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Navigating Caribbean Connections

A library-wide exhibit complements a special report on the University’s close relationship with its island neighbors Since its founding more than 90 years ago, the University of Miami has forged deep connections with the Caribbean. Faculty, students, and alumni travel throughout the islands, learning from diverse populations, providing assistance to underserved communities, and strengthening bonds. Cuba and the Caribbean, a special report recently produced by UM News in collaboration with academic units across the University including the Libraries, highlights the U’s varied activities in the Caribbean in areas such as environmental and anthropological research, healthcare, arts and culture, policy, and business. Complementing the publication of Cuba and the Caribbean, a major exhibition has transformed the second floor of Richter Library and the Cuban Heritage Collection’s Roberto C. Goizueta Pavilion. Caribbean Fragments comprises a selection of historical documents, artifacts, manuscripts, and rare books from UML’s Cuban Heritage Collection, Special Collections, University Archives, and the Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library, and offers a point of departure for reflection on the research and discovery that spawn new hemispheric insights. Caribbean Fragments was curated by Beatrice Skokan, curator for Caribbean Collections and interim Esperanza Bravo de Varona Chair of the CHC, and Dr. Martin Tsang, CHC librarian and curator for Latin American Collections.

Seascapes and Mindscapes Visiting artist Leandro Soto, whose work is represented among the CHC’s holdings, has reimagined the exhibition space as a seascape—a fluid, ever-changing ocean that permeates not only the archipelago’s geography, but the imagination of its inhabitants. Inviting viewers to navigate their own experiences and emotions as they explore the objects on view, the immersive environment evokes the circulating currents of

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Caribbean Connections 10/10/17 President Julio Frenk spoke at the opening of the UM Libraries exhibit which complemented a UM special report. Noting the remarkable work of UM faculty in the Caribbean region, Frenk celebrated the collaborations that are building and strengthening bridges throughout the hemisphere.

spirituality that permeate the region, the profound influence of maritime travel and migration on its evolution, and the ebbs and flows of its eternal complexities. Caribbean Fragments will be on display through spring 2018. Special events around the exhibit will include presentations, workshops, and a conversation with Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures Lillian Manzor and Leandro Soto. For updates on exhibit events, check library.miami.edu. To view the special University report on Cuba and the Caribbean, visit cuba.miami.edu.

About Leandro Soto

Leandro Soto

Born in Cienfuegos, Cuba in 1956, Leandro Soto is a Cuban-American visual and performance artist whose career reflects his engagement with the religions, rituals, and the mythologies of indigenous people. Along with installations and performance art, Soto has designed sets and costumes for theater productions. He now lives in the United States and travels extensively around the country to teach at various universities and advise theater groups.

> the adventure is just beginning “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” ­– T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

T.S. Eliot was on to something—in a way that resonates powerfully here at University of Miami Libraries. Today’s academic library is in a mode of profound reinvention. Paradoxically, it is also coming full circle to a rediscovery of its earliest origins. The legendary Royal Library of Alexandria was not only home to an astounding repository of books and scrolls estimated to have numbered in the hundreds of thousands; it was also a magnet for the great minds of the ancient world to discuss and debate ideas—a true “temple of scholarship.” The great European libraries built during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras were likewise revered centers of learning and magnetic gathering places for scholars. In more recent times, academic libraries have devoted much of their attention to preserving materials, often to the detriment of their patrons’ experience. So it’s perhaps no surprise that the rise of information technologies was viewed in some quarters as a death knell for the campus library. Instead, the reverse has occurred. Utilization of academic libraries has risen dramatically in recent years. Our libraries are also now home to novel ventures that utilize their rich holdings and capacious facilities as a springboard to digital access, multidisciplinary collaboration, peer-to-peer learning, and individual creativity. We sense that our sister institutions around the globe share a vision of today’s library systems as platforms that transcend “either/or” thinking, embrace experimentation, and embed internal and external partnerships in their strategic planning. In this way, libraries affirm our limitless potential to foster learning, promote dialogue, and spark progress. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the most exciting time for academic libraries in memory—and the adventure is just beginning. I hope that these pages, which offer an evocative look at some of our recent achievements and current endeavors, also serve to reinvigorate your engagement with us as we venerate timehonored traditions while charting a vibrant course toward new destinations.

Chuck Eckman, Dean and University Librarian

Exploring Inspiring Legacies

Concrete poetry, Christopher Columbus, and mid­–century modernism... discover a world of resources, extraordinary acquisitions and legacies that

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appeal to the explorer in us all.

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The Earliest Major Treatise on the Globe and Its Manufacture, 1515, from the Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Early Americas, Exploration and Navigation.

The Sackner Collection — Artist books from the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry – a multilayered world of images, text, color and texture that are not simply read but experienced.

Denman Fink — a versatile artist, illustrator, and UM educator who created iconic posters and images may not be broadly known, but everyone who sets foot in Coral Gables or on the University of Miami campus has felt his influence.

Eastern Airlines — from photographs to flight attendants’ uniforms, the archive evokes fond nostalgia for a high-flying era in South Florida history.

UM Libraries’ Cuban Heritage Collection — an extensive trove of photos and other materials that document the story of Cuba, including its influence on architecture.

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institutional repository

collections

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KISLAK COLLECTION OF RARE ARTIFACTS DOCUMENTING

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NEW WORLD WILL BE SHOWCASED tutoringEXPLORATION sessions IN A MAGNIFICENT, MULTIPURPOSE SETTING.

In a letter1,142 dated nearly 525 years ago, explorer annual instructional

UML’s space for Special Collections and University

sessions delivered Christopher Columbus described his discoveries

Archives, in the final stages of renovation and named

in the New World to King Ferdinand and Queen

the Kislak Center, will serve as a hub of expanded 114,219 educational and cultural programming, features physical itemswith borrowed such as state-of-the-art

Isabella ofwebsite Spain.users Now, one of the earliest published UML (library.miami.edu) 244,455 (93%) = U.S. editions of this famous missive will find a home at the 18,808 (7%) = international University of Miami’s Otto G. Richter Library as part

presentation technologies,

of an extraordinary collection of materials valued

a grand reading room, 99,577

at $20702,879 million that has been donated to Special book chapter downloads 1,806,705 database uses by UM community Collections. Prominent Jay I. Kislak, 2,169,460 journal philanthropist article downloads a Miami resident for more than 60 years, has been

and an exhibit gallery borrowed

a lifelong collector of historic artifacts that tell the

MDC will receive a

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1,003 GIS and digital story of the Caribbean, the early Americas, and the humanities workshops

explorations that shaped them. The internationally significant Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Early Americas, Exploration and Navigation includes rare books, maps, manuscripts, pre-Columbian diversity

300 languages representedthe artifacts and other materials documenting 300 in UML collections

many facets of this eventful, often turbulent era.

physical items

displaying materials from the Kislak collection. selection of material from e-research the Collection

for display 1,031,162 e-books (+57% since 2012) 113,585 e-journals (+50% since 2012) at a new permanent Kislak 191,953 multimedia materials exhibit at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. The Kislak Center at UM will serve as a focal point for researchers and students, while the Kislak exhibit at MDC’s Freedom Tower is designed to appeal to a broader public.

Scholarly Value, Community Benefits

The two institutions will collaborate on collections

In the University of Miami and Miami Dade

care and public events, exhibits, and activities.

College (MDC), Kislak identified

“For 500 years, Florida has been a focal point of

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global exploration and cultural exchange,” Kislak says.

ability and desire to create educational and cultural programming around

“This permanent repository in South Florida will conserve our collections and make them available to generations of scholars and students to

these holdings in South

reveal the fascinating and important role

Florida to serve students,

of our community in world history.”

faculty, community residents, and scholars around the world.

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The Clue in the Diary by Lezley Saar, 1982 (Reinterpretation of a book from the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series by Carolyn Keene).

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of photos and other materials that document the story of Cuban architecture, UM Libraries’ Cuban Heritage Collection played an important role in a Coral Gables Museum exhibit about modernist Cuban architects and their work, both at home and in the diaspora diversity

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300 languages represented created by political upheavals in their homeland. in UML collections

Cuban Architects at Home and in Exile: The Modernist Generation comprises original documents, drawings, photographs, letters, and other ephemera reflecting the personal and professional journeys of more than 30 architects. Co-curated by Victor Deupi and JeanFrançois Lejeune from University of Miami School of Architecture, the exhibit also features videos portraying the Cuban architects’ private lives, examples of Cuban architecture throughout the island, and the influence of the 1959 Cuban revolution on the practice and teaching of architecture in Cuba. Nicolás Arroyo & Gabriela Menendez, Palacio de los Deportes, Ciudad Deportiva, 1955–1957.

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Nefarious Route to Riches 3/23/16 UML Special Collections, in partnership with Books & Books, hosted a reading of The Map Thief by investigative journalist and author Michael Blanding. The widely praised book tells the astonishing story of an antiquarian map dealer who secretly stole 97 prized rarities, valued at more than $3 million, from several prominent libraries.

38,337

reference questions answered

8,665 total partner tutoring sessions

1,142

annual instructional sessions delivered

UML website users (library.miami.ed

Envisioning the U In the early decades of the 20th century, enthusiastic slogans for the still-sleepy tropics, such as Keep the World Coming to Florida: Build the University of Miami, were showcased in colorful promotional posters. The name of the versatile artist, illustrator, and UM educator who created these iconic images may not be broadly known, but everyone who sets foot in Coral Gables or on the University of Miami campus has felt his influence. Appropriately, Denman Fink was the subject of complementary “town and gown” exhibits during the summer of 2017. Curated by University Archivist Koichi Tasa, Art and Structure: The Legacy of Denman Fink, on display in the University Archives at the Richter Library, featured materials ranging from Fink’s designs for Coral Gables founder George Merrick’s real estate projects to his drawings of campus buildings ranging from research labs to a stadium. Deeply involved in the creation of the University, Fink also taught art and architecture at the U from its founding in 1926 until his retirement in 1952.

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1,003 GIS and digital When Florida Took Flight humanities workshops Just a little over a quarter century ago, Eastern Airlines was the largest corporate employer and airline in Florida, with more than 12,000 employees. Eastern’s historic role in the growth of South Florida comes to life in a treasure

For a complementary exhibition at the Coral Gables Museum, University Archives partnered with the museum and contributed a number of items, including a vintage photograph of Bowman Foster Ashe, the first president of the University, captured viewing his official portrait—painted, of course, by Fink.

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diversity

trove of thousands of items ranging from

300 languages represe in UML collections

photographs to flight attendants’ uniforms, recently donated to UML’s Special Collections

by the Eastern Airlines Retirees Association. Open to researchers and the general public, the archive evokes fond nostalgia for a highflying era in South Florida history. Founded by the legendary pilot and aviation pioneer Edward “Eddie” Rickenbacker, Eastern Airlines fueled a regional boom in aviation and tourism from its 1975 relocation to Miami from New York City until it ceased operations in 1991. The Eastern Airlines archive joins other signature UML collections, such as the Pan American World Airways Records and the Jay

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A Man, A Plan, The Gables 1/14/16 On the occasion of UM’s 90th anniversary, Miami historian and University trustee Arva Moore Parks presented her latest book, about Coral Gables founder George Merrick. A contemporaneous exhibition of historical materials, Pan American University: The Original Spirit of the U Lives On, evoked the University’s enduring connection to Latin America and the Caribbean—a collaboration with Special Collections, Cuban Heritage Collection, and local artist and UM alum Alex Vahan led by Archivist Koichi Tasa.

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I. Kislak Collection, in forming a rich resource for studying the impact of travel, navigation, and exploration on contemporary culture. “This collection is a microcosm of the worlds of business, public relations, advertising, fashion, and technology, all through the fascinating lens of the aviation industry,” says Cristina Favretto, head of Special Collections. “In addition to its research uses, the collection appeals to the explorer in all of us.”

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> grand central destination UML’S NEW COMMONS IS A MAGNETIC RESOURCE FOR STUDENTS UMLLEARNING website users (library.miami.edu)

244,455 (93%) = U.S. EMBARKING ON EVERY TYPE OF ACADEMIC ENDEAVOR.

114,219 physical items borrowed

18,808 (7%) = international

“Multidisciplinary” isn’t just a higher-ed buzzword. It’s also an apt description of the holistic knowledge usage that prepares students forchapter successdownloads in today’s complex 702,879 book database uses by UM community world. To1,806,705 complement this knowledge, students 2,169,460 journal article downloads must develop multifaceted skills as they tackle assignments, pursue independent projects, collaborate with classmates, and communicate what they’ve learned. Now UM undergraduates can 1,003 GIS and digital get the varied types of in-person assistance they need humanities workshops to succeed in their college careers at the Learning Commons, an inviting, friendly “one-stop shop” for student services in Richter Library. It’s a robust, integrated set of services designed in every detail to support students in their scholarly pursuits diversity and encourage them to explore new directions in 300 languages represented learning. Studentsincan getcollections help at every stage of the UML learning process – from idea creation to research analysis, from writing to sharing and publishing.

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The Learning Commons reflects a trend that is being embraced by universities and colleges across the country, says Kelly Miller, associate dean for Learning and Research Services. “We are facilitating deep collaboration across the University to deliver more seamless academic support to students,” Miller notes. “The library, as a physical space, is increasingly important not only for quiet study, but also for working together, providing consultation, and nurturing interdisciplinary engagement. “The Commons is truly a hub for learning all kinds of new skills and technologies while interacting with other people.” Maximizing Mentorship Closely mirroring the mission of the Learning Commons, UML’s Library Research Scholars program facilitates undergraduate mentoring by University Libraries faculty members. Through guided engagement with UML’s research collections and service programs, students build on their interests, develop transferable skills, and create intellectual products to share with others.

An Immersive Environment for Inquiry 99,577 Successfully piloted over the last three semesters, physical items the Learning Commons will celebrate its official borrowed opening in spring 2018.

Participating service partners include the College of Arts & Sciences’ Writing Center, Math Lab, and Eleonore Graves Tripp Modern Languages Lab; UM Information Technology’s Student Technology e-research Help Desk; and Undergraduate Education’s Camner 1,031,162 e-books (+57% since 2012) Center for Academic 113,585 e-journalsResources—each (+50% since 2012)offer tutoring and191,953 consultations on site. multimedia materials The Digital Scholarship Lab provides a locus for support for Geographic Information Systems software, data services, digital humanities and digital publishing. The Digital Media Lab provides students with access to 3D printers, various format cameras, virtual reality gear, and other emerging tools and technologies with which to experiment and create. Peer research consultations are also a crucial part of the mix. This seamless continuum of services creates an immersive environment that fosters inquiry, creativity, and team learning, while encouraging students to use the available resources in their own way. For example, a student getting help with statistics in the Math Lab may then drop into the Digital Media Lab to learn how to present her data using a visually compelling method. Even amid a higher learning landscape that encompasses an ever-growing number of integrated learning resources, the ambitious scope of the University of Miami Libraries’ initiatives is distinctive. “I believe we’re doing something that’s going to be emulated elsewhere,” says Dean Charles Eckman. “As these programs mature, they will truly be something for the University to be proud of.”

“The Research Scholars Program empowers the student scholars, in turn, to give back to the University community,” says Roxane Pickens, assistant director of the Learning Commons. “The students help by introducing fellow students to library services and resources. We’re already seeing very positive results from this new model.”

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244,455 (93%) = U.S. 18,808 (7%) = international Connections Amid Collections

Systemic Synergy

What do Shakespeare’s first folio, the Jewish experience in

To streamline accessusage to the millions of

and an avant-garde 20th-century cellist have in common?

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Featuring presentations by thought-leaders in the academic

the University community researching

galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) sector, the

across multiple disciplines.

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co-organized by UML and the Lowe Art Museum with the

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its online catalog. When complete, the

The conference was jointly funded by generous grants from the

platform will serve as a comprehensive

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

discovery system for all of UM’s library and cultural holdings across

“All of the speakers were well-known and well-regarded for their

both print and digital formats.

experience, expertise, dedication, and forward thinking,” says Jill Deupi, Beaux Arts director and chief curator for the Lowe. “Their presence suffused all of us with vision and energy.” The inspiring conversations will continue at future convenings, to be hosted by different institutions to help ensure a diversity of audiences and discussion topics.

events

Help for the Homeless 10/26/16

University Press Predictions 4/20/16

In Housing Activism in Miami, Max Rameau, an outspoken voice for homeless rights and low-income victims of gentrification, led a lively discussion on issues of affordable housing.

An expert panel examined the state of academic publishing today and shared forecasts about the field’s future at this event, presented together with the UM’s Center for the Humanities.

Climbing Genetic Family Trees 11/1/16 DNA testing is big business—but what do clients really learn about themselves? Julia Dallman, a geneticist in UM’s Department of Biology, and Bill Walker, a UML genealogy researcher, examined the science behind genetic genealogy and offered attendees suggested perspectives on possible results.

Toward New Modes of Knowing 4/11/17 In Parallels of Practice: The Dialogue of Science and Philosophy, an expert panel of philosophers and scientists came together to engage with each other’s work as well as recent scientific critiques of philosophy, and to identify potential synergies between the two disciplines. The interactive event was organized by Joshua Myers, Library Research Scholar and Foote Fellow.

8

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Heads in the Cloud As of August 2017, all University

annual instructional sessions delivered

students have access to the 114,219 physical items borrowed

UML website users (library.miami.edu)

244,455 (93%) = U.S. 18,808 (7%) = international

Adobe Creative Cloud suite of software, making the potential for

99,577

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the Learning Commons limitless. The Adobe CC suite includes Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, free mobile apps for designing on the

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300 languages represented 300 in UML collections Grant CREATES New Collaborations

go, and much more—all supported by the UML Digital Media Lab. Adobe has also made an endowment gift of $100,000 to support the

As an outgrowth of the GLAM/AAML summit hosted by the University

Adobe Library Research Scholars

of Miami in January 2016, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has

Program at the University of Miami

awarded the University a CREATE (Cultural Resources, Engagement,

Libraries. Two Adobe Scholars will

Academics, Technology, and Enrichment) grant of $500,000 to

be selected to participate in the

support faculty engagement and programmatic collaboration

year-long, four-part program. Each

between the Lowe Art Museum and University of Miami Libraries.

Adobe Scholar will be paired with a librarian faculty member, who will

Two Mellon CREATE faculty programming mini-grants have

serve as a mentor and supervisor

been awarded thus far. Gauri Gaonkar Agarwal, a professor at

throughout the program’s duration.

the Miller School of Medicine, and his team will be gathering

After rigorous training, the Adobe

objective data on the results of Visual Thinking Strategies

Scholars will create a multimedia

educational sessions offered at the Lowe to Miller School students

project while also serving as “creative

over the past three years. A second recipient, Scotney Evans, a

consultants” to help other UM

professor in the School of Education and Human Development,

students maximize the potential

will guide his team in collaborating with University Special

of these tools. Through this unique

Collections librarians to merge information gathered from the

opportunity to build upon their

collections’ materials with other data resources to create a

interests, develop transferable

historical account of social justice activism in South Florida.

skills, and create shareable intellectual work, the students

The CREATE grant also established two new faculty fellowships

will also build valuable experience

with joint appointments at UML and the Lowe Art Museum—

in teamwork and collaboration

one devoted to conservation, the other to campus engagement.

that will help position them for

Conservator Laura Fedynyszyn is the Andrew W. Mellon Conservation

greater success after graduating.

Fellow; Christina Larson is the Andrew W. Mellon Academic Engagement Fellow. Both started at the University this fall.

event

Attachments and Assimilation 3/30/16 The Cuban Heritage Collection hosted the North American launch of the book The State and the Grassroots: Immigrant Transnational Organizations in Four Continents, co-edited by Alejandro Portes, professor of sociology and law at UM. The event was co-presented with the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and UM’s Department of Sociology.

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Digitizing Discovery

Shared “Sunshine,” oral histories, and an iconic airline...

Father Alejandro López

digital resources provide unparalleled access. CHP

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Caribbean Diaspora Oral History Project — an initiative that creatively captures the stories of individuals, such as this Cuban priest, from the distinctive diaspora.

Pan Am Digitization Project — the University Libraries’ Pan American World Airways records collection are accessible from anywhere in the world via UML’s Digital Collections website.

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Digital Humanities and Data Journalism (DH+DJ) Symposium — digital journalism and digital humanities are kindred spirits.

sessions delivered

114,219 physical items borrowed

UML website users (library.miami.edu)

244,455 (93%) = U.S. 18,808 (7%) = international

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> here comes the sun UML IS A FOUNDING PARTNER OF THE SUNSHINE STATE’S PARTICIPATION IN A NATIONAL

1,003 GIS and digital

humanities workshops COLLECTION OF DIGITIZED RESOURCES.

The State of Florida is, famously, no stranger to sunshine—even its open-government statutes are known as “Sunshine”diversity laws. Light will soon be shed 300 languages represented on a vast new trove ofininformation of great interest UML collections

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to Florida residents, students, and scholars through

e-research

1,031,162 e-books (+57% since 2012) 113,585 e-journals (+50% since 2012) with UML colleague Elliot Williams 191,953 multimedia materialsto evaluate metadata—including title, description, and copyright information—for more than 55,000 assets from digitized University collections to prepare them for assimilation into the national resource.

the Sunshine State Digital Network (SSDN). SSDN will serve as the conduit for organizations Members of the UML Digital Strategies team, in

of every size from around Florida, such as libraries,

partnership with Florida International University and

archives, and museums to make their digital

Florida State University, are laying the groundwork

content available and searchable on the DPLA.

for SSDN, the administrative and infrastructure hub

A series of informational workshops about the

for Florida-based collections in the Digital Public

SSDN were packed with prospective contributors.

Library of America (DPLA). The Boston-based DPLA connects people to digitized collections from libraries,

As new partners seek to get on board, “We’ll be

archives, and museums that range from modest

providing one-on-one consultations to help them

local collections to massive cultural institutions.

set up their collections to be compatible with DPLA guidelines,” says Williams, a digital metadata

SSDN will serve as the conduit for organizations of

librarian and chair of the SSDN Metadata Working

every size from around Florida, such as libraries,

Group. “Accurate, clear rights information is

archives, and museums to make their digital

especially important so that users understand

content available and searchable on the DPLA.

how they can use the resources they find.”

A series of informational workshops about the SSDN were packed with prospective contributors.

As to how the team manages the considerable challenges of such an ambitious project,

Facilitating Fresh Connections

Capell says, “The key is to have a long-term

“DPLA not only exposes our materials to much

vision, but break it into small steps.”

wider audiences, it melds them with those of other institutions, allowing people to make connections that they would never make otherwise,” says Laura Capell, who leads digital production and archiving of electronic records at UML. Capell worked closely

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08 (7%) = international 99,577

e

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,879 book chapter downloads 06,705 database uses by UM community 9,460 journal article downloads

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300 languages represented in UML collections

Denizens of a Distinctive Diaspora A Haitian-American Pulitzer-Prize-winning photojournalist. A Cuban priest who advocates for social justice in Honduras. A Colombian-American artist who works with found materials. The Venezuela-born marketing director for a South Florida ballet company. They’re just a few of the more than 20 individuals of Caribbean and Latin American descent who describe the influences and experiences that inspired their personal journeys and professional trajectories in the University of Miami Special Collections’ Caribbean Diaspora Oral History Project. “The interviewees are individuals who are actively involved in a creative blending of their immigration experience with their lives in the United States,” says Beatrice Skokan, Special Collections’ manuscripts librarian and curator for Caribbean Collections who led development of the project and conducted several of the interviews. “The Caribbean Disapora Project documents their experiences from their point of view—unedited by another’s gaze and interpretation,” Skokan adds. The series is now accessible to students, scholars, and the general public on the UM Libraries website; highlights from the interviews are available on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

event

Winging into the Middle East 5/20/16 In this Special Collections event, Waleed Hazbun, a political scientist at American University of Beirut, discussed post-World War II commercial American aviation in the Middle East. His research, which focused on World Wings International Records, received a grant from this philanthropic organization of former Pan Am flight attendants.

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Carl-Phillipe Juste, photojournalist

99,577

usage

physical item borrowed

702,879 book chapter downloads 1,806,705 database uses by UM community 2,169,460 journal article downloads

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Potential Plus

humanities workshops

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In February 2012, Dan1,031,162 Cohen, e-books (+57% sin then-executive director of the e-journals (+50% sin 113,585

multimedia materi Digital Public Library 191,953 of America, tweeted his view that digital journalism and digital humanities

were kindred spirits, and more 300 languages represented in UML collections commerce between the two “could be mutually beneficial.”

Cohen’s words helped inspire the first Digital Humanities and Data Journalism (DH+DJ) Symposium in 2016, hosted by the University of Miami at the Newman Alumni Center. Coordinated by the University of Miami Libraries, School of Communication, Center for Computational Science, and College of Arts and Sciences, the event was sponsored by the Knight Foundation. The DH+DJ symposium brought together two communities that share similar interests, face similar challenges, and use many of the same tech tools. Paige Morgan

Clipper Enters the Cloud

of the University’s own Digital

“Every country has an airline. The world has Pan Am.” The vintage

Humanities program joined

Pan American Airways slogan is truer than ever now that a growing

presenters representing institutions

number of images from the Pan American World Airways, Inc.

including Stanford University,

Records collection are accessible from anywhere in the world via

Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern

UML’s Digital Collections website.

University, as well as journalistic outlets Condé Nast, ProPublica,

Housed in Special Collections at the Otto G. Richter Library, the

and FiveThirtyEight, in exploring

Pan Am collection is one of UM’s most researched and extensive,

topics ranging from collaborative

containing historical brochures, newsletters, periodicals,

opportunities to the implications of

correspondence, photographs, and many other records

artificial intelligence and Big Data.

documenting the 60-plus years of aviation history and world impact of the iconic airline.

Though a follow-up event scheduled for September 2016 was cancelled

The Pan Am digitization project is made possible by the National

due to Hurricane Irma, organizers

Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Continuing

plan to regroup and make the event

the work of a previous NHPRC-funded grant, this phase will ultimately

a regular one going forward.

add over 100,000 pages of printed items to Digital Collections, where the materials are fully text searchable and available to the public. For more information on the Next up: publications from the World War II era. “Pan Am played a

DH+DJ Symposium, visit

crucial role in aviation and global history during this time period,”

dhdj.com.miami.edu.

says Digitization Grant Project Manager Gabriella Williams, “and the company’s large fleet was invaluable to the United States war effort.”

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Touching the Wider World

Mapathons, colorful climate change, and community service digital humanities links the U to crucial relief and global efforts.

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Rising Tide: We Have Been Warned by Suzanne Evenson

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DOCS — Medical and public librarians partner with Miller School of Medicine medical students through the Department of Community Services (DOCS) program to provide basic health services to underserved and vulnerable communities in Miami– Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

A Changing Planet — a multimedia exhibition of art quilts and interactive displays invites guests to explore a range of climate change issues, their impact on South Florida, and efforts to address them.

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2,169,460 journal article downloads

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1,031,162 e-books (+57% since 2012) 113,585 e-journals (+50% since 2012) 191,953 multimedia materials languages represented > clearing a path to aid 300 300 in UML collections diversity

UML’S DIGITAL HUMANITIES GROUP LEADS THE WAY AND LINKS THE U TO A CRUCIAL POST-DISASTER VOLUNTEER EFFORT.

Though they rely on different methods—observation

out who needed help and how to reach those in

and experimentation on the one hand, interpretation

need. The stateside volunteers used OpenStreetMap,

and critical thinking on the other—physical science

an open-source mapping platform used by

and humanistic disciplines find common ground

organizations including the American Red Cross

in the digital humanities, an interdisciplinary

and FEMA. The crowd-sourced geospatial data

field at the intersection of humanities scholarship,

provides a useful platform for aid organizations to

computer technologies, and digital media.

aggregate vital information after natural disasters.

And then there are moments when the varied

The University’s mapathon was organized by Paige

components of the digital humanities come

Morgan, digital humanities librarian of the UM

together in the service of humanity itself.

Libraries Digital Scholarship Group, which focuses on helping users learn specialized software and tools

That was precisely the case when more than 50

to find, manage, interpret, and publish data.

University of Miami students, faculty, staff, and community members settled into a Richter Library

Because most of the mapathon volunteers had no

conference room last fall, opened their laptops, and

mapping experience or geographical knowledge

began pulling up satellite images of Puerto Rico.

of affected areas, Morgan and her team provided

The UM Disaster Relief Mapathon was part of an

training at the beginning of the event.

extraordinary effort that brought together thousands of volunteers at universities around the country

“Many people, including many students, are somewhat

in real time to help expedite the delivery of aid to

daunted by information technologies,” Morgan

communities devastated by Hurricane Maria.

says. “So I’m always looking for points of entry to help demystify the digital humanities and encourage

Open-Source Assistance

people to explore how they can engage with the field.

Because more than 1,500 roads and bridges were

The mapathon was a perfect example of that.”

damaged after the hurricane, responders needed details on the island’s roads and buildings to find

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event

Empowered in Pink 9/22/16 At Pink Powder, a display of artworks exploring aspects of female identity from the de la Cruz Collection in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in conjunction with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Felicia M. Knaul, director of UM’s Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and a breast cancer survivor, spoke alongside her husband, UM President Julio Frenk. The exhibit was a cross-unit collaboration led by UM’s Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) initiative. Justina Shandler, graduate student and songwriter in the Frost School of Music, performs an inspiring original song at the exhibit’s opening reception.

A Colorful Take on Climate Change A traveling exhibit of 26 colorful and intricate climate-focused art quilts by 22 Florida artists, Piecing Together a Changing Planet, survived wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains and a hurricane to open on the first floor of the Otto G. Richter Library’s Lynda and Michael Gordon Exhibition Gallery at the University of Miami last March.

CHC Champions Rise to the Challenge Long renowned among scholars around the world as a crown jewel of Cuban collections, the Cuban Heritage Collection is gleaming even more brightly these days, thanks to its loyal friends.

The textile artworks, which had been traveling through U.S. national parks since 2014, examined aspects of climate change such as sea level rise, coral bleaching, water and air pollution, and habitat loss. UML teams worked with UM news on the occasion of their Special Report: Climate Change to research and select complementary exhibit items from UML’s Special Collections, including some generated by members of the University community. Evoking aspects of climate change and sustainability, the objects ranged from archival photographs to a “Humans vs. Mosquitoes” card game about vector-borne diseases.

In 2016 the CHC was offered a 2:1 matching grant from The Goizueta Foundation if $500,000 could be raised from other philanthropic sources. The foundation’s fundraising challenge to the CHC was recently met by “the Amigos,” the group of volunteers who support the work of the collection. As a result, a new $1.5 milion Goizueta Foundation Cuban Heritage Collection Endowment has been created to support CHC’s acquisition and digitization programs. “This extraordinary support will help sustain and expand CHC exhibitions, events, digital collections, and new collection initiatives,” says Dean of Libraries Charles Eckman. The foundation also endowed The Goizueta Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program, which has supported scholarly work in Cuban, hemispheric, and international studies by more than 60 emerging scholars from 35 universities. Complementing the fellowship program, the CHC hosts the biennial conference New Directions in Cuban Studies. The Goizueta Foundation’s generosity to the CHC during the University’s Momentum2 campaign is handsomely showcased in the collection’s elegant Roberto C. Goizueta Pavilion in the Otto G. Richter Library. 16

Wings of Fire by Melani K. Brewer

A companion multimedia exhibition of art quilts, interactive displays, and curated library items, displayed in the Roberto C. Goizueta Pavilion of the Cuban Heritage Collection, invited guests to explore a range of climate change issues, their impact on South Florida, and efforts to address them.

A Changing Planet was on display in the Richter Library. To find out more about the exhibit, visit facebook.com/piecingtogether. To view the UM Special Report: Climate Change, visit climate.miami.edu.

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300 languages represented in UML collections Blazing the Trail, Building the Dream On January 31, 1961, the University of Miami’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to ‘accept any qualified student…regardless of race, creed, or color.’ The date is a historic one for the University. But the actual experiences of the first black students to subsequently attend the U have been much less well-documented. A Black Alumni Society event called UTrailblazers went a long way toward changing that. The festivities drew hundreds of people to campus on February 24 and 25, 2017, to honor those who blazed a trail of diversity and inclusion during the first two decades of racial integration at UM. Among the weekend’s key events was a visit to Richter Library’s We Were Pioneers exhibit, for which dozens of dedicated ’Canes, led by alumni Denise Mincey-Mills, Antonio Junior, and Phyllis Tyler, spent four years sifting through Ibis yearbooks and unearthing records in the University Archives. The First Black Graduates Project

also reached out to black alumni from that era to learn more about their experiences, struggles, and successes. The resulting exhibition, co-curated by Koichi Tasa and Marcia Heath, featured publications, images, memorabilia, and other artifacts from the University Archives collection in nine exhibition cases and surrounding walls on the first floor of the library. “The University of Miami helped to educate us and mold us,” said keynote speaker George F. Knox, J.D. ’73, at the UTrailblazers gala. “Now we are free to say, ‘We love you, University of Miami,’ and we know you love us back.” To learn more about the We Were Pioneers exhibit, visit library.miami.edu.

Engaging a Living Legacy The vibrant and vital cultural legacy preserved by the University of Miami Libraries’ Cuban Heritage Collection is the subject of Heritage, an awardwinning short film produced by UML Creative Services. Heritage was named the best submission in the collections-focused awards category at the second annual “ARLies”—the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Film Festival—in May 2017 in Philadelphia, PA. The film combines evocative visuals both within and outside the physical parameters of the CHC with the words and perspectives of CHC librarians, faculty colleagues, and UM leaders. Offering a concise, poignant portrait of the profound influence a Cuban heritage exerts on its sons and daughters, the film also profiles the CHC as a powerful catalyst for scholarship, discovery, collaboration, and engagement with Cuban culture and history. “As a library,” says Dean Charles Eckman, “we not only preserve the tangible; we also make cultural heritage accessible and approachable.”

Enhancing Healthcare Information for Communities Continuing a tradition of service that began in the 1970s, the Miller School of Medicine’s Mitchell Wolfson, Sr. DOCS (Department of Community Service) program engages medical students in providing free health screenings, preventive care, and referrals to underserved and vulnerable populations in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe Counties. In 2008, through a two-year grant from the regional chapter of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, medical librarians at the school’s Louis Calder Memorial Library for health sciences, began a partnership with DOCS and public librarians to increase the use of quality health information at

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DOCS health fairs. With grant funding, mobile devices were purchased to showcase MedlinePlus, a government vetted consumer health resource. Every year since, the Calder librarians, as well as several staff members, have continued to volunteer at the health fairs. The Calder teams bring informational handouts about common diagnoses such as diabetes and hypertension, as well as MedlinePlus brochures (in English, Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole), lists of public libraries, and other practical brochures that are useful to the clinicians and health fair participants. The Calder Library’s inspiring success in providing community access to health information was showcased in a poster session at the meeting of the Medical Library Association’s Southern Chapter in San Juan, Puerto Rico in October 2015. To learn more about DOCS, visit udocs.med.miami.edu.

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About access

Pledge your support for UM Libraries at library.miami.edu/

UML’s diverse community thrives on access to higher knowledge and

support or contact University

pathways to discovery, as well as the work environments, research

to learn about other UML

materials, tools, and services that enable them to pursue these pathways to their fullest. Our publication, access, reflects the many ways that the mission of the University of Miami is advanced through our collections, events, exhibitions, services, and the many other

Advancement at 305-284-4443 giving opportunities.

Media coverage of UML events, book talks, lectures, symposia, and faculty have appeared in various news sources. Visit the “UML in the News” page on our website (library.

lead to scholarly and cultural enrichment throughout our community.

media mentions.

UM LIBRARIES

initiatives and activities that facilitate the endeavors of our users and

miami.edu) to view the latest

Transforming lives OPENING WORLDS I n t er d i sc i p li nary L i b rary Otto G. Richter Library

S u b j ec t S p eci alt y L i b rari es School of Architecture: Paul Buisson Architecture Library Miami Business School: Judi Prokop Newman Information Resource Center Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science: Rosenstiel Library Miller School of Medicine: Louis Calder Memorial Library Frost School of Music: Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center

I n d e p e n d ent L i b rary School of Law: Law Library

To learn more about our libraries and their collections, including contact information and directions, please visit library.miami.edu.

spring 2018 UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS 17-133