Congrats to our Spring 2021 RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees!

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh

The Library’s Research Data Services (RDS) Team completed another successful round of the RDS@GSU Data Certificate program. 82 people earned certificates in the Spring 2021 certificate period. Because we’re all about data, we want to share some data about our awardees to highlight their accomplishment.

To earn the RDS@GSU Data Certificate: Awardees have to attend a minimum of five unique Research Data Services (RDS) workshops offered in the areas of data analysis tools, methods for data analysis & collection, or mapping & data visualization during the certificate period. They can attend live online workshops, or they can watch recorded workshops at their convenience. Awardees are sent PDFs of their certificates, listing the individual workshops they attended.

Our 82 RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees attended 569 workshops in total, averaging roughly 7 workshops per awardee. Awardees attended workshops across a wide variety of topics offered by the RDS Team, with the Python, R, Tableau, and SPSS workshops being most popular among awardees.

While 39 (47.6%) completed the required minimum of five workshops, the remaining 43 (52.4%) awardees attended six or more. And the three outliers to the right on the histogram below are two awardees who attended 28 workshops and one awardee who attended 29 workshops. Quite impressive!

Georgia State University (GSU) students were the largest awardee group, representing 52 (63.4%) of the total awardees, with 35 (42.7%) graduate students, 15 (18.3%) undergraduates, and 2 (2.4%) post-baccalaureate. GSU staff, faculty, and alumni represented 8 (9.8%) of the total awardees. Non-GSU awardees represented a sizable portion, at 22 (26.8%) of the total awardees.

Most of the GSU Colleges and Schools had representation among our awardees, as did some administrative offices and the University Library (“Other GSU” category below), with the Robinson College of Business (RCB) having the most representation. Varieties of academic departments were represented from the various GSU Colleges & Schools.

Congratulations to our RDS@GSU Data Certificate awardees!

Because of the COVID-19 social distancing requirements, we weren’t able to have our certificate ceremony — but here is a virtual cake to congratulate our data nerds! 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.

Interested in getting RDS@GSU Data Certified? Learn more here.

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Posted in Data Services, For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, General News, Services | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Curating Women in Sports Exhibit

Posted on April 19, 2021 by Guy Conn

Samantha Harvel has been working in Special Collections for five years – first as an Honors College student and then as a Graduate Research Assistant. Throughout those years, Sam has done amazing work, arranging and describing collections, and creating our annual women’s exhibits. We are proud to share Samantha’s thoughts about her most recent exhibit, “Equal Playing Fields.”

Georgia State University women’s basketball players celebrating after defeating the University of Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia, January 6, 1982.

Being from the rural South, I have been instilled with a robust knowledge of college football. However, my familiarity with sports ends there. When I started working on this exhibit, I was embarrassed to realize how much I did not know about women’s sports and their history. Growing up in the late 90s through the 2010s, I was surrounded by opportunities to play sports of all kinds. Though I chose not to participate in most of them, their existence is something that I took for granted.

Atlanta, 1940s

In the early 1900s, there was a popular belief that intense sporting activity would be harmful to the female body, especially to their reproductive organs. This meant that contact sports were strongly discouraged, as were competitive sports. It wasn’t until World War II, when a significant number of American men were gone, that professional women’s sports gained any sort of traction and national attention in the form of baseball.

Working on the exhibit, I learned that as recently as 50 years ago, K-12 and intercollegiate sports for girls and women were extremely limited in many areas, with schools often only offering one or two options, if any. Even in schools with more opportunities, the funding disparity between women’s and men’s sports was significant. After Title IX, there was a marked improvement in sports equality. However, in 2000, Georgia passed the Equity in Sports Act because a majority of schools in the states were not in compliance with the law even after almost 30 years.

Agnes Scott, 1959

My research for this exhibit showed that this is an issue that legislation alone cannot fix. Equality between men and women’s sports requires cultural change. Even with all these advances, there are still countless instances of inequity, as we’ve seen recently in the news with controversies surrounding Serena Williams, transgender athletes, and the NCAA Women’s Championship. Nevertheless, girls today have grown up with far more female athlete role models than their grandmothers had. The progress we’ve made in the last 50 years gives me hope for the future, but there are fundamental beliefs about sports that need to change to achieve truly Equal Playing Fields.

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Posted in Digital Collections, For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, Kinesiology & Health Education, Primary Resources, Special Collections & Archives, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Special Collections’ GRA Working on Podcast History of AIDS in Atlanta

Posted on April 19, 2021 by Guy Conn

Deniseya Hall has become an indispensable part of the Special Collections & Archives team over the last year. She has worked diligently on a variety of outreach projects, but has focused most of her time on pulling together research and audio as part of a new podcast the department is developing. We wish Deniseya much success as she graduates this May! We’re proud to present the following blog post, written by Deniseya.

“ACT UP, FIGHT BACK, FIGHT AIDS!” was a slogan commonly used by AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, better known as ACT UP. Led by Larry Kramer, this grassroots organization was formed in 1987 in New York before expanding globally. Their goal was, and still is, to take political action in order to improve the lives of individuals with AIDS through awareness and education.

Picture of the post author Deniseya Hall
Deniseya Hall

Members of the Atlanta chapter of ACT UP protested at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on January 8, 1990, and the Georgia State Capitol on December 3, 1990, with two demands. The first, according to Jeff Graham, “was adding a T-cell count to the definition of AIDS.” The other demand was “adding a handful of gynecological manifestations that were very specific to women, into the definition of AIDS.” Graham’s oral history, which includes memories of ACT UP, AIDS discrimination, and the pandemic, are some of many stories nestled in the Gender and Sexuality Collection repository. Interviews from the collection provide intimate details of people directly impacted, signifying a powerful message of collective voices fighting for change.


Jennie Law and Morna Gerrard are working on a podcast series focused on the ACT UP Atlanta protests. I have been fortunate to be part of developing that podcast through my graduate research assistant internship. Implementing my public history training has helped me address the inclusion of minorities and marginalized voices for the podcast. I have conducted independent research utilizing the CDC Global Health Chronicles series, gathering narratives on children infected with the virus as well as AIDS impact on black communities. My work also includes applying time stamps, written descriptions, and selecting excerpts for the podcast from recorded interviews collected thus far by the team.

We are steadily progressing on the project. Learning the intricacies of podcasting and all that goes into its success has been quite an illuminating experience. I have enjoyed developing interview techniques that evoke thoughtful answers. An overall highlight has been learning the necessity of building relationships that leads to the donation or rare materials that benefit research and exhibit creation. These donations grow GSUs archives and collections, serving as a platform for underrepresented history. I am proud to be part of the team and anticipate the first episode of the podcast!


Police stand in front of the Centers for Disease Control as gay activists from ACT UP stage a ‘die-in’ to protest the CDC’s handling of the AIDS crisis, Atlanta, Georgia, January 9, 1990.

For more information about ACT UP Atlanta, check GSU’s Library Exhibit Out in the Archives highlighting parts of Atlanta’s LBGTQ+ community.

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Posted in For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, Oral Histories, Primary Resources, Special Collections & Archives | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Tuesday Tips: Need something to read?

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Denise Dimsdale

Try an ebook from the GSU Library. You can always search the library catalog by ebook title if you’ve have something in mind already. However, browsing is easier through an ebook database.

Find out more in this video tutorial or this PDF:

Not finding anything interesting on ebooks on EBSCOhost? Try Ebook Central.

More information on ebooks:

GSU Library ebook guide

How can I find ebooks in the Library Catalog?

Contact the GSU library if you have questions about ebooks.

Happy reading!

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Posted in Books, For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, Resources | Tagged | 4 Comments

Georgia Women’s Movement Spring Event: Leveling the Playing Field

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Morna J Gerrard

The Georgia Women’s Movement Spring Event is held annually to celebrate and highlight materials in the Women’s Collections at Georgia State University. The 2021 event, which will be held virtually, focuses on the history of women’s sports in Georgia and at Georgia State University. Speakers include Anne Harper, Jaray Mazique and Kelsey Roegiers.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 4:00-5:30 pm
Online: https://vimeo.com/showcase/georgiawomensmovementspring2021event

Anne Harper
Anne L. Harper is a civic leader in Atlanta, exercising her expertise as an educator and a business consultant to further the cause of girls’ participation in athletics. Anne graduated from Smith College magna cum laude (1970) and received her doctorate (Political Science) at the University of Michigan. She served as a member of the Atlanta Board of Education from 1994-2001, representing District 4. As a Board member, she advocated for increased opportunities for girls and boys in the Atlanta Public School System by ensuring the quality of coaching and facilities for interscholastic sports. Anne launched the effort to draft a state bill that would mirror the federal Title IX law and provide specific enforcement of its regulations in Georgia’s high schools. That legislation, co-sponsored by Representatives Kathy Ashe and Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, was passed as the Georgia Equity in Sports Act in 2000.

Anne has served on the Board of Directors of several non-profits advocating for girls, including Girls On The Run, Cool Girls, and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. Harper has been recognized for her commitment to progressive change by being named as one of the YWCA’s Women of Achievement in 1995 and honored by the Women’s Policy Group in 2001. Harper leads an independent management consulting practice, Harper Consulting, which offers strategic planning, organizational development and communications services.

Jaray Mazique
Jaray Mazique has worked in higher education for 19 years in various leadership capacities in Housing and Residence Life, the Educational Opportunity Program, and currently in the Dean of Students Office as an Assistant Dean of Students. Jaray holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, a Master of Education in Post-Secondary Education, and is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership program at Georgia State University. As an assistant dean, she has served as a conduct officer, an investigator for Title IX incidents involving students, and most recently, the coordinator for prevention, education, and student conduct resolution options. Jaray has received training on student conduct, Title IX, prevention strategies, and restorative justice. She chaired the Sexual Harassment (Assault) Prevention and Intervention Group, chaired the Title IX subcommittee for the Georgia State University Diversity and Inclusion Consolidation Working Group, is a current member of Regents Advisory Committee for Student Conduct Officers (RAC-SCO), the Administrator Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative (ARC3), Student Affairs (NASPA). 

Jaray serves on the board of a non-profit organization that helps maintain family patterns and volunteers her service with other non-profit organizations. She is committed to assisting students and enhancing the skills they need currently and throughout life.

Kelcey Roegiers
Senior Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator and Chief Diversity Officer Kelcey Roegiers heads into her 11th year at Georgia State University. Kelcey oversees the compliance, academics, strength and conditioning, life skills, and sports medicine departments, and serves as the Title IX Deputy Coordinator. She also serves as sport supervisor for women’s basketball, court volleyball, beach volleyball, men’s soccer, and women’s soccer. She is also an ESPN+ color commentator for Georgia State women’s basketball television broadcasts.

Kelcey earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgia State in 2007 and followed with a master’s in sports business administration in 2011. Involved with the Georgia State Athletic Department since her days as a student-athlete, Kelcey competed for the Panther women’s basketball squad as a four-year letter winner and still ranks on several Panther top-10 charts.

Kelcey is actively involved within the NCAA governance structure. She currently serves on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee and is chair of the NCAA Beach Volleyball Committee. She is a graduate of the 1A Athletic Director Institute and is an active member of Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly NACWAA). Kelcey was involved in the development of the athletics department strategic planning initiative and the Sun Belt Conference strategic planning committee.

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Posted in For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, General News, Special Collections & Archives, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

New Resource: Roper iPoll

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Lauren Bellard

The GSU Library is pleased to announce that we now have access to Roper iPoll! The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, founded in 1947 and containing public opinion survey data from 1935 and after, is operated out of Cornell University. It is the world’s leading public opinion archive. The collection includes hundreds of thousands of questions and tens of thousands of individual-level datasets. 

Roper iPoll is a question-level database of topline results from U.S. national polls, including exit polls (voting polls), major news media polls, Pew Research Center polls, and other major opinion polls and social surveys on a wide variety of topics. Data are drawn largely from the U.S., but over 120 different countries are represented.  

This database is helpful to any researcher working with polling or public opinion data and is an especially popular tool across the Social Sciences. 

Watch the database’s video tutorial here. 

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Posted in Databases, For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, New Resources | 2 Comments

Learn more about the Library’s new Public Interest Data Literacy (PIDLit) initiative!

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh

Have you heard about the Georgia State University Library‘s newly funded initiative?

Public Interest Data Literacy (PIDLit) – lib.gsu.edu/pidlit | twitter.com/getpidlit

In a nutshell, the PIDLit initiative, generously funded by New America’s Public Interest Technology University Network, is focused on reaching first-year students and underrepresented groups and seeks to expand programs that promote data literacy for the public good and build a more diverse pipeline of students pursuing careers in data science. 

At this juncture of the initiative, we’re in an information-gathering phase, particularly to gauge what data literacy skills are critical for first-year students to grasp and how we can link those to their passion for social justice/public interest. Then, how can we articulate for them potential academic majors and career paths that wed data literacy skills and social justice/public interest efforts.

Want to learn more about PIDLit? And add to the conversation regarding what data literacy skills are critical for first-year students to learn? Join one or both of the following webinars!

  • Defining Data Literacy for First-Year College Students, Wednesday, March 31, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (register here)
  • The Public Interest Data Literacy (“PIDLit”) Initiative: Sharing and Gathering Feedback, Thursday, April 22, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (register here)

Also, feel free to reach out to us for more information about the PIDLit initiative:

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Posted in Data Services, For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, Services | Leave a comment

Library Self-Checkout Now Easier Than Ever at GSU Campuses

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Bryan Sinclair

Here’s a welcome library enhancement you can use even after COVID-19 is long gone. Do-it-yourself book checkouts are now easier than ever thanks to the GSU Library’s latest system and app.

New Self-Checkout Kiosks, like the one pictured here, can be found conveniently within University Library locations at the Atlanta, Clarkston, Decatur, Dunwoody, and Newton campuses.  Drop by and give one a try the next time you are on campus.

While in the library, GSU students, faculty, and staff may choose to use the optional Georgia State Self-Checkout app for checking out books, even while browsing in the stacks. You can find it at the Apple App or Google Play stores.

Some self-checkout tips … for the next time you’re in the library:

  • Bring your PantherCard! You will need it to swipe in at the Self-Checkout Kiosk. (Or if you use the mobile app, you can skip this step.)
  • Locate the item barcode either on the inside back cover (at the Atlanta campus) or possibly on the front cover (at some Perimeter College campuses).
  • Place the book on the “Deactivate Here” surface with the spine facing away from you.
  • Slide the book towards the red laser line or use the hand-held scanner to scan the barcode.
  • Wait for the green light to appear on the barcode scanner and then wait for the blue light to turn green on the deactivator – that’s two greens.  (Try again if the “Remember to Deactivate Your Items” message appears on the screen.)
  • Books checked out to you will be listed on the kiosk screen and/or within the mobile app.
  • Remember to tap finish or log out when you are done to end your session.

And that’s it. Our friendly crew is here to help if you get stuck or have questions. Please remember to wear your mask and stay 6 feet apart at all times.  Hope to see you soon … helping yourself in the library.

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Posted in Covid-19, General News, Services | 6 Comments

Springer Journals

Posted on March 4, 2021 by Laura Burtle
Springer logo

After careful review, the University Library has made an important change in our subscription strategy with journal publisher Springer. Rather than subscribe to a multidisciplinary bundle of thousands of Springer journal titles, the University Library now subscribes to Springer content through individual subscriptions to journals. We evaluated journals in the package based on download data, article citations by institutional authors, open access availability of articles, articles published by institutional authors, and the projected costs of alternative access to those titles. We are pleased to share the list of Springer journal subscriptions for 2021 here. Please note that Nature journals are part of a separate journal package and remain available.

All members of the GSU community will continue to have access to the resources they need to do their research. Subscriptions are just one mode of access to research publications, and we are committed to helping researchers navigate alternatives. For canceled titles, full-text access will continue to be available for previously subscribed content. If you need access to an unavailable article, please request it via Interlibrary Loan. In most cases, we can obtain a copy in less than 24 hours.

Transitioning from a publisher’s journal package to a curated selection of titles that are regularly used by GSU faculty and students is part of a longer-term effort to realign investments to a more affordable, equitable, and sustainable model that allows the library to build a more tailored collection to better serve the evolving needs of GSU.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Dean Jeff Steely (jsteely@gsu.edu).

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Posted in Ejournals, For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students | 21 Comments

Too Many Walton Buildings: Early GSU History Revisited

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Laurel Bowen

Georgia State University traces its origins to day and evening commerce classes that began on the Georgia Tech campus in 1913.  In 1914 some of the evening classes moved to downtown Atlanta, so older students who worked full-time in the business district could more easily attend.  These classes eventually became Georgia State.  They grew rapidly, admitted women early, and moved from one downtown location to another to meet the educational needs of so many young people enhancing their careers.  Because of the rapid relocations, a renovation that transformed one building, and occupying two different buildings on the same street at different times, a clear understanding of this part of the university’s early history has been challenging. 

The first move downtown from the Georgia Tech campus in 1914 was to a rented room in the large office building at the corner of Walton Street NW and Cone (1914-1916).  This building is still in use  [Fig. 1].  Rapidly increasing enrollments resulted in several successive moves to ever larger quarters:  Peachtree Arcade at Five Points (occupied 1917-1921), the Murphy Building at the corner of Auburn Ave. and Pryor Street (1921-1926), and 106 Forsyth St. NW (1926-1931).

[Fig. 1] Walton Building (Walton and Cone Street, NE)

The overcrowded and dingy rooms at Forsyth Street led director George Sparks and Robert R. Johnson, an Atlanta business executive, and Evening School supporter, to search for a better building.  In spring 1930, they found the Sheltering Arms, a solidly constructed former foundling home located at 223 Walton Street NW [Fig. 2].1   The location of this Walton Street building was farther away from the downtown Atlanta business district than the first Walton Street building. Still, buying and then renovating a building specifically to meet the Evening School’s needs was an opportunity that could not be missed.

[Fig. 2] Old “Sheltering Arms” Home–Remodeled for Tech Evening School

Johnson was an active advocate and a generous donor. Despite challenging circumstances during the Great Depression, he raised funds to buy and then fully renovate the building.2  His own contributions were substantial.  The “attractive school home for modern business training”3 was dedicated in May 1931.4 Johnson personally paid off the mortgage on the building in 1936.

In its early life as the downtown Evening School, Georgia State had three Walton Buildings:

(1) the Walton Building at the corner of Walton St. NW and Cone Street—the school’s first location in the downtown business district;

(2) the Sheltering Arms building at 223 Walton St. NW—the first building the school owned;

(3) the renovated home for modern business training at 223 Walton St. NW  [Fig. 3].

[Fig. 3] Walton Street; [#223]

Today, the western edge of Centennial Park has displaced the section of Walton Street NW where the Evening School’s renovated home was located.

Footnotes

[1] The 1911 Sanborn map for Atlanta shows the “Sheltering Arms (Day Nursery)” located at 161 Walton Street, kitty corner to the Tabernacle Baptist Church.  Proquest Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970.  Atlanta GA:  1911-1925:  Vol. 1, 1911, Sheet 20.  By 1931 the “Sheltering Arms Children’s Home” had moved to 214 Baker St. NW (near Luckie Street NW).  Proquest Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970.  Atlanta GA:  1931-1932, Vol. 1, 1931, Sheet 41.

[2] Reed, Educating the Urban New South, pp. 19-22.

[3] Technite student newspaper, vol. 1, no. 5 (January 20, 1931), p. 3.

[4] See the Sanborn maps for the “Georgia School of Technology Night School” at 223 Walton Street NW.  Proquest Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970.  Atlanta GA:  1931-1932, Vol. 1, 1931, Sheet 2 (see below).  Homecoming in 1934 was held at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, diagonally across from the Night School.

Archives and Library Sources:

1.  Georgia State University Timeline  (https://research.library.gsu.edu/GSUhistory)

2.  Merl Reed.  Educating the Urban New South:  Atlanta and the Rise of Georgia State University, 1913-1969.  Macon, Georgia:  Mercer University Press, 2009.

3.  Georgia State University Library Digital Collections:  Georgia State University Archives, Georgia State University Signal, Lane Brothers Photographs, Tracy O’Neal Photographs.

4. Digital Sanborn Maps
Georgia State University Library, A-Z Databases:  https://research.library.gsu.edu/az.php?q=Digital%20Sanborn%20Maps
1911 Maps
https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/?dates=1911&fa=location:fulton+county%7Clocation:georgia

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Posted in Digital Collections, Education, For Faculty, For Graduate Students, For Students, History, Primary Resources, Special Collections & Archives | Tagged , , , , , | 34 Comments