Library Stuff

Kris Swenson is one of three artists to be featured in a new collaborative exhibition at the W.A.A.S. Gallery in Dallas, Texas. “Focal Point” opens on Sept. 22, 2012 with a reception from 7 – 11pm. “The collaborative show will exhibit the talents of Edward Ruiz, Eric Trich and Kristin Swenson. Each artist offers a sensory experience in which viewers are invited to interact with a space that has been crafted for them through audio and visual experiences.

Swenson is the first female to show within W.A.A.S. gallery. Her stream of consciousness pieces include sculpture, film, audio design and graphic design. This collaborative show is the first of its kind at W.A.A.S..

W.A.A.S. Gallery is located at 2722 Logan Street, Dallas, Texas 75215. For more information, visit http://www.waasgallery.com
or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/WAAS-Gallery/177897762249731.

Contributed by Troy Black and Kathleen Houston:

Please consider taking a walk over to the University Center to visit our exhibit curated by staff from UT Arlington Central library, AFA and SEL. It is an exhibit showcasing The Green at College Park, its mixed use and sustainable features, and its certification at the one star level in the Sustainable SITES Initiative program – one of three certifications worldwide.

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, Dr. Gerald Saxon will be stepping down from his role as Dean of the UT Arlington Library as of August 31, 2011*. After a year’s leave to prepare for his duties in the classroom, Dr. Saxon will be returning to the faculty in the history department. I am pleased to announce that Ms. Julie Alexander has agreed to serve as Interim Dean of the UT Arlington Library effective September 1, 2011. Ms. Alexander has worked in UTA’s library since 1978, and as associate director since 1995, so her years of executive experience will be a valuable benefit for the University’s administration.

Ms. Alexander is a member of the American Library Association and the Library Administration and Management Association, serving on numerous committees for both associations. She received her B.S. degree from Sam Houston State University, her M.L.S. degree from the University of North Texas, and has completed coursework toward a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science also at UNT. Julie has received several honors, including her selection to attend the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute in 2004, and her appointment to the UNT Library Capital Campaign Steering Committee which is helping raise more than $1 million.

I look forward to working with Julie in her role as dean. Please join me in congratulating her on this interim appointment.

Sincerely,

Donald R. Bobbitt
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
June 30, 2011

*A note from Gerald Saxon to Library staff on July 28:

As you know, Julie has been appointed Interim Dean of the Library, and I am sure you are as happy as I am about this, knowing that the Library will be in good hands as the University begins a search for a new Dean in the fall. With my tenure as Dean coming to a close, Julie and I thought it would be best if we begin the transition of leadership in August. So effective on August 1, Julie will take the lead in decision-making and guiding the Library into the future.

Some (at least one) of our librarians are a l-i-t-t-l-e Muppet crazy.

Here is the latest UTA Library video.

As with other public service professions such as teaching and nursing, we all have some experience with librarians. Historically women’s professions, these jobs are now all fully occupied by men and women of all ages.

A few librarians may still have pencils protruding from buns in their hair, but technology marches on and that stereotype is defunct. Many of us now have smart phones bulging in our pockets for easy communication via various media, and it is as easy, probably easier, to send search results to a printer as it is to pull out a pencil to write something down.

Recent librarian representations have been counter to the old stereotype, they are now the pendulum in the other direction, as demonstrated in the article from the web’s Bitch Magazine (I didn’t name it, I just read it). There is a kind of sweet and salty approach – cleavage and horn-rim glasses.

Regardless of how sexy we are, we are smart and do have well-developed senses of humor. I’d hazard a guess that the only thing unchanged about librarians is that a lot of us still probably wear glasses.

http://bitchmagazine.org/post/from-the-library-librarians-on-the-tube

–Maggie Dwyer

Last month Rafia Mirza and I worked on a prolonged photo shoot. Over several days we rattled around the library with a book truck loaded with books from the library stacks and personal books that library staff offered for the occasion. Appointments were made to catch groups, others were simply minding their own business at their desks when we passed by. The books sold themselves – library staff are particularly vulnerable to the sense of indignation that THEIR favorite book might have been banned or challenged. Many who might normally not have asked to have their photos taken happily posed with their friends in print.

The digital photos were processed by me and sent as raw images to Kathleen Houston, who cropped and inserted the information about Banned Books week and named each model. And the slide program looks great! It was a lot of work, and wouldn’t have happened if each of us didn’t give it a lot of thought and time. But I’m pleased to post a link to the 2010 slide show and libguide. Click on the photo to go straight to the slide show, or visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/utarlingtonlibrary/ for the Library Flickr page.

A corresponding exhibit will be in place on the first floor of Central Library during Banned Books Week. Thanks to Kathleen Houston, Rebekah Lee and Angela Johnson for that. And thanks to Rafia Mirza for sticking with this project to keep it moving to completion!

–Maggie Dwyer

A tour of this exhibit is scheduled for Thursday, July 1, at 1pm in Special Collections, on the sixth floor of the Central Library.

The University of Texas at Arlington Library Special Collections’ summer exhibit is “For All Workers: The Legacy of the Texas Labor Movement, 1838-2010.” This exhibit features the personal papers of labor and political activist John “J.W.” Jackson, as well as numerous items from the Texas Labor Archives at UT Arlington.

Inspired by J.W. Jackson’s generous donations of labor archive records and personal papers, it explains what labor unions are and why they are important, shows the importance of the labor movement as seen through the life of J.W. Jackson, and concludes with accounts of labor events that have impacted Texas history. The labor movement, a little-known aspect of Texas history, is nevertheless inextricably intertwined with the legacy of what it means to be a Texan, shaping the makeup of who we as a state are today.

“For All Workers: The Legacy of the Texas Labor Movement, 1838-2010″ is open from May 17 through August 7 in the Special Collections Library, located on the 6th floor of UT Arlington’s Central Library. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Summer hours are 9am – 5pm Monday through Saturday. Call 817-272-7511 for more information.

702 Planetarium Place
Arlington, Texas 76019-0497
Map to the Libraries

Sharing the Genius: Library Conference Blog

A place for sharing what we’ve learned at conferences.

The most recent entry is at http://blog.uta.edu/sharethegenius/2010/05/27/iol-conference-2010-collaborative-grouping-online/ and reports on the Inovative Learning Online conference.

Tuesday, Sept 22, 2-3:30 pm, Central Library, Rm. B-20

Traditionally, e-mail lists, a handful of publications, and your colleagues have kept you current with what’s happening in your field. Now, there are tools that will help you hear about the latest developments. These tools bring you blog entries from academic researchers, news from your field’s associations, newly published research articles and more. This session will get you started using RSS for research purposes. Free and open to the UTA community. Go to this page  to find this class and many other TechnoScholar courses. There are links to register on the page.

Apropos of nothing, it’s getting close to that time of year when the library will be decked out for the celebration of a new academic year and the highly anticipated arrival of all of the new students. We hope they will quickly beat a path to our door and learn their way around the library and all of its services and meet our helpful staff and librarians. So of course, one’s mind turns to book trucks.

Last year the library book trucks were decorated by various departments as they competed for a pizza lunch. In late August the trucks were ready, and parked around the Central Library sixth floor atrium. This was the last stop for students, who, upon successful completion of a simple form (filled in at stations around the library) were entitled to a free lunch. They were encouraged to view the book trucks and cast a vote (and they were subject to heavy lobbying and bribery by interested library staff. Candy is usually a good vote-getter.) The covered wagon won (it was cleverly rendered, but they did also have a faux steaming cauldron of bite-sized chocolate bars right out front).

A photo of our winning entry was sent in to a competition sponsored by the online Library web site Unshelved. The prizes were provided by a commercial book truck company. We didn’t win, but we enjoyed being able to get more bang for a book cart decorating buck. Take a look at some of the “Pimp My Bookcart” winning entries from around the world. And in case you might dismiss this, thinking the book-truck phenom is a flash in the pan, the American Library Association (ALA)  recently included book truck drills at their national convention. The story is here.

Click on photos for a larger images.