Black No More: Skin Bleaching

In a recent Facebook post, Humanities professor Dr. Karen Davis refers to the latest issue of the Journal of Pan African Studies (volume 4, number 4), which is devoted to skin bleaching. This issue is available for free here: http://www.jpanafrican.com/currentissue.htm. (The title of this blog post is taken from the title of one of the articles in this issue.)

Dr. Davis writes, "I've been compiling resources on global history and practices of skin bleaching for about a year now, starting with the Jamaican controversy over Buju Banton's song "Love Muh Brownin" in the 1990s, followed by Nando Ranks' anti-bleaching response, "Dem a Bleach," a hugely popular club song in the 1990s."

The resources that Dr. Davis has compiled are available upon request; they include videos, journal articles, song lyrics, books, images and websites on the practice of skin bleaching. For a copy of these resources, please contact librarian Christine Malmsten (313.927.1378 - cmalmsten@marygrove.edu) or Dr. Davis (313.927.1352 - kdavis@marygrove.edu).

"Very impressed by all of you in the library"

"Finally got a chance to read this first issue [of the Marygrove Library 'zine].  Very impressed by all of you in the library.  Please pass along to the others that I think you are all awesome!!!!  Keep up your good work and efforts to improve what Marygrove has to offer."

Sue
June 9, 2011

"She's awesome! Thanks for the help!"

"Andrea is a great assistant. She referred me to the resources necessary to ensure materials needed. She's awesome! Thanks for the help..."

A Marygrove student
June 27, 2011

Your librarians are in New Orleans...Want to know why?

We're presenting a poster session at the American Library Association's 2011 conference about our use of WordPress and Joomla to market the Marygrove College Library. Stay tuned for details! (But we'll leave you with this: jambalaya, gumbo, and po' boys are all made in heaven.)

Follow the conference on Twitter: #ala11

This post was updated June 30, 2011:

Library assistant Laura Manley (who's this close to finishing her library science master's degree and becoming a full-fledged librarian), along with fully-fledged librarian Christine Malmsten, had the privilege of presenting a poster session on marketing the Marygrove College Library this past weekend in New Orleans.

Their session was titled, "If You've Got It, Flaunt It! Marketing Your Academic Library with Wordpress." Laura and Christy described how they created an online magazine (a 'zine) to showcase the library's services, especially those that aren't well known. They also presented the results of a survey designed to figure out who's using library resources, who isn't, and why.

What frustrated them during this process? Having to switch 'zine software halfway through. They originally began designing the 'zine using OpenZine.com, but due to (un)usability issues and the fact that it's supported by advertising, they switched over to WordPress.com.

What delighted them about this process? Two things in particular: first, sharing experiences with other information professionals at the conference (including some international librarians); and second, the large number of students, staff and faculty who took the survey. These members of the Marygrove community sent a flood of positive feedback. Sample comments: 

• "The library staff is very warm and welcoming" 
• "I have found the all of the Library staff to be very personable and knowledgable"  
• "I do find the reading room a great place to study with my laptop, so if I have a block of time, I will head that way"
• "I enjoy spending time in the library, it takes me away from the stressful vibe of the academic setting. I meet up with friends and we discuss upcoming assignments and use the computers. It is a necessity on campus"
• (and our personal favorite) "I love the library"

More details about Laura & Christy's presentation as well as full survey data are available upon request. You can reach Christine Malmsten at 313.927.1378 or cmalmsten@marygrove.edu. You can reach Laura Manley at 313.927.1540 or lmanley3312@marygrove.edu

March 2011 report from the Association of American University Presses

The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) published a report in March titled, "Sustaining Scholarly Publishing: New Economic Models for University Presses." From the AAUP website:

This report a) identifies elements of the current scholarly publishing systems that are worth protecting and retaining throughout this and future periods of transition; b) explores business models of existing projects which hold promise; c) outlines the characteristics of effective business models; d) addresses the challenges of the transitional period we are entering; and e) arrives at recommendations that might allow us to sustain high-quality scholarship at a time when the fundamental expectations of publishing are changing.

You can read the full text of the report here (PDF).

The authors make five recommendations:

1. Prevent wasteful duplication of effort and ensure that significant developments are not lost in the clutter.
2. Existing partnerships should be supported and the development of new ones encouraged.
3. The role of agencies outside the presses in providing funds to work toward the digital future has  been, and will continue to be, crucial.
4. The trend toward more open access publishing is clear; but it will not succeed unless sustainable business models can be developed to support it. Nonprofit publishers, especially university presses, should become fully engaged in this discussion with the support of their parent institutions.
5. Proposals and plans for new business models should explicitly address two issues: the potential impact of the new model on existing parts of the press’s program and the requirements, both operational and financial, for making the transition to the new model. Ideally the consideration of these issues would involve the relevant author community as well as the press, its partners such as libraries or societies, and the funding agency.

Open (and free and scholarly) resources - thx to eCornucopia conference

On Thursday, May 26, one of your Marygrove College librarians attended e-Cornucopia Conference 2011. She participated online from Marygrove's campus, and at least one other Marygrover was on site at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan: Dr. Teddi Williams of the BUS/CIS department.

The theme of this year's conference was the Open Digital University. From the conference homepage,

Open Education is a current theory that knowledge should be transparent and accessible to anyone who wants to learn. Technology and the Internet have increased the global community's access to knowledge. The hope is that openness will help create a more democratic and equitable global society, as our information networks dissolve traditional geographic and cultural boundaries. Benefits, however, must be weighed against possible complications. The public nature of this work can lead to privacy and security abuses, global communication might have to contend with local law, and democratic organizations, although they may lack the built-in abuses of hierarchies, can lead to chaos and inefficiency. This conference will examine specific examples about how openness is implemented in higher education and the resulting successes and problems. The three tracks will be about open education, open access (journals), and open source (computer code).

Open (and free and scholarly) resources abound on the internet. For your reading and scholarly pleasure, here are a few of those resources offered by the University of Michigan, which was represented at e-Cornucopia by presenters Emily Pucket Rodgers ("Open, Share, Learn: The University of Michigan's Open Educational Resources"), Alissa Centivany ("Rethinking the Relationship between Copyright, Open Access, and Scholarly Publishing"), Greg Grossmeier ("Open Research Data), and Bobby Glushko ("Empowering Access through Understanding Copyright").

• Open.Michigan is a University of Michigan initiative dedicated to creating and sharing knowledge resources and research created at U-M with the global learning community: http://open.umich.edu/
• Search open content repositories to find content that is licensed for sharing: https://open.umich.edu/wiki/Open_Content_Search
• Create your own open content (PDF): http://open.umich.edu/sites/default/files/open.content.howto-infosheet.pdf

Gale databases unavailable 12 am-12 pm on Saturday, June 4

Gale will be performing infrastructure maintenance during a twelve hour period on Saturday, June 4, 2011. The window will take place from 12 am to 12 pm. During this time, all Gale products and services will be unavailable, including:

• Academic OneFile
• Agriculture Collection
• Biography & Genealogy Master Index
• Books & Authors
• Business & Company ASAP
• Business & Company Resource Center
• Chilton Online Auto Repair
• Communications & Mass Media Collection
• Computer Database
• Criminal Justice Collection
• Culinary Arts Collection
• Diversity Studies Collection
• Educator's Reference Complete
• Environmental Studies & Policy Collection
• Expanded Academic ASAP
• Fine Arts & Music Collection
• Gardening, Landscape & Horticulture Collection
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Issues Collection
• General Business File ASAP
• General OneFile
• General Reference Center Gold
• General Science Collection
• Health & Wellness Resource Center
• Health Reference Center Academic
• Home Improvement Collection
• Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Collection
• Information Science & Library Issues Collection
• Informe
• Insurance & Liability Collection
• Junior Edition
• Kids InfoBits
• LegalTrac
• Literature Resource Center
• Military & Intelligence Database
• Newsstand
• New York Times
• Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Collection
• Pop Culture Collection
• Psychology Collection
• Religion & Philosophy Collection
• Small Business Collection
• Student Edition
• U.S. History Collection
• Virtual Reference Library
• War & Terrorism Collection
• World History Collection

Use MeLCat to request materials from 400+ libraries (video)

MelCat is a state-wide library catalog that lets you find and request materials from over 400 Michigan libraries, and have them delivered to your home library. Jeff Zachwieja, a librarian at Oakland Community College and a former Marygrover, has put together a video demonstrating how to use MeLCat. Take a look and - as always - let us know if you have any questions: 313.927.1346.