GSLIS newsletter

 

The University of Rhode Island

Graduate School of Library and Information Studies

 

Edited by Gale Eaton and Zachary Berger                                                                                                  Spring 2005

Letter from the Director

 

Dear Friends,

 

The Graduate School of Library and Information Studies just celebrated the fortieth anniversary of our first graduating class.  An anniversary is always an occasion for reflection as well as joy.  As we look back on our past achievements, we also look forward to the future.  GSLIS is entering a period of growth; we are expanding our regional course offerings in Durham, New Hampshire and Worcester, Massachusetts.  We will be strengthening our graduate programs with new post-baccalaureate certificates in Information Literacy Instruction and Management of Information Technology, and we are exploring the possibility of an online MLIS option.

 

Our program continues to grow and change, but our commitment to the values of our profession and to libraries and the communities they serve remains constant and unchanging.  We look forward to the next forty years.  The best is yet to come!

 

Thanks to all of you for being part of our GSLIS family,

 

 

 

W. Michael Havener

Professor and Director

GSLIS Courses for Lifelong Learners

 

When was the last time you took a GSLIS course? If it’s been a while, check out some of our newer topics and scheduling options at http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/web/Academics/Courses/Courses.htm (and enjoy our new website while you’re there). This summer, for instance, four courses will meet for one week each, with work to be completed afterward:

 

·       LSC 517: Community Relations for Libraries, Dorothy Frechette, June 20-24 (M-F)

·       LSC 548: Internet for Librarians, Yan Ma, June 10-15 (F-W)

·       LSC 597, Leadership in Libraries, Mark Winston, May 23-27 (M-F)

·       LSC 597, Information Literacy Instruction for Librarians, Cheryl McCarthy, June 20-24 (M-F)

 

Other courses will be offered on Fridays, Saturdays, and/or over the Internet. Do you wonder why there are two LSC 597s with different titles? That’s our Special Topics number, for trying out new things. This semester it’s covered Dr. Havener’s new course on grant writing, and Dr. Lynden’s on international librarianship. In the summer, you’ll have a chance to take Lisa Chen’s course on digital libraries. In the fall, Dr. Cheryl McCarthy will teach LSC 597 (Information Literacy Tutoring), and Director Havener will teach three separate 5-week courses (perfect for anybody who’s just considering the program) for one credit hour each:

 

·       LSC 597, Professional Associations in LIS, Tues 6:30 – 9:15, Sept. 13 – Oct. 11

·       LSC 597, RI Academic Libraries, Mon 1:00 – 3:45, Oct. 17 – Nov. 14

·       LSC 597, RI Public Libraries, Tues 1:00 – 3:45, Nov. 8 – Dec. 6

 

Current students get first dibs, but we welcome graduates, prospective students, and others.

Annual Gathering:
Celebrating 40 Years of New England Library Leadership

 

In 1965, our first graduates entered the field. Truth to tell, many of them had been there all along. Lucille Chernack, for instance, was President of the School Library Association from 1959 to 1963, and helped spearhead the campaign to start the new Graduate Library School at URI.

 

As of April, 2005, we have over 2875 alumni – and 43 students took the comprehensive examination this spring. Many things have changed since the 1960s. We are now the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. No more Bell and Howell projectors in our classrooms: we all use PowerPoint. Our classes meet face-to-face in Providence and Kingston, at UNH/Durham and at Worcester State College; but we now teach many of our courses online. Faculty e-mail fills daily with queries from students, advisees, and prospective students. Students mount assignments on their own websites.

 

Our core professional values have remained consistent over the decades, however. We are still committed to service, diversity, intellectual freedom, and universal access to library resources. So our keynote speaker, ALA president-elect Michael Gorman, won general applause when he told us that information science is only part of what libraries do; that we should not tolerate inadequate service to disadvantaged communities; and that our vital role in society includes the defense of intellectual freedom and equity of access for all library users. 

 

Donna Dufault (1974) introduced her classmate, this year’s Distinguished Graduate Anne Parent (1974), Director of the Rhode Island Office for Library and Information Services. Five GSLIS scholarship winners were announced (see listing in Honors and Awards). The Special Libraries Association was strongly represented, and Adjunct Professor Tony Stankus (a 1976 graduate whose own Rose L. Vormelker Award will be conferred at the SLA conference in Montreal this summer) delivered two Rhode Island Chapter scholarships. Sixteen new graduates accepted election to Beta Phi Mu.

 

And helping to ensure that many students could attend the event were angels Cheryl Banick, Alex Caracuzzo, Kate Cheromcha, Faith Davison, Dorothy Frechette, Paige Gibbs, Nancy Kline, Jennifer Lanouette, Irina Lynden, Lois Parente, Emily Poworoznek, Joan Ress Reeves, and Tony Stankus. Thank you, one and all!

 

GSLIS at Worcester State College

 

GSLIS has consolidated its Massachusetts course offerings at centrally-located Worcester State College. We are delighted with the accommodations and the helpfulness of WSC staff. This gives us the opportunity to offer more than one core course, and electives in more than one area of specialization, in any given semester. Scheduled for fall 2005: Collection Development (LSC 503), Technical Services (LSC 506), Introduction to Information Science and Technology (LSC 508), Reading Interests of Children (LSC 530), and Business Information (LSC 539). For more details, visit our website, http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/, and click on “Academics” to find the course listings.

Honors and Awards:

 

 

Recent Publications:

 

Buzzeo, Toni (1990). Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling, illus. Margaret Spengler. (Dial, 2005).

Cunningham, Diana J. and Kronenfeld, Michael R. (1975). “The Informationist:  A Debate.” Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 2004, 4(1), p1-16.

Fitzgerald, Kathy (1989) and Stavely, Keith. America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking (University of North Carolina Press, 2004).

Kronenfeld, Jennie J. and Kronenfeld, Michael R. (1975). Health Reform in the United States: The Twentieth Century and Forward — Missed Opportunities (ABC-CLIO, 2004).

Kronenfeld, Michael R. (1975). “Trends in Academic Health Sciences Libraries and Their Emergence As the ‘Knowledge Nexus’ for Their Academic Health Centers.” JMLA, 2004, 3(1), p29-36.

Schlimgen, Joan B. and Kronenfeld, Michael R. (1975). “Update on Inflation of Journal Prices: Brandon-Hill List Journals and the Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishing Market.” JMLA, 2004, 92(3), p307-314.

Winston, Mark. “Educating Leaders: Challenges and Opportunities in Teaching Human Resources Management.”  IN: Simmons-Welburn, Janice and Beth McNeil, Eds. Human Resource Management in Today's Academic Library: Meeting Challenges and Creating Opportunities (Libraries Unlimited, 2004), p125-139.

Winston, Mark and Hoffman, Tara. “Project Management in Libraries.” Journal of Library Administration, 2005, 42(1), p51-61.

 

Faculty News

 

Adjunct professor Kenneth Carpenter is retired from the Harvard University Library and now engages fulltime in library history. Among his other projects, he played a major role in bringing to fruition the database, American Libraries Before 1876, which is now available at the website of the Davies Project at Princeton (http://www.princeton.edu/~davpro/).

 

In March, Assistant Professor Irina Lynden delivered a paper, “On Guard: American Librarians against Censorship during the Cold War and the War on Terrorism,” at the International Conference on Censorship and Access to Information (http://www.nlr.ru:8101/tus/160305/eng/) held at the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg. She also chaired one day’s section on “The Formation of the Information Society and the Problems of Censorship and Access to Information.”

 

Professor Yan Ma was on sabbatical leave in the fall. In March, she was appointed to an honorary professorship by the School of Information Resources and Management at Zhejiang University in China.

 

Cheryl McCarthy (1975) has been promoted to full professor.

 

Unsurprisingly, adjunct professor Mary MacDonald (1997) won tenure and was promoted to associate professor at the URI library this spring. With colleague and fellow GSLIS adjunct, Karen Ramsay (1977), she presented a poster session (“Perceptions and Attitudes of GSLIS Students Regarding Librarianship”) and facilitated a round table discussion group (“Technical Services is a Public Service!”) at the ACRL Conference in Minneapolis on April 9. With adjunct professor Joanna Burkhardt (1986), who heads the library at URI’s Providence campus, Professor MacDonald also facilitated an all-day workshop on information literacy for the ACRL Louisiana Chapter and LALINC Information Literacy Committee in January, and with Roger Williams University Library professor Barbara Kenney (1999), she presented a session on “Disengoogling” for the New England Faculty Development Consortium.

 

Adjunct professor Daniel P. O’Mahony received the 2005 "Documents to the People" Award, given by the American Library Association Government Documents Round Table to an individual, library, institution, or other non-commercial group that has most effectively encouraged the use of government documents in support of library service.

 

Adjunct professor Mark Winston served as a faculty member for the 2004 LAMA National Institute in November; his book, Leadership in the Library and Information Professions: Theory and Practice, triggered the selection of leadership as the theme for the institute. Also in November, the first New Jersey Diversity in Libraries conference was designed and structured around Professor Winston’s model of diversity in libraries; there he presented a paper, “The Library as a Reflection of Diversity in the Community: Staffing, Collections, Services, and Organizational Climate.”

 

The Special Libraries Association’s 2005 Rose L. Vormelker Award, given to “individual members in recognition of exceptional services to the profession of special librarianship in the area of mentoring students and/or practicing professionals in the field,” goes to adjunct professor Anthony Stankus. This is richly deserved; Tony is legendary for his generosity in advancing the careers of students and colleagues alike. Alex Caracuzzo (1993), president of the RI chapter of SLA, writes, “We look forward to a formal ceremony honoring Tony at the SLA Annual Conference in Toronto this summer. Congratulations and thank you, Tony!”

 

Legal Information Alert (September, 2004) cited Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual, by adjunct professor Kendall Svengalis, as one of the 20 top innovations in the field of legal information in the past 10 years. It was the only book cited in a list which included Google and search engines, blogs, KeyCite, Intranets, Legal Portals, Web sites, and Internet subscriptions, among others. Editor Donna Heroy wrote that “it has become a bible for law librarians who rely on it for honest advice about law books and how to spend their acquisition dollars more efficiently.” The 2005 edition will be out on June 1 in print, CD-ROM, and on LexisNexis. (See http://www.rilawpress.com/ for more information.)

 

Professor emerita Fay Zipkowitz has retired again, this time from the National Yiddish Book Center. The Czarina reports that she is still doing volunteer work there, as well as at the animal shelter and the synagogue; going to yoga and the gym; and cooking and baking in a new kitchen. “Life is good!”

Student News

 

Mathew Bose will be doing his professional field experience as an intern at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

Jennifer Simoneau, responding to a School Improvement Team's urgent call for GSLIS volunteers, created a state-of-the-art, research-based plan for the remodeling of the library media center at the Fogarty Memorial School in Glocester, RI. “It was an exciting opportunity to get involved,” says Jen. The team commends her excellent work.

Alumni News

 

Karl Beiser (1974), Library Systems Coordinator for the Maine State Library, gave a presentation on Maine’s InfoNET at the January 12 HELIN Conference. (Link to his PowerPoint presentation from the HELIN site, http://131.128.70.2/screens/fyiconference2005.html)

 

Danielle Bowker (2004) has been appointed director of the Middleborough (MA) Public Library, effective June, 2005.

 

Rowena Dunlap Burke (1989) starts a new position as children’s and young adult services librarian at the Jamestown Philomenian Library this spring.

 

Kyle Alesandra Cohen (2004), children’s librarian at the Edwards Public Library in Southampton, MA, has recently been awarded grants from the Hampshire Conservation District and the Southampton Cultural Council for children’s programming and book purchases.

 

Livia J. Giroux (1969), high school librarian and media center coordinator with the West Warwick Public Schools, retired in June, 2004. “While I approached retirement with mixed feelings,” she says, “I’ve quickly become a convert and recommend it to all who have served our wonderful profession.”

 

Diana Greene (1995), Slavic Librarian at NYU’s Bobst Library, is on sabbatical, doing aerobics and Qigong to slow down, and scheduled to give a paper at the British Association for Slavic and East European Studies conference in Cambridge in April.

 

Kathy Fitzgerald (1989), after ten years’ managing a branch of the Cambridge (MA) Public Library, is now the part-time young adult librarian at the Newport PL. This leaves time for research – and, since she and her husband published their well-reviewed America’ Founding Food, speaking engagements.

 

Richard W. Fitzgerald (1974), Director of the Jonathan Bourne Public Library (Bourne MA), is now supervising in a 7.5 million dollar renovation/addition project which will double the size of the existing facility.  He is working with the architectural firm of Lerner, Ladds, and Bartels (Providence, RI). He and his wife Judy are expecting their second grandchild in June of this year.

 

Sharon Heon (1994) presented an Interdisciplinary Unit at the NELMS (New England League of Middle Schools) annual conference in Providence, RI, in March.  Her collaborators on “Banned Books and the First Amendment” were Putnam Middle School art teacher Jane Fine and 8th-grade social studies teacher Patrick McCarthy. If you would like to share and discuss Banned Book Week programs, check out her PowerPoint presentation, available online at http://www.putnam.k12.ct.us/pms/index.html or e-mail her at heons@putnam.k12.ct.us.

 

Pete Kirlew (2003) is doing science reference work at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he took the initiative this fall to meet many of the science and engineering faculty and found opportunities to teach a few formal science library instruction sessions as well.  Currently he’s working on the core implementation team for Ex Libris' Metalib (federated searching), and he’s been asked by faculty to provide library database instruction for bioinformatics / genetics resources.

 

Nancy Libby (2003) participated in “I Read,” an Adult Reading program at Hanscom AFB Library (one requirement: to learn origami), and visited the Roger Williams Zoo with Nancy Barta Norton (2003).

 

Gretchen Lopez (2004) has accepted a new position in East Providence, shuttling between two elementary school media centers. She is “very busy,” but says, “Being in the same district where my girls go to school allows me to truly stay on top of new educational guidelines, curriculum, and community events.”

 

Alison Maxell (1993), who formerly provided support services to the Consortium of RI Academic and Research Libraries (CRIARL), has been appointed Executive Director of the Providence Athenaeum, effective March 1, 2005: http://www.lori.ri.gov/news/2005/athpr.pdf

 

Miriam S. McEwen (1973) is moving to a retirement village in Little Rock, Arkansas, to be near her daughter and family. They visited the Bill Clinton Library over Thanksgiving weekend (2004).

 

Jean (Shepard) McKillop (1993) is “still an information manager and purveyor. I'm an ISP (‘Internet Service Provider’) in downeast Maine, and webmaster / web designer / web host as well.”

 

Phil McWade (2004) is employed as a content manager and taxonomy specialist for OneSource Information Services, Inc. (www.onesource.com). OneSource Information Services integrates content from over 30 diverse providers—representing  2,500 separate information sources—into one powerful database for sales, marketing, finance, and management consulting professionals.

Aaron Nichols (2004) is a Public Services Librarian for the University of Wisconsin at Marinette:  providing reference services, teaching information literacy classes, managing all interlibrary loan operations, and serving on various decision-making committees.

Lucille Rosa (1980) has been elected to a three-year term as Armed Forces Director of the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table in ALA:

http://www.ala.org/ala/faflrt/faflrtofficers/officers.htm

 

After eight years as Head of Reference at Kearny (NJ) Public Library, Nancy J. Smith-George (1975) was named Supervising Librarian, Reference/Periodicals, at the Elizabeth (NJ) Free Public Library in 2004. “Dr. Schneider taught me well,” she reports.

 

Gina Giorgio Sollitto (1994) is now full-time collection development librarian at the North Providence Library, where she was a part-time reference librarian for 10 years. Her children are Gianna (9) and Vincent (7).

 

Patricia (Long) Vivari (1992) had a baby girl on 11/26/04—the day after Thanksgiving. “So my Beastie Boyz have a baby sister,” she says.

 

Janice Wilson (2003), now a full-time, tenure-track reference librarian at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, says, “I am superbly happy with my job.  It is an outstanding place to work.”

 

 

In Memoriam

Professor Emerita Patricia E. Jensen, who taught at GSLIS for 16 years and retired in 1994, died on December 11, 2004, at South Bay Manor in Peace Dale, RI. Dr. Jensen, a Maine native and 1950 graduate of Colby College, graduated summa cum laude from both the University of New Hampshire (with master’s degrees in elementary education and educational administration) and Southern Connecticut State College (with a master’s degree in library science), and received her doctorate from the University of Connecticut in 1983. Before joining the GSLIS faculty, she had taught at Moses Brown School in Providence for eight years, and pioneered in the development of school libraries and eventually an instructional media center in New Canaan, Connecticut. She was a charter member and past president of NEEMA, and a past president of NELA and CSLA; she was also an active member of AASL, RIEMA, and RILA.

At GSLIS, where she taught cataloging, headed the school library media program, and was an assistant to the director for the regional program, the Patricia E. Jensen Scholarship Fund has been established for New England students taking summer courses on campus. Students and colleagues will remember her fierce rectitude and dedication to the good of the School and the profession – and also her delighted snort when something too funny took her by surprise. She was sociable and productive in retirement. She remained active at St. Francis of Assisi Church, she played bridge – and she volunteered for South County Hospital, serving as president of its hospital Auxiliary and its Board of Directors, advocating for art in the hospital building, and even photographing the newborns. Her circles of friends widened, deepened, and intersected, and just as she had worked for students’ professional networking at GSLIS, she continued to promote the development of other people’s friendships in her retirement. She will be genuinely missed.

 

Rebecca E. Tildesley (1967) died Saturday, February 12, 2005. She was a librarian at Bristol High School, went to Roger Williams College Library in 1969, and retired in 1983 as director of the Library. In retirement, she chaired the Library Committee for the Nathan Bourne Crocker Library of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John in Providence. Her family respectfully requests that donations be made in her memory to the Library Endowed Book Fund at Roger Williams University.

 

Adjunct Professor Derryl R. (De) Johnson died Saturday, March 26, 2005, following a gallant struggle with cancer. President of the Rhode Island Library Association, De was a library consultant, former director of the Mohr Library in Johnston, RI, and was working on a Doctor of Arts at the Simmons. GSLIS students and graduates will remember as a guest speaker, an instructor, a Phonathon participant, and an active mentor. Energetic, downright, playful, endlessly curious and enthusiastic about new ideas, she was one of the liveliest people we knew. The RILA Board has established a scholarship fund in memory of De which will allow 4 library school students from both URI and Simmons to attend the RILA conference annually. Contributions may be sent to Janet Levesque, Cumberland Public Library, 1464 Diamond Hill Rd. Cumberland 02864

 

 

ONLINE GIVING

 

Did you know that online giving is now an option?  To give to the Annual Fund for the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, go to Give Online (http://advance.uri.edu/giveonline) and click on Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Fund.

 

 

URI FOUNDATION FUNDS SUPPORTING GSLIS

 

If you would like to provide financial support to the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, please consider giving to one of the following funds at the URI Foundation:

 

FUND NAME                                                                                                    AMOUNT

 

GSLIS Director’s Fund                                                                                                  _________

   General support for GSLIS

GSLIS Scholarship Endowment Fund                                                                           _________

   Support for GSLIS scholarships

Betty Fast Scholarship Endowment Fund                                                                     _________

Scholarships for school library media students

Elizabeth D. Futas Scholarship Endowment Fund                                                        _________

   Scholarships recognizing scholarship, leadership,

   and service in the spirit of Dr. Futas

Patricia E. Jensen Scholarship Fund (Fund 5950)                                                        _________

   Scholarships for summer New England regional students

Prism Scholarship Endowment Fund (Fund 4150)                                                        _________

   Scholarships for minority students

Stewart P. Schneider Scholarship Fund (Fund 3123)                                                   _________

   Scholarships for students interested in reference service

 

Please make checks payable to the URI Foundation and indicate which fund(s) you are supporting.

  


Keeping up with GSLIS news

Our GSLIS Newsletter will be posted to http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/, the new GSLIS website – where we will also post additional information between hard-copy newsletters.

 

Our School listservs are also important sources of news: GSLISSTU@pete.uri.edu, for students; 
GSLISREG@pete.uri.edu, for regional students; and URILISALUM@pete.uri.edu, for alumni.

 

If you are not currently subscribed to a list and would like to join, the process is easy. To join URILISALUM, for instance, send an email to listserv@pete.uri.edu (no subject needed). The message content of the email should be:


SUBscribe URILISALUM <your first and last name>. 

 

The GSLIS web site provides online forms that allow for automated enrollment in any of the listservs mentioned above:  http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/web/Resources/resources.htm#listserv

 

Keep in touch!

 

Gale Eaton,

University of Rhode Island GSLIS, Rodman Hall, 94 West Alumni Avenue, Kingston, RI  02881

geaton@mail.uri.edu.

GSLIS ALUMNI NEWS * GSLIS ALUMNI NEWS * GSLIS ALUMNI NEWS

 

Message to Students and Alumni:

We want to know what’s going on in your life. Career? Study? Travel? Family? Help us keep up to date! Please submit news about your recent activities for our next GSLIS Newsletter. You can use this form, or e-mail Gale Eaton, Chair, Student/Alumni Communications Committee <geaton@uri.edu>.

 

NAME ___________________________________ GRADUATION YEAR ___________

 

NEW ADDRESS ________________________________________________________

 

NEW PHONE ___________________  E-MAIL ________________________________

 

NEWS ________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

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Return to: GSLIS, University of Rhode Island, Rodman Hall, Kingston, RI  02881-0815

 

 

Graduate School of Library and Information Studies

The University of Rhode Island

Rodman Hall

Kingston, RI  02881-0815

 

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage PAID

Wakefield, RI

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