General Membership Meeting - Thursday, September 20th, 2007
From Simmons International Relations
Here’s a quick recap of some of the topics covered at last week’s meeting, along with some newer updates as appropriate. (Compiled by David Dwiggins, 9/28/2007)
Leadership
As has been previously noted on the listserv, we have two open positions: Secretary and Treasurer. Nominations are being accepted on the wiki, and elections will be conducted if a position is contested.
Wiki, listserv, and Del.icio.us:
We now have three primary methods of electronic communication:
The SIR wiki is the central point for all information related to the organization. It is open for all members of the GSLIS community to edit, and contains the latest information about upcoming events. Please feel free to add to it that you think might be useful!
Subscribing to the SIR electronic mailing list is the best way to stay up to date about new happenings in the organization. It is also available as a resource to anyone wishing to publicize or discuss issues related to international and multicultural librarianship.
- Del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/International.Librarianship
Meaghan has created this feed as a central gathering place for links and resources related to international librarianship. You can subscribe to the feed using an RSS reader and be notified when new resources are posted.
COMPLETED EVENTS
SIR EVENT: South Africa Partners, Wednesday, September 26th at 1:00 p.m. Location P-206.
Kate Sipples from South Africa Partners was on campus to discuss her organization's Libraries for South African Schools program. She was joined by Pat Payne, library directory at Lesley University, who participated in one of the organizations's exchange programs last summer. The goal of the Libraries for South African Schools program is to "support the establishment of libraries in under-resourced urban, township and rural schools in order to increase student literacy levels, improve teaching methods, and build community support for education reform." This event is being sponsored by SIR.
"Research, Policy, & Practice: How Information Can Change the World", Beatley Library on Wednesday, September 26, at 2pm
Information is power, but where does it come from? What happens when we don't have it? How should we use it when we do? In this panel, researchers and practitioners from different disciplines discussed the role of information access in their work and in promoting global development, with examples from Bangladesh, Brazil, Romania, Uganda, and other countries around the world. This event was sponsored by Beatley Library.
The People’s Voice: The Struggle for Democracy in Sierra Leone, A lecture by Warburg Professor, Ambassador Thomas N. Hull, September 27, 2007, 5:00-6:00pm
Sierra Leone’s August 11 presidential election produced a stunning upset with an opposition party receiving a plurality of the votes over the governing incumbents, a rarity in Africa. With neither party receiving the necessary 55% for victory due to the impact of a maverick third party, a constitutionally mandated runoff election appears likely in early September with the final outcome not being known until later in the month. The voting process was remarkably transparent, but will the will of the people be respected or will the process be manipulated or even aborted by those who find losing an election to be an inconvenient aspect of democracy? What is the potential for the election to destabilize this country whose recent civil war produced the notorious boy soldiers and blood diamonds? An insider’s analysis of this story, which is still being written, was presented by the recently returned American Ambassador to Sierra Leone along with concluding comment on the wider implications of this event for democratization in Africa. This event was sponsored by the Department of Political Science/International Relations, the Warburg Program and the POLS/IR Liaison.
UPCOMING EVENTS
SIR EVENT: 'Very Huế: A Report on the Vietnamese Librarian Project, October 2, 2007, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., P-206
In October of 2005, Simmons College received a $1.8 million grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to train a new generation of Vietnamese librarians for leadership roles. Professor Pat Oyler, who oversees the grant, has been working with Vietnamese librarians for more than 13 years. This report describes a 10 week program of four GSLIS courses, taught by Patrick McGlamery (Simmons GSLIS adjunct teacher) and Terry Plum in Huế, Vietnam from June – August, 2007. Participating were 25 Vietnamese university librarians from four different areas of Vietnam: Can Tho (in the Mekong Delta), Huế, Da Nang, and Thai Nguyen (north of Hanoi). Many of the Vietnamese librarians were as new to Huế as the teachers. This talk by Terry Plum discusses teaching LIS in Vietnam, technological determinism, the role of the academic library in supporting university education, and how constructions of the cultural landscape can affect teaching and learning. This lecture is co-sponsored by SIR and the GSLIS Research Colloquium and is open to the entire Simmons community.
IN THE FUTURE
- We have been asked to co-sponsor an event on the Digital Divide with ASIS&T and PLG. We are currently seeking a panelist to participate in the event. Details to be announced later.
- We have been approached by a Chinese cultural center in Chinatown. They are planning to build a new library for their center, but do not have expertise in library design or operation. We are looking into helping get this off the ground as an official project of SIR. Please contact Meaghan if you would be interested in helping out with this.
- We received a letter from a group that works with libraries in Haiti, and are currently investigating the possibility of collaborating with this organization on a book drive or other event.
- Nicaragua – Groups from GSLIS have been traveling to assist with library development in Nicaragua over the last three years. We are currently investigating the possibility of another trip in January. Denise Davis, who returned from Nicaragua in August, spoke briefly about her experiences there. If you think you might be interested in traveling to Nicaragua, please contact David for more information.
