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Newsletter #56 - June 2015
Click here for PDF version |
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| Focus on Lubuto Volunteers |
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Lubuto has recently initiated several exciting projects that have been ably carried out by professional volunteers. Our work would not be possible without assistance from our volunteers, who bring their own expertise, strengths and enthusiasm—and greatly add to the diversity and depth of our programming.
Lubuto Special Collections
Robin Taylor, a Library & Information Science (MLIS) Masters student at San José State University with extensive experience in Africa, served as a Lubuto intern during spring semester. Robin assisted Sarah Bauman in updating and maintaining our Lubuto Special Collections website. She archived electronic volumes on the website, and improved our metadata system. Her strong background in digital collections and conversions enabled her to add new fields of classification, which has resulted in a more robust and searchable collection.
Emily Purcell—an MLIS student at the University of Illinois specializing in Community Informatics—traveled to Zambia for three weeks to volunteer with Lubuto. She visited Lusaka and Southern Province and met with library officials at the University of Zambia and the Faith and Encounter Centre Zambia (FENZA) Library with Thomas. Following these meetings, she helped identify Zambian literature and formulate a plan to integrate these volumes into LubutoCollections.org. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Lubuto and UNZA outlining each party’s responsibilities in a forthcoming digitization project.
Lubuto rebranding and communications
Caitlin Raines started an internship with Lubuto in DC at the end of May. A Public Relations major at Pepperdine University, Caitlin is focusing on revamping our social media presence and communications materials. She has already created a new company LinkedIn page, and greatly increased the number of social media posts and followers. She is also working on devising a framework for Lubuto social media management and analytics that will allow us to continue to cultivate strong and meaningful relationships with friends, supporters and stakeholders. Caitlin has been key in helping to develop an engaging new lubuto.org website.
Monitoring and evaluation
Dr. Lori Gardinier—Director of the Human Services program at Northeastern University—will lead a
group of Northeastern students to Zambia, where they aim to help Lubuto improve monitoring and
evaluation data collection. It has always been our goal to improve and grow our monitoring and
evaluation system, but at the same time to continue to allow library staff to focus on youth services.
After learning more about Lubuto operations and services from library staff, they will try to identify new
ways in which participation and impact can be captured and communicated, and, most importantly, help
our host organizations better understand how their library helps them reach their objectives. Several
students will work at Fountain of Hope and Ngwerere Libraries from July 13 through August 7.
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| Help support Thomas Mukonde's education! |
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Thomas made spectacular strides in his first year of MLIS study at the University of Illinois, and is now back in Zambia working hard for Lubuto during the school break. Now we are looking for financial contributions to fund his second and final year of grad school, after which he will return to Zambia to guide Lubuto's efforts forward. Last year, people generously donated towards Thomas’ education through an Indiegogo campaign, but we hope to lessen overhead costs by requesting direct contributions this year. If you are interested in donating this year, you can use the “Donate Now” feature on lubuto.org or mail a check to Lubuto Library Partners at 5614 Connecticut Ave NW, #368, Washington, DC 20015-2604. Please make sure to mention Thomas on your check or online submission. We appreciate all of your help!
Check out Thomas' profile on his LIS department's homepage: (http://bit.ly/1yrRVsh).
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Volunteer of the Month
Our Volunteer of the Month is Priyanshi Naik, who has been instrumental in the refinement and quality control of our new LubutoLiteracy lessons. |
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Copyright © 2015 Lubuto Library Partners, Inc.
The Lubuto Library Project is exempt from U.S. Federal income tax as a public charity
under Section 501(C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. |
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