News and announcements
DePaul University Library received a state grant of $149,278 to develop OER materials for select undergraduate courses. Entitled “Open Educational Resources Design and Development Across Disciplines at DePaul University,” the grant will help create three faculty-led publications (both original and remixes) in theatre, business, and history. If successful, the project has the potential to save approximately 2,715 students a total of $234,480 over three years.
“Do you wanna touch it? You can touch it.” Students at the University of Dayton had the opportunity to learn and sing from 15th- and 18th- century antiphon books. For their final project, the students planned a public vespers service and faculty from the music department sang from an arrangement of the antiphons.
Basketball players from Arizona State University and the Valley Suns came together to learn about Black history in Arizona. In addition to exploring the Black Collections, part of ASU’s Community-Driven Archives Initiative, the athletes learned about Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to ASU’s Tempe campus in 1964, including a speech by King that wasn’t made public until 2014.
This was not a model I was familiar with. “All NC State undergraduate students have been automatically enrolled in the new Course Ready textbook billing program. […] The program charges students a flat fee each semester to provide access to digital-only versions of their required course materials within Moodle.” The NC State University Libraries created a guide to help students navigate the program and determine if it’s right for them. Related: They also support an alt-textbook program that awards grants to faculty to adopt, adapt, or create free or low-cost alternatives to expensive textbooks.
The J. Willard Marriott Library holds 770 fragments of Arabic language papyri, dating from the 8th through the 10th centuries CE, and is currently in the process of cleaning, repairing, and re-glazing the papyri. Personal note: even though I live in Los Angeles, I had not considered the need to earthquake-proof flat materials!
The fires in Los Angeles have been devastating. Thousands of people have lost their homes and businesses. Even though much of L.A. was physically unscathed, the disruption and impact to our community stretches far beyond the areas hit most directly. The USC Libraries created a wildfire assistance resources guide for student and faculty affected by the fires.
“Like coring an apple.” I’ve seen more than one library this past year remove its “old stacks” (you know, the ones with short ceilings) in favor of a more open and accessible layout. That’s what is currently happening at Duke Univeristy’s Lilly Library. It’s quite amazing to see these demolition photographs of what the stacks look like with their flooring removed.
The University of Maryland Libraries has established a new program, Truth, Reconciliation, and Understanding in the University Archives, in order to lift up marginalized narratives and bring more light more complex stories of the university’s history. “TRU-UA will address important issues regarding race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and difference in abilities in the University’s history.” This program is funded in part by a $9 million (!!!) gift made to the University Archives.
Last year, Yale Library created a new residency program to support DEIA and student success efforts and to honor the legacy of the program’s namesake, Kenya S. Flash. The inaugural resident, Nick Wantsala, has partnered with the New Haven Free Public Library to promote early literacy and a local history project.
Stanford University Libraries employs 5-7 part-time student assistants each year to help process collections in their University Archives. Students get to choose from among several collections which they want to process. “They’re having formative experiences and making intellectual connections without the pressure of writing papers and solving problem sets,” says Assistant University Archivist Claudia Willett.
Notable mentions
- The University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries has created an exhibition as part of a year-long commemoration of the anniversary of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial (pictured above)
- The Texas A&M University Libraries is offering a bullet journal workshop. So is Ohio University Libraries.
- To raise awareness of their collections, the University of Cincinnati hosts a semi-regular poetry series and publishes the featured works. Related: Purdue University is hosting a poetry workshop + poetry slam. Seattle U.’s Lemieux Library also hosted a poetry event.
- Thomas Jefferson University is offering a 9-week journal article writing workshop.
- The Tisch Library at Tufts University is hosting a workshop on “podcasts as public scholarship.”
- Who ever said you couldn’t have snakes in the library? Not UC San Diego!
- Both Washington University St. Louis and University of Alabama at Birmingham are thinking about data vizualisation, respectively creating a data vizualization competition and a three-part workshop series. (and since we’re here, Wash U Libraries also have a new mission and vision)
- Syracuse University Libraries is offering a start-up fund to help students “move an idea from concept to commercialization.”
- The George C. Gordon Library at Worcester Polytechnic is hosting an author series exploring innovations and challenges of authors writing across multiple genres.
- The Milner Library at Illinois State University did a deep dive into “America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee)” as represented in textbooks and artists’ books.
- Baylor University Libraries were awarded a $2.48 million grant to support a major expansion of their Black gospel archive.
- The library at Chapman University has created a viritual exhibition in Scalar exploring its history.
- I really love this welcome page that UC Boulder created!
- UC San Diego Library is collaborating with its Jewish studies program to hosted a six-part “Holocaust Living History Workshop” series.
- Finally, there were a number of libraries posting their annual “year in reviews,” including Texas A&M, Georgia State U., East Carolina U., Indiana University Bloomington, and Loyola Marymount University (full disclosure: I did that last one).
On socials
The J. Willard Marriott Library posts weekly meme round-ups. Whoever is running that account has their fingers directly on the pulse of the internet. In fact, all of their content is top-notch. Here is a simply, but beautifully-designed classic book recommendation. And this instructional video on how to scan a book chapter is 
.
This “welcome back” video from Virginia Tech Libraries gives all the good vibes. No voice over, just good beats and high-quality b-roll.
The always creative UVU Library put together a quick-and-dirty Spotify “playlist” for their students. Honestly, my only complaint is that they didn’t share a link! And I want to hear a mash-up of all the title lines from the songs, à la DJ Earworm. Related: Lauren Tolman from UVU Library talks about how to capture students’ attention by “stopping the scroll” in the latest issue of Public Services Quarterly.
Finally, this was a trend that I wish I had time to put together, but feel I’ve missed the boat. The University of Washington Libraries created a “ins and outs” for the new year video. “You’re in college. Figure it out.” 
banner image: renovations at Duke’s Lilly Library (source: Aaron Welborn, “Last Act for the Old Stacks“)
