Did You Know – Library News

Jan 30 2023

Iowa Lichtenberger Engineering Library receives Patent & Trademark Resource Center designation

Posted on January 30, 2023February 1, 2023 by Anne Bassett

Iowa Lichtenberger Engineering Library receives Patent & Trademark Resource Center designation
Initiative provides individual inventors access to additional resources from federal agency

The University of Iowa Lichtenberger Engineering Library is now part of a select group of higher education institutions across the country—and only one in Iowa—to be designated a Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The PTRC is a resource for those with personally-owned inventions, such as student inventors and inventors from the community. It offers individuals from the university and throughout the state the ability to tap into the rich services provided by the USPTO’s vast networks of experts on intellectual property, which includes patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. It also serves as a resource for University of Iowa Research Foundation (UIRF) staff as they work to protect faculty inventions owned by the university.

“The Lichtenberger Engineering Library has an abundance of experience promoting and delivering information and instruction services to the campus community and public, which is an essential element of the mission of the UI Libraries and university,” says John Culshaw, Jack B. King university librarian. “We’re very pleased to now have this opportunity for our skilled and dedicated librarians to continue collaborating to serve individuals looking to develop something impactful.”

“We congratulate the Lichtenberger Engineering Library for undertaking this initiative and the USPTO looks forward to working together to extend these important opportunities to as many individuals as possible,” says Robert Berry, manager of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Program, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Lichtenberger Engineering Library offers a number of ways to learn more about intellectual property and how to access patent records, including one-on-one assistance, trainings, and workshops. It also collaborates with a number of campus partners such as the UIRF, which is part of the Office of the Vice President for Research; College of Engineering; John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC); Pomerantz Business Library; and others.

Some notable individual patents held by alumni include:

US 2370990 (Tumbling Device) invented by George Nissen (BSC ’37)—Inventor of the trampoline, which he built in his garage in 1936. Bachelor SC, Commerce and Science, 1937.
US 1814357A (Acoustic Device for Sound Pick-up) invented by Harry F. Olson (BE ‘24, MS ‘25, PHD physics ‘28, EE ‘32)—A pioneer and leading authority in acoustics and electronic sound recording, Olson developed magnetic tape recorders for sound and television, the electronic music synthesizer, and underwater sound equipment.

The Lichtenberger Engineering Library also maintains an active instructional schedule, which includes on-campus lectures and classes covering intellectual property topics as a part of its information literacy program. These sessions are available as for-credit classroom work as well as open to the public.

The UIRF works to obtain intellectual property protection on innovations created by researchers through their work at the university and partners with industry for the commercial development of new products and services. While the UIRF manages patent protection for university-owned inventions, until now there has been no resource on campus for those with personally-owned inventions. In addition, access to patent records can serve as an asset for university faculty conducting basic research—often scientific discoveries, especially those from industry, end up in published patent applications even if they are never published in traditional academic journals.

“UIRF is particularly excited that this resource is now available for our faculty start-up companies,” says Marie Kerbeshian, assistant vice president and executive director for the UIRF. “As these companies create their own intellectual property independent of the university, they are now able to seek advice that will help them develop a strong intellectual property portfolio.”

You can learn more about and access patents here. For more information about educational opportunities, potential partnerships, and more, please contact Kari Kozak, director of the Lichtenberger Engineering Library, at kari-kozak@uiowa.edu.

The library will hold an event to celebrate the designation on Tuesday, April 25, from 1 to 3 p.m. and more details will be shared when available.

Please note, the Lichtenberger Engineering Library is not a legal entity and a licensed lawyer should be consulted if you need legal assistance.

Nov 07 2022

UI Libraries recognizes first-generation staff and student workers

Posted on November 7, 2022November 7, 2022 by Anne Bassett

The University of Iowa Libraries is celebrating its student workers and staff who identify as first-generation students with opportunities to enjoy snacks, coffee, and other refreshments at the Main Library.

It’s part of the university’s National First-Generation College Celebration held from Monday, Nov. 7 through Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. At Iowa, first-generation college students are students who do not have a parent(s) or legal guardian(s) who completed a four-year degree. Approximately one in five UI students identify as first-generation.

The campus community is welcome to stop by and grab a snack or drink in the Main Library (125 W. Washington St.) to recognize first-generation college students and staff at Iowa and the UI Libraires.

Monday, Nov. 7 – Hot chocolate and donuts in the Learning Commons
Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 9 a.m. – Breakfast and coffee in the Learning Commons near the Food for Thought Café
Wednesday, Nov. 9 – Cookies in the Learning Commons
Thursday, Nov. 10 – Assorted snacks in the Learning Commons
Friday, Nov. 11 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. – Popcorn in Learning Commons, Group Area D

Monday, Nov. 7 – Wednesday, Nov. 9, from 5 to 9 p.m. – Game night in The SEAM (room 2013)

Meet some of our student workers and staff who shared they identify as a first-generation student:

**Tim Arnold, information literacy librarian**

**John Culshaw, Jack B. King university librarian**

**Eric Ensley, curator of rare books and maps in Special Collections and Archives**

**Heather Healy, clinical education librarian**

**Rita Soenksen, interim director of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion and English and American Literature librarian**

Learn more about Iowa’s many initiatives to support first-gen students at https://firstgen.uiowa.edu.

Oct 24 2022

Celebrating Open Access Week and a new resource for UI scholars

Posted on October 24, 2022October 24, 2022 by Anne Bassett

Happy Open Access Week! We’re celebrating this year’s theme “Open for Climate Justice” with an Iowa Research Online featured collection of recent University of Iowa scholar-authored open access journal articles related to climate change.

We’re also officially launching our Open Scholarship Toolkit, which is a resource for UI scholars in every discipline to share the results of their research freely and openly with the public and the academic community.

Read on for more information about how we can help you or contact your liaison librarian for assistance. The UI Libraries supports models of open access publishing that are equitable for scholars and the general public, both at our institution and around the world. Our statement of Open Access Support provides more information about the resources and services we provide to make more UI scholarship open access. We also celebrate Open Access year-round by making it easier for scholars to make their work available Open Access.

Read on for more information about how we can help you or contact your liaison librarian for assistance.

Open Scholarship Roadshow

Want to learn more about Open Scholarship and all its forms? It’s easy. Request an Open Scholarship Roadshow presentation or discussion for your department or group by contacting Sara Scheib, director of Scholarly Impact, UI Libraries.

Transformative Agreements

You can publish Open Access for free! The UI Libraries has entered into several “transformative agreements” (also known as “read & publish agreements”) with publishers like the American Chemical Society, Cambridge University Press, Wiley, and others. Through these agreements, the library pays publishers for access to a journal’s full content, as well as the right to make their researchers’ work open access, under a single contract and fee. This allows authors to publish Open Access without paying for it themselves. Contact lib-impact@uiowa.edu or your liaison librarian for assistance.

Transformative Agreements

If you can’t publish in an Open Access journal, you can still make your work freely available by depositing your accepted manuscripts, pre-prints, research data and other work in the university’s institutional repository, Iowa Research Online. Publisher restrictions on versions and embargoes may apply, so please contact lib-ir@uiowa.edu or your liaison librarian for more information.

Sep 20 2022

Libraries Resources Available for Textbooks and Course Materials

Posted on September 20, 2022October 6, 2022 by Anne Bassett

The cost of textbooks continues to rise due to an industry heavily dominated by large publishing companies. While there is no single solution to the problem, the University of Iowa and University Libraries is committed to continuing to find ways to help reduce the cost for course content.

Here are some resources:

Check the University Libraries using InfoHawk+: We may have an e-book or physical copy of the book in our collections that you can check out and use. If the book isn’t on our shelves or in our databases, it may still be on course reserves. If not, you might consider asking your professor to place a copy in the library for students to use.
- Search by:
  - Course name
  - Instructor
  - Book title
Faculty can adopt free and openly licensed Open Educational Resources (OER) instead of commercial textbooks. OER are teaching, learning, and research resources (such open textbooks, audio and video material, etc.) that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use. The Libraries provide support for faculty wishing to pursue this option though our OpenHawks program. You can also find examples of OER across disciplines and formats in repositories such as OER Commons and the Open Textbook Library.
ICON Direct is a way to order digital content from specific publishers and delivering the content to students and faculty. More information.

Aug 16 2022

We have books and so much more… 10 ways your Libraries can help you

Posted on August 16, 2022August 22, 2022 by Anne Bassett

The University of Iowa Libraries are here to help. We provide vital opportunities for engaging in critical learning, research, creative work, and clinical care through staff expertise and exceptional collections.

Here are 10 convenient services we provide to support your success. We look forward to assisting you!

1) There are seven University Libraries on campus.* 

Art Library
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
Litchenberger Engineering Library
Main Library
Marvin A. Pomerantz Business Library
Rita Benton Music Library
Sciences Library
*Law Library (a separate entity from the University Libraries)

2) Specialist librarians for every major and subject.   

3) Access 1000+ research databases with a HawkID.

4) Get quick answers from librarians through the library chat website and text a librarian for help at 319-313-2395. 

5) Have library materials delivered and receive scans of articles and chapters via email.  You can also borrow items not owned by the Libraries through Interlibrary Loan. 

6) Four rare book rooms and five archives provide access to unique resources.

Rare Book Rooms

LEARN MORE

lib.uiowa.edu

Feb 20 2022

Presidents’ Day Resources

Posted on February 20, 2022February 20, 2022 by Anne Bassett

On Presidents’ Day and every day, it’s easy to find information about those holding the highest government office in the United States by visiting the University of Iowa LibGuide for Presidential Resources.

University Libraries is also designated as a Federal Depository Library, so we can help you find public U.S. government information for class assignments or just to satisfy your curiosity. Please visit https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/us/, or contact John Elson, federal and state information librarian, via john-elson@uiowa.edu for assistance.

The federal Presidents’ Day holiday was originally established to commemorate the birthday of the country’s first president, George Washington, on February 22. It’s since expanded to celebrate the lives of all U.S. presidents and fall on the third Monday in February.

By John Elson, federal and state engagement librarian

Jan 23 2022

What’s New in the Public Domain in 2022?

Posted on January 23, 2022January 23, 2022 by Anne Bassett

COURTESY: THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF PUBLIC DOMAIN AT DUKE LAW SCHOOL

Now, you have even more works—and for the first time, sound recordings—available to be freely digitized, read, and used as the basis for new work.

On Jan. 1, 2022, debut novels by Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner, A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, and about 400,000 sound recordings from before 1926 were among the many books, recordings, movies, and other creative works that entered the public domain.

So, why is the public domain important? Permission is no longer needed to copy or use the works, which is an essential opportunity to foster learning, innovation, and the creation of new works.

Here are some places to check out the newly available creative works from 1926 available in the public domain:

Hathi Trust Digital Library – These materials from the Google Books Project have been digitized for years, but as of January 1, the full-text is now available to everyone.
Center for the Study of Public Domain – Duke’s Public Domain Day page has some great selected highlights.
The Public Domain Review – This journal specializes in mining the public domain.

Interested in finding out more about U.S. copyright law and how to determine a work’s copyright status? The Scholarly Impact Department helps faculty work through complex copyright issues, such as what can be used in the classroom, how to retain your rights as an author, and how to apply Creative Commons licensing. Feel free to send an email to mahrya-burnett@uiowa.edu to set up a consultation. You might also try these excellent copyright resources:

Cornell University Library Copyright Information Center – This handy reference chart is great for a quick check on copyright status.
Digital Copyright Slider – This Flash-based slider provides copyright status for works, depending on when they were published and whether copyright was renewed.
UI Libraries Copyright Guide – This guide provides the basics on copyright issues, such as Fair Use, seeking permissions, author rights, and licensing.

Apr 03 2020

Emergency access to copyrighted books

Posted on April 3, 2020April 3, 2020 by The University of Iowa Libraries

Effective immediately and until normal access to physical collections resumes, students, faculty, and staff at the University of Iowa have online access to a large portion of the University Libraries’ print collection—volumes that would have been difficult to access from library facilities that are closed due to COVID-19.

Reading access to digitized copies of print volumes has been granted to the UI by HathiTrust, a not-for-profit, collaborative digital library that holds over 17 million volumes digitized from academic and research libraries. The UI Libraries, in collaboration with the Big Ten Academic Alliance, is a founding member of HathiTrust.

This means that any books available through HathiTrust that are also in the UI Libraries’ collections will be available online without the additional step of requesting a digital scan. HathiTrust’s online collection contains nearly half of the UI Libraries’ book collection for an additional 1.6 million volumes now available online for our campus community.

To take advantage of this resource:

Visit HathiTrust and click the yellow “LOG IN” button.
Select “University of Iowa” and log with your HawkID.
Use the site to locate the item you wish to view.
Click on the Temporary Access link at the bottom of the record to check out the item through the Emergency Temporary Access Service.
You will have 60 minutes of access to the book during any session. If you remain active in the book during any session, access time will be extended.
Please note that it is not possible to download books from HathiTrust. This is to protect authors’ rights.

HathiTrust has provided detailed instructions, including how to use the service on a phone or tablet.

For help with access to these and other digital resources at the UI Libraries, please contact us.

Dec 10 2018

UI Libraries and student government collaborate to reduce textbook costs

Posted on December 10, 2018December 31, 2018 by The University of Iowa Libraries

How will I afford my textbooks this semester? Can I pass this course even though I don’t have the book? Is it illegal to download this PDF of the book that I found online?

These are the kinds of questions students ask at the beginning of the semester. The solutions they find are creative. Sometimes a whole group of roommates will share a book. In other cases, they will find a dubious copy for free online. Other times, they skip textbooks entirely. For some students, it’s a matter of buying food or buying books.

UI Libraries and UI Student Government are easing some of this burden with a collaborative project called the Textbook Affordability Pilot (TAP). Under TAP, a committee of library staff and student government representatives collect donated textbooks and purchase new ones for “high impact courses.” These are classes for which the cost of books is high and more than 100 students are enrolled in the course. These books are placed on course reserves in Main Library and the branch libraries for students to use free of charge.

Plans for TAP began in the summer of 2017, when student government approached the Libraries with questions about making textbooks more affordable. The UI Libraries encourages faculty to bypass traditional textbooks where possible by using books from the Libraries’ collection and using open educational resources. The Libraries also keeps copies of some textbooks on course reserve. Despite these efforts, librarians and students realized more could be done.

UISG Director of Academic Affairs, Tristan Schmidt, and Scholarly Communications Librarian, Mahrya Burnett, along with interested colleagues, began to explore the idea of purchasing textbooks and collecting donated copies. There was broad interest on both ends. Eventually, UISG and UI Libraries both allocated funds, totaling $17,000 for the one-year pilot. The committee drafted a set of criteria for books to be included in TAP and identified objectives for success. Then they started buying and collecting books.

As TAP began accepting donations last spring, the response from students was overwhelming. They donated hundreds of books, filling the UISG offices at the IMU. The committee is now working with faculty, students, and librarians to finalize its purchase list in order to get new books processed and on the shelves. TAP aims to have 100 books available for student use through course reserves at the Main Library and several other campus libraries by spring semester 2019. Their hope is to see the program grow over time so that more and more books are available for the students who need them.

For complete information about TAP, visit http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/TAP

TAP information for students
Can I access my textbooks for free? One easy way to find out whether your textbook is on Course Reserves is to use this simple search tool. Search by course name, instructor, or book title.

TAP information for faculty, instructors, and TAs
Do the textbooks for my course qualify for TAP? Faculty can email LIB-TAP@uiowa.edu to see if their textbooks are TAP eligible.

Feb 10 2016

LIBRARY SERVICES: Paging Service and CIC borrowing

Posted on February 10, 2016December 2, 2016 by The University of Iowa Libraries

NEW PAGING SERVICE—Beginning January 4, 2016, you can request up to 10 items for pickup at the Main Library through our catalog. Please request materials before 12:00 a.m. midnight for pickup after 12:00 p.m. noon the following business day. Requests received on a Friday will be ready the next Monday.

—When you have immediate need for items that are not available from the University of Iowa Libraries, search UBorrow. UBorrow enables you to find and request books directly from 15 major research libraries, with combined collections of more than 90 million volumes.

Learn more about and search UBorrow at guides.lib.uiowa.edu/uborrow