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Friday Bulletin: Issues

April 6, 2018

by Daniel Cornwall on 2018-04-06T11:07:00-08:00 | 0 Comments

Special Note: The next issue of the Friday Bulletin will be published on Friday, May 4, 2018. 

News from the Division

Division mourns loss of beloved colleague Scott Carrlee

“Sit, still and quiet, for a moment, and appreciate those thoughts of him, his family and his friends.”

This was the closing of an email that Addison Field, Chief Curator of the Alaska State Museums, sent to the Division announcing the death of recently retired Scott Carrlee, longtime Curator of Statewide Services. Scott had been battling a serious cancer, so his death was not unexpected. It still hit us hard. His warmth, his brilliance and his dedication to cultural institutions will be badly missed.

Scott came to the Alaska State Museums in 2000, from a distinguished career at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.  He spent five years as State Conservator and moved into the position of Curator of Statewide Services in 2006.  During his more than ten years in this position, Carrlee assisted museums from every region around the state.  He created an internship program that provides valuable assistance to Alaska museums during the summer months. Some of these interns have returned to Alaska to work in museums, a long term impact of this program.

Carrlee was an integral member of the team that designed and built the new Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library Archives and Museum building in Juneau.  Most recently, Carrlee’s Statewide Services Program was integral in the Alaska State Museums’ award of the National Medal for Museum Services, the highest award for museums in the nation.

Addison Field, the museums’ Chief Curator, said, “Scott had a long and distinguished career at the Alaska State Museum. He spent many years helping museums from Metlakatla to Utqiaġvik find and build on their strengths.  Alaska museums are stronger because of the work he did.”

Carrlee’s retirement was effective February 28, 2018. He died on April 3, 2018. In Juneau he is survived by his wife, Alaska State Museum Conservator Ellen Carrlee and his son Carson. Arrangements for memorials and gifts are pending at this time.

Scott Carrlee and others at an IMLS awards ceremony.

Scott Carrlee (left) at July 2017 IMLS National Medal Award Ceremony at National ArchivesJuly 2017 IMLS National Medal Award Ceremony at National Archives. Others L-R: Lani Hotch, Patience Frederiksen, Addison Field.

Coming in July: School Library Leadership Academy

The School Library Leadership Academy is a for-credit, week-long intensive workshop for school librarians who are established education leaders in their school or district. It is open to currently employed (SY17-18) Alaska Certified School Librarians, with at least .25 FTE in a school librarian/media role.  The Academy will take place July 23rd – 27th in Juneau.   

The 2018 theme is “Picking up STEAM” and will focus on STEAM collaboration and integration within the context of American Association of School Librarians’ new National School Library Standards. 

For more information and to register, visit the SLLA website or contact Jared Shucha, School Library Consultant.

SJM Artifact of the Month: Headdress(Alutiiq)

The Sheldon Jackson Museum’s April 2018 Artifact of the Month is a contemporary Alutiiq headdress made by June (Simeonoff) Pardue (SJ2015-2-1). The headdress was purchased in 2015 with generous funding from the Rasmuson Foundation Art Acquisition Fund.

The April Artifact of the Month headdress features abalone shell buttons, .38 Special empty shell casings, black common leather, glass beads, and bison bone. The crown of the headdress has black suede leather with round abalone shell buttons sewn on. Throughout the headdress, Pardue incorporated vibrantly colored beads in bronze, white, turquoise, red, and cobalt.  The beaded portion that extends along the back side of the head features bison bone beads and bullet casings, which to Pardue are symbolic of her family’s hunting practices and representative of the men in her family as “male role models and protectors of families – not only protectors from harm, but of a family’s values, emotions, and spiritual wellbeing.”

For a picture, more information, and links to previous artifacts of the month, visit SJM's Artifact of the Month home page.

Accessibility Tip: Making social media more accessible

Social media is an amazing outreach tool for libraries, archives, and museums. But did you realize that some of your users may have trouble perceiving or understanding your post or tweet?

6 questions to ask yourself in order to create accessible content:

  1. Does your image have a caption or alternative text? If not, please add.
  2. Does your video have captions or a transcript? YouTube captions for you.
  3. Did you use an acronym? Spell it out.
  4. Does your link lead to a separate document, video, or audio file? Let your users know what the link is.
  5. Did you use a hashtag? Capitalize the first letter of each word.
  6. Using Facebook’s colorful status update? Choose good color contrast between foreground & background.

A note about blogs: WordPress and other blogs should follow the WCAG 2.0 principles, even though they are considered social media.

The University of Minnesota offers helpful tips, how-tos, and the whys, for creating Accessible Social Media.

Digitized: Shell Simmons Photograph Collection, 1929-1996. ASL-PCA-356

Shell Simmons and his airplane.
Shell Simmons and Cesssna 185 at Chilkat Lake, May 1969.

The Alaska Historical Collections recently enriched the Alaska Digital Archives with photos from the Shell Simmons Photograph Collection, 1929-1996. ASL-PCA-356. Photographs cover the subjects of Alaska aeronautics, the history of Alaska Airlines and Alaska Air Transport, Inc., bush pilots of Alaska, and accidents. As of this writing, 181 photographs of the collection's 2,113 photographs are available online.

News from L.A.M.S in Alaska

Sitka Public Library steps into podcasting

The Sitka Public Library has started a podcast on SoundCloud. The first episode features director Andrew Murphy interviewing Ryan Dowd, a homelessness trainer, at last month's annual conference of the Alaska Library Association.

Other Announcements

#BeTheDifference in April: Cultural Diversity and Mental Health

An announcement from the folks at Mental Health First Aid USA:

April is National Minority Health Month, and we know that health includes mental health too. That’s why our #BeTheDifference topic of focus this month is cultural diversity and mental health.

One study published in the International Journal of Health Services found that black and Hispanic young people were less able to access mental health services than white children and young adults, despite the fact that rates of mental illness are generally consistent across all ethnicities. But that’s just one example of a barrier diverse populations face when it comes to mental health. With Mental Health First Aid training, we want to do our part to help close that gap.
Here’s how you can #BeTheDifference in April:

  • Join the conversation. On Thursday, April 19, we’re hosting a #BeTheDifference Twitter chat on cultural diversity and mental health. Join us on Twitter from 2-3 p.m. ET to talk about the challenges diverse communities face when it comes to mental health and strategies for overcoming them.
  • Read up. All month long, we’re writing about mental health and diverse communities on the #BeTheDifference blog. Like this one on Puerto Rico's rising suicide rate in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Check back frequently and share with your networks.
  • Share information. We’ll be releasing a new infographic on mental health and addiction issues facing diverse communities each week, like this one on mental health in Spanish-speaking communities (in English and Spanish!). These are great for sharing on social media.
  • Become an Instructor. If you aren’t already a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, consider becoming one! Instructors—especially those in diverse communities—help address mental health disparities by teaching people how to notice and support someone who may be facing a mental illness or addiction, and what resources are available in the community to help.
  • Share your story. Have an inspiring Mental Health First Aid story to share? Email Erica Hoffman at EricaH@TheNationalCouncil.org for a chance to be featured on the blog!

s always, thank you for making a difference in your community with Mental Health First Aid.
Sincerely,
Mental Health First Aid USA

New Email Scam Taking Nonprofit Leaders by Surprise

Hat tip to Rebecca Moorman, Treasurer, Alaska Library Association, for pointing out this helpful article:

New Email Scam Taking Nonprofit Leaders by Surprise – Even Those Who Normally Spot Fraudulent Emails (Batts Morrison Wales and Lee CPAs)

The short version is that scammers are getting smarter and using better grammar to impersonate leaders in nonprofits. They use this spoofed authority to try and get nonprofit financial officers to make financial transfers. For more, read the full article. While this has been posted to the AkLA-L list, we believe museums will find the information useful as well.

Happy National Library Week

Next week, April 8-14, is National Library Week. This year is the 60th anniversary of this event, which was sparked by the following news:

A Gallup poll in 1955 found that almost two-thirds of adults had not read any book apart from the Bible in the previous year. A 1957 survey found that only 17% of Americans were currently reading a book. And spending on books was decreasing, as more of the country’s entertainment dollars went to televisions, radios, and even musical instruments.

To combat these developments, the American Library Association (ALA) worked with book publishers to form the National Book Committee. For more on the history of National Libraries Week, read the March 1, 2018 American Libraries article "Wake Up and Read" to "Libraries Lead": The 60-year history of National Library Week by Greg Landgraf.

Apply by May 14th: USDA Broadband Grants

USDA is accepting applications for grants to fund broadband infrastructure projects in unserved rural communities. USDA is accepting applications through May 14 in the Community Connect program. Grants from $100,000 to $3 million are available to state and local governments, federally-recognized tribes, nonprofits and for-profit corporations. Applicants must be able to provide a 15 percent match on the desired grant amount. See page 11494 of the March 15 Federal Register for details.


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