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Defending the F-word: Freedom!

Nadine Strossen, President of the American Civil Liberties Union, will present a keynote address “Defending the F-Word: Freedom!” of the Obscenity: An Interdisciplinary Discussion symposium on Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Shambaugh Auditorium of the Main Library. A reception and exhibit opening, “Making No Compromise with the Public Taste,” will follow her remarks in the North Exhibition Hall.

Strossen has written, lectured, and practiced extensively in the areas of constitutional law, civil liberties, and international human rights. Since 1991, she has served as president of the American Civil Liberties Union, the first woman to head the nation’s largest and oldest civil liberties organization.

The National Law Journal has twice named Professor Strossen one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” In 1996, Working Woman Magazine listed her among the “350 Women Who Changed the World 1976–1996.” In 1997, Upside Magazine included her in the “Elite 100: 100 Executives Leading The Digital Revolution.” In 1998, Vanity Fair Magazine included Professor Strossen in “America’s 200 Most Influential Women.” In 1999, Ladies’ Home Journal included her in “America’s 100 Most Important Women.”

Historic African American Artifacts Featured in UI Libraries’ Online Exhibit

A new online collection from the University of Iowa Libraries features digitized photographs, clippings, newsletters, and other historical materials documenting the experience of African American women in Iowa during the 20th century.

The “African American Women in Iowa Digital Collection,” on the web at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/aawiowa, is a collaborative project coordinated by the Digital Library Services department of the UI Libraries. Featuring digitized material from the Iowa Women’s Archives and the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa, the collection includes items dating between 1924 and 1970 that were formerly owned by Iowans ranging from sorority girls to civil rights activists.

A highlight from the collection is AAHMCCI’s scrapbook of Althea Beatrice Moore Smith, an African American student at the University of Iowa from 1924 to 1928. Filled with photographs of Smith and her friends posed on the Old Capitol steps and other familiar locations around campus, the scrapbook’s 50 pages also contain invitations, concert programs, and autographed messages from her wide acquaintance among the local African American community.

“This scrapbook is a wonderful snapshot of what it was like to be African American, female, and a student at the University of Iowa in the 1920s,” says Susan Kuecker, Curator of the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa, located in Cedar Rapids. “The Museum staff and board are so pleased that this scrapbook will be placed online so that anyone with internet access can view it and appreciate it for the treasure that it is.”

Other items include materials from the Iowa Women’s Archives, which began an initiative in the mid-1990s to acquire papers and oral histories from African American women around the state. Among the docments currently digitized from these collections is a 1929 pamphlet for the Iowa Federation Home, created to house female African American students at the University before dormitories were integrated, and the mid- to late-1960s newsletters of the Fort Madison branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“It’s exciting to see how the landscape of Iowa’s African American history has changed over the past decade. When we began preserving the documents and stories of African American women in 1995, very little historical material was available. Our work was a real act of discovery,” says Kären M. Mason, Curator of the Iowa Women’s Archives. “Since that time many groups have joined the effort to preserve and record this history. Now African American history in Iowa is not only available but visible in the African American museum, in a major published history: Outside In, and in these digital collections.”

The “African American Women in Iowa Digital Collection” is the latest in a series of projects coordinated by Digital Library Services for inclusion in the UI Libraries’ Iowa Digital Library web site, as well as the statewide Iowa Heritage Digital Collections consortium.

“This project demonstrates how technology can be used to preserve Iowa history and make it accessible to anyone in the state, from schoolchildren to scholars,” says Paul Soderdahl, Director of Library Information Technology and interim coordinator for Digital Library Services. “Through this collaborative effort, we can leverage the University Libraries’ technical infrastructure and digital library expertise to expose the diverse and precious collections of the Archives and the Museum”

To view more digital collections created from the UI Libraries’ archives, visit the Iowa Digital Library web site at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu.

Frost Quoted in Forbes Magazine

UI Libraries Conservator Gary Frost was recently quoted in Forbes.com. Jonathan Enfield, a lecturer at the University of Chicago, wrote “Stop Worrying About Copyrights” for the December 1, 2006 Special Report: Books.

“To the fear mongerers among the literati, the Internet is a threat to the paperbound book. It’s an electronic playground where copyrighted material can be exchanged among anonymous readers, destroying the profit-motive for writing and publishing. File-sharing has already eaten into music and film industry sales they figure, and publishing is as likely a victim.” more…

Children’s Books Featured in fyi

The latest edition of The University of Iowa Faculty & Staff newsletter fyi contains a photo feature on historic children’s books held in Special Collections. Click on the link to see some nice photographs of these materials, which are always available to view in person in the Special Collections reading room, and they can also be made available for presentations to classes.

Skhal Presents Poster at Medical Education Celebration Day

Kathy Skhal, Clinical Education Librarian at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences will be co-presenting a poster with Helen Damon-Moore, Ph.D. and Dee Dee Stafford, M.D., Ph.D. at the Medical Education Celebration Day on Thursday, November 30. The poster session is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the MERF Atrium.

The poster describes a major pilot project that Kathy took the lead on for the Foundations of Clinical Practice IV (FCP IV) course, linking information concepts in the FCP IV curriculum to lecture notes and course materials presented in the FCP I, II and III class series.

UI Libraries to Benefit from $225,000 Gift from Former Employee

A $225,000 gift from the estate of Clarice E. Krieg, who worked at the University of Iowa Libraries as a cataloguer in the 1920s and 1930s, will assist the UI Libraries in purchasing books and reference materials far into the future.

A 1932 graduate of the UI, Krieg died in 2004, having lived most recently in Eugene, Ore. Before designating that a portion of her estate be used to create the Clarice Krieg Libraries Fund, Krieg had been a longtime supporter of UI Libraries; her gifts included monetary contributions and her collection of Christmas-related greeting cards, which she donated to UI Libraries’ Special Collections. Those cards formed the heart of an exhibition at the UI Main Library in December 2000.

“We have been very touched by Clarice Krieg’s generosity to the University of Iowa Libraries over the years,” says Nancy L. Baker, University Librarian. “As a fellow academic librarian, she spent her career providing access to information. With this bequest, the UI Libraries will honor her legacy by continuing to meet the information needs of our students, faculty and staff.”

The University of Iowa Libraries is the largest library system in the state of Iowa and among the top 25 of the nation’s research libraries. The University’s Main Library, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, 10 branch libraries, and the Law Library contain more than 4 million volumes.

The UI Foundation is acknowledged by the UI as a preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information, visit the Foundation’s web site at www.uiowafoundation.org.

Washington-Hoagland Selected for ARL Leadership Program

Carlette Washington-Hoagland, Assessment and Staff Development Coordinator at the University of Iowa Libraries, is among 20 librarians selected for the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Leadership and Career Development Program. The selected librarians represent a diverse combination of library experience, cultural backgrounds and research interest areas. Washington-Hoagland was selected from a very competitive applicant pool.

“Carlette has been an asset to the UI Libraries for many years, and I’m so pleased that she has earned this honor,” says Nancy L. Baker, University Librarian. “She has managed an excellent staff development program at a time of tremendous change in libraries and her work in assessment has helped us respond to the needs of today’s library users.”

ARL sponsors the program to address the needs of research libraries for a more diverse professional workforce that can contribute to library success in serving increasingly diverse scholarly and learning communities. The 18-month program prepares mid-career librarians from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to take on increasingly demanding leadership roles in research libraries. It consists of several components: Leadership Institutes hosted across the country throughout the program, a Career Coach and personal visit to an ARL library and a research project related to one of the ARL strategic directions. Through contacts with experts and research library leaders, these program elements are combined to allow participants to explore the strategic issues faced by research libraries in the digital environment, leadership roles within research libraries and career development options and opportunities.

Let Them Eat Cake … at Music Library

To celebrate the School of Music’s 100th Anniversary, the staff at the Rita Benton Music Library invite you to join them for a party on Friday, November 3rd at 12 p.m.

This fall students and faculty from the School of Music performed a series of mini recitals in the library. For the finale this week an anniversary cake takes center stage.

For more information, contact Ruthann McTyre, Music Librarian at 335-3088.

Rare Film Restored, Available at UI Libraries

A rare film produced by noted social psychologist Kurt Lewin, a member of the University of Iowa faculty over 60 years ago, has been restored thanks to a National Film Preservation Foundation grant to the University Archives, Dept. of Special Collections in the University of Iowa Libraries.

The film, “Experimental Studies in the Social Climates of Groups, Parts I and II,” was produced by Lewin in 1938 to demonstrate patterns of group behavior that result from different types of environments, according to a 1940 UI Extension catalog describing the film. His pioneering research at Iowa suggested that one’s surroundings, not their individual traits, largely shape their actions.

Lewin (1890-1947) fled his native Germany in 1933 following the rise of Hitler and was a member of the UI faculty from 1935 to 1944. After moving to Boston in 1944, he established the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A 1984 survey identified Lewin, with Sigmund Freud, as the greatest influence on the thinking of contemporary psychologists.

The grant, for $4,760, provided for the cleaning and restoration of the original film, as well as production of digital and videotape copies for researchers to use.

The UI Libraries has partnered with the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum on this project. The UI Libraries will maintain DVD and VHS copies of the film in Media Services, which will be available to researchers. The original film and a preservation master (Beta tape) will be located in a climate-controlled facility at the Hoover Museum.

Kraft Wins Presidents Award for State Outreach and Public Engagement

A University of Iowa faculty member, staff member, student and a clinic started by students are this year’s recipients of the UI President’s Award for State Outreach and Public Engagement, UI President David J. Skorton announced today.

The annual award, created as part of the Year of Public Engagement, honors faculty, staff and students (individuals or groups) who demonstrate exemplary outreach to the State of Iowa. The $1,000 awards are given in four categories — faculty, staff, student and group/organization. Group winners share the $1,000 stipend equally.

The 2006 recipients are Don Coffman, professor and area head in the College of Education’s music education program and faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences School of Music; Nancy E. Kraft, preservation librarian in UI Libraries; Mark Kresowik, former UI Student Government president; and the Mobile Clinic, an interdisciplinary project that was started by and engages students from the health sciences across the UI.

“I am very gratified at the large number of nominations we received for this award and for the truly impressive amount of creative and generous outreach and service in which our university community engages,” Skorton said. “Our awardees are representative of a remarkable spirit of caring and giving that permeates our entire campus and community. I thank the selection committee for their dedication and excellent work in providing me with a number of wonderful nominations from which to make still-difficult choices.”

Nancy Kraft is being recognized not only for her general contributions to the preservation and accessibility of historical sources in Iowa, but also for two particular initiatives: the Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium (ICPC) and the Iowa Heritage Digital Collections. Ms. Kraft has played an important leadership role in the ICPC in developing and delivering a training program for Iowans (delivered in part through the ICN), especially those who work in small repositories around the state, on ways to take care of historical collections of all kinds. Many attendees work in isolated settings with little or no access to additional expertise and advice. Ms. Kraft has also led the creation of the Iowa Heritage Digital Collections, a statewide project designed to make the wide range of collections pertaining to Iowa that are housed in different types of libraries, museums, and historical societies throughout the state widely available through an online database (http://iowaheritage.lib.uiowa.edu/). Ms. Kraft has helped ensure that Iowa’s cultural assets and cultural memory last well into the future and remain widely accessible.