Friends of the UNCG Libraries

Amy Harris Houk has been appointed Assistant Head of the Research, Outreach and Instruction Department at the University Libraries at UNCG, effective January 4, 2016.  She replaces Nancy Ryckman, who is retiring.  Before joining the Libraries full-time in 2006, she worked as a Reference Intern for two semesters.  Amy received her B.A. in Elementary Education and American Studies from UNC Chapel Hill.  She also worked as host of a radio show and as an elementary school teacher. She received her MLIS from UNC Greensboro.

Associate Dean Kathy Crowe has been named Interim Dean of University Libraries at UNCG, effective April 1.  She replaces Dean Rosann Bazirjian, who is retiring. In making the announcement of her appointment to the faculty and staff of the University Libraries, Provost Dana Dunn said, “My interactions with the members of the Library community around this process reinforce my view that UNCG is fortunate to have talented and dedicated faculty and staff members.   Kathy will work closely with Rosann Bazirjian over the next few months to facilitate the transition. I know she will also work collaboratively with other Library administrators to ensure that the Libraries continue along their trajectory of accomplishment.” Crowe came to UNCG in 1983 as a Reference Librarian and Bibliographic Instruction Coordinator and became Head of the Reference Department in 1996.  As Associate Dean since 2006, Kathy has been responsible for the development, delivery and assessment of...

Christine Fischer has been appointed the Head of the Technical Services Department, effective January 1, 2016 .   She was previously Head of Acquisitions.  After the retirement of Mary Jane Conger as Head of Cataloging, the two departments were merged, and Christine has been appointed to head the new Technical Services Department. Christine received her B.A. in Humanities from East Tennessee State University and received her M.S.L.S. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her interests include topics related to library resources, streaming video, collections, and the evolving electronic scholarship and publishing environment. Beth R. Bernhardt, Assistant Dean for Collection Management and Scholarly Communications looks forward to working Christine, and notes that with her years of experience here at the University Libraries she will provide great leadership as we move forward into the future.

David Covert has been named Interim Music Librarian in the Harold Schiffman Music Library, effective January-June, 2016 while Music Librarian Sarah Dorsey is on research assignment. David received his M.L.I.S. in 2015, and a B.A in Communication Studies with extensive studies in Music in 2013, both from UNC Greensboro.  He worked in the Harold Schiffman Music Library for five years during his time as a student at UNCG, and also in Jackson Library at the Reference Desk.

Tickets to the Friends of the UNCG Libraries annual dinner on March 22, 2016 make a nice holiday gift, and are available by calling Triad Stage at 336-272-0160. Proceeds benefit the University Libraries at UNC Greensboro. In his book, The Sandcastle Girls , 2016 Friends Dinner speaker Chris Bohjalian takes us on a journey that travels the terrain of his Armenian heritage, making it his most personal novel to date. His website provides this synopsis: When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian Genocide. There Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British army in Egyp...

January The UNCG sponsored series, The Globe and the Cosmos, is a year-long celebration of William Shakespeare and Galileo Galilei on the 450th anniversary of their respective births.  With strong holdings in the works of William Shakespeare, Special Collections and University Archives at UNCG’s University Libraries mounts an exhibit that exclusively focused on the Bard. The exhibit is called " 'That in Black Ink My Love May Still Shine Bright:' Selections from Five Centuries of Printed Works of William Shakespeare." February CSPAN features the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives during a broadcast visit to Greensboro. Author, collector and former bookseller Charlie Lovett visits to discuss his new novel, First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austin. Keith Gorman of the University Libraries leads a book discussion of Pat Barker’s Regeneration. Local historian and journalist Jim Schlosser presents ...

The Friends of the UNCG Libraries are pleased to announce that best-selling author Chris Bohjalian will be the guest speaker at their Annual Dinner in Cone Ballroom in the Elliott University Center on the night of March 22, 2016. Tickets, which include dinner, are $60 for members and $70 for nonmembers. Tickets for the program only are $22. Reservations are required and may be purchased online through the Triad Stage Box Office online or by calling 336-272-0160.  Reservations for the dinner should be made by March 15. Chris Bohjalian is the author of 18 books, most of which were New York Times bestsellers. His work has been translated into over 30 languages and three books also became movies. He may be best known for his novel, Midwives , a number one New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. The Sandcastle Girls examined the Armenian Genocide, and he speaks frequently about that topic and the need fo...

Tuesday, February 9:  “Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor” presentation by UNCG faculty authors Jody Natalle and Jenni Simon.  4 p.m. Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library 2nd floor, UNCG.  FREE.   “When Michelle Obama held the Bible for her husband’s swearing in on January 20, 2009, it was a turning point in first lady history,” write Jody Natalle and Jenni Simon of UNC Greensboro’s Communication Studies Department, who have produced an essay collection about Mrs. Obama.  They go on to describe Mrs. Obama as “not the ordinary first lady we have come to expect as the supporter of the president.  In fact, it is because she is extraordinary that we choose Michelle Obama for a rhetorical-cultural analysis that uncovers some of the ways American women communicate gender.” Their book, Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor is an edited anthology that explores the persona and speech-making of the country’s first African American first lady. The ...

As we all know, final exams are a long-standing tradition in the academic community.  Once again, the Friends of the UNCG Libraries are helping to make preparation for them a bit more pleasant with free coffee during the first three nights of December. On behalf of the students who will enjoy it, we at the University Libraries give thanks for our Friends during this holiday season.

Monday, January 25 : “The Impact of World War II on Segregation,” a lecture by Peter Golden, author of Wherever There is Light , which explores the rescue German–Jewish professors from the Nazis by traditionally African-American colleges and the birth of the modern civil rights movement. 4 p.m.  Hodges Reading Room, Second Floor Jackson Library. FREE. Tuesday, February 9 :  “Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor” presentation by UNCG faculty authors Jody Natalle and Jenni Simon.  4 p.m. Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library 2nd floor, UNCG.  FREE. Monday, February 22 : Friends of the UNCG Libraries Book Discussion - Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley, led by Karen Weyler of the English Department. 7 p.m. Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library 2nd floor, UNCG.  FREE. Monday, March 14 : Friends of the UNCG Libraries Book Discussion - Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, led by Keith Gorman of the Uni...

Two book discussions have been scheduled for the Friends of the UNCG Libraries Book Discussion series.  Those wishing to participate are invited to register so that they are kept informed should there be any postponements due to weather or other factors. Monday, February 22:  Discussion of Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley, led by Karen Weyler of the English Department. 7 p.m. Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library 2nd floor, UNCG.  FREE. Monday, March 14: Discussion of  Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, led by Keith Gorman of the University Libraries 4 p.m. Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library 2nd floor, UNCG.  FREE. For more information or to request  disability accommodations, please contact Barry Miller at 336-256-0112 or barry_miller@uncg.edu

Peter Golden "While many Americans became aware of the efforts to end segregation in 1954 when the Supreme Court handed down the Brown v. Board of Education decision and a year later during the Montgomery bus boycott, which put Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks on the front pages of newspapers, the fact is that the modern civil rights movement was born during the run-up to the Second World War and led by the “Negro” press.”   So argues journalist and novelist Peter Golden, who will speak at 4 pm on January 25 in the Hodges Reading Room in UNCG’s Jackson Library.  His topic will be “The Impact of World War II on Segregation.” Peter Golden is an award-winning journalist, historian, and novelist who, during the course of his long and varied career, has interviewed  Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush; Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, George Shultz, and Lawrence Eagleburger;  Israeli Prime Mi...

It is with sadness that we report the death of former U.S. Representative Howard Coble.  The Congressman died November 3 from complications stemming from skin cancer surgery. Details on funeral arrangements and an obituary may be found here . Rep. Coble's papers are housed in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives in Jackson Library at UNCG.  As Dean Rosann Bazirjian said in reporting the Congressman's death to the library's faculty and staff this morning, "his generosity to the University Libraries was truly noteworthy.  We will miss him." Among the coverage of the Congressman's death are the following segments involving the Coble papers at UNCG. http://myfox8.com/2015/11/04/ remembering-howard-coble-1931- 2015/ http://www.wxii12.com/ news/part-2-a-lifetime-of- service/36265842   

L-R: Music Librarian Sarah Dorsey with Alice Brown '65 Alice Garrett Brown ('65) completed her reunion gift by naming a carrel in the Schiffman Music Library.  Alice, who has given her oral history for the African American Institutional Memory Project, was a music teacher for 36 years in both Greensboro and Randolph County.  Her gift, she says, combined her love of both music and libraries. Her reunion gift also included a gift for the Quad Renovation and the African American Institutional Memory Project. We are grateful for Alice’s generosity.

Left to right: Scholarship Committee Chair for NCLA Libby Stone, Kapil Dharm Vasudev, Megan Northcote, Lynette Inez Kendrick and Shelby Lynn Fields.  Photo courtesy of Libby Stone (MLIS '98) Several UNCG Students won scholarships at the recent North Carolina Library Association biennial meeting. Kapil Dharm Vasudev received the $1,000 Query-Long Scholarship, which is awarded to a student who works with children or young adults. Megan Northcote received the $1,000 Appalachian Scholarship, which is awarded to a student who plans to become a school library media specialist in NC. Shelby Lynn Fields received the $400 McLendon Scholarship.

Nancy Fogarty Two UNCG Librarians were among those recognized at the recent Biennial Conference of the North Carolina Library Association in Greensboro. Retired Reference Librarian Nancy Fogarty was awarded the Lifetime Membership Award, which is presented to a professional librarian who is no longer actively engaged in library work and whose contributions to the state and to the profession were especially notable. Gerald Holmes Gerald Holmes received the Distinguished Library Service Award which marks distinguished professional library services to North Carolina, significant service or other professional contributions provided during either a short or long span of time, and service resulting in a regional or national impact on librarianship in general.

The University Libraries and the UNCG LIS Department will be well-represented at the upcoming North Carolina Library Association’s biennial conference October 20-23.   In addition to UNCG people handling many local arrangements, the following 31 programs by UNCG librarians are on the program, and so are many by UNCG alums. Academic Library Websites as Information Gateways: Prioritizing User Needs in Website Evaluation and (Re)Design   Presentation by Terry W. Brandsma,   Information Technology Librarian at the University Libraries, and Ingrid Ann Johnston of UNCG. Accessing Art Poster session about the University Libraries Art Collection website created by Breanne Crumpton, now the GlaxoSmithKline Fellow at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Building Pyramids: Creating Partnerships in Digital Scholarship presentation by Richard Cox, Digital Technology Consultant at the University Libraries, and Chelcie Rowell at Wake Forest. Color with Creativity: Designing ...