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Vol. 4, No. 1 Spring 2007
Staff Volunteers Work with St. Frances Academy
Nine Library staff members have volunteered to assist St. Frances Academy in developing and operating its library. St. Frances Academy is an independent Catholic high school serving African American students in Baltimore. Founded in 1828 by Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, St. Frances has for many years provided educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth in Baltimore. By providing a nurturing yet rigorous learning environment, the dedicated staff at St. Frances achieve remarkable results, with a high percentage of their students going on to further their education beyond high school. Much more information about St. Frances can be found at their website at http://www.sfacademy.org/
Because St. Frances has limited resources for library collections and services, the Library staff saw this as an opportunity to tie in with Loyola’s Year of the City initiative and provide community outreach that is fostered by both Loyola and the College of Notre Dame. Each of the staff members goes to St. Frances for a half day once every two weeks. While they are there the volunteers assist the St. Frances librarian Alyson Bloom (who has other teaching responsibilities and often is not able to be present in the library) with staffing the library. In addition, each staff member is working to develop a certain aspect of the St. Frances library (such as collection development, cataloging, online resources, and information literacy instruction). Library Director John McGinty has recently applied for a federal grant that would allow for planning a collaborative information literacy program with St. Frances, Mother Seton Academy, and St. Katherine School. And Loyola has agreed to provide funding this year for the purchase of library materials to improve the collection. The following staff are working on the St. Frances Academy project:
John Breitmeyer - Reference & Instruction Librarian
Polly Connor - Senior Cataloging Assistant
Susan Cooperstein - Reference & Instruction Librarian
Anna D’Agostino – Serials/Cataloging Librarian
Joanne Hélouvry – Reference & Instruction Librarian
Charles Lockwood – Head of Technology Support Services
Patty MacDonald – Head of Reference & Instruction Services
John McGinty – Director
Jack Ray – Associate Director
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