GENERAL NEWS: SC Book Festival, SCASL, 5 Things to Do

Hello,

How wonderful it was to see so many of you at the SC Book Festival. As you know it was my very first and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved meeting some of you that I haven't met before and seeing all of you that I do know. My gratitude to all of you that made this possible and put SLIS in the spotlight for all to see, is boundless.

Now I am looking forward to SCASL and seeing more colleagues and friends. I know that Ms. Ida Thompson has worked tirelessly and creatively to bring together the best and the brightest for this great event.

The end of this week I will be in DC for the IMLS Webwise conference http://www.getty.edu/webwise2007/conference/ and hosting a discussion on Preserving AV Materials and Variable Media Art. I always look forward to the Webwise conferences and the opportunity to see what is new from my colleagues as well as talk with the program officers about possible funding initiatives.

Here are your 5 things to do, read or think about for this week:

1. Grow Your Own @ Your Library Institutional Scholarship --PLA will provide nine public libraries with a lump sum of $8,000 each to be distributed to as many of their employees as they choose for the purpose of working toward obtaining an MLS-- $6,500 is to be used directly for payment of tuition at an ALA-accredited library school; $1,500 is to be used to support attendance for one or more of the selected scholarship recipients to attend a PLA-sponsored CE conference such as the 2008 PLA National Conference.
http://www.pla.org/ala/pla/plaawards/growyourown.htm

2. Communicating Your Library’s Value: No community can afford to lose its public library and the technology services it provides. To help,the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is making available two new tools, entitled Keeping Your Community Connected, that can help advocate for libraries. There is an eight-minute DVD to launch conversations with local government and community partners and a related brochure that includes persuasive statistics, library patron stories, and a call to action for community members and leaders. You can obtain a free set of these materials at:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/UnitedStates/USLibraryProgram/RelatedInfo/CommunicatingValue.htm

3. Millions of Videos, and Now a Way to Search Inside Them [The New York Times]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/business/yourmoney/25slip.html

4. The New (academic) Library Professional [The Chronicle of Higher Education]
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/02/2007022001c/careers.html

5. Don't miss our Panning for Gold offerings for March:
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/ce/march.htm

Be safe out there and let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

dr. sam