University Library eNewsletter: February 2012 News

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The Alkek Library is one of seven Texas State locations to provide space for nursing mothers. If you would like to use the space located in room 747, please request access at the Library’s Checkout Desk on the 3rd floor of the Alkek Library.

Texas State is one of only a few public universities in Texas to offer accommodations for nursing mothers.Renovated rooms and supplies are made possible through a grant from the Texas Department of State Health Services as part of a Mother-Friendly Worksite Policy Initiative.

Other campus locations include:

•   J.C. Kellam, second floor women’s restroom foyer
•  J.C. Kellam, room 683
•  Evans Liberal Arts, room 135
•  Roy F. Mitte, 2228A women’s restroom foyer
•  LBJ Student Center, room 2-13.4
•  St. David’s School of Nursing, room 107B (Round Rock campus)

For more information, please see http://www.worklife.txstate.edu/mfw.html.

--- Submitted by Sarah Naper

Richard Siken was working as a social worker in Tucson, Ariz. when he was awarded the prestigious Yale Younger Poets Prize in 2004. The oldest literary award in America, the Yale Younger Poets Prize has launched the careers of poets like Carolyn Forché, W.S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich and Jean Valentine. Siken’s first and only book to date, Crush, is a riveting series of poems informed by the death of his former boyfriend. More than 15 years in the making, the book is a compelling tale of love, loss and obsession. Full of panic-inducing narrative and ecstatic imagery, Crush is one of those rare poetry collections that demands attention from start to finish and can, almost irresistibly, be read in one sitting.

The first poem of the book, “Scheherazade,” coerces the reader into conversation: “Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us./ These, our bodies, possessed by light./ Tell me we’ll never get used to it.” The book is entitled Crush for a reason. Death is all over its pages—as a strange longing, a painful realty, a series of haunting dreams. In a recent Bomblog interview (bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/6136), Siken says, “Crush, at its core, is about rupture. The desire to touch, the gesture of touching, becomes dangerous, damaging, after the hand, withheld for so long, finally makes an attempt at contact.”

This Thursday, Feb. 9, at 3:30 p.m., the MFA Creative Writing Program, the Burdine Johnson Foundation and the Wittliff Collections at Texas State welcome this innovative and award-winning poet to the podium as part of the Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series. Crush will be for sale by the University Bookstore. Richard Siken will be reading and signing books at the Wittliff Collections on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library. Come and be transformed. 

Admission is free and open to the public. Siken will also read at the Katherine Anne Porter House on Friday, February 10. For more information, see the Wittliff Collections events page at www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu, or call 512.245.2313.

                                                                   --- Submitted by Kelsey Erin Shipman

 Photos courtesy of Tara Spies Smith

 A few of the many students that choose to study in Alkek Library.

Video supplied by Tara Spies Smith

In tandem with the university’s strategic planning process, the University Library is creating a strategic management plan for 2012-2017.  Strategic planning is a management tool used to establish an organization’s mission, values, goals, objectives, roles and responsibilities.

The strategic plan is “meant to guide our efforts and use of library resources,” said Administrative Services Director Lori Hughes, “We want to direct our energies and resources toward supporting the University’s goals. The strategic plan will help us to be efficient, agile, and fiscally responsible with the funds and resources we have.”

Most of the library staff has been involved in at least one of the following steps of the collaborative process:

1.      Develop organizational values

2.      Review and revise library mission and vision

3.      Outline strategic themes

4.      Develop key initiatives for each theme

5.      Develop annual operating plan

The Organizational Values Team began compiling an enduring list of values that will be recognized library-wide in July 2011. This process continued until November 2, 2011. The six-member team researched sample values from other academic libraries and held three all-staff forums for input. The organizational values have been drafted but have not yet been finalized. Ms. Hughes described the values chosen by the library staff as “guiding principles” for the remainder of the strategic plan development process.

Similar to identification of library values, a collaborative process was used to revise the Library’s mission and vision.  The mission and vision statements are still in development as well, and will be announced before the end of the semester.

Strategic Planning Team members met for a one-day workshop on November 10, 2011 to begin the third step of the strategic plan process -- generating and outlining the strategic themes and their enduring goal statements. The finalized strategic themes list compiles all different aspects of the library business. Each theme is accompanied by a goal statement that guides the definition, for example, a theme: “Organizational Agility”, and the statement: “Develop a workplace culture that empowers staff creativity, collaboration, risk taking and assessment to maximize productivity and to meet emerging priorities and demands.”

The library staff is currently working on identification of assumptions and development of key initiatives for each strategic theme. “An assumption is a statement that frames what is going on in the culture, in higher education, academic libraries, libraries in general and the profession; what is going on that can carry us through the next five years as we develop and implement our strategic plan,” said Hughes. 

For example, an assumption could be that Texas State enrollment is expected to continue to grow until at least 2020.

Simultaneously, key initiatives, or objectives, are being identified to guide implementation of the plan. Hughes believes that so far the library’s strategic plan maps directly to academic departments and to the University’s plan. Completion and official announcement of the University Library’s Strategic Plan 2012-2017 is expected to be July 30.

--- Submitted by Elizabeth McLellan

As part of Texas Library Snapshot Day, statistical data was gathered for the Alkek Library, as well as Round Rock Higher Education Center’s Library. A total of 5,662 people walked through the doors of both Alkek and RRHEC on Monday, October 31. A follow-up question arose, “Where do students spend their time when studying at Alkek?”

Initial results yield no clear favorite spots, but interviews with students provided some interesting feedback:

Q: Where is your favorite Alkek study spot?

A: “I like to study on the quiet fifth or sixth floors, as well as the leisure reading section on the second floor.” (Austin Grady, International Studies junior)

“I have a lot of favorite spots where I study in Alkek.  The one I frequent the most would probably be the second floor.” (Katie Wright, Public Relations senior)

“First floor, underneath the stairs. Although when it's blocked, I go to one of the couches on the fifth or sixth floor.” (Kelsey Middleton, Microbiology sophomore)

Q: Why do you enjoy studying and spending time there?

A: “I can't concentrate when it is totally quiet. I need a little noise. Plus it’s a great people watching spot,” graduate student Brittney Kaspar explained her preference for study on the second floor.

“The fourth floor is not a quiet floor, so it is great for group study. It also houses the SLAC lab, which provides tutoring for a myriad of courses. The SLAC lab is a great place to be when you're doing homework. The tutors help students overcome and understand some of the more intense courses such as math, science and accounting.” (Nigel David, Computer Science junior)

“I like the first floor lobby because there usually aren’t many people down there, and I can study sitting on the ground, or can sit on the comfy loveseat couches, and write on the coffee tables. There are also computers and a snack lounge down there, which I find super convenient. The fourth floor Government Information computer area is good because it isn’t usually that crowded. It isn’t a quiet floor, so it’s good for studying with friends, and people don’t usually take advantage of that and respect others.”  (Allison Baron, Public Relations junior)

Q: Where else, on or off campus, do you like to study?

A: “I generally study at home, or at a friend’s house. The smoking ban on campus is hard especially during finals week.” (Megan Bennett, Advertising senior)

“Mochas and Java’s and the computer lab in Old Main” (Holly Topper, Public Relations senior)

Alkek has a variety of study and information areas available to students. The Library houses several computer areas, a leisure reading section, group and individual study rooms, a student lounge and much more. Fifth and sixth floors are dedicated quiet spaces.  The Wittliff Collection provides world-class inspirational exhibits and events.  With the first round of tests are drawing near, explore the different study areas around Alkek. You never know what you may discover when you try something new. 

--- Submitted by Elizabeth McLellan