Valerie Hotchkiss

As Vanderbilt reflects on the one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, we are honoring the dedicated staff, faculty and students who rallied to support our One Vanderbilt mission and ensured that the university adapted amid unprecedented challenges. Read More

Manuel Zapata Olivella, an Afro-Colombian novelist who became known throughout Latin America as the dean of Black Hispanic writers, will be celebrated during an international conference April 8–10 hosted virtually by Vanderbilt. Read More

Valerie Hotchkiss announced today that she will step down as leader of the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University on June 30.    Read More

Heard Libraries staff contributed to and improved the quality of Wikipedia information on Nashville-area social justice organizations and activists when they took part in a voluntary edit-a-thon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Read More

Rare photographs of the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., a pivotal figure in the history of the civil rights movement and Vanderbilt University, have been acquired by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries. Read More

Frank P. Grisham, who led the Vanderbilt library from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, a time that included the establishment of the Vanderbilt Television News Archive and the transition of the libraries after the merger with George Peabody College for Teachers, died Oct. 9. He was 92. Read More

An external review of the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries conducted last academic year and completed this summer finds that the libraries are well-regarded by faculty and students, and makes recommendations addressing five broad goals. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt librarians is using Wikidata tools and other best practices to promote awareness of faculty scholarship and make it discoverable and accessible to researchers. Read More

The Heard Libraries not only have continued to provide resources during the COVID-19 crisis, they have expanded the possibilities for teaching and research. Read More

Students in "King Arthur and the Literature of Chivalry," a writing seminar taught by University Librarian and Professor of English Valerie Hotchkiss, devoted recent class time to what 21st-century chivalry looks like, especially during COVID-19. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries and the University Library Committee are welcoming consultants from Athenaeum21 to campus to conduct an external review of the libraries. Read More

Gear2Go, a new technology-lending service available to Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff, is now available at the Stevenson Science and Engineering Library. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries continue to climb in the Association of Research Libraries rankings, rising to the No. 36 spot in the newly released 2018 data. Read More

Blair School Dean Mark Wait will address the university’s outstanding liberal arts undergraduates at the Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony May 9. Read More

Travel back in time for an Elizabethan-style celebration of William Shakespeare’s 455th birthday on Library Lawn hosted by the Heard Libraries and Nashville Shakespeare Festival April 17. Read More

Vanderbilt is among seven universities awarded a $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to foster library collaborations supporting learning needs of students with print disabilities. Read More

A flag that was the backdrop for a momentous time in Vanderbilt's civil rights history will be preserved in a Heard Library archive vault—after a moving ceremony that paid tribute to our veterans. Read More

A U.S. flag that became the backdrop for the early years of Vanderbilt’s Impact Symposium will be unfurled, refolded and preserved during a campus ceremony to honor veterans Nov. 12. Read More

Reading award-winning news stories in "The New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" is now easier, thanks to a News Desk portal just added to the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries homepage. Read More

Library users will experience faster, more robust searches and other digital improvements that foster learning, thanks to the launch of a new integrated library system and more. Read More