Douglass’s awareness and cultivation of his own public image is in evidence in a letter he wrote to the sculptor Johnson Mundy, dated March 23, 1880. Mundy created a bust of Douglass, commissioned by members of the Rochester community, that was unveiled at the URochester in 1879, and that remains on display today in Frederick Douglass Commons.

In the letter to Mundy, recently acquired by River Campus Libraries’ , Douglass writes, “The more I look at the bust, the better I like it. There is a fullness and a completeness about it which I have not often found in that class of work.” Douglass goes on to express his future hopes for the bust, adding, “I am content to be made known through this specimen of your art to all who may come after me, and who may wish to know how I looked in the world.”

Jessica Lacher-Feldman, assistant dean and Joseph N. Lambert and Harold B. Schleifer Director of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, says the letter complements the University’s already rich collection of Douglass holdings. “Having the actual bust, and now the letter, is just one more way to better understand Douglass’s legacy and connection with the University and with the city,” she says. The letter was purchased with the support of the , and is part of a .

Mundy’s 1879 bust of Douglass is now available in forms that would have been unimaginable to both artist and subject. Using 3D scanning technology, associate professor of English Gregory Heyworth and the River Campus Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Lab have created a digital rendering of the bust. The resulting file, now available freely online, allows anybody with access to a 3D printer to reproduce their own copy of the bust.

“Using 21st-century technology for historical preservation and access is critical when trying to build a greater understanding and appreciation for the past as we move towards the future,” says Lacher-Feldman.

Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation is home to one of the largest collections of record for Frederick Douglass materials. The foundation of the University’s Douglass materials comes from the  , 19th-century radical activists and close friends of Frederick Douglass. The libraries continue to build on their Douglass holdings, and the  continues its work to digitize and make freely accessible all the letters, photographs, newspapers, and other materials held in the library.

“Great innovation starts with great teams, and a great team is one that brings a wide variety of skills, personalities, and experiences to the table,” says Julia Maddox, director of the Ģ����ý’s at the River Campus Libraries. “Sometimes the best solutions are the most unexpected ones, and they are often the result of untraditional collaborations.”

iZone, currently under development in Rush Rhees Library, performs triple duty as a program, a community, and a space. The program offers workshops and services to help students learn how to turn their ideas into projects that can be carried out to address problems in unique ways. Accordingly, one of its main functions is to encourage the formation of interdisciplinary links that could lead to exciting and unusual interactions.

“It’s natural to gravitate to people similar to ourselves, so iZone has been experimenting with ways to increase interdisciplinary crossover,” says Maddox. “We want to help individuals bring their collective skillset and look for opportunities to introduce diverse voices and talents that catalyze their efforts.”

iZone is student-driven, and was created in response to undergraduate students’ expressed desire for a collaborative space for innovation. Students have been heavily involved in the planning process, and iZone’s spaces and programs are tailored to serve their needs. One of those needs is for a place that encourages experimentation without judgment—a balance that’s not always easy to accomplish in a classroom setting.

“There are a lot of students who don’t always feel comfortable sharing their ideas,” says Joshua Bazirake ’20, who joined iZone as a student employee in summer 2017. “So supporting students is what iZone is all about.”

Bazirake, a business major from Kampala, Uganda, is a co-founder of the University’s student organization Kwetu African Entrepreneurship and a recent second-place winner in . He understands the need to have a diverse team in order to develop ideas. Bazirake traveled to Costa Rica at age 17 to attend the United World College. There he embarked on his first entrepreneurial venture with a couple of friends.

“We set up a retail shop, because there were no night snacks, or what was there was not enough,” he says. He and his partners located unused storage space and then connected with suppliers. Their project was both a for-profit venture and a venture in social entrepreneurship. Bazirake and his friends gave some of their profits to other student organizations, and to support students at the school.

Construction for the iZone is underway, and expected to be completed by fall 2018. The 7,000 square feet space is named after Barbara J. Burger, an alumna and trustee of the URochester. Her life-long passion for libraries and innovation inspired her to give the foundational gift for the iZone.

Since libraries have always supported and encouraged inspiration, innovation, and imagination, Rush Rhees was seen as the ideal home for iZone. But it will connect multiple campus resources. Many of the programs that take place at iZone, for example, will be in partnership with the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship, the Rochester Center for Community Leadership, the Gwen M. Greene Center for Career Education and Connections, as well as the University faculty, and others.

The collection, which includes born-digital oral histories, early radio programs, photographs, videotapes, newsletters, and corporate papers from GAGV archives, brings to light the individuals, organizations, and institutions that supported the early struggle for gay rights in Rochester. These materials represent the “lived experience” of the Rochester LGBTQ community across several disciplines and fields of study including: American LGBTQ social and political history; drag culture and entertainment; the hidden lives of the crossdresser and transgender community; the use of radio broadcast media in political organizing in the ‘70s; and noteworthy activities and contributions to the social reform and liberation movements in New York State.

The project aims to secure these important archival materials in the libraries’ digital repository, and make them broadly accessible through the Digital Public Library of America. In addition, the project aims to create a model of collaboration and preservation between libraries and community organizations. The grant will help the Ģ����ý and its libraries support and further document Rochester’s long history of social activism, and will fill a gap in current local and state history, making New York State’s history more complete and inclusive.

“We are very pleased to work on this important community partnership, and help preserve and provide access to Rochester’s rich LGBTQ history,” says Jessica Lacher-Feldman, assistant dean and director
of . “The grant serves as a critical reminder that part of our responsibility is to document the world around us and regard the recent past as important history.”

“The grant will strengthen and expand the already existing partnership between GAGV and RCL,” says Evelyn Bailey, chair of GAGV’s “Shoulders To Stand On” program.  “GAGV looks forward with gratitude to working with RCL to archive, preserve and make visible this unknown chapter in New York State’s history.”

The March 29, 2017 NEH press release and list of funded projects is available .

River Campus Libraries has named Seattle-area business and communications leader Julia Maddox as director of the Barbara J. Burger iZone. She began her role on January 9.

Maddox will play a pivotal role in the design of the collaborative, technology-rich space. Made possible by a $1 million gift to River Campus Libraries by University trustee Barbara J. Burger, iZone will provide students with programs, services, and resources to explore their ideas and develop innovative projects for social, cultural, community, and economic impact. iZone, which will occupy space on the first floor of Rush Rhees Library, is expected to be completed in October 2017.

Maddox brings to her role 10 years of experience as a creative business leader and community builder in organizations including, most recently, Puget Sound Energy, and before that, the Washington Environmental Council’s People for Puget Sound initiative.

“Every organization that I have ever led focused on bringing diverse people together to think about interesting challenges in the world and help address them,” says Maddox. In her new role, she will help connect students with peers and appropriate University resources, as well as local leaders from the community who will assist them in developing their ideas.

“Julia’s leadership and her experience working in both the business and not-for-profit sectors make her a perfect fit for her new role,” says Mary Ann Mavrinac, vice provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of River Campus Libraries. “She will be very effective with our students, and will help us create bridges within the University, and between the University and businesses and social agencies in the City of Rochester.”

As director, Maddox serves as a member of the team that will design iZone’s physical space and the programs it will offer. These may include an entrepreneurs-in-residence program, professional development workshops, and a match-making program that connects students with services, mentors, and project partners.

Grant Dever, former president of the Students’ Association Government notes the importance Maddox places on collaborating with students and on seeking their input. “I feel confident that she has the skills and the vision to successfully lead iZone from its design stage into its manifestation as an innovative space and program that will greatly benefit Ģ����ý students,” he says.

Maddox holds a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Jazz from the George Washington University.

The wonder of archives is that they allow us to be sanctioned “snoopers,” reading personal letters and diaries that breathe new life into some of history’s most interesting personalities. Some of those archived letters—such as those between artist Georgia O’Keeffe and her eventual husband, photographer and art promoter Alfred Stieglitz, and to suffragist Anita Pollitzer—are rare glimpses into private conversations seldom seen in today’s digital age.

These penned messages are the inspiration for the , to be premiered on Saturday, November 12, in Rochester, and on Monday, November 14, at Lincoln Center in New York City.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Puts wrote the piece specifically for the Eastman Philharmonia, a student orchestra at his alma mater, the Eastman School of Music, and for another notable alumna, world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming ’83E (MM), who holds the title of Distinguished Visiting Artist at Eastman. It’s their first collaboration.

Handwritten correspondence between O’Keeffe, Stieglitz, and Pollitzer are examples of countless archival collections that are housed in special collections all over the world. In this age of emails and text messages, some archivists fear that the old-fashioned letter is dead. For them, written letters do something more than text messages and quick conversations do: they offer thought provoking insights into the inner lives of the writers.

Archivists also point out that special collections libraries support the work of historians by preserving those insights. But that’s just the beginning. Like Puts, playwrights, poets, artists, and others can also turn to those libraries for creative inspiration.

The at the University’s River Campus Libraries is home to a significant cache of letters from Steiglitz to the architect, author, and theater designer Claude Fayette Bragdon (1866-1946). Bragdon met Stieglitz and O’Keeffe in the mid-1920s, when the three were residents of the Shelton Hotel in New York City.  contain the personal papers of Claude Bragdon, including communication with Steiglitz, as well as .

The at Yale University’s Beinecke Library holds the other side of Steiglitz–Bragdon correspondence. Some copies of these letters from Yale are included in the Bragdon Family Papers.

Jessica Lacher-Feldman is the Joseph N. Lambert and Harold B. Schleifer Director of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation at the URochester’s River Campus Libraries.

Mary Ann Mavrinac, vice provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly dean of River Campus Libraries, was elected as vice-president/president-elect of the (ARL) at the ARL Membership meeting held in Washington, D.C., last month.

The association is a nonprofit organization of 124 leading research libraries in the United States and Canada. In her new role, Mavrinac will help support the association’s mission, which is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve.

“It is truly an honor to be recognized by one’s peers,” says Mavrinac. “I have spent my entire career working in ARL–affiliated research libraries, and am looking forward to continuing to contribute to an organization that has been instrumental to research libraries at large and to my own professional development.” Mavrinac has served as ARL dean/director representative since 2012, and was part of the association’s Leadership Fellows program, which supports the development of future senior-level leaders in large research libraries and archives.

“Dean Mavrinac’s appointment serves as a clear indication of the leadership that she brings to the profession,” says Robert Clark, provost and senior vice president for research. “This is wonderful news, and I have no doubt that she will serve as a great proponent of the University within ARL.”

Mavrinac’s new role makes the University an important participant in current discussions and initiatives that will have a significant impact on research libraries across North America. “My ARL colleagues and fellow members constantly engage in problem-solving and operate to address the opportunities and, at times, vexing issues research libraries are facing,” she notes. “I find my role to be a great opportunity to engage with the specific needs of the Ģ����ý Libraries and those of other research libraries.”

Briggs, who celebrated her 50th anniversary with last September, has served as the head of River Campus Libraries’ acquisition department. She has provided supportive leadership to her staff within an increasingly complex purchasing and licensing environment, and has helped students, faculty, and staff access appropriate scholarly resources that support teaching and research at the University.

“Sharon’s commitment and devotion to the River Campus Libraries and the Ģ����ý are outstanding and an inspiration to her peers,” says Mary Ann Mavrinac, vice provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of River Campus Libraries. “This award is our way of thanking her for her cumulative contributions that, no doubt, will continue to accumulate.”

Briggs has been instrumental to River Campus Libraries’ implementation of a new data-driven collections allocation process that will ensure the library’s scholarly resources appropriately reflect the evolving needs of the University community. In addition, her service on a number of library-wide working groups has resulted in the implementation of a variety of cost-effective workflows and practices. She is currently continuing her broader contributions to the library through her service on two library search committees.

As Jennifer Bowen, associate dean of scholarly resource management, notes, “through her long career, Sharon has amassed a wealth of expertise which she has shared generously with her colleagues. She can always be counted on to go the extra mile to benefit River Campus Libraries and its users.”

“For me, the most important aspect of my job is the people,” says Briggs. “They are the reason I get to work every day and the reason I enjoy doing what I do so much.” She adds, “it is truly wonderful to be recognized for doing something I have been gaining so much pleasure from.”

The annual Messinger Award honors contributions that advance the educational mission of the library or the library profession. Previous Messinger awardees include Melissa Mead, John M. & Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian (2015); Kathy Metz, head of Patron Services (2014); Nora Dimmock, Assistant Dean for Information Technology, Research, and Digital Scholarship (2013); and Nancy Fried Foster, former Director of Anthropological Research for the River Campus Libraries (2012).

A longtime supporter of the libraries, Martin E. Messinger provided support for the 1998 restoration of the Periodical Reading Room and the creation of two graduate student study rooms in 2010. The Messinger family is a generous supporter of the Center for Jewish Studies, the Debate Union, and the Eastman School of Music, where Messinger and his wife, Joan, endowed the deanship. They also funded the building that houses the Eastman Community Music School, which is dedicated in memory of Anne Waltuck Messinger.

Celebrating Evans Lam Square

A dedication event is planned at 2:30 pm. Wednesday, October 5, followed by a reception at 3.

An is also scheduled on Friday, October 7, between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m., during Meliora Weekend.

Evans Lam Square, a new state-of-the-art learning and research space in Rush Rhees Library, will be dedicated on October 5.

“I always believed that Rush Rhees Library is the heart of my proud alma mater, from both a geographical and a functional perspective,” says  Evans Lam ’83, ’84S (MBA) whose gift allowed the construction of the space. “It is the focal point for our students to learn, explore, research, socialize, and showcase their achievements.”

Lam Square is a place for innovative and collaborative programs that will bring the library to the 21st century.

“It will function much like a town square, serving as the central location for library users to get information, do research, collaborate on projects, and explore new technologies,” says Mary Ann Mavrinac, vice provost and the Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of the River Campus Libraries.

According to Rochelle Mazar, assistant dean of academic engagement, one of the square’s main goals was to offer a new approach to library design. Mazar, who also directed the project, says that traditional library designs create a clear distinction between librarians and library users.

“We all have this image of librarians sitting behind a huge reference desk that separates them from everyone else in the library,” she says. But the square “deliberately breaks this barrier and replaces it with a shared space that allows a more natural and dynamic interaction between librarians and students.”

Instead of one reference desk, for example, the space provides a number of service points where librarians and students can interact with each other more organically.

The square’s design allowed the development of special programs that help redefine the function of the library: the comfortable seating and access to computers allows students to meet with librarians for research consultations; two booths that include benches and tables provide semi-private spaces for small groups to work collaboratively or together independently; a flexible area for “pop up” services, support, workshops, or exhibits based on student needs; the “Tech Sandbar” that encourages students to discover new and cutting-edge technologies they may apply to their coursework.

Student feedback was taken into consideration throughout the design process. Erinmarie Byrne ’17, who served as executive director of academic affairs for the Students’ Association Government, was  involved in the process.

“I like to think I helped shape Lam Square with my own personal feedback and by encouraging my peers to share their ideas as well,” she says.  “I love the final result of Lam Square! I think it offers everyone a little bit of everything.”

Lam agrees: “The square is simply transformational and gorgeous.” He adds, “students are always grateful for the level of education they receive at the URochester, yet they tend to take our library system for granted. Susanna and I hope that Lam Square will lead to more interest and investment in the modernization of our libraries.”

Bondurant was born in Great Bend, Kansas on December 16, 1918. As Lori Birrell, Manuscript Librarian, notes, “The Joan V. Bondurant Papers offer scholars the opportunity to explore the transition of a woman from spy to a social justice activist and her resulting lifelong commitment to teaching others the power of non-violence.”

Bondurant’s collection of personal papers was given to the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation in 2012 by her close friend and editor Edna Cardish, with the assistance of Allison Stokes, former director of the Ģ����ý’s Interfaith Chapel and M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. The collection is comprised of Bondurant’s correspondence, lecture notes, manuscript drafts, and several home movies. The papers also include numerous photographs from Bondurant’s service in the Office of Strategic Services.

During her four years of field research in India, Bondurant developed a deep love of Indian life and culture. She became fascinated with the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and his non-violent political influence within the country. She wrote extensively about conflict and conflict resolution, and about Indian government and politics. Her booklet, Sketches of India, was her response to the many friends who asked her to share in words and pictures her impressions of life in India. Her definitive work on non-violence, Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict, was published in 1958.

Upon her return to the United States, Bondurant studied at the University of California, Berkeley where she earned a Ph.D. in political science in 1952. She joined the faculty at Berkeley and served as a research political scientist at the Institute of International Studies until 1970. From 1970 until 1973, she was a professor of comparative politics at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Following her retirement, she lived in Tucson, Arizona until her death in 2006.

In the short time that the Bondurant collection has been available to researchers, it has been accessed by a Bondurant biographer, showcased in the River Campus Libraries’ Around the World in Four Collections exhibition, and currently serves as the basis for a graduate thesis which is being written as part of the joint Ģ����ý-George Eastman Museum Photographic Preservation and Collection Management Program. Most recently, the home movies have been digitized and will become available to the public in the coming months. To read more about the Joan V. Bondurant Papers, visit .