News
UAB Libraries’ Reynolds-Finley Historical Library is home to the African American Medical Collection, a physical compendium of historical objects that celebrates pioneering efforts by Black physicians, nurses and other health care professionals.
A selection of items currently is on display in the Reynolds-Finley reading room on the third floor of Lister Hill Library; email pbalch@uab.edu to make an appointment to view.
“Let there be life: the contemporary account of Edna L. Griffin, M. D.,” published in 1947 by Helen Kitchen Branson, is a biography of the first Black female physician of Pasadena, California.
“My world of reality: an autobiography of Hildrus A. Poindexter, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., Sc.D.,” is a 1973 autobiography penned by Poindexter, who was born in 1901 in western Tennessee and later became chief of Bacteriology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health at Howard University and chief of American Foreign Aid Health Missions to Liberia, Libya, Suriname, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Indochina.
The biography “Doctor Dan: Pioneer in American surgery” by Helen Buckler chronicles the life and experiences of Black surgeon Daniel Hale Williams, M.D., who performed one of the first successful heart surgeries in the United States when, in July 1893, he opened the thoracic cavity to repair a wound to the pericardium by suture before successfully closing the chest; the patient lived for 20 years following the operation. Nicknamed “Doctor Dan,” Williams also founded the first non-segregated hospital in the U.S., Chicago’s Provident Hospital, in 1891. Two articles about Williams also are on display.
Two ledger books kept by Black physician and activist William Worthy detail a busy urban obstetrics practice in early 20th-century Roxbury, a neighborhood of Boston. Worthy’s son, William Worthy Jr., became a well-known civil rights activist.
This copy of the 1874 annual report for Freedman’s Hospital, located near Talladega, Alabama, contains handwritten annotations.
As part of ongoing facilities updates in or around Mervyn Sterne Library, some areas usually open to patron use may be affected temporarily. Updates include improvements for accessibility, closures for ongoing nearby campus construction, and preparation for planned upgrades to Sterne facilities.
“We are of course working closely with UAB Facilities to minimize any potential impact to students, employees and visitors, and we are grateful for the patience of UAB Libraries’ patrons as we work through these projects,” said Patricia West, assistant dean for User Access in UAB Libraries.
Find more information below on upcoming or ongoing projects.
13th Street South between University Boulevard and Sterne Plaza: Ongoing
The northbound right lane of 13th Street South from University Boulevard to the traffic light adjacent to Sterne Plaza is currently closed for construction of the Science and Engineering Phase II Building. Work is underway to install additional stairs and an accessible ramp to the Sterne Plaza along 13th Street South. The stairs immediately adjacent to Sterne Library connecting 13th to Sterne Plaza will remain open.
13th Street South entrance: Late May/Early June
The Humanities Building and the pedestrian footbridge that connects the Humanities Building to the second floor of Sterne Library will be demolished this summer. Thirteenth Street South from 10th Avenue South to the traffic light adjacent to Sterne Plaza will be closed to through traffic during demolition of the bridge. The first-floor entrance of Sterne Library along 13th Street South also will be closed during demolition of the bridge. Visitors can enter through the building’s north entrance at Sterne Plaza via 14th Street South.
Nonfunctioning Sterne Elevator: Beginning early May
To prepare for installation of new elevators during late summer and early fall, UAB Facilities will remove the left-side elevator from the central elevator bank at Sterne Library, which currently is nonfunctioning. The right-side elevator will remain open for patron use, and the building’s service elevator, located behind the circulation desk on the first floor and the exhibit space on the third floor and reserved primarily for staff use, will remain on standby.
The first floor of Sterne Library is home to the Café Collection, STEM Café Collection and New Releases collection — each curated by Jaycee Chapman, collection development librarian, to provide patrons easy access to in-demand, noteworthy and new items available through UAB Libraries.
“These collections are always being updated, so there’s always something new for library visitors to find,” said Jaycee Chapman, collection development librarian for UAB Libraries. “Academic libraries often are most known for the reference books used for research projects and class papers, so it’s fun to have these unique collections in a high-traffic area that feature popular topics and authors.”
Not affiliated with UAB professionally or academically? No problem! With an Alabama driver’s license or other proof of residency, anyone can now receive a courtesy card to check out printed materials from UAB Libraries. Learn more.
Get a glimpse into each collection below.
Café Collection
The Café Collection showcases popular literature from well-known authors such as Stephen King, Singrid Nunez and John Grisham, among others. Wait times to check out novels included in the Café Collection can span months at public libraries, Chapman explains — so she recommends always checking the Café Collection to see their current lineup. Don’t have time to make it to Sterne? You can check the collection online.
Current highlights:
- “The Fraud” by Zadie Smith
- “Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror,” edited by Jordan Peele
Café Collection books rotate every six weeks and have a loan period of 28 days with the option for one renewal; they are not a part of UAB Libraries’ permanent collection.
STEM Café Collection
Whether library patrons are searching for books about coding, data analysis, women in science, or ecology and plant intelligence, the STEM Café Collection features nonfiction books across a broad range of academic and scientific topics, each intended for a more general audience.
Current highlights:
- “More than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech” by Meredith Broussard
- “Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose its Harmful Secrets” by Jeff Horwitz
STEM Café Collection books rotate every six weeks and are not a part of UAB Libraries’ permanent collection. They also have a loan period of 28 days with the option for one renewal.
New Releases
This collection showcases new acquisitions to UAB Libraries’ permanent collections; unlike the Café or STEM Café collections, if you miss it during its inclusion in the New Releases section, you can find it later in the stacks.
Current highlights:
- “Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It” by Adia Harvey Wingfield
- “Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës” by Devoney Looser
New Releases books rotate periodically depending on new acquisitions to UAB Libraries Collections; loan periods and renewals are determined by patrons’ affiliation with the university.
The April Image of the Month from UAB Archives, Racing chariots during Greek Week, April 1989, has been posted.
Four full-time employees and one student employee received awards during annual employee recognition event “You Are UAB Libraries” March 14 in the Hill Student Center.
Peggy Balch, curator of the Reynolds-Finley Historical Library; Lakonja Billups, user access associate in Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences; Kelly Schiff, digital imaging manager for Digitization and Digital Preservation; and Ja’kayla Stafford, Interlibrary Loan student assistant, received the UAB Libraries Shared Values Award. The awards highlight Libraries employees who exemplify UAB’s four shared values: Care, Act with Integrity, Respect All, and Excel. Luke Menzies, head of Digitization and Digital Preservation, received the UAB Libraries Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award.
Peggy Balch
Curator, Reynolds-Finely Historical Library
Nominators write that Balch “consistently exceeds her regular work duties, demonstrating a remarkable dedication and cheerful attitude, particularly when faced with challenging circumstances.”
One of those challenging circumstances arose when Lister Hill Library flooded in 2023, requiring Balch to work long hours to salvage hundreds of severely damaged books. Nominators note that she took charge without hesitation, “coordinating rescue efforts and utilizing her expertise in material assessment and preservation to address the emergency situation quickly and effectively.”
Nominators also wrote that Balch frequently is called on by colleagues across UAB Libraries and other units to help with preservation issues, and that she is well-respected as a rare books curator both at UAB and among scholars at other institutions.
“No matter the circumstances, Peggy exhibits the spirit of partnership and collegiality and serves as a wonderful role model for all of us,” nominators concluded.
Lakonja Billups
User Access Associate, Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences
Billups is known to go “above and beyond in her work to ensure the highest quality service not just to the students in the Lister Hill Library, but to her colleagues as well,” according to nominators, and consistently exemplifies respectful, collaborative and accountable traits — both peers and student workers seek her out for guidance and support.
Following the retirement of longtime Lister Hill Library supervisor Errica Evans in November 2023, Billups has served as “an invaluable source of help and positivity to her colleagues, stepping up to “support the complicated processes of scheduling the desk, training new student workers, and troubleshooting technology issues,” nominators note.
With Billups’ assistance, the Lister Hill HUB Desk has undergone significant changes, including updating the framework for loan processing and adjustments to scheduling procedures.
“She will put aside anything to make sure you are acquainted with the facilities and all the services we provide and is an example of upstanding customer service with years of experience,” a nominator wrote.
Kelly Schiff
Digital Imaging Manager, Digitization and Digital Preservation
Known for her willingness to support a colleague in need even on short notice, nominators write that Schiff “approaches every task with a smile on her face and is the first one to get her hands dirty if something goes wrong” — such as the infamous 2023 flood in Lister Hill.
She consistently works across departments in UAB Libraries, collaborating with dozens of Libraries colleagues per year, working on projects ranging from fulfilling on-demand digitization requests by Historical Collections, printing large-format posters for numerous entities from Reference to Emerging Technologies, designing UAB Libraries swag for events, acting as event and job talk videographer, and more, nominators say.
Schiff also lends her expertise to Historical Collections by helping install exhibits, supporting classes taught in the Reynolds-Finley Historical Library, and providing expertise on digitization and photography projects.
“UAB Libraries would not be the same without Kelly's contributions and she deserves to be recognized by her colleagues for positive contributions,” a nominator wrote.
Ja’kayla Stafford
Interlibrary Loan Student Assistant
Stafford’s dedication to stewardship and accountability shined through during an effort to identify groups of titles from UAB Libraries’ collections to be moved to the 801 Building for remote storage, nominators write — her work even made it possible for the project to conclude ahead of schedule.
In her daily work, Stafford solves “the many mysteries of ILL” — requests are often not straightforward, and “sometimes there's a need to dig a little to find what is needed to properly fill the request,” a nominator wrote. “Ja’kayla does this with integrity and excellence with little to no assistance.”
Luke Menzies
Head of Digitization and Digital Preservation
When it comes to championing diversity, equity and inclusion, “Luke not only talks the talk, he walks the walk as well,” nominators wrote of Menzies — that he is passionate about the subject is evident upon meeting him, and he strives to share that passion with others.
Beginning with the recruitment process for new employees and carrying into his interactions with colleagues, Menzies is an advocate for UAB Libraries’ core values, nominators continue.
“If you spend any time with any member of Luke’s team, it’s plain to see they are encouraged to find ways to include DEI in their work,” a nominator wrote. “It’s great to have colleagues like Luke that actively share in the work of DEI in any way that he can.”