New Digital Collection: Hines College of Architecture Posters

The Gerald D. Hines School of Architecture Posters feature striking graphic designs advertising course offerings as well as lectures and other events. The School of Architecture had a screen printing press in the 1970s, and many of these posters were produced by students, faculty, and staff in-house. They come in a variety of sizes, some as small as legal paper size, while others are much larger. Although many of the posters are undated, the bulk of the posters are from the 1970s. There are more than 80 posters in the collection.

Architecture first appeared at the University of Houston in the 1945-46 school year. At that time, it was a two-year program offered through the College of Technology. Beginning in 1946, both architecture and architectural engineering were offered within the College of Engineering. While the study of architecture remained within the College of Engineering through the 1956 school year, a “new plan” for architectural training incorporating elements of design, construction, aesthetics, and graphics was initiated in 1950. Eventually the program was moved to the School of Architecture in 1956, and in the fall of 1961 it became the College of Architecture.

The original materials are available in UH Libraries Special Collections in the Hines College of Architecture Records.

Libraries Open House

As part of the University of Houston Weeks of Welcome, the UH Libraries will welcome students back to campus during its Just Ask! Libraries Open House, Monday, August 22 through Wednesday, August 24 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Students are encouraged to drop by the MD Anderson Library to learn more about library services and programs. Library staff will be on hand to answer common questions about MD Anderson Library and the campus branches.

UH Special Collections Wins Grant to Digitize Historical News

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections has received a grant to digitize and increase access to two important series from the KUHT Collection.

The TexTreasures grant in the amount of $24,305 will provide for the digitization of “The Capitol Report,” a series on the Texas legislature that was broadcast in the early 1990s; and “Almanac,” a news magazine focusing on local matters and featuring prominent businesspeople and politicians of the day.

TexTreasures is a yearly competitive grant program of TexShare, a consortium of Texas libraries joining together to share print and electronic materials, purchase online resources, and combine staff expertise. TexShare is administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

The TexTreasures awards are made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act.

Townes Awarded Fellowship to Attend DLF Forum

Adam Townes, coordinator of research support services at the University of Houston Libraries, has been awarded a joint fellowship from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Digital Library Federation (DLF) to attend the DLF Forum in November.

From the DLF announcement, Townes said, “My work at the University of Houston (UH) involves supporting faculty and graduate students with data management planning, addressing research-related inquiries, and coordinating with the Division of Research and Graduate School here at UH. I recently moved to Texas from Philadelphia where I completed my graduate studies. I look forward to actively participating in the DLF Forum, and it is my hope that other attendees can learn as much from me as I know I will learn from them.”

DLF Forums convene once a year and include digital library practitioners from DLF member institutions as well as those interested in joining the DLF community. Forums serve as a meeting place, a marketplace, and a congress.

Discovery Camp 2016

Discovery Camp 2016 at University of Houston will return this fall for a full day on Friday, October 7. This free event is intended for librarians and staff of academic, special, and public libraries with discovery platforms and next-gen library systems, and those who want to learn more about them.

This year’s keynote speaker is Carl Grant, associate dean for knowledge services and chief technology officer at University of Oklahoma Libraries. Grant will discuss discovery systems and the future of library resource management.

The event will also feature presentations and breakout sessions. More details will be coming soon. Registration is now open.

For more information, contact Kelsey Brett.

August 2016 New Databases

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

Legal Information Reference Center
Providing online full text for many of the top consumer legal reference books, Legal Information Reference Center contains more than 310 full-text publications and thousands of legal forms. Many of the full-text legal reference books are provided through Nolo, the nation’s oldest and most-respected provider of legal information for consumers and small businesses. This database offers the everyday user the necessary tools and detailed “how-to” instructions to independently address a wide-range of legal issues including business & corporations, family affairs & divorce, immigration & travel, money & financial planning, patents, copyrights & trademarks, property & real estate, rights & disputes, and wills & estate planning.

Music ID
A single search of international charting albums and singles under exclusive academic licence from Billboard, the Official Charts Company. Sophisticated tools allow you to interpret, graph, analyse, compare and contrast musical trends and interactions at the touch of a button. Listen to audio samples for each track and album quickly and easily.

SciTech Premium Collection
“The SciTech Premium Collection provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications and more. For researchers who need to conduct comprehensive literature reviews, this database includes specialized, editorial-controlled A&I resources for discovery of relevant scholarly research and technical literature critical to the discipline.”

UH Libraries Wins 4 Brand Champion Awards

The University of Houston Libraries was recognized for outstanding work in four categories of the 2016 UH Brand Champion Awards, which celebrates the best in UH branding and style implementation.

Writing – External Long Copy
Dana Rooks: A Retrospective
Feature story that appeared in the spring 2015 UH Libraries newsletter

Video – Cinematography
UH Libraries: 2016
Video created for Libraries recruitment, marketing, and development

Video – Editing
UH in 4
Video created by Libraries Office of Communications for the Office of the Provost

Video – Use of Brand
UH Libraries: 2016
Video created for Libraries recruitment, marketing, and development

UH Libraries Among Top 35 US Public Research Libraries

University of Houston Libraries has advanced to number 65 in the newly released rankings from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The move represents a 12-point change from the previous year’s ranking of 77.

The 2014-15 ARL Investment Index places UH Libraries in the top 35 public US research libraries. The list indicates data provided by 114 colleges and universities based on dollars spent for total library expenditures, salaries and wages of professional staff, library materials expenditures and the number of professional plus support staff.

“I am so pleased that the University of Houston Libraries has moved up, and moved up significantly in the ARL rankings,” said Lisa German, dean of the UH Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell chair. “Because the rankings are based upon expenditures, this advancement is a reflection of the tremendous support that we have received from the University of Houston, particularly from the Office of the Provost. With your support, and with our new Strategic Plan in front of us, we will continue to move onward and upward on behalf of the UH community.”

Vinson Named Curator of KUHT Collection

Emily Vinson, audiovisual archivist at University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, has taken on new responsibilities as curator of the KUHT Collection.

Vinson will add collection development, outreach, and digital projects to her existing duties of preservation and cataloging the department’s vast AV collection, which comprises over 20,000 individual items. The KUHT Collection, having been built under the guidance of university archivist Mary Manning, currently encompasses over 2000 films and over 12,000 video assets, preserving the broadcast and production history of the nation’s first education, non-profit television station.

Please tell us about your experience with the AV archive.

I’ve been identifying the huge scope of formats that are included in the collection, some of which are at high risk of not being able to be played back and digitized. Beyond that, I’ve been facilitating digitization projects for the KUHT Collection and for AV items within other collections. Most have been driven by patron demand. We digitized 115 KUHT films from the 1950s-70s, which will be available at the UH Digital Library soon.

All of the formats are unique. We had one format called one-inch video, an open reel tape that can only be played back on a specific type of machine that isn’t produced anymore, and for machines that do still exist, there are no repair professionals to replace the playback heads. They’re extremely expensive and rare and beyond that the video itself is breaking down because those formats emerged in the 60s. The biggest things we’re fighting against are mechanical obsolescence of playback equipment and physical degradation of the assets. The challenge with video as opposed to film is that you can hold it up to a light and you can tell what’s on the film, but with video, you’re relying only on the label. It’s difficult to make preservation decisions if the labeling isn’t good. You can’t determine the value of the item.

What is your favorite item in the KUHT Collection?

My very favorite KUHT program that we have is a show called “People Are Taught to be Different.” It was produced by KUHT and Texas Southern University starting in 1956. It was created, written and narrated by professor Henry Allen Bullock. He wanted to do an instructional course on how human experience is the same for all, regardless of race. The series was groundbreaking at the time; the University of Houston was still essentially segregated, as was much of the South, and this show was distributed through the National Education Television network all over the country with an African American cast discussing the universality of emotion. There were twelve episodes produced and we have three of them that were digitized. The stories are told through interpretive dance and are very innovative and beautiful.

View online exhibit curated by Vinson: Dr. Richard I. Evans Psychology on Television

Manning Elected to HHA Board

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections’ Mary Manning was recently elected to the board of the Houston History Alliance (HHA), an organization that serves as a resource for Houston’s existing historical, preservation, and educational institutions. Manning’s association with HHA has complemented and enriched her role as university archivist and curator of the Performing and Visual Arts Collections.

“Our University certainly has played an important role in the history of Houston,” Manning said. “I’m particularly fascinated by the history of the arts, especially music. I love the city and want to promote its history while sharing my appreciation for its past.”