SLIS To Host Graduation Reception

SLIS will be hosting a graduation reception on Saturday, May 2, 2009 from 2-4 p.m. in the atrium of the CIS building. Please R.S.V.P. to SLISgraduation@gmail.com if you plan to attend. Light refreshments and beverages will be served.

"Human Rights as the Ethical Foundation for Library Services"

SLIS Distinguished University Professor, Kathleen de la Peña McCook , spoke to the UCLA Information Studies School on "Human Rights as the Ethical Foundation for Library Services" via webcast.

The program was facilitated by Diane Austin, SLIS Instructor, who develops and teaches undergraduate and graduate educational media and web page design and management courses in online, blended and face-to-face formats.

SLIS Alumnus is Expert Genealogist

Social Networking for Genealogists by Drew Smith. This book describes the wide array of social networking services that are now available online and highlights how these services can be used by genealogists to share information, photos, and videos with family, friends, and other researchers.

Drew Smith, MLS, is an academic librarian with the University of South Florida in Tampa. An expert in digital genealogy, with a lifelong interest in family history research, he is Director of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and President of the Florida Genealogical Society of Tampa. He is also a regular contributor to Digital Genealogist magazine and is co-host of the weekly Genealogy Guys Podcast.

USF History Students Learn About LIS

SLIS Alumnus and USF Librarian, Andy Huse and SLIS Professor, Dr. Vicki Gregory

On Wednesday, April 15, 2009 the Historians' Guild and the USF History Department presented, "What the **BLEEP** do I do with this History degree?", in the Grace Allen Room of the main library on the Tampa campus. Approximately thirty students participated. SLIS Professor, Vicki Gregory and SLIS Alumnus and USF Librarian, Andy Huse were two of the six panelist that shared their "histories" with the students. Dr. Gregory, in addition to her Ph.D. from Rutgers in Library and Information Studies, holds an M.A. in History from the University of Alabama. Andy Huse, in addition to his M.A. in Library and Information Science, has a B.A. in English/History. Andy currently works in the Special Collections Department at the USF Main Library, Tampa Campus. The other panelists included Mayor Pam Iorio, Attorney, David Bulluck, History Teacher, Christopher Lee and Journalist, Scott Montgomery.

SLIS Student to Present at the USF Graduate Communication Association Research Symposium

SLIS student Hillary Wade was selected to be one of the presenters at, Speaking of Method: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Symposium, which is sponsored by the USF Graduate Communication Association. The symposium is a two-day event in the Marshall Student Center 3709: Wednesday April 15, 2009 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm and Thursday April 16, 2009 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Hillary's presentation will be held on April 15th at 1:40pm and is titled "Information Universes."

Dr. Dunkley is Outstanding in Oxford

Early last fall, Dr. Dunkley was invited to present a paper at the Oxford Round Table Conference at Oxford University. The Oxford Roundtable is a not-for-profit educational organization chartered in England and Wales. There were forty-nine conference participants from the United States and one from Japan. The theme of the conference was "Children's Literature: Allusion to Culture and Religion since 1850." The program consisted of thirty-eight presentations and eighteen round table discussions over the week-long event. Dr. Dunkley captured the audience's attention during her presentation, "Religious Aspects in Virginia Hamilton's The People Could Fly and other Sources.", on March 19th. The highlight of the presentation was her singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Judith Lynne McConnell-Farmer, Professor of Early Childhood Education at Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, was the conference facilitator.

Dr. Dunkley was also the discussion leader for the keynote speaker, Elizabeth Solopova, who is an associate researcher in the Special Collections Department at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Solopova's topic was "I am not specifically interested in children, and certainly not in writing for them" - J.R.R. Tolkien's views on Children's Literature.

SLIS to Host a Student/Alumni Reception at FLA

The School will host a Student/Alumni Reception during the 2009 FLA Annual Conference at the Double Tree Hotel at the Entrance to Universal Orlando on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. in the Osceola Room.

USF SLIS alumni and current students, as well as friends of SLIS, can mix and mingle with the SLIS Faculty. Special guest, ALA President Jim Rettig, will be joining us! All alumni, students, friends of SLIS and their guests are welcome to join us. Please RSVP to bsteiger@cas.usf.edu. (Light refreshments will be provided and your RSVP helps to ensure there will be plenty for all who attend.)

Three SLIS Students Receive Suncoast Information Specialists' Scholarship

Three SLIS students received scholarships to cover expenses related to attending the Florida Library Association's 2009 Annual Conference in Orlando from the Suncoast Information Specialists association, which is sponsored by Tampa Bay Library Consortium. In alphabetical order, these students and members of the Student Organizations are: Mary Keesling, Ann Marie Maloney and Bridgitte Woodley.

Mary Keesling is a student member of the Student Orgs as well as a public library staff member in the Tampa Bay region. Ann Marie Maloney served so ably as president of USF's student chapter of the Special Library Association (SLA) in 2008 and 2009 that two outstanding LIS students ran hard-fought election campaigns to succeed her. Student Orgs officer Bridgitte Woodley was elected president of the student chapter of the American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) after serving as Vice-President of the ASIS&T chapter since the fall of 2008.

Brown Bag Series Continues

This week, the Student Organization's brown bag guest will be Vicki Zook, archivist for the St. Petersburg Times. Vicki will talk about some of the non-traditional job opportunities for graduates of library and information science programs. She will also talk about her work at the St. Pete Times. Be sure to bring your lunch along with some questions!

Wednesday 1-2pm in CIS 2020.

There will be two more brown bag events to close out the spring semester. Next Wednesday, Jared Hoppenfeld and Matt Torrence, USF SLIS graduates and librarians at the USF Tampa campus library will speak.

The final brown bag of the semester will be held on April 22 and students will gather to review this semester's brown bag series and to talk about upcoming programming.

SLIS Alumna to be Honored as FLA Librarian of the Year

Doreen Gauthier, USF SLIS class of 1996, will be honored as the Florida Library Association Librarian of the Year for 2009. Doreen was also honored in 2007 when the city of Lighthouse Point, FL renamed the Lighthouse Point Library, "The Doreen Gauthier Lighthouse Point Library". Read the Sun Sentinel article here.

Student ORGS Brown Bag Lunch

TOP ROW: Alechia Dow, Justine VandenBosche, Leslie Trinkle, David Davisson, John Russell, Kurt Piazza, BOTTOM ROW:Amanda Lacy, Jyoti Deo, Bridgitte Woodley

The March 11th SLIS Student Organizations brown bag lunch featured Jeffery Austin's (SLIS student) informal talk about his experiences in preparing and presenting a research poster for a recent academic conference in Knoxville, TN. His tri-fold poster appeared at the University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information 31st Annual Research Symposium on February 27, 2009. Jeffery's poster is titled, "Advocating, Promoting, and Marketing the Value of Public Libraries in These Hard Times". This on-going research was previously developed in Dr. Maatta's Fall Semester LIS 6603 course and presented at USF's first Annual Poster Symposium & Competition in November 2008 before being accepted by the University of Tennessee for their symposium on a theme of Power and Politics: Communication and Information. Jeffrey will present his research to USF students on April 17th at the Graduate and Professional Student Council's Emerging Paradigms: An Interdisciplinary Conference at the C.W. Young building in Tampa.

April 2009 is Library Appreciation Month

Governor Crist has proclaimed April 2009 as Library Appreciation Month.

Barbara Correll worked with the Governor's office to secure this proclamation. Barbara leads FLA's member group for Friends, Foundations and Boards and is a member of the Friends of Fort Lauderdale (Broward County) Library.