LISNews: Librarian News

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science will receive more than $1.1 million for student scholarships.

Jane Iris Crutchfield, who died at the age of 92 on Dec. 10, 2006, was a lifelong teacher and school librarian. She taught at public schools in Virginia before returning to UNC in the 1950s to earn a bachelor’s degree in library science.

Crutchfield’s gift will go to the library science school’s Susan Grey Akers Scholarship Fund, named after a former dean at the school. That endowment fund gives aid to students who are admitted to the school’s master’s program. It’s the largest gift ever given to the library science school. Bizjournals.

A field experience internship program in Arizona State University’s College of Teacher Education and Leadership (CTEL) is giving its students exposure to the importance of literacy in a child’s early years while also providing the professional development necessary for the next generation’s teachers.

The Early Childhood Community-Based Field Experience internship, features a unique partnership with the Burton Barr Central Library in downtown Phoenix. One opportunity, First Five Years/Book Bridges, places first-semester junior students in the library, providing one-to-one assistance to parents, families, and center caregivers utilizing the library’s space, materials, activities, and early literacy information. ASU.

Dr. William Brace 79, professor of library and information science at Rosary College--now Dominican University in River Forest--died on Wednesday, Oct. 1, an apparent heart attack. He had taught Library and Information sciences for nearly four decades.

The first time Dr. William Brace met his future wife, she darn near killed him. As the story goes, the two were graduate students at the University of Chicago in the early 1950s, when one day they found themselves sitting next to each other in class.

"That was back in the day when you'd light up a cigarette right at your desk," recalled his wife of 51 years, Pam. "I was smoking Pall Malls, which he was deathly allergic to, and he began sneezing and coughing uncontrollably. Later he told people, 'She nearly asphyxiated me, but it at least got me to notice her.' "

That same sense of humor, former colleagues say, helped Dr. Brace connect with students over his long career. Obituary from the Chicago Tribune.

On June 17, the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded 31 institutions grants totaling $20.3 million as part of the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. This year’s grantees will provide educational opportunities to library students and staff to strengthen Gulf Coast libraries; support school library media programs; increase the number of librarians, archivists, and library and information science professors; increase diversity in the library workforce; and strengthen that workforce to better meet the needs of users of all types of libraries. To see a list of awardees and descriptions of how they intend to use their grants, please go to http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/061708_list.shtm. -- Read More