Library News, Moraine Valley Community College

This week the library was happy to host Act Out Education Through Action! A Service-Learning and Volunteer Fair. This brought together speakers, students, and local services organizations in our library. It was a great event, which featured three speakers:

Monda Pudy, founder of Share Your Soles, discusses the power of volunteering as part of the Act Out Volunteer Fair and Educational Event.

Laura Gardner, Volunteer Services Manager at Sertoma Centre, discusses the value of service as part of the Act Out Volunteer Fair and Educational Event.

Faculty member Merri Fefles discusses volunteerism as part of the Act Out Volunteer Fair and Educational Event.

The library staff would like to extend our congratulations to Dr. Sylvia Jenkins who will be the 5th president of Moraine Valley Community College. We are extremely proud of Sylvia who has been our leader, mentor and friend guiding our subdivision to high-quality service focusing on the needs of our students.

Sylvia started as a part-time librarian at Moraine Valley in 1986. She was hired as a fulltime librarian in 1988 and library coordinator in 1995. She was appointed Dean of Academic Development and Learning Resources in 2003. She is currently Vice President of Academic Affairs.

During her tenure at Moraine Valley she was selected as Master Teacher twice and received the  Vernon O. Crawley Leadership Award. Not only is she a respected leader on our campus, but she is also a leader regionally and nationally.

Those of us in the library who have worked with her for many years are not surprised by this. We know that she is a great leader and will enable the staff, faculty, and administrators at Moraine Valley to continue to be successful.

You can read the official announcement from the campus here: Dr. Sylvia Jenkins Selected as New Moraine Valley President.

Congratulations, Sylvia!!

5/1/12,  5:15pm: Thanks  for your patience, Everyone! Our “research battle stations” are fully operational!  We are up and running again!

At 3pm: The library search tool for “Books, DVDs and More . . . ” will be down for emergency maintenance at 3pm today.  To search for materials, please use our Classic Catalog, available at: http://library.morainevalley.edu/ .  You can still search for newspaper, magazine, and journal articles via the library’s Research Tools page.

Sorry for any inconvenience.  Thank you for your patience!  We will let you know when we are back online.

We wanted to share this press release from MVCC about the upcoming volunteer fair in the library:

• Moraine Valley to host volunteer fair. Education through Action is the theme of ACT OUT 2012, a mostly student-run service-learning/volunteer fair at Moraine Valley Community College on Monday, April 30, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. and Tuesday, May 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Events will take place both days in the campus Library, 9000 W. College Pkwy in Palos Hills. Students from assistant professor Mike McGuire’s Composition II classes will exhibit their experiences working with local service and not-for-profit organizations such as the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Habitat for Humanity and the Cook County Forest Preserve District on April 30. A speaker from one of the organizations will tentatively give a presentation at 2:30 p.m.The main event is on May 1 when Mona Purdy, founder of Share Your Soles, imparts her story of how one woman set her mind to making a small difference and has since brought over 1.25 million pairs of shoes to impoverished people around the world. She will speak from 11 to 11:40 a.m. Students also will have displays of their work with The Little Red Schoolhouse Education Center and Sertoma Center, among others.Community members are encouraged to check out the fair, see what students have been up to and learn about how to get involved through service and action in the community.For more information on the event, contact McGuire at (708) 974-5770 or mcguirem72@morainevalley.edu. Visit the college Facebook page, www.facebook.com/morainevalleycommunitycollege for updated information on speakers and organizations to present at the fair.

American students struggle in math and science. Larry Langellier discusses how the Lego project engages students in scientific thinking and problem solving. This was part of the TLC learning event.

Faculty member Tamarra Coleman-Hill who has worked with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics discusses cosmetics for Men and Women. This event is part of Moraine Valley’s Earth Month Celebration.

We welcomed Elise Auerbach, Amnesty International’s Iran Specialist, who will discuss the current state of human rights in Iran. This event was part of the One Book, One College program on Roxana Saberi.

We welcomed Eric Garcia of the National Museum of Mexican Art who discussed the art and culture of Mexico. This event was sponsored by Liberal Arts.

On Wednesday, April 11th, we welcomed Indiana State University professor and poet Matthew Brennan for a special poetry reading of his new collection Light of Common Day.

Audio of this event is available below:

Please join us in the library (L208) on Tuesday, April 24 at 12:00 to discuss our fiction choice:  The Underside of Joy by Sere Prince Halverson.  As the publisher writes…Set against the backdrop of Redwood forests and shimmering vineyards, Seré Prince Halverson’s compelling debut tells the story of two women, bound by an unspeakable loss, who each claims to be the mother of the same two children.  All members of the MVCC community are welcome!

For more info, contact Marea Kahn kahn@morainevalley.edu or China Williams williamsc725@morainevalley.edu