A Bittersweet Year

This past academic year, beginning in July 2008 has been a whirlwind of events that could only be described as bittersweet and busy for your colleagues in the Library. The “sweet” part is that plans for the new library continue, even in the midst of these difficult economic times and Library faculty and staff continue to refine and develop innovative services and access to additional collections. I confess that I wait daily for the “call” that will tell us the new Library has been postponed, reduced in scale, or worst of all cancelled. So far, so good on that topic and as a matter of fact, we are getting ready to see the first round of drawings. I look forward to sharing them with you as we move ahead. The “bitter” part of the year stems from the fact that the Library is preparing for $100,000 in cuts to our budget and the loss of two faculty instruction librarian positions. Continue Reading

Cary Stiles joins the Lupton Library as a part-time Reference Librarian. She comes to UTC by way of Regent University in Virginia where she served as a reference assistant while completing a Master of Science in Library and Information Science (MSLIS) degree from Syracuse University. Her academic credentials also include a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree from Mary Baldwin College which led to a career as a middle school Language Arts teacher, as a school library Media Specialist, and also led to her initial interest in academic librarianship. She has a BA in Art History and Mass Communications from James Madison University where she interned at the Visual Resources Center for the School of Art and Art History.

Her interests include reading, dancing, and blogging about being a newlywed and living in Chattanooga.

The Lupton Library now subscribes to the database Women and Social Movements.  This resource provides full-text access to biographies of women, primary documents written by and about women and social organizations, statistics and graphs, a chronology, and document projects that bring information together for you and answers specific questions, such as “How Did Local Antislavery Women Form National Networks in the Antebellum United States?” or “How Did Gender and Class Shape the Age of Consent Campaign Within the Social Purity Movement, 1886-1914?”.

Women and Social Movements covers the United States from 1600-2000, providing possible sources for your papers in U.S. History, Women’s Studies, English, Political Science, Social Work, and the list goes on.

The search screen is easy to use and encourages browsing, And remember, all the sources are full-text!

Bill Prince retired from UTC on January 16th, after 27 years of service at Lupton Library as a reference/instruction librarian.

“I have truly found my 27 years at UTC to be fulfilling because of the friendly working relations with colleagues, students, and faculty. The highlight of my career has been providing reference service to our students, and working with colleagues within the reference department and the library.” Bill said. “On a personal note, I have enjoyed the fact that both my son and daughter attended UTC and were here for a total of 9 years.”

Professional highlights of Bill’s career include serving on the American Library Association (ALA) Council, chairing 4 committees for the Tennessee Library Association (TLA) and chairing 2 committees in the Southeast Library Association (SELA). Additionally, Bill published a peer-reviewed article that was selected by the Library Instruction Round Table as one of the top 20 library instruction articles of 1993.

Bill’s retirement plans include sports activities, travel, and taking classes at UTC.

We wish Bill all the best in this new phase of his life.

In 2008 Lupton Library and the Special Collections began building a Barry Moser Collection of books and artwork from one of this university’s more distinguished alumni. Mr. Moser is a internationally-recognized illustrator and has provided illustrations for several hundred books, including classics and children’s books. With help from Dr. Verbie Prevost, head of UTC’s English Department, the Special Collections now has over 150 books illustrated by Mr. Moser. Last fall, Mr. Moser donated a copy of his Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, which he designed and produced in the late 1990s. This large, beautifully illustrated work, in two volumes, was given to UTC in honor of former university art professor George Cress, who passed in early 2008.

The Special Collections will be displaying some of these books and artwork during the spring semester, in anticipation of a larger exhibit in the fall of 2009, and a possible appearance on campus by Mr. Moser. For more information on the collection visit: http://www.lib.utc.edu/Moser.html.