Library News: Scholarly Communications 
Alderman, Swem, Cabell, McConnell, Wilder, Johnson, Newman, Tompkins-McCaw, Boatwright, Lyman Beecher Brooks and Claude Moore are among Virginia academic libraries.
Now, they share a new commonality.
Any member of the VCU community--student, faculty or staff--can walk into any of these participating libraries and others, prove affiliation with VCU and enjoy immediate borrowing privileges. This convenience might prove particularly helpful for traveling researchers or students visiting their hometowns on school breaks.
The pilot program for the 2013-14 academic year is through the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) consortium.
List of participating institutions
VCU borrowers at other participating libraries will be asked to login to
- Faculty/Staff Directory: http://my.vcu.edu/
- Student Directory: http://blackboard.vcu.edu/
VCU Libraries will present Advance Your Research on Tuesday, Oct. 15, a full day of walk-in workshops for graduate students and faculty designed to help make their research process better, faster and smarter. Sessions are free and open to all. First come, first seated. Details
Topics include:
- Academic publishing
- Copyright
- Google for scholars
- Grey Literature
- Online scholarly materials
- Refworks
- Zotero
- Liaisons
- Literature reviews
- Elevator pitches
- Impact factors
"We know from the conversations we have with graduate students and faculty that VCU researchers need these kinds of sessions," said Bettina Peacemaker, assistant head for academic outreach. "They want to streamline their research process, and we have resources that will make their work easier. So, we designed a day filled with the kind of information we've been providing in one-on-one consultations or in classroom settings."
Schedule of Workshops
8:15 a.m. Check-in opens.
8:30 a.m. Resources for Your Research: Enjoy a light breakfast, network and discover research resources around campus.
9:30 a.m. Make an Impact: Finding the Right Journal for Your Research: Understand what a journal impact factor is, what it is not and how to use it. You'll discover other techniques and resources to find just the right journal for your research.
10:30 a.m. Three-Second Thesis: Practice Your Elevator Pitch: Think about how to explain your ideas to others. Learn to reel off your research plans and proposals to grant administrators, potential collaborators, bigwigs and your grandma.
11:30 a.m. Better Reference Management through Technology: Save time, toil and trouble by organizing your sources and references using RefWorks, Zotero and other online resources.
12:30 p.m. Lunch with Your Librarian: Join us for lunch and informal conversations about your work with library colleagues. Please email or register if you plan to stay for lunch so we can prepare for everyone.
2 p.m.: Learn to Love Your Lit Review: Learn how to locate the important literature on your topic, track down citations and organize them effectively.
3 p.m. Let Me Google That for You: How to Make the Web Work for Your Research: Leverage common web tools to find so-called "grey literature" and online scholarly material, understand key players, stay up to date and put yourself out there.
4 p.m. Can I Publish That? Working with Images and Media: Become more familiar with the parameters of copyright for images and media and the procedures for using these materials in academic publishing.
More about Academic Outreach at VCU Libraries
Have questions? Want to schedule a one-on-one consultation? VCU librarians specialize in your fields. Please call or email us. We're here to help you succeed in your academic pursuits:
- go.vcu.edu/mylibrarian
- library.vcu.edu/askus
- 804-828-8960
Central Virginia author Dale Brumfield is set to launch his latest book this month. And on September 4, he'll be giving a VCU Libraries Presents talk sponsored by Special Collections and Archives at 1 p.m. at James Branch Cabell Library.
The library is a familiar place for Brumfield, who relied heavily on VCU Libraries collection of independent and alternative newspapers, weeklies, zines and magazines to research "Richmond Independent Press: A History of the Underground Zine Scene."
According to publisher notes on Barnes & Nobel website: "During the political and cultural upheaval of the 1960s, even the sleepy southern town of Richmond was not immune to the emergence of radical counterculturalism. A change in the traditional ideas of objective journalism spurred an underground movement in the press. The Sunflower, Richmond's first underground newspaper, appeared in 1967 and set the stage for a host of alternative Richmond media lasting into the 1990s and beyond. Publications such as the Richmond Chronicle, the Richmond Mercury and the Commonwealth Times, as well as those covering the African American community, such as Afro, have served the citizens of Richmond searching for a change in the status quo. ... Brumfield explores a forgotten history of a cultural revolution."
Brumfield draws clear distinctions between the monopolistic mainstream press (The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond News Leader) and the jaunty, nimble underground papers.
Some observers of the journalistic scene, he says, "may recall the underground press of the '60s and '70s only as a temporary deviation, choosing to emphasize the papers' divisions and their failures while de-emphasizing their successes. Richmond's 1960s underground press may have been short-lived but it did not fail. It achieved its purpose of giving a voice to radical criticism and social change.
"The legacy passed on by those gritty, early papers was the alternative press that rose in the mid-70s and the '80s, leading the way for longer lasting publications such as STYLE Weekly, now in its 32nd year."
Brumfield contributes to STYLE Weekly and the Austin Chronicle. He is the co-founder of ThroTTle Magazine, a Richmond indie publication. A VCU alumnus and MFA graduate student, he also worked on the Commonwealth Times. The book, "Richmond Independent Press: a History of the Underground Zine Scene," is published by History Press of Charleston, South Carolina.
Eric D.M. Johnson has joined VCU Libraries as Head of Innovative Media, a key initiative of the libraries.
Johnson will take an immediate role shaping a state-of-the-art innovative media studio for the new library building on the Monroe Park Campus, which is scheduled to open in 2015. In addition, he will establish strategic relationships with faculty and staff at VCU to design services and educational programs to support students' curricular requirements in creating, disseminating and using all forms of media.
"Working collaboratively with faculty colleagues in the VCU Libraries and throughout the university, Mr. Johnson will ensure that VCU's library system is at the center of new and evolving uses of media for course-related and research needs," said University Librarian John E. Ulmschneider.
Said Johnson: "I'm excited to have the opportunity to help build a community of diverse producers and users of media from across campus, welcoming them to a new space in the library in which they can explore creative ways to tell the stories--through sound, image, animation and more--that they want to tell."
In 2010, English Professor Joshua Eckhardt and History Professor Sarah Meacham brought an idea to VCU Libraries.
The idea? To collaborate on an innovative, born-digital project called British Virginia, a series of peer-reviewed, open-access editions of colonial documents and printed books. VCU scholars would identify, edit and prepare for publication new documents and books, and VCU Libraries would publish these editions through its digital repository for scholarship at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Three years later, at the end of spring semester, VCU Libraries launched British Virginia. The inaugural digital publication is the first of the "Virginia Company Sermons," which William Symonds preached in London in 1609. The importance of this and the other little-known, early Virginia Company sermons lies in their purpose: to encourage colonization of the Virginia settlement and to instill the ideology of the endeavor in listeners who had heard much criticism of the colony.
Working with the Virginia Historical Society, Eckhardt edited, described and contextualized the copy of Symonds' sermon. Then, with the images of the rare book that the VHS produced for British Virginia, he designed a second edition of the same sermon, a searchable photographic facsimile.
Librarians historically have been on the vanguard of new and emerging technologies and four librarians collaborated to develop the publishing model for this significant digital initiative. The team was: Sam Byrd, Digital Collections Systems Librarian, John Duke, Senior Associate University Librarian, Kevin Farley, Humanities Collections Librarian, and Jimmy Ghaphery, Head, Digital Technologies.
"VCU Libraries is confident that British Virginia will inspire and influence how academic libraries and faculty collaborate to create exciting, innovative digital scholarship," said University Librarian John E. Ulmschneider. "Projects like VCU's British Virginia represent the best of the future of open-access, digital publication for the 21st Century."
* * *
- View the premier document
- Follow the blog British Virginia
- Forthcoming works
British Virginia is a series of scholarly editions of documents touching on the colony. These original sources range from the 16th and 17th-century literature of English exploration to the 19th-century writing of loyalists and other Virginians who continued to identify with Great Britain. British Virginia editions appear principally in digital form, freely downloadable. The editorial offices sit appropriately at the research university nearest both the falls of the James River and the site of the first English college planned for this side of the Atlantic Ocean, Henricus Colledge.
To contact VCU's digital publishing program: John Duke, jkduke@vcu.edu, (804) 827-3624.
Like the forever stamp, one of your library services stays with you, at the same price (free) forever.
One of the many tools VCU Libraries provides students is RefWorks. This web-based citation management tool stores citation and reference information in personal databases. The individual can manage references in folders for individual topics, courses, grants or collaborative projects. It automatically generates bibliographies in various formats (MLA, APA, Chicago).
All VCU-affiliated users who have VCU and/or MCVH-VCU email accounts may set up free accounts.
If you have a RefWorks account, your references are yours forever. Whether you go onto graduate school at another institution or go into the workplace, you can still have access to your references via the RefWorks Alumni Program. You can continue to use RefWorks to manage research materials of all kinds--whether you are in school or on the job.
Members of the class of 2013: Remember to set up a RefWorks Alumni account before graduation to continue to have this benefit of your VCU Libraries relationship.
Details about the RefWorks Alumni Program
Students, faculty and staff with RefWorks accounts who leave VCU may continue to have access to RefWorks through the RefWorks Alumni Program. As a participant in the program, you receive:
- One free RefWorks account
- New updates and feature releases
- 200 MB of file attachment storage
- Use of RefShare to share your folder(s) or account
- Free Web-based training
- Technical support from RefWorks staff
To request participation in the RefWorks Alumni Program, submit an Ask Us email or contact your RefWorks administrator:
- Marilyn Scott, James Branch Cabell Library, mjscott@vcu.edu, (804) 828-9049
- Jennifer McDEaniel, Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, jamcdaniel@vcu.edu, (804) 827-1150
Arendt and Roseberry will work closely with science departments in the College of Humanities and Sciences, the School of Engineering, VCU Life Sciences, and colleagues on the MCV Campus to meet teaching and research needs of faculty and students in the sciences and engineering. They will collaborate with teaching faculty and colleagues in the VCU Libraries to develop and deliver course-integrated instructional content, as well as extend research consultation services and provide customized, discipline-specific research assistance. They also will help develop the print and digital reference collections supporting the sciences and engineering, and will work closely with colleagues at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences to meet the needs of faculty and students in sciences and engineering throughout the university community.
Arendt (right) brings a foundation of experience to her new
role with
the VCU Libraries. As science and engineering reference librarian at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, she was liaison to several departments including mechanical
engineering and energy processes, chemistry, physics and psychology. She provided specialized reference services, discipline-specific information
literacy instruction and online content. Arendt also taught a course on information literacy and use of the library. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and psychology from the University of Wisconsin and a
Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan.
Roseberry (left) brings strong background in science to her new role with
the VCU Libraries. Her experience includes co-authoring an article
published in the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos and work
as a research assistant as part of the National Science Foundation's
Research Experiences for Undergraduates. While working at a practicum at
Oberlin College's Science Library, she produced an extensive collection
of subject guides as part of a transition to Subject Plus and assisted
with library instruction for biology students. Roseberry holds a
B.A. in physics from the College of Wooster and Master of Library and
Information Science from Kent State University.VCU Libraries joins scholarly colleagues globally in marking Open Access Week, Oct. 22 - 26. This international observance promotes free access to academic research. It encourages 
academic
publishers to make research available online for free, increasing its reach for
students, researchers and the public.
Open Access Week is sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition and has participants in almost 100 countries. A self-described catalyst for action, SPARC is made up of some 225 academic and research library members that promote easier and more affordable sharing of scholarship. According to its mission statement: "SPARC believes that faster and wider sharing of outputs of the research process increases the impact of research, fuels the advancement of knowledge, and increases the return on research investments. ... Its pragmatic agenda focuses on collaborating with other stakeholders to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication norms, practices and policies that leverage the networked digital environment, expand the dissemination of research findings and reduce financial pressures on libraries."
To reduce barriers to the access, sharing and use of scholarship, the organization's strategy is to educate people about the problems facing scholarly communication, to advocate for policy changes and dissemination of scholarship as an essential component of the research process and to help develop new publishing models that benefit society.
Take a moment during this week to learn more about Open Access publishing.
- Open
Access Week
- VCU Libraries research guide
- VCU Libraries Faculty Organization statement on Open Access
- The Index of Christian Art catalogs art found
within a
broadly defined Christian context. In its digital form, the index contains some 80,000 full-text records and more than 100,000
images dating from 30 CE to 1550 CE. Founded in 1917 and continuously
updated, this resource is maintained by Princeton University.
database of digital resources about slavery and abolition is now available to researchers through VCU LIbraries. "Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive" (SAS) traces the history and ongoing cultural impact of slavery. It provides access to thousands of full-text primary source documents and archival records, including those from:
- The American Missionary Association Archives from 1839-1882;
- The Office of the Secretary of the Interior Relating to the Suppression of the African Slave Trade from 1854-1872;
- Amistad Research Center in New Orleans covering the array of documents related to one of the most important slave rebellions and trials in American and world history.
Ultimately millions of pages of information will be available in SAS,
letting VCU researchers search across all documents in each part in one
seamless interface, according to Kevin D. Farley, Ph.D., assistant professor and collection librarian for the humanities. "The
result will be unexpected and important contributions to the scholarly
dialogue about American slavery and its local and global ramifications."
The database now consists of Part I, "Debates over Slavery and Abolition," and Part II, "Slave Trade in the Atlantic World." Two additional sections are being developed: Part III, "Institution of Slavery," and Part IV, "Age of Emancipation."
The online collection includes a small group of images, including the woodcut shown above of Underground Railroad leader and abolitionist Harriet Tubman. And, this rare photograph of two young American slave boys, mid-19th century.
How to access VCU Libraries databases:
- VCU students, faculty and staff can access the database through either the A to Z Guide to Databases or using this link, http://library.vcu.edu/search/1158 from any computer with a VCU IP address.
- Off-campus, VCU users must first log into myVCU, then go to the VCU Libraries home page, click on Databases and drill down the database you want. Or go directly to http://library.vcu.edu/search/1158
- If you are not a member of the VCU academic community, you can gain access to databases on campus by joining the Friends of the Library.
