Download the Kent State University Libraries’ Annual Report 2022-2023 (PDF).
Message from the Dean
Kenneth J. Burhanna
Dean and Professor University Libraries
Great universities have great libraries. I truly believe this, and I am happy to say that due to the hard work and dedication of our great library staff, faculty and students, and strong support from our provost and senior leadership, together we are making Kent State University better every day.
This report highlights our strategic commitments to student and research success, scholarly communication, freedom of speech and equity, and preserving our past with an eye toward the future. Following these commitments, we help move forward the strategic priorities of our great university.
Voted by students as the number one place to study for the 10thconsecutive year is something we are very proud of, as our lead priority is student success. We continue to expand our focus on lowering costs for students with our affordable course materials program. In the last academic year, we estimate that students saved $3.8 million in textbook costs through a mix of course reserves, open educational materials and ebook adoptions. Many colleagues have come together to make this happen, but a special thanks goes to faculty, as they ultimately determine which materials to assign to students.
We also continue to support and catalyze faculty research. I note here our partnership with the Office of Research and Economic Development and the University Research Council to support fees for open access publishing.
If you’re not aware of our Hacks the Stacks program, I invite you to send us your recommendations for materials from or about underrepresented authors and ideas. So far, we have invested more than $170,000 in making our collection more inclusive.
Don’t forget that within University Libraries are three other departmental gems: our award-winning Kent State University Press, our innovative LaunchNET team and the May 4 Visitors Center, which is under new leadership with a new vision, to use the history of May 4 as a lens to examine our current world in order to design a better future.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who partners, collaborates and engages with our libraries. We accomplish a great deal, but we don’t do it alone. We do it together with you. Thank you. You are all champions.
#1 Place to Study for 10 years!
The University Library has been voted as the #1 Best Place to Study by KentWired.com readers for 10 consecutive years. Offering so many areas with different noise levels, as well as group collaboration and distraction-free, individual study options, everyone can find the spot that’s most conducive to how they learn within the 12-floor building. According to voters, they also appreciated access to other departmental partners within the library, including the Writing Commons, Tutoring and Student Accessibility Services.
Did you know: The Kent State library was housed in Merrill Hall in 1913, and in the Administration Building in 1914, before relocating to Rockwell Hall in 1929, the first building on campus constructed to house the library. The current University Library building was completed in fall 1970.
Academic Integrity
University Libraries utilizes its expertise in helping students maintain academic integrity. We lead and operate the university’s Plagiarism School program, which helps remediate students sanctioned for plagiarism. Over the2022-23 academic year, we’ve held 87 plagiarism school sessions. Plagiarism school, since its inception, has helped more than 700 students stay enrolled and on course for a degree.
In addition to the Plagiarism School program, the library also offers a plagiarism prevention service that runs students’ draft papers through Turnitin, a text-matching software. Faculty members also use this service to check their manuscripts.During the 2022-23 academic year, 155 draft papers were submitted to this service.
- 3,000 Patrons reached through events during 22-23 academic year!
- $3.8 Million in cost savings or cost avoidance
- 700 Students helped to stay enrolled
Affordable Course Materials: A Student-First Approach
Students First continues to be priority for Kent State University and as part of that goal, University Libraries strives to make affordable course materials available for Kent State students Open Educational Resources (OERs) and other affordable alternatives to standard textbooks have been adopted to lower the cost of higher education for students and may improve learner outcomes through increased access.
During the 2022-23 academic year, students at the Kent Campus enjoyed more than $3.8 million in cost savings or cost avoidance. This means that on average, each student potentially saved $148 over the academic year, which based on figures from the Education Data Initiative, represents a potential reduction in total cost for books and supplies by between 24 to 44 percent.
The Office of the Provost, OhioLINK and University Libraries have also provided professional development incentive grants to help faculty to adopt, adapt and develop affordable course materials.
The University Libraries hosted three Affordable Course Materials Summits, providing an opportunity for the Kent State community to learn about and discuss options for affordable course materials. In addition, University Libraries is able to offer access to resources like the Open Education Network, a membership-based organization with more than 1,700 public and private higher ed institutions throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. They seek to remove barriers to open education, advancing the initiative while enhancing student success.
Student Advisory Council Founded
In February 2023, Kent State University Libraries established a Student Advisory Council. Comprised of a mix of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as University Libraries’ leadership and selected staff members, the Student Advisory Council advises the dean and library leadership on issues related to library services, resources and spaces. The group also serves as a key stakeholder in advancing the librariess’ strategic priorities and commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Prompted by an inquiry from the Undergraduate Student Government, the Student Advisory Council worked with the libraries to develop a survey for students to voice their suggestions about Library hours. The survey was sent to students campuswide and the results provided the feedback and data needed to optimize our regular hours.
Supporting Students Through Scholarships
We at University Libraries understand that every dollar counts toward helping our students succeed. With the goal of lowering the cost of tuition and removing financial barriers to student success, we endowed theUniversity Student Scholarshipfund in 2014. Each year since, with the help of our generous donors, the fund continues to grow, positively impacting Kent State students.
- “The scholarship allows me to focus on my classes and maintain my social life without the burden of financial stress.” — Marcela Perez
- “Thank you to the donors of University Libraries’ scholarship for your thought and financial resources that give me the opportunity to make college a little easier.” — Anthony Zacharyasz
- “Being awarded this scholarship relieves my parents’ worries about how to pay for my education and gives me a way to return their support.” — Anneliese White
Upholding our mission of contributing to student success, University Libraries annually awards $1,000 scholarships to deserving undergraduate students. This past year, we were able to award scholarships to eight amazing students! Many of our recipients tell us that the scholarship has allowed them to focus more on their academic goals and worry less about affording the costs associated with their education. University Libraries couldn’t offer this assistance without help from our generous donors. On behalf of our scholarship recipients, we thank you for helping us support this priority.
Did you know: that University Libraries doesn’t charge our students for overdue fines? This change was made in an effort to remove financial barriers to student success.
Visual Footprints in Time
After a years’ long effort, digitizing the impressive photographic archive of Lafayette Tolliver was finally completed. Tolliver, a Kent State alumnus, ‘71, graduated with a degree in photojournalism and served as a photographer and columnist for the Chestnut Burr yearbook and the Daily Kent Stater newspaper. During his time at Kent State, he photographed thousands of significant moments from campus activities, mostly those sponsored by Black student organizations. Due to his extensive campus involvement, Tolliver produced an incredible archive of photographs, many of which were never published or made accessible to the public until recently.
Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, a former Kent State University archivist, initially established contact with Tolliver in 2013, while working on her scholarship project surrounding the Black campus movement at Kent State. As this relationship developed, Tolliver expressed an interest in donating his extensive archive to Kent State University Libraries. The Lafayette Tolliver Collection is comprised mostly of photographic negatives, slides and prints, along with clippings, correspondence and his columnist contributions to KSU student publications.
Upon receiving the full collection in 2014, work began almost immediately. Taking several years to complete, Digital Initiatives & Outreach Librarian Haley Antell Chan and other members of the Special Collections & Archives team painstakingly scanned the mostly negatives-based collection and created basic identifying information for each image. The resulting exhibit, which was written and curated by Head of Special Collections Cara Gilgenbach, was on display in University Libraries’ first-floor Marovitz Gallery throughout the spring 2023 semester.
In celebration of this impressive feat, Kent State University Libraries held an “opening night” event in which Tolliver was the special guest and keynote speaker. We not only celebrated his work but were also able to witness the amazing power of storytelling to evoke meaningful memories from Black student life at Kent State and the significance it held not only at the time, but how that translates into today’s world and society. Tolliver was an eyewitness to and documentarian of major campus events, including the mass Black student walkout in November 1968, and the 1970 shootings. As you can infer from his collection, Tolliver’s philosophy of photography is “to make sure what you take is honest and factual,” and his images portray just that. His photos, mostly candid images of Black campus life, were intentionally not staged.
University Libraries Dean Ken Burhanna notes that the work in preserving and digitizing Tolliver’s photographs “represents another step forward in documenting the student experience at Kent State, especially of those who are historically underserved and overlooked.” In recent years, the libraries made significant progress in digitizing 50 years of publications from Black United Students, including the Black Watch,The Spectrum and Uhuru publications.
As you can see, the work doesn’t stop there - we also need your help! Upon viewing the collection, if you have any information to assist us in identifying people or events, or if you have corrections, please contact Special Collections and Archives. Include a link to the photograph or the four- or five-digit number that appears at the end of the image’s link. View the collection website!
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Most of the photographs in this archive are unidentified. Therefore, we cannot provide individual identifications of many of the people appearing in these photographs, despite having done intensive image research. If you have any information or corrections to assist us in identifying people or events in these photographs, please contact Special Collections and Archives. Include the four- or five-digit photo ID number printed in the lower right corner on each image included in this exhibition. specialcollections [at] kent.edu 330-672-2270
Event Highlights from the 2022-23 Academic Year
Late Night at the Library kicks off fall semester with a bang! Bringing in nearly 2,200 attendees, the welcoming event makes getting to know the library fun and approachable while breaking down stereotypes and lessening library anxiety.
Homecoming Open House provided alumni with opportunities to learn about the libraries, take a tour with the dean, search our digital collections of the Chestnut Burr or the Daily Kent Stater for mentions of themselves, friends and memories that they made during their college days.
University Libraries’ Halloween Party turns the library into a festive destination! With approximately 1,800 attendees, the library comes alive with dancing, a live DJ, video games, spooky experiments and the best part – lots of candy!
Constitution Day University Libraries leads Kent State in a public recognition of Constitution Day with a renowned guest speaker. In 2022, accomplished New York attorney and Kent State alumnus Lloyd De Vos presented “Equal Justice – Under Law – For All,” focusing on the U.S. Constitution’s impact on our government. Along with a panel of students, attendees had a lively discourse on a living constitution and its impact on our government.
University Libraries Becomes A HathiTrust Member
Kent State students, faculty and staff now have access to more than 18 million digitized scholarly items through University Libraries’ membership with HathiTrust, a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries. The HathiTrust Digital Library offers reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S. and international copyright law, text and data mining tools for the entire corpus, and other emerging services based on the combined collection. The addition of this membership provided critical access for Kent State students and scholars during the pandemic.
Student Entrepreneur Accelerator Launches At Kent State
The Kent State University Board of Trustees recently approved the naming of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation Entrepreneurship Suite and Marty Erbaugh i³ Lab within the Design Innovation (DI) Hub. The i3 Lab is a space to house student teams who will ideate, innovate and incubate their ventures through a product accelerator, which is led collaboratively by Kent State’s LaunchNET and DI programs. “We are excited to have this opportunity to finally offer physical office space to our student entrepreneurs, as well as combining our strengths with Design Innovation in our formal accelerator program,” said Zach Mikrut, director of LaunchNET at Kent State. Learn more about LaunchNET’s exciting developments!
University Library Forms IDEAL Council
Building on the university’s legacy of advocacy, including the 2016 Climate Study and Great Place Initiative, University Libraries established a Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategic Planning Team to develop an all-encompassing DEI Strategic Plan for University Libraries, which includes LaunchNET Kent State, the University Press, and the May 4 Visitors Center. We are committed to the highest ideals of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging in support of our employees and the students, staff, faculty and community we serve. Visit the university-wide DEI Strategic Plan website to learn more.
Hack The Stacks With Us At University Libraries
University Libraries is working in many ways to ensure our services and spaces are welcoming and inclusive to everyone in the Kent State community. These efforts include enhancing the diversity of ideas, topics and authors within the UL collections. The Hack the Stacks program has been at the forefront of our DEI collections work and encourages members of the KSU community to suggest materials to add to the collection that will help broaden the representation of all voices and multiple points of views. Since the program began, University Libraries has purchased $174,665 worth of content covering various types of materials, including books, e-books, streaming videos and databases. Curious to know more? Visit our Hack the Stacks site!
Open Access and Author Publishing Support
University Libraries has been engaged in several efforts with our partners to increase open access (OA) publishing support for Kent State authors. Along with the Division of Research and Economic Development and the University Research Council, University Libraries launched the Kent State Open Access Publishing Fund in 2022. This program, administered by University Libraries, helps cover the cost of Article Processing Charges (APCs) for Kent State authors publishing research articles in open access journals. APCs are charged to authors by publishers to help offset journal costs in the absence of subscription revenue. To-date, the OA fund has supported 51 articles with $50,390.24 in funding. University Libraries has also been leveraging our OhioLINK partnerships to support open access. Our electronic journal agreements have expanded to include APC-free OA publishing support for Kent State authors. OhioLINK now has agreements with five publishers: Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Institute of Physics, Springer and Wiley. Kent State authors have published an additional 70 articles through these agreements at no cost.
Did you know: The chimes that can be heard on campus every 15 minutes originate from University Library?
Mapping The Future – A Vision, A New Director
This past year, the May 4 Visitors Center not only created a visioning report, but also welcomed a new director, Alison Caplan. As director, she will serve as an integral educational resource in the university’s effort to remember and commemorate those killed and wounded on May 4, 1970. Caplan will preserve their stories for future generations while continuing to make connections to current events that keep the center relevant and help students become active, engaged citizens. “I will help connect all stakeholders to the center – from survivors to current Kent State students – and encourage that the site be used as a brave space for reflection and discussion,” Caplan stated.
Aligning with the 2022 revisioning report, Mapping the Future, Caplan and the May 4 Visitors Center will focus on broadening the center’s engagement with patrons by increasing its utilization as a community space and as a catalyst for programming and dialogue. She is eager to facilitate high-tech programming that will lead to unique participatory experiences for attendees. Under Caplan’s direction, the center will offer exhibitions to further utilize the expansive May 4 archive to increase the voices represented, expand on their stories and attract a larger audience.
Lecture series honors Professor Emeritus Jerry Lewis
The Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture Series was established through the generosity of Michael Solomon, ‘74, and was created to honor the legacy of Kent State University Professor Emeritus of Sociology Jerry M. Lewis, Ph.D., and his dedication to furthering the scholarship of May 4.
The inaugural Jerry M. Lewis May 4 lecturer in 2022, was Professor of English Tammy Clewell, Ph.D., who presented “Remembering the Contested May 4 Memorializing Process,” in collaboration with the May 4 Visitors Center, where she curated a supporting exhibit of the same name. Clewell’s lecture explored how remembering the contentious process of memorializing May 4, 1970, may help us put into practice the principles of plurality as we pursue a more equitable future. In 2023, Assistant Professor of Higher EducationAdministration Erica Eckert, Ph.D., presented the series’ second lecture “Where Were the Administrators? A Student Affairs Perspective on May 4, 1970,” examining the firsthand accounts of several student affairs administrators who worked at Kent State in 1970.
May 4 Exhibit: The May 4 Visitors Center also features online exhibitions. Learn more: Online Exhibits | Kent State University
May 4 History and Collection Continues to Grow, Impact Kent State Community
Kent State University Libraries recently acquired the Alan Canfora May 4 Collection. Alan Canfora was one of nine students wounded when the Ohio National Guard opened fire at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. As an expert and leading witness among the survivors of that fateful day, Canfora meticulously researched and documented the shootings and their aftermath for more than 50 years. After his passing in December 2020, Special Collections & Archives worked with his Estate to plan for the donation of the collection to Kent State University. Over the years, Canfora amassed over more than 200 cubic feet of archival materials relating to the Kent State Shootings their aftermath.
With the help of his sister, Roseann “Chic” Canfora, and Thomas M. Grace, another student who suffered a gunshot wound, Special Collections & Archives was able to complete the transfer of the Canfora Collection to Kent State University in February 2022. The collection includes news clippings, research files, photographs, court transcripts, ephemera, audio-visual materials to and also documents Canfora’s broader professional and political career.
Thanks to a generous monetary gift from Joe Walsh, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and former Kent State student, Special Collections & Archives has been able to begin the first phase of sorting and processing this significant collection.
Walsh is known as the frontman for the legendary rock band, The Eagles, in addition to his solo work. Having experienced the events of May 4 of which “affected [him] profoundly,” he maintained a connection to Kent and even supported various areas of the university. After losing his dear friend Al Canfora, Walsh wanted to honor his memory and preserve a piece of that history. With a generous gift to the Kent State University Libraries’ May 4 Collection, we were able to preserve and add to our collection the amazing and expansive Al Canfora Collection.
Kent State University Press Celebrates Another Year of Awards For Authors
The University Press continues to impress and its authors have received awards for their excellent work. University Press titles were named as finalists for the 2023 Mythopoeic Awards.
University Press receives local and national accolades
“In the Heart of It All: An Unvarnished Account of My Life in Public Service” by former Ohio Governor Dick Celeste was released in November 2022, and celebrated at an event held at the Rock and Roll in Cleveland. Also that month, Gov. Celeste was invited to sit down with with former Rep. Mike Curtin at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to discuss the book, his time in the governor’s office and other career highlights, as wel as and the state of politics in Ohio today.
“In the Heart of It All” was later named a Readers’ Choice winner in the Ohioana Book Awards.
Farnaz Fatemi, author of “Sister Tongue”, was appointed the Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County in California for 2023–24. Her poetry collection, which won the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize for a first book of poetry, also received an honorable mention in the Foreword Indies Book Awards.
“The East River Ripper: The Mysterious 1891 Murder of Old Shakespeare” by George R. Dekle Sr. received several awards througout the year: a Silver Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, a Bronze Medal from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association and the NYC Big Book Awards winner in True Crime.
“The Potato Masher Murder: Death at the Hands of a Jealous Husband” by Gary Sosniecki received the Missouri Writers Guild Walter Williams Award.
“Inkling, Historian, Soldier, and Brother: A Life of Warren Hamilton Lewis” by Don W. King received a Bronze Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Three more University Press books received Forward Indies Book Awards: “Peatlands of Ohio and the Southern Great Lakes Region” by Guy L. Denny and Garry Meszaros was named a Bronze Medal winner; “No Place for a Woman: Harriet Dame’s Civil War” by Mike Pride was named a Bronze Medal winner; and “Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens: A Landscape of Diversity” was named a finalist.
Celebrating Our Champions of the Library
University Libraries’ faculty and staff annually nominate a deserving individual to be that year’s Champion of the Library. In the 2022-23 academic year, the resounding winner of this award was friend and donor of the libraries, Kenyette Adrine-Robinson. A proud alumna with three Kent State degrees, she is an enthusiastic advocate of University Libraries’ programs and services, as well as the students we serve. She actively contributes to the libraries through participation in advisory roles and support of our scholarships, in addition to her personal interest in fostering Special Collections & Archives’ Black history materials.
Supporting Students through Philanthropy – The Impact of Giving Tuesday
Each year, University Libraries makes true its commitment to Student Success by being a featured fund in the Kent State University’s Giving Tuesday campaign. Every dollar counts toward helping our students succeed and with the help of donors like you, the Libraries raised well over $11,000 and were able to award multiple $1,000 scholarships to support students as they continue on their path toward obtaining a degree. The awards help the recipients afford textbooks and tuition or simply remain enrolled in college for another year without having to work a second job. We are so thankful to our alumni, community members, faculty and staff who have come together to help our students succeed!
The Significance of Philanthropy
The ongoing support that we receive from our friends and donors builds the steps that we climb toward ensuring that our student-first goals are met. University Libraries remains dedicated to our patrons – past, present and future – through innovative spaces, expert librarians, engaging events and a commitment to preserving the university’s renowned history.
We appreciate your devoted support and generosity. You are making a meaningful investment in the success of Kent State’s students.
Learn more about how to support our collections, students and programs! website.
