Terrific Topics at Dominican University

Dominican University GSLIS is offering a terrific series of lectures on the theme of Emerging Library Leaders for the 21st Century. From January through April, topics include grant writing, advocacy, leadership skills, and more. And the speaker line up is terrific: John Berry (LJ Editor), Kathryn Deiss (ACRL/ALA), Emily Sheketoff (ALA Washington Office), and more!

Additionally, two major annual lectures are also on offer this Spring. The 2008 Follett Lecture on the importance of libraries in the life of young children is coming up on February 6; the current Follett Chair (and lecturer on the 6th) is Steve Herb, former president of ALSC. On April 16, Rosalind Picard, MIT Media Lab, will present the 2008 Lazerow Lecture on technology and emotional intelligence.

Check out the GSLIS News & Events page for more information.

Synergists nominated for positions on ILA board

The nominating committee of the Illinois Library Association (ILA) has named eight candidates for the four directors-at-large positions on the Board of Directors; five of the eight candidates are Synergy alums:

Betsy Adamowski, Itasca Community Library (2005)
Diana Brawley-Sussman, Southern Illinois Talking Book Center-(2002)
Terry Cottrell, University of St. Francis Library (2006)
Amy Falasz-Peterson, Fondulac District Library (2002)
Ted Schwitzner, Illinois State University (2003)

Be sure to congratulate your fellow Synergists on being selected to run for office. And, ILA Members, be sure to vote between April 1 - 30, 2008.

For more information, see page 26 of the February 2008 issue of The ILA Reporter (which also has a cover story by Synergy mentor, Jane Chamberlain of the Bloomington Public Library!)

OCLC Leadership Symposium / PLA Blog / Libraries as Third Spaces

Hi, all....

I think Synergists will be interested in the postings from the OCLC Leadership Symposium; the first day's notes can be found on the PLA blog.

Here's one tasty morsel to whet your appetite:

A library’s mission is not about books–never was. But it’s also not about information. It is about people connecting people to resources of all kinds needed for learning and critical thinking and (hopefully) knowledge. from a presentation by Dr. Rush Miller, author of Beyond Survival: Managing Academic Libraries in Transition

This reminded me of two of my favorite ideas/comments about libraries (NOT from PLA blog/OCLC symposium)

Libraries are about transformation...not information -- paraphrase -- Omar Wasow, tech guru and founder of BlackPlanet.net, has spoken on this topic at many library conferences. I first heard the quote in a presentation at ILA 2006 by George Needham of OCLC.

Mary Dempsey (commissioner of the Chicago Public Library) is not in the library business; she is in the Chicago business -- paraphrase - Joey Rodger, then head of the Urban Libraries Council, said this at the CPL 2003 Scholars in Residence program commenting on how Comm. Dempsey ensures that CPL is a contributing member in every important discussion in the city.

Melissa Henderson, Synergy 2006