Towers - University of Idaho Newsletter - Vol. 18, Issue 1 (2015)

Towers Newsletter of the Library Associates of the University of Idaho Library Late Winter 2015

Inside this issue: External Partnerships...................................... 1 Garth Reese...................................................... 2 Women in Jazz.................................................. 3

With a Little Help From Our Friends: Strengthening Our Mission With External Partnerships With a help from our friends — state, regional and national partners — the University

of Idaho Library is fulfilling its mission to support research and scholarly activity at the University of Idaho. The UI Library’s external partners help the library to better serve the needs of researchers in areas such as GIS expertise, data management guidance, and natural resources management, to name a few. These partnerships augment the UI Library’s collections, expand the research world for faculty and students, and place the library on a regional and global stage.

Dean’s Corner.................................................. 4 Ways to Give...................................................4

Briefly.................................................................. 3

Volume 18, Issue 1

Regional Partnerships The Orbis Cascade Alliance (orbiscascade.org), a consortium of 37 academic libraries in the Pacific Northwest region, provides support to the UI Library for many important services. “Our first few years of membership in the Orbis Cascade Alliance have brought enormous benefits to our users,” said Ben Hunter, associate dean of library services. “University of Idaho students, faculty, and staff borrow thousands of books every year from our partner libraries across the Pacific Northwest, and consortial agreements have allowed us to add new databases and tens of thousands of ebooks to our library holdings,” said Hunter.

The Northwest Digital Archives (nwda.orbiscascade.org) gives UI Library users access to primary sources in the northwestern United States. Through the NWDA, users can search a single database and find over 400 archival collections at UI plus related regional collections in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and Utah. “NWDA is an important partner to the library because it offers trainings, technical assistance, usage statistics, and a network of professionals to assist with a range of topics,” said UI archivist Erin Stoddart. “Our partnership also enhances the reputation of the UI Library’s Special Collections and Archives by allowing us to collaborate with other notable regional and academic institutions,” she said.

875 Perimeter Dr., 2350 Moscow, ID 83844-2350 Phone: (208) 885-6534 Email: librdean@uidaho.edu

The Northwest Knowledge Network (northwestknowledge.net) is a collaboration between the UI Research Office, the UI Library, and the Idaho National Laboratories to provide data management and archiving support for research projects throughout the state and region. Housed in the library, NKN relies on library expertise in metadata and data management to reach out to users and maintain high standards of data quality. “NKN provides the infrastructure upon which several digital library initiatives rely, including the Idaho continued on page two

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“External Partners,” continued from page one

Nationwide Partnerships

Digital Waters databases, INSIDE Idaho, UI Theses and Dissertations Database, and VIVO, a research discovery tool,” said Bruce Godfrey, the GIS librarian who oversees the library’s NKN partnership.

National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (nccwsc.usgs.gov), a division of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), provides natural resource managers with the tools and information to manage the impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife and their habitats.

Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (idahoepscor.org), a federal-state partnership through the National Science Foundation, provides specialized resources for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. EPSCoR funding enhances science and engineering research, as well as education and technology capabilities in states such as Idaho that traditionally have received smaller amounts of federal funds.

As a data steward with the NWCS, UI research librarian Jeremy Kenyon assists funded research project investigators in managing climate science-related data and transferring their datasets to the federal repository, ScienceBase. “The library’s partnership with NWCSC contributes to our internal expertise in research data management, one of the emerging topics facing the research community today,” said Kenyon.

“It provides UI faculty with real-world examples to use in teaching data management topics and contributes to the visibility of the UI Library regionally,” he said.

Statewide Partnerships Libraries Linking Idaho (lili.org), a state-funded initiative through the Idaho Commission for Libraries that provides access to online databases to all Idaho citizens, allows the library to offer a number of databases to UI affiliates.

The UI Library has served for over a century as an official regional depository of U.S. federal government publications, making almost two million government documents available to the public. Today the Government Publishing Office (gpo.gov), which oversees the Federal Depository Library Program, requires the library to acquire 100 percent of tangible items issued by the GPO. Many of those items are electronic, and that is causing the GPO to consider allowing more flexibility to its regional depositories to manage their own collections,” said Rami Attebury, UI goverment documents librarian.

In 2013, a $25,000 gift from The Idaho Forest Group (idfg.com) allowed the library to hire part-time staff interns to help process and digitize several forest-related collections held by Special Collections and Archives. The collections include the Potlatch Lumber Company Historical Photographs; White Pine King of Many Waters Photograph Collection on the Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho; and oral histories of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness History Project.

For more information on the library’s external partners, please click on the Web links provided in the partner descriptions above.

UI Special Collections’ Garth Reese to Lead the American Bookbinders Museum people as possible,” said Reese.

Garth Reese, who has served as head of the UI Library’s Special Collections and Archives since 2010, will become the executive director of the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco, March 2, 2015.

Erin Stoddart, an archivist in the library’s Digital Initiatives department, has been named as interim head of Special Collections and Archives while a national search is conducted to fill the position.

“My departure from UI is very bittersweet,” said Reese. “I’ve worked with some wonderful people here and learned a tremendous amount. At the same time, I’m very excited about moving to the American Bookbinders Museum,” he added.

Stoddart has over 13 years of experience in libraries and archives and was the head of university archives and digital collections at Western Oregon University. She graduated from the University of Michigan Garth Reese with a master’s degree in Information and a specialization in archives and records management.

According to Reese, the move is a return to his roots as an archivist. He began his career as a rare books cataloger at the University of Oklahoma, and before coming to the University of Idaho, he served as assistant curator of printed books and bindings at the Morgan Library and Museum, overseeing the 19th-20th-century printed books collection.

“The main reason I sought out a career in rare books and special collections is because I love the ‘stuff.’ But more than just loving the stuff, I want to convey my love of this stuff to as many

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“Stormy Weather: Women in Jazz” Is Subject of Library Research Colloquium The journey was not an easy one for female musicians breaking into the male dominated world of jazz music in the 1930’s. “Stormy Weather: Women in Jazz,” a UI Library Research Colloquium presented by Lysa Salsbury, director of the UI Women’s Center, addressed the struggles and triumphs of women as they helped shape the evolution of jazz.

Following Salsbury’s presentation, Garth Reese, head of the UI Library’s Special Collections and Archives, gave an overview of materials in the UI Library’s International Jazz Collections and discussed their research value to musicians, music historians, musicologists and others. Housed in the library’s Special Collections & Archives department, the International Jazz Collection is the preeminent jazz archive in the Pacific Northwest and considered to be one of the most significant jazz archives in the world.

The program was one of the library’s contributions to the annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, which took place February 25-28 on the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus. In addition, artifacts from the collections were displayed throughout the festival on the main floor of the library and in the Jazz Festival office in the Bruce Pitman Center.

Briefly . . .

Evelyn Williams at the Palomar Ballroom, 1940. From the Lionel Hampton Library Collection.

librarian. Additionally, the Lionel Hampton Library Collection’s videos (http://www.ijc.uidaho.edu/hampton_collection/videos. html) have been reformatted for viewing on the web.

“Created Equal” film screenings

Latah County Oral History Collection online

The UI Library sponsored a series of film screenings and discussions during February through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The UI Library was one of 473 institutions across the country awarded the “Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle” films chronicling the history of the Civil Rights Movement. The series included “The Abolitionists,” “The Loving Story” and “Freedom Riders.”

The Latah County Oral History Collection (http://www.lib. uidaho.edu/digital/lcoh/) a new digital collection of oral histories depicting early 20th century life in Northern Idaho, is now available through the UI Library’s Digital Initiatives.

The Latah County Historical Society collected over 300 oral histories from Northern Idahoans who grew up in Idaho during the early 20th century and donated the recordings to the UI Library in 1987. The material was digitized and uploaded in 2013, producing one of the largest collections of oral histories — 569 hours — in the Pacific Northwest. An overview of the collection will be presented by Devin Becker, UI digital initiatives librarian; Erin Stoddart, UI archivist; and Dulcie Kersting, Latah County Historical Society director, on April 1, at the 1912 Center in downtown Moscow.

Dead Week activities in the library A collaboration with ASUI made the library an exciting place to study during Fall 2014 Dead Week. ASUI leaders distributed coffee, snacks and study supplies to their fellow students over three nights during the university’s pre-exam week. ASUI also offered a yoga activity on the Fall 2014 Dead Week in the UI Library first floor of the library. This was the fifth semester the library has partnered with ASUI for Dead Week.

New Reports & Statistics page on UI Library website A new page on the UI Library website graphically displays an overview of the library’s accomplishments during the past year.

The Reports & Statistics page (www.lib.uidaho.edu/about/ statistics.html) also provides links to the library’s annual reports from 2011-2014.

Donna K. Smith Student Employee Award Dean Lynn Baird presented the Donna K. Smith Student Employee Award to three outstanding students (left to right): Sarah Lanier, Jake Smith, and Izzy Martin.

The award winners were Dean Baird with student award winners nominated by library faculty and staff for their exemplary contributions to the library.

Updates and redesigns to Jazz Collections website A redesign of the UI Library’s International Jazz Collections website (http://www.ijc.uidaho.edu/) gives users improved access to the collections. “The new look fits in our overall website design, and the collections now feature new image viewing pages and updated access to a variety of materials from scores to scrapbooks,” said Devin Becker, digital initiatives

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We are delighted to report that the Idaho State Board/the University Board of Regents approved a proposal to renovate the first floor of the University of Idaho Library at their February meeting.

year. We will continue to seek your support to provide our students with the best of technology and services as we modernize a facility that has not been touched in nearly twenty-five years.

Dr. Lynn Baird, Dean of Libraries

As you know, we have been in the preliminary planning stages and are gratified to receive the go-ahead to proceed with the project. We were successful (with your help!) in meeting President Staben’s challenge. We raised over $200,000 to match this challenge, and we thank you for your support in making this happen.

A timeline for the project has yet to be finalized but we hope the renovations will be completed during the 2015-2016 academic

In this issue of Towers, we highlight some of the excellent organizations that help make the University of Idaho Library a leader in research and scholarship. Our partners not only provide invaluable support for researchers; they also promote our library’s resources to a wide audience and provide global access to our digital collections.

Library partners include you, Library Associates! You fuel our ability to stay on the cutting edge as a leader in information access and digital scholarship. You help us share the best of Idaho to the world. We are grateful for your support.

Ways to Give For information on giving options and ensuring that your gift is used exactly the way you want it to be, contact Jim Zuba at (208)885-4142 (work), (509)432-6422 (cell), or jzuba@uidaho.edu.

• Cash Gifts • Planned Giving • In-kind Gifts (Materials and Personal Collections) • Tax Benefits Appreciated Assets • Memorial/Honorary Gifts Please visit: www.lib.uidaho. edu/giving/ways.html

875 Perimeter Dr., 2350 Moscow, ID 83844-2350 Phone: (208) 885-6534 Email: librdean@uidaho.edu

Dean’s Corner: Partnering for Innovation and Access