We are excited to kick off Open Education Week with the announcement of the Provost’s Awards for Open Educational Resources. Award support totaling $98,000 will be provided to fourteen faculty.

The awards recognize UConn faculty and instructors who have committed to the creation, adaptation, adoption, and review of Open Educational Resources in their courses for a minimum of two years.

The awardees are:

Emma Bojinova, Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, ARE Principles of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Approximately 225 students annually will use an online textbook published through OpenStax.

Ellen Carillo, Department of English, English 1010: Seminar in Academic Writing. Approximately 1,000 students annually will use an open access book she has written.

Joseph DePasquale, Department of Chemistry, Chem 1227Q and Chem 1228Q. Approximately 650 students annually will have access to ancillary materials created by Dr. DePasquale and published through OpenStax.

Challa Kumar, Department of Chemistry, Chem: 3563/3564. Approximately 200 students annually will use an online textbook and ancillary materials written by Dr. Kumar and published through OpenStax.

Ed Neth, Department of Chemistry, General Chemistry. Approximately 2,000 student annually have begun using the Atoms First Chemistry book written by Dr. Neth and published through OpenStax.

Amit Savkar & Andrew Jaramillo, Department of Mathematics, Pre-calculus. Approximately 600 students annually will use an online textbook and ancillary materials written by Dr. Savkar and Dr. Jaramillo and published through OpenStax.

Ambar Sengupta & Alexander Teplyaev, Department of Mathematics, Math 3160: Probability. Approximately 500 students will have access to a new online probability textbook spearheaded by Dr. Teplyaev in collaboration with the Mathematics Department.

Alexia Smith, Department of Anthropology, Anthropology 1500: Great Discoveries in Archaeology. Approximately 250 students annually will use a combination of open access resources.

Katherine Whitaker, Cara Battersby & Jonathan Trump, Astronomy Department, Phys 1025: Intro to Astronomy. Approximately 100 students annually will use an online textbook published through OpenStax.

And finally, the School of Nursing, led by Carol Polifroni, will aggregate multiple videos used for simulation lab work through a site license saving over $30,000 annually.

Recipients will participate in sharing their experiences in a variety of ways, including conferences and symposia hosted by UConn to discuss how they developed these materials, and provide opportunities to distribute them to those teaching in public and private institutions across the state.  Vice Provosts Martha Bedard and Sally Reis, in a statement about the variety of awards, expressed their appreciation to all faculty who are using open education materials and considering ways to reduce textbook costs for our students. For all faculty interested in ways to reduce textbook costs and in incentives to redesign courses using OER materials, additional information can be found at http://open.uconn.edu/

It would be difficult to find someone more dedicated to the UConn Library’s Archives & Special Collections than Richard Schimmelpfeng. Perhaps it is because of the solid foundation he built beginning with the Special Collections Department after his arrival in 1966. But more likely it is because of his dedication to the collections after his retirement in 1992. Mr. Schimmelpfeng began volunteering in the Archives the day after his retirement and was a daily staple until his recent illness a few months ago. In a March, 2005 article he stated “I intend to continue as a volunteer until either I fall over, am dragged out, or told to quit,” he quips. “I figure I’ve got about 15 more years to go.” We estimate that he worked more than 15,000 volunteer hours over 20+ years. As Norman D. Stevens, Emeritus Director of the UConn Library says in his obituary below, “his fifty years of service to the University of Connecticut is perhaps unsurpassed.”

Our sadness is beyond words. We will truly miss his knowledge and dedication, but mostly the smile he brought us every day.

Richard H. Schimmelpfeng
(7/13/1929-3/16/2017)

The son of Harold W. and Rose Schimmelpfeng, Richard was predeceased by his brother Harold W., Jr. and is survived by his niece, Margaret R. Lilly, and nephew, William J. Reynolds, and five grandnieces and nephews.

A graduate of the University of Illinois, with a triple major in English literature, history, and modern languages, and, in 1955, of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Library Science. He began his library career as a cataloger, rising to the head of the department, at Washington University in Saint Louis.

In 1966 he joined the staff of the University of Connecticut Libraries to protect and preserve the library’s rare and unusual books and manuscript collections. He had become head of a somewhat larger and more formal Special Collections Department by the time he retired in 1992. The day after his retirement he began working as a volunteer in what had become the Archives and Special Collections Department, where he served as its principal cataloger until early 2017. His fifty years of service to the University of Connecticut is perhaps unsurpassed.

During the course of his official appointment he oversaw an enormous growth of special and unusual archives, books, and other printed materials in a wide variety of fields. His own interest in collecting in many areas, led to the creation of a number of specialized collections including bookplates – he was an active member of the American Association of Book Plate Collectors and Designers – and the limited edition publications of major book designers.

He was especially adept at giving his employees, including students, support and encouragement. That led, for example, to the establishment of one of the country’s strongest collections of Alternative Press materials that continues to grow as it documents the growth and development of the counter-culture movement that began in the late 1960’s and early 1970s. It also resulted in the publication of a multi-volume annotated edition of the manuscript materials of the noted American poet Charles Olson.

He and his father shared an interest in collecting hand blown glass paperweights that Richard continued throughout his life. He was an active member of the New England Paperweight Association. Shortly before his death a few recent purchases joined The Schimmelpfeng Collection of Contemporary Glass Paperweight at the New Bedford Museum of Glass. His love of the visual arts extended to illustrated children’s books and he was an active participant of the American Book Collectors of Children’s Books (ABCs). He delighted in dressing up for a number of years as Clifford the Big Red Dog to entertain children and their parents at the annual Connecticut Children’s Book Fair at UConn.

For many years he used his specialized knowledge of books to assist the Mansfield Public Library in identifying and pricing items donated to their regular book sales. He was himself an avid reader who especially enjoyed detective stories.

He was also the Librarian and a member of the Executive Council of the Mansfield Historical Society from 1992 through 2016. He had begun his service to the MHS in 1982 when he indexed their scrapbook collection.

Richard’s love of the visual arts and music contributed to his enjoyment of concerts and programs at UConn and his active support of those programs including the donation of visual materials to the Benton Museum of Art.

In the fall of 2017 the Homer Babbidge Library at UConn will host an exhibit Glass Animals presented by the New Bedford Museum of Glass that will include a significant number of important pieces for which he had provided the funding. During that exhibit there will be a program to honor Richard and recognize his generous support of the University and the Mansfield community.

Colleagues and friends may post a note on the guest book for his obituary at www.potterfuneralhome.com, or may wish to share with one another their reminisces of Richard through e-mails, cards, phone calls as well as small gatherings and/or postings on social media.

Norman D. Stevens
March 12, 2017

Greenhouse Studios, a new research unit at the University of Connecticut, is beginning implementation of a collaboration-first approach for the creation and communication of scholarship thanks to a $789,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This award is the first of its kind at UConn and part of the Mellon Foundation’s Scholarly Communications program, a multi-pronged effort to accelerate the evolution of scholarly practice and academic publishing to meet the opportunities and challenges of the digital age. Greenhouse Studios is a joint effort of the University Library, School of Fine Arts, and the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, with each contributing resources and personnel to advance scholarly communications research. “Greenhouse Studios represents the kind of bold commitment to interdisciplinary research that our academic plan identified as central to solving the problems of the 21^st century and to cementing UConn’s place as a driver of innovation and excellence within the State of Connecticut and around the world,” says Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Jeremy Teitelbaum.

Greenhouse Studios’ goal is to implement its design-based, inquiry-driven, collaboration-first workflow as a model for other universities. This endeavor was inspired by the example of creative industries, ranging from Hollywood to Madison Avenue to Wall Street, where design thinking approaches have been applied to solve problems of complexity and scale similar to those faced by scholarly communications.  “The workflows developed to create books, journal articles, and other printed materials involve a series of hand-offs from one expert to another in a chain-like fashion,” says Tom Scheinfeldt, Director of Greenhouse Studios. “Our approach transforms that chain of divided activities into a circle of continuous collaboration that starts with an initial inquiry and carries on through to a finished scholarly work.” By teaming together faculty, developers, librarians, designers, publishers, and other specialists, Greenhouse Studios brings to bear, at every stage of project development, the diverse expertise required to create, publish, and provide sustained access to scholarly communications expressed in digital and multimedia formats.

The first of Greenhouse Studios’ collaborative undertakings are now underway. The first step in the process was to find common interests behind a broad prompt, The Limits of Text. The Limits of Text aims to explore how the linear nature of print can limit the way we look at and communicate research and to engage in ways to change this. The prompt has culminated with three unique projects to explore, all of which will produce results through a diverse range of textual, aural, visual, material, and performative paths.

Finotype and Global Cuban Cultures. When asked what fino means Cubans both on and off the island offer varied, even contradictory, responses, from ideas about refinement and purity to feelings of sexual repression. This inquiry explores how a seemingly small aesthetic category—fino—is expressed through the stuff of everyday life but carries different meanings based on race, class, and gender. The team is exploring a tapestry of films, photographs, documents, and oral histories as part of its work.

Ellen Emmet Rand. A savvy career woman at a time when women in business were rare, Ellen Emmet Rand was one of the most prolific portrait painters in the United States during the early 20th century. Her subjects included President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Charles Lewis Beach, president of the Connecticut Agricultural College (now UConn). The Greenhouse Studios team takes inspiration from exhibitions, symposia, and new scholarly work happening around Rand at UConn beginning this spring.

Charles V Coronation. The coronation mass of Charles V in 1530 legitimized his rule as a political leader through a series of medieval and early modern rituals and performances. The Greenhouse Studios team will examine the performances within the context of the past through a wide variety of mediums, such as sound recordings, art, and architecture, to help us more fully understand the rich and powerful messages of these events.

As these projects begin on their two-year journey this spring, a second cohort of researchers will begin to organize around the next prompt to begin in the fall. They will be working to identify the subject, lay the groundwork around the prompt, and strategize how the individual projects fit into the larger picture.

Currently located on the third floor of Homer Babbidge Library, Greenhouse Studios will be moving to new quarters that will utilize the physical environment to enable more collaboration and creativity. These changes are a piece of the Master Plan currently being undertaken in the Homer Babbidge Library and will transform the first floor into a collaborative space with cutting-edge equipment and visualization tools that will surround Greenhouse Studios’ future home.

For more information on Greenhouse Studios / Scholarly Communications Design at UConn, visit www.greenhousestudios.uconn.edu.

Yup! Paws to Relax is back during finals week with some of your favorite drooly friends and some new ones too.

This year we welcome the following friends to help you relax:

Monday

1 p.m.: Rosie Lee the Corgi Mix and and her human Devon Conover
2 p.m.: Hunter the Shetland Sheepdog and his human Rebecca Caldwell
3 p.m.: Beyyn the Shih Tzu and his human Jeanne Ladd
4 p.m.: Sophia the Mini Golden Doodle and her human Layla Berger

Tuesday

1 p.m.: Wrigly the Newfoundland and his human Laurel Rabschutz
2 p.m.: Kammi and Chumani the Keeshounds and their humans Kathry and Pat Patterson
3 p.m.: Vinny the English Mastiff and his human Michelle Finnegan
4 p.m.: Cooper the German Shephard and his human Nancy Benway

Wednesday

1 p.m.: Barney the Golden Retriever and his human Betsy Tubridy
2 p.m.: Bo the Lab Mix and his human Christine Anderson
3 p.m.: Mela the Keeshound and her human Diane Baricak
4 p.m.: Bugs the Great Dane and his human Tracy Powell

Thursday

1 p.m.: Sebbi the American Cocker Spaniel and his human Karen Tuccitto
2 p.m.: Penn the Labradoodle and human Susan Stewart
3 p.m.: Mia the Shetland Sheepdog and her human Terrie Carpenter
4 p.m.: Chase the Golden Retriever and his human Michelle Volz

Friday

1 p.m.: Dolly the Golden Retriever and her human Julie Bowering
2 p.m.: Dream the Rottweiler and his human Laruen Jorgensen
3 p.m.: Andy the Golden Retriever and his human Sandy Lok
4 p.m.: Chase the Golden Retriever and his human Brian Volz

Please note that some of the times and dogs may change.

Mr. Lemon Hart, Old and New Theme – Ronald Searle

Ronald Searle has been called one of the greatest satirical cartoonists of the 20th century. Best known in England for his wildly popular St. Trinian’s cartoons featuring a fictional English girls’ school, and his work here in the States for publications such as The New York Times, Life and The New Yorker, there is no doubt you have already seen and admired his work.

An impressive collection of Searle’s work is being cared for by Robert Forbes and more than 80 pieces are on display as part of “The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Searle, a selection from the collection of Robert and Lydia Forbes” currently at the UConn Library.

An author of children’s poems, Forbes began the process of producing his first book by searching for the best possible illustrator out there, and for him the answer was Ronald Searle. “So I just asked” quipped Forbes. “I have learned in life that if you don’t try, you will never know what could have been.” From there a remarkable collaboration was born.

Belle of St. Trinian’s. Ronald Searle

The Forbes collection goes far beyond the whimsy of his children’s books to capture the full range of work shaped by, in many ways, a life that saw the worst of humankind as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II. His pieces consistently show his interest in the human condition, illustrating how others see us and how we see others, all delivered with a sharp humor.

The Conservative Lobster, Beastly Feasts. Ronald Searle

This exhibition spans Searle’s career including the St. Trinian’s series, early success as a magazine and book illustrator, work for movies and businesses such as Lemon Hart & Sons, and a few of his famous drawings of cats. Additionally, children of all ages will be delighted in the softer, whimsical imagination of Searle through pieces from his collaborations with Mr. Forbes. At the time of Searle’s death in 2011, they were working on a forth book of poetry in the series, Captain Puss, and a selection of these unpublished pieces can also be found in the exhibit.

The exhibit is open to the public and on display through Feb. 10, 2017. The public is invited to a special reception and gallery talk with Robert Forbes and illustrators Cora Lynn Deibler and Alison Paul on Monday, Nov. 28, 6:30 p.m. in the Homer Babbidge Library, 369 Fairfield Way, Storrs, CT. More information can be found at http://lib.uconn.edu/about/exhibits 

Please join us for a celebration of Open Access Week with a program that will bring together many pieces of Open Access and how you can make it work for you.

The Intersections Between Open Access, Open Educational Resources & Author Rights

Wednesday, October 26, 2016
12-3:30pm
Homer Babbidge Library, Class of ’47 Conference Room or online at https://goo.gl/vuNKmJ 

12-1:15pm
Empowering Authors through Publication Agreements
Maximize control, impact and discoverability of your scholarly output.
Michael Rodriguez, Electronic Resources Librarian

Open Access Flavors
What are the diff erent types of open access and why do they matter?
Carolyn Mills, Biology, Agriculture & Natural Resources Librarian

OA? OER? What’s the Difference?
Two diff erent movements with a lot in common. How do they support each other?
Kathy Labadorf, Reference, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Librarian

1:30-3:15pm
ORCID ID’s
This digital identifi er distinguishes you from every other researcher. Learn about the ID and how to use it.
Carolyn Mills, Biology, Agriculture & Natural Resources Librarian

Entering the Creative Commons
What are open licenses and how do they add value to scholarly and creative work?
Michael Rodriguez, Electronic Resources Librarian

Managing Your Scholarly ID Online
Make your scholarly author identity visible and available for citation.
Carolyn Mills, Biology, Agriculture & Natural Resources Librarian

UConn’s Research Data Repository
Learn how UConn can help make your data publicly available.
Jennifer Eustis, Digital Repository Content Administrator & Research Data Management

Light refreshments will be served.

Open Access Week is a global event promoting open access as a new norm in scholarship and research. For more information go to www.openaccessweek.org. For more information on the resources available at UConn go to www.open.uconn.edu.

Imagine, Click, Create
3-D Printing at UConn

Plaza Gallery

Three-dimensional or 3-D printing has become a buzz word, if not ubiquitous in today’s world. It is a time and cost effective tool in engineering and manufacturing to create customized and highly complex objects. Need a part for something, remarkably – whether a thing or a person – and you’re likely to hear how 3-D printing has been called into service.

New applications for 3-D printed ceramics, polymers, and metals are topics of current research. Some applications include printing living cells or implants for various parts of the body.

Earlier this year, Homer Babbidge Library established a 3-D Printing Studio, staffed by members of UConn’s 3-D Printing Club, which already has plans for expansion.

This exhibition of student projects that use 3-D printing provides a glimpse into the capabilities of this technology.

Student Stephen Hawes with his prosthetic hands

Intimate Landscapes and Urban Portraits
Photographs by Al Malpa

Norman D. Stevens Gallery

Al Malpa describes himself not as a photographic artist, but as a student of photography who is inspired by such masters of the craft as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Walker Evans. His photographs capture small moments in life, revealing the beauty and character of familiar subjects and events.

A staff photographer with the Chronicle of Willimantic since 2008, he is the winner of the Society of Professional Journalists 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism in the Breaking News Photograph category for newspapers with a circulation under 50,000. He has also won national and regional first place awards from National Press Photographers Association, New England Newspaper and Press Association and The Society of Professional Journalists. To see more of his work, visit: almalpa.com.

Newfound gap, Blue Ridges

A tourist passes by homeless guitarist in New Orleans

Dear Friend of the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair,

We are writing to announce the end of the long partnership between the UConn Libraries and the UConn Co-op. Over the decades we have worked on many projects together serving the UConn community, with the largest of these projects being the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair. This partnership of over 24 years has brought many hundreds of authors and illustrators of children’s books together with so many young readers and their adults.

We are proud of our work together. Ours has been a partnership of shared visions, hard work, and friendship. The Fair, which has been a fundraiser for the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection at the UConn Library, has raised over $180,000 for its endowment. The Co-op continues with its commitment to supporting these unique materials and has given its own collection of art from children’s books that it has received from publishers, artists, and industry associations, some of it original and others signed limited editions, to the Collection. The bookstore’s Book Fair archives have also been donated.

As you may know this move is due to the vote by the UConn Board of Trustees to partner with Barnes and Noble Education to run its bookstores for the future and that transition will begin after June 7th. The UConn Libraries remain deeply committed to the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection and all of the programming associated with it, including this wonderful celebration of children’s literature. While we will not be hosting a Book Fair this November, the UConn Libraries are committed to continuing the tradition in the spring and will let you know about upcoming plans.

Most importantly however, and the reason we write, is to thank you for your support over these years. We look forward to seeing you in the spring.

Sincerely,

Jean Nelson                                                       Suzy Staubach
Marketing & Communications                            Formerly of the UConn Co-op
UConn Libraries                                                 Founding member, CCBF
jean.nelson@uconn.edu                                     suzy@willowtreepottery.us

The current system of scholarly publishing and the resultant inability of some researchers to legally and affordably access knowledge resources is resulting in the emergence of networks of piracy and other violations of copyright law. The Library does not support or condone such activities.

As a valid alternative to the current system of scholarly publishing, the Library strongly supports the Open Access movement and other New Publishing Models to drive legal transformations in scholarly publishing. The Library further advocates that the UConn community comply with copyright law, including appropriate use of Fair Use provisions.

The UConn community can avoid piracy and copyright violation by never sharing usernames and passwords, network logins, or barcodes. Avoid the use of pirate websites such as LibGen or Sci-Hub, which offer seemingly free access to the scholarly literature. These two websites in particular have been found to steal login credentials from unsuspecting users, which are then used to pirate vast quantities of scholarly articles. Use caution when posting scholarly articles, in particular the final published pdf file, on popular social media sites such as Academia.edu.  These sites are routinely subjected to take-down notices for materials that publishers indicate are in violation of copyright.

The Library provides access to vast collections of knowledge resources for the UConn community. Materials that are not accessible through the Library’s collections can generally be obtained through Document Delivery & Interlibrary Loan.

On behalf of the Scholarly Communications Team

The library’s new group study room reservation system, D!BS, has been in place for about a year and has been getting rave reviews from UConn students.

The online service allows students to log on and reserve one of 32 group study rooms at the library up to three days an advance, saving them the trouble of struggling to find a location for group work.

“It’s awesome because you know you’re guaranteed a quiet study place for a few hours,” said UConn junior Hayley Babineau. “I used it during finals which made things easier because the library would be really crowded and have no tables open so we would reserve rooms to make sure we had a place to study and wouldn’t have to waste time looking for a place to do work.”

“Being able to reserve rooms two days in advance is awesome.  The days I know I have a lot of work to crank out I usually D!BS a room two days early and get a great spot for me and my friends,” said senior Teresa Forenza.