The Amplifying Appalachia Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon will run from March 21-25. Join us for a Zoom kickoff event Monday, March 21, at 10 a.m. for an overview of editing Wikipedia and a chance to ask questions.
A recording will be made available for those unable to attend. To register for the Zoom kickoff event, click here.
For more info/to register for the Edit-a-thon, click here.
Questions? Contact Lynne Stahl (Lynne.stahl@mail.wvu.edu) or Erin Brock Carlson (Erin.carlson@mail.wvu.edu).
The histories of traditionally marginalized groups have long gone unrepresented in archives. As part of its effort to reduce that disparity, the West Virginia & Regional History Center will host researcher and author Susan Ferentinos to discuss how to better represent LGBTQ+ communities in archival collections. The hybrid event will take place on March 31 from 3-4 p.m. in the Milano Room in WVU’s Downtown Library and on Zoom.
“Engaging the Queer Feminist Archive” is part of the WVRHC’s newly developed West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection (WVFAC). The growing collection works to capture the stories of West Virginia individuals and organizations who have fought for social justice and equity. Often, such activists are left out of the historical record for going against the status quo and/or having marginalized identities.
Photograph of the damage along Buffalo Creek after the flood, February 1972, Governor Arch A. Moore Jr. papers, WVRHC.
In the early the morning of February 26, 1972, a coal slurry impoundment on Buffalo Creek collapsed, sending millions of gallons of wastewater rushing into the valley below. Hundreds of people died or were injured, and thousands were left homeless. The cleanup, investigations, and lawsuits that followed further strained the community.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the disaster, WVU Libraries and the Department of History have created exhibitions online and in the Downtown Library’s Atrium that will remain on display through December.
In conjunction with the exhibits, the Libraries’ Local to Global Film Series and Department of History will host a virtual screening of Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man and Buffalo Creek Flood Revisited followed by a discussionwith award-winning film director Mimi Pickering on March 3 at 7 p.m. Registration for the event is open.
Professor Emerita Betty Lou Ramsey, of Belington, West Virginia, passed away July 19, 2014. Her recently completed trust gift supports a namesake fund she and her late sister, Effie Lucille Ramsey, established prior to their deaths to support WVU Libraries. The fund helps to collect, preserve and provide public access to library materials that honor the history and culture of West Virginia and the central Appalachian region.
WVU Libraries recently received an award notification for a West Virginia Humanities Council major grant for an upcoming exhibit, Indigenous Appalachia. The exhibition will be displayed at WVU Downtown Library and virtually from August 2022 through May 2023 before traveling to WVU Beckley Library, Appalachian State University Library and Marshall University Library.
The exhibit will also become a digital exhibit available on the WVU Libraries’ website and archived on the Research Repository at WVU.
The goal of the exhibition is to increase awareness of the contributions made by Indigenous Appalachians to the region both historically and contemporarily, while recognizing the continuing injustices faced by Indigenous people.
Are you an instructor who is concerned about the impact of high textbook costs for your students’ academic success? WVU Libraries will host an Open Textbook Workshop and Textbook Review on March 10 at 10 a.m. that will help instructors explore possible open textbook solutions to this growing financial issue.
Over the past few years, 60 percent of students surveyed said they delayed purchasing textbooks until they received their financial aid and 70 percent chose not to purchase a required textbook because of cost, according to the Open Education Network, a group that studies how the high cost of course materials impede students’ academic success.
Open textbooks can help alleviate the burden of textbook costs for students and provide faculty with content that can be customized for their course. Open textbooks are complete and authoritative, adopted by many faculty across the country and licensed to be freely used, edited, and distributed.
WVU Libraries is once again hosting its “Amplifying Appalachia” Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, an effort to amplify the stories and figures of under-represented Appalachian artists, writers, and other creators, particularly women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
“Amplifying Appalachia” is open to all and will run virtually from March 21-25. Participants can contribute whenever it is convenient them. Prior Wiki experience is not necessary.
Plan to log on to “Justice for Afghan Women and Girls Now: Understanding and Action,” a virtual event January 25 from 6-7 p.m. that will explore the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 that has placed many women and girls in crisis.
“One of the strengths of the panel is we have speakers who are approaching the issue from a variety of perspectives. This is a unique opportunity to hear multiple sides and multiple perspectives on women’s and girl’s rights in Afghanistan,” said Amy S. Thompson, Chair of the Department of World Languages, Literatures & Linguistics and the Director of International Relations and Strategic Planning for the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
Danielle Emerling, congressional and political papers archivist for West Virginia University Libraries, addressed the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress on December 3 about a groundbreaking, grant-funded project to make congressional archives from across the country more discoverable and accessible.
In May, WVU Libraries received nearly $60,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the American Congress Digital Archives Portal project. The project will provide easier access to archives for scholars, educators, and the public by digitizing historical materials from multiple institutions and aggregating them in a single online platform.
The Downtown and Evansdale libraries have added spin bikes to help students get exercise while studying for final this week. Three bikes are in Eliza’s on the fourth floor of the Downtown Library, and three bikes are in Evansdale Library, Room G18. Thanks goes out to the WVU Student Recreation Center for providing the equipment.
Students are encouraged to donate their old textbooks to the WVU Libraries to help grow the Shining Minds Textbook Loan Collection.
This program, developed by a WVU graduate student as a social action project, is intended to build a collection of textbooks to help student acquire textbooks needed for their studies. Textbooks in this collection can be checked out from the Libraries for a semester.
Drop boxes can be found in the front of the Downtown and Evansdale libraries through the end of the semester.
The Shining Minds Textbook Loan Program is dedicated to ending barriers that are an impediment to students pursuing their education.
The Art in the Libraries Committee and Dean of Libraries Karen Diaz selected Payton Brown, a first-year MFA candidate in painting, and Liuqing Ruth Yang, a senior BFA candidate in painting graduating this December, to receive the 2021 Dean of the Libraries’ Student Art Award.
Brown received the award for her work, “The Star Theatre,”an oil canvas painting. Brown describes the subjects of her paintings as, “vintage, seemingly outdated scenes of urban life in America” with the goal of perpetuating a “sense of nostalgia and longing amongst viewers.”
The WVU Libraries Faculty Assembly is seeking nominations for the Outstanding Librarian Award and Distinguished Service Award. These awards are presented once every three years to recognize exceptional contributions toward the delivery, development or expansion of library services or special programs for the constituencies of WVU.
The Outstanding Librarian Award honors WVU Libraries faculty for their significant contributions. It is open to all current and retired Libraries faculty who have been employed by the Libraries for at least two years.
Health Sciences Center Pylons, November 2021-May 2022
Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman, courtesy WVRHC
Healthcare in the Mountain State, like many areas in rural Appalachia has obstacles to overcome such as employing a diverse population of providers and equitable access to quality healthcare. Historically, People of Color in health care navigated their own path through discrimination, segregation, and systemic racism to become practitioners. Today’s practitioners continue the legacy of providing communities quality care and generating People of Color’s increased trust in medical institutions thus increasing the quality of public health and well-being. This exhibit looks at the past, present and future of West Virginia People of Color in Healthcare with historical imagery and text, current perspectives and WVU initiatives and more. View the online exhibit here.
Jay Cole, senior adviser to WVU President E. Gordon Gee, explained the meaning behind to the event’s title. “Pearls of wisdom” is a saying and a metaphor expressing the belief that wisdom is valuable and worthy of admiration. By inverting this saying to “wisdoms of Pearl,” referring to Pearl S. Buck, we have the theme for the 2021 Pearl S. Buck International Symposium.
“This theme allows us to examine the ‘wisdoms’ Buck shared through her writings, speeches, advocacy, and global humanitarian efforts, both during her life and as part of her legacy since her death. This theme also allows us to examine the ‘wisdoms’ many others have gained from Buck’s work, from literary scholars and historians to artists and diplomats,” Cole said.
Caronia, a teaching associate professor in the Eberly College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of English, will discuss her “American Dime Novels: Racialization / Erasure” exhibit now open in the Downtown Library, Room 1020. It includes a series of dime novel covers, showing how stereotypes of these communities followed and / or promoted state and national policies regarding immigration policies including the Chinese Exclusion Act, Indian removal acts, and Jim Crow practices focused on voter suppression.
“These covers reflect not only past US history, but also current practices regarding twenty-first century immigration policies and discourse in both political and popular culture,” Caronia said.
West Virginia University Libraries and the Teaching and Learning Commons (TLC) have selected three faculty members to receive Open Educational Resources (OER) grants. This year’s recipients are Erin Jordan, teaching assistant professor and program coordinator for health and well-being, College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences; Mandy Weirich, MSW online program coordinator, Gerontology program coordinator and clinical instructor, School of Social Work; and Adrienne Williams, assistant professor, Department of Biology, WVU Institute of Technology.
“We’re so excited to continue our Open Educational Resources grant program and help WVU students spend less money on their books and other materials,” Grants Committee Chair Martha Yancey said. “This cohort of grant recipients will provide good models for other faculty to learn from and consider during next year’s grant process. We hope to continue building momentum toward even bigger savings in the future.”
Long before zombies lumbered through 11 seasons of the popular television series “The Walking Dead,” there was an infamous night when corpses first crawled from their graves to haunt the living. The annual West Virginia University Isaac Asimov Sci-Fi Symposium will celebrate the classic horror film “Night of the Living Dead” on October 28 at the Mountainlair’s Gluck Theater.
Make your way to the student union while it is still light outside. The event, co-sponsored by the President’s Office and WVULibraries, begins at 4 p.m. with a panel discussion with “Night of the Living Dead” co-writer and actor John Russo, BS ‘61, who will talk about the impact of his iconic movie in taking the horror film genre to a new level.
After a year-long process of iterative internal conversations and activities, distillation of hundreds of potential action items and a series of campus stakeholder feedback, WVU Libraries has launched its 2021-2024 Strategic Roadmap.
Based on the University’s Strategic Transformation, which launched in March 2019, and in alignment with the same goals, we have mapped our path toward participation in great achievements at WVU.
“We look forward to partnering across campus to advance our initiatives and meet the goals of our great institution,” Dean of Libraries Karen Diaz said.
