The Digital Humanities Core (DHC), a partnership between University of Houston Libraries and the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute, welcomes applications for the summer 2024 Micro-credential in Digital Humanities program. This program allows researchers to apply successful strategies to the planning, implementation, and development of digital humanities projects and funding proposals.

Micro-credential in the Digital Humanities

This summer’s program encompasses two scaffolded tracks:

• Badge I: Foundations of DH Project Development (June 3-14, 2024)
• Badge II: Intermediate DH Project Development (prerequisite: Badge I or equivalent experience) (June 10-14, 2024)

The program is open to all UH faculty, librarians, and doctoral students. Successful completion of one of these badges ensures year-long access to the expertise, infrastructural resources, training, and programming offered by the DHC. The application deadline is May 1.

Application form

For more information, contact dhcf@uh.edu.

In honor of National Library Week and National Student Employment Week, we’re featuring the outstanding and talented student assistants of University of Houston Libraries. Student employees are crucial to what we do, providing vital daily contributions toward the services, collections, and spaces we offer to the UH and scholarly community. As we spotlight a few of our student employees through social media and in this online space, we recognize and appreciate the individual and collective efforts of all Coogs working at the Libraries and the University.

Andrea Tribble. Photo courtesy of Tribble

Andrea Tribble is a junior in African American Studies who works in Special Collections, where she supports university archivist Mary Manning in the organization, description, and accessibility of collections. She also engages with researchers and fulfills reference requests for archival materials.

“I have been working at the Libraries since the fall 2023 semester, when I started as an intern handling a collection of lecture recordings from the early-to-mid 2000s that were facilitated by the African American Studies department,” Tribble said. “One of my favorite things about working in Special Collections is knowing that I’m contributing to the sacred practice of preservation. Ensuring that the intellectual material, university history, and community records that we come into contact with are cared for properly and made accessible has been something I’ve come to take great pride in.”

Kira Giannetti

Kira Giannetti is a sophomore Computer Engineering student who works as a sound engineer in the Hamill Foundation Studio, mixing and mastering sound and voice productions for singers, podcasters, and musicians. When asked what she enjoys about working at UH Libraries, she said “I love getting to know the talents at our school.”

Marisa Espitia

Marisa Espitia is a junior Marketing major who has been working at the Music Library since fall 2023. Some of her duties include organizing library resources, book check-out and shelving, helping other student workers navigate the system, cleaning the library space, and assisting visitors with any library-related questions.

Zach Harper

Zach Harper is a first-year Music Education major who works at the Music Library as a circulation assistant. He has book shelving duties and generally helps maintain a welcoming environment for visitors and employees.

“I love being surrounded by so much music and musical knowledge all of the time,” Zach said. “It makes the nerd in me very excited. I love the staff at the Music Library; all of my coworkers and supervisors support and encourage one another everyday. I love the calmness and environment of the Music Library. And finally, I love the people that come into the Music Library. Helping them find whatever they need or introducing them to something makes my day a lot of the time.”

Nine Abad

Nine Abad is a junior with double majors in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies who works in Special Collections. Nine’s duties include processing, organizing, and handling collections primarily in the LGBT History Research Collection, as well as assisting researchers and visitors with requests.

“I love working in Special Collections because there is a litany of individual and intimate stories that people can engage and research using primary resources that are unique and one of a kind,” Nine said. “Working at the Libraries is also incredibly gratifying, especially when helping researchers and talking to donors. I also love the atmosphere of the library, the friendliness of the staff, and the intricacies of the stories that shape the archives themselves.”

Sarah Nguyen

Sarah Nguyen is a student in Management Information Systems who works as a sound engineer at the Hamill Foundation Studio, producing and editing song, vocal, and musical projects.

“I love how comfortable the environment is,” Sarah said. “Everyone inside and outside of the studio is a blessing to work with.”

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections archivists attended the recent Old, Weird Houston: A Celebration of Our City’s Hidden Histories event to display iconic, regional primary source materials with an unconventional flair. Hosted by Orange Show Center for Visionary Art in collaboration with Archivists of the Houston Area (AHA!) and UH Center for Public History, Old, Weird Houston is “a local alternative history fair and symposium that preserves, interprets, and shares the hidden histories of unusual and creative people, institutions, and events that have made our city one of the most diverse and livable in the country.” The event brought together history scholars and enthusiasts in an accessible and engaging format.

UH Special Collections hosted a display at “Old, Weird Houston.”

The display reflected the work of archivist Katy Allred, who created hand-drawn signs for the table and helped plan and organize the selections, particularly The Art Guys Records. Other materials represented Houston Gorilla Girls Records, Marvin Zindler Papers, Ima Hogg Symphony Programs Collection, and Texas Music Collection. Attendees experienced distinctively Houston-esque items such as a “Slime in the Ice Machine” t-shirt, a vintage photo of Ima Hogg on a horse-drawn float at a No-Tsu-Oh parade, and mail art sent in the 77008. Photos and ephemera related to the Axiom, the epicenter of Houston’s late 80s, early 90s underground music scene, were included, part of the Julie Grob Axiom Records. (Grob is an archivist and coordinator for instruction at UH Special Collections, and was Axiom’s booking agent and publicist).

These and other items of historical and local significance are available for viewing and research at UH Special Collections. Visiting UH Special Collections

University of Houston Libraries and UH Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute are pleased to host an online keynote via Microsoft Teams by Darius Johnson, a graduate student at Goucher College, on Monday, March 25 at 12 noon. Johnson is the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Digital Justice Public History Fellow at Chesapeake Heartland and works at the intersection of digital technologies, public history, and historic preservation. In his talk, Labor of Love: Making Digital Work for Me, Johnson will share his current work in digital humanities and engage in conversation with attendees. Following Johnson’s talk, the Digital Humanities Core graduate research assistant Shine Trabucco will facilitate a Q&A. The event is open to all and registration is required. RSVP

Darius Johnson

The UH Digital Humanities Core is a partnership between UH Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute and UH Libraries. The online keynote is part of the 2024 DH@UH Symposium.

Join University of Houston Libraries in celebration of the annual Open Education Week (OE Week), March 4 – 8, 2024. Launched in 2012 by Open Education Global, OE Week is a collaborative opportunity for open educators and advocates to share and learn about the latest achievements in Open Education worldwide.

Here are some ways you can learn more about Open Education:

• Apply for the Alternative Textbook Incentive Program (ATIP). Offered by UH Libraries, ATIP supports instructors who engage with open educational resources (OER) and practices. Instructors may choose to replace a commercial textbook with a no-cost or low-cost alternative textbook (which may include adopting OER, library resources, or other freely-available resources); create openly licensed learning objects; or replace a traditional assignment with a renewable assignment. Applications are due Friday, March 22.
• Attend OE Week events from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Division of Digital Learning. These sessions will highlight the OER Nursing Essentials (O.N.E.) Project in partnership with OpenStax, statewide OER research conducted by THECB in partnership with Bay View Analytics and ISKME, and a panel featuring grantees of the THECB OER grant program.
• Explore the UH Pressbooks catalog to view new OER titles from UH faculty and students. UH Libraries offers access to Pressbooks, an online book publishing platform for the creation of OER. Visit the Open Educational Resources Guide to learn more about how to publish with Pressbooks.

To learn more about how you can get involved, contact UH Libraries Open Education Services by emailing oer@uh.edu.

An exhibition featuring the archives of Margo Grant Walsh will be on display at MD Anderson Library starting in March through June 2024.

Exhibition featuring archives of Margo Grant Walsh

Margo Grant Walsh began her career as an interior architect at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the 1960s. She joined Gensler in 1973 and began her tenure there with downtown Houston’s Pennzoil Place. She was a top executive at Gensler for over 30 years with global clients like Christie’s, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and prominent law firms. Walsh retired in 2004 and turned her focus to collecting and exhibiting 20th-century silver and metalwork, which she continues to this day.

Walsh’s archives are preserved and made accessible at University of Houston Libraries Special Collections in partnership with Hines College of Architecture and Design. For information, contact Katy Allred.

University of Houston Libraries and UH Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute are pleased to welcome Dr. Bryan Carter to campus. On Tuesday, March 5, Carter will deliver the 2024 DH@UH keynote, Reimagining a Collaborative, Sustainable Student-Focused Digital Humanities Initiative, in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion, MD Anderson Library at 11 AM. The campus community is invited to attend the keynote as well as a post-talk reception with Carter in the Digital Research Commons, room 266C. RSVP

Reimagining a Collaborative, Sustainable Student-Focused Digital Humanities Initiative

Carter received his PhD at the University of Missouri-Columbia and is currently the Director of the Center for Digital Humanities and an Associate Professor in Africana Studies, at the University of Arizona. He specializes in African American literature of the 20th Century with a primary focus on the Harlem Renaissance. His research also focuses on Digital Humanities/Africana Studies. He has published numerous articles on his doctoral project, Virtual Harlem, an immersive representation of a portion of Harlem, NY as it existed during the 1920s Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance. Dr. Carter’s research centers on how the use of traditional and advanced interactive and immersive technologies changes the dynamic within the learning space.

The keynote is part of the 2024 DH@UH program, an initiative of the Digital Humanities Core facility, a partnership between UH Libraries and UH Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute. This year’s program includes a student digital research showcase on March 25.

In an effort to better align with our mission and focus, University of Houston Libraries will soon decommission a virtual software service following a careful review of cost, usage, and maintenance factors.

By the end of May 2024, VMWare Horizon will be removed, resulting in cost savings. VMWare Horizon gave UH students, faculty, and staff access to a range of virtual desktop applications while on campus or via UH VPN, including Affinity Suite, SolidWorks, and SPSS to name a few, but usage has been low over the past year at 1.77%. Additionally, the virtual software infrastructure requires dedicated, continual technical maintenance and user support at a level which UH Libraries cannot sustain with current resources.

UH Libraries recognizes the potential effects this decommission may have on UH users, and conversations with identified stakeholders have been initiated to empower them in finding alternative solutions for their respective communities. UH Libraries will continue to engage in thoughtful assessment to improve processes, services, and programs for the benefit of the UH community.

Christina H. Gola

Christina H. Gola has been named University of Houston Libraries interim dean. Since 2021, Gola has served as associate dean for Organizational Development, Learning, and Talent (ODLT) with an integral role in strategic planning and fiscal management. She has been with UH Libraries for 15 years and was promoted to full librarian in 2021. She has served on UH Faculty Senate in leadership capacities, has partnered with Faculty Engagement and Development, and has collaborated with colleagues in the Provost’s Cabinet in their shared enterprise-wide roles. During the Libraries’ 2021 organizational restructure, Gola assumed leadership of facilities and information technology Libraries teams in addition to human resources and organizational development. She is also leading the “Reimagined Libraries” endeavor to enhance spaces and leverage campus partnerships for the benefit of our students and scholars. 

Gola is a recognized leader and mentor in the profession on a national scale, having served in numerous influential roles such as the competitive Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Leadership Fellows program and president of the Texas Library Association (TLA). She was named as a University of North Texas Department of Information Science Outstanding Alumni in 2021.