This blog includes news from the USC School of Library & Information Science and information from the field and for the field. Updates are weekly and archives available at the site. Post your comments and discussions. This belongs to you.
Monday, September 14, 2009
SLIS NEWS: Our Doctoral Student wins ALA Diversity Grant!
Great News! ALA Congnotes from July 14th, 2009 published an article that named the winners of the 2009 Diversity Research Grants and OUR VERY OWN Doctoral Candidate, Clayton Copeland was awarded the FIRST of three grants!! Her study is titled "Library and information center accessibility: The differently-able patron's perspective" and will focus on giving voice to the differently-able patrons and and revealing areas of libraries that, with change, can improve accessibility. Congratulations Clayton!
GENERAL NEWS: COA report, ALL Ceremony, Fall Semester, Third Year Review and More!
September 11, 2009
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It’s Friday afternoon at DavisCollege. Carolyn is at the post office, mailing printed copies of our Accreditation report to the ALA, Committee on Accreditation and the members of our External Review Panel. I just hit the send button on the electronic copies. Am I happy, you ask? Oh-my-gosh! I feel like an anvil just got lifted from my chest! I’m giddy and excited but mostly, I feel an intense pride in our faculty, staff and students. They made this happen. Check it out on our website – if you find a typo, don’t tell me until next week.
Now, I can look forward to the ALL Award Ceremony on Tuesday night, 9/15 at 5:00 p.m. at the State Library on Senate Street. This is the third annual and our awards go to Callee Boulware, Rodney Graves and Ida Thompson. Fox TV is giving us a live spot on Tuesday morning so look for Ellen Hinrichs; WIS is giving it air time; and Darci Strickland from WXTL is our master of ceremony for the event. I hope to see you there as we honor the individuals that make a difference by helping people read!
The semester is sailing smoothly – classes are running, research projects are humming and all of the community service we do is continuing to bring good results to both us and the people we serve. I’m most delighted with the possibilities we have to grow and improve on how we influence our field. From staffing libraries with professionals that know how to meet the needs of diverse communities to working to eliminate illiteracy in South Carolina, our School is there!
Thank you for the responses to my third-year review. I appreciate the accolades but really enjoyed hearing what you had to say and taking your suggestions to heart. I will try to communicate more ways for our alumni to volunteer and am working on getting more synergy between Journalism and SLIS. If you are one of my advisees, please note that nothing is more important than you! Don’t hesitate to contact me for anything you need.
Tomorrow (Saturday, September 12) is "Reading Rocks Our World," the kick-off of the Richland District One's focus on literacy, from 10 am to 2 pm. The parade and events are all at CraytonMiddle School on Clemson Road. Hope to see you there! Jerry Pinkney is a featured author!
GENERAL NEWS: Summer Graduations and Events for the Fall Semester!
August 10, 2009
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Our Summer Graduation event on Saturday was fantastic. I always get emotional when I look out at so many graduating students and the thousands of family and friends that helped them get to such a good part of their lives. It makes me think about truth and beauty and justice and the potential that each graduate brings to us – potential to change the world. When I talk to our SLIS graduates, I am convinced that the world will be a much better place with them on the front lines of libraries, holding the right to information like a banner. . .
And, the party was great! LISSA president Chess Schmidt, members (Amy, Kelly and Natalie), and our faculty and staff put together a lovely menu of special treats and even though it was VERY, VERY hot, we had a good time! Thank you each and all.
Now we are getting ready to welcome our new students. On Friday night we have a reception for our doctoral students, Saturday is orientation for the Masters and Sunday is convocation for our undergraduates. So much fun! As you know, graduation and orientation are my two most favorite events. It is important to remember that almost everything we do is for students, to be sure that they have the resources they need to succeed, to educate and help them protect our cultural heritage and yet be prepared for whatever the future might hold.
This is the beginning of my fourth year here at the University of South Carolina. I still wake up before my alarm, excited and ready to come to work. I still love walking through the doors of Davis each morning and treasure everyone I work with. I think I am doing a good job but would hate to find out that I am missing something critical or could improve in some area or. . . So, please do me a favor and go to http://CTLSilhouette.wsu.edu/surveys/ZS93685. It is a very short, anonymous survey for you to evaluate me as Director of the School. There is a place for you to comment and make suggestions – I’m counting on your help!
On August 28, we will have our first faculty/staff planning meeting of the year. In addition, to making plans and preparations for the external review panel visit from the ALA Committee on Accreditation, we will be working on the job descriptions for our two new tenure-track faculty, taking a strategic look at what we want our school to look like in 5 years and generally, making sure we have a plan ;-} If you have agenda items you want us to consider, please send them directly to me by email.
Mark your calendars for the following star-spangled events:
September 15 -- ALL (Annual Literacy Leaders) awards. Don’t miss seeing the people who make
difference in literacy initiatives receive awards for their service!
October 16 – Fall meeting of the National Advisory Council and Diversity Leadership
Group
October 25 – 100th Birthday Party for DavisCollege at 4 p.m.
October 25-28 – ALA COA External Review Panel Visit
October 28-30 – SCLA 2009 Annual Conference. This year’s theme is: South Carolina Libraries: Diverse People and Exceptional Services. Don’t miss this premiere continuing education event offering a Preconference on diversity, dozens of workshops and networking opportunities for all. The Preconference on Diversity will open the Conference on Wednesday, October 28, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The Preconference is co-sponsored with the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) and its theme is, Diversity in the Workplace.
I look forward to seeing you at as many of these events as possible and if you are a distance student, we will have a web version of at least part of the event for you!
Let me know if you need anything and in the meantime, here are five things to read and think about:
1.Keep up with your LISSA! Great new twist on the idea of a fireside chat. . .
2.This is a great remembrance of a wonderful school media librarian by Paul Wood. Life Remembered: Vickers-Shelley's students recall credo. Champaign-Urbana (IL) News-Gazette, Sunday, August 9, 2009. http://tinyurl.com/muggpg
3.Serendipity, Lost in the Digital Deluge [The New York Times]
