General Education Reform Faculty Curricular Teams

I am very pleased to report that the Faculty Curricular Teams for the General Reform process have been appointed and that each team includes one of our librarians. These teams have been asked “to create a clear and usable template outlining the key elements or operational criteria and their relative weight that a course proposal must include in order to qualify as a part of the General Education curriculum.” Their deadlines are short – mid-March – and they are already fast at work. My thanks to those who volunteered to have their names put forward and those who have been selected to serve. In addition, the Faculty Council was instrumental in compiling the list of volunteers and having Stephanie Aken serving on the Senate Council was very effective in getting our librarians included. We’ll look forward to hearing more about their work as it proceeds.

· Intellectual Inquiry, Humanities – Brad Carrington
· Intellectual Inquiry, Physical, Natural and Mathematical Sciences – Jan Carver
· Intellectual Inquiry, Social Sciences – Shawn Livingston
· Intellectual Inquiry, Arts & Creativity – Meg Shaw
· Communications, Writing I – Rob Aken
· Communications, Writing I – Jen Bartlett
· Communications, Communication – Stacey Greenwell
· Quantitative Reasoning, Math, Logic and Stats Foundation – Sue Smith
· Quantitative Reasoning, Statistical Reasoning – Rick Brewer
· Citizenship, U.S. Citizenship – Kate Black
· Citizenship, Global Citizenship – Gordon Hogg
· Co-Curricular – Carla Cantagallo

The full lists can be found at http://www.uky.edu/GenEd/fac_curricular_team.php

Notable Kentucky African Americans Database Wins ALA Award

The University of Kentucky Libraries have been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Library Services, a division of the American Library Association, for our submission of the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database. The Libraries will receive a citation, and $3,000, courtesy of the Cengage Gale Learning Company, to be given at the Annual RUSA awards ceremony, on Monday, July 13, at approx. 3 p.m. in Chicago, IL . Congratulations to Reinette Jones and Rob Aken!

Save the Date

On April 24th from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00, you’ll have the opportunity to visit the new Science Library as well as meet the new director of the School of Library and Information Studies, Jeff Huber. This reception will be sponsored by SAALCK (State-Assisted Academic Library Council of Kentucky) of which the UK Libraries is a member.

Nominations Open for UK Libraries' Awards

It's time to start nominating!! The Awards Jury would like to announce that nominations are now being accepted for two awards. Nominations for both the Dean's Award for Outstanding Performance (up to 3 awards given) and the Outstanding Student Award (up to four awards given) can be made by any library faculty or staff member, although self-nominations are not permitted.

We all work with highly talented and innovative people, so if you know a staff member or a student that deserves this honor, please nominate them. Feel free to collaborate with your colleagues on a nomination. You can access the nomination forms through this link:
https://libstaffsrv.uky.edu/Committees/Awards/default.aspx.

SOLINET/PALINET Merger Approved by the Membership

I am happy to share exciting news with you. Voting representatives of SOLINET and PALINET approved the merger of the two organizations with a ‘Yes’ vote of more than 95%. SOLINET members will now be able to collaborate with peers at diverse institutions throughout the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeastern US and nationally, working together to respond to constantly changing expectations of our users, wherever they may be. The effective date for the new organization, Lyrasis, is April 1, 2009. During the transition period, Lyrasis staff will be keeping you informed of our progress. Please visit www.mergerupdate.org for the latest information.

A Little Wager with the Dean of Libraries at Auburn University

My colleague at Auburn University, Bonnie MacEwan, is going to be the guest coach at the February 12th women’s basketball game between Auburn and UK. She has challenged me to a small wager on the outcome of the game. Of course, I have full confidence that our UK Wildcats will be victorious. If we are, Bonnie will be making a contribution to the UK Libraries for a book which will include the following inscription:

"In recognition of the Auburn's defeat against the Kentucky Women's Basketball team February 12, 2009."

Should out team fall to the Auburn Tigers, I will be making a similar contribution with inscription to their Libraries. Go Cats!

An Interactive take on Dante

From American Libraries Direct

An interactive take on Dante

Guy P. Raffa, associate professor of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin, has created an online readers’ guide to Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Called Danteworlds, it’s an interactive accompaniment to his book on The Divine Comedy from the University of Chicago Press. The online Danteworlds maps out Dante’s physical progress to Hell and beyond, combining classic images by Botticelli with new illustrations by Suloni Robertson (above). There are also audio snippets of Dante’s work being read in Italian....Los Angeles Times, Jan. 14

Assessing Student Information Literacy

From American Libraries Direct

Assessing student information literacy

While we all work diligently to improve students’ information literacy, it’s not always easy to assess students’ knowledge and retention. TRAILS (Tool for Real-Time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills) provides one possible solution. Created by Kent State University with funding from the Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education, this free online tool uses multiple choice questions based on both Information Power and Ohio’s 6th- and 9th-grade standards....AASL Blog, Jan. 20

Calling All Catalogers

From American Libraries Direct

Calling all catalogers

Nicole Engard writes: “I have been spending time these last few months working on a new web-based cataloging tool. It’s finally time! I’d like to invite you to sign up for free and try out ‡biblios.net, a community cataloging tool from LibLime. It is a web-based, original and copy cataloging tool with built-in federated search of any Z39.50 target and a large (30 million strong) shared database of catalog records. You can edit and contribute to the database without any restrictions.”...What I Learned Today, Jan. 20