Katherine Boo book discussion at UIS cancelled

Due to the author’s ill health, Katherine Boo’s book discussion previously scheduled for October 7, 2013 in Sangamon Auditorium has been cancelled. The appearance was part of the “One Book, One UIS” reading initiative.

The previously scheduled “One Book, One UIS” panel discussion will take place as planned. A panel of UIS faculty members will look at the issues raised in Behind the Beautiful Forevers from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including women’s studies, communication, politics, and the global economy. The panel discussion will take place on Tuesday, October 8 at 7:00 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium at UIS.

UIS Brookens Library hopes to reschedule an appearance by Katherine Boo sometime during the 2013-2014 academic year.

For more information, contact Jane Treadwell, University Librarian & Dean, Library Instructional Services, at 217/206-6597 or jtrea1@uis.edu.

UIS invites the community to read "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" as featured “one book”

The University of Illinois Springfield is sponsoring its first “One Book, One UIS” initiative this fall with Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo as the book that the community is invited to read.

The initiative is being coordinated by UIS Brookens Library and is supported by funds from Friends of Brookens Library, the Chancellor’s Office, the Diversity Center, and the ECCE (Engaged Citizenship Common Experience) Speakers Series.

“One Book, One UIS” will culminate with a lecture by Katherine Boo on Monday, October 7 at 7:00 p.m. in Sangamon Auditorium. The program will be free and open to the public, although tickets will be required and can be obtained through the UIS Sangamon Auditorium ticket office by calling 217/206-6160. A book signing will immediately follow the lecture.

The kick-off event for “One Book, One UIS” will be the screening of the film Salaam Bombay by acclaimed Indian director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake). The film, which chronicles the day to day lives of children living on the streets of Bombay, will be shown on September 6 at 7:00 p.m. in UIS Brookens Auditorium as the first offering in the UIS Foreign & Independent Film Series.

In addition to Boo’s lecture, a panel of UIS faculty members will look at the issues raised by the book from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including women’s studies, communication, politics, and the global economy. The panel discussion will occur on two occasions: Wednesday, September 25 at 12:30 p.m. in the North Carnegie Room of the Lincoln Public Library (326 S 7th St., Springfield, Ill.) and Tuesday, October 8 at 7:00 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium on the UIS campus.

Students, faculty, staff and Friends of Brookens Library are invited to participate in one of three book discussions leading up to Boo’s lecture. At least seven faculty members have adopted the book for their courses during fall semester. Details of all “One Book, One UIS” events may be found at www.brookensonebook.com.

The Indian Student Association at UIS has been inspired by the “One Book, One UIS” initiative to raise money for a school in Mumbai. Details of that fundraising effort will be posted on the initiative’s website.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2012, was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, and appeared on a host of “best book” lists for 2012. The book is an account of the lives of the inhabitants of Annawadi, a Mumbai slum in the shadows of luxury hotels and the international airport. Katherine Boo followed the lives of several key residents of Annawadi as the global economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 added to the tensions that already existed over issues of religion, caste, and gender. Her portraits are compelling, sometimes heartbreaking, and offer insight into globalization at the personal level in one of the 21st century’s great, unequal cities.

Katherine Boo is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post. She learned to report at the alternative weekly, Washington City Paper, after which she worked as a writer and co-editor of The Washington Monthly magazine. Over the years, her reporting from disadvantaged communities has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur “Genius” grant, and a National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. Boo has said about her work: “Very little journalism is world changing. But if change is to happen, it will be because people with power have a better sense of what’s happening to people who have none.”

For more information, contact Jane Treadwell, University Librarian & Dean, Library Instructional Services, at 217/206-6597 or jtrea1@uis.edu.

UIS staff and faculty help to coordinate state-wide ILEAD U initiative

Staff and faculty members from the University of Illinois Springfield’s Brookens Library and the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service (COLRS) are teaming up with staff members from the Illinois State Library and other libraries throughout the state for a prestigious new institute that will be one of the most significant Illinois library initiatives of 2010. The institute, called ILEAD (Illinois Libraries Explore, Apply and Discover) U: the 21st Century Technology Tools Institute for Illinois Library Staff, will be comprised of three in-person sessions from February 23 to 25, June 15 to 17 and October 26 to 28 on the UIS campus. The sessions will be supplemented by online instruction between meeting dates.

ILEAD U, funded by a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant awarded to the Illinois State Library by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will encourage both the experimentation with and building of participatory Web services and programs. Library educator R. David Lankes of Syracuse University will lead the instructors for the project.

As part of the institute, the UIS participants and their colleagues from other Illinois libraries will implement web technologies that foster community participation and develop leadership, innovation and positive change.

The institute is the brainchild of Anne Craig, director of the Illinois State Library, who has “exceptional vision in seeing a need and conceiving of such an innovative way to meet it,” according to Dean Jane Treadwell, University Librarian at UIS. Treadwell is chairing the steering committee which selected the instructors, mentors and teams of participants and will guide the work of the project.

Other UIS participants include Natalie Tagge, visiting Instructional Services Librarian at Brookens Library, who will serve as a mentor in ILEAD U, and two other Brookens librarians, Pamela M. Salela and Amanda Binder, who will participate in cross-institutional teams that will learn to use participatory technology tools to understand and respond to patron needs.

“We hope to foster a philosophy that technology becomes powerful in libraries when people engage with it critically and thoughtfully,” said Tagge.

Additionally, Ray Schroeder and Shari Smith of the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service are acting as consultants to the instructors for the project, and David Racine of the Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies will direct the evaluation of the ILEAD U grant.

“We in the Brookens Library and COLRS are very excited to collaborate with the Illinois State Library on this project that has the potential to transform the way that libraries interact with their patrons,” noted Treadwell.

Smith, associate director of COLRS, added, “The ILEAD U grant is an excellent example of why libraries and librarians are uniquely qualified to lead their communities forward to a new knowledge society. The grant has been carefully crafted to include cutting-edge technology, careful assessment and evaluation, location-specific consideration and stakeholders from around the state.”

Participatory technology tools will include:
Blogging tools
Digital audio/podcasting, photography and video
RSS feeds
Social networking and photo-sharing sites
Videoconferencing and web conferencing
Virtual reference and virtual worlds (ie. Second Life)
Gaming
Instant messaging
And more

“The Illinois State Library is proud of its strong commitment to continuing education and providing librarians with the tools and resources necessary to address the ever-changing needs of their patrons,” said Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White. “Nowhere is the need for continuing education more important than in the area of technology. Librarians need to constantly enhance their skills to keep up to date with the latest technology, and ILEAD U represents an exciting, innovative new program to build technology and leadership skills among Illinois librarians.”

Brookens Library Shows Off Research Tools

Brookens Library at the University of Illinois Springfield held its first ever open house for students, faculty and staff. The goal was to show the campus community what they have to offer when it comes to research tools.

Christine Ross, Director of Collection and Research Services says in the high-tech age students sometimes turn to Google first, but the library has better tools. Vendors from Elsevier, Lexis Nexi, CQ Press, Wiley Blackwell and more were on hand to show off their systems.

Ross says the best part of the open house was hearing students get their questions answered so they know where to look the next time they come back.

Students also got a chance to win an iPod Touch and other prizes donated for the open house.