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COLA Annual Meeting
By alicia | February 18, 2013
The Rhode Island Coalition of Library Advocates held its annual meeting at the State House on Tuesday, February 12. COLA is a statewide grass-roots library support group. Its work includes legislative advocacy, community education, public awareness, and support for library Friends groups. COLA is represented on the Library Board of Rhode Island.
Senator David Bates (Rep., Barrington/Bristol) and Representative Joy Hearn (Dem., Barrington/East Providence) were named the 2013 Sweethearts of the Year, in recognition of their distinguished service to Rhode Island’s libraries. The two are shining examples of bipartisan effectiveness: they co-chair the Karla Harry Commission on Libraries, formed in 2006 to study how our public, K-12, college, and special libraries can work together effectively, save money, and deliver the best possible library service to all Rhode Islanders.
COLA awards two annual scholarships to students in the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (GSLIS) whose academic achievements and service commitments promise careers that will enrich Rhode Island libraries. The 2013 Linda Aldrich School Library Media Scholarship was awarded to Kristin Ripley-McNamar, and the William Bergeron Public Library Scholarhip to Rhoads Elliott Stevens.
Guest speaker for the event was Dr. Renee Hobbs, Professor and Founding Director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island, where she is also Interim Director of GSLIS. A national authority on digital and media literacy, Dr. Hobbs discussed four central values for the rapidly changing field of librarianship: memory, search, community, and voice. Whatever platforms and media we adopt in the future, these will remain important, as cultural memory helps shape our creative questing into the future, knit us together into democratic communities, and empower us to find our individual voices.
New COLA officers are Gale Eaton, chair; Jessica Barry, vice-chair; and Neeltje Henneman, treasurer and recording secretary. New board members are Donna Good and Brigitte Hopkins; continuing board members are Michelina Bonneau, Loretta Cimini, Jay Litman, Nancy McEnanly, Mark McKenney, and Tom Viall; ex officio members of the board are Howard Boksenbaum, Joan Ress Reeves and Rose Ellen Reynolds, Harold Gadon, and representatives of ARIHSL, CRIARL, the Office for Library and Information Services, the School Librarians of Rhode Island, the RI Library Association, and the RI chapter of the Special Library Association. For more information about COLA, see http://www.colari.org/.
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