News
KU Libraries names chemistry faculty Shuai Sun 2024 Textbook Hero
As an assistant teaching professor of chemistry at KU, Shuai Sun helps students understand fundamental components of the physical world, how various elements can interact with and transform each other. Now Sun has added new forms of interaction and connection in his classes with the creation of the open access...
BiblioBios: Creativity, nurturing spirit guide new Watson operations manager
Jack Hawthorn loves Gothic-inspired books featuring fascinating buildings, so what better place to work than a Gothic-inspired building full of fascinating books? As Watson Library’s operations manager, Hawthorn brings creativity and a nurturing spirit to one of KU Libraries’ most beloved locations and the staff who give it life. ...
Pop-up book donation enhances collection and invites curiosity
Ann Snow opens a book and forest animals spin and play, valves and veins of the human heart unfurl, and the arches and domes of the Taj Mahal rise and construct themselves from the page. These examples illustrate some of the magic of the Murphy Art & Architecture Library’s pop-up...
Collaborative transcription event celebrates Douglass Day, makes historical record more accessible
No birthday celebration is complete without a cake, and there was cake to be had in Watson Library’s Clark Instructional Center, but a collective of KU students, faculty and staff were more focused on the work at hand – transcribing the personal correspondence of Frederick Douglass for the Library of...
KU Libraries host journals in open access space, making scholarship available worldwide
The world of academic journal publishing can be tenuous. Anything from an editor’s untimely death to a loss of funding to a professional society’s changing priorities can terminate even highly respected journals. ...
Student ambassador enjoys being part of ‘something bigger’ through KU Libraries
KU Libraries Student Ambassador Weston Curnow was recently selected to serve on the National Humanities Leadership Council, part of a cohort of 32 undergraduate students that will receive professional development and mentoring from leading scholars and other humanities professionals as well as research support, opportunities for networking, and access to...
University of Kansas joins HELIOS Open to advance open scholarship
The University of Kansas has joined the Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS Open), a cohort of universities and colleges committed to advancing open scholarship to promote inclusivity, transparency, and trustworthiness in the research ecosystem. ...
KU Libraries Sprints Week, research and teaching collaboration open for 2024 applications
Faculty and academic staff of the University of Kansas are encouraged to submit applications for Sprints Week 2024, a five-day intensive collaboration with KU Libraries that enriches research and teaching projects and provides financial support for selected participants. Applications are open now through March 3, with all applicants notified by...
New graduate student workshops available for spring as part of Fridays on Fourth
A new slate of graduate student workshops launches today as part of Fridays on Fourth, a collaborative project aimed at boosting graduate studies with research, write-ins and workshops in a transformed Graduate Study Center on Watson Library’s Fourth Floor. The collaborative project from KU’s Libraries, Writing Center, Office of Graduate...
Bristow harnessing own curiosity to encourage Makerspace experimentation, collaboration
If life experiences and personal traits combine to make a person who they are, the building blocks of Matt Bristow might include a natural curiosity, a bit of 1980s television, some mechanically minded craftsmen in the family tree, and the “freedom to get into a little bit of mischief.” Bristow...
Data Carpentry Workshop provides fundamental computational skills necessary for genomics research
Amar Kumar, a University of Kansas Ph.D. candidate in computational biology, is no stranger to R, a computer language used for statistical analysis. As a member of KU’s Funk Lab in pharmacology, Kumar regularly uses custom commands and scripts while analyzing data related to juvenile arthritis. When he got an...
International Collections Librarian forging a path as a scholar, connector, mentor
Milton Machuca-Galvez understands the merit of self-sufficiency, a quality that has proven worthwhile throughout a career that has included transporting essential supplies into remote mountain ranges, as well as decades of research, teaching, and academic leadership in sometimes new and unfamiliar places. ...
KU Libraries staff find unique learning opportunities and ‘real conversations’ in revived Wheat State Tour
A group of KU Libraries faculty and staff rose early on a November morning and, instead of consulting with researchers, teaching a class, or winding through the stacks, piled into a van and headed west. More than 20 colleagues from a wide variety of different departments and schools, set off...
Matching gift jump starts music diversification effort
Outside the Gorton Music and Dance Library in Murphy Hall, a mix of sounds wash down the corridors, woodwind trills swirling with soaring voices and the rumble of drums. Inside, the library is a cove of quiet concentration dotted with glowing laptops, headphone-clad students, and brimming shelves of books and...
KU alumni honor the legacy of longtime KU Libraries administrator
More than 35 years after working at Watson Library at the University of Kansas, Cliff Haka returned to the stacks with his wife, Sue, to honor someone who made a big impact on his life: the late Dr. James Ranz, who served as Dean of KU Libraries from 1975 to...
New and updated databases for November (Opens in new window)
KU Libraries is continuously working to improve reading and publishing opportunities for its users. The following databases and e-resources have been recently changed or added to KU Libraries' collections. Access resources with your KU online ID and password. A list of database trials is also available. ...
KU Libraries Associate Dean Hanrath named a 2023-34 ARL Leadership Fellow
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has named Scott Hanrath, KU Libraries Associate Dean of Research and Engagement, a 2023-24 Leadership Fellow. The ARL program for senior and executive leaders includes a 13-month hybrid experience. ...
BiblioBios: Undergraduate Engagement Librarian brings non-traditional student experience to new role at KU Libraries
Sarah McCall’s journey to college success began early one morning as she finished her night shift at the garage door factory where she worked full-time, supporting her family. In the employee restroom, she changed out of her dusty work clothes into a clean outfit and headed to an 8 a.m. ...
Frontiers and the University of Kansas announce 'flat-fee' publishing partnership
The University of Kansas Libraries have negotiated a flat-fee partnership agreement with gold open access publisher Frontiers, giving KU-affiliated researchers even more options for sharing their work openly, starting in January 2024. The partnership marks Frontiers' second flat-fee agreement in North America and is the first to include the publisher's...
Applications open for Spencer Library 2024 travel grants for visiting researchers
Researchers from across the United States and around the globe are encouraged to apply for a 2024 Spencer Research Library travel grant, which supports hands-on analysis of the library’s collections and in-person consultation with the institution’s curators and librarians. The online application is open through January 2, 2024. ...
Libraries help campus partners answer complex questions during Sprints Week
Areli Marina, associate professor of art history, had almost given up trying to wrangle the sprawling, multi-format data set that was stalling the momentum of her research. ...
KU Libraries announce 2023 Shulenburger Award for Innovation & Advocacy in Scholarly Communication
During International Open Access Week, October 23-29, KU Libraries granted the 2023 David Shulenburger Award for Innovation & Advocacy in Scholarly Communication to two recipients: Bruce Lieberman, professor in KU’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and senior curator at the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum; and Cameron W. ...
New book provides guide to librarians, scholars on Open Access, scholarly communication
There has been a significant push in recent decades among academic libraries to make information as freely available as possible and as appropriate. So when a group of scholarly communications experts wrote a book on the topic, they couldn’t hide it behind a paywall. That book, “Scholarly Communication Librarianship and...
BiblioBios: Spencer Administrative Associate inspired to share library collections
What do a moon rock, vintage match books, a list of children’s superstitions, and a 200-year-old pudding recipe have in common? They’re all items from the Spencer Research Library that caught Tiffany McIntosh’s eye, inspiring her to learn more. As Administrative Associate at Spencer Library, McIntosh is often at the...
KU Libraries exhibit opening, First Folio anniversary celebrated at full capacity
Conversation buzzed around the display cases and Spencer Research Library’s North Gallery was packed on opening night of KU Libraries’ exhibit, “To the Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio.” Nearly 100 people attended the event that celebrated the folio’s importance in literary and cultural...
Haricombe Gallery to open new exhibit with events featuring KU scholars in association with Common Book Program
A new digital exhibit in Watson Library’s Haricombe Gallery will showcase KU scholars, centering the importance of imagination and visionary thought in cutting edge research. The exhibition, entitled “Pushing Boundaries with Science and Fiction,” is inspired by the KU Common Book Program’s 2023-2024 selection, “The Parable of the Sower,” a...
BiblioBios: Undergraduate Engagement Librarian returns to KU to support next generation of Jayhawks
Amber Ovsak has a deep appreciation for the challenges of college life and academics, shaped by her own experiences attending KU as a first-generation college student. Ovsak has returned to campus two decades after leaving KU amidst her own struggles, to support student success through her new role as Undergraduate...
New Fridays on Fourth program at Watson Library supports KU graduate students
In the Graduate Student Study Lounge at Watson Library, coffee is brewing as mid-morning light glows through the tall windows. Beats of cozy jazz meld with the tap of laptop keys as students settle into the rhythm of writing, and friendly faces greet newcomers with a menu of resources or...
KU scholars mark 400 years of Shakespeare's first folio with new exhibition
The idea of forgetting classic Shakespeare plays like “Macbeth” or “Julius Caesar” is nearly unthinkable. But if not for the foresight of two actors and friends of William Shakespeare to publish a book 400 years ago, those plays might have been lost forever. A University of Kansas professor is teaming...
East Asian Graduate Discovery Workshops aim to familiarize students with library resources
KU Libraries is offering a workshop series for graduate students in East Asian Studies, hosted by Japanese studies librarian Michiko Ito and Chinese studies librarian Cecilia Zhang, who both work in the East Asian Collection. ...