SLA GLitter BiTs

Journal of Homosexuality: New Editorship / Call for Papers

Routledge Journals, a member of the Taylor & Francis group, is pleased to announce John P. Elia, PhD, as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Homosexuality, now publishing in its 56th year.

Dr. Elia is the Professor & Associate Chair of the Department of Health Education at San Francisco  State University. Prior to  becoming Editor, Dr. Elia served as the Associate Editor and Book Review Editor for the Journal. He is also a prominent figure in the LGBT & Queer Studies field and is renowned as a leading author and researcher.   

Dr. Elia succeeds  Dr. John P. De Cecco, who continues as Editor-in-Chief Emeritus after 34 years of service. Dr. Elia may be contacted at jpelia AT sfsu.edu (see also "Call for Papers" instructions below).

Dr. Elia notes in part in his first editorial: "The Journal of Homosexuality has undergone some significant changes over the past few years. There is no question that Dr. De Cecco has been a pioneer and truly instrumental in the development of LGBT studies.  I am confident that I am joined by a plethora of individuals across the globe in thanking him for his stalwart service."  

One of Dr. Elia’s new focuses as Editor will be to update the Manuscript Submission  process to a more streamlined electronic approach, resulting in a decreased publication lag time. The frequency of the Journal will also be increased from 8 to 10 issues beginning in 2010.

The Journal of Homosexuality is devoted to scholarly research on homosexuality, including sexual practices and gender roles and their cultural, historical, interpersonal, and modern social contexts. Researchers and practitioners interested in current knowledge about human sexuality will find every issue of this journal brimming with a balanced selection of scholarly and practical articles.    The Journal was founded by The Haworth Press, Inc., which merged into the Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, in 2007.

Indexing/Abstracting: The Journal of Homosexuality is indexed/abstracted in Social Sciences Citation Index, Social Scisearch, Journal Citation Report/Social Sciences Edition, Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences, MEDLINE, PsychInfo/Psychological Abstracts, EBSCOhost Products, Abstracts in Anthropology, Criminal Justice Abstracts, INIST, Lesbian Information Services, IGLSS Abstracts, Education Research Abstracts, Studies on Women & Gender Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, and AgeLine.

An ISI Ranked Journal: The Institute for Scientific Information Journal Citation Report for 2008 ranks the Journal of Homosexuality 34th out of 61 journals in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, and 60th of 101 journals in Multidisciplinary Psychology, with an Impact Factor of 0.590. More information about the  Impact Factor, which is a measure designed to determine the frequency with which the average article has been cited in a particular year, can be found at http://tiny.cc/ImpactFactor.

Free Online Sample: To receive a free online/electronic sample copy visit: www.tandf.co.uk/journals/WJHM.

Free Print Sample: To receive a free print sample copy of the Journal of Homosexuality send your name and mailing address to Jaclyn Scarborough, or Taylor & Francis, Attn: Marketing Associate, 325 Chestnut St, Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

Call for Papers: The Journal of Homosexuality welcomes the submission of papers on a variety of topics and from a range of disciplines and perspectives for review and publication. For complete instructions for authors, visit www.tandf.co.uk/journals/WJHM

Pictured: John P. Elia, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Homosexuality

New Caucus Co-convener

I'm happy to announce that Laurie Crunk  has agreed to take on the co-convener position. Laurie currently works as a Reference Librarian at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Laurie has previously worked as an Inspection Specialist at the Library of Congress and has experience in collection management and archival work. Laurie got her MLIS from the University of Alabama. Laurie is actually from New Orleans and has lots of good ideas for the 2010 conference!

Post-Review of 2009 SLA Conference

  The SLA 100^th Birthday Bash started out with a bang… at least for me. Before the conference even began, this First Timer was a bit nervous about a various number of things, from wardrobe to the specifics of presenting a poster session to the prospect to meeting potential employers. I was able to relieve some of my tension with Facebook correspondences, touching base with cohorts I had met at the Leadership Summit in January and via division and caucus listservs over the last few months.

   From presentations to board meetings to candidate introductions to vendor schmoozing, there was so much variety from which to choose, I was wise to study the program before I even left the state of Tennessee. When I met some of my colleagues at the Pride Parade on Saturday, the experience singularly characterized the rest of my trip- full of lots of enthusiasm, open armed greetings, lots of walking, and parties, I mean networking, galore. Because of my pre-planning, I was not overwhelmed with all the information and still left myself opportunities for rest and flexibility.

      One of the presentation topics I especially appreciated was “Be the CEO of your Life : Finding Balance in the Flexible Job Age”, which discussed how to productively compromise between one’s own work style and that of one’s coworkers’. Also, Michael Edson, the Director of Web and New Media Strategy at the Smithsonian Institution, opened a discussion on “Envisioning the Future of Museums, Arts, & Humanities Libraries : The Smithsonian Commons, a Model Institution”.  I was extremely impressed with his both style and ideas, which can be demonstrated on Slideshare.  In addition, the most encouraging news came out this past week. From all of that inspiration, he and his team finally received permission to pursue a Commons area at “our nation’s attic”.

   At the conference, the Align in ’09 campaign honestly dominated the conference more than the 100^th birthday. Looking forward was the major focus rather than glancing at the history of the last century. We heard again and again about how our labels are tripping up our advocacy, which is our best tool to show our administration and clients how much we should be valued. The association Name Change was also on everyone’s lips, but our board unfortunately kept their cards and specific ideas on the matter quite close to their collective chests.

   Of course, the receptions and luncheons with free food and drink was a great plus, in addition to the free swag of vendors. Bless their hearts, most of them had no idea what to do for a “music archives cataloger”, but at least I will never have to buy another pack of Post-It Notes and pens for the rest of my life.  Honestly, I took advantage of my employer’s generosity and sent home a box full of tchotkes, which I then distributed among our staff of eight.  Souvenirs seem to be easy to acquire at conferences.

   All in all, I had fun, although I had to fund most of my trip on my own.  Next year will be more difficult, since I will no longer have a student discount or a friend with whom to stay in New Orleans. The networking was the greatest benefit, but mostly for my personal projects within the organization and my current job search. The Leadership Summit in January gave me many more ideas to help our specific chapter and my present position within my organization. When 2010 comes, I will have to judge my potential conference investment upon my needs then compared to the benefits I experienced this year.

Government Apologizes to Frank Kameny for 1957 Civil-Service Firing

"More than 50 years after firing Frank Kameny from his job for being gay, the federal government today officially apologized," the Washington Blade reported June 24, 2009. "John Berry, the gay director of the Office of Personnel Management, presented Kameny with an official letter of apology along with the department’s most prestigious award, the Theodore Roosevelt Award."

Laura McGinnis of Renna Communications has posted photos from the OPM's event honoring Kameny, "No Longer 'Unsuitable for Federal Employment'."

The Blade article includes Berry's letter to Kameny. Thanks to caucus member Cy Behroozi for pointing this out. The blog Towleroad publicized the Blade report and maintains a news file on Kameny.

Our caucus learned about Kameny and the Kameny Papers Project, in an engaging presentation by Charles  Francis at our 2009 business meeting on June 16 in Washington, D.C. (photo at right; caption below). Caucus convener Chris Vestal not only arranged for Charles to present to us, but also reported on the meeting. 

Kameny's papers and artifacts are available at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. Additionally, on June 11, 2009, the Velvet Foundation opened an exhibition featuring materials from the Kameny Papers Project. (Event photos by Laura McGinnis of Renna Communications are available on Flickr.)

In photo: Charles Francis, founder of the Kameny Papers Project (left), speaks with SLA GLBTIC member Stephen Fleming.

Additional Frank Kameny Resources are available on the SLA GLitter BiTs blog.

National Diversity in Libraries Conference, 2010: Call for Proposals

Call for Proposals

The 2010 National Diversity in Libraries Conference, NDLC2010: From Groundwork to Action, will take place from July 14-16, 2010 in Princeton, NJ.

The National Diversity in Libraries Conference (NDLC) is a biennial event that serves as a regional meeting for library staff members to discuss diversity issues, especially issues common to the host region's culture.

The 2010 NDLC Planning Committee invites you to submit a proposal for presentation at the conference. Proposal submission details are listed below.

Suggested Topics/Tracks

Conference presentations are sought in all areas of diversity, including but not limited to, the following:

• Workplace: administration and management; recruitment and retention; leadership; continuing education; mentoring; organizational culture; office environment; budgeting; motivation; staff skill development; cross-training; usability.

• User services: reference; collections; programming; health education; assessment; instructional design; marketing; collaborations; community spaces/learning spaces; outreach; the Library as a Place; customer service; consumerization; usability.

• Technology: emerging technologies; technology services; social networking; teaching and learning; innovations; online learning; core competencies; Library 2.0; YouTube; digitization; open source; visual media; web-based collaborative software; learning 2.0, second life; widgets/applications/mashups; virtual libraries/scan on demand.

Presentation Formats

Presentations may take one of the following formats:

• Individual presentation
• Poster session
• Panel session

Submission Guidelines

Proposals which include all of the following will be considered:

• Name and contact information for principal contact (if more than one person will be presenting);
• Complete contact information for all speakers: include name, title, employer or affiliation, email address, telephone/fax numbers;
• Title of proposed program;
• Program theme;
• Program format;
• A brief (100 words or less) description of the program for conference program purposes;
• A detailed description (up to 500 words) for proposal submission review;
• At least three learning outcomes;
• Audiovisual/equipment requirements (if any); and
• Biographical statement of the presenter(s) (up to 50 words per presenter).

Proposal submission deadline: October 2, 2009.

Notifications will be made by early December, 2009.

Selection Criteria

The successful proposals will:

• Identify critical diversity issues that will be treated in the program;
• Demonstrate how the audience will be engaged in program;
• Have a high degree of relevance to the projected conference attendees;
• Contain program content that can be re-purposed for continued discussion after the conference;
• Be unique and innovative or raise issues that have not yet been widely examined; and
• Have its foundation in recognized diversity research and/or statistics or presents new research and/or statistics

How to Submit Proposals

Submit proposals by email (Word document or PDF attachment) to ndlc2010 (at) Princeton (dot) EDU; Please also direct questions about the conference to this address (you will be required to confirm that you are sending a message to this email address).
Proposal submission deadline: October 2, 2009.

Charles Francis's presentation on the Kameny Paper's Project

Charles Francis, a public affairs consultant in Washington, D.C. who founded “The Kameny Papers Project" addressed the SLA’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues Caucus at their annual meeting at the 2009 Annual Conference.

Mr. Francis spoke about his work with Kameny Papers Project, an archive of letters, memorabilia, and writings of Frank Kameny. Francis described Kameny as the “Rosa Parks” of the LGBT Rights’ movement.

Kameny, a veteran from WWII, was fired from his job in the federal government when it was discovered he was gay. Instead of accepting the dismissal Kameny began a letter writing campaign to administrators in the federal government. Mr. Francis distributed copies of letters from the collection, written by two different administrators in the federal government. The letters were a stark contrast from language used today referring to LGBT people as “sexual perverts not suitable for federal employment,” saying that all LGBT individuals are “automatically a security risk” and “a disruptive factor within any organization.”

Kameny refused to accept these letters as the final answer. He appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court. He then became an activist and organized the first LGBT White House picketing in 1966. In the 1973 he stormed the American Psychiatric Association’s Conference and helped motivate the association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Today at the age of 84 Kameny remains active in the LGBT community and recently headlined in the Washington DC’s 2009 Capital Pride Parade. Kameny’s papers chronicles his experiences first as an outraged dismissed employee and later as a trailblazing activist.

The most remarkable aspect of the collection isn’t its size (over 50,000 documents) but that the items survived. LGBT material has historically not stood the test of time. According to Mr. Francis this could be due to simple neglect or societal prejudice. Mr. Francis described the destruction of the largest collection of LGBT material by Nazis in 1933, at Magnus Hirschfeld’s library in his Institute for Sexual Research as an example of governmental endorsed obliteration of knowledge and history. Because of the incredible loss of knowledge and history to the LGBT community Mr. Francis sees the preservation of LGBT material as a kind of activism.

So in 2006, when Mr. Francis first learned that Kameny still had this material sitting in the attic of his house, he saw the importance of this collection. Given the hostile history haunting LGBT material Mr. Francis wasn’t sure how interested the Library of Congress would be in owning its first openly LGBT collection. However shortly after meeting with the 20th Century Political Historian of the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Mr. Francis received a letter of interest from the historian that read, “A comprehensive understanding of history requires that historians, and those who read history, see how government policies and public attitudes affected real individuals and how individuals reacted, adjusted, and grappled with their position.”      

Mr. Francis worked with a professional appraiser to ascertain the value of the collection. The problem however was that at the time there were no other LGBT archival materials to compare the collection to for appraisal. Once a value was agreed upon funds were raised via private donors to purchase Kameny’s material and donate it to the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress spent over a year and half indexing the collection and today the material is available to the public in the Library’s manuscript reading room.

Mr. Francis finished his presentation by recalling a meeting he had with Harry Rubenstein, the head of the Politics and Reform section of the National Museum of American History. Mr. Rubenstein showed Mr. Francis that the picket signs Kameny used at his White House protest were housed with Thomas Jefferson’s lap desk and the inkwell Lincoln penned the Emancipation Proclamation with. What the curator was telling Mr. Francis was that “the gay and lesbian papers and pickets do not exist in a world apart from the American story; they actually embody and renew America’s story.” 

More information about the collection and a sample of documents are available at http://www.kamenypapers.org/ .

SLA 2009 Virtual "After-Party" in Second Life - June 26!

Okay, I exaggerate ... it's more of a post-conference wrap-up, but "after-party" makes a shorter and more attention-grabbing headline!

The SLA in Virtual Worlds Advisory Council invites us all to join Janice Lachance, CEO of SLA, and Gloria Zamora, SLA President, for a "post-conference unconference" at the SLA space in Second Life! Chat with them and other of us SLA members about the highlights of the SLA 2009 Conference, our caucus dinner or the Pride Parade! Here's a unique, post-conference chance to share what you learned at SLA 2009, or ask questions about the conference if you were not able to attend! 

• When: June 26, 2009, 8AM SLT (Second Life Time: 8AM PT / 11AM ET)

• Where: SLA space in Second Life (SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City%20II/59/100/22)

Getting started: Haven't been into Second Life (SL) yet? This is a great reason to jump in and join the conversation! The SLA in Second Life wiki has a helpful section on what you need to do to get started: how to get an avatar, how to get to the SLA space in Second Life, how to download the software, how to join the SLA Group in Second Life (Special Libraries Assoc. in SL), etc.  See http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLASECONDLIFE/Getting+started+in+Second+Life

Second Life help:  Members of the SLA in Virtual Worlds Council will be in Second Life one hour prior to the session on the 26th to help you with some Second Life basics, answer any questions, etc. Drop by the SLA Site in Second Life as early as 7am SLT (7am PT / 10am ET) if you need some additional help prior to the session.

We hope to see you there!

Sean Henry, "Florian Blaisdale" in SL (see right)

Maryland SLA Chapter President-Elect,
GLBTIC Member,
Special Libraries Assoc. in SL Participant

(relaying/repackaging the invitation from the SLA in Virtual Worlds Advisory Council)

• When: June 26, 2009, 8AM SLT (Second Life Time: 8AM PT / 11AM ET)

• Where: SLA space in Second Life (SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City%20II/59/100/22)

Getting started: Haven't been into Second Life (SL) yet? This is a great reason to jump in and join the conversation! The SLA in Second Life wiki has a helpful section on what you need to do to get started: how to get an avatar, how to get to the SLA space in Second Life, how to download the software, how to join the SLA Group in Second Life (Special Libraries Assoc. in SL), etc.  See http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLASECONDLIFE/Getting+started+in+Second+Life

Second Life help:  Members of the SLA in Virtual Worlds Council will be in Second Life one hour prior to the session on the 26th to help you with some Second Life basics, answer any questions, etc. Drop by the SLA Site in Second Life as early as 7am SLT (7am PT / 10am ET) if you need some additional help prior to the session.

We hope to see you there!

Sean Henry, "Florian Blaisdale" in SL (see right)

Maryland SLA Chapter President-Elect,
GLBTIC Member,
Special Libraries Assoc. in SL Participant

(relaying/repackaging the invitation from the SLA in Virtual Worlds Advisory Council)

We hope to see you there!

Sean Henry, "Florian Blaisdale" in SL (see right)

Maryland SLA Chapter President-Elect,
GLBTIC Member,
Special Libraries Assoc. in SL Participant

(relaying/repackaging the invitation from the SLA in Virtual Worlds Advisory Council)

Call for Caucus Co-Convener

Our fabulous GLBT Issues Caucus is looking for a co-convener to help plan events and communications with our members for the next two years.

Since the caucus was founded in 1995, we have usually selected (or elected) two co-conveners every other year. To help preserve continuity, we're asking members to switch the schedule to one convener named every year. To start off in 2009, we would select one convener for one year and one for two years.

I've been fortunate to serve as convener for two years with guys who have planned great events (Chris Mulready last year in Seattle and Chris Vestal this year in DC), while I've focused more on communications and administration. Though the caucus gets together officially only at the annual convention, we meet virtually via discussions on our listserv and on our blog. (Maybe also Second Life, Twitter, or whatever else is coming.) Chris V. has also put together some great Happy Hours for MD/NOVA/DC members. There's plenty of room for creativity as convener, but the job is not overwhelming.

At the caucus business meeting on Tuesday, June 16 at 1:30 p.m. (in Convention Center Room 303), we'll ask members to consider being a co-convener. Chris V. is interested in serving another year, so we'd like to get a willing gal or guy to take the two-year spot.

The caucus typically has a budget of $500 to $600, depending on the number of members, which you can use for our New Orleans programming next year. Convener bonus: You'll get to pose for pictures in a beautiful tiara traditionally passed down from one convener to the next!

If you can't commit to serving as a convener, you can still help plan and give us ideas to make SLA's Centennial Plus One as great as this year's convention.

If you have any questions please contact Chris V. or me.

Best regards,
Eric Schwarz
Caucus co-convener, 2007-09

No Closet at the Library: 19 Graphic Novels for Gay & Lesbian Pride Month

Check out Library Journal's article on GLBT comics and graphic novels, as well as Prism Comics, "a nonprofit organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) comics, creators, and readers."

As for why the LJ article is titled, "The Library Don't Have a Closet," I doesn't know what the editors were thinking. (Maybe it'll be corrected by the time you read this.)

DC Chapter Welcomes SLA Centennial Attendees

The helpful note below is from Greta D. Ober, 2009 DC Chapter President.

The wiki Greta lists is a great place to find roommates (http://wiki.sla.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=27624346) or a ride share: (http://wiki.sla.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=27625241).

See you in DC!
Eric Schwarz

---

Colleagues, Washington, DC welcomes all SLA 2009 Attendees to the Centennial Celebration and Annual Conference.

The DC Chapter is delighted to assist in hosting this historic conference.

Be sure to stop by the DC Information Booth located near the SLA Registration area in the Washington Convention Center. We have the "Official Visitors Guide" which is packed with information you want and need. Major areas cover Museums, Theatres, Restaurants, Shopping, Hotels, Special Events and Maps.

In the Guide you will find Special emphasis on the Lincoln Centennial, the Green Scene of parks and gardens, and Summer Spotlight which features Festivals, Concerts and Other Celebrations. Other items we'll provide include METRO Pocket Maps, other maps of DC, Special brochures of the National Mall as well as the SLA 2009 Conference Pin.

Special Drawings held each day, so be sure to deposit your business card for great prizes. Drawings daily Sat-Tues at 4:45 p.m.; Wednesday 11:45 a.m.

We promise the prizes will be easily portable!

Use the DC SLA Wiki (http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLA2009) to learn specific things about the DC Neighborhoods, interesting things to do with kids - Toddlers to Teens using the "Our Kids" web site (many coupons for savings listed there!). Our Volunteers have been working on this page for more than a year....it is a real gold mine!

The DC Chapter Volunteers will be available to answer questions, make suggestions and generally welcome you to DC.

DC Information Booth: Saturday - Tuesday staffed from 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.; Wednesday 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

There will be a special Restaurant Concierge located near our booth to assist in making reservations.
---Washington, DC Chapter  (http://units.sla.org/chapter/cdc/) ---->  Looking forward to seeing you in DC!!

Greta D. Ober, 2009 DC Chapter President