Monthly Archives: September 2025

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Area Studies, Collections, Digital Humanities, Digital Scholarship, Global Studies, Humanities & Liberal Arts, Uncategorized

Down and Out in Lisbon and London: Antiquarian Books and Digital Humanities in Europe

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Thanks to the generous support of the Center for European Studies and the UT Libraries, I was recently able to travel to London, England and Lisbon, Portugal.  On my trip, I had the chance to attend a scholarly conference, acquire unique materials to add to UTL’s collections, network with academics, vendors, and librarians, and purchase books for the UT Libraries’ collections.

A street in London lined with bookstores containing antiquarian and rare books.
A street in London lined with bookstores containing antiquarian and rare books.

My time in London was an invaluable opportunity to build stronger connections with an international cohort of colleagues. For example, I met with one of the UT Libraries’ vendors who I work with to procure rare materials on early twentieth century European politics. The vendor I met with, Carl Slienger, frequently supplies us with items not held by any other North American libraries, making the materials he sources very important for our distinctive holdings of pamphlets and other propagandistic literature, as well as antiquarian books that enhance our holdings of rare and unique European occult and spiritualist materials. I also met with a colleague at the British Library to discuss coding workflows and best practices for working with digital materials. Meeting with my colleague at the British Library was likewise very beneficial, as much of my work involving digital methodologies is focused on programming in Python and other languages, and I am currently supervising a project focused on using Python to automate digital archival workflows.

Ian standing outside of the British Library.
Ian outside of the British Library.

In Lisbon, I attended and presented at the The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) Digital Humanities 2025 conference.  My poster presentation focused on software packages I have written  in the Rust programming language to support multilingual computational approaches to linguistics and digital humanities. My poster highlighted three software packages: a package for performing lemmatization, a key natural language processing task, on text; a package for assessing the readability of a text containing a variety of algorithms to choose from; and a package to perform stylometric analysis on text. They were all built with multilingual support in mind, and as such are specifically designed to move outside of an Anglocentric paradigm often found in technologies for natural language processing and textual analysis, creating new opportunities for multilingual and non-English textual analysis and digital humanities. Beyond my own presentation, I was able to  attend talks on other digital research methodologies throughout the conference. Being able to attend talks by colleagues from all around the globe was both invigorating and rewarding, and an invaluable way to stay on top of the current research being done in the digital humanities. I also took the opportunity to acquire a small amount of zines while in Lisbon, adding to our collection of unique materials that we would not be able to purchase without undergoing a foreign acquisitions trip.

The poster session area at the DH 2025 conference in Lisbon.
The poster session area at the DH 2025 conference in Lisbon.

This trip allowed me the opportunity to represent UT Austin internationally to a diverse group of colleagues, and I’m grateful that I was able to serve the Libraries in such a capacity. I look forward to building on our distinctive holdings and further expanding UT’s collections while continuing to work on using digital methodologies to enhance accessibility for research and open source software.

Appointment, People

McDonald Jumps in with Campus-Wide Engagement

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The Libraries welcome the arrival of new Senior Vice Provost and Director Robert H. McDonald this semester, marking the beginning of a new era for one of the university’s most vital academic resources.

McDonald, who brings decades of leadership experience in academic libraries and digital scholarship from institutions including the University of Colorado Boulder and Indiana University Bloomington, arrived at the Forty Acres eager to connect with the campus community and immerse himself in Longhorn traditions.

McDonald has launched his tenure with a full slate of onboarding activities – meeting administrative staff, touring library facilities, and connecting with colleagues across campus.

The Libraries’ participation in Longhorn Welcome activities provided the new senior vice provost with an early opportunity to experience university traditions firsthand. Two of UT’s notable kickoff events, Moov-In and Gone To Texas, occurred moments after McDonald christened his term, offering the newcomer a glimpse into burnt orange culture.  

At a co-sponsored graduate student social reception in the Perry-Castañeda Library’s Scholars Lab just before the beginning of classes, McDonald had the opportunity to interact with new students from a range of disciplines, including data science, ethnic studies, social work, and mathematics. He also made the rounds at Libraries-hosted Welcome Week events such as the Game Night, Zine Fest, and Bibliogarden – where he checked out his first book from the UT collections: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.

In addition to meeting students and other members of the university community, McDonald ventured to several of the Libraries’ specialized facilities, including the Collections Preservation and Research Center, the Fine Arts Library, the Architecture and Planning Library and Alexander Architectural Archives, the Benson Latin American Collection, and the Collections Deposit Library. The visits, he noted, helped him deepen his understanding of the Libraries’ system and the breadth of its collections.

McDonald has continued establishing ties with other campus leaders, meeting with Libraries’ stakeholders and UT leadership around the Forty Acres, with plans to continue outreach with deans, faculty, and administrative partners to advance shared priorities.

Fresh from hosting his first all-staff meeting, where he had the opportunity to meet with staff in a more informal setting and hear more about work and activity around the Libraries, McDonald also attended his first UT football game – a rite of passage he shared with visiting colleague Michael Meth, Dean of the University Library at San José State University, who was in town to support the Spartans in what was a losing bid against the favored Longhorns.

As he continues to settle into his new role, McDonald has emphasized continuity and collaboration. His early weeks attest to a leader eager not only to understand the Libraries’ legacy but also to shape its future at the heart of the university’s teaching and research mission.

Events

Libraries Welcomes Longhorns with a Week of Fun, Creativity, and Community

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The Libraries kicked off the fall semester with a slate of engaging events as part of Longhorn Welcome Week 2025 (9/25-29), offering students opportunities to connect, create, and explore library resources and spaces in new ways. From trivia contests and art-making to zine collaging activities, the Libraries helped set the stage for a vibrant start to the academic year.

Game Night

The week began on Monday evening at the Perry-Castañeda Library with Game Night, where nearly 90 attendees gathered for an evening of friendly competition, pizza, and prizes. Students tested their knowledge in UT- and Austin-themed trivia rounds, winning much-coveted Labubu collectibles, while others played Bingo for UTL swag. Tables buzzed with card and board games like Uno, Bananagrams, Connect 4, and dominos. The library also showcased game-related books from its collections – Dungeons & Dragons titles proved especially popular. Beyond the games, the event provided opportunities for connection and community-building, with students exchanging numbers to plan future gaming sessions and meet-ups.

Exploring Color and Geometry in Islamic Art

The Fine Arts Library hosted Color & Geometry in Islamic Art on Tuesday, where more than 30 students explored traditional and contemporary craft techniques. Participants painted wooden puzzles, decorated fabric and paper with Foundry-made stamps, designed jewelry, and experimented with Arabic calligraphy. Foundry tours highlighted the library’s creative technologies, and puzzle- and bead-stringing activities were crowd favorites. The event blended hands-on learning with cultural exploration, giving students a chance to engage with both artistic traditions and cutting-edge library resources.

Zine Making Party

The popular annual Zine Making Party drew about 55 participants on Wednesday, where attendees flexed their DIY muscles, collaging, cutting, and creating minimalist artworks. Students used magazines donated by UTL staff to craft one-page zines on topics meaningful to them, and many explored the Fine Arts Library’s extensive zine collection. Faculty even joined in the fun, underscoring the event’s wide appeal. Past years’ collages remain on display at the library’s entrance, offering a living archive of student creativity.

Bibliogarden

Activities returned to PCL on Wednesday, where the Libraries’ Bibliogarden brought together nearly 50 attendees and UT Libraries staff from across disciplines. Students designed bookmarks, explored leisure-reading recommendations from the new “leisure cart,” and browsed a curated selection of zines, chapbooks, cookbooks, and global literature. Highlights included Southeast Asian cookbooks paired with homemade photos, and a table from Austin Public Library where students could sign up for local library cards. The event fostered community while showcasing the breadth of UT Libraries’ collections and services.

Closing with Cinema: Minari Screening

The week concluded on Friday with a screening of Minari, the acclaimed 2020 film about a Korean American family building a life in rural Arkansas. Students and community members gathered at the Perry-Castañeda Library to share in the story of resilience and belonging – an apt reflection of the welcoming spirit that defined the week. Co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies’ Korea Program and the Center for Asian American Studies, the film drew a full house, and capped an excellent week of introductory experiences for new and returning Libraries users.

The Libraries’ efforts did not go unnoticed. The Libraries’ Game Night was honored as a Longhorn Welcome Event of the Year, a recognition that underscores the event’s positive impact on helping new and returning Longhorns feel at home on the Forty Acres.

Through Longhorn Welcome Week 2025, the Libraries underscored its role not only as a resource hub but also as a vibrant community space where students can learn, create, and connect. Whether through games, art, zines, or shared stories, the Libraries offered students multiple ways to launch into the new academic calendar with curiosity and connection.

Area Studies, Global Studies, Read Hot and Digitized

Read, Hot and Digitized – A Nobleman’s Life, Digitized: The Jiam Diary Project

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Read, hot & digitized: Librarians and the digital scholarship they love — In this series, librarians from UTL’s Arts, Humanities and Global Studies Engagement Team briefly present, explore and critique existing examples of digital scholarship.  Our hope is that these monthly reviews will inspire critical reflection of and future creative contributions to the growing fields of digital scholarship.

This post was written by Sojeong Ryoo, the Global Studies Digital Projects GRA at Perry-Castañeda Library and a current graduate student at the School of Information.

Sometimes, an ordinary personal diary can be an extraordinary historical resource that provides a glimpse into the times. The Jiam Diary Digital Humanities Project, led by Professor JiYoung Jung at Ewha Womans University, is based on the nearly eight years (95 months) of journals kept by Yun Yi-hu (pen name: Jiam), a yangban (nobleman) of the Joseon dynasty in the late 17th century.

Between 1692 and 1699, Yun Yi-hu — a retired nobleman in the Honam region — kept a meticulous diary of his daily life. Known as Jiam Ilgi, the three-volume, 920-page record captures everything from farming, fishing, and travel to visits with friends, political events, and even the activities of household slaves. It offers a vivid portrait of both personal routines and the broader social world of 17th-century Korea.

The Jiam Diary Digital Humanities Project transforms this rich historical source into searchable, visualized data. More than 80,000 pieces of semantic information have been extracted and organized into interactive maps, timelines, and relationship networks, enabling users to explore the people, places, events, and lifestyles mentioned in the diary. This digital approach opens a new window into the everyday life of a Joseon noble.

On the site, you can explore data visualizations in five themes: Lifestyle, Person, Place, Event, and Slave.

Lifestyle visualization is designed to help users explore lifestyle-related data. The eight-year calendar is arranged vertically by year and horizontally by month, with original and translated diary entries for each day appearing in the blank space on the right. Clicking the small square menu box in the upper left allows you to choose from over 80 lifestyle categories and view related records. Examples of lifestyle categories include: family, returning home, visiting, slaves, bathing, private punishment, guests, lodging, prison, transactions, architecture, capital affairs, civil service examinations, weather, farming, theft, literature, unusual events, funerals, hunting, fishing, arts, entertainment, medicine, disease, and slave hunting.

Person visualization highlights people mentioned in the diary. Yun Yi-hu’s family, kinship ties, and political connections are shown as an interactive network. Clicking a person icon allows you to filter and view the diary text for the date the person was mentioned.

Place visualization displays a map of Korea, marking locations mentioned in the diary. Places can be categorized by type — administrative districts, buildings, roads, mountains, fields, rivers, and islands — and filtered using the menu on the bottom left. Clicking on a place reveals diary entries linked to that location. For example, selecting Seoul — the capital of the Joseon dynasty — returns an impressive 455 entries. Clicking on a diary date on the right reveals the original and translated text of the diary entries that mention “Seoul.”

Event visualization organizes events from the diary along a timeline, making it easy to see which major events Yun Yi-hu experienced and how long they lasted. Clicking on an event box shows the relevant diary entry, with entries displayed chronologically below.

Slave visualization examines the nobi (slave). The slave system existed during the Joseon dynasty. As a nobleman, Yun Yi-hu owned many household slaves. The visualization links each slave in the center to the lifestyle activities associated with them, displayed around the outside. This allows us to examine the roles played by specific slaves in Yun Yi-hu’s life.

Looking into the records of Yun Yi-hu, a man who lived centuries ago, we see him interacting with family and friends, traveling, rejoicing, and grieving — experiences not so different from our own lives today. The Jiam Diary Digital Humanities Project brings this rich life to light through diverse visualizations of his diary, offering deep insight and inspiration.

To learn more about the Joseon dynasty or Korea in general, check out these resources in the UT Libraries’ collections:

Duncan, J. B. (2014). The Yangban in the Change of Dynasties. In The Origins of the Choson Dynasty (pp. 99–153). University of Washington Press.

Park, S. N. (2020). The Korean vernacular story : telling tales of contemporary Chosŏn in sinographic writing / Si Nae Park. Columbia University Press.

LEE Uk(이욱). (2007). The Yangban’s Perception of the Ideal Economic Life During the Mid-Chosŏn Era. International Journal of Korean History, 11, 117–150.

Kang, M. (2010). Chosŏn p’ungsoksa / Kang Myŏng-gwan. (Ch’op’an.). P’urŭn Yŏksa.

From the Director

An Introduction and Welcome

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As we quickly become absorbed in the fall semester, I want to extend a warm welcome to you all – whether you’re arriving on the Forty Acres for the first time or returning for another academic year. I joined the University of Texas at Austin just a little over two weeks ago, and in that brief time, I’ve been struck by the energy, character, and sense of possibility that define this community.

My career path has led me through a variety of roles at institutions including the University of Colorado Boulder, Indiana University, and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (UCSD), where I built expertise in digital preservation, new models of scholarly communication, and library leadership and management all with an eye toward the future of higher education. I am honored to bring that experience to this exceptional university.

In these early days, I’ve been getting to know campus life, meeting colleagues, exploring libraries, and discussing ways to support your work. With new leadership taking on key positions, it’s a period of renewal, and I am grateful to be involved.

The University of Texas Libraries are central to this momentum. More than collections and spaces, our libraries are places where ideas are tested and forged, collaborations are formed, and knowledge is shared. This fall, we have been proud to be part of welcome events across the campus, and we want to welcome and help connect all students both with our unbelievable content as well as with each other. It is the strength of our community that enables our success.

As I continue to settle in to both the campus and the Austin community, I look forward to meeting many of you in our libraries, at events, or simply as we cross paths on campus. Please don’t hesitate to stop and say hello. Together with our dedicated library staff, I am committed to ensuring the Libraries remain a vital partner in your academic, professional, and personal journey. I’m grateful for the opportunity to join you at this exciting moment for UT, and I look forward to what we will accomplish together in the year ahead.