General Library News

A changing political landscape, an embattled incumbent, a charged Senate battle in the state and a race for support in the suburbs: these are the circumstances that defined the 1980 elections in Georgia.  Just one day before Election Day 2020 among similar circumstances, archivists with the University of Georgia’s Russell Library for Political Research and Studies will trace the history of the election 40 years ago that marked a dramatic moment for both the state and the nation.

The University of Georgia Libraries and the Center for Teaching and Learning invite full-time UGA faculty from all disciplines to apply to participate in the 2021 Special Collections Libraries Faculty Teaching Fellows program.

Now in its sixth year, the program brings together a select group of UGA faculty to explore archives-based learning as a high-impact learning practice through intensive workshops with specialists from the University’s three special collections units and representatives from the Center for Teaching and Learning.

The Digital Humanities Lab will host a series of virtual workshops to introduce a number of methods for visualizing data and will introduce the concepts using web tools, Excel, Tableau, and R.

These sessions are open to undergraduate and graduate students in any discipline and are intended for beginners. No experience necessary. Sessions will be held on Wednesdays at 4 via Zoom. To register, contact digi@uga.edu.

Oct. 28th:     Intro to data visualization resources at UGA and beyond

Nov. 4th:      Bar graphs and histograms in Excel, Tableau, and R

Nov. 11th:     Scatterplots in Excel, Tableau, and R

Nov. 18th:    Area graphs in Excel, Tableau and R

A new tool on the UGA libraries’ website helps people retrieve books while social distancing.

The Stackmaps tool has been integrated into the GIL Find system on the Libraries’ website, libs.uga.edu. For books available at the Main and Science libraries for checkout, patrons can click “map it” and find a guide that helps them navigate the library stacks to the location of the materials they need.

“With 4.6 million volumes in our libraries, organized via the Library of Congress call numbers system, we know that it can be difficult to find the book that you want among our stacks. This tool helps patrons to find what they are looking for by themselves, which helps all of us maintain social distancing,” Viki Timian, head of access services for UGA Libraries, said of the tool, which launched just prior to the campus closure last spring.

The UGA Libraries and Center for Teaching and Learning are pleased to announce the call for applications for the third round of the Provost’s Affordable Course Materials Grant program. This grant is intended to provide one-time funding to support the adoption of open and/or affordable (less than $40) course materials. Awards will be made up to $5,000 each, with a total of $60,000 being awarded.

The University of Georgia’s Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection will celebrate the importance of home movies with a weeklong series of virtual events, including family activities and a rarely seen private look at the early days of Athens rock band The B-52s.

On Wednesday, October 7 at 4pm, the UGA Libraries will co-host a panel with The Red & Black on conducting journalism during the pandemic. More details below: 

COVID-19 Fact-Finding: Journalism and Research during the Pandemic

A Virtual Conversation with The Red & Black

Hosted: By UGA Libraries

Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARSkGUt8eeE

Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2020. 4:00pm - 5:00pm

On Friday, Sept. 25 at 1 p.m., Johanna Drucker of the University of California-Los Angeles will give a remote presentation on "Rethinking Assumptions: The Current Value(s) of Academic Work." The talk by Drucker, Distinguished Professor and Breslauer Professor in the department of information studies at UCLA, is hosted by the Office of the Provost, the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the UGA Libraries, and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences as part of the UGA Signature Lectures series.

Stephanie Jenkins and Salimah El-Amin describe their jobs as “Indiana Jones, but for nerds.” The archival researchers for Ken Burns’ Florentine Films go on searches for the “Holy Grail” of still and moving images that can help build a documentary that touches and teaches viewers.

The UGA Libraries invites students to compete in the Fourth Annual Capturing Science Contest. The competition, co-sponsored by the Office of Research, offers cash prizes for students who convey STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) concepts in creative and compelling projects that range from artistic endeavors to classroom activities, games and videos. The deadline for virtual submissions is 5 p.m. Dec. 7, 2020.