Jean And Alexander Heard Libraries

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives has fully digitized the Rev. James M. Lawson Papers and made these materials available to the general public, giving students, scholars and historians a more complete picture of the distinguished activist’s life and legacy. The collection is available online through the JSTOR digital library of academic journals, books and primary sources.  Read More

Academic, public, school and specialty librarians and library staff representing 13 states gathered at Vanderbilt University for the fifth Southern Library Support Staff Conference hosted by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries May 29–31. Read More

A new article in EdTech Magazine and a case study by the Center for Digital Education highlight how the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries continue to innovate in the area of digital preservation. Both items detail efforts to scale up and make sustainable the Heard Libraries’ one-of-a-kind Vanderbilt Television News Archive, the world’s most extensive and complete archive of television broadcast news. Read More

Vanderbilt University and the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries won three awards at the ninth annual Association of Research Libraries Film Festival on May 8 at the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The “ARLies” recognize excellence in multimedia projects that highlight library collections and their impact. This year’s festival featured 34 submissions from major research libraries across North America.   Read More

This collaboration highlights an important facet of the academic librarian’s role: leveraging research expertise to find and organize information and evaluate its quality, accuracy and validity to bolster faculty scholarship. In essence, librarians are information specialists who help to translate research into knowledge that has practical and far-reaching applications. Read More

From arts to athletics to education and innovation, Vanderbilt has been a driving force in helping shape an ever-evolving Nashville into a dynamic, world-influencing city. Read More

Leading global health care knowledge provider BMJ has signed a new read-and-publish agreement with the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University. The agreement allows Vanderbilt-affiliated corresponding authors to publish their primary research open access without incurring article processing charges. Read More

James Patterson has published over 400 titles and sold more than 425 million copies of his books, but he first gained the confidence to pursue a career in writing while working toward a graduate degree at Vanderbilt. Patterson, who earned his master’s in English from the university in 1970, discussed his writing process, prolific career, the value of collaboration, and his support for librarians and reading in a wide-ranging conversation moderated by former NBC News anchor John M. Seigenthaler. Read More

NERL, a consortium representing some of America’s leading research institutions, and Springer Nature, a global leader in research publishing, have agreed to a new three-year open publishing agreement. The deal provides seven NERL member institutions—including Vanderbilt University—with read access to the entire corpus of Springer journals and permits eligible authors to publish open access, with fees covered, in hybrid journals across the Springer portfolio. Read More

For more than 75 years, Vanderbilt has been a pioneer in the study of the Americas, forging new paths to innovate, shape, and advance the field. Now, the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies once again finds itself at the forefront, driving important changes in education, research and programming, both at the university and across the country. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries are inviting young readers and their families to visit the campus of Peabody College in April for the first in a series of fun, immersive storytelling experiences called “Story Strolls.” Read More

Bakers and book lovers came together at the 2024 Edible Books Festival hosted by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries on April 1. The event, held on campus for the first time since 2019, was sponsored by the university’s Banned Books Initiative. Read More

National education reporter Laura Pappano will discuss her latest book, School Moms: Parent Activism, Partisan Politics, and the Battle for Public Education (Beacon Press, 2024), at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries on Tuesday, April 9. In her book, Pappano draws on archival research as well as on-the-ground reporting to offer a nuanced view of how schools across the country have become lightning rods in the culture wars. Read More

Bestselling author and Vanderbilt alum James Patterson will discuss his prolific writing career, support for literacy initiatives and the power of books and reading in a wide-ranging conversation at Vanderbilt University on Thursday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m. Co-sponsored by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, Dialogue Vanderbilt and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy in collaboration with Parnassus Books, 'An Evening with James Patterson' will be moderated by former NBC News anchor and correspondent John M. Seigenthaler. The event is open to the public, but registration is required to attend. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries’ Digital Lab is in search of nascent digital projects to sponsor during the spring and summer of 2024. Vanderbilt faculty members who have projects or project ideas requiring digital technology, or who are looking to develop a proof of concept to attract larger funding opportunities, are encouraged to apply. Projects should be culturally important, globally impactful and preservable in perpetuity. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries and Taylor & Francis, one of the world’s leading academic publishers, have signed a new three-year read-and-publish agreement that expands the breadth of journals available to Vanderbilt researchers and enhances the potential reach and impact of their published work. Read More

“Celebrating 50 Years of Antoinette Brown Lectures” will be on display in the second-floor gallery of the Central and Divinity Libraries Building. A preview of the exhibit will be from 2 to 4 p.m., with the grand opening and a reception at 8 p.m. The Divinity School’s 50th annual Antoinette Brown Lecture featuring ethics professor Grace Y. Kao will be at 7 p.m. at Vanderbilt Divinity School’s “The Space,” Room G-29. Read More

AIP Publishing, a leading publisher of scholarly scientific journals, has signed a three-year read-and-publish agreement with Vanderbilt University’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries that will promote open science and drive discovery within the university’s research community. Read More

Vanderbilt University officially launched the McGee Applied Research Center for Narrative Studies at a campus event on Feb. 7. Board of Trust members, university leaders, alumni and invited guests gathered at Rothschild College to celebrate the new interdisciplinary center, which will promote media literacy by providing resources to evaluate the objectivity of news coverage, digital media and other narratives. Read More

The complete archive of Vanderbilt University’s flagship publication has been fully digitized and is now available online, making more than a century of university history accessible to the Vanderbilt community and others around the globe. The digitization project, led by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives, includes publishing the complete run of Vanderbilt Magazine and its predecessor, Vanderbilt Alumnus, on the JSTOR digital library of academic journals, books and primary sources. Read More