Friends of the UNCG Libraries

Looking for Palestine , by Najla Said, is the Keker First Year Common Read for this year.  Dr. Jeff Jones from the UNCG History Department  will lead the Friends’ discussion of this book at 7 pm on Monday, October 10 in The Hodges Reading Room in Jackson Library.     The daughter of the famous intellectual and outspoken Palestinian advocate Edward Said and a sophisticated Lebanese mother, Najla Said grew up in New York City, confused and conflicted about her cultural background and identity. Said knew that her parents identified deeply with their homelands, but growing up in a Manhattan world that was defined largely by class and conformity, she felt unsure about who she was supposed to be, and was often in denial of the differences she sensed between her family and those around her. She may have been born a Palestinian Lebanese American, but Said denied her true roots, even to herself—until, ultimately, the psychological toll of her self-hatred began to ...

Amy Harris Houk has been appointed Head of the Research, Outreach and Instruction (ROI) Department at the University Libraries at UNCG, effective August 1,  2016.  She replaces Mary Krautter who retired in July. Amy was serving as Assistant Head of ROI since December 2015 and as Information Literacy Coordinator. 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. Amy has published and presented widely on information literacy, assessment. Her article “Curriculum Mapping in Academic Libraries” article in New Review of Academic Librarianship   was selected as a Top Twenty Article for 2015 by the ALA Library Instruction Round Table. Amy serves on the North Carolina Library Association's Executive...

The Friends of the UNCG Libraries will hold their first book discussion of the new academic year on Monday, September 19 at 4 pm in the Hodges Room on the second floor of Jackson Library's original building. The book selected is Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay: Reflections on Art, Family, and Survival , by Christopher Benfey.  The book was chosen to complement the 75th Anniversary of the Weatherspoon Art Museum this year. Reviewer Adam Goodheart of the New York Times Book Review called this NY Times Notable Book of 2012, "a book about earthen vases, epic voyages and ancestral blood. Part memoir, part family saga, part travelogue, part cultural history, it takes readers on a peripatetic ramble across America and beyond."  From the red bricks of North Carolina to the Black Mountain College to highly prized white clay, this is a book North Carolinians can especially enjoy.  The discussion is free and open to all. Dr. Emily Stamey is Curator of Exhibitions at ...

The UNCG University Libraries 2015-16 Innovation Grant was awarded to Isabella Baltar of the Libraries' Preservation Services Division for her project "No Boundaries in Preservation."  Mrs. Baltar used the funds to develop instructional videos and posters on basic preservation and conservation of books and documents.  A native of Brazil, Mrs. Baltar created the materials in English, Spanish and Portuguese to make the information available to a wide range of communities within the United State and Latin countries. They cover topics such as preventing water disasters, cleaning books and paper, best practices for small digitization projects, brittle paper repair and archival storage enclosures. The videos and posters are available to everyone -- hence "No Boundaries!" Click here for more information and to view the videos and posters. For more information please contact Isabella Balthar at ibaltar@uncg.edu

I n a new initiative, the University Libraries awarded $1,000 stipends to three faculty members to provide support to revise their spring 2016 courses to incorporate more information literacy and increase librarian involvement. The faculty selected partnered with several UNCG librarians to develop new assignments and assessments that enhanced student learning.   Dr. Thomas Jackson, History 391 Historical Skills and Methods,worked with Kathy Crowe (Libraries' liaison to the History department) Lynda Kellam (Data Services and Government Information Librarian), and Kathelene Smith (Photographs, Artifacts, and Textiles Archivist) to  incorporate library databases, historic census and polling data, and archival materials relating to the sit-ins of the 1960s. Ms.Stephanie Hudson collaborated with Amy Harris Houk (Libraries' liaison to the School of Education) on ELC 381 The Institution of Education. The class included a series of scaffolded assignments centered around ...

We welcome Jenay Solomon as our 5th Diversity Resident. She began on July 25 and will be with the Libraries for two years. Jenay comes to us from Nebraska where she received her BA in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her MLS from Emporia State University.  Jenay worked as a Graduate Research Assistant and Graduate Administrative Assistant in the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State.  She was also a Student Reference Assistant in Research and Information Services and in Diversity and Multicultural Services at the Love Library at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  She was an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar in 2014. In her spare time Jenay enjoys reading, painting, cooking and listening to  variety of music. She lives with her dog, Jade, and cat, Lacey.  She also likes to travel and counts Palau (where her father is from) , England and Scotland among the places she's been so far. Jenay is very excite...

Joe Bruchac Joe Bruchac is a storyteller, an author, a poet, a musician, a teacher and professor, a publisher and  editor, a mentor, a father, and a grandfather, among other things.   His work spans the past fifty years, and he remains one of this country’s great resources bringing an appreciation of Native American values and perspectives to his readers and listeners. Joe was raised, in large measure, by his grandmother and grandfather in the house in which he still lives In Greenfield Center near Saratoga Springs, NY.  Intrigued and drawn to his Abenaki heritage on his mother’s side of the family, Joe changed his college major at Cornell from Wildlife Conservation to English and Creative Writing, and later earned a Ph.D.  When he finished college, and wanting to do something meaningful with his life, he and his wife Carol went to West Africa for three years to live, teach and work in a school library and bookstore.  Perhaps known first as a poet, th...