KU Libraries

Open scholarship makes research go further. During Open Access Week, we're celebrating 2026 Shulenburger Award recipients Michael Vitevitch and Emily Casey for their leadership in sharing knowledge beyond traditional barriers. 🗞️ rockcha.lk/26shulaward

An inspiring visit at Spencer Research Library on Saturday. "If we get a generation of young readers out there who love books the way we've grown up loving books, our civilization, our society will be better for it." - Angela Cervantes, KU Grad & American Girl Author

KU Libraries are "Stacked with Impact." Our Hawk Week activities provided thousands with a link to library spaces and resources but broader effects extend beyond the data. From a freshman: “I feel more likely to visit and use those spaces than I would have exploring on my own.”

A curator went looking for one thing in the stacks and found another. That detour led to the Kiowa Six. Likewise, the resulting exhibit at Spencer Research Library, Kiowa Indian Art, is “a springboard to learn more about these artists and the purpose behind this portfolio."

"And we have touchdown!" 🤝 KU astronaut connection. Join us for the KU Reads keynote, "From Lawrence to Low-Earth Orbit: An Evening with Loral O'Hara," Thursday night at the Kansas Union Ballroom, starting at 7 p.m.

Take a behind-the-scenes tours of Spencer Research Library for American Archives Month (reg. required): 🗓️ 10/8 - Digital Lab 🗓️ 10/15 - Stacks Flashlight Tour 🗓️ 10/22 - Conservation Lab 🗓️ 10/29 - Manuscripts Processing 🗞️ rockcha.lk/aamtours 📝 rockcha.lk/ksrlblog

New at KU Libraries: the Library of Things. Check out board games, console games, crafting supplies, kitchen items and more for 7 days with pick-up and return at the Anschutz Library Service Desk. 🗞️ rockcha.lk/lotnews 📝 guides.lib.ku.edu/LOT

Loral O’Hara, a KU alumna and NASA astronaut who worked on the International Space Station, will provide a real-life perspective of life in space at the Oct. 8 KU Reads event discussing "Orbital,” an acclaimed work of fiction about life on the ISS. 👩‍🚀 https://bit.ly/3VrGamN

Day on the Hill is back Oct. 6! 🎶 Explore its prior run through University Archives posters, VIP badges & photos, plus year-by-year lineups from the newly digitized UDK. 📝 rockcha.lk/ksrlblog

Rising together. KU Libraries faculty and staff celebrated its mural collaboration with KU Visual Communications and student artist Danny Duong in a signing ceremony in the Kettle in Watson Library on Thursday.

From engineering and biology to journalism and fine arts, 101 KU students are showcasing 228 pieces in the 2026 LibArt exhibition. Congratulations to our category winners and all the artists helping make KU Libraries a more inspiring place. 🗞️ rockcha.lk/26libartresult

With activities for this year’s KU Reads common book, “Orbital,” in full swing, planning is already underway for next year’s experience. Have a favorite book you’d like to see featured? Submit nominations for the 2027-28 common book by Sept. 22. 📝 rockcha.lk/KUReadsNomin...

Our exploration of American Girl's 40th anniversary continues. Meet Josefina Montoya through @kulibraries.bsky.social Spencer Research Library collections — 1820s maps of Mexico, Santa Fe Trail journals & more bring her 1824 New Mexico world to life. 🌵 📝 rockcha.lk/ksrlblog

Thursday night's "Ad Astra: A Kansas Story Written in the Stars" exhibit opening with Steve Hawley was, dare we say it, out of this world. Full Program 📹: youtu.be/VzBn9B143Qs

KU Libraries' Kettle programming is exploring zines - a small-batch, independently published work - in September and the Rock Chalk Reading Challenge Meet-Up today in Watson 325 from 4-5:30 p.m. will give participants an opportunity to learn more and create.

Librarians Michiko Ito & Cecilia Zhang hosted a workshop on navigating library resources for East Asian research Wednesday, the first in a series offered this fall. 🗓️ 9/16 - Beyond the Shelves 🗓️ 9/30 - Chinese Databases 🗓️ 10/7 - Japanese Databases 🔗 bit.ly/EACWorkshops26

KU student-designed mural reflects community, belonging in Watson Library. KU Department of Design student Danny Duong's mural is inspired by hawks rising together. Meet the artists behind it at an opening reception, Sept. 24, 4-5:30 p.m. in The Kettle, Watson 325. 🗞️ rockcha.lk/kettlemural

❤️💙 We've got spirit, yes we do. Good luck and Rock Chalk to KU Football in tonight's season opener.

🧶Connection starts here ... the first KU Reads "Crocheting the Universe" activity brought together enthusiasts of all skill levels. The start of a collective piece created by the campus community, with support from KU's Office of Community Impact.

"Moxie" 🎬 Movie Matinee at The Kettle | Thurs., Sept 3, 4-6 p.m. (3 West) Following this month's theme of zines - a teen sparks a movement with an anonymous zine. Come for popcorn + discussion with Kate Stewart, curator of the Wilcox Collection at Spencer Research Library.

🚀 From Lawrence to Low-Earth Orbit. KU alum & NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara returns to campus for a free, public conversation about her time aboard the ISS — part of KU Reads' "Orbital" programming. 📅 Oct. 8, 7-8:30 p.m. | Kansas Union Ballroom 🗞️ rockcha.lk/oharaoct8

A full library is a happy library. Murphy Art & Architecture Library introduced a pair of classes to its collections and staff. The library supports teaching & research in the Departments of Art, Design, Art History, Architecture, Urban Planning, and the Spencer Art Museum.

Know someone expanding access to research, advancing open scholarship, and transforming how knowledge is shared at KU? Nominations for the 2026 Shulenburger Award are open through Sept. 18. Self-nominations welcome! 🗞️ rockcha.lk/shulaward26

Make, connect, thrive … loved seeing so many new and returning faces at the Makerspace Open House Friday.

Kicking off Fridays on Fourth with KU Libraries, Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, Wingspan, and Center for Teaching Excellence - a graduate hub for research, write-ins, workshops and community. Learn more and see the schedule at lib.ku.edu/fof

Mini golf, maxi fun. Fore! Mini Golf at Kenneth Spencer Research Library featured coloring, button making, snacks and a archives-themed putt putt course.

Another way KU Libraries supports research. 📚💻➗ Free access to Overleaf, the leading online LaTeX editor, is now available to KU Lawrence/Edwards students, faculty & staff. Workshops and 1:1 help available too. 🗞️ rockcha.lk/overleaf 📝 lib.ku.edu/overleaf

Soaring together. Lots of Hawks today in "The Kettle" (Watson 325) for an open house - cookies, crafts and connection.

Getting their steps in ... "This was a cool way to find the libraries." Congrats to the students who completed today's Libraries Loop Challenge and earned a t-shirt by getting a passport stamped at campus library locations.

Donuts, Dean, Delight ... Coffee with Carol at the Anschutz Library main entrance on Tuesday morning.

KU’s Steve Hawley, a former NASA astronaut, once put on Groucho glasses in a lighthearted effort to fool a delay-plagued space shuttle into launching. 👨‍🚀 His disguise is part of the “Ad Astra” space exhibit at KU’s Watson Library. https://bit.ly/3SmXBUr

Back to it. Our library spaces are best when they're filled with students, great to have you back for another year.

KU Libraries is teeing up a great schedule for Hawk Week (Aug. 24–28) — including mini golf at Spencer Research Library, lawn party, Coffee with Carol, movie night, and free T-shirt if you complete the Library Loop Challenge. Start the semester strong (and under par) 🏌️📚 🗞️ rockcha.lk/libhwsched26

Proud to serve Kansas! 🎉🌻 Today KU Libraries marks 50 years as a Regional Depository Library (est. 1976), building on our Federal Depository status since 1869. Free access to government info, research help & interlibrary loan support — for the whole state.

📍Watson Library 🤝 📍Hale Library Full house for a collaborative Data Carpentry Genomics Workshop between @kulibraries.bsky.social and K-State Libraries, teaching concepts, skills and tools for working with data, specifically for genomics research. Lifting Kansas research and teaching together.

"THATCamp helped me visualize the kinds of digital humanities projects that would sync with my work..." @idrh-ku.bsky.social will host THATCamp 2026 on Aug. 28 at @hallcenter.bsky.social ... encouraging exploration at the intersection of technology and humanities. 🗞️ rockcha.lk/that26

Good luck to @kulawschool.bsky.social grads taking the bar this week! Kansas's first bar exam (1903) had 80 questions over 2 days, graded anonymously by number. The board's motto: "no catch questions, nor any of extraordinary difficulty." 📝 rockcha.lk/ksrlbar

From Beat poets to erasure poetry to a scholarly take on Dracula, Spencer Research Library holds decades of poetry that pushed boundaries and challenged convention. A reminder that even "sillier" forms of writing can carry real weight. 📝 rockcha.lk/ksrlbpoet

Installation in progress... 🔄 Members of the committee have started installing the 2026-27 LibArt Exhibition ... 228 pieces of artwork from 101 students in 49 majors make up this year's show, soon on display throughout KU Libraries locations and online: lib.ku.edu/libart

Beatrix Potter insisted to keep her books tiny - pocket-sized on purpose, so kids could hold whole worlds (Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mr. Jeremy Fisher) in their palms. 100+ years later, they're still charming readers worldwide (KSRL has 21). 📝 rockcha.lk/ksrlpotter

Members of the KU community on the Lawrence and Edwards campuses now have unlimited access to @insidehighered.com, a leading online publication covering news, analysis and commentary on higher education, through a new institutional subscription provided by KU Libraries. 🗞️ rockcha.lk/insidehe

Cynthia Patterson (USF) & Doretha Williams (Smithsonian) presented last week as Whayne Travel Award recipients. Spencer Library documents the African American experience in KS and beyond through collections of personal papers, the records of organizations, businesses, & churches.

As America turns 250, the Kenneth Spencer Research Library blog is looking back at how KU celebrated the bicentennial 50 years ago, including fireworks over Memorial Stadium. 📝 rockcha.lk/ksrlku4th

From "I didn't know this resource existed," to "I'm leaving with so many ideas." That's the kind of feedback that makes hosting workshops like Friday's National Research Platform training at Watson Library worth it.

Before there was soccer, there was "foot-ball" – trace the origins of the beautiful game, alongside 400+ years of Algerian history in our new World Cup pop-up exhibit. Free and open in Spencer Research Library through Aug 14. 📝 rockcha.lk/fifa26

How did 17th-century antiquarians, Victorian collectors, and modern librarians shape what we know about medieval seals? Find out at this free hybrid symposium, July 2-3, with scholars from KU, Oxford, France & beyond – live from Oxford's Weston Library. rockcha.lk/seals26