Spring Vol. 24 No. 2, 2008

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News From the Field

University of Central Florida

Appointments, Promotions, and Departures

Cynthia Kisby (Associate Librarian), formerly Personnel Librarian, is the new Head of Regional Campus Libraries. Certified by the Society for Human Resource Management, Cynthia has coordinated mediated searching, library instruction, and staff development services at UCF. She also has worked in public, school, and medical libraries. She is a former teacher and Peace Corps volunteer and a past president of FACRL.

Promoted to the faculty rank of Assistant Librarian is Doug Dunlop (Cataloging).

Laila Miletic-Vejzovic, has been appointed head of Special Collections and University Archives, effective March 3rd. Laila joins the UCF library faculty after 19 years at Washington State University, where she had been head of Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections. She began her career at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Her numerous awards include a Fulbright Scholar Grant in 1992, International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) grants in 1997 and 2000, and a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant in 2002-2003. In 1996, she was selected by Washington State to attend the Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration at Bryn Mawr College. She has served as president of the Association of Faculty Women (1998-90) and been a member of the Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board. Laila’s M.L.S. is from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Catherine Steffens (Instructor Librarian, Cataloging) resigned in February to accept a position as database manager and bookkeeper at Nathaniel's Hope, a non-profit organization that serves children with special needs (VIP kids) and their families.

Former Libraries development officer Dwain Teague is now Director of Development for the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Papers, Publications, and Presentations

Penny Beile (University Librarian, Curriculum Materials Center) will be one of three speakers at a session titled, “Is There a Right to Information Literacy? Academy Responsibility in the Information Age,” at the 2008 American Library Association annual conference.

Co-presenting during the 25th annual Academic Chairpersons Conference, February 6-8 in Orlando, were Richard Harrison (Associate Librarian, Reference) and Dr. Denise Young (Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs). Their paper, “Preparing Faculty for Academic Leadership: The Senior Faculty Fellows Program at the University of Central Florida,” described UCF's Senior Faculty Fellows program and outlined the rationale for its establishment; discussed its history and funding; reviewed the application and selection procedure; described the fellows' projects and experiences and their transition (or not) to administration; discussed recent developments with the program in light of UCF's changing campus culture; and suggested future directions and practical recommendations.

“The Social Web in Scholarship and Libraries,” is the title of a paper to be presented by Aysegul Kapucu and John Venecek (Instructor Librarians, Reference), Athena Hoeppner (Associate Librarian, Acquisitions and Collections), and Doug Dunlop (Assistant Librarian, Cataloging) at the Florida Library Association (FLA) annual conference, April 23-25, 2008.

Also in April, Aysegul, Athena, and Doug will present “Getting Users to Library Resources: A del.icio.us Alternative” at the Computers in Libraries Conference in Arlington, Virginia.

State, National, and International Activities

Jason Martin (Assistant Librarian, Curriculum Materials Center) is a member of the Southern Books Competition Award committee of the Southeastern Library Association for 2007-2008.

Grants and Awards

Libraries Director Barry Baker was named “Information Professional of the Year” for 2007 by the Association of Caribbean University, Research, and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL). The award was presented at the ACURIL annual conference last June in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Curriculum Materials Center (CMC) has received $5,400 from the Office of the Provost as part of UCF's annual Undergraduate Teaching Equipment Grants program. The grant will be used to update the CMC’s Ellison die cut collection.The total of all proposals submitted was $375,291; the amount of award money available this year was $188,000. Principal investigator for the grant is Jason Martin.

Kristine Shrauger (Head, Interlibrary Loan) will receive the 2008 Excellence in Librarianship award, which will be presented at the annual UCF Founders' Day convocation in April.

The UCF Libraries received a Florida Humanities Council grant to fund programming in conjunction with an exhibit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac’s seminal classic, On the Road, and the circumstances relating to another of Kerouac’s books, The Dharma Bums, which was written in Orlando. Library exhibits focused on Kerouac’s work, photos, and especially his relationship to Orlando. Programs featured a variety of speakers and round table discussions sharing thoughts, critiques, and historical information about the influence, life, and times of Kerouac and the “Beat” writers.

The Libraries is one of the first recipients of the IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf, a core set of conservation books, DVDs, and online resources donated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source of federal funding of the nation’s museums and libraries. IMLS and the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) will award a total of 2,000 sets of the IMLS Bookshelf by the end of 2008.

Exhibits and Other Library-Sponsored Events

The Libraries hosted Chautauqua performer and scholar Betty Jean Steinshouer in a presentation of "The Voice of the Everglades: Marjory Stoneman Douglas,” a one-woman portrayal of Douglas, who was a tireless advocate for the preservation and restoration of the Everglades. The mid-March performance at the Libraries was funded by a grant from UCF Learning Institute for Elders (LIFE).

Bill Belleville, environmental writer and documentary filmmaker, will present a free public lecture at the UCF Libraries on Tuesday, April 15th at 7 p.m. Belleville has written and researched extensively on the topics of nature, wildlife, conservation, and adventure travel. His most recent book, Losing It All To Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape (University Press of Florida, 2006), was named one of the "Best Books of 2006" by Library Journal and won the Al Burt Excellence in Journalism Award of the 1000 Friends of Florida. Currently, he is working on a new documentary, In Marjorie’s Wake, which traces the journey of Pulitzer winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings on the St. Johns River. The film will be broadcast by Miami PBS affiliate WPBT in 2008. Belleville’s lecture is underwritten by a grant from UCF Learning Institute for Elders (LIFE).

“Paradise Lost: The Vibrant Spirit and Natural Splendor of Haiti Through the Eyes of Its Artists” is currently on display in the Orlando campus Library. The exhibit consists of paintings from the Le Couleurs Gallery (click on the Haitian art links on the left menu) and from the Libraries’ Bryant West Indies Collection. The exhibit gives viewers a taste of Haitian art over the past 25 years and at the same time showcases the spirit of the country with detailed, colorful palettes in a folk-art style. The works of such artists as Andre Blaise, David Chery, Levoy Exil, Voltaire Hector, Fritz Merise, Simeon Michel, Jean Mitho, and Fritzner Obin are included.