Human Rights Class- Lost Voices of Darfur

Human Rights & Librarianship class before "Lost Voices of Darfur" Program, at the USF Library on 1/28/2009. [LtoR] James Spring, Distinguished University Professor, Kathleen de la Pena McCook, Leslie Trinkle, Mary Thompson, Ann Maloney, Stacy Davis, Anne Larrivee.

Alum receives Pura Belpre Author Honor Award

Lucia Gonzalez at "Noche de Cuentos" at the 2008 REFORMA National Conference in El Paso, Texas

Lucia Gonzalez ('91), was awarded the Pura Belpre Author Honor Award for: The Storytellers' Candle/La Velita de los Cuentos ( Children's Book Press).

External Review Panel Site Visit for Re-accreditation

SLIS' program is currently being evaluated by the American Library Association for re-accreditation. Five panelists will be visiting the School from Saturday, February 21 through Tuesday, February 24.

Accreditation is a voluntary system of evaluation of higher education institutions and programs. It is a collegial process based on self-evaluation and peer-assessment for improvement of academic quality and public accountability. Accreditation assures that higher education institutions and their units, schools, or programs meet appropriate standards of quality and integrity.

Accreditation is both a process and a condition. The process entails the assessment of educational quality and the continued enhancement of educational operations through the development and validation of standards. The condition provides a credential to the public-at-large indicating that an institution and/or its programs have accepted and are fulfilling their commitment to educational quality.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Michael K. Buckland

USF School of Library and Information Science and USF University Libraries jointly present:
Dr. Michael K. Buckland, Professor Emeritus, School of Information, University of California at Berkeley on February 3, 2009, 3:30-5:30 p.m. in CIS Room 1048

Title: "Moving the reference collection online: What librarians forgot."
Abstract:
Understanding depends on knowing the context and background of any topic, so in a print and paper world, a reference library is an excellent place to learn. As library services move into a digital environment, research on reference service has focused on empowering the reference librarian rather than the even more important task of empowering the library user. Reference works can be made accessible online, but more is needed to take full advantage of digital technology if we are to provide the best of both worlds. The talk will discuss the issues, demonstrate prototypes being developed at Berkeley and discuss future possibilities.

Michael Buckland is Emeritus Professor in the School of Information, and Co-Director of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley. He was born, educated, and worked as a librarian in England before moving the USA. Positions held include Assistant Director for Technical Services, Purdue University Libraries; Dean, School of Library and Information Studies at Berkeley; System wide coordinator of library services in the University of California; and President of ASIST. Prof. Buckland has published widely, including a recent biography of the forgotten inventor of search engines "Emanuel Goldberg and his Knowledge Machine" (2006).
http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/

News from FLA

2009 Membership in FLA
FLA's membership year is January 1 - December 31. Many thanks go to all the individuals, library organizations, Friends groups and businesses that have already renewed their membership for 2009.

Join or renew at http://www.flalib.org/membership.php

For information about your membership status, contact Kelly Green at fla.kelly.green@comcast.net or phone the FLA office at 386-438-5795. Be sure to renew by February 20 to avoid a gap in benefits.

Register now for Library Days - Deadline is February 20.
Library Days in Tallahassee will be held March 10-11, 2009. The deadline to register is Friday, February 20.

The registration fee is $35 for FLA members and $40 for non-members and includes a packet of reference material, a legislative briefing, an art print provided by Mumford Library Books and an Idea Exchange focusing on Friends of Library groups.

A schedule, registration form and hotel information is available on the FLA web site at http://www.flalib.org/library_days.php or by calling the FLA Office at 386-438-5795.

Dr. Debra Slone Inspires

Dr. Debra Slone, author of the 3/15/08 article in Library Journal, "After Oil: Public libraries will have an important role to play in our new post-peak-oil society", will be a featured speaker at " Transition Libraries: Resources for a Green Future" to be held at the Blair Caldwell Library in Downtown Denver on Friday January 23rd from 9:00-4:30. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6539360.html

Dr. Debra Slone's article was the inspiration for organizing the event at the library. The article attempts to answer the question, "What is the role of public libraries in helping our society move away from it's dependency on fossil fuels." Fossil fuel (coal and oil) use is problematic on three counts: 1) it is a major contributor to global warming; 2) it is based on finite energy resources that are expected to peak in this decade with global demand soon outstripping supply, and 3) our society and economy runs on these energy sources.

New Student Orientation

You can view SLIS' new student orientation here: http://netcast.usf.edu/public/announce/coas/libscience/slis-orientation.asx

Virtual Alumni Group

The School of Library and Information Science created a virtual alumni group using a function of the Bull's Country Network called inCircle. The School would like to urge all alumni to create an account, since so many alumni do not live within traveling distance to the Tampa campus. A link to the virtual group can be found on the School's website at: http://web3.cas.usf.edu/main/depts/LIS/communication/alumni/ . You do not have to be a member of the Alumni Association to participate in the virtual group.

Welcome to the SLIS BLOG

This blog has been created to deliver news about the School in a timely manner and to reduce the environmental impact of printing. In addition to the BLOG, the lastest issue of the SLIS newsletter, "theLink", which has been published since the fall of 2005, was made available online in December. In the future, an online publication of theLink will be published every June and December. The School's website was recently redesigned and all newsletters, from 1997 to the present, were archived on the new site. If you have any news for theLink, please send it to Jessica Voss, Communications and Information Officer, at jlvoss@cas.usf.edu.