Alumni E-News
The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/
Issue 14 - July 2006

Welcome! In this issue:

Dean's Word
Large Spring Graduating Class
Loriene Roy Elected ALA President
iSchool Archives Researchers Present Findings
Kilgarlin Center Students Featured on Local Public Radio
Libraries and the Cultural Record to Make Its Debut
In Memoriam
Alumni, Faculty, and Student News
Supporting the iSchool
Contact Us


Dean's Word

Summer in Texas marks the quietest and warmest part of the academic
year but there continues to be much activity at the School.  As you
will read below, the latest national rankings for LIS programs raised
us up to #7 in the nation, with significantly high positions in
several sub-areas.  This is welcome news and a strong indicator that
the school is moving in the right direction.  This current ranking was
the best received by any program at UT in the current round.

We have also been hiring new faculty and I am pleased to let you know
that Megan Winget, a new PhD graduate from SILS at UNC-Chapel Hill,
will be joining us this fall.  A more formal announcement will be made
in the next edition but Megan will be teaching in the organization of
information and digital archives arenas.

We are preparing now for our next accreditation review, scheduled for
Spring 2007.  The process requires us to produce a lengthy program
statement and we will be conducting several surveys of alumni and
employers over the next 6 months to gather data on how well our
program is delivering on its mission.  If you receive a survey from us,
please take the time to complete it, as such data are very important
in presenting the program well to outsiders.

Large Spring Graduating Class

Forty-four students graduated this Spring and have embarked on a range
of interesting and diverse careers.  From the graduating class,
students have secured jobs as a researcher for MSNBC, usability expert
for Pluck, Inc., systems analyst, records analyst, information
specialist, and reference librarians for a range of public and
academic libraries.  The spring 2006 Outstanding Capstone Award was
given to Valerie Gomez de la Torre for her usability work at Pluck,
Inc.  Watch the iSchool web site (http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/) for
a streaming video of the convocation speech by Gary Hoover, founder of
BookStop, Travelquest, and Hoover's Online.


Loriene Roy Elected ALA President

Please join us in congratulating professor Loriene Roy on her election
as the 2007-2008 President of the American Library Association (ALA).
Read the full story at
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=135


iSchool Archives Researchers Present Findings

Three iSchool digital archives case study proposals were selected to
be presented in a colloquium called New Skills for a Digital Era at
the National Archives in Washington.  More at
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=130


Kilgarlin Center Students Featured on Local Public Radio

The Kilgarlin Center and four of its conservator students (Anna
Friedman, Tonia Grafakos, Lauren Telepak, and Annie Wilker) were
featured on UT's listener supported radio KUT.  The story includes a
discussion of summer field work the students will be undertaking to
treat hurricane damaged materials in Mississippi.  Listen to the story
at
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kut/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=914928


Libraries & the Cultural Record to Make Its Debut

The first issue of Libraries & the Cultural Record, the broadened
manifestation of the premier journal of library history, is scheduled
to roll off the presses at the end of summer.  Libraries & the
Cultural Record, published by the University of Texas Press, marks the
40th year of publication since its founding as the Journal of Library
History.  The journal will encompass and explore the many fields
involved in the stewardship of the cultural records, including the
histories of libraries and librarianship, archives and archival
enterprise, museums, and preservation and conservation in the cultural
record environment.  Information about the contents of and submissions
to the journal can be obtained from Editor David B. Gracy II at
gracy@ischool.utexas.edu.  Subscriptions can be secured through the
University of Texas Press website:
http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/journals/jlc.html


In Memoriam

William P. Daniel, who donated the first professorship given
specifically to our school by a benefactor, died on June 20 at his
home in Liberty, Texas. The Governor Bill Daniel Professorship in
Archival Enterprise, and the Vara Martin Daniel Regents Professorship
in Archives of Music and the Humanities honoring his wife, are the
only two endowments specifically in archival education anywhere.

Alumni News

1970's
John V. Nichols, '74, who retired earlier this year after 23 years as
Director of Oshkosh Public Library and the Winnefox Library System,
has been reappointed by Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle to the Council on
Library and Network Development (COLAND) for a three year term. COLAND
is the state level commission that advises the Superintendent of
Public Instruction and Governor on all matters relating to the
development of library and information services in Wisconsin.


1980's
Anne Bustard, '82, won the 2005 June Franklin Naylor Award for her
picture book biography, Buddy: The Story of Buddy Holly. The award is
sponsored by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library and is
given annually to the author/illustrator of the most distinguished
book for children and young adults that accurately portrays the
history of Texas. The book was also a 2005 finalist for the Teddy
Award, sponsored by the Writer's League of Texas and is a current
nominee for the 2006-2007 Crown Children's Gallery Award.

Tom De Petro, '85, is a repair/warranty administrator at Frontier
Airlines, based in the aircraft hangar at the Denver International
Airport in Colorado.  Prior to this Tom was a flight attendant with
Northwest Airlines working out of the Minneapolis-St.Paul Airport in
Minnesota.  He was also a customer service agent in Denver for
Lufthansa German Airlines and for Mexicana Airlines.  Before returning
to the U.S. in 2003, Tom was a representative and trainer for
STN-International Europe at the FIZ Karlruhe facility in Germany.  STN
is partnered in the U.S. by the American Chemical Society. While there
Tom conducted training seminars at the German Patent and Trademark
Office in Munich and represented STN in France and Italy.

1990's
Roxanne Bogucka, '97, is a science instruction librarian at the Life
Science Library at the University of Texas at Austin.

Mary McKay, '99, works as a university archivist at the Mark
O. Hatfield Library at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Allen R. Williams, '99, works for eBay Inc. in San Jose, California.

Amanda Williams, '98, co-authored the book Outstanding Library Service
to Children: Putting the Core Competencies to Work. The book is
schedule for release in June 2006 by the American Library
Association.

2000's
Renata Caldwell, '05, is a public services librarian at Northwest
Vista Community College in San Antonio, Texas.

Jocelyn Duffy, '04, was recently appointed assessment coordinator for
the University of Texas Libraries. She will develop a variety of
processes to evaluate and improve the quality of library service for
the university community and libraries staff.

Angela Kille, '06, accepted a position as a reference librarian at
Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

Kevin J. Murray, '03, has just returned from being mobilized with the
Navy Reserve for eight months.  As Yeoman Chief Petty Officer he
served as the administrative officer with Naval Construction Battalion
22 in Al Asad, Iraq.  In Al Anbar province he provided construction
support for the II Marine Expeditionary Force as well as the Iraqi
Security Forces.  He writes,  "Needless to say, it was a great
difference from my regular job as school librarian at Kazen Middle
School in San Antonio!  The assignment was a great challenge but also
very rewarding." While in Iraq, he was honored to have received the
Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for his efforts there, as
well as the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service
Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the Sea Service Deployment
Ribbon, and a Navy Achievement Medal.  He "misses all his friends from
UT, and hopes to work again with many of them in the future."

Nora St. Peter, '05, works as a technical services librarian at the
Health Learning Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago,
Illinois.

Cassandra Trevino Stokes, '05, is a systems analyst for the new
Digital Library Services program at Washington University in
St. Louis, Missouri.

To read more about alumni go to:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/people/alumni_updates_index.php
If you would like to share your information with the more than 900
subscribers to this newsletter, please send an email to
chansen@ischool.utexas.edu

Faculty News

Andrew Dillon has joined the editorial board of the Journal of
Education for Library and Information Science.

Patricia Galloway is the incoming chair of the Committee on Education
and Professional Development of the Society of American Archivists.

David B. Gracy II has been named advisory editor for the H-Net H-Info
mailing list (which is replacing H-LIS).  In early May, he delivered
an invited lecture on archival appraisal and marketing, and led a
seminar on archival appraisal at the American School for Classical
Studies in Athens, Greece. This July, he will be teaching a course on
archival appraisal at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
 
E. Glynn Harmon served as guest editor for a special issue of the
Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and
Technology (April/May 2006), which featured articles by UT School of
Information deans and associates covering last fall's I-School
conference at Penn State.

On May 5, Barbara Immroth attended a hearing at the Texas Education
Agency where she was asked by the Texas Library Association to give
testimony to include school librarians in the amended NCES definition
which includes certified school librarians within the 65% rule.

Roy Mersky and his team at the Tarlton Law Library will be honored
with two awards from the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL)
during its annual meeting in July. Read the full press release at
http://www.utexas.edu/law/news/2006/053106_aall.html
Loriene Roy is the 2006 recipient of the American Library Association
(ALA) Equality Award.  Read more at
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=134
Don Turnbull presented a paper titled "Methodologies for Understanding
Web Use with Logging in Context" for a workshop he co-chaired of about
"Logging Traces of Web Activity: The Mechanics of Data Collection" at
the International WWW 2006 Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. He also
gave a talk about the OpenChoice project in the "Open Source Workshop"
at the WWW conference.

Lynn Westbrook received a grant from the University this summer
entitled "Formal Information Support for Domestic Violence Victims: An
Exploratory Analysis of Texas Issues Assignment." In late June she
will present two papers at the American Library Association Annual
Conference. The first presentation will be at the Library Research
Round Table Forum titled "Research in a Wired World" where she will
present her paper "Information Support for Victims of Intimate Partner
Violence: An Analysis of Police Department Cyber-Connections." Her
second presentation is with the Reference and User Services
Association, Reference Services Section, Research & Statistics
Committee Forum. She will present "User Expectations: a Sense-Making
Approach to Mental Models of Information Seeking."

A list of recent publications from faculty can be found at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/research/publications.php


Student News

Belinda Boon received her PhD this spring and will be joining the
faculty at Kent State University's School of Library and Information
Science this fall as an assistant professor.

Tatiana Nikolova-Houston has received a $1500 scholarship from the
Harold Lancour Scholarship for Foreign Study.

Alberto Martinez, Gustavo Soto, and incoming student Joshunda Saunders
are the recipients of the 2006-2007 Spectrum Scholarship from the
American Library Association. The ALA Spectrum Scholarship program is
a national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address the
specific issue of under-representation of critically needed ethnic
librarians. Students will receive a one-year $5000 scholarship and
over $1500 in professional development opportunities.


Supporting the iSchool

Gifts to the School enable us to provide more than 20 named
scholarships each year as well as to support student activities in
specialist areas such as archives, preservation, and services to
indigenous communities. Endowments can also create professorships or
teaching fellowships to attract the very best faculty to our
School. Excellence funds allow us to innovate and react to changing
needs. Such gifts significantly enhance the ability of our school to
educate professionals for careers that make a significant difference
for all of society, both now and in the future. All gifts are
welcomed, but we currently have special needs in the following:

Julie Hallmark Endowed Graduate Fellowship
Named in honor of recently retired faculty member Dr. Julie Hallmark,
this endowed fund needs to reach $50,000 to be established to provide
support for students in the area of special librarianship. It
currently stands at $20,000.

Dean's Discretionary Funds
These funds support new initiatives and provide money for a wide range
of activities, including student research support, special equipment
needs and alumni events.

To make a gift online, see:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/development/ Be sure to specify School
of Information in the relevant box and to name the general area or
fellowship you would like to support. Every gift really helps. We
thank you for your generous support.


Contact Us

If you know someone who has graduated from our program and is not receiving this electronic newsletter, please forward a copy and point them to the subscription page on our site at
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/alums
Moving? Need to update your alumni records? An "Information for Alumni" page has been set up with various links to help make it convenient for you to make changes. Go to:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/people/alumni.php to learn more.

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