Dr. Knuth wins prestigious national award

Congratulations to Dr. Rebecca Knuth, recipient of the 2009 Library Journal Teaching Award, which “recognizes excellence in educating the next generation of librarians.”  The award comes with $5000 from ProQuest, which sponsors the award, along with an article in LJ (in the November 15 issue) and a party at Midwinter ALA in Boston.

LIS PROGRAM RECEIVES IMLS GRANT

The University of Hawaii’s Library and Information Science Program has received a National Leadership grant of $249,918 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for a project entitled, “Pathways to Excellence and Achievement in Research and Learning (PEARL).”  Violet Harada, LIS professor, is the principal investigator. Co-investigators are Margit Watts, College of Education; Michael Brian Ogawa, College of Natural Sciences-Department of Information and Computer Sciences; Jodie Mattos, University of Hawaii Libraries; and Randy Hensley, Baruch College, New York.

The PEARL team will design and implement a training program for high school teachers and librarians to address “expectation gaps” between high school and post-high school pursuits. A training guide will be produced that focuses on the mastery of 21^st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, interpreting information, and analytic reasoning. The project will be cooperatively developed with the Hawaii Department of Education as part of the DOE’s Senior Project initiative.

IMLS is the primary source of federal funds for the nation’s museums and libraries. The National Leadership grant is considered the capstone program for IMLS, providing the agency’s highest level of support for innovative projects with national impact that create important research, tools, and models for library and museum programs across the country. For more information on the grant, visit http://www.imls.gov/news/2009/092409b.shtm

Banned Books Week Special Event in Second Life

In observance of Banned Books Week you are cordially invited to attend a Special Event in Second Life on Thursday, October 1, 2009, 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. HST (4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. SLT).  The event is produced by UH MLIS students of the Library and Information Science Student Union in SL, and hosted by the American Library Association on ALA Island in Banned Books Village Square <http://slurl.com/secondlife/ALA%20Island/195/32/61>.

The event  features a talk by Dr. Rebecca Knuth, Professor of Library and Information Science at UHM, and author of Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth Century, and Burning Books and Leveling Libraries: Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction.  Dr. Knuth will speak in front of a symbolic bonfire.  There will also be a DJ with great music and dancing, a hunt, photo contest and other activities.  Attend in costume representing a banned/challenged book or author if you like; but this is not required.  Free costumes available on site.

ALA-SC October 26 Research Seminar - Brendan Luyt

On October 26 at 12 pm in POST-318B, Brendan Luyt will be presenting a talk entitled “Developing a Public Library System for Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s.”

Brendan Luyt is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication & Information at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

See the poster for more details.

UH LIS Graduate named one of Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers

Joe Murphy, a 2006 LIS Program graduate, has been named to Library Journal’s 2009 list of innovators in the library world: Movers and Shakers.  This list, published by LJ since 2002, identifies librarians and others who are “shaping the future of libraries.”

Joe Murphy was named for his work in developing a text messaging reference service at Yale, as well as integrating the service into 2.0 technologies such as Twitter and Facebook.  He is currently the Science Librarian, Coordinator of Instruction and Technology, of Kline Science Library at Yale University.

Read the full article at
http://www.libraryjournal.com/MS2009Inductee/2140336007.html

Maui LIS Students Receive MFOL Scholarships

Three LIS students taking courses from Maui have received scholarships from the Maui Friends of the Library (MFOL). One thousand dollar scholarships have been awarded to Veronica Farrell, Dean Louie, and Elizabeth (Betsy) Knight. They are each taking classes to pursue careers in public and school libraries. Two of this year’s scholarship recipients, Louie and Knight, also received scholarships from MFOL last year.

The MFOL scholarships are offered to Maui County residents pursuing a career in library and information science through distance education. The courses are offered by instructors in the University of Hawaii’s Library and Information Science Program on the Manoa campus and televised to neighbor island sites. 

MFOL is a non-profit organization that supports public libraries and the wide variety of services they offer to Maui community residents. MFOL operates a used bookstore behind the Puunene School and several book sale tables located in Maui County Public Libraries. It uses the proceeds to support the provision of materials and services to public libraries.

KANEHIRO NAMED SPECTRUM SCHOLAR

Everett Peter Kanehiro, a student in the LIS Program, has been selected as one of the American Library Association’s 2009-2010 Spectrum Scholars. Established in 1997, the Spectrum Scholarship Program has become one of the most important drivers of diversity in the library profession. The program recruits LIS graduate students from five professionally under-represented groups: American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander. To date over 600 Spectrum Scholarships have been awarded. Spectrum provides a one-time non-renewable $5,000 tuition scholarship, over $1,500 in pre-professional development activities, and on-going leadership training and career placement services to each Spectrum recipient.

LIS School Library Specialization Among Top Ten in U.S. News and World Report

The LIS school library media specialization has been recognized as among the top ten programs in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report in its “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2010.” This is the third consecutive year that the specialization has made the listing.

“We are deeply pleased to receive this recognition from our peers. This is terrific testimony to the LIS faculty, who have built a rigorous and nationally respected graduate curriculum, and to the LIS students, who are emerging leaders in the school library field,” said Violet H. Harada, Professor and Associate Program Chair of the Library and Information Science Program. Harada also coordinates the school library media specialization.

U.S. News and World Report analyzes more than 12,000 different graduate program areas for this special report. Rankings are based on expert opinions regarding program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of the faculty, research, and students.

For more information on the U.S News and World Report rankings of America’s Best Graduate Schools, visit www.usnews.com/grad

Orientation mtg for Fall 09 Practicum Cours

Students:There will be a mandatory orientation meeting for students interested in LIS 696 Practicum in School Libraries for Fall 2009. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 31, from 4 to 5 pm, in POST 302.LIS 696 is a requirement for students in the school library media specialization. It is not to be mistaken with LIS 690, which is the internships course for other types of libraries and information centers.If you plan to attend the meeting, please email Dr. Harada (vharada@hawaii.edu). For neighbor island students, who may not be able to make it, please email Dr. Harada (vharada@hawaii.edu) if you intend to do a practicum in the fall. 

Congratulations UH LIS grad, Cybrarian Shari Tamashiro

Kapi’olani Cybrarian Shari Tamashiro’s paper “The Hawai’i Nisei Story: Creating a Living Digital Memory,” was accepted for presentation at the Media in Transition 6: Stone and Papyrus, Storage and Transmission conference to be held in April at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.