While 2020 was a difficult year, each department at UT Libraries had many great successes! Check out what accomplishments your colleagues are celebrating below.
Acquisitions and Continuing Resources
Assisted APCS in reviewing every renewal line in FY21 as a proactive measure in an uncertain budget year. Processed every renewal, change, and/or cancellation related to this review.
Successfully transitioned to working from home.
Actively participated in the early adopter program for Rialto, a new tool for ordering materials for the Libraries’ collection.
Assessment Programs and Collection Strategy (APCS)
Spearheaded by Jennie Mezick and working with multiple departments throughout the libraries, APCS led an effort to quickly pivot to providing online access to as many materials as possible, as well as conduct a review of every renewal for 2021 in order to ensure we were prepared for any budget eventuality. Reviewing renewals this way takes a huge amount of time and the effort of dozens of individuals in the library. This is something that would normally be done over several years’ time and we were able to accomplish it in mere months.
In a normal year, we start working on the Faculty Bookplate event in July and it takes us every bit of the hundreds of hours we spend working on it to have all books ordered and plated by the time of the event, usually in mid to late October. This year, we didn’t know if the event was going to happen until much later. In addition, we had to completely re-imagine it as a virtual event. Led by Gail Williams, who made a truly heroic effort under difficult circumstances, and with the invaluable support of Mat Jordan, we made this virtual event a smashing success. We heard much feedback from the honored faculty about how special this was to them during this time.
Lest we forget the Assessment side of things, in a truly impressive undertaking, led by Louis Becker, we created, got IRB approval for, and coordinated distribution of a survey that took advantage of the unique circumstances to attempt to measure how physical library use makes a difference to undergraduate students. We will soon hit our goal of 500 respondents to this survey and move on to phase 2 of data collection and analysis. In a time when we were struggling to maintain normal function, being able to respond to and take advantage of this unprecedented situation to perform some valuable assessment is a great accomplishment.
Business Services Office
Our office transitioned to a remote work environment without missing a beat and even expanded our capabilities. 2020 was a remarkable year that provided the opportunity for us to grow through adversity.
Cataloging
Readjusted our schedule and work arrangement to have staff return to work at Hodges with the hybrid 50/50 working from home/at Hodges and with two staff working at Hodges full time since Fall Semester 2020
Robin Cox created a guideline for Edison (SLA) and Collection Logistics Team, along with herself, to work on the backlog of physical books in the deduplication process with 13,146 physical book copies withdrawn as a result of this new workflow (during 10/08 -12/30/2020).
Created and tested a guideline to dedupe and edit MARC records (with Alma normalization) returned from OCLC during Data Reclamation Project and imported the records to enrich old catalog records from retrospective (card catalog) conversion (to MARC) in Alma. Overlaid 15,164 records in Alma during the Fall Semester 2020. (The remaining 36,057 records were processed and added to Alma in January 2021. Total legacy records enriched in Alma from this project = 51,221 records.
Collections Logistics
Staff verified HathiTrust requests against UT holdings to ensure that the library was compliant with our agreement to fulfill only requests for items held in our collection. The team adapted hold for pick-up services for contactless pickup, reinstated digitization of print holdings, and resumed shelving of returns.
Completed a large-scale shelf reading and inventory project of three areas in the stacks plagued with issues due to overcrowding. The project took several months to complete and resulted in approximately 200,000 items being inventoried and 11,000 out of place items being correctly shelved.
Collection Logistics continued to come in on shifts during the week to ensure the intake of mail, FedEx, and UPS deliveries. During this period, the department started to develop quarantine protocols based on research findings to ensure that incoming material was held until it could safely be passed on to the intended recipients.
The Commons (Public Services + Research Assistance)
Successful transition to online services in Spring 2020 supporting the library’s mission and vision while keeping our community safe and providing access to resources and services such as research assistance via chat and zoom.
Adjusted hours and services to a hybrid model to benefit patrons and staff via pod scheduling, encouraging e-course reserves, arranged for shipping payment for the return of items and pick up at the dorms, prevented fees going the bursar to limiting the undue burden on students, faculty, and staff while maintaining a safe environment via security and announcements that encourage mask compliance throughout 2020.
Worked with campus partners to continue support for activities such as tutoring and services that support student success.
Community Learning Services and Diversity Programs
The Libraries Diversity Lunch & Learn program: The committee was able to successfully transition this program to a Zoom format which allowed us to host the largest number of participants since the Lunch & Learn series was launched. This is a proud accomplishment because this program is a valuable tool for discussing campus specific, community, and worldwide social justice issues.
Big Orange STEM Saturday (BOSS): This is a well-known library outreach initiative that helps low income and first-generation high school students explore higher education opportunities and careers for STEM majors. We were able to meet the needs of this population by reformatting the conference structure for a virtual platform. The program was successful in identifying new learning techniques for virtual programming. Over one hundred students participated and their survey responses indicated their appreciation for the online conference and educational activities.
Reading Design Challenge: This was a new program created during the last year in partnership with Green Magnet Academy, a local STEAM oriented elementary school. Students were asked to read a book (“New Kid” by Jerry Craft) and complete creative challenges. We created this program to increase student enjoyment of reading and improve related academic outcomes by utilizing the Engineering Design Process in an innovative way. Through this program we were able to have direct interaction with both in person and virtual students during workshops and read aloud sessions. An indication of success for this program is that the teachers invited us to return this Spring and again next year.
Digital Initiatives
Next Generation Repository Services: Developed a shared vision for what our future digital and institutional repository infrastructure should be, how they should work, and attributes they must have by completing the Next Generation Repository Solution project and a mapping of our MODS metadata to RDF. The information gathered from these exercises served as groundwork for writing RFPs to replace our current institutional and digital repository infrastructure.
IIIF as a Trunk: Digital Initiatives invested in training and experimentation in the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) to gain understanding of its APIs and specifications in order to utilize the standard to drive the display of content in our new repository systems, launch a new digital exhibits platform, and develop solutions for new integrations and projects such as Rising from the Ashes.
Developing a Culture of Shared Responsibility: In order to cultivate a culture of shared responsibility, Digital Initiatives developed and adopted a code of conduct that captures our values and expectations for members of our team. We also unified workflows around our project management tools and developed a framework for establishing and completing quarterly goals to better serve the Libraries and university.
Enterprise Systems
Participated with other library departments as an early adopter of Rialto, a new book ordering system offered by ProQuest.
Re-configured many vital patron services, extracted holdings on a monthly basis to the HathiTrust ETAS service, and provided ongoing support for Alma, OneSearch, and ILLiad during the library’s “safer at home” move.
Opened 540 new support tickets during 2020 and worked with multiple library departments and vendors to resolve. We stayed VERY busy!
Facilities Department
Prepared the libraries facilities for reopening to the campus community.
Won the 1st Impression Contest for the Hodges Courtyard including new tables and chairs and vinyl wrap on the transformer.
Installed new artwork in the Miles Reading Room and relocated the leisure reading collection.
George F. DeVine Music Library
Successfully transitioning our staff and student workers to at-home work during the time of the initial pandemic shut-down and beyond.
Re-configuring Music library spaces and services for the fall 2020 semester.
Successfully recruiting, interviewing, and hiring a new Music Library Evening Supervisor.
Liaison Programs
Seamlessly transitioned to online instruction and consultations
Helped instructors secure the online materials they need for classes.
Assisted faculty and students in negotiating changes to library services.
Human Resources
Virtual Monthly Mingles – welcome to my crib, lunches, get to know me cards, bingo, trivia, hot cocoa social, photo contests, word searches, and more
Wilma Dykeman Stokely Lecture (last in-person event) and a week-long virtual Spirit Awards celebration last summer (in place of our usual breakfast)
Transitioning everyone home; creating a safe work environment at the Library and transitioning some back again to work in-person
Marketing and Communications
Crisis Communications – The Marketing and Communication team learned quickly the need to balance transparency and timely communication against information fatigue. The team worked over the course of the year to mirror the Chancellor’s message of “compassion, flexibility, and creativity.” That compassion was #1 in that message set a tone for how we would all work together and support each other in serving students, faculty, and staff while recognizing our own needs and the needs of others. Initial messaging focused keenly on safety and how we were supporting it, later shifting to focus on how we were serving the public during a critical time, focused around the message of “Classes are online and so are we!” Upon reopening of library spaces, messaging encouraged students to follow protocols in the spaces and explained how to do that. We continued to be vigilant about communicating and reminding people how to access our expanded online resources and how to get help in an online environment by increasing the amount of communication that “put a face with a name” for our library users. This included some of the great videos listed below, one of which includes an original rap song about HathiTrust by the Libraries’ own Trey Hobson:
Virtual Events – Thanks to the addition of StreamYard to the Marketing and Communications team arsenal, we were able to transition seamlessly (to the outside eye) to virtual events. An existing series, postponed from the Spring, and initially planned as an in-person event, Boundless: Artists in the Archives went live on November 19, 2020. The Boundless program highlights the cultural and research value of the UT Libraries’ special collections by commissioning musicians and other artists to explore our archives and to translate their insights into the language of their craft. Knoxville musician Marcel Holman was the featured artist, and the event showcased the debut performance of two songs inspired by the letters of a soldier to his sweetheart, sent from the front lines of the War in Vietnam. This shift also allowed us to create a new series, called In Conversation, and we presented two of these events over the course of the Fall semester. The conversation between Ron Rash and Crystal Wilkinson gave audience members the chance to feel like flies on the wall as the two colleagues discussed their craft. Rash began by reading an excerpt from In the Valley, and the authors then discussed his motivations for revisiting the character of Serena Pemberton, including the influence of Macbeth on both narrative structure and character development. The conversation continued, weaving through a variety of topics including Appalachian identity, the writing process, and the environment. The second event in this series featured Betty Kearse and Robert D. Bland, an assistant professor of history and Africana studies at UT discussed Kearse’s book The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family. According to family legend, Kearse is a descendant of President James Madison and his enslaved cook and half-sister, Coreen. The Other Madisons traces her quest to learn more about her ancestors.
For Your Reference – A collaboration of the best possible kind, faculty and staff from various departments across the libraries came together to create an entirely new concept for demonstrating the value of media and information literacy, scholarship—and libraries overall—through our original livestream series, For Your Reference. The digital communication arena is a crowded space that became even more so as COVID-19 quarantine restrictions began and ultimately persisted. Individuals found themselves with more time to scroll and consume content, and, as a result, organizations and businesses felt the pressure to create and post content more frequently. In light of this information overload, the For Your Reference team recognized that UT Libraries needed a platform to break through the digital noise and stand out virtually, while simultaneously remaining committed to a focus on media and information literacy. This innovative livestream series covers timely topics through a conversation between two guest scholars, as well as showcasing the benefits of using librarians as guides to finding information and credible sources on those topics. For Your Reference simply wouldn’t be complete without a big orange dose of Volunteer spirit, incorporated through humorous examinations of items and stories from Special Collections, or through brief guest appearances from UT faculty from outside of the libraries. This collaboration across departments resulted in the first season of a slick video podcast that has so far garnered rave reviews and excitement from scholars interested in participating in future seasons. Many people should be proud of their contributions to this new initiative, and we look forward to the success of episodes to come.
Pendergrass Library
Pendergrass Library was instrumental in UTK’s efforts to complete wastewater testing for COVID-19 on campus. One of the scientists conducting the tests, Dr. Kurt Asher, reached out to Richard Sexton and requested assistance designing and 3D printing a rack that would hold the wastewater sample bottles in a water bath during the testing process. Working with Dr. Asher, Richard designed and refined a rack for that purpose. Richard, along with Zoe Bastone and Jeffrey Hines, then 3D printed the racks which were used for the wastewater testing. Dr. Asher reported that they worked as designed and allowed them to successfully complete their tests, which better helped campus identify positive cases of COVID-19.
Pendergrass supported the teaching and learning enterprise in a whole new way with the onset of the pandemic. Library instruction completely transformed, and Pendergrass’s librarians, Zoe Bastone, Isabella Baxter, and Jeanine Williamson, nimbly transitioned their instruction to new formats. Classes that were formerly taught in person were instead taught in Zoom or provided asynchronously in Canvas. Whole new methods were developed, including a Pendergrass Choose Your Own Adventure game. Student learning was aided by the addition of a Virtual Learning Commons for the Herbert College of Agriculture. Additionally, other efforts, such as Syllabus Support Day and Data & GIS Day, were held in support of instructors and researchers.
During fall semester 2020, the College of Veterinary Medicine began constructing a large addition to their building that will largely encase Pendergrass. The Pendergrass team has worked diligently in preparation of and during construction, including collaborating with stakeholders across campus, promoting access to the library, and advocating for all users. Despite all the challenges that construction has presented, they have never wavered in their mission to provide exceptional services, resources, and spaces to their patrons.
Scholars’ Collaborative
The Scholars’ Collaborative successfully launched in person in early Spring 2020 and then virtually in Fall 2020 our Open Sandbox Series. This series explores open-source research tools in a hands-on workshop. The first 2 workshops made use of the new e-sports room. Presenters had to provide instruction and some even shared data files for downloading and installing software. The workshops have worked very well online and, in some cases, have had higher attendance. In Spring 2021 we had our first guest presenter, Meredith Hale, and look forward to inviting others in the library working with open source tools to be a part of this series.
The Studio added chat service to support students creating media and design projects remotely or in the library. With much assistance from Teresa Berry and Allison Shepard to set up accounts and our services and people from the Research Assistance and Public Services Teams, studio staff and students were quickly trained in the use of the libanswers platforms. The team developed resources such as a guide with recommended open, free, and inexpensive software, apps, and equipment to improve media creation in a home studio and developed a “How to SLA” online document to help SLA’s respond to commons questions and known upcoming class assignments. Chat has enabled the studio to support students working on media outside library spaces and is something we plan to continue using moving forward.
Rachel Caldwell led the Libraries’ efforts to participate in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem). With financial support coming from the Libraries and the Office of Research, 2 monographs were selected to receive $15,000 subventions to be published as open access monographs. TOME is a project of the Association of American Universities, Association of Research Libraries, and Association of University Presses. UT is one of just 17 libraries currently participating.
Special Collections
Launched Chronicling COVID-19: the UT Student & Campus Response to the Coronavirus
Participated in Rising from the Ashes: The Chimney Tops 2 Fire Oral History & Digital Archive Project (RFTA) and NEA Grant: Wildfire Recovery through Art and Public Memory
Participated in Rising from the Ashes: The Chimney Tops 2 Fire Oral History & Digital Archive Project (RFTA) and NEA Grant: Wildfire Recovery through Art and Public Memory
Teaching and Learning Programs
Cultivated an infrastructure of support for online teaching and learning that is responsive to student, instructor, and librarian needs. This work has included the development and assessment of two semester-long workshop series with live and recorded options, which featured collaboration and contributions across the Libraries and beyond. It has also included new functionality to meet students and instructors where they are in the Canvas Learning Management System, the development of resources for internal reference and training, and contributions to the enhancement of LibGuides and the accessibility of online learning objects.
Advanced our commitment to student success and to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This ongoing work has included discussions and resource development to find multiple ways of engaging with learners, including self-paced tutorials, information literacy one-sheets, and “choose your own adventure” resources. It has also included continued dialogue with campus learning partners, including Teaching and Learning Innovation, First-Year Composition, Transition 201 curriculum planning, and Online Learning and Academic Programs. In addition to active participation in Libraries’ initiatives, such as the Organizational Read and Let’s Talk about It series, TLP team members have participated in campus certificate programs on Inclusive Teaching and Experiential Learning.
Grew as a new department, through a focus on creativity, compassion, and flexibility in our processes, projects, and interactions. Teaching and Learning Programs became a department in late 2018, and several new members joined in late 2019. Through the pandemic, we have focused on getting to know each other as colleagues and people and staying connected virtually with Microsoft Teams channels and informal opportunities for conversation, in addition to formal meetings. Our approach has been in recognizing that living and working during a pandemic means that not everyone’s bandwidth and capacity to engage will be the same on any given day and to engage in ongoing dialogue about balancing self-care with support for others.
Technology Infrastructure
Assisted UT Libraries faculty and staff with quickly changing from working on campus to working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This involved identifying, setting up, and distributing equipment, providing instruction on how to connect equipment at home, troubleshooting problems with and helping improve home networking, helping track the distribution of equipment, and providing technical support through primarily remote means.
Upgraded fifteen digital signs in the John C. Hodges Library and at the George F. DeVine Music Library. This involved ordering new display screens and internal computers, physically replacing the displays, and installing, building, and configuring the internal computers in the displays to work with the campus digital signage system.
Collaborated with OIT to improve the security of UT Libraries departmental NetIDs and associated email accounts. This involved working with UT Libraries departments to identify and mark for deletion departmental NetIDs that were no longer needed, working with OIT to convert email accounts associated with the remaining departmental NetIDs to shared mailbox accounts, assisting UT Libraries faculty and staff with setting up and using the new shared mailbox email accounts, developing a two-factor authentication solution with OIT for the twenty researcher NetIDs that are checked out by Public Services to non-UT researchers, and identifying networked devices/systems that send email via Office 365 SMTP (such as public book scanners and ILLiad) and working with OIT and Atlas Systems (the ILLiad vendor) to reconfigure them to send email through some other method in accordance with OIT guidelines.
UT Press
Joined the library staff after reporting to the system for fifty years
Won two awards in the Association of University Presses’ annual design competition
Produced Civil War Flags of Tennessee a monumental book that took nearly twenty years of collaboration with the Tennessee State Museum