Insert Tech Here

The tech-related resources available at the Edmon Low Library are seemingly endless. Everything from virtual reality studios to flight simulators to 3D printing is offered by the Edmon Low Creative Studios. All of these great technologies, as well as many others, were showcased at Insert Tech Here. Insert Tech Here was an open-house style library event where students, faculty and staff could learn more about all of the technological resources the Edmon Low Creative Studios has to offer.

As the Event Communications Intern, I had the opportunity to host the livestream portion of this event. I kept the livestream audience up-to-date on what was happening at the event and interviewed a handful of the event presenters to get more information about the studio where they were stationed. The presenters shared information on how students can obtain access to the various studios, what they can use them for and interesting projects they had seen completed using that specific technology.

Not having much livestream experience beforehand, I was incredibly nervous for this event. I spent the few weeks leading up to the event preparing by drafting a script and writing interview questions to ask the presenters. When the day of the event came, I was even more nervous, especially when the livestream began. The first step was to give the introduction. I welcomed the audience and gave a rundown of what all would happen during the event. After this, I felt a little more confident but was still anxious about how the rest of the event would go. The next step was the interviews. My first interview was with Shannon Garde, and we talked about the Tech To Go resource offered by the Edmon Low Creative Studios. After this interview I felt even more confident. This pattern continued through the rest of the event, so by the end of it I was more comfortable and confident than I could have thought. After the event was over, I realized that I never had anything to worry about.

The event was livestreamed through the Edmon Low Library Facebook page. This allowed the online audience to interact with and learn more about the studios, even if they were not able to attend the event. Viewers were also encouraged to leave comments on the livestream to have their questions answered by tech experts at the event. Several door prizes were also given away to attendees throughout the event.

At the event, the winners of the Library Creativity Award were announced. The winners spoke about their creative process and how they came to create their final product. Most of the LCA winners had utilized resources in the Creative Studios to create their winning project. I thought this was interesting because each winner created something so different from the others, so it was neat to actually be able to see what is possible when utilizing the Edmon Low Creative Studios. As a student, I found this incredibly relevant because I am always looking for ways to make my projects stand out and be the best that they can be.

During the process of preparing for the event and hosting the livestream, I was able to take away a lot of valuable lessons. There were times when I was stressed and wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it or I doubted my ability to do well. I learned to be confident in myself and that stepping out of my comfort zone can be incredibly rewarding. Looking back now, the biggest lesson I learned was no matter how much you prepare for something, sometimes things happen that you can’t prepare for and you have to be OK with going with the flow. Going into the event we had planned to do two interviews, but as the event went on we had some extra space to fill, so by the end of it I interviewed six people. This wasn’t what we had initially planned, but we went with it, and it ended up turning out well and added a lot to the event.

The purpose of Insert Tech Here was to showcase all of the technology the Edmon Low Creative Studios has to offer. The Creative Studios is home to Tech To Go, a resource that allows students to check out the latest technology free of charge, but there is also so much more. The 3D Printing Creative Studio, the Jim & Liz Wise Virtual Reality Creative Studios, the Virtual Simulation Creative Studio (which holds the new flight simulator!), the McCasland Foundation Data Visualization Studio, the Windows and Adobe Studios (which hold the Jim & Liz Wise Digital Music Upgrade software) and the Recording and Presentation Studio are all part of the Edmon Low Creative Studios.

These rooms are all available to students, faculty and staff and can be reserved on the Edmon Low Creative Studios website. The Edmon Low Creative Studios are located on the east side of the first floor of the Edmon Low Library.

Be sure to utilize these resources to take your projects to the next level!

Post by Teryn Moorman, Event Communications Intern.

Data Management Research

In 2016, the Research & Learning Services department took on a campuswide research project. The goal of this project was to determine how new, tenure-track faculty manage their data. We recently spoke with Cinthya Ippoliti, Associate Dean for Research & Learning Services, about this research into data management and how to better the management process across the Oklahoma State campus.

For this research, the group interviewed 31 faculty across campus. They were pleased to receive feedback from 12 percent of those who received an invitation.

Participants were asked questions like:

• Do any of your funding sources require you to draft a management plan?
• What type of data do you generate?
• How often and how do you share your data with others?
• What happens to your data after the research project has concluded?

Once all the feedback was collected, the faculty responses were divided among RLS librarians, examined and condensed to a spreadsheet for ease of access. Upon its completion, the group met to discuss the results that surfaced during the interview process. They found that most of the participants did not have a data management plan in place and mainly stored their data on hard drives.

From this, the group discovered several needs. These included data storage solutions for smaller data sets; training on creating data management plans, file naming conventions and file organization schemas; and answers to questions about data sharing and re-purposing methods and tools.

Using a design-thinking process, the group developed ideas to better the Research Data Services program and provide data management solutions for researchers. There is now an outlet of resources for managing data and developing the skills necessary to increase impact of research findings.

The services offered by the Research Data Services are data information literacy, data storage and management support; metadata & documentation, institutional repository and data visualization; research impact, workshops and consultations.

Cinthya Ippoliti specializes in the workshops, consultations and data management plans, and Nicole Sump-Crethar works with metadata, institutional repository and data curation. Both can be contacted through Research Data Services.

Post by Jennifer Barnett, E-Communications Intern for OSU Library Communications

Rooms of Purpose

It is well-known by now that the OSU Library has seen some changes in recent times. With the new equipment in the Creative Studios and the renovation of the 1st floor west wing, our aged building continues to be a hotspot for students while cultivating a venue for creation and innovation. Some of its most useful rooms are sometimes overlooked, so the following are several spots that may not receive as much attention as they deserve.

Data Visualization Studio

The McCasland Foundation Data Visualization Studio is a new addition to the Edmon Low Library. This room, also called 109A, is located on the western wall of first floor near Cafe Libro. The data visualization studio is open to anyone and is encouraged for projects. The studio holds a wall-mounted SMART Board as well as a tabletop monitor that allows collaboration between two screens. You can send information from one board to the other or reflect one screen to its counterpart.

The tabletop screen is great for close-up visuals of graphics and data. Data visualization itself is the display of information for analysis and communication, and the technology in the library’s studio is meant to do just that. The horizontal screen allows users to get closer to their data and see more detail. It is also useful to be able to move elements and create different arrangements of data.

Although it is set up horizontally, the data visualization screen is not an actual table, so food and beverage are not meant to be placed on it. You can reserve the studio through the Edmon Low Creative Studios.

Event Room

The new event room, also known as 102G, is primarily dedicated to hosting small events in the Edmon Low Library. It is located in the center of the new 1st floor study rooms, and the space can fit up to 40 people, depending on seating arrangement. With a SMART Board, wireless controls and a podium, this room is ideal for hosting seminars or holding presentations.  

When it is not being used for an event, 102G is open to the public for studying. There have been instances of visitors being asked to leave the room for an event,but this conflict can be avoided by checking the event calendar. The room can be reserved by completing a request form online.

Reading Room

The Anne Morris Greenwood Reading Room is one of the library’s oldest study areas. The space has been used by students since the 1950's, and it still attracts the most diligent of scholars today. It is the only space in the library to offer lamps, which makes it a spot of interest for students who perform their best with personal space and extra amenities.

It has two levels, which is convenient for those who want to be productive during their library visit but do not wish to venture higher than the second floor. There are also more electric outlets in this room than any single room in the library.

Contrary to popular belief, group study is allowed and encouraged in the Reading Room; however, the room remains quiet much of the time. Events on the second floor are typically held in the Peggy V. Helmerich Browsing Room, so the Reading Room remains a dedicated study space around the clock.

You may still have to see these rooms for yourself to get the full effect of their worth, but there is no doubt these spaces are bringing intelligence and innovation to the OSU Library. Whether data development or diligent studying is the goal, the library remains a primary location for traditional services and advancing technology.

Post by Jennifer Barnett, E-communications intern for OSU Library Communications

Maps and Spatial Data Services Q&A

Kevin Dyke is one of the newest members of the OSU Library faculty. Originally a history major with geography and English minors, Mr. Dyke moved to the University of Minnesota to earn a graduate degree in geography. While there, his knowledge of computer programming led him to a job in UM’s map library. Now, as head of Maps and Spatial Data Services, Mr. Dyke is our go-to guy for learning all about what goes on down in the Edmon Low basement.

We recently spoke with him to find out a little more about MSDS and how it can be integrated into our library of the future.

What are your duties?

It has been an interesting transition coming from my last job because I basically took on the duties of my previous boss and coworker in a lot of ways. I’m the subject liaison for the geography department, and I manage our paper map collection, which is something that is very new to me. I’m learning more about the job part and also learning more about the collection. I have always known that map collections are quite different from a book collection, but now, I’m actually learning the details of just how unusual they are. I had an appreciation for them, but my work was entirely digital.

What can you tell us about the maps collection?

The main strengths of our collection are Oklahoma and Indian Territory, going back to the earliest days of when they came to be. We even have several maps from before the land became known as such. That is what comprises the digital maps collection, which is roughly 9,000 maps. I’ll go ahead and claim that we have the strongest collection of Oklahoma maps in the state. That is the biggest focus, but being a depository library, there is also the Federal Depository Library Program. FDLP is how people used to access governmental materials before the internet came around, so thousands of maps in our collection are a result of that program. It includes maps from the United States Geological Survey, the CIA and a number of other federal agencies. The Bureau of Land Management has also produced many maps that we’ve received over the years. So the lion share of our collection is maps produced by the federal government.

What exactly is spatial data?

I take a very broad view of what constitutes spatial data, and I like to include paper maps in that definition. Spatial data is anything that you could construe as a source of information that has a spatial component; basically, it refers to somewhere on the earth. So, if you have a spreadsheet of addresses of elementary schools in Payne County Oklahoma, that is something you could map, and those addresses are something you could consider spatial data.

What is the most common question you get from visitors?

I would say, the most common request we get is for historical aerial photographs, and those are exactly what they sound like. It is when the state or federal government would pay a company to fly across a county with a camera on the bottom of the plane snapping pictures. Then they take those pictures and distort them, so it seems like you’re starting straight down at the ground, and that can be used as a map. Otherwise, you have angles, and you won’t be able to measure distances. It’s not just like snapping a photo of the ground and saying “that’s an aerial photograph.” There is a whole wild world to it.

The requests are mainly for the contrast of an area. They know what it looks like now, but they are wanting to see what it looked like back in the ‘60s or whenever. It’s a lot of businesses and a lot of people dealing with the landscape of an area.

Right now, the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma is in the middle of a project where they are collecting all the aerial photographs from the OSU Library, the University of Oklahoma, the Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. The idea is that they will all be available at one spot. The main interest of the Corporation Commission is to monitor historical hazards. For example, they will be able to see an oil well north of Oklahoma City in 1935 and if there was a spill, so it could help make a link to the past. That is the driver of their interest in the project; ideally, the rest of us would also benefit from it.

How can classic paper maps stay relevant?

Broadly speaking, there is a lot of people who go hiking or work in areas that don’t have cell reception or GPS signal. Just in the western part of the country, there are big stretches of land where you are probably not going to get great signal. Those people still rely on paper maps, so there is still a strong market for those practical, weatherproof, foldable maps.

The other aspect is that they are a source of historical information, like any archive where researchers go and examine the firsthand writings of someone who lived in another time. Hand-in-hand with that is the map the people drew during their lifetime and how the map depicts the land. That level of use is not going to go away, and it is only going to become greater in decades to come because access to and creation of paper maps is dying. There is no question that it is not at the level it once was. At one time, a library like this would be receiving materials from the federal government on a weekly basis; that is just not the case anymore.

Is there anything that OSU Library can be doing better to stay with the digital times?

My job is going to be not only to take care of the collection but also to bring it into the 21st century and to emphasize the services aspect of our new name. I’m offering a workshop on how to make maps on the internet. In the future, I’m hoping to create a suite of workshops that would lead people through the different aspects of working with spatial data, paper maps and data visualization. Mapping is one form of data visualization, but there are many other ways to integrate it into our offerings. We can interact with our collection but also teach what people can do away from our collection and how to include our collection into an interactive map. That is what I’m really hoping to make happen here.

Do you think there is an opportunity to collaborate with our McCasland Foundation Data Visualization Studio?

A big problem with having digital map collections is that you only have a screen so big, and most of our maps are the size of tables. When you’re trying to look at the whole thing on a computer screen, the experience is just not the same. Having the full size makes things easier, and that is where having those huge tables and giant screens come in. You can actually display all of our maps in full size on that equipment and swipe through them. Those sorts of possibilities will certainly help the integration of spatial data into the new vision for the library.  

As Mr. Dykes has explained, Maps and Spatial Data Services can be an incredible resource for visitors and a useful tool in creating a library of the future. Our collection has the potential to have easier, widespread access through the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma. There are also opportunities for collaboration with data visualization that could revolutionize the way students and faculty are able to interact with our maps collection, spatial data and visual software.

What kind of workshop would you like to see from Maps and Spatial Data Services? Comment below.

Post by Jennifer Barnett, E-Communications Intern for OSU Library Communications