Kathryn Lybarger Hired

Kathryn Lybarger has been hired into the faculty position of Coordinator for Cataloging and Metadata in the Collections and Technical Services Division. She will transfer from her current position as Library Manager with the grant funded Partnering to Preserve Racing's Rich History: The Daily Racing Form Preservation Project, Special Collections and Digital Programs Division, on June 1, 2009. Kathryn has a Master's degree in Mathematics in addition to her MLS and she is ABD and completing her doctoral dissertation in Mathematics. Previous to her Library Manager position, Kathryn worked extensively with the National Digital Newspaper Program. We are very pleased to welcome Kathryn to the library faculty. Welcome, Kathryn!

Gail Kennedy Wins Election for LLAMA President

Congratulations to Gail Kennedy who was recently elected vice-president/president-elect of the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA) with more than 4,000 members. The mission of the Library Leadership and Management Association (www.ala.org/llama) is to encourage and nurture current and future library leaders, and to develop and promote outstanding leadership and management practices. Gail is quoted in the press release: “I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to play a leadership role in LLAMA," Kennedy said. "LLAMA faces the challenge, as do all professional organizations, of remaining relevant to members and developing new models of service. LLAMA has embraced this challenge and I look forward to being a part of the progress ahead. In a time when strong leadership and management skills are indispensable, LLAMA will continue to grow as a vibrant community nurturing and supporting library leaders at all levels.”
Well done, Gail!

Welcome Katie Henningsen

Katie Henningsen, our first IMLS fellow, has arrived. Katie and her husband, Tyler, will be with us for the next 8 weeks. Katie’s home base is in Special Collections and Digital Programs but will also be working with CTS on collection development. You’ll see Katie at various meetings so be sure to give her a good Kentucky welcome.

Kyleidoscope Receives Award

Kyleidoscope, SCDP’s collaboration with the Kentucky Virtual Library and Kentucky Department of Education, has received a 2009 Best of Kentucky Technology Award. The site received the 'Best Application Serving the Public' award which is given to individuals and teams that have designed, developed and deployed applications or improved existing systems that directly deliver services more efficiently and effectively to the public. The Kentucky Department of Education has a nice press release at its site which mentions the award -- http://www.kde.state.ky.us/KDE/HomePageRepository/News+Room/Current+Press+Releases+and+Advisories/09-032.htm

ARL Library Profiles

As part of ARL’s attempt to add context and qualitative description to the regular annual statistics, each institution was asked to create a 1,500 word profile that described the unique aspects of its research library. In general terms we were asked to focus on collections and services as they articulate the value of the library to the research, teaching and learning missions of our institution. Examples of high impact collaborations between the library and the larger campus community in addition to other professional collaborations were requested. To date more than 40 of the 120 ARL libraries have submitted their profiles including UK. The profiles are now more easily accessible through the following publicly available URL: http://directors.arl.org/wiki/institution-profiles. Judy Wiza has also posted our profile on the SharePoint site for the Assessment Committee. My thanks to Judy and Terry for working with me to construct and refine our profile. We surely needed more than 1,500 words to describe all that you are doing that distinguishes the UK Libraries.

News from ARL

• ARL releases white paper on Strategic Directions for the Federal Depository Library Program. This white paper calls for a reframing of the FDLP to ensure a robust and effective program for the future. The white paper is available via http://www.arl.org/pp/access/fdlp/. This white paper will be part of the forum we are holding on government documents on June 11th at 3 p.m. Look for an announcement on details in the next few weeks.
• ARL release report on Contemporary Preservation Activities in ARL Libraries. The report provides a current picture of preservation activities in ARL member libraries and makes recommendations about how libraries should characterize and measure those activities. The "Safeguarding Collections" report is freely available on the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/safeguarding-collections.pdf.

Other Reports from the Field

• OCLC releases new report, Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want. This new report summarizes the findings of research conducted by OCLC on what constitutes quality in library online catalogs from both end users’ and librarians’ points of view. http://www.oclc.org/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.htm
• OCLC announces strategy to move library management services to Web scale. “OCLC plans to release Web-scale delivery and circulation, print and electronic acquisitions, and license management components to WorldCat Local, continuing the integration of library management services to create the Web-scale, cooperative library service. OCLC will begin piloting the Web-scale management service components this year.” Read more in the press release at http://www.oclc.org/us/en/news/releases/200927.htm