News

The USAIN Professional Development Committee is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2023 USAIN Research Fellows Award. We look forward to hearing from you!

A total of $4,000 in funding will be available to one or more USAIN members for financial support for conducting research on agricultural information. Examples of costs that could be covered by the award include (but are not limited to): transcription, travel to an institution for research, student worker support, etc. Funding requests may include up to 50% to be used towards the dissemination of USAIN Fellow research findings via conference fees or open access publishing. 

To apply, please complete the attached application to:

·  outline your proposed research or project 

·  describe what support is needed 

·  provide a research support justification demonstrating how this award will benefit your research objectives (and possibly USAIN and the profession)

·  give preliminary ideas of where you plan to disseminate the outcome or results of your project

Applications will be judged on the applicability of research to the USAIN mission, and adherence to application guidelines (see the rubric that is also attached).

Deadline is Friday, April 14, 2023.

Award recipients will be notified in June.

Send the completed application via email to: usain-research-fellows-g@vt.edu

Questions can be directed to Brad Brazzeal (bbrazzeal@library.msstate.edu), Andrea Kepsel (akepsel@msu.edu), Kristen Mastel (meye0539@umn.edu), or Kelly Weigand (kaj0050@auburn.edu).

Thank you for your interest in the USAIN Research Fellows Award!

Research_Fellows_Rubric_for_Award_2023.docx (1) (1).pdf

USAIN_Fellows_Application_2023 (002).docx

Please join USAIN's AHIIG (Animal Health Information Interest Group) Monday, April 3rd at 2:00pm EDT for a special presentation. A panel of North Carolina Cooperative Extension professionals will discuss their work and take questions related to disaster preparedness with animals.

Register and Submit Questions Here

- AHIIG Chairs, Hillary Fox and Tisha Mentnech (NC State University)

Reconnect with USAIN! We’re gathering online during our non-conference year. You’re invited to join our virtual informal networking event Wed. April 12th from 3-4 pm EDT. Gather with colleagues in small groups to share experiences on a variety of aspects of librarianship. Give Nitty Gritty tips on how you actually get your job done, connect over similar Research interests, find out how USAIN actually works, and join in some casual fun. If you’re thinking of coming, register online and fill out the survey to let us know your preference for discussion topics.

Event organizers: Helen Smith, Megan Kocher, Britt Foster, Kristen Mastel, Patricia Brandes, Suzanne Stapleton

The Nominations and Elections Committee is pleased to present the slate of the 2023 USAIN Executive Council candidates for President-Elect, Secretary, and three Directors: 2023USAIN-election-FullBallot.pdf

Please take some time to review the candidates’ biographies and personal statements.  You’ll receive your personal link to the electronic election ballot via SurveyMonkey next week; please be sure to check your junk mail folders.  

The Committee identified two candidates for President-Elect, two for Treasurer, and four candidates for the three Director positions.  The ballot will also allow for write-in candidates.

We thank all who are standing for election, and those who considered running. 

 Sincerely,

Megan Kocher (Chair), Livia Olsen, Jessica Page, Luti Salisbury

2023 USAIN Nominations and Elections Committee 

2023USAIN-election-FullBallot.pdf

Save the date and make plans to attend USAIN 2024 biennial conference hosted by Michigan State University! Exciting news is that the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries will gather together with USAIN the week of May 6^th, 2024.

The USAIN Agricultural Research Services Interest Group (ARSIG) is pleased to announce we will be hosting a webinar “Historic Yields: Making Old Agricultural Data New Again” presented by Sandi Caldrone of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  See the event details below.  The webinar will be recorded.

All are welcome to attend! 

Please direct any questions to IG co-conveners Sarah Williams (scwillms@illinois.edu) and Maggie Albro (malbro@utk.edu).

Historic Yields: Making Old Agricultural Data New Again

Presented by Sandi Caldrone

Wednesday, September 28

1:00-2:00pm (Central)

https://illinois.zoom.us/j/88557979234?pwd=bFpJRFJiOTMyZUhxd2RISnljZ1F4UT09

Meeting ID: 885 5797 9234  |  Password: 624479

Webinar Description: Dusty annual reports, typewritten tables, random PDF files, and Excel trackers full of idiosyncratic notes and special formatting. How do we transform records like these into Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data? Historical agricultural datasets present information professionals with a smorgasbord of digital preservation challenges. In this webinar, data librarian Sandi Caldrone walks you through her experiences with two such datasets – soybean tests dating back to 1941 and the Morrow Plots experiment dating back to 1876 – and the challenges, lessons learned, and old-fashioned team effort it takes to make historical data usable again. We will also make time for attendees to share their own experiences with historical data. Please feel free to bring an example to share.

Sandi’s Bio: Sandi Caldrone is the librarian for the Research Data Service at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She leads education and outreach efforts for the service, and is particularly interested in transforming traditional workshops into self-guided learning experiences. Her research interests include data rescue, data visualization, and curating research datasets for classroom use. She previously worked for the Purdue University Libraries’ data repository where she curated a wide variety of datasets. Sandi earned her M.S. in Library and Information Science with a focus on data curation from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and also holds an M.A. in Anthropology and Women’s Studies from Northern Illinois University.<</p>

We hope to see you there!

The recording of the Update on the USDA National Agricultural Library provided to USAIN by NAL Director, Paul Wester, Jr. on July 13, 2022 is now available (see link below). Bonus feature is Paul's premier TikTok on bagel baking!

Update on USDA NAL [recording]

Bagel making with Paul Wester

The Professional Development Committee is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2022 USAIN Research Fellows Award. Kiri DeBose's proposal “Economic Analyses of the Impacts of Seasonal Heat Stress on Dairy Production,” has been approved and awarded $3,990. The committee noted the strength of library and faculty collaboration in the project, and learning opportunities for student workers assisting with the literature review and statistical analyses. In addition, this project is very timely as last year NOAA ranked 2021 as the 6th hottest year on record, and we are looking at that happening again this year.

Congratulations to Kiri (and colleagues)! We look forward to hopefully hearing more about their research project at USAIN 2024 in Michigan!

- USAIN Research Fellows Award committee members: Britt Foster, Brad Brazzeal, and Kristen Mastel

We are pleased to invite USAIN members and friends to an Update on the USDA National Agricultural Library by Director Paul Wester, on Wednesday, July 13^th at 3:00 pm Eastern. The zoom link for this presentation is https://www.zoomgov.com/j/16072631774. There is no prior registration or fee to join. The session will be recorded and available to members unable to attend. 

On May 25, 2022, the USAIN Executive Council Approved the attached letter sent to Texas A&M University President M. Katherine Banks and Interim Library Dean Julie Ballestro outlining our concerns with the proposed changes to the TAMU Libraries. USAIN is committed to advocacy on behalf of our members and our profession and we urge TAMU to reconsider the changes being made in their library system.

Letter to TAMU President M. Katherine Banks