Attention, artists: The library wants to display your work. The Student Art in the Library contest awards a First Prize of $300, Second Prize of $150, and Third Prize of $75. Submission deadline for the Spring 2013 contest is Feb. 10. If you create any particularly inspired works over the break, keep in the mind the Student Art in the Library contest. The library is looking for two-dimensional works (drawings, graphic design, prints, photography, ceramics, painting) to be displayed in our exhibit area in 135 Hodges Library throughout the spring semester. The contest is open to all currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students, from any discipline. More info at library.utk.edu/artinlibrary.
Category Archives: Announcements
Introducing the Database of the Smokies
Dr. Aaron J. Sharp and Dr. Stanley Cain
taking field notes in the Smokies, circa 1935
Have you ever wished that there was a place to go when you wanted information on the Smokies — one site where you could research history, plants, animals and culture, and find links to online articles and digitized photographs? The Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project at the University of Tennessee Libraries proudly announces the official release of the new Database of the Smokies (DOTS), a free online bibliography of Smoky Mountains material published since 1934, the date of the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
DOTS contains searchable records of books, scholarly and popular journal articles, government and scientific reports, theses and dissertations, maps, and digitized photographs, as well as travel and recreational guides. Wherever copyright restrictions permit, citations are linked to scanned copies of the published item. DOTS can be visited on the UT Libraries’ website at: dots.lib.utk.edu.
DOTS is intended to compliment Terra Incognita: An Annotated Bibliography of the Great Smoky Mountains, 1544–1934, scheduled for publication by the University of Tennessee Press in the summer of 2013. With DOTS and Terra Incognita, researchers will have access to a wealth of published material documenting over 400 years of human activity in the Smokies and surrounding region.
Dr. L. R. Hesler at work in his laboratory,
circa 1950
DOTS currently contains about 2,000 citations, focused within the fields of biology and ecology, and includes the research publications of distinguished former University of Tennessee botanists Aaron Sharp, Stanley Cain, and L. R. Hesler. In addition to important early studies of Smokies biology, DOTS contains citations to published material from the areas of history, psychology, genealogy, archaeology, economics, tourism, environmental studies, geology, literature, cultural studies, and park management. In the future, the curators of DOTS will add links to digitized photographs from the UT Libraries’ online collections and to other content freely available on the internet. As the content expands, DOTS should become a comprehensive resource for “all things Smokies.”
The project team has been hard at work on DOTS since May 2011, building the database around Drupal, an open-source platform particularly suited for managing content. Drupal is both versatile and flexible. It affords not only easy-to-use search functions but also allows expansion of the bibliography through crowd-sourcing, an innovative collaborative web technique. Calling on the collective knowledge of a community of users, crowd-sourcing will allow users of DOTS to become contributors, as well, by identifying new publications and uploading citations.
The Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project will continue to update the online database with new content. Together, Terra Incognita and the Database of the Smokies will be the most comprehensive bibliography of the Great Smoky Mountains ever compiled.
Research expedition on Mount LeConte with Dr. L. R. Hesler (far left) and Stanley A. Cain (far right) in front row and Aaron J. Sharp in back row (far right), circa 1935
CONTACT:
Anne Bridges, Co-Director, Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project, 865-974-0017, smokies@utk.edu
Ken Wise, Co-Director, Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project, 865-974-2359, smokies@utk.edu
Commons South Reopens
Commons South reopened today! The space filled with students minutes after the yellow “Caution” tape came down.
The new Commons South houses dozens and dozens of computer workstations. Commons South is also a center for group work, with eleven new and spacious group study rooms and five work areas featuring media:scape™ furnishings that allow students to walk up, plug in their own laptops, and confer on group projects. Black-and-white, color, and wireless printing are all available in Commons South.
With both Commons North and Commons South now open, all computing services are conveniently located along a north-south axis, clearly visible from the east end of the second floor galleria. On the north end of the axis are the OIT Help Desk (Net IDs & passwords, email, MYUTK), Computer Support (internet access, viruses & spyware) and Lab Services. Commons South hosts Desktop Support (computer and printing issues), the Studio (media production), and — as of 7 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) — equipment checkout.
And . . . a hallway that bisects the line of service desks leads directly from Commons South into Starbucks!
Student Art in the Library: winners announced
Winners of the Student Art in the Library juried exhibition have been announced. The UT Libraries has been holding Student Art in the Library contests since 2005. The contest is open to UT students in all disciplines, and is judged by a committee of library staff. First-place and second-place winners are awarded cash prizes. This semester the committee received 88 entries from 34 artists. A number of the contributing artists were present for the unveiling on October 5.
The winners are:
First Place:
Alyssa Johnson
“Self Portrait/Light Study”
Graphite
Second Place:
Jessamyn Davis
“Saharan Ruler”
Pen and ink
Exhibiting artists this semester are:
Dennis Morozov Alexander, Alia Ally, Jalynn Baker, Laura Cutshaw, Jessamyn Davis, Amanda Dean, Demi Demirkol, Lauren Hulse, Alyssa Johnson, Christina Lulich, Thomas Powers, Tammy Stackhouse, James Dylan Williams.
Artworks will remain on display in 135 Hodges Library through fall semester. View a retrospective of previous Student Art in the Library exhibitions at trace.tennessee.edu/utk_libsart. Read more about the Libraries’ art competition at library.utk.edu/artinlibrary.
Help Us Honor and Celebrate Charlie Daniel, Oct. 25
The University of Tennessee Libraries invites you to a humorous evening with Knoxville News Sentinel editorial cartoonist Charlie Daniel. Join us Thursday, October 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the John C. Hodges Library auditorium. Reception begins at 6 p.m.
In 2011, Charlie Daniel donated his entire life’s work of hand-drawn, original cartoons to the UT Libraries. The Libraries selected more than 1,500 cartoons from that body of work to create the Charlie Daniel Editorial Cartoon Collection, which is viewable online at digital.lib.utk.edu/charliedaniel.
Daniel, a Virginia native, came to Knoxville in 1958 as the editorial cartoonist for the Knoxville Journal. When the paper closed in 1992, Daniel moved to the Knoxville News Sentinel, where he continues his work to this day. Daniel’s work is a rich source for those studying politics and regional history. These editorial cartoons express opinions on public and social issues of the moment and can touch upon a wide range of topics that affect our daily lives. Daniel’s cartoons can make you laugh and even sometimes cringe. But more than anything else, they make you think.
The UT Libraries invites you to join us in honoring Charlie Daniel and celebrating the Charlie Daniel Editorial Cartoon Collection.
Limited event parking is available in the staff parking lot at the west entrance to Hodges Library. From Cumberland Avenue, turn south onto Melrose Place. Melrose Place circles in front of Hess Hall and the Hodges Library. You may drop off members of your party at the Melrose Place entrance to Hodges Library. For more information, phone 974-4634.
“Trace” Online Archive Just Logged its One-Millionth Download
The University of Tennessee Libraries is one of many research libraries that now provide a platform for scholars to publish their research and creative work online. UT’s digital archive, dubbed Trace (for Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange), this week reached and surpassed ONE MILLION downloads of scholarship by UT researchers.
More than 600,000 of those downloads occurred over the past year, indicating that Trace — which was launched only three years ago, in September of 2009 — is fulfilling its mission to expand access to the university’s intellectual capital. Free online access via Trace makes UT research and scholarship easily discoverable anywhere in the world.
“Trace offers a digital space for collaboration on an international level, increasing the reach and potential influence of scholarship created at the University of Tennessee,” according to Holly Mercer, associate dean for scholarly communication and research services at the UT Libraries.
Librarian David Atkins Honored with Resource Sharing Award
Librarian David Atkins is the 2012 recipient of the Tenn-Share Resource Sharing Award. Atkins is associate professor and head of resource sharing and document delivery at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries.
The Tenn-Share consortium — with over 600 member libraries, museums, archives and information agencies — helps Tennessee libraries deliver efficient, effective library services through group purchasing power and innovative resource sharing projects.
Atkins is being recognized for his ongoing leadership within Tenn-Share and his tireless promotion of resource sharing efforts across the state and around the world.
He is active in many state, regional, and international resource sharing endeavors. He pioneered a cooperative library exchange program between the UT Libraries and Makerere University Libraries in Kampala, Uganda, and helped Makerere implement an electronic document delivery system.
Atkins has led many Tenn-Share projects including the Auto-Graphics-to-ILLiad Bridge (connecting the state’s public library and UT interlibrary loan systems) and Info-to-Go (which gives the Knox County Public Schools interlibrary loan access to the Knox County Public Libraries and UT Libraries).
Most recently, he spearheaded efforts to create a new statewide, library-to-library courier service, Firefly (www.tenn-share.org/firefly), to facilitate interlibrary loans among all types of libraries in Tennessee. (The service draws its name from the synchronous fireflies of the Great Smoky Mountains.) Tenn-Share launched a prototype of the Firefly courier service, dubbed Glowworm, in August. In November, Firefly will begin serving more than 200 academic, public, and school libraries across Tennessee.
Atkins currently chairs the American Library Association’s Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (STARS) and is a past chair of the ALA sectional committee on international interlibrary loan.
Atkins will receive the Resource Sharing Award at Tenn-Share’s fall conference in Nashville on September 28.
Dean Steve Smith appointed to Tennessee Advisory Council on Libraries
UT Dean of Libraries Steven Escar Smith will serve on the Tennessee Advisory Council on Libraries. He was appointed to the council by the Tennessee Secretary of State, Tre Hargett.
The Tennessee Advisory Council on Libraries is the state entity that oversees library services that benefit all Tennesseans. The council advises the Tennessee State Library and Archives on long-range plans for library programs, services and activities in Tennessee.
The Tennessee State Library and Archives collects and preserves books and records of historical, documentary and reference value, and encourages and promotes library development throughout the state.
The Tennessee State Library and Archives supports Tennessee’s Regional Library System; provides construction funding, library materials, continuing education, and technology assistance to Tennessee’s public libraries; and encourages resource sharing across the state.
One ongoing project of the state library that benefits Tennessee’s colleges and universities is the Tennessee Electronic Library, an online collection of research resources made available free of charge to Tennessee residents.
Smith’s initial appointment to the Tennessee Advisory Council on Libraries is a three-year, renewable term.
UT Libraries Welcomes Diversity Librarian Residents
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries welcomes two librarians to post-graduate internships this month. Sojourna Cunningham and Ingrid Ruffin will be the UT Libraries’ fifth team of Diversity Librarian Residents, a program initiated in 2002. During a two-year internship, residents have the opportunity to work in several areas of the library and take part in a variety of initiatives and projects.
Sojourna Cunningham has a BA in History and English Literature from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters in Library Science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. While at UNC, she received the prestigious Carolina Academic Library Associate Award. She has worked in several library settings: academic library, public library, and for-profit technical institute. At UT, she plans to combine her interests in information literacy and emerging technologies to study the benefits of the learning commons.
Ingrid Ruffin has a BA and MA in English, as well as the Master of Library and Information Studies, from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. While in the MLIS program she was an Academic and Cultural Enrichment Scholar. Her prior position at a small liberal arts college allowed her to sample many aspects of librarianship. She has a particular interest in providing library services to underserved groups, especially veterans (a group that commands her personal affection).
The Diversity Librarian Residency program attracts recent library school graduates to a challenging career in academic librarianship. Residents gain rich and varied work experiences at UT, while advancing the Libraries’ and University’s diversity goals.
Both interns bring prior international and intercultural experience to their new positions. As an undergraduate, Cunningham spent a Semester at Sea, doing community service in ten countries across Asia, Africa, and South America. Ruffin served nine years in the United States Air Force.
Hodges Library Open More Hours
The Hodges Library is now open even more hours. Sunday-through-Friday, round-the-clock hours — which formerly applied only to the second floor — have been extended to all floors of Hodges Library. In addition, the entire building will remain open until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. These hours will be in effect throughout the fall and spring semesters.
This significant expansion of library hours means added convenience for students seeking study space or needing access to print resources. The book stacks and seating on floors 3 through 6, as well as additional computers and seating on the first floor, will be available 24 hours/5 days a week, and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. No longer will students studying overnight be forced to interrupt study sessions at 3 a.m.! No more lugging books and laptops to the Commons to fight for study space!
The new library fee is helping to pay for this oft-requested expansion of library hours.
Remember: between midnight and 7 a.m., library users must swipe their VolCards at the Melrose (2nd floor) entrance to enter Hodges Library.