Whether you are planning courses for summer or fall quarters or beginning to take a deep dive into your research this summer, the Libraries stands ready to help! The UW Libraries is in year one of a three-year pilot exploring new digital scholarship tools. Use these tools to help teach new knowledge creation skills in your classes and to share your scholarship openly with a broader audience.
Omeka image: Omeka site for Experimental Beijing by Dr. Sasha Welland
Here are our top 3 digital scholarship tools and tips:
1) Create a virtual exhibit with Omeka: Collect, describe, and share research images and artifacts in this easy-to-use platform; it’s like your very own virtual museum!
WordPress makes it easy to organize a wide range of content including oral histories, video and more.
Because it’s free and open access, your research is more widely available than platforms that are limited by paywalls. WordPress site for UW Bothell’s Washington Prison History Project
Student-created critical edition of The Mill on the Floss
Replace your online class discussion board by using Manifold’s private reading groups to directly annotate a public domain text or open access article
Publish your own research openly or post a draft and ask for open peer review of your text
From ideation to project completion, get help and learn how digital scholarship can support your research and teaching goals. Contact your digital scholarship team at [email protected]. We look forward to working with you!
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Stories
Responding to the Call: George Floyd, Black Lives Matter and Systemic Change
Speaking on behalf of UW Libraries to all individuals and communities of color— including our UW employees, users and partners—we mourn with you and support the calls throughout our region and across the nation for justice, accountability and equality. We care about you. We see you. Black Lives Matter.
The brutal killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tacoma resident Manuel Ellis and the many other victims of racist violence who suffered before them, reveal the long, persistent history of racism in our country and within our local communities. The protests in response call us to urgently recognize and change the broken system that has enabled and sustained racist violence and oppression. It is a call that we heed, while at the same time working to live through and manage a global pandemic and economic crisis that continues to challenge all facets of our lives, disproportionately impacting communities of color.
As I reflect on this unprecedented time in our history, I recognize my own privilege and advantage as a white woman and a leader for the UW Libraries. Libraries have a central role to play in building a more equitable society, and yet we bear the responsibility to investigate and dismantle our policies, practices and cultures that perpetuate the inequities. We have a long way to go.
Libraries are inherently designed for and dedicated to the public good. They are built on the promise of knowledge, community and openness, but this promise is broken by the pervasiveness of racism and systemic bias that exist within our communities and specifically within libraries themselves—obvious, unconscious and indifferent. We acknowledge that the legacy of embedded racism and brutality is not isolated to places or periods of time. It is right here. It is right now. As institutions who have long been working to take steps to address these issues—we must challenge ourselves to do more. Our worthy and well-intentioned goals and strategic plans are guideposts, not end-games; it’s time to revisit and understand where and how we can do better.
As UW Libraries, we actively support the University in sustaining diversity, creating inclusive experiences for the UW community, and confronting institutional bias and structural racism. It is one of our core values. This moment in time asks us—both as individuals and as institutions, to do more. The Libraries can provide resources for learning and self-education; however, we acknowledge that a list of resources is not the answer, it is one potential tool out of many to support our collective work to self-educate. How we invest our time moving forward—our actions—will define the change we see in the future.
To our UW community, I pledge to work alongside our employees, formal and informal committees and groups, and campus leadership to revisit and rethink how equity, diversity and inclusion truly show up at UW Libraries. This work is already deeply embedded in our mission and values; it is not new, but it requires a renewed focus and calibration. It requires a seismic shift in the way we work, to examine our current plans, policies and procedures through the lens of equity and anti-racism. Our Libraries leadership team is fully committed to this promise and we intend to share our progress publicly.
I extend an open invitation to my fellow libraries staff and leaders to share your work, to engage and collaborate as we respond to the call for urgency and action—to fulfill the promise of knowledge, community and openness that our public and academic Libraries are built on. May we each do the hard work to find the pathway to true change, a path guided by caring, compassion and love for each other.
Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson
Vice Provost and Dean of University Libraries
University of Washington
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Stories
Preparing for Summer and Fall Quarter: What You Need to Know Now
June 2, 2020
This post was updated on 7/6/2020
We know our UW community is eager for information to help plan for summer quarter and beyond. The UW Libraries is working in close partnership with University leadership and community partners to assess and plan for return-to-work/return-to-school following the new UW Safe Start protocols. Our decisions will be guided by our shared values and mission of providing access and excellence while ensuring the maximum health and safety for Libraries’ staff and our users. We have convened dedicated working teams to focus specifically on developing future operational plans. These plans will be based on forthcoming updated guidelines from the State and University, in line with the state’s phased reopening approach.
While there is no way to predict when exactly new guidelines will be available to inform potential operational changes, there is some information and guidance specific to the Libraries that can help faculty and staff plan under such uncertain conditions:
1)Summer Quarter- Plan to utilize online/electronic materials: Summer quarter course reserves will remain 100% online/e-resources. This UW Libraries blog postis a great resource for navigating available online resources and Libraries support.
2)Access to physical materials and curb-side pick up: Curbside pick-up will not commence immediately upon Libraries entering Phase 2, but it is a service we hope to provide as soon as it’s feasible – see this blog for more information. In accordance with state public health and safety guidelines, Libraries’ buildings remain closed, and staff are not working on-site to facilitate any type of access to physical materials. Our back-to-work/back-to-school planning teams are evaluating a number of scenarios to potentially enable some access to physical collections (based on future changes to state/University guidelines), but access at this time is not feasible under existing protocols and we do not expect a change in status until a Phase 3 scenario at this time.
3)Fall quarter- Plan to utilize online/electronic materials: Because we do not know how access to campus and the Libraries will change come fall quarter, we advise instructors who are teaching in fall 2020 to plan for online course readings and materials to the greatest extent possible: existing UW collections, includinge-books, journal articles,streaming media, andopen educational resources/open textbooks. There are many reasons to support an “online only” model, and more detailed guidance and information can be found in the post “Faculty Guidance for Choosing Online Materials”. Please also consider the potential that some students will continue classes online only, perhaps in another state or country, and may not have access to physical collections.
4)Now is the best time to engage with Libraries’ staff: While future operational plans are unknown at this time, planning now for fall quarter allows adequate time for Libraries’ staff to assist in identifying alternate options for e-resources and other alternatives that may not have been possible in spring quarter due to the short window of time between UW/Libraries’ building closures and the start of spring quarter. Take advantage of the time we have now and our Librarians subject expertise while it is most accessible.
5)The importance of HathiTrust to Libraries re-opening strategy: As we consider multiple options for re-opening, any approach for a gradual re-opening will be balanced with the importance of the Universities’ HathiTrust partnership that currently provides electronic access to more than 1.7 million books in our print collection that are not physically accessible while the Libraries’ buildings are closed. Please note that this access is a temporary benefit for UW members during this emergency situation. Once the UW Libraries restores access to our physical collections, this temporary online access will be shut off and will not be available to students who continue learning remotely (out-of-state, or internationally). For this reason, we advise faculty to work with subject Librariansto identify course materials that will be consistently available regardless of Libraries’ operations and access to physical materials.
We will continue to share new information and updates to our operations as they evolve on our COVID-19 Update webpageand through our Libraries’ communications channels. As always, our Libraries’ staff are here to answer your questions anytime. We understand that not having access to the Libraries’ buildings is a frustrating situation for our entire UW community, and we thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through the next phase of operational changes, guided by our commitment to the health and safety of our employees and all UW Libraries’ users.
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Stories
Faculty Guidance for Choosing Online Materials
June 2, 2020
Why choose online alternatives to standard textbooks or physical course readings?
1) Ease of use. These existing resources are immediately available and avoid potential delays (sometimes of several weeks!) that may occur in trying to source and license new electronic materials for courses.
2) More equitable access. In accordance with existing UW guidance, all classes (online or in-person) this fall should “ensure that all students can complete their coursework, even if they are unable to attend in-person classes due to illness or higher risk of health complications from the coronavirus.” The same consideration should be given to students who are not able to access the Libraries for similar reasons. In particular, open textbooks provide students with more equitable access to content in many subjects–they are available right away; are free online; and students can have copies printed locally at low cost.
NOTE: It is important to consider that not all e-resources are accessible for all needs. Please see the following guidance to help select accessible course materials:
3) Less strain on limited resources. Using these existing alternatives limits additional expenditures from collections budgets and allows Libraries staff to support a broader number of courses and researchers.
Where can I find out more information or get assistance?
Don’t forget about Interlibrary Loan (ILL): ILL continues to fill requests for articles and book chapters. Any requests that cannot be filled with electronic resources will be requested from other libraries.
We are here to help. Reach out now to yoursubject librarians, who can partner with you to identify online e-book/streaming resources that are already available. Finding and orchestrating e-resources can be a complex process, and we are here to help you navigate the system to find what you need. Reaching out now–far in advance of autumn quarter–allows for adequate time to identify materials that will be the best fit, and to help achieve your course objectives.
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Stories
UW Libraries Awarded Recordings at Risk Award from CLIR
May 29, 2020
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) recently announced that UW Libraries, Special Collections has been awarded the CLIR ‘Recordings at Risk’ Award.* The award provides a grant of over $30,000 to help with the digitization of recordings – ‘at risk’ due to their fragility, lack of equipment to play them, as well as environmental factors.
Image: From Special Collections WTO Collection
The award recognizes projects involving underrepresented communities, and will fund the project: Digitizing the Independent Media Center World Trade Organization Videotape Collection to digitize, preserve, and make accessible for the first time videotape footage shot by filmmakers and activists during the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, Washington.
The 338 videotapes in the collection come from the Independent Media Center (IMC), an international network of journalists publishing ‘indie’ news reports, founded in Seattle. The IMC documented rallies, marches and other events from the viewpoint of grassroots activists themselves – labor leaders, environmentalists, farmers, anarchists and artists whose voices are underrepresented, particularly in existing public footage of the WTO protests.
The project is headed by Hannah Palin, the Moving Image Curator for Special Collections.
“It’s opening up a huge cache of primary source information for researchers—the ability to compare different perspectives on the same event, and to see how it relates to present day—that is going to be really interesting for the academic community studying these events and their impact,” Palin says.
Jill Freidberg, co-founder of the IMC and a Lecturer in the UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, gifted over 300 hours of footage from the protests to UW Libraries, which she inherited, collected and previously stored in her home for the past 20 years.
The collection of Betacam SP, DV, Hi8 and VHS videotapes is inherently at risk of being lost for good without digitization due to what is known as the “magnetic media crisis.”
Palin explains, “Videotape in particular is extremely fragile as a medium, and deteriorating quickly, worse than film, actually. The machines used for playback are breaking down. There are no parts to replace them. The people who actually understand how to repair and maintain the machines are retiring out of the business.”
Digitizing this collection of videotapes is a process that takes months of work with special equipment and properly designating historical metadata for each clip. The CLIR Award funds the utilization of outside vendors to help with preservation efforts, and in this case, the project is teaming up with locally based Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPOPS).
In the UW community, this collection provides an exceptional resource for studies in History, Cinema and Media Studies, Communication, Social Movements, and more. Graduate students will have the ability to work on videotape preservation, accessing techniques that are crucial towards preserving other collections in the future.
Palin estimates that the collection will be available to the public in around a year and a half, and will be found on the UW Libraries Digital Collections site and the WTO Seattle Collection. Film screenings will also occur through the Northwest Film Forum and in UW’s Allen Auditorium.
* The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Stories
Going the distance: An Acquisitions Trip to SE Asia at a Time of Pandemic
May 29, 2020
Buying Mon books in the market in Mawlamyine
In early February, before travel restrictions were implemented, and the true nature of the global pandemic was fully understood, I made an acquisitions trip to Southeast Asia to purchase materials for the UW Libraries SE Asia collection. While adhering to all of the CDC and UW guidelines for travel, it was still an anxious time to be traveling in Asia; but for me, it was a familiar itinerary. Visiting small publishers, government offices, museums and archives, and other sources of library materials that are not easily found in bookshops.
My trip began in Cambodia, then Myanmar. By the time I reached my final destination, Southern Viet Nam, life was far from normal. Despite restrictions, I was able to visit book shops, research institutions and some government agencies in most of my destinations, and achieved my major objectives, one of which relates to a proposed project the SE Asia Center is planning in collaboration with the UW Libraries, the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center in Phnom Penh, the Center for Khmer Studies in Siem Reap, and the Yangon Film School in Myanmar. It would focus on the work of Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, the founder of the Bophana Center, particularly his use of archives in film and other memory projects to assist national recovery after trauma. My other major objective in Myanmar was to continue the collection of electronic journals and newspapers which I began when the press opened up under the democracy movement. My visit to the Yangon Film School resulted in the purchase of some 60 documentary films, all with a focus on contemporary social issues, including ethnic and religious divisions in Myanmar. My visit to Myanmar coincided with that of the LC Field Office representative from Jakarta, Carol Mitchell, and she invited me to join her for a talk at the American Embassy on US research libraries, an event attended by over 100 librarians and which engendered very useful discussions of open access and copyright. Carol and I also took a 300 Km weekend trip to Mawlamyine in Mon State, and Hpa-an in Karen State to purchase local language materials.
My next stop was to be Hanoi, where I knew that a COVID outbreak had occurred in the northern suburbs. I constantly monitored the US CDC travel advisories, and was receiving updates from the UW’s Travel Security Office before I did decide to proceed. From my base in Hanoi, I made a daytrip to Hải Phòng, a Seattle Sister Cities whose local literary journal I have been collecting for many years. As a result of assistance from a poet friend in Hanoi, the head of the Hải Phòng Writer’s Union, which publishes the journal, donated to me all our missing journal issues as well as some 40 titles of rare literary works by Hải Phòng writers. As I flew to the central city of Huế, the government announced a second outbreak of COVID-19. Despite new restrictions, I was able to acquire materials from the main bookshop there, as well as from many local research organizations.
Book Street in Saigon
By the time I reached Saigon all government offices and libraries were closed, but bookshops were open and I had a valuable conversations about available ebooks. Then a friend called to say that her uncle, the Saigon writer Lê Văn Nghĩa, was offering to donate his collection of some 30 boxes of books to UW. Concern over shipping costs forced me to select enough for only one box, but amongst the rarer titles I selected was one about former UW Vietnamese foreign student Nguyen Thai Binh, who was killed by security forces at the Saigon airport in 1972. Binh, who was involved in the anti-war movement on campus, was forced to return to Saigon by the US government. Fearing for his life, he attempted to hijack the plane back to Viet Nam, hoping to force it to land in Hanoi. Binh became a hero of the anti-war movement and a memorial collection in his name was donated to Special Collections. The book, which shows no OCLC holdings, will be a great addition. The next day I left for a very long, tense trip back to Seattle, via Tokyo and Denver, just as the U.S. too was beginning to lockdown against the virus.
Stories
Libraries Superheroes: Procuring eBooks for UW Students
May 22, 2020
The Tadoku bookshelf in the Tateuchi East Asia Library
As faculty across campus raced to prepare for spring quarter, there were many concerns over how classes could be conducted without access to the Libraries. For example, Izumi Matsuda, a senior lecturer in Asian Language and Literature, was considering not offering her Tadoku class because of its reliance on the physical books available in the Tateuchi East Asia Library.
“My course was scheduled to meet every week in the Library, where we had access to over 400 physical books on the Tadoku Bookshelf,” said Matsuda.” I wasn’t sure how we would be able to facilitate this class in an online learning environment, but the Tateuchi East Asia Library staff made it possible to offer the course as scheduled.”
“the Tateuchi East Asia Library staff made it possible to offer the course as scheduled.”
Lucky for these students and faculty, Japanese Studies Librarian Azusa Tanaka was already on it. Azusa anticipated this need and began researching options immediately. Her quick actions and conscientious focus ensured that this popular class remained on the schedule.
Historically, certain types of Japanese eBook options are limited, especially when it comes to academic titles. In fact, there were only 55 eBook titles that were suitable for the Tadoku course. But that didn’t stop Azusa and the Tateuchi East Asia Library (TEAL) team from going the extra mile to procure the full order of requested books for this class. After an extensive search, Azusa and Saori Tachibana, an acquisition specialist, helped rush-order 51 eBooks available for purchase. However, they wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this heroic feat without the work the planning and negotiating the Libraries had done BEFORE COVID-19. Earlier in the year, Faye Christenberry, the UW Libraries Collection Strategy and Licensing Librarian, worked miracles with the vendors to create new eBook license agreements—without her work, none of the new eBooks would have been ready on time for remote learning.
But Azusa and team didn’t stop there. They continued their search for open-source materials, locating an additional 272 titles to meet and exceed the class goal of 200 books. For students to access these books, they had to be catalogued first. Ebook cataloging requires more advanced skills than typical cataloging. So when the pandemic hit, TEAL’s Chinese Cataloging and Metadata Librarian, Jian P. Lee, changed up the training schedule to teach these critical skills and ramp up training for Keiko Hill, a new Japanese Cataloger/Tateuchi East Asia Library Serials & Electronic Resources Librarian. Keiko quickly learned the procedures and successfully cataloged all of the purchased eBooks by the second week of the spring quarter. Amazing!
They continued their search for open-source materials, locating an additional 272 titles to meet and exceed the class goal of 200 books.
It is nearly impossible for even a seasoned cataloger to catalog so many eBooks in a few days—so while Keiko cataloged, Azusa wanted to provide a way for students to view/access books immediately. Rather than just copy all the titles into an excel spreadsheet (the easiest solution), she thought about it from the students’ point-of-view. She knew seeing the books visually would help to encourage more reading, so she took the extra step of copying 378 individual books (information and book cover images, when available) into her LibGuide page, which was completed two days before the quarter began. Azusa’s student assistants also helped to save the day—one working in Seattle, and another working remotely from Tokyo. Two students from both sides of the Pacific worked tirelessly for a week straight to achieve this amazing feat of Librarianship!
“I attended the first session of the Tadoku class to explore the LibGuide page with the students. I was very happy to see the students reading the books from the Guide with curious eyes.” – Azusa Tanaka, Japanese Studies Librarian
But there are more Libraries superheroes in this story who helped save the day, even after spring quarter started, and not all of them were Librarians. When one of the eBook platforms’ remote access was not functioning, Mike Reynolds from Libraries ITS quickly figured out the complex technical issue and corrected it so students could continue to access the eBooks from home.
They trained staff before the pandemic so they could jump right in to use the platform, which has been an essential tool during this crisis.
Christine Tawatao, head of Libraries web services and UW librarian Dan Mandeville, Nordic Studies & Linguistics Librarian helped many of our librarians to maintain and develop their LibGuide pages. They trained staff before the pandemic so they could jump right in to use the platform, which has been an essential tool during this crisis. Corey Murata and the entire collections team are constantly working on new e-resources: databases, electronic platforms purchasing, and subscriptions. Heather Spence from the Libraries financial office helps pay the invoices (note: Remote learning cost more than $100,000 in unplanned Libraries expenses to support remote teaching and learning this quarter.)*
Whether it’s a resource from TEAL, or any of our 16 UW Libraries, providing one eBook takes a team of Libraries superheroes!
*If you would like to support the Libraries COVID-19 Emerging Needs Fund, you can make a contribution HERE.
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Stories
The Magic of UW InterLibrary Loan
May 21, 2020
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is magical!
I don’t just believe that ILL is magical because this is the work that I do, but it is the opinion of others as well. We hear that phrase a lot from our users, especially in this remote learning environment.
Image Source: The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) helps Interlibrary loan obtain items from around the world.
Interlibrary Loan has always been committed to helping the UW community get access to resources from around the globe. The global ILL community has adapted during this crisis to continue providing an efficient service to each other. For example, libraries that have never loaned eBooks have changed their policies to do so, ILL staff have been sharing tips and tricks to make sharing resources easier during this time, and there has even been a group of volunteers from around the world who have agreed to provide free articles to libraries that don’t normally participate in ILL. What does that mean for you at UW? It means we are still here, working every day to ensure our students and faculty are getting accessible materials delivered directly to their accounts—even when campus is closed.
We are working every day to ensure our students and faculty are getting accessible materials delivered directly to their accounts—even when campus is closed.
Some people think that ILL is closed right now because the Libraries buildings are closed and there is no access to physical materials. Not true! The ILL staff are all working remotely, providing the same level of service as always. In fact, we have processed 11,194 requests this quarter. That is about equal to the number of requests we had by this time of Spring Quarter 2019, a total of over 13,000 requests.
The ILL staff are all working remotely, providing the same level of service as always. In fact, we have processed 11,194 requests this quarter.
ILL is still requesting scans from libraries that are able to provide them. We are requesting ebooks when they are available. We are finding alternative resources when the item you need is not available or digitized. We are providing book chapters from digital collections for UW courses. Depending on what you’re looking for – we may be able to get it to you in under an hour or at the most, a few days’ time.
So join your fellow Huskies (3,300+ and counting!*) and request something from Interlibrary Loan. During these times, when it feels like just about everything is shut down— know that you can count on us. Request that item you’ve been trying to find and see what a magical experience ILL can be!
And just for fun- because we are Libraries, and we love data–
The top 10 journal requests for ILL this quarter:
Nature catalysis
New England journal of medicine
Journal of telemedicine and telecare
Neurology
The American review of respiratory disease
The International journal of periodontics & restorative dentistry
Journal of Alzheimers disease
Seminars in musculoskeletal radiology
The American surgeon
Clinical and experimental rheumatology
The top 10 books:
The origins of racism in the west
Crossing the chasm.
The shaping of social organization: social rule system theory with applications
Massive and Irreparable Rotator Cuff Tears
Comparative mysticism: an anthology of original sources
The Marketing Imagination
The Spanish Enlightenment revisited
Mind over magma: the story of igneous petrology
Topographies of whiteness: mapping whiteness in library and information science
Geology of north-west Borneo: Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah
Whatever you are looking for—if it’s possible to get it to you, we will.
*3,326 people requested items from March 30th through May 13th as reported by ILLiad data
Stories
Accessibility Is Essential for Remote Learning
May 21, 2020
Today, May 21st, is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD) focusing on digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people with disabilities and impairments. As the Accessibility Coordinator for UW Libraries, I routinely answer questions about what the Libraries are doing to ensure accessibility is considered and properly implemented, especially as more content is moved online; so today is great opportunity to shine a light on all of the work our Libraries team has been doing in this area. As we made the temporary transition from in-person to remote learning for our users, I have been amazed by the efforts of UW Libraries staff to ensure our students and faculty have adequate access to library resources in spring quarter.
The UW Libraries has done considerable work to improve accessibility. It has been going on for many years and will continue ongoing, as equity and inclusion are core to the Libraries’ strategic plan; enhancing equitable environments for research, learning, and working.
One way we are making that happen is through the Libraries Accessibility Working Group. The group has hosted accessibility workshops covering a range of topics from improving digital accessibility to understanding the roles of service animals. Currently the group is working on a 5-year accessibility plan to remediate accessibility issues within the Libraries.
How are Libraries continuing to address accessibility for remote learning? The good news is… a lot!
Staff members, including students, are working remotely, leading projects to make improvements to many of our vast electronic resources.
Here is a list of a few of the projects that we have going on right now:
captioning videos for the libraries YouTube channel
captioning and transcription for work in our Moving Image collection
developing an accessible template for transcription of oral history projects
keyboard testing of library E-resources in our A-Z database lists
improving the accessibility of PDF files on our web site and in Special Collections
performing accessibility audits of third-party platforms for purchase consideration
There are many more projects that we have in progress and we acknowledge there is still much to do when it comes to addressing the body of work required to improve accessibility for remote learning. Our staff are incredibly dedicated to this work—I see progress every day that demonstrates a collective belief that accessibility is as essential to remote learning as it is to face-to-face learning.
Be sure to check out how the UW accessibility community is celebrating today and services offered across campus HERE.
For questions about UW Libraries accessibility initiatives and projects, feel free to email me: [email protected]
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2020 UW Libraries Student Video Contest Winners Announced!
May 20, 2020
The annual UW Libraries Student Video Contest asks students to create original videos showcasing the Libraries through the lens of student experience. Across all three campuses, UW Libraries is the “heart” of the University – our people, places, resources and programs support students, faculty and our local community in so many ways. As this year’s contest kicked off on Valentine’s Day, what better theme could we choose than “love”? The contest asked the student filmmakers to consider, why do you “heart” the UW Libraries (#IHeartUWLibraries)? Due to COVID-19, we extended the contest deadline to allow students to consider the online learning environment and how the Libraries continue to support students remotely.
There were many excellent submissions all with different creative approaches and personal perspectives.
Special thanks to the Libraries Excellence Fund who generously funded the cash awards for the winning videos. The Libraries Excellence Fund provides support for activities, projects and programs to enhance the overall excellence of the UW Libraries, including services, speakers, publications and special projects.
“I wanted to produce a video highlighting my Vietnamese heritage and research while highlighting valuable library resources. It was an opportunity during this quarantine for self-reflection, creative expression, and experimentation since my academic journey from undergraduate through graduate school has always centered on personal development and self-discovery. I cannot stress how much I relied on the UW Library for this purpose.”
In this light-hearted love letter to the Libraries, we get a snapshot into the undergraduate experience that captures so many reasons why students “love” the UW Libraries. With an emphasis on Odegaard Undergraduate Library, we see how the Libraries provide essential spaces and tools to support students and learning.
In this highly artistic visual story, we see all of the familiar Libraries spaces in a new way while understanding how Libraries are still here for students during remote learning.
The cinematic storytelling in this video transports you to a love story made possible entirely by the UW Libraries.
Check out and share the winning video submissions and other entries on the UW Libraries YOU TUBE Channel.
The annual UW Libraries Student Video Contest typically takes place in February annually. Mark your calendars for next year and follow us on social media to find out about next year’s launch date.
