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Friday Bulletin: Issues

February 5, 2021

by Daniel Cornwall on 2021-02-05T08:44:40-09:00 | 0 Comments

State of Alaska COVID-19 information

Teen Health and Wellness: Today's featured SLED resource

Teen Health and Wellness - A comprehensive database that allows teens (and those who care about teens) to research health-related issues important to their well-being. It’s both a research/report tool and a self-help resource. You can find it on SLED through the SLED Databases list, the middle school resources page, the high school resources page and the college resources page. Access to this database is made possible by funding from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

News from the Division

Congratulations Michaela Goade! Awarded Caldecott Medal for Children's Books

As reported by the Anchorage Daily News on 1/25/2021 and reported on AkLA-L by Erin Hollingsworth, Michaela Goade, an Alaskan illustrator and member of the Tlingit and Haida tribes, has become the first Native American to win the Caldecott Medal for best children’s picture book for her work in We Are Water Protectors. We also congratulate Ms. Goade on this honor.

A build-out replica of Michaela Goade’s studio
A build-out replica of Michaela Goade’s studio from the Illustrating Alaska exhibit.

 

It's our honor that Michaela Goade is one of the featured illustrator's in the Alaska State Museum's latest exhibit: Illustrating Alaska: Artists Making Children's Books, which will open in-person and online at 4:30pm on 2/5/2021.

The Alaska Library Catalog currently holds six books illustrated by Ms. Goade:

HistoryMakers: Try it for Black History Month

Recently SLED added HistoryMakers, a database of over 100,000 oral history interviews with African Americans from all walks of life. While we see it as a year round resource, we thought we would highlight it for Black History Month. Some examples of people and topics:

The stories in HistoryMakers are searchable by keyword. Results may be filtered by category, gender, US State, decade and year. Every clip comes with a transcript.

HistoryMakers is also browseable by person by clicking on the "Maker Directory" Each Maker page displays a brief biography and links to all clips recorded.

New ‘Amplify Youth Voices Alaska’ project gives Alaska youth an artistic outlet during COVID-19 pandemic

An exciting announcement from our parent agency, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development:

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The Departments of Education and Early Development (DEED) and Health and Social Services (DHSS) announced today a new Amplify Youth Voices Alaska (AYVA) project, which enables young Alaskans to use different forms of artistic expression to share creative messages of safety, hope, love, and encouragement about the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative invites young Alaskans to participate in online artist workshops and to submit home-grown art that reflects their resiliency and creativity.

Youth Advisory Member Lillian Yang noted, “the arts have the power to connect to any person in any community. This project makes me feel like I will always be supported through all the challenges of this pandemic.” 

AYVA is a collaborative project between DEED, DHSS, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska, Spirit of Youth, the Anchorage Youth Development Coalition, and the First Alaskans Institute. The AYVA project will ship Art Ambassador Kits to each school district, encouraging youth to participate and to submit their art. Until July 2021, AYVA will invite youth and adult artists from around the state to offer monthly online art workshops for young people aged 10-25 years old. AYVA’s artist presenters currently include, among others, Stephen Blanchett, Lee Post, George Holly, Ava Earl, Milo Stickle-Frizzell, Sara Tabbert, Lily Hope, and Enzina Marrari.

AYVA’s interactive project website will include, among other things, a schedule of events, links to register for upcoming workshops, and monthly art submission themes (e.g., January’s theme is Mental Health and Well-Being). The website also will house all submitted art pieces in perpetuity.

Youth can begin participating today by:

  • Visiting the website to learn more about the project and see submitted artwork. 
  • Creating their own submissions, which can include paintings, sculptures, architecture, poetry, music, fashion, film, fiber or digital arts, culture craft, and more.
  • Submitting audio or visuals of their creations to dhss-PIT@alaska.gov. (Note: If a submission is over 20 MB, please email dhss-PIT@alaska.gov and request a link to upload the submission. Submissions containing any illegal activity, nudity, hate speech, and/or profanity are strictly prohibited and will not be posted online. Submissions may be used, shared, or replicated through social media posts, newsletters, websites, and digital/print media by the State of Alaska, DHSS and DEED, or the supporting nonprofit partners of this project.)
  • Sharing their art and telling their friends on social media using the hashtags #AYVA, #AlaskanYouthResilient and #AKYouthCombatCOVID.

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Alaska State Library Historical Collections helps to illuminate forgotten baseball uniforms

Historical Collections photos and newspaper articles were the basis for this article about historic baseball uniforms:

Forgotten Uniforms : The Moose of Juneau Alaska's City League. Local Nine, 1/26/2021.

As of this writing, the Alaska State Library Historical Collections has 102 digitized photographs of baseball players in Alaska's Digital Archives.

727 people attended 143 OWL videoconferences in January 2021

In January 2021, the OWL Videoconference Network hosted 143 videoconferences with a total of 727 participants. Representative videoconferences included:

  • Haines: Writing Workshop with Heather Lende
  • Soldotna: Small Fry Story Time
  • Unalaska: PCR Supervisor Meeting - CMMP
  • Ninilchik: Community Board Meeting
  • Kodiak: Public Library Poetry Readings

Remember, if your patrons have home or mobile internet access, you can use your library's instance of Zoom as your virtual meeting room. Your library's account holder would start the meeting. The account holder could either stay and monitor the meeting, or could make one the participants a host and leave the meeting. Ask Daniel, Jack or Kyle to show you how.

If you already have an OWL Zoom account, we ask to give descriptive names to your meetings so we can better document the types of things through OWL. So instead of "LibrarNameHere's Zoom Meeting" or "LibraryNameHere's Personal Meeting Room" something like "LibraryNameHere: Cooking with canned Salmon." THANKS!

If your public or school/public library does not yet have an OWL issued Zoom account to schedule your own videoconferences OR If you are a non-profit, local, state or federal government agency interested in doing outreach/training through library partners, please contact OWL Program Manager Daniel Cornwall.

News from L.A.M.S in Alaska

Anchorage Museum Alaska Biennial 2020: Online and In-Person

We recently learned that the Anchorage Museum recently opened Alaska Biennial 2020 as both an in-person exhibit and as an online version with 360 degree views of the galleries. The views are robust enough that you can zoom into the exhibit signs and read them. This is a pleasure not always available with virtual exhibits!

What is Alaska Biennial? Here's a description from the exhibit page:

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The Alaska Biennial is a survey of contemporary art in Alaska. Alaska Biennial comes at a time of unprecedented change across the globe. Artists reflect the world around them, and some of the work in this exhibition addresses the pandemic and ideas of isolation, racism and decolonization, as well as the surrounding and changing natural environment.

The artworks and artists come from across the state and work across media. The Biennial has been organized by the Anchorage Museum under various titles and forms for more than three decades as a way to celebrate the work of Alaska artists and to encourage the creation of new works.

Alaska Biennial is organized by the Anchorage Museum with support from Alaska State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, the Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Museum Association and Anchorage Museum Foundation Alaska Airlines Silver Anniversary Fund.

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First Ever Celebration (1982) Digitized, Posted Online

We are excited to share this news from our friends at the Sealaska Heritage Institute:

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(About Celebration) (Watch)

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has digitized and put online video of its premiere Celebration, a dance-and-culture festival first held in 1982 that has grown into the world’s largest gathering of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people.

The entire event, which was documented on a now-obsolete video platform, is now viewable for the first time in decades on SHI’s YouTube channel.

Through the project, SHI has resurrected old footage of one of the most important events in Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures in modern times, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“Celebration marked the first time all three tribes came together under one roof to show our cultures to the public. We had come out of an era of oppression, and at that first event, we were telling the world that our cultures had survived,” Worl said.

The first series includes performances by 16 dance groups documented over three days in February 1982 in Juneau. By 2022, SHI plans to digitize the rest of the Celebrations, which comprise more than 1,000 hours, and put the footage online.

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For additional information see their entire 2/4/2021 press release, Sealaska Heritage Digitizes, Posts Entire Celebration 1982 Online.

Kodiak Museums Receive Millions from Bequests

Exciting and encouraging news from our friends at Kodiak History Museum and the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository. From their joint press release:

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Two small museums in Kodiak, Alaska learned this week that they will each receive a very big donation. The late Dr. Donald W. Clark (1932–2018), a historian and archaeologist, named both the Kodiak History Museum and the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository in his will. The Kodiak History Museum, who facilitates exploration of the natural, cultural, and artistic heritage of Kodiak Island and its surrounding communities will receive $1,176,043 from Clark’s estate. The Alutiiq Museum, who works to preserve and share the heritage and living culture of the Alutiiq people will receive $1,274,047. For both organizations, Clark’s gifts are the largest ever received.

“We knew Dr. Clark had named both organizations in his will,” said Alutiiq Museum Board Chair Margaret Roberts. “But neither organization knew the amount of the bequest until this week. What a surprise! We are so very grateful for his generosity. Quyanaasinaq Don! (Big Thanks).”

Clark (third from left) with Denniston, Taylor, and Usadell—a field crew studying the archaeology of Rolling Bay, 1962. Gift of Donald Clark. AM430.

 

The contributions were made in memory of Dr. Clark and his parents, Basil W. Clark and Dorothy E. Clark. The Clark family relocated to Kodiak during World War II. Basil bought the gas station and auto repair shop in downtown Kodiak, a business he ran for many years. Here, Clark learned to repair cars, but his real interest was the outdoors—fishing, boating, camping, and hiking. After graduating from Kodiak High School in 1951, he earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Alaska and served in the U.S. Military. His return to Kodiak coincided with the launch of the Konyag-Aleut project, a multi-year effort to study the cultural history of the Alutiiq people. Clark volunteered on an archaeological field crew, a career altering step that led to decades of prolific research on Kodiak history.

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For more information see the full press release, Two Kodiak Museums Receive Generous Bequests, 2/3/2021.

Other Announcements

REALM webinar recording and new toolkit resource available (COVID)

From our friends at the REopening Archives, Libraries and Museums (REALM) project::

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The recording of the 29 January REALM webinar, “Project Update and Community Reflections,” is now available on demand. Panelists shared updates on project activities and research findings as well as perspectives from the field.   
View the recording at
https://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/realm-update-reflections.html

A new toolkit resource that synthesizes information from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on cleaning and disinfecting considerations is also available for download. 
Download the resource at
https://www.oclc.org/realm/resources/cleaning-considerations.html

 

REALM FAQ page & questions submission form
Answers to the most commonly asked REALM questions can be found: https://www.oclc.org/realm/faq.html
Remaining questions about the test results or other aspects of the REALM project can be submitted via this form: https://oc.lc/realm-questions

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