UW Libraries Blog

September 14, 2023

Fall Update: Welcome to the Libraries 2023

UW Libraries

Did you know? University of Washington Press is part of UW Libraries? Check out all of the amazing books you can get – now at a special back-to-school discount! (Makes a great gift for friends and family!)

updated 10/2/23

Welcome, Huskies!

Whether this is your first year or twenty-first year, welcome back to UW and UW Libraries! We hope you enjoyed all of the amazing Libraries Dawg Daze events — and if you missed them, be sure to check out our student guides for helpful links all year long! There is a lot going on this month – our annual US Constitution Read-Aloud, Podcasting workshops, Open Access Week,  Tarot Card lessons (in conjunction with our newest exhibit Magic and Mystery– just in time for Halloween fun) ! Be sure to explore our new and remodeled spaces at the Tateuchi East Asia Library and the Open Scholarship Commons and all of the free workshops, offices hours, new exhibits and events! UW Libraries are here for you in person and online, so get to know us and all the ways we can support your journey of teaching, learning and research at UW!

Operations Updates

  • NEW HOURS FOR Odegaard Library:  Sundays – Thursdays, now open until midnight AND Fridays, until 8pm!

Essential Guides

Be sure to bookmark these “one stop shop” web pages for quick reference and access to all of the services, tools and resources provided to you by UW Libraries.

Welcome to the Libraries: UW Family Weekend

Enter the UW Libraries Family Weekend Trivia Contest now- October 31!

We are excited to welcome Husky family members to the libraries throughout the year, and especially on UW Family Weekend Oct. 20–21 If you plan a visit to UW Libraries, be sure to “know before you go” and check hours first (note: Suzzallo Libraries will be open special hours 9am-1PM on Parents Weekend SATURDAY 10/21 and be sure to enter our UW Libraries Family Trivia contest open to all UW students, family members and alumni through October 31st! Read our Family Weekend Welcome blog.

News and Stories

The new seating and collaboration space at the OSC!

Visit the Open Scholarship Commons in Suzzallo!

After 18 months of planning and construction, a new space for collaboration and open scholarship support is here! Come check out this attractive new technologically-rich space on the ground floor of Suzzallo Library. The OSC is designed to help you learn about open scholarship, create projects, and share research using a host of UW-Libraries open, digital tools and resources. Learn more. Learn more. 

Suzzallo Library featured in Seattle Time’s “most stunning architectural details” feature. We are excited to be included in this special “sampling of wow-worthy architectural details from downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, arranged chronologically within each area” (Hint: Suzzallo is toward the end of the story). Read the story by Lawrence Kreisman.

The Research Communication and Equity Fellowship showcase at the UW Libraries’ Research Commons celebrates the academic and creative work of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) graduate students. Learn more.

Events

First Wednesday Concert Oct 4, 12:30 – 1:30pm – Students of the UW School of Music perform in this lunchtime concert series co-hosted by UW Music and UW Libraries.

Open Access Week

International Open Access Week, observed each October since 2008, is an opportunity to learn about and celebrate our collective momentum in building a more open and equitable system for sharing knowledge. Read our blog post on OA Week.

UW Libraries 2023 OW Week Events include:

  • Hacking the Academy: The Adoption of Open – October 23; This year’s Open Access Week focuses on the theme of “community over commercialization” and provides an opportunity to examine the successes and challenges of adopting open practices in software development, open education, open data, and new funding models to support this work. Join our panelists as they converse around their work to support the adoption of open. This program will take place fully online through Zoom. Learn more. 
  • Open Educational Resources 101: Find and Create Affordable Course Materials – October 25;  learn about Open Educational Resources (OER), free and openly licensed materials that you can use in your teaching. OER, particularly open textbooks, save students money while empowering faculty by giving them more control over their course content. We’ll cover the difference between Open Access and Open Educational Resources, how to find OER for your course, and tools for authoring and publishing your own openly licensed materials. Learn more.
  • Reading the Fine Print: a Workshop + Hackathon on Privacy and Terms of Service for Common Research and Classroom Tools- October 26. Do you click accept without fully reading the terms of service for research or classroom tools? Have you tried to understand the privacy policies of tools you use for research/courses but get lost in the legalese? If so, this workshop is for you! Designed for students, instructors, and researchers alike, this online workshop will help you navigate common language used in Terms of Service and Privacy Policies and will offer a framework for reviewing agreements. Learn more.
  • Creative Commons Workshop – October 27: Creative Commons (CC) licenses are an important tool in the Open Access movement. They signal that a work can be freely used and shared in ways the copyright holder allows. Join us for this fully online workshop to review how the CC licenses work and find out where to find CC licensed media. Learn more.
  • Seattle Research Software Engineer Meetups 10/26 and 10/27: These networking events provide a great opportunity for Research Software Engineers, developers, and scientists to connect, network, and build a community. It brings opportunities for conversation around open source infrastructure and community adoption tactics to support software products in the service of open science. Sponsored in partnership with the  University of Washington’s eScience Institute and hosted by the UW Libraries’ Open Scholarship Commons.

Recurring/Monthly Workshops and Office Hours

Metadata Support for UW Libraries Digital Scholarship Platforms – multiple days: High-quality descriptive metadata can make your work more findable and meaningful for users, but platform requirements and related standards aren’t always easy to understand. Metadata support office hours at the OSC are a place to ask questions about describing your digital project and get support for integrating metadata effectively into your work in Libraries-supported platforms. Learn more.

Digital Scholarship Project Help Office Hours- Thursdays: Learn about getting started with digital projects at UW. We offer consultations for research and course related projects. Examples include support for digital publishing, building digital exhibits, and more! We can help you find the right tools, resources and instruction whether you’re just getting started or are working on an on-going project. Learn more

Pressbooks

  • Advanced Pressbooks Publishing Webinar- October 17: This training session is open to all users on hosted Pressbooks. EDU networks (including the University of Washington) and is designed for users who have some familiarity with Pressbooks and are ready to engage in more complex activities, like adding interactive elements or integrating Pressbooks with supported third-party tools. Learn more

New Exhibits and Displays

Section 504 at 50: 50th Anniversary of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act: This Libraries exhibit highlights the history of disability rights and advocacy in the U.S., Washington State, and on campus in conjunction with UW’s year-long disability awareness campaign in celebration of the anniversary of provision 504, laying the foundation for equal access and opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Tateuchi East Asia Library faculty display: As part of celebrating the reopening of the Tateuchi East Asia Library, a new display inside the library will showcase recent publications of East Asia Studies faculty and instructors. Come see the new space, learn about the library and all of the amazing research coming from our UW community!   Learn more.

Special Collections

EXHIBIT: Magick and Mystery: Exploring the Supernatural in Special CollectionsEXHIBIT: Magick and Mystery: Exploring the Supernatural in Special Collections – Opens September 12. Explore the supernatural in this exhibit featuring all manner of magic and mischief. Opening in Fall 2023 and running until the end of Winter Quarter 2024, Magick and Mystery will feature items from Special Collections, in the UW Libraries, on topics ranging from local folklore and mysteries to 19th-century spiritualism, and even TikTok tarot trends. Learn more.

October 25 – Don’t Miss Tarot for Beginners with Abigail Vasquez – Join Abigail Vasquez, Named Best Psychic Reader in Seattle by PsychicReading.com and owner of AV Tarot Marketplace on Etsy, for an evening workshop of tarot reading basics. Learn more!

EXHIBIT: Breaking Bread: Foodways and Cuisine in PrintEXHIBIT: Breaking Bread: Foodways and Cuisine in Print – opening September 26 For the 2023-24 academic year, Special Collections is featuring items in our collections that connect to a multitude of different foodways and food cultures. With four rotations at the end of each quarter, the items from Special Collections demonstrate complex systems of cultural celebration, continuance, and suppression that are wrapped up in food systems. Learn more.