GSLIScast

Emerging technologies present exciting new opportunies for information professionals. But do they also exclude some information seekers? On Monday April 7th, 2008, Jessamyn West, Susan O’Connor, and Pat Oyler participated in a panel discussion at Simmons College about this so-called Digital Divide—the gap between those people who have effective access to information technology and those who do not.

Jessamyn West is a librarian in rural Vermont and the author of the popular blog librarian.net. Susan O’Connor is the Executive Director of the Timothy Smith Network, an organization that promotes technology use in the Roxbury section of Boston. Pat Oyler is a professor at Simmons GSLIS who has been intimately involved with the school’s ongoing librarian training programs in Vietnam. Together the three panelists talked about how issues of access to technology have impacted end users of information services.

The panel discussion was co-sponsored by the Simmons College chapters of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, the Progressive Libraians Guild, and Simmons International Relations.

Slide Presentation

Link to slides for Jessamyn West

Slide Presentation

Slides for Susan O'Connor / PDF Format 3.89 MB

Slide Presentation

Slides for Pat Oyler / PDF Format 73 KB

Kevin McLeod / Bright Wish

Music used in this podcast

On March 28th 2008 in Amherst, MA Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan, associate professor of Media Studies and Law at the University of Virginia, delivered a lecture titled “The Googlization of Everything.” The event was part of the third annual Digital Quadrangle Series Colloquium and was sponsored by the UMass Amherst Libraries, Office for Research, Center for Teaching, Graduate School, and Office of Outreach.

A cultural historian and media scholar, Siva Vaidhyanathan is the
author of Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity (New York University Press,2001); and The Anarchist in the Library: How Peer-to-Peer Networks are Transforming Politics, Culture, and Information (Basic Books, 2003).

He is co-editor of Rewiring the “Nation”: The Place of Technology in American Studies (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).

After five years as a professional journalist, Vaidhyanathan earned a PhD in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Vaidhyanathan has taught at the University of Texas, Wesleyan University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and New York University.

He is currently associate professor of Media Studies and Law at the University of Virginia and writing his next book, The Googlization of Everything, a critical examination of Google’s disruptive effect on culture, commerce, and community on a public website/blog produced by the Institute for the Future of the Book.

Sivacracy

Siva's blog

The Googlization of Everything

Website/blog of The Googlization of Everything project/book

Institute for the Future of the Book

project co-sponsor website

Oriolgos/Beat Combo 9 Game Over

Music used in this podcast

Anne C. Moore, the Associate Director for User Services at
UMass Amherst spoke on March 15th 2008 at the Simmons College GSLIS West campus in South Hadley, MA. Ms Moore discussed the far reaching success of the Learning Commons at Umass Amherst and how that success has changed the role of librarians on campus.

Slide Presentation

(PDF Format 11 MB)

Liason Document

(Word Format 32 KB)

Slide presentation with audio

(Slideshare website)

beat combo 9 game over/Oriolgos

(Music used in this podcast)

Question & answer period of the panel discussion “A Career in Library and Information Science: Strategies, Choices, & Insights” held March 9, 2008 at Simmons College GSLIS West campus in South Hadley, MA. Presented by the GSLIS Alumni Executive Board.

Podcast Transcript

Complete transcript of this episode.

Susan Crowther ’03 is library director/teacher at Chicopee Comprehensive High School Library in Chicopee, MA. She started as a school librarian at E.N. White Elementary School in Holyoke, MA in 2002. Previously, she was a library and information services assistant and textbook manager at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. A graduate of Stockbridge School of Agriculture and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Susan’s 16 years of experience in bookstore management led her to pursue her M.S. When Susan is not thinking of new ways to engage her students in literacy, she volunteers her time as executive board area co-director for the Mass. School Library Association, vice-president of Friends of Western Mass. Regional Library System, and as a trustee for the South Hadley Public Library.

Chicopee Comp High School Library

website of the library at Chicopee Comprehensive High School in Chicopee, MA

Gypsy-esque Clarinet & Sax 103 bpm/Stephenchai

Music used in this podcast

Q&A Session

Q&A Session for this podcast

Podcast transcript

Complete transcript of this episode.