Dr. Stacey Greenwell presents at European Conference on Information Literacy

Dr. Stacey Greenwell

Dr. Stacey Greenwell, associate dean for Academic Affairs and Research, recently participated in the third European Conference on Information Literacy in Tallinn, Estonia. She presented "Creating Instructional Materials Using I-LEARN" and also chaired two conference sessions; "Best Practices in E-Learning and M-Learning" and "Professional Information Literacy." The conference included 195 presentations with contributors from 50 countries.

Dr. Greenwell served as a member of the Program Committee and will continue on the committee for the fourth European Conference on Information Literacy to be held in Prague in October 2016.

Book conservator presents lecture on "Books of Tudor England"

Alex Brooks

University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center and the King Library Press will host a lecture on “The Books of Tudor England” Friday, November 6, 2015, at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall of Margaret I. King Library on UK’s campus.

Alex Brooks, a book conservator and UK alumnus, will deliver the presentation. In 2014 Alex received a grant from the NEH to study the ways books changed in England during the Tudor period (1485-1603). He spent a summer in Tudor era libraries throughout Oxford, studying original bindings from early and late in the period. Alex will discuss his research on the changing physical structures of books in the Tudor era, with slides that illuminate the changing technology of bookbinding during this period. Additionally, he will discuss the associated changes in trade, business, immigration, technology, laws, culture, and society that these bookbinding styles reflect.

The King Library Press, founded in 1956, is devoted to the tradition of fine printing and produces books and broadsides. Typesetting, printing, and binding are all done at the Press and there are opportunities for apprentices.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

University Press of Kentucky releases hauntingly good books for Halloween

The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) has released two eerie publications just in time for Halloween: Next Door to the Dead: Poems by Kathleen Driskell and Haunted Holidays: Twelve Months of Kentucky Ghosts by Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie E. Brown.

When Kathleen Driskell moved into a disused church in Louisville, Kentucky, she found that there was a cemetery next door in which the 112 residents' stories and secrets could not stay buried. Through Driskill’s imagination, the lives and afterlives of the deceased and their people come into vivid focus in this thought-provoking collection of poems. Composed with both surprising humor and riveting profundity, her poems compel us to examine our own mortality as well as how we impact the finite lives of those around us.

In Haunted Holidays, celebrated storytellers Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie E. Brown have assembled a hair-raising collection of paranormal tales for readers of all ages. More than just a collection of Halloween ghost stories, the Browns' Haunted Holidays takes readers on a fireside journey through the hauntings of holidays throughout the calendar year, including tales of the ghost who hated Labor Day and the child who made good on his promise to return a silver dollar on the Fourth of July. The volume preserves and promotes oral traditions and reveals the importance of sharing beliefs, traditions and values with a new generation of listeners.

Individuals interested in meeting these writers can see them at the Kentucky Book Fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Frankfort Convention Center, where Driskell, the Browns, and many others will be on hand to greet the public and sign copies of her book.

By Whitney Hale and Weston Lloyd. Reprinted with permission from UKNow. 

"New Perspectives on Spanish Conquest and Empire" at Special Collections Research Center

Photo by Steve Raymer, "National Geographic" photographer

A new assessment of the lasting impact of Hernán Cortés and the Spanish Empire’s conquest of the Aztec Empire will be discussed at “New Perspectives on Spanish Conquest and Empire: From the 16^th to the 21^st Centuries.” The event begins at 3:30 p.m. Friday, October 23, in the Great Hall of the Margaret King Library, home to the UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center.

The event also kicks off a November exhibition of singular photographs by Steve Raymer and event presenter Kathleen Myers. As the name suggests, the exhibition, “In the Shadow of Cortés: From Veracruz to Mexico City,” is a modern pictorial tour of the route Cortés marched from the sea to doomed Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

The discussion begins at 3:30 p.m. with University of Virginia associate professor of Spanish Ricardo Padrón’s presentation “The Afterlife of the Conquest: From Mexico to the South Sea.” Padrón will discuss the powerful impact of Cortés' expedition on future Spanish explorations to the South Sea from the Pacific shores of Mexico. 

Padrón’s presentation will be followed by Indiana University professor of Spanish and Portuguese Kathleen Myers’ discussion “Who Gets to Talk? 21^st Century Conquest Narratives and Sites of Memory.” What she describes as the “conquest narrative” -- the distillation of more than 100 ethnographic interviews of Mexicans from every walk of life -- has evolved to become an integral part of modern Mexico’s culture and politics. Even today, for those living along the Ruta de Cortés issues of cultural identity and social equity have roots in this conquest narrative.

Myers authored the exhibit of accompanying photos by former National Geographic staff photographer and senior editor and IU photojournalism professor, Steve Raymer.  “In the Shadow of Cortés” will be on exhibit at the King Library through November 30.

The event is sponsored by the UK College of Arts and Sciences and its Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies program and Department of Hispanic Studies.

By Gail Hairston, UK PR & Marketing

Republished with permission from UKNow. 

UK Libraries marks Open Access Week

Open Access is a consistent theme in university libraries across the world, as researchers seek to share and collaborate in new ways. “Open for Collaboration” is the theme of Open Access Week 2015, a global event taking place October 19 - 25. As scholars, research institutions, and funding agencies acknowledge the benefits of open access, they have made an increasing amount of scholarly content freely available online for people to reuse and build upon for innovation. 

An advocate for open access, University of Kentucky Libraries has forged collaborative partnerships with various campus units to enable free online access to unique research and scholarship via UK’s institutional repository, UKnowledge. UKnowledge houses remarkable collections. UK faculty and students interested in using the resources and services made available by UKnowledge can contact Adrian Ho, director of Digital Scholarship at UK Libraries, for information and assistance. 

Highlights from the UKnowledge Open Access collection:

Ablation Workshop

Alexandre Martin from the UK College of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering has been a key organizer of the NASA-sponsored Ablation Workshop in the past few years. To ensure high visibility and ready access to the outcomes of the workshop, Martin collaborated with UK Libraries to publish online proceedings on UKnowledge. Scientists and engineers anywhere in the world who specialize in aerothermodynamic ablation can now effortlessly access papers, presentations and test cases discussed at the workshop with just a few clicks. 

A Glimpse into Ancient Mexico: Writings of the Aztecs, Mixtec and Maya

To celebrate ¡Viva México! in the 2013-14 academic year, Chris Pool and Barry Kidder from the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Anthropology annotated facsimile codices housed in UK Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center and had them digitized for a virtual exhibit. The annotated images, which can be examined in detail using UKnowledge’s zoom and pan functionalities, tell little-known stories about the ancient cultures in Mexico. Some intriguing images in the exhibit have attracted attention from around the world and have been downloaded hundreds of times. 

Agricultural Economics Textbook Gallery

David L. Debertin, a professor emeritus of the UK College of Agriculture Department of Agricultural Economics, is a leader in knowledge sharing. Based on his experience of teaching applied economics, he authored and self-published five textbooks and made them freely downloadable online. One of the textbooks offers 98 pages of illustrations that demonstrate Debertin’s skills as a production economist and also as a graphics artist. Another title provides spreadsheets, PowerPoint slides, and class materials to facilitate teaching and learning in the digital era. 

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

Published by the Committee on Social Theory in the College of Arts and Sciences, disClosure is an annual thematic scholarly journal that investigates new directions in contemporary social theory through a variety of media including scholarly essays, poetry and visual art. The complete run of 24 issues is accessible via UKnowledge. disClosure welcomes new submissions to the 2016 issue. More information is available in the call for papers.

Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center Special Report

The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC) is a partnership between the Kentucky Department for Public Health and UK’s College of Public Health. Its studies cover important topics and combine rigorous academic inquiry with practical public health initiatives. KIPRC has also published other reports that address work-related fatality.

By Adrian Ho, UK Libraries, and Whitney Hale, UK PR & Marketing

Republished with permission from UKNow. 

"The Wisdom Project" podcast debuts

The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History released the first episode of a new podcast, "The Wisdom Project", this week. Produced by Nunn Center director Dr. Doug Boyd, the first episode takes a look back at the 1981 Nunn Center interview with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, pulling back the curtain to see how oral history records are created. Dean Terry Birdwhistell reflects on his experience interviewing Ms. Onassis at her home in New York City.

Kopana Terry and associate dean for the Special Collections Research Center Deirdre Scaggs also appear in the podcast.

The Wisdom Project is available online via Soundcloud or through the iTunes store.

Professor Roy Foster to speak on Irish Revolution

Roy Foster

Professor Roy Foster, Carroll Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford, will lecture at the University of Kentucky on Monday, October 26, 2015, at 4 p.m. in the UK Athletics Auditorium of William T. Young Library. He will discuss the history of the Irish Revolution of 1912 - 1922, focusing on the central event of the Easter Rising of 1916 and the motivations that drove the people behind it. His lecture will also consider the agendas, elisions, and implications of commemorating events in history that are at once inspirational and divisive: raising issues such as the changing historical interpretations of revolutionary change, the psychological uses of memory in Irish history, the challenges presented by the current centennial observations of the Irish revolutionary decade of 1912-22, and the possible lessons of Irish history for the larger United Kingdom and European picture.

Foster is the author of the recent and widely-acclaimed Vivid Faces: the Irish revolutionary generation 1890-1923, which has just been awarded a President’s Medal from the British Academy for “transforming the understanding of a period or subject of study.”

University Press of Kentucky Interim Director Dr. Jonathan Allison, professor in the UK Department of English, has been instrumental in bringing Professor Foster to campus. The event is part of the Year of Europe sponsored by the UK College of Arts & Sciences.

Lauren Hamm joins UK Libraries

Lauren Hamm

Lauren Hamm joined UK Libraries as head of Reserves in William T. Young Library on October 18. Hamm has her bachelor’s degree from Morehead State University in English Literature. She previously worked at the Camden Carroll Library at Morehead.

Matthew Strandmark joins UK Libraries

Matthew Strandmark

Matthew Strandmark will join UK Libraries and the Special Collections Research Center on November 1 as education archivist. A graduate of Hanover College, Strandmark received an MA/MLS in History and Library Science from Indiana University. He previously served as outreach archivist at Emory University.

UK Libraries National Advisory Board holds Fall 2015 meeting

The UK Libraries National Advisory Board held their Fall 2015 meeting on September 25, 2015, at the Hilary J. Boone center on campus. During the meeting, Dr. Stacey Greenwell, associate dean for Academic Affairs and Research, and Mary Beth Thomson, senior associate dean, spoke about student success initiatives and UK Libraries’ international partnerships. Board members also heard updates from NAB President Dr. LuAnnette Butler, Dean Terry Birdwhistell, and the Marketing and Development directors.

The board deliberated in a closed session on the recipient of the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement. The recipient of the medallion will be announced later in the academic year, and will be honored at the 2016 UK Libraries Spring Gala. The NAB will provide support and sponsorship of the 2016 Gala.

Members of the UK Libraries National Advisory Board are:

President LuAnnette Butler

Vice President Billy Lanter

Bess Abell

Martha-Ann Alito

Jonathan Allison

W. Clay Ford

Michelle Gardner

Gail Hart

Marie E. Hochstrasser

Brenda Lampton

Jan Miles

William Miles

Jennie Lou Penn

Angela Rice

Anne G. Ritchie

Wood Simpson

Alan Sullivan

Laurance B. VanMeter

Charles T. Wethington

Harvie Wilkinson

John van Willigen

UK Librarians lead at KLA/KASL conference

UK librarians took an active role in the recent Kentucky Library Association and Kentucky Association of Special Libraries joint conference held in Louisville, Kentucky last month.

Laura Whayne, head of the UK Transportation Center Library, presided as current president of KLA.

Valerie Perry, left, receives an award from
KLA President Laura Whayne

Valerie Perry, director of Branch Libraries and the Agricultural Information Center, received the prestigious Carol J. Parris Mentoring Award from the KLA. The Parris Mentoring Award is “presented to a Kentucky librarian who has exemplified the ability to assist and advise new members to the profession.” From the awards program: “…it is clear that Valerie has encouraged and inspired many…Valerie was described as genuine, generous, and supportive, but her ability to empower her colleagues seems to be her greatest gift.”

Jen Bartlett, head of William T. Young Reference, attended as outgoing chair of the Resource Sharing Round Table. Marsha Seamans, director of Cataloging & Database Integrity, attended as chair of the Academic Section Professional Development Committee. Sandee McAninch, head of the Federal Depository Unit, attended to give the Regional Depository report at the Government Documents Round Table meeting. Laura Hall, Young Library reference and periodicals, attended as a conference participant.

Judy Sackett, oral history librarian, and Peter Hesseldenz, reference librarian and business and economics liaison, presented on: “Innovating for Diversity: UK Libraries Undergraduate Diversity Scholars Internship Program.”

Beth Kraemer, information literacy librarian, and Beth Fuchs, undergraduate learning librarian, presented on: “We’ll Show You Ours if You Show Us Yours! Favorite Technologies to Support Information Literacy.”

Julene Jones, head of Database Integrity, gave the talk: “Many Hands Make Light Work, part II: NACO at UK Libraries.”

Stacie Williams co-authors chapter in archival studies book

Stacie Williams

Stacie Williams, manager of the Special Collections Research Center Learning Lab, co-authored a chapter in the forthcoming book Critical Archival Studies, edited by Michelle Caswell  of the University of California, Los Angeles and T-Kay Sangwand of the University of Texas, Austin. The book highlights how archivists and archival scholars have incorporated critical theory - including Marxist, feminist, deconstructionist, postcolonial, queer, and civil rights theories -into their work. Stacie is co-author of a chapter with Jarrett Drake, digital archivist at Princeton University. The chapter details a community oral history project the authors facilitated to document police violence in Cleveland in August, 2015. The book will be published by Libraries Unlimited in 2016.

New Learning Lab interns begin work and research

Learning Lab interns Daria Goncharova and
Aaron Mueller work on the blueprint collections

The UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center recently welcomed a new class of interns to the Learning Lab program. The internships, supervised by Learning Lab Manager Stacie Williams, take place over the course of the academic year and target undergraduates interested in primary document research.

Interns process archival collections and produce scholarly projects related to the collections and their own research interests. The 2015-2016 interns will process 10 cubic feet of blueprints from Lexington, Kentucky, architectural firm Frankel and Curtis. The students will work on scholarly projects examining the economic development of Lexington through construction and development.

The Learning Lab interns are: sophomore architecture major and environmental studies and sustainability minor Nick Hodge; sophomore architecture major Sommer Cade; sophomore architecture major and French minor Steve Ngandu-Sankayi; sophomore history and classics major Abby King; senior English and linguistics major Daria Goncharova; and sophomore computer science and linguistics major Aaron Mueller.

Learning Lab interns attend "Description Camp"

SCRC Director of Archives Ruth Bryan led interns in a "Description Camp" to learn about proper handling of archival documents. The interns also received training on ArchivesSpace and had the opportunity to practice describing collections.

Students will present their final projects in April 2016.