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It is with great sadness that we report the death of a beloved member of the Simmons GSLIS community, Allen Smith, Associate Dean and Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, who passed away on Saturday, August 2, 2008. |
In his life at Simmons, Allen’s contributions were many and his dedication
was great. Allen joined the GSLIS faculty in 1978, served as Associate Dean
from 2006 to 2007, and was recognized just this past spring for 30 years of
service to the College. He lectured in reference, humanities, oral history,
and computer programming, and was devoted to those he taught. To many of his
students, the words "bibliographic control" will forever live on in their memories,
despite the decades it has been since they sat in the seats of C101.
An integral
part of Simmons, he was fondly considered by many “the
parliamentarian of the GSLIS faculty.” One faculty member remembers him
by saying “He
loved Robert’s Rules.” Allen was also a member of the Simmons Breakfast
Club for the past 15 years, a group who had early morning coffee together in
the College Center.
Allen was highly accomplished professionally, having earned his Masters at
the University of Denver and his Ph.D. at the Institute of Dialect and Folklife
Studies, University of Leeds, England. He lectured at the College of Librarianship
in Aberystwyth, Wales, for nearly ten years prior to his time at Simmons.
His publications include Directory of oral history collections (1988) and
Catalogue of pre-revival Appalachian dulcimers (1983), as well as serving
as column editor of “Guide to the Professional Literature” in The
Journal of Academic Librarianship.
A man of many hats, Allen was a blacksmith (he put himself through graduate
school shoeing horses), a folklorist, a librarian, an author, and an expert
on the Appalachian dulcimer.
Our deepest sympathies are with the Smith family during this time. Information
regarding memorial services will be posted when it becomes available.
Simmons GSLIS recently received $955,694 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in support of its doctoral concentration in managerial leadership in the information professions. Matching funds from the College bring the grant total to $1.8 million.
Through the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, in 2008 IMLS awarded 31 institutions grants totaling $20.3 million. Simmons received the 7th largest grant of the year, competing against universities, state and city library systems, and research institutions. The Laura Bush program supports efforts to recruit and educate librarians and library sciences faculty. It also supports grants for research related to library education and library staffing needs, curriculum development, and continuing education and training.
Built upon a previously-funded project and spearheaded by GSLIS Professors Peter Hernon and Candy Schwartz, GSLIS will use the money to expand its already-successful Ph.D. concentration in managerial leadership in the information professions to include rising leaders in the public and state library arenas. (The original grant supported students from the academic library community.) The successful applicants will receive full tuition coverage and a travel stipend.
The expansion will give mid- to upper-level library managers access to preparation for senior-level leadership. The program will include face-to-face and online courses, research projects, and intensive interaction with library leaders acting as "professors of practice." Student products such as case studies, literature reviews, and issues briefs will be disseminated to influence Master's-level courses in library management and leadership.
The original Ph.D. concentration was founded in 2005 with a $780k grant from IMLS.
IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. To learn more about IMLS, visit www.imls.gov.
To learn more about the Simmons Ph.D. program, visit www.simmons.edu/gslis/academics/programs/doctoral/.
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The Summer issue of the Simmons GSLIS InfoLink is now available. The six-page issue is all about the unique and interesting libraries right here in Massachusetts. Who knew there was a library specifically dedicated to insurance! We also have an interview with visiting Fullbright Scholar, Gladys Saade. |
Read all about those stories and more by downloading the PDF; an online supplement, with additional content, is also available.
Want to know what is happening on the GSLIS campus? Thanks to a Tech Lab initiative called GSLIScast, you can hear podcasts of many Simmons events. Approximately 40 professional-sounding podcasts are available on the GSLIScast site, http://gslis.simmons.edu/podcast/, or in iTunes. A grant from the Pottruck Technology Resource Center funded the purchase of hardware and software, allowed them to hire a student to edit the podcasts, and paid to have some podcasts transcribed. A recent partnership with the Simmons Center for Academic Excellence means that all the podcasts will be transcribed and made accessible to people with hearing impairments. The podcasts will also be available through the Beatley Library catalog.
At the May 2008 Commencement ceremony, GSLIS presented four students with awards:
For more information, including details about both the awards and the recipients, please download the full PDF.
 |
Congratulations to GSLIS student Becky Robbins, who won the prestigious F. Gerald Ham Scholarship from the Society of American Archivists (SAA)! The scholarship was established in 1998 by long-time SAA member and past president F. Gerald Ham and his wife, Elsie. The scholarship fund |
provides financial support to graduate students in their second year of archival studies. Becky was selected from a large pool of applicants based on her outstanding academic performance in the archival program and her potential for contributing to the archives profession.
Becky began at GSLIS in Fall of 2007. She has completed internships at the Burns Library at Boston College and the Lesley University Archives. Becky originally wrote her winning essay for her Introduction to Archives class. The paper explored and analyzed the topic of postmodern theory within the archival literature in an attempt to understand how archivists' work shape the records they are preserving. In her essay, Becky aimed to demonstrate an ability to be both open-minded and critical in analyzing the literature. She added, "I also tried to, when possible, get at the practical considerations of what can be a very theoretical and abstract topic. It was an interesting exercise that brought up many more questions than answers!" After graduating from GSLIS in May 2009, Becky hopes to work in a university library as an archivist or special collections librarian.
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Jeannette Bastian, Associate Professor & Director of the GSLIS Archives Management Program, and Donna Webber, Simmons College Archivist and GSLIS adjunct faculty member, recently wrote Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students. Published by the Society of American Archivists, |
the book is a practical guide to archival internships. It aims to establish standards for successful internship experiences for students, supervising practitioners, and professors.
The full press release is available as a PDF (download).
 |
The April issue of the Simmons GSLIS InfoLink is now available. With a lead story on GSLIS Alumna Sarah Thomas (the first American and first woman to be chosen as the Bodleian Librarian at Oxford University), and a snapshot profile of Alumni Association President Margaret |
Cardello, this issues honors Simmons GSLIS alumni. There is also a feature on "GSLIScast," the GSLIS Podcasting project, as well as congratulations to recent award winners. Read all these stories and more by downloading the PDF; an online supplement, with additional content, is also available.
Associate Professor Robin Peek and Peter Suber, Research Professor of Philosophy
(at Earlham College), will soon launch a new wiki project called the Open Access
Directory (OAD). GSLIS has agreed to host the OAD, with an external editorial
board of international OA leaders overseeing the content. OAD is a wiki where
the OA community can create and support simple factual lists about OA, starting
with a over a half a dozen lists and adding more over time. Terry Plum, Assistant
Dean for Technology and Director, GSLIS West, is serving as Technology
Coordinator and Athanasia Pontika, GSLIS PhD student, serves as assistant
editor. The wiki will officially launch on May 1st at:
http://oad.simmons.edu
The full press release is available as a PDF (download).
GSLIS has announced the 2008 MLIP Cohort. They will begin their studies in May. Please join us in welcoming Maria Carpenter, Director of Advancement, Marketing, and Communications, Northeastern University Libraries; Jolie Graybill, Social and Behavioral Sciences Team Leader, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University; Jerome Offord, Jr., Director of Diversity Initiatives, Association of Research Libraries; Mary Piorun, Associate Director for Technology Initiatives and Resource Management, University of Massachusetts Medical School; Michele Reid, Director, Hoover Library, McDaniel College; and Gary Shaffer, Director of Marketing, Sacramento Public Library.
For their bios, as well as more information about the PhD concentration in
Managerial Leadership in the Information Professions, please see: www.simmons.edu/gslis/academics/
programs/doctoral/phdmlip/people/index.shtml.
Looking for Alumni news? Find it on Alumnet!
Robbins Named SAA Scholarship Recipient
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