Tag Archives: contest

Calling the Hive: Rename the Repository Contest

Hello, My Name Is...

The University of Texas Digital Repository (UTDR) is changing its name, and is looking to the hive mind for some help.

The repository is undergoing an upgrade, so the Libraries are holding a naming contest now through June 12, 2015, to upgrade the resource’s name, as well. Anyone can enter, but only one will win and there’s a grand prize for the winner, but also opportunities to win for other entrants. See the Libraries’ Open Access blog for complete details.

For those unfamiliar with the repository, UTDR is the open access gateway to The University of Texas at Austin’s research and scholarship and a digital archive for the preservation of these works for future generations. It links together and preserves both historical and contemporary data generated by the intellectual and academic community of university, providing a central internet access point and interactive multimedia tools for interacting with these resources.

As well as preserving selected works of research and scholarship, UTDR also holds materials that reflect the intellectual and service environment of our campus community.

To date, the repository has taken in over 28,000 items, including theses and dissertations, faculty research, conference proceedings, journals and papers, representing 1.6 terabytes of data that was downloaded more that 3.5 million times last year.

Help us do this great free resource justice by giving it a name that conveys its extraordinary contribution to the universe of information.

Benson Back To School Giveaway

%CODE1%

To kick off the school year right, the Benson is doing a giveaway to Crisol Danza Teatro, courtesy of Texas Performing Arts.

Simply follow the links above, or go to the Benson Facebook page (and, of course, “Like” them if you haven’t already), and enter the giveaway at the event page.

This giveaway ends at 3pm on September 21, but keep an eye out for more on the Benson’s Facebook page later this semester. 

 

 

TPA Giveaways Are Back – Season Subscription Contest

Last year, followers of Tex Libris and friends and followers of the Libraries Facebook page and Twitter feed got to participate in contests for tickets to events that were part of the Texas Performing Arts 2010-11 season.

We’re happy to say that we’ve partnered with TPA again for the 2011-12 season, and we’ll soon be kicking off the promotion with a pair of tickets to an as-yet-unspecified performance.

While you’re waiting for our first giveaway, enter TPA’s big opening contest for a season subscription (four pairs of tickets!) to upcoming performances.

And check back here often (or add us to your RSS feed) for more chances to win.

Tip Jars in the Library?

We all know the cliche, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so in age of YouTube and TwitterLibrary Instruction Services decided that collapsing our text-heavy web pages into succinct and visually stimulating comics and videos would help bridge new media, instruction-on-demand, and quick reference for our time-strapped undergraduates.

The idea for these short light-hearted videos evolved over time to incorporate comics instead of actor librarians; we’re slightly camera shy here and creating comic alto-egos mean we’ll never have a bad hair day. Staff in Library Instruction Services scripted the vignettes, and our Library Assistant and resident-artist Elise Nacca and Graduate Research Assistant Krystal Wyatt-Baxter used a free version of Bitstrips to create characters and dialogue incorporating the scripted scenarios.

Since their release in September 2010, the Tip Jar posts have covered topics such as how to use Google Scholar, narrowing a topic and placing it in context , finding E-Books and more.

Creating this digital content means that it’s easily distributed and re-purposed depending on student and staff needs. For instance, Tip Jar instructional videos are integrated with a collection of videos created by students from our 2009 Library Video Contest to be used in the Undergraduate Studies First-year Interest Group program as a way to introduce the students to library services in a fun and flexible way. We’ve also included these videos within our online research guides for course-integrated instruction or during a reference exchange over our Ask A Librarian chat service.

The posts run every other Monday on our News For Undergraduates Blog, which also incorporates events, resources, and items of interest for the University of Texas undergrad community. Stop by and get a tip from us!

Cindy Fisher is the First-year Experience Librarian, Library Instruction Services.


Win Tickets to Percussionist Cyro Baptista

%CODE1%

The Benson Latin American Collection and Texas Performing Arts along with the UT Libraries are offering up a chance to win tickets to a unique performance by Brazilian Jazz/World musician and percussionist Cyro Baptista.

Baptista is reprising a performance from his debut album Villa-Lobos/Vira-Loucos, an homage to early twentieth-century classical Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Baptista performs at 8 p.m., next Tuesday, October 26, at Hogg Auditorium.

From the TPA website:

Texas Performing Arts is proud to present Cyro Baptista performing his classical program, Villa-Lobos/Vira-Loucos, an evening focused on Baptista’s 1997 solo debut album of the same name. In this acclaimed collection, Cyro interprets and deconstructs a number of themes by the early twentieth-century classical Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos. The recording is considered a true testament to Baptista’s mastery of music and the live experience beckons to you on a musical journey that is dynamic, virtuosic, grooving, and absolutely unique in sound and vision.

To be entered in the drawing for a pair of tickets, just visit the Cyro Baptista Trivia Question page and answer a Benson trivia question. Contest ends at 3 p.m. on Monday, October 25. Winner will be alerted via email and the Benson’s Facebook page.

Good luck.

A Quick One, For Tickets to Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan. Photo by Ken Light.
Author/food activist Michael Pollan. Photo by Ken Light.

Texas Performing Arts is partnering with the Libraries to publicize its 2010-11 season, and as part of that campaign, we will occasionally announce contests through our Facebook and Twitter feeds (so become a fan or follow us to get a head start).

Today marks the announcement of the first contest, a “Research and Win” opportunity for two tickets to “An Evening with Michael Pollan” on December 10, 2010, at Bass Concert Hall.

To enter, head over to the contest page and fill out the brief questionnaire for your chance to win. Contest ends at 11:59pm tonight (Wednesday, April 21).