FRIENDS of UMAINE LIBRARIES NEWSLETTER | |
In This Issue:
- Salon event on Monday: Artificial Intelligence in Business: Disruption, Opportunity, or Both?
- Fogler Library celebrates Maine Day of Service with a morning of gardening
- Campus tour hosted by Intro to Public History students
- Library Student Ambassadors interview: TJ Lewis in Library Storage
- New from Special Collections and Projects: School of Performing Arts, Annual cleaning of the steins, William S. Cohen exhibit
- Exhibit highlights the history of Maine Day
- Fogler Library Suggestion Box
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Salon event on Monday: Artificial Intelligence in Business: Disruption, Opportunity, or Both?
Artificial Intelligence is transforming the way we live and work — and business is at the center of the storm. From automation and data analysis to marketing and customer service, AI tools are evolving faster than many companies can keep up. So what does this mean for the future of business?
Is AI a powerful tool for innovation and growth, a disruptive force with serious risks, or both?
Join UMaine Libraries in person or online on Monday, May 12 at 5 p.m. for a dynamic Salon Series panel discussion that will explore the many sides of AI in the business world. Learn how organizations are already integrating AI, what ethical concerns are emerging, and how small businesses and entrepreneurs can navigate this rapidly changing landscape.
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Fogler Library celebrates Maine Day of Service with a morning of gardening
Last Wednesday was the annual Maine Day of Service, and Fogler Library celebrated by organizing work teams to help clean up and beautify the gardens around the east entrance of the library. Members of the library staff were joined by staff from other UMaine departments, faculty, donors, and a number of students including a group of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brothers and members of the Fencing Club. Volunteers pulled weeds; raked many, many leaves; picked up stray refuse; and planted pansies around the bench donated by the late Professor Irv Kornfield. We hope to make this a new Maine Day tradition for Fogler. Thank you to everyone who made a positive impact on the outside of our building!
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Photos
Top: Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brothers hard at work raking leaves.
Left: Tori Kornfield and Dean of University Libraries Daisy D. Singh.
Right: Lincoln Tiner, Dianne Paradis and Rosie Seaber tackle a patch of weeds.
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Campus tour hosted by “Intro to Public History” students
Last Friday, students in the University of Maine’s spring 2025 “Intro to Public History” course led two UMaine History Trail walking tours. The walking tour visited nine temporary historical markers throughout campus that the students had researched and placed. Each marker focuses on UMaine’s past and its legacy, including ones for the Bear’s Den pubs; the Hudson Museum; campus violence and activism; Stevens Hall in 1925; the Oak Hall dormitories; Fernald Hall in 1870; western Indigenous land; the Morrill Act from 1862; and a Virtual Scrapbook project.
The students also have an exhibit featuring items from the University Archive in the lobby of Fogler Library that faces the Mall.
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Left to right: Gabe Veilleux, Nick Zolad, Ashton Walton, Colin Griffin, Ben Van Ryn and Professor Liam Riordan.
Not in photo: Finley Christian and Ashley St. George.
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Library Student Ambassadors interview: TJ Lewis in Library Storage
Fogler’s Student Ambassadors will be interviewing our student workers through the spring semester. This week’s interview was conducted by Chantelle Flores.
TJ is a fourth-year finance major with the Maine Business School. In his free time, he enjoys playing intramural sports, especially basketball, and walking the campus. Currently, his favorite book is John Green’s “Looking for Alaska.”
For the past four years, TJ has worked as a student library aide in Fogler Library’s Storage, a building dedicated to storing and organizing special collections and publicly donated materials. His work duties involve sorting and organizing boxes of mixed materials for archive spaces, which often includes preparing materials for UMaine’s digital archives. TJ describes a large part of Library Storage’s collection as physical, Maine-focused archival materials. For TJ, one of the joys of working there is being able to work with “incredible” co-workers.
TJ’s favorite thing about Fogler is the third floor double-decker desks and their views of the bookshelves. When asked what he wished students would know more about Fogler, TJ wished students would “utilize the Special Collections room more often,” with their skilled and specialized workers who are “always willing to help out.” Both Fogler Library and Library Storage workers share the goal of wanting to aid students in any way they can, and students can find out more about staff, materials, and other information from both locations on Fogler’s website.
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New from Special Collections and Projects
School of Performing Arts
The Special Collections and Projects Department in Fogler Library has added records from the University of Maine’s School of Performing Arts online archival content management tool, ArchivesSpace. The records include programs and publicity material for performances from various UMaine musical, theatre, and dance ensembles, including: the University of Maine Singers, dances, Maine Masque Theatre, events featuring outside artists, and student recitals. There are also photographs from various productions; audio and video recordings; schedules; and publicity material for coming seasons and events. Most of the events were held on the University of Maine Orono campus.
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Annual cleaning of the steins
Recently, Fogler Library welcomed members of the All Maine Women and Senior Skulls honor societies for their annual cleaning of the steins in the Oakes Room in the Library. Both groups also added two new steins to the Stein Collection.
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William S. Cohen Exhibit
Special Collections and Projects Librarian and Archivist Herbie Dittersdorf recently curated a new display on Fogler Library’s second floor which spotlights the William S. Cohen Papers. This manuscript collection comprises over 400 boxes. It includes records from throughout William S. Cohen’s long career in government: his days as a young man in Maine; his tenure in the United States House of Representatives; his time serving in the Senate and, finally, his role as Secretary of Defense.
While Dittersdorf primarily focuses on reference services at Special Collections and Projects, Fogler Library originally hired him to revamp the Cohen Collection. He added new descriptions to the collection’s finding aid, processed backlogged material, and more. He marshalled that experience to create a display which contextualizes Secretary Cohen’s life and career achievements through charismatic campaign materials and memorabilia. Highlights include Cohen Campaign T-shirts and bumper stickers, awards, and magazine covers. Dittersdorf hopes that this display will encourage students to engage with the Cohen collection material either out of personal interest or in an academic paper or project.
| | | Exhibit highlights the history of Maine Day | | |
In honor of this year’s Spirit Week, come and learn about the history of Maine Day with one of Fogler Library’s newest exhibits, located in the Center Hallway on Level 1 of Fogler Library. The annual tradition of Maine Day was established on May 1, 1935 by University of Maine President Arthur A. Hauck as a replacement for the annual Sophomore-Freshman class war. The original purpose of the day was to lessen the rivalry between the classes by directing their energies into planting trees, building sidewalks, painting fences, and generally improving the campus.
The exhibit features photographs and items related to some of the varied past traditions associated with Maine Day including the campus mayoralty campaign; student-faculty skit; interfraternity sing; country fair; and dance marathon.
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Fogler Library Suggestion Box
Would you like to tell us what you like about Fogler, what we are doing well, or how we might improve? If so, please visit our Suggestion Box and let us know what you think of us!
| | | In complying with the letter and spirit of applicable laws and pursuing its own goals of diversity, the University of Maine System does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, familial status, ancestry, age, disability physical or mental, genetic information, or veterans or military status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The University provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director of Equal Opportunity, 5703 Alumni Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5754, 207.581.1226, TTY 711 (Maine Relay System) |
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Raymond H. Fogler Library
