November/ December 2022 Library Columns: The Latest News from University Libraries

Library Columns features the latest news from UNC Greensboro's University Libraries.

A MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL CRUMPTON, INTERIM DEAN

THANKS FOR ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR!

We are reaching the end of another year, a year with some remaining uncertainty but also a year that was full of promise and hope for a bright future for the libraries. I’ll try to group these issues appropriately:

Our $81 million renovation has kicked-off with our new designers undergoing an advanced planning process and a deeper dive into our infrastructure issues. The last 2 months have been a series of visioning sessions with a variety of different stakeholder groups, including internal library departments. There have also been a variety of site visits by utility companies and a review of service connections in and around the building, i.e., gas, water, data, steam, etc. This advanced planning will reach into the new year before concept designs are started which will be the exciting visionary part of imagining what will be new and different.

This year has brought forth some enhancements to our staffing, we’ve welcomed new hires, Candace Jacobs and Ryan McDougal, raised our wage matrix for students, move forward with 4 tenure candidates and 3 more professor candidates (announcements will be next year) and started the search for a permanent Dean of University Libraries. We have had successes with professional development activities such as the NCLA Leadership Institute and a variety of other participation activities with professional conferences and publications. On a sad note, we lost Hollie, our communications director. We have had several people leave for other opportunities, while we wish them luck, I must commend those who have filled in around those vacancies to continue our mission.

We have had a great year with our development activities, recognizing Luther Hodges as a $1 million donor in our Light the Way campaign. We have also established new Affinity groups and updated the website to encourage contributions to the libraries so we can make a difference in our student’s lives.

We’ve also been at the table, supporting campus and community events with authors such as Amor Towles, our Greensboro Bound sponsored author, Armondo Collins, our Homecoming 2022 sponsored author supporting student and community groups with materials, swag and funds as available.

Our students have been active and engaged in the libraries and our staff has ensured that the library is welcoming and fun. A wide range of fun activities have drawn great response from our Lego tables to our Halloween displays and our themed content shout-outs, we make sure the library is an exciting place to be.

The libraries have been busier as face-to-face instruction and work increases, we are more ready than ever to support our students and faculty, going into a new year, 2023. We appreciate those who have supported us this year and look forward to continuous growth and refinement next year.

Michael "Mike" A. Crumpton, MLIS, SHRM-SCP

Professor and Interim Dean, University Libraries

HODGES DONATES GIFT TOWARDS UNCG’S ARCHIVES

The Hodges family has been a great supporter of UNCG’s University Libraries for many decades. Now, Luther Hodges Jr. further supports UNCG’s Light the Way campaign with a new gift of $750,000, bringing his total giving in this campaign to $1 million.

University Libraries will use this gift to create an archival researcher room as well as to support special collections residents, graduate student fellows, and interns within the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA).

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT! (ICYMI)

Homecoming 2022!

Thank you to everyone who visited the University Libraries' table during the Homecoming Block Party on Kaplan Commons! We enjoyed connecting and conversing with students and alumni.

We can't wait to celebrate with you again next year!

2022 Women Veterans Historical Project Luncheon

Thank you to all who sponsored and attended our annual Women Veterans Historical Project Luncheon. Keynote speaker U.S. Navy veteran, Pacifica Sauer, delivered a moving and informing speech about the obstacles many women in military face during and after serving our country.

Learn more about her work and see her award-winning documentary, The Invisible Project.

Click HERE to learn more about the Women Veterans Historical Project.

DEIA in Academic Libraries

Special thanks to Dr. Kawanna Bright, for sharing her research and passion with the University Libraries speaking about her efforts to create an assessment instrument for academic libraries designed to help them understand the status and impact of their diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts.

SAVE THESE DATES!

Thursday, November 29th:

Giving Tuesday

GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of radical generosity. GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Since then, it has grown into a year-round global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.

Join the movement this Giving Tuesday and donate to the University Libraries; your gift will impact generations to come!

Click HERE to give to the University Libraries on Giving Tuesday!

December 2, 12PM

Holiday Recipes from SCUA Collections

Join Special Collections and University Archives' Patrick Dollar and Carolyn Shankle, for the last First Friday "Conversations with Archivists" of the year!

JOIN THE CONVERSATION HERE

Friday, December 9

Fall 2022 Commencement

The UNCG commencement ceremony is a formal, traditional, academic exercise. The ceremony will begin with a processional of all participants, followed by greetings and speeches from academic dignitaries, the conferring of degrees, tassel turning ceremony, singing of the Alma Mater, the ringing of the University Bell, and the recessional.

Click HERE for more commencement information!

HAROLD SCHIFFMAN MUSIC LIBRARY STUDENT WORKERS PROMOTE PATRON ENGAGEMENT

In the Harold Schiffman Music Library, our student worker crew is our best asset when it comes to patron engagement!

They make good use of our whiteboards to create a welcoming space for HSML patrons. Every week, the boards are updated with new trivia and ice breaker questions, encouraging our very hard-working patrons to smile and take a quick mental break.

Content ranges from pop music culture, to holiday themes, to even asking for picture answers instead of words. They also make beautiful custom signs for our operating hours and other announcements that would otherwise be extremely boring.

Click HERE to learn more about the Harold Schiffman Music Library.

Story by Andrea Tiffany, University Libraries

Photograph courtesy of Andrea Tiffany, University Libraries

MINNESOTA LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE – AN EXPERIENCE

Speed-walking into the library at the end of lunch wasn’t the plan, but that was the start of my Minnesota Leadership Institute experience. I had dropped off my luggage at the Graduate Hotel, grabbed a change of clothes, sped-walked to the University of Minnesota Library, and switched my travel outfit to something more business casual. This was all accomplished in the forgiving heat of July. Ione, one of the program coordinators, insisted the change wasn’t necessary and welcomed me, but I had an outfit planned for that day. And my stubbornness insisted that this part should go right, despite yesterday’s mishaps.

The original plan entailed arriving in Minnesota the day before the institute’s first day, but my plane’s technical difficulties called for last minute alterations in the plans. So, by hook or crook, I arrived having missed the first half of the day. While my colleagues engaged in introductory exercises, I workshopped my mission statement through connecting flights and minor turbulence. The assignment was given to us participants well before the first day, but I found the exercise required a significant dose of self-reflection — an activity that’d constitute the institute’s main purpose.

The mission statements we shared bled into a discussion of values, those of our own and those of the institution for which we worked. We covered values for ALA, SAA, etc. During discussion, I got the impression that we considered the institutions’ dedication to their values cynically, like EDI was for show or not a real goal of an institution.

We did a poll about our top values and goals for an information institution. Community was number 1. I feel this ties into how our group sees and values culture, diversity, and sense of belonging, for we uphold community when we feel a sense of belonging to it, which derives from seeing and feeling our culture – with all its diversity – freely expressed within the community. Sense of belonging also resulted in being a top concern of the cohort regarding what an institution needs to foster and safeguard.

The next day, we covered communication and leadership styles. Distinguishing the styles helped in evaluating one’s own behavior, like deciding to respond rather than react in the heat of the moment. Leadership also incorporated anti-racist feminism and critical race theory, which weaved in valuing our experiences as people from marginalized communities as valid tools of success. Such validation counters pressures to forfeit these tools in place of ones socially constructed by the hegemony that hurts more than helps.

Story by Shelbi Webb, University Libraries