Changes to Vice Provost’s Council
We will be making some important changes to Vice Provost Council starting in February that will expand the membership to include all unit heads and directors from the Storrs campus, regionals and the Health Sciences Library. I believe the changes will increase our successes in reaching our strategic initiatives and improve communication throughout the organization. The group will be working on a charge in February and I will be discussing this in more detail at the January 25th Open Forum. I hope you will join us and share your thoughts. We will also be discussing updates related to recent activities of the Collections Steering Committee next Wednesday.
Open Source Textbook Task Force Final Report
I am pleased to say that the state-wide Open Source Textbook Task Force successfully submitted its final report to the State Legislature this month. I have spoken with Representative Gregg Haddad and he has asked me to provide more information on how other states are funding and promoting the use of Open Educational Resources so we can continue to talk about this on a state-wide platform, particularly in light of his new role as the Chair of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee. I want to thank Kathy and Steve Batt for collecting and analyzing the data from over 1,000 faculty members across Connecticut. We were able to get valuable information about their collective knowledge and use of open access materials. Here at home, I have been working with Sally Reis to select the faculty who have requested funding for adopting OER in their courses through the Provost’s office. There will be an announcement regarding this soon. This is also a good time to remind you that we have a great website that provides more information about all things OER at UConn at http://open.uconn.edu.
Scholars’ Collaborative News
I am pleased to report that Jennifer Snow has been doing a wonderful job of creating and enhancing our relationship with the Humanities Institute through both her role as the liaison to the Institute as well as her work for the Scholars’ Collaborative. Together they will be sponsoring monthly Coffee Conversations starting next Friday, January 27th from 10-11 in the 4th floor meeting space just inside of the Humanities Institute. The coffees are open to anyone who is interested in digital scholarship, whether they are expert pros or new to the field. Jennifer is also organizing a series of workshops this spring on various digital scholarship tools and platforms and part of discussions on a potential copyright workshop/conference in April. If you are interested in learning more about any of these, I encourage you to talk with Jennifer.
The Homies Receive Green Light to Ignite
The Homies student organization applied to participate in the UConn Foundation crowdsourcing campaign, Ignite and were accepted into the program. Ignite is designed to bring students together to raise money for their favorite UConn causes and these students will be directly raising funds for the Library. Ignite 2016 raised over $44,000 for various programs across UConn last year. The program will kick off in February so keep an eye out for it.
Implicit Bias Exhibit
If you reside in the Homer Babbidge Library, you have likely seen the temporary exhibit currently in our Plaza entrance. The exhibit, being coordinated through the Neag School of Education and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, is an effort to help us to identify and understand that we all have attitudes or stereotypes that affect our actions in an unconscious manner. When it officially opens on Monday, it will include some interactive components as well as a survey done through Harvard University. Also on Monday will be an opening reception from 3-5pm in our Staff Lounge featuring Thomas Craemer, an associate professor in UConn’s Department of Public Policy. You can learn more about the exhibit through the newly released promo video.
One Good Thing
Today I would like to share a wonderful note about Richard Bleiler. “I thoroughly enjoy the intellectual conversations I have with Richard. I have worked with Richard for 23 years and have worked on teams with him. He grants me the utmost respect and is someone I can work alongside with and look up to at the same time. I look forward to seeing Richard every morning.”