- Deb LuDwig, assistant dean for collections and scholar services

I’ve had many recent conversations with KU faculty about change within KU Libraries, and I hear your concern about the future of library collections and services. Academic research libraries worldwide are undergoing a period of rapid transformation unlike any in our past. Changes in technology drive our work in new directions at the same time that many disciplines dependent on the flow of scholarly resources are also in flux. These forces are dramatically reshaping library research collections in terms of what we purchase and how we deliver resources.

It is a challenge to balance the demand for transformational digital resources with a continuing need for traditional print materials. More than 70 percent of KU Libraries’ current collections budget supports digital forms of information. The rest supports a variety of services and formats, including DVDs and print. Primary resources in digital format, such as KU Libraries’ recent subscription to Proquest Historical Newspapers, reaches scholars in their office, classroom or home with coverage back to the 16th century, and represents a great investment. We are beginning to digitize unique and rare collections in Kenneth Spencer Research Library, and we now archive born-digital or

digitized versions of faculty research in many forms (articles, data sets, recordings, etc.).

Yet even as we stand knee-deep in technology with one leg, another remains planted in the print world. In an age of mobility and nearly ubiquitous Internet, some may wonder why KU Libraries would spend scarce funding on traditional materials. A complex web of intellectual property rules, technology design and human preference means there are still important resources we can acquire only in print. Foreign publishers may not offer digital volumes and intellectual property rights vary widely from country to country. Even in the United States, presses may offer limited print-only runs of scholarly monographs, or digital versions may significantly lag in availability.

Many who wish to read a book cover-to-cover, study its contents over time, or depend heavily

Graduate students in French 720: Introduction to Graduate Studies with instructor Bruce Hayes (center), associate professor of French, in collaboration with Fran Devlin (to his right), subject librarian for French and Italian. Photo by Courtney Foat.

Annotations

A foot in each world: Print and electronic collection development strategies for academic disciplines at KU

Annotations is published in October and March by Ku Libraries. Archives and additional content are available at www.lib.ku.edu/annotations.

eDitOr

rebecca Smith, rasmith@ku.edu

cOntent

Sarah KanningDylan Derryberry

DeSign

courtney Foatclaire Dooley

Librarians in action

Spring 2012 KU Libraries News1

cOntentS

From the dean

embedded librarians: At home in the classroom

building a love of books, one collection at a time

there’s a guide for that!

rhonda Houser, giS & data specialist

upcoming events

2

2

2

3

4

4

Rhonda Houser Profile

Office of the Dean502 watson Libraryuniversity of Kansaswww.lib.ku.edu

4 1

uPcOMing eVentS:For complete details about our spring events schedule, visit www.lib.ku.edu/events. For questions or to rSVP, contact Kristina crawford: crawkrc@ku.edu or 785-864-8961.

wwii oral histories: African American veterans share their stories

Snyder book collecting contest awards event

Preserving family history workshop

4/5

4/19

6/2

1

cOntinueD On PAge 4

on illustrations tell us that print creates the best user experience. Finally, important legacy archives of materials may not be digitally available. A recent purchase of just such an archive on microform resulted in publication of an award-winning book by a KU researcher. For all of these reasons, print materials continue to be an important, although diminishing, part of our collection-building strategy.

We are addressing the challenge of ongoing and significant journal and book inflation through cost-reduction strategies such as demand-

driven acquisition of monographs, scrutiny of large journal bundles (a.k.a. “big deals”) and continuous review of existing acquisitions. Like many of our KU colleagues, we seek to expand external funding through grants and individual private support wherever possible. In the midst of these changes and challenges, we remain committed to listening to the campus community and continuing the conversation about how best to meet your needs. I encourage you to contact me directly (dludwig@ku.edu, 785-864-1376) with your questions, concerns and ideas.

Where in the world is Rhonda Houser, KU Libraries’ geographic information systems (GIS) and data specialist? Hint: You won’t find her in red trench coat and fedora, but she’s still in high demand among researchers looking to create and interpret geospatial data. When she isn’t teaching an ArcGIS workshop or helping KU faculty and students use GIS in their research, she’s usually in Anschutz Library, right next to the maps collection.

GIS has a higher public profile lately, as academic research groups and corporations like Google produce maps of the world showing natural disasters or geopolitical strife. But the technology is well within reach for smaller projects, too.

“GIS can integrate space—in a geographic sense—and time, and old maps with new data,” Houser said. “It is a compelling tool for many disciplines, made most powerful when subject and software experts work together to visualize data and interpret results.” KU faculty, staff and students come to her for help using that powerful tool.

“Rhonda’s assistance was essential to advance my research projects addressing spatial variation in election returns,” said Erik Herron, associate professor of political science. “Rhonda helped me create district-level maps, merge my election data with the maps and manipulate the visuals. I have used maps generated by these tools in my teaching, conference presentations and published research.”

Dr. Bonnie J. Johnson, assistant professor of urban planning at KU, concurs. “Rhonda and her GIS expertise are indispensable to my

classes and the training of future city planners in making maps and analyzing data,” Johnson said. “Over the past five years Rhonda has helped me and my students with plans ranging from laying out a campground and religious retreat in rural Linn County, to imagining the future of the Barker Neighborhood here in Lawrence, to exploring alternatives for the abandoned Rock Island Railroad corridor in Kansas City.”

Houser’s interest in GIS blossomed while she was earning her master’s degree in environmental science from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where her thesis was on using GIS to predict suitable cougar habitat in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She says the field is still growing and evolving, and she continues to learn from colleagues in the field and the staff, faculty and students she works with at KU.

Learn more about GIS at KU at guides.lib.ku.edu/gis, sign up for a workshop at infotraining.ku.edu or schedule a consultation with Houser at rhouser@ku.edu or 785-864-1238.

A foot in each world... cOntinueD FrOM PAge 1

Rhonda Houser, GIS & data specialist

Rhonda Houser (right), meeting with a student. Photo by Claire Dooley.

Cla

ire

Do

ole

y

If you have had the opportunity to watch the State of the University video (http://chancellor.ku.edu/sotu2012), you know that we are part of a university on the move. In order to be prepared to meet our changing campus environment with agility and forethought, and to remain not only relevant but essential to the new strategies in place across campus, we at KU Libraries have embarked on a strategic planning process, to be completed this summer.

At this writing, the Provost is moving ahead with 12 foundational faculty hires, which are directly tied to KU’s strategic priorities. We plan to join the multiple units across campus moving in the same direction to realize the goals within Bold Aspirations. At the final summit meeting in January, I had the opportunity to share the libraries’ role in Bold Aspirations, and I look forward to our expanding role in new campus initiatives.

To secure our seat at the table, we at KU Libraries intend to think beyond our current place in this organization, and show we are capable of bringing new perspectives and innovative ideas. I have urged our strategic planning steering committee members and our working groups not to be limited by our current structure. Instead, we recognize that reorganization may be imperative to align our organization with our new vision as an active, aligned partner in teaching, research and learning at KU. I am confident that we will be successful in this process.

lorraine j. haricombeDean of Libraries

2 3

Tami Albin - Embedded in american studies and women’s studies coursesNever one to do anything by halves, Undergraduate Instruction and Outreach Librarian Tami Albin launched her efforts in embedded librarianship in a big way last fall, with one American studies and three women, gender and sexuality studies courses.

How is being “embedded” different from other types of library instruction? Albin explains: “When I’m embedded in a class, I engage with the students in a different and much more immediate way, as a participant. I can guide them very early on in the research process, helping them find more and better sources in their research and do more critical work with the source material.”

The process takes more time for librarians than more typical in-class instruction (one or two sessions over the course of the semester, plus following up with students individually upon request), but Albin said the results were worth it in the long-term.

“Having Tami in the classroom brings KU Libraries to the students, many of whom still view ‘research’ as drudgery,” said Dr. Milton Wendland, visiting professor in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. “By having a librarian in the classroom every day, students feel a personal connection to the libraries and to the research process. They seemed more connected to their projects. Rather than grabbing the first five or 10 sources that came up on their searches and cobbling together something that looked like a research paper, students really grappled with questions about their own interests and saw that the KU Libraries—including the Spencer archives—could help them flesh out their own questions. It was remarkable how excited they were throughout the process and how their ownership of their own work increased—due in large part to the classroom-library connection that Tami created by being in the classroom regularly.”

Embedded librarians: At home in the classroom

FroM tHE DEan lorraine j. haricombe

Ku Libraries seeks student entries for our 56th annual Snyder book collecting contest, which cultivates students’ interest in collecting books.

“the contest is about recognizing students’ passion, not only for books, but for the

From accounting to women’s studies, your subject librarians have created 300+ research guides (guides.lib.ku.edu) to help students find and use the best information available. the guides cover broad subject areas, specific research topics, general how-to’s and course-specific resources, and offer students a great starting point for research.

Fran Devlin - Embedded in a French courseFran Devlin, subject librarian for French and Italian, is embedded in a course for the first time this semester, working with Dr. Bruce Hayes, the director of graduate studies in French.

“First and foremost, such a collaborative project is possible because of the longstanding working relationship I have with Fran Devlin,” Hayes said. “In designing a new course, Introduction to Graduate Studies (French 720), it was natural for me to turn first to Fran for help.... What has made the experience so positive is how proactive Fran is—without being intrusive, she brings her own perspective and makes suggestions that are improving the quality of the content of this course,” Hayes said.

Because it was Hayes’ first time teaching the course, Hayes and Devlin worked together to develop the curriculum. Devlin also consulted with Jana Krentz, a librarian who teaches a comparable course in the Spanish department, about possible textbooks to assign.

Devlin said, “This has made me work harder, to go back and look at all these resources, and work with the students in an engaging way. The benefit of this approach for graduate students is an increased awareness of what’s out there in the world for them. Not everything is online; we’re helping them understand the full breadth of what’s available in print and on the web, and develop strategies for weeding out what’s superfluous.”

“I go to all the classes, so I’m there learning with them,” Devlin said. “Last session I was talking to them about journals. Where do you find the best journals in your field? Where do you want to try to publish? How do you find things inside those journals, using subject headings and keywords? We talked about Ulrichs (Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory), because it’s essential when you need to know where something is indexed, to track down

“Embedded librarianship”—in which a librarian takes a much more engaged and long-term role in research or teaching—is gaining enthusiasts on campus as more professors and librarians try out this new model. Here, three of KU’s librarians share their experiences—and their successes—in working with faculty and students in classrooms across campus.

the database where you can find it. The discussion made them think differently about where and how to find good journals.”

In addition to the six sessions Devlin will lead, she is bringing in several library colleagues: Kim Glover, to work with students on using EndNote; Ada Emmett, who will discuss scholarly communications and open access; Brian Rosenbloom, covering developments in digital humanities; and Karen Cook and Elspeth Healey to talk about Kenneth Spencer Research Libraries’ French-language collections, such as 19th French century pamphlets.

Jana Krentz - Embedded in spanish courses and teaching a Latin american graduate courseJana Krentz, head of the Department for Spain, Portugal and Latin America at KU Libraries, brings a great deal of teaching experience to her work as an embedded librarian, having taught the graduate-level “LAA 700: Introduction to Latin American Library Resources” course for several years.

Krentz is also embedded in Spanish 324 and 328 (Spanish composition and conversation). “For me, that can mean crafting assignments and evaluating them, presenting in class, and developing rubrics for assignments,” Krentz said. “Being embedded in those 300-level courses is a critical because that’s where the students develop the essential information literacy skills that form the foundation for higher-level courses.” The outcomes she measures include students’ ability to search databases effectively and evaluate web sites. “My assessment data show that has really made a difference—it’s been amazing—and those positive outcomes affect the students’ entire college career, not just that course.”

In addition to her involvement in traditional classes, Krentz has developed a series of interactive online tutorials, some general, others targeted for a specific course. “This is not electronic page-turning,” Krentz said. “The students have to participate. They are prompted to give responses, work through built-in quizzes, and so on. My goal is to keep them as engaged as possible.”

subjects that fire their intellectual curiosity,” said Tara Wenger, Snyder committee co-chair. “i hope that professors in the arts and sciences as well as the humanities encourage their students to compete.”

The contest deadline is 5:00 p.m. Friday, March 30th; for official rules, visit www.lib.ku.edu/snyder.

buiLDing A LOVe OF bOOKS, One cOLLectiOn At A tiMe

Left: Librarian Tami Albin (center) works with student athletes in a summer section of LA&S 292: Research Methods and Information Literacy. Photo by Sarah Kanning.

Far left: Librarian Fran Devlin (standing) assists graduate students in French 720: Introduction to Graduate Studies. Photo by Courtney Foat.Left: Librarian Jana Krentz (right) consults with a student in her office. Photo by Claire Dooley.

tHere’S A guiDe FOr tHAt!

Want a research guide for your own course?

contact your librarian (www.lib.ku.edu/subjectlibrarians) or Kim glover, instructional design librarian (gloverk@ku.edu, 785-864-1975) to get started.

Da

viD

Mc

Kin

ney

, KU

Un

iver

sit

y r

ela

tio

ns

If you have had the opportunity to watch the State of the University video (http://chancellor.ku.edu/sotu2012), you know that we are part of a university on the move. In order to be prepared to meet our changing campus environment with agility and forethought, and to remain not only relevant but essential to the new strategies in place across campus, we at KU Libraries have embarked on a strategic planning process, to be completed this summer.

At this writing, the Provost is moving ahead with 12 foundational faculty hires, which are directly tied to KU’s strategic priorities. We plan to join the multiple units across campus moving in the same direction to realize the goals within Bold Aspirations. At the final summit meeting in January, I had the opportunity to share the libraries’ role in Bold Aspirations, and I look forward to our expanding role in new campus initiatives.

To secure our seat at the table, we at KU Libraries intend to think beyond our current place in this organization, and show we are capable of bringing new perspectives and innovative ideas. I have urged our strategic planning steering committee members and our working groups not to be limited by our current structure. Instead, we recognize that reorganization may be imperative to align our organization with our new vision as an active, aligned partner in teaching, research and learning at KU. I am confident that we will be successful in this process.

lorraine j. haricombeDean of Libraries

2 3

Tami Albin - Embedded in american studies and women’s studies coursesNever one to do anything by halves, Undergraduate Instruction and Outreach Librarian Tami Albin launched her efforts in embedded librarianship in a big way last fall, with one American studies and three women, gender and sexuality studies courses.

How is being “embedded” different from other types of library instruction? Albin explains: “When I’m embedded in a class, I engage with the students in a different and much more immediate way, as a participant. I can guide them very early on in the research process, helping them find more and better sources in their research and do more critical work with the source material.”

The process takes more time for librarians than more typical in-class instruction (one or two sessions over the course of the semester, plus following up with students individually upon request), but Albin said the results were worth it in the long-term.

“Having Tami in the classroom brings KU Libraries to the students, many of whom still view ‘research’ as drudgery,” said Dr. Milton Wendland, visiting professor in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. “By having a librarian in the classroom every day, students feel a personal connection to the libraries and to the research process. They seemed more connected to their projects. Rather than grabbing the first five or 10 sources that came up on their searches and cobbling together something that looked like a research paper, students really grappled with questions about their own interests and saw that the KU Libraries—including the Spencer archives—could help them flesh out their own questions. It was remarkable how excited they were throughout the process and how their ownership of their own work increased—due in large part to the classroom-library connection that Tami created by being in the classroom regularly.”

Embedded librarians: At home in the classroom

FroM tHE DEan lorraine j. haricombe

Ku Libraries seeks student entries for our 56th annual Snyder book collecting contest, which cultivates students’ interest in collecting books.

“the contest is about recognizing students’ passion, not only for books, but for the

From accounting to women’s studies, your subject librarians have created 300+ research guides (guides.lib.ku.edu) to help students find and use the best information available. the guides cover broad subject areas, specific research topics, general how-to’s and course-specific resources, and offer students a great starting point for research.

Fran Devlin - Embedded in a French courseFran Devlin, subject librarian for French and Italian, is embedded in a course for the first time this semester, working with Dr. Bruce Hayes, the director of graduate studies in French.

“First and foremost, such a collaborative project is possible because of the longstanding working relationship I have with Fran Devlin,” Hayes said. “In designing a new course, Introduction to Graduate Studies (French 720), it was natural for me to turn first to Fran for help.... What has made the experience so positive is how proactive Fran is—without being intrusive, she brings her own perspective and makes suggestions that are improving the quality of the content of this course,” Hayes said.

Because it was Hayes’ first time teaching the course, Hayes and Devlin worked together to develop the curriculum. Devlin also consulted with Jana Krentz, a librarian who teaches a comparable course in the Spanish department, about possible textbooks to assign.

Devlin said, “This has made me work harder, to go back and look at all these resources, and work with the students in an engaging way. The benefit of this approach for graduate students is an increased awareness of what’s out there in the world for them. Not everything is online; we’re helping them understand the full breadth of what’s available in print and on the web, and develop strategies for weeding out what’s superfluous.”

“I go to all the classes, so I’m there learning with them,” Devlin said. “Last session I was talking to them about journals. Where do you find the best journals in your field? Where do you want to try to publish? How do you find things inside those journals, using subject headings and keywords? We talked about Ulrichs (Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory), because it’s essential when you need to know where something is indexed, to track down

“Embedded librarianship”—in which a librarian takes a much more engaged and long-term role in research or teaching—is gaining enthusiasts on campus as more professors and librarians try out this new model. Here, three of KU’s librarians share their experiences—and their successes—in working with faculty and students in classrooms across campus.

the database where you can find it. The discussion made them think differently about where and how to find good journals.”

In addition to the six sessions Devlin will lead, she is bringing in several library colleagues: Kim Glover, to work with students on using EndNote; Ada Emmett, who will discuss scholarly communications and open access; Brian Rosenbloom, covering developments in digital humanities; and Karen Cook and Elspeth Healey to talk about Kenneth Spencer Research Libraries’ French-language collections, such as 19th French century pamphlets.

Jana Krentz - Embedded in spanish courses and teaching a Latin american graduate courseJana Krentz, head of the Department for Spain, Portugal and Latin America at KU Libraries, brings a great deal of teaching experience to her work as an embedded librarian, having taught the graduate-level “LAA 700: Introduction to Latin American Library Resources” course for several years.

Krentz is also embedded in Spanish 324 and 328 (Spanish composition and conversation). “For me, that can mean crafting assignments and evaluating them, presenting in class, and developing rubrics for assignments,” Krentz said. “Being embedded in those 300-level courses is a critical because that’s where the students develop the essential information literacy skills that form the foundation for higher-level courses.” The outcomes she measures include students’ ability to search databases effectively and evaluate web sites. “My assessment data show that has really made a difference—it’s been amazing—and those positive outcomes affect the students’ entire college career, not just that course.”

In addition to her involvement in traditional classes, Krentz has developed a series of interactive online tutorials, some general, others targeted for a specific course. “This is not electronic page-turning,” Krentz said. “The students have to participate. They are prompted to give responses, work through built-in quizzes, and so on. My goal is to keep them as engaged as possible.”

subjects that fire their intellectual curiosity,” said Tara Wenger, Snyder committee co-chair. “i hope that professors in the arts and sciences as well as the humanities encourage their students to compete.”

The contest deadline is 5:00 p.m. Friday, March 30th; for official rules, visit www.lib.ku.edu/snyder.

buiLDing A LOVe OF bOOKS, One cOLLectiOn At A tiMe

Left: Librarian Tami Albin (center) works with student athletes in a summer section of LA&S 292: Research Methods and Information Literacy. Photo by Sarah Kanning.

Far left: Librarian Fran Devlin (standing) assists graduate students in French 720: Introduction to Graduate Studies. Photo by Courtney Foat.Left: Librarian Jana Krentz (right) consults with a student in her office. Photo by Claire Dooley.

tHere’S A guiDe FOr tHAt!

Want a research guide for your own course?

contact your librarian (www.lib.ku.edu/subjectlibrarians) or Kim glover, instructional design librarian (gloverk@ku.edu, 785-864-1975) to get started.

Da

viD

Mc

Kin

ney

, KU

Un

iver

sit

y r

ela

tio

ns

- Deb LuDwig, assistant dean for collections and scholar services

I’ve had many recent conversations with KU faculty about change within KU Libraries, and I hear your concern about the future of library collections and services. Academic research libraries worldwide are undergoing a period of rapid transformation unlike any in our past. Changes in technology drive our work in new directions at the same time that many disciplines dependent on the flow of scholarly resources are also in flux. These forces are dramatically reshaping library research collections in terms of what we purchase and how we deliver resources.

It is a challenge to balance the demand for transformational digital resources with a continuing need for traditional print materials. More than 70 percent of KU Libraries’ current collections budget supports digital forms of information. The rest supports a variety of services and formats, including DVDs and print. Primary resources in digital format, such as KU Libraries’ recent subscription to Proquest Historical Newspapers, reaches scholars in their office, classroom or home with coverage back to the 16th century, and represents a great investment. We are beginning to digitize unique and rare collections in Kenneth Spencer Research Library, and we now archive born-digital or

digitized versions of faculty research in many forms (articles, data sets, recordings, etc.).

Yet even as we stand knee-deep in technology with one leg, another remains planted in the print world. In an age of mobility and nearly ubiquitous Internet, some may wonder why KU Libraries would spend scarce funding on traditional materials. A complex web of intellectual property rules, technology design and human preference means there are still important resources we can acquire only in print. Foreign publishers may not offer digital volumes and intellectual property rights vary widely from country to country. Even in the United States, presses may offer limited print-only runs of scholarly monographs, or digital versions may significantly lag in availability.

Many who wish to read a book cover-to-cover, study its contents over time, or depend heavily

Graduate students in French 720: Introduction to Graduate Studies with instructor Bruce Hayes (center), associate professor of French, in collaboration with Fran Devlin (to his right), subject librarian for French and Italian. Photo by Courtney Foat.

Annotations

A foot in each world: Print and electronic collection development strategies for academic disciplines at KU

Annotations is published in October and March by Ku Libraries. Archives and additional content are available at www.lib.ku.edu/annotations.

eDitOr

rebecca Smith, rasmith@ku.edu

cOntent

Sarah KanningDylan Derryberry

DeSign

courtney Foatclaire Dooley

Librarians in action

Spring 2012 KU Libraries News1

cOntentS

From the dean

embedded librarians: At home in the classroom

building a love of books, one collection at a time

there’s a guide for that!

rhonda Houser, giS & data specialist

upcoming events

2

2

2

3

4

4

Rhonda Houser Profile

Office of the Dean502 watson Libraryuniversity of Kansaswww.lib.ku.edu

4 1

uPcOMing eVentS:For complete details about our spring events schedule, visit www.lib.ku.edu/events. For questions or to rSVP, contact Kristina crawford: crawkrc@ku.edu or 785-864-8961.

wwii oral histories: African American veterans share their stories

Snyder book collecting contest awards event

Preserving family history workshop

4/5

4/19

6/2

1

cOntinueD On PAge 4

on illustrations tell us that print creates the best user experience. Finally, important legacy archives of materials may not be digitally available. A recent purchase of just such an archive on microform resulted in publication of an award-winning book by a KU researcher. For all of these reasons, print materials continue to be an important, although diminishing, part of our collection-building strategy.

We are addressing the challenge of ongoing and significant journal and book inflation through cost-reduction strategies such as demand-

driven acquisition of monographs, scrutiny of large journal bundles (a.k.a. “big deals”) and continuous review of existing acquisitions. Like many of our KU colleagues, we seek to expand external funding through grants and individual private support wherever possible. In the midst of these changes and challenges, we remain committed to listening to the campus community and continuing the conversation about how best to meet your needs. I encourage you to contact me directly (dludwig@ku.edu, 785-864-1376) with your questions, concerns and ideas.

Where in the world is Rhonda Houser, KU Libraries’ geographic information systems (GIS) and data specialist? Hint: You won’t find her in red trench coat and fedora, but she’s still in high demand among researchers looking to create and interpret geospatial data. When she isn’t teaching an ArcGIS workshop or helping KU faculty and students use GIS in their research, she’s usually in Anschutz Library, right next to the maps collection.

GIS has a higher public profile lately, as academic research groups and corporations like Google produce maps of the world showing natural disasters or geopolitical strife. But the technology is well within reach for smaller projects, too.

“GIS can integrate space—in a geographic sense—and time, and old maps with new data,” Houser said. “It is a compelling tool for many disciplines, made most powerful when subject and software experts work together to visualize data and interpret results.” KU faculty, staff and students come to her for help using that powerful tool.

“Rhonda’s assistance was essential to advance my research projects addressing spatial variation in election returns,” said Erik Herron, associate professor of political science. “Rhonda helped me create district-level maps, merge my election data with the maps and manipulate the visuals. I have used maps generated by these tools in my teaching, conference presentations and published research.”

Dr. Bonnie J. Johnson, assistant professor of urban planning at KU, concurs. “Rhonda and her GIS expertise are indispensable to my

classes and the training of future city planners in making maps and analyzing data,” Johnson said. “Over the past five years Rhonda has helped me and my students with plans ranging from laying out a campground and religious retreat in rural Linn County, to imagining the future of the Barker Neighborhood here in Lawrence, to exploring alternatives for the abandoned Rock Island Railroad corridor in Kansas City.”

Houser’s interest in GIS blossomed while she was earning her master’s degree in environmental science from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where her thesis was on using GIS to predict suitable cougar habitat in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She says the field is still growing and evolving, and she continues to learn from colleagues in the field and the staff, faculty and students she works with at KU.

Learn more about GIS at KU at guides.lib.ku.edu/gis, sign up for a workshop at infotraining.ku.edu or schedule a consultation with Houser at rhouser@ku.edu or 785-864-1238.

A foot in each world... cOntinueD FrOM PAge 1

Rhonda Houser, GIS & data specialist

Rhonda Houser (right), meeting with a student. Photo by Claire Dooley.

Cla

ire

Do

ole

y