With years of service ranging from five to 40, employees from across UAB Libraries will be honored during a come-and-go ceremony 2 p.m. April 10 in the Hill Student Center.

The UAB Service Awards honor employees with five or more years of service to UAB at each five-year milestone.

This year’s honored employees:

• Wanda Stevenson, acquisitions manager — 40 years
• Bruce Seals, HUB desk supervisor — 40 years
• Beverly Harris, user access associate — 35 years (retired March 1)
• Tim Pennycuff, university archivist — 30 years
• Suzanne Brazell, interlibrary loan associate — 25 years
• Monica Pritchett, user access associate — 25 years
• Freda Walker, user access associate — 25 years
• Brooke Becker, media literacy librarian — 20 years
• Patrick Boggs, technology labs manager — 15 years
• Jeanene Skillen, research associate — 15 years
• Dana Hettich, College of Arts and Sciences reference librarian — 15 years
• Jill Deaver, head of Lister Hill Library Department of Clinical, Academic, and Research Engagement — 10 years
• Marliese Thomas, fine arts librarian — 5 years
• Kevin Hebert, associate dean for Technology and Technical Services — 5 years

UAB Libraries patrons can now use the LibCal Mapping Module to view interactive maps and reserve spaces in Mervyn Sterne Library and Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.

UAB Libraries patrons can now use the LibCal Mapping Module to view interactive maps and reserve spaces in Mervyn Sterne Library and Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.

Users can visit libcal.library.uab.edu/maps or use the Maps tile in the Library Mobile app to see currently available, reserved and unavailable single-person study spaces, group study rooms and seminar rooms in UAB Libraries’ facilities. Sterne’s first floor is home to group study rooms and seminar rooms, while its third floor primarily houses single-person study rooms. Lister Hill’s first floor contains both group and single-person study rooms available for booking, with a conference room space available for booking on the second.

“We hope this improves the overall user experience in finding rooms and study spaces easily,” said Danielle Hassan, systems librarian for UAB Libraries.

To see the availability status of a space, users can enter their desired booking time and use the color-coded legend to determine what options are open, then book directly online.

An 1885 Chandler and Price printing press on display in Sterne Library.Blazers can explore the history of the printing press from around the world to the UAB campus — and see an original 1885 Chandler and Price machine —  in “To the Letter: A History of the Printing Press,” an exhibit on display on the third floor of Mervyn Sterne Library.

The Chandler and Price press, a hand-operated press manufactured for the printing of small jobs such as stationery, cards, handbills, brochures and small books, was once used at UAB to teach courses in letterpress printing in the 1970s (visitors can see archival copies of course catalogs describing course costs and materials needed).

Visitors also can see examples of early printed works from Sterne Library’s collections and UAB Historical Collections, such as a leaf from an incomplete 1493 copy of “The Nuremburg Chronical” and a Chinese book printed in 1900.

“Displaying our Chandler and Price press is special for us because it’s not just an important part of American history — it’s also a part of UAB history as well, because it was once used as a teaching tool in the classroom,” said Peggy Balch, curator of the Reynolds-Finley Historical Library, located on the third floor of Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences. “We’re excited to give students, employees and UAB visitors a chance to learn about the history of the craft and see special items from our collections.”

The exhibit also includes a Kelsey 5x8 Excelsior Printing Press, which were manufactured between 1954-1975 and designed to print on tabletops for amateur printers. Both the Kelsey model and larger Chandler and Price press came to UAB more than 50 years ago to be used in the former Book Arts program offered through the UAB Division of Special Studies.

Other exhibit features include displays on the history of the printing press in both the United States and in Alabama, the art and process of printing, a 1917 catalog of type faces, initials and decorative elements available for letterpress printing by the American Typefounders Company, and other materials related to letterpress printing, letterpress-printed pieces, and texts explaining the deeper history of presses and their development over time.

Sterne Library is open 24 hours Monday-Thursday, 12 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday. Hours are altered for spring break March 10-16; visit library.uab.edu/hours for more information.

Get a glimpse at the exhibit below:

The March Image of the Month from UAB Archives, Cranes across campus illustrate continued UAB expansion, 2002, has been posted.

Click here to see the Image of the Month.

During a Black History Month presentation Feb. 22 titled “UAB Firsts: Celebrating African American Trailblazers,” UAB Libraries’ University Archivist Tim Pennycuff highlighted notable Black figures from university history.

See a selection from his presentation below.

The Afro-American Association, established in 1970 and pictured here in 1972, was established in 1970. Sociology and political science major Prince Chambliss, who graduated in 1971 was the first president. Bracie Watson Jr. (far right), served as president of the Student Government Association in 1971.

Bracie Watson Jr., became the first Black student elected as president of the Student Government Association upon his election in 1971. Watson likely was the first Black student in the state of Alabama elected as president of a student government organization outside of the state’s historically black colleges and universities.

The first Black sorority on UAB’s campus was Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Iota Lambda chapter; the sorority’s charter date was May 12, 1972.

American Civil Rights attorney Arthur Shores, a noted patron of UAB, was granted an honorary degree from the university in 1975 — the first Black individual to receive one from UAB. He is pictured here (second from left) with UAB’s first three presidents: from right, Charles McCallum, D.M.D., M.D.; S. Richardson Hill, M.D.; and Joseph Volker, Ph.D., D.D.S.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed a resolution recognizing “Black Awareness Week.” Then, in 1976, following urging from the the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Ford issued a presidential message encouraging Americans to honor accomplishments from Black Americans throughout the month of February. Pictured here is a flyer for Black History Month programming at UAB in 1979; Nikki Giovanni, a notable poet, lecturer and author, was a featured speaker.

Under the direction of Department of History Horace Huntley, Ph.D., UAB formed the African American Studies Program in 1979. Pictured is the program’s information in that year’s course catalogue.

Wanda Hightower, forward for UAB’s women’s basketball team — then called the Lady Blazers — from 1978-82 (far left, bottom row), was the first UAB athlete ever to have a number retired in any sport. She also is the all-time leader for UAB women’s basketball in career points and scoring average, among other achievements.

Aaron Lamar, Ed.D., joined UAB faculty in 1973, and in 1978 was named associate vice president and dean of Student Affairs — the first Black individual named to a senior administrative position at UAB. He received the 1994 President’s Medal and remained at UAB until his retirement in 1998.

James “Jim” White became the third head coach of UAB’s men’s tennis team in 1981, becoming the first Black person named as a Blazer head coach.

On March 26, 1983, Phyllis Pope, a pre-dentistry major from Olympia Field, Illinois, was selected as the first Miss UAB.

UAB first observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day as an institutional holiday in 1993, but events had been held in observation for many years prior, such as the pictured wreath-laying at King’s statue in downtown Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park in 1991.

Birmingham-born Vonetta Jeffery Flowers attended UAB from 1992-97, competing as a star track-and-field athlete and serving as team captain all four years. She became one of the most decorated athletes in the program, winning 35 Conference USA titles, being voted most valuable player in the conference six times, and becoming UAB’s first seven-time All-American. Despite not earning a spot on the U.S. Track and Field team for the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, Flowers was given an opportunity to pursue her Olympic dream in a different way — she tried out and earned a spot on the U.S. bobsled team, quickly rising ito the No. 1 brakewoman’s spot. During the 2022 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Flowers, along with driver Jill Bakken, won the gold medal in the two-women event. Flowers was the first Black woman to win a gold medal in any Winter Olympics. She now is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Louis Dale, Ph.D., was appointed in 2003 as vice president for Equity and Diversity at UAB, becoming the first Black individual to serve as a vice president at UAB.

Deborah Voltz, Ed.D., became dean of the School of Education and Human Sciences in 2011; she was the first Black dean of a school or college at UAB.

Paulette Dilworth, Ph.D., was named vice president for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UAB in 2016, becoming the first Black woman vice president at UAB — and the first in the University of Alabama System.