University of Houston Libraries

University of Houston Libraries is pleased to welcome Kevin Kinney as the new processing archivist!

Please describe your role. How does your work align with the student success and research productivity focus of the University?

"I will be working with Special Collections to arrange and describe archival materials across a wide array of subjects and formats, making them available for students, faculty, staff, and the broader public to access and research. The subjects those materials cover range from Houston hip-hop and rare books to women’s studies and LGBT history, among many other topics. Doing this will help students to engage with primary source materials, conduct research with collections spanning multiple disciplines, and learn how information has been recorded and disseminated across centuries."

Please share a bit about your background and professional interests. How do these inspire and shape your approach to archival processing?

"As someone who has always enjoyed being in the presence of books and “old stuff,” working in libraries and archives was pretty much inevitable. The bulk of my work experience has been in academic and public libraries, starting with paging maps and atlases as a freshman at the University of Michigan, where I received both my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Master of Science in Information. It was also at U-M where I first gained experience working with special collections. I further developed that experience working as an archivist at Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas, for over eight years. Rosenberg’s archival collections touched on almost all of my personal and professional interests, including maritime history, historically underrepresented communities, church history, rare books, and genealogy.

Since Rosenberg is a public library, working there gave me a sense of urgency in learning how best to make information accessible and easy for the public to understand, especially during a time when information access and literacy are needed now more than perhaps ever before. When I process a collection, regardless of its topic, I think about how I can arrange and describe it such that anyone, especially someone who has never heard of an archive, can understand and use it."

What are one or two things you’d like faculty, students, and scholars to know about the function/purpose/significance of archives?

"Archives are a concrete example of physical/digital presence and enduring relevance, whether they document an individual’s activities during a particular window of time, an organization’s operations across decades, or even a country’s history of accomplishments and failings since its founding. Archives, more specifically access to and the use of archives, help to strengthen collective memory of the past, place present events in their full context, and predict future developments with high accuracy and confidence. Archives are of immense value to everyone on and off a university campus."

Coogs, get your Cougar Card before Move-in Day!

University of Houston Libraries seeks a Donor Relations Manager. The person in this role will be an integral part of a team-based approach to elevating fundraising and donor stewardship initiatives. The successful candidate will collaborate with the Dean of Libraries and the assigned Development Officer, as well as the Libraries Director of Communications and Director of Exhibitions and External Relations, to develop a strategic approach to donor and alumni engagement to enhance and support donor retention.

Details and link to apply: https://careers.uh.edu/jobs/donor-relations-manager-university-libraries-houston-texas-united-states

The University of Houston (UH) Libraries seeks a collaborative, forward-thinking librarian for the role of Head of Acquisitions and Resource Sharing (ARS). Reporting to the Associate Dean for Collections Strategies and Discovery (CSD), the individual in this position will provide strategy and leadership for the acquisitions, resource sharing, and course reserves units of the Libraries.

The successful candidate will establish departmental priorities and manage the daily operations of the department, in alignment with CSD portfolio priorities and the Libraries’ strategic plan. In partnership with colleagues from across the Libraries, they will implement strategies for providing resource access. They will evaluate and align acquisitions workflows with those of other departments to optimize usage of acquisitions applications as well as resource sharing and course reserves services. Additional responsibilities include preparing financial reports and identifying spending patterns to inform strategic and responsible stewardship of Libraries collection funds, and building and maintaining effective relationships with vendors, consortia partners, UH administrative offices, and UH System campus libraries. The Head of ARS is responsible for effective documentation and succession planning. They also are responsible for the personnel management of the department, including providing coaching and support for effective goal setting and professional development.

Details and link to application portal: https://libraries.uh.edu/about/employment/head-of-acquisitions-and-resource-sharing/

Friendly reminder that UH Libraries (and the University) will be closed on Friday, July 4 in observance of Independence Day. Enjoy your holiday, Coogs 🌭🌭🌭

These images of Coogs with hot dogs were found in the 1975 Houstonian yearbook, accessible at https://digitalcollections.lib.uh.edu

On June 27, we celebrate the legacy of DJ Screw 🎧🎤🎵

"June 27th is DJ Screw's most popular screw tape, famous for a 38-minute long freestyle over the track "Da Streets Ain't Right" by Kris Kross. The University of Houston Libraries DJ Screw Sound Recordings Collection contains four of the records with songs that were used on June 27th. Although DJ Screw may have used a different physical album, it's also possible that this exact copy was used to record the screw tape. The tape was named after and recorded for the birthday of Big DeMo, a rapper and close friend of Screw, on June 27th, 1996. Screw's tapes are unique insofar as they were hyper-local and often reference Houston street names and neighborhoods, creating a strong connection for any Houstonian. June 27th is often known as an unofficial city-wide holiday in Houston due to the popularity of the tape."

Browse the digital exhibit, "From Coast to Coast: A Tour of DJ Screw's Record Collection," created by REACH scholar Jenna Goodrich: https://exhibits.lib.uh.edu/s/dj-screw-records/page/welcome

Good morning and welcome to new Coogs attending orientation! Come in and stay a while!

What *didn’t* tall Texan Tommy Tune accomplish in the performing and visual arts world?

Students and scholars will be able to explore that question and much more with the acquisition of a wonderful new collection at University of Houston Libraries that preserves and celebrates the legacy of the prolific dancer/singer/director/choreographer.

Read the announcement at https://libraries.uh.edu/news/tommy-tune/

University of Houston Libraries (and the University) will be closed on Thursday, June 19 in observance of Emancipation Day.

In collaboration with UH Special Collections, the UH Center for Student Advocacy will host a pop-up exhibit at Student Center North from June 16-30, while an additional exhibit will be on display at MD Anderson Library. The exhibits are based on a 2023 project, curated by Research for Aspiring Coogs in the Humanities (REACH) scholar Saron Regassa, on the student organization Afro Americans for Black Liberation and the founding of the UH African American Studies Program. See the digital collection at https://digitalcollections.lib.uh.edu/collections/8s45qb97r?locale=en&view=gallery

"We are moving into the realm of understanding tools and techniques for specific types of work and to benefit certain processes to better inform humanists on the role and function of these digital production devices," says Linda Garcia Merchant, director of the Digital Humanities Core, in a message on an Optical Character Recognition tool clean-up course. Read the full message at https://uh.edu/research/news/stories/2025/tools-techniques-optical-character-recognition

This hands-on, online intro course will be held July 7 - 10, 10 - 11am. Register at https://secure.hpedsi.uh.edu/training/enrol/index.php?id=378

Talk about a Throwback Thursday...this amazing 1986 illustration of Montrose was discovered recently in UH Special Collections. After it was unframed, a bonus treasure was found behind it--another illustrated Montrose map, circa early 90s. The sesquicentennial version was designed by Randy Ruhlman, while the early 90s map was designed by David Walton. One could stare at these beauties for a while, reliving times of the storied 80s and 90s in HTX.

These posters were digitized by the UH Libraries' Preservation and Reformatting folks, on a massive, very cool CRUSE scanner. Their deep expertise ensures long-term preservation of physical and digital collections, enhancing discoverability and accessibility for students and researchers.

Browse UH Libraries Digital Collections for more hyper-local Houston history: https://digitalcollections.lib.uh.edu/

Shout-out to reformatting projects librarian Marian Smith and digital photo tech Austin Stakes for their behind-the-scenes tour of preservation and reformatting in action👏

Good morning, Coogs! Welcome to the first day of summer classes! When you visit MD Anderson Library, you may notice a few changes. We've received fresh new furniture and are in the process of configuring and installing. You can find alternative seating in various zones throughout the building.