Friends of the UNCG Libraries

On Friday, November 3, more than 120 guests gathered at the Alumni House at UNCG. The attendees were primarily women veterans whose service ranged from the WWII era up to current UNCG students. Thanks to the generous sponsorship by UNCG Nursing alumna and Air Force Nursing veteran Glenda Schillinger the luncheon was free for all attendees. The luncheon featured an exhibit of uniforms and artifacts from the collections, music from UNCG student musicians, remarks from Jacqelean Gilliam and Martin Halbert as well as an excerpt from the theater production of Star Spangled Girls . The main program was a discussion among the women veterans who shared their experiences and insights about their service and the  Women Veterans Historical Project .

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Now in its sixth year, this worldwide movement kicks off the charitable season by providing a platform to encourage others to donate time, resources and talents to help address societal challenges. Join the challenge!   In honor of our 125th anniversary, be one of 125 alumni to support UNCG on #GivingTuesday. As we celebrate the season of giving, perform an act of kindness to share on social media using #UNCG125. For more information about Giving Tuesday,  click here . Make a gift. In celebration of our 125th anniversary, be one of 125 alumni to help our students continue to change the world by supporting the area of UNCG that you care about most.  Build community. Share why you gave to UNCG using #GivingTuesday and #UNCG125. Consider changing your  Facebook photo frame  for the day, or even the week, to encourage your friends to do the same. Suppor...

On October 20, the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) held its 62nd Biennal Conference in Winston-Salem where its membership elected the following University Libraries' faculty to the Executive Board for the 2017-2019 biennium. Mike Crumpton, Assistant Dean of Administration has been elected to the office of President. Amy Harris Houk, Head of Research, Outreach and Instruction, has been elected as Assistant Treasurer. Lynda Kellam, Librarian for Data Services and Government Information and Assistant Director of International and Global Studies has been elected as the American Library Association Counselor. An affiliate of the American Library Association and the Southeastern Library Association, NCLA is the only statewide organization concerned with the total library community in North Carolina. Its purpose is to promote libraries, library and information services, librarianship, intellectual freedom and literacy. Learn more about NCLA by visiting its website.

The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project (WVHP) began with a luncheon in 1998 to honor the unrecognized military service of women, including many Woman's College (now UNCG) alumnae. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the WHVP and the 125th anniversary of UNCG, University Libraries will be celebrating the history of the WVHP and hearing from some of the veterans who are a part of the project. Thanks to the generosity of Glenda Schillinger, UNCG alumna and U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps veteran, tickets to the November luncheon will be free. As always, the luncheon is open to the public and all are invited. One of the primary focuses of the project is oral histories. This year, 17 new oral histories were added to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, including those from Megan Mead, Rachel Puckett, Barbara Marshall, Deborah Branson, Kate Germano, Caroline Cleveland and Amanda Westfall Dayman. The WVHP 20th anniversary luncheon will...

Jenny Dale, Information Literacy Coordinator in Research, Outreach and Instruction at University Libraries, will lead a book discussion of Behind the Beautiful Forevers:  Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo on October 24, 2017 at 4 p.m. in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Reading Room, located on the 2nd floor of Jackson Library. The book, chosen as the 2017 UNCG Keker First Year Common Read at UNCG, is based on three years of reporting and the winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the UNCG Libraries and is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information or for disability accommodations, please contact Hollie Stevenson-Parrish at 336-256- 0184 or hdsteven@uncg.edu.

On September 13, Abraham Lincoln's  Political Debates Between the Honorable Abraham Lincoln and the Honorable Stephen A. Douglas was presented to Chancellor Gilliam to commemorate the 125th anniversary of UNC Greensboro. The book was chosen by the members of the Walter Clinton Jackson Society at the Third Annual Members Choice event in April along with the other volumes that were added to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives. When published as a presidential campaign tool in April 1860, the collected speeches became a best-seller, and by the time of Lincoln’s official nomination, some 30,000 copies were in circulation. The book is a first edition and was published in 1860. The debates were Lincoln's springboard to fame and feature the publisher's original embossed cloth and gilt engraved spine. The Lincoln–Douglas debates are unquestionably the most famous, and most important, of such confrontations to have been staged in the hi...

Sheryl Oring, Associate Professor of Art in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at UNCG, will lead the discussion of her book, Activating Democracy: The "I Wish to Say" Project  on September 25, 6 p.m., in the Hodges Reading Room of Jackson Library. The event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Friends of the UNCG Libraries.  Oring's  I Wish to Say Project was a recipient of University Libraries' 2016-2017 Digital Partners Grant, an initiative that supports a collaborative approach to the creation and sharing of digital content of enduring value to UNCG  and the global scholarly community.  The Digital Projects unit, part of the Electronic Resources and Information Technologies (ERIT) Department, worked closely with Oring to create a searchable web-based archive of her o n-going public art project consisting of dictated postcards to the U.S. President  and included more than 2,000 postcards and supplemental photographs created ...

University Libraries’ Digital Media Commons (DMC) partnered with the Aspire IT (“IT is for Girls/Women”) Summer Camp, a Women In Information Technology (WIIT) initiative and AAUW Greensboro during the week of July 24 through July 28 to encourage middle school girls to pursue paths and careers relevant to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields and build leadership, teamwork and collaboration skills.    While the camp offered students insight into the many aspects of IT, it also included talks from women in various STEM fields, demonstrations in 3D printing, robotics and a visit to Analog Devices in Greensboro.  The camp, led by Dr. Lakshmi Iyer, UNCG Associate Professor and Director of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Graduate Programs, began in 2009. This year, the camp hosted four sessions for 68 middle schoolers and 22 high school/college mentors. The workshops included app development, robotics, filmography and creating Arduino/Makey-...

Gaylor F. Callahan Gaylor F. Callahan, University Libraries, died suddenly on August 3, 2017.  Gaylor received her BA (1974) and MA (1977) in English and her MLIS (1990) from UNCG.  She also pursued graduate studies at Duke University.  Most of her career was devoted to the Libraries. She worked in Circulation and Reserves while a student and after graduating worked in the Serials Department. Since 1984 Gaylor served as the Interlibrary Loan Borrower and helped countless researchers across campus obtain the materials they needed to complete their projects successfully.  If you look at the acknowledgments in many UNCG faculty publications you will see their gratitude for Gaylor’s invaluable assistance.  Gaylor also taught English at Elon University, UNCG and Duke.  It is hard to imagine Jackson Library without Gaylor and she will be greatly missed.

During the 2016-2017 academic year, University Libraries launched the Digital Partners Grant in an effort to maintain and preserve the research of UNCG's faculty. Recipients can receive up to $22,500 in resources from the Electronic Resources and Information Technologies (ERIT) department, which provides appropriate existing hardware and software at no cost. Additionally, University Libraries commits to maintaining the scholarly product and making it broadly available for the long term. The 2016-2017 Digital Partners Grant recipients are listed below.  Dr. Chris Hodgkins, Department of English, UNCG and Dr. Robert Whalen, Department of English, Northern Michigan University The University Libraries worked with Hodgkins to acquire, archive and maintain a local copy of the George Herbert: The Digital Temple web application, while also working with him and Whalen on the longer-term design and development of The Complete Works of George Herbert . In addition, University Libra...

Mitch Capel "Gran'daddy Junebug" Mitch Capel “Gran’daddy Junebug”  is a storyteller, recording artist, poet, actor and author. He was born in Southern Pines, North Carolina and has been delighting audiences nationally with his warmth, wit and compelling style since 1985. He refers to  his style of storytelling as “sto’etry” (stories recited poetically) and has been described as a “word magician,” “national treasure,” “unexpectedly powerful” and a “transformer of lives." He has been featured at numerous festivals and has performed his character education programs in more than 2,000 schools. Additionally, Capel has received numerous awards from local, state and national organizations for his work as a storyteller.  He won the the Zora Neal Hurston Award from the National Association of Black Storytellers and co-founded the African American Storytellers’ Retreat in 1990 held annually in North Carolina.  The University Libraries at UNC Greensboro, with the help of ...

The Friends of the UNCG Libraries wants to make you aware of a budding book fair/literary festival, to be held  May 18-20, 2018 .  Greensboro Bound:  A Literary Festival  targets bringing 60+ authors to downtown Greensboro for presentations, workshops, panels and an array of family-centric activities.   Spearheaded by Guilford County's two indie bookstores, Scuppernong Books of Greensboro and Sunrise Books of High Point, plus an emerging group of community partners, the all-volunteer organizing committee would love to get feedback from FOL to help craft programming and identify the authors you'd love to see in Greensboro.   Take a moment and help us launch  Greensboro Bound:  A Literary Festival .  https://www.surveymonkey.com/ r/GNZZFPV

Jenay Solomon, Diversity Resident Librarian Jenay Solomon, Diversity Resident Librarian, will present a poster at the Diversity and Outreach Fair of the 2017 American Library Association (ALA) 's Annual Conference and Exhibition on June 24 in Chicago. Her presentation, "Global Engagement in the Academic Library," highlights University Libraries's programs and services for international students, including its annual Diversity Expo and outreach to faculty. As part of this annual event, the Diversity and Outreach Fair celebrates library services, programs and collections to underserved and under-represented communities.  The ALA is the oldest and largest library association in the world and holds its Annual Conference each summer. It brings together up to 25,000 librarians and library staff, educators, authors, publishers, Friends of Libraries, trustees, special guests and exhibitors to engage and participate in the ongoing transformation of libraries and to ...

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives  recently welcomed the addition of Ennio Bolognini's personal papers and artifacts to the UNCG Cello Music Collection. Bolognini is the 13 th  cellist represented in the Cello Music Collection, which is the largest single holding of cello music-related material in the world. While the collection is small, it contains a few manuscripts, musical sketches and caricatures drawn by Bolognini, articles, concert programs and photographs relating to his life and career. Ennio Bolognini (1893-1979). Image courtesy of UNCG Special Collections & University Archives Bolognini was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 7, 1893. His mother was a prominent singer and opera coach at the Teatro Colón. His father was an Italian correspondent for the Paris-based newspaper Le Figaro and an amateur cellist, who taught his son the instrument. Bolognini made his debut at the age of 12 and soon enrolled i...

Librarians from across the U.S. gathered in Washington, D.C. on May 1 and 2 to visit with lawmakers as part of the American Library Association's National Library Legislative Day. This year, representatives from University Libraries,  the Master of Library and Information Studies program in UNCG's School of Education, the North Carolina Library Association and the State Library of North Carolina represented North Carolina with students and families to visit their representatives on Capital Hill.  Current issues for 2017 included continued funding for libraries, which was at the center of every conversation with lawmakers. Advocates asked Congress to fully fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $186.6 million, to reauthorize  the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) and to appropriate $27 million for the Innovative Approaches to Literacy  (IAL) program.  LSTA is the only federal funding program for libraries. Most of its resources flow t...

Jennifer Motszko presents award to Ryan Ridpath Assistant Dean Michael Crumpton and Undergraduate Research Award Committee Chair Jennifer Motszko presented the 2017 University Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Award to Ryan Ridpath on May 3 at the Student Honors Convocation. This award is given in recognition of an outstanding original research project or paper written by an undergraduate student or students at UNCG. A successful project demonstrates sophistication, creativity, originality and depth or breadth in the use of library collections and scholarly resources, an exceptional ability to use these resources in the creation of an original research project or paper and responsible use of information including appropriate and accurate citations and credits.   In his paper, Ridpath explores “women’s roles and the emotions attributed to them, comparing them to men in Njal’s Saga , and analyzing the sorts of gendered language and insults hurled by both genders” to “derive ...

Jennifer Koenig, Chair Jennifer Koenig has been named Chair of the Friends of the UNCG Libraries. She is an attorney with Shell Bray Attorneys and Counselors at Law in the trusts and estates practice group. She also has extensive experience representing charitable organizations and corporate fiduciaries. In addition to representing public charities, Koenig assists clients in creating private foundations and other charitable entities. In her free time, Koenig enjoys spending time with her husband, Dan, and their daughter, Nel. She is on the Business Ethics Award Committee and serves on many volunteer boards in the Greensboro community, including the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro's Future Fund Steering Committee and its Professional Advisors' Committee.  Elizabeth Hudson, Vice-Chair Elizabeth Hudson has been named Vice-Chair of the Friends of the UNCG Libraries. She is a native of North Carolina who grew up in the small community of Farmer, near Ashebo...

University Libraries’ held its Third Annual Members’ Choice Event on April 20. This exclusive event for the Jackson Society, allows members to vote on their preferred selection of books to be added to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives . These additions, many of which are first editions, will commemorate the 125 th anniversary of UNCG and help grow the collection as it strives to meet the needs of current and future faculty and students, as well as the broader community. The items recently added to UNCG’s Special Collections and University Archives are listed below: •          Isaac Johnson, Slavery Days in Old Kentucky                                 •          Thomas H. Jones, The Experience of Thomas H. J...

David Arneke, Krystal Speights and Kathy Crowe University Libraries is pleased to announce Krystal Speights as the 2017 Outstanding Student Library Worker Award (OSLWA) winner! Speights is a graduate student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program in the School of Health and Human Sciences at UNCG. She has been working in Jackson Library for more than four years.  She currently serves as Student Manager in Access Services and is responsible for supervising other students, responding to chat and email requests on behalf of the Check Out Desk, opening and closing the library and reporting on service, facilities and security issues. “Krystal has a sunny nature and is always smiling and happy,” said Marilyn Hanichak, Desk Manager in Access Services and Speights' supervisor. “Krystal inspires others to do well. Her friendly attitude fosters sociable relationships among the students, which helps build the team. She encourages the students to rely on one another,...

University Libraries’ faculty were recently honored by the Provost's Office on April 4. The event was sponsored by Provost Dana Dunn and recognized the outstanding contributions and achievements of UNCG faculty in research and creative activity.  Omar Ali and Beth Bernhardt Beth Bernhardt─Co-PI on a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina for “The Alternative Textbooks Project” awarded a grant to librarians from J.Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University and Jackson Library at UNCG to develop a two-pronged approach to alternative textbooks. $184,332 including matching funds over two years. Kathryn Crowe─Co-editor, The Future of Library Space . (Advances in Library Administration and Organizations v. 36) Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2016 . Jennifer Motszko and Michael Crumpton David Gwynn─Co-PI wi...

Tech Savvy is a daylong Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)   career conference desi gned to attract girls in sixth through ninth grades to these fields and inform families about STEM education and careers. The national event also provides instruction to parents encouraging them to reinforce their daughters’ interest in STEM. The event is hosted by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Greensboro Chapter.  The day also included savvy skills classes designed to help, them gain knowledge and confidence to enhance their success. This year, University Libraries taught a course on April 1 on information literacy titled, “Fake, Fact or Somewhere in Between.” Librarians at the UNCG University Libraries work closely with students and community members of all ages to help them evaluate and select reliable information sources. With more than 1,000 instruction sessions each year on campus and in the community, including online tutorials and more than ...

Dr. Martin Halbert has been appointed as Dean of UNCG University Libraries by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Dana Dunn. He currently serves as Dean of Libraries and Associate Professor at the University of North Texas, located in Denton, Texas. In this role, he provides strategic, organizational and visionary leadership to the libraries and serves as chief executive officer.  Prior to his appointment at the University of North Texas, Dr. Halbert served as the Director of Digital Innovations and the Director for Digital Programs and Systems at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Halbert also held positions at Rice University, Rolm Corporation, IBM Corporation and the University of Texas. He holds a Ph.D. in Liberal Arts from Emory University, a M.L.I.S. from the University of Texas and a B.A. in Philosophy from Rice University. Dr. Halbert will begin his role at UNCG on July 17, 2017. “Martin Halbert impressed all of us with his preparedness and enthusiasm fo...

Jenna Townend is pursuing her Ph.D. at Loughborough University and was recently awarded the Special Collections and University Archives’ Research Travel Grant. She visited UNCG's University Libraries earlier in 2017 to study the seventeenth century literary borrowings from George Herbert’s “The Temple” (1633) and to conduct comparative bibliographic research into the watermarks and ornaments of six texts published by Philemon and Robert Stephens. University Libraries offers one research travel grant per year to support the work of a researcher who utilizes the holdings of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives. Collections include rare books, manuscripts, women’s literature, cello music, University archives and Betty Carter Women Veterans Historical Project. The research travel grant is intended to pay for travel and lodging costs associated with a research trip to Greensboro, North Carolina. Graduate students, post-docs, teaching faculty and indepe...

Join University Libraries' Digital Media Commons (DMC) for the Chris Cassidy Artist Talk on Monday, March 6 at 5 p.m. in the VIA Lab of Jackson Library.  Cassidy’s area of expertise includes sculpture, installation and digital media. He is currently Associate Professor of New Media & Design and Interim Director of the School of Art at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His work has appeared in exhibitions throughout the United States as well as in international venues. He has been commissioned for work by private and public institutions, including the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and the State University of New York at Albany. Recent projects use installation, video and interactive digital media to explore how experience of place is mediated by pre-existing mental constructs like maps and models, and the potential of technology to radically alter the perceptual relationship between individuals and their environment. He received his BFA from the Phil...

Professor Nicole Smith, from the University of North Texas, will be giving a talk on her research on  A Christian Mannes Bileeve.   This text , a vernacular commentary on the Apostles’ Creed, stands as an exceptional example of a didactic text used by women religious to teach ecclesiastical doctrine. Most remarkable is, in comparison to other explanations of the Creed,  CMB’s  use of a variety of genres from example to lyric in its explanation of Christ’s Passion in Article IV: “Under Pontius Pilate, He suffered, died, and was buried.” At the most affective moment in the text, these lyrics and examples cultivate love and “kindness” in ways to reveal that “heart knowledge” ( sapientia  ) and “head knowledge” ( Scientia  ) are not mutually exclusive.  In this way,  CMB  stands as an exception to those other texts of affective piety and spiritual devotion that often, as scholars have argued, conflate  scientia  and  sapienti a ....

UNCG has outstanding digital archives. What you might not know is that, through coursework and internships, students have the opportunity to contribute to them. This spring, several history courses are interacting with one of UNCG Libraries’ most valuable resources – the extensive Digital Library of American Slavery, created by professor emeritus Loren Schweninger over more than 20 years, and currently managed by Digital Technology Consultant Richard Cox. Dr. Lisa Tolbert’s undergraduate history research methods course and Dr. Joey Fink’s graduate history course are using, and adding to, the DLAS’s Runaway Slave Advertisement Database. The advertisement database is managed by University Libraries’ Digital Projects Coordinator David Gwynn, who is helping to facilitate the students’ contributions. A recently awarded Strategic Seed grant will fund student interns to help digitize advertisements and work with classes in adding to the database. Since the Runaway Slave Advertiseme...

Join UNCG University Libraries at its next book discussion of   All the Light We Cannot See , by Anthony Doerr. The event will be led by Dr. Chuck Bolton, Professor in the History Department at UNCG and will be held on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 4 p.m. in the Hodges Reading Room of Jackson Library, 2nd floor. For more information or disability accommodations, please contact Hollie Stevenson-Parrish at   hdsteven@uncg.edu   or 336-256-0184.

The Greensboro Public Library will host its eighth annual Booklovers Social from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 22 at the Central Library, 219 N. Church Street. This year’s featured author, Quinn Dalton, discusses her latest novel Midnight Bowling .  The Booklovers Social offers bibliophiles the chance to connect with fellow booklovers. New and established book clubs will be on hand to welcome new members. There will be door prizes, food and music. Participants will also get the chance to vote for their favorite books of 2016, as well as books to read for 2017.  Dalton’s book, Midnight Bowling , uses the backdrop of bowling that was working-class America’s favorite sport, but on the decline in the 1970s and ‘80s. She tells the story of a young standout bowler who is faced with the challenges of transitioning into adulthood as she uncovers the complicated lives of the adults around her. Dalton received her master's in fine arts from the University of North Carolina at G...

Tickets are on sale for the Friends of the UNCG Libraries Annual Dinner, and they’re going fast. The event for UNCG’s Libraries will be March 29 at 6 p.m. in the Elliot University Center’s Cone Ballroom. The guest speaker will be Ray Suarez.  He is the author of three critically-acclaimed books including,  Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy that Shaped a Nation ,  The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America  and  The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration .  Tickets, which include dinner, are $60 for members and $70 for nonmembers. Table sponsorships are available for $650 and include 8 tickets, special pre-reception, preferential seating and recognition at the event. Reservations are required and may be purchased through Triad Stage by visiting http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=24297&pid=8399027  or calling 336-272-0160. The deadline to purchase your ticket is March 22. For more information...

Believe in the G is a 48-hour giving challenge during which our alumni family can invest in the future of UNCG. It's a time to come together and celebrate what makes our community great: loyalty, generosity, innovation and a commitment to lifelong learning for people from all walks of life.  This year, Believe in the G is February 15-16, and there are three big ways that alumni can participate: wear blue and gold, spread the word on social media using the hashtag #BelieveInTheG and make a gift online.  Our goal is 1,000 gifts by midnight on February 16, and we'll be updating our progress toward that goal at Believe in the G .  To mail a gift in early, send it to: University Advancement Services, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402. Be sure to put "Believe in the G" in the memo line of the check so that we can count it toward  our goal. Make a gift online today.