New opportunities to use innovative technologies
In a world full of rapidly-developing technology, it can be overwhelming trying to keep up. But the Edmon Low Creative Studios makes it easy for you to stay in the loop. In addition to utilizing and growing your creative abilities, you can gain hands-on experience with a variety of technologies that can benefit you in your respective career paths.
The Creative Studios hosts a plethora of innovative technology that you can access year-round: 3-D printers, virtual reality suites, the recording studio and more! And these resources are not only for academic use. You can use them for personal projects, too. Explore your creativity in a whole new way.
While I may not be the most tech-savvy person on campus, I have definitely learned a lot and ventured out of my comfort zone in the Creative Studios. By using equipment that I have checked out at the Tech to Go desk, I’ve been able to push myself creatively and gain skills I did not yet have.
More recently, I checked out a camera to work on a few personal projects. I am a novice photographer, but it is something I’ve always wanted to explore more. I took home the camera, snapped a few shots and uploaded them to my computer. I can assure you, they looked much better than my amateur cellphone photography.
And while I am continuing to dabble in the land of digital photography, I also hope to venture into videography. The Tech to Go desk has camcorders available that I plan to test out soon.
Another aspect of the Creative Studios that I love are the 3-D printers. Seven 3D printers are available to bring your designs to life. Whether you’re an aspiring architect, artist, interior designer or engineer, students in various fields may benefit from this technology. The possibilities to what you can create are limitless. Jewelry, furniture models, a miniature Edmon Low Library (this may or may not have been done already) and virtually anything you can dream can be printed.
For the more musically-inclined students, there is a small recording studio available. You can reserve the room and use the Yamaha CP40 Stage Piano, the Presonus Studiolive 16-channel Audio Mixer and the Audio Technica Direct-Drive Professional Turntable. Maybe you’ll create the next hit song of 2018.
If you’ve ever dreamed of starting your own podcast or TV show, reserve the Recording and Presentation Studio and get started. Or check out a microphone or a recorder and work from home.
High-powered Macs and PCs are available for use in the Creative Studios. Edit your photos, videos, podcasts or whatever masterpieces you’ve created.
If the thought of using any new technology sounds at all frightening, don’t worry. The employees in the Creative Studios are knowledgeable and friendly. They are always there to help you figure out any issues or answer questions. You can also find a few equipment and software guides on the Creative Studios website.
Whether your passions lie in music, designing, broadcasting, photography or more, when you visit the Edmon Low Creative Studios, you will walk away inspired. I know I did.
Posted by Jenny Berry, electronic communications intern
In June, I attended a conference called Driving Innovation through Data in Agriculture. It was an enjoyable and interesting experience, combining researchers and librarians onsite at the National Agricultural Library (NAL). There were several things that I brought back with me for further discussion. One of them was that I learned quite a bit about the different agriculture specific databases that the USDA manages. They are all public and provide different specialty products and can be accessed through the National Agricultural Library website. The NAL is responsible for building an integrated portfolio of knowledge products that can be used by the general public, researchers and those working in agriculture.
The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Data Overview (LTAR) database publishes the data and information generated through the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network, a partnership of 18 research sites across the United States. They focus on building knowledge that will make agriculture sustainable and examining the environmental impacts of farming practices. The data generated is “Common Observatory Data” or CORe observational data and research data from management studies with crops and livestock. It compares current practices to experimental practices to determine the effects of the changes. Available data types from LTAR include site photographs, weather and aerial images for the research stations as well as data sets and reports published by LTAR. It has an average of 50 years of historical data. LTAR maintains the data to be sure that it is FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable. It is hosted at the Ag Data Commons repository and the Geospatial Platform. The Ag Data Commons is the central registry for USDA data and provides links to any data that is housed outside of the repository, including data that is first uploaded to agency sites and provides citable DOI’s for each dataset. The Geospatial Platform provides curation for GIS data but is cross referenced and linked with both Ag Data Commons and Data.gov, the government’s one stop shop for all government sponsored data.
Some of the other specialized USDA data bases include the Life Cycle Assessment Commons, USDA Food Composition Database, the i5 Workspace@NAL, which is a community specializing in arthropod genomes and research and Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Less specialized databases include the NAL catalog which covers the entire NAL collection, AGRICOLA, PubAg and NAL Digital Collections, which includes all the full text digitized materials of NAL.
I hope researchers, faculty and students will explore some of these. I would be interested to hear about any projects that utilize them. We here in the library are discussing the use of these specialized databases versus the more popular, general use ones. Feel free to post any examples and please, contact me or any of our friendly librarians if you need more information.
post by Kay Bjornen, Research Data Initiatives Librarian
A Library Future Series post from February 13, 2017, highlighted the work done to establish data management services on the Oklahoma State campus. The post explained the survey and data collection process that was used to identify needs and target services that were most needed by researchers here at OSU. Since then there have been several important developments.
One of them is that I was hired to serve as a full-time data services librarian. My name is Kay Bjornen, and I joined the library as a Research Data Initiatives Librarian in February. I bring a Ph.D. in chemistry and a long career in research and data management with me. Since research support and data management are my sole responsibilities (at least for now), I have had the opportunity to knock on doors and introduce myself to many of the departments on campus that carry on data intensive research. I want to make sure that faculty and students know I am here, and I am anxious to assist with any needs they may have. If I haven’t made it to your department yet, feel free to reach out. Or just hold tight, I plan to get there as soon as possible.
One of the questions I have been asked is "Why is the library doing this?" The answer is research is changing and so are libraries. Researchers have access to a wealth of information resources and need less assistance to conduct their literature searches, chase down interlibrary loan items and answer reference questions. Information is increasingly online and digital so librarians are comfortable with electronic information sources of all kinds. It is also true that in the era of "Big Data," there are more and more challenges in managing research outputs. These include describing, storing, securing, organizing and sharing data. The library is a natural partner in these things. That’s why we are working to get the word out about the services we offer.
I am excited to be here at OSU and anxious to contribute to the research community. Do you have any questions about how the library can help you with your research? Feel free to post them here or check out the research data services we offer on the library website. My contact information is there and so is a consultation form you can fill out with the information I need to help you with your research data dilemma.
Post by Kay Bjornen, Research Data Initiatives Librarian
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.
