Murder Mystery Volunteers needed at KLA Spring Conference

Joint Spring Sections Conference, Cumberland Falls SRP, April 23 – 25

At the Thursday evening ice cream social in the park’s Blair Room facility, we will be holding a murder mystery party entitled, Honky Tonk Homicide. We need eight (8) brave souls to play character roles as possible suspects. The eight suspects or “Persons of Interest” are as follows: (NOTE: Descriptions were taken directly from the party guide Character Booklet)

#1 – Sheriff Sissy Wesson: The sexy, yet fierce and respected, sheriff of Cactus, Texas.

#2 – Rowdy Lawless: A bad boy with a short temper and a love for his bike.

#3 – Crystalline Daniels: The young, beautiful and promiscuous barmaid.

#4 – Reverend Jim Bob Eternity: The town’s beloved evangelist.

#5 – Mary Kay Eternity: The preacher’s wife, struggling for her own identity.

#6 – Dusty Diamond: The Karaoke Night host at Bubba’s Bar with big dreams of Country Western stardom.

#7 – Twyla Fleetwood: Proud owner of the Cactus Court Trailer Park and of her own personal nuclear holocaust bunker.

#8 – Carney Folk: An angry and sleazy carnival worker, passing through town.

Suspects will be questioned by the sheriff, as well as by “Investigative Teams” made up of audience members in the quest to find out who dun’it. All suspects, including Sheriff Wesson will receive a Character Booklet in advance of April 24 with tips on costuming and dialogue.

Interested? Call (606-326-2133) or email matthew.onion@kctcs.edu if you’d like to play a part in Honky Tonk Homicide. It’s your chance to shine as a murder mystery thespian.

ACRL launches chat series

March 11, 2008

Contact: David Free
ACRL
312-280-2517
dfree@ala.org

CHICAGO - The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is
pleased to announce ACRL OnPoint, a new live chat series. Each informal
monthly chat session provides the opportunity to connect with colleagues
and experts to discuss an issue of the day in academic and research
librarianship.

All ACRL OnPoint chats are free and open to the public. Sessions are
unmoderated, 30-45 minutes in length and take place in a Meebo chat
room. All chat sessions begin at 1pm CDT. While no registration is
necessary to participate, ACRL recommends creating a quick and easy
Meebo account for the best experience while participating in ACRL
OnPoint discussions. Full details are available on the ACRL Web site at
http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/OnPoint/onpoint.cfm.

Join us on March 27, 2008 for the inaugural ACRL OnPoint chat on the
newly mandatory NIH Public Access Policy. The discussion of how
libraries are leveraging this new policy on campus will be convened by
ACRL Scholarly Communication Committee member Karen Williams and Linda
Watson, president of the Association of Academic Health Sciences
Libraries. Discuss actions your library is taking or could take, such as
educating authors, offering deposit services and partnering with your
office of sponsored research.

This first chat session is co-sponsored by the Association of Academic
Health Science Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the
Greater Western Library Alliance, and the Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).

Future ACRL OnPoint chats include:

April 2008: Section 108 Study Group Report - Discuss the implications of
the recommendations and findings of this forthcoming report (expected in
mid-March) for academic libraries.

May 2008: Green Libraries - Share ideas about what libraries are, or
could be, doing to meet the growing "greening" of college and university
campuses.

June 2008: ACRL 101 - Find your path to participation to get the most
out of your ACRL membership and discuss ACRL activities at the 2008 ALA
Annual Conference with Associate Director Mary Jane Petrowski.

Visit http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/OnPoint/onpoint.cfm for
additional information, including future chat dates, full descriptions
and chat transcripts. Send ideas for future ACRL OnPoint chat topics to
acrl@ala.org with the subject heading ACRL OnPoint.

New Free Online Professional Development for ACRL Members!

***********************************
ACRL Springboard Event
April 2, 2008
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CDT
**********************************
Don't miss our first ever ACRL Springboard Event: a free 90-minute interactive webcast for ACRL members on April 2. We know that professional development is important to you, and are pleased to offer this annual program to "thank you" for your participation in ACRL.

PROGRAM
Join us on Wednesday, April 2, from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CDT, for a lively discussion about the future of higher education with Henry Jenkins, the Co-Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities. Henry will also explore the skills and fluencies students will need for the 21st century and what the library can do to prepare for the future of higher education.

Henry Jenkins has published extensively on various aspects of media and popular culture, including Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture, and From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. He writes regularly about media and cultural change at his blog, henryjenkins.org. Henry is one of the principal investigators for The Education Arcade, a consortium of educators and business leaders working to promote the educational use of computer and video games and of the Knight Center for Future Civic Media, a joint effort with the MIT Media Lab to use new media to enhance how people live in local communities. He is one of the principle investigators for GAMBIT, a lab focused on promoting experimentation through game design, and of Project nml, a MacArthur Foundation funded project that develops curricular materials focused on promoting the social skills and cultural competencies needed to become a full participant in the new media era.

MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS REWARDS
By providing this Springboard event, the ACRL Board is responding to your feedback that professional development is one of the most important services that ACRL provides and that members want additional online learning opportunities. ACRL is pleased to offer this inaugural free professional development event for ACRL members and will continue to sponsor a free Springboard event annually if there is sufficient interest.

REGISTER NOW!
There is no registration fee for this member event, but please RSVP online at https://marvin.foresightint.com/surveys/Tier1Survey/ACRL/253 by March 26 to confirm your space in the webcast. Log-in details will be sent to you a few days before the webcast.

Questions? Contact mconahan@ala.org. We look forward to seeing you online for the ACRL Springboard Event!

1. Registration opens for ACRL/LAMA Joint Spring Virtual Institute
2. ACRL Instruction Section Discussion Forum available online
3. New "Leading Change" Webcast
4. 49th Annual RBMS Preconference registration

1. Registration opens for ACRL/LAMA Joint Spring Virtual Institute
Registration is now open for the ACRL/LAMA Joint Spring Virtual Institute, "Leading from the Middle: Managing in All Directions.” The Institute, offered ACRL and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), will be held April 29-30, 2008.

The ACRL/LAMA Joint Spring Virtual Institute will feature live, interactive Webcasts and asynchronous online poster sessions. Programs will address issues of management and leadership, including developing library professionals, inspiring change, interim appointments, library 2.0 transformation, innovation and more. Complete descriptions of the institute programs and learning outcomes are online at http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlevents/springvirtualinstitute.cfm.

2. ACRL Instruction Section Discussion Forum available online
The ACRL Instruction Section (IS) Research & Scholarship Committee is pleased to offer the content of its Midwinter 2008 Discussion Forum, “Research Into Action: Leveraging Research Into IL Instruction” on the IS Website at http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/conferencesacrl/discussionforums.cfm#2008. An audio recording of the session is available to download or stream, and a PDF of the forum’s Recommended Reading List is also available.

The forum was held on January 13, 2008 in Philadelphia and featured panelists Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Scott Walter of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Michelle L. Zafron from the University at Buffalo.

3. New "Leading Change" Webcast
How can we better understand the effects of change on our organizations and on the people in them? In a new e-learning Webcast “Leading Change,” ACRL content strategist Kathryn Deiss provides several models which can serve as lenses through which to view change. Deiss has written and presented extensively on the subjects of leadership, innovation, coaching and mentoring, planning, organizational learning, and organizational culture.

“Leading Change” will be offered at 11 a.m. Pacific (12:00 p.m. Mountain, 1:00 p.m. Central, 2:00 p.m. Eastern) on Thursday, March 20, 2008. For additional information, including technical requirements and a link to the online registration form, visit http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/leadingchange.cfm.

4. 49th Annual RBMS Preconference registration
Registration is now open for the 49th Annual RBMS Preconference, Rare and Special Bytes: Special Collections in the Digital Age, to be held June 24-27, 2008 in Los Angeles. Digitization is a hot topic in all libraries, but has unique implications for special collections repositories. The 2008 RBMS Preconference will explore a wide range of issues pertaining to the digitization of special collections, including the selection of materials, improving access, copyright and licensing, and the use of digitized materials. Full-day workshops will be offered on Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) and the Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books).

Register and book your hotel room early as the last two RBMS Preconferences have sold out! A limited number of scholarships are available for first-time attendees. For program, registration, and housing information, visit http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/RBMS/index.htm. Late registration charges apply after May 21.