Collections Highlight: The Tobin International Geological Map Collection

Detail of map from the Tobin Collection.
Detail of map from the Tobin Collection.

The Tobin International Geological Map Collection provides map materials in support of teaching and research within the Jackson School of Geosciences, its programs and related disciplines. As graphic summaries of earth and planetary data, maps are an integral part of geologic and geographic study as well as an important information source in various aspects of research in such fields as energy,  engineering, land use planning, oceanography, physical and space sciences, environmental studies and the life sciences. To serve these disciplines, geologic, tectonic, stratigraphic, physiographic, geodetic, seismographic, outline, topical (such as soil and water survey), geophysical, structural, cross section, and index maps are required.

Located in the Walter Geology Library, the collection contains more than 50,000 maps and map texts that are arranged geographically. It functions as a working research collection that is more concerned with the utility of its maps for research rather than with their rarity as objects.

Tobin Surveys, Inc. of San Antonio endowed the Tobin collection in 1980 when it established the Tobin International Geological Library Fund to enable cartographic acquisitions. The collection aims for worldwide coverage of maps on geology and related subjects, but it is particularly dense in maps of Texas and select U.S. and foreign areas of geologic interest. The resources provide thorough coverage for North America (especially Texas and the Southwest), Mexico, Britain, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Turkey, with moderate coverage for the rest of the world.

The geologic map collection portrays surface and subsurface features, ages, and rock types at a variety of scales. Such maps are used for research in hydrocarbon and mineral exploration, hydrology, geomorphology and paleontology, archeology, and some engineering and architectural applications. The collection also includes some topographic or surface feature maps. Geologic and topographic maps largely are produced by and for governments around the world; however, some commercial maps are included in the collection.

The Tobin collection, in partnership with the Perry-Castañeda collection, serves as a federal depository for the maps of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Through that arrangement, the collection maintains an almost complete set of the map series published by the USGS, including maps of various scales that provide users the ability to examine a continent, country, or more local geographic regions.

A large collection of geological maps of Greece and Italy, which are of special interest to archaeology and classics researchers, also are held in the collection. Overall, the resources of the Tobin Map Collection serve not only researchers within the geology, architecture, classics, archaeology, engineering, and geography departments, but also the general public.


Includes excerpts from The Collections, now available digitally and in print.

Meet the Talents: Carolyn Cunningham

Carolyn Cunngham, Social Sciences Liaison Librarian for Psychology & Sociology.
Carolyn Cunningham, Social Sciences Liaison Librarian for Psychology & Sociology.

Carolyn is a Texan, born and raised, and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Master of Science in Information Studies from UT Austin. After graduation, she served stints at St. Edward’s University, and UT San Antonio, before returning to UT Austin to work as the Social Sciences Liaison Librarian for Human Development & Family Sciences, Kinesiology & Health Education, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology.

Research topics are driven not only by access to resources, but quality resources, walk us through how you develop new and curate existing resources for the social sciences.

Carolyn Cunningham: Social scientists use a little bit of everything in their research, from statistical data gathered from research articles and government agencies, books, to qualitative interviews. Some of this information is freely available, but a large portion is only available through our library subscriptions. We try to stay on top of developments in the field so our researchers will have access to the latest journal articles. With publication prices going up and budgets staying the same or shrinking, we have to prioritize carefully to serve the many different types of experts in our fields.

Many social science students go on to work outside of academia after graduation, so they lose access to the library resources they had while they were in school. It is just as important for them to have access to the latest research while working as practitioners as when they are students. Social work students are a great example. The agencies and organizations they work for after graduation sometimes have affiliations that allow research access, but often they are on their own. I try to squeeze in lessons about how to find open access material, how to request material through the public library, and other access points while they are still on campus.

How many patrons do you service on the Forty Acres?

CC: In my role as subject liaison, I serve folks in the following departments, across multiple colleges: Human Development & Family Sciences, Kinesiology & Health Education, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology. I serve over 4,000 patrons, which includes 316 faculty and instructors, 700 masters and doctoral students, and 3,000 undergraduate students.

I also work unofficially with programs that don’t fit within one department, and I serve the campus at large when I answer questions through the Ask a Librarian chat and at the PCL Research Help desk.

Day to day, we see you in front of classrooms alongside professors teaching students how to access research information or with individuals who have an idea for research but are not sure how to get started. What happens in those sessions?

CC: Teaching in the classroom and meeting with folks one-on-one are some of the best parts of my job. When a faculty member invites me to talk about the art of doing research and exposing the students to the available tools, it can be tough to narrow down the talking points to fit the time allotted. It’s easy for me to go on and on, knowing all the tools we offer. Usually my classroom sessions happen when the students are writing research papers and they need to cite scholarly sources. With undergraduates, I show them how to pick a database and choose keywords in order to find research articles. We spend time during the class thinking about who is writing about their topics, whose expertise is considered authoritative, and what things are appropriate to cite (for example, scholarly articles versus news articles, or cutting edge research versus well-established theory). With graduate students, their projects often require deep interaction with the research in their areas, so we talk about finding works by major authors, methodology, and the process of publishing research articles. I recently worked with a class in which several students wanted to design surveys and questionnaires to measure social behaviors and attitudes about gender bias in the workplace. I showed them how to use the databases to find examples of previous studies that utilize surveys and questionnaires to use as models.

Carolyn assists at the desk.
Carolyn assists at the desk.

In one-on-one consultations, the meeting is molded by the where the researcher is in their project, and by their comfort level doing research. Undergraduates in the social sciences are often learning about their topics for the first time, and are shaping personal interests into something they can tackle in their coursework. Immigration, access to healthcare, LBGTQ issues; if there is a news story about it, we can usually find scholarly literature to lay the foundation for a research project. In these cases, I spend a good amount of the meeting introducing them to tools beyond Google or Google Scholar, and showing them how to produce a good pool of results. Graduate students and researchers are typically more experienced with the main tools in their fields, so we talk through the best keywords to search, the kinds of things published on their topic, and how to make sure they are not missing any key research in their fields. But this is just the beginning. It can go off in all kinds of crazy directions, sending us deep into the stacks, or deep down an Internet rabbit hole. This is a nerdy example, but I once helped a student dig through pages from the Wayback Machine in the Internet Archive to find a research abstract that was written in Italian. The original website had been taken down, but we had a partial citation. He had Italian language skills, so while I navigated and searched, he translated what we were seeing. It was the epitome of a wild goose chase, but we eventually found the full citation and were able to request the article through our interlibrary loan service.

What is the most satisfying aspect of your job?

CC: Talking to researchers one-on-one in consultations is incredibly gratifying. I learn something new almost every time. There are many great parts about these meetings, but learning about the issues researchers are interested in is so cool. UT has many movers and shakers on campus, and our faculty often get interviewed by NPR and other media outlets. It’s cool to hear a faculty member on the radio who just invited me to work with their classes.

I had no idea about that part of the job when I went to library school. I toyed with the thought of going into museum studies or preservation, and those specialties remain interests of mine. But I knew academic librarianship was for me early in my time as a student worker in the Geology library, and later as an intern at PCL. Dissecting people’s research questions and connecting them to information somehow works really well with my curiosity and people-orientation. I also love the cross-section of folks on campus: undergrads who are grinding through the college experience so they can go out and do other things in the world, and folks who stay in academia and build expertise in their areas (among many others, of course).

Is there a particularly rewarding or transformational interaction you had during a consultation with a patron?

CC: Transformation is one of the highest goals of pedagogy, and those moments are awesome. Sometimes, I see small transformations of people’s understandings of their topic. I have been working with a graduate student for the past few months who is investigating how college athletes identify as students. Just to give a very specific example of something I consult on regularly, we were searching for articles about college athletes and their student identity, but were not getting good results. I did a little playing around with our search, and we found that the research more commonly refers to “learner identity” or “academic identity.” Once we tweaked the search terms, the databases cracked open and gave us much better results. This student will use what she learns to make recommendations about how to advise and support student athletes in their academic achievement. It’s a great project with very tangible applications.

Other times, the transformation is more apparent in the classroom. I’ve gotten thank you notes from instructors saying their students’ papers are higher quality after a library session. Or they will redesign assignments after having me visit their classes.

Once, a patron high-fived me at the reference desk for finding a book they needed. That was awesome.

Anything you can teach us that will help us in our personal life?

CC: Sure, I can show you a few tips so you can Google like a librarian. Searching within a website can be really useful. If you know certain information lives on a site, but you can’t remember how to get there, you can search that whole site for the page you want. For instance, to find the UT calendar, enter this into the Google search bar:

calendar site:utexas.edu

Or you can easily limit your results to certain website domains. This may be helpful if you want to learn about a topic, but not see every type of result related to it. Let’s say you want find research about coconut oil. If you do a regular Google search for “coconut oil,” you get a lot of varied results, including news, social media, and products for sale. But if you scope to .edu websites, you get useful stuff right up front. Enter this into the search bar:

Coconut oil site:edu

Check out other Google shortcuts and tricks here.

 

Chemistry, Construction and Champagne

Photo courtesy College of Natural Sciences.

On April 20, the Libraries joined students, alumni, faculty and friends of the Department of Chemistry in celebrating the grand opening of the renovated wing of Welch Hall after an almost 2-year construction project.

Attendees for the “Champagne & Sledgehammers” event got a first peek at the new space with speed talks by faculty researchers and scientists, some chemistry fun with explosive experiments by Dr. Kate Beiberdorf, various science demonstrations by students and even some liquid nitrogen ice cream.

Photo courtesy College of Natural Sciences.

Originally built in 1929, Welch is one of the university’s largest academic buildings, hosting 10,000+ UT students every day for classes, seminars and labs with its world class faculty. The renovation is the first phase in modernizing the facility for 21st century needs of the department, providing new classrooms, research and teaching labs, and infrastructure updates

The second phase of the project was simultaneously launched at the event, which will address needs in the newer 1978 wing of the building. The combined renovations will result in the transformation of a total 19,000 square feet of space — the first significant step in the College of Natural Sciences five-year Master Space Plan.

The Mallet Chemistry Library was featured centrally in the festivities, functioning as a meeting space straddling the two project areas where alumni joined to mingle with students and faculty, share in rounds of historical trivia about the department and indulge in some very scientific molecular gastronomy in the form of champagne caviar — little gelated balls of bubbly created through the liquid spherification.

Though outside the scope of the larger plans for Welch Hall, the Libraries are working with the College of Natural Sciences to develop a strategy for updates to the Chemistry Library that would enhance it as a community center for the sciences and incorporate more discipline-specific services and resources in alignment with other modernizations to the building. Current goals are to raise $3.5 million by the end of 2017 in order to begin design and planning efforts for library renovations.

See more photos from the event at the CNS Flickr page.

Please comment below if you are interested in being contacted with more information.

PCL 40th Anniversary Celebration Weekend

In recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Perry-Castañeda Library, the Libraries will be hosting a series of events welcoming  members of the Perry and Castañeda families back to the Forty Acres.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017
PCL 40 Cake Celebration
Perry-Castañeda Library Lobby
Noon – 1 p.m.
Open to the public.

Thursday, September 7, 2017
Castañeda and Perry Family Welcome
Gabriel’s at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center
4-6:30 p.m.
Parking: TBD
RSVP to Jason Mendiola at 512-495-4363 or jason.mendiola@austin.utexas.edu

Friday, September 8, 2017
Castañeda Family Welcome Breakfast
LLILAS Benson
Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 1
8:30-10:30 a.m.
RSVP here
Parking: Manor Garage

Perry Family Welcome Breakfast
Perry-Castañeda Library
8:30-10:30 a.m.
RSVP here
Parking: Manor Garage

Distinguished Leader Dinner
University of Texas Club
Entrance on the east side of the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
6-9 p.m.
Parking: Valet or Manor Garage
RSVP to Jason Mendiola at 512-495-4363 or jason.mendiola@austin.utexas.edu

Saturday, September 9, 2017
UT v. San Jose State Tailgate
Perry-Castañeda Library
Plaza and UFCU Room
11:30 – kickoff
Open to the public.

All events are by invitation only, except where noted.

Zine Fest Success with the Libraries

Gina Bastone reps the Libraries at the first annual Lone Star Zine Fest.
Gina Bastone reps the Libraries at the first annual Lone Star Zine Fest.

The Fine Arts Library has a collection of over 500 zines focused on art, music, performance, as well as zines created by regional and local authors. Zines are typically described as self-published or DIY works that have limited editions. Zines are often made of 8 ½ by 11  sheets of paper folded in half and stapled together. Early zines emerged from science fiction fandom, though over time different social and counter-cultural movements adopted the medium as a way to disseminate information and share ideas. More recently, artists also adopted zines as a creative medium and method to distribute work outside mainstream channels within the art world. Many cities around the country and world, including our Texas neighbors in Houston and Dallas, have zine or independent publishing festivals.

Back in January, a group of Austin librarians and zine makers gathered to discuss the possibility of creating a new festival called Lone Star Zine Fest (LSZF). LSZF took place on June 11th at Cheer Up Charlies and was co-sponsored by UT Libraries, Sherwood Forest Library, Town Talk Library, and artist Josh Ronsen. The goal for this festival was to create a space for Austin’s artists, poets, zinesters, and zine-lovers to come together as a community to celebrate and share work. LSZF had close to 30 exhibitors participate and over 375 attendees during the Sunday afternoon event.

Longhorns were well represented at LSZF as exhibitors and attendees. Several graduate students, undergraduate students and staff shared their zines or small presses.  The UT Libraries also had a table where Gina Bastone, English Librarian, and I highlighted the Zine Collection at Fine Arts Library and UT Poetry Center at the Perry-Castañeda Library.

Gina and I also created a zine to use as an outreach tool that playfully describes the two complementary collections to readers. Members of the public along with UT students, faculty, and staff who stopped by our table expressed surprise to hear these two collections were present within the libraries. The library zine proved to be a fun outreach tool that we plan to continue using with our respective departments.

In addition to working with Gina to promote our collections, I also represented UTL on the planning committee for the festival. Serving as a co-sponsor of this event, shows Longhorns and Austinites alike the value UTL places on supporting creativity on campus and within our city.  As the liaison to the Art and Art History department, it is important to me to help create spaces on campus and within the greater Austin community that celebrate makers and their creative output. One of my favorite moments of the day was an exchange with an Art History student.  Upon checking in to exhibit at the festival, the student remarked that I am their librarian. The student expressed excitement that UTL helped put on an event like LSZF. This was one of the many positive remarks heard from Longhorns throughout the day, demonstrating the importance events like this have to our community.

Stop by the Fine Arts Library or UT Poetry Center to see new zines and chapbooks acquired at the festival.