Giving

• "Your Library, your Community” artwork: In a continuation of Murphy Library's project to bring more color and creativity into the space, we welcomed eight new paintings into our library! In a partnership with Professor Jennifer Williams from the Art Department, the finished paintings offer students a challenging and unique learning opportunity and the painting is a benefit all who visit the library.
• Gallery system art display: To better showcase our rare and unique materials housed in Special Collections, a display system was installed.

• Graphic Novels in Curriculum Center: Murphy Library created a robust, high quality graphic novel collection meeting the assignment needs of UWL's Education Department.

• General Library Book Collection: Due to a drastic 20% budget cut related to COVID-19, the fund accommodated emergency funding for the print books collection assuring that new materials continued to be added to Murphy Library.

• "Your Library, your Community” artwork: Murphy Library embarked on a project to bring more color and creativity into the space. In a partnership with Professor Jennifer Williams from the Art Department to bring more student art into Murphy Library. The finished paintings offer students a challenging and unique learning opportunity and the painting is a benefit all who visit the library.

• Improving Library Instruction: Murphy Library purchased eight iPads with adaptive accessories.The larger keyboards and switch device accommodates students with mobility or tactile difficulties.

The Digital Collections Department gained two new scanners to help digitize more collections:

• Indus BookScanner 9000: Partnering with the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee (UMRCC), Murphy Library purchased this scanner to facilitate the digitization of a collection of Mississippi River related materials. By the UMRCC's 75th annual meeting in March 2019 over 10,000 objects had been digitized.

• Contex HD Ultra Series 42” Large Format Scanner: This scanner allows the digitization of rare and unique maps from Special Collections along with any other large format items. With this purchase, Digital Collections has the potential to make available online approximately 450 unique items that have direct ties to La Crosse.

• Trivia Night: A trivia night helped students learn about UWL history as well as resources within Special Collections. Students left with a greater understanding of campus history and the valuable resources available for their research and coursework.

• JSTOR Arts & Sciences Fifteen Collection: Library endowments have generously supported many JSTOR collections, and with the addition of Fifteen, the library is up to date with all of the JSTOR Arts & Sciences offerings. This particular collection includes archival access to 133 core journals representing well over three million pages of essential research in fields that include mathematics, Jewish studies, history, language & literature, and philosophy.

• Banned Books Week: The Banned Books Cabaret hosted an event at the Pump House, which included read alouds from banned or challenged books along with music and other performances.

• Alternative Truth Project: Murphy Library collaborated with the Alternative Truth Project, a theater-based movement in La Crosse, to present a reading of the play, Alabama Story, by Kenneth Jones at the Pump House. The play explores topics of segregation, civil rights, racism, and banned books in Montgomery, Alabama in 1959.

• Children’s Author Jane Kurtz: The ninth annual Multicultural Children’s Literature program focused on children’s literature and life in Ethiopia. Jane Kurtz, co-founder of Minneapolis-based, Ethiopia Reads, discussed her experiences as an author, speaker, and literacy advocate and her life growing up in Ethiopia.

• Iraq War Author Brian Turner: Murphy Library partnered with the UWL English Department, Provost’s Office, and Institute for Social Justice to bring award-winning author Brian Turner to UWL for classroom visits and an author talk and reading. Turner, an Iraq War veteran and NATO peacekeeper, most recently received critical acclaim for his memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country. He has won literary prizes and honors for his previous writings, which include the poem “The Hurt Locker,” the inspiration for Kathryn Bigelow’s film of the same name.

The demand for digital access to historical photos and documents continues to grow as does the need for current technologies that make it possible to meet that demand. The digital collections unit purchased a new scanner to increase workflow capacity and bring the most current technological advances into the process, which results in faster and higher-quality results.

Explore our digital collections...

• Conference about Libraries and Literacy: The first Conference About Libraries & Literacy (C.A.L.L.) took place at Murphy Library. The conference was developed by librarians from Murphy Library, La Crosse Public Library, and Central High School. The purpose was to bring specialties together to talk about successful literacy collaborations they initiated.

• Gaining Ground: Gaining Ground is a program that gives high school students in the region a chance to spend the day in a university library to focus on information literacy. The program introduces students to university research tools, spaces, people, and strategies. The students have candid conversations with upper class UWL students who are completing advanced research.

• Freedom to Read – Banned Books Week: Murphy Library’s annual Freedom to Read event took place during Banned Books Week in late September 2015. Readers signed up to read aloud from a banned book of their choice for two to five minutes on the first floor of the library. Choices included children’s picture books, teen literature, popular novels, and classic works.

• Mathematics books added to collection: The library added an e-book collection from the American Mathematical Society. The books, which were initially requested by faculty from UWL's Mathematics and Statistics Department, emphasize original topics and approaches to mathematics and help with the transition from mathematical coursework to mathematical research.

• George Gilkey Scholarship: George Gilkey, UWL professor emeritus of history, and an initial infusion by the Endowment Fund, library staff were able to create a new scholarship fund for UWL students

• Accessibility: the library reached out to Elizabeth Watson, Director of the Center for Students with Disabilities at UW-Whitewater, to shared her expertise. The library discussed plans for future modifications that include push-button bathroom doors, new accessible bathrooms, and a focus on accessibility design for circulation and reference services.

• Student Art: the library acquired two outstanding works of art by UWL students: Danielle Bolden's Thank You Society and Megan Danahy's Until the Morrow.

• Books between Cultures: For the 8th annual Multicultural Children’s Literature Event speaker, Mitali Perkins, shared her stories and expertise related to growing up between the two cultures of India and the United States. She has written eight novels for young readers, including Rickshaw Girl, which was chosen by the New York Public Library as one of the top 100 books for children in the past 100 years.

• Battle of the Books: Murphy Library partnered with the UWL's School of Education and the La Crosse Public Library to encourage reading. Focusing on young adult and teen literature, teams read books in advance and then came together for a “Battle of the Books” during which they competed to answer the most questions about their team’s books.