September 18, 2014 Meeting of Area Studies

Agenda not yet available.

IAS Staff Meeting

September 18, 2014 

Present: Atoma Batoma, Kit Condill, Lisa Renee Kemplin, Urszula Lechtenberg, Joe Lenkart, Laila Hussein Moustafa, Lynne Rudasill, Toshiko Ryu, Yoo-Seong Song, Antonio Sotomayor, Mara Thacker, and Steve Witt

Announcements:

News:

1. There is a teach-in on Ebola today at 4pm in Lincoln Hall. Check the Global Notes for a blog about the event. The blog was also linked to our Facebook page.
2. The Latin American Film Series begins tomorrow at the Art Theater and runs until next week.
3. The International Studies open house was last Friday and was a success.
4. Atoma will be assisting with a tour for African Librarians on October 3 from 8:30-9:30.
5. Laila encourages all to attend the upcoming Savvy Researcher workshops on data.
6. Laila is working in conjunction with the Mortenson Center regarding overseas courses. She also suggested that visiting scholars from other countries may be available to talk to classes.
7. Sabbatical proposals will be discussed at the next Area Studies Meeting. All are encouraged to turn in proposals.
8. RM 313 is available as a consultation room for IAS. We will need to decide on scheduling and if we want to open it up to the library/students. Agreed to first try it for IAS with a posted schedule on the door. People can sign up to reserve space.

9. Lisa Renee will send an email with possible dates for an IAS October potluck.

  Awards & Accolades:

1. Laila won a gift from Faculty and Technology.
2. Sveta did a great job on a blog on Digital Humanities.
3. Alonso’s brown bag was well attended and was a great scholarly presentation.
4. Antonio received a book contract. The subject is on the Puerto Rican Olympian Movement in the 20^th
5. Laila was chosen to be on a panel for Illinois Librarian Seminar. Laila is also participating in a mini conference on cultural heritage with 4 other professors.

Discussion:

1. Testing of New Bento-Type Discovery Environment. Noted that searches in other languages are not successful. The interface layout is not easy for researchers to interpret. Questioned the validity of matching technology that is not innovative nor new. All should send comments to Steve and he will forward them as a unit.
2. Dean’s Proposal on New Library Organization. Noted two units that are exempt from new reporting lines to AUL’s-RBML and University Archives. Also wondered if this will be the predecessor of changes to come.

1. Virtual Office Hours – Pilot w/ Blackboard-Capabilities to consult virtually with anyone who has research questions and is able to connect. This will enhance our International Reference presence. The researchers will give 3 dates and times they are able to meet and then this can be coordinated with the subject specialists. More to come on this pilot program.

Reports:

1. iTec is still seeking participants and welcomes all ideas for outreach activities. The first Chai Wai will be October 14 at 2pm. The topic is Refugee Immigration Migration specifically Central America and West Africa immigration to Europe. Three speakers have tentatively confirmed. Please forward any ideas for a fourth speaker to Mara. Katrina Spencer is our new practicum student. She will be assisting with this series. Other possible events include an open house and an overseas workshop with Susan Schnuer.
2. Reference User Services will be sending out suggested guidelines for LibGuides. Some points discussed include introductions to the pages, annotation of resources, citing sources, and visual appeal. It was noted that we should not redo LibGuides that are done well. LibGuide Training is scheduled in Scholarly Commons on October 2^nd and 3^rd.
3. The new IAS website should be live by next week. The next step will be to look at the second level pages. Steve suggested it would be good for our website to be multi lingual.

The buying trip pilot proposal was sent out. Kit will be traveling to Istanbul and Armenia in the middle of October.