Spring already?

Earlier this week we were able to register for Spring semester....I actually stayed up working my lit reviews and other homework until 7am, so I would be able to get into the classes I wanted. Probably not one of my smarter moves, but it all worked out in the end.
I'm taking:
CIS 620 - Adv Matl Prog For Youth
LS 507 - Reference
LS 533 - Special libraries
LS 560 - Information Technologies
still no Cataloging...however word on the street is that they are going to try and have one this coming semester...

"The library will close in 15 minutes..."

Oh, how many times I recited the closing statement on nights that I closed the Chester Fritz library back up north....
I had to think about it but I still remember it, at least for the most part. I'm not sure at the moment. 'The library will close in 15 minutes, if you intend on checking out materials from the library, please do so now. The photocopiers, printers and microfilm machines will be turned off shortly.' How'd I do? Miss something? Probably. It's been a couple years since I was on the closing shift up there.
Well, tonight I heard the closing statement at the Gorgas Library. It's automated! And it starts off the same, "The library will close in 15 minutes...." For a moment I thought I was back at the Chester Fritz Library, but then reality set in and I found I was at a different library. :/
Must be the UND 'Fighting Sioux' sweater I'm wearing... eh.

It's offical!

Today this message came over the library school list serve:

SLISers,
Please welcome your newly elected UA Student ALA Representatives:
Elise Peterson, President
Morgan Higgins, Vice President
Daniel Tackett, Secretary/Treasurer
Michele Brown, DE Representative

Now I'll be getting together with Denise Wetzel, this last terms president, and get to learn the ropes and start looking into what we can do with this years term. :)

2009/2010 UA ALA Student President?

The elections for the officer positions at the UA ALA Student chapter have now opened and will go on until this Friday.
As I mentioned before hand that I might be running unopposed...that is true! I am. (Didn't really expect to be. I thought there would be another going for the office. Guess not?)
I'll keep you posted!

Ok! So...

Today I went to a short UA ALA Chapter meeting. It was about the elections for president, vp, ect. Elections for this next years officers will take place next week.
So, I decided to put my hat in the ring for president. :) and as far as I know...I'm running unopposed...
More to come of that when I know more!

As for things otherwise here in Alabama, they are going well. We started mid-Fall break today -meaning we have Thursday and Friday off from school. I'll be going to Dobbins ARB, GA from Friday to Sunday for CAP. One of these fine days, I'll have to do my mid-term for LS 500. I have until Tuesday night to do it online. I have to be able to park myself at the computer for 3 hours and answer the questions at that time.

Twas the week of midterms...

and all through 5th floor,
SLIS students are preparing
for midterms and more!

Well it's midterms this week! I have one big one this week in LS 500. Actually, it's one that I have to devote 3 hours in front of my computer at any given time between class being over this week and next Wednesday. I'm thinking that I might have to take it on Thursday due to being tasked to teach TLC (Training Leaders of Cadets) in GA Wing for CAP at Dobbins ARB. I'll be there for that Friday through Sunday.
My weekends in October are pretty busy. This last weekend, I went to WESS (Wing Emergency Services School) in Montgomery, AL. I'm going through the Team Leader School. I've done this type of training before hand back in North Dakota, however, it's been awhile...
This coming weekend is TLC at Dobbins ARB, GA. Then the weekend after that is my weekend class - LS 505 Collection Development. Some of the weekend classes in SLIS are held up in Gadsden, AL (a nice 1.5 or so drive from Tuscaloosa) on a Friday and Saturday. Others are on campus at the library. However, this one is in Gadsden. (Actually this is the second class I've taken up in Gadsden - my other one was the Childrens Literature class.) The class only meets 4 weekends this semester, so it's not too bad.
The weekend after that a friend from CAP is going to be here in Tuscaloosa for the Auburn/Alabama Rugby game. She's on the Auburn team and will be crashing at my place. Then Halloween weekend, I'm still not entirely sure what is going to be going on, but it might happen that the cadets in my squadron will be going to Birmingham to go gliding - still up in the air though, so it may happen in November if it falls through.
Now off to to my article review and then get ready for CAP tonight - we're starting the Model Rocketry program. And probably be a little more productive and get more work done on my papers for my other classes...

Instead of looking over my readings...

At times we get some pretty good links to websites/articles on our student listserv.

Here is a couple of them:
2009 lg Nobel Prize winners!
Excellent idea - supportive and doubles as PPE!

Book Drop: No books, please
What? Seems counter-productive....

Bill Gates?

No, not really. It's what the thing on the fifth floor is affectetly referred to by Dr. Aversa, the director of SLIS.

It appeared on our floor while we were going through the ALA accreditation last month and hasn't left. Not quite sure what it's still doing there, other than it might have something to do with the Book Arts program.

Regardless what it is or what it is doing here - it was a little unnerving to turn the corner coming off the elevator and seeing it there smiling at you....

1983

- from Bowker's Books in Print:
Over a Century of Publishers Weekly® Bestsellers: 1983

FICTION BESTSELLERS

1. Return of the Jedi Storybook by Joan D. Vinge, Random House
2. Poland by James A. Michener, Random House
3. Pet Sematary by Stephen King, Doubleday
4. The Little Drummer Girl by John Le Carre, Knopf
5. Christine by Stephen King, Viking
6. Changes by Danielle Steel, Delacorte
7. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
8. White Gold Wielder: Book Three of the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, A Del Rey Book/Ballantine
9. Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins, Simon & Schuster
10. The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour, Bantam
11. Who Killed the Robins Family by Bill Adler, Thomas Chastain, Morrow
12. The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov, Doubleday
13. August by Judith Rossner, Houghton Mifflin
14. Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer, Little, Brown
15. Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, A Del Rey Book/Ballantine


NON-FICTION BESTSELLERS

1. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies by Thomas J. Peters, Robert H. Waterman, Harper & Row
2. Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives by John Naisbitt, Warner
3. Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession by Erma Bombeck, McGraw-Hill
4. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard, Spencer Johnson, Morrow
5. Jane Fonda's Workout Book by Jane Fonda, Simon & Schuster
6. The Best of James Herriot by James Herriot, St. Martin's Press
7. The Mary Kay Guide to Beauty: Discovering Your Special Look by Mary Kay Cosmetics Staff, Addison-Wesley
8. On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett, Morrow
9. Creating Wealth by Robert G. Allen, Simon & Schuster
10. The Body Principal: The Exercise Program for Life by Victoria Principal, Simon & Schuster
11. Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Billy Graham, Word
12. Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do! by Robert H. Schuller, Thomas Nelson
13. Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Moon, Atlantic Monthly Press/Little Brown
14. The Secret Kingdom by Pat Robertson, Bob Slosser, Thomas Nelson
15. While Reagan Slept by Art Buchwald, Putnam



1983 AT A GLANCE ...

Hardcover book sales in 1983, at least for bestsellers, continued to rack up impressive numbers, always matching last year's record-breaking figures and in some cases establishing new sales records.

Once again all of the top 25 novels boasted sales of over 100,000 and a few fiction titles with sales just into the six-figure mark didn't even make the list of top sellers.

In nonfiction, each of the top 10 titles sold over 300,000 copies, a first-time-ever feat. A new record of sorts was also set by the #1 bestseller of the year, In Search of Excellence, with its sales of over 1 million copies in 1983; the only other bestseller to achieve that distinction on these end-of-the-year lists was The Living Bible in 1972 and 1973. Also, at least ten nonfiction books that sold well over 100,000 this past year did not achieve one of the 25 nonfiction spots.

In fiction, name authors with track records continued to dominate the list. Once again, as in 1982, 17 of the top 25 fiction titles were by authors who have previously appeared on these end-of-the-year bestseller charts (the same was true for 1982). While two of the three first novels were written by well-known figures in the book or entertainment fields, the third, The Name of the Rose, could be dubbed one of the most unlikely bestselling novels ever--it was written by and Italian professor of semiotics, set in a fourteenth-century monastery, and filled with numerous untranslated Latin passages.

The bestselling nonfiction fare in 1983 was more predictable. But here, too, there were some surprises. While busi- ness, self-improvement, humor, and religious titles dominated, a book about America's backroads made the list of top 15. By far, the strongest category in 1983 was business books, and the top three books in this group-In Search of Excellence, Megatrends, and The One Minute Manager-were also the longest-running bestsellers on PW's 1983 lists.

At $6.95 with about 60 illustrated pages, the novelization Return of the Jedi Storybook could very easily be considered a children's title. Yet it enjoyed a 22-week run on PW's and the New York Times hardcover adult best- seller charts, several times in the #1 spot. A title similar in appeal and scope to last year's leading fiction bestseller, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Storybook, it shares an even more significant feature with its outer space cousin. Both books managed to knock a new James Michener book off a much-deserved spot on top of the year's annual fiction bestselling chart.

Without contest, business was the hottest bestselling subject in 1983; there were a couple of months during 1983 when the top four spots on PW's weekly list were commanded by the four leaders in this category--In Search of Ex- cellence, Megatrends, The One Minute Manager, and Creating Wealth. They ranked #1, #2, #4, and #9, re- spectively, on the 1983 nonfiction list. Except for Creating Wealth, the other three titles also made the top 25 1982 bestseller list, but in much lower spots.

Perhaps the most remarkable performance by any bestseller in many years was achieved by In Search of Excel- lence. The book reached 1 million copies in sales within 10 months of publication, making it one of the fastest-selling books of all time. The sales figure is even more astounding when compared with the publisher's sales advance of 8,100 copies prior to its November 1982 publication date. It was one of the most sought-after books of Christmas 1982 and dominated the top of the 1983 bestseller charts for almost three-quarters of the year. With sales of 1,160,491 in 1983, added to about 122,000 copies in 1982, this title was the best-selling book in Harper & Row's 166-year history.

In the beginning....kinda...

Well, it's now been about 11 months since I first came down to Alabama for the School of Library Science and Information Studies (though what got me here quicker was being an employee of the University Libraries of UA...short lived but still a valuable learning experience)

I began classes in the Spring of 2009 with LS 501 - Introduction to Library Science and Information. First day I was asked how did I get here; where in I replied along the lines of driving and talking the elevator to the 5th floor... I did talk to the teacher later and explained my long, involved decision process.

Over this summer I started to go full-time. I took: LS 504 - Media Production and Utilization, LS 521 - Childrens Literature and LS 531 - Academic Libraries. The summer seemed to go by fast with classes and while Jarrett was deployed to Qatar. I still stayed ahead and have now finished my first 12 credits of Library School with a 3.5. *Yea!*

Meanwhile, starting in the summer semester and going into the fall semester, I was able to do some days with the AFHRA (AF Historical Research Agency, aka AF archives). I needed to do some days for guard drills and was able to get it worked out to do time with them. They had had me work with Mr. Joe Caver, one of the archivist there. That was alot of fun and very interesting to me to see alot of the original documents of the Air Force. While, I was there I ended up taking a tour with the ACSC (Air Command and Staff College - a course for Majors in the Air Force) of the Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center (or formally known as the Air University Library) It was pretty entertaining - here's me little Staff Sgt going around the library with a bunch of Majors. What was really neat was the chance to see the back departments of the library and meet more of the staff. So cool! I hear there's an internship coming up with the area that does Indexing this next semester - definitely going to apply!

This fall semester, I'm taking 4 classes: LS 500- Organization of Information, LS 505 - Collection Development, LS 530 - Public Libraries, and LS 536- Archives. So far so good with my classes. Mid-terms are coming up this next week. I'm not too worried but I see others in the school starting to stress out and lose sleep over things.