Ms. Phillips retired from the Wayne State University Library and Information Science Program where she taught for 23 years. She was honored for her scholarly achievements and service to the university with the distinction of Professor Emeritus.

During her illustrious career she taught various courses in cataloging and technical services to more than 3,500 students, offered multiple lectures and addresses, published, served as a consultant to libraries, and was awarded grants to pursue her research interests. At her retirement, Edith was remembered not only as a faculty member but as an advocate of faculty rights, an author and educator with high ethical values. She remained a lifelong mentor to students and library professionals.

Professor Phillips’ career began in 1949 when she received her Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Michigan. She worked in academic, public, and special libraries in Michigan and Illinois, including serving as head of the Cataloging Department for the State Library of Michigan. She was a member of the American and Michigan Library Associations.

Professor Phillips served for many years on the Southfield Library Board and was instrumental in the planning, design and construction of the new Southfield Library building.

She was an active 50-year member of the League of Women Voters, serving as president and on several League boards. She researched and assisted in the development of the League’s international positions. Professor Phillips was a longtime member of the ACLU and the Jane Austen Society.

After her retirement, she continued her active life, volunteering at the Detroit Institute of Arts and reading newspapers for the visually impaired over the radio. She continued to enjoy and support the many cultural institutions in the city, including the Detroit Repertory and Hilberry theatres, and was able to spend summers at her beloved cottage on Lake Michigan. She was an avid reader and always enjoyed challenging crossword puzzles. Professor Phillips was born and raised on a farm in Shelby, Michigan. She had five siblings. She was always proud that her parents, Jessie and Boyd had a strong belief in the value of educating women. Her mother, Jessie, was a kindergarten teacher.

After World War II, Professor Phillips married Clarence Phillips. They had two children, Jonathan Kirk and Sara Grace. Sadly, Clarence and the children died from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) within five years of each other. At this very bleak period in her life, her courage was sustained by the love and kindness of her many friends, colleagues, and family.

The family deeply appreciates the special love and compassion Professor Phillips received from her very dear friend Karen Ethridge, who in recent years helped her to balance her strong desire to remain independent with her increasing health care needs.

She is survived by her loving and devoted sister Jeanette Crowl of Grand Rapids, her nieces Andrea Zegoski, Patricia Crowl and Laura Mitchell, and nephews Mark Crowl and James Grossen. She also enjoyed the company of her seven grandnieces and nephews, and great grandnieces and nephews.

A memorial celebration of Professor Phillips’ life will be held on Saturday, March 15 at 10 a.m., at the Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church, 23925 Northwestern Hwy., Southfield Mich. 48075. All are welcome. Memorial contributions may be sent to: Edith B. Phillips Endowed Scholarship, Wayne State University, Library and Information Science Program, 106 Kresge Library, Detroit, MI 48202.

Please add a comment to this story and share a memory of Professor Phillips.

This year, 50% of the LIS Program’s graduates contributed to the survey.

Overall, Wayne State graduates experienced increased positions within libraries especially public, more placements in Michigan, shorter job searches and increased salaries in comparison to the 2005-2006 class.

106 respondents; 212 total graduates for the 2006-07 academic year

• 97 Employed
• 4 Unemployed
• 2 Continuing education

Are you currently employed in a library?

• Yes: 81% 2005-06: 75%
• No: 16%
• N/A: 3%

Type of Position:

• Full-time: 61%
• Part-time: 26%
• No Response: 12%

Type of Organization

• Academic Library (17)
• Elementary/Secondary School (14)
• Government Library (1)
• Public Library (43) 2005-06: 32
• Special Library (4)
• Vendor (3)
• Other (9) Banking, Education, Non-profit think-tank, Museum

Location of Placement

• Michigan (74) 2005-06: 69
  
• Alabama (2)
• California (1)
• Illinois (1)
• Massachusetts (1)
• New York (1)
• New Zealand (1)
• Ohio (1)
• Ontario, Canada (4)
• Pennsylvania (2)
• South Carolina (1)
• Texas (2)
• Virginia (1)

Months between graduation and placement

• Less than 1 month (16) 2005-06: 5
• 1-3 months (11)
  • 1 month (5)
  • 2 months (4)
  • 3 months (2)
• 4-6 months (9)
  • 4 months (3)
  • 5 months (3)
  • 6 months (3)

• 7-9 months (4)
  • 7 months (1)
  • 9 months (3)

• 12 months (2)

• No response (64)

WSU average entry-level salary as reported to Library Journal: $43,540 2005-06: $40,000

Academic: $39,940

Public: $36,601

School Library Media: $48,931

Special Library: $48,571
(includes medical, art, historical, industrial/corporate, museum libraries that are not part of a college/university)

Vendor: $64,833

Note: Incomplete information was omitted.

To find out how other MLIS graduates faired in the job market, read the full article on Library Journal’s website.

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Established in 1997, the Spectrum Scholarship program is ALA’s national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address the specific issue of under-representation of critically needed ethnic librarians within the profession while serving as a model for ways to bring attention to larger diversity issues.

On her award, Blakely said, “I am honored and extremely happy to have received the Spectrum Scholarship. So far it has been an excellent experience.” She is looking forward to the Spectrum Leadership Institute next summer and continuing her studies in academic librarianship.

In addition to the scholarship award, Spectrum recipients also benefit from professional development opportunities including the leadership institute, ALA membership and conference travel grants.

To read more about Blakely or about the other Spectrum Scholarship winners, visit the scholars’ pages on Flickr.

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Morgan suggests that students begin building their professional networks and relationships before graduation. To achieve this goal, she suggests that students join professional associations. For example, as a student, Morgan joined ALA and wrote e-mails to librarians in academia about the profession. She also approached the librarians at Wayne State’s Undergraduate Library about gaining experience and began a work-study project. Her work-study project later became a graduate student assistantship at the library.

Of her experience at WSU, Morgan says, “My former colleagues at the UGL were wonderful ‘hands-on’ mentors. As a result of taking these steps, I have a professional community of academic librarians who are open to continued professional dialog.”

Morgan is currently the First Year Experience Librarian at the University of Notre Dame. She is a “renaissance woman” in promoting librarianship, encouraging the development of librarians of color and leading literacy initiatives in her community.

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P r o g r e s s i v e L i b r a r y S k i l l s h a r e

Opening Speaker

Sanford Berman started off Saturday with a talk that
would spur even the most lethargic into action. He
told us of how he saw many mistakes made by the
Library of Congress with different subject headings,
and was able to get many changes made. For example, the LC subject headings now include transexualism and intersex as a result of his work. For more information on Sandy Berman, see his website.

Skillshare Activities!

• International responsibilities and libraries with Tom Twiss
• Bookbinding with Encyclopedia Destructica
• Health information and resources with Jude from Be Well!
• Library services for homeless people
• Tips for setting up an alternative press with Veronica from Fractious Press
• Postcards/letters for prisoners with Tricia from Book’Em

Want to know more about this skillshare? Visit the Progressive Library Skillshare website.

Are you interested in helping host a skillshare at WSU? Contact Jessica Walker at ay5143@wayne.edu.

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The essay outlines traditional descriptions of reference services and examines the claim that reference service remains vital to libraries in general, particularly academic institutions. Ultimately, Jung believes that reference service is an intrinsic part of the academic library and that reference philosophy should be cultivated both individually and communally.

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Kristen Malecki was awarded the 2007 Margery A. Long Scholarship for Archival Administration. This scholarship provides assistance to students in financing their education in archival administration at Wayne State University. This annual award honoring the nationally-recognized Reuther Library audiovisual archivist, Margery Long, was established to recognize scholastic achievement and to encourage continued academic progress.

Shirley Langebartels and Cathy Serra were the 2007 recipients of the student scholarships offered by the Michigan Health Sciences Libraries Association (MHSLA). The scholarships provide students with full conference registration for the MHSLA annual conference.

Congratulations to Kristen, Shirley and Cathy!

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Judith J. Field, LIS Senior Lecturer, discusses her experience at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference.

Both Hermina Anghelescu and I attended the IFLA Conference in Durban, South Africa. There were 3,018 attendees and approximately 980 were from South Africa and another 300 from the rest of Africa. Justice Albie Sachs was our Keynote Speaker. As a human rights activist, he was imprisoned and went into exile in 1966. He returned to South Africa in 1988 and lost an eye and arm to a car bomb while continuing to work for Constitutional Democracy. After the first democratic election, Mandela appointed him to the newly established Constitutional Court. He spoke eloquently about the need for free access to information. It was one of the most inspiring talks that I have heard at an IFLA meeting.

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Dr. Hermina Anghelescu

• Attended the IFLA World Library and Information Congress held in Durban, South Africa, August 19-23, 2007. In Durban, she was elected Chair of the Library History Section for 2007-2009.

• After the conference, Anghelescu spent five days in Pretoria, where she was invited to lecture at the Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria (http://is.up.ac.za/). She also visited the construction site of the National Library of South Africa in Pretoria (http://www.nlsa.ac.za/NLSA/) and the Archives & Special Collections of the University of South Africa—UNISA—Pretoria campus (http://www.unisa.ac.za/).

• Nominated by ALA as a member of the Standing Committee of the Library History Section for the period 2007-2011.

• Appointed as associate member to the Romanian National Library Commission for the period 2007-2010. This is a joint appointment between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education. She attended the Commission’s two-day meeting held at the Onesti Municipal Library.

• Invited by the Association of Public Libraries and Librarians in Romania to give a five-day workshop on New Trends in Library and Information Science at the Cluj County Library in Cluj-Napoca, July 16-20 2007. She also gave a three-day workshop in Busteni, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture’s Center for Continuing Education.

Dr. Lynda Baker

• Williamson, C., Baker, L. M., Jenkins, M., & Cluse-Tolar, T. (2007). Police-prostitute interactions: Sometimes discretion, sometimes misconduct. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 18(2), 15-37.

Judith J. Field

• Attended the IFLA Conference in Durban South Africa where she was reelected as Chair of the Knowledge Management Section.

Dr. John Heinrichs

• Published Winning Strategies from Competitive Analytics, Heinrichs & Lim, 2007, Thomson in August.

Dr. Robert Holley

• Edited Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar: Essays in Honor of Ruth Carter, published as Volume 44, Numbers ½ and Numbers ¾ of the Cataloging & Classification Quarterly. The book version will appear later. Within this volume, his article, “Are Technical Services Topics Underrepresented at the ACRL National Conferences?” was published. (Volume 44, Numbers ¾, pp. 259-269)

• A brief account of his experiences as ALCTS President was included in Commemorating the Past, Celebrating the Present, Creating the Future: Papers in Observance of the 50th Anniversary of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, edited by Pamela Bluh, (Chicago: American Library Association, 2007), pp. 25-27.

• On August 27, at the invitation of Better World Books, he toured their warehouse and processing center in Mishawaka, Ind. as part of his research on the out-of-print book market.

Dr. Bin Li

• Published:
  • Li, B. (2007). American Libraries and the Internet: The Social Construction of Web Appropriation and Use. NY: Cambria Press Inc.
  • Li, B. (accepted). Dealing with Uncertainty in Travelers’ Planning of Road Trips. Information Processing & Management.
  • Heinrichs, J.H., & Li, B. (in press). Integrating Electronic Notebooks In Daily Work: Training Modules For Academic Librarians. in E. Conner (Ed.). An Introduction to Staff Development in Academic Libraries. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, Inc.
• Attended 2007 American Society for Information Science & Technology in Milwaukee, WI from 10/19-23.
• Attended the 3rd International Conference on Communities and Technologies at Lansing, MI in June, 2007.

Dr. Marcia Mardis

• Submitted two papers to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2008 conference:
  • Mardis, M. and Dickinson, G. (submitted) Perception Meets Reality: Preservice School Library Media Specialists’ Approaches to Implementing New Learning Standards for Libraries.
  • Mardis, M. (submitted). Streaming Media in Schools: Patterns of Systemic Implementation and Use.

• Provided metadata and policy consultation to Library of Michigan and Michigan Department of Education for Michigan Educators’ Resources (http://mer.mel.org) digital library.

• Received notification of paper accepted for publication in International Journal of Digital Libraries (IJDL):

• Mardis, M.A., Hoffman, E.S., and Marshall, T. (in press). A New Framework for

• Educational Digital Library Use: Re-examining the Digital Divide in U.S. Schools. International Journal of Digital Libraries.

Dr. Joseph Mika

• Published, “Wayne State University Takes the Lead in Library and Information Science Using Mediasite,” Distance Learning, volume 4, no. 3, 2007, pages 69-70.

• Consulting Editor for Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, volume 17, no. 4, 2007, published

• Consulting Projects:
  • Strategic Planning Presentation, OHIONET, Columbus, OH, Oct. 1, 2007
  • Strategic Planning Session for Tecumseh District Library, Tecumseh, MI, Oct. 20, 2007
  • Strategic Planning Focus Group sessions at Tecumseh District Library, Tecumseh, MI, Oct. 29, 2007
  • Strategic planning for Clinton Macomb Public Library, Clinton Twp., MI, Sept. 13, 2007
  • Consulting on Library Director search for Brighton District Library, Brighton, MI, Sept. 18, 2007
  • Strategic planning for Tecumseh District Library, Tecumseh, MI, Sept. 19, 2007
  • Consulting on Library Director search for Novi Public Library, Novi, MI, Sept. 29, 2007
  • Consulting for Clinton Macomb Public Library on strategic planning, Clinton Twp., MI, July 10 & 13, 2007
  • Consulting for Traverse Area District Library on library reorganization, Traverse City, MI, July 25-27, 2007

• Visited the Michigan Health Science Library Association, Bay City, MI, Sept. 26, 2007

• Received $11,900 grant for research in library education curriculum from H.W. Wilson Foundation

• Selected for inclusion in 2008 edition of Who’s Who in America

Dr. Gordon Neavill

• Presented a refereed paper, “Canonicity, Reprint Publishing, and Copyright” at the SHARP (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing) conference, held at the University of Minnesota, in July.

• Appointed to a three-year term on the Wayne State University Press Editorial Board in August.

Dr. Ronald Powell

• Published, “Post-Master’s Educational Needs of Information Professionals,” in the Journal Of Access Services, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 29-43. This article was co-authored with Susan Boling, a former LIS student, and presents a study conducted in order to inform the Program’s deliberations on a possible doctoral program.

• Tayo Nagasawa, a doctoral student at Nagasaki University and research mentee for the past few years published: A Case Study on Learning and Teaching Support Provided by Earlham College Library in Library and Information Science, No. 57, 2007, pp. 33-50. This article represents some of the research that Tayo Nagasawa has been conducting for her doctoral dissertation.

• Attended CoLIS 6, An International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science held in Boras, Sweden, August 13-16. The theme of this year’s conference was “Featuring the Future.”

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