GENERAL NEWS: Summer is here! Cohorts, SAC assessment, and Five Things!

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Summer is definitely here. My dehumidifier bucket fills with water faster that I can pour it out! I’m not complaining. . .it wouldn’t be this green and beautiful without the moisture – at least that is what I tell myself.

The more fun sign of summer is our orientation for new students and it was this past Saturday in Davis 209 from 10 - 4!

Nonie Price, Fred Roper and I had a lovely time in New England, recruiting new students and getting all things ready for our New England Cohort. First students will matriculate this fall and we will do an orientation for them on August 8 in Portland, ME. We are so happy to be able to offer another opportunity for our northern friends to join us.

Our Virginia, West Virginia cohort is bubbling along and we continue to admit students. We will be celebrating the graduates of this new batch on August 22. This will include the December 08, May 09, August 09 and a few December 09 graduates. We will be in Waynesboro and you are welcome to join us in acknowledging and congratulating this great group of new librarians and information professionals.

We are working on our SACs assessment reports and plans and finalizing a draft of our COA presentation for our ALA accreditation. Our advisory committee members will give it a first read and response before we shine it up. Our external review panel will visit in October 2009 so we are planning a reception in Davis on the 25^th. We will be celebrating the 100^th birthday of Davis College and welcoming our reviewers. Please plan to join us!

This has been a welcome break and I always look forward to hearing from you yet I must get back to the COA report. . .so much fun, so little time ;-}

Here are five things to do, read or think about:

1. The Next Age of Discovery [The Wall Street Journal]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124173896716198603.html

2. Books Born Digital [Library Journal]

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6657392.html

3. Newspapers' Woes Worsening [CBS News]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/28/earlyshow/main4835656.shtml

4. Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud [The New York Times]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/opinion/16sat4.html

5. New Search Tool Aims at Answering Tough Queries, but Not at Taking on Google [The New York Times] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/technology/internet/11search.html

Let us know if there is anything we can do for you and try to stay cool!

sam

GENERAL NEWS: Spring Graduation 2009, awards, rankings and tenure promotions (Oh my!) and Five Things

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It’s graduation this Friday! My favorite ceremony! I am so looking forward to seeing our graduates begin their professional lives and prepare to be our future leaders, movers and shakers! In addition to our celebration on Friday, May 8 at Davis College in Columbia, SC we will also hold graduation ceremonies for our Virginia and West Virginia students in Waynesboro, VA on August 22. I love having something to look forward to ;-}

I hear that good things happen in threes and we definitely have three major events to sing about! I list them in order of occurrence. First, Ann Stewart Plein, a University of South Carolina graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science’s distance education master’s degree program from Morgantown, W. Va., has won the Thomas Cooper Library Student Book Collecting Award for her collection of book binding designs by Margaret Armstrong.

“Margaret Armstrong was one of the most notable book cover designers of the late 19th and 20th century and one of only two women in the field. She broke ground at a time when women more typically worked as seamstresses or teachers.” Plein’s collection, “Beautiful Bindings: The Designs of Margaret Armstrong,” will be on display at the university’s Thomas Cooper Library through May.

Second, the USC School of Library and Information Science recently received high marks for our program in the U.S. News & World Report “America’s Best Colleges Guide” for 2009. We ranked No. 2 for our school-library media program. “These rankings are especially gratifying, in that they highlight our academic excellence,” University President Harris Pastides says. “This news reaffirms our commitment to providing our students a top-quality education, thereby ensuring that we are providing a well-educated workforce for South Carolina and our nation.”

I am pleased with the rankings, which included an overall program rank of No. 17, out of 62 accredited schools nationally. Being ranked No. 2 in the nation for our school-library media program validates our mission to produce the best qualified leaders in our field. It helps us compete with an ever-challenging distance education market that recruits students without regard to geographical boundaries. Our faculty, staff and students are the best. Being in the top 20 is important and as we continue to improve and grow, we will continue to receive good rankings.

School-library media student, Roxanne Spray of Columbia, says she will be ultra-prepared when she earns her master's degree in May. "I really do believe that school library media specialists and programs are crucial to students' success and achievements," she says. "The professors, classes, and internships have helped me blend the theoretical and practical, so I'm ready to fill my role and be a leader and have a high-functioning media program on the first day of school." Of the ranking, she says, "Certainly it's nice to have that kind of national validation for a program that I already knew was wonderful."

THIRD, Dr. Jennifer Arns and Dr. Feili Tu are tenured and promoted to associate professors when the USC Board of Trustees votes at their June meeting. This is wonderful news and shows that our scholarship is of worth to the university and our profession as well as to our school. Please join me in saying “Good Work, Kudos, Thank You and more. . .” to Dr. Arns and Dr. Tu. We are so very proud of you!


So yes, good things come in threes and now I am ready for the next trio! In the meantime, here are five things to read or do:

1. Each year a panel of museum professionals reviews the sites nominated for Best of the Web awards, and honors the best work in the field. This year two of the MW2009 Best of the Web Awards go to:

Brooklyn Museum Collection, http://www.brooklynmuseum.org for Best Overall; Educational Site winner: Tate Kids http://kids.tate.org.uk/

2. Check this out if you are into new generation cataloging--Survival of the fittest tag: Folksonomies, findability, and the evolution of information organization [First Monday]

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2447/2175

3. Print a book while you wait? Revolutionary Espresso Book Machine launches in London [Guardian]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/24/espresso-book-machine-launches

4. The U.N.'s World Digital Library [Time]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892916,00.html

5. Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want [OCLC]

http://www.oclc.org/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.htm

Let me know if there is anything we can do for you. Don’t forget to hug a teacher, it is the end of another semester! You can start with our wonderful faculty.

Yours,

sam

SLIS NEWS: I-COMM Week and SLIS awards

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I-COMM week is here! Our college is celebrating our two schools, Library and Information Science and Journalism and Mass Communications with programs and events that highlight the continuum of Information to Communication. Detailed information is at http://sc.edu/cmcis.

The I-COMM committee, co-chaired by Dr. Pat Feehan and Bonnie Drewniany have put together a spectacular week with much of the content available by webstreamed video. When you go to the schedule, check the programs that include breeze.sc.edu URL so you can join us wherever you are! Much appreciation to the committee and their great work with special thanks to the co-chairs! There is one typo on all of the programs. On Monday night the storytelling event that follows the SLIS Awards Ceremony and reception is NOT the first, nor an Augusta Baker Lecture. That honor goes to the partnership with Richland County Public Library and the long-standing Augusta Baker’s Dozen event (this year on April 24 and 25) http://www.myrcpl.com/children/augusta-bakers-dozen. Apologies for the confusion.

In addition to the I-COMM event, Graduate Student Day in Friday, April 3 and we have four students making poster presentations:

Clayton Copeland (SLIS Doctoral Student) at 9:05

Patricia Sasser (SLIS MLIS Student) at 9:45.

Barbara Montgomery(SLIS Doctoral Student) at 11:00

Robin Kurz (SLIS Doctoral Student) at 11:30

Also, the awards ceremony program will be held in the Russell House Ballroom at 2:30-4:00 p.m. and our own Chess Schmidt will be receiving the Trafton Outstanding Student Award. More information is available at http://www.gradschool.sc.edu/gsd/archive/gsdmain.php.

I am so grateful for the rain that I’m splashing in the puddles and loving it!

Have a wonderful week. I hope to see you during the events this week and in the meantime, if there is anything we can do for you, just let me know.

Yours,

Dr. Sam

GENERAL NEWS: SCASL Recap, Town Hall Meeting, 5 Things to Reflect Upon

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Finally back in the office after a Spring Break filled with professional associations and orientations. The only thing better than the beach is SCASL! It was wonderful to see all of our alumni in so many important leadership roles! I keep saying that we raise stars at USC SLIS and it was very evident that we do!

From seeing Valerie Byrd Fort be the perfect president, to Martha Taylor receiving media specialist of the year every session and hallway encounter was one to make us proud. Helen Fellers, Ellen Hinrichs, Sarah Keeling and Nonie Price kept our exhibit booth hopping and if they had a prize for best, most lively booth we would have won! The Alumni tea was wonderful again and it is so good to see everyone. Thanks for making it the best dear Nonie!

I went to Virginia from Greenville and met with our WVA/VA Cohort for an e-portfolio workshop. I was a little worried when Afton Mountain was covered in snow but our students make it safely and we had a lovely day learning to build portfolios and exchanging ideas and advice. Thank you Karen Galenas for sharing your wonderful library and making us feel so welcome! Dr. Wallace had everything planned to the second so I took great delight watching the expert at work.

I showed the Cocky’s Reading Express ™ video right before lunch and it was hard to find a dry eye. It is such a powerful look at the importance of reading. AND, oooohhhhh at SCASL, we received an ALA commendation for CRE! Only two ALA commendations were given this year nation-wide and we received one! Can you hear my buttons busting?

So here I am back to work after an evening town hall meeting with the students, me and Dean Bierbauer. We had some great questions and comments and as always, I came away totally impressed by the intelligence and heart in our students. You really do make me love coming to work! Video of the event will be available on the website.

I know there are many other things to share but will get them out to you next update. In the meantime, here are 5 things to do or reflect upon:

1. Want to see a really interactive website? Check out MoMA's new site redesign featured in the NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/arts/design/05moma.html

2. Great presentation from the IMLS Webwise Conference: Web Tech Guy and Angry Staff Person http://usingdata.typepad.com/files/webTechGuy.html

3. Amazon launches Kindle application for the iPhone [The Washington Post] & of course I downloaded it immediately! Screen is a little small for reading and battery goes too quickly but great idea that will just get better.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-yn/content/article/2009/03/04/AR2009030400542.html

4. Better Safe Than Sorry: Does Your Library Have an Online Acceptable-Use Policy? [School Library Journal] http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6640437.html

5. In Search of Answers, Teachers Turn To Clickers [All Things Considered]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101343866

So “Erin Go Bragh” you all and happy spring! Let me know if there is anything we can do for you.

Always,

Sam

GENERAL NEWS: SLIS Update, Cocky's reading express Red Carpet, Book Festival and Five Things to Think About

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Just a note to let you know that all is well at the SLIS. Davis College, our beautiful building will be one hundred years old this fall. We will be celebrating with a birthday party on October 25, 2009 so save the date. That is also when our ALA Committee on Accreditation, External Review Panelists will be here. I know they will want to see and talk with many of you!

The premiere of the Cocky’s Reading Express™ video was a great success. Photos from the event are linked off of http://cockysreadingexpress.com/ and you can also view the video there. This is a very powerful program and we are beginning to collect the data and evidence to show that when Cocky reads to children, they read! Thanks to all involved in making it a classy night!

This coming weekend is the Book Festival http://www.scbookfestival.org/. Of course, we are right in the midst of the fun! We will have a booth in the exhibit hall and several of us have roles as moderators or introducers in the sessions. On Friday morning, Cocky, Mrs. Moore-Pastides, Hellen Fellers and Ellen Hinrichs will welcome 400 children to a fun-filled read-in. Please stop by the Civic Center if you want to be a part of something wonderful!

Also on Friday, February 27 we have our strategic planning session for accreditation with our National Advisory Council and the Diversity Leadership Group! This is a most important part of our self-study and we look forward to working with our constituents. I’ll let you know how it goes!

So far we are holding our own in the budget scenarios. I send huge hugs to each of you that have sent your contributions to help us through these tough times! You have no idea how very important these dollars are to us right now! Thank you!

I am waiting for spring, ready to put my toes in the grass and dance with the flowers. In the meantime, here are some things to read and think about:

1. In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update [The New York Times]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/books/16libr.html

2. Librarian Opposes Google's Library Fees [All Things Considered]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100969810

3. Library Hip As Economy Suffers [MSNBC]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29255899/

4. The Library Web Site of the Future [Inside Higher Ed]

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/02/17/bell

5. What will the library of the future look like? [Los Angeles Times]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/02/what-will-the-l.html

All best wishes and let me know if there is anything we can do for you!

Yours,

Sam

GENERAL NEWS: ALISE Conference Recap and Five Things

Hello dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am pleased to report that we were a big hit at the ALISE conference in Denver. Our doctoral students presented three posters for the Works-in-Progress session and I received several comments about how advanced they are for being second year Ph.D. students. We knew that! Also our faculty presented several sessions including:

· Feili Tu, library and information science, “Can Master’s Level Students in LIS Programs Provide Effective Virtual Reference Services (VRS)? A Report of a LIS Education Program and ASERL Collaborative Initiative,”

· Feili Tu, library and information science, “How a Simulated Library in the Second Life World Enhances Library and Information Science (LIS) Education: An LIS Education Program Study,”

· Ron Brown and Feili Tu, “Evaluating the Use of Second Life by Libraries and Other Information Environments,”

· Donna Shannon, “Meeting the Student Learning Outcomes Requirements for NCATE and ALA Accreditation,”

· S. K. Hastings and Charles Bierbauer, “State of the Schools,” for the Council of Deans and Directors.

The Denver weather was great most of the time. It was 65 there when it was snowing here! Ended up the week in snow and ice but sure was nice to walk without a coat for part of the time.

I attended an ALA town hall meeting, hosted by ALA President Jim Rettig to gather concerns and issues from librarians to present to President Obama. Of course, I strongly encouraged reauthorization for the Institute of Museum and Library Services emphasizing the importance of LSTA and the support for research and education that the institute has provided.

All in all, a very good and productive week of meetings. Personally, my highlight was seeing my good friend Eva Poole for our traditional, yearly lunch. My heart smiles just thinking about it!

Here are five items to read, think about or take action for:

1. This morning’s edition of The State ran a great article about the increased activity and importance of libraries as a resource at times of economic need. http://www.thestate.com/local/story/668090.html

2. Libraries big draw for job seekers [Detroit Free Press]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090126/NEWS06/901260342/1008

3. OCLC Defends Records Policy, Faces Questions, Suggestions, and Criticisms [Library Journal]

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6632413.html

4. YouTube Hits The Mute Button as Royalty Fight With Warner Bros. Continues [Rolling Stone]

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/01/16/youtube-hits-the-mute-button-as-royalty-fight-with-warner-brothers-continues/

5. And from our friends at the Lubuto Library project:

A showing of paintings by children who have been studying with artist Mwamba Mulangala at the Lubuto Library arts center is scheduled for February. Some of the children are really talented. Others simply delight in having found a way to joyfully express themselves. We'll let you know how the show was received in our next newsletter. In the meantime, you can see some of their art by clicking on the "visual arts program" icon on the photo page on Lubuto's website: http://www.lubuto.org/.

Let me know if there is anything we can do for you. In the meantime, read a book to someone you love.

Yours,

Sam

GENERAL NEWS: Spring Orientation, Budget Meetings, and 5 Things to Think About

Hello dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is so wonderful to have the students back on campus! Saturday we held our Columbia onsite for orientation and had a great group of wonderfully intelligent new students. We continue to have increased diversity in our enrollment, both race and gender! It is a wonderful feeling to see those twinkling eyes, ready to learn, ready to make the world a better place to live! AAAAHHHH. . .

I hope you had a wonderful break and enjoyed the holidays with the ones you love. I still find a little sand here and there and miss the joy of the season but if you want to know the truth, I was ready to come back to work! I want to be here. We have so many opportunities and challenges, every day is another puzzle and I just love working it all out. (Let’s see what I am saying in May ;-}).

Next week is the ALISE and mid-winter ALA conference in Denver. Our faculty and doctoral students have several research papers and posters that will be presented. Our faculty also have many important roles as leaders, committee chairs, and governing council members. I will give you a full report when we return. Sure hope I can find my old winter coat. . .

We continue to prepare our presentation for the Committee on Accreditation for ALA. Employer surveys will be going out soon so please don’t toss them aside. We need to hear from you. We have a strategic planning meeting on February 27 here in Davis College with both of our advisory boards so please let me know if you want to join us in the afternoon. Our external review panel will be here October 26-27 so please be sure to save the dates for us. I know the panel members will welcome meeting you.

President Pastides addressed us in the Provost’s meeting last week. He emphasized that we are both the University OF South Carolina and the University FOR South Carolina. I like this dual approach as it matches what our school has been doing in service for many years. We serve our profession and field as the OF part and we serve our region in the FOR part.

The budgets cuts in South Carolina are serious but our doors are open, we will continue to build quality programs and we stand ready to serve our colleagues. Most important to me, is that we continue to support the importance of libraries as the centers of all things literate, good and human.

You can see the desire to learn in the faces of the children we read to on Cocky’s Reading Express ™. Cocky and the USC students (facilitated by Ellen Shuler Hinrichs) just finished 4 days on the road, giving out over a thousand books to children that promise Cocky they will read. There is a great diary from Ellen and photos at http://www.libsci.sc.edu/ccbl/cockyreadingexpress/index.htm#2009

Here are some things to read, discuss and enjoy:

1. Best Careers 2009: Librarian [US News and World Report] http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/best-careers/2008/12/11/best-careers-2009-librarian.html

2. This is a must read from Lorcan Dempsey. Always on: Libraries in a world of permanent connectivity [First Monday]
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2291/2070

3. Survey Reveals That American High Schoolers Are Ethically Challenged The Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles-based ethics group, anonymously surveyed 29,760 students at 100 randomly selected public and private high schools nationwide and has concluded that America's youth are unconcerned about ethical standards. The survey found that 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth of the students surveyed said they stole something from a friend; 23 percent said they stole something from a parent or other relative. As it relates to school, the survey found that 64 percent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38 percent did so two or more times, up from 60 percent and 35 percent in a 2006 survey; 36 percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33 percent in 2004.

4. From Ruth A. Riley, MS, AHIP
Three of our librarians from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Library have authored the book Answers to the Health Questions People Ask in Libraries which was published by Medical Library Association Publishing in cooperation with Neal-Schuman Publishers in October 2008. This new consumer-focused handy reference volume is a reliable, authoritative resource for your consumer health and reference collections! The authors are Laura Kane, Assistant Director for Information Services, Roz Anderson, Assistant Director for Education & Outreach, and Steve Wilson, Coordinator, Center for Disability Resources Library. Here is link to more information about the book. http://www.neal-schuman.com/bdetail.php?isbn=9781555706425

5. Donkeys boost Ethiopian literacy [BBC News] By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Awassa http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7777560.stm

In a bamboo and matting shelter on the edge of the town of Awassa, rows of tiny children are struggling with Ethiopia's fiendishly complicated Amharic alphabet. . . .This is Ethiopia's first Donkey Mobile Library - the brainchild of an expatriate Ethiopian now living in the United States.

His Ethiopian Books for Children and Educational Foundation (EBCEF) is also a publishing house and has produced many of the books on the shelves of the cart.

With all best wishes and a belief that all will be fine in 09! Let me know if there is anything we can do for you.

Sam