Contacts: Marlo Welshons, University Libraries, welsh066@umn.edu, (612) 625-9148
Patty Mattern, University News Service, mattern@umn.edu, (612) 624-2801

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/20/2010) -- The University of Minnesota Libraries are sending the first shipment of books to Google this month, to be digitized as part of the Google Books project (books.google.com). When complete, the multi-year project will have digitized more than 1 million volumes (books and bound journals) from the Libraries' general collections.

Among the volumes included will be selections from Minnesota's distinctive collections related to forestry, bee-keeping and Scandinavian literature and area studies. Other titles identified as candidates for digitization are the 1916 document "A preliminary survey of the more important archives of the territory and state of Minnesota," a 1918 book "Minnesota election laws in theory and practice," and an undated volume titled "Economic development of Minnesota: 1849-1873, from the messages of the governors."

The scanning project is part of a 2007 agreement between Google and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC, the academic arm of the Big Ten Conference) to digitize upwards of 10 million unique volumes from the collections of CIC libraries that signed the agreement.

When the works scanned are determined to be in the public domain, Google will provide the libraries with copies of the digital files created through the project, which will be archived in the HathiTrust (www.hathitrust.org), a non-profit shared digital repository launched by the CIC with an ever-expanding number of supporting institutions.

According to Peggy Johnson, associate university librarian, "This initiative is an example of the kinds of cooperation -- both among peers and with outside parties--that will further access to the collective resources held in our libraries. The Google project, coupled with programs to coordinate preservation of print collections, offers promise for effective and sustained access to library collections in the future."

Learn more on the Google Digitization Project Website.

Posted by Marlo Welshons at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Who: Quincy Troupe, American Book Award-winning author of 17 books, co-author of "The Pursuit of Happyness," and recipient of the Peabody Award
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 28
Where: Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis
Tickets: $15. Complimentary tickets available to U of M Students and Friends of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Call 612-624-2345 or visit http://www.tickets.umn.edu
Contacts: Marlo Welshons, University Libraries, welsh066@umn.edu, (612) 625-9148
Patty Mattern, University News Service, mattern@umn.edu, (612) 624-2801

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/15/2010) -- Quincy Troupe--American Book Award-winning author of 17 books, co-author of "The Pursuit of Happyness," and recipient of the Peabody Award--will appear at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 28,in Coffman Union, University of Minnesota, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis. Troupe will read from and discuss his work with series host Alexs Pate, University of Minnesota professor and author of the novel "Amistad."

The event is part of the annual NOMMO African American Authors Series annually. This is the third year the series has been co-presented by the Givens Foundation and the University of Minnesota Libraries.

"Nommo" is a Dogon word meaning "the magic power of the word."

"Too many vital African American writers, and I count myself among them, find our work sprouting shallow roots on the periphery of public awareness. My conversations with these authors present rare opportunities to publicly define the state of the art of African American literature and to locate our work and contributions within the present authoring of our literary tradition," Pate says.

More about Quincy Troupe
Troupe is the author of seventeen books, including American Book Award winners "Snake-Back Solos" and "Miles: The Autobiography." In 1991, he received the prestigious Peabody Award for "The Miles Davis Radio Project," broadcast in seven parts on National Public Radio. Troupe co-authored the best seller "The Pursuit of Happyness" with Chris Gardner, which chronicled Gardner's journey from homelessness to success on Wall Street. The book became the basis of an award-winning movie of the same name, starring Will Smith. Troupe is professor emeritus of creative writing and American and Caribbean literature at the University of California, San Diego, and the founding editorial director for Code Magazine. He is currently editor of Black Renaissance Noire, published by the Institute of African American Affairs at New York University.

Posted by Marlo Welshons at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)