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Category: SLIS News

Makiba Foster Special Public Lecture

You are invited to attend a special public lecture by Makiba Foster from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Please mark your calendars on March 22nd from 1-3pm in Gorgas Room 205 when Ms. Foster will be offering the following lecture:

Documenting Dissenting Voices: Libraries and Social Justice

When ideas of library neutrality seek to disentangle libraries from the lives of patrons and the politics of the time, there are librarians who demand action and advocacy. This lecture will discuss libraries documenting social movements through participatory community archives and the activist practitioners hoping to disrupt systems of oppression that also exist in the field of LIS.

Makiba Foster is the Assistant Chief Librarian for the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Prior to her role at the Schomburg, she lead collaborations at Washington University in St. Louis Libraries focusing on community archives and social justice work. Documenting Ferguson, a community sourced digital archive and Mapping LGBTQ St. Louis, a Mellon Funded GIS mapping project, are examples of this work. She is active in state and national library associations and she has authored articles published in Library Journal and Library Management.

The School of Library and Information Studies and the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama are excited to sponsor this free lecture that is open to the public. Coffee and dessert will be provided. A promotional flyer for Ms. Foster’s visit in attached below for distribution. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

SLIS Student wins MLA Scholarship

Christine Remenih was selected by the Board of Directors of the Medical Library Association to be the 2017 Medical Library Association Scholarship recipient. The MLA awards this scholarship in the amount of up to $5000 to a student who, according to the scholarship description, “shows excellence in scholarship and potential for accomplishment in health sciences librarianship.” Remenih, a member of the 12th National Online MLIS Cohort, will be honored at the President’s Awards Dinner at MLA’s annual meeting in Seattle, Washington. Remenih is the second SLIS student to be awarded the MLA Scholarship, following Cathy Murch, a member of the 2nd National Online MLIS Cohort in 2007. Murch is currently a Bioinformatician and Systems Librarian at Lake Hospital System in northeastern Ohio. Please join SLIS faculty and staff in congratulating Christine Remenih for this well-deserved honor!

SLIS gives over $22,500 in new free books to Black Belt School Libraries

During March 2017, The University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) will award a record $22,641 in new, free books to elementary, middle, and high school libraries in Alabama via the SLIS Book Bonanza for the BlackBelt & Beyond Program.

School librarians in the Black Belt region were asked to apply for the book give-away program from January to mid-February. We received applications from 24 highly deserving schools. The committee chose 6 school libraries in the Black Belt Region of the state to receive over $2000 each in brand new children’s and young adult books. The judging of the applications was rigorous, as every school exemplified a significant need.

We have selected 2 Book Bonanza Beyond winners. The Beyond winner is a low-income private school in the Black Belt Region of the state, or a public school demonstrating significant economic need in an area of the state outside of the Black Belt. The purpose of this award is to give an equally deserving school library, that is not eligible to be a Book Bonanza for the Black Belt Winner, a one-time opportunity to address literacy needs in their school community.

We hope that you will join us in congratulating the following winning school libraries:

Book Bonanza Black Belt Winners:

Gordo High School, serving grades 7-12 (Pickens County), Librarian Heather Perrigin
Greensboro Middle School, serving grades 6-8 (Hale County), Librarian Elaine Pugh
Payne Elementary School, serving graded K-5 (Dallas County), Librarian Julie Johnson
Sidney Lanier High School, serving grades 9-12 (Montgomery County), Librarian Yolanda Huntley
Southside Primary School, serving grades K-2 (Dallas County), Librarian Monica Gayle
Valley Grande Elementary School, serving grades PreK-6 (Dallas County), Librarian Brenda Powell

Book Bonanza Beyond Winner:

Central Elementary School, serving grades K-5 (Tuscaloosa County), Librarian Stephanie Frost
Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, serving grades PreK-5 (Tuscaloosa County), Librarian Sandra Perteet-Plenty

Established in 2009 by Dr. Jamie Naidoo, the SLIS Book Bonanza for the Black Belt (& Beyond) is an annual program that provides free new books to school libraries in the Black Belt region of state. Schools in the Black Belt region are encouraged to apply again in January next year for a chance to receive free books for their school libraries during the next SLIS Book Bonanza for the Black Belt & Beyond Program. Low-income private schools in the Black Belt Region or schools in economically disadvantaged areas of the state outside the Black Belt are encouraged to apply next year to be a Beyond Winner. If you need additional information about the program, please contact Dr. Jamie C. Naidoo at jcnaidoo@slis.ua.edu or SLIS at 205-348-4610. Information is also available on the program website: http://blackbeltbookbonanza.weebly.com.

UA’s School of Library and Information Studies Names New Director

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s School of Library and Information Studies has named Dr. James K. Elmborg its new director.

Elmborg comes to UA from his professorship at the University of Iowa, where he formerly served as director of the School of Library and Information Science from 2006 to 2011.

At more than $3 million dollars in external funding, Elmborg has an established record of securing grants and managing large-scale, collaborative initiatives. He has made a name for himself in the fields of critical information literacy and digital humanities.

Elmborg received his doctorate from the University of Kansas in 1995. He is the author of two books: Centers for Learning: Libraries and Writing Centers in Collaboration, and A Pageant of Its Time: Edward Dorn’s Slinger and the Sixties.

UA’s School of Library and Information Studies is a top-ranked program for library, information and book arts education. SLIS aims to develop creative and critical thinkers and leaders for the information world through a supportive teaching and learning environment, collaborative research and community engagement. SLIS is a department of the College of Communication and Information Sciences.

Terry Martin, SLIS Class of 1973, Retires After 43 Years of Service

terry-martin

M.L.S. 1973 – Terry Martin, recently retired after a career of 43 years as an academic librarian. From 1993-2016 he served as Director of Library/Professor, Louisiana College, Pineville, LA. From 1973-1993 he served as Director of Library, Georgetown College, Technical Services/Circulation Librarian, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Technical Services Librarian, Samford University. He holds a Masters of Arts (Biblical/Historical Studies) from Samford University. He and his wife Carol have one son and one granddaughter.