News
BiblioBios: Handled with care, Richey delivers mail and more
KU Libraries selects 2024 Sprints Week participants
KU Libraries honors student employees at Dean’s Award luncheon
Leaders at the University of Kansas Libraries hosted the annual Dean’s Award for Student Employee Excellence (DASEE) award luncheon on Thursday, May 2, recognizing the essential contributions of student workers and highlighting outstanding student employees and ambassadors. ...
Student bibliophiles honored at Snyder Book Collecting Contest
Nine undergraduate and three graduate finalists were honored, and cash prizes awarded at KU Libraries’ 66th annual Snyder Book Collecting Contest reception April 30 at Watson Library. The contest, established by libraries donor Elizabeth Snyder in 1957, is designed to recognize students' passion for collecting books. ...
N.K. Jemisin keynote highlights upcoming activity to close 2023-24 KU Common Book slate
Programming in support of the 2023-24 KU Common Book draws to a close with a flurry of activity over the next couple of weeks, including a series of storytelling workshops hosted by the AfroRithm Futures Group (April 24-26) and a virtual conversation with acclaimed science fiction writer N.K. Jemisin (April...
KU Libraries student ambassadors to debut ‘Affirmation Station’ prior to finals week
Final reports, research papers, exams, and tall piles of homework can make the end of the semester a stressful time for a college student. Ahead of final exams, members of KU Libraries Student Ambassador Program (KULSAP) are aiming to draw smiles and inject positivity during trying times with a traveling...
LibArt entries due April 12, with opportunities to win cash prizes
KU students from all disciplines and backgrounds are encouraged to submit their work to the KU Libraries’ LibArt exhibition by April 12. Students can win cash awards, which will total $2,000 for this year. ...
KU Libraries’ Sanders Scholars provide project updates, program highlights during panel presentation
A trio of KU students and their librarian mentors taking part in KU Libraries’ Sanders Scholars program recently presented their wide-ranging collaborative work exploring technology and assessment as a part of a panel in Watson Library on March 22. ...
Influencer, bibliophile returns to career-sparking contest at KU Libraries
Allie Alvis turns the vibrantly colored pages of a 168-year-old book and more than 103,000 people respond—the video about a Victorian-era book posted on Instagram via Alvis’ @Book_Historia platform, inspires awe and sparks comments and questions. Some ask how they can learn more, others share what the book means to...
“Object Lessons” exhibit in Spencer Research Library showcases bookbinding techniques
Goat skin leather hugs parchment pages, metal clasps snap around a red oak cover, and a form of book binding stretches across a spine like a row of fat caterpillars. Visitors can explore these elements and more at a new exhibit at Kenneth Spencer Research Library examining book construction techniques...
Campus community invited to State of the Libraries Address
KU Libraries Dean Carol Smith will present the State of the Libraries Address on Thursday, March 21, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. in Watson Library 3 West. KU students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend as Dean Smith and the libraries’ leadership team review the past year of achievements and initiatives. ...
International Collections highlights, extends upcoming collaborative conference
A new exhibit in International Collections on the fifth floor of Watson Library highlights the history and relationships between Latin America and China - combining materials from two of KU Libraries’ regional collection strengths and supplementing an upcoming collaborative conference. The exhibit, “From China to Latin America,” is on display...
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. ...