Did you hear about Sheli?

Sheli (second from left) represented the U as part of the Northeast Chapter Jeopardy team at the annual PaLA conference

Have you heard about Sheli?  She’s our new Cataloging/Metadata Librarian who also serves as the chair of the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) Technical Services Roundtable.  In this role, she attended the PaLA conference last fall, along with several other University of Scranton librarians, and she has an article in this month’s Pennsylvania Library Association Bulletin called “Technical Services Programs – Big Hit at PaLA.” Congrats, Sheli!

Think Spring – Think Schemel!

Northeastern Pennsylvania is expected to get 3-5 inches of snow tonight – but according to us, it’s not too early to be thinking Spring!

Our Schemel Forum spring semester schedule is about to be posted to our website, and the classes, lunches, and trips it includes will all be great ways to hold off the winter blues until May arrives.  Featured this year are:

For the full schedule and to register for programs, contact Kym Fetsko at 570-941-7816 or fetskok2@scranton.edu.

Student Work featured in Photography Club Gallery

If you’re either a student here at the  U or a regular reader of Infospot, you know all about our new 1st floor 24-hour study space.  Starting today, that new space has one less blank wall.

This fall, the Weinberg Memorial Library partnered with the University’s Photography Club on a collaborative project to market our text messaging reference service.  Members of the Club took photographs of fellow University of Scranton students text messaging and then submitted them to us for review.  We chose our five favorite photographs to use for our marketing campaign – but since there were so many other great photographs, we decided to host a Photography Club gallery here at the Library.

So the next time you’re in the building, stop by the 1st floor group study rooms to find 9 gorgeous photographs celebrating text messaging, all thanks to our Photography Club contributors: James Benfante, Anna Heckman, Sarah Prandy, Aimee Miller, Gillian Naro, and Jon Danforth.  We’d also like to extend an extra thank you to Jon, who is both the Vice President of the Photography Club and one of our Library TechCons, for coordinating the gallery.

Student photographs, like this one by James Benfante, will be used to market the Library’s text messaging reference service

Suraya Pakzad speaks on women’s rights in Afghanistan

Voice of Women Organization’s executive director, Suraya Pakzad, was on campus today to discuss “Afghanistan on the Ground: A Woman’s View” at our final Fall 2010 Schemel Forum World Affairs Briefing.

Ms. Pakzad discussed the difficult conditions experienced by women in Afghanistan and her fight to improve women’s rights in her country, despite many threats to her family’s safety.  She thanked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and American and international troops for their support, without which she said that her work over the past ten years would not have been possible.  However, Ms. Pazkad also noted that a “bridge of understanding” is desperately needed between the American and Afghani peoples: “Why are our nations so far from each other? Why can’t we understand each other as we should?”  “We need you to stay with us,” she added. “We have to acknowledge and respect each other.”

Many thanks to Ms. Pakzad and to our Schemel Forum director, Sondra Myers, for organizing this event and contributing to the bridge of understanding.

UPDATE:  Many of the attendees of this session have been asking about how they can contribute to Ms. Pakzad’s organization. Tax deductible contributions can be made by making checks out to Traveling Mercies and designating Voice of Women Organization in the memo section. Please send the checks to Sondra Myers at the address below, and she will send them along to Traveling Mercies.

Sondra Myers, Director
The Schemel Forum
The University of Scranton
Scranton, PA 18510

Afghanistan on the Ground: A Woman’s View

Don’t forget, you have one final chance to enjoy this fall’s Schemel Forum World Affairs Briefing luncheons!  On Tuesday, November 16 at 12pm, executive director of Voice of Women Suraya Pakzad will be on campus to speak on “Afghanistan on the Ground: A Woman’s View.”

In a country where females are second-class citizens, Pakzad overcame formidable obstacles to receive an education and more recently, under the oppressive Taliban rule, risked her life to set up covert schools for girls and spread the light of knowledge to the future mothers of her country. Her presentation will focus on the most recent developments in Afghanistan regarding empowering women with basic rights. She will also emphasize, in the wake of the exit of international forces and aid agencies, the need for the United States and its allies to “see us through the transition and not repeat the mistakes of leaving us in the middle of nowhere.”

You won’t want to miss Ms. Pakzad’s inspiring story of struggle for women’s rights in Afghanistan.  Please register with Kym Fetsko at fetskok2@scranton.edu – and invite a friend to come along with you!

Schemel Forum Videos Posted

Did you miss some of this fall’s Schemel Forum World Affairs briefing luncheons? You can catch two more of them online, thanks to the University’s Public Relations office.

On October 22nd, Northeast Pennsylvania native Michael Greenberger, who served with the Clinton Administration, discussed new developments in U.S. terrorism enforcement.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgK6qLBLVD0]

And on October 27th, Goodwin Cooke, Professor Emeritus of International Studies at Syracuse University spoke about “China Today: What We Need to Know.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZD0Uul_1-M]

There’s just one more luncheon scheduled for this fall – Suraya Pakzad, founder and executive director of the Voice of Women Organization, will speak on Monday, November 16 at 12pm. Be sure to contact Kym Fetsko at fetskok2@scranton.edu if you’d like to attend!

Green Team On the Move

The Weinberg Library’s Green Team met yesterday to talk over some new ideas and projects.  Here’s a taste of what we have in store for the next few months:

  • Keep an eye out for a new water bottle filling station in our 24 hour space…
  • …where you can use your custom-designed Weinberg Memorial Library reusable water bottle.
  • Mark your calendar for Earth Week 2011.  The Library will be celebrating with our first ever environmental art show and a recycled material craft night.
  • Everyone loves the new double-sided printer in the new 24-hour space.  No guarantees, but we’re working on getting another one for the Pro Deo room.
  • Recycling should be easy… so we’ll be adding some holders by our bins to remind you to remove your bottle caps before recycling any plastic bottles.

Many thanks to all of the students, faculty, and staff who have been giving us suggestions on making the Library greener!

Save Money AND Paper

Too often, we see students printing out page after page of PowerPoint lecture slides, with just a few words on each page.  Why not save money AND save paper by printing multiple slides per page?

The Weinberg Library Green Team will be posting these fliers (printed on reused paper, naturally) around our computer labs to remind all of our students and patrons to be conscious of how much they’re using.  If you have any trouble with mutiple-slide printing, just ask for help at the Reference Desk!

Google Voice Workshop

We’ve had a lot of good times in our Technology On Your Own Terms series this fall.   Bonnie taught us how Google search works; Tim showed us how we could make collaborative drawings in Docs.  We even made our own custom maps in Google Maps.  But before the Fall 2010 series to comes to an end, you still have one more chance to learn a little more about Google products and services.

On Thursday, November 4 from 12pm-1pm, CTLE’s Eugeniu Grigorescu will teach our last Fall workshop, titled Does Google Give You A Voice? He’ll guide you through an exploration of Google Voice, a recently-made-public service of the search giant.  Google Voice offers one central phone number, which can be setup to call your other phones based on caller, time of day, etc.  Other features of the service include visual voicemail, personalized greetings, voicemail transcription, international calling, and a lot more.  It is easy to set up… Learn how!

As usual, we’ll be in WML 306. Remember, all faculty and staff members are welcome, but seats are limited – so please register for sessions you plan to attend at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (select Special Event).