News, announcements, updates, and happenings in the UVA Library

Digital Humanities at 30: A Roundtable

By mwm7b |

With the click of a mouse, fans of William Faulkner can listen to the author carefully explain the pronunciation of “Yoknapatawpha,” the fictional Mississippi county where many of his novels are set, his reedy voice seeming to time travel into the 21st century. University of Virginia students in disciplines ranging from architectural history to civil engineering are digitizing the past by taking 3D scans of local historic buildings to preserve cultural heritage data for future generations.

Seven books (and a TV show) to celebrate Native American Heritage Month

By mwm7b |

Guest post from Haley Gillilan (Undergraduate Student Success Librarian) and Keith Weimer (Librarian for History and Religious Studies).

November is Native American Heritage Month! It’s a wonderful opportunity to honor Indigenous traditions, cultures, and histories. At the University of Virginia Library, we’re highlighting work created by and about Native Americans; take a look at staff book and television recommendations below.

Recommended by Leigh Rockey, Video Collections Librarian

“The Removed” by Brandon Hobson (Ecco, 2021)

National Indigenous / Native American heritage month, Reading list

Want to make your work open access? The Library can help.

By mwm7b |

In his 1973 book, “The Sociology of Science,” the influential American sociologist Robert K. Merton declared: “All scientists should have common ownership of scientific goods (intellectual property) to promote collective collaboration.” This “Mertonian norm,” as it came to be known, long predated the internet (Merton first theorized it in 1942), but some scholars see it as a founding principle of the open access movement, which argues that knowledge should be free, online, and legal to reuse and share.

Open Access week, Sustainable scholarship

Recommended reading for Hispanic Heritage Month

By mwm7b |

Thanks to Amy Hunsaker, Librarian for Music & the Performing Arts, for contributing this post.

From magical realism master Gabriel García Márquez to exciting debut novelist Xochitl Gonzalez, there are thousands of Latinx authors to celebrate during Hispanic Heritage Month, which overlaps September and the first few weeks of October.

We’ve gathered some book recommendations from UVA librarians and Ph.D. candidates from the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Department.

Take a look at their selections below. (For a more extensive list, see this guide.)

Featured resources, Hispanic heritage month, Reading list

New UVA Library exhibition showcases powerful, century-old portraits of Black Virginians

By mwm7b |

“Visions of Progress: Portraits of Dignity, Style, and Racial Uplift,” a new exhibition at the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, showcases portraits that African Americans in central Virginia commissioned from the Holsinger Studio during the first decades of the 20th century. The photographs expressed the individuality of the women and men who commissioned them, while silently yet powerfully asserting their claims to rights and equality. Opening Sept. 22, the exhibition is the result of years of research by UVA professors, students, and community members.

Exhibits, News and announcements

New UVA Library collection, exhibition examine ‘Summer of Hate’ through first-person lens

By mwm7b |

Five years ago this week, community organizers, activists, students, and residents of Charlottesville stood up to an unprecedented wave of far-right hate and terror. Several hundred white supremacists marched at the University of Virginia and in downtown Charlottesville as part of the “Unite the Right” rally, events that led to violence and three deaths. Immediately following the weekend of Aug. 11 and 12, 2017, senior leaders at the University of Virginia Library asked curators and archivists to collect both physical and digital materials related to the rally.

Exhibits, Library stories, Preservation

Celebrating a Milestone of the Main Library Renovation

By jph9e |

University and Library personnel and construction workers and contractors gathered yesterday for a "topping-out ceremony" for the library renovation. The topping-out is when the last beam is placed atop a structure, and is a traditional milestone in a major construction project.

In the news, Renovation

Recommended reading for Jewish American Heritage Month 2022

By Mitch Farish |

Recommended by Sherri Brown, Research Librarian for English and Digital Humanities

Antiquities by Cynthia Ozick (Knopf, 2021)

Featured resources, Jewish American Heritage Month, Reading list

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage with some great reads!

By Mitch Farish |

May is Asian American and Pacific American Heritage Month! Celebrate by reading literature, poetry, and more by Asian American and Pacific Island artists. Here’s a list prepared by Undergraduate Student Success Librarian Haley Gillilan to get you started.

POETRY

Night Sky with Exit Wounds” by Ocean Vuong

This critically acclaimed and award-winning poetry collection by Vietnamese American author Ocean Vuong is centered around diaspora, queer love, and the author’s relationship with his mother. As a poet, Vuong is careful and thoughtful, and very focused on craft and form.

Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month, Featured resources, Reading list

Celebrate Arab American Heritage Month with great reads from the Library!

By Mitch Farish |

April is Arab American Heritage Month and UVA Librarians are celebrating by putting together some resources to help you explore literature, film, and poetry created by Arab Americans! Amy Hunsaker, Librarian for Music and Performing Arts, prepared the following list. Please direct research queries involving Arab American experiences, histories, and lives to Phil McEldowney, Librarian for Middle East and South Asia Studies.

Want to explore Arab American literature but don’t know where to start? UVA Library holds a substantial collection of Arab American fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Here are some books to get you started.

Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader’s Guide” by Steven Salaita

Arab American Heritage Month, Featured resources, Reading list

UVA Library news from around the world

  • After a nearly four-year closure for renovations, Shannon Library has re-established itself as the University of Virginia’s main study spot. This December marks a full academic year since five floors of expanded seating and a grilled cheese café joined historic reading rooms and the checkered entrance hall students first crossed back in 1938.

    C-Ville Weekly
  • If you’re still wondering what to ask your loved ones for this holiday season, the University of Virginia Library staff is here to help.

    UVA Today
  • Book-loving adventures over five decades inspired a California couple to make a $3.1 million donation to Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, the largest donation in its history.

    UVA Today
  • A new exhibition at the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections sheds light on an often-overlooked Harlem Renaissance poet in UVA’s backyard.

    UVA Today
  • This scary season, if you find yourself on a midnight dreary without a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore to ponder, the University of Virginia Library has recommendations for you.

    UVA Today

Browse by category