GENERAL NEWS: New Information Technology Slideshow

Don't forget to check out the new pictures from last weekend's Fall Fling!
Here are the slides from the presentation:

GENERAL NEWS: SCLA, Meetings, Fall Fling, 5 Things to Do

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am so happy that fall is here, just wish we had more rain first. I’m off to Chicago tomorrow morning for the Museum Computer Network meeting so am sure that I will be even more grateful for Columbia SC when I return ;-}

The SC Library Association conference was here in Columbia last week and it was so much fun! Our faculty and students were there to help with the conference and to present papers and panels. The Alumni Tea was spectacular and it was so very good to see everyone again. Dean Charles Bierbauer welcomed all and gave a brief update on the College and SLIS. We were very pleased to have him join us.

We had a beautiful booth shared with the SC Center for Children’s Books and Literacy. Dean Fred Roper and Nonie Price welcomed all and I got to talk with many of our alums. Helen Fellers and Ellen Shuler kept us all entertained and focused on literacy.

In addition, Ellen and Helen keep rockin’ with wonderful outreach programs and a collaborative, coordinating service for all the state literacy initiatives. Dr. Pat Feehan continues to inspire us all with her talent and great storytelling sessions. She has also been running the Early Childhood Literacy Center with wonderful success and many great programs.

Liz Qunell also helped with the SCLA conference. She has kept our website current and modern and has added a feature called “photo of the week.” It is linked at the bottom of the front page at http://www.libsci.sc.edu . Notice that this week is Rayburne Turner, SCLA Librarian of the Year! Congratulations dear Rayburne!

Our National Advisory Council meeting went well and we now have a draft of an employers’ survey that we will distribute soon. Thank you dear NAC members for your good work and support!

We have been very busy and very happy with our new doctoral students. You can see their profiles at http://www.libsci.sc.edu and know how energizing and sparkling they are! Our faculty are involving them in their research projects and they will be presenting posters at the Association of Library and Information Science Educators’ conference.

Check out our new technology courses from open source software, to Web 2.0, to LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) to XML Extreme Markup to ________________ -- well, you tell me. What do you want to brush up on, what do you want to know about new technologies?

LISSA, Dean Bierbauer and I are hosting a Town Hall meeting for students on November 29, 2008 in Davis 219 from 5 pm to 8 pm with a live web cast. This is an opportunity for our students to get to know the Dean and to discuss issues related to SLIS or to the profession in general. Don’t be shy - come one, come all!

Fall Fling will be at my house on Friday, November 16 at 6 pm, 2928 Delano, Cola 29204. Family and friends are welcome so please join us to celebrate our beautiful weather.

Here are your five things to do or read:

1. Comedy's new chapter: The Librarians [The Daily Telegraph]
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,22678843-5007183,00.html

2. Internet2 and Libraries: Serving Your Communities at the Speed of Light [Computers in Libraries] http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/nov07/Werle_Fox.shtml

3. Future Reading [The New Yorker]
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/11/05/071105fa_fact_grafton

4. Libraries move with times, discover niches [The Boston Globe]
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/22/libraries_move_with_times_discover_niches/

5. Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web [The New York Times]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/technology/22library.html

In closing, keep up the great work, enjoy the fall, feed the birds and hug a librarian!

Yours,
Dr. Sam