South African Librarians at the Mortenson Center
Nine South Africa librarians from three universities were at the Mortenson Center from February 20 to March 11, 2009 for a program to set the context for learning about library research support. This is part of a project of these universities funded by the Carnegie Corporation to assist the university libraries in better supporting faculty research. Thanks to our colleagues (Teresa Barnes, Merle Bowen, Paula Carns, Merinda Hensley, Jim Hahn, Lisa Hinchliffe,Valerie Hotchkiss, JoAnn Jacoby, Al Kagan, Paula Kaufman, Cindy Kelly, Rudy Leon, Emily Love, Bekisizwe Ndimande, Katie Newman, Sarah Shreeves, Mary Stuart, Scott Walter, Kathleen Weibel, and Beth Woodard) who were important parts of the program. Merle Bowen hosted the group at a reception at the African Studies Center. Coral Daube and Sara Thompson did an excellent job of arranging all the details of the program. Visits to Purdue University, Loyola University,Northwestern University, Eastern Illinois University, and the Association of College and Research Libraries and participation in the New Directions in Humanities Scholarship conference added to the visit.
Library of Foreign Literature, Russia
Barbara and Susan traveled to Moscow and Perm to speak at two tolerance institutes. In Perm they spoke to public librarians on tolerance in U.S. public libraries and IFLA programs that support tolerance. They visited the Memorial Center of Political Repression which preserves a former camp where political prisoners were held and participated in a seminar there. In Valentinovka near Moscow they presented a full day seminar for school librarians on the library as a territory of tolerance and working with young adults. The former Mortenson Center director Marianna Tax Choldin has been instrumental is setting up the Institute for Tolerance. The Mortenson Center is pleased to again be working with the Library of Foreign Literature on projects in Russia.
IFLA/OCLC Fellows
On May 5 IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows from Armenia, Kenya, Pakistan, Serbia,Uganda, and Zambia and the first OCLC Minority Librarian Fellow will be at the Mortenson Center along with George Needham and Nancy Lensenmayer from OCLC. This is an annual visit that builds on the partnership the Mortenson Center has developed with OCLC.
Annual Mortenson Distinguished Lecture
Ellen Tise, 2009-2011 president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions will be the 2009 Mortenson Distinguished Lecturer. The lecture will be on Thursday, October 22 at 4:00 pm in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science building.
Ellen Remona Tise is currently the Senior Director, Library and Information Services at the University of Stellenbosch, and President-elect of IFLA for the period 2007-2009. She will automatically serve as IFLA President for the period 2009-2011. She previously held the position of University Librarian at the University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa, from March 2001 – December 2005. Prior to this, she was Deputy University Librarian (Client Services) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She also previously held the position of Systems Librarian and other positions at the University of the Western Cape, Brakpan City Library and the University of the Free State.
She has served on the Governing Board and Executive Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) between 2001 and 2005; the IFLA Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) Advisory Board 2003 – 2005 and the IFLA Africa Section Standing Committee (2001 -2007). Ellen was Chairperson of the National Organizing Committee for the IFLA 73rd World Library and Information Congress, held in Durban, South Africa August 19-23, 2007.
Ms Tise’s experience at senior management levels in the profession includes being the first elected President of the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) from 1998 -2002; Director of SABINET Board from 2003 – 2007 & Sabinet Online Board from 2003-;Deputy Chair of the South African Library Leadership Programme Governing Committee 2001-2004;Member of the Advisory and Management Committee of the LIASA-Carnegie Centre for Information Career Development Project from 2005-2006, OCLC Members Council Delegate from October 2005 – May 2008, and Member of the Access to Learning Award Advisory Committee 2007- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has also served on various selection/review panels such as the National Council for Library and Information Services and the Centre for Book of the National Library of South Africa.
She is an Honorary Member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, as well as of the Library and Information Association of South Africa. She has published various articles in professional journals and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences, seminars, symposia, etc.
Carnegie and MacArthur African Grant Activities
During the spring Mortenson Center staff will be traveling to work on site with the academic libraries in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda as they continue to move forward on automating their libraries with the support of the Carnegie Corporation and MacArthur Foundation. Susan has received grants to continue this work through 2011. Susan will travel to Nigeria in April to continue work with the universities there. Barbara will travel to Uganda in May with Atoma Batoma to provide MARC 21 training and to Ghana in June with Lisa Hinchliffe and Beth Woodard to provide training on new service models with a library automation system.
“Think Globally, Act Globally” IMLS Grant
UIUC libraries are implementing the grant funded by IMLS to facilitate collaboration, exchange of information, professional development of librarians from the U.S. and China, and are developing a web portal of resources in support of U.S. libraries serving Chinese-speaking users. Shuyong Jiang is the project head and the Mortenson Center is involved in the grant as well. On April 6-8 the first team of librarians who will travel to China in May met to plan the curriculum. Susan will be part of this team. In April Shuyong and Sarah Shreeves will travel to China as part of the team to begin work on the web portal. In July the first group of Chinese public librarians will spend two weeks at the Mortenson Center and then go to ALA and visit public libraries. You can learn more about the project at www.library.uiuc.edu/China/ .
Outreach
In April Barbara will travel to the Netherlands for a meeting of the IFLA Governing Board and then to the Philippines to present a program for IFLA on the Internet Manifesto. In June she will serve as IFLA’s representative at the Crimea International Conference.
We are now processing applications for the fall 2009 Mortenson Associates program and expect participants from Colombia, El Salvador, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Sierra Leone,South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Additional Information
Please contact Barbara J. Ford (bjford@illinois.edu) or Susan Schnuer (schnuer@illinois.edu) foradditional information.