News

The University of Maryland Libraries in partnership with the Division of Information Technology and Division of Research have published a new open data website to provide a roadmap to the UMD campus community for how to manage and share their research data.

Team FSH edged out Teams HEMD and Valve to clinch the UMD Libraries’ Gemstone Research Award at the finalists presentations on March 26, where each team presented their research to a panel of judges. UMD Libraries awarded a first place prize of $2,000 and a $1,000 prize to both runners up. The Gemstone Research Award recognizes student teams that demonstrate excellence in the integration of principles of information literacy into their work and who conduct research with integrity and diligence.

Between now and June, the Libraries will be performing system maintenance on the underlying infrastructure that powers our applications and services. This work is critical to the modernization of the Libraries’ digital infrastructure, resulting in improved security and reliability of library services.During this time, the following library applications and services will be unavailable for specified periods of time: interlibrary loan, course reserves, streaming media services, the Libraries’ website, DRUM, digital collections, and off-campus access to online resources.

The University of Maryland Libraries are excited to announce the acquisition of two 19th-century iron Washington hand presses donated to Special Collections and University Archives by Christopher and Patricia Manson of Rockville, MD and Ellie Denker of Potomac, MD. These gifts will be the foundation for a new letterpress printing studio on the ground floor of Hornbake Library, set to open in 2025.

Scopus AI is now fully integrated into the Scopus interface, and accessible via the Libraries’ Database Finder tool.Scopus AI uses generative AI to respond to natural language queries to help researchers navigate the vast amount of information available in Scopus by generating easy-to-understand summaries and concept maps.

Project STAND, a national grassroots archival consortium foster ethical documentation of contemporary and past social justice movements in underdocumented student populations, has received a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation.

International Love Data Week is a celebration of dataevery year during the week of Valentine’s Day. This year, the UMD Libraries is partnering with the The Office of Institutional Research, Planning & Assessment (IRPA), the Division of Information Technology (DIT), the College of Information, the STAMP, and the University Career Center to plan a week of data-related activities and events to highlight the use of data on campus.

The University of Maryland has named Holly Mercer dean of University Libraries, effective July 1. As dean, Mercer will lead the most extensive university library system in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area. This encompasses seven university libraries that serve as the academic keystone supporting the university's teaching, learning and research goals.

A collection of works by notable American graphic artist J. J. Lankes (1884–1960) has been donated to the University of Maryland Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) by alum and Lankes scholar Welford D. Taylor Ph.D. ‘66, and his wife, Carole W. Taylor. The collection comprises over 600 woodcut prints, dozens of books, and myriad periodicals illustrated by Lankes, as well as correspondences and books from Lankes’s personal library.

Marcus Ortiz and Alona Norwood, the two inaugural Fisher Family Library Faculty Fellows for Inclusive Excellence, arrived at UMD Libraries this fall to get started on their two-year appointments, and they have hit the ground running.