Welcome (back), Bonnie and George!

It’s been a busy year in the Library, with two important Library staff transitions. You may recall that last year at this time, we bid a fond farewell to Katie Duke, Coordinator of Information Literacy, and welcomed George Aulisio as our new Part-Time Reference Librarian. This year saw us searching for a Librarian to take Katie’s place, and our very own Bonnie Oldham turned out to be the best candidate for the job! This meant Bonnie’s position as Distance Learning Library Services Coordinator became vacant, and after yet another search (this time with one of the largest applicant pools ever seen at the Library), our joy was doubled when George emerged as the top candidate for this position. And so, we welcome (back) Bonnie and George, each in a new job role — Bonnie as Information Literacy Coordinator and George as Distance Learning Library Services Coordinator!

Bonnie and George in their 2nd floor office in the Weinberg Memorial Library

Bonnie was born in Harrisburg, PA, and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She has lived in Georgia and New Jersey, and twenty years ago she returned to Pennsylvania, where she has remained ever since. She currently resides in Shavertown. She received her undergraduate degree (A.B.) in History from Chestnut Hill College, her Master of Library Science degree from Kutztown University, and her Master of Science in Organizational Management degree from Misericordia University. Bonnie brings 19 total years of experience in academic libraries to her new role as Information Literacy Coordinator.

George grew up in Old Forge, PA, and still calls Old Forge his home. George received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degree from Bloomsburg University, his Master of Library Science degree from Drexel University, and is currently pursuing his Master of Liberal Arts degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

If you are a student or faculty member in the Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Exercise Science and Sport, or Nursing Departments, then Bonnie is the Librarian you will want to get to know. She is the collection development and information literacy liaison to these departments, just as George is the liaison to the Philosophy, Communication, Mathematics and Computer Science Departments. Both are especially looking forward to working more with faculty and students in their collection development areas.

In her free time, Bonnie enjoys cooking and doing crafts – for example, five years ago she made her daughter’s wedding dress. George, who has a deep thirst for knowledge, spends much of his free time pursuing his studies; however, he also enjoys yard work, including cutting the grass and trimming the trees. Both enjoy reading (what librarian doesn’t?), and both can be found sharing the same 2^nd floor office in the Weinberg Memorial Library. George can be found in the Library most evenings of the week, Sunday through Thursday, while Bonnie is easiest to find during the day, Monday through Friday. Feel free to stop by and say hello to them – they both welcome visitors!

President Obama’s Inauguration Marks a Paradigm Shift for America

Today is without question a historic event for America; beginning at 12 p.m. Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America.

The 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama

Today is without question a historic event for America; beginning at 12 p.m. Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America.

If you are trapped at work and don’t have a TV you can turn on, but you are fortunate enough to have a computer in front of you, then why not watch it Live over the internet from either Hulu.com, Joost.com, or CNN.com.

Here are the direct links:

http://www.hulu.com/live/inauguration.

http://www.joost.com/Obama_Inauguration_Live

http://www.cnn.com/video/fb/facebook.html?stream=stream1

Of course, being able to watch a Presidential Inauguration over the internet isn’t exactly the paradigm shift in which I speak. I am of course talking about the election and overwhelming acceptance of America’s first African American President.

Regardless of your personal politics, I think we can all agree that today would be a good day to put aside our petty differences and join together not as a nation of individuals, but as a family of diverse and interconnected peoples from all ethnicities and religious backgrounds.

Today is clearly a great day for all African Americans and I do not wish to take anything away from this victory that all peoples with darker complexions around the world finally have, but today is really a great day for all people, regardless of one’s ethnicity.

I believe America is a great nation because of our diversity (among other things), and America has made strides to accept all men and women equally. With roots all the way back to the Magna Carta, continuing on to Early Modern and Enlightenment Philosopher’s of the 17^th and 18^th centuries; whose ideologies culminated in the famous revolution we so closely align with 1776. Continuing on with various historical marking points along the way, such as President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the passing of the 14^th, 15^th, 19^th, and 24^th amendments which grants equal protection under the law to all persons, bans racial discrimination in voting, grants women the right to vote, and abolishes the poll tax, respectively. The dedicated and important work of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose national holiday we have so recently and coincidentally celebrated.

For other civil rights milestones you may want to read CNN’s civil rights timeline, found here:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/01/31/extra.civil.rights.timeline/index.html

The long-winded point I am trying to make here is that this is a victory for African Americans (for certain), but it is also another milestone on a path of true acceptance of all Men and Women. Eventually one day we will see past all of this and realize something so true that then Senator, now President Obama spoke so recently:

“Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us — the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of “anything goes.” Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.”

I say America is a good starting point, but we need to look with a wider scope.

 

Historic Vice Presidential Debate, if anything, a Reminder.

Vice-Presidential Debate 2008

I’m going on the assumption that I wasn’t the only one who skipped last night’s excellent Thursday night television line-up to watch the Vice-Presidential debate and the post-debate analysis. However, just in-case you missed it…

Despite what constituents of each political party had hoped for, Sarah Palin did not implode and Joe Biden did not explode. The majority of what I’ve read this morning and what I’ve heard from the pundits’ mouths last night say that Joe Biden gave the best Debate performance of his career. Sarah Palin also went above and beyond expectations by delivering a fluent and succinct speech (lesson learned).

Considering the final day to register to vote in PA is Monday, that would mean you might miss your chance to agree or disagree with me in a pragmatic as opposed to theoretical way.

Here is a deductive conditional argument for all you students of philosophy out there..

1.) If you are not registered to vote, then your opinion doesn’t matter.

2.) You are not registered to vote.

—————————

C.) Your opinion doesn’t matter.

Want to combat this line of reasoning? Well, good luck with that, the truth of the premises guarantees the conclusion. However, you can accept this line of reasoning and join the ranks of the 8,548,580 registered Pennsylvania voters (as of 9/29/08 - Pennsylvania Dept. of State).

http://www.rockthevote.org/

Use the above link. Click “Register to Vote,” fill out the relevant personal information. Print the form and mail it to the address it gives you. Then, you are ready to go on November 4th. It’s that simple!

Greetings from a New Librarian

Hello Students, Staff, the Public at-large, and Faculty!

My name is George Aulisio and I’ve been hired to fill-in for Ms. Katie S. Duke. My title is Public Services Librarian and I am here to help in anyway I can. The majority of my duties will invole answering Reference Questions, mostly at the reference desk, but I do have an office (Library 2nd Floor, Room 207a). If you have a question that you would like me to specifically answer and I am not at the Reference desk, then I encourage you to shoot me an email or visit me while I’m sitting in my office.

Here I am...

Let me tell you a little bit about myself…

As an undergraduate I studied Philosophy at Bloomsburg University with areas of interest in 20th Century Analytic philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Neurophysics, Philosophy of Physics and other science related fields that spawn philosophical questions.

Eventually one day I would like to earn at least a Master’s degree in philosophy, but the real idea is to eventually be able to earn the Ph.D. Most universities expect academic librarians to earn a second master’s degree before they are up for tenure, so this path of study would be my first choice.

For graduate school I attended Drexel University earning a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science and did participate in OnLine distance education. Any students who are currently studying at the University of Scranton who are OnLine students (or are considering taking an OnLine class) that need some help or guidance, feel free to send those questions my way, I’d be happy to help in any way I could.

Besides my professional life, in my personal life I enjoy going to the movies, reading, socializing, and just procrastinating on the internet.

I’m very excited to be here and I wish everyone an Enjoyable school year!