University of Houston Libraries is pleased to welcome Allison Young as the new library manager in Special Collections.

Special Collections Reading Room

Please describe your role. How does your work align with the student success and research impact focus of the University?

My role as Library Manager is directly involved with student success. I oversee our student employee pool in daily operations and patron service. I also assign students to archival projects that align with their academic and personal interests, which fosters a more rewarding work experience. Our students thus gain invaluable insight into archival research and processing.

I am also responsible for fielding research requests, making me a direct line of communication between potential patrons and our services. I thus not only assist former and future patrons in finding relevant materials, but I also schedule their appointments and put them in contact with curators of relevant collections. I further assist researchers at our reference desk when they visit our Reading Room.

Please share a bit about your background and professional interests. How do these inspire and shape your approach in Special Collections?

I received my BA in Art History with a minor in Anthropology and my MA in Art History from the University of Houston. My academic interests are reflections of my personal passions for the arts and humanities. The investigation of human history and creativity has always led me to libraries and museums. As such, I was extremely excited when I landed a student worker position at Special Collections. As a student worker, I was exposed daily to intimate materials reflecting parts of local, national, and international history. Excited and motivated by new skills in archival research, I translated my experience into my thesis work by visiting Special Collections and other institutions as a patron. These skills I continue to sharpen have colored the determination I bring to my new position at Special Collections daily. 

What are one or two things you’d like scholars and students to know about engaging with primary source materials?

Researching primary source materials can be like an archeological dig in the archives, you never know what you will uncover. What can be found can move your research forward or stop it dead in its tracks. It can also humanize your perceptions on a person, people, and/or history. From personal experience, I have found glimpses into people’s lives–anywhere from centuries to a few years ago–that have made me laugh, made my heart ache, made me empathize. Primary sources are intellectual and emotional tools that, I believe, should not be underestimated.

At University of Houston Libraries, we’re redefining the research library, a place where ideas intersect, spaces inspire, and creativity and connections thrive. Your 2026 UH Giving Day support drives this transformation, helping us create a vibrant culture of research and learning that benefits students, faculty, and scholars. 

Preservation matters to student success and research productivity because it ensures long-term access to primary sources, which are the foundation of deep learning and scholarship.

This year, we’re featuring the Libraries Preservation General Fund for your Giving Day opportunity. Preservation is an ongoing effort to care for UH Libraries’ collections and ensure they are accessible well into the future. Gifts to the Preservation General Fund provide critical support for protecting materials and housing them in proper environments for long-term care.

Preservation matters to student success and research productivity because it ensures long-term access to primary sources, which are the foundation of deep learning and scholarship. Preservation protects rare, unique, and fragile materials that cannot be replaced. These materials serve as primary evidence for historical, cultural, scientific, and artistic inquiry. Without preservation, students and scholars would lose access to the original artifacts that empower authentic research output. Digitization also broadens access of primary source materials to students and researchers regardless of their location or physical ability to handle fragile items.

Watch Preserving Our Story, Propelling Our Future to learn more about UH Libraries’ preservation efforts.

UH Libraries is pleased to introduce Cougar Collections, a new video series featuring the rare and unique research collections you can find at UH Special Collections.

In the inaugural episode, Processing Archivist Kevin Kinney shares a few compelling themes of the Red Adair Collection.

The Red Adair Collection is the first to be featured in UH Libraries’ new series, Cougar Collections.

Special collections and archives contain primary source materials, the ingredients of original scholarship. The new Cougar Collections series brings archives alive, surfacing the stories and voices that illuminate our history and inform our future.

Watch Cougar Collections: Red Adair.

Learn more about visiting Special Collections.

Access digitized materials at UH Digital Collections and the Audio/Video Repository.

Kate Carter, coordinator of Open Education Services, and Natalia Kapacinskas, teaching and learning librarian, have been selected as the 2025 recipients of the Rooks Early Career Librarian Fellowship.

The Rooks Fellowship supports a librarian for three years in the pursuit of career development and research. Use of funds includes, but is not limited to, professional memberships, conference fees, travel costs, research assistance, specialized equipment, technology, or other expenses related to enhancing the recipient’s individual knowledge, research, and career development.

The fellowship is made possible through an endowment established by UH Libraries former dean Dana C. Rooks and her husband, Dr. Charles (Mickey) W. Rooks. 

In this video feature, Carter and Kapacinskas talk a bit about their research interests.

2025 Rooks Early Career Librarian Fellowship Recipients

Robin Nelson Downes (1932 – 2025)

Robin Nelson Downes, former Director of University of Houston Libraries, passed away on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, in Houston, Texas. He was 93 years old.

Downes was named Director in 1980, a position he held until his retirement in 1997. Under Downes’ leadership, computer technology became the foundation for library operations, elevating the Libraries as a driver of digital initiatives at the University. He was central to implementing digitization of the card catalog and other academic content. Through innovative applications, Downes expanded the scope and accessibility of library resources and set a strong foundation for the growth of forward-thinking, 21st-century services. 

Downes advocated for the electronic publishing of scholarship, and supported the development of an open access journal about end-user computer systems in libraries titled “The Public-Access Computer Systems Review,” established in 1989 at a time when university libraries were among the first publishers of online scholarly journals. He also established a method for applying systems technology to the ways in which the library provided reference services.

Over the course of his leadership, Downes cultivated a professional environment that encouraged creative problem-solving with a focus on stewardship of library resources for students, faculty, and the scholarly community. 

“Robin Downes will be remembered as a steady, visionary leader whose influence helped shape the University of Houston Libraries into the essential academic partner it is today,” said Christina H. Gola, Dean of UH Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair. “During his tenure as Director, he not only positioned the Libraries as a critical unit on our campus, but also elevated our engagement at the national level during a period of profound transformation in librarianship. Colleagues who knew him best describe him as interesting, innovative, and exceptionally smart, qualities that guided his work as he embraced automation. His legacy continues to resonate today.”

Downes served in the US Army from 1954 to 1956, and earned a bachelor of arts degree from Florida State University in 1954 and a master’s degree in Library Sciences in 1957. A former librarian at University of Georgia, Downes came to UH from the University of Michigan Library where he was an Associate Director in 1972. 

Robin Nelson Downes (1932 – 2025)

University of Houston Libraries is now accepting applications for the Open Education Incentive (OPEN) Program. The OPEN Program includes a variety of funding opportunities to support engagement with open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices.  

Instructors can apply for the following award categories:

• Textbook Affordability Incentive: Instructors can receive funds to replace a required commercial textbook in their course(s) with OER and/or no-cost alternative resources, such as library licensed or freely available resources. Awards in this category range from $1,000 to $5,000.
• Open Educational Practices Incentive: Instructors can receive funds for: 1) creating openly licensed learning objects, 2) replacing a traditional assignment with a renewable assignment, or 3) some combination of the above. Awards in this category range from $500 to $2,000.

OER are teaching and learning resources that are in the public domain or have been licensed in such a way that allows anyone to freely use, modify, and re-purpose them. Open educational practices leverage OER to enhance student learning, and include the creation, use, and reuse of OER, and open pedagogical practices, such as renewable assignments. 

The deadline to apply is Friday, March 6, 2026. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend an information session on February 11 to learn about the incentive program and the benefits of open education.

Faculty and instructors may also make an appointment with Open Education Services to discuss implementing OER and the support provided through the incentive program.

Learn more about Open Education Services.  

Digital Research Commons

University of Houston Libraries will be hosting six ETD in MS Word Accessibility Training workshops in Spring 2026 at the Digital Research Commons (DRC), located on the second floor of MD Anderson Library (Brown Wing, Room 266-C).

These workshops are open to all UH graduate students and are being offered in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Final Rule on Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, published in the Federal Register on April 24, 2024. This workshop will teach the best ways to make electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) created in MS Word accessible to everyone. You will learn how to structure documents so that they can be read by screen readers and meet required accessibility standards.

For each session, the first hour covers the main ideas about accessibility elements and best practices in ETDs. This includes using the styles and headings, adding alt-text and captions to images, making tables and links easy to use, using colors and contrast in the right way, and using Word’s Accessibility Checker.

In the second hour, you will work on your own documents on your own, but you can get help if you need it.

Please register to select your preferred session.

If you have any questions, please contact Xiao Zeng, open publishing librarian.

Tommy Tune’s portrait from William Morris Agency

The announcement of the Tommy Tune Collection acquisition at University of Houston Libraries has garnered strong media coverage. Materials documenting the life and career of the prolific dancer/singer/director/choreographer are currently being processed, and will be accessible for research at a future date.

Thomas James Tune was born in Wichita Falls and grew up in Houston where he attended Lamar High School. After graduating from University of Texas at Austin, the 6 foot 6 tap dancer began graduate studies in directing at University of Houston, but soon left Texas for New York City, where his career launched from day one. In 1965, Tune made his Broadway debut in the production of Baker Street, followed by A Joyful Noise (1966) and How Now, Dow Jones (1967). 

Assistant university archivist Katy Allred carefully checks each item of the Tommy Tune collection to ensure proper preservation.

The acquisition was facilitated by Mary Manning, university archivist, together with Christian Kelleher, head of UH Special Collections. Manning sees a host of opportunities for how the Tommy Tune Collection can advance academic and scholarly productivity. “The Tommy Tune Collection is a significant contribution to the study of theatre history, particularly musical theatre,” she said. “Tommy Tune is not only a talented singer, actor, and dancer, but also a celebrated director, producer, and choreographer; his archives will be enlightening to scholars and performers researching any of these fields. The collection will provide insight into Tune’s creative processes and provide cultural context for the plays he directed and performed in; it can serve as a source for reconstructing the plays and performances, inspiring and providing material for musical theatre students and professionals.”

“Broadway legend donates personal collection to University of Houston” – Houston Chronicle, January 8

“Tommy Tune Collection Finds a Home at the University of Houston” – Broadway World, January 8

“Tommy Tune’s Archives Will Be Housed at the University of Houston” – Playbill, January 8

“Broadway legend Tommy Tune donates his costumes, scripts, letters to University of Houston” – Houston Public Media, January 9

“Houston-born Broadway legend  donates 50,000 item personal collection to UH” – CultureMap Houston, January 9

Hello Houston – Houston Public Media, January 22

“Tommy Tune’s personal archive at the University of Houston” – ABC13 Houston Localish, February 2

University of Houston Libraries announces the release of its newest publication, Reimagined, with narratives that explore key initiatives and projects related to the Reimagined Library vision.

Jeremy Davet is the new digital preservation librarian at UH Libraries.

University of Houston Libraries is pleased to welcome Jeremy Davet as the new digital preservation librarian.

Please describe your role. How does your work align with the student success and research productivity focus of the University?

As the Digital Preservation Librarian for the University of Houston and its libraries, my responsibilities primarily include implementing and periodically amending the UH Libraries Digital Preservation Policy to reflect best practices; managing the Archivematica digital preservation system; and facilitating access to and the use of outmoded digital file types and storage media. When a student’s information-seeking leads them back to the earlier days of personal computing, effective digital preservation will ensure that they can find and use what they are looking for.

Please share a bit about your background and professional interests. How do these inspire and shape your approach to preservation?

Before I started on my current path, my academic background was in cultural anthropology and archaeology. In my experiences navigating divides in language, lived experience, and time, I came to appreciate how much we stand to lose owing to misunderstanding and misremembrance. It was my desire to reveal and preserve the past that took me into libraries and archives – and that’s where you find me today, working to ensure that the archaeologists of tomorrow will be able to uncover the digital artifacts of today. Before joining University of Houston Libraries, I lent my hand to the International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES), researching the potential benefits and hazards to employing artificial intelligence in memory institutions. More recently, I managed and archived the Artists Documentation Program (ADP), a conservation-focused series of oral histories with artists and their collaborators sponsored by The Menil Collection. In both cases, I was exploring how libraries, archives, and museums can use new technologies to enhance and expand access to their collections, while preserving what makes them authentic and unique.

Taken together, these experiences continue to color my approach to digital preservation: foregrounding the human learning experience, while leveraging emerging technology to improve the quality, quantity, and durability of information.

What are one or two things you’d like faculty, students, and scholars to know about the function/purpose/significance of digital preservation?

Most importantly, that digital preservation is your concern too! Ancient history is not so different from the modern day, insofar as we can only collectively remember what gets recorded. Make sure your work makes it to the next generations by taking simple steps like limiting the length of filenames, regularly backing up your work, and describing your files with metadata. Ensure that you’re adequately safeguarding your files against potential hazards, like hardware failure or natural disasters, and that you’re saving your most important documents in stable, portable formats like PDF.