Category: Recognition

New role for Elizabeth Sullivan as the Academic Engagement and Information Literacy Librarian / Head of Reference and Instruction

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Elizabeth Sullivan (she/her) came to Oberlin College in 2018 as the Assessment and User Experience Librarian. She teaches information literacy classes, focusing particularly on source evaluation, locating primary sources, and ensuring that students become intentional and reflective searchers. She also designs user-centered and accessible systems, and coordinates assessment initiatives. With the Ohio 5 information literacy group, she presented “Alone No More: Community Building for Sustainable Anti-Racist Librarianship” at ACRL in 2023 and contributed the chapter, “Engaging Students in Information Literacy Through Critical Assessment,” to Kathy Abromeit’s book Music Information Literacy: Inclusion and Advocacy. In her free time she enjoys gardening with native plants, baking, walking corgis, and encouraging her Dungeons and Dragons party to be subtle in their attempts to defy assorted fictional authorities. She starts her new role on November 15. Please join me in congratulating Liz!!!

Friends Dinner speaker and topic

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Ohio author David Giffels will be the 2023 Friends of the Library speaker.

A former Akron Beacon Journal columnist, his writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic.com, Parade, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire.com, Grantland.com, The Iowa Review, and many other publications. He also wrote for the MTV series Beavis and Butt-Head. He is the author of several books, including Barnstorming Ohio,  Furnishing Eternity, and his latest…on the Akron band Devo. 

 His awards include the Cleveland Arts Prize for literature, the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and a General Excellence award from National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He was selected as the Cuyahoga County Public Library Writer in Residence for 2018-2019. Giffels is a professor of English at the University of Akron, where he teaches creative nonfiction in the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Program.

His title will be: “No Poor, Indifferent Place: Writing When You Have No Ideas”

This year’s event will be re-designed a bit.  It’s a tapas affair and library staff will be honored invitees.  I hope you will join us.

 

request: contribute to “Librarians as Writers/Researchers” for Annual Perspectives

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My assignment for the annual Library Perspectives was to compile contributions from library staff about their publications, awards, significant professional activity, etc. – time period late 2022 to present.  I received very little after asking for contributions in Library Lowdown.  If you have something to contribute, please add to this Google doc.  If I overlooked a message from you, please accept my apologies!  Thanks.

Thank you!

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I have to confess that I was very nervous about the party, not because I was worried about how the party would go, more because I never like to be in the spotlight, neither like to talk in the public and speak in some flowery language which is not my native tongue.

But I have to admit this party was awesome.

Thank you for those who participated in the planning I didn’t know about plus Sara, Claire, Elizabeth, Tracy etc;

Thank you my ‘neighbor’ Michael for the best playlist and audio system;

Thank you very much for everyone who came to the party last Thursday;

Thank you for everyone for the cards; and thank you for my wonderful team, especially Elizabeth.

It has been a wonderful seven-year at Oberlin. I am feeling extremely lucky to know everyone who works at OCL. I am so grateful for all the trust, support and friendship. THANK YOU, Oberlin College Libraries.

I am ending with one of my favorite quotes from Milarepa, the Tibetan hermit,

Even a strong wind is empty by nature;

Even a great wave is just ocean itself;

Even thick southern clouds are insubstantial as sky;

Even the dense mind is naturally birthless.

Interim Science Librarian

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I am pleased to announce that Tracy Sutherland has agreed to serve as Interim Head of the Science Library beginning September 1, 2024.   This assignment, which we hope will be brief, will be in place during the interim between Alison’s retirement and the start date for a new STEM Librarian.  Tracy continues in her role as Associate Librarian for Public Services.

THANK YOU, TRACY!!!!

FEELING CREATIVE? Submit a story, poem, or comic to our new Oberlin Shorts dispenser!

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I am pleased to let you know that we will be installing a Short Story Dispenser in Terrell Library’s Readers’ Row.  Visitors can push a button to get a 1- or 3-minutes story/poem/comic OR they can push a special button to get “Oberlin Shorts,” which will be a collection of stories/poems/comics by the Oberlin community.

In the fall, we will work with Creative Writing on being part of the Oberlin Shorts project, but to get us started, we need to load up our dispenser with some great stories/comics/poems by YOU, your students, creative alums you may know, Kendal friends, etc.  I need about 30-50 pieces in place before the machine is delivered (in mid-september).

Please don’t be shy!  Use this form to submit your creative pieces. Guidelines and word counts are included in the form–read the comics tech specs carefully before submitting please.  I am only sending the form to Oberlin library staff–please feel free to share with those you may know who would be interested in being part of this fun and creative project.

SUBMISSION FORM

 

Annual Perspectives Stories

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Please help us gather ideas for stories about all the amazing things we did over the last year (July 2022 to June 2023…along with some upcoming news/changes).  I’ve started a spreadsheet with story ideas, but I know I am missing some great things/stats/collaborations/accomplishments.  If you would like to write any of the stories, make an infographic, contribute some images, or work on the publication, please let me know.

We want to have it “in the can” by end of July for printing and distribution in September.

Here’s the link to the 2023 Annual Perspectives spreadsheet.  If you want to review last year’s Perspectives, there are copies in Admin.