Celebrating Harriette Arnow:

A program and exhibit launching the opening of the Harriette Arnow Collection was a huge success. On November 17, a standing room only crowd gathered in the Great Hall in Special Collections for a fascinating overview of Harriette Arnow’s life and career by Arnow biographer and scholar, Sandy Ballard. Professor Ballard shared insights into the Appalachian author’s publications including The Dollmaker, Hunter's Horn, Seedtime on the Cumberland, Flowering of the Cumberland, and Old Burnside. Appalachian writer Gurney Norman shared personal memories of Arnow and Dennis Bender and Ron Penn provided music.

In 1977 with the creation of UK’s Appalachian Center, UK Libraries initiated a special focus on collecting materials to support Appalachian research. Currently Special Collections contains more than 14,000 books and over 30,000 linear feet of manuscripts and audio visual materials documenting reformers, the War on Poverty, public policy, folk music, coal mining, health care, the environment, and education. The Harriette Arnow Collection joins those of other prominent Appalachian authors such as James Still and Harry Caudill.

The exhibit was co-curated by Kate Black, Curator of UK Libraries’ Appalachian Collection, and Amber Surface, a graduate student in UK’s School of Library and Information Science who will receive her M.A. in December. Amber is also preparing a forthcoming digital exhibit and utilized this archival experience to gain field placement graduate credit. Thanks to Kate and Amber for all of their creativity and hard work that made this wonderful event possible!

Photo by Lewis Warden.


UK Professor Wins National Book Award:

In case anyone has not already heard, University of Kentucky creative writing Professor Nikky Finney has won the 2011 National Book Award in Poetry for her recent work, Head Off & Split. Congratulations Professor Finney!

http://uknow.uky.edu/content/uk-creative-writing-professor-nikky-finney-wins-prestigious-award


UK Undergraduate Research Journal Added to UKnowledge:

UK’s undergraduate research journal, Kaleidoscope, is now being published in UKnowledge. In announcing this achievement Danica Kubly thanked UK Libraries for making this initiative possible. Kubly noted that “volume nine (2010) is the first issue available but the process of uploading all back volumes is underway. Each new edition of Kaleidoscope will appear in UKnowledge. The new format provides a unique URL for each submission and all articles will be searchable through worldwide search engines such as Google and Bing. To view volume 9 (2010), please visit http://uknowledge.uky.edu/kaleidoscope. “


News from Fall ASERL Meeting:

The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries met in Atlanta November 14 and 15. ASERL Executive Director John Burger reported on several important topics that were covered during the two day meeting:

ASERL-SURA Data Policy Collaboration. Tyler Walters (Virginia Tech) described a new collaboration with Southeast Universities Research Association (SURA) to monitor changes in federal data management policies, offer models of local policies, and discuss emerging issues. ASERL’s Board has approved this concept. Collaboration will be via online tools and a first step in fostering more shared programming between ASERL and SURA. Several ASERL Deans and Directors indicated an interest in their libraries participating. Walters will work with John Burger to draft a formal charge for the group. A call for volunteers will be posted in December and the group will convene in early 2012.

Berlin 9 Convention. Many ASERL members had representatives at the recent Berlin 9 Convention in Bethesda. ASERL members noted some progress in signing-on at their home institutions in support of “open access” to scholarly materials. ASERL unanimously voted to support the Berlin Declaration as a means of creating momentum for gaining signatories at member institutions. John Burger will communicate with Max Planck Society and create publicity to foster additional support within ASERL institutions. UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy has sent UK’s request to become a signatory to the Berlin Declaration

HathiTrust Constitutional Convention. Nine ASERL libraries are members of HathiTrust. There is interest in linking ASERL’s collection management programs with Hathi’s expanding array of programs. Hathi may also be exploring new models for membership/content providers and ASERL will continue to monitor these options.

Thanks to John Burger, Danica Kubly and Deirdre Scaggs for their contributions.

Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries

Weekly Review

UK Libraries Celebrates Launch of UKnowledge:

UK Libraries celebrated the launch of its new institutional repository (UKnowledge) with a one day conference on Friday entitled “Key to Unlocking Scholarship: Institutional Repositories.” Following welcoming remarks by Provost Kumble Subbaswamy, Sarah Shreeves, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, began the program with a keynote addressing the state of the art in repository development, and the challenges facing institutions as they work to store and provide access to local scholarship on a global level. Other sSpeaers discussed digital institutional repositories from implementation to the issues of developing and maintaining an established repository. Sessions examined the nuts and bolts of IR set-up, offered examples of creative and innovative uses for an IR beyond faculty scholarship, and generated discussions of how the availability of an IR can improve undergraduate education.

Thanks to Mary Beth Thomson, Pat Wilson and everyone who made the day a great success.

Women Veterans Focus of Jeff Suchanek’s New Book:

“Star Spangled Hearts" American Women Veterans of World War II by Jeffrey S. Suchanek with Jeanne Ontko Suchanek has just been published by Broadstone Books. Based on first-hand interviews he conducted with women veterans from all of the service branches, Jeff Suchanek presents the memoirs of twenty women who collectively demonstrate that the honor of "Greatest Generation" does not belong to their male counterparts alone. The original interviews are in the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History collection. Congratulations Jeff and Jeanne.

UK Librarians Contribute to Newly Published Resource in Education:

UK Libraries faculty members Heath Martin and Peter Hesseldenz recently contributed a chapter to Computer-Mediated Communication: Issues and Approaches in Education, published in October by IGI Global. The chapter, entitled “Library Resources and Services in 21st Century Online Education,” analyzes “the roles of academic libraries in computer-mediated instruction through examination of past and current practices, existing opportunities and challenges, and emerging trends.” By looking at issues such as access to resources, scholarly publishing, information and communication technologies, information literacy, and emerging models of collaboration, Martin and Hesseldenz’s work highlights the ways in which academic libraries remain central to the mission of the university and maps many of the associated challenges which lie ahead.

More information on Computer-Mediated Communication (including another chapter co-authored by Laurie A. Henry from UK’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction) may be found at http://www.igi-global.com/book/computer-mediated-communication/51945.

Robert W. Tebbs and his 1927 Kentucky Architectural Photographs Exhibit:

Jim Birchfield, Curator of Rare Books in Special Collections, has curated an exhibit, "Robert W. Tebbs and his 1927 Kentucky Architectural Photographs," on display now in the foyer of Special Collections in the Margaret I. King Building. In the later 1920s, Tebbs was one of the nation's leading architectural photographers. Some of the finest images of nineteenth-century Kentucky buildings were produced in the summer of 1927 by the British-born photographer Robert William Tebbs. Tebbs (1875-1945) was brought to Kentucky by the architectural historian Rexford Newcomb for the purpose of illustrating the book Old Kentucky Architecture (1940). The project was proposed by the Kentucky Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1925. The exhibit will be on display through January 2012. http://libraries.uky.edu/newsitem.php?lnote_id=527

College of Communications and Information Studies Honors Lois Chan:

A conference room in the College of Communications and Information Studies has been named in honor of Dr. Lois Chan who is retiring at the end of the fall semester. Dr. Chan began her UK career as a serials cataloger for UK Libraries in 1966. She moved over to the UK School of Library and Information Science in 1970 and became one of the most highly regarded professors of cataloging in the world. In her “retirement” she plans to do some teaching and work on several book projects.

Veteran Memories Featured this week on WUKY’s Saving Stories:


In this week’s edition of "Saving Stories" Dr. Doug Boyd from UK Libraries’ Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History shared a stirring account of one on one combat from a World War II Veteran.
http://www.publicboadcasting.net/wuky/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1873782/Saving.Stories/Saving.Stories.Pays.Tribute.To.Veterans

Thanks to Heath Martin, Deirdre Scaggs, and Konstantin Tovstiadi for their contributions.


Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries

UK Libraries Weekly Review

ASERL Accepts Two New Members:

John Burger, Executive Director of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries announced this week that the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University are joining ASERL. With 40 members in 11 states, ASERL is the largest regional research library consortium in the United Sates. Maryland and Johns Hopkins are the first new ASERL members since 2004. The complete press release can be found here: http://www.aserl.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ASERL_Adds_New_Members_Johns_Hopkins_and_Univ_Maryland.pdf


Lunch with the Dean:




I am continually impressed with the work of UK Libraries staff and I would like to have the opportunity to learn more about you and your work. I also want to hear your ideas and suggestions about how we might improve UK Libraries. So, once a month, beginning in December, I will host a “Lunch with the Dean” event. Each month, three staff members will be invited to join me for lunch in my office. Box lunches will be provided.

If you are interested in participating, please send your name to Sherree Osborne. Once collected, names will be randomly drawn each month.

I look forward to this opportunity.



More Year of China Activities:

UK librarians and staff continue creative work in conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences Year of China. In the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library Meg Shaw has assembled an exhibit on Chinese calligraphy which includes the tools that they use and books on calligraphy. With the help of Brad Carrington and Susan Daole in the Education Library and Kitty Taylor in Acquisitions, she has put together a smaller exhibit on the Monkey King which includes illustrations from some of the children’s books in our collection

For the past several months Chris Worland and Toni Greider have been working on a China research guide. The guide is intended as a starting point for anyone doing a research project on China but it is also meant to promote the expertise of our subject librarians in the various areas of study. With the help of Matt Wells in the Chinese Studies Program, Chris Worland created a Chinese interface for the starting page that parallels the English page. You can find the Chinese interface at: http://libguides.uky.edu/content.php?pid=235516&sid=2225239

November 14 – 18 is International Education Week and UK Libraries will participate again this year running a Vexillology contest using the flags in the atrium and exhibiting a video display in the Hub. The video display will feature the UK – China connection in both Education Abroad and students coming to campus. Seth Ricker of the Education Abroad office is assisting us with the video display.


Provost Meets with EC:

Provost Kumble Subbaswamy joined the UK Libraries Executive Committee for a 90 minute discussion over lunch this past Wednesday. Topics discussed in addition to budget issues included open access, library instruction, data curation, digitizing, partnerships, and unique collections.


Library Technician Senior Position Filled:

Courtney Crepeau, Library Technician in Young Library, has accepted the Library Technician Sr. position in Inter-Library Loan/Document Delivery, Academic Affairs and Research Division. Courtney, who has a Master's in Library Science from UK, has worked in ILL in the borrowing unit since October 2007. We
congratulate her on her promotion and wish her much success in her new position.


Thanks to John Burger, Toni Greider, and Judy Sackett for their contributions.


Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries