Refinitiv’s Thomson ONE Banker database is being retired and replaced with Workspace for Students. Workspace for Students offers the same global market data, historical and current company financials and filings, earnings estimates, equity, loan deals and more as Thomson ONE Banker.

Access to Workspace requires advanced registration. For current UConn faculty, staff, and students, please register for an individual account with your UConn email address. After registration, you can access via the web at workspace.refinitiv.com/web or install the desktop application. This includes the Workspace add-in for Excel. UConn will lose access to Thomson ONE Banker on July 31, 2021.

Support and training information for Workspace is available, with live and on-demand training videos. If you and others in your team would like a custom demonstration or have any questions about this transition, please contact the Business & Entrepreneurship Librarian at edward.lim@uconn.edu.

For more information, contact our Library’s Acquisitions and Discovery team at ermsupport@uconn.edu.

Homer’s Homies is a student-led organization that doesn’t hide their love for the Homer Babbidge Library! And even though they weren’t on their home turf in HBL this year, they found ways to connect with each other on and off campus, keeping their love for the library strong. The Executive Board took some time out of their schedules to dish all things Homies. 
Austin Mott – President
Griffin Love – Vice President
Thomas Reese Jr. – Treasurer

For our readers who don’t know, who or what, are the Homies?
The Homies, originally formed in 2016, is a student-led advocacy group named after the flagship location at the UConn Library – Homer Babbidge Library. The Homies: Friends of the Homer Babbidge Library work to put on events to allow students to de-stress, have fun in the Library, and provide student advocacy and input on library issues. Much like the library itself, we are a resource open for anyone who enjoys interacting with other library lovers.    

Why did you join the Homies?
We all came to Homer Babbiddge early on as freshman because it was a great dedicated space to study. One day Griffin was walking out of the building and former Homies President Nick Helber was sitting at the student activities tables. For anyone that knows Nick, his laid back style, Magic School Bus t-shirt, and vintage snap-back hat made it easy to stop and chat and Griffin did just that. Nick shared his enthusiasm for the Homies and Griffin and Austin went to the next meeting. The group was small and offered endless opportunities to be a part of the group in meaningful and fun ways and they were hooked. 

What do you love most about HBL?
Homer Babbidge is in the central part of campus so it’s a great place to connect in the middle of the day between classes or at night to study. Frankly, if we aren’t eating, it’s the place to be. Our freshman year we spent a lot of time on Level 1 because it was a great place to talk but when we needed more studying and less talking, we moved up to the second floor which is now our favorite place. The best place on the second floor is a table with a view if you can get it. 

How are the Homies connecting during the Pandemic?
Not being able to be in the space that defines us has been challenging, but we have found ways to stay connected and our meetings are more fun and productive than ever! We meet weekly for about an hour and have study sessions on Wednesday nights where some have classes together or have taken the class before and can help each other, and sometimes it’s a chance to just sit in the room together and listen to the Homies’ playlist on Spotify.

Our biggest fundraisers each year are selling grilled cheese to hungry students so we have had to find new ways to fundraise and just held a successful trivia night. And a special shout out to Valerie Lee, our new secretary. She has really stepped up and created fun things to do to keep everyone connected. 

What are you working on that you want us to know about?
Our goal was to start an annual gift back to the Library but it’s been difficult without the ability to fundraise. We may not get that done this year, but will at least plan for that legacy. We are also hoping to continue the interest of past Homies to raise funding for nap pods or a relaxation zone to give students a place to go and decompress.  

What are three songs you would find on the Homies Playlist?
Tom created the playlist and now it has a lot of great music. It leans towards the classic rock feel and includes The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy, Africa by Toto, and Superstition by Stevie Wonder. 

You are all graduating seniors, what are your majors?
Austin – Biomedical Engineering
Griffin – Communications and Psychology, with a minor in Ecology
Thomas – Civil Engineering

Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
Austin – I hit a half-court shot at an exhibition game at Gampel as a freshman and won a $100 gift certificate to PC Richards and Sons.
Griffin – My minor in ecology is purely for interest and I hope to pull it together with communications and psychology some day.                                                                            
Thomas – My dad was in the Navy and I have moved 13 times, living in nine states. Maryland and Connecticut are my favorites. 

What is on your reading list?
Griffin – The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young
Austin – Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Thomas – at my grandmother’s suggestion it’s a book that will help me understand the stock market

The Homies encourage you to tell them what you are reading! Submit your latest book to the Babbidge Bookworms! 

If you could only have two apps on your smartphone, which would you pick?
If you can reach your Homies, you have everything you need so we would need three – Spotify for our playlist, GroupMe to send Homies messages, and Zoom for Homies meetings. 

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
Austin – Flying. I could go anywhere and see anything.
Griffin – Time travelling. Even just to go back and see what we looked like and the shenanigans from freshman year. 
Thomas – I spend a lot of time working with 3D maps for class and it would be great to be able to fly through them or see everything from a birds-eye view. 

What’s your most used emoji?
In our Zoom meetings it is most certainly the clap.
Thomas – laughing, followed with the thumbs up
Griffin – muscle emoji because it’s great for almost every message
Austin – tongue sticking out with tear (used ironically of course) 

Follow along with the Homies 
Instagram: @uconnhomies
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/uconn-homies

In both bitter and sweet news, Associate Dean Lauren Slingluff announced the retirement of two members of the Financial Services unit – Hilda Drabek and Ed Chang.

Hilda has been with the UConn Library for more than 36 years working in many different capacities. She started in what was then known as technical services at a time without computers but with typewriters, and worked throughout her career on implementing critical resources including the first automated integrated library system, NOTIS and its replacement Voyager. Hilda often used her skills in speaking and writing Spanish to help colleagues translate materials, and spent a week at the University of Puerto Rico teaching Voyager in Spanish.

Hilda’s dedication to her work was apparent in everything she did. Her attention to detail and her goal to always strive for perfection will surely be missed, but mostly we will miss how she quietly provides support, kindness, and friendship throughout the library.

Ed started his UConn career in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources where he worked for 11 years. Folklore says that former Vice Provost Brinley Franklin worked with Ed on a project and wooed him into joining the Library in 1997. Ed took his responsibilities as Director of Finance seriously, but was also known to bring a little humor unexpectedly into the conversation. Best described by his supervisor Lauren Slingluff, Ed is a “little country and a little rock & roll”. Ed’s pure grit and a desire to ensure that we were using our funding with the utmost of care defined Ed’s professionalism. “I have come to rely on his knowledge, experience, and commitment to helping the Library manage our resources efficiently and effectively,” said Lauren.

Ed and Hilda made an amazing team that accounts for a collective 70+ years of service. The pair were often asked to come up with solutions and continually find efficiencies in some very tight budget years. They were also a resource for UConn, and often invited to review university-wide procedures and systems like their role in evaluating the Kuali Financial System (KFS) currently in use to manage the University of Connecticut’s finances.

Professionally and personally, the retirement of both Ed and Hilda will be a challenge for the Library to move forward from, but we have truly enjoyed the opportunity to work with them for as long as we have. We ask you to join us in wishing them nothing but happiness and health in retirement.

John Cropp is one of the newest members of the UConn Library staff and having been hired in the middle of a pandemic, many of us only know John from his face on the screen. John was hired in Access Service to provide support at the iDesk among other tasks, and has also become the advisor to the Homies Student Advisory Board.

How did you get into libraries?
In short, the wonderful people in charge of the University of Georgia Libraries’ Access Services department let me in. After countless applications and several interviews for library positions, they opened the door for me and it changed my life.

What do you love most about working in a library?
I love the eclectic community. And my role as the Homies’ advisor has given me a chance to become involved with that eclectic community as well, which has been really fun and rewarding.

Do you have a good library story to share?
One of my first responsibilities was managing private study carrels at the UGA Main Library. They had been neglected so there were many carrels that were still assigned to students who had graduated and faculty members who had passed away. One faculty member that was marked as deceased had a carrel that was packed full of incredibly amazing books and artifacts from the university and surrounding communities. While searching for information about him so the items could be returned to his family, I found all kinds of interviews and news stories about him as well as books and websites that he had contributed to. He was obviously an incredibly interesting guy and it broke my heart that I was learning about him after he had passed away. Eventually, I came across a website that said he was teaching a course to a local community group that semester. Like Mark Twain before him, news of his demise had been grossly exaggerated. A few months later, I got to speak with him on the phone and found that he was indeed incredibly interesting and, thankfully, not at all deceased.

In the midst of the pandemic, what do you do to take your mind off the crazy things happening in the world right now?
Dream League soccer on my phone. When the world is spinning out of control, it is nice to have this little world inside my phone where I am in charge of a world-beating soccer team!

What is a positive that has come from this pandemic?
I have been able to spend much more time at home with my wife and daughter than I would have in normal times.

What was your first job?
I worked in the kitchen of a retirement facility. I made dozens of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, helped deliver dinners to the dining rooms, and washed dishes.

What’s your go-to productivity trick?
Listening to Paul Simon’s “Graceland.”

How do you prefer to start your day?
As slowly as possible.

How do you prefer to end your day?
As peacefully as possible.

What’s one professional skill you’re currently working on?
Time management. The pandemic has wrecked the routines and tricks that I relied on. 

Tell us a fun fact about you.
I was once a character performer at Walt Disney World.

What is on your reading list?
Whatever my library school professors have assigned this week and a bunch of articles saved on my phone that I hope to read after the semester.

Do you have a favorite hobby?
Researching concert venues and old ballparks.

Everyone loves UConn for their own reasons. What is yours?
On my first day in the building as a UConn staff member, Joseph from security gave me a UConn paperweight and said, “welcome home.” As a nutmegger adrift for many years, I always thought of Connecticut as home, but everyone at UConn has made me feel like I really am home.

Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Coffee assisted early bird.

What energizes you at work?
Solving problems and answering questions.

If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?
Playing stringed instruments.

Do you have a hidden talent?
Mechanical puppetry.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
Time travel. There are a lot of old concerts that I would like to attend and demolished ballparks that I would like to visit.

What’s your most hated household chore?
Unloading the dishwasher.

What’s your most used emoji?
Probably the heart-eyes emoji thanks to the petpics channel on the UConn Library Slack!

The world-wide COVID-19 pandemic has affected every person across the globe and while we are all going through this collectively, we are also each living our own unique experiences. Archives & Special Collections is asking you to take a moment to share your thoughts to provide future scholars with the personal side of the pandemic.

Pandemics are not new to the history books. We hear news outlets, scientists, and historians recall past pandemics and see pictures like the lines for polio vaccines and hospital rooms full of cots and sick patients, and we look to learn from each of those dark times. Archived news and internet sites will be well documented and become primary sources for future historians studying COVID-19, but what about the day-to-day activities and social and emotional experiences of people? It is essential that we collect and preserve these memories while our experiences and reactions are fresh. If not, they may be lost. 

What can you do? Archives & Special Collections is asking for your help in continuing to build the UConn COVID-19 Collection with your personal pandemic experiences. Students, staff, faculty, and alumni are encouraged to share stories, in whatever form, to be collected, preserved for posterity, and made accessible for research and study.  Examples can include audio files, social media posts, emails, screenshots, photographs, blog posts, journaling, zines, interviews, and more. You can also answer a few survey questions online. 

For those who have previously contributed, thank you!  Ongoing contributions are encouraged as experiences, reactions and coping mechanisms have changed as the emergency of last spring became the “new normal” of the past year.

For more information on how to submit , visit our website or contact Betsy Pittman, University Archivist at besty.pittman@uconn.edu