Saturday, January 28, 2012

UK Libraries Celebrates Chinese New Year:



As this year has been declared the Year of China by University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, it seems fitting that the UK Libraries publically celebrate the Chinese New Year with an exhibit of materials from its collections. An exhibition of postcards and artifacts from the country can be found on display now through the spring semester at three of UK's campus libraries, the Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center, the Medical Center Library and William T. Young Library.

For more information go to: http://uknow.uky.edu/content/uk-libraries-celebrates-chinese-new-year


ARC Added as Center of Excellence in ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program:

The University of Kentucky has created the most complete collection of Works Progress Administration (WPA) publications in the Southeast, and will now add the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) as a second Center of Excellence in the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) Collaborative Federal Depository Program. The ARC Center of Excellence will benefit from and complement the Appalachian Regional Commission's library and archives that has been held in Special Collections since 1989.

ASERL, in partnership with UK Libraries and other depositories across the Southeast, has been working to create collaborative centers of excellence among federally designated depository libraries since 2007. These efforts are being supported by an IMLS Leadership Grant that ends this year. The objective of this project is to improve access to federal government publications and create a model for improving depository library services and operations. ASERL and its partners are testing a plan to create comprehensive collections of tangible, legacy publications for each federal agency, with cataloging and provision of expert subject-based reference support services.

More information on this ASERL project can be found at: http://www.aserl.org/programs/gov-doc/


Provost Subbaswamy Encourages Education Abroad:


Let me take a moment to enlist your help in encouraging our faculty to support, and our students to participate in education abroad.

We know that education abroad is an important pathway for graduating globally-ready students. Ongoing research continues to demonstrate that education abroad leads to improved academic performance upon returning to campus, higher graduation rates, and a broadened understanding of and engagement with the world. I know you will share my appreciation of the fact that today’s education abroad programs fit the academic needs of students in various disciplines, not just language majors, and that there are numerous scholarships and financial aid options, internally and externally, available to support them.

Important upcoming events:

  • The Office of International Affairs is hosting a Spring Education Abroad Fair on Wednesday, February 1, 11 a.m-3 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the UK Student Center. This event is designed to encourage students to explore opportunities for studying abroad this summer. It’s also a perfect chance to learn about 30+ UK faculty-led programs, get expert advice on dozens of other summer offerings, learn about an array of international internship opportunities, and chat with students who’ve been abroad.

  • OIA is also holding a Faculty Information Session on teaching abroad opportunities from 10:00-11:00 a.m. on the same day as the Spring Fair (Wed. 2/1/2012) in the Grand Ballroom. Please plan to attend, to meet with many of our partners and discuss various opportunities for teaching UK students abroad.


Esta Day Begins New Position:

Esta Day has accepted the position of Library Technician Senior in Electronic Resources, Collections and Technical Services Division, where she has been employed as a Library Technician since June, 2011. Previously, Esta worked in the Fine Arts Library and in Special Collections. She expects to complete a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from UK this May. Esta's first day in her new position was January 25, 2012. We congratulate Esta and wish her well on her promotion!


Collections and Technical Services Completes Important Transition:

Effective February 1, 2012, WilsonWeb will retire after many years of service to the library community following a merger with EBSCO. The Electronic Resources unit, along with Rob Aken, completed the migration of our current subscriptions to the EbscoHost platform. All of our Wilson databases now appear on the EBSCOhost menu and are listed appropriately under the Databases tab on the website.

Users who have set up “My WilsonWeb” accounts should transition to “My EBSCOhost” before February 1st. In some cases, we will have access to increased full text, as EBSCO has consolidated and upgraded the content of some overlapping databases. Wilson databases with only limited seats have been upgraded to site licenses at no additional cost (such as Art Index Retrospective).

The UK Libraries’ GetText service (SFX) plans to have the new resource and journal links in the February update, and until then the current GetText journal links will redirect.



Carpet Replacement in Young Library:

This past week a carpet renovation project was completed in the William T. Young Library. Over 1,300 square yards of carpet was replaced, which covered eleven different areas in Young Library. The 2nd floor rotunda (Toyota Room), 5th floor rotunda (Charles T. Wethington Room), study room 3-59, study room 1-49, the elevators, and a variety of other areas that needed replacement. The Facilities team worked closely with PPD to coordinate the efforts and funding was provided by the Provost Office for the installation costs.


Thanks to Stephanie Aken, John Burger, Whitney Hale, Stephen Sizemore, Provost Subbaswamy, and Mary Beth Thomson for their contributions to this week’s review.


Terry Birdwhistell
Dean of Libraries
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)