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Evansdale Library displaying unique hammer collection

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
January 30th, 2023
A collection of hammers

As part of West Virginia University Libraries’ Art in the Libraries series of exhibits of personal collections, Frankie Tack, Clinical Associate Professor in Counseling and Well-Being, shares a selection of the most common tool in the world, the hammer, in a display at Evansdale Library.

Tack’s collection of over 100 hammers ranges from a pre-colonial Native American hammer stone to hammers used by jewelers, cobblers, coopers, clockmakers, blacksmiths, masons, shipwrights, farriers, and even cigar smokers and, of course, an array of standard claw hammers from the 19th century to present.

The collection began when Tack came into possession of her father-in-law’s tools after his death. He was a farmer and a loom fixer in textiles when we still had those plants in the U.S. The collection, she soon found, also included his father’s tools.

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Two students receive Dean of Libraries’ Student Arts Award

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
January 26th, 2023

The Art in the Libraries Committee and Dean of Libraries Karen Diaz selected Lilly Adkins, a junior double majoring in painting and sculpture, and Kieah Hamric, a sophomore majoring in graphic design, to receive the 2022 Dean of Libraries’ Student Arts Award.

Lilly Adkins poses by painting
Lilly Adkins

Adkins won for her work titled “Detroit Fox Theater 1934 to 2022.” This mixed media painting compares the same area, nearly 100 years apart, emerging from times of turmoil.

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Sensory Safe Space now open at Downtown Library

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
January 26th, 2023
Sensory Space

A Sensory Safe Space opened this semester on the Downtown Library’s first floor. The space is comprised of low-lighting, soft seating, plants, and wall-hangings meant to soften the space. Additionally, users can check out noise-cancelling headphones and personal white noise machines. The space is not reservable and is open to students, faculty and staff.

The project is the result of planning and work by the Downtown Library Access Services Team for the Libraries’ Development Day. A huge thank you goes to team members Hilary Fredette, Andrea McDaniel, Hattie Murphy, Savannah Owens, Sam Rahall, and James Shaver.

Libraries to host “Indigenous Appalachia” artist panel

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
January 12th, 2023
Collage of exhibit artists

In conjunction with its “Indigenous Appalachia” exhibit, WVU Libraries welcomes everyone to attend a virtual panel with five artists featured in the exhibit Friday, Jan. 27, at noon.

“Indigenous Appalachia,” currently on display in the Downtown Library, is designed to increase awareness of the contributions of Indigenous Appalachians to the region’s shared history and present while also recognizing continuing injustices faced by Indigenous people.

The panel will include Nadema Agard (Cherokee/Powhatan), painting; Connor Alexander (Cherokee) game design; Erin Lee Antonak (Oneida), sculpture/drawing; April Branham (Monacan), painting/photography; and Ethan Brown (Pamunkey) gourd design/painting. The event will be moderated by Sally Brown, WVU Libraries exhibits coordinator and the exhibit’s lead curator.

To register, visit wvu.libcal.com/event/9680079.

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WVU Faculty Justice Network honors Yancey for leadership and service

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
December 21st, 2022
Evansdale Library Director Martha Yancey (second from the left) poses with Meshea Poore, vice president and chief diversity officer for the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Amena Anderson, assistant director of the WVU ADVANCE Center; Karen Diaz, dean of WVU Libraries; and Maryann Reed, WVU provost.

The WVU Faculty Justice Network has honored Evansdale Library Director Martha Yancey for more than 25 years of outstanding leadership and service to faculty and students.

Yancey has worked for WVU Libraries since 1996. She is also the Access, User Services, and Resource Sharing Librarian, and the subject liaison for African American Children’s Literature, Children’s Literature, Counseling, and Education. She is the Chair of the Open Educational Resources Committee and was instrumental in the creation of the WVU Libraries Diversity Residency Program. She is a former President of the Western Pennsylvania & West Virginia Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries and the West Virginia Library Association. In 2014, her research was published in the Journal of Information Literacy.

Though Yancey initially planned to become a public librarian, she worked as a school media specialist and teacher before her career as an academic librarian at WVU. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, gardening, and collecting dishware. Her collection has previously been on display at Evansdale Library.

WVRHC receives grant to create digital folk music collection

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
December 21st, 2022
Picture of a guitar

The West Virginia Humanities Council has awarded a nearly $20,000 grant to West Virginia University Libraries to create a digital collection of West Virginia folk music recorded by Louis Watson Chappell between 1937-1947. The project will last from May 2023 to May 2024.

The Chappell Collection at the West Virginia and Regional History Center is the most comprehensive state-wide collection of folk music field recordings in the United States. Between 1937 and 1947, WVU professor Louis Chappell visited every county in the state and made more than two thousand audio recordings of songs and instrumental tunes at a pivotal point near the beginning of the history of the field recording of folk music.

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WVU Libraries celebrates “The Nightmare Before Christmas” with two exhibits

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
December 13th, 2022
Student poses near exhibit

Get into the holiday spirit by exploring WVU Libraries’ two exhibits focused on “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Tim Burton’s cult classic film, originally premiered in 1993, has grown in popularity with its whimsical style and tribute to Halloween and Christmas. The movie also has a special connection to all Mountaineers through WVU alumnus Chris Sarandon, known for his role as the speaking voice of Jack Skellington.

WVU Libraries graduate assistant Makenzie Hudson has curated two exhibits dedicated to Sarandon and the many film artifacts he donated to the West Virginia and Regional History Center.

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“Sustainable Fashion” exhibit on display in Downtown Library

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
December 8th, 2022
Person modeling dress

“Sustainable Fashion Design Exploration: Transformation to Zero-Waste,” an exhibit curated by Colleen Moretz, associate professor of Fashion, Dress & Merchandising in the Davis College, and the 2022 winner of the Art in the Libraries Faculty Exhibit Award, is on display in the Downtown Library, Room 1020.

The exhibit includes Moretz’s work alongside zero-waste designs by students in her Fashion Design Management 350 course.

“Sustainability has been at the center of my scholarship across the apparel and textile disciplines,” Moretz said. “Focusing my creative design scholarship on sustainability generates awareness of sustainable issues within the apparel industry to hopefully encourage change in fashion practices. This concentration on sustainability has been an evolution of investigating sustainable design processes through the exploration of transformation, aesthetics, zero waste, and up-cycling.”

The Arts in the Libraries Committee will host a program with Moretz and her students on March 1, 2023, at 4 p.m. in Room 1020. The exhibit will remain on display through May 2023.

Libraries seeking textbooks for the Shining Minds Textbook Loan Program

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
December 8th, 2022
Shining Minds logo

WVU Libraries is encouraging students to donate their old textbooks to WVU Libraries to help grow the Shining Minds Textbook Loan Program. Started in 2021 with the goal of providing students a no-cost textbook option, the program is supported by donations from students who have finished with their textbooks and want to help other students.

These donated textbooks are listed in the Libraries’ catalog and shelved together on the 2nd floor of the Downtown Library. Books added to the Libraries’ Shining Minds Collection are available for semester loan.

Donations to the Shining Minds Textbooks Loan Program are accepted throughout the year at any Service Desk. Donated textbooks should not be more than 10 years old. Instructor copies are not eligible. Contact Hilary Fredette, hilary.fredette@mail.wvu.edu, to donate.

WVU Libraries issues submission call for “Hacking the Library” exhibit

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
December 2nd, 2022
Hacking the Library graphic

The WVU Libraries’ Art in the Libraries committee wants to know your library hacks. They have issued a call for submission for an exhibit titled “Hacking the Library,” which will display at the Downtown Library throughout the 2023-2024 academic year.

“The hacker ethos in the positive sense is about the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct information systems. We invite you to highlight the intersecting values that shape our libraries through your own lens reflecting on how you library,” WVU Libraries Exhibits Coordinator Sally Brown said.

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Digital Photography Studio now open at Evansdale Library

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
November 10th, 2022
Entrance to digital photography studio

Evansdale Library’s new Digital Photography Studio is now open in Room G19. The studio is available for students, faculty and staff to take professional studio-quality photos. Individuals or groups can shoot group, portrait, portfolio documenting photography, product photography, and video.

The photography studio can be reserved through the Libraries’ study room reservation system for sessions of up to four hours. Equipment is available to checkout at the public services desk located on the main floor of the library or you can bring personal equipment to use. Learn more by watching this video.

WVU Humanities Center to host launch event for “Indigenous Appalachia” exhibit

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
November 3rd, 2022
Indigenous Appalachia banner
Banner designed by Maryam Marne Zafar.

The West Virginia University Humanities Center will host a program Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. to launch the “Indigenous Appalachia” exhibit currently on display in the WVU Libraries’ Downtown Library.

“Indigenous Appalachia” is an exhibit designed to increase awareness of the contributions of Indigenous Appalachians to the region’s shared history and present while also recognizing continuing injustices faced by Indigenous people.

“The Humanities Center is excited and humbled to sponsor this event,” Humanities Center Director Renée Nicholson said. “It brings together the Art in the Libraries program, the Native American Studies program, and a tremendous group of artist and scholars, two of which will visit our campus for the opening.”

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Neal Museum of the Health Sciences dedicated

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
November 3rd, 2022
Ribboncuting for Neal Musuem

Remarks by Dean of Libraries Karen Diaz at the Neal Museum of the Health Sciences dedication on October 28.

President Biden recently issued an Executive Order on Promoting the Arts, the Humanities, and Museum and Library Services. In it he articulates this inspiring statement on these institutions: “The arts, the humanities, and museum and library services are essential to the well-being, health, vitality, and democracy of our Nation. They inspire us; provide livelihoods; sustain, anchor, and bring cohesion within diverse communities across our Nation; stimulate creativity and innovation; help us understand and communicate our values as a people; compel us to wrestle with our history and enable us to imagine our future; invigorate and strengthen our democracy; and point the way toward progress.”

I know that here at WVU, our library archivists are the collectors and stewards of the materials that mark our past. Without these touchstones of reality – of life as it truly was – we forget what was, and in fact are left to invent in our minds what never was. But it is through the interaction with these materials that we learn from and are inspired by them.

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Humanities Center to host “Wild and Wonderful Women Writers: a WVU Alumnae Reading”

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
October 27th, 2022
Flyer for writers event

The WVU Humanities Center is excited to host “Wild and Wonderful Women Writers: A WVU Alumnae Reading” on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Downtown Library’s Milano Room. This event is part of WVU’s Mountaineer Week and co-hosted by WVU’s Creative Writing Program in the Department of English.

The reading features three women writers, all graduates of WVU.

“Hosting women writers from across two of our graduate programs is a particular pleasure,” Humanities Center Director Renée Nicholson said. “Celebrating talent that comes from our university’s programs can serve as an additional way to inspire future writers currently studying at WVU.”

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Downtown Library hosting “Indigenous Appalachia” exhibit

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
October 26th, 2022
Abstract painting
Abstract painting by John Gritts. It is currently on display in the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.

West Virginia University’s Downtown Library is hosting “Indigenous Appalachia,” an exhibit designed to increase awareness of the contributions of Indigenous Appalachians to the region’s shared history and present while also recognizing continuing injustices faced by Indigenous people.

“Most Americans do not know about Indigenous culture, from history to today, but they are a large part of America’s fabric. Invisibility is a modern form of bias,” WVU Libraries Exhibits Coordinator Sally Brown said. “With this exhibit, we hope to both acknowledge the contradictions in the Indigenous histories of our areas and in our collections, and highlight Indigenous stories, perspectives and successes, all curated in collaboration with Indigenous advisement.”

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“Women, Work, and Activism in the Coal Mines” virtual event set for Nov. 2

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
October 21st, 2022

The West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) extends an open invitation to a virtual presentation titled Women, Work, and Activism in the Coal Mines: Stories from the Women Miners Oral History Project on Wednesday, November 2, at 7 p.m.

Dr. Jessie Wilkerson, an associate professor in WVU’s Department of History, and graduate student Emily Walter will discuss the oral history project and what they have learned talking to women miners from the region.

The Women Miners Oral History Project aims to collect and preserve the life histories of women in the Appalachian region who entered the mines as protected workers in the late 1970s after decades of exclusion.

Register for the Zoom event here.

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Humanities Center to host Korean American Author Matthew Salesses

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
October 21st, 2022
Matthew Salesses

The WVU Humanities Center is pleased to present “An Evening with Matthew Salesses” on Thursday, November 3, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Salesses will read from his work and discuss contemporary Asian American literature, his innovative approaches to writing workshops and other topics. This reading and discussion is a Campus Read tie-in event.

To pre-register for this Zoom event, go to wvu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xy5ysQ3LSkCVY5FPQivQCQ

“We are excited to continue the conversation about Asian American writing with this event,” WVU Humanities Center Director Renée Nicholson said. “Our Campus Read, “Interior Chinatown,” brought up some important issues around the Asian American experience. By bringing in Matthew Salesses, we not only further that discussion, but we also have the opportunity to see how writing spaces can be re-imagined to reduce bias.”

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Libraries accepting submissions for Faculty/Staff and Graduate Student exhibit awards

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
October 20th, 2022

The West Virginia University Libraries’ Art in the Libraries committee seeks submissions for the Faculty/Staff and Graduate Student Exhibit Awards.

As part of its mission, the Art in the Libraries Committee wants to highlight the art and scholarship of WVU faculty, staff and graduate students. The Committee invites current WVU faculty/staff and graduate students to submit ideas for consideration for an exhibit to visually showcase their scholarship in new and experimental ways.

These can present a visual evolution of their work, visualize their research and influences, or answer a research question. Faculty/staff and graduate student proposals should be based on their academic or creative research and lend themselves to visual interpretation with Library consultation.

“The goals of these awards are to provide a multidisciplinary platform for deeper learning, foster intellectual discourse and discussion and demonstrate the breadth of WVU’s creative and innovative activity,” Libraries Exhibit Coordinator Sally Brown said.

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Pick up a WVUL sticker and share your laptop art

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
October 19th, 2022
Laptop sticker collage

You voted, and the two winning sticker designs from the WVU Art in the Libraries contest are available at the Downtown, Evansdale and Health Sciences libraries’ access services desks.

The call now is for photographs of your laptop sticker art. We love roaming the Library spaces and seeing all of the individualized, unique stickers that adorn your laptops, and we’d like to make it into an exhibition, online and in print.

All we need is your name, contact information, and a jpg (you can be in the photo or just the laptop) with an optional short 1-3 sentences about how your stickers reflect you/your identity/passions, etc. The deadline is Oct. 31. Get your free WVU Libraries sticker at any of the campus Libraries. Any questions or to submit via email: contact Sally Brown, sally.brown1@mail.wvu.edu. Submission does not guarantee display. Those selected for display will be contacted in November.

WVU Libraries to host Neal Museum dedication October 28

Posted by Monte Maxwell.
October 19th, 2022

Entrance to the Neal Museum

West Virginia University Libraries extends an open invitation to the dedication of the William A. Neal Museum of the Health Sciences on Oct. 28 from 2-4 p.m. in the WVU Health Sciences Center, adjacent to the Pylons Commons.

The museum was conceptualized by the late Dr. William A. Neal, pediatric cardiologist, author of “Quiet Advocate: Edward J. Van Liere’s Influence on Medical Education in West Virginia” and distinguished WVU School of Medicine alumnus.

“The Neal Museum is a wonderful place to explore the history of health sciences in West Virginia and at WVU,” Lori Hostuttler, interim director of the West Virginia and Regional History Center, said. “There’s so much history included there, and it is just the beginning of the story. We’re excited for the future of the Neal Museum and the opportunity to share more about West Virginia’s history.”

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