Over the course of three years, the Volunteer Voices project gathered documents and images for a digital collection available to teachers, scholars and individuals interested in Tennessee’s history and culture. Over 100 of Tennessee’s libraries, archives, museums and historical homes contributed more than 10,000 items to the digital collection, available at volunteervoices.org.

To learn more about the project, read the latest article by Volunteer Voices participants Tiffani Conner, Ken Middleton, Melanie Feltner-Reichert and Andy Carter in Collaborative Librarianship (vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 122-132). The article can be found online at collaborativelibrarianship.org.

Volunteer Voices was funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

University of Tennessee Libraries are among the top 20 publicly supported university libraries in recent national rankings as updates in services continue to make the library a vital resource on campus.

The Association of Research Libraries ranked UT Libraries 16th out of 68 publicly supported university libraries in the expenditures-focused index, a big jump from 27th in rankings released last year.

ARL ranked UT 31st out of all 113 ARL libraries in the expenditures-focused index, up from 47th.

“The most recent ARL rankings demonstrate the superior quality and excellence of the UT Libraries’ collections, innovative services and staff,” said Barbara I. Dewey, dean of libraries. “Campus support has ensured strong growth in print and digital collections needed for student and faculty success in teaching, learning and research.”

UT Libraries data reported to ARL were a combination of UT Knoxville, Law School, Preston Medical, UT Center for Health Sciences at Memphis and UTSI libraries.

The ARL rankings are for 2005-06 and were released to libraries in July. They will be published in the Chronicle of Higher Education this fall.

The expenditures-focused index is calculated based on total library expenditures, salaries and wages of professional staff, total library materials expenditures and the number of professional plus support staff.

For more information, visit http://www.lib.utk.edu.

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Contact:

Elizabeth Davis, UT Media Relations, (865) 974-5179, elizabeth.davis@tennessee.edu

School of Information Sciences students Sonia Sarangthem and Monica Colón-Aguirre discuss their experiences at UT, as part of the IMLS grant-funded ScienceLinks program

Science Links is a two-year scholarship funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the University of Tennessee, awarded to students from underrepresented groups interested in a career in science librarianship. In addition to earning a Master’s degree, Science Links scholars will gain practical professional experience by working at the Science Links partner institutions: the University of Tennessee Libraries; the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; the Office of Scientific and Technical Information at the Department of Energy; and Information International Associates. Monica Colón-Aguirre and Sonia Sarangthem have focused their first work practicums at the University of Tennessee Libraries.

Monica Colón-Aguirre
Perhaps Monica Colón-Aguirre was destined to work in a library. As a child, she spent her summers helping her mother, who works in a library. After she finished college, she took a job in the acquisitions department at the Interamerican University in Puerto Rico. It was this job that inspired her to pursue a graduate degree in information sciences.

Colón was pleased to discover the University of Tennessee and Science Links, as the program fits well with her educational background in pharmacy and business.

“I love studying–that’s my favorite part,” Colón said. “I look forward to class every day,” she says, although she is feeling a bit squeezed, taking an ambitious four courses along with her 20-hour work practicum. “Never register for classes when you’re feeling optimistic,” she said with a smile.

So far, Colón’s favorite courses have been Information Access and Retrieval and Information Representation and Organization, what she calls “a little taste of cataloging.”

Colón finds that her information sciences coursework is helping to put her library work experience in perspective. “I have a lot of a-ha moments,” she said. “I like learning the theory behind the work we do, after having a bit of library work experience. It puts everything in context. It’s kind of like ‘oh, so that’s why we do it that way …”

Colón is completing her work practicum at UT’s Pendergrass Agriculture Veterinary Medicine Library. Her work there includes reference, acquisitions, resource searching, and helping translate PetHealth into Spanish. She admits that adjusting to the reference interview has been a great learning experience.

“At first, I go into panic mode. I wonder, ‘how do I look for that?’ But then I remember that this isn’t a yes or no question that needs to be answered right away. There is time to do research and ask more questions.” She especially enjoyed helping a PhD student research diversity in veterinary school programs throughout history.

Colón admits she likes to “think big” when considering her career goals. She hopes to work towards a PhD in information sciences. “I’d like to continue my studies in Knoxville,” she said. “I feel comfortable here. I come from a small town, and Knoxville reminds me of that. People here are polite and relaxed.”

Sonia Sarangthem
Sonia Sarangthem believes that the future lies in information. This along with her interest in technology led her to pursue a degree in library science.

Sarangthem has a background in math and physics and an undergraduate degree in architecture. With these strengths in hand, UT’s ScienceLinks program fit perfectly with her background and professional goals.

She is interested in exploring the challenges posed to digital libraries as well as working in libraries with a science focus. So far, her coursework includes information retrieval, ethics, and science reference, as well as a Web design course. In addition to classes she has completed her practicum assignment working in Reference at Hodges Library and also in the Map Library, where she has worked on projects involving geo-referencing and ArcMap, collection development, and metadata entry.

Sarangthem, who hails from a small town in India, appreciates the calm pace of life in Knoxville and enjoys working in an academic library. She hopes to focus her career working in a digital library.

UT librarian Anne Bridges was inducted as an Honor Initiate of the Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women at their biennial conference in Scottsdale, Arizona in June. Bridges, with UT librarian Ken Wise, was co-principal investigator of the IMLS funded grant project From Pi Beta Phi to Arrowmont: Bringing Education and Economic Development to the Great Smoky Mountains, 1910-2004.

The project’s Web site chronicles the highly successful efforts by the members of the fraternity to bring educational opportunities, health care, craft development and marketing to the isolated mountain hamlet of Gatlinburg, beginning in 1912, and continuing to the present via the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. The project, which began in 2002, is available at www.lib.utk.edu/arrowmont.

The digital collection features photographs, images, letters, diaries and scrapbooks as well as a 360-degree interactive art gallery. The Web site also has historical essays that provide context and additional information about the culture and history of Gatlinburg, TN, and an integrated curriculum package for K-8 students. Wise and Bridges presented an overview of their research at the conference’s general session on June 25.

At each Pi Beta Phi convention, one woman is invited to join the fraternity as the Honor Initiate in recognition of her service to the Pi Phis. “This is an incredible honor and I am very pleased they selected me,” Bridges said.

For fourteen years, the UT Libraries has recognized the many contributions and talents of its employees with the Library Spirit Awards. The 2007 awards ceremony theme was Library Spirit: Past, Present, and Future. The event was arranged by committee members Hannah Miller, Rebecca Smithey, Micheline Westfall, Greg Womac and co-chairs Connie Steigenga and JoAnne Deeken.

Award winners for 2007 were:

Customer Service Award: Roger Weaver, Library Training
For designing an online training system and setting up automatic email alerts to help library employees keep track of their scheduled training courses.

Good Colleague Award: Nancy Bright and Chris Reynolds, Technical Services
For assisting and arranging care for an infirm coworker.

Personal Achievement Award: Wanda Rosinski, Technical Services
For achieving challenging goals including graduating CEP, beginning a graduate school program, and developing Web skills.

Skill Development Award: Bobbie Doyle-Maher, Pendergrass AgVetMed
For spending many hours in training and consultation to learn to catalog government documents.

Team Work Award: The Media Services Transformation Team: Pauline Bayne, Trisha Brady, Michelle Brannen, Josh Butcher, Andrew Hock, Steve Milewski, Steve Pursiful, Sheila Stephens, Terrel Whitaker and Greg Womac
For planning, creating, and achieving the interim Summer Commons workspace in the Media Center.

Unsung Hero Award: Paul Cummins, LTS and Special Collections/Digital Library Center
For his vigilance and dedication to support and assist. From building Web applications to keeping servers up to date, he is always looking for better ways to do things.

Student Library Assistant Award of Excellence: Michelle Kenley, Volunteer Voices; Dabrielle Myers, Media Services; Jade Sexton, Pendergrass AgVetMed Library; Rosann Wilson, Music Library

Miles 500 Award: Michelle Brannen, the Studio
For creative thinking that improves the libraries efficiency or services to the public, Michelle’s idea was to install a CD/DVD vending machine so students can purchase Cds and DVDs to save their work.

UT Library Friends Service Endowment Award: Ellie Read, Reference
For her eagerness to serve UT and her service to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff.

Dean’s Award: Betty Painter, Technical Services
For dedicating her career to serving the library and the research community

The UT Libraries Spirit Awards would not be possible without the support from our dean, Barbara Dewey, interim associate dean, Jill Keally, and interim assistant dean, Pauline Bayne and from the generosity of private donors whose gifts make cash awards possible.

Steve Milewski, library supervisor of the Media Services unit, was honored on April 11th at the Chancellor’s Honors banquet with the Extraordinary Service to the University award.

Steve joined Media Services in 1986 as a student assistant, and returned to school in 1988, taking undergraduate courses while working full time. He completed a BA in history in 2001, and graduated with an MS in information science in 2006.

Media Services oversees more than 11,000 titles in VHS, DVD and laserdisc, which are viewed by more than 107,000 students and faculty each year.

Steve’s commitment to the university leads to the smooth functioning of his unit, which is central to the cinema studies program and vital to the faculty members who make use of audio-visual materials in their teaching.

The Chancellor’s Honors Banquet is held each spring to recognize students, faculty, staff and friends of the university for their extraordinary achievements.

The 2007 ceremony was held April 11 at the University Center. More than 200 students, faculty, staff and organizations were honored.

Steve Milewski, library supervisor of the Media Services unit, was honored on April 11th at the Chancellor’s Honors banquet with the Extraordinary Service to the University award.

Steve joined Media Services in 1986 as a student assistant, and returned to school in 1988, taking undergraduate courses while working full time. He completed a BA in history in 2001, and graduated with an MS in information science in 2006.

Media Services oversees more than 11,000 titles in VHS, DVD and laserdisc, which are viewed by more than 107,000 students and faculty each year.

Steve’s commitment to the university leads to the smooth functioning of his unit, which is central to the cinema studies program and vital to the faculty members who make use of audio-visual materials in their teaching.

The Chancellor’s Honors Banquet is held each spring to recognize students, faculty, staff and friends of the university for their extraordinary achievements.

The 2007 ceremony was held April 11 at the University Center. More than 200 students, faculty, staff and organizations were honored.

The UT Libraries is featured prominently in the February 2007 issue of American Libraries, the premier publication about libraries in the United States, published by the American Library Association. The article, “Each One, Teach One: Staff Exchanges in Historically Black Schools,” explores a professional exchange program between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the Association of Southern Research Libraries (ASERL). The program was funded by a $20,000 grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

UT Libraries was one of five libraries chosen by ASERL to participate in the exchange program. UT was chosen due to its expertise in digital libraries, collection management and institutional repositories.

UT librarians Barbara Dewey, dean of libraries; Jill Keally, interim associate dean; and Linda Phillips, head of collection development and management, are interviewed in the article. Evelyn Council, associate director for collection development at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, discusses her experiences at UT as part of the exchange.

[The online version of the article is available only through Academic Search Premier. You will need to enter your NetID and password to access the article.]