News

Even before three books arrived on shelves this year, UGA librarians were a part of the production. Three faculty members have been credited as author or editor in books published in 2025.

“Librarians do the essential work of acquiring, preserving, and sharing knowledge,” said university librarian Toby Graham, “but our librarians also are university faculty who contribute new scholarship, themselves, as we see from the recent publications by Ruta Abolins, Melody Rood, and Sara Wright.” 

Most recently, Abolins added a chapter to the UGA Press book The Archivability of Television: Essays on Preservation and Perseverance. Edited by Lauren Bratslavsky and Elizabeth Peterson, the book was published June 1.

“UGA Athletics in Your Town,” a traveling exhibit of materials from the University of Georgia Athletic Association archives, will be coming to cities and counties around the state of Georgia this summer.

The tour will begin on May 30 in Hart County (Hartwell) and continue through Aug. 1 along the way visiting Fulton County (Alpharetta), Coweta County (Newnan), Muscogee County (Columbus), Cobb County (Marietta), Tift County (Tifton), Laurens County (Dublin), and Stephens County (Toccoa).

Jason Hasty, Athletics History Specialist for the UGA Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, will bring a collection of historic Georgia Bulldogs athletics artifacts to these public libraries as part of a statewide summer tour across Georgia.

EBSCOhost databases now have a new look! Learn more below. 
 

Key changes

The new versions will offer a cleaner, more modern look. While the content and search results will stay the same, the new interface will provide more features, including: 

• Project folders

• Saved searches and results folders

• Text-to-Speech feature for PDF and Text document

• URLs are now stable. If you copy a URL for a record or results page, that will remain available indefinitely. This means that the “permalink” feature is no longer needed or available.

• Folders and Saved Searches are now in the "My Dashboard" area on the left. 

The community is invited to submit their home movies for free digitization, offered by the Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards, one of three special collections units at the University of Georgia Libraries. 

Online registration is now open for the third edition of “Free the Tapes,” where audiovisual techs from the archives will digitize up to three old videos in any format — from Super 8 and Betamax to VHS and more — at no cost. Pre-registration is required, and digitization is limited to three items per household/family.  

The newest members of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame have broken barriers across genres — from journalism to fiction to poetry — and all three have inspired the next generation of writers through teaching and mentoring.

The 2025 class includes Tina McElroy Ansa, novelist and founder of DownSouth Press; Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer; and Tony M. Grooms, poet, novelist, and co-founder of the Georgia Writers Association. Events will be held throughout the year at the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries in Athens to celebrate each of the honorees.

Nine­ University of Georgia faculty members have been chosen as 2025 Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows, a program designed to help instructors creating active learning courses that allow students to engage with UGA Libraries’ archival materials.

The new cohort reaches a broad spectrum of academic areas, from African American Studies, history, music, religion, Spanish, to geography, political science, and statistics.

“We are delighted to welcome our 10th cohort into the Special Collections Libraries Faculty Teaching Fellows program,” said university librarian and associate provost Toby Graham. “Since 2015, SCL Fellows have developed about 100 archives-based courses and reached thousands of students with hands-on experiences that embody UGA’s commitment to active learning.”

The 2025 Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows are: 

Zachary Stiles admitted that he made some mistakes when he started working on his research paper for a history class. But as the second-year history major worked through the process, he not only earned a great grade but $1,000 — the top prize in the University of Georgia Libraries Undergraduate Research Awards.

For the award, Stiles reflected on his research process by creating an online course module that can teach other students about how to understand historical methodology, dive into the archives for resources, and build an exemplary essay. 

This spring, celebrate the spirit of nature with a nostalgic look at the 90s cartoon “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” Linka, Kwame and the entire action figure gang of environmental activists are on display at the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries as part of a special look back at the television program designed to educate and inspire children to take action and save Earth from Eco-Villians that represented real-life environmental dangers. 

This April, the University of Georgia Libraries will mark Congress Week with events featuring a former senator and political journalists.

Congress Week is an annual program sponsored by the Associations of Centers for the Study of Congress. The Russell Library, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary last year, is a founding member of the association. 

“Through our Congress Week programming, the Russell Library seeks to promote a better public understanding of Congress as the branch of government closest to the people,” said Russell Library Director Sheryl Vogt. “Focusing on civic education, the two events this year will give us perspective from a former Member of Congress and observations from two experienced political journalists.”