Friends of the UNCG Libraries

The UNCG Chapter of the Progressive Library Guild, a student organization, has been promoting membership in the Friends of the UNCG Libraries as part of their outreach activities

Erin Lawrimore, University Archivist in the University Libraries’ Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, was recently selected as a member of the 2013 cohort of the Archives Leadership Institute (ALI). Selection to highly-selective ALI is based upon leadership skills and potential, ability to influence policy and change within an organization and the archival field, commitment to the archival profession, and career progress and history. The Archives Leadership Institute provides advanced training for 25 emerging and innovative leaders each year, giving them the knowledge and tools to transform the archival profession in practice, theory and attitude. Participants will attend a week-long Leadership Intensive at Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) in June 2013, conduct a practicum-style leadership project at their home institution, participate in ongoing discussions, projects, and networking opportunities through a virtual ALI Salon, attend the ALI Practices Wor...

The following post was prepared by Dr. Chris Hodgkins of the English Department: Dr. Robert Whalen When Robert Whalen of Northern Michigan University began to explore how he might apply emerging digital technology to the English poetry of Metaphysical master George Herbert (1593-1633), he thought with youthful optimism that such a project might take, oh, a year or two. After all, the complete printed works of Herbert fit into only one volume. How long could it take to transcribe, encode, and annotate the lyric poems of The Temple (1633)? Thirteen years later, he knows. The Digital Temple , more than a decade in the making, is now available from University of Virginia Press/Rotunda, America’s leading academic digital publisher, where it keeps company with the digital papers of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and is being hailed by advance reviewers as the state of the art in digital editions. http://digitaltemple.rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/ Dr. Christopher Hodgkins...

The following post was prepared by Jim Schlosser, Chair of the Programming Committee of the Friends of the UNCG Libraries. John Shelton Reed John Shelton Reed, an acclaimed humorist on southern culture who once compared the modern South to a pair of comfortable tattered jeans, will be the speaker at the annual meeting of the Friends of the UNCG Libraries. The dinner gathering will be April 29 at Cone Ballroom in the Elliott University Center. The William Rand Kenan, Jr. professor emeritus of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Reed has written widely and spoken often, seriously and wittingly, about the ways of the South.   The novelist Lee Smith summed up Reed as "hysterically funny and the most astute observer of the South that we have." The humorist Roy Blount Jr. included Reed as the only sociologist in Blount's "Book of Southern Humor." Reed's latest book, published last November, “Dixie Bohemia: A French Quar...

The following post was prepared by Dr. William K. Finley, Special Collections Librarian. The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives in Jackson Library is currently mounting a visiting exhibit of vibrant illustrations from late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French books.   “French History Illustrated: The Action Images of Job” represents the breathtakingly colorful book and magazine images of Jacques Onfroy de Breville (1858-1931), who was known by the pseudonym of “Job.”   Included in the exhibit are numerous illustrations from French books and magazines, as well as toys (soldiers and farmyard scenes), commemorative plates and other artifacts designed by Job.   While Job’s illustrations were basically drawn for children, his images (especially those done in pochoir) will fascinate adults and children alike. The exhibit will be open for viewing between February 4 and March 14 during Special Collections’ opening hours of ...

This posting was prepared by Kathy Crowe, Associate Dean for Public Services. The University Libraries conducted the LibQual+™ survey in fall 2012 to determine student, faculty and staff perceptions about the UNCG Libraries (Jackson and the Harold Schiffman Music Library).   LibQual+ is a standardized measure develop by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in 2000.   It measures what service is desired by clients and the service they perceive they are receiving.   LibQual+ ™ also asks what is the minimum level of service with which they would be satisfied.   The survey includes core questions on three dimensions: ·          Affect of Service (services) ·          Information Control (collections and resources) ·          Library as Place (library buildings) Additional questions ask about general satisfaction with the Librar...

What do your snapshots say about the way you look at the world? Andi Gustavson wants to know.   The recipient of the University Libraries’ Research Travel Grant this year, Gustavson has an unusual dissertation topic for her work in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, one with a somewhat unconventional methodology. Her dissertation, “What Comes Home: Vernacular Photography and the Cold War, 1945-1991,” explores how American nurses, servicemen and servicewomen, and diplomats used their cameras to construct their own worldviews, posing and positioning themselves within an emerging new global order. Because these personal photographs depict the ordinariness of life lived amidst violence, she believes that they are key to understanding how Americans became accustomed to a culture of endless war. Andi Gustavson in Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives Research Room Gustavson says her work bridges a gap in the scholarly research o...