Friday, August 27, 2010

UK Libraries Weekly Review

UK Libraries Participates in CURATEcamp at UC Berkeley:

• Eric Weig and Michael Slone participated in CURATEcamp at the University of California, Berkeley, an unconference on data curation and repository services sponsored by the California Digital Library. Participation in this event allowed Eric and Michael to learn and share ideas about building digital repositories that will keep digital objects secure and viable into the future.


UK Libraries Receives $141,300 Gift:

• UK Libraries has received $141,300 from the estate of Dr. Robert Warth, former UK history professor and husband of former UK librarian Terry Warth. Dr. Warth taught modern Russian history at UK for over 24 years. Terry Warth is remembered for her enthusiastic work as a cataloger in Special Collections. The gift will be used to purchase library materials about Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Europe. UK Libraries appreciates this wonderful gift from two people who devoted their lives and careers to UK.


What’s All the “Hubbub” About?

• UK Libraries held its annual kickoff event again this year for incoming first year students. Hundreds of new students spent a late afternoon in The Hub @ WT’s in the William T. Young Library enjoying pizza and drinks and a variety of activities including balloon art, palm reading, and video games.

• The Hub, created by UK Libraries in partnership with UK Information Technology, is an information commons that assists students as they develop a project from the research phase all the way to the final presentation. The Hub offers students the latest technology in software and hardware, group study areas, and editing and presentation software. The facility is supported by Help Desks with library and information technology professionals on duty to provide students with research and technical assistance.

• Thanks to Stacey Greenwell and many other UK librarians and staff for planning and hosting this fun event. https://stream.uky.edu/bbstream/WilliamTYoung/TheHubbub2010/index.html

Eugenia Kempster Returning to Medical Center Library:

• Eugenia Kempster has been offered and has accepted the position of Library Technician Senior in the Medical Center Library. She is currently a Library Technician in Serials, Collections and Technical Services Division, and will transfer to her new job on September 13. Genia has worked in the Medical Center Library a number of times in various technician positions, including 1990-92, 1993-98 and 2004-09, and they are very pleased to welcome her back. Genia replaces Zach Young in MCL Access, Delivery, and Outreach. Congratulations on your new position, Genia!


Judy Wiza Will Report to Dean:

• Beginning Monday, August 30, Judy Wiza, Assessment Coordinator for UK Libraries will report directly to Terry Birdwhistell. Judy’s work and responsibilities continue to expand with the increased emphasis across the university on assessing learning outcomes and the role of UK Libraries in information literacy. She will also play a key university-wide role working to assure that UK completes a successful upcoming review by the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges. Judy’s workstation and contact information will not change.

Remembering Buffalo Trace:

• The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History announces that the Buffalo Trace Oral History Project website will be officially launched September 1 with a reception at the Frankfort distillery. The completed interviews will also be synchronized and placed on the Kentuckiana Digital Library: http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/b/bib/bib-idx?c=bikohkuk&cc=bikohkuk;page=simple

• In the meantime, you may listen to portions of the interviews from a recent Saving Stories segment on WUKY. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wuky/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1688670.


Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries

Saturday, August 21, 2010

UK Libraries 8.20.2010


UK Libraries Acquires The Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2006

The UK Libraries recently added The Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2006, to the collections. This archive provides a complete facsimile run of the daily business newspaper The Financial Times. This publication, which incorporated its rival newspaper the Financial News in 1945, is a record of note in the areas of finance, public affairs, business management, and others. The archive may be browsed by individual issue or searched by article title, author, date, keyword, and more. Current issues of The Financial Times are also made available by the UK Libraries through the LexisNexis Academic and Access World News databases.


Kathryne LeFevre Transferring to Engineering Library

Effective Monday, August 23, Kathryne LeFevre will be the Senior Library Technician at the Engineering Library. Kathryne began working at UK Libraries in 1998 as a student assistant in Young and in 2001 accepted a position as a library technician with the Education Library. In 2006 she moved into the senior library technician position at the Chemistry-Physics Library and has been working in the Science Library since the science libraries consolidation. Kathryne has a B.A. in English with a minor in Spanish and a M.S.L.S. We wish Kathryne well in her new assignment.


UK Libraries Faculty Retreat Held August 16

UK Librarians held an all day retreat on Monday to kick off the new academic year. Vince Kellen, UK’s Chief Information Officer provided the keynote address.

We also heard a presentation by Kate Black regarding her year-long sabbatical in which she conducted oral history interviews across Kentucky on gardening. She recently presented her research at the Annual Meeting of the Appalachian Studies Association. A version of the paper will be published in the Appalachian Journal.

Toni Greider provided an update on UK Libraries Information Literacy efforts. Two group discussion sessions completed the day long program. Thanks to everyone who participated and thanks to the Faculty Council for planning the day’s events.


Collections and Technical Services Division Meeting

I enjoyed meeting this week with the Collections and Technical Services Division. I took the opportunity to thank CTS faculty and staff for all that they do to make our resources available to the world. As libraries move further into the digital environment, CTS plays an even more important role in making unique scholarly collections from throughout the UK campus available through UK Libraries. Thank you!


National Advisory Board Member Bess Clements Abell in Kentucky for “Roots Tour”

Bess Clements Abell, UK Libraries National Advisory Board Member and daughter of former Kentucky Governor and U.S. Senator Earle C. Clements, visited Kentucky this week with her grandson Tyler Abell. Tyler, a senior at Bucknell University, was making his first visit to the Bluegrass to learn about the commonwealth and the life and career of his great-grandfather. The Abell family established the Earle C. Clements Graduate Fellowship in UK Libraries in honor of Bess’s father.

Bess and Tyler began their tour at Three Chimneys Farm followed by a tour of the Keeneland Library and lunch with Keeneland President Nick Nicholson at the Thoroughbred Club. One of the highlights of their visit was a private tour of the Governor’s Mansion, including the second floor room where Bess lived while her father served as governor. They were joined at the mansion by Suzanne Wetherby Hines who lived in the same room when her father served as governor.


Bess Clements Abell, Tyler Abell, and Suzanne Wetherby Hines visit Governor's Mansion

Both the Earle C. Clements and the Lawrence W. Wetherby Collections are in UK Libraries Special Collections. On Thursday Bess and Tyler travelled to Owensboro for lunch with former U.S. Senator Wendell H. Ford. UK Libraries Wendell H. Ford Center for Public Policy Research is named in honor of Senator Ford.




Senator Wendell Ford and Bess Abell Clements Reminisce During Visit in Owensboro


Earle C. Clements Fellow Accepts Position at Texas Southern University

Gary Chaffee has accepted a position as Project Archivist at Texas Southern University’s Robert J. Terry Library Special Collections in Houston, Texas. He will be working on the Barbara Jordan Papers. Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) graduated from TSU in 1956 TSU graduate and received a law degree from Boston University in 1959.

After starting a legal practice in Houston, Jordan began her political career as a volunteer for the Kennedy/Johnson Presidential campaign; in short order, she became the first African American woman elected to the Texas Senate, the first African American woman from the South to be elected to Congress, the first African American female “Governor for a Day” in Texas (1972), and the first African American woman to give the keynote speech at a Democratic National Convention (1976). Jordan is noted for her legislative work with civil rights, voting laws, the ERA, and also for her participation in the Nixon impeachment hearings.


LCA Applauds Librarian of Congress for Expanding DMCA Exemptions (From the Association of Research Libraries)

“The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA)—ALA, ARL, ACRL—applauds the decision by the Librarian of Congress to expand the exemption for the creation of film-clip compilations for classroom and educational use to all college and university faculty, regardless of academic discipline. According to Section 1201 (a) (1) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the Librarian of Congress is allowed once every three years to adopt exceptions to the anti-circumvention provisions that place technological protections on copyrighted works. LCA also applauds the Librarian’s decision to renew the exemption to circumvent protections that block the read-aloud/screen-reader function on e-books”. For more information on the exemptions, visit the ARL Web site and the US Copyright Office Web Site.



Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries

Friday, August 13, 2010

UK LIbraries 8.13.10

President Todd Announces K Week Activities:

“K Week, the fall welcome week for new students, is one of the most exciting weeks of the year at the University of Kentucky. Hundreds of us are directly involved in the planning and execution of K Week, but hundreds more volunteers are needed. A complete schedule of events can be found at www.uky.edu/KWeek, and faculty and staff are invited to participate in all K Week events. There are many opportunities to meet and greet our new students. I encourage you to participate in one or more of our welcoming events, which are scheduled from early morning to late night.”


UK Libraries Faculty Retreat:

I am looking forward to UK Libraries’ Faculty Retreat on Monday. The Faculty Council has put together an informative program that provides opportunities to discuss UK Libraries’ future and to learn more about activities of our colleagues. Vince Kellen, UK’s Chief Information Officer, will be the featured speaker.


I hope you’ve had a pleasant and productive Friday the 13th. Stay cool this weekend!

Friday, August 6, 2010

UK Libraries 8.6.10

Debbie Sharp named to Interim General Education Oversight Committee:

Debbie Sharp has been named an ex officio member of the Interim General Education Oversight Committee (IGEOC) and will serve as expert-in-residence for questions regarding the information literacy components of the new general education course proposals under review. The IGEOC serves as a sub-committee of the Undergraduate Council and will, among other things, provide input and recommendations on issues that may arise as implementation of the new curriculum takes place. This committee will operate for a period of two years, from May 17, 2010 until May 15, 2012.


UK Libraries Represented at National Newspaper Meetings:

Kopana Terry spoke to the iArchives User Group this week at the National Endowment for the Humanities about UK’s unique model of converting content using a hosted hybrid model. UK Libraries developed this model in partnership with iArchives in an effort to retain intellectual control over our content while minimizing the infrastructure costs. Many other institutions are now examining this method of content conversion for adoption in their institutions.

Mary Molinaro spoke to the annual National Digital Newspaper Project Partners meeting at the Library of Congress regarding use of social networking tools to increase usage of historic newspaper content. UK Libraries uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs to share content with users. Mary shared strategies for getting started and sustaining this avenue of publicizing content. UK's contributions to NDNP can be accessed the through http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.


History of Photography Exhibit Opened in Great Hall of Special Collections:

This past week Jason Flarhardy installed an informative history of photography exhibit in the Great Hall. The exhibit can be seen Monday through Friday between 8 am and 5 pm.


One-Time Payment:

Wondering when the one-time payment will be coming your way? UK staff and faculty eligible for the one-time payment of up to $1,000 are scheduled to be paid on September 3, 2010 paychecks for employees paid bi-weekly, or August 31 for employees paid monthly.

◦Eligible employees with annual full-time (1.0 FTE) base salaries of $70,000 or less are eligible to receive the maximum payment of $1,000.

◦Eligible employees with annual full-time (1.0 FTE) base salaries of $70,001 - $74,999 will receive one-time payments of less than $1,000, with the amount decreasing on a sliding scale, with a minimum payment of $200 for those on the higher end of this salary range.

Salary eligibility is based on an otherwise eligible employee's pay rate as of July 31, 2010.

For more information about eligibility and other details, see: http://www.uky.edu/HR/One-TimePayment2010.html.

Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries