” campaign

by Gina Logue

To ensure that the library continues to evolve and progress, the “20 for 20” campaign celebrates Walker Library’s 20th anniversary by encouraging donations of $20.

A recent, generous donation from the family of the late James E. Walker jump-started the fundraising campaign to celebrate the University library’s milestone birthday.

Through its foundation, Walker’s family provided a 100% match for each dollar donated to the library bearing his name up to $20,000 to help launch the third annual True Blue Give, which ran Feb. 12–14.

As MTSU’s eighth president from 1991 to 2000, Walker was the driving force behind the creation of a modern library on the MTSU campus.

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Photo by Tommy Lawson

“Nothing is more significant for the academic core of a university than this symbol of learning,” Walker said in 1999, just prior to the new library’s grand opening.

“The library belongs to all of us because learning is the bond that brings us together, enriches our lives, and carries us all to greater heights.”

Before becoming president at MTSU, Walker was provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Northern Colorado. He earned his doctorate in Education from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s in Special Education from Atlanta University, and a bachelor’s in Biology from Alabama State University. Walker also was a post-doctoral fellow in Higher Education Administration at the University of Alabama and a graduate of the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management.

FEATURE STORY

Former MTSU President James E. Walker cuts the ribbon at the opening of the MTSU library that eventually bore his name.

He left MTSU in 2000 to become president of Southern Illinois University, the place his teaching career started decades before. Walker died at his home on Feb. 6, 2006, after a battle with cancer.

During his tenure at MTSU, growth—in enrollment, construction, staff, programs, and giving—became the hallmark of the University in the 1990s. MTSU’s six schools became colleges; the University connected to the internet and installed the first voicemail system; the $20 million Miller bequest that enhanced MTSU's equine program set a record for the largest gift ever received by a Tennessee state college or university; MTSU launched the first public Honors College in the state; and the University celebrated its 85th anniversary by breaking ground for a new library.

The library, a 250,000-square-foot building featuring a four-floor 75-foot-high atrium, remains the most visible and lasting legacy to the former MTSU president and his impact on the University. Over time, the library has continued to live up to Walker’s vision of taking advantage of technological advances, evolving through the addition of electronic collections, digital scholarship, multimedia hardware and software, the Makerspace, and other modern marvels.

“Every donation to Walker Library helps the library further its student success and professional development efforts,” said interim library dean Jason Martin.

HOW TO GIVE Donations can be made online at mtsu.edu/truebluegive, or text MTSU13 to 71777.

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MTSU library veterans reflect on 20 years of progress

by Gina K. Logue and Drew Ruble

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FEATURE STORY

With MTSU’s James E. Walker Library celebrating its 20th anniversary in the 2019–20 academic year, veteran staffers who worked in the building’s predecessor, the Andrew L. Todd Library, form a bridge between the past and the present.

Michael Wheaton, who started working in Todd in 1992, is Walker’s manager of technology services. He has witnessed and implemented numerous technological revolutions and innovations.

“I was actually probably the first PC technician on campus,” Wheaton said.

“I supported PCs not only in the library but also in the Center for Popular Music and the LRC [Learning Resources Center].”

Sharon Parente, an assistant professor in User Services, began as an assistant reference librarian in Todd in 1984.

“When I started, we had a card catalog, but we were in the process of going through and converting our records to machine-readable formats,” Parente said.

Sherry Mitchell, a library assistant who has been with the MTSU library since 1990, was a periodicals clerk who was responsible for magazines and peer-review journals in Todd.

“When I first started working at Todd, we were just getting around to putting bar codes on books,” Mitchell said.

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A Time for Change The Todd Library in which these MTSU employees worked was unrecognizable compared to the renovated Todd Hall, which today houses Art and Design studios, galleries, and professors’ offices; College of Liberal Arts administrative offices; and the Albert Gore Research Center.

In Todd Library, mainframe computer backups would take an entire shift to accomplish.

Patrons with mobility issues had to go to the loading dock and press a buzzer to alert workers to let them in. Employees shared cinderblock offices with few windows.

Wheaton found out in only his second week as an employee that Todd Library had its issues. For one thing, it was actually two buildings—one built in 1958 and the other in 1967, according to “History of the Libraries at Middle Tennessee State University,” published in Tennessee Libraries magazine in 2008.

“What joined the two halves together, at least on the roof, was a huge rubber seal,” Wheaton recalled. “A monsoon happened. Heavy rains are hitting Murfreesboro. This little leak starts over the bound periodicals on the second floor. Drip, drip, gush, gush, NIAGARA FALLS!” In a fit of panic, Wheaton called the library’s dean at the time, Don Craig, who came over with his wife, Connie, to help clean up the mess.

That hands-on spirit of devotion extended to Walker Library. Parente said the Craigs personally cleaned the first-floor bathrooms in the week prior to Walker’s grand opening.

“It is the people that have been here before us and that will come after us that make this such a unique and meaningful place to work,” said Rick Kurtz, an administrative officer who has worked in Walker for 20 of his 25 years as a library employee.

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FEATURE STORY

“It is the people that have been here before us and that will come after us that make this such a unique and meaningful place to work.”

—Rick Kurtz, library administrative officer

A Lasting Legacy Seeing a need to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding digital age, Walker Library’s namesake, the late MTSU President James E. Walker, pressed for a revised University master plan to include a new facility.

Walker acquired $33 million in funding for a new facility from the state. The groundbreaking took place Sept. 11, 1996, as the University celebrated its 85th birthday.

“He basically stopped the University’s master plan and said, ‘No, we’re going for a new library,’ and thank goodness he did!” Parente said.

The formal opening ceremony took place April 19, 1999, and the building was formally dedicated in honor of Walker in November 2001.

“It’s fitting that this facility is named after him because, it’s been said many times by many different people, he was a true friend of the library,” Kurtz said.

Still a jewel on campus, MTSU’s library today not only houses a Starbucks, but its resources also include 1 million volumes on its shelf, almost that many more online, both collaborative and quiet spaces, several help desks, a writing center, technology services, the Tutoring Spot, and an innovative Makerspace.

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Photo by Andy Heidt

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DEVELOPMENT

It is hard to believe that the James E. Walker Library is 20 years old!

Nearly 30,000 students visit the library every week during the fall semester, and on any given day, at any given time (during library hours of course), you can see groups of students working on a project together, going over ideas, working in the Makerspace, or studying quietly for their next big test. It is the lifeblood of MTSU and the students' center of campus.

Walker Library, just like all aspects of MTSU, depends on private support from alumni, friends, and community members to be able to provide all of the needs of the campus community.

There is a perception that not every gift matters, but that simply is not true. Every gift, large or small, helps the library fulfill its commitment to provide safe study areas, resources, and technology that today’s college students need.

That is why we need your support for James E. Walker Library.

The library has a few main focus areas for fundraising to help secure our future and continue to be a vital resource to MTSU students: • Garner fundraising support for a newly established emergency fund for student assistants, who are the backbone of the library • Strengthen the support for the established Library Enrichment Fund, which is used to replenish technology and books and to make other advancements in the library • Build up the David Robinson Scholarship Fund, which gives an annual award to a student from the Library Technology Department • Encourage support for the “20 for 20” initiative, where donors chip in $20 (a one-time contribution or monthly) to support current and future library endeavors One of our goals in the coming months is to create a Friends of the Library group and a donor Library Honor Roll for past, current, and future library supporters. We are currently exploring other ideas, which include a number of naming opportunities throughout the building, while strengthening support for scholarships and funds we currently have. We’re always looking for ways to improve the experience in the library.

With the help of alumni, friends, and supporters of James E. Walker Library, the campus community, and others, these goals and priorities will be maintained and achieved. If you would like to help, please support Walker Library by going to mtsu.edu/supportlibrary.

You also can contact me at 615-898-5329 or paul.wydra@mtsu.edu.

Thank you for your continued and future support of MTSU and James E. Walker Library.

Sincerely,

Paul Wydra Director of Development Initiatives

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Inside Walker Library With its expert staff, dynamic collections, and electronic resources, Walker Library is the University’s hub for study and research. But the library is also the place where students come to mix and mingle, learn, and discover new ways to work together.

The library also has an active exhibit and event program. In partnership with various University departments, student organizations, and local groups, Walker Library displays collections and historical objects and hosts cultural events and concerts. Here’s a look at a few recent events.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP Trials, Triumphs, and Transformations: Tennesseans Search for Citizenship, Community, and Opportunity, a scholarly digital research collection at MTSU, was selected as an honorable mention for the Garfinkel Prize in Digital Humanities. Curated by MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation and Walker Library, the project received the award at the American Studies Association Conference in November 2018.

The struggle for citizenship rights is at the heart of Trials, Triumphs, and Transformations. Tennessee’s history between the end of the American Civil War (1865) and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act often gets ignored. This historic period offers insights into the transformations that took place, including challenges and achievements, as Tennesseans searched for citizenship, community, and opportunity.

The project was designed to make hidden collections accessible by placing images of rare historical documents, works of art, and material cultural objects within easy reach of researchers, teachers, and students of Tennessee history.

The curated collection contains more than 450 digitally “borrowed” objects uncovered from collaborative partnerships with 48 universities, public libraries, private donors, state and local archives, museums, and historical societies across the state. The collection also includes interpretive layers such as scholarly essays, lesson plans, interactive maps, and analytical data visualizations.

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OPEN HOUSE Walker Library officially celebrated its 20th anniversary on Oct. 1, 2019, with an open house for faculty, staff, students, and community members.

The open house provided an opportunity for the library to re-introduce itself to the public and communicate all of the activities that take place in the building on a day-to-day basis. Buttons were distributed to all who attended, and everyone was invited to grab a piece of the library’s birthday cake.

JEWL NEWS

QUESTION TENT It’s a yearly tradition in the fall, and Walker Library was once again up to the task. In the early morning hours on the first two days of the school year, the library sets up a tent with the purpose of presenting a welcoming face to both the new students and returners to campus alike. Volunteers from across the Walker staff are there to make sure that all students know that the library is there to assist them. From the tent, librarians and staff also help direct students to their classrooms and answer any questions a student might have about their first few days at MTSU.

Photo by Andy Heidt

STAFF HONORS Walker Library held its first Celebration of Us recognition and awards luncheon last August. The event, which took place at the Sam Ingram Building's MT‌Center in Sam Ingram Building, was an opportunity for the staff to get together and celebrate all the library accomplished in its previous year.

The MTSU library closed its doors early, a rare occasion for one of the busiest buildings on campus, and welcomed the entire staff for a free lunch. Following remarks from interim dean Jason Martin, Meritorious Service Awards were presented to Ben Becker, Toni Butler-Click, Valerie Hackworth, Ben Scheffler, Denise Quintel, and Amy York. Faculty members Grover Baker, Beverly Geckle, Karen Reed, and Jason Vance were honored for receiving promotion and tenure, and staff from across the library were honored for their years of service to the library.

CUSTOMS WELCOME Walker Library was once again a staple at the annual MTSU student orientation program, CUSTOMS, last summer. Whether students were entering MTSU from high school or another college, library staff were there to make sure new Blue Raiders felt welcome on campus.

In addition, the library participated in MTSU’s first S.T.A.R. conference, with the library’s external relations specialist Clay Trainum walking freshmen through all of the ways that the library is and will continue to be an invaluable resource throughout their time on campus.

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Inside Walker Library

ANSWERING THE CALL In March 2020, MTSU and Walker Library answered the medical community’s call for more personal protective equipment (PPE) amidst the spreading COVID-19 virus. At the behest of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, MTSU and other universities put their 3D printers to work to make desperately needed PPE for shipping to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Valerie Hackworth, the library’s assistant manager for technology services, and Charles Donley, senior library technology specialist, used the library’s Makerspace to make headbands that attach to medical face shields. MTSU’s sculpting lab in the Department of Art and Design also responded to state requests to produce needed materials via its 3D printers.

Photos by J. Intintoli

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JEWL NEWS

December 4th, 5-7pm | Free Food

Everyone is invited to participate in destroying their own creations with our hydraulic press.

Interested participants will create a fused filament 3D model on the Makerspace printers. The item that requires the most pressure to crush will be declared the winner, and will take home a special prize.

Refreshments will be provided.

CRUSH IT! OPEN HOUSE Thanks to some help from MT‌Engage, Walker Library’s Makerspace hosted another open house on Sept. 25.

Allowing students, faculty, and staff to get a close-up look at everything the Makerspace offers, the open house was once again one of the library’s most popular events this year.

The Makerspace, which serves as a creative hub within the building, features 3D printers, virtual and augmented reality headsets, a laser etcher and cutter, a vinyl cutter, and an ever-expanding list of many more pieces of equipment.

One of the newest acquisitions in the Makerspace is the hydraulic press, which can apply thousands of pounds of pressure to an object. It was put to good use on Nov. 20, as everyone was invited to watch it destroy some objects that were 3D-printed on site in the Makerspace. In what may become an annual event down the line, items were crushed to find which could handle the most pressure and which would explode impressively once pressure was applied.

MAKERSPACE SHOW AND TELL Beginning in the Spring 2019 semester and continuing last December, the Makerspace Show and Tell is becoming a staple of the annual calendar.

With the Makerspace busy, this is an opportunity for the community that has developed around the creative hub to show off some of the items they have been working on all year. In the case of some students, it also offers a chance to do a dry run for their in-class presentations.

“I AM A MAN” VR‌ EXPERIENCE THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE MAY BE INTENSE FOR SOME, AND INCLUDES SIMULATED GUNSHOTS.

VIRTUAL REALITY NIGHT When thinking about the Makerspace, it’s easy for one’s mind to immediately start picturing 3D printing, laser cutting, and robotics, but the Makerspace is also host to countless possibilities in the virtual realm. With this in mind, the Makerspace continued its biannual Virtual Reality Night programming on Oct. 23. The event, free to attend for all students, faculty, and staff, showcased the various virtual and augmented reality headsets that are available as well as the software that students are free to use that can create such environments.

FEB. 18 - MAR. 1 • WALKER LIBRARY MAKERSPACE In recognition of Black History Month in 2019, the Makerspace hosted the “I Am A Man” virtual experience. The awardwinning virtual reality program, created by North Carolina State University’s Derek Ham in coordination with the National Civil Rights Museum, places the user in Memphis during the 1968 Sanitation Strike.

Over the course of the 15-minute program, the user experiences life in Memphis as an African American during the Civil Rights Movement, from standing in a picket line during the strike to being at the Lorraine Motel at the exact moment of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

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JEWL Magazine James E. Walker Library 1301 E. Main St. P.O. Box 13 Murfreesboro, TN 37132

A LIBRARY FOR THE 21st CENTURY AND BEYOND James E. Walker Library delivers exceptional services in an environment that inspires learning and interaction, uniting the intellectual and social aspects of our University.

Support from alumni and friends helps us to provide exceptional experiences for our students through the incorporation of technologically-rich study spaces, an interactive writing center, nearly 1 million physical volumes, a Makerspace, and almost 600 carefully selected databases and millions of full-text articles, e-books, streaming audio and video, and many more online resources for research.

Visit mtsu.edu/supportlibrary to make your online gift, or contact Paul Wydra at Paul.Wydra@mtsu.edu or 615.898.5329 for more information.