Celebrate Black History Month

The University of Illinois works hard to foster an atmosphere of diversity and inclusiveness. And all through the month of February, many organizations are hosting events to celebrate and honor Black History month.

Portrait of Maudelle Tanner Brown Bousfield courtesy of University Housing at Illinois

One of the coolest announcements recently was the board of trustee’s decision to name a new dorm after the first black woman graduate, Maudelle Tanner Brown Bousfield. Ms. Bousfield graduated in 1906 and went on to teach high school math. She also became the first African-American principal in Chicago’s public schools in 1928. The new dorm, which will be called Bousfield Hall and open in Fall 2013, will be located on the corner of First and Peabody.

But that’s not all! Check out some of the awesome events coming up this month:

Feb 4     An Evening with Keith Boykin: A Celebration of Black LGBT History Month

Feb 9     Sweet Honey in the Rocks

Feb 23     Black and Latino Male Summit

Feb 27     Culmination Celebration (Sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation)

And that doesn’t even begin to cover it. Several groups have on-going presentations and series throughout the month. The Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center has a “Food for the Soul” series featuring some great topics for the month. And Inclusive Illinois has countless events happening, too.

And don’t forget about the Library. This month, there is a display on the first floor of the Music and Performing Arts Library for Black History Month, and on the second floor, they’re exhibiting hip-hop and rap materials, including recordings. Stop by, check it out, and learn something new!

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IRL @ the UGL

We at the UGL like to think of ourselves as being pretty comfortable with technology. This Web 2.0 thing? We’ve got it down. But we also understand that sometimes, even the most tech-savvy person gets a hankering for the old-fashioned. Sometimes it’s nice to see a pin-board with actual, physical pins in it. The opportunity to take a break from the seemingly endless computer screens in your life and spend time gazing at cheery paper snowmen is one you may be glad to take.

“Well hello! Welcome to the UGL!”

To fill this occasional craving for the traditional, and to make the physical space of the library more visually interesting and informative, there are several displays in different parts of the library for you to enjoy. The themes change every month to keep things fresh and appropriate to the season – this month, the staff and student workers/elves have put together some holiday-focused displays to help boost your spirit during finals. We’ll give you a preview here on the blog, but you should really come in and check them out in person!

UGL employees bust out their mad snowflake-makin’ skills, just for you.

Right when you enter the UGL from the plaza, this happy little case is ready to suggest some seasonal movies for you. If you’re interested in a title you see inside this mini-winter wonderland, just ask at the circulation desk, and we can fetch it for you! Then you can take it home and get just as cozy as you wanna.

We completely understand, but do try not to drool on the glass.

There are tons of food-themed ‘holidays’ in December. We’re not really sure how official ‘National Chocolate-Covered-Anything Day’ is, but that’s not going to stop us from celebrating it! To help you get in the culinary groove, we’ve got some cookbooks lined up in the display upstairs near the circulation desk, full of delicious holiday treats for you to make and share (or hoard). Come gaze upon these tasty cakes and be inspired.

We made a concerted effort to find books that are qualified to be suggested, and now we’ve got whole binders full of suggestions.

The food theme continues in the lower level! Just beyond the media collection, we’ve got more cookbooks picked out in our Y-shaped display. These aren’t necessarily holiday-specific; we’ve pulled together a wide range of cuisines and food types for you to choose from. Moroccan food? Totally covered. Any and every kind of soup? Right here. In addition to the cookbooks, you’ll find binders of suggested titles from a variety of different genres on top of the display. Pick ‘em up, leaf through them, carry them around to help you locate the books on the shelf – just please return them when you’re done, so someone else can find a good read after you!

Diversity Bulletin Board

Celebrate ALL the traditions!

The bulletin board in the lower lobby of the UGL is sponsored by the Library’s Diversity Committee, and each month it showcases diversity in a different area. For the month of December, we’ve got a festive round-up of winter holiday traditions from around the world. Curious about Wren’s Day, or Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian Lunar New Year? You can learn all about them, right here!

That’s what’s going on IRL at the UGL – we’re happy that you’re reading our blog, but we’d also be happy to see your faces in the library checking out our displays. Come on down and scope ‘em out!

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Diverse Partnerships

Diversity Services Display

Whoever said there’s no such thing as a free lunch clearly hasn’t heard about the Lunchtime Discussion Series presented by the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Relations.

Throughout the semester, the OIIR–in partnership with the Asian American Cultural Center, the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, La Casa Cultural Latina, LGBT Resources Center, Native American House and the Women’s Resource Center–provide nourishment for your body and your brain with lunch and meaningful discussion. Held throughout the semester from noon-1pm (events take place on all week days, so something’s bound to work in your sched), bring a friend or two (or meet some new ones) as a wide variety of topics and issues are discussed while you nosh on lunch.

The UGL is happy to work with the OIIR thoroughout the semester as one of our partner organizations. If you can’t make any of the lunches, stop by the Partners Desk on the upper level to chat with reps from the cultural houses and organizations and learn more about their missions and services. Watch the UGL Events Calendar for dates and times.

If any of this sounds appealing, you can also swing by the bulletin board display in the lobby of the lower level of the UGL (pictured above). It’ll be up the month of September and features QR codes linking to more info about the individual organizations, printed schedules of this semester’s lunches (including topics and locations), and books on campus diversity that you can check out!

(Pro tip: Keep your eye on that bulletin board, as each month a different display promoting multiculturalism and diversity is featured.)

 

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Summer Diversity Internship at the UGL!

Get real software developing experience with this cool team!

Are you a University of Illinois undergraduate student with a 2-year IT degree or a minor in Informatics?  Are you interested in getting real experience developing software in a collaborative, team-based research environment? Are you awesome? YES?!?  Then you might be the perfect candidate for the UGL’s new 8-week summer internship opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds. Read all about it below!

Available: 

Non-traditional information technology career exploration for undergraduate students with two year IT degrees from diverse backgrounds; the University Library is recruiting diverse candidates for a summer paid internship in software development. Students will co-design library software services in a collaborative team-based research and development group based in the Undergraduate Library.

Responsibilities:

Participate in a collaborative software development team for library services that aid information discovery.

Qualifications:

Must be a University of Illinois undergraduate student from a diverse background with two-year IT degree; or, enrolled in the Informatics Minor.

Programming experience with object oriented languages (preferably Java), familiarity with RESTful web services for API development.

Compensation: 

40 hours a week for 8 weeks @ $12.25

To apply: Send cover letter and resume to Jim Hahn, jimhahn@illinois.edu , Orientation Services and Environments Librarian.

Check out those sweet iMacs!

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