VPC Meeting

This coming Wednesday we will have special, guest Robert Corbett from UConn Planning, Design and Construction join us to discuss the ‘re-set’ of the Master Plan as well as some short and long term goals to keep an eye out for as we move forward. We will also be getting an update on the eReserves transition. The agenda can be found on Ibis and please make sure you RSVP to Kristen so we can ensure there is enough room for everyone.

Humanities Institute

Move in day is today! After they have settled in and unpacked we hope to have a series of meeting to learn more about what each other are doing and ways in which we can work together. In the meantime if you haven’t been up there and need a quick walk, it looks great!

VPC Planning Day

This week VPC met offsite for a planning retreat. In the morning we talked about the integration of the UConn Health Sciences Library into the One Library and the afternoon focused on the Master Plan for Babbidge, with particular interest in the programming on Level 1. The conversations resulted in a greater understanding of what is currently happening and what we still need to do to move forward together in both areas on our Purposeful Path.

Donation to Open Educational Resources

As you have already seen, the UConn Co-op has donated $300,000 to continue the work to push for more use of open and affordable course materials at UConn. The Co-op was a member of the Open Textbook Taskforce, showing their commitment early on to this initiative. They were helpful in providing information to the committee on some of the courses with the highest textbook costs and how many students enrolled purchased the required texts. They were also active in getting faculty to submit their course materials early which helps students determine the full cost of the class. With some of the funds we will be creating an endowment which will serve two purposes – to allow for long-term sustainability as well as an avenue for funders to directly support the efforts on campus. We have seen from the work so far that boots on the ground are incredibly successful in getting the word out, so my intention is to utilize some of this funding to do just that.

CT Freeze Campaign Donation

Last Friday we celebrated the donation of the Connecticut Freeze Campaign records to the archives. The CT Freeze Campaign was one of the nation’s largest and most effective grassroots campaigns opposing nuclear weapons during the Cold War period. The records are a compilation of materials donated by over 100 peace activists across a 15-year period (1980-1995) and include organizing tools, educational outreach models and the lively memorabilia of this prolific movement here in CT. The celebration included an invitation only reception that welcomed activists from around the state to music, remembrances from key activists, declarations of importance from former Senator Chris Dodd and current Senator Chris Murphy, and a keynote from Lawrence Wittner, professor emeritus of history at SUNY/Albany. Along with the records have been some donations to help digitize the collection and we look forward to using those funds to make these important records available for researchers.

Goodbye’s Last Week

Last week we wished Jo Ann Reynolds well in her retirement with a wonderful reception. We are indebted to her service to UConn, first starting in Human Resources and then for the many years at the Library. Thanks to the planning committee – Kathy Banas-Marti, Kim Giard, Kristen Jones, Jean Nelson and Kim Wilk and Rick Sarvas for the photos. Last Thursday also marked the last day that Silvia Celeste was with us. While here she met with each area as well as individuals doing work she was interested in and gave a presentation at VPC on UNICAMP.