Library News

The University of Iowa Libraries, College of Education and Hawkeye Women’s Basketball will be honoring the tradition of women’s basketball at a 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, “tailgate” party on the East Concourse of Carver-Hawkeye Arena before the UI women’s basketball team takes on the Wolves of Northern State University at 6:35 p.m. Free tickets to the game will be provided at the reception, but advanced reservations are required.

The honorees include a group of young women, made up primarily of physical education majors at the University of Iowa, who traveled to West Chester, Penn. to play basketball in the first national tournament for women in 1969. No more than a club team, the players shared a set of uniforms with all the other female athletes, paid their own travel expenses and borrowed jackets from the junior varsity men’s wrestling team. Through hard work, dedication and a love of the game, they made it to the semi-finals, and finished fourth in the tournament.

Head Women’s Basketball Coach Lisa Bluder will give a preview of her Hawkeye team and the upcoming season. Also, historical exhibits drawn from the Iowa Women’s Archives collections at the UI Libraries will be on display. Kären Mason and her staff have traced the evolution of women’s sports at Iowa and will share that story at the celebration.

The Iowa Women’s Archives holds extensive records of the UI Department of Physical Education for Women and of its Women’s Recreation Association, which sponsored club sports for women in the era before they were allowed to participate in varsity sports. It also includes papers from noted leaders in women’s athletics, such as Christine Grant, former director of Women’s Athletics at the UI, an interview with Olympic and former UI women’s basketball coach Vivian Stringer, and Mildred Wirt Benson, author of the Nancy Drew mystery series, as well as a member of a swimming club as a UI student in the 1920s.

The 1969 team members played just prior to Congress passing Title IX in 1972-preventing gender discrimination in sports, before the NCAA included women athletes, and even before women played full-court basketball. The team played a six-person game.

“In every person’s lifetime, there are special events that stand out. This tournament experience is one of those for me,” said team member Karen Davis Williams. “Watching the NCAA tournament each spring brings back those great memories and the satisfaction that we blazed the trail for young women who play this great game today.”

The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required for this event by Oct. 30; RSVP for this event online at www.lib.uiowa.edu/events/bball or by calling 319-335-6093.

Christopher J. Shaffer, Assistant Director for Public Services at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences has been selected for a NLM/AAHSL leadership fellowship for 2006-2007. The leadership program is jointly sponsored by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL).

In response to the confirmed need for future leadership, the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program is focused on preparing emerging leaders for director positions in academic health center libraries. Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of learning settings, including exposure to leadership in another environment.

“I’ve worked with Chris for many years and am thrilled by this recognition of his dedication to health science librarianship,” says Linda Walton, Associate University Librarian and Director of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. “

“Providing opportunities for our best people to develop their leadership skills is critical to the continued excellence of the UI Libraries and our profession in general,” says Nancy L. Baker, University Librarian. “This leadership program recognizes those pressing needs and helps emerging library leaders reach their full potential.”

A mentoring relationship is a key element of this program. These leaders have been chosen for the important roles they play in their institutions and in the profession. Shaffer’s mentor is Paul Schoening, Associate Dean for Academic Information Management Director at the Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine.

The one-year program is multi-faceted: three in-person events; attendance at an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual meeting; an ongoing Fellow/Mentor relationship; web-based activities and discussion on issues related to library leadership; and a two-week site visit to the mentor’s home library.

The NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program is designed for librarians with a minimum of five years of department-head level or higher responsibility, or equivalent experience. Shaffer was one of five applicants selected from a very competitive pool.

The Iowa Women’s Archives invites you to the Mujeres Latinas Open House and The Tortilla Curtain Book Discussion tomorrow, Tuesday, October 17.

The Open House begins at 6:30 p.m. You can come see some of the materials the IWA has collected from Latinas across Iowa. Kären Mason and others on the IWA staff will also be available to talk about the project.

The Book Discussion of T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain begins at 7:30 p.m. This fascinating book is this year’s selection by the UI Center for Human Rights for the One Community, One Book – All Johnson County Reads project.

The Iowa Women’s Archives is located on the south end of the third floor of the Main Library.

You are welcome to come to either event or both. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kristi Bontrager or Kären Mason.

This exhibition in Special Collections and University Archives, drawn from the M. Horvat Collection of Science Fiction Fanzines, examines the World War II era as it was recorded by science fiction fans. The fanzines they created provide a unique view of the difficult war years through the small-scale voice of intelligent, like-minded individuals. While today we often see this as a time when communities rallied around a common global cause, a study of the insular and sometimes eccentric response to the war in a subculture such as science fiction fans demonstrates how complicated everyday life could be on the home front and in the military.

The exhibition also displays the development of the fanzine format, and the early years of organized fan activity. These first enthusiasts started to produce their own publications in the 1930s, which came to be called fanzines. Fanzines were homemade and copied on mimeograph or hectograph machines, resulting in crude, stapled newsletters and pamphlets. As science fiction grew in stature and fandom developed, tensions in Europe and the Pacific escalated into World War II, beginning with Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September, 1939. The war was unlike any other, and fandom was caught up in the events even as it attempted to continue its pre-war activities.

Located on the third floor of the Main Library, the exhibit is free of charge and open to the public during regular building hours. To view more materials in the Horvat Collection, you can visit Special Collections and the University Archives, open weekdays from Monday - Thursday: 8:30 - 5:30 pm, Friday: 8:30 - 5:00 pm. You may also view a selection of covers and tables of contents from the collection online through Iowa Digital Library.

Chiaki Sakai, Japanese Studies Librarian, has been appointed to the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC).

Founded in 1991, the NCC serves the field of Japanese studies by developing new strategies for resources sharing, by funding cooperative collection development, by training librarians and users of Japanese materials, by promoting information literacy at all levels within the field, and by fostering close collaboration and consultation among librarians, the academic community and bi-national funding agencies.

The key to the NCC’s ability to effectively serve the field of Japanese studies is the devoted group of Japanese studies librarians and faculty who serve on the Council, on the NCC’s growing number of extremely active committees and task forces, and who staff the programs we offer. Most work on a pro bono basis with the NCC’s small part-time staff. NCC programs are made possible by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission (a U.S. Government Agency), the Japan Foundation (an Agency of the Japanese Government) and most of all by the wonderful professionals who volunteer their services and expertise.

Sakai also serves as Co-Chair of the NCC Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Committee.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the UI Libraries’ Quest for the Golden Cup treasure hunt. Nine names were drawn from the eligible entries to win the Golden Cup:

• Ann Beery, sophomore psychology student
• Natalie Ehalt, sophomore English and spanish student
• Mark Feery, junior history and secondary education student
• Shobha Kazinka, Ph.D. candidate in computer science
• Willis McDonald, graduate student in English
• Levi Morales, junior computer science major
• Patrick Rossman, graduate student in education
• Garth Strohbehn, junior chemistry student
• Lindsey Van Wyk, senior political science and film production student

The treasure hunt consisted of a series of five clues relating to pirates, gold and treasures. Students were asked to use the Libraries website to find the answers, contact UI Librarians and locate libraries.

The Golden Cup entitles the winners to free coffee at the Food for Thought in the Main Library; Pat’s Diner in the Pappajohn Business Building; the EMRB Cafe; and the Art Building West Coffee Bar until May 31, 2007. No other IMU satellites or coffee shops are participating.