Category Archives: People

SOKY Book Fest partners select finalists for 2016 Kentucky Literary Award

The Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership announces the three finalists for the 2016 Kentucky Literary Award. This year’s award will go to a work of fiction by a Kentucky author or with a significant Kentucky theme that was published in 2014 or 2015. The three finalists include:

The Marble Orchard, Alex Taylor

Taylor

Cementville, Paulette Livers

Livers

Hurry Please, I Want to Know, Paul Griner

Griner

The winner will be announced at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest’s Meet the Authors Reception to be held Friday, April 22– the night before the main Book Fest event. The Kentucky Literary Award is presented annually by the Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership. The 2016 award is sponsored by the Friends of WKU Libraries. For more information about the award, contact Sara Volpi, Book Fest and Literary Outreach Coordinator, at sara.volpi@wku.edu or 270-745-4502.

The Southern Kentucky Book Fest is a partnership of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Warren County Public Library, and Western Kentucky University Libraries. For more information, visit sokybookfest.org.

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Fall 2015 Library Student Assistant Scholarship

Western Kentucky University (WKU) senior Katie Gamble from Hopkinsville, has been selected as the recipient of the WKU Library Student Assistant Scholarship.  Gamble is a senior who will graduate in May 2016 with a B.S. in Communication Disorders, completing her degree in only three years.fall15studentacholarshipPictured: Doug Wiles, Gamble, and Dean of WKU Libraries Connie Foster.

According to her supervisor Doug Wiles, Gamble has worked as a Stacks Management student for two-and-a-half years.  “During that time, I have noted Katie’s motivation to be exceptional in every endeavor: academic, work-related, and personal,” said Wiles. “Katie has been a leader in several projects, including a significant transition for Stacks Management to staff  the Helm Information Desk.”

Gamble has performed at a superior level academically, maintaining a 4.0 grade point average while working in WKU Libraries and volunteering in the Kelly Autism Program. In addition, Katie was the first student employee to serve on the WKU Campus Library Advisory Council.

“I take pride in telling people that I am a WKU Libraries Student Assistant and am very thankful for the opportunity to work here,” said Gamble. “I can genuinely say that being a student assistant has strengthened my time management skills and has made me more independent.”

Katie was recognized at a reception on Wednesday, December 9 in Cravens Library. The scholarship is sponsored through funding from the Friends of WKU Libraries. For more information on the Friends program, go to wku.edu/library and click on “Support Us.”

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Arlis O. Harmon & WKU Folk Studies Intern’s Success

Graduate student intern's depiction of Harmon's life as a composer

Graduate student intern’s depiction of Harmon’s life as a composer.

In Library Special Collections, we have been fortunate to have Angela Arvizu from the Folk Studies Department as a graduate student intern beginning in June. Ms. Arvizu added 171 created the metadata records for Arlis O. Harmon’s original compositions of sheet music (which will soon be approved and internet accessible at kencat.wku.edu), researched and documented an exhibit’s contents using Past Perfect Collection Management software, and created a case exhibit which will remain on display until January 26, 2016 in the Special Collections Library of the Kentucky Building.Harmon Exhibit by Angela intern
Of her internship, Angela wrote: “The experience of being an intern at Kentucky Library Research Collections was gratifying….Harmon who died in 1992 was a composer and poetry writer from Kentucky. The work done during my internship organized and protected his collection of compositions. I appreciated the opportunity to work with Sue Lynn McDaniel and the Special Collections Library in this project.”

A closeup of items in Manuscripts, our Photograph Collection and our Sheet Music Collection

A closeup of items in Manuscripts, our Photograph Collection and our Sheet Music Collection

Often these internships and student work opportunities serve our WKU students well as they seek employment after graduation. Thank you, Angela, for a job well done!

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WKU students receive undergraduate library research awards

Fall student assistant 10

Western Kentucky University undergraduate students Daulton Cowan, Maggie Flanagan, and Jefferson Sanders were honored for winning undergraduate research awards at a recognition ceremony in Cravens Library on Monday, November 30.  WKU Libraries and WKU University Experience faculty offer the awards in an effort to recognize the important role of good undergraduate research in college academic success.

“Information literacy and library skills are essential for student success at any level, and I am happy to be a part of introducing the importance of college-level research skills to our first year students,” said Sara McCaslin, University Experience Coordinator.

Cowan, a first-year student from Bowling Green, Kentucky, received the award for his annotated resource list project for the University Experience class on the main campus. His work featured the TED Talk “How to Start a Movement” by Derek Sivers. His instructor was Aaron Peters.

Flanagan, a first-year student from Russell Springs, Kentucky, received the award for best annotated resource list in a major-specific area. Representing the College of Health and Human Services, her project featured her area of interest titled “Nursing: The Career that Saves Lives.” Her instructor was Marsha Hopper.

Sanders, a first-year student from Nashville, Tennessee, representing student essays of the South Campus University Experience class, was recognized for the best career essay titled, “Sports Broadcasting News Analyst.”  His instructor was Dr. Anne Heintzman.

Students received a monetary gift along with a plaque honoring their achievements. The winning documents, along with those of past recipients, are posted on TopSCHOLAR–WKU’s research and creative database—at digitalcommons.wku.edu/ueul_award/.

Photo Album

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WKU PROFESSOR RECOGNIZED AT HIS ALMA MATER IN CHINA

haiwang-china

Professor Haiwang Yuan of WKU Libraries was recognized last month at his alma mater Nankai University in Tianjin, China for his contributions to the academic development of the College of Foreign Languages (CFL). On October 22, the College of Foreign Language held a Book Donation and Guest Professorship Ceremony for Yuan with Dean of the Foreign Language College Yan Guodong presiding, along with several professors and graduate students from the English Department at the University. Dean Yan Guodong presented the Guest Professorship Letter of Appointment to Yuan and received the books donated by Yuan to the CFL.

“It was an honor to be recognized by one of most prestigious universities in China,” said Yuan. “I am thrilled that I was invited back to the place where I first taught English 30 years ago.”

Yuan thanked his alma mater and gave a presentation on English writing and answered questions. Yuan was a 1977 undergraduate of the College of Foreign Languages Department of Nankai University. Upon his graduation, he taught at the department until 1988. He attended Indiana University and received his Master degrees of History and of Library and Information Science in 1990 and 1995. Professor Yuan has published several monographs and translated works, as well as dozens of research articles. The monographs include The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales from the Han Chinese, Princess Peacock: Tales of Other Peoples of China, Tibetan Folktales, and This is China: The First 5,000 Years.

 

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You Belong to Us: One Baby, Two Sets of Parents

You-Belong-to-Us (9)

Bowling Green author Molly McCaffrey was the speaker in the Kentucky Live! series on November 19, 2015 at Barnes & Noble Bookstore. She talked about and read from her newest book You Belong to Us: One Baby, Two Sets of Parents, a memoir which tells the story of her experience meeting her biological family just after her thirtieth birthday.

Photo Album | Sound Recording | Podcast RSS

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We’ve Been Everywhere: Searching for Lost Loved Ones

DSC_0983November 10, 2015 Sue Lynn McDaniel from Library Special Collections gave a good argument about genealogical research and its academic relevance. Her research journey for both her own family and her husband’s illustrated how significant history is when searching for an individual’s heritage. McDaniel gave intriguing stories about the distances she drove and the discoveries she found after in-depth steps were taken to find family details. Her talk’s title “Cow Pastures, Courthouses, and Funeral Home Visitations: Searching for Lost Loved Ones” describes the lengths she took to fit the puzzle pieces together.

Photo Album

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Archives Month – Pecha Kucha

Kentucky Archives Month

Kentucky Archives Month

October is Archives Month and in Kentucky the theme was Civil Rights. This year members of Library Special Collections celebrated by co-hosting a Pecha Kucha about Civil Rights with the Kentucky Museum.

A pecha kucha is a powerpoint presentation consisting of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each so the talk lasts six minutes and forty seconds. Speakers have to hone in on the point and talk fast!

Pecha Kucha Participants

Pecha Kucha Participants

Our lineup:
Suellyn Lathrop – Civil Rights @ WKU – gave an overview of the WKU response to several civil rights issues through the years and resources for research housed in WKU Archives.

April McCauley – October is American Archives Month – discussion of archives that hold civil rights materials around the nation.

Karen Hogg – Kentucky Marriage Equality Oral History Project – presentation regarding Kentucky attorneys and plaintiffs involved in the recent marriage equality court cases.

Nancy Richey – Introducing the Kentucky African American Encyclopedia – an interesting overview of local people included in this hot off the press volume.

Jonathan Jeffrey – Juliette H. Morgan: A Librarian Civil Rights Hero – a brief biography of Montgomery, Alabama librarian turned activist.

We hope you enjoy our presentations and learn something new.  Library Special Collections is housed in the Kentucky Building and our collections are open to everyone Monday – Friday 9 to 4 and most Saturdays 10 – 3.

 

 

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“Behind the Scenes” tour of the Educational Resources Center

Library faculty and staff took a “Behind the Scenes” tour of the Educational Resources Center (ERC) October 28 to learn more about the materials, patrons, and resources available for use. Ellen Micheletti, longtime staff member of the ERC staff, escorted the group, offering interesting information and tidbits about the ERC.

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WKU Libraries honored Dr. Lyons and Anne Epperson for open access accomplishments

Dr. Scott Lyons, Associate Professor and Director for School of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport and WKU alum Ann Epperson were honored on October 22 at a reception in Helm Library as the inaugural inductees into WKU Libraries Open Access Hall of Fame.DSC_0558

 

Lyons is the founder and editor of the International Journal of Exercise Science (IJES) which debuted on TopSCHOLAR®, the research and creative activity database of WKU,  in 2007 with over 345,000 downloads to date.

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Epperson was honored in the student category for her thesis Internet GIS as a Historic Place-Making Tool for Mammoth Cave National Park which has been downloaded nearly 15,000 times.

 

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