A Celebration of the Book: Or Promoting the Human(ities) Side of the Job

Fittingly, the slogan of University of the Pacific’s Humanities Center is “Promoting Human Ties” and in that spirit our library, in partnership with the Center, held an event we called A Celebration of the Book. Similar to Stanford University’s annual event, the purpose was to showcase the works of our Humanities faculty authors, editors, translators and chapter contributors. A special feature of the event was the book and author displays created by students under the direction of an art professor. Some of these students interacted with the faculty author to create a display, for which they earned academic credit. The displays were then moved from the reception site to the library where they reached a wider audience. Since it was an opportunity for faculty members to be honored for their scholarly efforts in a public way, the feedback from the event has been overwhelmingly positive. Many remarked that this was the first time they had a chance to see the published work of colleagues from other disciplines. This collaborative effort between the University Library, Humanities Center, Art Department and Pacific students took advantage of the diverse talents and creativity of our university community. The result was an overall positive impression of the library for our efforts to recognize and honor faculty scholarship as well as foster stronger ties with other academic departments