University of Arizona's Press Conference concerning closing programs.

Even though SIRLS was not the subject of yesterday’s press conference, the lead photo in Today’s Tucson Citizen is of two very visible SIRLS supporters! Way to go!

Linda and Annabelle will soon be bringing supplies to the school so that more of us may wear these “SAVE SIRLS” stickers. They should be ready in time for the Town Hall Meeting this coming Tuesday.

 
This great article appeared in today's newspaper! For non-Tucsonans, this is from Mr. Portillo's regular column which is printed "above the fold" on the front page of the Tucson/Region section of the paper. --Lisa
___________________________________________________
Arizona Daily Star
Thursday, 23 January 2003

Ernesto Portillo Jr.

Item: UA should rethink decision to fold school of library sciences

Item: Arizona state Rep. Marian McClure, R-Tucson, has introduced a bill that requires a certified librarian in every public school. Many schools do not have qualified librarians.

Item: A shortage of professional librarians is looming. It is estimated that 58 percent of aging librarians will begin retiring after 2005, and 40 percent of library directors will retire within three years.

Item: Nearly 100 percent of University of Arizona library science students will find jobs in their field when they graduate.

Item: Of the estimated 125,000 librarians in the country, fewer than 3 percent are Latino and fewer than 1 percent are American Indian.

Item: The UA proposes to eliminate the School of Information Resources and Library Science, the only one of its kind in the Rocky Mountain states.

It's not easy being UA President Peter Likins these days. He and Provost George Davis are wrestling with the unenviable task of cutting programs to save money and to streamline the university's operations.

On Wednesday, Likins and Davis proposed mergers in some engineering and science studies.

They also suggested that programs in environmental science, ethnic and gender studies, and journalism and communication and media arts retool.

But library sciences has no such option. It's either find outside funding, merge with another program or be gone.

"I don't want to eliminate it," Likins said Wednesday. But the onus is on library sciences, he added. Maybe I can't see the big picture that Likins and Davis do, but it's baffling.

Library sciences, which involves information gathering and collecting, is a bedrock of the university's existence.

The university is not alone using libraries as foundations. Communities rely on librarians who venture into neglected ethnic neighborhoods to unlock the world of increasingly complicated information.

Librarians long ago shed their passive role of checking out books. They are aggressive specialists an information-based society needs.

"Information literacy is critical to the future of the work force in the state," said Brooke Sheldon, director of the embattled program.

The demand may be dropping for mining engineers, French literature specialists and landscape architects, but the need for librarians grows as the public and politicians demand improvements in literacy.

Sheldon said schools with trained librarians produce students with higher test scores in reading and writing.

That's why McClure introduced the bill a second time.

Librarians not only work with students to become better readers, librarians collaborate with teachers to reinforce the lessons they teach, McClure said.

She doesn't give her bill a chance in the Legislature because it provides the school districts with no state funds. But she wants to send a message: We need librarians. The UA is also sending a message, but it's one that conflicts with previous guidelines.

Likins has said the future UA needs to focus on Latino and American Indian communities as one of its core missions,

Library sciences has been doing that. In the 1970s, the UA produced a long list of bilingual librarians who took library services into the barrios and rural areas.

Today, a two-year, $500,000 grant supports the UA's "Knowledge River" program, through which 30 Latino and American Indian graduate students will graduate this year and next.

Likins said the UA cannot afford to maintain the library sciences program any longer.

But can we afford to lose it?

* Contact Ernesto Portillo Jr. at 573-4242 or e-mail netopjr@azstarnet.com. He appears on "Arizona Illustrated," KUAT-TV Channel 6, at 6:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Fridays.

All content copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers
SOURCE: http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/30123Portillo2f2frjs-jmd.html

 
More on writing letters

I was talking with Carla today and she said that one of the most powerful things we can do when we write as advocates of SIRLS is to tell our individual stories. Were you a Gates Scholar? A GLISA graduate? A distance student? Tell them how you impact your community as a graduate of SIRLS. (see addresses below in Christine's note)

The school is working on some "talking points," but both Brooke and Carla have commented that in their experience, letters with personal points of view are more persuasive than dozens that all quote the same statistics.

And like Christine says, try to keep it as short as you can.

--Lisa
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Lisa Waite Bunker
Librarian | Web Designer

 
Write to the President of UofA

So many letters and emails have rained down on President Likins and Provost George Davis as well as the focus@email.arizona.edu address that they are well aware now that we are not just rolling over. What we need to do now is also write the Dean of the Graduate College and the Vice-Provost. These persons on also in on the conversations and we want to be foremost in every decision-maker's mind.

Their addresses are:

Mr. Gary Pivo
Dean of the Graduate College
The University of Arizona
P.O. Box 210066 / Admin. Rm.# 302b
Tucson, AZ 85721-0066
gpivo@u.arizona.edu

Ms. Elizabeth Ervin
c/o Ms. Anna Elias-Cesnik
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
P.O. Box 210066 / Admin Rm.# 512b
Tucson, AZ 85721-0066

Dr. Seavey, a former SIRLS professor of note encourages us thus:
(begin quote from Seavey)
If you know a politician, particularly in the AZ legislature, rattle their cage.

Here are some email addresses:
p.likins@arizona.edu - Likens is President
gdavis@u.arizona.edu - Davis is Provost
gpivo@u.arizona.edu - Pivo is graduate dean
edonners@u.arizona.edu - Donnerstein is dean of SBS

For good measure jgarza@asu.edu gets to the Board of Regents, and there is a message system for the Governor at www.governor.state.az.us/...edback.cfm

If this is important to you, to your community, DO NOT let this slide. Email these folks. Email your families. Email your home town librarians if you live in Arizona. Create a GIANT uproar, or the school will go down the tubes.
(end Seavey message quote)

SO LET'S ALL KEEP WRITING!!! WE CANNOT REST. THERE ARE LIKELY MUCH LESS THAN 100 DAYS TO INFLUENCE THESE PEOPLE. A WEEK HAS ALREADY PASSED, SO DON'T DELAY. REMEMBER WITH WRITTEN LETTERS, KEEP THEM SHORT IF IT YOU WANT IT ALL READ. WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, MAYOR, SENATOR AND CC PRESIDENT LIKINS!

IF YOU CAN, SHOW UP AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE AND BE COUNTED ON OUR SIDE. ALSO GO TO THE TOWN HALL AT THE DRAMA SCHOOL ON CAMPUS ON TUES 28TH AT 12:00PM. SEE YOU THERE!
christine dykgraaf
Christine Dykgraaf
dykgraaf@u.arizona.edu