ALAO Workshop: SSIG

Keeping Libraries Afloat: USS IG

ALAO-SSIG Spring Workshop 2009

Friday, March 27, 2009 • 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Washington State Community College • Marietta, Ohio
710 Colgate Drive, Marietta OH 45745 • 740.374.8716
Includes Continental Breakfast & Lunch
Chair Massage Available!

This year’s workshop features Dr. Kerry Strayer, Professor of Communications at Otterbein College, who will share her knowledge of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" as well as the following sessions:

• Removing Whirlpools from Workflows - Morag Boyd, Ohio State University & Constance Strait, Greene Co. Public Library
• Bobbing on the Horizon: Electronic Resources - Deberah England, Wright State University
• Marietta: Where Ohio History Resides - Linda Showalter, Marietta College Special Collections
• Creating Brochures: Microsoft Publisher Floats Your Boat - Peggy Rector, Denison University
• From Bow to Stern: Rowing Together - Georgene Johnson, Washington State Community College
• Drifting Along With Chair Yoga - Marietta Area YMCA

Early Bird Pricing: Jan 5 - Feb 13th $25 per person
Regular Pricing: Feb 14 - Mar 13th $35 per person
Registrations due: March 13, 2009
No refunds after March 6, 2009

For more information, contact: Judith Thompson-Verdi: jthompsonverdi@wscc.edu
Driving directions: http://www.wscc.edu/about/directions.asp

Crayons & Paper

The deadline for submitting our ACRL LibGuides poster to campus printing services draws near. After determining which poster format to use, keeping in mind the printer guidelines, we hit a blank wall, literally. It's amazing how overwhelming a blank eight foot canvass brimming with expectation can be.

Earlier this week we had a break-through concerning poster design and layout. Confident it will be visually appealing and properly support our abstract and outcomes; we are now suffering with a few lingering qualms about size; text box size, font size, graphic size and readability sizing to be exact. The problem? We are judging said readable size on a poster that is eight foot by three foot currently depicted in miniature on our computer screen (see rendering @ 25% below).



While we know the font sizes range from 40 to 60, the long view is overwhelming (if not microscopic). Sections by section representations increased to 50% and 100% are helpful for specking pixel distortion, but not particularly helpful viewed across the room to gauge that readability factor.

This afternoon I decided the best way to allay this finicky concern was to create a physical representation of the poster. Luckily, I have easy access to just the tools in the Instructional Resource Center and commenced using crayons (it needed to be in color), white bulletin board paper (its three foot wide), and a yard stick to make a "to scale" map of a corner of our poster. Though I garnered several odd looks, I was working at the reference desk, I was soon able to color, cut, and tape my way to virtual poster success. I taped the finished product to the desk, stepped back the requisite three feet, was able to read all of the text, and could judge sizing of graphical elements to be suffice.

The mock poster is now patiently awaiting the verdict of my fellow presenters. To be honest, I am flush with success and wondering if I should tinker a bit more with the file in question. Maybe it could be bigger ...

Multicultural Literature Conference Coming

I received notice of this upcoming literature conference from Kent State University:

The Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth will celebrate its 25th anniversary April 2 - 3, 2009 at Kent State University. Sponsored by Kent State's College and Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services, the School of Library and Information Science, and the Office of Continuing and Distance Education, the conference provides a forum for discussion of multicultural themes and issues in literature for children and young adults.

"Reflections!" is the theme of the conference, invoking the memory of the late Virginia Hamilton and her tradition of closing many of the past conferences with her personal reflections and readings. This year's conference will look back on the life and work of Hamilton and the 24 previous gatherings, bringing together writers, illustrators, librarians, teachers, students, and scholars who were inspired by her work, many of whom knew her personally.

Renowned Caldecott award winning illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon; National Book Award winning illustrator Barry Moser; and Newbery Honor award winning author Jacqueline Woodson will be the featured guests. Moser and Woodson are this year's 11th Annual Virginia Hamilton Literary Award winners and will be addressing the opening gathering the evening of April 2. Leigh Adoff, daughter of Virginia Hamilton and Arnold Adoff and a well-known singer and actress in Europe, will perform Thursday evening as well. An autograph session and dessert reception will follow.

Friday's schedule includes multiple workshop sessions highlighting all aspects of teaching, sharing, and creating multicultural themes in children's and young adult literature, presented by local and national experts. Recipients of the 2009 Virginia Hamilton and Arnold Adoff Creative Outreach Grant for Teachers and Librarians will be announced and attendees will have the opportunity to attend a conversation session with the featured conference guests and presenters.

In addition to celebration the 25th anniversary, we are unveiling our new Virginia Hamilton Conference website at http://virginia-hamilton.slis.kent.edu . The conference reaches capacity quickly, so early registration is encouraged. For more information, contact the Office of Continuing and Distance Education at 330-672-3100 or 800-672-KSU2

R U a Spelling B champion?

Last night, I had the privilege of being the pronouncer for our local county spelling bee. I believe we had about 24 students from 4 area county schools, from grades 6,7,8.

I've never done this before, so I was probably as nervous as the contestants. One of the neat things the organizer did was to use words from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird as their practice words. This was because our community will soon be involved in a community reads program (MarionReads) and we will be reading/watching/discussing that book. I so appreciated her including that for us.

As I said, I've never done this before so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing, other than pronouncing. It seems I needed to announce the end of each round and would the students who misspelled in the round please leave the competition area? I also indicated if they pronounced it correctly or not. And at the end, I was to announce the winner. Had I known this ahead, I would have been better prepared for my duties and made sure the students received the appropriate recognition.

The words were interesting and I am grateful I knew most of them! I was asked at times to repeat the pronounciation, to give a definition and/or use it in a sentence.

I was amazed at the words the students spelled and they varied from fairly easy to more complicated with each turn. I used an offical guide that included the pronunciation and the definition and a sentence. Fortunately, we didn't use the 300 words I was given, because I wasn't sure of some of them myself. Being a pronouncer certainly gives you a reality check for your own knowledge!

After 45 minutes and quite a few rounds, a winner was declared; a 7th grade young lady from Ridgedale. The winner and runner-up each got trophies; others received gifts cards and medallions and there was a nice reception afterward. As a bonus, it was recorded to be broadcast on a local TV channel this coming Saturday. If I can find a TV with cable, I'll check and see how bad I look from behind and how well I sounded pronouncing. Our local newspaper photographer was there snapping pictures. I hope he missed me!

I enjoyed this experience and look forward to doing it again, if asked. Now that I know how it sort of progresses, I will be better prepared next time.

I encourage you to get involved with or attend a local spelling bee. You'll gain an appreciation for what you were taught (or maybe regret that you didn't pay better attention in English class when you were learning vocabulary!)

Wear Red This Friday!

This Friday, help highlight awareness of heart disease by wearing red. Wear Red Day, part of the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Campaign, brings awareness of heart disease, especially in women.

We have a special assistant in our library who helps us out on occasion with various events and activities. Monique is visiting our library this week to help us to encourage patrons to wear red on Friday.

Won't you join Monique and my staff by wearing red this Friday???!!!!