Featured: Sights and Sounds of Black History Month

This year’s Black History Month event lineup coordinated by the University Library and the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center was met with much anticipation and excitement, as the featured events were fully in-person for the first time since 2019. Musical group The Cookies and photographer Dr. Tara Pixley cherished the opportunity to share their talent with the community.

What’s New: Interactive Group Study Rooms

New technology is blooming in the Library this spring! Two new interactive group study rooms, each equipped with a 75-inch ViewSonic touch-screen 4k display, allow students to collaborate in many ways. The display features 20-point touch to allow multiple users to write or draw on the display with a stylus. The slot-in PC gives students the ability to log in to access web browsing and the webcam can be used for Zoom meetings. Screen mirroring using Ditto lets users mirror up to four personal devices to the display, with a handy user guide included.

Spotlight: Students Talk Back to the Library

Every two years, the CSUN University Library sends a survey to current CSUN undergraduate and graduate students. Recently Dr. Laura Wimberley, Assessment Librarian and Chair of the Research, Instruction and Outreach Services Department, shared key findings from the most recent November 2022 survey at a Library employee town hall. We are pleased to share selected highlights from the presentation. The survey was conducted on the Qualtrics platform, with an alternative ADA-compliant version made available. The survey link was emailed directly to a randomly-selected subset of the student body, 10,928 undergraduate and 10,072 graduate students. Of those, 13% responded – the highest response rate yet in the history of the survey – with the response proportionally a bit higher from graduate students, for a total of 1,586 responses.

Thanks & Recognition: Jannette and Cameron Carothers for the Baldwin-Shaffner Archives

The Baldwin-Shaffner Collection contains archival materials that document parts of the Baldwin, Sackett, Bishop, and Bacon families' stories as they made their way west from Ohio and Colorado to settle in Los Angeles in the 1890s. The family of Earl and Jennette Shaffner and their children Maybelle (Bishop), Rosalia (Bacon), and George are especially well-represented. Processing Archivist Claire Gordon is currently arranging, preserving, and describing the collection. As part of this, she's creating a finding aid, or guide to the collection, that will be available and searchable online. Once processing is complete, the collection will be available for anyone to use in person in the Special Collections & Archives reading room.

We Would Like You to Meet: Lisa Cheby

In July 2022, Lisa Cheby joined the Library as the first Dr. Karin J. Duran and Richard Nupoll Education Librarian. In addition to her librarianship, Lisa has worked as a high school English teacher and a poet. She has published two poetry chapbooks, the latest being Buffy Averts a Mid-life Apocalypse. Lisa holds an MLIS from San Jose State University and an MFA from Antioch University. We sat down to talk with her about her experiences.

Message from the Dean: Diversity, Innovation, and the Preservation of History

The CSUN University Library is a hub of information and activity, constantly evolving and expanding to meet the diverse needs of our students, staff and faculty. This issue of the University Library eNews is a testament to that diversity, as it covers a wide range of topics that demonstrate the breadth and depth of the resources and services available to the CSUN community. The articles also show a clear alignment with CSUN’s mission and strategic principles that permeate all aspects of our work.