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With a new academic year upon us, I would like to acknowledge and celebrate recent Dominican Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) events and accomplishments. These past several months saw a flurry of activity with the addition of new faculty and new achievements by continuing faculty, a slew of dynamic program offerings, and various student-sponsored enterprises.
As our program gears up for its spring accreditation review next year, we are happy to report that the school is buzzing with energy. To support the development of a rich and nurturing learning community where students, alumnae/i, faculty, speakers and great ideas come together, this fall we will launch our new seminar series - Educating Library Leaders for the 21st Century (ELL21). Our hope is that this series serves to educate, motivate and inspire the LIS student and experienced professional alike.
As part of Dominican's GSLIS community we invite you to take note of our activities and the many events we have planned for the coming year. We look forward to continued vitality and growth and value your support.
Sincerely,
Susan Roman, Dean
Dominican University
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
DU GSLIS Students Kelly Reiss and Lisa Schoblasky in a photo from their MySpace page.
Two Dominican library students in the GSLIS Research Methods course taught by Kate Williams came close to winning a Chicagowide contest for the best MySpace page this spring. Kelly Reiss and Lisa Schoblasky created the page Library MySpace Study as part of their research on how libraries use the social networking tool. Classmates O'Dell and Garrett mobilized to bring attention to the page and the competition. Though Reiss and Schoblasky stopped shy of taking the contest, we couldn't be more proud of their hard work and ingenuity.
For more information on the results of the contest, visit the Chicago Tribune.
Ed Valauskas addresses the audience during 2007 Follett Lecture.
In early spring, Follett Chair Ed Valauskas presented the talk "The Library is Dead: Long Live the Library" as the annual Follett Lecture. He addressed the changing role of libraries in today's technological society.
Valauskas contended that the modern library is less about place and space and more about customized services and personalized attention to patrons' information needs. Valauskas' lively lecture considered everything from how librarians are being driven to work in both real and virtual spaces to meet the needs of widely diverse clientele, to the future of library services in a southern Louisiana town that lost its library after Katrina.
Valauskas was the second holder of Dominican University's Follett Chair in Library and Information Science, one of only four such chairs in the country. The chair is endowed through a gift from the Follett Corporation, a leading provider of education solutions, services and products that empower schools, libraries, students and lifelong learners.
Valauskas held the Follett Chair from 2004 to 2007. He has now accepted a post as a full-time faculty member at GSLIS. Valauskas also is chief editor of First Monday, one of the first openly accessible, peer-reviewed journals on the Internet. In addition, Valauskas is an author and editor of several books related to the Internet and computing, including The Internet for Teachers and School Media Specialists, and Internet Initiative: Libraries Providing Internet Services and How They Plan, Pay and Manage. Valauskas has served as assistant director of the library for the Charles E. Merriam Center for Public Administration at the University of Chicago, and head of public services for library and information services at the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory in Texas.
Lazerow Lecture
For the annual Lazerow Lecture in April, Brian Kenney, editor-in-chief of School Library Journal (SLJ) presented "Does Print Still Matter," a thought provoking thesis on how print - especially books - may or may not fit into the rapidly changing information ecology and in the lives of young people. Kenney reflected on how many media companies are attempting to shift their print products entirely online and how virtual communities such as MySpace® and Second Life® have emerged as important social networks.
Before joining SLJ, Brian was an executive editor at Library Journal and - for nearly 20 years - a public librarian in New York City. Brian received his MLS when he was 23 and is completing doctoral work in information science at the University of North Texas. Dominican University is among a select number of graduate schools of library and information science that have received the annual Lazerow lectureship award from ISI® (now Thomson Scientific). The lecture honors the memory of Samuel Lazerow, an eminent library administrator and pioneer in the use of electronic information systems.
The GSLIS Alumni Council presented the 10th Annual Career Day "Fitting the Pieces Together." Not even the threat of snow could keep away LIS students, newly minted librarians, and veterans in the field as they listened to a roster of speakers who included: Sarah Ann Long, director of the North Suburban Library System; Dorothy Ragsdale, then director of human resources at the American Library Association; Ellen Keith, reference service coordinator at Johns Hopkins University's Eisenhower Library; Barbara Perry, library media specialist at Maercker School; Judy Eckoff, international resources project coordinator at the Center for Research Libraries; and Jenny Levine, blogger and Internet development specialist and strategy guide at the American Library Association.
This spring the Metropolitan Library System and GSLIS co-sponsored "Shape Shifters and Change Masters: Librarians' Professional Identity and Image In the 21st Century" a dynamic, one-day conference spanning such topics as librarians' image, personal branding, and reinventing a stalled career. The conference featured writer and director Ann Seidl, who previewed clips from her film, The Hollywood Librarian, the first feature length documentary to examine on-screen images of librarians and library workers in the media.
Other prominent speakers included the library consultant Peggy Barber, Urban Library Council's Veronda Pitchford, ALA's Jenifer Grady and Lorelle Swader, Alumni Christopher Stewart of the Illinois Institute for Technology and Christina Stoll of the Metropolitan Library System. The workshop was underwritten by a LSTA "Train the Trainer" grant from the Illinois State Library.
"How are local communities entering the digital age?" was the central question of this spring's eChicago symposium convened by community informatics assistant professor, Kate Williams. The conference investigated what local residents and community-based organizations are doing with computers and the Internet and whether communities are stronger as a result. Doug Schuler, key founder of the pioneering Seattle Community Network, served as the morning keynote as the day gave way to demonstrations and discussions featuring a host of leading information science researchers, community online network developers and librarians.
Nearly 80 attendees pondered the challenge and necessity of digital inclusion for even the most economically segregated communities through vigorous dialogue, colorful debate, and poignant reflections with discussion continuing well past the symposium's completion. When queried about whether there would be an audience for the second installment of the eChicago Symposium, attendees responded enthusiastically. Stay tuned for information regarding the Second Annual eChicago Symposium scheduled for early April 2008.
Jane Burke (left) with Dean Susan Roman at June 2007 Commencement Ceremonies.
GSLIS named Jane Burke as its 2007 Outstanding Alumna during its June graduation festivities. Burke, a former resident of Naperville and a graduate of Naperville Central High School, is a 1970 alumna of GSLIS and was selected in recognition of her outstanding leadership, entrepreneurship and service to her profession.
Burke is vice president of ProQuest Information and Learning, and general manager of Serials Solutions, a Seattle-based business acquired by ProQuest in 2004. She co-founded Endeavor Information Systems, a library automation company, in 1994 and served as its president and CEO. Under her direction, the company grew to $25 million in sales before it was sold to Reed Elsevier in 2000.
Earlier in her career, Burke was a librarian at Cook Memorial Library in Libertyville, IL and served as president of NOTIS Systems, a technology transfer venture of Northwestern University. She currently serves on the board of governors for the Northwestern University Library and on the advisory board for Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science. In 2001 Burke was inducted into the Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame recognition of her success with Endeavor Information Systems.
The GSLIS program is up for re-accreditation in 2008. GSLIS is and continues to be fully accredited by the American Library Association. The dates for the campus visit of the External Review Panel of the Committee on Accreditation (COA) have been set for March 31 and April 1, 2008. Faculty members, along with alumnae/i, current students in LISSA, and staff members, have been involved in teams working on portions of the presentation. Associate Professor Karen Brown is the overall editor for the document. Stay tuned for more about the program presentation and the COA visit throughout the year.
After more than 75 years in existence, Dominican GSLIS, currently the third largest library school in the country, is considering expanding its program to the doctoral level. Though there has been increasing demand for a LIS doctoral program in the Chicago metro area, Dominican GSLIS faculty and administration is actively seeking out the opinions of local LIS leaders and alumni about whether a new LIS PhD program at Dominican is sustainable; what areas of focus it should have to fill existing leadership, research, and practitioner expertise gaps; curriculum ideas; how the program might be constructed to support and strengthen the existing MLIS program; and how to meet both prospective student need for flexibility and institutional expectations for excellence, etc.
To that end GSLIS has retained Peggy Barber and Linda Wallace of Library Communication Strategies to complete a feasibility study including a general and alumnae/i survey. To ensure that your thoughts are captured, please contact gslis@dom.edu and request that a survey be sent to you. Also be sure to mention your relationship to the GSLIS program (i.e., alumnae/i, current student, non-alumnae/i librarian, etc.)
Dominican GSLIS's National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services - for research on the impact of public library summer reading programs on student achievement - enters its second year of activity this fall. Johns Hopkins' Center for Summer Learning, the Colorado State Library and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission are partners on this grant. The grant will compare the reading and comprehension test scores of grade school students who participated in public library sponsored summer reading programs and those who did not, to analyze the impact of such programs on the acquisition and retention of critical literacy skills.
This fall Dominican Graduate School of Library and Information Science kicked off a new seminar series, Emerging Library Leaders for the 21st Century (ELL21), designed to connect GSLIS students, alumnae/i, and LIS professionals working in Greater Chicago with some of the best thinkers, practices, and ideas in the field. The lectures are slated for the following Monday evenings in 2007: Oct. 8, Oct. 22, Nov. 5, Nov. 19, and Dec. 3, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in Crown Library's Springer Suites. For more information on speakers and topics, watch the GSLIS website.
This fall, Donald Adcock joins the full-time faculty and will also be the director of the School Library Media Program (SLMP). Adcock previously served as coordinator of student placement for SLMP. An experienced school library media director, Adcock is known in Illinois and throughout the country as a specialist in this area.
Faculty member Marjorie E. Bloss gave two presentations at the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) on March 20. The first was on "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)" and the second was on "Resource Description and Access, RDA." RDA is the cataloging code that will supersede AACR2 in early 2009. In addition to her position on the GSLIS faculty, Bloss is also the project manager for RDA. The April 2007 issue of the ALCTS Newsletter Online, ANO, contains an article by Bloss describing her role as project manager for RDA.
Professor Bill Crowley presented "Don't Let Google and the Pennypinchers Get You Down: Libraries and Librarianship in the Age of Technology" at the British Columbia Library Association's Annual Conference Beyond 20/20: Envisioning the Future, held April 19 to 21, 2007 in Burnaby, BC
American Libraries featured an essay by Assistant Dean Tracie Hall entitled "Race and Place: A Personal Account of Unequal Access" as its feature article in the February 2007 edition of the magazine. Hall also served as a keynote speaker in the Hartford Public Library's "Big Read" series of events around Zora Neale Hurston's masterwork Their Eyes Were Watching God. In June, Hall presented a talk "Candy Canes and Tire Tracks: Going Beyond Drive-by Diversity in America's Libraries" for the Westchester County Library System in New York.
Steven L. Herb is the 2007-2008 Follett Chair. He is the head of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Library at The Pennsylvania State University. His areas of expertise are in academic libraries, children's services in public libraries, intellectual freedom, and research in reading and early childhood education. He also is the director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book where he developed an interactive literary map for the state. An active member of the American Library Association, Herb has chaired the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and served as president of the Association for Library Service to Children among other appointments.
Professor Gertrude Koh was the recipient of a Dominican University Faculty Grant for Summer 2007 for the undertaking of her proposed study, "Capturing Intended Messages of Subject Headings: A Model for Ontological Paths."
Associate Professor Kate Marek, the recipient of several Dominican University teaching awards, has been awarded full tenure. Marek has a master's degree in library science from Dominican University and a doctoral degree from Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management.
Dean Susan Roman was recently elected to the American Library Association (ALA) Council, the policy-making body of the ALA for a three year term, 2007-2010. Additionally, Roman was selected to serve on the 2007 review panel for the National Endowment for the Arts "The Big Read" initiative. Roman also has been nominated to the planning committee for the "Democracy at Risk" summit to be held at the Library of Congress in 2008.
Last spring, Alexis Sarkisian, GSLIS School Library Media clinical practicum program coordinator, conducted a workshop for the American Library Association's Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) at the Rochester Regional Library System in Rochester, NY. The title of the workshop was "Image Is Everything." Over 75 multi-type librarians and library directors were in attendance. In May, Sarkisian spoke at a Borders Bookstore in Wilmette about the Role of School Library Media Specialists for their Educators Day on May 1.
Faculty member Ed Valauskas participated in the conference "Designing Cyberinfrastructure for Collaboration and Innovation," held at the National Academy of Sciences, in Washington, D.C. Papers from the conference will be published in a special issue of First Monday in May 2007. Valauskas was also an invited speaker at an interdisciplinary international conference on Intellectual Property Rights and Creative Activity in Madrid, Spain in May that was sponsored by the Fundacion Juan Urrutia. Additionally, Valauskas' publication "Trends in Internet Scholarly Publishing in 2006" (co-authored with Nancy R. John of the University of Illinois, Chicago) appeared in the Bowker Annual 2007. Although his tenure as Follett Chair has concluded, Valauskas will continue at Dominican as faculty.
Diane Velasquez joins the faculty as assistant professor this fall. Velasquez successfully defended her PhD this summer at the University of Missouri. She has an MBA and has been in the corporate world for many years. Velasquez has experience working in collection development in public libraries. Her areas of specialty are in management and reference services.
And finally, kudos to faculty members: Janice Del Negro, Debra Mitts-Smith, and Michael Stephens who successfully defended their dissertations.
Dawn Bussey left her post as River Forest Public Library director to become director of the Glen Ellyn Public Library.
Recent graduate Alan Jacobson wears multiple hats as a fiction, audio visual, and young adult librarian at Oak Park Public Library.
Terry Tikovitsch is now director of the Barlow Memorial Library in Iowa Falls, IA. Before moving to Iowa Falls, Tikovitsch worked for Robert Morris College, directing two of their campus libraries and for the Chicago Public Library.
Feng-Hua Wang is now information resource officer for Southern Africa and headquartered at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa
On October 17, 2007 GSLIS will host author and pundit Stephanie Mills as she presents the annual McCusker Lecture "Matter and Energy: A Luddite Looks at Libraries." Mills' articles, essays and reviews have appeared in a variety of publications from Sierra to Glamour. She is the author of Epicurean Simplicity, In Service of the Wild: Restoring and Reinhabiting Damaged Land, and Whatever Happened to Ecology? She is also the editor of Turning Away From Technology and In Praise of Nature. The evening lecture is free and open to the public; contact the GSLIS office at (708) 524-6845 or gslis@dom.edu to RSVP your attendance
Dominican GSLIS alumnae/i and current students are encouraged to share your news in future editions of Off the Shelf. Contact Tracie D. Hall at thall@dominican.edu with recent accomplishments, new jobs, career changes or life events.
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