Friends of the UNCG Libraries

Perhaps one of the most devastating aspects of the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti is that for well over a century, cholera is a disease that has been understood by scientists, a disease that can be managed, and a disease that can be cured. And yet, as of December 6, 2010, over 91,000 Haitians have been sickened and more than 2,000 people have died. When we selected The Ghost Map as our January 24, 2011 Friends of the Library Book Discussion read, we did not anticipate that this book, which traces the beginning of scientific knowledge about cholera in the wake of the 1854 London epidemic, would be so relevant. Professors Rob and Janne Cannon will discuss the book with us at 7 pm on Monday, January 24 in the Hodges Reading Room . To learn more about the book and about how cholera spreads, please visit the book's website . The short video on the website provides a good introduction to this distressing subject. Professor Janne Cannon also suggests the following websites for those ...

November 15-December 22, 2010, Monday-Friday, 8-5 p.m.: “Bound to Please: The Custom Bookbindings of Don Etherington & Monique Lallier.” Martha Blakeney Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library, 2nd Floor. The exhibit opens with a talk by the bookbinders at 4 p.m. on Monday November 15. Don Etherington and Monique Lallier are two of the world’s most respected and honored bookbinders. Born in England and Montreal, respectively, they have undertaken projects for clients around the globe, and they have spent much of their careers teaching others the art and craft of what they do. They now live in Summerfield, a short drive from the UNCG campus, where Don’s reference library and papers are in the Special Collections of the University’s Library. From November 15 through December 22, some of their custom bindings will be on display in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Reading Room on the second floor of UNCG’s Jackson Library. On opening day, Monday, November 15, at 4 p.m. they will talk about t...

Barchester Towers , by Anthony Trollope, is a classic Victorian novel and well worth reading and re-reading, but at nearly 500 pages, it takes some time. Whether you finish the tome or not, we hope you join us on Monday, December 6 at 4 pm in the Hodges Reading Room of Jackson Library , when we discuss the book with Dr. Hephzibah Roskelly. In the meantime, check out the website devoted to all things Trollope. Here you will find fun facts about Trollope (did you know he was a senior civil servant in the post office?) and learn how he managed to write forty-seven novels, many of which are still in print. His secret? He paid a servant an additional five pounds a year to wake him up with a cup of coffee so that he could write between 5 and 8 am each day. The website also includes many quotes from Trollope on all aspects of relationships and politics. I will leave you with one from Barchester Towers : "Consolation from the world's deceit is very common. Mothers obtain it from thei...

While the pirate in the popular imagination tends to look like Johnny Depp and inhabit rowdy port cities in the Caribbean, pirates have pillaged and plundered from ancient times to the present day in all corners of the world. Join the History Club and the Friends of the UNCG Libraries in the EUC Auditorium at 7pm on Thursday, October 28th, as we host a panel designed to extend our understanding of pirates and their impact on law, society, and culture. Four experts from UNCG will discuss the pirates they have encountered in their very different fields of study. Dr. Omar Ali , African American Studies, will talk about a 14th Century Morrocan explorer who was beset by pirates off the coast of Sri Lanka and lived to tell the tale. Dr. James Anderson , History, will examine the intersection between smuggling, piracy and patriotism in the career of the Sino-Japanese pirate and Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong (1624-1662). Jason Cooke, a doctoral candidate in English, will look at the intersect...

Starting on Wednesday, October 13, faculty, staff, students, and Friends of the UNCG Libraries can check out DVDs in Jackson Library. Roughly 5,000 titles, encompassing hit TV shows, popular movies and classic films, will be shelved near the current periodicals in the Jackson Library Reading Room. Friends, as well as UNCG faculty, staff, and students, can check out up to two DVDs at a time for a period of one week. Do bring them back, though. Patrons are fined one dollar per day that the DVDs are overdue

Peter Yarrow, famous for his role in the legendary trio, Peter, Paul, and Mary, is coming to UNCG on November 3, 2010 for a booksigning and free performance sponsored by the Friends of the UNCG Libraries. The author of books such as Puff the Magic Dragon and Songs for Little Folks will appear at the Recital Hall of the Music Building at 6:30 p.m. For more information, see http://www.uncg.edu/ure/news/stories/2010/sep/PeterYarrow092710.htm

Greensboro attorney Norman B. Smith is interested in the great ideas of the world. An avid reader and book collector, he has built a personal library representing those ideas over a collecting career of more than four decades. From October 6 until November 12, the University Libraries at UNCG are pleased to host an exhibit “A Gentleman’s Library: The Classic Book Collection of Norman B. Smith,” in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Reading Room on the second floor of Jackson Library on the UNCG campus. The approximately thirty books in the exhibit range from the 15th century through the 20th century, and include a variety of authors and disciplines. The earliest book being displayed is a manuscript copy of a Book of Hours from the mid 15th century, but there are books from each century after that. Book collectors and readers are invited to view the exhibit between 9 and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. On Tuesday, October 19 at 4 p.m., Smith will talk about his collection and discuss how and why it was ...

We invite you to browse the electronic edition of Library Columns , the magazine of the University Libraries at UNCG. You may review stories such as: * “The Building of Jackson Library, 1948-50,” describing the construction of the building which is 60 years old this year; * “Walking in Their Footsteps,” exploring student use of the University Archives; * “New Library Tools for Online Students,” describing our services for distance learners; We are also pleased to provide news about the programs and activities of the Friends of the UNCG Libraries, the launch of the University Yearbooks website, and other topics we think may interest you. We invite your feedback on this first electronic issue. You may send feedback to barry_miller@uncg.edu .

We're pleased to announce the new lineup for the FOL Book Discussion Group. Once again, we have asked some of our favorite faculty members to choose books they treasure. We hope you can join us for one or more of these discussions. Simply log on to http://library.uncg.edu/fol/register or call or email Kimberly Lutz (336.256.8598 or kdlutz2@uncg.edu) to register. First up, on Monday, October 4, at 7 pm , is Zeitoun , a non-fiction account by Dave Eggers of one immigrant's experience during Hurricaine Katrina and its aftermath. Zeitoun was selected as UNCG's All-Campus Read this year, and we're very lucky to have Dr. Bill Hamilton leading the discussion. Dr. Hamilton, who teaches in the Masters of Liberal Studies program, spent a significant time in New Orleans and is primarily interested in the study of human rights. A student of world religion and a Latin American historian and Presbyterian minister by training, Dr. Hamilton will bring a unique perspective to our dis...

The Friends of the UNCG Libraries are sponsoring a new art exhibit. "Accepting the Often Chaotic Appearance of Trees," created by Greensboro artist Karen Bjork Dischell, will be on display in the Jackson Library Reading Room during the Fall semester. We invite you to join us from 4-6 pm on September 9 for an opening reception. Bjork Dischell, who works primarily as an oil painter, has a studio at the Lyndon Street Artworks in Greensboro. Originally from Massachusetts, she studied drawing and printmaking at the School of the Worcester Art Museum and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Bjork Dischell’s paintings have appeared in galleries across North Carolina, most recently in a juried show sponsored by the Elder Gallery in Charlotte, “Carolina’s Got Art.” Images of her paintings have appeared as cover art for The Musical Constellations (Unicorn Press, 2007), a book of poetry by UNCG English professor Tom Kirby-Smith, and in the journal Flyway (Iowa State University). S...

Come walk the Choctaw Road! Listen to the stories and songs of Native American culture with one of the nation’s premier storytellers, children’s book author Tim Tingle. The University Libraries at UNC Greensboro are proud to present Mr. Tingle at two free public performances, one in Greensboro and one in Winston-Salem. September 13, 2010 at 7 p.m. at the Elliott University Center Auditorium on the UNCG Campus September 11, 2010 at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the BOOKMARKS Festival in Winston-Salem An Oklahoma Choctaw, Tim Tingle is a renowned concert performer, an accomplished author, and a popular keynote speaker. As a storyteller, he delivers lively historical and traditional stories, accompanying himself on the Native American flute and singing Choctaw songs to the rhythms of a whale skin drum.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has long been a primary source of archival information on the Greensboro Sit-ins. Now UNCG archivists are working with the Smithsonian Channel to supply background and images for a new documentary on the Sit-ins, which began in February 1, 1960. The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives sent Smithsonian more than 30 images and transcripts of oral history interviews with several UNCG (then Woman’s College) alums who were involved in the Sit-ins during that first week. “Seizing Justice: The Greensboro 4” premieres on Smithsonian Sunday, July 25, airing at 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. The premiere comes on the 50th anniversary of the day Woolworth’s desegregated its lunch counters. The Greensboro Sit-ins began when four young black men from North Carolina A&T State College sat down at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in downtown Greensboro and asked to be served. Their actions sparked a six-month peaceful protest t...

A federal grant of almost $900,000 will help the Department of Library and Information Studies recruit minority students. The $889,401 grant is one of 39 awarded during this grant cycle by the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS received 110 applications requesting more than $68,242,619. The grant results from a team effort between Library and Information Studies and University Libraries. The funds will be used to recruit 15 minority students into the Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) program. The grant covers tuition and fees, student health insurance, stipends and expenses to attend a national conference. The program also provides the students with internship opportunities at 10 participating academic libraries in North Carolina, pairs them with experienced librarians for mentoring and offers them cultural enrichment activities during the two-year MLIS program.

Dean Rosann Bazirjian of the University Libraries is one of fourteen librarians who were elected recently to represent the Americas Regional Council on the OCLC Global Council. Comprised of members from libraries and cultural heritage organizations in Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean and the United States, the Americas Regional Council is one of three regional councils that are part of OCLC’s new governance structure to facilitate member-to-member discussions. The Council is the primary means through which members offer feedback on OCLC products, services, programs and policies through OCLC’s Global Council, and help shape the future of the cooperative. Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 171 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manag...

In January 2010, Rosann Bazirjian, Dean of the University Libraries at UNCG, established the University Libraries Innovation and Program Enrichment Grant for the purpose of enhancing and expanding library services and programs. On June 3, two project proposals were selected to share the inaugural award. Congratulations are in order for Beth Filar Williams, Coordinator of Library Services for Distance Education, and the team of Cathy L. Griffith, Assistant Head of Access Services, and Mary Ann Graham, 24/5 Night Manager. Filar Williams will work with a graduate student from the Department of Library and Information Studies to create an “Instructional Technology Toolbox” resource for use by UNCG librarians, LIS faculty, and students. Griffith and Graham will work with Dr. Sara Littlejohn in the UNCG Writing Center and the University Libraries Reference and Instructional Services department to provide late night, in-library assistance to student writers prior to exams. Both the Univ...

Dr. Rebekah (Becky) Megerian of Asheboro has been elected chairperson of the Friends of the UNCG Libraries, and Mr. Lance Elko, vice-chair. Both were elected at the recently annual meeting of the Friends, which featured a presentation by radio host and journalist Frank Stasio of WUNC. Dr.Megerian was born in Mooresville, North Carolina, and is the daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. Andrew McKnitt Henderson. She holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English from North Carolina State University and did graduate work at the University of Toronto before returning to North Carolina to work in the North Carolina Community College System. She taught English at North Carolina State University, the University of Toronto, and Lenoir Community College before joining the faculty at Randolph Community College in Asheboro in 1980. In 1994 she received a doctoral degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2008 she retired from Randolph ...

The University Libraries Staff Service Award was established in 1997 upon the retirement of Martha Ransley, former Head of the Circulation Department,"to recognize and reward members of the SPA library staff who provide outstanding leadership and service in furthering the accomplishment of the mission of the Library to provide service to students, faculty, staff and members of the community which the University serves." The 2010 University Libraries’ Staff Service Award was presented to Stacey Krim in May. Stacey works in Jackson Library, where she coordinates commercial serials binding among the Cataloging, Access Services, Music Library, Preservation and Binding departments. She also creates and maintains procedures for NC DOCKS institutional repository materials, and reformats, digitizes or collaborates with various departments for major serials cancellations and closeout projects. Stacey has been active in making the library more inclusive, sharing knowledge, and working...

On April 15, 2010, the University Libraries at UNCG, through NC LIVE, began offering a new collection of downloadable audio books via Ingram Digital's MyiLibrary Audio Book Platform. The initial collection contained 750 titles, focusing primarily on language learning, history, biography, and classic literature. The eAudio content is downloadable to either an iPod or MP3 player, and playable on a PC or Mac computer. On Friday, May 14, NC LIVE added the second installment of downloadable audio books to it's new collection, available from: http://uncgreensboro.myilibraryaudio.com/ . As with the previous installment, the new titles were made available with an LSTA grant from the State Library of North Carolina. The new titles include approximately 250 new titles, as well as additional copies of previously owned content. The collection now contains nearly 1300 copies of audio books for public and academic libraries across the state. Each audio book user will need to set up their own...

We had a great turnout at our second annual sonnetfest, held on Friday, April 23. Friends, faculty, staff, and students read all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets in under three hours. The weather cooperated, and we celebrated in style with cake! Hope you can join us next year.

Jim was Library Director from 1970 to 1988 and then he taught in the History Dept until his retirement in 1994. Associate Dean of the University Libraries Kathy Crowe notes that during his tenure our collections and staff grew to support UNCG's expanding research and professional programs in addition to the physical space. Jim was responsible for planning and opening the Library Tower that is now a prominent campus landmark. We also purchased our first online catalog while he was here. He is remembered as an outstanding colleague, teacher, leader, and friend. James Howard Thompson, 75, of 4020 Crown Hill Drive, Durham, died at UNC Memorial Hospital on April 13, 2010, after a long illness. Born on August 20, 1934, in Memphis, TN, he was the son of Curtis Thompson and Clara Terry Thompson. He graduated from Rhodes College in 1955 and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1957 and 1961 and his M.S. in Library Science at the Uni...

Frank Stasio, a familiar voice to National Public Radio listeners, headlines the annual Friends of the UNCG University Libraries Dinner Monday, May 10. Stasio, who currently hosts WUNC’s “The State of Things,” will speak on “The State of Conversation.” For the past four years, Stasio, a Buffalo, N.Y., native, has immersed himself in the culture, lore, and history of North Carolina. His studio acts as a salon, where Stasio has perfected the art of conversation with everyone from folk musicians to politicians to hound breeders to beauty queens, gaining a unique perspective on his adopted state. He will address the question of what it means to be a North Carolinian in 2010. Stasio was named permanent host of “The State of Things” in June 2006. Visit “The State of Things” on the web at http://wunc.org/programs/tsot/. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's news director. From there he went to National Public Radio, wh...

Once again, the University Libraries, along with the Department of English and the Center for Creative Writing in the Arts, are celebrating Shakespeare's birthday. Please join us on Friday, April 23 from 2:00-5:30 pm on the lawn in front of Jackson Library--right by the McIver statue. A dedicated group of students, faculty, and library staff will read aloud all of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets. And, when we finish, we will eat cake! Come in costume, stay for fabulous prizes, and enjoy the Bard's immortal words. If you would like to volunteer to read sonnets, please contact Kimberly Lutz at 256-8598 or kimberly_lutz@uncg.edu . Check out Irma Minerva's podcast for even more information.

College student Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint in 1984 by a man who broke into her Burlington apartment while she slept. Her identification of Ronald Cotton as her attacker led to his conviction. Cotton maintained his innocence and after more than a decade in Raleigh’s Central Prison was exonerated by a DNA test. When Cotton met Thompson-Cannino two years later they began an unlikely friendship. With Erin Torneo, they tell their story in the New York Times Bestseller “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.” Thompson-Cannino will give a free, public talk and sign copies of the book from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, April 8, in the UNCG Alumni House, Virginia Dare Room. The event is sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Friends of the UNCG Libraries. The DNA test that exonerated Cotton implicated someone else in the DNA databank, Bobby Poole. Poole actually had been in Central Prison at the same time as Cotton and had told people that he raped Thompson. Poole was...

The MFA Writing Program at UNC Greensboro, The Greensboro Review, and The UNCG Center for Creative Writing in the Arts will host a fiction reading by Fred Chappell on Thursday, March 18th at 7 PM in the UNCG Faculty Center on College Avenue. The reading will celebrate the release of Chappell’s latest book, Ancestors and Others . It is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception and book signing. Fred Chappell is the author of more than twenty books of poetry and fiction. He has received many major prizes, including the Bollingen Prize in Poetry from Yale University and the Award in Literature from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

For decades the research and academic libraries across the UNC system have leveraged their collections and those of other research libraries in the region to reduce costs and make the greatest range of materials available to faculty and students. Now, with one easy system on the web, patrons can search the library catalog of all 17 institutions in the system and have the materials they need delivered in days. UNC Library Express makes library materials across the state easy to find and quick to obtain. Students, faculty and staff at UNCG can search available resources across the system through UNC Library Express by starting at library.uncg.edu and following the library catalog links. Books and other item are delivered by UPS Ground service, usually within three days of the request. The end result: UNC Library Express increases the number and variety of books and other resources available to all members of the UNC system community, whether they are teaching or learning on campus or th...

Please join us in the Virginia Dare Room, Alumni House, at 7:00 pm on Thursday, March 4, for a lecture by UNC Chapel Hill History professor Heather Williams. Dr. Williams' talk, " Help Me to Find My People: Searching for Family After Slavery Ended ," is the final lecture in our " Forever Free " series. We were especially interested in bringing Dr. Williams to campus as our last speaker as her current research focuses on the immediate after effects of emancipation on Southern black families, picking up where our exhibit ends. Dr. Williams, whose first book, Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom , received numerous awards, has been at Chapel Hill since 2004. Before turning to academia, Dr. Williams taught at the high school level, winning a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship. Dr. Williams also had a distinguished legal career, working for the Department of Justice, the US Attorney's Office, and Miracle Makers. She is c...

" Did Abe Lincoln Really Free the Slaves? " Join us as noted legal scholar Dr. Paul Finkelman provides his perspective on Lincoln's role in ending slavery in America. Dr. Finkelman, who has appeared in such documentaries as Ken Burns' Thomas Jefferson as well as Up for Grabs, a documentary about Barry Bonds' 73rd home run ball, is an expert on Abraham Lincoln and nineteenth-century American history. The editor of the comprehensive The Political Lincoln: An Encyclopedia (2009), Finkelman also served as an advisor to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Dr. Finkelman was a plenary speaker at the 150th anniversary commemoration of John Brown's raid of Harper Ferry last Fall. He also served as an expert witness in Harvard Law School's retrial of the Dred Scott v. Sanford case, an event that drew the participation of Kenneth Starr and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Dr. Finkelman's lecture is the fourth in the University Libraries' ...

Remember Pollyanna, Trixie Belden, and Nancy Drew? They, along with their sisters in American children's fiction, have been collected and preserved as part of the UNCG University Libraries' Girls Books in Series Collection. This remarkable compilation of serial literature (1840s-1970s), which includes nearly 2,800 volumes from more than 500 series, is the strongest in the country. In out stacks, researchers are able to trace the history of American girlhood as depicted in the pages of these well-loved stories. The Friends of the UNCG Libraries invite you to join us for a tea and a talk about this jewel of a collection. Professor Joe Sutliff Sanders, a professor from Cal State San Bernardino, is an active user of the UNCG Libraries' Special Collections. He will share his research in a talk entitled, "Classic Girls, Modern Stories." Tea and cookies will follow, along with an exhibit of many of the books. Please join us from 2-4 pm in the Hodges Reading Room of Jack...

Forever Free Exhibit Special Events January 31-February 7: Sunday, January 31 --Former Museum Director Bill Moore will speak on "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: The Greensboro Connection" at the Greensboro Historical Museum at 3:00 p.m. ( In the event of inclement winter weather this weekend, as predicted, contact the Museum to see if the event is still on: 336-373-2043). The Museum, not UNCG, will make the call on whether the event goes on as scheduled. Thursday, February 4: Lecture by Dr. Thomas J. Brown, University of South Carolina,  “The Civil War in Modern Eyes.” Virginia Dare Room, Alumni House, UNCG campus, 7 p.m. Sunday, February 7: African American Music in the Time of Lincoln Greensboro councilwoman and “Song” Storyteller T. Dianne Bellamy-Small & friends will present an inspirational performance of black spirituals of the 19th century.  Central Library, Greensboro Public Library, 219 N. Church St., 3 p.m. From January 25 through March 5, the Univers...

Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation exhibit is now installed in the Jackson Library Reading Room at UNC Greensboro. I hope you will enjoy it. From January 25 through March 5, the University Libraries plays host to a very special exhibit: "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation." The exhibit, which fills a wall of the Jackson Library Reading Room, explores Lincoln’s gradual transformation from an antislavery moderate into “The Great Emancipator." In conjunction with the exhibit, the University Libraries are bringing several speakers to campus, with more in February and early March, and our partners at the Greensboro Historical Museum and Greensboro Public Library also have events scheduled to coincide with the exhibit. Next week's Forever Free program events : Tuesday, January 26 - Dr. Loren Schweninger , UNCG History Department, "Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and the End of Slavery." at 7:00 pm in the Virgi...

Happy new year from the University Libraries at UNCG. Here are book and author events in the Triad that I know about during January 2010. FREE Friends of the UNCG Libraries Events Monday, January 25 : Friends of the UNCG Libraries Book Discussion of This One and Magic Life , by Anne Carroll George, led by Bill Carroll of the UNCG School of Music. Free, but registration is suggested at http://library.uncg.edu/fol/register/ From January 25 through March 5 , the University Libraries will play host to a very special exhibit: "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation." The exhibit, which will fill the Jackson Library Reading Room, explores Lincoln’s gradual transformation from an antislavery moderate into “The Great Emancipator." In conjunction with the exhibit, the University Libraries are bringing several speakers to campus, with more in February and early March: Tuesday, January 26 _-Dr. Loren Schweninger, UNCG History Department, "Frederick Dougla...

From January 25 through March 5, the University Libraries will play host to a very special exhibit: "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation." The exhibit, which will fill the Jackson Library Reading Room, explores Lincoln’s gradual transformation from an antislavery moderate into “The Great Emancipator." In conjunction with the exhibit, the University Libraries are bringing several speakers to campus: Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00 pm --Dr. Loren Schweninger, UNCG History Department, "Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and the End of Slavery." Virginia Dare Room, Alumni House, UNCG Campus. Wednesday, January 27 at 3:30 pm --Former Senator George McGovern will sign copies of his 2009 book, Lincoln , and discuss what drew him to the subject. Reception immediately following. Jackson Library Reading Room, UNCG Campus . Thursday, February 4 at 7:00 pm --Dr. Thomas J. Brown, University of South Carolina History Department, “The Civil War in Modern ...