Hail to the Chief

Matt Todd, librarian at the Alexandria Campus, assumed the Presidency of the Virginia Library Association at the Annual Conference in Portsmouth, VA. The gavel was passed at the second general session on Friday 22 October.

(above: Matt Todd receioving the gavel from out-going President John Moorman)

Library staff at the Alexandria Campus marked the occasion with a few decorations in Matt's (oval?) office:

Virginia Library Association Conference

The Virginia Library Association holds its Annual Conference in Portsmouth on October 21-22.


Highlights include:


* Offers something for everyone - at a reasonable cost!
* Ballroom dancing at the social - including free lessons!
* Grand opening of Exhibits to feature Porte Towne Magic Jazz Band (comprised of Portsmouth students!)
* Jefferson Cup Luncheon (Award Recipient TBA)
*Special screening of "Hollywood Librarian"
*VLACRL's "Conference within a Conference"

See you there!

Library Use Continues to Grow

Recent statistics from the Virginia Community College System shows healthy use and steady growth in Library resources across the Commonwealth's Community College Libraries:

A few numbers:

1,141,491 -- number of searches made in the online Library catalog

1,596,834 -- number of connections to VCCS e-resources

2,513,890 -- number of full-text articles downloaded

Use of e-resources has increased by over 70% in three years.

Some more stats to ponder:

At the Alexandria Campus regulalry circulates nearly 1/3 (33%) of the college total. Use of circulating books at the Alexandria campus is increasing.

Alexandria Campus Library - on the Nightly News

Fox 5 came to the Alexandria Campus as part of its coverage of the White House Community College Summit. Cameras rolled in the Library.



Reference and Instruction Librarian Anne Anderson (above) was caught in action -- teaching research skills to an ESL 42 class. Don't miss her at 1:24 and again at 2:00 on the video. Professors Brian Delaney and Jill Biden, as well as Dean Jimmie McClellen also make appearances.

Community College Summit at the White House

"In the East Room of the White House today, a collection of college presidents, business leaders, philanthropists, and others will discuss how community colleges can help meet the job-training and education needs of the nation's evolving work force. They will discuss the critical role these institutions will have to play if the nation is to achieve President Obama's goal of leading the world with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
A crowd of about 150 is expected to attend the event, the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges, which is scheduled to last about three hours. President Obama is scheduled to make remarks, as is Jill Biden, a community-college instructor and the summit's lead organizer." -- from the Chronicle of Higher Education (read more from on-campus).

(photo from the Washington Post).

And from the Washington Post: "Obama put Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, in charge of the summit. She has taught English at community colleges for the past 17 years of her three decades as an educator. She still teaches twice a week at a community college not far from the White House and often says these schools are America's best-kept secret."

Watch the opening session on C-SPAN.