Students have often reported that the temperatures in the library can be very cool in summer and very warm in winter. The library and university are addressing this situation with a summer construction project to upgrade the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and cooling) system in the Bender building. AU’s Facilities Management office will work to improve temperature consistency and to save energy.

Library users may be slightly affected by the construction, which will be done overnight and began Monday, May 13. The work is expected to last for eight weeks and will begin on the library’s third floor and continue downward floor-by-floor. The areas, which may experience uncomfortably warm or cool temperatures, will be cordoned off. This will also protect visitors from any materials that may have been dislodged from the ceilings during the process. Books located in these areas may be retrieved by visiting the Borrowing Desk on the first floor.

Library staff members are taking all measures to ensure this project affects visitors as little as possible. Please contact the Information Desk in the lobby with any questions or comments at 202-885-3232.

Naomi Baron spent the past year exactly the way you would expect the winner of the Betty T. Bennett award to do.

The Betty T. Bennett award was established by the family of former College dean Betty Bennett in memory of her service to the university from 1985 to 1997 and in particular to recognize a member of the College's faculty who is both a superior scholar and an exemplary leader in an administrative role.

Baron has split her time this year between Washington and California. She spent a month in the fall at Stanford, where she is a visiting scholar at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and two months there this spring, all the while continuing her “day job” as executive director of AU’s Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning.

Baron is at Stanford as part of a group of five scholars working on new media language, put together by Georgetown professor Deborah Tannen. Each member of the group is pursuing his or her own research agenda, but they “talk a lot,” according to Baron. They test their theories and bounce ideas off one another and other colleagues at the Center.

Baron is working on a book that already has a title, Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World, a publisher, Oxford University Press, and a publication date, 2014.

Baron’s central research question is whether reading on digital screens—computers, tablets, e-readers, mobile phones—is changing our notion of what it means to read. Since the invention of writing, the medium on which we record written words has affected how we read. Books are easier to read than scrolls; printing introduced active use of page numbers; and so on. Digital technologies are also affecting how we read, but in new ways. Probably the most important is that reading on screens urges us to keep seeking new bits of information but discourages more serious, contemplative, deep reading. Baron is concerned about the consequences of this shift.

Baron joined the College of Arts and Sciences in 1987 as associate dean for undergraduate affairs and thus began her relationship with Betty T. Bennett. Baron then became associate dean for curriculum and faculty development, spending a total of seven years in the Dean’s office.

Baron says she was fortunate to be able to work so closely with Dean Bennett. “During that time I learned an enormous amount about how to juggle full-time administrative responsibilities with a continuing research agenda.” While she was associate dean, Baron wrote two books and “a slew of articles and book chapters.”

After she left the Dean’s office, Baron’s administrative posts have included four years as chair of the Department of Language and Foreign Studies (now the Department of World Languages and Cultures) and 15 years directing the TESOL program. In July 2011, she assumed the leadership of the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning. Throughout that time she has been a prolific scholar, having now published seven books, along with scores of articles and book chapters. She is a popular media figure, sought out by major news outlets to discuss new media and her research.

Baron’s interest in how we read—and how new media are affecting the reading process—reflects her longstanding commitment to figuring out how to best structure higher education. A personal goal throughout her professional career has been to inform her thinking about education by research—both the work of other scholars and her own.

Writing is another of Baron’s passions—as it was Betty Bennett’s. Crafting language well is a vital aspect of professional scholarship but it is also the backbone of a liberal arts education. Describing Bennett’s love of language, Baron says, “She took very seriously her word choice in everything she produced, every speech she gave, every report she wrote. It was, I think, part of her own way of demonstrating the integration of scholarship and administration. And of course, teaching was also a vital part of the mix.”

Bennett modeled the integration of scholarship, administration, and teaching. The same can be said of Naomi Baron, this year’s winner of the Betty T. Bennett award.

The lines for library printers A and B can get pretty long sometimes. You have other options on campus. Every residence hall has printers, and so do the Kogod, Hurst, Anderson, and SPA labs. Visit the library’s website to download all the software you need to print from your laptop: http://bender.library.american.edu/print/.

Printing from these other locations will get you your papers faster, and reduce the time in line so you can keep on going. Don’t worry though, there will still be printers in the library because we know how much you’d miss visiting us!

SIS and the AU Alumni Association celebrated the launch of the University Library's Peace Corps community archive with the event "Waging Peace Through a Lifetime of Service " on March 21.

AU community members, either returned Peace Corps volunteers or friends of the organization, spoke about their work in education, foreign service and peacebuilding. They explained how their Peace Corp experience influenced their work.

Tom Lent, SIS/BA '70, CEO of Protecting the Future Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based, child- protection organization, served in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan from 1973 to 1975. He discussed his initial difficulty in adapting to the country's customs.

"Being in Afghanistan meant that you had to understand the world from an Afghan point of view, not an American one," Lent said. "There were no movie houses, no televisions, and radios were few and far between. Social life was drinking tea and being a guest."

All of the speakers spoke of challenges - acclimating to living arrangements in Malaysia and acquiring adequate healthcare skills in Guatemala - but also of triumphs. SIS professor Ambassador Dane Smith and his wife, Judy, taught square dancing in Ethiopia. Shannon Alston, SIS/MA '14, still corresponds with the teens who were incarcerated when she worked with them in the Dominican Republic.

Dean James Goldgeier linked the goals of the Peace Corps with those of SIS.

"We're very proud of our role as an educational institution that was founded to 'wage peace.' We have many students who come to SIS with that vision in mind," he said, adding that 10 percent of the incoming master's students in fall 2013 will be returned Peace Corps volunteers.

University Librarian Nancy Davenport introduced the archive, which has been in the works for years under University Librarians Emeriti Pat Wand and Bill Mayer.

"Your memorabilia will help to tell the stories," Davenport said. She noted that current archival material includes airplane tickets, letters from home and field diaries.

SIS has recently launched two programs in partnership with the Peace Corps. The first, the Master's International, integrates academics and Peace Corps service for a graduate degree. The second, the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program, offers six credit hours of remitted tuition to returned Peace Corps volunteers, who must complete a degree-related internship in an underserved local community. In 2013, the Peace Corps ranked AU second among medium-sized universities for service among graduates.

If you are interested in donating to the University Library's Peace Corps archive, please contact the University Archivist. To watch the event, visit UStream.

Director of the Arab Studies Program and Assistant Professor of Sociology Randa Serhan is the first featured speaker in a mini-series about the Muslim experience in the United States. The series begins Thursday night at 5:30 in the library. In this program Professor Serhan will discuss her own ethnographic study of second-generation Palestinians, particularly women, in the United States and relate her research to a book, A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence From the Middle East to North Africa, selected by a special NEH/ALA grant program. More information about this program appears below.

Take Muslim Journeys: Co-sponsored by the Arab Studies Program and the University Library

Professors affiliated with the Arab Studies Program (CAS) explore recent works about Islam through the lens of their scholarship. Moderated by Professor Randa Serhan, Director of the Arab Studies Program and Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology. Attendees do not need to be familiar with the works in the series, but all Muslim Journeys works will be available at the library.

• Professor Randa Serhan—March 28 Book: A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence From the Middle East to North Africa
• Professor Pedram Partovi—April 4 Film: Prince Among Slaves
• Professor Oliver Martyn—April 11 Book: Acts of Faith

Delicious Lebanese food from Shemali's will be served. RSVP is not required.

Location: Training and Events Room, First Floor, American University Library

For more information about the Muslim Journeys program grant from NEH and ALA, please visit bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys

As the name suggests, AU Project 2030 is looking ahead. By that time, young people born now will be college-age. Professors who are now junior faculty will be senior academics and will be at the apexes of their fields.

"We have to look beyond what is current and look ahead to what's the future," said Provost Scott Bass, in a Books & Beyond presentation hosted recently by the University Library.

WATCH: View Books & Beyond Session

In order to position AU as a leader in emerging fields of scholarly research, the university first had to identify current areas of faculty interest and expertise to invest in. To that end, the provost’s office put out a call for project proposals that would ideally contain some interdisciplinary element to encourage cross-department and school collaboration.

Some of the themes that bubbled up include behavioral and cognitive neuroscience; Big Data; decision science for policy; environmental studies; global disability policy, technology and education; global economic and financial governance; human security; metropolitan studies; and persuasive gaming technology.

"We want to provide energy and support for research faculty want to pursue," Bass said, adding that identifying these academic clusters where AU can excel will help guide future hiring.

On Wednesday, Bass introduced two projects currently in progress that sprang from the AU Project 2030 initiative, which launched a year ago. The first was “Ennobling and Enabling: Walking the Talk of Disability Technology, Policy, and Education,” a collaboration between Derrick Cogburn, associate professor in the School of International Service; Laura DeNardis, associate professor in the School of Communication; and Sarah Irvine Belson, dean of the School of Education, Teaching and Health.

The research team’s talk provided the groundwork for the three key elements of the project. Cogburn, speaking from Myanmar via Blackboard Collaborate, discussed the global disability environment and cyberinfrastructure and explained how this field is an interdisciplinary "Grand Challenge." 

DeNardis spoke about Internet governance as it relates to global standards for accessibility of the Internet, information and communication technologies.

Finally, Belson illustrated how creating educational opportunity for children with disabilities is a key aspect of basic human rights. All of their talks touched on proposed next steps, including how to integrate these themes into graduate studies and how to build AU up as a leader in this field.

The second project presented was "The Environmental and Biological Bases of Cognitive Dementia." Anthony Riley, professor and chair of the department of psychology, and Terry Davidson, professor and director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, are heading up the project, which investigates "one of the most costly, pernicious, and widespread threats to human health." 

By 2030, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive dementia is expected to double, so the need to discover the root of these disorders is critical. Their talk looked at evidence that links brain pathology and cognitive decline to the consumption of diets that are known to produce obesity and to the use of certain addictive drugs. These drugs and diet weaken the brain’s defenses, which lead to abnormalities that impair cognitive functioning, according to Riley and Davidson.

Their research will help position AU as a leading center on dementia and cognitive decline.

Over the last year, the library has made considerable efforts to expand its green initiatives by using 100% recycled paper, installing rooftop solar panels, turning off excess light fixtures, and even pioneering the first zero-waste events on campus.

In our continued effort to reduce waste on campus, students can now visit “Recycleland” in the library’s lower level front stairwell. Here, students, faculty, and staff can bring a variety of items for recycling, including batteries, print cartridges, old cell phones, and plastic bags.

Did you know that the average person produces 4.5 pounds of trash every day? That’s about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year! The EPA estimates that 75 percent of solid waste is recyclable, but only about 30 percent is actually recycled. This does not even include the approximately 40 million tons of e-waste produced globally each year, of which the U.S. accounts for over 2.6 million tons. With over a billion cell phones purchased globally each year, it is vitally important to reduce the number of non-biodegradable electronics that are dumped into landfills.

Plastic bags can prove particularly wasteful, and both the District of Columbia and American University have made significant steps in the last years to help curb this waste. This year, the Campus Store, Eagles Nest convenience store, and Subway eliminated the use of plastic bags, replacing these environmentally harmful bags with reusable canvas totes and biodegradable paper bags. The library is a convenient location to recycle any remaining plastic bags on campus.

So, bring your recyclables to Recycleland today and do your part to help make AU a greener campus!

The library thanks Helen Lee and Mark Feist in Facilities Management for helping secure receptacles.

Need to take a breather from hitting the books this semester? Get ready for another fun-filled Final Perk, the Bender Library’s semiannual study break. The event will take place Wednesday, 12/12/12, from 7 to 8:30pm in The Mud Box café, located on the lower level of the library. This semester’s Perk Presto will transport attendees from the library to a cozy castle with complimentary coffee, drinks, and cookies for all visitors. This semester’s event will feature gluten-free and vegan dessert options as well.

While munching, test your wizardry knowledge with Final Perk’s trivia game—from Harry Potter to Gandalf, we’ve got a question for you! Come in costume to enter our costume contest. There will be great prizes and fun giveaways for all. Once there, use our props to pose for magically fun pictures in the photo booth, and be sure to keep an eye out for a possible appearance by Dumblesheep! All students are welcome, so bring yourself, a study buddy, or a group of friends to Perk Presto!

This marks the eighth academic year that the library has sponsored this end-of-semester study break, along with important partners, including the Mud Box Café, Friends of AU Library, Student Government, Graduate Leadership Council, Student Activities, and the Residence Hall Association. The library is also excited to welcome the American University Alumni Association as a new partner for this event.

For the past 17 years, AU Library has partnered with local community organizations to bring food to those in need while giving students, faculty, and staff a break on their library fines. This year, the library is again working with the Capital Area Food Bank to bring food to hungry children and families in Washington, D.C., through the food bank’s Back Pack program.  

Food for Fines will run from Nov. 26 to Dec. 24, and is open to AU community members. Please visit the library’s borrowing desk to get a list of accepted food. Only food from the list will be accepted, and individuals can only pay off up to $20 of their AU fines with food donations. Drop off your donations at the Borrowing Desk on the first floor of the library.

If you have questions or comments, please contact the Borrowing Desk at 202-885-3221 or circulation@american.edu.

Food for Fines items accepted in 2012:

Canned food

• Canned fruits (without corn syrup)—8oz or larger 1 can = $1.00 off fines
• Canned vegetables—8oz or larger 1 can = $1.00 off fines
• Canned beans (black or kidney)—8oz or larger 1 can = $1.00 off fines
• Soup (especially chicken noodle or tomato)—8oz or larger 1 can = $1.00 off fines
• Canned tuna—6oz or larger 1 can = $1.00 off fines
• Canned chicken—6oz or larger 1 can = $1.00 off fines

Boxed/dry food

• Boxed rice dishes—1 box 7 oz or larger = $1.00 off fines
• Plain rice—1 bag 32 oz or larger $1.00 off fines
• Boxed mac and cheese—1 box 7.25 oz or larger = $1.00 off fines
• Granola or cereal bars—1 box 6ct or more = 4.00 off fines
• Single Serving Snacks—1 box 8ct or more = $4.00 off fines
• Peanut butter (no hydrogenated oils/trans fats)—1 jar 18oz or larger = $4.00 off fines

AU Library is offering two prizes for outstanding Undergraduate Research papers or projects prepared during 2012: one for the Best College Writing Research Paper or Project and one for the Best Undergraduate Research Paper or Project. A prize of $1,000 will be awarded in each category. Papers and projects prepared for spring, summer, or fall 2012 AU courses will be accepted for consideration.
Submission Dates and Prizes

In January the University Library will begin accepting application for two prizes for high quality undergraduate research papers or projects:

• University Library Prize for Best College Writing Research Paper or Project
• University Library Prize for Best Undergraduate Research Paper or Project

One prize of $1,000 will be awarded in each category. The deadline for submission is 5:00 pm, March 21, 2013.

Purpose:

The purpose of the prize is to recognize and award American University undergraduate students who make extensive use of the University Library’s collections and show evidence of critical analysis in their research skills, including locating, selecting, evaluating and synthesizing information.

Eligibility:

Students must be currently enrolled as undergraduates at American University. Groups and teams are not eligible.

• Undergraduate papers or research projects that have been completed for a registered American University course, including study abroad courses, are eligible for consideration for the Best Undergraduate prize. Papers or projects prepared for a College Writing class are eligible for the Best College Writing prize.
• Papers submitted in Spring, 2012, Summer 2012, and Fall 2012 courses are eligible.

Evaluation criteria:

Successful projects will demonstrate:

• Substantial use of library resources and collections in any format, including but not limited to printed resources, databases, primary resources, and materials in all media;
• Ability to locate, select, evaluate, and synthesize library resources and to use them in the creation of a project that shows originality and/or has the potential to lead to original research in the future;
• Evidence of significant personal learning and the development of a habit of research and inquiry that shows the likelihood of persisting in the future;
• Originality of thought, mastery of content appropriate to class level, clear writing, and a high quality of presentation.

Application Procedure:

Applications may be received beginning January 14, 2013.

To apply, students must submit the following in electronic form (Word or Rich text format) to LibAward@american.edu no later than March 21, 2013.

1. Completed application cover sheet with student name, title of project, title of course, name of professor, date of submission to competition.
2. Letter of recommendation from the faculty member who taught the course for which the paper or project was prepared. (Refer faculty to the list of evaluation criteria.)
3. A brief 500 to 700 word reflective essay describing research strategies, application of library tools and resources in completion of the project.
4. A bibliography or other listing of sources consulted, if not already included in the paper.
5. A final version of the project. Written papers should be double spaced and may be of any length. Digital projects should be submitted on a DVD or CD. For other formats, contact LibAward@american.edu

Students may submit more than one paper, but only one award will be granted per individual. If you have questions about the award, the nomination or application process, contact librarian Mary Mintz or LibAward@american.edu.

Evaluation Committee:

A committee composed of American University faculty from the library, the College Writing program, and other academic units will evaluate submissions.

Recognition:

Awardees will be announced in late spring semester and will be honored at a special event.

Awardees will receive a certificate and a monetary prize of $1000.

Awardees may be acknowledged in library publications and may be recognized at other appropriate university venues such as the Undergraduate Research Fair.

Copies of the research papers may be held in the AU’s digital repository, American University Research Commons.

More than 60 attendees from American University and around the region gathered for the fifth installment of the AU Library Digital Futures Forum to discuss questions about the limits and future of fair use, facilitated by three experts on the subject in academics and beyond. The session opened with attendees voicing some of their most urgent questions about fair use, ranging from the reproduction of visual media in academic works to the use of news organization logos on third-party websites.

Keynote speakers were Patricia Aufderheide, co-director of the Center for Social Media and university professor in the School of Communication, and Peter Jaszi, co-founder of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and professor at the AU Washington College of Law, co-authors of the recently published Reclaiming Fair Use (Chicago). Aufderheide opened the session by showing an example of fair use in video, in which clips from recent popular television shows and movies were used to illustrate an important social topic. Afterward, Jaszi discussed the legal aspects of fair use.

Following their talk, Brandon Butler, public policy director at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), shared information regarding recent court decisions affecting fair use in libraries. Additionally, Butler discussed the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries, which was developed in collaboration between ARL, the Center for Social Media, and the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, and has been used by lawyers and judges in guiding policy and court decisions. The session ended with a more in-depth discussion of audience questions that had not yet been addressed, including the jurisdictional aspects of international information-sharing and distinctions between fair-use regulations regarding different types of media. 

The full session can be viewed here. For information about upcoming library-sponsored events, please contact LibEvents@american.edu.

The AU community is pleased to welcome Nancy Davenport as Interim University Librarian. Ms. Davenport, whose appointment began September 4, brings a wide breadth of library experience, including management experience to AU. From 2006 to February of this year, she was the Director of Library Services for the District of Columbia Public Library system. In that capacity she oversaw all library services including the acquisition of books and other library materials, the central library with the largest local history collection in any public library, twenty-four neighborhood libraries, and supervision of three hundred staff.

Ms. Davenport also has extensive experience in library leadership at the Library of Congress where she served in various capacities in the Congressional Research Service, Rare Books and Special Collections, and Acquisitions. In the latter area, she was Director of Acquisitions from 1998 to 2004. As Director, she managed a budget of $10 million and was responsible for the collection development and acquisition of the national permanent collection to which 10,000 pieces were added each day. Ms. Davenport was Chief of Rare Books and Special Collections and Chief of Prints and Photographs from 1996–1998. For the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the Congress well known to many AU researchers, she held various administrative positions including Associate Director for Special Programs, where she supervised units whose responsibilities included responding to more than 1500 inquiries per day from Congressional member offices.

Her prior administrative service also includes the presidency of CLIR, a prominent non-profit, independent research organization that works as a catalyst for change in academic libraries. Ms. Davenport is the founding principal and president of Nancy Davenport & Associates, a consulting firm which she began in 2006. As a consultant she has taken on many interesting domestic and international projects that have led to travel abroad in the Ukraine, Romania, and most recently to Vietnam where she worked on a project to develop a national legislative library for that country.

Ms. Davenport has also made many regional, national, and international presentations to library and other organizations. On several of those occasions she addressed the subject of keeping students connected to academic libraries. She has also served on many boards including those of the Digital Library Federation and the National Information and Standards Organization. She was a presidential appointee to the National Historic Publications and Records Commission and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Washington Master Chorale. Her articles have appeared in venues that include the Journal of Library Administration and Educause Review.

Ms. Davenport is a graduate of West Virginia University which honored her with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005. She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics. Her Master’s degree in Library Science is from the University of Pittsburgh.

New or returning undergraduates and graduate students can get the semester off to a good start with walk-in classes that to make research papers and other projects successful. No reservations are needed for the library’s free tours and classes about research. Just show up at the Reference Desk on the first floor at the announced class times. You can take a tour of the library, learn research basics, improve your existing research skills, make citing sources easier, discover primary sources, and more. 

If you are planning to make media productions of your own, you can plan to attend one of many free sessions in the New Media Center. Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, podcasting, and GarageBand are just some of the skills you can acquire in workshops offered throughout the semester. Many workshops are offered at both the basic and intermediate levels.

It’s time for Tech Fair 2012! The Office of Information Technology and the University Library are partnering to present this event on the library’s first floor during Welcome Week and the first week of classes, Saturday, August 18–Friday, August 31. Technology assistance for both students and faculty will be offered.

Get what you need to make your laptop work for you! Students, faculty, and staff can drop by for assistance with:

• Eaglesecure, the wireless network
  
• ExpressConnect to protect your laptop
  
• Wireless printing
• Email connectivity
• Your other technology questions

Bring your power cord with your laptop and let us know how we can help! 

The Tech Fair is open:
Saturdays and Sundays, 11–6
Weekdays, 10–8

University Librarian William “Bill” Mayer announced his departure from American University effective June 8. Mayer left to become the Executive for Research Services at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) of the United States. In a press release, the National Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero stated, “Mayer is uniquely qualified to lead a nationwide team in delivering world-class services to customers wanting access to the National Archives' vast holdings of accessioned Federal records. He will direct a program that acquires, preserves, and makes historical records accessible at fifteen facilities across the country and on the archives.gov website.”

At a farewell reception hosted by President Neil Kerwin and Provost Scott Bass on May 22 in the Founders Room of the School of International Service, the Provost noted that Mayer’s library leadership was characterized by a simple philosophy, “We enable success,” and that this philosophy ultimately served as a framework for many of the initiatives he supported. The Provost also presented a citation to Mayer that described the many library accomplishments achieved under his leadership. These included restructuring the library’s organization, expanding electronic resources and services, shifting paper periodicals to the Washington Research Library Consortium Center, updating the library’s physical spaces to make them more conducive to collaborative and comfortable study, installing a new Digital Media Studio, absorbing several units and services from the Center for Teaching Excellence, embedding librarians in some schools and colleges, and expanding study space through the opening of the Graduate Research Center in the underground space that joins the library and the School of International Service. The Provost particularly noted the recent acquisition of two major collections, the William Causey Modern Literature Collection and the Richard Stites Collection supporting AU’s Initiative for Russian Culture. He also cited Mayer’s internal roles as both an informal and formal leader in advancing university technology and his external service as chair of the library directors of the Washington Research Library Consortium. 

At the same event two speakers from the library staff and faculty paid tribute to Mayer. Michele Mikkelsen, Director of Administrative Services in the library, noted that the library has experienced “a significant amount of positive change,” under Mayer’s leadership and described Bill as one of “those ideal leaders . . . who possess qualities of emotional intelligence such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and strong relationship management skills that make leaders so successful.” Gwendolyn Reece, the Director of the library’s Research, Teaching, and Learning division, focused on two characteristics of Bill’s leadership: his willingness to take risks and experiment with changes and his emphasis on building relationships and partnering with other groups on campus which led her to conclude that Bill is a “master of informal power.”

Mayer was appointed to the position of University Librarian for American University in 2007 after six years of service as the Associate University Librarian for Information Technology and Technical Services at George Washington and three years at the Washington Research Library Consortium. His first library positions were at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard Business School. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and his Master’s degree in library science from Simmons College in Boston. Mayer also served as an adjunct professor in the library science program at Catholic University prior to becoming University Librarian.

American University honored the winners of its 2012 Staff Performance Awards on May 22 at a luncheon in the Mary Graydon Center.

The program, established in 1998, recognizes outstanding performance by staff at the university. Nominations come from supervisors, subordinates, peers, faculty, and students.

This year’s winners are

• Maureen Breslin, Customer Focus – As assistant director, Academic Support Center-student athletics, Breslin is instrumental in the academic success of AU’s student-athletes. In 2010–11, AU student-athletes had an overall GPA of 3.34.

• Donald Curtis, Diversity – Curtis, operations coordinator in the Center for Community Engagement and Service, works with many different constituencies across campus on matters ranging from service opportunities to the day-to-day concerns affecting their organizations. He’s the driving force behind the Resource Group, which under his leadership has transformed from a number of informal discussions on identifying challenges faced by students of color into a flourishing organization that brings people from across departments together to discuss issues and propose tangible solutions.
• Sharjil Hassan, Service to the AU Community – Running the Project Management Office in the Office of Information Technology, Hassan created a project management training program that allows staff to apply effective principles to manage their assigned projects from start to finish. He expanded the program campus-wide and more than 80 people from outside OIT have attended.
• Kogod Now team – With a print and online circulation of 15,000, the Kogod School of Business magazine has increased the visibility of the school and its faculty’s research. Editor Jackie Sauter, the trio of Erin Willcher, Anna Miars, and Laura Caruso, who developed the electronic version of the magazine, and Lara Kline, who secured political and financial support for it, have made the publication a success in just one year.
• IDPP team, Diversity – AU is the first institute of higher learning to offer a Disability Policy Master’s Program and Institute. As a joint venture with the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the program now recruits and helps exceptional students from Asian countries with a range of disabilities to become degree candidates. Maya Aguilar, Consuelo Nelson, Erica Seng, and Clyde White Jr. were the honorees.
• MAP-Works Student Success Tool team, Teamwork – The MAP-Works software, designed to increase student retention through early identification of risk factors known to affect student attrition, was implemented successfully in just three months. The online survey had a 65 percent completion rate and helped boost the fall 2011 to spring 2012 retention rate to 97.5 percent. Ryan Anderson, Marianne Huger, David Kaib, and Ann Parambil were recognized for quick and successful implementation of the program.

All the winners receive
•    an award certificate
•    an invitation to a years of service and staff performance awards luncheon
•    a day off from work
•    a $750 monetary award, not to exceed $5,000 in the case of a group award
•    a photograph with President Kerwin and their division vice president
 

The American University Library Green Team was thrilled to receive over 300 amazing entries for the contest!

The top eight submissions were voted for by the AU Library staff and will be displayed in the Mud Box beginning this summer. Thank you to all who participated!

Winners (in no particular order):

As part of American University’s continued commitment to sustainability, AU Library now uses 100% post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled paper in all printers and copiers replacing the 30% PCW previously used. This change was instituted in March 2012, and was inspired by the Green Office program, sponsored by the Office of Sustainability. The new paper will maintain the high printing quality of 30% recycled paper while providing substantial environmental benefits.

More than 380,000 sheets of paper are used in the library each year for printing and copying. Based on the Environmental Defense Fund's Paper Calculator, switching from 30% to 100% PCW paper will:

• Eliminate 51 tons of wood use per year
• Reduce net energy by 144 million British Thermal Units (BTU’s) per year
• Prevent the release of 35,724 pounds of greenhouse gasses per year

This change continues the library’s effort to reduce the environmental impacts of paper usage and builds on previous initiatives including default double-sided printing and encouraging scanning over copying.

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) will introduce a number of new or improved services this summer.

Network Infrastructure and Internet Bandwidth Upgrades

By the end of May, OIT will upgrade AU’s Internet routers to more robust routers that handle higher bandwidth. This means that the current bandwidth for both of our Internet links will be upgraded from 400 Mbps each to 1 Gigabit each (for 2 Gigabits total). The upgrade will translate to a 250 percent increase in Internet bandwidth for the campus. 

OIT will also install 136 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units to provide backup power and surge protection for network infrastructure across campus. This will mean less down time during a power outage.

Mobile Strategy

With the rapid growth in mobile device use by students, faculty, and staff, AU took action to provide remote connectivity between these groups and the critical information found on university systems and in the cloud. To meet the unique challenges of planning for this mobile environment, AU formed a cross-functional campus working group cochaired by University Communications and Marketing and the Office of Information Technology. AU’s mobile presence will be unveiled for a soft launch, by the end of the semester. Look for more announcements to come.

CommonSpot 6.2 Upgrade

OIT is working to finalize plans for upgrading our CommonSpot Content Management System (CMS) from our current version, 5.1, to the latest version, 6.2.  The CMS is used to publish, edit, and modify content on the AU website. We will first complete the upgrade in a test environment to ensure the upgrade process goes as planned. We expect the upgrade to take place over the summer. New features of 6.2 include

• a ribbon-like user interface
• easier to find images, pages, uploaded documents
• direct access to administrative functions
• an improved Rich Text Editor
• group ownership
• customizable

Document Imaging Solution

In 2011, a cross-functional working group evaluated several document imaging solutions, based on extensive vendor proposals and product presentations. There was unanimous agreement that Perceptive Software’s ImageNow product was the best fit for American University, since it was the best fit for integration with existing systems at AU. Contract negotiations are complete for the first phase pilot implementations and work is underway to install and configure the system. The system will allow documents, such as insurance claims, litigation, contracts, invoices, student transcripts, and financial aid documents, to be scanned, indexed, and stored in a digital format in a central repository. During the calendar year, OIT will continue working with each administrative office participating in the pilot, at times that are most convenient for them. These include: Accounts Payable and the Office of Enrollment (Admissions and Financial Aid functions).

After final exams in the spring, many students head home or take on an internship or job for the summer. But just because the majority of students aren’t on campus doesn’t mean that getting ahead on credits can’t happen with AU over the summer. This summer, AU is offering over 100 classes that will only be taught online.

The College of Arts and Sciences is building a space in the Battelle-Tompkins Memorial Building called the Research, Education and Collaboration (REC) Room. The space is meant for faculty who are teaching online courses to record lectures, and outside speakers can be included in lectures via Skype or teleconferencing. The College has added new technologies, such as an interactive projector and document camera. The REC Room is still being built, but it is scheduled to open at the beginning of May and should be ready for summer courses this year.

Online classes make it possible for students to be flexible when it comes to where and when they “sit in” on classes. “Online courses are asynchronous,” says Cathy Schaeff, associate dean of undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. “They fit around their work schedules. People can take it away from the city, so AU students can still be with their preferred professors.”

Online courses also attract students from outside the university. “I know that I’ve had interest in this summer’s courses from students in the consortium, because the course they’re interested in isn’t offered at their university during the summer session,” says Professor Alex Hodges, who will be teaching two online education courses this summer.

When it comes to crafting courses that will be delivered online and not in person, professors have to be creative. “Because online courses necessarily deal with technology and have certain limitations, I think teachers are forced to be more thoughtful in how they structure their course,” says Department of Performing Arts professor Noah Getz. “I think finding good solutions to these challenges leads to a healthy exploration of how to teach students more effectively.”

These online courses won’t just be a learning experience for students—teachers have much to gain from them too. “Part of the reason why I’m excited to do this course is that I expect that online teaching is going to help me think about how I communicate ideas and make connections with people who aren’t in the same room,” says Schaeff. “I think that a lot of teachers can probably learn about how we interact with students and how we think about the objectives of our class and how we achieve them through other possibilities using online technology.” Schaeff will be teaching the Evolution of Desire during the summer session.

Hodges agrees and considers it a chance for his teaching skills to improve across the board. “I love being able to compare my teaching experiences so that I can apply what I’ve learned from teaching in one medium to another.”

The courses themselves will take on a different format than they would in a face-to-face classroom setting. The Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning (CTRL) offered a course for faculty on how they can get their students to work independently and collaboratively within an online structure. Hodges redesigned his Children’s Literature: A Critical Literacy Perspective course, which he usually teaches in the classroom, to fit an online platform. “I needed to make the content digestible in modules so that my students’ learning can be segmented to incorporate lectures, group discussion, and activities,” he says.

The CTRL class recommended using shorter video clips and moving away from a typical lecture style of class. “We were told to think about a five-minute audio clip max and a ten-minute audio-visual clip max as accentuating what we’re doing in class,” says Schaeff. “Those are the pieces around which everything else is built. They’re no longer the core; they’re the peripheral.”

Just because students and teacher aren’t in the same room doesn’t mean that back-and-forth communication between them as a whole will stop—it’s the way connections are made that will be altered. “The use of discussion boards, Wiki pages, Twitter, and blogs becomes a primary way for students to interact with the material and discuss it with their peers and with the teacher,” says Getz. “There is a need to create a sense of community within an online class where students feel that they have some window into the personality of the teacher and their classmates.”

Getz hopes that eventually, AU can create an environment where reaching a worldwide audience through courses becomes commonplace. “I will be covering the Arab Spring and its music as well as freedom songs from the Civil Rights era in my Music and Revolution course,” he says. “With the possibilities of online education, it is conceivable that I could have a student in my class from that part of the world or a student who lived through the upheaval of the 1960s in this country. This, to me, would be an incredibly educational experience for all involved.”

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) announces updates in the Microsoft Active Directory (AD) migration project. A de facto industry standard, AD provides authentication, file, and print sharing services. The multiyear initiative will replace Novell Directory, file, and print services with improved offerings from Microsoft.

During this transition many of the daily systems you use like the new portal, wireless (eaglesecure), Blackboard, and SafeConnect have been reconfigured to use AD rather than Novell for authentication; more are being converted on an ongoing basis.

OIT is partnering with the AU technical team to replace older workstations with AD-ready computers, in compliance with the university’s established workstation replacement cycle. These new laptops and desktops have Windows 7 64 bit and more memory installed, and are faster and more secure than Windows XP. Seventeen percent of the workstations on campus now use AD rather than Novell. The transition is scheduled for completion by 2015.

Slight Changes from Novell to AD, Improved User Experience

With Novell, customers log in to a local Windows account and use the Novell client to access network resources.

With AD, the workstation is first joined to the American.edu AD domain. This one-time process allows you to log in to the computer with your AD username and password and access network resources transparently. Then, whenever an AD-aware system (like wireless or SafeConnect) prompts you for authentication, Windows silently logs in on your behalf, which means fewer password prompts.

Benefits of Active Directory

• Working from home you now need only log in to the VPN, no need to launch the Novell client to get access to your network drives.
• AD provides better compatibility and an improved user experience for Mac and Linux customers.
• In the coming months OIT will roll out upgrades to go along with AD including an improved password reset process.

As departments transition to AD, OIT will migrate shared network drives to Windows servers to provide improved reliability and fault tolerance and improved access to shared data across departments.

OIT is also working with WCL and WAMU to integrate their AD services and systems into the American.edu domain.

For questions or more information about the Active Directory migration, contact the OIT Help Desk at 885-2550, helpdesk@american.edu, or instant message AskAmericanUHelp.