June 1, 2009 (Vol. 15, No. 15) – News
June 5, 2009
More about the Intellectual Freedom Award / 2009 SSD Conference / Horner Library Exchange / Party for Teresa Landers
*** More about Intellectual Freedom Award
The last issue of the OLA Hotline announced the SIRS-Proquest State and Regional Achievement Award being given this year to the Celebrate the Freedom to Read coalition for a statewide Banned Books Week project. The coalition included the OLA Intellectual Freedom Committee, the OASL Intellectual Freedom Committee, the ACLU, and the Oregon Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse. The State Award was initiated in 1984 and awarded annually since then with only one year in which no award was given. Oregon groups have won one the State Award four times in these 24 years: 1991 – Oregon Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse; 1993 – Oregon Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee; 1999 – Oregon Coalition for Free Expression; and 2009 – Celebrate the Freedom to Read. Groups from Virginia, New York & Illinois have won the award 2 times but the Oregon ratio seems to be unique. Does this say something about a more restrictive climate here (certainly was in the early 1990’s heyday of the Oregon Citizens Alliance) or about an active library profession? Candy Morgan, member of the OLA Intellectual Freedom Committee with rich experience in intellectual freedom at national, state, and local levels responded, “I am not sure what it means — but I like to think that Oregon is special. Most certainly our Constitution provides greater protection of individual rights than the U.S. Constitution does and, as interpreted by Oregon Courts, more than most other states.” What do you think?
***2009 SSD Conference Coming Soon!
Gateways 2009
Step up your game: Tools for your job
- Keynote Speaker: Bob Welch, an Oregon author / http://www.bobwelch.net/2009/Bob_Welch/Home.html
- Date: Friday, July 17th, 2009
- Location: Keizer Renaissance Inn (formerly Wittenberg Inn), 5188 Wittenberg Lane, Keizer, OR / (503) 390-4733 / http://www.keizerrenaissanceinn.com/
- Registration fee:
• $70.00 for SSD / OLA members (same fee rate since 2007)
• $85.00 for non-members
Scholarships to attend are available: http://www.olaweb.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=61763
Registration opens soon. Check out SSD’s website and blog!
SSD website: http://www.olaweb.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=61036
SSD Blog: http://supportabilityoregonlibrarysupport.blogspot.com/
Questions? Contact Lori Davidson: davidsol@wou.edu
***2010 Horner Library Exchange
The Horner Library Staff Exchange Project is an exchange of library staff between Fujian Province, China, and Oregon, for the purpose of sharing professional knowledge about library and information science. It was established through a generous gift by the late Dr. Layton Horner to the Oregon State Library and continues through a partnership between the State Library and the Oregon Library Association International Relations Roundtable. Our international partners are the Fujian Provincial Library and the Fujian Library Association. Fujian is Oregon’s sister province in China, and the Fujian Provincial Library maintains a sister library relationship with the Oregon State Library.
The next exchange will occur in 2010. In late spring of 2010, the Fujian Provincial Library will send four delegates to spend three weeks in Oregon. In late October or early November, the Oregon State Library will send three delegates to China. At least one delegate in each group must be fluent enough in Mandarin or Minnan dialects and in English to act as translator.
For the Oregon delegates the Horner Fund will pay most travel costs from Portland to Fuzhou. Delegates will be expected to contribute towards travel costs beyond an amount yet to be determined. The Fujian Provincial Library will provide housing, food, and some ground transportation within China. Individual delegates are responsible for a portion of the airfare, medical insurance and expenses, costs of passport and visas, personal expenses, souvenirs, and gifts for the libraries to be visited.
Although there may be opportunities for sight-seeing, delegates are expected to work in the Chinese libraries by observing their practices, providing training and consultation, and sharing professional expertise. Delegates may choose to extend their time, at their own expense, to take in more sight-seeing.
Applicants for the Horner Exchange program must meet all of the following requirements:
- Be a current member in good standing of the Oregon Library Association and its International Relations Round Table.
- Have a demonstrated interest in, and involvement with, international librarianship and/or cultural exchanges.
- Be employed by a library or library-related institution in Oregon. The interpreter may be a librarian who works or worked (if retired) in Oregon or Washington State.
- Have, or be able to obtain, a valid passport which will not expire before 2012.
- Be able to pay a portion of the airline costs, as well as other expenses.
- Commit to involvement with the visit of the Fujian delegates to Oregon, in order to become acquainted with them before going to China.
- Be willing and able to share experiences at an OLA or IRRT program.
- Be in good health.
- Be able to commit to a three-week trip to Fujian, probably in late October or early November 2010. Some flexibility may be needed in case of complications in paperwork.
Preference may be given to candidates who meet the following criteria:
- While Chinese language proficiency is not required, it may be considered in making the final selection as the OLA IRRT is committed to including one person in each exchange who can speak Mandarin or Minnan dialect well enough to act as translator.
- The final selection of exchange participants will represent a diverse set of skills to fill the stated needs of the Fujian Library Association. An MLSdegree may be preferred.
Timeline for selection
- Late May – Call for applications
- Aug 15, 2009- Deadline for receiving applications; submit your application electronically to siegelg@pdx.edu
- September – November – Review applications, check references, screen interpreter’s skill
- December – Announce three delegates and two alternates
Some notes based on the 2007 exchange which may help you in your application decision:
- Lodging will most likely involve individual rooms for each delegate.
- Days are very full with scheduled activities – 14 hour days were the norm, including weekends. Weekends were mostly filled with sightseeing, but were still full days.
- Ability to sleep in moving vehicles is useful.
- Translators are always ‘on’ and should have boundless energy.
- You will not, in general, be allowed to wander or explore on your own.
- Meals are taken communally and range from semi-formal to very formal.
- Fujian is a seacoast province and the diet reflects this; you will be treated to many local delicacies, with an emphasis on shellfish.
For more information or for application, contact Gretta Siegel: siegelg@pdx.edu, (503)725-4708.
***Going Away Party for Teresa Landers
Teresa Landers, who has been Deputy Director of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library for the past 10 years, has been named Director of the Santa Cruz City-County Public Libraries in California. Teresa has worked tirelessly on behalf of the Oregonlibrary community in many roles, including chair of the Public Library Division of OLA, founding chair of the Oregon Digital Library Consortium (Library2Go), OLA Conference Chair, a member of the Horner Library Exchange to China, and most recently as chair of the OLA Vision 2020 Committee. She was 2007’s Oregon Librarian of the Year and also recipient of the PLD’s Ole Award. We will miss her terribly.
A going away party for Teresa will be on Friday, June 5th, from 2-4 p.m. in the Board Room of the Corvallis Public Library, 645 NW Monroe Ave., Corvallis. Please join us to say goodbye and to wish Teresa well in this new endeavor. If you can’t attend but would like to send her greetings, they can be mailed to the above address or emailed to Teresa.Landers@ci.corvallis.or.us. Teresa’s last day here is June 10th.
Entry Filed under: OLA News. .
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