Gloria Kennedy Plans to Retire

After 19+ years, Gloria Kennedy (Law Library) has indicated her plan to retire on December 5, 2008. Gloria began work with the Libraries on April 3, 1989. Gloria tells us that she and her husband plan to do some traveling and have their passports ready and waiting! We thank her for all of her good work for the Libraries and wish her and her family much happiness in the coming years.

Judge Denise Clayton to Speak

Judge Denise Clayton, Kentucky Court of Appeals, will speak about the Racial Fairness Commission on Wednesday, September 17, beginning at noon, followed by a reception outside the College of Law Courtroom. Judge Clayton’s presentation is sponsored by the UK Libraries and the College of Law. In October 2007, Judge Clayton became the first African American female Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge, representing the 4th Appellate District, Division 2. She was also the first African American female Circuit Court and Chief Circuit Court Judge in Kentucky. Judge Clayton is the chair of the Commission on Racial Fairness for Jefferson County courts. My thanks to Reinette Jones for working with the College of Law to arrange for Judge Clayton’s visit.

Kate Seago Selected for TRLN Management Academy

I’m pleased to announce that Kate Seago has been selected as one of 36 participants in the 2008 Triangle Research Libraries Network Management Academy. This leadership program will be held in Chapel Hill, NC in November and is designed to prepare current and potential mid-level managers in academic libraries to operate with entrepreneurial and business acumen in the management of financial and human resources. Congratulations, Kate.

Terry L. Rusch to Speak

Director of the Office of Admission, State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Terry L. Rusch will speak on Kosovo, Bhutan, and Iraq on Friday, September 12, at 10:00 a.m. in the Auditorium of the William T. Young Library. Rusch’s talk is titled “The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program: The Humanitarian Track in U.S. Immigration.” This presentation is sponsored by the UK Libraries’ Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center.

ILL Technician Position Posted

As part of our ongoing review of vacant positions, the Executive Committee recently approved proceeding with the filling of the Library Technician position in the Access & Delivery Division.

The Hub Video Highlighted in Stephen Abram's Blog

Stacey Greenwell and the recently released Hub video have been noted and praised in Stephen Abrams’ blog, Stephen’s Lighthouse. The entry is dated September 7th at http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2008/09/index.html

New ARL Rankings Released

Each year with the publication of the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Almanac issue, ARL’s ranking index is released. Based on data from June 30, 2007, UK’s ranking has risen slightly. We are currently ranked #62 among all 113 ARL libraries; #35 among public university libraries. Last year’s rankings were #63 and #37 respectively. You may recall that ARL began using a new set of criteria (based largely on expenditures) with last year’s index. Frankly, UK does not fare as well in this new index as we did in the previous one. You'll find a chart which provides a summary of our ranking in this new index since 2003 in the version of this Dean's update on our SharePoint site.

Rankings do not, of course, reflect the dedication, commitment, services and successes we have had in providing the needed services and collections for our faculty, staff and students. But, they are one way in which the University measures progress toward its goal to be a Top 20 public university.

University Press of Kentucky Signs with ebrary

The University Press of Kentucky has signed a deal with ebrary to distribute its electronic books. ebrary, a “provider of e-content services and technology, today announced that it is greatly enhancing its growing selection of more than 170,000 titles with e-books and other authoritative materials from more than 14 new publishing partners. ebrary has now secured partnerships with more than 300 of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly, STM, trade, and reference content.” See the press release at http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080825005388&newsLang=en

12 Tools that will soon go the way of fax and CDs

From American Libraries Direct

12 Tools that will soon go the way of fax and CDs

Dave Pollard writes: “How does the information behavior of Millennials differ from those of previous generations, and what will that mean for the tools they will and won’t be using in the future? I’ve come up with a list of 12 tools, technologies, and other artifacts that will probably disappear within the next generation, just as fax essentially disappeared less than 20 years after it first became popular, and just as CDs—which my generation thought were the last word in music storage—are disappearing even faster.”...How to Save the World, Aug. 5
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2008/08/05.html#a2212