C&RL News December 2021 498 N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l dDavid Free UNC-Chapel Hill joins project to investigate slavery and U.S. universities through archival records In 2005, archivists at the University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill devel- oped “Slavery and the Making of the Uni- versity.” The exhibition was one of the first systematic efforts on campus to examine the ways enslaved people enabled the university’s founding, growth, and wealth. Sixteen years later, a new generation of archivists at the Wilson Special Collections Library is leading efforts to reconstruct the lived experiences of enslaved individuals at and around the uni- versity. Their efforts are part of On These Grounds: Slavery and the University, a national col- laborative project that takes a new approach to archival documents and the way archivists describe them. At the heart of the project is a database built around enslaved individuals and milestones or experiences in their lives, such as being born or dying, being sold or leased, receiving medical care, being bap- tized, or laboring in a particular location or at a trade. If enough institutions encode their slavery-related records using the same terms and data structures, and then enter that information into a single database, the com- pilation could eventually illuminate the lives of enslaved people and allow researchers to trace those lives through disparate documents. On These Grounds was developed col- laboratively at Michigan State University, Georgetown University, and the University of Virginia, in partnership with web publishing platform Omeka. A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports the work and will provide $14,000 to fund a graduate student to work on the project. Learn more about the project at https://onthesegrounds. org/s/OTG/page/about. Nominations sought for ACRL Board of Directors Be a part of shaping the future of ACRL. The ACRL Leadership Recruitment and Nomi- nations Committee (LRNC) encourages members to nominate themselves or others to run for the position of ACRL vice-presi- dent/president-elect and director-at-large in the 2023 elections. The deadline for nomi- nations is February 15, 2022. To nominate an individual or to self- nominate, please submit the nomination form available at www.surveymonkey.com/r /acrlboardnominations. LRNC will request a curriculum vita and/or a statement of interest from selected individuals prior to developing a slate of candidates. If you have any questions about the nomi- nating or election process, please feel free to contact LRNC Chair Rachel M. Minkin at minkinr@msu.edu. More information about the ACRL Board of Directors is available on the ACRL website at www.ala.org/acrl /resources/policies/chapter2. Texas A&M University Libraries help preserve SEC history The Texas A&M University Libraries Pres- ervation Unit teamed up with the South- eastern Conference (SEC) to save decades worth of historical documents related to the athletic conference. SEC began work- ing with the University Libraries in 2018 on how to best preserve the conference’s historical records and documents spanning more than nine decades. A team of experts from the University Libraries Preservation Unit traveled to SEC headquarters in Bir- mingham, Alabama, to meet with confer- ence officials and assess the collection and determine the best course of action for the preservation efforts. A year later, the Preser- vation Unit began processing SEC’s historic records and objects. All digitization, digital file processing, rehousing, conservation treatments, and logistics were handled exclusively by the University Libraries’ Preservation Unit fac- ulty, staff, and student employees and were https://onthesegrounds.org/s/OTG/page/about https://onthesegrounds.org/s/OTG/page/about http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/acrlboardnominations http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/acrlboardnominations mailto:minkinr@msu.edu http://www.ala.org/acrl/resources/policies/chapter2 http://www.ala.org/acrl/resources/policies/chapter2 December 2021 C&RL News499 Ethnic Studies in Academic and Research Libraries ACRL announces the publication of Ethnic Studies in Academic and Research Libraries, edited by Raymond Pun, Melissa Cardenas- Dow, and Kenya S. Flash. This collection cap- tures case studies, programs, and engagements within the field(s) of ethnic studies and how library workers are creating and documenting important support services and resources for these communities of learners, scholars, ac- tivists, and educators. Supporting ethnic studies is an opportu- nity to uplift diverse stories and perspec- tives and to build and affirm such communi- ties and their voices, experiences, and his- tories. Ethnic studies librarianship requires engagement, a desire to listen and engage with one’s constituents, and a focused approach to re-humanizing and emphasizing the voices of those who are be- ing studied. Race and ethnicity, despite their abstractness, have real, concrete meaning and consequences in American society. Being able to see who speaks and who is silenced matters, and ethnic studies librarianship supports the intellectual journey of students in becoming aware of the various ways we see the world and the numerous stories we tell and come across in our lifetime. Ethnic Studies in Academic and Research Libraries serves as a snapshot of critical work that library workers are doing to support ethnic studies, including areas focusing on ethnic and racial experiences across the disciplines. Other curriculums or programs may emphasize race, migration, and diasporic studies, and these in- tersecting areas are highlighted to ensure work supporting ethnic studies is not solely defined by a discipline, but by commitment to programs that uplift underserved and underrepresented ethnic communities and communities of color. Twenty chapters are broken into three thorough sections: • instruction, liaison engagement, and outreach; • c o l l e c t i o n s p ro j e c t s a n d p ro - grams; and • collaborations, special projects, and community partner- ships. Ethnic studies pro- grams, faculty, and students can lack vis- ibility in librarianship, though there are many opportunities to engage with and support these interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary pro- grams. Ethnic Studies in Academic and Re- search Libraries can help you think criti- cally about how we support ethnic studies and our faculty colleagues in these departments, es- pecially during challenging times in fiscal crises and the systemic violence and oppression that occurs in higher education, in our institutions, in our communities, in our profession, and in our histories. What we collect, preserve, share, and uplift reflects who we are and our priorities. Ethnic Studies in Academic and Research Libraries is available for purchase in print and as an ebook through the ALA Online Store, in print through Amazon.com, and by tele- phone order at (866) 746-7252 in the United States. or (770) 442-8633 for international customers. C&RL News December 2021 500 College & Research Libraries News moves to online-only publishing model College & Research Libraries News (C&RL News) will adopt an online-only publication model beginning in January 2022. The De- cember 2021 issue, which you hold in your hands or are already reading online, will be the final print issue of the magazine. The shift to an online-only publication model brings C&RL News in line with College & Research Libraries (C&RL), which moved to an online- only model at the beginning of 2014. Since beginning publication in 1966 as a news supplement to C&RL, C&RL News has grown into a stand-alone, monthly publication featuring articles on the latest trends and prac- tices affecting academic and research libraries in addition to serving as the publication of record for ACRL. None of those things will change in the online-only environment. We will continue to publish 11 issues per year featuring the same quality contents you’ve come to expect from the publication. The C&RL News Editorial Board will also work in tandem with the ACRL staff and Board of Directors in the spirit of continu- ous improvement to explore new features and enhancements to the digital-only version of the News. Hosted through Open Journal Systems by ALA Production Services, the online version of C&RL News features freely open access to a near-complete run of the magazine’s contents from 1967 to the present with full contents expected to be added to the site in 2022. We re- cently added a full issue PDF version of current issues for those who prefer to interact with the full magazine as opposed to individual articles. As this is the final print issue of the magazine, I would like to take moment for some acknowl- edgments. First, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to all the previous editors of C&RL News. ACRL staff members Stephanie Orphan (2002-07), Maureen Gleason (acting editor, 2001-02), Mary Ellen K. Davis (1991-2001), George M. Eberhart (1980-90), and Jeffrey T. Schwedes (1979), along with member editors David Kaser, David Doerrer, Michael Herbison, Alan Dyson, Susana Hinojosa, Mary Frances Collins, Anne Dowling, and John V. Crowley (1966-79) provided a solid foundation that I hope I have been able to somewhat continue in my tenure as editor-in-chief. Thanks also go out to everyone who has ever served on the C&RL News Editorial Board. There are obviously too many of you to list by name, but your contributions are all greatly appreciated. Ann-Christe Galloway, Pam Marino, David Connolly, and Tim Clifford each deserve a bucket full of gratitude for their dedication in keeping the News running each issue, along with their predecessors on the ACRL/ALA staff. Lastly I would like to thank you, our authors and readers, for being the heart of the magazine. I know we’re not always perfect, but I appreci- ate each of you and look forward to continuing this journey with you online. —David Free, editor-in-chief, dfree@ala.org completed at the end of summer 2021. The work included scanning more than 21,000 pages of historical records. Once the work was completed, the Preservation Unit pre- sented SEC with a full written report of work completed, including guidance for continued excellence in collections stewardship for storage, exhibition, as well as the digital preservation of their new digital collection produced from this project. PALCI, NISO announce consortium agreement The Partnership for Academic Library Col- laboration & Innovation (PALCI) and the National Information Standards Organi- zation (NISO) have announced a consor- tium agreement to provide NISO Library Standards Alliance (LSA) membership to all PALCI members for an initial period of three years, beginning January 2022. mailto:dfree%40ala.org?subject= December 2021 C&RL News501 Tech Bits . . . Brought to you by the ACRL ULS Technology in University Libraries Committee Are you looking for a new way to find relevant information online? Try using Google Lens for image-based search and discovery. Google Lens is an app that can be downloaded for free on any Android device running 6.0 and later. To access Google Lens on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running 13.0 or later, you should download the Google app or Google Photos app for free. You can use Google Lens to translate text in another language, find relevant book reviews, identify an author, or find a piece in the public domain online. You can also use Google Lens as an acces- sibility tool. You can also use it to read aloud any image with text, including articles. —Meghan Kwast California Lutheran University . . . Google Lens https://lens.google/ Authority File are also added to the Library of Congress’s Name Authority Cooperative Program as part of HMML’s partnership in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging. Currently, more than 10,000 names have been added to HMML Authority File, with more than 50,000 names expected in the coming years. These efforts will support librarians and scholars around the world to recognize previously unknown contributors to manuscripts; differentiate authors and texts that had been treated homogeneously; reunite separated materials; and trace the migration of handwritten texts across religious tradi- tions and geographic, political, and linguistic divides. Learn more at https://haf.vhmml.org/. The agreement will provide library staff at 73 PALCI member libraries with full LSA membership benefits, including free access to NISO’s educational webinar program, unlim- ited participation in NISO Working Groups /Standing Committees, and discounted reg- istration for all nonwebinar events, including the annual NISO Plus conference. As lead organization for the consortium, PALCI will continue to be a NISO Voting Member and will provide a central point of contact between NISO and the PALCI mem- ber organizations. Lehigh University, another PALCI member who had previously joined NISO, will also continue independently as a full NISO Voting Member. Hill Museum & Manuscript Library creates understudied manuscript traditions database The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) at Saint John’s University has developed a new database to support and enhance the study of understudied manu- script traditions. Created as part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), HMML Authority File is an open- access database, which establishes accurate and consistent data (“authorities”) for the names of persons, places, works, organiza- tions, and families related to the manuscripts and artwork in HMML’s Reading Room and Museum, which provide free access to the collections of more than 800 libraries worldwide. Authorities are used by libraries and scholars to identify and link manuscripts and collections. Many of the manuscripts HMML has preserved in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East contain names that have not been included in international authority files, making them harder to find and study. In 2020, nearly 40 percent of HMML’s cataloged manuscripts contained names that lacked authorities in either the Library of Congress or the Virtual International Author- ity File. Today, authorities added to HMML https://lens.google/ https://haf.vhmml.org/