HealthInfo Island is Social Computing Model

A recent article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research entitled "A Survey of Health-Related Activities in Second Life" names Healthinfo Island among the top 15 medical locations in Second Life.

Healthinfo Island is funded by a $40,000 grant [7] from the Greater Midwest Region of the National Networks/National Library of Medicine. The site is run by real-life health librarians and medical experts [7] and aims to provide users with education and awareness of and access to health information. The island features a Medical Library, a Consumer Health Library, PubMed search capability, the iVinnie Accessibility Center, and various other displays and meeting spots. There is a broad range of health information conveyed by kiosks in the Information Outreach Lab, from posters that redirect users to an HIV awareness website to ToxTown, an interactive area that explains the health risks from environmental agents.

SLIS- Planning Day at Poynter Library

Now posted at FLICKR more photos from the SLIS Planning Day at Poynter Library: here.

USF Tampa-Library on Facebook.

Join here.

Faculty/Staff Planning Day at USF-Poynter Library in St. Petersburg

SLIS Faculty, staff and students met on May 27 at the Poynter Library for the May faculty council meeting. IMG_1688 In the afternoon Dr. Jim Carey led planning for curricular change.

ALA wants your stories about how to Get a Job.

JobLIST offers one-stop-shopping for career leads, communicating with employers, and tips for success in the library and information science profession.Search for jobs from all areas of library and information science and technology

JobLIST offers 24/7 access to current job postings from all library types and related organizations. Ads are searchable by library type, job category, location, keyword, and more for increased access to the perfect opportunity for you.
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How to Get a Job.

In preparation for a new American Library Association (ALA) Web-based toolkit called Get a Job!, the association is seeking your stories and advice about what to do and what NOT to do to find employment, particularly in this economy. ALA asks employers and consultants to share words of wisdom about what a candidate has done to impress you. ALA wants new employees to share their best tactics in landing the job of their dreams. ALA also invites everyone to send their best preparation, interviewing or "I wish someone had told me" anecdotes for possible inclusion on the website.

Get a Job!, will debut at the ALA Annual Conference, and in addition to the expected resume and cover letters suggestions, will also feature advice on how to use social networking tools in your job search, what to do if you're laid off, budgeting assistance, networking techniques and strategies for finding out about the economy and jobs in various parts of the United States. The interactive toolkit will include information specific to those seeking their first job, mid-career staff and those changing professions.

The site will be a one-stop resource including and/or linking to information prepared by units within ALA, as well as linking to information about related best practices from other fields. As the site evolves, it will offer tips, suggested links and readings, a blog, podcasts from experts, timelines, and activities/checklists for new librarians and support staff.

Get a Job! is being developed by nine units within the American Library Association in collaboration with the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association.

Email your stories to Jenifer Grady at jgrady@ala.org by Wednesday, June 5, 2009.

Library Literature & Information Science Retrospective: 1905-1983

USF Libraries have added Library Literature & Information Science Retrospective: 1905-1983 to its electronic resources.

# Unique access to the foundations of the profession with the oldest and most reliable database on librarianship.
# Indexing of over 1,200 periodicals, with citations to more than 500,000 articles, including book reviews.
# Includes indexing from Library Work (H.W. Wilson, 1905-1911), Library Journal (1912-1920), and Library Literature (H.W. Wilson 1921-1983).

Florida Library History Project (FLHP)

The Florida Library History Project (FLHP) began in January 1998. Letters requesting histories were sent to all public libraries in Florida with follow-up letters sent after an initial response was received from the libraries. E-mail messages were sent out to FL-LIB listservs encouraging participation in the project. A poster session was presented by USF research assistant Catherine Jasper at the 1998 Florida Library Association (FLA) Annual Conference, an event that marked FLA's 75th anniversary. At the end of this funding period, 89 library systems and organizations had provided histories. These have been compiled and are reproduced in this volume as submitted by participating libraries. Highlights include library founding, collections, services, budgets and expenditures, personnel, funding, survey results, technology, and developments.

The Florida Library History Project was an effort to bring together the history of Florida's libraries in a central online format. Libraries are central to the preservation of our state's history. The Project was a collaborative effort of the USF Tampa Library and the USF School of Library & Information Science.

East Coast Fieldwork Opportunities

Wolfsonian

Interested in a fieldwork on the East Coast?

Contact Maria Treadwell at mtreadwe@cas.usf.edu

SLIS at FLA 2009 on Flickr

See USF-SLIS Photostream at Flickr.

Dr. Nahyun Kwon and Dr. Vicki L. Gregory at QQML 2009

Dr.Nahyun Kwon and Dr.Vicki L. Gregory will present at QQML 2009-International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries.

"The Use of Transaction Logs to Study the Effectiveness of Librarian Behaviors on User Satisfaction in a Virtual Setting." by Nahyun Kwon and Vicki L. Gregory.

Chat reference is becoming more common, so it is important to be able to effectively judge user satisfaction with the results that they receive and secondly what behaviors the reference librarian should use to help ensure that users are satisfied with chat reference sessions. In this research project, online transaction logs were obtained from the Southeastern Florida Library Information Network. At the time of the reference interview neither the librarians nor the users knew that these transactions logs would be used in a research project, so all the data gathered was in an unobtrusive manner. In an earlier article in Reference and User Studies Quarterly (Winter 2008), the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Infor mation Service Providers (2004) were tested against the transcripts to see if the behaviors for face-to-face reference could be used in 43 a virtual environment. Our research indicated that many of these behaviors could be mapped to the virtual environment with great success. The purpose of this paper will be to describe and explain the methodology, which is a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, so that others can adapt what we did to their own situations.

[Program abstract is on pp. 42-43 in pdf of book of abstracts here]

QQML2009 is organized under the umbrella of ASMDA International Society organizing conferences on data analysis from 1981.The 2009 conference will be held in Chania, Crete, Greece May 26-29.

Summer Session Begins with Open House

SLIS welcomed students to the Summer 2009 semester by holding an informal get together Monday, May 11, the first day of classes. Pizza and refreshments were served at the open house where students could meet other students and faculty, including new SLIS Director, Dr. James Andrews. More pictures on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/slis-usf

SLIS Spring Graduation

SLIS Spring graduates, their families, and friends shared food, fun, and picture opportunities with faculty and staff at the SLIS spring graduation reception on May 2, 2009. The event was held in the atrium of the CIS building with refreshments and decorations provided by the SLIS Student Associations. More pictures on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/slis-usf

Dr. James E. Andrews is SLIS Director

USF SLIS Selects Dr. James Andrews as Interim Director

[Tampa, FL. May 6, 2009].

Dr. James Andrews has been chosen by the USF SLIS faculty and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to be the new Director of USF SLIS. Dr. Andrews brings over a decade of experience in library and information science education and scholarship. He received his Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia and was supported by the National Library of Medicine as a Pre-Doctoral Medical Informatics Fellow in the School of Medicine's Health Informatics Training Program.

Dr. Andrews was an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, School of Library and Information Science, College of Communications and Information Studies prior to coming to USF. At the University of Kentucky, Dr. Andrews developed an interdisciplinary research agenda in health information science, collaborating with the College of Medicine on an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) grant, and with health communication researchers on a Center for Disease Control (CDC) funded project.

Since joining the USF SLIS faculty, Dr. Andrews has focused his research on clinical research informatics, particularly related to terminological standards in this context, and has developed strong ties with the Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, part of USF Health's Pediatric Epidemiology Center. He and his colleague, Dr. Rachel Richesson, are currently under contract to edit a book, Clinical Research Informatics, the first text of its kind on this topic. Dr. Andrews has also worked with other LIS and Communication scholars in health-related information seeking and information retrieval.

1. He is the current Chair of the Special Interest Group on Medical Informatics of ASIST, is an active member in both the Association of Library and Information Science Educators (ALISE) and the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). Also, he has served as Chair to the Medical Library Association's Medical Library Education Section, and was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the Medical Library Association.

"The inspiration for my research and teaching comes from the basic idea of studying ways in which information and information technology can help people. This ranges from helping health care researchers and caregivers access and use needed data, information, and knowledge in support of decision making, to seeking a better understanding how patients and their families find the information they need to make choices and cope. I am always moved by our Library and Information Science students' near universal desire to serve the information needs of others, so translating my research into the classroom is that much easier."

Dr. Andrews' strong commitment to LIS education and scholarship brings much to the USF SLIS program and the needs of our discipline. We look forward to his leadership as the School and the professionals we train continue to face new challenges in an increasingly challenging, diverse, and complex information environment.

Dr, Andrews' website is here.

Dr. Henrietta M. Smith: The Coretta Scott King Awards, 1970-2009.

The Coretta Scott King Awards, 1970-2009, 4th Ed.

Coinciding with the fortieth anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Award, this one-of-a-kind volume gathers together the best of the best in African American children's literature with:

?Comprehensive coverage of the award winning books
?Biographical profiles that introduce the creative artists and illustrators
?Color plates that give a vital sense of the story and art
?A new subject index ideal for curriculum planning

In honor of the special anniversary, celebrated poet Arnold Adoff has written a commemorative poem, "of course," included in this book. Excellent for curriculum planning, collection development, and reference, this is a must-have for every library.

Publisher: ALA Editions. This title will be available Summer of 2009. You may place an order and the item will be shipped when it becomes available.

The people of Florida roared - and the state's leaders listened!

You did it! The people of Florida roared - and the state's leaders listened! by Charlie Parker for the Florida Library Association.

May 3, 2009. Yesterday afternoon, during the Joint Budget Conference Chairs process, the House proposed funding State Aid at $21,253,978 and last night the Senate just came back and accepted, but the Senate was not willing to accept the funding source proposed by the House so state aid funding was left in limbo overnight. This morning they came back and met through the day. The decision was reached shortly after 7 p.m.

"As FLA Lobbyist Chris Lyon explained it, you did what cannot be done."

State Aid was not a conference issue. The Joint Budget Conference Chairs weren't even supposed to be talking about this. So last night Chris was is sitting in bar before going back to the 8 o'clock meeting, and a guy walks up, sees he is working on appropriations spreadsheets. Chris tells him he's working for libraries (and did he ever!). The guy works in the Governor's office and wants to know if they've restored the funding yet. He says everybody in the governor's office knows about it because the phone hasn't stopped ringing on the issue and they've had citizens coming in person on the issue since Thursday.

I wish that everyone in the Florida library community could see my e-mail from the last 2 days. In every part of the state folks stepped up, got engaged, and made this happen. We will never know just how extensive this effort was, but we have seen signs of extensive networks and efforts in the smallest towns in the state. There are so many wonderful stories. So many folks did so many innovative and clever things. And normal Floridians who had never called or e-mailed an official, stood up and roared! Some folks to thank! - Governor Crist - He was down there working it with the Conferees. We asked for his help - and he responded. - Rep. Nehr - from Pinellas - and lots of others, who went to the leaders and said you've got to do this! - Senator Alexander and Rep. Rivera who would not give up on our issue! And Senator Fasano, Rep. Gloriso, and Rep. Evers who have been there for us since the day one! - Secretary Kurt Browning, who has been on the hill, working for us, ably supported by Rivers Buford and Judi Ring. - Chris Doolin from the Small County Coaliton - and Danny Hales who has helped keep those folks engaged! Chris has really been working it!

The Florida Association of Counties - FAC worked on this issue hard with their members and the community lobbyists they interact with. Friday, a Tallahassee news crew wanted to do a piece on the story and we had a little trouble getting someone to the Capitol in time to shoot it. We called Cragin Mosteller, the FAC Communications Director, and she arranged for Sarrah Troncoso to do tell the story. Sarrah did a great job. She and the rest of the FAC team were working the issue for us in the Capitol. Many thanks to Chris Holley and the wonderful FAC team!

SalterMitchell Marketing and Communications - Friday morning we needed to get our message out and did not even have a good media list. We e-mailed the wonderful folks at SalterMitchell, asking for help - with no money. These are the folks that did such a great job a year or 2 back when we were trying to position libraries to come through the property tax challenges. Lisa Hall responded immediatley. She distributed our press release and communications and worked the issue for us in the Capitol. Lisa was the one who got us the opportunity for the news piece described above. Many thanks to Lisa and especially April Salter!

- The Florida press corps who picked up our issue and put it out there! - And one more time Faye Roberts, who did a beautiful job yesterday as Communications Director, explaining things to the media. - And Lisa Manners - the Capwiz message County went over 9,000.

- Tom Sloan and the SEFLIN folks put up a page like Capwiz and handled hundreds of messages. Please, please, please, tell your folks how wonderful a job they did. And tell them about how strong they are! We "Called out the Librarians" and when we did the people of the great state of Florida came through! They were confident, informed, positive, and strong! - An added example... - Paul Clark's story - Here's an example of the incredible work done by folks in the Florida library community. This is Paul's response to the story that ran late yesterday in the St. Pete Times blog, "The Buzz" (with minor edits)... ... I woke up at 6:00 a.m. today. A staff member from the Jefferson County Public Library (Kitty) and myself met up at 6:45 a.m. and drove to Target Copy to make "Save Our Libraries" signs. We then went to the Capitol where we picketed in front of the meeting one this morning. Doug also joined us in time to participate. I have been working non-stop at the Capital on Thurs, Fri and today in talking with the legislators personally and over 30+ Senator Aides, and 30+ Representative Aides as well as the Gov's Aide and pretty much anyone else that would listen to my message. I handing out over 100+ informational pieces of paper to reporters, aides and the like on Friday. I also stood out all day today with the picket signs either at the Knox building where the meetings were taking place or in front of the Capitol Building. Way to go Paul, Doug, Kitty, and Wilderness Coast Public Libraries And thanks to everyone else who made this work!

USF SLIS Alumni Stay Connected

The USF SLIS Virtual Alumni Society is growing! If you are a recent, or not-so-recent, graduate create an account and join the group that will help you connect with alumni and stay involved in the events and happenings at the School. Alumni do not have to be a paying member of the USF Alumni Association in order to join this group.

ALL STATE FUNDING FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES IS ELIMINATED

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Faye Roberts

Executive Director
386-438-5795 Office
386-365-4467 Mobile
faye.roberts@comcast.net
http://www.flalib.org

ALL STATE FUNDING FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES IS ELIMINATED
Florida Library Association asks Floridians to voice their opposition

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (MAY 1, 2009) - On April 30, an appropriations conference committee for the House and Senate agreed to eliminate all funding for Florida's State Aid to Public Libraries program. This devastating action will result in some Florida library branches closing and will seriously cripple libraries' ability to serve Floridians. It will be especially damaging to libraries in Florida's rural communities, as these libraries rely heavily on provisions in the program that help communities with lower tax bases.

The Florida Library Association (FLA) is calling on Governor Charlie Crist to use his influence and ask legislative leaders to find a way to fund this critical program, which has helped support public library service to Floridians since 1962.

FLA also calls on Floridians to contact their local representatives to ask them to fund Florida's State Aid to Public Libraries program so that libraries do not have to close branches around the state. Use the "Find Your Legislators" box at www.flsenate.gov to find your local representatives and their contact information.

In these rough economic times, Floridians need their libraries more than ever. Libraries help citizens with job searches, in obtaining e-Government services, and in teaching our young children to read. They also help parents and caregivers learn to be their child's first teacher, and provide books, other print materials, DVDs and CDs.

Visit http://www.flalib.org or call 386-438-5795 for more information.
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