Prior to his current appointment, he
was head of public and research services at Texas A&M University
Libraries. In addition, he has
extensive experience as a music librarian, including positions at Samford University and at Vanderbilt University where he was director of the Wilson Music Library. At Vanderbilt, he co-founded the Global Music
Archive, a streaming repository of traditional music. He holds the master's in library information studies from The University of Alabama and a
bachelor's degree in music from Samford University.
February 2013 Archives
World-renowned comic artist and illustrator Charles
Vess, VCU alumnus and recipient of the Eisner and World Fantasy
Awards, will visit the Monroe Park Campus under VCU Libraries
sponsorship April 18. He will speak about his new book with novelist Charles de Lint,
"The Cats of Tanglewood Forest" (Little Brown, 2013). Event details and details of registration will be posted soon. Seating will be limited. Check the VCU Libraries home page or calendar for updates.
Vess has collaborated with Charles de Lint on several highly successful novels and collections of stories, including "A Circle of Cats" (Viking, 2003), "Moonheart" (Subterranean Press, 2004), and "The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest" (Viking, 2001). Some of Vess's most popular works have been collaborations with Neil Gaiman, beginning with their work on comic series "Sandman" and "The Books of Magic." Issue number 19 of "Sandman," titled "A Midsummer Night's Dream," won the 1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, and is the only single issue of a comic book ever to win this prestigious prize. More recently, Vess and Gaiman have collaborated on the bestselling novel "Stardust."
VCU Libraries Associate University Librarian for Public Services Dennis T. Clark will speak at the University of Tennessee March 18. His topic will be "Re-imagining Library Services."
At VCU Libraries, Clark leads the public services team. He is involved in the design of a new library building at VCU and is re-imagining the library service model as well as invigorating outreach efforts.
At VCU Libraries, Clark leads the public services team. He is involved in the design of a new library building at VCU and is re-imagining the library service model as well as invigorating outreach efforts.
"Sketchy Medicine" is now on display in the Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences Special Collections Reading Room.
This exhibit was inspired by the website Graphic Medicine that explores the use of graphic novels and comics as a resource for patients, medical professionals and caregivers.
This exhibit provides a brief overview of the subject and displays a sampling of VCU Libraries' collection of medically themed graphic novels as well as some examples of web comics with a medical focus.
Save the dates: VCU Libraries hosts three sessions on digital scholarship March 26, April 25 and May 2. Registration for these free sessions for faculty and graduate students will open after spring break.
Digital Pragmata (Digital Things) Forums
March 26
1 to 3 p.m., followed by reception
Visualizing the Digital
Design, ideas and platforms
- Edward L. Ayers, president, University of Richmond, pioneer in the digital humanities
- Amanda French, THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) coordinator, Center for History and New Media, George Mason University
- Emily Smith, executive director, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, curator and creator of InLight Richmond
- Moderator: Roy D. McKelvey, associate professor, Department of Graphic Design, VCU, co-founder of Loop: AIGA Journal of Interactive Design Education
April 25
1 to 3 p.m., followed by a reception
Crafting Content
Creation, scholarship and organization
- Ben Fino-Radin, digital conservator for Rhizome at the New Museum and manager of the Museum of Modern Art Digital Repository
- Francesca Fiorani, associate professor, History of Art and Architecture, UVA, director of Leonardo da Vinci and His Treatise on Painting
- Michael Poston, digital texts editor and encoding architect, Folger Shakespeare Library
- Moderator: Joshua Eckhardt, associate professor, Department of English, VCU, and founding, general co-editor of British Virginia
May 2
Noon to 2 p.m.
Funding Innovation
Avenues, resources and support for projects
- Jessica Venable, grant analyst, Office of Research, VCU
- David Holland, research and entrepreneurship specialist, School of the Arts, VCU
Richmonder Carmen Foster will speak about the history and legacy of Hartshorn Memorial College in "Another Untold Story of Race and Richmond" March 28 at 2 p.m. in Special Collections and Archives, Fourth Floor, James Branch Cabell Library, 901 Park Ave.
Hartshorn Memorial College, a private school for African-American women, was founded in 1883 by Ebenezer Baptist Church. The school was located at the corner of Lombardy and Leigh Streets and merged with Virginia Union University in 1932.
Hartshorn Memorial College, a private school for African-American women, was founded in 1883 by Ebenezer Baptist Church. The school was located at the corner of Lombardy and Leigh Streets and merged with Virginia Union University in 1932.
Foster will present on this important piece of Richmond's past, her family ties, and the challenges that some of the school's graduates faced because of race in the early-20th-century South. Foster, a longtime supporter of the VCU Friends of the Library, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Virginia. A reception will follow will follow her presentation.
- This event, in partnership with the Year of Freedom Committee, is free and open to the public.
- Registration is requested to assist the planning of the event and to facilitate seating. Seating is limited, so please arrive early.
- Parking is available for a fee in the West Broad Street and West Main Street parking decks.
- If special accommodations are needed, or to register offline, please call (804) 828-0593 before March 25.
A new exhibition at James Branch Cabell Library gives the Richmond community the opportunity to take down one wall to the Middle East: the language barrier.
"Breaking Barriers: Arabic Poems for English Readers," a selection of poetry books from VCUQatar Libraries, is on view in Special Collections and Archives, Fourth Floor, James Branch Cabell Library through May 10.
Arabic is a rich and beautiful language with a longstanding tradition of poetry. In order to capture the essence of Arabic verses for a wider audience, this collaborative exhibit among VCU Libraries in Richmond, VCUQatar Libraries in Doha and the Poetry Foundation Library in Chicago presents a collection of Arabic poetry books for English readers.
The materials from VCUQatar Libraries showcase a diverse sampling of poems from medieval Islamic Spain to the modern Arabian Gulf. The genesis of the display was the tied to publication of the first anthology of modern and contemporary poetry of the so-called Gulf region.
That book grew from a need expressed by Qatar students for a book that featured poets of their region and language. The translators and editors focused on the Arabian Gulf countries of Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Edited by Patty Paine and Samia Touati of
VCUQatar, and by Jeff Lodge, who taught at Qatar and now is in Richmond at VCU's University College, "Gathering the Tide: An Anthology of Contemporary Arabian Gulf Poetry" offers 200 poems by some 50 poets. Noted VCU poet David Wojahn wrote the introduction. The 2011 book inspired the current exhibition.
"Students everywhere are limited in their exposure to poetry,"
said Carol Hansen, director of libraries at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts in Qatar.
"When they are exposed, it is often to poetry from the United States and the United Kingdom. The Arab countries have a long tradition of poetry and we
felt library users may be interested in widening their exposure to Arabic
poetry in translation. A recent cultural phenomena in the Gulf is the highly
successful television show called "The Million's Poet" which is similar
to "American Idol" but focuses on oral recitation of Gulf poetry instead
of pop songs. The show, produced in Abu Dhabi,
draws millions of viewers. ... We hope viewers of this collection might further their
interest in the Arab world, and in poetry from the region."Cabell Library's display is arranged geographically among Spain and the Mediterranean, Northern Arabia and the Arabian Gulf countries. The books are arranged geographically because Arabic is not a monolithic language. Different dialects are spoken between North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Regional histories and culture shape themes that appear in the literary arts. Romance stirs passion in Moorish sonnets while politics dominate Iraqi odes.
One display case is devoted to Arab women poets. Women from all the major Arabic-speaking countries have been composing poems for as long as men but have not received ample recognition. Curator for the Richmond display is Leila Prasertwaitaya, library specialist for the arts who managed all aspects of the exhibition.
Says curator Prasertwaitaya: "Many people may feel intimidated by the Arabic language, but these books
from VCUQatar Libraries allow English readers to have access to a rich
and longstanding tradition of poetry. The mainstream media has a
tendency to emphasize only the violent and negative aspects of Arab
countries, which paints a one-sided perspective.
"I'm hoping readers will
be able to connect with the poems that they read and see that people in
the Middle East are human just like everyone else with similar emotions
and problems. Poetry transcends language because it is about finding
the common humanity in all of us."
- On display through May 10, 2013
- Open during Special Collections and Archives Department hours, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- These books are available for close inspection: Ask for help at the service desk in the archives during regular hours
During a Jan. 9 session that brought together librarians from throughout the region, faculty and staff from VCU Libraries and members of the Ex Libris company discussed the implentation of Alma, a pioneering piece of cloud-resident enterprise library software, at VCU Libraries. Alma has changed the way librarians at VCU Libraries work. John Duke, senior associate university librarian, said, "We wanted to reduce the complexity of what we were doing, of streamlining our workflows" and to migrate to "a system that was keyed towards digital collections, which is where all libraries are moving now, academic libraries in particular."
The panel discussion featured:
- Maria Bunevski--a project manager in professional services at Ex Libris. She has helped institutions with implementing a wide range of products, including Primo, SFX, Metalib, Aleph and Voyager. Her first Alma-implementation project has been at VCU Libraries. Prior to joining Ex Libris, she worked with the implementation of document-management systems.
- John Duke--senior associate university librarian at VCU Libraries. He is the head of the VCU Libraries committee for the implementation of Alma. He came to VCU Libraries in 1984 as head of the bibliographic-services department and previously held positions in the libraries of the University of California-Los Angeles and Iowa State University.
- Susan Stearns--vice president of strategic partnerships for the Ex Libris Group. She joined Ex Libris in 2004 as director of operations and soon thereafter became vice president of professional services for Ex Libris North America. Prior to joining Ex Libris, Susan worked in a variety of marketing and product-management positions at InMagic, Northern Light Technologies, Gaylord Information Systems (now Polaris) and other companies serving libraries.
VCU Libraries' Yuki Hibben will speak Sunday afternoon Feb. 10 at the University
of Mary Washington Galleries in Fredericksburg.
An expert on book art, Hibben is an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and assistant head, Special Collections and Archives at James Branch Cabell Library. Her topic will be "Opening the Page: The Evolution of Artists' Books." She plans to discuss the history of artists' books and the value of artists' books in academic and studio programs.
- The image-packed presentation is free and open to the public.
- 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10,
- University of Mary Washington, Combs Hall, Room 139 More
At VCU Libraries, Hibben oversees collection development and management of rare and ephemera and helps shape and expand existing top-tier collections in the comic arts and book arts within the VCU Libraries system. She holds a B.A. in fine arts and an Master in Fine Arts as well as a library science degree. She teaches innovative courses, including one in fall 2012 on "The Portrait as Community."
For the annual Black History Month Lecture Feb. 5, Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, took the stage with Marvin Anderson,
who was exonerated of wrongful conviction after serving 15 years in prison. Anderson, an Innocence Project Board member, and Neufeld explored the relationship between race and wrongful conviction. The 11th annual VCU Libraries Black History Month Lecture was sponsored by the VCU Friends of the Library and the Francis M. Foster African-American History Endowment Fund.
Registration is open for this free, public program.
