SLIS Student Awards

Congratulations to this year's SLIS Student Awards winners!

Laura Farley - Valmai Fenster Award for Outstanding Promise of Exceptional Scholarly contribution to the Profession

This award was created in honor of Valmai Fenster, a former SLIS faculty member, to recognize exceptional scholarship of a SLIS student as evidenced in a scholarly paper.

Dawn Wing - Dianne McAfee Hopkins Diversity Award

This award was created in honor of Dianne McAfee Hopkins, the first African-American SLIS faculty member and committed leader in school library education, intellectual freedom, and diversity in the library profession.

Megan Schiebel - Penelope and Stephen Klein Scholarship Award

Penelope Klein earned an MA from SLIS in 1997. In thanks for her years at SLIS, she and her husband offer this scholarship to a SLIS student who is entering into the second year of study at SLIS, intends to have a career as a public librarian, and has a background in the humanities.

Jennifer Kirmer - Lawrence C. Zweizig Student Leadership Award 

This award, given in honor of late SLIS graduate Lawrence Zweizig, serves to recognize and nurture leadership in the first year master's students, thereby helping to sustain the School's commitment to graduating future leaders in the profession. 

Carissa Christner, Nicole Colburn, Kat McLarn, Angela Terrab, Jackie Zook - Award winners

Sara Cummins, Melissa Nicholas, Molly Khan - Honorable Mention

James Krikelas Award for Innovative Use of Information Technology

This award, in honor of Emeritus Professor James Krikelas, recognizes the work of SLIS students who have presented the innovative use of information technology through a SLIS course assignment.

Dawn Wing - Lawrence Jacobsen Innovations in Library Science Scholarship Award

This award was established by Larry Jacobsen to support a second year SLIS student who needs financial assistance in completing his or her second year, has a focus on academic and/or special libraries, and demonstrates skills as a potential difference make in librarianship.

Click here for full descriptions of each award.

What does it take to be a professional librarian?

Blogger Mr. Library Dude shares his insight into what makes a professional librarian in this post:
 
"I graduated from a top library school." Yeah, so what?

His basic premise? 

"Library school is what you make of it. The MLS is just the basic requirement for the job. If all you do is take the required courses, but get no work experience, then you are setting yourself up for failure."

 So what can you do to make sure you succeed, according to Mr. Library Dude?  Get experience!  As much as you can during your degree-- put those skills you learn in class to work right away so that you have working librarians as references and real experience to prove you're right for  the job.

Most SLIS students see the wealth of campus library jobs as the program's main strength-- take advantage of it! 

Announcing the Winners of the 2011 SLIS Student Awards!

Congratulations to the following recipients of the 2011 SLIS Student Awards!

Check out the SLIS Awards page HERE for in-depth descriptions of all awards, criteria, and application information.

C. Berger Entrepreneurial Promise Award

This year’s award is given to Fritz Hoehn.   In supporting her nomination of Fritz, Debora Shapiro said, “On his resume, there is ample evidence of situations where he perceived an opportunity, and seized it. For example, while in the military and stationed Haiti, he and several others in his unit started a free school for kids in the area, whose families couldn't afford private school, that also provided teaching experience for adults. I believe that Fritz will continue to apply his entrepreneurial spirit to his career in librarianship.” 

Dianne McAfee Hopkins Diversity Award

This year’s award is given to Melissa J. Nicholas in recognition of her contributions to the student chapter of REFORMA, including the Grant Writing Workshop she organized, and for her work in the MERIT Library in developing the LGBTQ young adult book collection and LGBTQ book displays. 

Valmai Fenster Award for Outstanding Promise for Exceptional Scholarly Contribution to the Profession

This year’s award is given to David Woken for his paper,

“Progress and setbacks in the formation of a print counterculture: La Protesta goes daily, 1903-1905”  

Honorable mentions are given to Gregory Bond for his paper,

“Unnecessary and Unpractical: The Baltimore Civil Rights Movement and the Color Line Behind the Desk and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1925-1945”

and to Eric Wiley for his paper,

“Appraisal in Community Archives Collections: A case Study of University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Appraisal Methods and Decisions for LGBT Collections.” 

Lawrence C. Zweizig Student Leadership Award 

This year’s award is given to Eric Wiley for his leadership within the Society of American Archivists-Student Chapter. 

A special runner-up Zweizig Student Leadership Award, sponsored by SLIS Class of 2010, is given to Erinn Batykefer in recognition of her work in the development of the “e-book petting zoo” for the Reading Interests of Adults course and for her participation in the statewide public library e-book summit sponsored by the Department of Public Instruction, Division for Libraries, Technology and Community Learning.

 James Krikelas Award for Innovative Use of Information Technology

This year’s award is given to Jiekun Yang for her work in Database Design for Libraries and Information Agencies. In this course, she created a database called the Web Content Coding and Analyzing database which can be used by researchers to “code selected web content and link them with proper target group, type, author, and subject,” to be used on the Public Library Financial Literacy Project with Professors Eschenfelder and Smith. 

Larry Jacobsen Innovations in Library Science Award

This year’s award is given to Kate Hill on the basis of her exceptional strengths not only in an understanding of collection development and all its subprocesses, but also of scholarly communication and the challenges of upholding intellectual freedom in an academic library setting.  

The Penelope and Stephen Klein Scholarship Award

This year’s award is given to Erinn Batykefer by the Klein family on the basis of her impressive resume and insightful and thoughtful application essay.  Erinn is finishing her first year in the program, and hopes eventually to work in a public library focusing on electronic access. 

Calling all Emerging Leaders!

SLIS graduates are known as innovative leaders in the library world-- not surprising considering the excellence of UW's program-- but did you know you can kick-start your career right now by applying for the ALA Emerging Leaders program? You can!

ALA Emerging Leaders Interest Group

Are you under 35 or a new library professional with under 5 years experience?  Are you interested in serving ALA by participating in problem-solving taskforces?  Would you like to attend ALA conferences, make fantastic professional connections, and boost your librarian cred?

Applications for the 2012 class of Emerging Leaders are now being accepted. Deadline for submission of the application and all references is August 1, 2011.  

Check out the ALA Emerging Leaders Interest Group page above to check out the Selection Criteria. The application can be accessed at: http://www.ala.org/cfapps/emergingleaders/index.cfm.

An article by PhD Student Kyle Jones

Check out the new article Kyle Jones co-authored for American Libraries titled
"WordPress as a Library CMS." 

In it, he outlines some of the best features of WordPress that libraries can capitalize on, including the fact that it is free, open source technology.   WordPress separates the duties that often make website update and maintenance so frustrating:  adding content does not require build tech skills, so anyone can create an account and keep a library's blog, calendar, and events up to date without being tied to Dreamweaver or learning CSS!

Current SLIS student's YA Lit for Adults reading program in the news!

Toni Streckert, a current SLIS student and the Outreach and Teen Services Coordinator at Monona Public Library is in the news this week! 

Monona Public Library

Streckert, a self-described "book pusher," noticed adults who were looking for tight, fast, well-written reads in the YA section-- not the adult fiction shelves.  Since she has a great appreciation for YA lit--"they have some of the most exciting, concise writing"-- she started recommending titles.

Her innovative YA Lit for Adults Bookclub has garnered lots of attention locally as a great place for adults to confess their love of Young Adult literature and get new perspectives and book recommendations. Librarians, school teachers, parents, and lovers of literature who were drawn to the genre come to Monona to talk about a new book every few weeks and share their opinions.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman for May 17th

 The next meeting is on May 17th, and the group will read Unwind by Neal Shusterman. 

Check out the full article here:
Book clubs appreciate grown-ups' newfound attraction to teen lit
OR log onto Monona Public Library's website to sign up for the next meeting!