Read This Book!

Books about journalism, media bias, and fact checking were reviewed in this episode of Read This Book! from the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Science is at the forefront of this episode of U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial. In the late 1980s, there was a growing consensus that within 20 years, we would see a dearth of graduates in science-based fields, an issue that spurred the creation of today’s featured program, "Science Lives: Women and Minorities in the Sciences."

By Hannah O'Neill

Welcome back to U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial!

It’s starting to feel like spring, or what this Minnesota transplant refers to as “outside time.” With so much natural recreation to offer, it’s no surprise that Minnesota has a strong culture of conservation that goes back decades. Earth Day isn’t until April 22, but on this week’s program, Down the Conservation Trail, we’re getting a head start.

You can listen to the episode here in the browser and read the script below.

Episode 08: Down the Conservation Trail

You are listening to U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial podcast and this is episode 8: Down the Conservation Trail.

Hello! This is Hannah, from University Archives. Today’s featured program will take us into Minnesota’s famous outdoors, from Sandy Lake to the Boundary Waters. We’ll be listening to one of the Minnesota School of the Air’s longest running programs, Following Conservation Trails.

Following Conservation Trails ran from 1947 to 1968 and addressed issues related to conservation, the environment, and natural resources. The episodes presented classroom friendly material through a set formula, consisting of an overview of the topic, a dramatization, and a discussion of what preservation efforts could be made in and out of school. The radio-plays often featured a similar cast of characters: a younger girl and boy, an older family member, and Nat Hammond, naturalist and wilderness guide extraordinaire. The topics focused on in the episodes included wildlife management, forest and grass fires, watersheds, soil erosion, habitats, and other ecologically-minded lessons. Other notable episodes highlighted Minnesota’s major parks, such as Itasca State Park, Voyageurs National Park, and Fort Snelling State Park. There was also an emphasis on the role humanity has as the stewards of the natural world, and the importance of conservation for future generations.

The cover of the 1951-1952 Following Conservation Trails Teachers’ Manual.

Episodes were 12 to 15 minutes in length and taught quick lessons that would supplement a school’s science curriculum. Every year, a teacher’s manual was produced to reinforce the educational information and provide activities and discussion around the topics. This first clip comes from the 1967 episode, A Living Chain, in which the younger character gives a clear, textbook definition of ecology, and the guide character explains animal behavioral patterns, how they evolved over time, and how they fit into the natural order. You can imagine teachers telling their students that, “yes, this will be on the test.”

The next clip is from a 1962 episode called Down to the Sea, which taught listeners about soil erosion caused by water run-off. Recurring characters Martha and Gramps receive a letter from their ranger friend Nat Hammond about the success the Muskegon Valley has had with controlling erosion and runoff, and Gramps comments that it’s about time everyone starts addressing the problem of water supply. Later, the two relax near a river with Martha’s brother Jim, who recounts what he’s learned about the disappearance of valuable top soil due to excessive water runoff.

More than one episode was dedicated to the natural wonders found along the Gunflint Trail up to the Quetico-Superior wilderness, also referred to as the Boundary Waters, and the history of the fur-trading Voyageurs. These episodes seem designed to inspire strong feelings over the preservation of these historically and ecologically relevant areas, and the importance of keeping them unpolluted for future generations. In this clip, Martha, Jim, and Gramps, along with the ever-present Nat Hammond go on a camping trip in “Minnesota Canoe Country.

It’s starting to feel like spring, or what this Minnesota transplant refers to as “outside time.” With so much natural recreation to offer, it’s no surprise that Minnesota has a strong culture of conservation that goes back decades. Earth Day isn’t until April 22, but on this week’s program, Down the Conservation Trail, we’re getting a head start.

By Jon Jeffryes

Peer Research Consultants Mariah Berner and Akshina Banerjee.

Students starting their next research project have a powerful library resource to turn to — their fellow students.

Peer Research Consultants, a cadre of undergraduate students from the University of Minnesota Libraries, are thoroughly trained in a wide variety of library tools, information literacy, and research basics. They provide a friendly and less formal starting point for students new to the research process.

Students talking to students about research

“We think it’s great for students to talk to students about the Libraries,” says Peer Research Consultants Lead Andrew Palahniuk. And there’s research to back it up. Similar campus peer programs have studied and published on the value found in situations where students teach students.

PRCs help students in a variety of ways, from brainstorming research questions to finding and evaluating journal articles. PRCs ask that students bring along their assignment details for the best level of service, but the conversations are relaxed and customized to each student. Consultations usually run about 30 minutes. PRCs follow up with an email filled with links to the resources, articles, and tools discussed.

The PRCs have all successfully completed WRIT 1301 or an equivalent course and have first-hand experience with library research and knowledge of what a successful research project requires.

One of the main goals of the PRC program is to provide information literacy skills through individual peer consultations. These skills, such as evaluating information for reliability or bias, are skills that students apply not just to their coursework, but to everyday interactions like wading through the recent proliferation of fake news shared via social media and returned in internet search results.

‘I can see the relief on their faces’

The Libraries' Peer Research Consultants exhibit great enthusiasm for their work.

“I love that moment during the session when I can see the relief on their faces as they see their assignment come together,"  says Emily Young, a Biology, Society, and Environment major with a minor in Philosophy. "That's when I know I've done my job.” 

Akshina Banerjee, double majoring in Economics and Linguistics, values “the exposure to myriad research ideas and the beautiful curiosity of my fellow students.”

Along with helping their peers, Peer Research Consultants have seen that their training enriches their own academic experiences. Mariah Berner, double majoring in Biology, Society, and Environment and Psychology, cites not just the benefits of learning more about library research and resources, but “the general skills of problem solving and critically analyzing” that she builds within herself “as well as being able to help others develop.”

In post-meeting evaluations, users speak not just about their success finding good articles, but also the boost a meeting can give to their self esteem.

“Overall, my peer research consultant boosted my confidence in exceeding in this paper,” one user commented after meeting with a PRC to narrow a research topic and start locating relevant sources.

A complement to traditional librarians

These meetings complement traditional librarian consultations. Students get started and learn the context of the research process that prepares them to make the most of future in-depth consultations with subject experts.

This year, the PRCs are available in more locations than ever before. 

Peer Research Consultants, a cadre of undergraduate students from the University of Minnesota Libraries, provide a friendly and less formal starting point for undergrads new to the research process.

Our current exhibit, Engraved in Copper: The Art of Mapping Minnesota, features unique engraved copper plates used to print topographic maps of Minnesota in the early 1900s, surveying and mapmaking techniques, and government documents related to the process.

The plates are part of the evolution of government mapping and the history of the United States Geological Survey, from early mapping efforts to Geographic Information Systems.

Engraved in Copper is on display through May 22, 2017 at Elmer L. Andersen Library on the west bank of the University of Minnesota campus.

Watch this video preview of our current exhibit, "Engraved in Copper: The Art of Mapping Minnesota," which features unique engraved copper plates used to print topographic maps of Minnesota in the early 1900s, surveying and mapmaking techniques, and government documents related to the process. The exhibit runs through May 22 at Elmer L. Andersen Library.

By Hannah O'Neill

Welcome back to U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial! The podcast has returned in time for Women’s History Month. The KUOM archive is full of interviews, lectures, and stories featuring dynamic, history-making women. Today, we will focus on a program featuring Minnesota Legislature Representative Helen McMillan, on the state of women’s rights in 1971.

You can listen to the episode here in the browser and read the script below.

Episode 7: Women’s Rights in ‘71

You are listening to U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial podcast and this is episode 7: Women’s Rights in ‘71.

Hello! This is Hannah, taking over from Karen as the KUOM project archivist at the University of Minnesota Archives.

March is Women’s History Month, and today we’re going to listen in on a discussion on women’s rights from nearly 50 years ago. In 1971, Helen McMillan, who attended, but did not graduate from, the University of Minnesota, was the only woman sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature, serving as a representative from 1963 to 1974. She was a guest on the show featured in today’s podcast, Legislature ‘71, which was a weekly discussion program focused on the “problems and possibilities facing the 1971 Minnesota Legislature.” Other topics covered by the program included human rights, Indian Affairs, transportation, housing, and environmental issues. On the show today, we will first hear Rep. McMillan discuss her singular status with Senator Rollin Glewwe and Diana Murphy of the League of Women Voters.

"Alumni in the Legislature," in the University of Minnesota Alumni magazine, 1971. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/11299/52485

The moderator notes that the program is for the first and probably only time balanced between the sexes, citing McMillan’s position as the sole female legislator. McMillan responds that she can’t figure out why the numbers are so low, pointing out that women have served in the legislature since the passage of the Suffrage Amendment in 1919. She states that what is harder to understand is why fewer women run, as there is nothing that can legally stop them. She speculates that women have higher standards and assume they need to be more qualified than most men are before they can run. Senator Glewwe adds that he believes women don’t run because their husbands won’t let them, noting that his own career has caused his family life to suffer and it the family would likely suffer more from a wife and mother’s absence.

Next, the panelists discuss the expansion of an anti-discrimination law, most likely the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which passed in 1973, and protected women from discrimination in employment, housing, public services and several other areas. 

Also passed after the recording of this program, was the Equal Rights Amendment, a piece of legislation intended to constitutionally guarantee equal rights regardless of gender. A controversial bill since its’ inception, some argued that the amendment would actually hurt women as it could potentially erase legislation specifically designed to help them.

The Equal Rights Amendment was ratified in Minnesota in 1973, and Rep. McMillan was quoted as saying she felt that “the battle is finally won.”* Ultimately, though, the amendment was three states short of the 38 necessary to ratify a federal amendment.

The episode continues with examples of the ways women can be professionally short-changed, from not receiving equal pay to not being promoted as frequently or as highly as men with comparable experience. Regarding a question on whether or not there is legislation to prevent this, Senator Glewwe points out that legislators can pass laws,...

Welcome back to U of M Radio on Your Historic Dial! The podcast has returned in time for Women’s History Month. The KUOM archive is full of interviews, lectures, and stories featuring dynamic, history-making women. Today, we will focus on a program featuring Minnesota Legislature Representative Helen McMillan, on the state of women’s rights in 1971.