The 2010–2011 exhibition “Global Collections at the University of Virginia Library: Engaging the World” follows world travelers, including diplomats, artists, and missionaries, whose immersion in other cultures led to fascinating art, books, photographs, and music. The exhibit features rare and lesser-known items from special collections, such as a 1930s diplomatic pass to the Kremlin belonging to Scottish adventurer Sir Fitzroy Maclean (1911–1996), one of the possible prototypes for Ian Fleming’s James Bond (pictured above).

The former Barrett Room on the second floor of Alderman Library has been refurnished to provide a reading room and home for the University Library’s current and future Asian and Buddhist studies collections. The new Asian Studies Room has created an open, inviting space (with windows!) open to all members of the university community.

In 2010, the U.Va. Parents Fund generously paid for additional chairs and tables in Alderman Library’s ever-popular Memorial Hall, making it easier for students to meet, study, or just relax.

Watermen, farmers, developers, bay regulators, agriculture regulators, and land regulators—these were the roles played by students in the interactive, web-based U.Va. Bay Game, co-hosted by the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library, Jacques Cousteau’s grandson Philippe Cousteau, and the department of environmental sciences. The game raised awareness about the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its watersheds and demonstrated that all stakeholders make a difference in its future.