Baseball Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Play Ball:  Historical Baseball Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Sunday is Opening Day for Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals playing at the Pittsburgh Pirates in the afternoon and the New York Mets taking on the Kansas City Royals in the evening.  The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) created custom maps to commemorate some special teams in baseball history.

Black Diamonds: Negro League Baseball Teams, 1920-1949 (above, click to enlarge) identifies the locations and names of the Negro League Baseball teams.  The map is based on the book The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History by John Holway.  Photographs on the map are from the book Playing America’s Game by Michael L. Cooper, which is available from the Educational Technology and Resources Collection in Bracken Library.  The map is available for circulation from the GRMC or in digital format from CardinalScholar.

The Girls of Summer: All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Teams, 1943-1954 is also available in the GRMC.  This map is based on the book A Whole New Ballgame: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by Sue Macy, which is also available from the Educational Technology and Resources Collection.  The map features the women’s baseball teams that began playing during World War II made popular by the motion picture “A League of Their Own.”  This map is also available in digital format.

The GRMC also includes two large-format plotters that can be used to print large maps or posters.  And a large laminator can preserve the project.  Any member of the Ball State University community may charge the printing and lamination to a Bursar’s account.

For more information about cartographic resources or large-format printing, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

GIS Maps of the Zika Virus

GIS Timeline Map of the Zika Virus

ESRI, the world’s leading producer of GIS software, has created a series of maps forming a timeline depicting the origination and spread of the Zika virus from Africa around the world.  The World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global public health emergency this winter.

Users can click through the timeline of maps showing where the virus started and how it has spread and changed over time.  The virus was first detected in Uganda in 1947.  Scientists identified the virus living in a rhesus monkey in the Zika Forest.  The virus was first detected in a human in Nigeria in 1952, although tests showed that the virus may have been widespread in humans for some time.  At the time, the virus caused a fever and was cured by rest.

According to the maps, the Zika virus arrived in northern Brazil at about the time of the World Cup in 2014.  According to the World Health Organization, “the situation today is dramatically different.  As of today (February 2016), cases have been reported in more than 30 countries.”  The virus today has been associated with microcephaly, a birth defect causing a baby’s head to be smaller and the brain not developing normally.  “Brazil’s Ministry of Health reports that there are currently 3,670 suspected cases of microcephaly in the country.”

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library provides access to the latest ESRI GIS software and assistance from the GIS Specialist Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 pm.  Students can also access GIS software on computers throughout Bracken Library on weekends and in the evening.  For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Bracken Library 40th Anniversary Celebration Next Week

Images from the Digital Media Repository

Bracken Library 40^th Anniversary Celebration

Ball State University Libraries is celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the opening of Bracken Library.  The dedication ceremony for Bracken Library, named for Ball State University trustee and benefactor Alexander M. Bracken, took place on March 26, 1976.  The Library is hosting a celebration (complete with cake) on Friday, March 25 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm in the Archives and Special Collections on the second floor, and University administrators will speak at 1:30 pm.

The celebration marks the opening of a new exhibit in the Archives and Special Collections, Bracken Library:  40 Years of Service, Innovation, and Growth.  The exhibit runs through May 6 and is organized into a timeline highlighting major developments throughout Bracken Library’s first 40 years, including the automation of the Library’s card catalog, the development of innovative classroom spaces for library instruction, and the acquisition and creation of signature research collections, online databases, and technology.  The exhibit includes historic photographs and digitized film from the Library’s early years and a jewel-covered book donated by the Bracken family.

The GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library will feature an exhibit of the floor plans for the Library in 1976 and floor plans from today.  Changes in the layout of Library collections and the changes in available technologies can be viewed on the floor plans.  For example, the Library did not include one computer in 1976, and typing rooms were available for use by students and faculty.  However, the 320,000 square foot building was planned with an eye toward the future and designed with flexible space to accommodate the changes in academic needs and a growing student population.  An interesting note about the 1976 design of the Library:  Smoking lounges were available throughout the building (denoted by the pipe symbol on plan above, click to enlarge).

For more information about this exhibit or the opening event, please contact the Archives and Special Collections at 765-285-5078.

International Women's Day Cartographic Resources

Her Story:  Cartographic Resources for Women’s Studies Available from Ball State University Libraries

Today is International Women’s Day, and March is Women’s History Month.  The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) created a special collection of online maps for Women’s History Month available from the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar institutional repository.  The collection includes maps about women working in agriculture, women heads of state, women in tertiary teaching, the travels of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the life of Madam C.J. Walker, and countries with high breast cancer rates.  And a map commemorating the Girls Professional Baseball League is also available from the GRMC.  (Type “women in the world map” in the search box in Cardinal Scholar to access the available cartographic resources).

The GRMC also created a map celebrating women’s history in Indiana to commemorate the state’s bicentennial anniversary.  Her Story: Indiana Women’s History (above, click to enlarge) marks the accomplishments of Indiana women in politics, human rights, education, the arts, and sports.  The map features Helen Gougar, a teacher and newspaper owner from Lafayette, who became the first woman to argue before the Indiana Supreme Court in 1895 when she demanded her right to vote.  Toni Stone, Connie Morgan, and Mamie “Peanuts” Johnson made history playing baseball for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro League.  And U.S. Representative Katie Hall of Gary is commemorated as the leader of the campaign to establish the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday.  The map is currently displayed in the front windows of the GRMC as the “Map of the Month.”

The GRMC and the Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library also feature cartographic resources depicting women’s issues.  The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World was published in 2009 and features maps about families, birthrights, women’s health issues, employment, resources, power, and education.  The Routledge Historical Atlas of Women in America, Atlas of Firsts, Atlas of Anthropology, and many others also include maps describing women’s issues.

For more information about cartographic resources for Women’s History Month, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

White House Launches Open Data Project

White House Opportunity Project Gives Access to Open Data

The White House announced today the launch of “The Opportunity Project.”  According to the official press release, this is “a new open data effort to improve economic mobility for all Americans.”  The data can be used by “technologists, community groups, and local governments” and many companies and non-profit organizations, including ESRI—the world’s leading publisher of GIS software—are committed to the development of the project and its tools.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library provides access to the latest ESRI GIS software and assistance from the GIS Specialist Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 pm.  Students can also access GIS software on computers throughout Bracken Library during its extended evening and weekend hours.