JOHN B. COLEMAN LIBRARIANS IN THE NEWS...

Summer 2009 | Spring 2009 | Fall 2008 | Spring 2008 | Summer 2007 | Fall 2007

Fall 2009

	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian presented at the 16th National HBCU Faculty Development Symposium in October 2009 in Atlanta Georgia. The 2009 theme of the HBCU Faculty Development Symposium is "Enhancing the Global Competence of HBCU Faculty and Students: Teaching, Research and Service".  Ms. Gay  presentated on “Enhancing, Engaging, and Exciting: Global Intersections of Information Literacy, Technology, and Professional Writing”.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian presented at a workshop on ”Read and Celebrate African American Literature” at the 16th National HBCU Faculty Development Symposium in October 2009 in Atlanta Georgia. The 2009 theme of the HBCU Faculty Development Symposium was "Enhancing the Global Competence of HBCU Faculty and Students: Teaching, Research and Service" Ms. Gay with others discussed the teaching styles using African American Literature as learning objectives for enhancing students reading skills.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian presented a workshop on “Global Librarian: Preparing Librarians to Stay Connected with the 21st Century Library Patron” at the Texas Library Association’s District 8 annual Fall Conference held Saturday October 17th at University of Houston at Sugar Land.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian presented at the PVAMU National Day of Writing Workshop on October 20, 2009, sponsored by the English Department and the Writing Center. The topic of the workshop was Got Media Information Writing Literacy?
	Lauren Kelley, Art Curator Awarded a one-year” Fellowship” to study at the Studio Museum in Harlem (SMH), from October 2009 to September 2010. While serving as the "Artist in Residence" at the SMH, Lauren will commute between New York and Texas, as she continues to manage Art Exhibits at the Library scheduled for the current academic year, 2009/2010. During her study leave at the SMH, Lauren will be part of a highly recognized, prestigious and competitive “mentoring program” for emerging artists. This culturally rich setting will also provide an opportunity for Lauren to meet and work with some of the most outstanding and influential contemporary creative artists in her field, as well as arts patrons and scholars that should bring notoriety and attention to the university, library and our art galleries.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian was the keynote speaker for the University College Building Number 38 Lecture Series on September 22, 2009, held in the John B. Coleman Library. The theme of the lectures series was “The Path to Success: Life Skills 101. Are you Man Enough” Ms. Gay spoke about the three important issues for young men - knowing the value of getting a college degree; reading and knowing how to find good information; and building good friendships.
Lone Star College Library at North Harris	Karl Henson, Electronic Services Librarian and Steve Shaw, Head of Reference and Instruction, conducted a seminar at Lone Star College at North Harris September 17th entitled “Assessment and the Academic Library.” The seminar, presented to the Library Directors and other senior library staff of the eight campuses of the college system, focused on setting goals and objectives, departmental mission statements, overall library assessment best practices including data storage and documentation as well as an overview of the library requirement for SACS reaccreditation.
	Elizabeth Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian was appointed to Conference Program Advisory Board for the 14th Annual Off Campus Library Conference to be held Cleveland, Ohio, April 28-30, 2010. This international conference brings together librarians, administrators, and educators to discuss, demonstrate, and champion the techniques and theories of providing library services to students and faculty participating in instruction either away from a main campus or in the online environment. Through formal proceedings and the publication of Conference papers in the Journal of Library Administration, this information is made available to all who have an interest in this field. https://ocls.cmich.edu/conf2010/board.html

Summer 2009

Dr. Rosie Albritton, Director of Library Services was recently featured in the American Library Association (ALA) journal American Libraries. Dr. Rosie Albritton was re-elected to serve a third 3-year-term as a Councilor-at-Large, on the ALA Council. The election results are published in the June/July 2009 issue of "American Libraries. on page 12. (Web Announcement)

Spring 2009 

	Scanning the Turf:  The HBCU Library Alliance Digital Initiative Phyllis Earles, University Archivist attended the Tuesday, March 17, 2009, "Scanning the Turf: The HBCU Library Alliance Digital Initiative" class were held in Atlanta, GA at the SOLINET offices. The free class was designed for institutions new to digitization or just beginning to form their initiative. The class focused on increasing participants’ understanding of the unique HBCU Library Alliance Digital Initiative project. This project is one of the first in the nation to build a national framework for collaborative digitization of HBCU cultural heritage materials. Participants were provided with an overview of the HBCU Library Alliance Digital Initiative project to include background and future directions, impact on the library community, general methods for digitizing special collections materials, ownership issues, technical requirements, and content management work flow issues. For more about the alliance http://www.hbculibraries.org/ .
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian was appointed to the Chair of the Scholarship Committee and an officer for the Texas Librarian Association Black Caucus Round table. Ms. Gay will oversee the placement of assigning scholarships to Texas Library Science students who are members of both TLA and the TLA Black Caucus Round table. Scholarship winners will be afforded the opportunity to attend a TLA Annual Conference.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian  was a guest judge for the Houston Independent School Districts’ Middle Schools’ Name that Book Contest on Friday, May 8, 2009. The  contest was held at the Department of Library Services Branch in Houston Texas and had six schools competing in the competition. The contestants on the teams had to correctly answer the most quotes taken from about 40 various young adult books. The contest is sponsored by HISD Library Services and Media Services Departments and Barnes and Noble.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian attended the 2009 Texas Library Association Conference in downtown Houston March 30 to April 3, 2009. Ms. Gay chaired the Genealogy Round table Committee and organized three programs. She was the featured speaker for one genealogy program entitled Web 2.0 Genealogy Researching. Ms. Gay also was a guest speaker for a panel discussion program entitled K-20 Learners: Preparing our Students for College and Career.
	Elizabeth Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian, attended the HBCU Library Alliance Associate Level Librarians Scenario Planning Workshop, March 11, 2009 in Atlanta. Those in attendance represented librarians from medical, legal, administrative and other aspects of the library profession. The workshop examined where HBCU libraries stand currently and where they hope to be in the future and what needs to be done to get HBCU libraries to that point.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian attended the HBCU Library Alliance “Library Scenario” workshop in Atlanta March 25, 2009. The day log workshop gave suggestions on what the HBCU Library Alliance should work toward in partnerships with all the HBCU libraries with the next three to five years. Librarians gathered into groups of five and gave feedback to library scenarios on the criteria of the likely, most likely, not likely, missing and desired outcomes of three particular library settings.
	Steve Shaw, Head of Reference and Instruction attended the HBCU Library Alliance’s Double ‘O’ -Freshman Orientation and Outreach workshop in Atlanta March 19th, 2009. The day long workshop gave suggestions for transforming the typical freshman orientation from information overload into a fun, transformative experience; the ‘bait’ that keeps students coming back to the library throughout their college career.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian was the keynote speaker at Gama Gama Sigma, PVAMU Service Organization on March 24, 2009. The seminar entitled “All My Single Ladies” was held at the University College’s Movie Theater and attracted more than 50 college freshman. Ms. Gay talked about the importance of getting a college education, reading and literacy for African Americans and staying true to yourself.
	Elizabeth Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian presented a paper at the Texas National Association of Multicultural Education (NAME) Conference held at Prairie View, March 27-28, 2009 on Culture and Distance Learning: Theories of Time and Space in Online Environments and Electronic Retrieval Systems. Ms. Brumfield discussed how culture affects our online interactions. The session demonstrated ways that retrieval systems can be designed to appeal to various cultures.
	Bob Grundy, Reference and Instruction Librarian, presented "The Internet as a Legitimate Research Tool" at the Houston Area Law Librarians (HALL) Spring 2009 Seminar March 11th, 2009. His presentation showed law librarians how most Texas residents can obtain borrowing cards through either the Harris County or Houston Public library systems for free or for very nominal cost and how these borrowing cards can be linked. Using the TexShare databases, anybody with a public library card is able to search for scholarly articles from select databases including WorldCat. Houston Area Law Librarians (HALL) is a local chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries, an international association representing over 5,000 law librarians.
	Steve Shaw, Head of Reference and Instruction, and Jean Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian, along with nearly 30 other Prairie View faculty and staff, recently attended the 9th Annual Texas A&M University Assessment Conference in College Station February 22-24. The conference’s theme, “Using Assessment to Drive Improvement,” highlighted the emphasis of evaluating student learning outcomes on the program level. The information learned will be of use as Prairie View continues to prepare for the re accreditation visit from SACS in 2010.

Fall 2008

	Elizabeth Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian, presented a workshop on technology at the HBCU Faculty Development conference, in Washington, D.C., October 23-26. The workshop entitled: Internet Technologies and the HBCU Librarian, discussed ways that librarians can assist faculty and students in their research and in communication through Internet free resources.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian Co-hosted a workshop on "Reflections on Reading Research-Sociological and Educational Implications: Best Practices for thinking, reading, and writing using African American literature; and the role of the librarian in developing initiatives for reading in the home, the school, the university, and the community" at the 15th National HBCU Faculty Development Symposium in Washington D.C. October 23-25, 2008.
	Karl Henson, Electronic Services Librarian and Steve Shaw, Head of Reference and Information Services presented “An Introduction to Library Assessment” at the Texas Library Association’s District 8 annual Fall Conference held Saturday October 18th at Lonestar College at Cy-Fair. The talk covered how to write goals and objectives, preparing for SACS as well as proper document retention, presentation and organization.
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian presented a workshop on “From School Library to Academic Library: “Got EBSCOhost Database College Library Research Skills” at the Texas Library Association’s District 8 annual Fall Conference held Saturday October 18th at Lonestar College at Cy-Fair.
Never has She Ever...	Lauren Kelley, Curator of Art Collections will be taking part in an exhibit and give a lecture at Never Has She Ever - Eblast for exhibition at Mason Gross School of the Arts. Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries at Rutgers University, in collaboration with the Judith K. and David J. Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions at Rutgers and the Institute For Women and Art, is pleased to present Never Has She Ever… an exhibition featuring 10 women artists re-representing the female gaze and figure twisting and challenging internalized notions of beauty and womanhood. This intergenerational exhibit brings together artists working in diverse media and techniques: photography, painting, drawing, installations, film and video. -more-
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian attended the Texas Library Association’s Annual Assembly in Austin Texas July 7-10, 2008. Ms. Gay is the chair 2008-2009 of the TLA Genealogy Round table, TLA Black Caucus Round table Councilor Alternate 2007-2010 and a Working Group member of the TexShare Education Services 2007-2010. She planned programs and events for Genealogy Round Table at the TLA Houston Conference 2009 and attend various workshops on TLA Legislative Day 2009, Transforming Texas Libraries and TLA, Chair Training, and TLA Black Caucus.
	Dr. Rosie L. Albritton, Library Director, Helen Yeh, Associate Director, and Dr. Stephen Shaw, Head of Reference and Information Services recently attended the American Library Association’s Annual conference in Anaheim, CA June 26-July 2. Over 22,000 librarians converged to meet and discuss cutting-edge ideas. Some of the more interesting sessions were on the use of Information Literacy, assessment and ‘Academic Library Instruction in an Online Environment.’
	Elizabeth Jean Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian presented a paper at the 13th Annual Off-Campus Library Services Conference in Salt Lake City Utah, April 23-26, 2008. The paper entitled: Using Online Tutorials to Reduce Uncertainty in Information Seeking Behavior, suggests that many of our behavioral motivations in face to face activities would also apply in the online environment. By creating online tutorials that combine structured hierarchical instructions with familiar modes of communication we may be able to reduce symptoms of uncertainty in the library search process. http://ocls.cmich.edu/conference/presentations/brumfield.pdf The paper is published in Conference Proceedings of the 13th Annual Off-Campus Library Conference, by the conference host Central Michigan University. It will also be published in a separate volume of the Journal of Library Administration, Haworth Press.

 Spring 2008

	Lauren Kelley, Library Art Curator - Fourth Floor Gallery - Ms Kelley was featured in the Houston Chronicle April 29, 2008 article entitled "Heartbreak in the dollhouse". "Growing up in Spring, Lauren Kelley played with dolls — blonde-haired and blue-eyed Barbies, mostly, and a few that were brown-skinned and dark-haired like she was. Dollhouse life was glamorous and carefree, the kind of existence that Kelley assumed she'd enjoy someday." -more-
	Lauren Kelley, Library Art Curator - Fourth Floor Gallery - The New Museum and Altoids, the Curiously Strong Mints®, announced the first winners of The Altoids Award. Lauren Kelley, curator of the Prairie View A&M University Fourth Floor Art Gallery, will receive a $25,000 cash prize of a total $100,000 awarded to three other artists. -more-
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian will moderate a workshop at the Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in Dallas Texas April 18, 2008. Kimberly M. Gay will preside over a panel discussion workshop on April 18, 2008 during the Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference for the TLA Black Caucus Round table on Collection Development for Patrons of Color. Presenters include: Lana Hayes, librarian, DeBakey High School, Houston ISD; Judith Hiott, coordinator of materials selection, Houston Public Library; and Eileen Liu, president, Tsai Fong Books, Inc. They will discuss data needed to provide the best library collection for patrons of color. The TLA Black Caucus Round table’s purpose is to promote a partnership between librarians of African American descent and librarians serving the African American community that will enable them to work together and exchange information and ideas about providing services to the African American community.
	Yubao Li, Reference and Instruction Librarian,  Kimberly Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian  and Karl Henson, Electronic Services Librarian will be attending the Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in Dallas Texas April 18, 2008. - More -
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian appointed chair of the Texas Library Association’s Genealogy Round Table 2008-2009. Kimberly Gay has been appointed to a one year term with the Texas Library Association’s Genealogy Round Table for 2008-2009. The Genealogy Interest Group of the Texas Library Association is an organization devoted to the endeavors of promoting and representing the activities of Texas librarians in the field of genealogy.
	Dr. Rosie Albritton, Director of Library Services, Helen Yeh, Assistant Library Director and Jimmizine Taylor, Former Special Collections Librarian was recently honored by Prairie View A&M University, celebrating the accomplishments, heritage and history of women with a series of lectures and activities throughout Women’s History Month, March 6-31. This year’s theme, “Women’s Vision-Expanding the View,” recognizes the contributions of women across the world and Prairie View A&M women that have achieved a high measure of success and who have greatly contributed to the Prairie View A&M community and mankind. -More-
	Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian - visiting seminar lecturer at the University of Houston’s African American Studies Department on April 10, 2008. Ms. Gay was chosen to be a visiting seminar lecturer at University of Houston’s African American Studies Department. She is conducting a seminar lecture on African Genealogy on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 10 a.m. in the Agnes Arnold Hall Suite 628. The topic of her lecture is Minority Genealogical Research: Keeping the Cultures through Engagement, Enlightenment and Empowerment. This lecture will identify major challenges in genealogical research for people of underrepresented heritages, including African Americans, American Indians (Native Americans), and brainstorm best practices for research methodologies.
	Elizabeth Jean Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian, Steve Shaw, Head of Reference and Information Services and Karl Henson, Electronic Services Librarian jointly presented “Using Library E-Resources to Enhance Student Learning”  during the 2008 Teaching with Technology Conference which was held on February 12 -13 at the Texas A&M University Memorial Student Center.
	Yubao Li, Reference and Instruction Librarian, attended the American Library Association winter conference in Philadelphia from January 11 to January 14, 2008. Mr. Li is a member of the ALA Library Instruction  Round Committee (2007 to 2009). While attending the conference, he participated in the Committee meeting to plan the 2008 activities of the committee.  He attended LIRT sessions and discussion forums: Teaching and Learning with Technology Committee Discussion Forum, Information Literacy Best Practices, Teaching Disabled Students, Assessment: We Know We Should Do It and attended other discussion groups and seminars. He was invited to attend APALA (Asian Pacific American Librarian Association) meetings and he became a member.
	Kimberly M. Gay HBCU Information Literacy Institute recipient Kimberly M. Gay, Reference and Instruction Librarian was chosen to take part in the HBCU (Mellon Grant) Information Literacy Institute. The ILLI will convene in Charlotte, North Carolina from February 10 to 15, 2008 on the campus of Johnson C. Smith University and the James B. Duke Memorial Library. The participants will have an opportunity to learn about the Information Literacy Instruction programs provided at four other academic libraries, including the JCSU model for Information Literacy programs. Most importantly, participants will spend some time during the institute designing an Information Literacy Instructional Program for their own students. Consultations will be available during the institute addressing principles, components, and the use of information technology in developing an Instructional Literacy program. This Institute also will provide opportunities for libraries that do not have an information literacy instruction program to develop both a program and an implementation plan for their university and library. For further information about the HBCU (Mellon Grant) Information Literacy Institute visit this web site >> http://archives.jcsu.edu/illi/
	Marion Williams, library Development Coordinator has been spotlighted by the Zeta Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sonority on their web site. Ms Williams "... goes out of her way to make sure others are comfortable ... humble spirit and kind heart..." Zeta Gamma Omega is "honored to have in its presence women of character and style." To view the entire spotlight – Click Here
	Prairie View A&M University Representative Selected To Attend National Conservation Forum “Preserving America’s Diverse Heritage” to focus on at-risk museum, library collections January 8, 2008, Washington, DC—Dr. Rosie L. Albritton, Prairie View A&M University’s Director of Library Services, at the John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View, Texas, has been selected to attend a national forum, January 31- February 1, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia on “Preserving America’s Diverse Heritage.” She is one of 30 representatives of small and medium-sized collecting institutions nationwide invited to participate based on their leadership in the profession and in their communities. - more -