Volumes from the McGehee Miniature Book Collection including (inset) “Medieval Craftsman,” the 10,000th volume in the collection to be cataloged.
In 2005, Caroline Brandt, collector and co-founder of the Miniature Book Society, made a major gift to the UVA Library of her miniature book collection. Named in honor of Brandt’s first husband, UVA alumnus C.
In January 2025, the UVA Library is starting an annual reading challenge that will explore one author a month through a novel or short stories. Every year will feature a new theme.
From Sherri Brown, Librarian for English, and Amy Hunsaker, Librarian for Music & Performing Arts:
We’re excited that for the inaugural reading challenge in 2025, we will dive into Gothic literature written by women authors, beginning with an early Gothic novel written in the 18th century and moving chronologically to end with contemporary 21st-century Gothic fiction.
Alexander “Sandy” G. Gilliam, Jr., who died on June 8, 2024, was something of a UVA institution, having spent more than half of his life at the University in a number of roles, including as secretary to the Board of Visitors and special assistant to four presidents. He was also a storyteller, and in 2012 — when Gilliam was the University Protocol and History Officer — he sat down with Sheree Scarborough of the University of Virginia Oral History Project in his office in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library to talk about his career and all things UVA.
As the end of the year approaches, we asked UVA Library staff to recommend their favorite books they read in 2024. The books could be any genre, published in any year, so long as they were available in UVA Library’s or the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library’s collections.
Take a look at our extensive list below and check some books out for the holidays (members of the UVA community can even request books ahead of time for easy access). Please note: the publication years listed correspond with the editions in our collections, not necessarily the original publication dates.
Happy reading, and come visit us at any of our six locations before we close for winter break on Dec. 20 … or after we reopen January 2!
Juggling childcare and academia can be hard! The University of Virginia Library wants to make it easier.
Beginning in fall 2024, the UVA Library is offering Childcare Fun Packs for check out at Shannon Library. The Fun Packs are sets of age-appropriate entertainment materials, available to caregivers of all kinds.
The UVA Library, in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, is embarking on a new IMLS-funded project to develop a collaborative community hub, designed as a dynamic resource to support librarians, educators, and technologists in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI and open educational resources (OER).
The project will feature:
a comprehensive knowledge base,
a curated resource repository,
and a platform for ongoing discussions on technical, ethical, and legal issues.
The project will also include an AI-OER Fellowship Program, which will convene practitioners to test AI tools, share insights, and contribute to establishing best practices in the field.
We are pleased to announce that Carmelita Pickett, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources and Content Strategy at UVA Library, has been elected to a three-year term with the HathiTrust Board of Governors. Pickett has been active with HathiTrust for many years, serving in the Program Steering Committee and functioning as the Shared Print Program Liaison. Read the full announcement from HathiTrust.
HathiTrust was founded in 2008 as a collaborative of academic and research libraries. The HathiTrust Digital Library preserves and offers access to more than 18 million digitized items, and HathiTrust programs seek to protect and expand access to library materials.
November is Native American Heritage Month – a perfect time to honor Indigenous traditions, cultures, and histories. At UVA Library, we’re highlighting work created by and about Native Americans.
Thanks to Librarian for History and Religious Studies Keith Weimer, and Curator of Material Culture Meg Kennedy for the book recommendations below.
After a nearly four-year closure for renovations, Shannon Library has re-established itself as the University of Virginia’s main study spot. This December marks a full academic year since five floors of expanded seating and a grilled cheese café joined historic reading rooms and the checkered entrance hall students first crossed back in 1938.
Book-loving adventures over five decades inspired a California couple to make a $3.1 million donation to Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, the largest donation in its history.
A new exhibition at the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections sheds light on an often-overlooked Harlem Renaissance poet in UVA’s backyard.
This scary season, if you find yourself on a midnight dreary without a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore to ponder, the University of Virginia Library has recommendations for you.
We’re excited that for the inaugural reading challenge in 2025, we will dive into Gothic literature written by women authors, beginning with an early Gothic novel written in the 18th century and moving chronologically to end with contemporary 21st-century Gothic fiction.
Alexander “Sandy” G. Gilliam, Jr., who died on June 8, 2024, was something of a UVA institution, having spent more than half of his life at the University in a number of roles, including as secretary to the Board of Visitors and special assistant to four presidents. He was also 