Krueger News and Stories

Archival Materials Digitized with a WSU Foundation 2024 Special Projects Award!

12/01/2025

Allison Quam

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In fall 2024, the WSU Foundation awarded the Kruger Library Archives & Special Collections a $5,000 Special Projects Award to digitize a selection of historically significant publications. This project enhances the digital preservation of materials essential to understanding WSU’s history. By digitizing collections and creating metadata to improve discoverability, we help ensure that the university’s legacy remains accessible for future generations. We also hope that such archival projects will inspire the campus community—especially students—to explore and incorporate WSU’s history into their creative and academic work.

The digitized materials are available in OpenRiver, a digital repository for the scholarly and creative output of Winona State University and southeast Minnesota.

Additions to the Winona State University Books Digital Collection:

Additions to the Student Newspapers Digital Collection:

Want to contribute to the University Archives?

If you have materials in your areas that you think could be housed in the University Archives, contact Allison Quam, aquam@winona.edu.

Thank you to the 2024 Special Projects Committee of the WSU Foundation Board of Trustees for selecting this project, and thank you to the WSU Foundation.

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Archival Materials Digitized with a WSU Foundation 2024 Special Projects Award!

In fall 2024, the WSU Foundation awarded the Kruger Library Archives & Special Collections a $5,000 Special Projects Award to digitize a selection of historically significant publications. This project enhances the digital preservation of materials essential to understanding WSU’s history. By digitizing collections and creating metadata to improve discoverability, we help ensure that the university’s legacy remains accessible for future generations. We also hope that such archival projects will inspire the campus community—especially students—to explore and incorporate WSU’s history into their creative and academic work. The digitized materials are available in OpenRiver, a digital repository for the scholarly and creative output of Winona State University and southeast Minnesota. Additions to the Winona State University Books Digital Collection:Three texts oft cited when referencing Winona State University history and the history of Winona are finally available for long-term digital preservation and access. DuFresne, Robert A., "Winona State University A History of 125 Years" (1985). Winona State University Books. 3. Ruggles, C. O. and Other Members of the Faculty-Winona State Normal School, "Semi-Centennial Historical Sketch and Notes of Winona State Normal School: 1860-1910" (1910). Winona State University Books. 1. Selle, Erwin S., "The Winona State Teachers College Historical Notes 1910-1935" (1935). Winona State University Books. 2. Additions to the Student Newspapers Digital Collection:Student newspapers and university-sponsored periodicals serve as crucial primary source material for understanding the student experience and the impact of student agency over time. There are several new series available to access, and the Winona Currents series is complete. Please note that not every issue the other titles have been located. BravuraInside WinonaThe IndependentThe ReviewWinona Campus LifeWinona Currents (completed the series)Want to contribute to the University Archives?If you have materials in your areas that you think could be housed in the University Archives, contact Allison Quam, aquam@winona.edu. Thank you to the 2024 Special Projects Committee of the WSU Foundation Board of Trustees for selecting this project, and thank you to the WSU Foundation. ...

Rocky Terrain: Traversing AI in our Library

In this so-called “Intelligence Age,” generative artificial intelligence (AI) has taken root in nearly every sector of daily life. From inside the library, one change we see is how the sprezzatura of “just Google it” is transforming in real time to “just ask ChatGPT.” As if it was ever easy for every person to equally and accessibly “just Google it!” Information Age, Age of Intelligence, Age of Next World-Changing Disruptive Force of Technology—professionals in the library, in classrooms, and across campuses adapt. For as long as the foundations of academic freedom persist, we can even argue while we adapt. Learning to write effective prompts to encourage a chatbot to hallucinate less or sound less painfully editorial still requires that—learning. It is easy to fall into a false sense of security and confidence when new technologies percolate through our homes, work, and hobbies. But, even in those instances where we mindlessly pop a question into Google about when a coffee shop closes, there are numerous processes that we have had to internalize to even send that query, let alone interpret the results the search engine returns. The introduction of generative AI into our information ecosystems forces us to choose between being vulnerable about what we do not know, or dismissive about the impact of new tools on populations already overloaded with information. Libraries are not new to changes in information infrastructure: a major responsibility of academic library professionals is to have their finger on the pulse of information landscapes, so that they can help patrons meet information needs even in the most tumultuous of times. When new tools stack on top of, integrate within, or threaten to replace existing search and discovery infrastructure, faculty and students do not need to hack through unpaved terrain alone. With all that said, we want to provide an overview of what we at the library have been doing to chart our way, so that we can better assist our patrons:Internal professional developmentOne aspect of generative AI that can frustrate even its most enthusiastic supporters is the speed at which tools change, and how changes add to the inconsistency of their outputs. Librarians have been at work learning about how prompt engineering impacts outputs, how guardrails can persist across product applications and can impact downstream uses in academic databases, and how complications of AI in search and discovery go beyond hallucinated citations. Generative AI has sent ripples throughout the fields of library and information science, and so librarians here and elsewhere are still navigating how to integrate AI literacy into an already complex suite of (meta)literacies (e.g. information, visual, news, media, and digital literacies). Curated information resources, instruction, and information literacyA LibGuide, also called a Library Guide, is one of the most common types of curated information resource. In addition to our Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Research guide, which has seen significant use, librarians have needed to and will continue to update guides to reflect changes in course and discipline learning expectations. Our library website is also constantly being updated to accommodate frequently asked questions and provide more insight into effective searching in our databases. For many, providing library sessions and information literacy instruction may now require additional discussion about how to differentiate between traditional algorithmic features and generative AI, as well as how to dig deeper into the authenticity of sources. 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We want to hear from you about your expectations for students who use academic databases, about language you may use in your syllabus to make those expectations clear, and about the impact AI-powered features have—and are already having—on student (meta)literacies. ...

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There's a renewed sense of excitement and energy in the Krueger Library! A range of well-attended and engaging events welcomed new and returning students, faculty, staff, and community members. Student use of research support services, article and book requests, and news database access has all seen a noticeable uptick as well. Fall 2025 Events Welcome week:Library Open House Game & Craft Night President Janz, the Dungeon Master Embroidery table, with librarian Amanda PrukaGreat North Star Read TogetherOver 70 people engaged with our booth, and with informational materials from our library, the Winona Public Library, and the Winona Historical Society. Button Making Pop-UpsWe have finally been able to repair our button-maker. It was very popular among students and young family members during the Great North Star Read Together. For our Halloween Pop-Up, we had 18 interactions. Students enjoyed the process, so we hope to offer more button-making pop-ups in the future.Open Access Week Information Sessions Open Access (OA) week was a good time to trial-run having more “open” sessions that anyone on campus can attend. Faculty from across Colleges signed up and joined us to learn about open access publishing models, curating scholarly profiles and IDs, and how to get started with Pressbooks. These events were offered hybrid, and this is the first time they are offered. With faculty interest, it will be worth running them (or similar) scholarly communications open sessions in the future.Library Services and UsageReference Services (Research Help)Overall reference questions rose by 6.5% so far this fall. Most of this was driven by an increase in walk-in, face-to-face reference support, which rose by 35%. Access of Subscription News WebsitesWhile we do not have data specifically for Fall 2025, data from AY 2025 shows a significant increase from the previous year in access to institutional subscriptions to major news outlets. Most notably, the New York Times increased by 108% and the Wall Street Journal by 56.4%. These surges may be attributable to several factors, such as faculty assignments and recommendations. Resource Sharing (Interlibrary Loan) RequestsThe number of Resource Sharing (Interlibrary Loan) requests from July to October of 2025 was up 66.5% over the same period the year before. We are still reviewing data to better understand this trend. It may be attributable, at least in part, to the loss of some database subscriptions. It may also be related to increased awareness of interlibrary loans. Coming Soon: Annual Report for AY 2025The library’s annual report for AY 2025 will be completed by semester’s end and published in Open River. ...

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The Library Department is offering a new, one-credit course: LIBS 310: Advanced Research for Nursing and Allied Health. See a course description and register here: RegistrationThe course is intended for students interested in the health sciences, but is open to anyone. The course provides an introduction to both advanced library searching and health sciences information. You do not need a background in the health sciences to understand the content! Topics Include: Common research designs in health sciences and the Levels of EvidenceAdvanced search techniques such as Boolean logic and phrase searching Controlled vocabularies such as MeSHFinding credible public health and demographic dataHealth misinformation and disinformationPlease note: This is a fully online, asynchronous course. However, the instructor will be available for office hours in person at the Krueger Library. Meet the instructor: Amanda Pruka is the librarian liaison for Nursing and Psychology. ...