Around the Libraries

The UMD Libraries is pleased to announce that Lae’l Hughes-Watkins has been named the inaugural Associate Director for Engagement, Inclusion, and Reparative Archiving in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA). Hughes-Watkins assumes this new leadership role after serving for over three years as University Archivist. (A search to fill the now-vacant archivist role will be conducted soon.)

The archives of Mass Media & Culture (MMC) in Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce that 17 episodes of the groundbreaking program PowerPoint are now available for streaming in UMD Libraries Digital Collections.

To provide our campus community with more flexible, multi-use workspaces, McKeldin Library is reducing the number of public desktop computers on the first and second floors by about 35 percent. This change is based on usage data showing that, on average, no more than 50 percent of the desktop computers are in use at any given time. Libraries’ staff often see library visitors use these workspaces with their own personal laptops already, demonstrating a need for more space that can accommodate library users’ own devices and other materials.

The Libraries are proud to play an instrumental role in the 2022-23 interdisciplinary curriculum program “Decolonizing Education to Meet the Demand of Climate Change: resilient Adaptive Climate Technology (reACT) Testbed Lab.” Over the course of one year, students from across seven departments, from Education to Architecture, will work collaboratively on an architecture and engineering project that’s guided by indigenous knowledge in order to live more sustainably in the face of climate change.

As a member of the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) Library Consortium, the University of Maryland Libraries are pleased to announce that it will be migrating to a new integrated library management system in summer 2024. UMD Libraries will migrate to the Alma and Primo systems from Ex Libris®, part of Clarivate, after having been on the Ex Libris Aleph system for over 20 years.

The University of Maryland Libraries will grant up to four $1,000 awards to undergraduates who make impressive use of library materials in their research. The Undergraduate Research Awards aim to promote the value and use of library services and information resources in original research projects.

In honor of National First-Generation College Celebration Day on Tuesday, November 8, the Libraries has partnered with the Adele H. Stamp Student Union’s Immigrant and Undocumented Student Life Office to compile a First-Generation Students Resource Guide. 

Applications for UMD Libraries’ Research and Teaching Fellowship Class of 2024 are now open. Applications will be accepted through November 27, 2022.

In an effort to promote and support voting in the upcoming elections, the Libraries will print mail-in ballots and proof of residency documents for voter registration at no cost. Those wishing to make use of this service can come to the Library Services Desk located on the first floor of McKeldin Library.  Learn more about voting resources available to the UMD community at terpsvote.umd.edu.     

The Libraries’ latest progress report highlights significant achievements in the four major strategic goal areas of the “Living Our Values, Leading the Field” strategic plan: user-centered excellence and innovation, social justice, partnerships, and organizational capacity.