Category Archives: Development

Colleagues Honor Phillips’ Legacy

On November 3, friends and family gathered in the Main Building to honor a storied figure in the Libraries recent history.

Marking her 95th birthday, the Libraries recognized the contributions of retired librarian and administrator Virginia Phillips, who served the General Libraries from 1975 -1998 in various capacities throughout the organization, most notably as assistant director for Branch Services.

During the event Phillips’s impact was cataloged by a series of former colleagues, all of whom noted her direct influence within their own professional experiences.

Dennis Trombatore with Virginia Phillips.
Dennis Trombatore with Virginia Phillips.

To honor her legacy with the Libraries, associates recognized Phillips with a permanent naming in her honor of a bookcase in the Hall of Noble Words in the Life Science Library, housed within one of the university’s most distinguishing landmarks and symbols of academic excellence.

The indelible mark Phillips left on the University of Texas Libraries is extraordinary. Her oversight of branch libraries, recruitment of talent and philanthropic support through endowments forged a path for building strong and meaningful relationships that extend far into the future.

Contributors to the naming:

Susan and Thomas Ardis
Larayne Dallas and Timothy DeFries
Liz DeHart
Elizabeth Dupuis
Nancy Elder
Eloise Ellis
Jenifer and David Flaxbart
Robin Fradenburgh
Laura Gutierrez-Witt
Catherine Hamer
Janine Henri
Dr. Barbara Immroth
Carol Kay Johnson
Gary Lay
Karen and Esther Lemunyon
Peggy Mueller
Susan Phillips
Mary Lynn Rice-Lively
Winona Schroeder
Mary Seng
Lorie Kay Sewell
John Tongate
Dennis Trombatore
Molly White
Shiela Winchester

 

Three stories you made happen at UT Libraries

The following post is part of UT Thanks Day. UT Thanks Day is an extraordinary time every year when our UT community comes together as one to thank donors. We are inspired and better-off through your generosity. Here are three stories you made happen.

You helped offset Sana’s tuition.

Nilsson Scholarship recipient Sana Saboowala in the PCL Maps collection
Nilsson Scholarship recipient Sana Saboowala in the PCL Maps collection

Sana Saboowala is pursuing a B.S.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Anthropology and is in the Polymathic Scholars and Liberal Arts Honors Program. She is also our student government documents and maps assistant in the Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL) and the recipient of the Nilsson scholarship for library student workers.

Thank you for helping offset tuition for Sana while we helped train her for the workforce. In her role, Sana safeguards and preserves official publications and information products of the U.S. Government in all formats. She protects materials vulnerable to decay, technical obsolescence, malicious cyber-attacks, and neglect.

Sana was overwhelmed by the daunting projects we put in front of her as a freshman four years ago but she overcame. Now a senior, we trust Sana to determine what is valuable to keep and what can be discarded before the digitization process.

Sana speaks in front of representatives from the Government Printing Office during audits—essentially officials evaluating the libraries and her work. A skill she was grateful to learn now having to present her own work at academic conferences. Sana stuck it out, excelled, and is now grateful for the lessons in leadership, self-initiative, self-confidence, and diverse array of skills she accumulated.

Her work experience at PCL helped her conduct independent research as a Mellon Mays Fellow, winning a highly competitive internship at the Harry Ransom Center, and writing an honors thesis.

You supported Sean and his 3D printed violin.

Foundry
Sean Riley with his 3D printed violin

Doctoral candidate Sean Riley needed a six-string electric violin to play American composer John Adams’s “The Dharma at Big Sur.” Six string violins are uncommon, so he went to The Foundry in the Fine Arts Library to make one. To complete the violin, Riley needed to collaborate. He enlisted Rebecca Milton, an undergraduate student in studio art, and Daniel Goodwin, a recent graduate in mechanical engineering, and they began working in The Foundry.

The story of Sean creating his six string violin in The Foundry will be highlighted in January on UT’s homepage. Be on the lookout to learn how he landed on his final violin design, to include designing it to not melt in the car.

You helped jump-start opening the Genaro García collection to the world.

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Christina Bleyer, Head of Special Collections and Senior Archivist at the Benson Latin American Collection

The Benson Latin American collection is arguably the best library devoted to the region of Latin America in the world. The Genaro García collection within the Benson was our first major purchase of treasures from Mexico. It has been attracting world-renowned faculty and recruiting the brightest students to UT since 1921—for almost 100 years. Researchers from every corner of the world come to sift through documents to shed light on Mexico’s history, it’s evolution from a colonial territory of Spain to a modern independent nation.

You helped purchase supplies and employ the student labor needed to digitize this collection. This material has been accessible only in person since 1921—until now. Thanks to you, the Genaro García collection can be viewed by everyone, from the casual observer emerging themselves in Mexican history to the distinguished researcher on the opposite side of the world. Thank you for allowing us to share this rare collection with the world.

Chemistry, Construction and Champagne

Photo courtesy College of Natural Sciences.

On April 20, the Libraries joined students, alumni, faculty and friends of the Department of Chemistry in celebrating the grand opening of the renovated wing of Welch Hall after an almost 2-year construction project.

Attendees for the “Champagne & Sledgehammers” event got a first peek at the new space with speed talks by faculty researchers and scientists, some chemistry fun with explosive experiments by Dr. Kate Beiberdorf, various science demonstrations by students and even some liquid nitrogen ice cream.

Photo courtesy College of Natural Sciences.

Originally built in 1929, Welch is one of the university’s largest academic buildings, hosting 10,000+ UT students every day for classes, seminars and labs with its world class faculty. The renovation is the first phase in modernizing the facility for 21st century needs of the department, providing new classrooms, research and teaching labs, and infrastructure updates

The second phase of the project was simultaneously launched at the event, which will address needs in the newer 1978 wing of the building. The combined renovations will result in the transformation of a total 19,000 square feet of space — the first significant step in the College of Natural Sciences five-year Master Space Plan.

The Mallet Chemistry Library was featured centrally in the festivities, functioning as a meeting space straddling the two project areas where alumni joined to mingle with students and faculty, share in rounds of historical trivia about the department and indulge in some very scientific molecular gastronomy in the form of champagne caviar — little gelated balls of bubbly created through the liquid spherification.

Though outside the scope of the larger plans for Welch Hall, the Libraries are working with the College of Natural Sciences to develop a strategy for updates to the Chemistry Library that would enhance it as a community center for the sciences and incorporate more discipline-specific services and resources in alignment with other modernizations to the building. Current goals are to raise $3.5 million by the end of 2017 in order to begin design and planning efforts for library renovations.

See more photos from the event at the CNS Flickr page.

Please comment below if you are interested in being contacted with more information.

Message from the Vice Provost on 40 Hours for the Forty Acres

Main Building Postcard, Alexander Architectural Archives.
Main Building Postcard, Alexander Architectural Archives.

March 7, 1884. This is the date of the first documented book loan. It took place in the Old Main Building library the day after the appointment of an assistant librarian had been confirmed by the faculty.

UT Libraries has changed to serve the Forty Acres needs over the course of 133 years. It is because of your generosity we are able to adapt. The result from our 40 for Forty campaign is an astonishing $41,473 from 204 gifts. I am proud to report that we doubled our donations compared to last year.

Support flowed in to foster innovation and technology within UT Libraries, to build and digitize our collection materials so they may be shared with the world, to support scholarships for our student workers and train the next generation of librarians.

Building the 21st century library takes time and investment. We are grateful to have friends of the library so we can take risks and answer campus needs. Thanks to you, we can write UT Libraries next chapter. I cannot wait to show you.

 

Sincerely,

lorraine j haricombe

Vice Provost and Director

University of Texas Libraries

Libraries at Work, A Student Perspective from Rosa Munoz

Hello,

 Two years ago, I began writing end-of-year blog posts about my time at UT Libraries. As you may recall, my name is Rosa Muñoz and I am a senior majoring in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. I wanted to give my last update before I graduate in May.

rosa-1 These four years at UT have flown by. It feels like just yesterday I became a Longhorn, went off on my own, and experienced what it was like being the first to attend college in my family. Now I am a semester away from graduating, and one step closer to making my dreams become a reality. Something I never thought I was capable of achieving. I have gained so much knowledge from working at the Libraries and by spending a great amount of time here. I have also been incredibly lucky to have had made such amazing relationships with not only my fellow classmates, but also with the staff from the UT Libraries who are like family to me now. Throughout my time at UT they have been such an enormous help to me and my studies. With their help I was able to make one dream of mine come true, which was to study abroad in Australia for a semester. I have learned that with the right guidance and resources anything is possible. No dream is too big or impossible to achieve. This is what UT Libraries has taught me. After 5 months, I am finally back in the states and could not be any happier to share what my experience was like abroad.

The Forty Acres has opened doors for me that never seemed attainable, and that is something I am going to miss. The UT Libraries will always be a second home. Since freshman year it is the place I go to study for my exams, pull “all-nighters” cramming for exams and final essays. I am proud to say that throughout my time at UT, I have been a part of helping renovate UT Libraries to make it an even better place. Not only has UT Libraries been useful to me while in the states, but it was also very useful to me abroad. When I needed to find certain research articles I would log into the UT Libraries databases on their website with my UT information, and use that as help for my assignments abroad.

I plan on taking a year off to figure out what I want to do before applying to graduate school. I hope to work in a lab during that time off to gain more field experience and find some clarity in selecting which career route I want to pursue in psychology. It has been tough getting to where I am now, but I know that everything will fall into place. My last spring semester is not going to be easy, but just like freshman year I will be in the library getting work done.  rosa-3

As a senior I can say that UT Libraries has shaped me. I have utilized almost everything that the libraries has to offer, such as study spaces, computer and printing access, writing and research assistance, access to an abundance of information, and so much more. I have one semester left to fully take advantage of these resources, and I am excited to see what else will be added. I will forever be grateful for what UT Libraries provided for me. Please consider making an end of year contribution to the UT Libraries to help support us.

Be generous and give today. Thank you for making a gift that will support all students.

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Happy Holidays!

rosasm

A Parents’ Survival Guide for Finals

Photo courtesy UT Division of Student Affairs.
Photo courtesy UT Division of Student Affairs.

Imagine this — your student just returned to campus from Thanksgiving Break and realized that finals are just around the corner.  What do they do?  Panic?  Eat more mashed potatoes or pie and try to forget about it?  I’ll never argue with more pie, but when your student calls to talk about this stressful time, tell them that instead of panicking or eating their feelings, they can take advantage of services offered within the libraries.

University Writing Center at PCL.
University Writing Center at PCL.

PCL houses several partner organizations who offer great services to students:

  • The Writing Center (in PCL) offers help at any point in the writing process.  Tell your student that good writers seek feedback!  Appointments here
  • The Sanger Center’s Public Speaking Center is now open in PCL – their consultants can offer suggestions on any presentation or speech assignment.  Appointments here  
  • Tutoring for intro-level Calculus, Biology, and Chemistry courses is now available in PCL’s UFCU room.  See the schedule

Help at the desk.

The UT Libraries house many new services for students, but librarians have always been available to help with research.  Students can ask us questions about finding sources of information, about choosing or narrowing a topic, about when and how to cite sources, and about which sources of information are credible.  We are available to help in several ways.  Your student can:

If your student has an assignment that involves technology, we can help with that too!  They can:  

We know that finals are stressful, so we want to help with your student’s work AND help them de-stress.  With dogs!  We have therapy dog study breaks a few times at the end of the semester:

Kona from Austin Dog Alliance.

$21,718 Raised! Thank You!

A thankful student.

Thank you for supporting the University of Texas Libraries during the 40 Hours for the Forty Acres campaign!

We are excited to report that we received 101 gifts raising a total of $21,718.

Your gift will have a meaningful impact on all students across campus. For students, using the libraries is part of their trajectory of success in college; whether it is utilizing our collections for research, or tapping resources like the Undergraduate Writing Center, Think Space, our Scholars Commons facility, or our state-of-the-art collaborative spaces and technology labs.

We couldn’t have done it without you!

See one of the ways your gift impacts student success in the video below.

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40 Hours for the Forty Acres

40 Hours for the Forty AcresWith 650,000 square feet across ten libraries on campus, UT Libraries has one of the largest footprints on the Forty Acres. To put into context, imagine yourself cheering the longhorns at Darrell K. Royal stadium, then imagine eleven football fields filled with books, reference materials, silent and collaborative study spaces, and technology.

We’re proud of our impact. In 2015, UT Libraries welcomed an astounding 2,492,477 visitors. Our staff provided 105,986 reference sessions for students and faculty. We welcomed 15,329 attendees to Library Instruction Sessions. We hosted the equivalent of 25 home games at full capacity.

The rapid pace of change in academic libraries has been breathtaking, but thanks to gifts both and large and small we were able to renovate about half of a football field worth of library space.

But make no mistake, it’s not about new furniture. An investment in UT Libraries is an investment in helping elevate retention and graduation rates. Your gift has the potential to touch the lives of every student, faculty, and staff member on the Forty Acres.

Our Think Space initiative is about creating a stimulating, supportive, and collaborative environment that enhances student and faculty success. Think Space is a one-stop-hub that connects students with campus experts in research, writing, speech, and digital media technology.

The Scholars Commons pilot has quickly become a favorite spot for students and other scholars. The Scholars Commons inspires scholarship through research consultations. It contains a data lab with advanced software; workshops introducing tools for digital scholarship, data analysis, and scholarly communication; spaces for collaboration; and exhibits and events that provide opportunities for scholars to share their research.

Contributions designated for the Black Diaspora Archival Collection will help fund professional development for the archivist, interns/graduate research assistants who assist with processing, the general enhancement of this collection. The Black Diaspora Archive is a vitally important initiative, which affirms the University’s commitment to Black history, and to the communities across the Americas who make that history.

Now in its third year, 40 Hours for the Forty Acres is an annual university-wide, 40-hour fundraising event designed to engage and inspire students, alumni, and friends to donate. If UT Libraries is meaningful to you, we hope you will make a gift between April 27th 4:00am and April 28th 8:00pm.

We encourage you to tell your friends about the campaign, post on social media when you give, or repost our messages from the blog during the campaign.

Give Here

Save the Date: 40 Hours for the Forty Acres

Mark your calendar for 40 Hours for the Forty Acres: April 12-1340 Hours for the Forty Acres, the annual university-wide fundraising event, is coming up in just a few weeks! This year, University of Texas Libraries is aiming to raise $8,000. We need your help to reach our goal and to get the word out. Tell your friends about the campaign, post on social media when you give, or repost our messages from Facebook and Twitter during the campaign.

So, mark your calendars for April 12, 4:00am – April 13, 8:00pm, and support your UT Libraries!

Postponed until 4/27-28.

Recognizing Generosity

Donor wall in PCL.

UT Libraries is pleased to announce a new donor wall in the Learning Commons on the entry-level floor of the Perry-Castañeda Library.

The wall lists annual donors of $1,000 and above to UT Libraries, annual corporate sponsorships, donors to space renovations at $1,700 and above, and Literary Longhorns, UT Libraries’s premier group of donors who have given $25,000 or more.

We are happy to be able to recognize our top supporters in our most visited library, to help bring awareness to all library users of the impact and need for monetary donors. Gifts to the University of Texas Libraries have the potential to touch the lives of all students, faculty, and staff on the Forty Acres.

Thank you to all of our generous supporters.

Donor wall in PCL.