WeSearch, Four Corners

WeSearch
This year AHSL again coordinated and presented the WeSearch Institute in collaboration with the UA School of Information Resources and Library Sciences (SIRLS). Annabelle and Yamila worked with Sandy Littletree from SIRLS to provide a week of training for local high school students. Here is an update from Annabelle.

“I just wanted to give you a brief update on last week's activities. As you know we wrapped up the WE Search Institute week last Friday (7/30) with a wonderful celebration event held here at AHSL. First and foremost I would like to acknowledge and thank Javad, Tessie, Katie, Valerie, and Mary R for helping us get us through the week. Principally with patron and visitor traffic flow with respect to the fourth floor. We had approximately 20 family and friends of the students and program supporters attend the event to hear the presentations, meet the mentors, and learn about WE Search.

This year we will be partnering with Desert View High School, the other Sunnyside Unified School District high school. Our main contact at Desert View is Richard Montaño who recruited seven exceptional 11th and 12th graders. We have a few students who identify as American Indian, a key component of the program we lacked in the last two years. We have three great KR Mentors as well - Azul Gomez, Natalia Phillips-Portillo, and Andrea Goodrich.

. . . Here are a few highlights [of the weeks schedule]:

- We worked on public speaking and presentation skills for their health topic powerpoints.
- We focused on evaluating health information websites, as well as searching for health information resources related to Hispanic and American Indian health.
- We discussed health disparities in Hispanic and American Indian communities.
- We toured two Tucson neighborhoods with distinct SES characteristics. (To illustrate issues around health disparities.)
- We looked at community resources for health fair planning and community development. (They will take an active role in the Refugee Health Fair in October.)
- We toured the following information environments:
Mary Givins - Teen Librarian, Martha Cooper Branch Library
Aaron Valdivia - Branch Manager, El Pueblo Branch Library [Guest Lecturer]
Lynn Flance - Librarian, VA Hospital
Merlin Spiller- Arizona State Museum
Joe Labuda, Library Director - Pima County Community College West Campus
Alexandra "Alex" Rivera, Outreach Librarian - UA Main Library (UAL)
Roger Myers, Special Collections - University or Arizona Libraries (UAL)”

Thanks to everyone involved for a really great effort that lays the groundwork for these students to have a productive and educational year.

Four Corners
Last week Gary, Jacque, Jeanette and Yamila attended a meeting of the Tribal Connections Four Corners (TC4C) group in Gallup, NM. Before the meeting, Jeanette and Yamila visited the Hard Rock community on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. It was quite a drive from the Albuquerque airport to Hard Rock and back to Gallup. However it sounds as if some good relationships were formed. Yamila and Jeanette have been invited back. AHSL is helping the community with their walking club project with support from the TC4C and the Midcontinental Regional Medical Library (RML) in Salt Lake City.

The Gallup conference was supported by the RMLs at UCLA, Houston Academy of Medicine and the University of Utah. The purpose of the meeting was to review the accomplishments of the TC4C collaboration and to plan for the future. We heard from an excellent panel of a doctor, health educators and a librarian who work on the Navajo reservation, at the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Laguna, NM public library. We also visited the HIS Hospital in Gallup that includes a hogan and sweat lodge used in traditional Navajo healing.

More PR, Harassment Policy & Course, Budget

AHSL and SIRLS
In the Winter Issue of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Alumni newsletter each School and program submitted a short report. The entry from the School of Information Resources and Library Science (SIRLS) talks about the Knowledge River Program, features Annabelle’s testimony before Congress and mentions the WeSearch program with local high schools that Pat and Annabelle have led.

Nondiscrimination and Anti-harassment policy
Per President Shelton’s email yesterday regarding the online course on this topic, I refer you to this copy of the university’s policy. Please review this policy and feel free to print a copy for future reference. I encourage you to take the online course. It takes about 30-45 minutes and is very useful and informative.
http://web.arizona.edu/~policy/Non-discrim-interim.pdf

The course is available at:
http://www.equity.arizona.edu/education/harassment


Budget Update
The budget situation is still unsettled; we never know when things will shift. However, at the moment, the picture isn’t too bad. The Governor has announced that she is going to accept the federal stimulus package for the next fiscal year. One of the requirements of that funding is that the state budget for education be maintained at no lower than 2006 levels. This means that a cut for the next fiscal year is likely to be less than 10%. In past years this would have been a huge decrease (especially considering that we took a similar cut this year), but it is much lower than earlier projections.