UW Libraries Blog

Preservation


March 29, 2024

Archival Silences and Sounds @ the UW Ethnomusicology Archives

UW Libraries

Founded in 1962, the UW Eth­no­mu­si­col­ogy Archives is home to more than 80,000 rare and unique films, videos, and sound recordings. One of the largest archives of its kind in North America, its collections represent a kaleidoscopic of array of sounds and styles from around the world, and around the block. A part of Libraries…


September 26, 2023

Exploring Library Careers: Conservation

UW Libraries

UW Libraries Welcomes New Senior Conservator Did you know?  Each year, Conservation staff repair, bind or make enclosures for an estimated 10,000 items in the UW Libraries.  This care helps to preserve, stabilize or restore the usability of book, paper, and photograph materials.  See also: How the UW Libraries bring damaged, rare books back to…


February 8, 2023

Bridging Cultures: Professor Takahiro Sasaki’s Visit to UW Libraries

Zhijia Shen,Director of Tateuchi East Asia Library

In October 2022, the Tateuchi East Asia Library (EAL) welcomed Professor Takahiro Sasaki. Professor Sasaki is the immediate former Director of the Keio Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.  He has been teaching and doing research at Shido Bunko for more than 20 years. The multi-day visit included a…


February 3, 2023

Black History Month 2023

UW Libraries

While Black History Month provides a focused platform for collective reflection and celebration of Black History, the responsibility to self-educate is never-ending.   Making space to read, listen and watch something new – as a continuous practice (well beyond February) broadens our understanding of Black History in support in our collective work as allies, advocates, educators…


January 31, 2023

February Update

UW Libraries

It’s only February, and yet spring and summer planning is in full swing! Don’t miss upcoming information sessions for an amazing (and FREE) summer study program.  Start thinking about your I HEART UW Libraries Student Video Contest entries (and the chance to win some serious cash prizes!!) and get ahead of that winter quarter final…


March 21, 2022

UW Libraries in the Classroom: Looted? Ethnomusicology, Archives & Colonial Legacies

UW Libraries

Inside the echoing walls of the Smith Room* within the Suzzallo and Allen Libraries, John Vallier, Ethnomusicology Curator for UW Libraries, presses “play”.  Students listen intently to the scratchy recording of a so-called “war chant”. Vallier explains that it was recorded in 1906 near Mount Kilimanjaro by an officer in Germany’s colonial force. “The singers…


September 7, 2021

Words Matter: Critical Cataloging and Archival Description at the University of Washington Libraries 

UW Libraries

Authors: Conor M. Casey, Erin Grant, Keiko Hill, Kat Lewis, Crystal Rodgers  In August of 2021, catalogers, metadata specialists, and archivists at the University of Washington Libraries published a statement on Critical Cataloging and Archival Description to the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism hub on the UW Libraries website. This statement is a road map…


June 7, 2021

Beyond Scope and Content: Hidden Histories from the Film Archive

UW Libraries

Beyond Scope and Content: Hidden Histories from the Film Archive is a new podcast and screening project intended to surface stories from the moving image collections held by the UW Libraries Special Collections. The project seeks to engage faculty and students, historians and film enthusiasts in the compelling visual history of the Pacific Northwest with…


February 19, 2021

Priceless, ancient coins find a home at UW Libraries

UW Libraries

Ancient coins, federal agents, mysterious circumstances at an international border…what sounds like a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie is a real-life story of lost artifacts that have now found a home with UW Libraries Special Collections. The story begins in 2017 at the US/Canadian border in Blaine, WA.  When a vehicle was refused…


May 29, 2020

Going the distance: An Acquisitions Trip to SE Asia at a Time of Pandemic

Judith Henchy, Ph.D., MLIS Head, Southeast Asia Section, Special Assistant to the Dean of University Libraries for international Programs; Affiliate Faculty, Jackson School of International Studies University of Washington Libraries

In early February, before travel restrictions were implemented, and the true nature of the global pandemic was fully understood, I made an acquisitions trip to Southeast Asia to purchase materials for the UW Libraries SE Asia collection. While adhering to all of the CDC and UW guidelines for travel, it was still an anxious time…



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