GENERAL NEWS: A Report from ALISE, Spring Dates and 5 Things (Jan 25, 2010)

1-25-10

Hello dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am pleased to report that we were a big hit at the ALISE conference in San Diego. Our doctoral students, Christine Angel, Chris Cunningham, Robin Kurz, Barbara Montgomery and Patrick Roughen presented posters for the Works-in-Progress session, and Clayton Copeland presented a paper. I received several comments about their professional poise and the excellent quality of their work. We knew that, yet it sure is good to hear it from your colleagues! Several of our faculty also presented at sessions and served on committees so SLIS was well represented and in the limelight. The San Diego weather was on the cool side for southern California but no complaints since it was snowing here! Next year, ALA mid-winter and ALISE will be in Dallas so I look forward to more great work being shared.

We are busy recruiting with our federal IMLS funding for doctoral students with interests in cultural heritage informatics leadership (CHIL). The committee, chaired by Dr. Arns is currently interviewing potential candidates as we continue to search for the best and the brightest to come ‘CHIL’ with us.

Cocky’s Reading Express is rollin’ down the roads of South Carolina, reading to the children and working to eliminate illiteracy – if you want to volunteer, please contact Ellen Hinrichs ellenh@sc.edu. We are trying to find a large van for CRE to carry the student volunteers, the books, and of course, the Cocky! We need the money to buy the van and hopefully, a discounted offer from one of our friendly car dealers! Wish us luck and let me know if you have some good ideas for making this happen.

Two very uplifting events this weekend left me with great hope for the future of libraries. Friday night the first LISSA colloquium featured Todd Stephens, Director of the Spartanburg Public Library System. The video of the session is available and I highly recommend it! Todd was on a roll and shared his plans for keeping the Spartanburg Public Library as a central focus for funding. Todd has been collecting the cultural history of the community, systematically and in every format – very inspiring and great evidence that libraries are vital parts of our lives. Then, on Saturday I attended the South Carolina Library Association Leadership Meeting at the State Library. I know how dedicated the volunteers of this organization are and Saturday just proved it again! Look out as the new, improved, and even more relevant SCLA takes off! Check out the website revisions that will be coming soon thanks to Rob Lindsey and check out the legislative updates. Also note that the SCLA list has moved to Googlegroups and you will need to register to join. Both SCASL and SCLA are vital pieces of our professional landscape and I encourage you to stay active and continue your memberships. By renewing your membership, you are speaking out for South Carolina libraries in a most positive and very important way!

Spring Dates that you don’t want to miss include:

SCASL in Columbia, March 9 – 12
Dean’s Lecture TCL Hollings Room, April 7
Infocamp Conference Davis College, April 9 – 10
Baker’s Dozen, April 14 – 16 (with Leonard Marcus and a cast of thousands!)

SLIS Graduation and Hooding Ceremony, May 6
SC Book Festival, May 13 – 15

LIBRIS Conference in Orangeburg, May 20

If there are events I have missed please let me know and I’ll post them for you.

I just realized it’s raining pretty hard so I think I will try to make it home before Harden & Gervais flood. Here are five interesting links to explore and think about:

1. Adults With College Degrees in the United States, by County (this is a great map!)
http://chronicle.com/article/Adults-With-College-Degrees-in/125995/ [The Chronicle of Higher Education]

2. Humans vs. automated search: Why people power is cool again http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/01/13/people.power.cashmore/index.html [CNN]

3. Network neutrality: A tangled web http://www.economist.com/node/17800141 [The Economist]

4. Library of the future: Despite Digital Age, expanded facility still likely to be utilized http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/oct/17/library-future-despite-digital-age-expanded-facili/ [LJWorld.com]

5. Ten Stories That Shaped 2010

http://lisnews.org/ten_stories_shaped_2010 [LISNews]

Sending all best wishes for a great new year and be sure to let me know if there is anything we can do for you.

Yours,

Dr. Sam