2012 Spring Alumni Newsletter

Volume 34 Number 1

Dean of Libraries Terry Birdwhistell to Receive Outstanding Alumna/us Award Dr. Terry Birdwhistell (’78), Dean of Libraries and William T. Young endowed chair at the University of Kentucky, has been chosen to receive the School of Library and Information Science Outstanding Alumna/us Award 2012. The Award will be presented at the School’s Alumni and Awards Banquet, to be held Friday, April 27, at the Double Tree by Hilton.

As Dean, Dr. Birdwhistell is responsible for the 9 libraries that make up the library system. He directly supervises eleven associate deans and directors, who are responsible for the work of more than 70 library faculty and professional staff and approximately 135 staff, graduate assistants, and student workers.

Terry oversees a UK Libraries budget that exceeds $21 million.

The collections comprise nearly 4 million volumes, including more than 73,000 serial subscriptions, and some 400 online databases. He is a member of the University of Kentucky Deans’ Council.

Terry’s professional career at the University of Kentucky has been characterized by ever greater responsibilities. During his nearly four decades at UK he has served as Associate Dean for Special Collections and Digital Programs, University Archivist, and Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. Dr. Birdwhistell helped found and now serves as Co-Director of the UK Libraries’ Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center.

As an oral historian, Terry has conducted more than 800 oral history interviews with Kentuckians from all parts of the commonwealth, as well as with such notables at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lady Bird Johnson.

One of Terry’s major accomplishments as Associate Dean for Special Collections and Digital Programs was managing the transition to the new organizational structure, in which Preservation and Digital Programs were combined with Archives, the Special Collections Library, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, and the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center. While he was Associate Dean UK Libraries received more than $630,000 from the Keeneland Association to preserve and digitize The Daily Racing Form.

Dr. Birdwhistell’s service to UK includes membership on the Gaines Center for the Humanities Thesis Committee from 1986 to the present. Since 1997 he has been a member of the UK College of Education Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation program adjunct faculty, and he taught for the School of Library and Information Science 1993-1997 and again in 2004.

Spring 2012 He was co-principal investigator for grants totaling $50,000 that led to creation of the Institute for Rural Journalism within the College of Communications and Information Studies. Terry secured more than $500,000 (including RCTF matching funds) to create an endowment for the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center and more than $1.3 million (including RCTF matching funds) to establish an endowment for the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History.

Terry is Co-General Editor of Kentucky Remembered: An Oral History Series published by the University Press of Kentucky.

His publications include: “Some Kind of Lawyer: Two Journeys from Classroom to Courtroom and Beyond,” Kentucky Law Journal (1996); “Divided We Fall: State College and the Normal School Movement in Kentucky, 1880-1910,” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society (1990); and “WHAS Radio and the Development of Broadcasting in Kentucky, 1922-1942,” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society (1981). He has also been involved in the production of two documentaries broadcast on Kentucky Educational Television: “Kentucky's New Dealer: Ed Prichard Remembers” (1983) and “Long Road Back: Vietnam Remembered” (1985). His dissertation, “An Educated Difference: Women at the University of Kentucky through the Second World War,” was completed in 1994.

Dean Birdwhistell’s awards and honors include induction into the UK College of Education Hall of Fame in 2006. That same year he was honored by the Kentucky Oral History Commission for “outstanding contributions to oral history in Kentucky.” In 2007 he received UK’s Terry B. Mobley Development Service Award, which is presented to an employee who is not a professional fund-raiser but who demonstrated strong support for fund-raising. Also in 2007, UK Office of Research/Odyssey Magazine named Terry one of UK’s 25 Movers and Shapers during the preceding quarter-century.

Terry has served as president of several professional associations, including the national Oral History Association, the Kentucky-Tennessee Chapter of the American Studies Association, and the Kentucky Council on Archives. He represents UK on the Kentucky State Archives and Records Commission and serves on the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress. He was a member of the Kentucky Historical Society Executive Board from 2005 to 2011.

At UK Terry serves on the Steering Committee for the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, as a member of the University Senate, and on the UK Historic Marker Committee. He was recently appointed by President Eli Capilouto to UK’s Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee.

Professor Lois Chan Retires after More Than Forty Years on Faculty Professor Lois Chan, who joined the faculty of what was then the College of Library Science in 1970, retired at the end of the fall semester. She was appointed at the rank of assistant professor, promoted to associate professor after only four years, and promoted again, to professor, in 1980.

In 1966, when the future Professor Chan came to UK, she was appointed Serials Librarian. The following year she enrolled in the doctoral program in comparative literature in the English Department, which she completed in 1970. In addition to the Ph.D. from UK, Dr. Chan holds M.A. (English) and M.S. (library science) degrees from Florida State University. She earned her A.B. in foreign languages at National Taiwan University.

Prior to coming to UK, Lois held professional positions in several academic libraries. She was Assistant Librarian, Lake Forest College Library, 1964-1966; Serials Acquisition Librarian, Northwestern University Libraries, 19631964; Assistant Cataloger, Purdue University Libraries, 1961-1963; and Assistant Order Librarian, Purdue University Libraries, 1960-1961.

Professor Chan has been project consultant, OCLC FAST Project, since 1999. From 1995 to 1997 she was consultant, Library of Congress Cataloging Policy and Support Office.

Prior to that she was project consultant, CLR-University of Michigan (LCSH Project), and in 1983-1986 was project consultant, OCLC DDC Online Project. She was visiting professor, Graduate School of Library Studies, University of Hawaii, summer 1982, and visiting lecturer, Library School, University of Minnesota, summer 1979.

She has received numerous honors and awards: • Faculty Community Service Award, College of Communications and Information Studies, University of Kentucky, 2007; • Beta Phi Mu Award for Distinguished Service to Education in Librarianship, American Library Association, 2006; • Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Communications and Information Studies, University of Kentucky, 2001; • The Best of LRTS Award for the best article in 1998, Library Resources & Technical Services; • School of Library and Information Science, Florida State University, Distinguished Alumni Award, 1996; • Chinese-American Librarians Association Distinguished Service Award, 1992; • Margaret Mann Citation for Outstanding Professional Achievement in Cataloging or Classification, American Library Association, 1989; • University of Kentucky Alumni Association Great Teacher Award, 1980; • Council on Library Resources Fellowship, 1978.

Professor Chan has received a number of research grants, including UK Research Foundation support for the project: A model for linking Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and Spring 2012

Library of Congress Classification (LCC) systems (20062007); OCLC support for the project: An LCSH-Based Controlled Vocabulary for the Dublin Core Metadata Records (1999-2000); Council on Library Resources support for the project: Preparation of the third edition of Library of Congress Subject Headings: Principles and Applications (1995); and OCLC support for the project: Feasibility of a ComputerGenerated Subject Validation File (1994-1995).

Professor Chan’s professional activities include: • American Library Association, Subject Analysis Committee, Subcommittee on the Future of Subject Headings, 2008-2009; • American Library Association, Subject Analysis Committee, Subcommittee on Semantic Interoperability, member, 2001-2005; • American Library Association, Subject Analysis Committee, Subcommittee on Metadata and Subject Analysis, Subject Analysis Committee, member, 1998-2001.

She continues to serve on the American Library Association Subject Analysis Committee, Subcommittee on GenreForm Implementation, to which she was appointed in 2008; and she remains a member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Section on Knowledge Management, Standing Committee, which she joined in 2005.

Lois’s Curriculum Vitae lists many articles. Including translations, she is the author or coauthor of some 25 monographs, and her books have been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, and French. In addition to many presentations in the US, she has made presentations in Taiwan, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Vietnam, Austria, Latvia, Iceland, China, Japan, Finland, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Jerusalem, Thailand, Russia, Ukraine, and Portugal.

From 1989 until her retirement Professor Chan was University Marshal, and she was appointed to the UK President’s Commission on Diversity in 2001, when the Commission was created.

In his comments about Lois at the November 7 reception to honor her, UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy called attention to her record of teaching, research, and service and urged junior faculty to adopt Professor Chan as a role model.

“She has dedicated her career to making information more accessible and easier to find.”

University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto made the following remarks about Professor Chan at the October 25, 2011, meeting of the UK Board of Trustees: Dr. Lois Chan, a professor of Library and Information Science, is retiring after more than 40 years of service. She has dedicated her career to making information more accessible and easier to find. You, of course, may know her in a different role as she has served as the University Marshal since Page 2

1989 and as a member of the President's Commission on Diversity since its inception in 2001.

Dr. Chan started working at the University of Kentucky Libraries in 1966 as a serials cataloger. In 1970, she joined the faculty of what was then the College of Library Science, and she has been a full professor in the School of Library and Information Science since 1980. (Dr. Chan also earned her doctorate, in comparative literature, from UK.) She has authored several books on classification, including authoritative references on the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress systems, as well as dozens of articles and reports in peer-reviewed academic journals and professional publications.

She has given talks and lectures in the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Sweden, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Israel, Russia, and the Ukraine.

In addition to her own research, Dr. Chan has contributed to collaborative ventures in the field of library science, most notably the Online Computer Library Catalog's FAST project, which she has served as a consultant since 1999.

Dr. Chan has received numerous awards throughout her academic career. In 2006, she received the American Library Association's Beta Phi Mu Award for Distinguished Service to Education in Librarianship. In 2001, she received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the UK College of Communications and Information Studies.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge this tremendous faculty member who has served with distinction in so many important roles at the University. Thank you Dr. Chan.

Conference Room Dedicated to Dr. Chan In recognition of Professor Chan’s contributions to UK, the College conference room has been dedicated in her honor and is now the Lois Mai Chan Conference Room. Following the dedication on November 7, a reception was held. After brief remarks by Provost Kumble Subbaswamy, Dean Dan O’Hair invited people to relate experiences with Professor Chan. Professor Emeritus and former Director of the School of Library and Information Science Tom Waldhart said it had been a privilege to have Professor Chan as a colleague. Gail Kennedy (’74) said, “I was a student in Dr. Chan’s cataloging class early in her career at UK, and I was so impressed with her knowledge and poise. After graduation Dr. Chan tapped me to assist her in teaching some workshops. Again she was inspirational to me as a new librarian – from her command of all things cataloging and classification to practical wisdom like learning to pack light for business travel. I have appreciated her counsel and friendship throughout my career.” Miko Pattie (’68) said, “I am most proud of the A's I got from Dr. Chan's courses, LC Classification and Subject Cataloging, in the 1970’s, because I had to work mighty hard for them!” Kate Black (’78) was quick to add that she took a course with Lois, “and I never worked harder for a B in all my life.” JC Morgan (’97) admitted: “I am considered a failure in the library world due to Dr. Chan. I am a librarian who never – dare I say it – took a cataloging class. To be honest, Dr. Chan scared me. I'd seen the people coming out of her lectures with wide eyes and pale faces. There was no way that I was going in there.”

Conference Room Named for Prof. Chan The conference room in the College of Communications and Information Studies administrative suite is now the Lois Mai Chan Conference Room. The dedication took place in a ceremony on November 7 at which Provost Kumble Subbaswamy presided, and Lois was joined by her husband, UK Professor Emeritus SK Chan, their daughter, Jennifer, and their son, Stephen. The dedication included installation of a plaque, on which are the remarks of Dean Dan O’Hair:

DR. LOIS MAI CHAN This room is dedicated in honor of Dr. Lois Mai Chan for her service and many contributions to the University of Kentucky, the College of Communications and Information Studies and the School of Library and Information Science.

Dr. Chan joined the University of Kentucky faculty in August 1970. In the forty-one years she has been a member of the faculty she has established an outstanding record of scholarship, has shown herself to be an exemplary classroom teacher, has developed an international reputation in the field of library and information science, and has made major contributions to the field of cataloging and classification. She has established a reputation as an outstanding presenter, both in the United States and abroad.

Professor Chan’s achievements also include numerous research grants, serving as a consultant to the Library of Congress and as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Minnesota and a Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii. Her honors include the Beta Phi Mu Award for Distinguished Service to Education in Librarianship (2006), the College’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2001) and Faculty Community Service Award (2007), UK Alumni Association Great Teaching Award (1980) and the School of Library and Information Science, Florida State University, Distinguished Alumni Award (1996). Her CV lists more than 60 articles and reviews and more than 20 monographs.

Professor Chan’s service to the University includes membership on the NCAA Athletics Certification Subcommittee on Academic Integrity and the Presidential Commission on Diversity, and serving as University Marshal for a number of years.

She has also touched the lives of many students during her tenure through dedication to the profession and love of teaching.

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November 7, 2011: Dedication and Rception Honor Prof. Lois Chan

Clockwise from top left: Prof. Lois Chan at the November 7 reception in her honor; Lois and SK Chan with their children, Stephen and Jennifer, in front of the plaque in the Lois Mai Chan Conference Room; Director Jeff Huber and Dean Dan O’Hair with Prof.

Chan; Provost Kumble Subbaswamy; at the reception; Lois with UK SLIS Prof. Emeritus Tom Waldhart and Dr. Enid Waldhart. Photos courtesy of Kosta Tovstiadi

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tions thrive in a more challenging environment.

Jennifer and I presented Educating the School Library Media Specialist: A Collaborative Vision in which research In November of last year Professor Melissa Johnston was jointly conducted in 2010 by the School of Library and Ininducted into Beta Phi Mu, the international library and information Science and the College of Education was shared. formation science honor society, at the Florida State UniverThis research was in reaction to the campaign by the Kensity School of Library and Information Studies Gamma tucky librarian community and UK alumni for the reinChapter initiation ceremony and annual meeting, held in the statement of the School Library Media Certification proSchool’s Goldstein Library. In addition, at the ceremony she gram as Kentucky’s only school library media preparation received a Beta Phi Mu Gamma Chapter scholarship award. program within an American Library Association-accredited The chapter presents two of the awards annually, one to an master’s program. on-campus student and one This research exto a distance student, Listserv Created Specific to Graduates amined the status of “whom the faculty Will Buntin has created a listserv for graduates of our program to the school library members of the School of help them stay in touch with what is going on at the School. If you media profession in Library and Information are a graduate and would like to subscribe, send an email to: the state of Kentucky Studies feel best exemplify listserv@lsv.uky.edu through an investigaBeta Phi Mu’s national Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the email, delete any tion of the percepstandards of scholastic and signature you have and insert the text below, using your name in tions of differing professional achievement place of FirstName LastName. stakeholders, inand leadership in the Lisubscribe SLIS-ALUMS-L FirstName LastName cluding school library brary and Information Will told the newsletter: “I expect traffic on this list to be relatively media specialists Studies field.” light, consisting mainly of School announcements relative to the themselves and Director Jeff Huber is program, events and notices of the School newsletter.” school administrathe first author of two tors. Data was also recent articles: collected in regards to the contributions of school library Huber J.T., Kean E.B., Fitzgerald P.D, Altman T.A., Young media specialists to schools and PK-12 students of KenZ.G., Dupin K.M., Leskovec J., Holst R. "Outreach Impact tucky and the value of the school library media specialists to Study: The Case of the Greater Midwest Region." Journal PK-12 administrators. of the Medical Library Association, 99(4)297-303,2011.

The results presented to participants, including Dean Dan Huber J.T., Gillaspy M.L. "Knowledge/Power TransformO’Hair, found that the current academic training programs ing the Social Landscape: The Case of the Consumer Health for school library media specialists – usually offered at Information Movement." Library Quarterly, 81(4)405schools of library and information science – are library430,2011. centric in a time when PK-12 schools require teacher colProfessor Jeff Naidoo’s dissertation was nominated for laboration, technology integration, and innovation that exthe ProQuest National Doctoral Dissertation Award. tends further than just the school library media center to reach across every classroom.

Prof. Melissa Johnston, Jennifer Dupuis Jennifer and I presented UK SLIS’s vision of an updated Present at Innovation Summit curriculum for school library media specialist certification that will focus on preparing school library media specialist On December 2, 2011, Professor Melissa Johnston and leaders and promotes collaboration and technology integraJennifer Dupuis (’11), Project Manager, Health Literacy tion. Participants were then asked to create their own vision and Leadership Research, in the College of Communicaboard of a 21st century school library media specialist and/or tions and Information Studies Dean’s Office, presented at program to share with the group. the AdvancEd/UK College of Education Innovation Summit. We asked Melissa to write an account for the newsletter Prof. Donald Case on His and thank her for doing so:

Among SLIS Faculty

The AdvancED® Kentucky state office and the University of Kentucky College of Education have joined forces under the belief that innovation in education and creating a P20 environment of collaboration and cooperation are critically important to educational institutions as well the future vitality of our state. This conference was established to highlight innovative educators from across Kentucky and focus on accelerating improvement in student achievement and organizational effectiveness, as well as providing educators new tools to help our classrooms, schools, systems, and instituSpring 2012

Fulbright in Finland

In the fall 2011 newsletter we reported that Professor Donald Case would take a short-term Fulbright lectureship in Finland. Following his return, we asked Prof. Case to comment on his experience for readers of the newsletter: In a way my journey to Finland as a Fulbright Specialist began in the summer of 2010, when I renewed my acquaintance with several Finnish scholars who were attending the Ninth Information Seeking in Context conference, in Spain. Even Page 5

though it is a small nation of only about 5 million people (only 20% larger than Kentucky), Finland accounts for at least 10% of the top scholars on this topic, worldwide. While in Spain I suggested that they invite me to lecture in Finland some day. So it was that we jointly prepared a proposal to the Fulbright Commission for me to lecture at their three library and information science schools. At the time I was wistfully imagining a summer visit, but as it turned out, fall worked best for their programs. Oh, well.

Prof. Case converses with Finnish students.

I left for Finland on October 14. My first stop was Oulu, near the top of the gulf of Bothnia that separates Finland from Sweden to the west. Although I had packed a full wardrobe of winter clothing, I found that I did not need everything as the area was having an unusually warm fall, which continued nearly to the end of my 32-day visit.

Because I had been so busy the weeks before I left, I was not completely prepared for the fourteen 90-minute lectures I was to deliver. Thus, during the first two weeks of my stay I spent most of the weekends and evenings preparing the lectures I would give at the three universities on my tour. Nevertheless, I was able to take a few interesting sidetrips, such as one day I spent around Rovaniemi (“home of Santa Claus”) on the Arctic Circle. Interestingly, that was the only time I saw ice during my month in Finland. During this first week I was also treated to a traditional Finnish dinner, sauna and river plunge at a rented cottage near town; jumping into a 40-degree river is something that must be experienced to be appreciated. I also visited a beautiful rural library near Oulu.

The Finns are masters of repurposing old structures, and the library was one of several buildings in this small town that had been previously used as a factory. Now the building had been opened up to reveal huge beams and brick surfaces.

The next stop, on Friday, October 28, was in southern central Finland. Tampere University was the largest of the schools I visited. The Information Studies department there is part of a school that also includes departments of computer science, gaming studies, mathematics and statistics—more than 60 faculty altogether. The Finnish economy has a large stake in video game software development, supplementing their involvement in the mobile phone industry, and this

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school trains some students to write such applications. While I did not have much time to be a tourist there, I enjoyed visiting some of Tampere’s many former factory buildings that have been adapted to office or retail usage, and their museum does a good job of explaining local history; Tampere was once the center of manufacturing in Finland, due to its fastrunning river and mills, and so has a lot of 19th century brick buildings.

My final programmed stop was Turku—or Åbo as it is called in Swedish. For this was the Swedish-speaking part of Finland, across the gulf from Stockholm, and the original capital of the country. Here I visited the Information Studies department at Åbo Akademi University, which was the home of the first university in Finland, and now caters to about 6,000 Swedish-speaking students. Because Sweden controlled Finland for hundreds of years, Turku was the first Finnish city to develop; the Swedes built a castle and town here in the 13th century. In 1809 the Russians made Finland a province of their country, and Sweden thereafter lost much of its influence.

Following my lectures in Turku I took the train to Helsinki where I spent my last three days being a tourist. And did I mention re-purposed buildings before? My Helsinki hotel was a remodeled prison (some of my colleagues will think this is appropriate). While in Finland’s capital I took a ferry over to Estonia, to see the medieval city of Tallinn, where many buildings and city walls have been well preserved.

Interior of the Helsinki hotel in which Prof. Case stayed, a remodeled prison.

Overall, I enjoyed my stays in Turku and Oulu slightly more than Tampere and Helsinki. Most of it had to do with the degree to which people made time for me and engaged with me, and part of it had to do with the smaller size of these cities. Yet every single person I dealt with was helpful in all four locales. I expect to continue contact with the faculty in each university and hope to go back this summer to participate in a doctoral defense. I would love to see this fascinating country at a time of year when it has sixteen hours of daylight—rather than the measly eight hours I suffered through on my recent visit!

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SLIS Changing Exit Requirement to Portfolio in Place of Final Written Exam The University of Kentucky Graduate School mandates that all master’s degree programs have an exit requirement, and for students in the School of Library and Information Science it has been the final written exam (aka “comps”). Over the years, the School has discussed possible alternatives to the final written exam that would satisfy the Graduate School requirement, and last year the decision to move to a portfolio, in place of the exam, was approved by the Graduate School and the University Senate. Although the final written exam is being phased out, it will continue to be an option for any student who was admitted when it was in place; those students can elect to satisfy the exit requirement by sitting for the exam or by preparing an exit portfolio.

Professor Joe Miller, convener of the ad hoc committee on portfolios, told the newsletter: We see several advantages to the portfolio: 1. It allows students to reflect on their program experience, their professional goals, and their plans for continuing education.

2. It asks students to provide evidence of their learning in the form of course artifacts and to explain in what ways, and how well, those artifacts supported the desired learning outcomes of the program.

3. It gives students time to create a thoughtful overall assessment of their program instead of relying solely on a timed test. We hope it results in a package that the student can use in a constructive way in the job search and provide the School with better feedback on how well the curriculum supports the program’s learning objectives.

Last fall was the first time the portfolio option was available, and 21 students elected that option instead of the final exam. According to Professor Miller: Feedback from those students was quite positive. Based on our first experience and student comments, we are continuing to revise the guidelines to this process, but it is clear that, even with some modification, it represents a better strategy for both the student and the School. So those fond memories of the late night study sessions, the LISSO breakfast spread, and the four-hour blur of the exam itself may soon be a thing of the past. As alums, we would like to hear what you think about this change.

Send comments to jbmill00@email.uky.edu

School Launches New Web Site The School has launched its new web. Assistant Director for Student Affairs Will Buntin said the goal for the new site “is to help visitors find the information they want, more quickly.” He continued:

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The new web site brings a pleasant new look and design which ties in closely with the new web site of the College of Communications and Information Studies (the home of SLIS). In addition, it has been transferred to a Drupal environment making editing content easier. Several SLIS students and graduates have offered feedback helping to improve the site prior to going live.

In addition to Will, those involved in developing the new web site are College of Communications and Information Studies IT Director Konstantin Tovstiadi, School of Library and Information Science Director Jeff Huber, and recent SLIS graduates Cheyenne Hohman and Amber Surface. The link to the web site is http://cis.uky.edu/lis/

McConnell Conference 2012 – the 44th The 44th McConnell Youth Literature Conference will be March 23-24, 2012, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lexington. Professor Stephanie Reynolds told the newsletter: The McConnell Conference is a special event for librarians, teachers, and anyone who works with youth and the literature that enriches their lives, providing them the opportunity to connect with one another, meet authors and illustrators, and attend various educational sessions. The 44th McConnell Conference will feature award-winning authors M.T. Anderson, Jennifer Holm, and author/illustrator Lisa Desimini as this year's guests. The breakout sessions will cover a wide range of topics, including: Bringing Youth Literature to Life – fun ways to incorporate learning styles and the five senses into creating a lifelong love of reading, School & Public Library Collaboration, Literature and Early Literacy, Autism in Print, and a presentation on serving on the Newbery Committee.

In addition to these, several breakout sessions on the ALA Youth Media Awards will be presented by students in the University of Kentucky's Master's program for Library and Information Science.

Spring 2012 Enrollment Above Fall 2011 In a reversal of the customary decline in enrollment from fall to the following spring, the School’s enrollment this spring, 239, is above fall 2011 enrollment, 236, which was a nearly 10% increase from fall 2010 enrollment, 215. Perhaps of greater significance, last fall 52 students, or 22% of the total, did not reside in Kentucky. This spring 65 students, or 27.2% of the total, do not reside in Kentucky.

In the fall newsletter we discussed factors contributing to robust enrollment: recruiting efforts, reinstating the school media certification faculty position, the ability to complete the program entirely online, and the UK policy that a student who enrolls in a graduate program pays in-state tuition, no matter where the student resides, as long as the student takes only online courses.

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From where I sit . . .

by Ford Stanley UK Director of Gift and Estate Planning I am pleased to present information in each issue of this newsletter on ways that gifts can be made to benefit the Library School through gift and estate planning. I hope the following will be useful to you.

In my position at the University of Kentucky, I am privileged to help UK’s alumni and friends plan special gifts to assist the University’s many deserving students and important programs. And over the years, I have found the charitable gift annuity to be one of the most versatile and advantageous ways for donors to make a gift to UK, and at the same time benefit themselves and their loved ones.

Simply stated, a charitable gift annuity is a contract between a donor and the University. The donor transfers cash or property to the University in exchange for income for life at a rate based on the donor’s age. Payments may be set up for the donor alone, or for the donor and another person.

After a lifetime of payments to annuitants, all remaining funds will be used to assist the University.

There are several benefits of a charitable gift annuity that make it worth consideration: 1) You can receive a guaranteed income for life that never changes with the ups and downs of the market while also making a significant gift to the University of Kentucky.

2) Your income will be based upon your age, and the income can be quite high depending on your age.

3) If you itemize, you will receive a charitable income tax deduction to reduce your taxes in the year you make your gift.

4) If you make a gift of appreciated property such as stock, you may also avoid paying some of the capital gain tax on the sale of your property.

5) A portion of your income may even be tax-free if you make a gift of cash or appreciated property.

6) You can convert a dormant or idle asset into an income stream.

7) You can not only provide an income for yourself, but also for loved ones.

8) You can give to a wide range of areas within the University of Kentucky-- including the Library School -- which can be enhanced by private philanthropy.

9) Your gift will help the University accomplish its historic mission in the Commonwealth and it will also serve as a legacy to you and your loved ones.

If you are interested in exploring how a charitable gift annuity can be of specific benefit to you, I invite you to contact me at no obligation.

I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have, and I can even provide free, personalized charitable gift annuity projections for you, showing your rate of payment, your charitable tax deduction and other pertinent data. Information is treated with complete confidentiality, and the University provides this as a service to friends and alumni.

Or if you would like to see an illustration on your own, please visit our web site at http://uky.giftlegacy.com and Spring 2012

click on “Create Your Own Plan.” There you will be able to securely run your own presentation and see how a charitable gift annuity can work for you.

Sincerely, Ford Stanley, ’91 Director of Gift and Estate Planning University of Kentucky Sturgill Development Building Lexington, KY 40506-0015 Phone:800-875-6272 (toll-free) or 859-257-7886 Email: giftandestate@uky.edu Web site: http://www.uky.edu/development

Deanna Marcum Creates Fund to Honor Prof. Lois Chan Dr. Deanna Marcum (’71) has established an endowed enrichment fund in honor of Professor Lois Chan. The agreement establishing the endowment provides that “Income from the Fund shall be used to support students enrolled in the School of Library and Information Science.

The Fund can be used for student scholarships, student travel to professional meetings or student support for participation in internship programs, student support for alternative spring break programs, student membership in professional organizations, and student poster or paper presentations.” Please consider honoring Lois in this way by making your tax-deductible gift online at http://www.uky.edu/GiveNow/welcome.htm?select=CI. The form indicates the fields that must be filled in. Once completed just select the fund name. Gifts may also be mailed to: Lois Mai Chan Enrichment Fund, c/o Janice Birdwhistell, University of Kentucky, 308C Lucille Little Library, Lexington, KY 40506-0224.

Lunch-N-Learn Features Recent Graduates The first Lunch-N-Learn of the spring semester took place on February 1 and featured four recent graduates, who were asked to address the topic, What advice do you have for students enrolled in the School’s program? Panelists were Jennifer Dupuis (’11), Andrew McGraw (’09), Rebecca Montano-Smith (’05), and Robert Shapiro (’10). All hold professional positions. Jennifer is Project Manager, Health Literacy and Leadership Research, in the College of Communications and Information Studies Dean’s Office; Andrew is Assistant University Archivist at UK; Rebecca is Assistant Manager of the Village Branch, Lexington Public Library; and Robert is Public Health Librarian in the UK Medical Center Library.

Although each speaker emphasized something different, all stressed the importance that students in the School’s program create opportunities for gaining practical experience.

Robert said: “If I had to give advice to students in the program or someone considering starting one, I would say: first, the job market is tremendously competitive so be prepared to stand out in any way you can; get practical experiPage 8

ence, publish a paper, get a second master’s degree, anything that makes you unique and able to rise above the pool of applications that are coming out of some of the larger LIS programs. And second, the best advice I was given was to ‘get out of the library.’ This means not only doing community outreach and pursuing different avenues of service delivery, but it also has implications for job searching as well; take the skills and philosophical foundation that you learn in your program and apply them outside the confines of formal library.”

Jennifer told those present: “I took a lot of technology classes, and I'd take even more.” She added: “The new portfolio requirement for graduation is a great opportunity to showcase your skills and focus. Don't look at the term projects for your classes as just something you need to get done to finish the semester; really dig into a topic or project that is interesting to you and relevant to your future career, and you could come away with a powerful tool to use in your job hunting.”

Andrew told the audience he would like to have known how important it is to be published while in library school, as a way for a job applicant to set herself or himself apart from other applicants. He also said: “As graduate students it is important to see yourselves as emerging professionals.

Look at the work you do as potentially contributing to the profession and not simply as an assignment.”

Rebecca said: “What I wish I’d known as a SLIS student is that most professional library jobs are managerial. If you’re not interested in being a supervisor of human beings, you should make sure your skill set will allow you to work independently. Read everything you can on management and leadership and take every opportunity to train and develop those skills.”

Reinette Jones, Rob Aken Discuss Notable Kentucky African Americans Database In the second Lunch-N-Learn of the spring semester, UK Libraries faculty Reinette Jones (’88) and Rob Aken (’83) discussed the Notable Kentucky African Americans (NKAA) Database, which they created and for which they won the 2009 Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Library Services. Reinette described NKAA as “a continuously updated online reference source tailored to the accomplishments of African Americans in and from Kentucky.” She said it is “patron driven,” with much of the information that has been added since NKAA was made available in September 2003 “coming from those who use and view the entries in the database.” Reinette told the audience she initially envisioned that “a few entries would be added each quarter,” but in the first year alone about 500 submissions were received. She assured Rob the substantial number of additions had to do with the newness of the resource, and after the first year the number would decrease. How wrong she was; in the second year another 500 or so submissions were received.

Spring 2012

Rob explained how he came to be involved. Early in 1994 then Director of UK Libraries Paul Willis said to Rob the University of Kentucky should have an Electronic Information Resources Librarian – and Rob was it. When Reinette decided to create the NKAA, “after a ten-year gestation,” she turned to Rob for assistance, reminding him he was, after all, Electronic Information Resources Librarian, and he signed on. In the division of labor between them, Reinette said she researches and verifies new entries and writes the profiles; Rob edits and updates the profiles, takes care of the technical necessities and upgrades and also adds entries that he receives to the database.

Initially made available via UK Libraries’ Internet resources page, NKAA soon also could be found via Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. Rob said a bibliographic record is available in FirstSearch and InfoKat, UK Libraries’ online catalog. http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/NKAA/ After several years the number of hits to the database has reached well over 100,000 per year. Since late December 2011, according to Reinette, “the number of hits has escalated beyond that of previous years, and the NKAA Database is off to a great start for the year 2012.”

Funding Received for Library of Congress Alternative Spring Break Program In the spring 2011 newsletter we reported that students in the School would have the opportunity to participate in the Library of Congress Alternative Spring Break Internship Program and that five students, who received financial support from the School, would have internships that spring.

The School later applied to the Women & Philanthropy Network at UK for funds to support the Alternative Spring Break Program, and in January Director Jeff Huber learned SLIS had been awarded $10,000 in scholarships for that purpose, for spring 2013. When Jeff told the newsletter about the scholarships, he added: “The Alternative Spring Break Program provides a wonderful opportunity for SLIS students to gain real world experience at one of the world’s most prestigious libraries.”

Participants Selected for 2012 Alternative Spring Break In early February Assistant Director for Student Affairs Will Buntin announced: “Once again, UK SLIS had many more applications for our alternative spring break program than available funding.” Students selected to participate this year at the Library of Congress are Mindy Groff, Laura Hess, Holger Lenz, Susan MacDonell, and Daniel Weddington. Will also announced that this year the National Library of Medicine would participate in the alternative spring break program, and students Lauren Coil and Kelly Lee had been selected for internships at NLM.

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scholars and other writers.” Norman, Kentucky Poet Laureate and director of the UK Creative Writing Program, titled his talk “Remembering Harriette.” According to the release, the talk had to do with “personal notes about the writer’s Amber Surface (’11), who enrolled in the School’s MSLS acquaintance with Arnow and a discussion of her program fall semester 2010, organized the UK Libraries Specontributions to the modern Kentucky/Appalachian literary cial Collections department’s exhibit of the papers of Harrenaissance.” riette Simpson Arnow, which opened November 17, 2011, in Kate Black (’78), curator of the Appalachian Collection the Margaret I. King Library Great Hall. Arnow (1908-1986), and manuscripts archivist in UK Libraries, was responsible the Kentucky native and Appalachian writer perhaps best for processing and describing the Arnow papers. Kate known for her novel The Dollmaker, published short stories supervised Amber’s work, and she told and novels, two social histories, and a the newsletter: “Amber was able to memoir. It was Amber’s first exhibit to mount a quality exhibit because for a curate, and she did so while enrolled in year prior she had helped me bring the the School’s course LIS 675, processing of the papers to a close. One Professional Field Experience. of the last things an archivist does in Amber also curated a virtual exhibit finishing a collection is to check the to complement the physical exhibit. contents of each box against the She explained: “The physical exhibit description on the finding aid. This was is, of course, more extensive than the one of Amber’s many jobs and I virtual exhibit. The virtual exhibit will believe it broadened her knowledge have some duplication, but mostly it about Arnow and the collection itself. will complement – not copy – the You might say then that Amber’s physical exhibit. Plus, I've added a few intelligent and aesthetically sophispieces that couldn't make it into the ticated exhibit actually began when she cases, so there's even more to see.” was a new library science student and The exhibit received good coverage. came to me because she wanted to The Lexington Herald-Leader had a work with Appalachian materials.”

According to the UKNOW release: Amber Surface and Kate Black long feature story about it in the (Photos courtesy of Lewis Warden) “Ballard believes the university’s November 9 issue. UKNOW, the Arnow collection is a treasure.

‘Harriette Simpson Arnow University of Kentucky daily news site, published an was a remarkable writer whose work certainly deserves a informative article about the exhibit on November 14, and the wider audience. The archival collection at the University of Kentucky Kernel, the independent student-publised Kentucky is the mother lode for anyone who wants to explore newspaper, ran a piece about the exhibit in the November 16 the imaginative range of this impressive author.’” issue.

The exhibit opened on November 17 with a symposium to celebrate the availability of Arnow’s papers. Symposium speakers were Sandy Ballard and Gurney Norman. Ballard,

Amber Surface Curates UK Harriette Arnow Exhibit

Sandy Ballard speaking at the Arnow symposium

a professor in the English Department at Appalachian State University who has a particular interest in Appalachian and southern literature, is writing a biography of Arnow.

According to the UKNOW release, Ballard spoke “about Arnow’s life and work and the importance of her papers for Spring 2012

Gurney Norman speaking at the Arnow symposium

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Jessica Phelps: From Politics to Librarianship, and Back to Politics When Jessica Phelps (’11) applied to the School’s master’s-degree program, in March 2009, she was working as a page at Louisville Free Public Library, having joined the library staff in late 2007. Jessie, who had graduated from UK with a BA in political science, took the required management course in the library and information science program summer 2011. The students in the class varied in age and life experiences, but they shared a willingness to engage in discussion. Jessie’s comments in the class quickly revealed her interest in politics.

When Louisville native John Yarmuth ran for Congress in 2006, Jessie was Deputy Finance Director. Following his election to represent Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District, Jessie managed his Louisville campaign office for two years. During his successful re-election campaign, she was Assistant Treasurer. She resigned from Congressman Yarmuth’s campaign staff following his re-election in order to enroll full time in the School’s program. However, in December of last year we received this e-mail from Jessie: “I will start working in Congressman Yarmuth's D.C. office as a Legislative Assistant on January 25th. I know that it's not a library job, but it is something that I've been intrigued with since undergrad. I cannot wait!”

Jessie agreed to answer several questions for the newsletter, and we thank her for doing so: How did your interest in politics develop?

I've always been intrigued by current events and the political world. My mother always took me into the voting booth when I was growing up. She was active in her union and brought me to rallies, pickets, etc. When I was younger I had the names of the U.S. Presidents memorized.

During undergrad I took a political science course as an elective when I was unable to get into a studio art class, a requirement for my then undeclared major of art history, and the rest fell into place. I had an amazing political science professor for that first class and then I took another class with the same professor the next semester. I tended to get bored in many classes, but during Dr. Goldman's lectures, I was hooked. After that, I switched majors. I worked as a summer intern in the office of the Jefferson County Judge/Executive in Louisville for two summers. I also volunteered for a local political party in Virginia during the 2000 Presidential campaign. After I finished my degree, in 2003, I went to work for a progressive think tank and then eventually worked on the 2006 and 2008 Yarmuth for Congress campaigns.

Given your interest in politics, what prompted you to leave the world of politics and enroll in the School’s program?

It was a tough decision to leave campaign work behind at the conclusion of the 2008 election cycle. I was actually working at the Louisville Free Public Library part time and for the Yarmuth for Congress campaign full time for the Spring 2012

second half of 2008. I enjoyed the finance work of the campaign, but was ready for something new and wanted to pursue a Masters in Library Science. I made the decision to leave the campaign in early 2009 to study for the GRE and work on my application to UK. Did your coursework in library and information science teach skills that are valuable in the work you have done in politics?

Working in finance on a political campaign you must have a good organizational system in place. With reporting requirements from the Federal Election Commission or the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, you must ensure that every name of every person or entity that contributes to the campaign is entered into the database correctly. This obviously means that name authority control is vital to the job. As you learn in cataloging courses, names need to be standardized. In campaign finance, if the same person has two entries in the financial database, the aggregate total of their donations can be thrown off and a potential for exceeding the maximum allowed contribution limits exists. Making sure that did not occur was part of my daily job duties working on the campaign. In my upcoming job, I believe I will use knowledge acquired in the Law Librarianship class, such as researching legislation, looking up regulations, and other skills that were taught during the course of achieving my MLS.

Deanna Marcum Retires from Library of Congress, Joins Ithaka S+R as Managing Director Dr. Deanna Marcum (’71) retired from her position as Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress, effective December 3, and became Managing Director of Ithaka S+R, effective January 1. Ithaka S+R is a unit within ITHAKA. According to information on its web site: “ITHAKA helps the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. …

ITHAKA provides several services to the academic community. Ithaka S+R, our strategic consulting and research group, focuses on the transformation of scholarship and teaching in an online environment, and pursues projects in programmatic areas critical to academic work.”

“… everybody needs the skills we have.”

Prior to leaving the Library of Congress, Deanna agreed to an interview with Audrey Fischer, Public Affairs Specialist in the Library’s Office of Communications. We reprint the interview with permission: What was your biggest achievement?

The most durable accomplishment is that we turned a problem within the library community, with regard to series auPage 11

thority records, into a major program to rethink the entire bibliographic framework.

When we first determined that we were going to stop creating series authority records, we just announced it. But I learned very quickly that it didn’t matter if people were using those records or not, they didn’t like the Library of Congress making changes without broader consultation. I’m very pleased with the way we turned that crisis into something that has meant an enormous positive change in the library community.

How did you accomplish that?

I went to every group at ALA that had anything to do with bibliographic control. That was the ALA meeting in New Orleans right after Katrina, and it was painful. I said, “I’m so sorry. We want to include you but we have to think about the full range of issues and not just this one little piece. It’s about how we’re going to think about cataloging in a digital environment.”

Then we formed the External Working Group on Future of Bibliographic Control and reached out to everyone – from the most conservative in the cataloging field to people from Google, who wondered why we would catalog anything. By the end, there was no dissension. We had complete consensus. That set up the possibility for the Library of Congress to take a leadership role in all aspects of reframing the bibliographic environment.

What are your future plans?

I want to work on issues in the profession that I think are terribly important and need concentrated time. I’m very interested in trying to think through, on a national level, what type of preservation plan is needed for the country. Fewer and fewer libraries are spending money on traditional preservation. A few are spending money on digital preservation.

But there isn’t a kind of national look at what’s needed. I’m also very interested in how we prepare the next generation of librarians.

What advice would you give people entering the profession?

They need to have subject-area expertise and a working understanding of how libraries operate. And, most of all, they should have the curiosity to figure out how to hold on to the values of the profession and translate those in this new environment. They are learning how to make web pages, how to do searching and write programs that do cross-searching of many databases, but often they’re not learning why libraries developed in the first place and how to interact with their users and find out how scholarship is changing.

What career path did you envision when you were pursuing your education?

At the time I graduated from college, the general view was that women could be teachers, nurses or librarians. I tried teaching high school but decided to go back to school. I earned a master’s degree in library science in 1971 from the University of Kentucky. I was in an internship program that allowed me to spend some time in every part of the library.

That was great because I got to figure out a little bit about every part of the library.

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After graduation, I worked in the university library for five years. I thought about getting a Ph.D., but I kept taking on more responsible jobs in libraries. At the same time, I was the library’s first affirmative action officer. We brought in people to discuss opportunities for women. I concluded that best contribution I could make was to be a manager.

I’m so lucky to have had regular operational library experience and wonderful managerial opportunities.

When I came to Washington, I worked for the Association of Research Libraries as a management training specialist. That allowed me to go to practically every research library in this country and do management workshops or management studies. I was able to see different styles, different ways of doing things.

At the Council on Library Resources, during the 1980s, I worked on policy issues. When my daughter went to college in 1984, I thought that if I ever was going to get a Ph.D. [in American Studies], I’d better do it now. I worked full time and went to school full time, and I loved that. Because I was a librarian, it was easier for me than some others because I knew how to do research. I had no notion of ever using that degree. I just wanted to learn. But when I was approached

by Catholic University to be the dean of the Library School, had I not had a Ph.D., that would not have been possible. I loved working with the students. I loved teaching. But being a dean was too slow for me.

So then I came to the Library of Congress in 1993 as director of Public Service and Collections Management, which was my first government job. I learned a lot. But several years later, the Council on Library Resources and the Commission on Preservation and Access asked me to return to merge the two organizations [into the Council on Library and Information Resources]. Both organizations were facing some real challenges. I had been at CLR for a decade during which time the commission was created. There probably were lots of other people who could do the job, but they couldn’t think of anyone but me who had enough experience with both organizations.

During the nine years I was there, we produced many reports, each identifying important issues facing the profession. When you’re doing these policy kinds of jobs, you can’t do them very long because you begin to recycle ideas.

If an organization is at the forefront – we considered CLIR a think tank for the library profession – you need new ideas.

So in 2003 I returned to the Library [of Congress].

How had the Library of Congress changed?

There was much more willingness to use technology than there was in 1993 and 1994. The Library is very solid in technological innovation. And it’s a much stronger cultural institution than it has been in the past. Think about how many programs Dr. Billington has developed on the cultural side – the Kluge Center, the Gershwin Prize and the National Book Festival, which has added an enormous dimension.

How has the library profession changed?

The profession today is everything from a children’s librarian in a public library to people who manage large data sets for scientific research – and everything in between. The Page 12

profession has so many more opportunities to make a real contribution to society because everybody needs the skills we have. We’re flooded with information, and very few people know how to manage it so that you can go back and get the evidence you need or organize your family’s digital photographs.

What will you miss most about the Library?

The people. The people here are phenomenal. It’s been an enormous privilege to work with such talented people. Everyone is standing on the shoulders of those who came before. The quality is just stunning.

And I’ll miss working on the National Book Festival.

When Dr. Billington asked me to take on the book festival as the executive in charge, I was willing but I didn’t know it would be so wonderful. The team, from all across the Library, displays such a level of commitment. And it’s purely a volunteer effort. It’s one of those magical things.

Mary Housel Appointed Santa Maria City Librarian In December, Santa Maria, CA, City Manager Rick Haydon announced that Mary Housel (’79) had been appointed City Librarian. The news release reads: CITY OF SANTA MARIA ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF CITY LIBRARIAN After a competitive nationwide recruitment, incoming City Manager Rick Haydon announced today the appointment of Mary Housel as the new City Librarian. She is scheduled to report to work on January 30, 2012.

"I'm very pleased that the City was able to find someone with Mary's skill set through this recruitment process," Haydon said. "We look forward to Mary coming on board in late January, and I know that she'll be a tremendous asset to not only the library but to the community for years to come."

Ms. Housel is a Managing Librarian for adult services and collection development at the Monterey County Free Libraries where she also oversees the southern region of Monterey County's service area including eight branch libraries.

Previously, she served as the Acting Director of the Pacific Grove Public Library, as a Branch Librarian for Orange County Public Library, and in a management position for the Contra Costa County Library.

"I am thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to lead the beautiful and inspiring Santa Maria Public Library," she said. "I look forward to meeting the staff and the community, and working with them to ensure that we are meeting their needs and providing the highest level of service possible."

Ms. Housel brings a strong background in library management, with over 30 years of experience, ranging from budgeting to collection development, and policy development and strategic planning. She graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah, and then graduated with distinction with a master's degree in library science from the University of Kentucky. She earned her Spring 2012

second master's degree, in public administration, from California State University, Long Beach, graduating with distinction.

The relatively new 60,000 square foot Santa Maria Main Public Library has approximately 167,000 books, 14,000 audio materials, 2,000 electronic books, 14,000 video materials including 4,000 DVDs, and more than 430 magazine and newspaper subscriptions, plus a children's library, public computer lab, Shepard Hall, the Library Shop and other amenities. The library also oversees three branch library services, in Cuyama, Orcutt, and Guadalupe.

Susan Moore Appointed San Diego County Library Deputy Director Susan Moore (’93) has been appointed Deputy Director of Support Services at San Diego County Library, CA. The December 29 news release reads: SAN DIEGO COUNTY LIBRARY ANNOUNCES DEPUTY DIRECTOR ASSIGNMENT San Diego County Library (SDCL) announced Susan Moore as the system’s new Deputy Director of Support Services, effective December 23, 2011. Moore has eighteen years of professional library experience, specializing in partnership development, initiating model community programs aimed at inclusion, and marketing.

“Susan’s experience as a community advocate and proven organizer will make the library and the county stronger, better engaged, and prepared for the future,” said Library Director José Aponte.

Moore received her Masters of Library Science degree from the University of Kentucky and has worked at SDCL for three years, first as the Principal Librarian of Adult Services and most recently as the Principal Librarian of Community Relations. Her accomplishments with SDCL include developing a partnership with the Housing Opportunities Collaborative (HOC) which has provided over $2.4 million in free housing assistance at County branches, garnering a 2011 California State Association of Counties (CSAC) award and a 2010 National Association of Counties award. Moore also completed an application for the 2011 Library of the Year competition which resulted in SDCL receiving a special mention, and has secured grants from the California State Library, National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Council for the Humanities. Moore previously served as the Manager of the Children’s and Young Adult Services department at Louisville Free Public Library, and served on the Newbery Award Committee in 20002001, as well as participated in the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders program in 1997.

“SDCL is a blue ribbon library and is quickly moving up the ranks as one of the best libraries in the nation,” said Moore. “I am looking forward to serving the residents of San Diego County through my new role as SDCL works to provide even greater access to the services that build strong communities.”

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Marilyn Jenkins in 18th Year as Head of Allegheny County Library Association

Why was ACLA created?

Our mission statement reads: “ACLA, a federated library system, pursues, provides and promotes the highest quality public library service possible for all residents of Allegheny County through collaboration, cooperation and coordination.” According to our bylaws, “The Association’s primary purposes are: To serve as a federated system of public libraries in Allegheny County….

To develop, implement and maintain a sustainable county-wide plan for sharing resources and services by and among public libraries in Allegheny County….

To encourage and promote cooperation between and among public libraries in Allegheny County.

To promote public awareness that together the public libraries in Allegheny County constitute a vital regional asset.

To strengthen existing resources and library services through application for and redistribution of government and private funds for the benefit of the public libraries in Allegheny County and their patrons.”

When Marilyn Jenkins (’89) enrolled in the School of Library and Information Science, she had what may have been the perfect academic background for an important aspect of her current position, a point explained below. Marilyn had graduated from the University of Virginia Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, where she majored in classics. In her application to the School, when asked to list the languages she had studied, she wrote: “Latin, Greek, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, German, and a minimal amount of French.” In the application, Marilyn referred to library experience; she had worked in the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library. That experience was not extensive, however, and she noted that since graduating from UVA in 1977 “I have chosen not to work outside the home while raising my two children. Timothy and Peter are now school-aged and I would like to pursue another career.”

From UK Marilyn moved to Ohio, where she directed a small library, until Who are the members of ACLA? setting off for Pittsburgh. There, she beThe members are the 45 independent came Head of the Humanities Department public libraries of Allegheny County. at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and served on the Board of Directors for the How is ACLA governed?

Mt. Lebanon Public Library.

The Association is governed by a nineWhat about her academic background member Board of Directors. Allegheny Marilyn Jenkins prior to the MSLS program prompts the County is divided into five library service comment it may have been perfect for an regions, and each region selects a member of the Board. A important aspect of her current position? All those languages “Librarians Advisory Council” – the directors of member may have prepared her for the ethnic diversity of Pittsburgh, libraries – elects a member of the Board. Because of its conPennsylvania, and its suburbs in Allegheny County. Today, tribution to the Association’s income, the Allegheny ReMarilyn is Executive Director of the Allegheny County Ligional Asset District (RAD) appoints a Board member, and brary Association (ACLA), a position she has held since the the ACLA Board of Directors recommend two at-large inception of the agency in 1994. As head of ACLA Marilyn members, who must be endorsed by the library members of works with the 45 public libraries that serve the 130 municithe Assciation. With the exception of the Board member palities and 1.22 million residents of Allegheny County. The elected by the Librarians Advisory Council, an employee of libraries range in size from the Carnegie Library of Pittsa “Member Library” is not eligible for Board membership, burgh, with its Main Library, 19 other locations, and total and “a trustee or member of the Board of Directors of a operating expenditures of $23 million in fiscal year 2010, to Member Library” must resign that position to serve on the North Versailles public library, with its single location and ACLA Board. total operating expenditures of $100,588 that year.

How is ACLA funded?

When our paths crossed last year, I asked Marilyn if I In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010, the Association could interview her for the newsletter, and she said yes. The had total revenue, from all sources, of approximately $10.78 questions and Marilyn’s replies follow: million. Of that, $5.6 million came from the Regional Asset How did ACLA come about?

District and $4.64 million came from the state. Grants toIn early 1991 Frank Lucchino, who was then the Allegheny taled $316,000, and other sources combined – county and County controller, assisted by Beverly Blankowski and Jack local support, program fees, interest and other income – Chielli, published A Quiet Crisis: Libraries in Allegheny totaled about $223,000. We distributed $9.338 million of County, which described the poor condition and poor fundthe total to member libraries. ing of many of the county’s public libraries. A Quiet Crisis In fiscal 2010 about 52% of ACLA’s total revenue was from led to a meeting of Lucchino with the heads of the libraries, the Regional Asset District. What is that? and out of that meeting came the Allegheny County Library The Allegheny Regional Asset District was authorized by Association, which was established in 1994.

Spring 2012

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the Pennsylvania legislature in 1993 for the purpose of distributing money – in language on the RAD web site – “to civic, cultural and recreational entities, libraries, parks and sports facilities.” The law provides for a 1% sales and use tax in Allegheny County, one-half of which goes directly to the county and municipal governments and the other half of which goes to the RAD. In the language of the RAD mission statement, its share of the money is used “to support and finance regional assets in the areas of libraries, parks and recreation, cultural, sports and civic facilities and programs.” According to the RAD web site: “Since 1995, the 1% County Sales tax paid by residents of and visitors to Allegheny County has resulted in a cumulative $2.3 billion investment in the region (through 2011).”

Bear in mind, that is the total amount generated by the RAD portion of the 1% sales and use tax, not the total amount that has gone to libraries. Of the $81 million the RAD budgeted to be distributed in 2011, libraries received the largest portion, 32%, among the categories of “assets” receiving RAD funding.

enough workdays in a year to meet with every one of those individuals/entities once, let alone trying to build consensus among the library directors. Oh, and I have my own Board to manage. Good thing I thrive on chaos! It is a constant challenge to take all the dissonance and articulate a common vision and message about the value of public library service, and do so in a way that the average citizen or elected official can support. I am certified in professional coaching, mediation, and conflict resolution – and that has helped me manage some of the many challenges of the job.

Since leaving UK I’ve found inspiration in the larger community benefit sector of which libraries are a part.

We’ve done ourselves a disservice by using the term “nonprofit”. Rather than use deficit language about what we aren’t, it’s far more powerful to say who we are and what we do. We (including libraries) are about improving the quality of life, helping our communities realize their true potential. If you think about what you’re doing in those terms, it puts the focus where it should be. And certainly takes a lot of the politics out of it.

On what basis does ACLA distribute money to Allegheny County public libraries?

With the exception of money that it gives directly to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the RAD money for public libraries is given to the ACLA for distribution to county libraries. We do so on the basis of a formula that reflects several things, and the formula has been in near constant negotiation - any time 44 agencies attempt to agree on the distribution of funds you can bet there will be 44 different opinions on how to do that. What we've ended up with is a formula that seeks to provide some level of predictable funding (basic grant and population), some recognition for libraries serving distressed communities, some reward for local investment, and some acknowledgement of “performance” through circulation, nonresident use, and computer use. Some days I have felt inclined to throw the dollars up in the air and just let everyone grab as many as they can!

But for now this seems as reasonable a mechanism as possible. Even the RAD Board itself, which was pulled into the politically charged discussion, grew frustrated and is relieved to have approved the current mechanism for the foreseeable future (though the formula is a matter that requires annual approval).

What have been the most challenging, interesting, and rewarding aspects of your job?

When I landed in Pittsburgh twenty years ago, I was amazed that there wasn’t a unified 9-1-1 emergency service. Local governments each felt they knew best how to manage emergency calls. Heaven help the poor caller if s/he didn’t know precisely what municipality s/he was in when the accident occurred. The call would have to be routed all over the place until landing in the appropriate call center. And if you wanted to use a library, well, you often carried a pack of library cards to cover every location you frequented. I’m proud to say that we actually established a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure and a single library card across the county before the whole 9-1-1 system was implemented! In the midst of all the chaos I remain optimistic that we can build a cohesive, efficient, and effective system for delivering library services. That’s what the public here deserves for its investment, nearly $50 million in 2010.

You comment that the formula process is “politically charged.” Your work has to be “political” to some degree.

Would you comment on that?

There are 130 independent municipalities within Allegheny County, the City of Pittsburgh being just one of those. There are 45 autonomously operated public libraries. Folks here love their independence, but it clearly creates challenges when trying to build countywide services. Yes, politics has a lot to do with my job – 45 library boards, 130 municipal governments, a County Executive and a 15-member County Council, a 7 member RAD Board, 43 school districts, and 31 State elected officials. If my math is correct, there aren’t

Spring 2012

What do you see down the road for libraries in Allegheny County?

These are such exciting times for us, and for public libraries everywhere. We have tremendous opportunity to forge new partnerships, re-design programs and services, and re-think library space, making libraries even more community focused. We’ve launched a strategic conversation that will ultimately result in demonstration projects that will rock your socks! We are fortunate here in Southwestern Pennsylvania not only for the RAD support, but also for the strong support of major private foundations. Once again, as with A Quiet Crisis, libraries are poised to set a new standard for collaboration and innovation. We are on the forefront of what funders and strategists all say is essential for revitalizing our region, and taking a leadership role in changing the public library landscape across the country. Stay tuned - you will be hearing more about us!

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April Ritchie Advances “new model for enhancing library services” The January/February 2012 issue of American Libraries has a feature article by April Ritchie (’98), “O Sister Library, Where Are Thou?” in which she discusses the Kentucky Sister Library Project. After reminding the reader that, among the nation’s public libraries, some have “more resources” while others “are libraries lacking adequate resources – often, but not always, in rural areas,” April writes: “A new model for enhancing library services in these more vulnerable areas is emerging in Kentucky, a state with libraries at both ends of the economic spectrum.” The essence of the “new model” is a partnership between a better-funded library and a poorly-funded one. At this time ten public libraries in Kentucky “have partnered with one another.”

Kenton County Public Library, where April is Adult Services Coordinator at the Erlanger branch, is among the ten, and, although April doesn’t say so in the article, she confirmed to the newsletter that KCPL’s partnership with Carter County Public Library was the first to be formed in the Sister Library Project. The idea, as noted above, is that a Sister Library Project partnership will be between a library that is relatively well funded and one that is not. In FY 2010 KCPL enjoyed per capita revenue of $76.88, fifth highest in the state, while CCPL had to make due with $4.06 per capita, 114th out of the state’s 117 public libraries. Average per capita revenue among Kentucky’s public libraries that year was $37.61.

In the article April notes that the “first meeting [between “key participants” in the two libraries] is a good time to come up with a list of needs that the underfunded library could use help with. For example, does it need website assistance or help with writing policies? The possibilities are endless. Once several projects have been decided on, the next step is to figure out a plan of attack. Who will work on the projects? What will the time frame be? What are the goals and objectives of each project? After the trial period is over, the libraries will need to assess the success of the work they've done together and decide whether or not to continue.

If they decide to move forward, this is the time to come up with a new set of projects.”

Another partnership in the Sister Library Project is between Campbell County Public Library and McLean County Public Library, “the most recent library to be formed in the state.” It is too new to be included in the FY 2010 Statistical Report of Kentucky Public Libraries. However, Campbell County Public Library, with per capita income of $48.30 that year, is the better-funded of the two. According to the article, “For their first project, employees from Campbell County traveled to McLean County and worked there for a week cataloging books. Ultimately, its staff cataloged more than 1,600 books for McLean's bookmobile.”

It is obvious that the less well-funded library stands to benefit from a partnership, but does the better-funded one Spring 2012

also benefit? According to April, “This seems to be a common question; it is easy to see the benefits for the library with fewer dollars, but the advantages for its sister library are not so apparent. Yet, in some ways, the better-funded library stands to gain a great deal, especially in terms of staff development.” She quotes Campbell County Public Library Director JC Morgan (’97): "We have as much to learn from this partnership as we have to give." And with regard to his library’s partnership with Carter County Public Library, April quotes Kenton County Director Dave Schroeder (’97) as saying: "The project has been wonderful for our staff, especially those who were able to work for a day at the Carter County Library. Our staff members were able to experience the similarities and differences of working in a rural library."

According to the article, April “founded the Kentucky Library Association’s Kentucky Sister Library Project and serves as the coordinator for the program.” We asked what prompted her to undertake the Project, and she replied: “It was sort of personal. I have older relatives from parts of Kentucky that grew up with limited or no library services in the past. Some areas have only recently received libraries.

There are still many libraries throughout the state that could use a hand in order to do more with their limited resources.

The disparity in resources among Kentucky libraries is eyeopening. I saw this project as a way to strengthen library services across the state. It could be argued that we have a professional obligation to help one another, especially in such a tough economy.”

April also told the newsletter: “Since the article was published we've had more libraries join, so we now have 12 participating libraries, with more on the way.”

Alumni Activities Dr. Deanna Marcum (’71) retired from her position as Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress effective December 31 and became Managing Director of Ithaka S+R effective January 1.

In December, Santa Maria, CA, City Manager Rick Haydon announced that Mary Housel (’79) had been appointed City Librarian.

Also in December, Susan Moore (’93) was appointed Deputy Director of Support Services, San Diego County Library, CA. Kristiana Burke (’02) is Director of Product Management at Discovery Communications. In her email she wrote: “We manage a portfolio of 13 websites, mobile (iPad and iPhone, etc.) and more for our brands like HowStuffWorks.com, Animal Planet, Discovery, TLC, etc. I still use the things I learned at UK SLIS everyday and those foundations of user experience/info arch.”

Matt Reynolds (’05) is Public Services Librarian, East Carolina University’s North Carolina collection.

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Rae Ann Platt Sauer (’08) is Assistant Librarian/Archivist at the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Genealogical Research Library in Louisville.

Among Recent Graduates Anthony Buchanan is on the staff at Louisville Free Public Library, assigned to the Main Library.

Jessie Phelps, who had been on the staff at Louisville Free Public Library, resigned in January and began working as a Legislative Assistant in the Washington office of Kentucky Congressman John Yarmuth. She told the newsletter: “I know that it's not a library job, but it is something that I've been intrigued with since undergrad.”

Susan Pugh is Extended Services Librarian, Breathitt County Public Library, Jackson, KY.

Robert Danielson is Librarian for Copyright, Collection Development, and Advanced Research, B.L. Fisher Library, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY.

Ashley Schuler is Children’s Programmer, Campbell County Public Library, KY.

Jacqueline Hawes is Library Coordinator, Maysville Community and Technical College Library, Maysville, KY.

Chelsey Spencer is a member of the library staff at the Don and Cathy Jacobs Health Education Center, University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital.

Jeffrey Henry is on the staff at Waterfield Library, Murray State University, Murray, KY. Kathleen Hollinger is a teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School here in Lexington.

Katherine Horner is on the staff at Louisville Free Public Library, assigned to the Shively Branch.

Jeanene Jones is a teacher in Fayette County Public Schools, here in Lexington.

Connie Kibbey is Library Media Specialist, Rowan County Senior High School, Morehead, KY. Eric Pennington is a reference librarian at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, assigned to the Main Library.

Summer Perry is English Instructional Coach, Fayette County Schools, assigned to the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, here in Lexington.

Rhonda Vrabel is on the staff at Kenton County Public Library, Covington, KY. We regret to report the death of several graduates: Frances McClure (’65) died early in December. According to the Washington Post obituary, she had retired in 1997 after nearly 30 years with Montgomery County Public Libraries, MD. Terry Lindsay Green ’74 died January 20 at the Hospice Care Center in Lexington.

Arlene Macht-Belletire (’88) died October 29, 2011, at University Hospital in Cincinnati.

We learned this past November that Ralph Rivera (’89) had died in Bayamón, P.R., in December 2010. __________ Send information for the newsletter to carrigan@uky.edu.

The School’s Alumni and Awards Banquet will be held Friday, April 27, at the Double Tree by Hilton, 2601 Richmond Road.

For information and to make a reservation: http://cis.uky.edu/lis/banquet

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