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Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) meeting

In the Summer of 2025, the Libraries hosted the 19th Annual Joint Meeting for GWLA’s Collections Committee and Resource Sharing and Document Delivery Committee. This meeting is held annually so members of both committees can get together in person to discuss collections and resource sharing issues that affect academic libraries. Sixty-six people from 21 states and 41 institutions came to the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center as well as spent time on the University campus including the DLM Library and Makerspace as well as the Carol Franc Buck Sculpture Garden.

While on campus attendees learned about accessibility needs and best practices for interlibrary loan. They also learned they have a community to rely on in GWLA. Ideas and practices were shared related to how other libraries are using specific products like Article Galaxy Scholar and Occam's Reader.

Once off campus, attendees visited different destinations across Northern Nevada such as: Virginia City, Lake Tahoe, Truckee, McGlashan Point, Yarn Refuge, and the Silver Legacy Resort. Some dangled their feet in the Truckee River, others checked out the murals across the downtown Reno area, and some even climbed the 164-foot-tall rock wall outside of Reno’s Whitney Peak Hotel. 

“I think it's safe to say that Reno has about 80 new fans!”  Joni Blake, GWLA executive director said. “Our members had nothing but great things to say about the Libraries, the University campus, and the city of Reno. We are grateful to our hosts, the Libraries team, for inviting us to experience their wonderful facilities at the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, MARS, and @One Digital Media and Technology Center. Everyone especially enjoyed getting creative in the Makerspace at the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library, where we had the opportunity to create our own art to take home.”

GWLA is a consortium of research libraries leveraging the collective talent of its members to advance innovation and the goals of our member institutions through connectivity and shared problem solving.

The activities and collaborative projects of the Alliance expand access to quality information both within and beyond the boundaries of the consortium. The highly skilled staffs of its member libraries capitalize on new technologies to forge effective and meaningful partnerships and to promote innovation and excellence.

“This was my first visit to Reno and the University, and the experience was top-notch in every way,” Stephanie Western, collection analyst librarian at Utah State University said. “The campus is beautiful and the library is amazing. We were warmly welcomed by everyone, from the friendly students working at Starbucks in the Joe Crowley Student Union and the catering staff to the library staff, faculty, and administrators, all the way up to the University President. This was the perfect environment to make connections, learn from our colleagues, and make plans for the future.” 

Jon Bilbao Basque Library (Basque Library), @One Digital Media and Technology Center (@One)

Jaialdi 2025 (eighth) International Basque Festival, Boise, Idaho
In the Summer of 2025 faculty and staff from the Basque Library and @One made the trip to Boise, Idaho to attend Jaialdi. On July 28 and 29, the Libraries team met with 20 researchers from various Western states who are working on projects related to different aspects of Basque tree carvings during the annual Lertxun-Marrak/The Arborglyph Collaborative symposium.

During the event, the team was joined by Ibone Bengoetxea Otaolea, the Lehendakariordea (vice-president) of the Basque Government, as well as Ziortza Olano, the director for relationships for Basque Communities abroad.

Daniel Fergus, director of Digital Media Technology for the Libraries’ @One’s Digital Media and Technology Center and Iñaki Arrieta Baro, Librarian III, and Head of the Basque Library presented at Zortziak Bat, the Basque Studies Symposium. The presentation addressed the Arborglyph Collaborative and the virtual reality experience the two departments have developed. More than 200 people attended the session. Additionally, between 250 – 300 people had the opportunity to interact with the VR experience on the Boise State campus during the symposium and later at the Basque Museum.

The team also partnered with Libraries Marketing and the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library and Makerspace to design a unique, one-of-a-kind giveaway for attendees. John Bieter from Boise State and Arrieta Baro had the opportunity to present a detailed and layered wooden, 3D printed collectable featuring an authentic Basque arborglyph. These small arborglyph replicas were given to dignitaries from the Basque Country including Lehendakari Imanol Pradales Gil, President of the Basque Government.

With upwards of 30,000 attendees at the last festival in 2015, Jaialdi has become the largest Basque festival in the United States and is larger than most Basque festivals in the world. Many Basques living in the Basque Country make the trip to experience their own culture through the lens of the Basque-American diaspora.

Like most things Basque, the festival is planned and staffed by an amazing cast of volunteers, who work for years in between each festival to plan a fabulous celebration for our local community and visitors from afar.

Day at the Museum
On October 19, the Libraries Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) and the Basque Library, along with several other museums on campus, opened their doors to the community for the Day at the Museum event. Families and friends were invited to enjoy free admission to the University of Nevada, Reno’s Museum District, where they learned about art, history, earth science, life science and even outer space. Attendees had the opportunity to interact with collaborators from the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and off-campus museums. Participants collected stamps on their Day at the Museum bingo card to turn in for fun prizes.

Wolf ornament that was created for President Sandoval

President Sandoval’s Holiday Ornament
For the past several years University President Brian Sandoval has partnered with the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library and Makerspace (DLM) to create a unique ornament highlighting some aspect of the University or University life. These unique ornaments are then given as gifts from the President to colleagues and constituents. This year the team decided to use artist David Hoyt’s Silver and Blue magazine Fall 2025 cover design to create the ornament.

In order to transform Hoyt’s magazine cover art into a three-dimensional object, Nick Grainger, senior specialist for the Makerspace, utilized Adobe Illustrator to make the wolf graphic laser-ready. Grainger had to remove transparencies and clipping masks, transform all stroke weights into shapes, outline everything, use the shape builder to redefine areas, remove buried vectors, manually recolor every shape and gradient, and, in some places, edit vector points to make them work with the original design intent.

To create the four layers of the ornament, Grainger selected shapes in the design that would provide the best dimensionality, then drew new outlines of these areas to define the laser cut paths. While the design for the front of the ornament was based on preexisting artwork, the back of it needed to carry a holiday greeting and University branding. To address this, Grainger designed a winter mountain scene and a decorative banner to hold the greeting in Adobe Fresco.

For the actual engraving and cutting, Grainger went through a couple of iterations with different levels of grey in the images to create a monochrome version of the color images in the final ornament. Once the design was finalized, full production sheets were laid out, and with the help of DLM staffers Lune Raymond and Gus Spiller, the team engraved, cut, and assembled more than 250 ornaments.

Celebrating the Libraries’ Graduating Student Assistants
At the end of each Spring semester the Libraries faculty and staff gather together with all of the Libraries’ graduating student assistants to celebrate their achievement. The celebration is held close to commencement to take a moment and pause, acknowledging the hard work of the Libraries’ graduating student assistants and the many contributions made to the Libraries organization during their time spent working with the department.

Student assistants play a key role in the day-to-day operations of the Libraries and make a meaningful impact across a wide range of departments within the organization.

From the @One, to DeLaMare, Digital Services, Research and Instruction Services, Metadata, Cataloging, One-Time Acquisitions, Building Operations, Access Services, the Jon Bilbao Basque Library, and the Dean’s Office, student assistants gained hands-on, real-world, professional experience while also earning their academic degree.

Each graduating student assistant receives a graduation care package from the Libraries. It is a small token of appreciation for all that the student assistants have done for the Libraries. It contains a certificate of appreciation, lemon yellow honor cords representing library science to wear with the commencement cap and gown, and a few other special items.

As a way to leave a legacy with the Libraries each student assistant selects a book from the collection to be (digitally) bookplated in their honor. This tradition memorializes each student assistant and their commitment to the Libraries.