Library Blogs

As part of a broader product accessibility initiative in Library Information Technology, the team behind the library’s website undertook a number of remediation efforts based on the findings of the site’s baseline accessibility evaluation. The work demonstrates how accessibility remediation can also be an opportunity for code clean-up, usability improvements, and refreshing design elements.

Join us next Thursday, 16 January between 4-6p for our first Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester!

The Special Collections Research Center is delighted to announce a new exhibit featuring a selection of private press books and artwork from the collection of Bill Heidrich, a long-time supporter of the University of Michigan Library. The display will open next week in the Hatcher Library Exhibit Room and will be available from January 13 to April 30, 2025.

This blog post summarizes a quick, low-tech, and timely way to assess your instruction. I write about my version of a “one minute essay” adapted as a feedback form on slips of paper, and how I use the responses to circle back with the students and faculty after the class. I reflect on how this approach, which I’ve used over the past ten years, has changed my instruction and allowed me to be more receptive to all kinds of feedback.

Louise de la Vallière is the fourth volume in Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers saga. It deals with romantic intrigues at the court of Louis XIV, as the young king falls in love with his brother's wife, then pretends to be in love with her lady-in-waiting, Louise de la Vallière. Then he genuinely falls in love with her, much to the dismay of the hero, Raoul de Bragelonne, son of the musketeer Athos. It is a compelling novel, but readers should be aware that the musketeers make very infrequent appearances. It is heavier on romance than adventure.

Learn how a humble student shelver in the Hatcher Library was inspired by her love of libraries and the opportunities she had as a UM student in the 1950's.

The University of Michigan Press sought to better understand what its monograph authors care about when choosing a publisher and their experiences in being published. A survey completed in Fall 2024 reveals insight into scholarly publishing trends and what authors value in working with a university press.

As we approach five years since the drastic shutdown and isolation techniques due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems appropriate to reflect on an assessment project conducted during 2020-2021. As librarians and students attempted to pivot to an all online learning and teaching experience, research service providers quickly needed to know more about our research consultation service. Struggling with a crisis, we also learned how to conduct assessment work in sensitive and empathetic ways.

Join us next Thursday, 19 December between 4-6p for our final Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester!

We often look for mechanisms to create better and more robust metadata about our materials in our digital collections. The Digital Collections Service partnered with Shapiro Design Lab at U-M Library to use Zooniverse, a crowdsourcing platform that allows us to post existing materials for anyone to view and add descriptive information to. We improved two digital collections using improved metadata from Zooniverse crowdsourcing.