The University of South Florida Student Organizations of Library and Information Science (SOLIS) is accepting applications for the First Annual Professional Conference Scholarships!

Applications will be accepted from March 7th, 2011 – March 21st, 2011 for the following professional conference organizations:

• American Library Association (ALA, http://www.ala.org/)

• Special Library Association (SLA, www.sla.org)

• Florida Library Association (FLA, http://www.flalib.org/)

Students are limited to one national and one state Professional Conference Scholarship award over the course of their USF School of information graduate program studies.

Awards: One scholarship will be available per year for each annual conference. The scholarship award amounts are based on the annual conference:

• ALA and SLA: $1500

• FLA: $200

Funding for the USF SOLIS Professional Conference Scholarships is generously provided by the USF School of Information.

Requirements: Scholarship applicants are required to:

·   be members of SOLIS.

·   include proof of membership in the professional organization for the conference they are attending.

·   be a student at the time of the conference. This is determined based on the date of the student’s graduation ceremony.

·   Winning applicants must write a blog article and lead a brown bag or after-dark lecture discussing their conference experience.

Application Process:

Applications will be collected via SurveyMonkey. Please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GDJV8D8 to apply.

The survey will function as the official application for all three conference scholarships. Applicants may return to previous questions and modify responses until the survey is submitted or exited. For each scholarship, the applicant who meets all scholarship requirements and has accumulated the most points for participation and service activities will receive the scholarship award. Please note that scholarship points are retroactive, beginning August 2010. Any activities before August 2010 will NOT be considered for this award. The applications will be reviewed on March 23rd, 2011. Students may be asked to verify information submitted in their applications. The results will be posted on the SOLIS Blackboard announcements, website, and blog. Award winners will also be contacted via e-mail by the scholarship committee.

For questions regarding SOLIS membership, contact us at slisstudentorgs@usf.edu. Questions regarding the Professional Conference Scholarships should be directed to the Scholarship Committee Chair at jrdavis2@mail.usf.edu. Thank you!

The USF ALA Student Chapter of the Year nomination form was submitted last Friday. The Student Chapter of the Year Award is presented by the ALA’s New Members Round Table (NMRT) in recognition of a chapter’s outstanding contributions to the American Library Association, their school, and the profession. The purpose of the award is to increase student involvement in ALA through student chapters, and to recognize future leaders in the profession. This is the first time in the history of the USF student chapter that we have submitted a nomination form for this award.

The application included details of our 500% increase in total members for our student chapter since June 1st, 2010. We also increased the frequency and/or numbers in our Socials, After-Dark Lectures, and Brown Bag programs. The first Professional Association Membership Scholarships were distributed over the fall. We will give out the first Professional Conference Scholarships in the spring.

You can download our nomination form by clicking here. The ALA / NMRT Student Chapter of the Year Committee will announce the winner by March 31st.

The ALA student chapter would like to thank all of the members who participated and lead the improvements seen over the last year, which are detailed in this nomination form.

Last Wednesday, we started our After-Dark Series for the Spring semester at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute. Assistant Librarian, Claudia Dold, spoke to the students about the mission of the library and gave them a little background of the director of the library, Ardis Hanson.

She also discussed the importance of networking and joining professional associations. Ms. Dold did say that just joining a professional association was not enough; you should also be active in the organization. For example, Claudia is the treasurer for the Florida and Caribbean Regional Conference.

Ms. Dold reviewed her own interview process in receiving the position at FMHI  and what she believes academic librarians are looking for in their job candidates. The meeting ended with a tour of the library and counting the number of bathrooms in odd locations contained within. She explained that the  library was at one time a mental health dormitory.

The next After-Dark Lecture will be on February 2, 2011, at the John F. Germany Public Library. Andrew Breidenbaugh, Chief Librarian for the Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library, will discuss the path to his current position, along with the different history and art collections in the library, and his take on the future of public librarianship.

Christine Wigfall Morris, Clearwater Library System’s first African American Librarian at the North Greenwood Branch, returned to her roots Friday, November 18 for a community reception and signings of her new book “Christine Wigfall Morris: Stories of Family, Community and History. The stories highlights Morris’ 33-year career as the first African American Librarian in the Clearwater Community and more than100 years of Wigfall FamilyHistory in Clearwater.

In July of 1949, the City of Clearwater hired Morris as a Librarian. Prior to working for the City, she had never been in a public library since local segregation practices did not encourage African Americans to visit public libraries.

In April of 1950, under the guidance of Morris, a new era in public library services began in Clearwater with the opening of a facility designated as the “Negro Library.” The library was located in a storefront at the corner Pennsylvania Avenue and Cedar Streets, now Palmetto Street. A  new library was built in 1962 at the corner of Holt Avenue and Palmetto Street. The name was changed to the Clearwater Northeast Library Branch.

During her years as Librarian, Mrs. Morris enlightened countless minds, both young and old. She implemented a voter registration program at the library, began a tutorial program for residents preparing for the high school equivalency exams, and started a summer program for children featuring storytelling, movies and puppet shows. Mrs. Morris began an annual arts and crafts festival in addition to establishing the African American Collection. Her gentle prodding encouraged many reluctant young readers to visit the library and choose a book.

In January 1983, “Miss Chris” as she is known to many, retired after 33 years of service to the Clearwater Public Library System. On the occasion of her retirement, the Clearwater Sun newspaper noted that she had “touched the lives of thousands of Clearwater children and adults. She has been quietly magnificent.”

In 2003, the Clearwater City Commission chose to honor “Miss Chris” as she was known, for her years of service to the Clearwater Public Library System and her impact on the youth of Clearwater by naming the Africa American Collections of the North Greenwood Library Branch the Christine Wigfall African American Collection.

For More Information Contact: Mary Frances Kirkpatrick 727-939-1616 mfk@mail.usf.edu

There are two issues which became apparent after the close of the application period that the scholarship committee is committed to correcting for future scholarship offerings:

1) The application period was too short. Quite a few students sent requests for information about the scholarships after the application deadline. Future application periods will be larger to allow for questions and busy schedules.

2) Students were not fully aware of the scholarship requirements. To be considered for the award, the applicant was required to be a member of the student organizations, in addition to being a USF student pursing an MLIS. Unfortunately, the scholarship committee was forced to disqualify otherwise stellar candidates. In the future, information about the scholarship requirements will be more prominently displayed in all communications relating to the scholarship. If you are not a member of the student organizations, please send an e-mail to slisstudentorgs@usf.edu to request information.

A Brown Bag meeting is being planned for the spring 2011 semester about library science scholarship opportunities. If you are unable to attend a Brown Bag in person or via Illuminate at the time of the meeting, you can access recorded Brown Bags for free at: http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/usf-school-library-information/id384534238. Please check the student organizations website and Facebook page for information about this and other opportunities and activities.

Fall 2010 Award Winners:

ALA East Coast Scholarship: Rebecca Guillen

SLA East Coast Scholarship: Ursula Ziegler

ALA West Coast Scholarship: Susan Marhevko

ASIS&T West Coast Scholarship: Sara Nelson

FAME West Coast Scholarship: Alicia Long

FLA West Coast Scholarship: Katherine Gage

SLA West Coast Scholarship: Denise “Vickie” Toranzo Zacker

Congratulations! Award winners will be contacted with details within the next week. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Scholarship Committee Chair Jessica Davis at jrdavis2@mail.usf.edu.

Sylvia Martinez, Vice President of the ALA Student Chapter at USF, works the booth.

Eight students and members of the School of Information and Student Organizations took to sunny St. Petersburg, FL on Saturday to spread the word of literacy at the 16th Annual Festival of Reading. Staffing the University of South Florida Library and School of Information booth, the students provided reading related crafts to children, answered questions about the School of Information’s programs of study and mingled with national and local authors, politicians and other literary peoples. The booth, headed by ASIS&T Vice-President Brittany Deputy, received over 250 walk up participants, some of which walked away with wonderful USF:SI tote bags for answering literary questions! When not working the booth, the students had the opportunity to listen in on author talks by R.L. Stine and Pat Duggins, attend book signings and peruse one of a kind exhibits like the gory zombie mob. Students also met with other local librarians, such as those from the St. Petersburg Public Library and Danny O’Neal from the Shimberg Library and even had the opportunity to talk with Mayor Pam Iorio! It was a long day but the festival was a success and tons of fun for those in attendance on either side of the booth.

Brittany Deputy and author R.L. Stine at the Festival of Reading.

A special thanks to Sylvia Martinez, Alice Graves, Brittany Deputy, Victoria Schwartz, Adonis Amparo, Bill Harris, Krystal Bullers, Jenny Drake, Joy Scholing and Jeffery Austin for all their hard work and commitment to making the Festival of Reading a great success and fun for everyone.

More photos available here.

- Brittany

The After-Dark Lecture Series had our first panel discussion of they year regarding a very important topic for students in our program. The panel topic for the evening was on job skills required for new librarians in the workforce. The program was a huge success. Our speakers included Jacqueline Rose (Polk County Senior Coordinator of Library Media Services), Jessica Riggins (Immediate Past President SIS), Susan Oliver (Chief Librarian Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library), and Susan Ariew (USF Tampa Campus Librarian). The panel gave a brief overview of their background and how they ended up in their current position. They also spoke about different characteristics libraries look for in candidates including experience, leadership, and energy. The four librarians took questions from the assembled students on topics like giving references and salary negotiations. All of the panelists agreed on the tough environment for finding an available job in the current economy. They did mention the value of volunteering or work study in getting an advantage over other candidates.

Approximately 35 students attended the program. This was the highest number of students who have attended our After-Dark Lecture Series. Students who are members of the student organizations can hear a recorded version of the discussion on Blackboard in the Student Organizations section in Elluminate.

Our next after dark lecture speaker is Betsy King from CAE USA Inc.  She will give a brief overview of her career and job duties in a training center for cargo aircraft. This is a great opportunity for librarians wanting to learn more about a career in special libraries. RSVP required for this event. More information is available via our Facebook page and our website. 

What did you get out of the panel discussion?

Please “weed” your personal collection and donate to the student organizations. We accept books of all types, shapes, and sizes along with cassette tapes, DVDs, CDs and VHS tapes.

Please drop off your donations in the SI Graduate Student area on the second floor of the CIS building at USF.

If you have any questions about donations, directions, or other aspects of the sale, don’t hesitate to contact Kate Gage, Book Sale Chair,  at kgage@mail.usf.edu.

I was afraid our Read Out would be rained out, but we had absolutely perfect weather for it. Diana made a catchy poster and we spread out our collection of banned books and “I Read Banned Books” buttons. It was difficult to hear people reading over the din of the library crowd, but about 50 people over the course of two hours came over to our table to find out what was going on and were astounded to find that books they enjoyed as children were on the ALA’s Banned Books List.

Jeffrey Reads to Crowd

“What’s wrong with A Wrinkle in Time some wanted to know. Harry Potter? Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? Why was someone’s life story banned? Our conversations about why different books are targeted was lively. Mostly, students were surprised that the Banned Books List exists. One young woman made a list of some of the books on our table for her future reading. We asked people to add to our list of “What banned books have you read?” and they were really thoughtful, writing a title and stopping to think of others. Different people picked up books from our display and said, “I loved this book!” Among the books they loved were To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, The Giver and the Harry Potter series. Through the noise, we read selections from our favorite BBs. Jeffrey Austin read “America” from Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsburg, after giving us some background about the Beats and their Columbia University roots. Lana Brand read from The Sound and the Fury, we had two selections from The Catcher in the Rye, one from Brian Auriti and one from me, Alice Graves. Sara Nelson read from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Krystal Bullers from Bridge to Terabitha, Bill Harris read from The Chocolate War, Brittany Deputy read from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Sylvia Martinez graced us with the opening pages from Ulysses (we were all afraid to tackle the 18-page unpunctuated sentence that ends the novel).

The best part was the doctoral student who stopped by to chat and told us emphatically how much he appreciates librarians, congratulated us for being future librarians, and told us how great we are. Then he returned to the library to work on his dissertation. All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon. We SLIS students got to hang out and talk, something that is rare. Next year, at our Second Annual Banned Books Week Read Out, we’ll have to get a microphone.

After our four hour trip, we visited in the FAU campus library at Boca Raton with some students, alumni, and the assistant director on the east coast Maria Treadwell.

We discussed some of the different options available for working together on networking opportunities. This will allows us to  include all of the students in the program. We also mentioned elections coming up next month and how we would love for east coast students to apply (For example: co-secretary). We will even create a new social networking coordinator position for the east coast students.

After our quick social, we visited Christianne Casper’s Basic Info Services class. We gave them a peak of our new website and discussed the great opportunities available for students joining our organization.

The officers had fun on our long journey and were very fortunate that we didn’t run out of gas in the middle of nowhere (long story). We even had fun playing 20 questions (+1) on the trip back.