Information Wants To Be Free

Meredith Farkas, author of the Information Wants To Be Free Blog (Subtitled: A librarian, writer and tech geek reflecting on the profession and the tools we use to serve our patrons) is a featured speaker at this weekend's Massachusetts School Library Association Annual Conference. Meredith shares her presentation Building Collaborative Applications with Wikis in her November 10 Blog posting. Meredith's blog is must reading!

~ Janet Eckert, WMRLS

Off the Couch

Elizabeth B. Thomsen's Gates Presentation

Elizabeth B. Thomsen, Member Services Manager of NOBLE (North of Boston Library Exchange) was the featured luncheon speaker for the recent Bill & Melinda Gates funded conference "What's Next: New Technologies to Help Build Your Library's Sustainability" which was held at Holy Cross College on July 24 and 25. Her humorous and informative presentation "Off the Couch: Live Beyond Broadcasting" is now available for online viewing. Be sure to read Elizabeth's description and examples that showcase YouTube and Flickr.

An overview of "What's Next" and more is featured on the WMRLS Continuing Education Workshop Notes and Handouts webpage.

~ Janet Eckert, WMRLS

Library Benefit Day

UMass Libraries Amherst Benefit Day

Saturday, December 8, 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., the Jeffery Amherst Bookshop & College Store, 55 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, will donate 10% of its proceeds to the UMass Amherst Libraries. Purchases can be made in the store, by phone (253-3381), fax (253-7852), or email (marie@jeffbooks.com). Support the area’s only public research library by shopping at an independent bookseller. Free gift wrapping!

~ Leslie Schaler, Communication Assistant, UMass Libraries

Do you remember your first time?

I do! It was Halloween Day, 2007, when I created my first blog! Thanks to a WMRLS Blogging Workshop led by the incomparable Janet Eckert I can now call myself a blogger. I encourage everyone to take a look and give me some feedback. I'm a beginner, a shy blogger. I welcome comments!

If anyone is thinking of starting a blog, I highly recommend the workshop. I have been wanting to do this for a long while but never seemed to find the time to hunt and peck my way through the endless sites. In two short hours Janet gave us the tools to get started. Now my problem is finding time to do my other work! This girl just wants to blog. Visit me at http://monsonfreelibrary.blogspot.com/
And many thanks to Janet for all her help.
-Hope Bodwell
Monson Free Library

Local Artists Exhibit at Jones Library's Burnett Gallery

Theresa Rock and Caitlin Waugh, two local artists, are showing together at the Burnett Gallery in the Jones Library from December 2- 30, 2007. The artists will be in the gallery during the Amherst Artwalk, Thursday, December 6 from 5pm-8pm and on Saturday, December 8 from 2pm-4pm.

Caitlin Ezell Waugh graduated from Hampshire College in December, 2005 with a BA in Sculpture and Literary Journalism. She spent the year after college as an apprentice glazier at Luminosity Studios in Waitsfield, Vt., and continued to travel in Latin America. Waugh moved back to the Pioneer valley in January of 2007 in order to set up her studio and focus on her career as a stained glass artist.

In the Burnett Gallery December exhibit, entitled ‘Flight’, Waugh will display a flock of three-dimensional hanging glass landscapes. Small, simple and geometric, these hanging pieces create dynamic spaces and backdrops across which tiny silouttees of birds fly.

You can see some of Waugh’s other work at caitlinwaugh.com Theresa Rock is a painter in Pelham, Ma. She enjoys the freedom painting gives her to develop and experiment with organic forms. This show, Of Earth and Sky, represents her work from the past two years. All of the paintings are extracted from natural elements. The older works in the series have more concrete forms, while the most recent are a purer form of organic abstraction.

To see more of her work go to http://www.blogger.com/www.art2rock.com.

Western Massachusetts Library Club

Genealogy Sources Program on November 14

Western Massachusetts Library Club
Annual Fall Meeting
Wednesday, November 14 ~ 10 a.m.

Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, Springfield

The Western Massachusetts Library Club, established in1898, is sponsoring a Genealogy Sources program on Wednesday, November 14th, 10 a.m. at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum at the Quadrangle in Springfield. John O'Connor, a genealogist at the museum will share his knowledge and the resources available there. You do not have to be a member of the club to attend, but there will a short meeting beforehand. Please join us for this important and interesting program. Register by emailing Mary Senecal, Club President.

~ Mary Senecal, President, Western Massachusetts Library Club

Author Event at Lilly Library

On Tuesday, November 13 at 6:00 p.m. Lilly Library will be hosting author and illustrator, Bailly Shannon Morse. Bailly, who lives in Cummington with her parents and older brother, wrote and illustrated the book Fortune's Flight when she was 14 years old. She is now 16 and starting to promote her book locally.

She will have copies of her book for sale at the library and I have to say, I am half way through and it is quite good! Please come out and support this young talent!

~ Kim Perez, Children's Librarian, Lilly Library, 19 Meadow St., Florence, MA 01062

Westfield State College to host Tracy Kidder

Westfield State College will host Tracy Kidder on Tuesday, November 13th at 7 p.m. in Dever Auditorium, Parenzo Hall. Mr. Kidder will be speaking on this year's campus book, Mountains Beyond Mountains. This book tells the inspiring story of Dr. Paul Farmer, born in North Adams and current a professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Farmer discovered his calling working in the central plains of Haiti and is the co-founder of Partners in Health, a Boston based organization dedicated to working to provide heath care services in developing countries. Their work in developing treatments for AIDS and TB has changed the world for the better.

Mr. Kidder will sign Mountains Beyond Mountains and two books featuring WSC alums, Among Schoolchildren and Hometown after the speech.

For further information contact Catherine Doyle, Library Director, at 413-572-5233.

~ Catherine Doyle, Director, Ely Library, Westfield State College, 577 Western Avenue, Westfield, MA 01086-1630

D'Amour Library's "In The Library" YouTube video

watch video Video Description We actually have very dedicated creative staff and students who were willing to explore the video/YouTube possibilities. We wanted to create a video that presented library research from a student point of view which could be found in the virtual space where students hangout. Courtney Donaldson and Chris Talbot were our exceptional student workers for the summer. When asked if they would be interested in participating in a short video on the library, they both were very willing to try. Since we wanted the student perspective, we gave them the bare bones outline of what we were looking for and they put together the narrative in their own words, based on what they had experienced in their own research projects. Jessica Kem Gorman, Deb Levheim and I guided the creation of the video while Eric Zahm (Director of Media) and AJ Dias (student) produced the video. They did the filming, editing and format conversions. I hope that this will be the first of many other videos on information research and library services that we produce! I am particularly interested in developing short clips on searching the catalog and databases, finding full-text articles, and the research process. ~ Mary Jane Sobinski-Smith, Head of Information Literacy, D'Amour Library, Western New England College

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