In a competitive application process, 25 archivists have been selected as participants in the 2024 Archives Leadership Institute (ALI).
ALI is a grant program funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The ALI will be hosted at the University of Virginia for the years 2024-2026, and will provide advanced training for 25 archivists and memory workers, giving them the knowledge and tools to transform the archival profession in theory, practice, stewardship, and care. In support of the project, the University of Virginia Library was awarded $300,000 by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the granting agency of the National Archives and Records Administration.
After being closed for nearly four years, Alderman Library — now The Edgar Shannon Library — reopened in early January, with 100,000 square feet of renovated space and 130,000 square feet of new construction replacing the previous stacks towers. Now that the semester is well underway, the library is already experiencing heavy traffic as users explore and enjoy the new building (check out this Cavalier Daily article for the student point of view). Photographer Tom Daly captured a few of the spaces on and just prior to opening day. In advance of our grand opening celebration on April 4, enjoy this photo essay of the renovated library!
In advance of the grand opening celebration of The Edgar Shannon Library on April 4, we’re taking a deep dive into historical photos of the building and comparing them with the renovated space today.
As a quick overview, the library renewal project, designed by HBRA Architects, began with a 100,000-square-foot renovation of the original, 1938 Alderman Library structure. The renovation also included the demolition of the Old and New Stacks, replaced with a 130,000-square-foot, five-story addition (with one additional level below grade) on the north side of the building.
This year’s Women’s History Month blog post focuses on another big event that happens every spring: The Oscars! Below, librarians Anne Causey and Cecelia Parks share books, films, and archival material related to women involved in this year’s Oscar-nominated films and lesser-known women actors and filmmakers through Hollywood history.
A new entrance to The Edgar Shannon Library makes the building easily reachable from the growing northern corridor along University Avenue. (Library Communications photo)
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors voted today to name the University’s newly renovated main library The Edgar Shannon Library, in honor of UVA’s fourth president.
It’s Fair Use Week! UVA Library’s Director of Information Policy, Brandon Butler, penned a piece for Harvard’s Fair Use Week series titled, “‘Stolen Books,’ Bad Faith, and Fair Use.” The piece examines the origins of AI training data and its intersections with court cases such as those around HathiTrust and Google Books. He writes:
Artificial intelligence is sure to be the hottest topic of this year’s Fair Use Week, and that hotness is well-deserved. It’s startling when a machine can instantly create written or visual works that would ordinarily require a skilled human writer or artist.
The University of Virginia Library has nearly five million print books available for checkout, five million e-books, myriad cozy study spaces, and a slew of teaching librarians to help you in the classroom or with research. And did you know we also offer events ranging from workshops to musical events for UVA and the Charlottesville community throughout the year?
Below, check out five upcoming events for those who love reading, crafting, eclipses, and more. All Library events are free.
Good news for bibliophiles: the books in Alderman Library’s fifth-floor stacks are now fully moved in and available to patrons! Browse the shelves to your heart’s content and, when ready, take your selected books to a circulation desk on the second or fourth floors for checkout. (Throughout the renovation, these books were available in Clemons or “by request” through Virgo.)
It’s Love Data Week! This year’s theme is “My Kind of Data,” and we have a guest post from Laura Hjerpe, Senior Research Data Management Librarian.
In recognition of Love Data Week 2024, I’m featuring Charlottesville data stories from the University of Virginia Equity Center and local data from the City of Charlottesville, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the U.S. Government. I chose this because my kind of datais a data story with human interest, backed up by reliable data sources.
Tucked within the expansive interior of Edgar Shannon Library, the Scholars' Lab Makerspace offers something most academic spaces do not — the ability to experiment without pressure.
As the spring semester continues, libraries across Grounds fill with students reviewing notes, finishing projects and writing papers late into the evening.
“We are facing a technology that is so disruptive … that I have never seen something like this disrupting education in my lifetime, calculators, internet and computers — I don't think any of them can compare to what is happening right now,” Library Dean Leo Lo said.
An estimated 2,000 people, from fourth graders to senior citizens, formed a line outside the Rotunda for a chance to view the “McGregor Dunlap broadside” copy of the declaration, one of two in the University Library’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. The copies are among just 26 originals known to still exist.
