Here’s a fact: The Library has a vast collection of movies and television on DVD, with most titles available to borrow for up to a week at a time. We’re talking cinema classics, foreign films, indie favorites, documentaries, and more–some of which you can’t find on any streaming platform!
Here’s another fact: many students (and even many professors) don’t own DVD players nowadays.
“So,” you might be thinking, “how are us DVD-player-less folks supposed to watch all this cool stuff?” Well, the Atlanta library now has 5 portable, multi-format, region-free DVD players you can borrow that are perfect for watching all the wonderful films and programs the Library has to offer. Watch what you want, wherever you want!
Here’s what one of the new player looks like. (BTW: Finding Nemo is one of the many movies we have on DVD!)
The details: DVD players can be borrowed for up to 1 week–conveniently, the same amount of time you can borrow our DVDs–and can play discs of any format (PAL or NTSC) and any region. They all have a 4-hour rechargeable battery, a 9″ swivel screen, and A/V outputs in case you want to connect the player to a larger screen. Don’t return it late! Overdue fines are set at $5 per day.
Could borrowing DVDs from the Library become the new “Netflix and chill???” Maybe. Happy watching!
This Spring 2019 semester the Library’s Research Data Services (RDS) Team launched a new initiative: the RDS@GSU Data Certificate program. With 92 certificate awardees, it seems safe to say that this new program was a resounding success! We are very proud of the inaugural group of RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees. And, because we’re all about data, we want to share some data about our awardees to highlight their accomplishment.
Our 92 RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees attended 572 workshops in total, averaging about 6 workshops per awardee. While the majority (52, 57%) completed the required minimum of five workshops, the remaining 40 awardees attended six or more — with our “most attended workshops” awardee attending 15 workshops altogether. Quite impressive!
RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees attended workshops across a wide variety of topics offered by the RDS Team.
GSU students were our largest awardee group, with 60 (65%) graduate students, 14 (15%) undergrads, and one postbaccalaureate. But we also had GSU staff, faculty, and even some GSU alumni thrown in the mix!
Almost all of the GSU Colleges had some representation – as did some administrative offices and the Library as well. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies had the most representation, followed by the College of Arts & Sciences.
A
variety of College of Arts & Sciences departments were represented…
…as
were a variety from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and the Robinson
College of Business.
About 40 of the RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees attended the certificate ceremony we held on Wednesday, May 1, in CURVE. At the ceremony awardees received their printed certificates along with verbal accolades from the RDS Team and Library Associate Dean Bryan Sinclair, enjoyed cake, took pictures with each other and RDS Team members, and assembled for a group picture where they proudly displayed their certificates.
And here is what some of the RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees had to say about the experience:
The certificate is a great opportunity to become a more competitive candidate while applying for a job. The workshops were very interactive.
I thought the RDS@ GSU Data Certification incentivized my participation in the RDS workshops. The workshops themselves were great and it definitely helped me brush up on prior skills and knowledge.
Certification looks amazing on resumes, I also found what was covered useful to my practice of SAS & SPSS.
It is essential for me as a student majoring in Epidemiology. I will be involved in research, and the only way to answer some of the world’s health problems is making sense out of data. I’m confident this certificate will prove useful for me in getting a job. The entire program is flexible, and the materials are very helpful in understanding the course content.
Congratulations again to our 92 RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees!
We commend you for your commitment to becoming data savvy, and we know what you’ve learned will benefit you in your studies and career.
On Monday, April 29, Kevin Fleming, Popular Music and Culture Archivist and Jill Anderson, Humanities Instruction Librarian, are offering a “Teaching with Primary Sources: Using Sources to Build Narratives” workshop for faculty and graduate student instructors.
This is a hands-on workshop where attendees will be our “students” for an exercise involving materials from Special Collections & Archives’ radio broadcasting collections—with plenty of time for discussion and brainstorming for how you might incorporate these and related materials into your own teaching!
This workshop will be held on Monday, April 29, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, in the Colloquium Room, Library South 8, on the Atlanta campus.
In this workshop, you will:
Learn about unique materials held in GSU’s Special Collections and Archives
Consider how primary source materials can be the starting points for all kinds of stories
Experience first-hand the opportunity to create narratives – historical, or not — from unfamiliar primary sources
Brainstorm about ways to incorporate this narrative-building (or other uses of primary sources) into your classroom instruction
Consider how librarians and archivists can partner with you to design creative, effective instruction using primary sources and other library resources.
Please contact Jill Anderson or Kevin Fleming with questions about these workshops, or with other questions about using primary sources in your instruction.
In April the Library will be offering three “Teaching with Primary Sources” workshops. “Teaching with Primary Sources” is an ongoing series of workshops designed to introduce faculty and graduate student instructors to creative strategies for using primary sources– archival, digital, and/or subscription primary sources, into classroom instruction.
Two of these workshops will be offered at the Atlanta campus, and one will be offered at the Clarkston campus. Registration is not required, but is recommended to help with planning.
Workshop #1:
Jill Anderson, Humanities Instruction Librarian, is offering a “Teaching with Primary Sources: Using Historical Periodicals” workshop for faculty and graduate student instructors. This workshop will be held on Monday, April 1, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, in Room CL2220 in the Clarkston campus’ Library.
In this hands-on workshop, attendees will be the “students” for activities drawing on historical periodicals, including those in our subscription databases, print bound volumes, and several freely-available digitized magazines.
In this workshop, you will:
Learn to search in several of the GSU Library’s historical-periodicals databases
Consider the differences and relationships between points of access (GSU’s subscription databases vs. print vs. freely available online)
Consider how search strategies and results can help students begin to identify a given periodical’s ideological leanings and target audience
Brainstorm about ways to use these databases and/or this kind of searching in classroom instruction
Consider how librarians can partner with you to design creative, effective instruction
Jill Anderson will offer a repeat version of the “Teaching with Primary Sources: Using Historical Periodicals” workshop, described above, on Monday, April 8, from 1:00pm – 3:00 pm, Library Classroom 2, Library North 2, on the Atlanta campus.
Register for the Atlanta campus version of this workshop here.
Workshop #3
Kevin Fleming, Popular Music and Culture Archivist and Jill Anderson are offering a “Teaching with Primary Sources: Using Sources to Build Narratives” workshop for faculty and graduate student instructors, drawing on materials from Special Collections & Archives’ radio broadcasting collections. This workshop will be held on Monday, April 29, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, in the Colloquium Room, Library South 8, on the Atlanta campus.
In this workshop, you will:
Learn about unique materials held in GSU’s Special Collections and Archives
Consider how primary source materials can be the starting points for all kinds of stories
Experience first-hand the opportunity to create narratives – historical, or not — from unfamiliar primary sources
Brainstorm about ways to incorporate this narrative-building (or other uses of primary sources) into your classroom instruction
Consider how librarians and archivists can partner with you to design creative, effective instruction.
Please contact Jill Anderson or Kevin Fleming with questions about these workshops, or with other questions about using primary sources in your instruction.
The Georgia Women’s Movement Project Spring Event is held annually to highlight collections in the Georgia State University Library Women’s Collections, and to celebrate the lives of the unsung heroines of the women’s movement in Georgia.
The 2019 event will highlight the work of women who help and serve other women and families. Sandra Barnhill (Foreverfamily), Awaz Jabari (Refugee Women’s Network), Mary Kane (Altrusa), and Deborah Richardson (International Human Trafficking Institute) will provide insights and wisdom.
Sandra Kay Barnhill, an attorney, is the founder and National President of Foreverfamily, a nonprofit agency created in 1987 to diminish the impact of the parent’s incarceration on the children. Foreverfamily is headquartered in Atlanta with affiliates in Atlanta and Louisville, KY.
Sandra’s pioneering work in this area has been recognized by the Ms. Foundation who awarded her their Woman of Vision Award, Barrister Magazine which heralded her as “One of Twenty Lawyers Who Make a Difference”, Savvy Magazine which selected her as “One of Forty Women Under Forty to Watch” and the Atlanta Business League which recognized her as one of Atlanta’s Top 100 Black Women of Influence. She was a 2004 recipient of the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award and a 1997 recipient of an Annie E. Casey Children and Family Fellowship.
Sandra is a member of the ABA Commission on Youth At Risk and is a consultant for the National Institute of Corrections and a frequent workshop and conference presenter.
Awaz Jabari is the Social Adjustment and Leadership Program Coordinator for Refugee Women’s Network. Originally from northern Iraq, she has lived in the United States since 1997. She worked as Senior Case Manager/Victim Advocate for the Refugee Family Services Domestic Violence program from 2001 through 2013. She has also worked as a Self-Sufficiency Manager for Partnership for Community Action and has managed microenterprise employment programs. She received two awards for her outstanding contributions to ending violence against women in Georgia.
Awaz has more than 17 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. She has received extensive training in providing domestic violence services, including Refugee Women’s Network leadership training, Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence Legal Advocate and Domestic Violence Advocacy training, GMAAC training for court interpretation, DeKalb Rape Crisis Center training on working with victims of sexual assault, and Client Services and Sensitivity. She has served as a board or committee member for the Policy Team of SAVE (Stop Adolescent Violence and Exploitation), The Interfaith Committee of the DeKalb County Task Force Against Domestic Violence, and Partnership for Community Action. Awaz holds a degree in Education from Erbil Community College and a diploma as a Business Office Specialist from DeKalb Technical College. She holds a Certificate of Nonprofit Leadership and a Certificate of Supervision & Management from the Georgia Center for Nonprofits.
Mary Kane became an Altrusan in 1999, and has since served her Club in a variety of positions, which include President, Vice-President, Secretary and various Committee Chairs. She also served District Three as a Director and Leadership Committee Chair. She currently serves on the board of the Altrusa District Three Foundation, a 501(3)c organization. Her involvement in community organizations includes Choir Board President at her church, Service Unit Director and Troop Leader for Girl Scouts.
Mary has been a Registered Nurse for 43 years, a Certified Diabetes Educator for sixteen years and retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army Nurse Corps Reserves.
Deborah J. Richardson is a nationally recognized expert on social justice for women and girls and advocate to end human trafficking. Twenty years ago, she pioneered some of the first programming for sexually exploited girls, then led a national campaign to eradicate the facilitation of trafficking on online platforms, testified before Congress, and advised more than 20 communities throughout the United States on organizing and implementing their efforts to address child sexual exploitation.
She is the Executive Director of the International Human Trafficking Institute of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, leading a three-year strategic plan to reduce human trafficking in Metro-Atlanta. Deborah founded IHTI in 2014 in her former role as Executive Vice President of the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Her impactful career includes serving as Chief Program Officer at Women’s Funding Network in San Francisco, CEO of The Atlanta Women’s Foundation, Director of Program Development for Fulton County Juvenile Court, Founding Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Fund (now Youth Spark) and Managing Director of the National Black Arts Festival. Since 2018 Deborah has served as the Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Human Rights Expert in Residence in the Honors College of Georgia State University.
Deborah has been honored by many organizations for her community service and contributions to the field of addressing human trafficking. Most recently she received the Lives of Commitment Award from Auburn Theological Seminary, Big Voice Award from Georgia Voices for Children, Community Service Award by Spelman College Board of Trustees and The Pathbreaker Award from Shared Hope International.
Can hotel living support positive aging in place? Dr. Terri Lewinson will explore the health benefits and challenges for aging adults living in long-stay hotels. From a health policy standpoint, she plans to describe her fellowship with Congressman John Lewis and the current international conversations in Washington, DC about housing models and assistive products that promote healthy aging in place.
According to William Frey of Brookings (2016), “more than 65 million Boomers will turn 70 in the next two decades. The 70- to 79-year-old age group will increase by more than 50% during the next 10 years and by more than 80% by 2035.” Because of the increasing numbers of Boomers in and about to enter retirement and age into their seventies, Dr. Lewinson’s research is significant as it focuses on housing and healthcare options for this generation. Dr. Lewinson’s research has implications for social services professionals as well as lawmakers who influence public policy. If you are an older adult or have an older loved one exploring housing and healthcare options or are just interested in this important topic, you will enjoy this discussion about housing and healthcare options for aging populations and have the opportunity to question an expert, Dr. Lewinson.
Dr. Lewinson, John A. Hartford Geriatric Scholar and an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, has over a decade of social work practice in healthcare settings and communities of low-income and overwhelmed families. Her published work on aging in place has been shared at local and national conferences with professional social workers and interdisciplinary gerontologists where she specifically details complex life experiences of disenfranchised people residing transiently in hotels and coping with chronic and acute health challenges.
Research in the Raw is a series of informal talks in which GSU faculty members share work-in-progress. The series is brought to you by the Library’s Department of Research & Engagement.
Details:
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
4:00-5:00pm
Colloquium Room, 8th Floor Library South Register to attend
Students sharing how much they’ve spent on textbooks in one semester alone.
To celebrate Open Education Week (March 4-8), librarians at each campus library had fun activities, collected data from students on textbook costs, and shared information on free and inexpensive textbooks. We also shared how students could find and register for GSU courses that use free or affordable course materials in PAWS.
Librarians spoke to hundreds of students who eagerly shared with us the burden of high textbook costs. When asked what has happened when they couldn’t afford their course textbook(s) many students answered that they had taken fewer classes, gotten a lower grade, not registered for a specific class, or had even failed a class. We also asked students what was the most amount of money they spent on textbooks in one semester. The majority of students spent $100-599 on textbooks, with a few spending up to $800-$1,000.
“Remember I am an adult with significant outside priorities!”
Instruction Librarian Scott Pieper talks with Decatur students about Open Education Week.
Because of high textbook costs students find creative ways to acquire the materials assigned to them by their instructor. Several students reported sharing a textbook with a friend, using the library’s copy (and in most cases they can only be used in the library and for 2-hour increments), or even illegally downloading copies of the materials.
Atlanta students share what they want from instructors assigning textbooks.
Student comments for faculty.
While this information was eye opening and somewhat distressing, we kept the mood fun by asking students to tell us what they could have spent their money on if they weren’t #TextbookBroke. The answers ranged from necessities like rent, bills, and car repairs to larger goals like investments and stocks. On the less serious side, one student replied that they could have spent their textbook money on a new wig while another could have spent it on games.
“I spent $600 on textbooks, when I could’ve spent it on my car insurance.”
Students would rather spend their money on bus fare, their kids, and groceries.
We hope that students and faculty have learned more about open content and affordable learning materials and their impact on student’s lives and college success. We enjoyed hearing from students and we will continue to advocate for increased use of affordable textbook options. If you missed our librarians this week, please visit our Open Education Week Research Guidefor examples of free online textbooks.
Two Newton students looking at open access textbooks.
Alpharetta students making Open Education Week Buttons.
For more information on open and affordable course content in higher education please reach out to our Education Librarian and Affordable Learning Georgia Library Coordinator Denise Dimsdale at mdimsdale@gsu.edu.
-Jennifer W. Brown, Decatur campus Instruction & Reference Librarian
Each day, from March 4-8, the GSU Library at all GSU instructional sites will celebrate Open Education Week.
Open Education Week is a celebration of the global Open Education movement. Its goal is to raise awareness about the movement and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. –from the event website.
This year, the GSU library is focusing its celebration on free or affordable learning materials including textbooks. We’ll show students how to find courses at GSU that use free or affordable textbooks, and we’ll offer fun-filled activities and resources to help everyone learn more about open content and its impact on student’s lives and academic success. Stop by the library every day at Alpharetta, Atlanta, Clarkston, Decatur, Dunwoody, or Newton to participate and share your experiences with us.
On February 12, Ibram X. Kendi, professor and Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, published “A Reading List for Ralph Northam” in the Atlantic Monthly. Kendi wrote specifically in response to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s statement that he would begin a program of antiracist reading following his admission to having worn blackface and possibly also a Ku Klux Klan costume during his medical-school years (photographic evidence appeared in the Eastern Virginia Medical School’s 1984 yearbook). Kendi, the author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, compiled a list of books that he recommended to readers (and Northam) as starting points for understanding racism and its history in the United States.
The Georgia State University Library holds all of the books Kendi recommended. See below for Kendi’s full list with links to our holdings of these books. We will also be purchasing Kendi’s new book, How to Be an Antiracist (forthcoming in August 2019) when it is available.
Kendi closes his list by writing: “This anti-racist syllabus is a first step. It is for people beginning their anti-racist journey after a lifetime of not truly knowing themselves or their country. It is for people opening to knowledge now, to changing themselves now, to changing the world now.” Start with a book from this list to take those steps.
We know that Georgia State University was “founded” in 1913. Or was it?
University Archives includes many early “bulletins” (course catalogs) that clearly state on title pages: “Georgia School of Technology. Evening School of Commerce. ORGANIZED 1914.”
What should we make of this? Relying primarily on late Georgia State professor emeritus Merl Reed’s research for Educating the Urban New South, supplemented by early sources in University Archives and at Georgia Tech, the following timeline can be sketched out:
1911: W. M. Fambrough (Tech’s alumni association president and J. B. McCrary’s business manager) suggests to alumni and administrators the need for business courses: to give businessmen a college training, and engineering students a business training. Juniors, seniors, and alumni support the idea, and Tech President Matheson presents a plan to faculty. Fambrough and alumni conduct a funding drive to raise $25,000 (over $600,000 today) for the proposed course.
1912: February 1912—McCrary, Fambrough, Joel Hunter, and Samuel Inman start an evening lecture series which juniors and seniors are encouraged to attend (Spring 1912). At the end of spring term, faculty put commerce lectures on the senior’s regular schedule. Several prominent Atlantans become alumni “guarantors,” providing nearly four years of partial funding until Tech could assume the obligation (state funds had already been allocated, and Tech’s charter restrained its functions).
1912-13 academic year: (September to June) Tech approves a commerce program, and a full series of monthly business lectures is scheduled. This first course, offered in Winter 1912, centers around lectures on accounting, commercial law, buying, and selling. A faculty committee selects six Atlanta businessmen including certified public accountant (CPA) Joel Hunter and senior attorney Edgar Watkins to teach it. In addition to these six non-academics and a few part-time instructors (also in business or related fields), a few regular Tech faculty like Wayne Kell participate. Kell, who taught metallurgy and geology, also becomes one of the earliest Georgians to earn a CPA license. Attending lectures is now mandatory. This work leads directly to the creation of Tech’s School of Commerce in 1913.
1913-1914: By September 1913, Tech’s new School of Commerce offers two programs. One, taught by the “commercial division,” is intended for businessmen and meets evenings between 6 and 8 p.m. Graduates receive a three-year Bachelor of Commercial Science (B.C.S.) degree and “irregular” students receive a certificate. The other, taught under the “engineering division,” provides regular engineering students with business training and meets during regular daytime hours. Kell becomes assistant professor of accounting and finance, and dean.
1914-15: As day and evening classes continue on campus in 1914, Tech and Dean Kell also rent quarters in the downtown central business district and open an evening school of commerce, making it easier for students employed in businesses and government to attend classes after work. Located initially in the Walton building, the Evening School of Commerce grows rapidly and moves repeatedly to more spacious locations downtown.
1915-16: Tech graduates its first Commerce class with B.C.S. degrees in summer 1916. All seven men have full-time jobs.
1916-1918: The on-campus program began diverging as early as Fall 1916, when Tech not only assumed funding responsibility but introduced a four-year Bachelor of Commercial Science (B.C.S.) degree, available to downtown students only by taking several courses on campus during the day. In addition, while night classes were offered in both locations in Fall 1916, only six courses were on Tech’s campus while ten were at the downtown Evening School—another clear indication of its rapid growth. And finally, the downtown school distinguished itself most sharply from all-male Tech when, in Fall 1917, it admitted women—at a time when co-education was not permitted.
Peachtree Arcade, second home of Evening School of Commerce in downtown Atlanta (LBGPNS 10-007j)
So when was GSU created? Certainly our origins date to 1913, when Tech established its School of Commerce as an independent unit with its own administration, which graduated its first class in 1916. But ironically, “in offering commerce courses to part-time students and moving its Evening School to Atlanta’s downtown area, Tech unwittingly laid the tenuous foundation for what became Georgia State University.” ¹
¹ Merl Reed, “Educating the Urban New South: Atlanta and the Rise of Georgia State University, 1913-1969,” pp. 6-7, unpublished manuscript (G2009-58), Georgia State University Archives.
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