Monday, June 21, 2010

UNC Health Sciences Library Awarded Digitization Grant

Special Collections at UNC Health Sciences Library has recently been awarded $42,675 for year two of a three-year NC ECHO digitization grant project for the creation of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Funded by the State Library of North Carolina through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the 2010-11 awards were announced June 10, 2010 and totalled $4.9 million for statewide library projects; the complete list of awards, including others at UNC, is available at the LSTA web site.

Work on the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection commenced with a pilot project over two years ago, and through year one of the grant project (FY 09-10), over 130,000 pages of core journals and books in medicine, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing from 1849 to the present have been digitized. The digital collection will eventually grow to over 800 volumes and approximately 300,000 pages. This material thoroughly documents the development of health care and the health professions within North Carolina and is thus a significant part of the state’s cultural heritage and history.

While digitized content is also being made available via the Internet Archive, the project is actively developing an integrated web site that will provide consolidated online access and advanced searching functionalities. The digital collection will moreover provide historical context for the resources in the various health disciplines and K-12 educational materials for selected content. A glimpse of public health images from the digital collection is available via Flickr.

Daniel Smith, Special Collections Librarian at UNC Health Sciences Library, is the principal investigator and project manager, and has directed each phase of the grant. Partners in the project include the Carolina Digital Library and Archive, the UNC Library, and Learn NC.

Note: The image above is from the Health Bulletin (1927), v. 42, n. 2, p. 1, published by the North Carolina State Board of Health.

Five Centuries of North Carolina Maps Now Online

More than 3,200 historic maps of North Carolina are now available online as part of the digital North Carolina Maps project, set to be completed June 30, 2010

Visitors to the North Carolina Maps site can see the results of a three-year collaborative project to identify and scan nearly every original map of the state published from 1584 to 1923. The collection also contains maps of every North Carolina county and maps published by the state through the year 2000.

The North Carolina Collection in the Wilson Special Collections Library collaborated to produce the new site with the North Carolina State Archives and the Outer Banks History Center in Manteo. The UNC Library and the State Archives scanned the maps, and the Library hosts and administers the site.

Read more . . . .

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

2010 North Carolina Book Awards

The North Carolina Literary and Historical Association (NCLHA), established in 1900, has issued a call for entries for the 2010 North Carolina Book Awards. Several different competitions are now open, including the Hardee Rives Award for Dramatic Arts, the Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction (successor to the Mayflower Cup), the Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry, the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, and the American Association of University Women Award for Juvenile Literature.

To be eligible for consideration, a work must meet the following criteria:

-- It must be an original book published during the twelve months ending June 30 of the year for which the award is given;

-- Its author(s) must have maintained legal or physical residence, or a combination of both, in North Carolina for the three years preceding the close of the contest period; and

-- Three (3) copies of each entry must be submitted to the Awards Coordinator for the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.

Additional guidelines are available on the NCLHA web site. The deadline for receipt of nominated books is July 15, 2010.

Other related awards include the Christopher Crittenden Memorial Award, which recognizes significant contributions to the preservation of North Carolina history, and the R. Hunt Parker Memorial Award, which acknowledges literary contributions. At the annual meeting each year the Historical Society of North Carolina presents the R. D. W. Connor Award for the best article to have appeared in the North Carolina Historical Review in the preceding year and the Hugh T. Lefler Award for the best paper by an undergraduate student.

Visit the NCLHA web site for further information about the Association, which is among the oldest of its kind in the nation.

Resources for Oil Spill Disasters and Health

As part of its Disaster Information Management Research Center, the National Library of Medicine provides access to disaster management information resources, projects, and programs. One of its newest additions is a set of disaster preparedness and response resources related to crude oil spills and health. This site features sections for current awareness; occupational hazards; dispersants; food contamination; government agencies; wildlife protection; social media; as well as resources from the National Library of Medicine and in foreign languages.

The Internet Archive Book Drive

The Internet Archive has been scanning books for some years now, and we're always looking for more. In addition to 1,000,000+ eBooks available to anyone available through Open Library, we've announced the release of modern books for the print-disabled community in a special format called DAISY. It's a brand new collection--one of the largest available online. For too long, print-disabled people have been denied access to the full breadth of contemporary books, and we'd like to assist in tipping that balance back to where it should be, universal access for all readers.

Please help us by donating books to be scanned or with financial support for the scanning process. Based on existing foundation funding, we are sponsoring the scanning of the first 10,000 books that are donated in this Book Drive. We're looking for wonderful and important books for this first 10,000 and even more books and money to keep it going. We will make these digital books as available to the world as we can, including the print-disabled, and will preserve the physical book for the long term.

How Does The Book Drive Work?
You can simply send up to 100 books or drop them off in person at our headquarters:

Internet Archive Book Drive
300 Funston Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118

If you'd like to make a donation of more than 100 books, wow! That would be wonderful, but please give us a call on +1 415-561-6767 to arrange shipping and handling.

Read more . . . .

Physicians' Lives in the Shenandoah Valley

The National Library of Medicine's Archives and Modern Manuscripts Program (AMMP) in the History of Medicine Division is pleased to announce the launch of a new digital texts site, Physicians' Lives in the Shenandoah Valley, a collection of 828 letters dating between 1786-1907. It is drawn from the Henkel Family Letters collection covering more than a century of life in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

The Henkel family settled in New Market, Virginia in 1790. Generations of fathers and sons studied medicine. Over the course of their careers, these physicians ministered to their community, tended to their countrymen on the battlefield, and testified in the nation's courts of law. The letters of the Henkel family richly document the daily life of men in medicine in the nineteenth century and reveal the challenges of the profession as well as the rewards and responsibilities. Their writings colorfully represent the range of events in everyday life, from the minute details of local issues to the national crisis of the Civil War. The missives convey the concerns and characters of the authors, vividly illustrating the writers' personalities, and their experiences as physicians.

The site contains the complete collection of transcribed letters alongside images of the originals. Curators normalized the majority of place names, general subject terms, and MeSH terms (Medical Subject Headings) to aid searching and browsing. The original spellings are enhanced by pop-up window links that display the normalized phrase. All spellings and verbiage are those of the original writers; no editorial interventions were made, although some layouts differ to enhance readability.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Edward G. Holley, National Library Leader, Dies at 83

One of the most outstanding leaders in 20th century American librarianship, Dr. Edward G. Holley, died peacefully Thursday, February 18 in Durham, North Carolina. A highly respected dean and professor at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1972 to 1985 and William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor from 1989 until he retired from the School in 1995, Dr. Holley was known as a giant in the library world.

Holley was born in 1927 in Pulaski, Tenn. In 1949 he earned a B.A. in English from David Lipscomb College in Nashville, Tenn. He then received an M.A. in library science in 1951 from George Peabody College for Teachers, also in Nashville. In 1961 Holley completed a Ph.D. in library science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He began his professional
academic career at the University of Houston, and he spent nine years in Texas before coming to Chapel Hill in 1972 to assume the position of dean and professor in UNC at Chapel Hill's SILS.

Holley served as president of the American Library Association (ALA) from 1974-75 and received nearly every major award his profession bestowed, notable among them the ALA Scarecrow Press Award for his published dissertation, Charles Evans, American Bibliographer (1964); the ALA Melvil Dewey Award (1983); the ALA Joseph Lippincott Award (1987); Distinguished Alumnus Awards (Peabody Library School, Vanderbilt University, 1987;
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 1988); the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award (Association of College and Research Libraries, 1988); and the Beta Phi Mu Award (1992). In 1994, he was honored with a festschrift, For the Good of the Order: Essays in Honor of Edward G. Holley, the title bearing
witness to his tireless professional devotion.

An eminent historian, Holley produced over 100 books, articles and essays on topics as diverse as library biography, the history of library education, copyright, library administration and the place of personal morality in public life. He served on countless high level committees,
worked for accreditation standards, defended the MLS, testified before Congressional committees and acted as library consultant. As ALA president during turbulent times (1974-1975), he was largely responsible for establishing a federated system for ALA ("every tub on its own bottom").

While dean of SILS, Holley established a doctoral program, hired distinguished faculty and expanded the master's program to two years, providing a core curriculum known famously to students during his years as "The Block." In 1975 he established the internship program at the Environmental Protection Agency Library that still exists today. As professor and advisor, he was an inspiration to his students.

"Ed was not only a distinguished professional, but also a caring and compassionate individual," said Dr. Barbara B. Moran, interim dean of SILS. "He was one of the most unselfish people I ever met and was always concerned with the good of others. He was a wonderful mentor and someone who cared deeply about the students, the faculty and the School. Using his own term, he always put the "good of the order" before his individual needs. He was truly a remarkable person and one who will be missed deeply by those who had the opportunity to know him."

Dr. Holley was preceded in death by his wife, Bobbie Lee Holley. He is survived by four children, Gailon Holley, Jens Holley, Amy Holley and Beth Holley; and three grandchildren, Melody Holley, Faith Holley and Julia Ruth.

A memorial service for Dr. Holley, will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at Gerrard Hall on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

A reception in the historic Queen Anne Faculty Lounge at the UNC Campus YMCA (next to Gerrard Hall) will immediately follow the memorial service. All who would like to join the family are invited to attend.

Gifts in memory of Dr. Holley may be directed to the "Edward G. Holley Student Research Fund" at SILS. For more information on how to make donations in Dr. Holley's name, please contact the SILS office at 919-843-8337 or send e-mail to wmonroe@unc.edu.

Note: Portions of this news story have been reprinted from "Interview with Edward G. Holley" by Tommy Nixon, which was published in North Carolina Libraries, 56(2), Summer 1998, p.65-70.)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center is a new, statewide digitization and digital publishing program housed in the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill. The Center operates in conjunction with the State Library of North Carolina's NC ECHO (North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) project. It is supported by the State Library of North Carolina with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act.

There are several projects currently available at the Center's website:

:: North Carolina College and University Yearbooks. Images and full-text searching are available for student yearbooks from several schools, including Appalachian State, Elon, Elizabeth City State, East Carolina, Meredith College, Louisburg College, UNC-Greensboro, and UNC-Chapel Hill. There will be many more schools added soon.

:: Images of North Carolina. This collection features images of original materials from a variety of institutions, including the Orange County Historical Museum, the Sallie Mae Ligon Museum and Archives at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford, and UNC-Chapel Hill.

:: Durham Urban Renewal Records. Records from the Durham County Library documenting the urban redevelopment of Durham in the 1960s and 1970s.

:: Digital Davie. Historic photographs from the Davie County Public Library documenting people and places in Davie County.

:: Wilson County's Greatest Generation: The Memories of the World War II Veterans of Wilson County, N.C. This collection was compiled by the Wilson County Historical Society and consists of photographs, documents, and personal recollections of many of the men and women from Wilson County who served in World War II.

Visit often, as new materials are being added to all of these projects on a regular basis. We will also continue to develop new projects, and look forward to working with more libraries, archives, and museums around the state to share their resources online.

Please feel free to contact Nicholas Graham, Program Coordinator, with any questions (ngraham@unc.edu or 919-962-4836).

Monday, June 7, 2010

Study of Open Access Publishing Project

A survey is being conducted by the Study of Open Access Publishing (SOAP) project, financed by the European Commission. The study is investigating publishing practices and attitudes towards Open Access publishing. More information about the SOAP project can be found on the project's public website.

The survey is primarily aimed at active researchers in public and private organisations, from all fields of the research in the sciences and humanities. It focuses on publication of research articles in peer-reviewed journals. All responses will be confidential and submitted anonymously. It should take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Results will be made publicly available in the second half of 2010.

The SOAP consortium represents key stakeholders such as publishers (BioMed Central Ltd (BMC), Sage Publications Ltd (SAGE) UK and Springer Science+Business Media Deutschland GmbH (SSBM)), funding agencies (Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) UK), libraries (Max Planck Digital Library of the Max Planck Society) and a broad spectrum of research disciplines.

It aims to study the new open access business models that have emerged as a result of the shift from print to digital documents and inform the European Commission and all stakeholders about the risks, opportunities and essential requirements for a smooth transition to open access publishing.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Beyond Impact Factor: Panel & Discussion

Beyond Impact Factor: Understanding & Supporting Scholarly Work in the New Academy
Wednesday, June 9, 2010, 9am-12:30pm
Pleasants Family Assembly Room, Wilson Library, UNC

The UNC Libraries' Scholarly Communications Committee invites you to a half-day panel and discussion, exploring alternative forms of scholarly output and their impact on academia. Please register by Friday, June 4. Beverages and refreshments will be served.

Panelists include:

Gary Marchionini (moderator), Dean, School of Information and Library Science, UNC
Phil Edwards, Instructor in School of Information and Library Science, UNC
Molly Keener, Scholarly Communications Librarian, Wake Forest University
Erin O'Meara, Electronic Records Archivist, UNC
Kevin Smith, Scholarly Communications Officer, Duke

Winner of 2010 McLendon-Thomas Award in the History of Medicine

Chailee Mann-Stadt, a third-year MD student in the UNC School of Medicine, is the winner of the third annual McLendon-Thomas Award in the History of Medicine. Sponsored by the Bullitt History of Medicine Club, the essay competition carries a $500 prize that is funded by UNC alumni S. Gregory Boyd (MD '03, JD '04) and Laura Boyd (JD '02). The award honors Dr. William McLendon and Dr. Colin Thomas, Jr. and recognizes scholarly excellence in the history of the health sciences.

Chailee's winning essay was entitled, "Drs. Dewey and Milligan: Early Women in American Medicine," and she will be delivering a presentation to the Bullitt Club during the lecture series for 2010-11.

The essay competition is open to all UNC-Chapel Hill students in the health sciences: medicine, pharmacy, public health, dentistry, nursing, and allied health sciences. The next deadline for submissions is April 1, 2011; for further information, please see the competition guidelines.

:: Greg and Laura Boyd live in New York City, where he is an attorney with Davis & Gilbert LLP and she is professional photographer. Greg considers the history of medicine to be one of the most important aspects of his medical education and Drs. McClendon and Thomas among the best role models possible. They both strongly believe that the history of medicine represents a critical perspective and focus on the art of medicine that are necessary for training the best possible physicians, health care executives, and policy makers.

:: Dr. William W. McLendon served from 1973-1995 at UNC as Director of the Hospital Clinical Laboratories and as Professor and Vice-Chair of Pathology. Since his retirement in 1995 he has been Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. An MD graduate of UNC in 1956, he and Bob Whitlock (MD '57) were the student co-founders in 1954 of the Bullitt History of Medicine Club. Dr. McLendon is the co-author, along with the late Drs. William Blythe and Floyd Denny, of the recently published Bettering the Health of the People: W. Reece Berryhill, the UNC School of Medicine, and the North Carolina Good Health Movement.

:: Dr. Colin G. Thomas, Jr. joined the faculty of the UNC School of Medicine in 1952, and is currently Byah Thomason-Sanford Doxey Professor of Surgery. From 1966-1984 he served as Chair of the Department of Surgery, and from 1984-1989 as Chief of the Division of General Surgery. Dr. Thomas was one of the early faculty members of the Bullitt History of Medicine Club, and is the co-author, along with Mary Jane Kagarise, of the 1997 history, Legends and Legacies: A Look Inside: Four Decades of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1952-1993.

:: For more information on the Bullitt Club and mp3 recordings of past lectures, please visit the Bullitt Club website.