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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the “Sofia 2008: Globalization and the Management of Information Resources” conference, held in Sofia, Bulgaria in November 2008.

The paper gives an outline of the issues, content, speakers, participants, social networking and location of this conference.

The Sofia 2008 conference offered an excellent balance of informative presentations and social opportunities to meet other attendees and to discuss current topics in libraries, information management, and LIS education.

The paper provides a report of the biennial international conference of value to international information and library professionals and LIS educators.

This paper aims to describe how an academic library is using federal grant money to contribute to Latino student success by strengthening library collections, archives, and information competence.

This paper examines the inequalities faced by US Latinos in higher education and how the Oviatt Library at California State University Northridge is addressing this through a project funded by a Hispanic‐Serving Institutions (HSI) Program grant from the US Department of Education. The grant project has three objectives: 1) Increase students' library use by expanding the library's collection of Latino‐related materials, library instruction program, and outreach; 2) Acquire and provide access to primary archival materials related to Latino individuals and organizations in the local community; and 3) Create and administer valid and reliable information competence assessment tools.

Grant money can be an important tool for contributing to a library's ability to respond to the needs of its community.

This case study should encourage libraries to seek funding from sources that are not generally considered.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the way the University of North Carolina Libraries have begun to incorporate library resources into their university course management system.

The paper presents a case study of course‐specific web pages that have been incorporated into BlackBoard sites as a way to facilitate the use of the library and to promote a comprehensive view of library services and resources at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Students and professors appreciate course‐specific web pages that provide access to library resources that relate directly to class assignments. Web page usage statistics show that students are using librarian‐created course pages to access library materials.

The paper describes a way for librarians to bring library resources into a course management system that may be beneficial for other academic libraries.

This chapter argues that including “studying up” (Nader, 1969), a close attention to elites and hierarchy, into the Library and Information Science (LIS) research agenda will strengthen the research the LIS community carries out on information behavior and use. Looking at issues that interest Nader, (i.e., the role class and inequity play in social life), this chapter reviews and critiques LIS user studies. The chapter then illustrates the value this approach can have for LIS researchers.

Fieldwork recently carried out in Maramureş, Romania, suggests that the cooption of science (both its authority and institutions) at local levels has helped the elite legitimatize and profit from cultural tourism as a development strategy. This research also suggests that the differential (elite) access to and use of information and knowledge especially when tied to local institutions and practices of science have been neglected in the analysis of change in post socialist states.

This paper notes that the rapid rate of demographic change in the United States of America population means that librarians must integrate Spanish language materials into their collections now if they have not already done so. It attempts to compile a current collection of high quality resources that will assist librarians in their Spanish language collection building. The paper takes an inclusive perspective and no distinction is made between Chicano, Puerto Rican, Filipino, and other geographic or cultural sub‐groups of Spanish speakers.

The paper seeks to provide an overview of the Sofia 2006: Globalization, Digitization, Access and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Conference held in Bulgaria, in November 2006.

The paper presents a description of the environment and social setting of the conference together with a selection from the conference content and comments regarding the future of the conference.

This was the largest Globenet conference to date, with participants from more than 30 nations.

This brief conference report will be of value to library and information professionals worldwide.

As the First Lady, Michelle Obama stated that she had a number of priorities but that the first year would be mainly about supporting her two girls in their transitions to their new life in the White House. Her choice to be mom-in-chief drew unusually intense and rather puzzling, scrutiny. The chapter briefly discusses the range of reactions along the political spectrum as well as African-American feminists’ analyses of the stereotypes of Black women underlying those reactions. This analysis engages the debates from a different perspective. First, the chapter addresses the under-theorizing of the racialized gender norms embedded in the symbolism of the White House and the role of First Lady. It challenges the presumption of traditional notions of true womanhood and the incorrect conclusion that mothering would preclude public engagement.

Second and most importantly, this chapter argues that there are fundamental misunderstandings of what mothering meant for Michelle Obama as African-American woman. Cultural traditions and socio-historical conditions have led Black women, both relatives and non-kin, to form mothering relationships with others’ children and to appreciate the interdependence of “nurturing” one's own children, other children, and entire communities. Those practitioners whose nurturing activities encompassed commitment and contributions to the collectivity were referred to as community othermothering. Using primary sources, this chapter examines in detail Michelle Obama's socialization for and her practice of community othermothering in her role as First Lady. Attention is focused on her transformation of White House events by extending hospitality to more within Washington, DC, and the nation, plus broadening young people's exposure to inspiration, opportunities, and support for setting and accomplishing their dreams. Similarly, the concept of community othermothering is also used to explain Michelle Obama’s reinterpretation of the traditional First Lady's special project into the ambitious “Let's Move” initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. The othermothering values and endeavors have helped establish the White House as “the People's House.”

Historically, Panama has always been “a place of transit.” While technically the isthmus formed part of Colombia in the nineteenth century, it was linked geopolitically to the United States soon after the California gold rush, beginning in the late 1840s. The first attempt at building a canal ended in failure in 1893 when disease and poor management forced Ferdinand de Lesseps to abandon the project. The U.S. undertaking to build the canal could only begin after Panama declared itself free and broke away from Colombia in 1903, with the support of the United States.