Library News

Historic images from XULA Library's Archives & Special Collections became part of a new permanent installment at the Louisiana State Capitol last month. Capitol Park Museum launched the exhibit featuring display panels of photographs from HBCU's from all over the state as part of its HBCU Day celebration held on April 18th. 

In partnership with Louisiana’s historically Black colleges and universities, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and Capitol Park Museum opened new displays exploring the history of these schools and their predecessors. Beginning with the first Black institutions of higher learning in the late 1860s, these colleges and universities not only educated African Americans during the era of segregation and beyond but also nurtured civil rights activists who sought to create a better state for all Louisianians.

Of the HBCUs founded in the state prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, six remain: Southern University and A&M College (1880), Grambling State University (1901), Xavier University of Louisiana (1915), Dillard University (1930), Southern University at New Orleans (1956), and Southern University at Shreveport (1964). Southern University is the nation’s only HBCU system, with three main campuses as well as the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center and the Southern University Law Center. Xavier University is the only Catholic HBCU in the U.S. “Louisiana’s HBCUs contribute so much to our state,” says Lieutenant Governor Nungesser. “We are excited to partner with them so that all our visitors can discover their rich history."

Visitors will learn about Straight University in New Orleans, whose law graduates include Louis A. Martinet and Rodolphe L. Desdunes, who organized the Comité des Citoyens to challenge segregation in the case that eventually became Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). They’ll also discover Southern University’s deep connection with Louisiana agriculture, which began with a working farm in 1891 and continues today with a state livestock show, cutting-edge crop research, and resources for small farmers. Other historical highlights include HBCU involvement with civil rights struggles, ranging from Southern University student participation in the sit-in movement to Xavier providing housing for the Freedom Riders.

The history of Louisiana’s HBCUs is incorporated into four sections of Capitol Park Museum’s 20,000 square feet of permanent exhibitions: Natural Abundance, Civil Rights, Southeast Louisiana, and North Louisiana. The Capitol Park Museum is located at 660 N. Fourth Street in Baton Rouge. It is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (final tickets sold at 3:30 p.m.). Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for students, seniors, and active military, and free for children 6 and under.

XULA Library Archives & Special Collections Student Assistant Starr Smith has been accepted into the Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries Summer Internship Program. The six- week practical conservation internship program is made possible by the Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries partnering with the University of Delaware and five host sites- the Brooklyn Museum, Fisk University Galleries, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, and Yale University Museum & Galleries.

Smith is one of ten students who will be participating in the annual program this summer. The first two weeks will be an overview and introduction to conservation at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. She will then spend the remaining four weeks of the program at a host site working on outdoor sculpture maintenance; pest identification as part of an integrated pest management program; inventory of prints, drawings, and photograph storage; and some condition assessment and treatment of the museum's American Collections for an upcoming re-installment. Intern travel and housing will be covered by the program and a $3,900 stipend provided.

XULA librarian Mary A. Guillory has been accepted into the the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Machine Learning University (MLU) Educator Enablement Program. The program was announced by Amazon at the end of 2022 with a focus on prioritizing faculty at community colleges in the United States, minority serving institutions, and HBCUs. The program is designed to equip educators with the knowledge and curriculum to teach data management, artificial intelligence, and machine learning topics.

As the library prepares to convert its liaison librarian model to one with a group of librarians for the sciences and one for the arts, participation in this program will provide the library with an opportunity to better support increasingly popular cutting edge technology instruction and technical competition entry consultations. Guillory will be awarded a stipend, continuing education units from Stanford University, and a certificate of completion from The Coding School. Professional development for librarians is one of the library's many efforts to expand the information and digital literacy services offered to Xavier University of Louisiana's students as well as increase collaboration with faculty to further establishment of career pathways for advanced, yet practical, technology.

Educators interested in the program may sign up to receive updates directly from the AWS MLU on their website. In addition to the national boot camps, which only allow for 50 participants per cohort and requires knowledge of the Python programming language, a monthly webinar series and community forum is being offered by AWS in an effort to build an open community of practice.

Xavier University of Louisiana Library Archives & Special Collections loaned two photographs to The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) to be featured in its "Yet She is Advancing: New Orleans Women and the Right to Vote" exhibition opening on April 28th. Located on Royal St., THNOC is a museum, research center, and publisher located in New Orleans' French Quarter. Admission to the museum is free, but tickets are required. The exhibition, an expansion on a virtual exhibit published on the organization's website back in 2020, will be open until November 5, 2023.

The first promotional video created by THNOC for the exhibition can be found below.

Earlier this month, the Rank and Tenure Committee confirmed the promotion of Vincent "Vinny" Barraza and Kayla Siddell to the rank of "Associate Librarian" in the University Library at Xavier University of Louisiana. Over many years, Barraza and Siddell had to complete the rigorous requirements outlined in the faculty handbook to achieve this accomplishment.

Siddell is the Associate Director of the University Library where she coordinates and supervises the day-to-day operations of the library. Previously, she served as the Head of Research and Technology, managing library systems and technology, learning spaces, and consulting with faculty, staff and students on their research and use of library services. Kayla also previously served as the Scholarly Communications Librarian, managing the institutional repository, Scholarly Communications, XULA Digital Commons, the Data Visualization Lab, and the library's Innovation Studio.

Barraza serves as the Archivist and Digital Preservation Librarian for Archives & Special Collections. He received his BA in Art and Art History from California State University Channel Islands, and from Marist College he received his MA in Museum Studies, which was obtained and conferred at the Lorenzo de’ Medici International Institute in Florence, Italy. Over the course of his professional career, he has undertaken the challenge of conserving, preserving, digitizing, and creating access to some of the most culturally significant archival collections in the United States.

Xavier University of Louisiana, Archives & Special Collections has joined in partnership with Harvard University and the HBCU Alliance to sustain and deepen capacity for the digitization, discovery, and preservation of African American history collections held in HBCU libraries and archives. This multi-year project will advance archives and special collections at HBCU Libraries, including XULA archival collections. The HBCU Library Alliance and Harvard Library are embarking on this project with the shared goal of advancing open, public access to archives and special collections pertaining to African American history.

Funds are provided by the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative, which has designated $6 million for this project. This four-year project will build upon the HBCU Digital Library hosted by the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, extending training, resources and services through regional service areas established within the HBCU network of libraries and archives. Once materials are digitized, access to many more finding aids and collections will be available to the public online through the HBCU Library Alliance Digital Library portal.

For more information about the project, see the official announcement on the Harvard Library website.

Students and faculty can now enjoy more convinence when accessing course materials from the library by utilizing our new integrated reading list. The reading list, provided by Ex Libris, can be used by faculty to create a convinent course material list in the Brightspace learning management system (LMS). The tool is designed to help instructors incorporate library materials into their courses by building reading lists that include books, articles, videos, web resources, and more items provided by the library.

Those interested in learning more may browse the "Leganto Reading List Quick Start Guide" Libguide and watch the video demonstration below.

Online, the Xavier University of Louisiana Library looks a whole lot different than it did a year or two ago. Sporting a new logo (voted in by staff), website, catalog, and overall branding were changes incrementally applied throughout 2022 in an effort to prepare to meet the library’s vision of access, collaboration, and community for 2031. Establishing a baseline upon which to measure success meant that the library’s first order of business was to identify, implement, and fine tune analytical systems.

The December “Library Digital Marketing 2022 Impact” infographic details the library’s successes in terms of website and blog traffic, as well as social media and Google search performance for the year. According to Google Analytics setup in early 2022, the library’s website saw over 200 thousand views with the A-Z Databases being the most visited portion of the website. Having newly acquired or upgraded ten databases last year, these stats were a sign of librarian database evaluation time and library budget well spent to bring needed resources to Xavierites.

Connecting with XULA’s students and faculty is a key part in meeting their needs, as is keeping them informed about library services. Last year, the library strategically focused its social media efforts on Twitter, Youtube, Google My Business (found in Maps as well as when searching for the library's website). In addition, new efforts were made to virtually collaborate with other campus departments to include eBulletin ads and joint campaigns. Some of these campaigns having been so successful they were expanded this year. For example, the “Did You Know?” campaign started as simple fact image tweets provided by the Office of Counseling & Wellness, but has now grown into a Youtube Shorts campaign voiced by counselors.

Due to changes in social media trends, the library is strengthening its efforts in more stable and open platforms as well as reconsidering how it meets the needs of mobile users in accordance with data revealed in the 2022 impact statement. Youtube, sometimes referred to as the second largest search engine in the world (after Google Search of course) is being leveraged by the library to provide 24/7 access to information and digital literacy tutorials, collaborate with Xavierites to begin to solve key issues, and foster inclusive community building by providing a look back at the past that shaped Xavier’s present. That last one has by far been the most successful, as the Throwback Thursday Youtube Shorts campaign quickly became the most viewed on the channel due to XULA having alumni all over the world.

Black History Month is an ideal time to highlight Xavier University of Louisiana Library’s investment in the entrepreneurial endeavors and workforce development of Xavierites from various disciplines. Funded by competition winnings and general budget, the library has invested nearly $500 toward helping a student business owner as well as providing opportunities for others to build freelance work skills.

In May 2022, the library was awarded $250 for competing as a finalist in the 2022 Entrepreneurship & Libraries Conference (ELC) @ the Table Pitch Competition. This week, XULA Librarian Mary A. Guillory returned to the competition’s spotlight to serve as a workshop panelist in an effort to inspire other librarians nationwide to pitch in the 2023 competition. Guillory was given an opportunity to update the audience on what XULA Library accomplished with last year’s winnings and discuss future endeavors.

“I emailed Firdaous after serving on the panel to let her know that I had shamelessly promoted her business to 100 live participants with another 100 signed up to receive the recording. From chat messages, I know some people at least visited the website. I just hope a few actually convert into sales,” said Guillory.

XULA Library invested its 2022 competition winnings in Roots by Rombi. Owned by senior biology pre-med major Firdaous Ningbinnin, Roots by Rombi is a skincare line specially formulated for people of color. This year, Ningbinnin plans to use the library’s Innovation Studio to conduct research and development trials on product packaging. Her hope is to improve packing efficiency, cut costs, and add something “luxurious” to the design by learning to operate the laser cutting and engraving machine.

As far as future endeavors go, the library is currently in the process of piloting paid student social media work opportunities. An endeavor launched just this month to celebrate both Black History Month and Black Futures Month, it has already seen success. Two students were hired to complete three social media projects to be featured on the library’s Youtube channel. Mass Communications sophomore Carys Ross completed her first podcast interview with Gia M. Hamilton, Executive Director and Chief Curator at the New Orleans African American Museum on Thursday evening. After conducting research with the help of a librarian, Ross developed just five questions for the 20-minute interview that revealed an interesting perspective on afrofuturism, paid fellowships opportunities, curatorship as a career, and black institution building in New Orleans.

Hopeful supporters may listen to the first episode of “Black Futures” below. Viewers are also encouraged to like the video and subscribe to the channel.

During the "Info Bites" events each month, Xavierites will explore how academics use and produce information to advance their scholarship skills as consumers and creators. Having brought this idea to XULA Library from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Emily Bufford, the new First-year Experience Librarian, will lead each workshop. Bufford hopes to help students become better writers, researchers, and scholars by explaining and bringing alive each of ACRL’s information literacy guidelines.

The following set of abilities are what ACRL uses to define information literacy:

• Finding quality information
• Evaluating information for accuracy
• Understanding the value of information
• Using research to create new information
• Knowing how to give credit to other thinkers

Consecutive attendance is not necessary as each workshop focuses on a different information literacy skill. Snacks such as chips, candy, and water will be provided. The 45-minute events will take place in the library on the second floor near the large TV monitor on Wednesday February 8th, March 22nd, April 5th, April 19th, and May 3rd at 5:00 p.m.