All posts by Texlibris

Choate’s electric cars go national

texlibris_choate copyA couple of weeks ago, the local Fox affiliate in Austin ran a piece on the burgeoning business of electric car conversion featuring Technology Integration Services Project Coordinator Aaron Choate. When he’s not keeping the Libraries up to speed in the realm of new technologies, Aaron is co-owner of Revolt, a local company that converts automobiles from gasoline to electric.

It’s satisfying, no doubt, to have your work gain recognition from local news, so it must be doubly thrilling to see your work recognized by a national news organization as Choate did today when the original story was picked up by CBS MarketWatch.

We assume that Aaron will spend this evening working through email/voicemail inquiries….

Yes, we’re all getting older – time to make (estate) plans

texlibris_estate_planningLast month the University’s Gift Planning unit conducted two estate planning seminars, geared towards women age 40+ who had made past gifts to the University.  Provided at no cost to the participants, and featuring local estate planning attorneys and specialists, these seminars were conceived as a way to present the concept of estate planning (and hopefully, subsequent estate gifts to the University) in a setting somewhat more relaxed than your normal estate attorney’s office.

In theory, an excellent idea, thoughtfully planned and carefully executed.  In reality, a surprisingly small turnout of women, a handful of men accompanying a few of them, and it seemed the attendance was trending more towards an older demographic.  I was surprised to see so few relatively young women in attendance.  And it got me to thinking about another trend I’ve noticed. Continue reading Yes, we’re all getting older – time to make (estate) plans

UT Digital Repository ranked among the world’s top institutional repositories

TDL.org stacked logoThe UT Digital Repository received some welcome recognition recently when it was ranked #50 in the Ranking Web of World Repositories’ list of the top 400 institutional repositories worldwide. We are excited to see that the repository, which is less than two years old, is already among the best.

The Ranking Web of World Repositories is an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group that is part of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain. The group creates the rankings, Continue reading UT Digital Repository ranked among the world’s top institutional repositories

Google, completa

texlibris_google_blacWe can officially celebrate the completion of the Benson component of our partnership in the Google Books project.  This from our colleagues at Google recently:

Since we launched our partnership with the University of Texas at Austin in 2007, we have been working hard to make their unique Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection accessible to readers online. The collection is one of the largest Latin American collections in the world, and is renowned for the scope and breadth of its materials covering Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean island nations, South America, and the Latino presence in the United States. Continue reading Google, completa

Studies on the future of scholarly communication

scholarly_communicationTwo recent publications cap lengthy inquiries into the impact of Web 2.0 upon scholarly communication practices, and each merits review by library administrators and planners everywhere.

The Mellon-funded study by the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) at UC Berkeley, Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication:  An Exploration of Faculty Values and Needs in Seven Disciplines assesses the views of 160 researchers at some 45 research institutions. Continue reading Studies on the future of scholarly communication

Time to catch up

fall09_nlThe Fall/Winter edition of the Libraries Newsletter is now online.

The issue features articles on the Texas Digital Library, some news on the Fine Arts Library‘s Sam Shepard collection, the Human Rights Documentation Initiative in Burma and on the web, the flowering of the Life Science Library‘s Science Study Break, and much more.

And please take some time to peruse back issues while you’re at it.

Ransom Center opens “Making Movies”

Making_Movies_Taxi_Driver_300dpiThere’s always something going on around the UT campus, but there are certain organizations to whose calendar I tend to pay particular heed.

Our friends at the Harry Ransom Center are opening their newest exhibition today, and it promises to get a rave from the critics.

Making Movies” will draw on the significant film holdings of the Ransom Center to examine the creative process in filmmaking. Continue reading Ransom Center opens “Making Movies”

ERL Conference recap

erl2The sold-out 2010 Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L) Conference hosted by the University of Texas Libraries kicked off on Sunday, January 31 with a reception in the University Federal Credit Union Student Learning Commons at the Perry-Castañeda Library at the University of Texas at Austin.

ER&L serves to bring together industry and library professionals to advance the use and utilization of electronic resources. It’s a unique annual chance for face-to-face interactions between service providers and institutional users in an environment that allows for creative collaboration and information sharing. Continue reading ERL Conference recap

Coming soon to a library near you…

av_retrieval_graphicThere are no more excuses to be made for not getting knee-deep into the Libraries’ music collections.

The Fine Arts Library (FAL) has officially launched a retrieval service for its combined collection of audiovisual materials. Now users can have CDs, DVDs and other media shipped to the most convenient library branch for pick-up in around a couple of days.

I happened to be working with our Social Work & Government Librarian, PG Moreno for an article in our print newsletter, when I noticed that he had a box set of Stax/Volt Records singles on his desk, and I immediately became covetous. Continue reading Coming soon to a library near you…

Soto kicks off Benson’s Mexico 2010

utlibs_soto1

This year is potentially a big one for the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collecction thanks to the confluence of major anniversaries celebrating two important historical events in Mexico’s history.

2010 marks the bicentennial of Mexican Independence and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution, and we’ve been working with Dr. Miguel Soto (National Autonomous University of Mexico) to build an exhibit – Frente a Frente: The Mexican People in Independence and Revolution, 1810–1910, which will add to the other myriad celebrations going on around campus. Continue reading Soto kicks off Benson’s Mexico 2010