The staff welcomed Laura Calverley to the Engineering Library on August 11, just in time to jump into orientation activities for Fall semester. Laura has a BA from UC Santa Cruz (Film & Digital Media) and an MLIS from UC Los Angeles. She previously worked as a circulation and interlibrary loan assistant at UC San Francisco and was an Evening Supervisor at the Pearson Library of the California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA. Laura has already designed handsome handouts for undergraduates and new engineering faculty, as well as attended many student orientations across the campus. When not at work Laura likes to knit, practice photography and explore the local parks and beaches with her dog.

Jean McKenzie, Head Librarian, Kresge Engineering Library

David Eifler and Matthew Prutsman from the Environmental Design Library have an article in the September, 2008 issue of ACSA News.  "Staying Cutting-Edge with Google's RSS Reader" describes ENVI's web homepage RSS feed of blogs, and gives directions on setting up your own.  The article is part of a series written by architecture librarians in the Association of Architecture School Librarians. The magazine is distributed to the thousands of architecture faculty who belong to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

Elizabeth Byrne, Environmental Design Library

On August 20, 2008, Zariah Tackitt joined the staff of Doe/Moffitt Instructional Services as Adminstrative Assistant. She is a recent graduate of California State University, Sacramento, with a degree in Social Science. Zariah has most recently worked as a web developer and ADA compliance assistant at the Attorney General’s office in Sacramento. She is the founder and coordinator of the Monkey Gallery in Sacramento (http://liquidmonkey.biz) and her work in multimedia and pottery is displayed there. Zariah is also fluent in ASL. Zariah’s new phone number is 643-9959 and email is ztackitt. Please join me in welcoming Zariah to her new position!

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