ON THE VERGE
BASEBALL BLUES
Read stories about fashion tips, Easter traditions and Alternative Spring Break experiences. SECTION B
The Eastern baseball team lost to Jacksonville State, 6-4, Thursday at Coaches Stadium. PAGE 8
THE
D aily E astern N ews
Friday, March 25, 2016 “TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID” C E L E BRATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE E S T . 1 915
Booth Library staff bumped to different positions Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of stories on the aftermath of civil service layoffs affecting areas around Eastern.
By Cassie Buchman Associate News Editor | @cjbuchman The library lost eight people during this round of layoffs, causing employees to be moved around to different positions and the periodicals desk to be temporarily closed. The positions lost were five library assistants, two library specialists and one office support assistant. The office support assistant was transferred to the Honors College and one of the senior library specialists chose to retire. Beth Heldebrandt, public relations director for the Booth Library, said people got bumped around the building to make ends meet. For the time being, the periodicals desk, where people could check out magazines and journals and faculty members could put items on reserve, is now closed. These services are all still being done; however now, the circulation desk will handle them. Allan Lanham, dean of library services, said they temporarily closed the periodicals desk because they are able to accommodate those services with the circulation desk. Most of what happens at the periodicals and reserve desks can also be done electronically, making it more convenient to close this part of the library for now as opposed to others. The library had also been considering changing the periodicals desk, as this is not the first time the Booth Library has lost staff members. In fact, over the past two years, the library has lost more staff than they have in this round of layoffs. Lanham said because of this, they had been planning to “tighten up” the various public service desks. Because they lost a number of positions, the Booth Library now has fewer people to work in different places in the building. Lanham said this has been a major reduction in staff, so the library is stretched to its limits in terms of offering what they usually do. “In this three-year period of tightening our belts, we have decimated the staff of two of three departments,” Lanham said. Heldebrandt said they have gotten to the point where they do not have enough bodies to cover all of the desks
when they are open. The library is currently open for 98 hours a week, and Heldebrandt said they did not want to cut hours. Lanham said they were planning to keep the hours the same until at least the end of the semester, as they always have reduced hours during the summer semester. Heldebrandt said it was a challenge to keep the same hours, and they were hoping this is not a long-term problem. Though it was stressful for the first week after layoffs went into effect, Heldebrandt said, it was a bit easier since they went into effect during spring break. “That gave us time to get people into new positions, figure out what we’re going to do,” Heldebrandt said. “But it was a big headache in scheduling for the people to figure out when and who can cover this desk, who’s gonna work weekends and who’s gonna be here until 1 a.m.” Heldebrandt said it took a couple of days to figure out when people would be working and who can train and be trained in what duties. “I think we got everything worked out, we got everything covered,” Heldebrandt said. While there still may be a “learning curve” for those in new positions, Heldebrandt said they were covering all bases an helping each other out. Heldebrandt said the student workers were helping out with some of these changes at the library. “(Lanham) doesn’t want to limit access students have to the library, especially during now and finals week,” Heldebrandt said. “It gets really busy around here.” To keep the library open for the same number of hours and keep desks open, the periodicals desk had to be closed. The people who used to work at the periodicals desk are now working in different areas of the library. Heldebrandt said most of the bumping that occurred happened in the building so it was all just a matter of having new duties and working in new departments. Lanham said every time the staff is reduced, it is hard because there are fewer and fewer options every time. He said he is not sure whether or not they can continue work over the long haul with such a limited staff for the number of hours they are open and the number of services they provide.
BUMP, page 5
VOL. 100 | NO. 123 W W W . D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S . C O M
Party Foul
MACKENZIE FREUND | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Tim Bickers, a friend of Marty’s owner Mark Jackson, helps board up the hole after a vehicle crashed into the building earlier in the day on Thursday.
JASON HOWELL | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
JASON HOWELL | THE DAILY EASTERN
NE WS The side of Marty’s next to Grant Avenue after an SUV crashed into the bar around 12:15 p.m. Thursday. The bar opened during the evening after The remains of a booth lie on the floor of Marty’s after a SUV slammed gaining city approval. Bar manager Tyson Sledge said an estimate on into the side of the building. damage is unknown.
Professor talks engineering By Cassie Buchman Associate News Editor| @cjbuchman Although Carlotta Berry is now an engineering professor at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., she did not always plan on being an engineer. At first, Berry wanted to be a high school mathematics teacher as her mother and grandmother were teachers. This all changed, when through a high school program she was in for women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and math fields, someone asked her if she wanted to be an engineer. Because of what she called the face of engineering and she did not know any engineers, Berry did not even know what engineering was at the time.
"Don’t just look at someone’s GPA. You don’t know what brought them to that point. You don’t know if they ate last night.”
Carlotta Berry, engineering professor
Berry used this story during her speech, “Wouldn’t take Nothing for my Journey Now: Reflections and Adventures in Engineering,” to illustrate the importance of having women and minorities in STEM fields. She also showed examples of work being done in her classes, where students would design robotic projects. The lecture was sponsored by the department of mathematics and computer science, the Jack and Margaret Redden grant, Women in Science and Mathematics, Minority
Mentoring in Mathematics and Science and Sigma Ki, the Scientific Research Society. In her speech, Berry said all engineers “are not Albert Einstein.” “They’re not super smart. I feel like my purpose and my dedication met with my intelligence to take me where I am,” Berry said. Something she said has led to her success in her field was not necessarily being smart, but hard working and undeterred.
ENGINEERING, page 5