MLIP Professor of Practice Named LJ Librarian of the Year
January 24, 2012
Congratulations to MLIP Professor of Practice Luis Herrera for being named Library Journal's 2012 Librarian of the Year. Herrera has been with the MLIP program since 2009 as a member of the board of advisors; he also teaches Managerial Leadership in Public Settings with Jan Sanders, Director, Department of Libraries and Information Services, City of Pasadena, CA. According to the January 2012 LJ article, Herrera was chosen not just because of his "ability to build strong and effective partnerships with other city departments while his unusual brand of courage let staff teams make major management and organizational changes and decisions," but also "because of his joyous spirit and infectious optimism about libraries and his willingness to communicate that that optimism to all those involved." Please see the full article at: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/01/managing-libraries/luis-herrera-ljs-2012-librarian-of-the-year/; for more about Herrera, please see http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/people/faculty/adjunct/3788.php.
Ph.D./LIS Competitive Funding Available
December 7, 2011
The Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science is pleased to announce competitive funding is now available for the Ph.D. program focused on library and information science (LIS). This funding opportunity will provide tuition support and a stipend for full-time doctoral students as well as tuition support for part-time students. The Ph.D./LIS program is a small, strong program composed of students who form a cohesive and collaborative cohort, and who will be nurtured from enrollment through to completion of the dissertation. Students emerge from the program prepared for lifelong activity in research, scholarship, teaching, and service. For more information about the Simmons GSLIS Ph.D. program, please see http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/academics/programs/doctoral/index.php.
GSLIS at the Occupy Boston Library
December 7, 2011
The Audre Lord to Howard Zinn Library at Occupy Boston is inside a U.S. Army surplus tent on the edge of the dozens of tents that make up the Dewey Square site. It's complete with a smoke hole to vent a woodstove, and when you peel open the flaps of the faded green canvas and walk inside, you half expect to see Hawkeye Pierce perched over his still, offering you a drink.
This tent, however, contains some 600 books displayed in stacks of wooden crates. Folding tables hold magazines, newspapers, tape, pens, and copies of the U.S. Constitution for the taking. A hanging shelf designed for sweaters offers Roget's Thesaurus, Webster's II, and The New York Public Library Desk Reference. A bulletin board calling for favorite information sources is full of suggestions: Radical Ref, socialistworker.org, Democracy Now. Power strips allow for multiple lights and laptops — the Occupy Boston wi-fi is open, of course — and a long piece of white lace hanging from the tent's peak is as a reminder of a library as a refined, genteel space.
"Even if people don't like what the Occupy movement is about, or don't understand it, there's a certain solidarity," says current GSLIS student Clare Davitt (who also happens to be the GSLIS Fellow for Dean's Initiatives). "They can say, ‘well, there's libraries! So it must be okay.' " The library was founded in early October by John Ford, owner of The Metacomet Bookstore in Plymouth, Mass., in collaboration with the Boston Radical Reference Collective (including Vered Meir '11LS and Heather McCann '07LS) and the Simmons Progressive Librarians Guild (including current students Bryce Healy, Joanna Breen, Kristen Parker and Davitt). The A to Z Library, as it's nicknamed, is one of many Occupy libraries, including the People's Library at Occupy Wall Street and libraries at Occupy Sacramento, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, and Maine, many of which catalog their collections through LibraryThing.
Tourists, visitors, and activists parade through Occupy Boston regularly. Today they include a nurse's demonstration just outside the library's door and an eighth-grade class from Belmont, Mass., that steps inside in groups of seven or eight to listen to someone from the media tent next door explain the setup. (Other themed tents include information, food, clothes, and sign-making.) The A to Z Library is open 24 hours a day, so librarian coverage varies. Books are circulated on the honor system; borrowers sign them out in a notebook. "We like it when they come back," Davitt says, "but we trust that if they don't, there's a good reason for it." The library recently received 15 books about anarchy; all were quickly borrowed and not one has come back.
The original inventory came from Ford's bookstore, but many donations have followed — enough, Davitt says, that they don't have room for it all, so they've set up free boxes where people can just take what they like. The collection is organized by GSLIS at the Occupy Boston Library subject, with the headings written on yellow stickies that fly from the crates. The predictable include communism/socialism, economics/consumerism, race/culture, gender, unions/labor, and "Papa Noam" [Chomksy, the linguist and activist]. Several copies of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine cram one crate, and the populist historian Howard Zinn, for whom the library is partly named, has his own section. Every movement needs roses as well as bread, though, so there are other perhaps less expected topics: poetry, art/DIY, classic fiction, and young adult literature.
Naturally, the library has a strong online presence, with associated websites and listservs [see below], partly so the organizers can communicate with each other. Aside from scheduling staffing, organizers discuss issues such as winterization plans and creating pathfinders about many topics, such as intellectual freedom and children's literature.
The online presence also allows those who can't get to the physical site to be involved. People can send questions to the general listserv; a recent example was a request for political children's book titles. Along those lines, the library has also hosted several storytimes for families under a donated pop-up tent so parents of small children to feel welcome at the site.
Given that police in other Occupy communities around the country have been arresting the inhabitants, the organizers have also been discussing what to do if local police become aggressive. Should their priority be to protect the collection by moving it to a safe place, or should they try to stand their ground? "What does that mean as a librarian?" Davitt asks in response. "As a librarian I am here because I think people should have books. But I'm also here because of my political beliefs." Where the line exists between the two isn't always clear, she says. "I have a car and would be happy to get stuff out of here. But I'd also like to link arms and stand."
Her professors have been supportive, Davitt says, and she's hoping the A to Z Library will encourage GSLIS to offer a class in library advocacy. "You have to advocate for your building, your tax payers, your users," she says. "We have to explain why libraries matter. I think people are getting better at it, and this helps."
Some links to the Occupy Boston library and others:
Occupy Boston Library:
http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Libraryhttp://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Library
Simmons PLG: http://gslis.simmons.edu/wikis/plg/Main_Page
Occupy Boston Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OccupyBoston
Radical Reference Collective Boston: http://radicalreference.info/localcollectives/boston
Most of the activity has moved onto the collective's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/170046570078/?ref=ts
LibraryThing's Occupy libraries blog: http://www.librarything.com/blogs/librarything/2011/10/occupy-libraries/
Article and photo by Sasha Nyary
Mosley Named BCALA Emerging Leader
December 6, 2011
Congratulations to GSLIS alum Derek Mosley '11LS, who has just been named an Emerging Leader by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). Mosley is currently serving as the Archivist and Assistant Director of the Ernest J. Gaines Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Please see the full press release at: http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/davis-mosley-named-bcala-emerging-leaders.
Pattee to Host Panel at Boston Book Festival
October 11, 2011
Associate Professor Amy Pattee will be hosting a panel entitled "YA Fiction: On the Edge" at the Boston Book Festival. The panel tackles controversial subjects and telling stories in unexpected and experimental ways, and includes graphic novelist Danica Novgorodoff (Refresh, Refresh), Ellen Levine, author of In Trouble, and Daniel Nayeri, author of Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow, a collection of novellas. The panel takes place on Saturday, October 15, at 12:30 p.m.
For more about Amy Pattee, please see http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/people/faculty/full-time/pattee.php; for more about the panel and the Boston Book Festival, please see http://www.bostonbookfest.org/bookfest/schedule_detail/schedule_ya_fiction_on_the_edge/.
Quezada Named 2011 Recipient of NELA's Greenaway Award
October 11, 2011
Congratulations to Adjunct Professor Shelley Quezada, who was named the 2011 recipient of the New England Library Association's Greenaway Award. The award was established in 1988 to recognize distinguished service in the field of librarianship. Quezada, a long-standing GSLIS adjunct who teaches "Literacy and Services to Underserved Populations: Issues and Responses" as well as in the youth services area, is the Consultant for the Underserved at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
For more about Quezada, please see: http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/people/faculty/adjunct/2402.php
Cloonan to Step Down as GSLIS Dean
September 21, 2011
Michèle Cloonan, dean of GSLIS, has announced that she will step down at the end of this academic year. Cloonan, who has served 10 years as dean, will continue her scholarly work at GSLIS as a researcher and professor, specializing in the preservation of cultural heritage and book trade history.
"GSLIS is truly a special place, not only because of its sterling and growing reputation, but also because of the wonderful faculty, students, staff, and illustrious alumni who continue to make the school shine," said Dean Cloonan. "I feel that with the School in such good standing, now is the right time for me to step down as dean."
The College plans to conduct a national search for her replacement.
Under her leadership, GSLIS has achieved great success. U.S.News & World Report ranked the program among the nation's top 10; it was the only small-to-midsize library and information science graduate program to make the top 10 list in its category.
During Cloonan's tenure at Simmons GSLIS, she:
- Instituted a Ph.D. program in managerial leadership in the information professions
- Established five new endowed scholarship funds, including the Allen Smith Visiting Scholars Endowed Program and the Endowed Fund for International Initiatives
- Received significant grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Library and Museum Services, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and several major foundations
- Built a nationally recognized Archives Program
- Achieved two successful reaccreditation reviews for the program
- Hired more than one dozen distinguished and highly respected faculty members
"Michèle has worked tirelessly during her highly successful deanship to help make Simmons Library and Information School one of the best in the country," said President Helen Drinan. "I am incredibly grateful for her effective leadership and long service to the GSLIS program and Simmons."
GSLIS Wins ASIS&T Student Chapter of the Year for 7th Time
September 19, 2011
For the seventh time since 2000, the Simmons GSLIS ASIS&T Student Chapter has won the Student Chapter of the Year award.
The announcement sent by ASIS&T cites a year of highly successful events, including talks by Peter Suber and Nicole Hennig, and a joint event with NEASIS&T that brought out students, faculty, staff, and NEASIS&T members from throughout the region. In addition to hosting, Simmons GSLIS podcasts each event, providing both the podcasts and supplementary materials on the GSLIScast website at: http://gslis.simmons.edu/podcasts/
On a day-to-day basis, the group is in contact with over 300 community members through a listserv, and the student leadership has created a virtual forum in which to conduct business. The group also has a longstanding close relationship with NEASIS&T, the local ASIS&T chapter, which this year received recognition as the ASIS&T Chapter of the Year. The relationship between the two outstanding groups has created a wonderful environment in which to exchange ideas and experiences between the learning and practicing communities, a benefit to students, practitioners, and faculty alike.
Congratulations Simmons GSLIS ASIS&T Student Chapter and NEASIS&T!
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position
September 16, 2011
Simmons GSLIS invites applicants and nominations for a full-time tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level to begin July 1, 2012.
We seek faculty in the area of information design and technology (e.g., database management, XML and metadata, information architecture, and other related areas) In addition to having research and teaching expertise in technology, experience with and knowledge of e-government, open source software, and system dynamics are highly desirable.
The deadline for application is November 1, 2011.
The position has been posted to the ASIST Job Placement site. Preliminary screening interviews will be conducted at the ASIST Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
Daras Named 2011 Roger K. Summit Scholarship Recipient
September 13, 2011
Congratulations to Simmons GSLIS student Justin Daras, who was named the 2011 recipient of the Roger K. Summit Scholarship from the DIALOG/ProQuest corporation. To see the announcement, please go to http://www.dialog.com/pressroom/2011/061211_justin_daras_scholarship_winner.shtml
The scholarship is awarded annually to a graduate student enrolled in an accredited library or information sciences program. Scholarship winners must demonstrate understanding of Dialog services, academic achievement, and interest in the field of electronic information services. The award was presented at this summer's SLA annual conference in Philadelphia.
Linda Dunn Article Published in KeyWords
September 6, 2011
For the July - September 2011 issue of KeyWords, the Bulletin of the American Indexing Society, GSLIS CE instructor Linda Dunn wrote the feature article "Ten Things I Learned Teaching a Workshop on Periodical/Database Indexing Online" about her experiences teaching at Simmons. "Thanks to a lot of help from the Simmons Continuing Ed staff, Kris Liberman and Stacy Reardon," she says in the article, "as well as a wonderful set of participants, teaching my first online workshop was a wonderful experience." With the permission of the American Society of Indexers, you can download the article here. Dunn will be teaching the workshop again in October.
Hannah Gomez named YALSA's 2011 Spectrum Scholar
August 31, 2011
The Young Adult Library Services Association chose incoming GSLIS student Hannah Gomez as the 2011-2012 Spectrum Scholar. Read more about Hannah here.
GSLIS Welcomes Fulbright Scholar
August 17, 2011
GSLIS is pleased to welcome Fulbright Scholar Dr. Olga Kulikova, who will be spending six months at Simmons beginning in September. She is the Assistant Director at the Bryansk Regional Scientific Universal Library; Bryansk is located 235 miles southeast of Moscow, and is about 75 miles from the borders of Belarus and the Ukraine.
She has published numerous papers, many focusing on interaction of libraries in the border states neighboring the Bryansk region, and on the professional development and training of librarians. Her Fulbright project will look at developing a continuing education system for librarians. She hopes to study CE in a wide range of libraries, not just academic, learning about training methods, delivery methods, and to understand why librarians participate in CE when there are no mandated standards or requirements for doing so. She also will look at the effect of professional development on librarians in their libraries and institutions. She is interested in library science education and hopes to learn from GSLIS.
GSLIS student awarded NELA Scholarship
August 10, 2011
GSLIS student Amanda Webb-Trujillo has been awarded a scholarship from the New England Library Association. She is a 2011 scholarship recipient and will be honored at the NELA conference in the fall. Amanda was also selected as a 2010 Spectrum scholar by the American Library Association.
GSLIS to Host AERI
June 29, 2011
The third Archives Education and Research Institute (AERI) will be hosted by GSLIS and held at Simmons from July 11-15, 2011. AERI, a week-long summer institute, brings together archival faculty and archival doctoral students, nationally and internationally for a series of workshops, mentoring and research sessions and plenary presentations. Speakers include David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States. A pre-conference focusing on Digital Curriculum Laboratories for Archives and Preservation education will be held at Simmons on July 9-10. For more information please contact Dr. Jeannette Bastian at bastian@simmons.edu or go to the AERI website at http://aeri.gseis.ucla.edu/
Wisser Receives IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Program Grant
June 29, 2011
Congratulations to Simmons College GSLIS Assistant Professor Katherine Wisser, who has just been awarded an IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant in the amount of $123,436 for an Early Career Development project. Using social network analysis, Wisser seeks to explore the connections among some American literary figures as revealed by manuscript finding aids that can be leveraged using the new descriptive standard, "Encoded Archival Context - Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF)". The project will result in recommendations for best practices in archival description.
Wisser joined the Simmons GSLIS faculty in 2009. She currently serves as the Co-Director of the Archives/History Dual Degree program and the Director of the Archives Post-Master's Certificate program; she teaches in the areas of Archives, Information Organization, and Metadata. She earned her master's degree in library and information science in 2000, and her Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She also holds a master's degree in early American history from the University of New Hampshire. While in North Carolina, Wisser spent five years as the Metadata Coordinator for NC ECHO, a statewide program that encourages and supports use of appropriate metadata by member institutions to ensure online access to cultural heritage information facilitation, workshop instruction and individual institutional consultation. Her full bio can be seen at: http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/people/faculty/full-time/1792.php. For more information on the Simmons Archives Management concentration, please see http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/academics/programs/ms/index.php. The IMLS press release can be found at http://www.imls.gov/news/2011/062111a_list.shtm#MA.
LJ.com Features GSLIS Adjunct/Alums
June 27, 2011
The June 15, 2011, issue of LJ.com featured GSLIS Adjunct Professor Shelley Quezada, along with two alums -- Joshua Jackson and GSLIS West alum Anna Gancarz -- in the feature article, "The Problem Is Not the Homeless." Please see the article at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/ljinprintcurrentissue/890752-403/the_problem_is_not_the.html.csp
GSLIS Seeks Tenure Track Faculty Member
June 21, 2011
The Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College is currently seeking a tenure track faculty member in the area of reference and user services. Interested applicants please see the detail of the job description below (PDF document). The deadline of application is August 15, 2011.
Allen Smith Visiting Scholars Program
June 15, 2011
GSLIS is pleased to invite proposals for participation in the Allen Smith Visiting Scholars Program, which honors the memory of distinguished teacher and scholar Allen Smith.
Allen Smith Visiting Scholars are expected to be distinguished practitioners, educators, or researchers renowned for their work in reference, oral history, or the study of librarianship and information service in the humanities. Opportunities include semester-long visiting professorships, shorter-term lectureships, or presentation in an annual lecture series. The program provides support for transportation, honorarium, and related expenses depending on the nature of participation, and is open to scholars worldwide.
Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a proposed time frame and agenda of activities, and a statement outlining the applicant's qualifications and the benefits the applicant would bring to the Simmons community. There is no deadline, except that proposals for semester-long visiting professorships should be submitted at least a year in advance of the proposed semester.
For more information, please contact Professor Candy Schwartz, candy.schwartz@simmons.edu.
To learn more about our esteemed colleague and friend Allen Smith, see http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/news/news/2008.php#news874 and the wiki "Allen Smith Quotations," http://gslis.simmons.edu/wikis/dwiggins/Allen_Smith_Quotations.
GSLIS Commencement Award Winners
May 9, 2011
GSLIS is pleased to announce this year's Commencement Student Award winners. The recipients were selected by the GSLIS full-time faculty; the graduating students will be acknowledged after the last faculty meeting of the year and their names will appear in the 2011 Commencement Program. They will also be profiled in the summer issue of the Infolink.
The recipients are: Emily C. Sypole, The Daniel Fleming Outstanding Student School Library Teacher Award; Alexis Walters Wright, GSLIS Western Campus Leadership Award; Caitlin Maloney Pereira, Estelle Jussim Award for the Visual Arts; Kevin William French, The Kenneth R. Shaffer Outstanding Achievement Award; Mark Daniel McMahon, The Student Chapter of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.
GSLIS in The Boston Globe
April 20, 2011
GSLIS was featured in The Boston Globe, Saturday, April 16, 2011. The article "Checking out the Future," focuses on technology libraries and in GSLIS courses. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2011/04/16/checking__out_the_future/
GSLIS Student Wins Award for Distinguished Civic Engagement
April 20, 2011
GSLIS Student Ellen Chu won a 2010 - 2011 Distinguished Civic Engagement Graduate Student Award, awarded by the Simmons College Scott/Ross Center for Community Service. Chu was selected for her outstanding work with the Boston Teachers Union Library, one of the Scott/ Ross Center community partners. She will be honored in May in a ceremony on campus. The Distinguished Civic Engagement Graduate Student award recognizes graduate students who demonstrate strong dedication and commitment toward the Scott/Ross Center community partners. The recipients are recognized for their work to build strong community partnerships and are graduate students who go "above and beyond" in fulfilling their service role while offering creativity and initiative toward their service project.
Agarwal Featured in "Talk Sikkim"
March 30, 2011
Assistant Professor Naresh Agarwal was featured in the March 2011 issue of the monthly news magazine, Talk Sikkim. The article, "A Brilliant Mind," is part of a series of profiles aimed to inspire the youth of Sikkim. Talk Sikkim has a readership of over 20,000 and is popular in Sikkim and North Bengal, India.