You can help celebrate the many cultures represented by Arab Americans by exploring the wealth of literature and poetry held by the University of Virginia Library. Arab American Heritage Month, Reading lists
Six years ago, University of Virginia English professor John O’Brien and his colleague Tonya Howe, a professor of literature at Marymount University, were both wrestling with a problem in their classrooms. Students, up against rising textbook costs, were coming to class with free, but unvetted versions of assigned reading. “These digital versions of literary texts were poorly edited and annotated — if they were edited at all,” Howe said.
Data matters to the UVA Library. It helps identify what resources are heavily used and what groups of people use them. The Library uses data to assess trends and inform collection building, to make decisions about service desk staffing and service improvements, and to improve teaching and learning services. Data is critical to making smart financial decisions and justifying budget spending and requests.
Guest post coauthored by Cecelia Parks (Undergraduate Student Success Librarian), and Alison Booth, (Professor of English and Academic Director, Scholars’ Lab).
Library resources have the capacity to enlighten and empower, but only for those who have the time, know-how, and ability to use them — making equitable access a complex concept. Financial challenges are another pressing issue for college students and can interfere with their education in myriad ways, such as through food insecurity or concerns over the cost of textbook materials.
In recent years the Library has implemented staff-wide practices to improve access, including the adoption of design principles that place accessibility at the center of user decision-making; taking care to emphasize that Library resources are available fully free of change — something not all incoming students are aware of; and providing broad accessibility training for staff. Other focus areas include:
Leo Lo, dean of libraries at UVA and special advisor to the provost on AI literacy, told VPM News, “There are efforts to send a more university-wide AI vision. But for the last several years, different schools have been experimenting, trying different things.”
University Librarian and Dean of Libraries Leo S. Lo finds it useful to sort AI answers into an “answer typography” of four broad types: factual, interpretive, constructive and strategic.
UVA Library is combining tradition with technology in an effort researchers say will help preserve and expand access to Guna culture for a global audience.
The UVA project took about two years and involved research in UVA’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library; trips to Monticello, Montpelier and Highland; and working with the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.
The Library of Virginia and the University of Virginia will host a talk in late September about the role libraries play in an increasingly AI-driven world.
