GENERAL NEWS: Happy Holidays

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The fall semester is over and I am sighing a huge breath of "wowsers!" I have enjoyed my first semester and look forward to spring and more fun in 2007. I'll be joining my family in Florida for some toes-in-the-sand time and working on some manuscripts as the editor of the ASIST Monograph Series published by Information Today.

Graduation yesterday was wonderful! More than half of our 60+ graduates joined us at the reception in Davis including some of our Virginia stars. It was such a pleasure to meet parents and spouses and siblings and friends and all the folks that it takes to support a graduate student. Congratulations to you all and remember us here at SLIS and CMCIS as you move forward in your careers.

Sometimes I worry that we forget the simple pleasures in our hectic world so please take some time to enjoy and share this holiday season. What better way than to read to someone? It is such a luxary to be read to and I still remember my 3rd grade teacher reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys to us in the afternoon. I couldn't wait to get back to school and find out what happened next. Reading makes a difference as do libraries * so here is the only activity for you until next year: write an essay about how libraries transform lives and win a thousand dollars for your friends' group!

The "Libraries Transform Essay Contest" has extended the deadline to January 2, 2007! FOLUSA is pleased to announce a new $1,000 award sponsored by the Lana and Michael Porter Foundation. This award will recognize an outstanding essay focused on how libraries transform communities. The Friends group or library designated in the entry information must be a FOLUSA members with a current membership valid through January 31, 2007. The $1,000 will be awarded to the Friends group or library designated on the winning entry.

Wishing you all the best of holidays!

sam

GENERAL NEWS: Librarian of the Year, 5 to Things to Do

Hello dear friends and colleagues,

I forgot to mention last time that Terrye Conroy from our law library won the NMRT New Librarian of the Year award at SCLA. She is a true treasure and so much fun to work with!

Graduation is December 18 this year and LISSA will once again host a reception in Davis College following the ceremony. I look forward to this event because I get a chance to let the friends and family of our graduates know how important the MLIS degree is and how proud we are of the great work done and to be done by our alumns.

Remember to take a break, enjoy this holiday season and be thankful that we get to work with information, books and knowledge * such great work even when you add that people are part of the equation!

Here are your 5 things to do, read or think about.

1. South Carolina ranked #15 in State Spending on Colleges with an 8.8% increase from last year.
The Chronicle of Higher Education http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/12/2006120801n.htm

2. Mark your calendars for wonderful programs during the "Changing Face of Medicine" in January and February http://uscm.med.sc.edu/changingtheface.htm sponsored by USC School of Medicine, SLIS and Richland County Public Libraries.

3. Microsoft released Live Search Books, its competitor to Google Book Search. The book search engine performs keyword searches for books that have been scanned as part of Microsoft's book scanning project. http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-6141162.html

4. From my dear friend Michel Menou in France, news of an exciting open archive for technology learning. Kaleidoscope network has launched ‘TeLearn’, the world's first International open archive for research on technology-supported learning. More information at http://www.telearn.eu/

5. Check out Frank Baker's list of some recent titles, related to media and media literacy, for the perfect gifts.
http://www.frankwbaker.com/holiday_ml_recommendations.htm

With all good wishes,

sam

GENERAL NEWS: SCLA, 5 Things to Do

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Well I'm back in the saddle after my first South Carolina Library Association meeting! You all are just too much fun! Joyce and Quincy and all of the SCLA leadership were just as gracious and hospitable as could be! I've never felt more welcome and it was wonderful meeting SLIS alumni and other leaders in the field. I still hope to make it to every library in the state * let's see how far I get. I want to thank our student volunteers for helping at the conference * love seeing the future in your spirits. SCLA is in Columbia next year so count on us to roll out the red carpet. Thank you so much for a wonderful conference!

The end of the semester is always stressful for everyone. Take time to put your feet up, take a deep breath and think a good thought * it really does help. We have our SLIS Holiday Party this Saturday night and I hope many of you will be there. This Friday is our combined staff/faculty meeting and a potluck extravaganza follows. This year we drew names and chose a charity to give to that matches the interested of the person. Will let you know how much fun we have.

Here are your 5 things to do, read or think about.

1. From Curtis Rogers: The SCLA annual conference photos are now on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisrogers/sets/72157594401473586/ (he's so good!)

2. AASL Learning Standards draft available for feedback through December 8. In order recognize the changing role of school library media programs now and in the future, AASL has begun to develop new learning standards for school library media programs. Please review the draft learning standards at
http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/learningstandards/standards.htm

3. Libraries must consider changes in both policy and technology to remain relevant to the next generation of students and this article by McDonald and Thomas provides the rationale. "Disconnects Between Library Culture and Millennial Generation Values" http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm06/eqm0640.asp?bhcp=1

4. Remember from last update the article about preserving digital content? Here is what Brewster Kahle and his Internet Archive are doing. "On the Net: Where Web Sites Go to Die"By JAKE COYLE, The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101087.html

5. Don't forget: the SC State Library has a number of continuing education opportunities for staff and trustees during the next couple of months. To register go to: or contact Julie Boller at jboller@statelibrary.sc.gov or Deborah Hotchkiss at dhotchkiss@statelibrary.sc.gov .

All the best to you and let me know if there is anything you need.

sam

GENERAL NEWS: Welcome December

How busy and fast time is!

Since the holiday season is approaching, I'd like to share where my really, really cool grad assistant found the code for the Flash slideshow: http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/2005/09/flash-slideshow.html
You may have to re-adjust the size your blog's template. The Flash slideshow size cannot be adjusted.

And here is a Flickr album of SCLA photo's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisrogers/sets/72157594401473586/