This year’s event welcomed UofL students, faculty and staff of all gender expressions to edit the site’s articles in a collaborative online setting. Articles on mostly local women artists were improved and edited, includingĚý,Ěý,Ěý,Ěý,Ěý,ĚýĚý˛š˛ÔťĺĚý. Other improvements focused on the local companyĚýĚýand popular Mexican artistĚý

Originally scheduled to be held at the Speed Museum, this year’s event was moved to a remote setting due to COVID-19, and the Art Library plans to host next year’s event at the museum to increase visibility and boost attendance. A small group comprised of UofL staff and faculty met on Teams for two days during two-hour sessions.

“Hosting an event whose aim is to inspire comradery and passion in a remote setting was challenging, but worth it,” said Art Library Director Courtney Baron.

“We can already see the impact our local event has on improving the coverage of women artists on Wikipedia. Perhaps this year the most valuable accomplishment was the transition from an in-person to a virtual event. We were able to accomplish a lot remotely.”

Prior to the Edit-a-thon, Baron and her colleagues, Collections Coordinator Trish Blair and Circulation and Reserves Manager Kathy Moore, created aĚý, with a list of articles that need to be improved.

“There is still a lot of work to do to mend the gender gap on Wikipedia, especially in regards to arts content and editorial representation,” Baron continued. “More women need to be contributing to Wikipedia because their participation has a huge impact on the content.”

While conducting research to create the guide, Baron said “we discovered so many Kentucky women artists who are not featured at all on Wikipedia. This means they are largely unknown outside of our region.”

“Our next step is to create stub articles for these artists that can be expanded at future edit-a-thon events.”

One of the world’s most-visited websites, Wikipedia is maintained and edited byĚýĚývolunteers, resulting inĚý. In 2014, the feminist nonprofitĚýĚýfounded a worldwide Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon to encourage women to write new articles and edit existing pages on underrepresented artists.

The Art Library’s past Edit-a-thons have been well attended, open to UofL students, faculty, staff and members of the public of all gender identities and expressions. Participants have created personal accounts on Wikipedia and learned how to edit articles, using library resources to add citations and information to Wikipedia articles on local and regional artists.

“During this year’s event, 12 articles were edited with a total of 70 edits; over 4,200 words and 31 references were added, and two images were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons,” said Baron. “However small, these changes have had a significant impact. In just a few weeks, the articles have been viewed over 159,000 times by Wikipedia readers around the world.”

“We plan to host our 2021 event at the Speed Art Museum and will focus on Kentucky women artists with a focus on community outreach. We hope the location at the Speed means we can reach a broader audience than we would have if we held the event on campus. This is one of the many efforts we are making to increase our collaboration and strengthen our partnership with the Speed Art Museum. The close proximity to the museum – a 5 min walk – in which we can see and interact with works from the Kentucky women artists we are researching and writing about on Wikipedia, is so valuable.”

The project originated with Marvin Maxwell, a drummer and founder of Mom’s Music, who purchased the master tapes in 2005 and has since released or re-released several recordings commercially with his partner, Walker “Ed” Amick. Maxwell has now sought ASC’s assistance in preserving the tapes.

Once a fixture in the local music scene and perhaps the oldest recording studio in the area, the Allen-Martin Studio was begun in the mid-1950s under a different name, eventually moving to 9912 Taylorsville Road until it closed in 1999.

The Allen-Martin Studio Collection includes recordings of most of the prominent bands who performed and recorded in Louisville during the 1960s, as well as popular national acts, said Jeff Jobson, a music chronicler and aficionado who is collaborating with ASC personnel to help catalogue the tapes.

“This was an especially exciting time, since it was not uncommon for local Top 40 DJs to manage localĚýbands and ‘just happen’ to give them a goodly amount of airplay,” before the rules changed in the 1970s and the practice was no longer allowed.

Not only are bands from the beginning of Top 40 radio in Louisville included, but also ephemera such as commercials and industrial information tapes.

“It covers a lot of people’s collective memories from their most formative years,” Jobson said. “I don’t know if I’m even able to convey the historical value of these tapes, as this lays the groundwork for nearly all the rock and roll history of the Louisville area.”

Jobson is currently also collaborating with ASC’sĚýĚýto provide access to interviews with local musical artists. In the interviews “many of them refer to the period of time in their youth when they had their collective ears glued to WAKY/WKLO. And with each mention, they stress the influence of that time in what they brought to the music scene. And those musicians impressed later musicians, and so on to the presentĚýday. This is Ground Zero for Louisville’s local rock music, which begat all of the underground scene which followed.”

Groups or artists among the collection include:

Copperfield
Quick Draw
Tim Krekel
Lester Flatt
Merseybeats
Carnations
Rugbys
H. Fuqua (Harvey Fuqua)
Brothers Pride
Monarchs
Bodeco
Premiers (Ali Shuffle)
Howie Gano
Crushed Velvet
Buster Brown
Will Cary
Names
Dorothy Boy
Freddy George
Exiles/Exile
Another Mule
Cosmo
Chukkar
Kenny and the Accents
Troy Shondell
Trendells

These invisible partners work behind the scenes to make sure physicians, medical staff and students have relevant, timely information to complete their missions. Providing library support at clinical meetings, conducting literature searches, and creating online resource guides are the daily regimen for Kornhauser’s librarians.

While clinical librarians help clinicians use verifiable best practices and evidence-based research throughout the year, they are now arguably more important than ever.

For example, Jessica Petrey, Kornhauser’s associate director of Clinical Services, works with UofL physicians and staff in six practice areas, including infectious diseases and emergency medicine, programs that are particularly active now. She attends weekly meetings – virtually and in person, practicing physical distancing – to help medical personnel work effectively as the pandemic rages locally. It’s all part of her ordinary job that has just become extraordinary.

“Our physicians have been deeply supportive of Petrey’s work and she is highly regarded by some world-renown experts,” said Kornhauser Director Vida Vaughn. “So many of our library personnel are invaluable to the medical community.”

In a testimonial email, Dr. Martin Huecker, research director for UofL’s Department of Emergency Medicine, says that he “simply could not function at full potential without a dedicated librarian.” In praise of Petrey, he notes “many instances of communicating via email during an actual ER shift, and receiving responses from Jessica that affected patient care. I rely on [Petrey’s] support for literature searches, content management related to point of care / real time clinical decision-making tools, and troubleshooting / access to those tools (clinical key, up-to-date, etc.). Emergency medicine is a specialty that relies particularly heavily on rapid availability of resources. Jessica answers emails with uncanny promptness.”

“Our role is to make sure we’re facilitating access to information, sometimes in real time” said Petrey. “That is a more proactive role now with the volume of information coming out. People need a bit more help navigating it, and might not have time to ask.”

Published studies are also more readily available to the public now, as many proprietary scientific journals make COVID-19 research freely available to support a unified front against the current health crisis.

Helping clinicians and researchers stay on top of the information within a subject domain, even when it comes at a frenzied pace, is simply part of a clinical librarian’s job, says Vaughn.

“When you’re an embedded librarian no matter what the subject area – gastroenterology, family medicine or pediatrics – you have to stay on top of information. You’re always looking at the newest articles on the topic that are constantly coming out. We set alerts for research in subject areas and are pushing out evidence-based scholarship to the doctors we serve.”

After Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear suspended elective surgeries in March, all clinics and most research activity were canceled, after which Kornhauser faculty and staff saw a slight drop in requests for information. But after a few weeks, requests for assistance accelerated again.

“It started to sink in that normal is not something that’s going to happen any time soon, so they need to keep going with whatever research they can,” said Petrey. “So we’re starting to see requests picking back up again, and we’re even exceeding our normal workloads.”

After the University issued its work-from-home order, Kornhauser remained open for several weeks, but eventually closed its building to protect users and the Library’s workers, allowing personnel to work remotely. The closure hasn’t limited the Library’s instruction and service model since “nearly everything we do is online, with access to resources and collections there,” says Vaughn.

However, “the Health Sciences Campus is primarily comprised of professional students with jobs and families, and Kornhauser Library is a refuge-like study space away from home. So the library closure was something of a shock to our community,” Vaughn continued. “We are directing them to Ekstrom Library for study space, or the Student Activity Center during Intersession when Ekstrom is closed.”

Throughout the coming months as the medical community continues to grapple with the ramifications of COVID-19’s spread, Kornhauser librarians and staff will continue to serve them as always, behind the scenes, working diligently.

The badges contained an upbeat pledge that ended with the catchphrase “I Dare You To Catch Me Not Smiling,” and were widely distributed after the historic 1937 flood to boost morale. Now posters are reappearing locally during the COVID-19 era in a variety of colors that differ from the badges’ original orange. An enterprising individual must have recognized a similar mood arising in our current reality and thought we could use the boost.

Pledge: From Mayor Neville Miller scrapbook, Rare Books, University of Louisville Archives and Special Collection.

“It made me quite emotional to think about other times that people in the city have come together to weather a crisis,” Hall said. “Seeing these makes me feel very connected to the whole city.”

The Ohio River’s over-spill engulfed 70% of Louisville and 90% of Jeffersonville, Indiana, and devastated other communities along the river from Pennsylvania to Illinois. Getting back to normal life after the waters receded was a shared public challenge. During this time, Louisville Mayor Neville Miller created the Committee on Morale to prevent panic and encourage cooperation, service and determination. Notices, broadsides and posters were posted throughout the city to offer ways to cope and recover from the extensive damage.

Quarantine pass: from C. H. Burkholder Papers, University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections.

In 2017, UofL’s Archives and Special Collections held an exhibit showcasing these artifacts and archival photography from its collections chronicling the flood’s impact. A part of the exhibit was Mayor Miller’s scrapbook kept during the era and now housed in ASC’s Rare Books collection – it includes the original orange flyers. Also part of the exhibit was a quarantine pass allowing individuals to leave their homes for a period of time; it is collected in ASC’s C.H. Burkholder Papers.

Poster seen in Louisville’s Germantown neighborhood recently echoes 1937 Flood publications.

“Even though I burst into tears when I first saw the poster, I’m smiling now!” Hall said.

With enrollment at UofL predicted to grow in the coming years, Libraries leadership seeks to utilize current available space to provide a high-quality library experience. Raising the seat-to-student ratio helps UofL’s competitive edge in recruiting new students and retaining current ones.

Planned for several years, the $3M project is primarily funded by gifts and endowments, as well as a $500,000 grant from UofL administration as part of its student initiatives program. It is heartily endorsed by the Student Government Association. In planning the renovation, the Libraries also worked with its Libraries Student Advisory Board and conducted a comprehensive survey last year that revealed the need for more high-quality study spaces.

A large component of the renovation is a proposed Jewish Studies Reading Room in space formerly occupied by the Writing Center. Currently, Libraries Development Director Matt Wyatt is working with the UofL Jewish Studies program and the local to raise necessary funds for this project, which will serve to inspire current and future Jewish scholars and recognize this important constituency on campus.

During construction, access to the third floor will be limited; the Delphi Center’s Teaching Innovation Learning Lab (TILL) will remain open, and students will be welcome on any other floor. The bulk of the project will take place May through September and wrap up soon after. The third floor will remain a quiet floor after construction.

Libraries personnel have been working diligently over the past year to relocate books and clear the way for the renovation. As of February 22, numerous books have been moved to either the 4^thĚýfloor of Ekstrom (175k), the Robotic Retrieval System (RRS) (22k), or high-density storage (16k). This process is ongoing and will continue as books continue their migration. Because of the time and care involved in curating, documenting and filing information, some materials will be inaccessible for a period of time, roughly between six months to two years. The urgent need for renovations prompted an acceleration of the collections migration, and curation will continue as quickly as possible over the foreseeable future to return most books back into circulation.

As this process takes place, the Libraries will practice intelligent stewardship, to make sure all materials are useful and necessary for the important work of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and other researchers. As in every academic and public library, some materials in the collections, like duplicate titles, or others that have not been used or checked out in the entire time they’ve been housed in the stacks, are subject to weeding. Ekstrom librarians have led a meticulous process of curation to ensure the library retains all appropriate materials of high quality.

Materials undergoing migration comprise hardcover books prior to 2000 from Library of Congress A-N. All LOC A-N books published after 2000 will remain on the floor, located in the southwest quadrant, and fully accessible to students and researchers.

Patrons who wish to borrow materials that have been moved may use theĚýĚýsystem to access them from other libraries. Typically, article requests can be fulfilled within 36 hours and book/loan requests within a week-10 working days. T

To provide information to the University community and the public, the Libraries have createdĚýĚýabout the project.

Fox, Daniels and Reilly were responsible for the “Live from A Dark Room: Louisville Underground Music in Photographs, 1980 – Present,”Ěýa photographic exhibit in the ASC galleries, which features images of Louisville’s punk, hardcore and rock music scene over the past 40 years.ĚýThe exhibit ended January 18.

The Advocate Award recognizes someone who champions Louisville music by supporting live events, recordings and more as a super fan. LUMA was established in 2013 to preserve recordings, photographs, videos, ‘zines, set lists, fan mail, and other artifacts of the Louisville underground music scene from the late 1970s until the present.

The Louisville Music Awards are administered by 91.9 WFPK Independent Louisville and will be held on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at the Bomhard Theatre as a celebration of Louisville’s diverse music community. This year’s event will be co-produced by musician and 90.5 WUOL Music łÉČËÖą˛Ľ Manager Jecorey “1200” Arthur and 91.9 WFPK Program Director Stacy Owen.

“The committee felt the work you’ve done on the LUMA project is more than worthy of celebration,” said Owen.

Providing upgraded study space throughout the year and particularly during peak periods is a main objective of University Libraries Dean Bob Fox, who plans to renovate Ekstrom’s third floor in the coming year, adding new seating and modernized study areas. It is a project recently awarded a $500,000 grant by University Administration, and heartily endorsed by the Student Government Association.

“UofL is on track to grow from 22,000 to 30,000 students,” said Fox. “We need to be able to support a larger university population with a high-quality library experience.

“Our footprint and square footage will not grow, so we need to make use of the space we have. We want to provide students with upgraded study areas and seating so they are supported during times when they really need space in the library. Raising the seat-to-student ratio in our central library helps UofL’s competitive edge in recruiting new students and retaining current ones.”

Reaching that goal will require relocation of some lesser-used collections to a new storage bay, which was just opened in Ekstrom Library’s (RRS) to free up space for seating. The expansive metal shelves will be filled with a variety of materials from Ekstrom’s third floor, along with items from Archives/Special Collections, Music and Art libraries.

For cost and efficiency reasons, the new storage bay was built adjacent to, but not part of, the RRS, which will continue to operate as before. Many visitors are aware of the RRS, with its tall steel shelving separated by glass behind Ekstrom’s west service desk, where anyone requesting an item can watch as a large mechanical arm lifts a long shelf from a long row, pivots and steadily delivers the bin to a waiting Libraries staff member. The RRS is identical to retrieval systems in auto parts retailers, warehouses or distribution centers; however, while the technology was state-of-the-art when it was first installed in 2005, it has now become somewhat dated and hence prohibitively expensive to expand. The new storage bay was completed with a much lower budget and will hold just as much as another RRS bay.

Currently, the Libraries are working with a strong donor base to raise funds for the third floor renovation. JRA Architects, hired for the recent renovation of Ekstrom’s First Floor East, has been chosen to design the project, which is currently estimated to total $3.5 to 4 million. Renderings of potential uses of the space reveal expansive study areas with open floor plans, ample natural light and a potential reading room in the Writing Center’s old offices. The Libraries will share future renderings as programming further defines the final design.

A former Louisville Metro Councilman and caretaker of Louisville lore and history, Owen was cited for his “service to history, to UofL and to Louisville; his work as an archivist, making UofL’s records and archival collections available to researchers; and his walking tours—both the physical tours and their recordings. He made the city his classroom.” He was also praised as a “scholar who popularized history and … elevated history’s importance for many people.”

Owen is known for his walking tours, which capture the color and history of a particular corner of the city as part of a series on local public television, titled . Recently, he also offered weekly tours of UofL’s Belknap campus, detailing the background and stories of various buildings and areas. ĚýHis research in this area led to the recent publication of a book in collaboration with Archives colleague Sherri Pawson, .

Owen is also well-known as a politician locally, having served as a Louisville Metro Council member from 2003 until his retirement in 2016, and prior to that, on the old Board of Alderman from 1990 to 1998. He has been an archivist with UofL for 42 years.

The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor awarded by the Kentucky Historical Society. DSA winners have “provided great services to Kentucky and the field of history in their professional or personal lives.”

Intern Award

Additionally, Hannah O’Daniel, a master’s student at the University of Louisville, received the first Kentucky Public History Intern Award for her exemplary work ethic and diligent attention to the research process.Ěý

O’Daniel had internships at the Filson Historical Society, where she processed archival material to make it available to researchers, and at the Kentucky Historical Society.

At KHS she was involved with several projects:

• She worked with the Kentucky Oral History Commission and helped write the KHS manual for using a system that makes oral histories more widely accessible and searchable.
• She was among the first graduate research assistants who worked with the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Edition (CWGK). CWGK is making thousands of documents available to researchers for the first time. As a GRA, Hannah transcribed documents and researched people mentioned within them to help build the comprehensive database behind CWGK.
• At the CWGK summer symposium this year, Hannah acted as a “reporter,” tweeting it so people who could not attend could learn from the experts gathered there.

The ceremony was held at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort.

“I’m so sorry I got rid of it,” King said. “It would be worth something now.”

Now, book labels are generated automatically, students and researchers access books and materials online, and a Robotic Retrieval System in Ekstrom Library, installed in 2006, houses seldom-used materials to free up study space. And, following a satisfying and storied career with the Libraries’ Technical Services department, King is retiring. Sometime this Friday, it will have been exactly 40 years to the minute since he first started.

He’s seen many changes, from Belknap campus infrastructure, to library service, to Ekstrom Library, which opened in 1981, and to the faces of student assistants who helped him sort books and stock shelves over the years.

“I’ll leave with a ton of memories,” he said.

By far the best part of his job has been working with student assistants, King said. “I feel uniquely honored to have worked with some amazing students. The students were my life.”

As a supervisor of shelf preparation, he has worked with UofL student assistants from more than 11 countries, including India, Bangladesh, Libya, the Philippines, France, Iran, Belarus, South Korea, Vietnam and Armenia. Some have become like family.

“We’ve played laser tag, board games. I get invited to a lot of stuff, like birthday parties, graduation, etc. That’s why I came to work. A student said to me, ‘You’ve been more like a father than my real father.’”

One young student complained to King that her vacuum cleaner had broken. He had an extra one and brought it to work to give to her.Ěý Five students made a tribute to him on YouTube.

“I probably have worked with a couple hundred students over the years,” he said.

Stacie Alvey, a former student assistant who worked alongside King from 2010-2016, now works as a librarian for McFerran Preparatory Academy. Her choice of career arose largely as a result of having worked with King.

“I knew after working here with Ben that I wanted to do this as a career. Anybody who has ever worked for Ben remembers Ben. He’s a storyteller extraordinaire. I could repeat his life story. I loved it,” she said. “He’s like family to me.”

Technical Services held a retirement ceremony for King earlier this week, with Technical Services Head Tyler Goldberg inviting him back to volunteer any time.

King’s future plans include volunteer work with the Parklands of Floyds Fork and traveling with his family.