I am pleased to announce a new assignment for Jason Schultz, who will be assuming the role of selector and liaison to the African American Studies Program. Both his educational background and his professional interests equip Jason to serve effectively in these new responsibilities. Jason's responsibilities will include:
--outreach and instruction for classes in the African American Studies department
--serving as the Library Liaison for faculty and students in the African American Studies department
--maintenance of the subject pages for African American Studies
--tagging electronic resources in the ERF for African American Studies
--collaborating with Bancroft regarding the acquisition of rare and archival materials in the areas of African American Studies
--donor relations and development for African American Studies

I would also like to thank Lynn Jones for her excellent stewardship of the African American Studies Collections in the Doe/Moffitt Library. We greatly appreciate her willingness to have taken on this additional assignment these past many months.

Allan Urbanic
Interim Head, Research & Collections, International and Area Studies

Do you have trouble finding the right words for your romancing?  Our very own Shannon Monroe (Interlibrary Services) can help you. Shannon's chapter in "Writing Romance: the ultimate guide on craft, creation and industry connections," tells you how to get past that writer's block. She has been a member of the San Francisco Area Romance Writers of America (http://www.sfarwa.com/) since 2002, and her contribution to the group's tome, "Facing the Blank Page," is bound to help those in need. The book is only available from the SFARWA site at this time. Congratulations, Shannon!

Charlotte C. Rubens
Head, Interlibrary Services

It’s with a heavy heart that I write to tell you that Beth McGonagle has succumbed to the lure of family and friends on the east coast. Her last day in the Library Development Office will be this Friday, July 18. She has accepted a position at a local technical school (MIT) as Associate Director of the Alumni Fund, Events and Donor Recognition. Although she will miss Berkeley and the Bay Area, her fourteenth-month-old son Francis will enjoy having two sets of grandparents closer to hand. Her incredible skill at handling the myriad details involved with event coordination, and her tact and graciousness in responding to and anticipating the needs of the Library’s most generous donors, have greatly aided our fundraising efforts over the past five years. We will miss you, Beth!

Dave Duer
Director of Development and External Relations

The Staff Development Committee is pleased to announce the return of the SDC Recognition Award. This award doubles the winner’s annual SDC allotment, funds that are to be used for professional development opportunities like workshops and conferences. The SDC Recognition Award is an excellent opportunity to recognize your coworkers and colleagues for their contributions to their unit and to the Library.

All Library staff are invited to nominate an SDC-eligible employee. Nominations must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 22. Please read through the nomination form for more information.
<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Staff/SDC/SDCAwardNominationForm.doc>

Not sure if a certain Library employee is covered by SDC? Take a look at this list of SDC-eligible title codes and review the eligibility guidelines.
<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/LHRD/SDCtitles.html>
<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Staff/SDC/guidelines.html>

The committee looks forward to receiving your nomination! If you have any questions, please contact Sandy Tesch, Staff Development Committee Chair, at 2-9604 or stesch@library.berkeley.edu.

Sandy Tesch
SDC Chair

The Institute of Transportation Studies Library is pleased to announce that Kendra Levine has accepted a one-year appointment as Reference Librarian. Some of you have already met Kendra as she worked in the library as a student employee in 2004 and was hired as the Circulation Manager in 2005. A graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in History and German, Kendra has completed coursework for the Master of Science in Library and Information Science at Drexel University and will receive that degree and a Master of Science in Information Systems at the end of the fall semester. Kendra is very interested in applications of technology and completed a redesign of the ITSL website (http://library.its.berkeley.edu/) last month. She will direct public services and will have responsibilities for reference, collection development, outreach to ITS units at other campuses and indexing.

Rita Evans
Library Director
Institute of Transportation Studies