VIDEO: 5 Questions With … UK Special Collections Deirdre Scaggs

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Unique research collections are central to the mission of UK Libraries and guarding, maintaining, preserving and sharing these treasures is the work of Associate Dean for Special Collections Research Center Deirdre Scaggs.

The UK Special Collections Research Center is home to UK Libraries' collection of rare books, Kentuckiana, the Archives, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the King Library Press, the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center, the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection and the digital library, ExploreUK. The mission of the center is to locate and preserve materials documenting the social, cultural, economic and political history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As associate dean, Scaggs is responsible for the Commonwealth’s largest repository of privately generated primary resource material and rare printed resources. In addition, she serves as director of the Ford Center, which supports access to primary source materials pertaining to public policy, politics and Congress. 

Scaggs, who holds a master's degree in library and information science with a concentration in archival studies from the University of Pittsburgh and a master's of fine arts degree from Ohio State University, previously served UK as director of Archives. She is an active member of the Society of American Archivists and previously served as chair of the Visual Materials Section. She was elected to the 2009-2012 term of Council for the Midwest Archives Conference, the largest regional archival organization.

Scaggs' specialties include photographic history and visual materials. Her research interests include the history of women, the effectiveness of archival outreach programs, and strategies for meeting the demands of 21st century researchers while building a strong archival program.

As you hear in the monthly feature, "5 Questions With….," Scaggs' passion for her work often bleeds into her projects outside the office. She is the author of "Images of America: Women in Lexington," had 60 photographs published in Kate Black's "Row by Row: Talking with Kentucky Gardeners," and is co-author of the cookbook "The Historic Kentucky Kitchen: Traditional Recipes for Today's Cook," which was recently published in paperback by University Press of Kentucky.