UH Libraries News

Call for Applications: Open Education Incentive Program

University of Houston Libraries is now accepting applications for the Open Education Incentive (OPEN) Program. Formerly known as the Alternative Textbook Incentive Program, the OPEN Program now 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 courses with OER and/or no-cost alternative resources, such as library licensed or freely available resources. Awards in this category will range from $1,000 to $5,000 based on the cost of the textbook being replaced, projected number of students impacted, type of resources to be adopted, overall feasibility of the proposal, and scope and type of project proposed. Deadline to apply: Friday, March 7, 2025. Instructors are encouraged to apply by February 17 to receive feedback and the opportunity to revise and resubmit their application, if desired. Group applicants are welcome.   
  • Open Educational Practices Incentive: Instructors can receive funds for either creating openly licensed learning objects, or replacing a traditional assignment with a renewable assignment. Awards in this category will range from $500 to $2,000 based on the project goals, overall feasibility of the proposal, cost of course materials, and scope and type of project proposed. Deadline to apply: Friday, March 7, 2025. Instructors are encouraged to apply by February 17 to receive feedback and the opportunity to revise and resubmit their application, if desired. Group applicants are welcome. 
  • OER Professional Development Incentive: Instructors can receive funds for participating in a guided professional development program in which they explore and better understand OER through a series of self-paced online learning modules. Participants will attend a required introductory meeting and may attend an optional virtual discussion. Instructors who complete the program will receive $250. Deadline to apply: Friday, February 21, 2025.

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 OPEN Program supports the University’s strategic goal of providing a top tier, inclusive educational experience to all UH students. Using open educational resources ensures that educational programs are more financially accessible for all students and complements the Cougar Textbook Access Program administered by Auxiliary Services. Since the launch of open education initiatives in 2018, UH Libraries has helped nearly 20,000 UH students save approximately $2.56 million in textbook costs. Additionally, open educational practices support innovative and creative teaching methods and enhance experiential learning opportunities to enrich student learning.

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.

New Peer Mentor Program for Information Literacy

A new initiative at University of Houston Libraries is transforming the way Coogs learn and collaborate.

Peer mentors with Teaching and Learning librarians Carolina Hernandez and Mea Warren at the recent Books and Bubbly event

Peer mentors with Teaching and Learning librarians Carolina Hernandez and Mea Warren at the recent Books and Bubbly event

The peer mentor program, led by student success librarian Carolina Hernandez, expands the reach of information literacy efforts offered by the Teaching and Learning team. Peer mentors comprise a small cohort of undergrads who are learning research and teaching skills, and who will go on to teach their peers across campus through co-curricular engagement while building community among UH students.

The goal of the pilot program is to improve information literacy and student success outcomes. Information literacy “is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning,” as stated in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.

“Peer-assisted learning has been shown to not only improve students’ understanding, but can also give students a sense of belonging,” said Hernandez. “We hope that, through getting help from peer mentors, students will feel more welcome and comfortable with using UH Libraries.”

Sophia Sanchez, a first-year biochemistry major, is a peer mentor who learned about the program during UH Weeks of Welcome. “I was intrigued by the opportunities it presented, and the work environment provided by the library really appealed to me,” she said.

This semester, Sanchez has learned how to approach lesson planning, research counseling, and team communication. “These skills will be useful in my own future research and team settings,” she said. “I’m grateful to be able to gain leadership experience through teaching this early in my college career.”

“Peer learning is an essential skill to have, as it’s not only about teaching others with less experience; it’s also about connecting with peers who share your level of expertise and helping them pick up new abilities or even improve existing ones,” said Lexi Gaddis, a first-year pre-business major who plans to study marketing. Through peer mentor training, Gaddis has learned about creating research topics and using library databases to find scholarly resources, information she’s looking forward to sharing with other undergrads.

Gabrielle Epps is excited to see how the peer mentor program develops. She is inspired by the importance of student engagement in teaching and learning, and creating space for students to ask questions. She says peer mentors contribute to UH student success by being an additional resource that can reach more students and equip them with the right tools.

Nilesh Garg notes that peer mentoring can help students navigate the range of resources available at the University, such as books, peer-reviewed articles, and other academic tools. “It’s a valuable service that helps bridge the gap between students and professional librarians by offering guidance from peers who have a similar academic background,” Garg said. “It empowers students to become more confident and self-sufficient in their academic work.”

UH Libraries peer mentors are completing training, and in spring 2025, will be available to meet with students one-on-one for research assistance. The peer mentors encourage Coogs to take advantage of the widely accessible services the Teaching and Learning team offers. Students of any major can benefit from the introductory information literacy guides and videos developed by librarians, and can contact the team with specific academic and research-related questions.

Announcing 2024 Alternative Textbook Incentive Program Award Winners

University of Houston Libraries is pleased to announce the 2024 recipient cohort of the UH Alternative Textbook Incentive Program (ATIP).

ATIP was created in 2018 as part of the University’s initiative to mitigate the high cost of textbooks for students. Since then, more UH faculty have been empowered to provide an inclusive, accessible educational experience for UH students through open educational resources (OER).

This year, ATIP was expanded to include two award categories. Faculty members applying for the Textbook Affordability category could adopt, adapt, or create OER, or use a combination of freely available or library-licensed resources, to replace required traditional textbook(s) and other high-cost learning materials in a future course.

Instructors applying for the Open Educational Practices category could either create and share an OER learning object (e.g., assignments, quizzes, lecture slides, lesson plans, videos, etc.), or replace a traditional assignment with a renewable assignment, implementing what is commonly called open pedagogy. This new award category supports instructors in creating new open materials that benefit a broader community. In addition, instructors can engage students in co-creating course content that can be openly licensed and shared.

2024 ATIP winners are:

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences:

  • Dhanushka Arunasiri Peru Durayalage – ECON 3357: Data Management with Economic Applications (Textbook Affordability)
  • Melody Yunzi Li – CHNS 3344: Global Chinese Literature (Open Educational Practices)
  • María Elena Soliño – HISP 2373: Spanish Culture and Civilization (Textbook Affordability)

College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics:

  • Nouhad Rizk – COSC 4337: Data Science II (Textbook Affordability)

College of Education:

  • Marédil León, Tairan Qiu, & Velvette Laurence – CUIN 4361: Second Language Methodology (Textbook Affordability) / Resources for Teacher Education and Alternative Certification Program (Open Educational Practices)
  • Carrie Cutler – CUIN 6335: Mathematics for Teachers I (Open Educational Practices)
  • Bradley Davis – ELCS 6350: The Principalship / ELCS 8310: The Superintendency (Open Educational Practices)

C. T. Bauer College of Business:

  • Emese Felvegi – BCIS 1305: Business Computer Applications (Open Educational Practices)

“I’m thrilled that we are able to continue supporting student success by increasing access to learning materials through ATIP,” said Ariana Santiago, head of Open Education Services. “Additionally, instructors are creating engaging learning experiences with open pedagogy in which students are empowered to share their knowledge in the form of an open educational resource (OER).”

Estimated savings for students in the first year of implementing alternative textbooks in these courses is $122,349, benefiting an estimated 3,300 students. Awards were granted based on the number of students impacted, estimated cost savings for students, the type of alternative textbook or open educational practices project, and the feasibility of successful implementation.

“These faculty, in collaboration with the Libraries Open Education Services team, are developing new learning strategies for their students and empowering them through dynamic learning experiences,” said Christina H. Gola, interim dean of UH Libraries. “They are modeling the way for innovations in student success and learning. I am so appreciative of their efforts, and based on past student data, I know that students are also grateful to have the opportunity to engage with open educational resources.”

Learn more about open educational resources at UH.

Special thanks to the members of the 2024 ATIP Review Committee: Natalia Kapacinskas, Minjung Shin, Mingjian Wen, Kate McNally Carter, and Ariana Santiago.

By on September 3rd, 2024 in Announcements, Featured, OER, Student Success

REACH Scholar Curates Zindler Exhibit

A student-curated exhibit at University of Houston Libraries features the humanitarian legacy of memorable Houston news personality Marvin Zindler (1921 – 2007).

Undated photo of Marvin Zindler with members of Marvin's Angels

Undated photo of Marvin Zindler with members of Marvin’s Angels

Marvin’s Angels: A Beacon of Hope in Houston and Beyond was curated by Research for Aspiring Coogs in the Humanities (REACH) scholar Ryan Banda as a visual component of her immersive research project. “This has been a very rewarding experience as it helped to elevate my understanding of what it’s like to work in the archives and the necessary research that goes into curation work,” Banda said.

UH Libraries Special Collections acquired the Marvin Zindler Papers in 2021. Mentored by archivist Vince Lee, Banda discovered objects and files pertaining to Zindler’s storied career in broadcasting by exploring boxes of primary source materials in the archives.

“Prior to working with Special Collections, I had no preconceptions about Marvin Zindler,” Banda said. “I had the opportunity to not only learn about Zindler but to recognize emerging themes that I would want to research.”

One notable theme highlights Zindler’s work through Marvin’s Angels, a group of local business owners and community members who generously provided free aid and specialized services to individuals in pressing need. The efforts of the group reached a global scale. Banda chose to investigate this theme and selected primary source materials providing context and description in support of her research idea. “Archival documents allow the voices of particular individuals and organizations to be recognized within history,” said Banda.

REACH is a year-long introductory research experience for undergraduates in humanities disciplines, and is supported by the Cougar Initiative to Engage and the Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards (OURMA). REACH connects students to existing UH humanities projects and allows them to develop research skills through first-hand scholarly inquiry and through participation in OURMA research programming. Banda was one of the REACH participants who presented her findings at Undergraduate Research Day in April 2024.

Banda, an anthropology major, offers this advice to undergrads interested in humanities research: “Have fun with it! Learning about history through primary source materials further connects the researcher and their topic of research, making the work more personalized in a way. [Accessing] history through digital databases and from the work of others is fascinating in itself but getting to handle and utilize physical primary documents is a whole different experience. I recommend everyone give it a try.”

Marvin’s Angels is on display at MD Anderson Library floor one.

UH Libraries Awards Scholarships to Student Employees

University of Houston Libraries supports student success by awarding scholarships each year to outstanding Libraries student employees. For the 2024-25 academic year, philanthropic support for the Libraries scholarship fund empowered eight talented students to receive a cumulative $20,200.

“Our student employees provide invaluable support and vibrance within the Libraries,” said Christina H. Gola, interim dean of Libraries. “The Libraries’ ability to award these scholarships serves to elevate their talents and hard work as they pursue their academic and career goals. We are so appreciative of our scholarship donors who recognize the impact scholarships have on the success of students and the confidence it gives them to achieve their dreams. Congratulations to all of our scholarship recipients, and a big thank you to our donors.”

Featured here are five scholarship awardees who graciously shared a bit about themselves.

Nine Abad

Nine Abad

Nine Abad is a junior pursuing degrees in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and is a recipient of the Belle Griggs Johnson Scholarship. Abad was recently featured in Celebrating UH Libraries Student Employees: “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.”

Chinasa Anokwuru

Chinasa Anokwuru

Chinasa Anokwuru was awarded the Belle Griggs Johnson Scholarship. She is a second-year medical student at the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine who works at the Medical Library. Anokwuru is passionate about making health care accessible for everyone. She served as a student leader during her first year by working at a rural clinic in Santa Ana Honduras with a team from the College of Medicine.

“This school year, I was looking forward to the clinical immersion part of my program. It has been so wonderful going to the clinic and seeing patients. I hope to be a surgeon after I graduate. I chose to work at the library because I wanted to promote a scholarly environment for my classmates and I, and to serve as an advocate so that we can get the resources we need to advance in our careers.”

Claire Garza-Gonzalez

Claire Garza-Gonzalez

Claire Garza-Gonzalez works at the William R. Jenkins Architecture, Design, and Art Library and is a John P. McGovern Library Scholar. A senior art major, Garza-Gonzalez looks forward to a career in art education and therapy. The scholarship will facilitate on-campus living for Garza-Gonzalez, who embraces the importance of community and connection among peers at UH.

“The Libraries scholarship will be an invaluable asset on my educational and personal journey! It will help ease the burden of tuition and enable me to focus on making a positive impact in the world through creativity. I chose to work at the Libraries because I have always loved libraries and felt at home in them. I also previously worked at the Lone Star College CyFair Library and it was an amazing experience. Whenever I’m traveling I like to find the nearest local libraries and explore them.”

Kelan Smith

Kelan Smith

Kelan Smith is a John P. McGovern Library Scholar and works in Information and Access Services at MD Anderson Library. In addition to pursuing a degree in Sports Administration, Smith enjoys basketball and fitness at the UH Recreation and Wellness Center, and plays bass guitar. 

“I have always grown up around books and libraries. My mom has been volunteering as a Friends of the Library Bookstore volunteer and board member for several years at the Harris County Library in Cypress. When I go back home, I help her run the bookstore. After college, I plan to get an entry level job with a professional sports team and work my way up to a scout. Many of these entry level jobs are not paid, or minimum wage, so minimizing the amount of student debt I will take on is a huge goal of mine. I am extremely grateful for this scholarship for helping me get closer to this goal.”

Andrea Tribble

Andrea Tribble

Andrea Tribble is a junior pursuing a degree in African American Studies, and is a John P. McGovern Library Scholar. Tribble was recently featured in Celebrating UH Libraries Student Employees: “One of my favorite things about working in Special Collections is knowing that I’m contributing to the sacred practice of preservation.”

Celebrating UH Libraries Student Employees

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

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

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

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

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,” Harper 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

Nine Abad is a junior with double majors in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies who works in Special Collections. Abad’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,” Abad 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

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,” Nguyen said. “Everyone inside and outside of the studio is a blessing to work with.”

 

UH Libraries Highlights from 2023

2023 was a year of partnerships, prioritizing, and paving the way for a reimagined University of Houston Libraries.

The professional and scholarly engagement of our librarians, staff, and student employees contributed to the University’s goal of becoming a top 50 public university. As plans for a robust near future are activated, UH Libraries remains collectively committed to our mission of enhancing student learning, participating in the development of scholarly research and creative output, and promoting discovery of information and knowledge from diverse and relevant resources.

Here are a few of our 2023 highlights:

UH Students Author Chinese Popular Culture Dictionary through Open Pedagogy Collaboration

The following is a guest post contributed by Open Educational Resources Librarian Kate McNally Carter.

Volume one of a student-authored dictionary of Chinese popular culture terms

Volume one of a student-authored dictionary of Chinese popular culture terms

Dr. Melody Yunzi Li, assistant professor of Chinese in the University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, collaborated with the UH Libraries department of Open Education Services to create the first volume of a student-authored dictionary of Chinese popular culture terms.

Students in the spring 2023 Chinese Popular Culture course each defined three popular culture terms for their midterm assignments and were invited to contribute their work to this digital open educational resource (OER). This was the second successful collaboration with Dr. Li, following the development of another student-authored textbook for her Tales of East Asian Cities course last fall.

Both courses employed open pedagogy, a teaching approach that envisions students as co-creators of knowledge by inviting them to openly license and publish the work they produce in their courses. Open pedagogy emphasizes student agency by giving students control over whether and how their work is shared, and how they are credited as authors. This practice enables students to critique information ownership and the process of knowledge production, providing a greater understanding of the nuances of intellectual property and their responsibilities and rights as authors.

“Students benefit from research-oriented and self-directed teaching styles,” Li noted. “Incorporating OER into the course assignments and inviting students to participate in the open publishing process gives them perspective on the value of their contributions to knowledge in the field. Students are so engaged in the trends of Chinese popular culture, so it’s exciting to see them integrate their interests into their coursework.”

Left to right: Kate McNally Carter, Dr. Melody Yunzi Li, Ariana Santiago. Photo courtesy of Dr. Li.

Left to right: Kate McNally Carter, Dr. Melody Yunzi Li, Ariana Santiago. Photo courtesy of Dr. Li.

Open Educational Resources Librarian Kate McNally Carter supported the course by creating instructional videos and providing technical support for students, who used the Pressbooks platform to write and publish their assignments. Ariana Santiago, Head of Open Education Services, also provided consultative support at the outset of the project, helping shape the parameters of the assignment.

“We are excited about the opportunities presented by innovative teaching methods like open pedagogy,” Santiago said. “Open pedagogy is a unique teaching practice, because it encourages students to participate in co-creation of open educational resources. In this way, it helps students see themselves as authors who have valuable knowledge and experiences they are bringing with them to the classroom, and it invites them to contribute that knowledge to the teaching and learning commons.”

Collaborations with Dr. Li’s courses have enabled the Open Education Services department to explore how to support courses using open pedagogical practices. In these pilot courses, Santiago and Carter provided consultative, instructional, and technical support around the open pedagogy projects. Working with these courses in face-to-face and online modalities has enabled them to adopt effective strategies to teach students about open licensing, publishing content through Pressbooks, and appropriately citing and attributing other open resources.

One of the most important aspects of open pedagogy is preserving student agency over their work. In Dr. Li’s courses, students could elect to publish their work under an open license, allowing others to reuse and redistribute their work under the conditions of the selected license, or retain all rights with a traditional copyright license. They could also select how their name would appear in the textbook, use a pseudonym, or completely opt out of including their work in the published textbook.

“Students should be empowered to make informed decisions about whether and how they would like to share their work, and a large part of what OES does is make sure that instructors are aware of best practices for providing students with those choices,” Santiago said. “We can help facilitate this process and provide guidance about the most appropriate approach based on the assignment.”

Open pedagogy can be used for a variety of different assignments. “Instructors can give their students renewable assignments, which can be any type of assignment that has the potential to be used by others for teaching and learning purposes,” Carter explained. “When instructors invite students to share their work with an open license, this gives students an opportunity to contribute their resources to other instructors and learners, which benefits the learning of their peers.”

“This means that open pedagogy can be a particularly beneficial teaching approach for instructors who have a hard time finding updated educational resources,” Carter added. “Students are already creating educational materials in many of their assignments. Instructors can intentionally design their assignments to help students build on each other’s knowledge. Inviting students to give back to their current and future peers can make the educational experience more rewarding.”

The Open Education Services department is eager to grow this area of support. “We hope to continue supporting instructors with similar projects,” Santiago noted. To learn more about open publishing and open pedagogy, contact the Open Education Services department by emailing oer@uh.edu.

“Agents of Change” Exhibit Honors UH Activists and Advocates

In 2027, University of Houston will celebrate its centennial. As this auspicious milestone nears, students, alumni, faculty, staff, and supporters are working together to honor the University’s rich history as a mission-driven institution shaped by forward-thinking stakeholders. An exhibit at MD Anderson Library, opening in September 2023, will feature pivotal points from 100 years of distinction.

Agents of Change: Celebrating Innovation at the UH Centennial will open in September 2023 at MD Anderson Library.

Agents of Change: Celebrating Innovation at the UH Centennial” will open in September 2023 at MD Anderson Library.

Agents of Change: Celebrating Innovation at the UH Centennial is part of a three-year storytelling collaboration between UH Center for Public History, UH Libraries, and Houston Public Media. The 100 Years of Stories project was made possible through a gift from Carey C. Shuart, a Houstonian and supporter of art, education, and women’s causes throughout the region.

The Carey C. Shuart Women’s Research Collection at UH Special Collections contains the records of women’s organizations and the papers of Texas women.

The exhibit is the culmination of a partnership aiming to engage UH students in collecting, sharing, and preserving notable narratives of UH and its people.

Read university archivist Mary Manning’s article about the making of the exhibit and storytelling project at Houston History.

In 1927, Houstonians were eager for higher education that fit the lifestyle of working adults and served the needs of a growing city. Emboldened by a spirit of innovation, students, faculty, and members of the community shaped University of Houston into the trailblazing institution it is today. Over almost 100 years, these agents of change have led UH on its journey from a junior college to a major, urban research university. Along the way, they expanded access to higher education and increased diversity, brought innovative approaches to learning, and created an institution that has had a strong impact on both local and global communities.

Jesus Sanchez, a graduate student in history, was one of the scholars to work on the 100 Years project which included exhibit planning and design, archival research and selection, and metadata writing. In organizing and cataloging historical documents, photos, and artifacts that connected with Agents of Change, Sanchez discovered prevailing themes in the primary source materials.

“University of Houston is a college for the people of Houston, regardless of race, gender, wealth, or religion,” Sanchez noted. “I saw how students impacted UH, and how they became influential figures, like Maria Jimenez, who worked tirelessly to help vulnerable communities decades after her years as an activist at UH during the 1970s.”

The project gave Sanchez, who wants to become a historian, practical insights. “I had no experience, and learning more about the field and seeking guidance from experts in archival work was very helpful,” he said.

Cady Hammer also worked on the project as a student curator during her first semester at UH.

“I was excited when I got the syllabus and saw that we would be formulating the concept and major elements of the 100 Years of Stories exhibit,” Hammer said. “This was the first direct interaction I had with exhibit development, which is something I would love to do in my career.”

The overarching concept that guided the exhibit, the “big idea,” was categorized into three UH eras: its founding, expansion, and contemporary community impact.

“My classmates and I found that this concept worked best for incorporating key stories that the Center for Public History wanted to represent in the exhibit,” Hammer noted. Class members selected items that would fit with the focus of each era and wrote descriptions. The impact of activism and advocacy at UH was a significant theme that emerged from the archives. “So many of the biggest changes at UH were student-driven,” Hammer said. These improvements “signified the power of young people banding together to accomplish an important goal.”

Archives curation offers interesting contextual lines of inquiry. Hammer offers this advice to other students: “Learn how to read between the lines. No matter what you’re researching, there are at least two stories to every document. The first one is the story on the page. You can pull facts, people, and events from it easily. The second is the story hidden in the details of the document and how they connect to other materials. Some of the most important points of a document are the voices that have been left out of the narrative.”

Alec Story noted that talking to librarians and archivists who curate the collections at UH Special Collections is a good first step when working with primary source materials. “Going into your research with a strong line of inquiry and a curious mind will help uncover truly incredible documents,” he said. “As we worked on this project it became clear that University of Houston has an unpretentious and humble legacy. UH challenges the notion of what a university is supposed to look like.”

Agents of Change will be on display at MD Anderson Library from September 2023 through May 2024. The opening will accompany the launch of the fall 2023 issue of Houston History, published by the Center for Public History. The exhibit is being produced collaboratively between UH Libraries Special Collections, UH Libraries Preservation and Reformatting, and UH Center for Public History.

New Student Success Librarian

Imani Spence

Imani Spence

University of Houston Libraries welcomes Imani Spence as the new student success librarian in the department of Teaching and Learning.

Please describe your role at UH Libraries. How does your work align with the student success priorities of the University?

As student success librarian, I’ll be teaching instruction sessions to students and other librarians. I’ll be learning and researching ways to make students more successful on campus. For me, that means considering the issues that students may have in and out of the classroom. I hope to teach information literacy sessions with both undergraduate and graduate students. Ideally, my instruction will encourage students to see faculty as their partner in graduation and not their adversary. My undergraduate education was a bit overwhelming for me so I hope that my instruction will give students the tools to advocate for themselves and what they need to graduate confidently!

Please share a bit about your background and research interests. How do these inspire and shape your approach as a librarian?

I am coming to Houston from Baltimore, Maryland where I spent most of my life. I was born at the University of Michigan and most of my extended family is in the Detroit region. Growing up, I was homeschooled for a short period of time which really informs the ways that I approach teaching and school generally because I know how valuable it is to have individualized accommodations and instruction. In Baltimore, I worked a bit in local media, first as a public radio producer then as an arts and culture reporter. In each of these roles, I tried to bring more information about the rich literary history of Baltimore. In May 2022, I graduated with my MLIS from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMDCP). While at College Park I completed the research and teaching fellowship which allowed me to teach information literacy sessions to first year students and work within the teaching and learning department at UMDCP. The fellowship helped me feel confident in my instruction skills and showed me the value of taking care of yourself while serving a large university community.

What are one or two things you’d like faculty and students to know about working with a student success librarian?

I want to learn from faculty and students! Since this is my first university librarian position, I am hoping to approach teaching and working with faculty as a great learning experience. It is important to remember that the teaching and learning department is small so advance notice for instruction sessions is really helpful. Faculty should also consider that the library’s function on campus has expanded and grown! A librarian is more than just a person who is in the books, we are people who are interested in guiding and ushering in new research. I know that sessions from librarians in my studies made me feel more connected to all the resources available to me on campus. If you’re hoping to give students library instruction but not sure how to insert it into your syllabus, reach out in advance and I’m happy to brainstorm with you.