Georgia Library Association News: 2012

Friday, December 14, 2012

Call for Nominations for the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award

[Editor's Note: Posted on behalf of Ann Hamilton, GLA's ALA Councilor. Please direct questions/nominations to Shumeca Pickett at the contact information below.]

The John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award honors intellectual freedom fighters in and outside the library profession who have demonstrated remarkable personal courage in resisting censorship. The award consists of $500 and a citation. Individuals, a group of individuals or an organization are eligible for the award.

Sponsor and Deadline

The John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award is sponsored by the Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) of the American Library Association (ALA). The deadline for nominations is February 17, 2013.

Nominations

Established in 1979, upon the death of John Phillip Immroth, this award honors the courage, dedication, and contribution of a living individual or group who has set the finest kind of example for the defense and furtherance of the principles of intellectual freedom. The award consists of a citation and a $500 prize.

John Phillip Immroth was a teacher, author, scholar, advocate, and defender of First Amendment rights. He was the founder and first Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table in 1976. His impact on the ideal of intellectual freedom and its practice was great.

The Immroth nomination form is available from the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.

Nominations and supporting evidence should be sent to: Shumeca Pickett, ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Telephone: 312-280-4220 or 800-545-2433, ext. 4220. Fax: 312-280-4227. E-mail: spickett@ala.org

Past Immroth Recipients

Riverside Military Academy in the Spotlight!

The Library at the campus of Riverside Military Academy is located on the shores of Lake Lanier, named for poet Sidney Lanier, in Gainesville, Georgia. Riverside Military Academy, founded in 1907, is one of the premier college preparatory academies for young men in grades 7-12.

The Riverside vision began with two Gainesville businessmen and professors, Haywood Jefferson Pearce and Azor Warner Van Hoose, Jr. Pearce was president of the local women’s school, Brenau College, and based upon his success there, these men gathered support from more than thirty local investors to charter an all-male, military school. As a result, construction for Riverside Military Academy began in 1907, and the doors opened for classes in the fall of 1908.

By 1913 the twenty-five acre campus included two brick buildings and a small wooden cottage. In 1913, Pearce and Van Hoose hired Sandy Beaver to be Riverside's head of school. Beaver would go on to acquire ownership of the school in 1915 and preside over its growth until his death in 1969.

Riverside operated a winter campus in Florida for more than fifty years. In 1931, Sandy Beaver purchased the Hollywood Hills Hotel in south Florida. With the exception of brief time during World War II when the Navy used the Florida campus as a training facility, the school's cadets and staff would spend January through March at the Florida campus and the remainder of the school year would take place in Gainesville.

Every year when the entire school “moved south”, the Academy would also pack and transport a portion of the Library’s collection for student and faculty use at the Hollywood campus. One could truly say that the Riverside Library was indeed a “Traveling Library”!

Facing tremendous commercial development in the area surrounding its Florida campus, the academy sold that property in 1984 to dedicate resources to the renovation of the Gainesville campus.

Riverside began its Gainesville renovations in 1997 and completed the project in 2004. The renovations, totaling about $95 million, began with a new barracks building, which replaced nine older dormitory buildings, included a new academic building, a new gymnasium, extensive renovations to its athletic fields, and a new library and performing arts center. The Riverside Library is now housed in the Sandy Beaver Center for Teaching and Learning which was named in honor of General Sandy Beaver. The collection currently contains over 20,000 volumes including an extensive reference section, special collections, and thirty-five print periodicals. Over twenty-four computers are available for classroom and individual resources including Encyclopedia Britannica, and GALILEO databases.

Riverside Library programs and activities include:

“The Career and College: Q & A”, a research section dedicated to juniors and seniors as they prepare for life after graduation from Riverside.
“Cadets Rule!” showcases the efforts of RMA cadets in athletics and extracurricular teamwork.
“The Forum” is a consortium of students, who like to read, discuss, and think about different types of library media and management. We provide reviews of books, blogs, websites, and virtual tours for the student body of RMA. Forum members are engaged to assist in maintaining the Riverside Library collection by providing community service hours. Students manage the Library’s book sale in order to supply the necessary funds for club activities. Earlier this year, Riverside Library proudly hosted two separate World War II Exhibits from the Marcus Foundation and Kennesaw State University.

The RMA Corps of Cadets consists of over 400 cadets from more than twenty countries. For more information about Riverside Library, please visit http://www.riversidemilitary.com.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

December Professional and Continuing Education List

December Professional and Continuing Education List

Welcome to the Professional and Continuing Education Interest Group monthly announcement for continuing education opportunities. This email contains a listing of conferences, webinars, and other ways to learn more about librarianship. Events requiring a registration fee are designated by a ($). This list is also available on the Georgia Library Association blog: http://glanews.blogspot.com

Please help PACE keep this list useful and current by emailing announcements for upcoming continuing education events to Amelia Glawe (Amelia.glawe@gpc.edu). Thanks!

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December 6

ALSC-Every Child Ready to Read: How to Train and Motivate Adults to Foster School Readiness ($)
http://bit.ly/Uq8hcV

School Library Journal- Lerner Publishing Group Spring 2013 Librarian Preview Webinar
http://www.slj.com/category/webcasts/#

WebJunction- Outreach Programs in Rural Communities: Simple Steps for Surprising Results
http://bit.ly/SfGmuf

Online Education Database-How to Create Your Own Library (or Personal!) Knowledge Base.
http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2012/create-your-own-knowledge-base-free-webinar/

December 7

Tech Tools with Tine: 1 Hour of Evernote
http://bit.ly/VjN9Tt

O'Reilly Community- Accessibility Handbook: Making 508-Compliant Websites
http://oreillynet.com/pub/e/2414

December 10

Educause- Online Learning with Students, Staff and Faculty with Disabilities: Knowing the Legal Landscape of Web Accessibility
http://bit.ly/TH83N0

InSync-Nuts and Bolts of Social Media
http://us.insynctraining.com/bozarth-programs/

December 11

O'Reilly Community- A Developers Introduction to User-Centered Design
http://oreillynet.com/pub/e/2525

Tech Soup- Better Together: Tech Trainers Sharing
http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/events

Volunteer Match-Creating a Comprehensive and Engaging Volunteer Training Program
http://learn.volunteermatch.org/training-topics

ATC-Mobile Accessibility - The Status of Accessibility in Mobile Devices
http://atcoalition.org/training/mobile-accessibility-status-accessibility-mobile-devices

December 12

ALA- Let's Talk About It: The National Model for Scholar-Led Read ($)
http://bit.ly/TDEL5b

InfoPeople- Basic Graphic Design for Library Staff: Quick and Easy Solutions
http://infopeople.org/training/basic-graphic-design

WebJunction-What Would Walt Do? Quality Customer Service for Libraries
http://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/What_Would_Walt_Do.html

Nonprofit Webinars- Perfect Phrases for Fundraising
http://nonprofitwebinars.com/webinars

December 13

YALSA- Reluctant Readers ($)
http://www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinelearning/webinar

Making the Choice: Mobile Solutions for Libraries
https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/workshops/webinars/mobilechoice/index.html

December 18

PLA- E-Book Action: Inform and Inspire Your Community
http://tinyurl.com/cqqbjwv

****Many thanks to Jay Turner, Director, Continuing Education, Georgia Public Library Service, for his collaborative work on this list.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Libraries Are Such A Drag Fundraising Calendar Now Available

We LOVE libraries! If you love libraries too then get yourself, your family, and your coworkers a calendar. All proceeds donated to the Georgia Library Association's Beard Scholarship. Calendars can be purchased at Java Monkey in Decatur, GA ($20) or online ($25).

[Editor's note: The Libraries Are Such a Drag calendar was conceived and coordinated by Oscar Gittemeier, 2011 Beard Scholarship winner and current co-chair of the Atlanta Emerging Librarians Meet-Up Group. Three cheers to Oscar for his creative and enthusiastic support of GLA and for putting the fun in fundraising!]

Libraries Are Such a Drag Calendar (Facebook)

New Queer Calendar Celebrates Love of the Library (The GA Voice)

Friday, November 16, 2012

ASU's Reese Library in the Spotlight!

Reese Library
Augusta State University
Augusta, Georgia

Augusta State University’s Reese Library provides access to a broad range of learning resources in various formats inside and outside the boundaries of the traditional classroom.

Reese Library traces its roots to the library of the Junior College of Augusta. In 1960, the library was relocated to a remodeled warehouse building on the present campus which was then Augusta College.

In 1972, a gift of $250,000 from Katherine Reese Pamplin, a member of Augusta College class of 1936, and her husband, Robert B. Pamplin, provided the catalyst for the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to approve funds for a new $2.5 million library building. The building was named Reese Library in honor of Dr. and Mrs. John Thomas Reese, the parents of Mrs. Pamplin. Construction of the three-story library building began on February 27, 1975, and Reese Library opened on January 6, 1977.

The appearance as well as the collection of Reese Library continues to improve. The Reese Library now boasts a collection off over 700,000 books in addition to print periodicals, audiovisuals, government publications, and historical collections. Access to over 300 databases, provided by the state-wide GALILEO consortium, offers patrons additional electronic information resources.

Reese Library supports the ASU mission of advancing knowledge and enriching the lives of students, faculty, and staff. As such, the library frequently provides cultural programming to cater to the diverse academic interests of its patrons. In January 2013, Reese Library will proudly host the Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience exhibition presented by the American Library Association, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Other programs, such as their 50th Federal Depository Library Program Anniversary celebration, National Voter Registration Day, International Education Week, and ASU Week of Welcome, have secured Reese Library’s reputation as an involved campus and community resource.

The diversity of resources and programming is only rivaled by the people of Reese Library. Faculty and staff are highly devoted, customer-oriented professionals who provide quality service and support to patrons. Reese Library is continuously voted as the No.1 study destination by students and was recently ranked No.1 in student satisfaction by recent ASU graduates.

Pending approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and School, Reese Library will join the Robert B. Greenblatt MD Library to form the University Libraries of Georgia Regents University Augusta in January 2013. The expected growth of Reese Library in the near future should only improve the level of service and access patrons have come to expect.

For more information about Reese Library, please visit http://www.aug.edu/library.

Monday, November 5, 2012

GLQ Fall 2012 Is Available

The Fall 2012 issue of the GLQ has been published to http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/glq/

We hope you enjoy the issue, which includes a peer-reviewed paper on e-books and two My Own Private Library columns. Please find below a linked Table of Contents, for your convenience.

The next deadline for submission of materials is December 1, 2012.

--Jeff Heck Editor, GLQ

Complete Issue
V49 no 4 complete issue

Columns
Georgia Library Spotlight – Irine Sullivan Ingram Library, University of West Georgia – E. Lorene Flanders

Georgia Library Spotlight - Library & Instructional Technology Center, Georgia College & State University – Kate Pope

From the President – Elizabeth Bagley

My Own Private Library – LouAnn Blocker

My Own Private Library – Jill Prouty

We Love Libraries – Catherine Burnett

Ideas, Hints, and Tricks – Paula M. Adams

Articles
Article – A Reflection on the Galileo Knowledge Repository (GKR) Virtual Internship – Changwoo Yang

Peer Reviewed Article – E-books and the Use of E-book Readers in Academic Libraries – Judith Brook and Anne Salter

News
Emory University

Georgia Tech

Gwinnett County

Kennesaw State University

Technical College System of Georgia

University of West Georgia

GLA Scholarship Winners

GLA Award Winners

You Belong @ Your Library Photo Contest – Christina Teasley

Book Review
The Sisters Montclair, written by Cathy Holton, reviewed by Malcolm Nelson

Monday, October 29, 2012

Friends of the GA Archives Advocacy Workshop (11/08/2012)

Sign up now to take part in the advocacy workshop sponsored by Friends of the Georgia Archives (FOGAH) at the Society of Georgia Archivists Annual Meeting. Training will be conducted by Joe Tanner of Tanner and Associates and will cover how to contact your representative so that your voice will be heard!

The training is free and is open to both members of SGA and anyone in the SE Georgia area who wants to participate. It will be on Thursday, November 8 from 3:00 to 4:30 PM at the conference venue, Sea Palms Resort on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Registration is required because of the limited space. Please visit the SGA website to register.

Questions about the training? Contact Dianne Cannestra at diannebc@bellsouth.net
Questions about registration? Contact Renna Tuten at rtuten@uga.edu

Feel free to forward this invitation to anyone you know who might be interested.
Two other workshops are being planned for the Macon area and the Atlanta area.

--
Renna E. Tuten
SGA 2012 Annual Program Chair

Friday, October 19, 2012

Looking For Ways to Help the Georgia Archives?

As we were very happy to learn, things are looking up for the Georgia Archives, but there is still a long way to go in terms of restoring funding lost over the last few years, increasing public access hours, etc.

Maybe you saying to yourself, "Well, that's great, but how can I help?" Ponder no more! Visit the Friends of Georgia Archives page to learn how you can donate to this worthy cause and get involved with the work of FOGAH.

Georgia Archives to Stay Open (American Libraries)
Deal, Kemp to Keep Georgia’s Archives Open (Office of the Governor)

Piedmont Regional Library System in the Spotlight!

Piedmont Regional Library System
Winder, Georgia

The Piedmont Region consists of three counties, Banks, Barrow and Jackson. The Piedmont Regional Library System is located northeast of Atlanta and surrounded by Hall County, Athens Regional, Uncle Remus, Gwinnett and Northeast Georgia Regional libraries. As one local advocate said, “How can we help but be a successful library system?”

As written in Beadland to Barrow, steps were taken in 1954 to set up a regional library in Barrow County. In under 60 years, the Piedmont Regional Library System (PRLS) has grown to serve Banks, Barrow and Jackson counties with ten locations in Winder, Auburn, Statham, Homer, Braselton, Commerce, Jefferson, Maysville, Nicholson, and Talmo. Regional offices are located in Winder, and there are also book deposit collection points in the city halls of Bethlehem and Carl. The Library provides courier service to all locations. The Outreach Services department delivers books to public schools in the region as well as senior centers, boys and girls clubs, and other local facilities.

The Library’s collection consists of over 252,000 items. The population of the region is around 150,000. Over 457,000 visits are made to the libraries each year. More than 142,500 computer sessions were logged on Library computers last year, and wireless computer access is popular at almost all locations.

On February 1, 2012, the Library began offering an ebook checkout service through Overdrive. A $15,000 grant from Jackson EMC provided start-up funds and a small collection of less than 500 books, all bestselling fiction and nonfiction for adults. Of this initial collection, 97.8% of titles checked out at least once in the first three months! The results were so positive that other organizations in the region donated more money to purchase more ebooks. What started as a small, specialized collection has grown to a diverse collection of ebooks for all ages. Currently, the ebook collection consists of over 1,400 ebooks and averages 1,000 checkouts per month.

Continuing staff development is an integral part of PRLS philosophy. The annual Staff Day held in November is highly anticipated by staff throughout the region. Library Managers come together frequently to keep current on professional issues such as technology, staff management, collection development, and intellectual freedom. In turn, libraries in the region offer training programs to their patrons on topics such as basic computer skills, job searching, genealogy, and more.

Piedmont Regional Library System is a proud member of PINES. Over 582,000 items were checked out in FY 2012, including books, DVD’s, books on CD, and more. Libraries in the region each have their own Friends of the Library groups and plan their own programs. Approximately 40,000 people attended programs throughout the region last year, including Ready to Read Pre-K Storytimes, reading to dogs programs, adult author and craft programs, numerous summer reading events, and much more. The Library recently added Early Literacy Station computers for kids at several locations, and plans to add at least ten more stations by the end of the year.

At Piedmont Regional Library System, staff and patrons alike believe, “Books are just the beginning.”

To learn more about the Piedmont Regional Library System, please visit http://prlib.org.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Georgia Archives Gets a Temporary Reprieve

Not enough details in this article to let loose with any sort of victory cry, but it's definitely good news! Looks like some funding will be restored to the Georgia Archives. Enough to keep it open at its current public access hours through the rest of FY 2012. At the beginning of the new fiscal year, subject to legislative approval, the Archives will be transferred to the University System of Georgia.

Before we breathe a sigh of relief, let's remember that access hours have been repeatedly slashed over the years and the Archives is currently down to being open to the public just two days a week, Friday and Saturday. Being under the umbrella of the USG will, no doubt, be a safer home for the Archives than the Secretary of State's office has proved to be. However, the best of all possible worlds for the Archives would be if it were made an independent, and apolitical, state agency in its own right.

Let's keep our game faces on, and keep an eye out for ways to help Our Archives, folks! While safe for now, it is still underfunded, understaffed, and in need of our vigilance and support.

Speaking of staffing, let's also take a moment to give a shout out to the brave and true Georgia Archives employees who have been doing such a fine job, in the face of budget adversity, for so many years. You go, Georgia Archives staff! The people of the state (past, present, and future) appreciate all of your hard work!

Deal, Kemp to Keep Georgia’s Archives Open (Office of the Governor)

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Free Webinar 11/14/12: RDA: Are We There Yet?

The Georgia Library Association is pleased to announce the November 2012 session of the Carterette Series Webinars.

The Carterette Series is a bi-monthly educational webinar series highlighting trends, innovation, and best practices in libraries. The free sessions are open to interested parties from all geographic (and astral) locations. Topics are chosen to be of interest to students and employees from all library types, and each session is approved for one Georgia Continuing Education (CE) contact hour.

Can't make it to the live show? That's okay. The sessions will be recorded and available on the CSW site for later viewing.

RDA: Are We There Yet?
Presented by Emily Nimsakont
November 14th, 2012
2:00pm to 3:00pm EASTERN Time (What time is that for me?)

REGISTER

It's been a long time coming, but Resource Description and Access (RDA), the new cataloging code, will be implemented by the Library of Congress next year - are you ready? In this session, Emily Dust Nimsakont will provide an update on the latest RDA-related developments and offer tips for RDA implementation. Emily is the Government and Information Services Librarian at the Nebraska Library Commission.

~~~

Please contact a member of the Carterette Series Planning Team with questions or suggestions.
Tessa Minchew: tessa.minchew@gpc.edu
Sarah Steiner: ssteiner@gsu.edu
Kimberly Boyd: kimberly.boyd@gpc.edu

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

GLA Scholarship Raffle (Winners for Not Present to Win Prizes)

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the GLA Scholarship Raffle at COMO this year. We raised $4,420.00 and can fully fund both the Beard and Hubbard Scholarships for 2012. To follow is a list of the winners of the prizes that you did not need to be present to win. Please contact me with any questions. Thank you. Ashley Dupuy, adupuy@bellsouth.net

$50 iTunes gift card	Roni Tewskbury
Set of 3 $10 iTunes gift cards	David Minchew
1 year subscription to database	Jeff Heck
Certificate for 3 free ebooks	Jeff Heck
$50 Barnes & Noble gift card	Jane Summey
$50 Barnes & Noble gift card	Sandra Brown
$25 iTunes gift card	Kelli Murphy
$50 Amazon gift card	Michael Law
$50 Amazon gift card	Liz Bagley
$50 Amazon gift card	Catherine Wilson
$100 Target gift card	Jane Summey
$50 VISA gift card	Holly Heltman
$50 Amazon gift card	Patricia Perles
$50 Bed, Bath & Beyond gift card	Camilla Reid
$25 Amazon gift card	Zachary Hardy
$25 Lowes gift card & tool set	Rhonda Boozer
$50 Shell gas card	Candace Ushery
$50 Shell gas card	Jane Summey
Getaway on the Square, Dahlonega	Jane Hardy
$20 gift card from Subway and small silver picture frame	Jacqueline Keeton
4 tickets to Puppetry Center Family Series shows	Lori Lang
2 tickets to "Puppetry Education" webinar	Jeff Heck
$50 DSW gift card	Katie Spice
$50 Amazon gift card	Raylynn Hughes
$50 Cracker Barrel gift card	Bonnie Morris
$100 cash	Linh Uong
$25 VISA prepaid debit card	Linda Marie Golian-Liu
$50 Barnes & Noble gift certificate	Callie Benson
$50 Amazon gift card	Courtney McGough
$15 gift card to a local Macon restaurant	Mel Voynich

October Professional and Continuing Education List

Welcome to the Professional and Continuing Education Interest Group monthly announcement for continuing education opportunities. This email contains a listing of conferences, webinars, and other ways to learn more about librarianship. Events requiring a registration fee are designated by a ($). This list is also available on the Georgia Library Association blog: http://glanews.blogspot.com

Please help PACE keep this list useful and current by emailing announcements for upcoming continuing education events to Amelia Glawe (Amelia.glawe@gpc.edu). Thanks!

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October 16

Booklist-Common Core and More: Surprising Reasons to go Graphic
http://www.booklistonline.com/GeneralInfo.aspx?id=63

School Library Journal:Fall Books for Kids

http://www.slj.com/category/webcasts/#

WebJunction:Incubate Leadership @ Your Library

http://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/incubate_leadership_at_your_library.html

ALA:Embedded Librarians: Integrating Information Literacy Instruction at the Point of Need ($)
http://www.ala.org/acrl/onlinelearning/elearning/courses/embedded

October 17

ALCTS: RDA Name Authorities—What's New and Different from AACR2 ($)

http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webinar/cat/101712

LLAMA: Sharing Our Collections : Looking To the Future ($)
http://www.ala.org/llama/conted

October 18
School Library Journal: Part I On Common Core: Getting Real: Marc Aronson and Sue Bartle

http://www.slj.com/category/webcasts/

ACRL: Designing Assessments ($)
http://www.ala.org/acrl/slheseries

YALSA-Book Blitz 2: 45 Must Know YA Titles ($)
http://www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinelearning/webinar

October 18- November 15
ACRL Webinar Series: Applying the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education ($)
http://www.ala.org/acrl/slheseries

October 24
NCompass Live: Your Government Online: Independent Federal Government Agencies

http://nlc.nebraska.gov/scripts/calendar/eventshow.asp?ProgID=11636

ALCTS: Principles of Classification ($)

http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webinar/cat/102412

ALCTS: Principles of Classification ($)
http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webinar/cat/102412

October 25

WebJunction:Freedom Rings in Philadelphia: community technology adoption

http://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/Freedom_Rings_in_Philadelphia_webinar.html

WebJunction: Community Technology Adoption

http://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction.html

ACRL: Curation as a Form of Collaborative Research ($)
http://www.ala.org/acrl/curation

October 30
ACRL: 3D Printing is Just the Beginning: The Future of Makerspaces within Academic Libraries($)
http://www.ala.org/acrl/makerspaces

October 31

NCompass Live: Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Reflections on Internet Librarian 2012 http://nlc.nebraska.gov/scripts/calendar/eventshow.asp?ProgID=11641

ALCTS: RDA for the Non-Cataloger: What's In It For You?($)
http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webinar/cat

October 31-November 15
PLA Webinar Series: Three Top Programs From PLA 2012

http://www.ala.org/pla/onlinelearning/webinars/pla2012series

Thursday, October 11, 2012

GLA Academic Division Officers for 2013

The GLA Academic Division is pleased to announce the election results for the 2013 officers. The new officers are as follows:

Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect:
Rhonda McCoy

Secretary:
La Loria Konata

ACRL Representative:
Sarah Steiner

We congratulate all who ran in this year’s contest. Thank you for your interest in keeping the GLA Academic Division a vital and relevant professional group.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Executive Board Meeting Minutes Online

The GLA Executive Board met during GaCOMO, on October 3, 2012. At this meeting, the minutes from the previous meeting were approved and are now available on the GLA website.

GaCOMO12 Survey - Please Fill Out If You Attended

If you attended COMO 2012 in Macon and have not yet completed the evaluation, please do so by October 15, 2012. Your comments will be considered when planning next year's conference, so thumbs up or thumbs down, the Steering Committee wants to hear from you!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Plight of the Georgia Archives Made the NY Times!

No doubt, everyone is busily preparing for GaCOMO, but let's not forget to keep the heat on our elected officials regarding the closure of the Georgia Archives which is still slated for November 1!

The New York Times has just published an excellent overview of the plight of state archives in these, let's say "interesting times." The proliferation of digital records (and the unwritten or untested legalities surrounding them) combined with an increasingly successful push for smaller government, is currently hobbling many state archival departments, Georgia's being only the most extreme example.

In the article, Vicki Walch, the executive director of the Council of State Archivists, rightly points out that, "this is a period of time that could be the Dark Ages for public records."

Let's see what we can do to open the door and let in a little light, folks! Sign the petition if you haven't already and let your elected officials know how you feel. (Brian Kemp, you have to contact separately.)

Budget Cuts to Archives Put History Out of Reach

The Georgia Archives, which holds both historical curiosities and virtually every important state government document ever created, is about to become nearly impossible to visit.

In November, a round of government budget cuts will reduce the staff to three, one of them the maintenance man. Thousands of documents that pour in every month are likely to languish because no one will be available to sort through them, archives officials said. People who view accurate and open government records as the bedrock of democracy are outraged.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Thomas University Library in the Spotlight!

[Note: This is an archived post. This spotlight has been removed from the GLA homepage to make way for the latest spotlight.]

This month, GLA is featuring the Thomas University Library in our spotlight.

Please visit the GLA homepage (http://gla.georgialibraries.org) to learn more about Thomas University Library's wonderful collections, services, and programs!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Joint Letters from GAIT, GLA and GLMA to Oppose Closing Georgia Archives

The fabulous, and tireless, GLA President, Liz Bagley, would like to share the joint letters from GAIT, GLA, and GLMA that she hand delivered to the State Capitol this morning. The letters are addressed to Governor Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp, and they set out the associations' opposition to the closure of the Georgia Archives slated for November 1.

Liz was one of the eighty (some reports say 125-ish) supporters of the Georgia Archives to attend the Governor's ironically scheduled signing of a proclamation to celebrate October as Archives Month across the state.

Many thanks to the officers who drafted these well-crafted letters and the Georgia library community for their continued support of our wonderful Archives!

Joint Letter to Gov. Deal Opposing Closing State Archives (.pdf)
Joint Letter to Sec. Kemp Opposing Closing State Archives (.pdf)

A Pledge and A Call to Continue Advocacy

Today, Governor Nathan Deal, addressing an audience of eighty supporters of the Georgia Archives, pledged to "make sure the archives stay open." It appears that no further details were offered at the time, and the Governor's staff had not expected anything near this level of attendance at the signing of a proclamation to celebrate October as Archives Month across the state.

The organizers of the movement to save the Georgia Archives encourage us to keep up the momentum and keep the issue front and center for our elected officials.

“We’re thankful for the governor’s words,” said one of the group’s organizers, Kaye Lanning Minchew of the Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives. “But we don’t want it to close Nov. 1, so we absolutely need to make sure the advocacy doesn’t stop.”

Deal Pledges to Keep Georgia Archives Open (AJC)

The Governor of GA: Leave Our State Archives Open to the Public (Change.org petition)

Georgians Against Closing State Archives (Facebook group)

Friends of Georgia Archives and History (Don't miss their list of action items!)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

CALL TO ACTION: Help Us Keep the Georgia Archives Open to the Public

Last week the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office announced that as of November 1, 2012, the Georgia Archives will be closed to the public. The Georgia Archives identifies and preserves Georgia’s most valuable historical documents and records.

How will these records be accessible if the doors to this magnificent treasure trove are closed to the public? It’s not possible for everything to be available on the web. Not everything stored at the Archives is currently online, and it would take centuries to digitize everything. This action will make Georgia Archives the only state archives without public access hours.

All Georgians and historians, genealogists, and researchers from around the country and around the world will be affected directly or indirectly by the closure of the Georgia Archives.

Contact the governor, your legislators, and the Secretary of State immediately to fight the imminent closure of the Georgia Archives to the public. I encourage you to contact them via the Georgia Library Association Take Action Center. Please feel free to add to and edit the general message you send to your officials.

It is necessary to contact Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp directly at http://sos.georgia.gov/cgi-bin/email.asp.

Thank you for taking action for Georgia libraries.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Bagley
President, Georgia Library Association

Monday, September 17, 2012

ALERT: Georgia Archives Set to Close on November 1

Citing budget cuts, Georgia Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, announced on September 13 that the Georgia Archives will be effectively closed to the public beginning on November 1. Access to the archives will then be available by limited appointments only.

The Georgia Archives was established in 1918 and houses a rich collection of primary and secondary sources in addition to state documents recording Georgia government activities. After November 1, Georgia will become the only state in the union to not make a public archives freely available to its citizens.

If this gets your dander up like it has ours, please consider signing the following petition!

The Governor of GA: Leave Our State Archives Open to the Public (Change.org petition)

For more information about the Archives, its imminent closure, and public response, please see the following sources.

ALA President Expresses Deep Concern and Dismay About Closure of Georgia Archives to the Public (American Libraries Magazine)

Georgia Threatens Closure of State Archives (Society of American Archivists - don't miss their letter of protest to the Governor!)

Georgians Against Closing State Archives (Facebook group)

Friends of Georgia Archives and History (Don't miss their list of action items!)

Supporters Rally Against Georgia Archives Closure (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Friday, September 7, 2012

September Professional and Continuing Education List

Please help PACE keep this list useful and current by emailing announcements for upcoming continuing education events to Amelia Glawe (Amelia.glawe@gpc.edu). Thanks!

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September 10

Educause-The Six Dimensions of Next Generation Learning

http://bit.ly/Ppenqm

September 11

Booklist-Keeping Romance Fresh: Debut Authors & New Trends

http://bit.ly/QtASPg

WebJunction-Best Small Library in America 2012

http://bit.ly/UxUFMP

YALSA-A TAG Can Work for You, Too! ($)

http://www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinelearning/webinar

September 12