The Downtown Campus Library will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday as crews complete work on a steam line that supports the building’s HVAC system. The library will reopen Thursday at 7:30 a.m. For a complete list of WVU Libraries hours visit the Libraries’ website, wvu.libcal.com/hours.
One hundred years ago, the West Virginia Legislature ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which extended voting rights to women. West Virginia University Libraries and the West Virginia and Regional History Center are marking the milestone with the exhibit “Votes for Women – 100 Years of Suffrage in West Virginia” in the Downtown Campus Library’s Rockefeller Gallery.
After being passed by Congress in 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment needed to be ratified by at least 36 states to become law. Success in the mountain state required conquering multiple hurdles, including assorted anti-suffrage protests. Despite such challenges, on March 10, 1920, West Virginia became the 34th state to approve the amendment.
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Elections are a foundation of American democracy, and the act of campaigning for public office is nearly as old as the Republic itself. In this election year, the West Virginia & Regional History Center is highlighting campaign materials from West Virginia politicians in a new digital exhibit, Vote for Me: West Virginia Political Memorabilia .
Elections and campaigns have changed over the centuries, and the 2020 campaign season has looked like none before. As Americans decide on the future, this exhibit explores some of West Virginia’s political past, the contributions of West Virginia politicians, as well as the history of campaign materials.
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In commemoration of the Suffrage Centennial, the WVU Libraries’ Art in the Libraries Virtual Program will host Atiba Ellis, Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School, on democracy, voting and race on Oct. 30 at 6 p.m.
Ellis researches how racial and class-based oppression interact continue to abridge and deny the right to vote to communities on the margins of American democracy. His work has analyzed voter identification laws for their socioeconomic effects, situated felon disenfranchisement laws as enforcing a political underclass, analyzed the theoretical scope of the Citizens United decision, and described the ideological drivers of vote suppression.
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Temperatures are falling, leaves are turning, and Halloween is fast approaching in Appalachia. No tricks here – WVU Libraries has put together a libguide with information and fun facts for the season. The guide covers Halloween history, local spooky activities, how to stay safe trick or treating during the COVID-19 pandemic, information costumes and cultural appropriation, profiles of our local monsters, resources for Day of the Dead, and has some great horror recommendations. Check it out here as you prepare for Halloween.
To celebrate the work of science fiction author Isaac Asimov and the West Virginia University Libraries’ Isaac Asimov Collection, the University is hosting the 2020 WVU Isaac Asimov Collection Symposium, a virtual event, on Oct. 31 from 3-5:30 p.m.
Asimov (1920-1992), widely considered one of the greatest science fiction writers of the twentieth-century, earned the title of “The Great Explainer” because he made complicated subjects easy to understand.
Marking the centennial of Asimov’s birth and promoting science fiction as an academic resource, the Asimov Symposium will feature conversations and presentations from the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy at the University of California at Riverside, the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, WVU’s Rare Book Collection and Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Department of English science fiction faculty.
Read the rest of this entry »By Karen Diaz, Dean of Libraries
The Libraries closed to the public on March 19 as part of the campus shut down due to COVID-19. It remained shuttered to the public until August 20 when it reopened to the campus community only through swipe access. This was 143 days of being closed.
During the closure most of our staff retreated to working from home as did the rest of campus with a skeleton crew on sight to retrieve and deliver print materials to our faculty, staff and students as needed. During that time, we continued to maintain access to our digital materials and purchase new academic content, completed teaching our already online credit courses, continued to answer reference questions through email, chat and phone. As mentioned, we also scanned articles from print materials as needed to email to our campus community and even mailed print books as needed. Interlibrary loan continued for everything digital, but stopped for print materials due to so many library buildings being closed. The WVRHC was also closed, but provided reference assistance as possible.
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In commemoration of the Suffrage Centennial, the WVU Libraries’ Art in the Libraries Virtual Program will host “Women Speak”, a juried performance of poetry, songs, short stories and essays, in a virtual format on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 1-3 p.m.
The annual event is a creation of the Women of Appalachia Project (WOAP) who issues a call to residents throughout Appalachia. This year’s participants hail from West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
“Many people have an image of an Appalachian woman, and they look down on her. The mission of WOAP is to showcase the way in which female artists respond to the Appalachian region as a source of inspiration, bringing together women from diverse backgrounds, ages and experiences to embrace the stereotype – to show the whole woman; beyond the superficial factors that people use to judge her,” said Kari Gunter-Seymour, WOAP founder and executive director.
Read the rest of this entry »The Health Sciences Library will be closed Saturday, Oct. 17, as parking lots around and bus service to the Health Sciences Center will be unavailable due to game day. The library will be open Sunday from 2 p.m.-midnight. For a complete list of WVU Libraries hours visit the Libraries’ website, wvu.libcal.com/hours.
In commemoration of the Suffrage Centennial, the WVU Libraries’ Art in the Libraries Virtual Program will host Becky Cain Ceperley, former National League of Women Voters president, for a talk on the impact of voter registration and turnout on Friday, Oct. 9, from noon-1 p.m.
Ceperley is an at-large member of the Charleston City Council and serves as its president. She’s a former member of the Public Policy Committee of the Council on Foundations; national Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; the Advisory Committee on Election Law to the American Bar Association; the national Campaign Finance Institute; and the West Virginia Election Commission. Ceperley is also a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from WVU’s Political Science Department and the Eberly College of Arts and Science.
This event is in conjunction with WVU Libraries’ exhibition Undefeated: Canvas(s)ing the Politics Around Voter Suppression Since Women’s Suffrage and in partnership with the West Virginia Women Vote of Morgantown coalition. Register here: https://wvu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMtdOusqzkqHtVegUOoI4zelpa8qehOaOBN
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The face mask has become a symbol of our times, an emblem to illustrate the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also a signal of caring and a gesture of community amidst the upheaval of our daily life.
West Virginia University Libraries is accepting creative photos of masks from the WVU and local community – whether personally crafted, purchased, gifted, picked up at a free stand or imagined – for a juried online exhibit to launch in December.
Read the rest of this entry »The Downtown Campus Library returns to regular service hours Wednesday after a week of temporarily adjusted hours because of a COVID-19 exposure in Access Services on Sept. 19.
The Downtown Campus Library will be open from 7:30 a.m.-midnight Wednesday and Thursday. Hours for all WVU Libraries buildings are available on the Libraries’ website, wvu.libcal.com/hours.
October 7 is #AskAnArchivist Day. This day-long event, held on Twitter and sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, provides an opportunity to connect directly with archivists at West Virginia University Libraries and at institutions around the country to ask questions, get information or just satisfy one’s curiosity.
Staff at the West Virginia and Regional History Center will participate via the Libraries’ Twitter handle, @wvuLibraries, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Read the rest of this entry »The Downtown Campus Library will continue with temporarily adjusted hours this weekend and next week following a COVID-19 exposure in Access Services on Sept. 19.
The area was disinfected as part of routine daily cleaning protocols, but several staff are required to quarantine resulting in a shift in services hours until further notice. The temporary hours of operation are:
Hours for all WVU Libraries buildings are available on the Libraries’ website.
The Downtown Campus Library will close at 8 p.m. today (Sept. 21) after being notified of a COVID-19 exposure in Access Services.
The area was disinfected as part of routine daily cleaning protocols, but several staff are required to quarantine resulting in a shift in services hours until further notice. The temporary hours of operation are:
In commemoration of the Suffrage Centennial, the WVU Libraries’ Art in the Libraries Virtual Program will host West Virginia storyteller Ilene Evans performing as suffragist Coralie Franklin Cook on Friday, Sept. 25, from noon-1 p.m.
Cook (1861-1941) was a gifted orator and respected leader in women’s suffrage, temperance, the fine arts and education. After graduating from Storer College at Harpers Ferry in 1881, she became the school’s first female instructor of African American descent. Cook went on to teach elocution at Howard University, establishing it as a permanent part of the curriculum and the foundation of their drama department.
This event is in conjunction with WVU Libraries’ exhibition Undefeated: Canvas(s)ing the Politics Around Voter Suppression Since Women’s Suffrage and in partnership with the West Virginia Women Vote of Morgantown coalition. Register here: https://wvu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYud-uvqzgpHtTcPir8e-SKdJBkjvMxcwRL
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In commemoration of the Suffrage Centennial, the WVU Libraries’ Art in the Libraries Virtual Program will host Eleanor Smeal, former president of the National Organization for Women, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 6 p.m. Register for this virtual program at https://wvu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIqc-yhrjovHtx7x3qOFbQv-71CXS9_0d2S .
This event is in conjunction with WVU Libraries’ exhibition Undefeated: Canvas(s)ing the Politics Around Voter Suppression Since Women’s Suffrage and in partnership with the West Virginia Women Vote of Morgantown coalition.
Read the rest of this entry »The Downtown Campus, Evansdale and Health Sciences libraries and libraries at WVU Tech and Potomac State College are now open for students, staff and faculty. The Law Library is open to Law faculty and staff, and will open for Law students on Aug. 15.
The West Virginia and Regional History Center is open to the University community by appointment only. To schedule a visit email wvrhcref@mail.wvu.edu or call 304-293-3536.
Users will be required to swipe their ID card for access to the Downtown Campus, Evansdale and Law libraries. Also, they need to follow the health and safety protocols of mask-wearing and physical distancing.
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An online version of West Virginia University Libraries’ exhibit Undefeated: Canvas(s)ing the Politics of Voter Suppression Since Women’s Suffrage debuts with a virtual program on Aug. 7 from noon-1 p.m.
Marking the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U. S. Constitution (granting women the right to vote), and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (enforcing voting rights for racial minorities), this exhibition centers on efforts to suppress the votes of women and minorities since 1920.
“This exciting exhibit is timely not only due to the anniversaries of voter inclusion events in our nation’s history, but also timely due to new questions around access to voting that have arisen during this time of COVID-19,” Dean of Libraries Karen Diaz said. “I think everyone will enjoy the artistic approach to presenting the issues through the campaign button motif.”
Read the rest of this entry »By Karen Diaz, Dean of WVU Libraries
The outrage, anger, and sadness of George Floyd’s murder is palpable in our community, nation and world. I share those sentiments and like many think “these killings have got to stop”. We know systemic racism and violence against Black people are not new problems, but we have reached a new crescendo.
I have struggled personally with how to respond from the WVU Libraries. I have been leery of creating yet one more statement in a sea of statements. It’s too easy to say something – but so hard to create meaningful change. At the same time, I recognize that there is a need to verbalize intention if we want to move our organization in a new direction. I was pleased that our university president has led with such a statement and has challenged me, as a part of the WVU community to act.
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