Happy holidays, everyone!

We here at the SLIS library hope that everyone made it through finals unscathed and are now spending time relaxing, waiting for the new year to hit.  We will be back on January 3rd, 2011. 

Have a great break and we'll catch you on the flip side!

UW Forward: Get to Know it Over Break!

As most of you know, the library system has been experimenting with an alternative to MadCat: UW Forward.  The new system boasts access to over eight million volumes from UW system schools across the state, as well as searching capabilities to some of the digital collections here at Madison.  Have you played around with Forward yet?  If you're interested in getting know the new system and comment on it to the developers, visit their website, watch some videos and read through their informational materials!  The new system will only be as good as we make it, so get to know Forward over break!

Congratulations, graduating SLISers!

Commencement was this past weekend, which means we at SLIS are wishing well to our 12 December graduates!  May your paths into the future be clear; may your job prospects be bright; and may you never forget the great times here at SLIS!

When can I come to the library between now and next semester?

We made it to the end of another semester!  Hope everyone's finals go well.  Just a reminder about the schedule for the SLIS Library over Winter Break:  We will maintain regular hours through the 22nd.  On December 23rd, we are open from 8:00AM to 5:00PM.  The SLIS Library will then be CLOSED until January 2nd, 2011.  For the two weeks before classes start again, our hours are as follows:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 9:00AM - 1:00PM
Wednesday: 1:00PM - 5:00PM
Saturday, Sunday: Closed

We will be closed on Monday, January 17th in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Normal hours will resume on January 18th for the spring semester!

Light reading for the weekend

Library professionals deal with the distribution of and access to information.  But what is information?  Apparently, the folks at the OED have decided to revisit this word and its definitions in this new technological era.  An interesting article from the NYR Blog, titled "The Information Palace" by James Gleick discusses the changes in the word's meaning over time.  A great read for we librarians in training as we consider our responsibilities to our patron base as "information" grows at an exponential rate!

Happy Friday!

JLG Booksale Blowout!

With the holidays coming up fast, do you need some ideas for gifts that won't break the bank?  Come to the SLIS library from now to Wednesday, December 8 to peruse the JLG Booksale Blowout!  Hundreds of titles for $1.00 on Monday, $.50 on Tuesday, and $.25 on Wednesday.  All proceeds go to the Jail Library Group.

Buy some books for a good cause!

Friday fun!

As librarians, we all use computers.  Constantly.  Our laptops whirring as we type out our notes, our desktops beeping to let us know we have a new email for a group project that has been struck by disaster - computers are ubiquitous to our profession.  In this Friday fun post, we would like to share with you a video about the struggles of computer maintenance.  Namely, how to clean a fan.  Enjoy and stay warm!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As every gets ready to feast and feel thankful, we at the SLIS Library just want to say, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We know, we are a few days early but we wish safe travels, good conversation, and a healthy holiday to everyone out there!!

Friday Fun!

Came across this video, courtesy of Stephen's Lighthouse. As he puts it, you know that you are alright if you can laugh at both sides of this.

Some Tuesday ponderings...

Anyone who has taken LIS 450 here at SLIS has sat in a classroom, pondering the question, "What is a library?" Seemingly straight forward, the definition of this home-of-our-future-employment is surprisingly complicated as new technologies and media change the very structures that have been traditionally named. Libraries have become something more than a place with books. An interesting article came across our eyes from Information Tyrannosaur dealing with this very question as part of the site's "Library Thinker Series." The article, titled Library Thinker Series: What is a Library? points to other recent blog posts about the definitional issues of libraries as well as weighs in.

What do you think a library is? Some food for thought on this hazy Tuesday...

If you want to work in libraries...

If you want to work in libraries

View more presentations from Ned Potter.

Interested in tribal libraries?

If you're interested in tribal libraries, archives and museums, this upcoming semester is a great time for you! LIS 640: Tribal Libraries, Archives and Museums (TLAM) will be offered in Spring 2011 to interested students. This dynamic course will allow SLIS students to learn about indigenous information issues and work with Wisconsin's American Indian communities. If you are interested in the course and associated projects, feel free to attend a public information session, Friday, November 12, 2010 in the SLIS Commons. Eat (free!) pizza, meet your fellow students, and learn about upcoming opportunities regarding TLAM!

Announcing...library workshops online!

The SLIS Library puts a lot of time into presenting workshops for students, but it can be nearly impossible to schedule them for a time when everyone who's interested can attend. We've taken a step towards solving that problem with the introduction of video workshops to the LIS Support forum of Learn@UW. Take a look at SLIS Library Workshops under the Content module, make some popcorn, and hit play.

So far the only workshop available is on social cataloging and LibraryThing for Libraries, but we plan to add more as the year progresses. Keep an eye out!

Race and Storytelling: A Go Big Read book discussion

Can't get enough of this year's Go Big Read selection, Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks? Whether you missed the SLIS discussion group in September or just want a different perspective on the book, next Wednesday is your big chance. Drop in on "Race and Storytelling," a discussion co-facilitated by our own Professor Ethelene Whitmire, from 5:30 to 7 in the Commons. Also leading the group will be Professor of Afro-American Studies Sandra Adell.

Some Friday Fun!

Interested in grant writing?

Not everything that one should know about librarianship can be covered in two years.  One way to help fill the gap is to go to workshops and what not offered by other departments!  We came across one particularly interesting upcoming event, sponsored by ComETS: "Identifying Grants for Professional Development using the UW Libraries' Grants Information Center."  This workshop is scheduled for November 18th from 2PM to 3 PM in Memorial Library Room 231.

This workshop, led by Nancy McClements, head of Memorial Library's Reference department and acting Grants Librarian, will show students how to navigate the UW Libraries Grants Information Collection.  It will be a combination of presentation and hands-on experience, as participants will have the opportunity to dive into some of the grants databases available on campus.

For more information, visit the website for the event:

http://comets.wisc.edu/event/identifying-grants-professional-development-using-uw-libraries’-grants-information-center

Why Do Straight Women Read and Create Boys’ Love Stories?

If you are free this coming Thursday, October 28, from 12-1PM, there will be a presentation in the SLIS Commons that may interest you!  The Print Culture Colloquium is offering a lecture on why straight women read and create boys' love stories, presented by Chi-Shiou Lin,Assistant Professor, Department of Library & Information Science at National Taiwan University. 

From the press release:

 In recent years, Boys’ Love (BL) stories have become a popular genre of pleasure reading among women readers in the Asian countries especially in Japan, China, and Taiwan.  BL stories are love stories of two or more male characters created predominantly by women for women; most of them identified themselves as heterosexual.  This blooming genre of texts, images, and other forms of creation is also known as Danmei (“indulgence in beauty”) in the Chinese and Japanese speaking regions. It is also known as YAOI or “slash fiction” in the Western world.  The genre names of Danmei and YAOI which originated from the Chinese/Japanese languages express a sense that its women readers see love between males as beautiful and romantic.  Interestingly, many BL readers see this genre as different from gay literatures.  For them, BL stories are purely fantasies created by and for women, which is different from literary works that describe and reflect on the real-world homosexual relationships.

Why do the women readers find BL stories beautiful – so beautiful that many are deeply addicted to the genre?  What pleasure do women get from reading and creating BL stories?  Informal theories have been speculated by BL readers themselves or by outsiders who tend to pathologize the phenomenon of BL reading.  But systematic investigation of the BL readership is rarely seen.  This exploratory study thus employs interpretive qualitative methodologies to empirically analyze the reading experiences, motivations, and types of pleasures of 26 adult female readers in Taiwan, aged between 18 years old and 40s.  Their occupations ranged from university students, office workers, teachers and college professors.  Some are married women with children.  Most of them are also engaged in some forms of BL story creation.  In this presentation, I will report initial findings on the motivations and types of pleasures experienced by the interviewees from reading Boys’ Love.

Chi-Shiou Lin is an assistant professor in the Dept. of Library & Information Science in the National Taiwan University.  He got his Ph.D. from SLIS, UW-Madison in 2007.  His research interests are diverse.  His current research areas include social informatics, government information, and the practices of pleasure reading and genre reading.

Supported by the Center for the History of Print Culture, the School of Library and Information Studies, Wisconsin Historical Society, UW-Madison Libraries, and the Wisconsin Print Culture Society.

Rebecca Skloot is visiting UW!

This Monday, October 25, 2010, Rebecca Skloot, author of the Go Big Read pick for this year, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, will be visiting the Kohl Center here on campus to give a lecture about her experiences writing the book, as well as to answer questions submitted by Madison's "Big Read"-ers.  The show starts at 7:00PM, doesn't require tickets, and should be a great experience for anyone who has read the book or has interest in medical ethics surrounding the HeLa cells.  Try to make it out! 

If you can't manage it, but still want to be involved with other Go Big Read activities, visit the events website to check out other opportunities in the next few months!

Archives Month!

Wow, October is a busy month!  In addition to SLIS Week and Open Access week, we are also in the midst of archives month.  The Society of American Archivists - Student Chapter (SAA-SC) here at SLIS will be running a blog with information about archives and celebrating archives throughout the month.  Give it a visit if you're interested in archives in Wisconsin!

An interesting insight...

Open Access Week causes quite a flurry in the blog-o-sphere.  We came across an interesting article by Dorothea Salo, presenter of LIS 644, Academic Librarian and SLIS alum, on a blog in which she is a contributor, Book of Trogool.  Dorothea re-posted the article she wrote for the 2008 Open Access Day Synchroblogging competition, discussing her own views on Open Access and her experiences that shaped those views. 

OA Week Repost: My Father the Anthropologist; or, What I Offer Open Access and Why

Open Access Week!

In addition to SLIS week, October 18-24 is also Open Access Week, a four year old global event "promoting Open Access as a new norm in scholarship and research."  As librarians, it is our duty to consider the implications of closed access to research and availability of materials.

From their website:

Gearing up for SLIS week

Each fall, SLIS Week affords students and faculty the chance to come together to share their work, hobnob, network, and join in celebration of our stellar library school. The 2010 edition of SLIS week kicks off on Monday, October 18 in the SLIS Commons with an informational session for prospective master's students and continues throughout the week with presentations from the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, SLIS faculty, student groups focused on community engagement and service, and individual student research and practicum experience. A reception Friday afternoon will cap the week's festivities, bringing together students, alumni, faculty, advisory council members and friends in conviviality and recognition of the program's past, present and future.

Full schedule (all events in the SLIS Commons, 4th floor of Helen C. White Hall):

4:30-5:30pm, Monday October 18: Information session for prospective students
Noon-1pm, Tuesday October 19: Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture open house
Noon-1pm, Wednesday October 20: Faculty forum
Noon-1pm, Thursday October 21: Community engagement showcase
2:30-4pm, Friday October 22: Exhibit walkabout
4-6pm, Friday October 22: Reception

Congratulations SLIS graduates!

Congrats to all SLIS new graduates! The SLIS Library wish all graduates the best in the future!

View photos from the 2010 SLIS graduation celebration and share the joy with our graduates :)