Welcome back to SMU and the Hamon Arts Library! After a quiet and productive summer, we’re looking forward to the start of the fall semester. Hamon Arts Library is open year-round, and the staff use the summer for more intensive work. We’ve asked staff to share what projects they were doing, and they shared their highlights.
Upon entering the Library, you will see evidence of momentum in our major summer projects. The lobby renovation is nearing completion with the installation of signage and plants, and new furniture for the lobby will arrive in the next few weeks. In September, two exhibitions – Fashion Design Sketches by Nancy Hamon and Paper Dolls by artists, Justin and Colleen Shull – will open in the the Library’s Hawn Gallery and lobby. Curatorial planning for these exhibits has taken place over the last several months, and we look forward to sharing them with the Meadows, Dallas, and North Texas community.
A very recent development is the arrival of Mariza Morin, Stacks Manager. Her first day was August 21, and we are thrilled to have her join us. Look for an interview with Mariza on the blog in the next few weeks.
Jolene de Verges, Director
“Summer at Hamon is a time to step back from the fast-paced activities of the academic year and dig into projects that move the library forward. This summer was no exception. 2015 is a significant year for the University. SMU celebrates 100 years of excellence in education in Dallas, and the Meadows Museum is recognized for 50 distinguished years as a key part of the University’s educational mission and the cultural life of Dallas. In this important year, we in Hamon are marking our 25th anniversary. In preparation, my summer has been filled with special projects geared towards a celebration of these 25 years. It has been a tremendous pleasure to read the founding documents, the generous list of donors starting with the amazing vision of Nancy Hamon, and media coverage of the opening in November, 1990. The past and the future of Hamon will come together this fall when we celebrate with art exhibits, new configurations of space, including our newly renovated lobby, expanded capacity for technology, and much more.”
Megan Heuer, Communication Arts Librarian
“Since I started in June of this year as the new Communication Arts Librarian, one of my projects for the summer was getting acclimated to new departments and collections. I have also worked on the project to upgrade and build content for our new online research guides by making brand new guides for all my departments, by training other librarians in the new system, and by helping design a new research help landing page.”
Beverly Mitchell, Art and Dance Librarian
“This summer, I continued working on a number of projects from the spring in preparation for fall 2015 semester. Along with my colleagues, I completed a Hamon Limited Access project to move more of its collections on art and dance into the circulating collections in Central University Libraries. With the blog committee, we have continued to review submissions, develop a style guide to help our bloggers, and planned a new blog project that will be installed in the lobby this fall. It is also going to be a very busy semester of workshops, which I have been planning with the other librarians at Hamon – Pam Pagels, music, and Megan Heuer, communication arts. Please watch for dates and times of these workshops.”
Sara Outhier, Digital Media Librarian
“Very recently, I was assigned to be liaison to the Creative Computation program, and so I am giving myself a crash course on the program and its information needs. It pairs well with my interests and education, and I’m excited to be expanding my knowledge of the discipline. I’ve also worked on various digitization projects this summer, including Division of Dance concert programs and a collection of postcards depicting photography from the Mexican Revolution.”
Pamela Pagels, Music Librarian
“Music summer projects included sorting through thousands of donated choral octavos and processing them for inclusion into a new browsing collection. The project will be ongoing throughout the fall semester.”
Music Technical Services
Michelle Hahn, Music Catalog Librarian and Rahni Kennedy, Music Cataloging Assistant
“Rahni Kennedy completed the gift cataloging project adding over 1000 “new to us” titles to the music scores collection. His work has allowed numerous donors to be recognized for their in-kind contributions to the study of music at SMU. Michelle Hahn took the quiet summer months as an opportunity to make numerous corrections to items to improve access and discoverability of music materials. She has also begun several projects to enhance description of and access to thousands of film titles in the G. William Jones Film & Video Collection, as well as a new Pfautsch-Anderson Choral Browsing Collection which will hit library shelves later this year.”
Bywaters Special Collections
Emily Grubbs, Archivist
“I’ve been busy curating the exhibition “Fashion Design Sketches by Nancy B. Hamon” which will open in the Hawn Gallery on September 24.”
Ellen Buie Niewyk, Curator
“My summer project was to complete the Octavio Medellin finding aid. I am pleased to announce it is finished, approved by the Encoded Archival Description [EAD] Committee, and is currently being encoded for online access. Look for it soon on Texas Archive Resources Online [TARO].”
Sam Ratcliffe, Head of Bywaters Special Collections
“Much of my time this summer has been devoted to working on projects related to the upcoming 25th celebration of the opening of the Hamon and to working with the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection.”
Image by Sara Outhier.