Monday, June 30, 2008

Greater Cleveland Chapter at the Banquet

Members of the AJL - GCC pose at the reception before the Awards Banquet. Photo by Lynn Katz Danzig.

Friday, June 27, 2008

And the pictures just keep rolling in.....

Wendy Wasman, Susan Pankowsky, and Lee Haas are all smiles on the last day of Convention! Photo courtesy of Susan Pankowsky.



Nancy Sack, Daniel Scheide, and Karen Ulric ham it up (above and below). Pictures courtesy of Merrily Hart.



More Cleveland photos




Stephanie Gross posing in front of Mentor van.















2 Saras- a mentor and a mentee, care of Stephanie Gross of Stern College, Yeshiva University

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Pictures courtesy of Merrily Hart (captions provided by your friendly blogger, Wendy Wasman)

Linda Silver and Wendy Wasman bookend former GCC member Susan Pankowsky!




The tech-savvy Lettofskys enjoy a little email with their breakfast!




Our fearless Exhibits Chair, Harry Koppel, at his post.




The Marriott's Banquet Manager, Mark, serves up pasta with a smile to Elliot H. Gertel.


Some Greater Cleveland Chapter members watch as our own Jean Lettofsky is honored by Siegal College for her 25 years as Library Director. We are so proud to call her a colleague!
Thank you to everyone for a wonderful convention! More pictures and comments to follow.

Wednesday Morning


Yossi Galron showing a slide during his presentation.

Shuli Berger showing a photo of a cornerstone at Yeshiva University

Elhanan Adler explaining the different participants in the latest project.

Shulamith Berger of Yeshiva University presented the Yeshiva University edifice- the plans, vision and reality. It was rather interesting to see the different architectural influences that were represented in the YU uptown campus in Washington Heights.

Elhanan Adler highlighted the creation and use of a full text archive of Jewish historical newspapers. OCR is about 93% accurate, which is really important to note when looking over materials scanned with this technology.

Yossi Galron showed his lexicon of Modern Hebrew Literature - which biographical information regarding authors. Shakepeare is also now included in this online project.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Photos of the Day: Tuesday


Marcia Posner and Fred Isaac

Siegal College of Judaic Studies Honoree Jean Lettofsky in honor of 25 years of Service to the College

AJL Past Presidents


Amanda Seigel, scholarship awardee, with the AJL Scholarship Committee

Elliot Gertel of the University of Michigan

Roger Kohn of Library of Congress presenting the Cataloging Update.

Next Year in Chicago!

Next year's convention will be in Chicago in July- right around the time of ALA.

The following years include AJL in Seattle, Montreal and Los Angeles...

We're all looking forward!

Collection Development

Hearing from Alice Crosetto and Daniel E. Feinberg we learned quite a bit about the use of cookbooks to understand cultural norms, economics and a generally good way of interesting children with a productive end. Jewish life and culture is often transmitted by means of food and eating together-- which was rather evident by the myriad of websites and books which have been published that detail these ideas.

Elizabeth Vernon explained that Harvard University collects advertisements- as they can be utilized for historical, economic and sociological studies to understand a community, their interests, goals and a window into the life that they live. From pamphlets to solicitations- Israeli and American Jewish advertising are being collected.

2008 Rosaline and Meyer Feinstein Lecture


Pearl Berger delivering the 2008 Rosaline and Meyer Feinstein Lecture

Dr. David Gilner, Director of Libraries at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion introducing Dean Pearl Berger

Pearl Berger, Benjamin Gottesman Librarian and Dean of Libraries, Yeshiva University- presented a lecture entitled: "From Otzar Sefarim to Otzar Hokhmah: Transitions and Transformations."

Highlights from the lecture included insight into the 'millennium generation,' how to reach out them and note the worth of the library and its resources. Pearl has presented us with challenges to keep Judaica and librarianship, in general, modern and current for our users' needs.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Session: AJL Standards

The following message is from Karen Ulrich, Librarian at the Meislin Memorial Library (grades 6-12) at Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in West Orange, NJ:

Thanks to all who attended the panel discussion on the new AJL Standards. I think a bunch of interesting ideas were heard. The documentation is now available at http://jewishschoollibraries.pbwiki.com/Presentations

Also, we passed out a survey at the end of the session. We ask that as many school librarians, even those who didn't attend the session, take another look at the standards and complete the survey ONLINE (oooh!!!!!). it will give us some interesting data to discuss, analyze, maybe share in a future AJL Newsletter - and share with the people at AASL who are still developing the final version of these standards. You can find the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=phgDKzHwjVCEFgyTyRPYBw%3d%3d

The "Israel in Comics" Blog

This message is from Steve Bergson:

The "Israel in Comics Blog" can be viewed at http://israelincomics.blogspot.com, it officially went "live" on June 23rd.

It is the official blog of Session 3D and has all of the graphics used (plus many more that couldn't be shown, for lack of time)

Enjoy!

Photos

Booking signing during a break

Booking signing during a break

Shmoozing and networking during the break.

Check out the chef's hat!!

Awards Luncheon




Here's to our awardees! Best wishes, Mazal Tov and congratulations for accreditation, scholarship awardees, Fanny Goldstein award and Life Membership.

Monday: A look at Session 1

Elliot Gertel moderated the session entitled "Documenting the Holocaust."

Robert Rozett presented on the subject of "Trends in the Publication of Books about the Holocaust from 2000-2007." Yad Vashem collects books on the Holocaust, but finds it difficult to collect articles - as they are often difficult to locate. The Yad Vashem possesses more than 115,000 titles and collects about 3,000 titles annually. The Yad Vashem Library collects widely, as opposed to the Archives. The Library is open to the public and circulates to Israeli residents. A wide range of individuals utilize the Library, from 12 year old students learning about family history to scholars and everyone in between. The Library catalog will hopefully be going online shortly (definitely something to look forward to).

The second presentation in this session was delivered by Michlean Amir of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Her talk entitled: "The Opening of the Red Cross International Tracing Service Archive: What Does it Contain and What Does Access to It Mean for Scholars and Family Researchers?" Michelan noted that there are over 100 million images in the archives of the ITC, which began in 1947. The ITC collected material that would enable people to trace individuals-- which would later be advantageous when applying for restitution funds. Eleven countries including Israel have been involved in this initiative, while there has been 60 years of limited access. The backlog for requests in 2006 numbered in the hundreds of thousands, often with response times of over 1 year. Jewish Gen went to Bad Arolsen in May to see the records and record keeping first-hand. There were no trained librarians or archivists on staff. Technological and other challenges remain- including the method in which the collection will be organized.

Sunday Evening

While meetings took place this afternoon, the Jewish Publication Society sponsored a reception for Dr. Ellen Frankel (who later delivered the keynote address at the Sunday night dinner).


Later, as we all enjoyed dinner and were welcomed by AJL President, Laurel Wolfson and Mark Weber (Dean of Libraries,Kent State University) provided an introduction for our speaker. Dr. Ellen Frankel followed with the address on the topic: How the People of the Book Became the People of the Book Business: A History of Jewish Publishing in America.

Dr. Frankel provided details of the rich history of the Jewish Publication Society. Focusing on the impact of Isaac Leeser, with his call for the creation of a Jewish publication society that would promote religious heritage and unity. The JPS would serve as a unifying tie that would bring together both the intellectual and moral worth by producing interactions between different subscribers (a subscription would cost $1 and would provide copies of every book published by the Society for that fee). People would unite into a society to print and circulate books, as well as enable growth of Judaism in America, with other goals of education, unification which still remain at the core. The Society sought to be far reaching and encouraged the democratization of Judaism- and much of this is in the hands of librarians, who must show this to the greater community.

Dr. Frankel continued by highlighting the technological advances that JPS is employing. The Society does not shy away from this change, but rather is embracing this change and chance to further the education and discussion of Judaism.
JPS has embarked on a new project called Yavnet, an online collaborative which will categorize the Tanach, by tagging the Tanach. The pilot site of Yavnet is now available and the prototype should be available in early 2009.

Sunday, June 22, 2008





I'm certain Cleveland will never be the same after AJL makes it mark.

AJL has come to town and Day One of the convention has begun.

We're off to a great start despite a stormy afternoon...welcomed by friendly and helpful volunteers (see top photo)

Exhibitors are displaying their wares including software, books, music and more in the serene lobby area amidst the Marriott fountains .

Excited and adventurous librarians ventured out Lolly the Trolley for a tour of Jewish Cleveland this afternoon (bottom photo)

More later...

Friday, June 20, 2008

PR for the Convention

Follow this link to read an article about the convention that appeared in today's Cleveland Jewish News: http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2008/06/19/news/local/library06230.txt

The Cleveland Jewish News will also be covering the Keynote Address by Ellen Frankel on Sunday evening.

AJL Social Networking

By this point it's rather likely you've heard of the phrase 'social networking.' We seem to have some cutting-edge librarians amongst the group who are really interested and involved in social networking.

From Facebook to Twitter and RSS feeds to LinkedIn, Judaica librarians are utilizing this tools. Among our group are bloggers and those who use podcasts to get the word across. What are you using?

Here's to another way to see what your fellow librarians are doing.

Look for us as AJLCleveland2008 or Association of Jewish Libraries Annual Conference.

Looking forward to seeing you virtually or IRL on Sunday!

Dead Sea Scrolls: Session Plug

Tuesday morning will include a session entitled "THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS" will be moderated by Esther Hexter. Participants include John Kampen, David Levy and Marlene Schiffman.

For those who want to get a jump start and study up on the material, presenter David Levy suggests that you visit his website.

With so many interesting sessions that will be taking place- it's difficult to choose!


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Packing Party


Today we packed the Convention bags. Anne Biermann, Lee Haas, Jean Lettofsky, and Esther Hexter are all smiles as they fill the bags with goodies.


Julie Moss and Wendy Wasman pause in the packing.


The packed bags are ready to be transported to the hotel.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Are you ready to Rock N Roll?

I guess it's a funny question for Judaica librarians, but since we're headed to Cleveland - Home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame it's rather apropos.

With only 5 days (and counting) until the beginning of the AJL Cleveland 2008 convention, I'd like to introduce myself.

Hi all, I'm Tina Weiss- I serve as Judaica Librarian at the Klau Library at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and I'm here to guide and explore the AJL convention with you. Through on-site posts, guests and photos you will experience the convention virtually.

Buckle your seat beat as we get ready to journey through the convention together.

And don't forget to comment :)

Monday, June 16, 2008

Blog to go live at Convention!

This blog will go live during Convention with guest blogger Tina Weiss as the reporter. Stay tuned for live updates on sessions, speakers, and other events as they happen!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Counting Down



We are so excited as Convention Time draws near. Enjoy these pictures of your Convention 2008 Planning Committee hard at work!



Wendy Wasman and Andi Davidson welcome AJL members to Cleveland!



Below, Linda Silver and Bonnie Shapiro ward off the paparazzi, as our wonderful Registrar, Marcia Klein, reacts to the news that we'll all be planning next year's convention too (just kidding)!










Meanwhile, Jean Lettofsky remains calm in the face of the storm!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Jewish Food and Culture Festival

For those of you looking for a non-convention activity on Sunday, June 22:


The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
Siegal College of Judaic Studies
and the Cleveland Jewish News
proudly present:

THE FIRST ANNUAL JEWISH FOOD AND CULTURE FESTIVAL


Sunday, June 22nd

Safran Park – Mandel Jewish Community Center
11 am to 4 pm
Artists! Activities! Information! Family Fun!

Come early for best food selections!
(216) 593-0587 for more information
{The Mandel Jewish Community Center is just 2 miles from the Marriott}