Cruces Appointed to iSchool Advisory Council

Lisa Cruces, Hispanic Collections archivist at the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, was appointed to the University of Texas at Austin School of Information Advisory Council. Members of the Council assist the dean by contributing to the School’s advancement efforts.

Cruces graduated from the UT Austin School of Information in 2012. She accepted the newly established role of Hispanic Collections archivist at UH in 2014, and was previously the Librarian-in-Residence at the University of Notre Dame.

October 2016 New Databases

The following databases are now available from the University of Houston Libraries:

HeinOnline
Provides full-text electronic access to numerous legal journals, rare and out-of-print collections, including extensive backfiles.

Nursing Education in Video
This site provides access to the complete collection of Medcom’s training videos; over 400 titles.

‘Storied’ Exhibit Videos

Perspectives from individuals affiliated with the University of Houston Creative Writing Program were captured on video as a digital component of the new exhibit, Storied: The First Ten Years of the Creative Writing Program.

UH Libraries Special Collections welcomes visitors to view the exhibit located on the first floor of the MD Anderson Library, and to learn more with the following videos:

Welcome! – Alexander Parsons, Creative Writing Program Director

From a Student and Administrative Director’s Perspective – Gail Storey

Planning for Greatness: The Inception of the UH Creative Writing Program – John McNamara, former chair of the UH English Department

“Those Who Live Alone” by Cynthia Macdonald, read by Professor Martha Serpas

“The Glass Mountain” by Donald Barthelme, read by Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor Roberto Tejada

The Banner Project Pops Up at UH Libraries

Visitors to the MD Anderson Library this week will notice a suite of banners displayed in the atrium. The Banner Project, created by Houston activist Sara Fernandez, is a type of pop-up exhibit that features pivotal points in Houston’s LGBT history from the 1930s to present day.

The thirty-seven banners bring a vibrant visual aspect to the individuals, events, and milestones of the LGBT community. Vince Lee, UH Special Collections archivist, hopes “the visuals from the banners will generate discussion, reflection, and awareness across campus and in the community.”

In tandem with LGBT History Month, The Banner Project will be on display at the MD Anderson Library through October 11, which is National Coming Out Day. Fernandez will visit the Libraries to answer questions about the project, and Lorraine Schroeder of the UH LGBTQ Resource Center will also be on hand with information that day.

Related: OutSmart article “The Banner Project: Teaching Local LGBT History in a Fast-Paced Society”

Campus Engagement Events

Volunteers from the University of Houston Libraries will be engaging with students and visitors at two upcoming events.

The Cougar Resource Fair will offer an informational and interactive experience for students to explore services and programs available at the University. UH Libraries will host a coin toss/library trivia game at the Resource Fair on Thursday, October 13 from 11:30 a.m – 1:30 p.m. at Lynn Eusan Park. In case of rain, the event will be moved to the Student Center.

During UH Family Weekend on Friday, October 14, UH Libraries will offer tours of the MD Anderson Library for parents and family members of UH students between 10 a.m. and 12 noon, and will begin in the 24-Hour Lounge.

Responding to Our World: A Celebration of the New Voices Breaking Boundaries Archives

Join the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections and Voices Breaking Boundaries (VBB) at a unique gathering to launch the archiving of VBB founder Sehba Sarwar’s three-decade artistic career and VBB’s extensive, multi-sensory 17-year history.

The event will showcase VBB’s archived videos, photographs, writings and art in a collection curated by UH archivist Vince Lee and intern Emily Brooks. Also featured will be conversations with Karen Farber, Christa Forster, Elizabeth Gregory, Karen Martinez, Sixto Wagan, Borderlines editors Margot Backus and Maria Gonzalez, and VBB board members including Yolanda Alvarado and Carmen Peña Abrego. VBB’s new website, designed by Angela Martinez with direction by Dee Dee Dochen, will also be launched.

The evening will include refreshments and opportunities to engage with Sehba Sarwar and VBB’s work in Houston and beyond.

The event will be held in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion at the MD Anderson Library on Monday, November 14 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

October 2016 Technology Training

Free workshops in Adobe Acrobat, EndNote, Excel 2013, HTML and CSS, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6,
Photoshop CS6, PowerPoint 2013, and SPSS are being held in October at the University of Houston Libraries.

The Technology Training program at UH Libraries offers technology courses to current UH students, faculty and staff. Classes are held in the Learning Commons Training Labs on the first floor of the MD Anderson Library.

View the full calendar and reserve your seat.

Event and Pop-Up Exhibit: Hip Hop and Masculinity

The University of Houston Libraries and UH Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program will present “A Conversation About Hip Hop and Masculinity” with Professor Mark Anthony Neal of Duke University and Professor Anthony B. Pinn of Rice University on Thursday, October 27.

Along with the conversation between scholars, a pop-up exhibit of photographs from the Peter Beste and Lance Scott Walker Houston Rap Collection will be on display, with an introduction to the collection by archivist Julie Grob.

The event and exhibit will be held in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion at the MD Anderson Library from 1:00 – 2:15 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Professor Neal will also be the keynote speaker of the UH College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences John P. McGovern Endowed Lecture on the evening of October 27.

Neal is Professor of African & African American Studies and the founding director of the Center for Arts, Digital Culture and Entrepreneurship (CADCE) at Duke University where he offers courses on Black Masculinity, Popular Culture, and Digital Humanities, including signature courses on Michael Jackson & the Black Performance Tradition, and The History of Hip-Hop, which he co-teaches with Grammy Award Winning producer 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit). He is the author of several books including What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture (1999), Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic (2002) and Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities (2013). The 10th Anniversary edition of Neal’s New Black Man was published in February of 2015 by Routledge. Neal is co-editor of That’s the Joint: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (Routledge), now in its second edition.

Pinn is the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and professor of religion, and the founding director of the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) at Rice University. Pinn’s research interests include religion and culture; humanism; and hip hop culture.  He is the author/editor of over 35 books, including Noise and Spirit: Rap Music’s Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities (2004), Introducing African American Religion (2012), The End of God-Talk: An African American Humanist Theology (2012), and the novel, The New Disciples (2015).

New Digital Collection: Medieval Manuscript Leaves and Fragments

The Medieval Manuscript Leaves and Fragments collection contains individual leaves and partial fragments from handwritten books which date from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The original books were all created in Western Europe. They were intended for religious study or liturgical use, and all but one were written during the Middle Ages. Although the original books are no longer complete, these leaves and fragments still convey the rich history and artistry of the Middle Ages.

The collection includes four leaves from 13th century Bibles, one from Cambridge and three most likely from Paris. The most ornate leaf in the digital collection is a hymnal page from a 14th century book (probably a psalter) which bears historiated initials, one featuring a youth carrying the True Cross and the other featuring John the Baptist with his symbolic lamb. The collection contains several other psalters and breviaries, including a “pseudo-Gregory” incorrectly attributed to Pope Gregory the Great. Written music is represented in this collection by two simple antiphonary leaves, one from the 15th century and one from the 16th century.

The original materials are available in UH Libraries Special Collections in the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Collection.

DiverseWorks Archives Arrive at UH Special Collections

DiverseWorks has recently donated a collection of items representing its history to the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections. DiverseWorks commissions, produces, and presents new and daring art in all its forms through innovative collaborations that honor each artist’s vision without constraint.

The DiverseWorks Archives includes materials from projects, exhibitions, and events from 1982 to the present. It is currently being cataloged and is available for research by students, faculty, and the public.

Selections from the first decade of the innovative art space will be on display at the MD Anderson Library from October 3 – 25, curated by DiverseWorks intern Micaela Cadungog.

In celebration of the donation of the DiverseWorks Archives to Special Collections, a reception will be held at the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion in the MD Anderson Library on Wednesday, October 5 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. It is open to the public.