THE CADE REPORT JOHN B. CADE LIBRARY NEWS FALL 2021 • ISSUE 2 • VOLUME 2
CADE LIBRARIANS TO OFFER HEALTH LITERACY TRAINING WITH NLM GRANT AWARD Librarian Maletta Payne and School of Nursing professor, Cheryl Taylor, Ph.D. (Nursing) will serve as co-principal investigators for a grant, Access to Health Literacy for Life: Learning the National Library of Medicine’s Resources Online. The grant was funded through the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Environmental Health Information Partnership (EnHIP) Engagement Initiative. EnHIP which is a collaboration between NLM and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), a Predominately Black Institution (PBI), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), an Alaska Native-Serving Institution, and a community college. The aim of the project is to promote health literacy and increase African Americans’ awareness and use of information, using three health/promotional NLM online resources – Daily Med, Medline Plus, and Lit COVID.
WHAT'S INSIDE Employee Spotlight page 3 Library Open House Scheduled page 5
The NLM health information resources will be used to target and train African Americans in Louisiana who are experiencing alarming rates of death and disability due to chronic diseases and COVID-19. Southern University librarians and volunteer community health advisory teams will provide culturally tailored training modules using the NLM information resources.
New Faculty Library Orientation page 7
“I am excited when there is an opportunity to collaborate with teaching faculty," says Library Dean Dawn Kight. “These initiatives further the library’s efforts to support teaching, learning, research and service.”
New Library Services page 7
In addition to co-principal investigators, the project will be guided by Cade Librarians Maya Banks, Vanissa Ely, and Charlotte Henderson, and library technical support staff members Rena Darensbourg and Christopher Russell. Cade Librarians will lead the effort in working with incoming freshmen, community groups, SU Alumni, and SUBR faculty and staff. “With Cade Library as the central command post for outreach, participants with basic computer literacy skills will learn how to access NLMs scientifically sound and trusted online resources from trusted members of the University community," says Taylor. The mission of the Environmental Health Information Partnership is to enhance the capacity of minority-serving academic institutions to reduce health disparities through the access, use, and delivery of environmental health information on their campuses and in their communities. (See related grant writing story p. 4)
This project has been funded in whole or in part with funding under contract #288 with ORAU to support NLM Community Engagement and Training.
The Cade Report is published four times yearly with special issues published as needed.
Kudos to Library Leaders
Library Dean earns PhD
Several John B. Cade Librarianslibrarians enhanced their online teaching skills in a United Negro College Fund (UNCF) sponsored online instructor’s workshop. Selected for the cohort are: Library Dean Dawn Kight, Maya Banks, Eddie Hughes, and Jordan Signater. Louis Metevia has been selected for the next cohort scheduled for the Fall 2021 semester. Librarian Maletta Payne and speech pathology professor Dawn Stanley were selected to participate in the Open Textbook Network program. Their work will enhance Open Educational Resources (OER) on a national scale. Southern University is now designated as an Open Textbook Network Partner. Payne also participated on a panel sponsored by SIRSI/Dynix on OER. Cade Library dean and librarians named to American Library Association (ALA) National Committees John B. Cade Library Dean Dawn Kight was appointed to the ACRL Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)/University Libraries Section (ULS) University Library Section Technology Committee. Librarian Maya Banks was selected to serve on the communications committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)/University Libraries Section (ULS). Librarian Eddie Hughes will serve on the Black Caucus of the American Library Association(BCALA) Self-Publishing Literary Committee.
Congratulations to Library Dean Dawn Kight, who completed the doctoral program at SUBR in science-mathematics education. The title of her dissertation is, A Study of Information Literacy Instruction and Its Impact on STEM Students at HBCUs. Kight was hooded during the University's commencement ceremony Friday, August 6.
(leaders continued on page 4)
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT Cade Library Spotlight is Reference Librarian Vanissa Ely for her willingness to go above and beyond her normal duties. Ely is always willing to serve and will often work on weekends or after hours without being asked. She shares her thoughts on offering service during these times of uncertainty. “There were days it felt like a ghost town, because it was very quiet and felt unnatural.” That’s how she describes the Cade Library after the shut down last March when classes went online, and most faculty and staff began working remotely. In the midst of a global pandemic, Ely continued to work, maintaining contact with students providing service remotely and encouraging them to stay safe and healthy. “Every day we are here and open and on campus, is a blessing in my book,” she said. “It makes you appreciate how active and vibrant the campus is when it is full of students, faculty, and staff.”
Vanissa Ely posing on a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Ely who became a librarian in 2015 is the Library’s youngest employee. She serves as advisor to the library’s newly formed Student Advisory Council and serves on the Library’s programming committee to plan and organize student-centered activities and events. Reliable, approachable, and compassionate are adjectives that have been used by colleagues to describe Ely. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies, cooking, traveling, and shopping. Describing SUBR and Cade Library Ely says, “SUBR offers me a strong sense of community, dedication to a cause, and commitment.”
DEAN'S CORNER Libraries are Mission Critical
As we prepare for the Fall 2021 semester, tradition, teamwork, and transformation are themes that come to mind.
Dawn Kight, Ph.D. Dean of Libraries
We cannot do what we do in a vacuum. We are an integral part of the fabric of the students, faculty, and staff, and what we do in the Library can transform lives – from the undergraduate living on campus to the researcher in a city halfway around the world.
John B. Cade Library faculty and staff work hard to make sure all members of our community feel welcome and safe by providing collections that reflect diversity of thought, experience, and perspective. Likewise, we provide inclusive services and accessible facilities. Research indicates that young news consumers have trouble distinguishing credible sources from unreliable ones. The “fake news” phenomena on social media underscores the importance of developing the information literacy of our students. Cade Library is committed to providing information literacy and digital literacy training to our users. Libraries play a vital part in helping people become digital citizens because they are accessible and trusted institutions. We provide free access to learning. Lifelong learning and knowledge creation have long formed the core of library services. In this issue of the Cade Report, we highlight the outreach work of librarians in several grant projects, the expansion of the Library’s archives, and newly acquired products and services that are available to users. Through our services, instructional programs, collections, and spaces, Cade Library supports the University community. We not only lead change, but we anticipate the needs of our users and make the wisest use of resources—staffing, funding and technology—that we can. With a mission of "connecting people with knowledge," we continue to look to our users to guide us as we enhance spaces and services.
THE CADE REPORT E-NEWS PAGE 3
Social Science Research Council (SSRC) funds proposal
The Library’s grant-writing team, led by Librarian Maya Banks submitted a proposal, Connecting GU 272 to SU: Creating a Memory Project of Surviving Descendants Connected to Southern University, that was funded by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). The project was awarded more than $20,000 to document and provide access to the stories of Georgetown University (GU) 272 slave descendants who have a connection to Southern University. “We don't take our role of keepers of the past lightly because it is an honor and a responsibility," says Banks. “We can't predict when and how the documents and artifacts, both print and digital, of our collective history will give life to new knowledge about the world around us.” In 2019, the Social Science Research Council established American Slavery’s Legacy across Space and Time, a special project of the Council’s Inequality Initiative, that attempts to study the impact of racial slavery on African Americans in the United States today, and how methodologies from the social sciences and humanities help to illuminate this impact. According to the organization's website, the project aims to bring to light in unprecedented detail how an entire community was transformed by the United States’ legacy of slavery, while also establishing ethical norms and standards for similar emerging research. "The Library's pursuit of external funding opportunities is critical to our outreach efforts," says Library Dean Dawn Kight. Cade Library Archivist Angela Proctor is the principal investigator of the project. Co-principal investigators are Kight librarians Maya Banks and Eddie Hughes, and archives assistant Barry Arceneaux.
Library Leaders (continued from page 2) -
Cade Library leaders participate in the National Conference of African American Librarians Cade Library Dean Dawn Kight participated in a panel discussion Digital Transformations at HBCU Libraries with Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Library Deans/Directors at the National Conference of African American Librarians (NCAAL) held virtually July 28- August 1. The panel discussion highlighted the digital divide that exists in the U.S. and how HBCUs have worked to bridge the gap by providing resources to students, faculty, staff, and their communities using various learning and information technologies. During the session, deans and directors discussed HBCU Libraries support of research, scholarship, teaching, and learning using 21st Century technology. Atlanta University Center, Bethune-Cookman University, Grambling State University, Kentucky State University, North Carolina A&T, and Southern University shared how their libraries are using technology to provide access and break barriers to the digital divide. Librarian Eddie Hughes made a presentation, The Future of a Black Heritage Collection at an HBCU, during the 11th annual NCAAL conference. Hughes' presentation examined the relevance of a Black Heritage collection at a Historically Black College and University to Generation Z students in the post Obama and post racial era in America. Hughes outlined strategies implemented to encourage students to use the collection and to increase visitors to Cade Library's Black Heritage department. THE CADE REPORT E-NEWS PAGE 4
Library Open House scheduled John B. Cade Library will host its annual open house, "Tailgating at the Library," for new and returning students, Thursday, September 16 from 1-3 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to take a self-guided tour to become familiar with the physical layout of the library, as well as learn about the services and offerings available to them. A local D.J. will provide music and light refreshments and prizes will be available during the event.
ARCHIVE FEATURE Archive expansion featured in national publications The Louisiana Works Progress Administration (LWPA): Slave Narratives collection expansion appeared in several major publications and news outlets recently including U.S. News and World Report and the LA Sentinel .
The newest addition to the Cade Library digital archives consists of 50 oral histories of first-person accounts of original and some reproductions of ex-slaves interviews. The interviews, conducted during the height of the Great Depression in America was the brainchild of Southern University history professor John B. Cade (for whom the library is named) who established the narrative collection as a project for students enrolled in classes that he taught. The original manuscript collection established by Cade in 1929 was destroyed. The second collection of narratives obtained in the late 1930s and early 1940s became a part of the Louisiana Works Progress Administration. "The timing (of the project) is accidental, but appropriate" says Cade Library Archivist Angela Proctor. “These (narratives) are important,” she said. The Works Progress Administrations was a federal employment and infrastructure program created by President Roosevelt in "The (narratives) are 1935 in response to the Great Depression. The program continued for eight years and is best known for its public important, says Cade Library works projects, but it also sponsored projects in the arts. The Archivist Angela Proctor. " WPA contributed to the preservation of African American culture and history with the Federal Writers’ Project which was established to collect interviews and notes on African Americans in the South. Consensus among historians is that the ex-slave interviews are not the only source with which to reconstruct the slaves' experience of slavery, but the narratives have become indispensable to comprehending it. The Cade Library project is led by Proctor. Archive Assistant Barry Arceneaux, and librarians Eddie Hughes, and Maletta Payne also provided support for development of the project. The collection can be viewed using the following link: Slave Narratives-Southern University Cade Library Archives A link to the US News and World Report article Southern University's Library Tells Stories of Former Slaves
Images of original slave narrative
THE CADE REPORT E-NEWS PAGE 6
NEW RELEASESLearning IN THE E-BOOKS COLLECTION Affordable Through its membership in LOUIS-Louisiana Library Network, the Library recently acquired additions to its electronic book collection through vendor EBSCO. Browse to view the resources that are available by visiting the library's website www.subr.edu/library or use the direct link provided here Ebook Academic Collection
Leadership: The Current State of Play by W.B. Howieson
Aaron McDuffie Moore : An African American Physician, Educator, and Founder of Durham's Black Wall Street by Blake Hill-Saya
Transforming Social Media Business Models Through Blockchain by Nitin Upadhyay
China's Media in the Emerging World Order by Hugo DeBurgh
The Novel Stage : Narrative Form From the Restoration to Jane Austen by Marcie Frank
Cade Library becomes Open Stax partner Southern University and A&M College (SUBR) has become a member of the OpenStax Institutional Partner Program, which is designed to provide faculty with guidance to greatly increase the use of open educational resources (OER) on the campus through a structured strategic plan, monthly courses, and a community of peers. OpenStax representatives will work closely with OER advocates at SUBR to facilitate the partnership. In addition to the OER adoption support that the program provides, OpenStax offers $500 stipends to instructors who adopt an OpenStax book for the first time during Fall 2021, and who commit to collaborating with the research team. Participating instructors will use their OpenStax resources as usual, and also direct their students to periodically complete mini questionnaires and assignments designed by OpenStax’s research team. To learn more and to become involved, faculty members should follow the link below to complete an interest form. [Complete interest form] The C a d e Report E-News page 7
NEW LIBRARY SERVICE...DID YOU KNOW??? Affordable Learning New dynamic eLearning resource offers test prep and tutorials Cade Library has a new resource called PrepSTEP, a highlyacclaimed eLearning solution by EBSCO LearningExpress that provides interactive tutorials, practice tests, and more. It includes a full suite of dynamic eLearning resources that support the lives of students through academic success and preparation for today’s workplace. PrepSTEP includes: Practice tests for graduate admissions exams (including the GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MAT, MCAT and PCAT) Tutorials in core math, science and English skills College success skills Career preparation Basic computer skills Placement test preparation eBooks Resources for Spanish speakers
You can find PrepStep from the library’s website: www.subr.edu/library use the following steps 1. Locate Databases A-Z 2. Scoll Down to alphabetical listing "P" 3. Select PrepStep Academic (On Campus or Off Campus)
Need additional help contact a librarian at (225) 771-2841
New Faculty Library Orientation Scheduled All new faculty and any returning faculty are invited to attend the library’s orientation to learn about the services and offerings available to faculty members. This virtual orientation will be held Friday, September 17 at 1 p.m. via Microsoft Teams. Please use the following link to join the meeting: New Faculty Library Orientation Link
The C a d e Report E-News | page 8
LIBRARY LAGNIAPPE Cade Libary Hosts Virtual Jaguar BINGO Game
THE CADE REPORT Edi tori al Staf f Managing Editor
Maya Riley Banks
Cont r i but i ng Edi t or s Dawn Kight Charlotte Henderson Maletta Payne Contact us by phone @ 225-771-2841 Or email: library@subr.edu Visit the website: www.subr.edu/library
Library Programming Committee Chair Eddie Hughes presents gift to Jaguar BINGO winner Baton Rouge native Jasmine Elliott, a senior majoring in mass communications.