Second Annual Gaming Event Held at UH Libraries
Over 160 students, faculty and staff, alumni and visitors from the Houston area attended Game On, Cougars! at the University of Houston Libraries this month.
The event, now in its second year, offers a full day of open gaming, complete with board games, card games, miniature gaming, puzzles and video games.
The second annual Game On, Cougars! was a hit with gaming enthusiasts.
This year, UH Libraries partnered with FoodMachine Houston to hold a food drive during Game On, Cougars! benefiting the Houston Food Bank. Attendees contributed over $1600 in food items and cash donations. The group also taught board games, ran raffles, and managed Warmachine miniatures.
Members of Houston Pathfinder Society also attended, and gave participants tutorials on role-playing games. Several organizations donated games for play at the event, and game stores were also on hand to run demos and sell games, including Ettin Games.
Game On, Cougars! is hosted as part of International Games Day @ Your Library, an initiative of the American Library Association that encourages communities to connect with their libraries through the educational, recreational and social value of games.
View photos from Game On, Cougars! 2014.
New Collection Portrays Houston’s Architectural Domain
Architectural photographer Joe Aker has given a collection of images to the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections.
The Aker Architectural Photographic Records Collection comprises roughly 50,000 distinct images depicting scenes of commercial architecture over the past three decades.
SOM 450 Lexington, New York City. Image courtesy of Joe Aker.
Aker, owner of Aker Imaging, has worked with leading architecture and real estate firms, such as Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Robert A.M. Stern, César Pelli, Pickard Chilton, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Philip Johnson, HOK, Kirksey and Ziegler Cooper; as well as Gerald D. Hines Interests and Trammell Crow.
Of particular interest are images of properties developed by Gerald D. Hines, for which the University of Houston College of Architecture is named. It is one of the largest collections of photographs of his buildings completed in the twentieth century.
In 2011, Aker began considering the future for his vast collection of photography. He contacted UH Special Collections, whose mission is to preserve, safeguard, organize, and describe primary sources in a number of collecting areas for teaching and research activities of students and scholars.
The Aker collection offers a rare view of the architectural landscape in Houston and other major cities, including a photographic record of original models of structures that were never built, as well as plans, renderings, models and final photography of the finished buildings. What makes this collection of images special are the many photographs showing the process of design from the first drawing of the first model to the final design model and the finished building.
Composite of Hines Del Bosque, Mexico City. Image courtesy of Joe Aker.
Aker was one of the first to digitally produce structural model composites before the advent of computer-generated graphics. Working with Houston digital artist Raphaele Malandain, he would photograph a site where a building was set to be constructed, photograph the building model, and drop the model image onto the site image using analog film composition, resulting in a close representation of the future finished building.
As a whole, Aker says, the collection tells a fascinating story of Houston’s economic booms and busts. For more information on this new and growing collection, contact Vince Lee.
UH Libraries Hosts Bake Sale for Charity
Proceeds from Bundt Cakes for Charity benefited Education Foundation of Harris County.
In honor of National Bundt Cake Day and National Philanthropy Day last week, University of Houston Libraries held a bake sale to raise funds for a local organization.
The Education Foundation of Harris County supports innovative learning programs for the 800,000+ K-12 public education students in the greater Houston region, and provides training for teachers leading science, technology, engineering and math after-school programs.
UH librarians and staff baked, prepped and sold a variety of sweet treats in the MD Anderson Library and University Center, and in just a few hours, raised over $500 for the Education Foundation of Harris County.
The Bundt Cakes for Charity bake sale was made possible by the Libraries’ microgrant program, an initiative designed to foster new and innovative ideas by librarians and library staff that support the Libraries’ strategic directions.
Dog Days of December: Paws and Relax at UH
As finals approach, the University of Houston Libraries is partnering with a local organization to bring therapy dogs back to campus for a fun and stress-free study break.
Certified therapy dogs of Faithful Paws will arrive at the MD Anderson Library for four days in December. UH students are encouraged to stop by for petting, snuggling and treat-feeding with gentle and friendly canines.
Location: rooms 106P and 106T in the MD Anderson Library
December 8: 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. (concurrent with Finals Mania)
December 9: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
December 10: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
December 11: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.