News
Tue, 10/06/2026
KU Libraries offer behind-the-scenes tours for American Archives Month
In celebration of American Archives Month, KU Libraries will offer a series of behind-the-scenes tours at Kenneth Spencer Research Library, giving visitors rare access to the spaces, specialized labs, and work areas where library staff preserve historical materials and make them available for research.
Fri, 10/02/2026
KU Libraries launches Library of Things, offering games, tools and more for checkout
KU Libraries has launched a Library of Things, a new collection of non-book items that students, faculty and staff can borrow from the Anschutz Library Service Desk.
Fri, 09/25/2026
Student artists recognized at KU Libraries’ celebration of 2026 LibArt exhibition
KU Libraries’ LibArt program, a year-round, juried exhibition of student art displayed throughout library spaces, celebrated a diverse exhibit of student work and recognized award recipients Sept. 17 at a reception in Watson Library.
Tue, 09/22/2026
KU Libraries to host KU alum, American Girl author Angela Cervantes for Hispanic Heritage Month
Angela Cervantes, the Jayhawk behind American Girl’s 2026 Girl of the Year character, Raquel Reyes, will return to the University of Kansas on Oct. 17 for a free family event celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.
Fri, 09/18/2026
Open Access Week webinar to explore federal public access policy amid shifting landscape
KU Libraries will celebrate International Open Access Week with a virtual webinar featuring Corinna Turbes, Senior Manager of Government Relations at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), from 2 to 3:30 p.m. CST, Thursday, Oct. 22.
Tue, 09/15/2026
Help pick the next KU common book
KU Reads: A Common Book Experience is inviting students, faculty, staff, and campus community members to help shape the next KU Reads: A Common Book Experience by nominating a book for the 2027-2028 academic year.
Fri, 09/11/2026
Applications now open for next round of Dean's OER Grant Initiative
KU Libraries is accepting proposals for the Dean's OER Grant Initiative, which supports faculty in adopting open educational resources (OER) in high-enrollment courses.
Fri, 09/04/2026
KU student-designed mural reflects community, belonging in Watson Library
KU Libraries collaborated with students from the Department of Design for a new mural in The Kettle in Watson Library. The public is invited to an opening reception at 4 p.m. Sept. 24 to celebrate the work and partnership.
Wed, 09/02/2026
KU alumna, NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara to headline KU Reads event Oct. 8
The University of Kansas will welcome home one of its own this fall when KU alumna and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara returns to Lawrence for a public event celebrating the 2026-27 KU Reads: A Common Book Experience selection.
Mon, 08/31/2026
KU Libraries seeks nominations for 2026 Shulenburger Award recognizing innovators in Open Scholarship
KU Libraries is accepting nominations through Sept. 18 for the 2026 David Shulenburger Award for Innovation and Advocacy in Scholarly Communication, which recognizes members of the KU community who are expanding access to research, advancing open scholarship, and transforming how knowledge is shared.
Thu, 08/27/2026
KU Libraries adds access to LaTeX platform Overleaf
KU Libraries has negotiated a new deal providing students, faculty, and staff on the KU Lawrence and Edwards campuses access to Overleaf, a cloud-based platform for writing, editing, and collaborating on scientific and technical documents using LaTeX, a markup system to format documents.
Thu, 08/20/2026
KU Libraries celebrates Hawk Week with events across campus locations
As students settle back into campus life, KU Libraries is rolling out a full week of Hawk Week programming, August 24-28, designed to introduce Jayhawks to library spaces and services while tying into the university's broader welcome-back festivities.
Tue, 08/18/2026
KU Libraries opens ‘Ad Astra: A Kansas Story Written in the Stars’ exhibition
“Ad Astra: A Kansas Story Written in the Stars” is now open in Watson Library’s Haricombe Gallery, tracing Kansas’ deep roots in human spaceflight. The public is invited to a reception Sept. 10 featuring a keynote with KU alumnus and astronaut Steve Hawley, who will also sign copies of his new memoir.
Fri, 08/14/2026
KU librarian races to save record of Ngäbe voices, one fragile page at a time
A University of Kansas Libraries project is preserving decades of Indigenous Panamanian history: KU librarian Milton Machuca-Gálvez and architecture graduate student Miguel Ángel Castro Cano have digitized 61 issues of Drü, a hand-assembled bulletin produced from 1988 to 1998 by Acción Cultural Ngäbe documenting the culture, land rights and politics of Panama's Ngäbe people.
Mon, 08/03/2026
Spencer Museum announces KU Common Work of Art for 2026-2027
The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has selected the painting “Winter Flight” by Kay WalkingStick as the KU Common Work of Art for the 2026-2027 academic year. The painting complements themes from the KU Reads book, “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey.
Thu, 07/30/2026
KU to host THATCamp 2026, a day of hands-on digital humanities collaboration
The Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Kansas will host THATCamp 2026 on Aug. 28. The free event, open to all KU faculty, staff, students and community members, encourages exploration at the intersection of technology and humanities.
Thu, 07/16/2026
KU Libraries now provides access to Inside Higher Ed
Members of the KU community on the Lawrence and Edwards campuses now have unlimited access to Inside Higher Ed, a leading online publication covering news, analysis and commentary on higher education, through a new institutional subscription provided by KU Libraries.
Mon, 06/22/2026
Whayne Scholars to highlight research projects, KU’s African American Experience Collections during public talks July 9
The University of Kansas Libraries will host a public presentation featuring the 2026 recipients of the Alyce Hunley Whayne Visiting Researchers Travel Awards at 3 p.m. July 9.
Wed, 06/10/2026
KU Libraries welcomes first international librarian-in-residence through global engagement initiative
The University of Kansas Libraries has welcomed its first international librarian-in-residence, marking a major step forward for the Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship (IGEL) and its efforts to build meaningful global partnerships.
Wed, 06/03/2026
More than a century of KU student journalism now freely available online
KU Libraries have digitized more than 140 years of University of Kansas student newspapers, from the first campus publication in 1878 through 2017, making the collection freely available through Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s digital repository.
Mon, 06/01/2026
Love of language and libraries leads KU graduate to Rubinstein/Mason scholarship
What started as a fondness for libraries and a curiosity about Korean hangul — the writing system and alphabet used for Korean language — has grown into a calling. University of Kansas graduate Daphne Tibbetts has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Rubinstein/Mason Award to support graduate study in library science, with her sights set on becoming a Korean studies librarian.
Thu, 05/14/2026
KU Libraries student employees recognized with dean’s awards
Two University of Kansas student employees who do vital work in Spencer Research Library's public services and a KU Libraries student ambassador were honored among their peers and supervisors at the 14th annual Dean's Award for Student Employee Excellence (DASEE) luncheon on May 7, at Watson Library.
Tue, 05/12/2026
Former dean Lorraine Haricombe to speak on libraries and digital scholarship
The University of Kansas Libraries will welcome former dean and international library leader Lorraine Haricombe as the next guest in its “Global Conversations in Librarianship” series.
Fri, 05/01/2026
KU Libraries select Sprints Week participants for research and teaching collaborations
The University of Kansas Libraries have selected three faculty and academic staff members to collaborate with specialized teams of librarians during Sprints Week, May 18–22, an intensive program designed to address course development and research challenges.
Wed, 04/29/2026
Prepare for coming changes to KU libraries systems
KU Libraries – including the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, Wheat Law Library, and KU Medical Center – is preparing to launch a new library services platform (LSP), FOLIO, on June 3, bringing backend upgrades and user-facing changes that will affect how students, faculty, and staff search for and access library materials. Users must save legacy data from Bookbag and My Favorites by May 26.
Wed, 04/29/2026
Lost history recovered: KU digital humanities team adds missing pages to The Call archives
In a cardboard box tucked away in an office in the 18th and Vine District, a decade of Kansas City history was slowly turning into a collection of unreadable plastic circles. A KU librarian and three undergraduate students stepped in to preserve the archives from The Call.
Tue, 04/28/2026
Winners crowned at the 68th annual Snyder Book Collecting Contest
The University of Kansas Libraries recently honored 11 student finalists and awarded cash prizes during a reception at Watson Library. Established in 1956, the contest is designed to encourage students to experience the joy of building personal libraries highlighting their unique interests and passions.
Wed, 04/08/2026
KU Libraries to host ALC Spring Meeting, showcase Africa-related resources
For the first time in a decade, KU Libraries will host the spring meeting of the African Studies Association’s Africana Librarians Council. The university community is invited to Africa Day on April 15.
Wed, 04/01/2026
KU Libraries select travel award recipients, prepare to host visiting scholars
Six scholars representing institutions in four states, the District of Columbia and Italy were recently selected as KU Libraries' travel award winners, enabling visiting faculty, students and independent researchers to connect to the Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s rare materials and expert curators.
Thu, 03/26/2026
KU Libraries, CURF open student research gallery at Anschutz Library
A small crowd gathered Wednesday afternoon along with KU Libraries faculty and staff for the opening of the Student Research Gallery at Anschutz Library, marking a new showcase for student research posters.