Friends of the UNCG Libraries

The University Libraries at UNCG have received $23,500 in funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support the UNCG Hayes Taylor YMCA Digital Explorers project.  Seventeen projects from IMLS's Sparks! Ignition Grants were funded nationwide. As a result, the Libraries' Digital Project Unit will partner with the Hayes-Taylor YMCA and at-risk teens in East and Southeast Greensboro in the process of identifying, cataloging, and digitally preserving historically valuable community materials. Student participants will learn about Greensboro history, especially local African American history in East and Southeast Greensboro, and receive hands-on training in archival practices and making materials accessible online. Seventeen projects from IMLS's Sparks! Ignition Grants were funded nationwide.  Sparks grants  support the deployment, testing, and evaluation of promising and groundbreaking new tools, products, services, or organizational practices of librari...

2014 Faculty Senate Scholarly Communications Forum October 23rd 3:30 – 5:00 EUC Kirkland Introduction by UNCG Provost and Vice Chancellor Dana Dunn Speaker – Nicole Allen - Director of Open Education for the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) Panel discussion to follow Nicole Allen The cost of college textbooks has grown to a point that virtually every campus is now seeking solutions. While many colleges and universities like UNCG have successfully reduced costs through stop-gap measures such as rental programs and textbook reserves, the greatest potential for permanently solving the problem lies in Open Educational Resources (OERs), which are academic materials that are freely available online for everyone to use, adapt, and share.  Institutions across the country have begun to leverage OERs to reduce textbook costs, expand access to information, and enable faculty to better tailor materials to their courses. This talk will provide an overview of...

Lee Zacharias is the author of a novel Lessons , and a book of short stories Helping Muriel Make It through the Night . She has published numerous essays, short stories, and photographs and is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. Her newest work is a collection of essays entitled The Only Sounds We Make . Of this work, Publishers Weekly says, “With grace, charm, and insight, Zacharias shares personal stories that explore how we make sense of memory, our histories, and our connections—to family, the past, and the wider world.…readers will be drawn into Zacharias's world, which she studies with candor and elegance.” Elaine Neil Orr, author of A Different Sun , says, “Zacharias pitches her tent at the crossroads of the natural world and the moral universe, and what she gives us is observation and insight to match the best of Annie Dillard, Wendell Berry, and Diane Ackerman.” Zacharias lives in Greensboro and is f...

Here's the Center for Creative Writing in the Arts newsletter prepared by Shawn Delgado: UNCG Literary Events: Friends of the UNCG Libraries Book Discussion : The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited by Richard Florida—Monday, September 15 th , 4:00 PM Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library 2 nd Floor, UNCG      Led by Keith Debbage of the Department of Geography & the Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality and Tourism, this discussion will delve into The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited .      From the official website creativeclass.com : “Ten years ago, Richard Florida published a path-breaking book about the forces that were reshaping our economy, our geography, our work, and our whole way of life.  Weaving story-telling with reams of original research, he traced a fundamental theme through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity.  In the decade since,...

The University Libraries have received a grant for just under $30,000 from LSTA funds administered by the State Library to expand training in the use of  Makerspaces such as the one in Jackson Library The rapid evolution of consumer-grade fabrication technology has led to substantial interest in makerspaces within the library setting, but librarians are often left to manage these resources with little support or training. As the demand for maker-related resources increases, librarians serving in both the academic and public setting will be expected to be able to manage, handle, and repair these cutting-edge resources. Librarians will also be expected to coordinate patrons’ needs with new innovative technologies, to research and present on trends in a rapidly-changing pedagogical environment, and to do so within the context of methods which depend heavily on trial and error. This grant goal is to cultivate a relationship between librarians and makerspaces.  Our grant team i...