Around the Libraries

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.

McKeldin Library is throwing it back this Halloween to the nostalgic days of the classic video rental store Blockbuster. The first-floor service desk is masquerading as “MckBuster” and renting out (er, lending) movies from the Libraries’ physical and streaming collections you can watch at home with friends and family. The helpful MckBuster staff has even curated a Movie Guide to help you find something to suit your movie-viewing sensibilities.

Library users have a new space to block out distractions and get their work done this fall. The Focus Room, located near the public computers on the 1st floor of McKeldin Library, provides relative privacy and soundproofing making it an ideal location for phone and video calls. The room features a height-adjustable desk, task light with embedded wireless charging, built-in power with outlets and USB ports, and a whiteboard.

UMD Libraries is pleased to announce Catherine Mayfield as our new Associate Director in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA). Mayfield comes to UMD from the Maryland Center for History and Culture in Baltimore where, as the France-Merrick Director of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library, she oversaw a large special collections program and major projects that enhanced access to collections.

The Libraries has been hard at work on a new website to better meet our user needs, a strategic initiative under the Libraries’ goal area of user-centered excellence and innovation. The beta version of the new site is now available to the public at https: //wwwnew .lib. umd. edu/ and we welcome your feedback.