The UW-Madison Libraries: Top 10 Favorite Moments from the Fall 2014 Semester

December 17, 2014

It’s hard to believe the Fall 2014 semester has come to a close. The UW-Madison Libraries were fortunate to have another successful start to the academic year, filled with exciting events, engaging visitors, and exceptional accomplishments thanks to our staff, students, and campus partners.

While there are too many great moments to list them all, we’ve gathered a few of our favorites. Have a safe and happy holiday, and we’ll see you in 2015!

House Party
House Party

1. Steenbock Library kicked off the year in style with its annual Luau in August.

2. College Library also got students back in the school spirit with its Helen C. White House Party.

3. In true UW-Madison fashion, the Libraries were named one of the best in the nation, 16th to be exact, by the Princeton Review.

4. We found out just how funny our students and alumni are when we hosted the first ever Funny University event, welcoming back the founder of The Onion, Scott Dikkers, and campus Pail and Shovel Party President and prankster-turned-producer Jim Mallon. If you missed the event, you can catch it here.

Audience members pack WID for the Funny University panel.
Audience members pack WID for the Funny University panel.

5. The Centennial of the start of WWI was remembered through several exhibits on campus. A partnership with UW-Madison Special Collections, Wisconsin Historical Society and the Mosse Program helped bring best-selling author Adam Hochschild to campus to discuss his latest book, “To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion.”

6. C-SPAN Cities Tour highlighted the city of Madison, including UW-Madison. The UW-Madison Libraries were fortunate to receive a feature segment focusing on our WWI Special Collections exhibit.

ROBIN1
C-SPAN works with Special Collection’s Robin Rider.

7. UW Archives and its Oral History coordinator, Troy Reeves, helped showcase Madison as they hosted the 2014 National Oral History Conference. Not only did nearly 500 people descend on the town for the conference, but it included several days of engaging and educational events with partners around UW-Madison, and the Madison Public Library.

8. The Go Big Read book this year, “I Am Malala”, got a special boost when Malala Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize. Shiza Shahid, co-founder of the Malala Foundation, visited campus to speak during the Go Big Read special lecture, hosted by Chancellor Rebecca Blank.

photo 1
Chrissy Hursh and Rob Klecker stand in the Verona Shelving Facility. They are the two Verona staff responsible for the facility’s operations.

9. The Libraries’ long-awaited Verona Shelving Facility officially opened. Verona is a 10,000 square foot, $2.5m high density shelving facility designed to help UW Libraries keep the materials we have, be good stewards of those materials, keep them safe, protected, and usable. But it also allows us to continue collecting the materials that we need to be a relevant and competitive institution.

10. The Annual Staff Service Awards were announced in December, celebrating our hard working academic, classified, and student staff.