USA Libraries February 2021 Newsletter

University Libraries Newsletter

February 2021

Library Resources & Events

Spring Semester Building Hours

During the Spring Semester, access is limited to USA Students, faculty, and staff. Not all areas of the library are open.

Mon. - Thurs. 8:00 am - 10:00 pm

Fri. 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Sat. 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Sun. 1:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Click here to get a complete schedule

Spring of Connection at the Marx Library

In Spring 2021, the Marx Library Public Relations Committee is celebrating a "Spring of Connection." If the pandemic taught us anything, it is how crucial connection is to our overall well-being and quality of life. The USA Libraries wish to continue supporting our USA community moving into 2021 through educational and uplifting activities. As a result, we hope students, faculty, staff, and the rest of the university community will reflect on the role of connection in your day-to-day life at the University of South Alabama. Responses will be collected in the Marx Library and online.

New Resource: Social Explorer

The University Libraries have added the data visualization tool, Social Explorer, to the resources it makes available for faculty, staff, and students. Social Explorer allows users to create maps, charts, and reports to represent the data they are interested in. A variety of indicators, demography, politics, crime, and economy among them, are available. Users can also add their own data to see how that data impacts their results.

Access Social Explorer

New Resources: Alabama Select Newspapers

The University Libraries have had online access to the Mobile Press Register, back to 1992, for years. Our access to the paper in microfilm goes back to 1821. In 2019, we began receiving older issues that we’d previously received on microfilm in a version called “digital microfilm;” everything we’d previously obtained on microfilm began being available in this format in 2019, with a 90-day embargo. The most recent change to our access to the Mobile Press Register comes with the Libraries’ acquisition of the Alabama Select newspaper archive from Readex. This product provides access to the Mobile Register from 1833-1870 and to 27 other historical Alabama papers with varying coverage dates.

Access the Mobile Register archive

The John F. Gray Memorial Scholarship

Got Vaccinated Yet? If not, sign up at USA Health!

Use this link to sign up!

https://c19vaccine.southalabama.edu

Archives in the Classroom

This semester, the McCall Library is playing an integral role in the virtual and outdoor classroom of HON 390. This interdisciplinary class explores themes related to local history and civic engagement. How do students learn local history? What tools does knowledge of history give students to get involved in their community and solve problems? These questions and others guide the team-taught course which will use original items from the McCall Library as source material. Interim Director Deborah Gurt is one of four Faculty members teaching the course and leading one of the hands-on community-engaged learning projects that occupies the second half of the semester.

Digitization Efforts Moving Ahead

The McCall Library continues the planning work for the digitization of a large batch of deteriorating negatives. These have become too acidified for staff to handle and will be digitized by a specialized archival vendor to preserve the historic images of Mobile. This exciting work is made possible by a generous donation of proceeds from the sale of property from Julien E. Marx to benefit the McCall Library and its mission to preserve important photographic collections through digitization. Look for updates in the coming months as the project moves forward.

Erik Overbey Collection Safety Negative of the film type that is beginning to deteriorate. These images tell the unique story of Mobile, Alabama.

University Libraries Recent Professional Development

Angela Doucet Rand, MLIS, Ph.D. - On February 4, 2021, Angela Rand was the keynote speaker and gave a presentation on Systems Thinking and Change and how libraries can think about STC to manage materials, processes, and people. After her presentation, there was a panel discussion with some STC expert users. The participants generated a lot of good conversation. 52 people attended.