Editors of "Kentucky African American Encyclopedia" honored with 2016 Legacy Award

Drs. Smith, McDaniel, and Hardin received the 2016 Legacy Award
in Frankfort

Dr. Gerald Smith, Dr. Karen Cotton McDaniel and Dr. John A. Hardin, co-editors of the Kentucky African American Encyclopedia (University Press of Kentucky), were recipients of the 2016 Legacy Award at the 13^th annual Black History Month Celebration at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort. This year’s event, hosted by the Kentucky Black Legislative Caucus, focused on the theme “The Unfinished Business of Kentucky: ‘Symbolism and Reality.’”

Dr. Smith, professor of history and Martin Luther King Center Scholar-in Residence at the University of Kentucky, delivered the keynote address, “What is Kentucky Saying About Us (African Americans)?” to a standing room only crowd in the Capitol rotunda. Dr. Smith spoke just a few feet from the Jefferson Davis statue that was the symbolic focus of his presentation.

 “This is not just a celebration of African American history,” Senator Gerald Neal explained. “This is a celebration of American history. Black History Month presents us an opportunity to remember the important legacy of African Americans in Kentucky and the nation – much of which would have been lost over the years if not for this special time of remembrance. It is important that we know and honor many of the notable citizens who have contributed to our history as well as pay respect to the many, many others whom history has forgotten. I encourage all Kentuckians to join me as we observe Black History Month.”

Design Library exhibits "Poetry Panels"

Photo by Faith Harder

The Design Library is host to an exhibit  of work by  first year Interior Design students entitled "Poetry Panels."  Students were asked to design panels based on poems of their choice.  The studio instructors for the course are Lindsey Fay and Patrick Lucas.  

UK Libraries Event: Save the date for the UK Libraries Spring Gala

The 2016 UK Libraries Spring Gala presented by the UK Libraries National Advisory Board will be Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at 6 p.m. in the William T. Young Library. Dr. James C. Klotter, professor of History at Georgetown College and Kentucky State Historian, will be presented with the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement by Provost Tim Tracy.  The recipient of the Paul A. Willis Outstanding Faculty Award will also be announced.  A reception will follow the program.

UK Libraries event: UPK author speaks on the American South and the Vietnam War

A reminder that historian and University Press of Kentucky (UPK) author Dr. Joseph A. Fry will visit campus to deliver a lecture on how the South's response impacted America's participation in the Vietnam War. Fry will speak 4 p.m. Monday, March 7, 2016, in the Great Hall of Margaret I. King Library on the University of Kentucky campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Fry's talk, “Place Matters: Domestic Regionalism, the American South, and the Vietnam War,” explores how place matters in how Americans have responded to and sought to influence U.S. foreign policy. The dynamic of domestic regional influence on U.S. foreign relations was especially apparent in the American South’s role in the Vietnam War.

From the general public to soldiers, college students and crucially placed political leaders, the South supported the war more strongly and longer than any other section of the country. As had been the southern practice since the 1780s, the South’s bellicose foreign policy stance was grounded in distinctly regional political and economic interests, racial views, ideological and historical assumptions, and religious values.

Although the South's support helped to sustain an increasingly unpopular war under both Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, many of these same regional interests and values spawned an articulate minority opposition to the war. These antiwar protests, together with the war’s mounting agony, led even the South and its pro-war leaders to tire of the conflict by the early 1970s.

Fry is the author of "The American South and the Vietnam War: Belligerence, Protest, and Agony in Dixie," published by UPK in 2015. His visit to UK is made possible by sponsors UK Libraries and UPK.

Reception to honor Elaine Greene

Elaine Greene, head of custodial services in William T. Young Library, will begin a new position on campus next week and will leave. Please join colleagues in a send-off for Elaine on Tuesday, March 1, at 2:30 p.m. in the Alumni Gallery of William T. Young Library. Light refreshments will be provided. Thanks to Elaine for her service to UK Libraries.

Dr. Stacey Greenwell to be on sabbatical

Dr. Stacey Greenwell

Dr. Stacey Greenwell, associate dean for Academic Affairs and Research, will be on sabbatical leave July 1 to December 31, 2016, to complete work on the second edition of Academic Librarianship, co-authored with G. Edward Evans. Academic Librarianship is one of two texts most often used in library and information science graduate programs. The book describes how the academic library can support more fully the mission of a university through services and collections. Given its practical focus, the second edition will also serve as a handbook for new academic librarians.

An Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research will be announced soon.

SCRC hosts Black History Month exhibit

Jackie Robinson (left) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (right) during a Civil Rights
march in Kentucky. Georgia Davis Powers (right) looks on.

The UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center exhibit for Black History Month is titled “The Civil Rights Movement in the Bluegrass, 1960-1967.” The exhibit explores the civil rights movement in Lexington and Frankfort from 1960 to 1967 through rare photographs, documents, and biographies from the collections of the SCRC. The photos and artifacts will remain on display until mid-March on the first floor of Margaret I. King Library.

UK Libraries Hosts Library Science Students for LEX Week

University of Kentucky Libraries is partnering with the School of Information Science in the UK College of Communication and Information to provide four library science graduate students with a week of mentored practical experience during LEX Week.

 “LEX” stands for learning and experiential education. The new program launching this spring is modeled after the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, which began in 2011. During ASB, library science students leave UK to intern in and around Washington, D.C., at institutions including the National Library of Medicine and Smithsonian Libraries. The students work on various projects under the supervision of professional librarians to gain practical skills and put their theoretical knowledge to the test.

 LEX Week is a local counterpart to the ASB program, designed to allow current library science graduate students to intern with professionals on campus to gain skills and apply what they have learned in their classes. Four students will participate in the first LEX Week.

Ryan Dowell and Andy Johnson will work in the UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Their mentors and supervisors will be: Dr. Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History; Sarah Dorpinghaus, digital archivist; and Shell Dunn, image management specialist. Emily Elkind and Rachel Hugenberg will both work in William T. Young Library Reference Services. Librarian Peter Hesseldenz will mentor Elkind, and Head of Reference Services Jen Bartlett will mentor Hugenberg.

 Organizers of LEX Week are: SIS lecturer Ashley DeWitt, UK Libraries Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research Dr. Stacey Greenwell, UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center Associate Dean Deirdre Scaggs, and Jen Bartlett.

UK Libraries will welcome the students on Feb. 29, the first day of their intern week.

There will be a lunchtime presentation/panel session at noon on Friday, March 4, for the students to share what they have learned over the week. The presentations will take place in the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center in the Margaret I. King Library. Pizza will be available and any interested UK Libraries faculty, staff, or students are encouraged to come.

UPK author Zhaohui Hong receives Academic Excellence Award

By Mack McCormick

University Press of Kentucky author and economic historian Zhaohui Hong has been honored with the 2015 Academic Excellence Award from the Chinese Historians in the United States (CHUS) for his new book, The Price of China’s Economic Development: Power, Capital and the Poverty of Rights. Hong, the director of the Center for Global Studies at Purdue University Calumet and the co-director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society, published the book as part of the Asia in the New Millennium series which is edited by Shiping Hua, the Calvin and Helen Lang Distinguished Chair in Asian Studies at the University of Louisville.

Established in 1987, CHUS is an international academic organization of Chinese and Chinese-American history professors in the U.S. and American history professors who are teaching and studying Chinese history. The association seeks to promote scholarly exchange among its members as well as among colleagues in both China and the United States and to contribute to the advancement of Chinese historical studies and Asian studies. The Academic Excellence Award is awarded to the top book in the field each year.

In The Price of China’s Economic Development, Hong assesses the sociocultural consequences of the economic reforms begun under Deng Xiaoping in 1978. He charts the effects of these broad changes—from agrarianism to industrialism, from isolation to internationalism, and from centralized planning to market-based economics—on the lives of ordinary citizens. He argues that social progress should be measured qualitatively, with justice its ultimate goal and fair allocation of resources and opportunity as the main index of success. This sophisticated analysis introduces English speakers to the varied and significant work of contemporary Chinese scholars and substantially enriches the international dialogue.

Hong received the award last month at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. The award was presented by the president of Chinese Historians in the United States, Xiaobing Li, who is the author of Voices from the Vietnam War and A History of the Modern Chinese Army, and co-author of Voices from the Korean War, all published by University Press of Kentucky.

New Jewish Kentucky Heritage collections initiative at SCRC

An image from the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass records

The Special Collections Research Center recently launched a Jewish Kentucky Heritage collecting initiative. The project, in partnership with UK's Jewish Studies Program, will preserve and provide access to primary source materials that document the history and culture of the Kentucky Jewish experience. Sarah Dorpinghaus, SCRC curator for Jewish Kentucky Heritage, is leading this important initiative.

The first collection received as part of this initiative is the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass archive. Formerly known as the Central Kentucky Jewish Association, JFB was incorporated in 1977. Precursor organizations have been active in central Kentucky since the late 19^th century. JFB supports and enhances life for the Jewish population of Lexington and the surrounding area by facilitating educational opportunities, celebrations, cultural events, and social activities. JFB also extends support to the broader community by co-sponsoring arts and cultural events, programs on Jewish history, and efforts to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination.