It’s late December, and you know what that means: it’s end-of-year round-up time! We love an annual retrospective as much as the next nostalgic Wildcat, but even more when it means we can look back on the achievements of our accomplished UK Libraries’ faculty and staff.
Not only are our librarians and archivists information experts, they’re also leaders in the field of librarianship. Through professional associations, publications, and presentations at conferences and workshops, UK Libraries personnel are pushing the field forward to keep up with a rapidly-evolving information landscape, ensuring that we can keep bringing our users the best services, resources, spaces, and technologies possible.
So light a sparkler, turn up the volume on Auld Lang Syne, and reminisce with us about all the accomplishments and accolades of the year gone by.
Rose L. Vormelker Award
Director of the Science & Engineering Library Valerie Perry won the prestigious Rose L. Vormelker Award from the Special Libraries Association (SLA). Fondly known as the “Rosie,” the award is presented to a recognized mid-career SLA member who has distinguished themselves through their active teaching and mentoring of students and library professionals.
Carol J. Parris Mentoring Award
Rare Books Librarian Colleen Barrett won the Kentucky Library Association’s Carol J. Parris Mentoring Award. The Parris Award is given to an individual who shows a sustained record of being a mentor to a librarian, library worker, or library science student. The award was presented at the 2023 Kentucky Library Association Annual Conference in October.
East Tennessee Historical Society Award of Excellence
The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History won an Award of Excellence from the East Tennessee Historical Society for the Tennessee Valley Authority Retirees Association (TVARA) Oral History Project. A collaboration with the TVARA, the project provides a fascinating chronicle of the variety and breadth of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s activity and work in community and economic development, river and natural resources management, and agricultural and fertilizer development. Across 39 interviews, former TVA employees share their knowledge and experience of different program activities and technical specialties related to the TVA’s regional resource development mission between 1970 and 1995.
Resource Licensing & Interlibrary Loan
Head of ILL & Document Delivery Courtney Taulbee and Head of Electronic Resources Jen Montavon-Green published an article in the Journal of Library Resource Sharing titled, “Using License Terms to Streamline Interlibrary Loan and Electronic Resources Communication.” The article describes the sharing of electronic licensing information between departments at UK Libraries. Read the article here.
Oral History Methods in Social Work
Social Sciences Librarian Margie Ruppel co-authored an article in the Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work titled, “Use of Oral History Methods in Social Work: A Scoping Review.” Written with Dr. Natalie Pope, Director of the PhD program in UK’s College of Social Work, the article shows how oral history methods have been used in both teaching and performing social work. Read the article here.
Managing Permanent Government Records
Director for Digital Strategies & Technology Sarah Dorpinghaus and University Archivist Ruth Bryan, along with Kayla Harris, Assistant Director and Archivist of the Marian Library at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, co-led a workshop on "Basics of Archives: Introduction to Managing Permanent Government Records" for attendees at the annual conference of the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA) on July 18, 2023, in Cincinnati, OH. The four-hour workshop covered topics such as the value of archives, appraisal, inventory, preservation, researcher services, digitization, and access and outreach.
Preserving Family Artifacts
University Archivist Ruth Bryan also presented "Preserving Family Artifacts" at the Casey County Public Library in Liberty, KY, on July 15, 2023. Bryan explained basic information about how to care for family papers, photographs, sound and film recordings, digital information, and books. The talk was sponsored by the Casey County Public Library Genealogy Interest Group. Find slides from the presentation on UKnowledge.
Using Standards in Serials & Electronic Resources Work
Head of Electronic Resources Jen Montavon-Green presented “Standards Quiz Show: An Intro to Using Standards in Serials & Electronic Resources Work” at the annual NASIG Conference on May 25, 2023, in Pittsburg, PA. The interactive session provided an introduction to the way standards can help librarians fulfill their day-to-day work. Montavon-Green presented with fellow members of the NASIG Standards Committee: Beth Ashmore, Associate Head of Acquisitions & Discovery (Serials) at North Carolina State University, and Matthew Ragucci, Associate Product Marketing Director at Wiley.
Archiving Social Media Content
Hispanic Studies and Political Science Librarian Taylor Leigh, University Archivist Ruth Bryan, and Web Archiving Technology Consultant Emily Collier presented "Preservation Perseverance: Archiving Social Media Content: A University of Kentucky Libraries/Latino Student Union Collaboration" at the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) LXVIII in Washington, DC, on June 6, 2023. Leigh, Bryan, and Collier provided an overview of the technology and outreach components of their Project STAND-funded project "Wildcat Histories: Preserving Activist UK Student Organizations’ Legacies," a collaboration between UK Libraries and the University of Kentucky Latino Student Union to preserve activist student organization social media content. Learn more about the “Wildcat Histories” project on our Grants & Partnerships page.
Navigating Organizational Change & Creating Interactive Resources
Medical Center Library faculty and staff won two fan-favorite awards for their presentations at the MLA Midwest Virtual Conference in October, 2023. Nursing Liaison Librarian Stephanie Henderson, Medicine Liaison Lauren E. Robinson, Health Sciences Librarian Rebecca J. Morgan, Health Sciences Librarian Cayla Robinson, and Liaison to the College of Health Jason Keinsley won the Best Poster Award for their “Navigating Organizational Change Through Teamwork” presentation. Henderson, Morgan, Lauren E. Robinson, Cayla Robinson, Graduate Intern Hannah Brunner, and Medical Center Library Manager Beth Reeder won the Best Paper Award for their presentation “Creating an Interactive LibGuide to Support Health Disparities Competency.” Explore the new interdisciplinary resource: Searching Health Disparities Literature Guide.
ELUNA Leadership
In July 2023, Systems Librarian Jason Griffith was elected as Vice/Incoming Chair for the Ex Libris Users of North America (ELUNA) Steering Committee for 2023-24, and will take over as Chair for a three-year term from 2024-27. ELUNA is the international user community for Ex Libris customers in the Americas. It advocates for user institutions of all sizes and participates in collaborative testing, training, and other customer-driven initiatives geared toward improving Ex Libris products.
UK Engagement Academy
Visual and Performing Arts Librarian Karyn Hinkle and Maps & Geospatial Services Manager Sarah Watson were selected by UK’s Land-grant Engagement Office from over 100 applicants for its first annual Engagement Academy. The 2023 Engagement Academy took place September 13-14. Participants from across the university with a common interest in engagement and outreach in Kentucky communities met for seminars and discussions and toured extension engagement sites across the Commonwealth.
ACRL Leadership
Social Sciences Librarian Margie Ruppel was named to leadership positions in two Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) committees in the fall. Ruppel will serve as Co-Chair of the Instruction & Information Literacy Committee within the Anthropology and Sociology Section of ACRL, and as Vice-Chair of the Scholarly Communication Committee within the Education and Behavioral Sciences Section of ACRL. In addition, she serves on a sub-committee that is charged with writing the information literacy framework for the discipline of anthropology, which will be a companion document to ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Ruppel says she enjoys being a part of ACRL committees because she is able to talk to librarians who are doing similar work at other universities.
Systematic Review Services Specialization
Social Sciences Librarian Margie Ruppel also completed the Systematic Review Services Specialization certificate from the Medical Library Association in October 2023. Earning this certificate demonstrates a range of information-retrieval knowledge and methodological skills utilized in conducting systematic and scoping literature reviews. Ruppel regularly advises social work doctoral candidates on strategies for conducting systematic reviews.
Open Education Resources Certification
Open Education Resources Librarian Stephen Krueger was accepted into the Open Education Network’s Certificate in Open Education Librarianship program for 2024. The eight-month certificate program provides each cohort with mentorship and resources to advance and advocate for open educational resources.
Digital Commons’ Institutional Repository Certification
UKnowledge (IR) Library Specialist Kyle Bachman-Johnson attended the 2023 Digital Commons North American Conference in October to share knowledge, expertise, and best practices across repository management, journal hosting, digital collections, and research data management. Following the conference, Bachman-Johnson participated in the Digital Commons' Institutional Repository (IR) Manager Certification Course. Earning her IR Manager Certification included hands-on work in developing IR best practices, goals, and benchmarks; gaining in-depth knowledge of the Digital Commons (DC) software and its breadth of supported content; learning new strategies to find, manage, and promote new content; and training with DC-skilled consultants on using reporting tools to demonstrate growth and impact to our stakeholders.
Data Services Continuing Education
Health Sciences Librarian Cayla Robinson and Research Data Librarian Isaac Wink were each selected as part of the Data Services Continuing Professional Education program’s Fall 2023 Cohort. The intensive 16-week training program supports early career librarians in providing research data management services to users.
