Martin Dillon to present Annual Lazerow Lecture at noon on Monday, April 7, 2008
December 6, 2007 -- Dr. Martin Dillon was the founding Executive Director of the OCLC Institute. From 1970 to 1985, Martin Dillon served on the faculty of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his research and teaching focused on topics in library automation and information retrieval. He came to OCLC as Visiting Distinguished Scholar in 1985. In 1986, he assumed the position of Director of the Office of Research, where he guided a staff of 30 in research supporting OCLC's mission of improving access to information. From June 1993 until he became executive director of the Institute in January 1997, he served as director of OCLC’s Library Resources Management Division, which is responsible for managing OCLC's Cataloging and Resource Sharing services. More on this story...
Lecture topic: "The Web was created in 1989 and has been rapidly evolving ever since. We are well into Web 2.0 and breaking ground for Web 3.0. The information industries are dominated by the growth of the Web – its technologies, capacities, extent and reach throughout the world. This talk will provide a glimpse of the Web trends that track this growth and are central to information and its dissemination. It will also look closely at Web features, focusing on the social 'activities' of Web 2.0, but also looking ahead to what many are calling the semantic Web of Web 3.0. The purpose throughout will be to suggest ways that information providers and libraries in particular might leverage their intellectual capital and habits of collaboration into a more prominent Web presence."
Part-time faculty member Rebecca Ryder Wins National Preservation Award
Becky Ryder, head of the Preservation Services at the University of Kentucky Libraries, as well as both a SLIS alumna and part-time faculty member, has been named the winner of the inaugural LBI (Library Binding Institute) George Cunha and Susan Swartzburg Preservation Award in recognition of her service to the field of preservation. More on this story...
SLIS Offices Move to New Facilities
November 1, 2007 -- All SLIS administrative and faculty offices have now moved to our new location on the third floor of the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library Building. For now, the CAIT computer lab and the McConnell Center for the Study of Children's Literature will remain in their original location on the fifth floor of King Library, room 504.
2008 McConnell Conference is announced
October 15, 2007 -- The 2008 McConnell Literature Conference will be held February 29-March 1 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lexington. Featured speakers will be author Pam Munoz Ryan, author/illustrator Denise Fleming, and author George Ella Lyon. Fees will be $95 for full conference, $55 Friday only, $70 Saturday only. Additional program details and complete registration information will be posted later in the fall. Please email immediate questions to either Lousetta Carlson, carlson@uky.edu, or Mary Landrum, landmar1973@yahoo.com.
Registration form is now available at :http://www.uky.edu/CIS/SLIS/mcconnell/08registration.pdf
Rebecca Miller Banner Joins SLIS Faculty to Fill Information Services Position
August 15, 2007--- Nebraska native Rebecca Miller Banner joined the faculty this fall in the information services position that had been vacant for a year. After completing a BA in French at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Rebecca earned a Maîtrise, Linguistics, at the Université Stendahl (Grenoble III), Grenoble, France. She subsequently earned an MLS at the School of Library & Information Management, Emporia State University, where she is wrapping up her PhD. Rebecca’s dissertation is titled The Diffusion of Professional Knowledge in International Partnerships: A Case Study of the American Bulgarian Library Exchange.
Stephanie Reynolds Joins School Faculty in Children’s Services Position
August 15, 2007--- Stephanie Reynolds joined the School’s faculty this fall in the children’s services position, filling the opening created when Sharon McQueen returned to the University of Wisconsin Madison to work exclusively on completing her doctoral dissertation.
Until moving to Kentucky this past summer, Stephanie had spent nearly all of her life in Texas. She earned a BA in English at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, and an MS in Library Science at the University of North Texas, Denton, where she also received a Graduate Academic Certificate in Youth Services in Library and Information Settings. She completed the PhD at the University of North Texas in Interdisciplinary Information Science. Her dissertation has the title, Reading Selection as Information Seeking Behavior: A Case Study with Adolescent Girls.
Diane Owens Receives SLA Award
May 15, 2007 --SLIS student Diane Owens was recently notified that she was awarded a stipend award from SLA Business and Finance Division to attend the 2007 SLA Conference in Denver, CO June 3-6. Congratulations Diane!
Kuhlthau Delivers Lazerow Lecture
April 2, 2007 --Carol Collier Kuhlthau, Professor Emerita, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University delivered her presentation: "Inside the Information Search Process: Reflections on the User's Perspective of Information Seeking" on Monday April 2. For a PDF of the text of the presentation, click here.
Search for School’s Next Director to Get Underway
March 15, 2007 --Tim Sineath’s Early Notice of Plan to Retire Assures Time to Identify SuccessorLast fall Timothy W. Sineath, Director of the School of Library and Information Science, announced he would step down from that position summer 2008. He will remain on the faculty and enter the phased retirement program beginning July 1, 2008. Dean J. David Johnson of the College of Com-munications and Information Studies met with SLIS faculty in the fall to talk about the search for a Director and again in January to discuss the process in greater detail.
At the January meeting, Dean Johnson explained the need for a broad membership on the search committee, including staff, students, and members of the professional community; and he presented the calendar for the search:
- mid March: search committee named;
- mid April: statement of qualifications and position advertisement developed;
- late April: advertisements published;
- summer: initial applications received;
- early fall: invited candidates campus visits scheduled.
Dean Johnson expects UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy to participate in the interviews, as will Dean Johnson, and at the conclusion of the interviews the Dean and the Provost will agree on the person to be offered the position, Director of the School of Library and Information Science. The next Director will assume that position July 1, 2008.
During the January meeting with faculty, Dean Johnson said he had become aware of the debate throughout the library and information science community, about which should be stressed, “library” or “information,” and he noted that one outcome of the debate was the formation of the “I-Schools Project.” One of the critical issues the SLIS must face, the Dean said, is whether to emphasize the “L” or the “I”, or some synthesis of the two. What to emphasize will be a “strategic decision,” he said, and the next Director “will drive that decision forward.” Dr. Johnson said, too, that in deciding how it is represented in the “I” versus “L” debate, it is imperative that the School be sensitive to the University’s drive to achieve Top 20 status. (For more on this, see below.)
Dean Johnson said that “to get a feel for the lay of the land and to learn what the issues are” within library and information science, he attended two ASIST conferences. Moreover, he attended the I-Schools conference in Ann Arbor last fall and would attend the ALISE conference later in January. Dr. Johnson has talked informally with some individuals, in an effort to further his own education and to get an idea who might be available for the Director’s position, and he said he would pass along to the search committee the names of those he wants to make certain the committee is aware of.
The search for a Director comes at a time when the Top 20 planning process is well underway and promises to produce decisions that will influence significantly how resources are allocated throughout the University. President Lee Todd’s determined pursuit of the legislatively-mandated Top 20 status is driving the planning process. The Board of Trustees adopted the Top 20 Business Plan in December 2005, and the 2006-09 Strategic Plan, which the Board of Trustees adopted in October of last year, marks “the first step in the implementation of the Business Plan.” The Strategic Plan incorporates specific “Measures of Progress.” Academic units were to develop strategic plans after the Board of Trustees approved the University Strategic Plan.
In his memorandum to deans, about strategic planning, Provost Subbaswamy said that academic units were “to update their action plans to better align them with the university’s goals and priorities.” In going about this, the Provost wrote, “The fundamental questions for you will be: (1) What is my college’s role in UK’s quest for Top 20 Status; and (2) What is the appropriate level of resources (within the overall bounds of the Top 20 Business Plan) for my college?” In the College of Communications and Information Studies, Dean Johnson directed each of the units – the Department of Communication, the School of Journalism and Telecommunications, and the School of Library and Information Science – to develop a strategic plan for the unit, which would be folded into the College plan.
ISI Lazerow Lecture to be Monday April 2, 2007
March 1, 2007 -- Carol Collier Kuhlthau, Professor Emerita, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University will present: "Inside the Information Search Process: Reflections on the User's Perspective of Information Seeking". The lecture will be from 12:00 - 1:00 PM on April 2 in the Niles Gallery on the first floor of the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library. Refreshments to follow. The lecture is free and open to the public.
2007 McConnell Conference and Arbuthnot Lecture a great success!
March 2-4, 2007 -- The 39th Annual McConnell Youth Literature Conference was a great success with about 350 participating. Friends, students, and colleagues shared stories about beloved Professor Emerita Anne McConnell, whose name the conference bears. The conference opened with the traditional Friday night banquet, which included a toast to Anne McConnell led by picture book author and SLIS alum George Shannon, and Professor Emerita Joy Terhune. The speaker was Susan Campbell Bartoletti, an award-winning author of nonfiction and historical fiction, and she shared anecdotes about her research, and her conviction that young readers need to learn about the grim subjects her work often explores. Saturday’s sessions featured notable picture book authors and illustrators Cari Best, Peter McCarty, and local boy Loren Long, a UK graduate.
This year was unique in that the School was honored to be awarded hosting the Arbuthnot Lecture with Kevin Henkes. Professor McQueen worked tirelessly both in the successful application for this event and to make it a memorable occasion for all. Events included a Saturday evening autograph signing party hosted by the Lexington Public Library with Henkes, who was joined by his irrepressible mouse heroine, Lilly. Students and volunteers donned the Lilly costume for the entertainment of children and adults. Henkes delivered his lecture Sunday evening in Memorial Hall, and his audience was moved and inspired by his discussion of how books provide shelter and solace, as well as a sense of home. At the conclusion of the lecture, former State Librarian Jim Nelson surprised and delighted Henkes by granting him a commission as a Kentucky Colonel. A gala reception sponsored by Henkes’ publisher, Greenwillow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, followed at the Singletary Center. Many thanks to Professor McQueen, and all the volunteers and sponsors she brought together for making this a very special and memorable occasion for all.
October 20, 2006 -- Board Approves Funding for Facilities Renovation
January 15, 2007 -- The future home of the School on the 3rd floor of the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library came closer to reality with the approval by the University Board of Trustees of Phase 2 facilities funding. The first phase, completed in 2002, involved the construction of the smart classrooms. Phase 2 will begin in spring of 2007 and involve the construction of administrative and faculty offices, conference rooms, and final renovation of the student commons area. While Phase 3 (the relocation of the CAIT computer facility and the McConnell Center for the Study of Children's Literature) is still being sought, the completion of Phase 2 will allow for the School to move into the new space sometime in the fall of 2007.
Professor Case named as a top LIS scholar
October 20, 2006 --Professor Donald Case was named in an article by Blaise Cronin and Lokman Meho in the July, 2006, ASIST, as one of the top 25 LIS faculty members by number of citations. ( "Using the h-Index to rank influential information scientists." JASIST 57(9), 1275-1278.)