Awards

News

July 9, 2007

CHICAGO – Barbara Immroth, professor, School of Information, University of Texas – Austin, has been selected as the 2007 winner of the American Library Association (ALA) / Beta Phi Mu Award, joining a roster of distinguished educators who have received this honor over the past four decades.

This annual award, consisting of $1,000 and a 24k gold-framed citation of achievement, is given to a library school faculty member or to an individual for distinguished service to education for librarianship, and is sponsored by the Beta Phi Mu International Library Science Honorary Society.

Immroth was recognized for her extensive and lasting impact on education for youth services librarians in school and public libraries. She has devoted her long and impressive career to fostering scholarship among library youth services professionals, raising funds for their education and mentoring future educators to teach in this area. Through highly acclaimed dedication to the advancement of library service to young people, she has made a major contribution to society as well as to her profession. Her leadership, energy, and counseling, coupled with both an intellectual and practical approach to her activities, has enabled her to help shape the careers of many librarians.

Among her many professional activities, Barbara Immroth is a past-president of Beta Phi Mu and of the Association for Library Service to Children, a trustee of the American Library Association Freedom to Read Foundation, a president of the Texas Library Association, an ALA Councilor, and a member of many international, national, and regional library committees. Her publication record is extensive and exemplary.

July 3, 2007

The Beta Phi Mu General Assembly in Washington D.C.on June 23rd went really well. It was great to see so many of the Chapters represented at the meeting. Not only did we have a good number of representatives from various chapters there but we also had several general members attend. It was exciting to hear about all the service activities taking place at the chapter level. In addition, we held an initiation of members from the Omega Chapter. It was my first time to experience an initiation and I felt proud to be affiliated with such a great organization.

Thank you to all of those that attended from Beta Lambda, Iota, Gamma, Alpha, Omega, Omicron, Theta, Pi Lambda, Beta Phi, and Lambda Chapters. I should have the minutes from the General Assembly up on the website soon so that all of you who could not attend can enjoy reading about the meeting. For those of you that couldn't make it, please mark your calendars ahead for next year as Beta Phi Mu will celebrate it's 60th anniversary at the General Assembly meeting. I'll keep you posted with the details of that meeting as they unfold.

One of the things we are working on here at Headquarters is our membership directory database. Please let either myself or your chapter know if your address has changed since you were first initiated into Beta Phi Mu. I am also adding the e-mail addresses of our members into the database however not everyone had e-mail when they first became Beta Phi Mu members. For those of you that fall into this category, please send me your current contact information along with your e-mail address.

Thanks again to all who attended the General Assembly meeting and I look forward to seeing many more of you at the Beta Phi Mu 60th Anniversary Celebration next year.

Melody Venable

May 2, 2007

As a reminder, the ALA Affiliates' first-ever conference program, "Avenues of Advocacy: Helping Members Make a Difference," will be held on Saturday, June 23 from 8:00-10:00 a.m. in the Washington Convention Center, room 201. Thanks to Carla Funk for chairing and organizing the program! We want a good showing of Affiliate members in the audience, so please mark your conference schedules to attend — and start thinking of ideas for next year's program.

"Avenues of Advocacy: Helping Members Make a Difference" "Advocacy can mean many things. It can help promote and build our libraries' services and programs and/or build important relationships both inside and outside our members' institutions. It can also help our individual members advocate on their own behalf. This session sponsored by the ALA Affiliates Group discusses using outreach, legislation and regulatory collaborations, and library standards as examples of ways to advocate on behalf of your membership, library, and yourself."

Speakers: Jeanne Brown, Hd/Architecture Library, University of Nevada; Carla Funk, Executive Director, Medical Library Association; Duane Webster, Executive Director, Assn. of Research Libraries; Nan Myers, Assoc Prof & Libn, Govt Docs, Wichita State University

Track: Administration & Leadership; Advocacy, Marketing, & Fundraising

Events

Iota Chapter

The 2006 Beta Phi Mu, Iota Chapter Annual Meeting occurred on Thursday, February 23 at the Library of Congress. President Andrea Gruhl called the meeting to order. Deputy Librarian of Congress Dr. Deanna Marcum welcomed attendees and introduced Guest Speaker Dr. Reg Carr. Dr. Carr is the Director of University Library Services and Bodley’s Librarian, University of Oxford, England.

These photographs are of Dr. Carr, the 2006-2007 Iota Executive Board, and two Iota Chapter scholarship recipients from Catholic University and the University of Maryland.


Chapter Workshop

Beta Phi Mu, headquarters is interested in strengthening and revitalizing the Society’s chapter activity. On January 19th, 2007, in conjunction with the ALA-Midwinter meeting, a Beta Phi Mu, Chapter workshop will take place in Seattle, Washington. This meeting is for our chapter officers or their delegates. Please plan on attending. The location has not been assigned yet but the workshop is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Contact Melody Venable at 850-644-3907 if you are able to attend or need additional information.

Distinguished Lectures