Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries

Join us at this year's Decatur Book Festival to celebrate the 2026 winners of the Lillian Smith Book Award! The Lillian Smith Book Awards recognize works that examine issues of race, social justice, civil and human rights, the education and socialization of young people, breaking silence among repressed groups, and matters that are significant to the changing South. This award ceremony is in partnership with the Southern Regional Council, University of Georgia Libraries, and DeKalb County Public Library’s Georgia Center for the Book.

This two-part nonpartisan program hosted by Dr. Charles Bullock brings together frontline election administrators-- including local county board members, state election officials, and legal experts-- for an objective look at the operational and legal dynamics shaping the upcoming cycle.

Part 1: An Inside Look at Election Administration, moderated by Gabriel Sterling, Director of Special Projects, Georgia Secretary of State's Office.

Join the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame and the University of Georgia Press on Tuesday, November 10, at 6:00 pm for a talk with Jon Boorstin, author of The American: The Hidden History of Daniel J. Boorstin and His Twentieth Century. 

Please join the Russell Library on Thursday, November 19 at 11:30 am, for a panel discussion on the results of the 2026 election cycle. Speakers will unpack the election outcomes and analyze potential implications for Georgia and the nation. Panelists include: Maya Prabhu from PeachPol, Trey Hood from the University of Georgia, Karen Owen from the University of West Georgia, and Ronald Keith Gaddie from Texas Christian University 

Brown Media Archives invites you to a night of fear and fun with an outdoor screening of "House on Haunted Hill" (1958)! Join us on the dead center of the Special Collections front lawn to witness such trepidation and terror. Ghostly archival clips from the BMA collection may have, somehow, someway, creeped their way into the main fright....we mean feature! 

Free door prizes and popcorn! Picnic blankets and lawn chairs encouraged. Doors open at 6:30pm, trickery starts at 7pm! 

The Georgia Review and the Athenaeum present a reading with Julia Elliott and Joshua Garcia at the Athenaeum. The reading will be followed by a book sale and signing. Free and open to the public. The event is supported by the UGA English Department, the UGA Special Collections Library, and the UGA Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies.

Join Hargrett Library's Music and Pop Culture Curator Ryan Lewis on Thursday, August 20th for an exclusive tour of the Georgia Music Collection display at Akins Ford Arena! Attendees will be led through the display, which now includes Little Richard's iconic silver lamé cape, stylings of Trisha Yearwood, and so much more.
Please arrive by 6:30pm for the tour. You will enter through Gate 1 and meet at the large mural wall.

Join the Hargrett Rarebook and Manuscript Library on Thursday, September 10th at 6pm for a conversation with acclaimed American portrait and special photographer Nancy Ellison, in celebration of our newest exhibition Seeking Intrinsic Essence, Whatever Direction: The Photography of Nancy Ellison. Light refreshments will be provided. 

Free parking can be found in the Hull Street Deck after 5pm. 

More on Ellison and the exhibition below:

On Friday, September 18, 2026, the American Founding Group and the School of Public and International Affairs will host a celebration of Constitution Day. The centerpiece of these festivities is a lecture by Richard Primus, Theodore J. St. Antoine Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan Law School.