Libraries to Honor SLIS Graduate

Each year at this time, the University holds the Lyman T. Johnson Awards Banquet to honor current students and alumnus with awards. The 2009 Lyman T. Johnson Award nominee for the UK Libraries and the School of Library and Information Science has been selected and will receive one of the one of the Torch Bearer Awards at the banquet on October 30th.

The award will be going to James R. O’Rourke, Sr., MS in Library Science. Unfortunately, Mr. O’Rourke is deceased, but his award will be received by his son, Dr. James R. O’Rourke, Jr. The information about Mr. O’Rourke which follows was prepared by Reinette Jones for our submission. Our thanks go to Reinette and Dennis Carrigan (SLIS) who select our nominee each year.

This recognition is long overdue for James O’Rourke, Sr. and his contributions to the field of library and information science. He is being recognized posthumously. James Ralph O’Rourke, Sr. was born in 1913 in Tuscaloosa, AL, and died in North Carolina in 1999. After double-checking our files, it is believed that he was the first African American graduate of the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science, in 1957. He served as head librarian at Stillman Junior College [now Stillman College] in Tuscaloosa, AL, before being named head librarian at Kentucky State University Library, where he served from 1949-1970. He was a graduate of Stillman Junior College, Talladega College, earned his B.S. in Library Science at Atlanta University, and his M.S. in library science at the University of Kentucky.

James R. O’Rourke, Sr. was one of the first African American members of the Kentucky Library Association. He was author of several articles and co-author of the Student Library Assistants of Kentucky Handbook. He and a fellow librarian established the Student Library Assistants program in 1952, the only state-wide program in the U.S. that trained high school students in library techniques. The program also provided scholarships for high school seniors who intended to go to college. Mr. O’Rourke was the commencement speaker at various high schools in Kentucky. He traveled around the state providing library training to public library employees and held an annual workshop to help those same employees gain state certification. He was the last chairman of the librarians’ division of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, from 1952 until the organization was subsumed into the Kentucky Education Association in 1957.

James R. O’Rourke, Sr. was also a civil rights advocate and served as a member of several organizations. He was the presiding chair of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Lexington, KY., and was co-chairman of the Kentucky Committee on Religious and Human Rights. Mr. O’Rourke was a member of the Black History Committee of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights and a co-contributor to the Commission’s publication, Kentucky’s Black Heritage.James R. O’Rourke, Sr. was a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He left Kentucky a few years after his retirement from Kentucky State University in 1970.

Donovan Trust Proposals Solicited

The Advisory Committee for the Donovan Trust is seeking proposals for FY2009-10 awards. The deadline for proposals is Friday, October 23. In the past we have received Donovan Trust awards for Special Collections and Digital Programs and the Little Fine Arts Library. I sent the applications to the all-lib list on Thursday, September 24th.

ALA, ARL Release Guidance on Digital Delivery of Content to Classrooms

The American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of Research Libraries have released a document titled “Performance of or Showing Films in the Classroom” to provide guidance on digital delivery of content to the “physical” classroom. The document can be found at http://www.arl.org/pp/ppcopyright/webdigitalpsa.shtml

According to the associations, the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act enacted in 2002 does not provide librarians clarity on copyright exceptions for the digital delivery of content for distance education. Thus, understanding what is permitted under the TEACH Act in combination with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and existing exceptions, such as fair use, is becoming increasingly confusing to many practitioners.

The statement was written by Jonathan Band, legal counsel to ALA and ARL; Peter Jaszi, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic at American University Washington College of Law; and Kenneth D. Crews, Director of the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University.

Fall 2009 -- a Record Setting Year!

The following report comes from Don Witt, Assistant Provost for Enrollment Management and Director of Undergraduate Admission and University Registrar

I am pleased to announce that we set many important undergraduate enrollment records for fall 2009. I want to thank the faculty, staff and students across the campus who have worked collaboratively to reach our goals. Here are some of the highlights:

Record number of freshmen applications at 12,195 = 10% increase
Average ACT rose from 24.4 to 24.7
Record ACT composite mid50 at 22-28 (was 22-27)
Record number of 375 students with a 31-36 ACT composite (28% higher than last year)
Record number of Governor Scholar and Governor School for the Arts = 404 (last year 389)
Record African-American freshmen enrollment at 404 = 17% increase over last year
Record undergraduate African-American enrollment at 1382 = 12% increase over last year
Overall UK African-American enrollment at 1774 = 9% over last year
International freshmen at 44 = 38% increase over last year
Record Hispanic freshmen at 78 = 26% over last year
Undergraduate Hispanic enrollment at 293 = 21% increase over last year
New Transfer enrollment at 1041 = 7% increase over last year
KCTCS transfers at 416 = 15% increase over last year
BCTCS transfers at 243 = 10% increase over last year

The freshmen class size is 4145 with overall UK enrollment at 27,102.

We look forward to working with you as we recruit the fall 2010 class and beyond.

Department Heads Minutes

The meeting minutes from the May 28th department heads’ meeting are now posted on the Department Heads SharePoint site. https://libstaffsrv.uky.edu/Admin/Heads/default.aspx

Did you know 4.0

From American Libraries Direct

Did you know 4.0

This is another official update (4:45) to the original (2008) Shift Happens video (8:28). This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with the Economist. Content by XPLANE, the Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Laura Bestler....YouTube, Sept. 14

Jennifer Mattern Resigns

Jennifer Mattern, Library Technician in the Circulation Department Fines and Lost and Found Office since August 2006, has submitted her resignation. She completed her MLS degree while working in the Libraries and has accepted a Reference/Public Services Librarian position with the Clark County Public Library. Her last day with the Libraries will be September 23, 2009. Way to go, Jennifer! Thanks for all the good work you have done for the Libraries.

Call for Nominations for Library Associates Medallion for Intellectual Achievement

We are currently accepting nominees for the 2010 Library Associates Medallion for Intellectual Achievement, which recognizes Kentuckians who have attained high intellectual achievement. Nominations for the honor will be accepted through Sept. 25. The Medallion for Intellectual Achievement, one of UK's most prestigious awards, was created to recognize high intellectual achievement by Kentuckians, and to encourage education and promote creative thought. Final selection of the recipient of the Libraries Medallion Laureate is determined by majority vote of the Library Associates Executive Committee. Created in 1992, the medallion's previous winners have produced a contribution of lasting value to the Commonwealth. Past recipients of the award include Wendell Berry, James Still, Bobbie Ann Mason, Thomas D. Clark and Guy Davenport. See the UK press release for details on how to nominate someone.
http://uknow.uky.edu/content/intellectual-achievement-medallion-nominations

KDL Content Now Exposed in Google

From Mary Molinaro:

Since the inception of the Kentuckiana Digital Library the digital objects contained therein have not been accessible to those users doing searches in search engines such as Google. All of the content in the KDL sat in a "dark archive" (not unlike many large digital archives). In late May Eric Weig and Michael Slone began working on a method to expose the KDL content to these search engines. Working together they developed a site map that can be crawled and indexed by Google. They have developed an automated process that adds new KDL content to the searchable site map.

We have discovered over the last few months that Google is actively indexing our content now and currently shows around 190,000 pages indexed. This has spiked our statistics considerably, as you can see below [see 9-11-09 update in SharePoint for table] that our numbers started to increase in June and July’s numbers are five times greater than May. The stats for August through August 12th indicate that we will have even more visitors in August!

I think this underscores the value of having librarians and programmers working together to make our valuable content available to users. Congratulations and thanks to Eric and Michael!

Little/Gaines Artists' Series

The Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center and the Gaines Center for the Humanities announce a collaborative artists’ series showcasing the work of Kentucky artists and bringing together artists in the same or different genres or mediums. Little/Gaines Artists will team up with one or two collaborators in visual, literary, musical or dramatic arts to stage unique exhibitions as part of this series presented at the Niles Gallery, located in University of Kentucky's Little Fine Arts Library. The Little/Gaines Artist Series will begin with a program focused around writer and filmmaker Kelli Burton at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22. Read more about it in the press release at http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?artid=5011

Impact on KYVL of 4% Budget Cut at CPE

The Council on Postsecondary Education sustained a 4% cut, along with the other state agencies – retroactive to the beginning of Fiscal Year 2009-10 which was July 1, 2009. We do not yet know the impact of this cut on KYVL but they are creating budget scenarios for discussion at CPE. Mary Beth Thomson also serves on the KYVL Collections Committee which will make recommendations if a reduction in databases from KYVL is required. More when we know it.

Starting the School Year Right at UK

From American Libraries Direct

Starting the school year right at UK

Stacey Greenwell writes: “The University of Kentucky Libraries hosted a huge party in the Information Commons last week for the incoming freshman class. During our two-hour fun fair, the Hubbub, we welcomed around 800 students to campus. This year we were able to move the time slot to 5–7 p.m., which gave us an hour for the party games and socializing to wind down naturally before the building closed.” Hubbub 2009 featured board and video games, a photo booth (right), coloring with crayons, palm and Tarot readings, and a balloon artist....The Uncommon Commons, Aug. 28