News

Our longtime SUL colleague Charles Kerns (an Academic Computing veteran, and current website redesign consultant) has recently published his first (but we hope not his last!) novel, Santo Gordo: A Killing in Oaxaca.

Charles's novel is, on its face, a sort of political thriller and murder mystery--but not only! It's also an appreciative (and deliciously foodie) travelogue through the streets of Oaxaca, and a savvy portrait of ex-pat life there. Even more remarkably, Charles's sensitive portrayal of Oaxacans from an array of political and social classes reveals some of the intense beauty and searing tragedy of contemporary Mexico, and of its deeply interconnected neighbor to the north (that would, of course, be us).

One perceptive reader fittingly introduces the main character Robert Evans as being "as portly as Hercule Poirot, as sardonic as Philip Marlowe, ambl[ing] through a locale as fascinating as Guido Brunetti’s Venice." Evans is both blessed and cursed not only by fortune and chance, but also by his world-weary reluctance to "get involved" and by a fundamental big-heartedness that he tries in vain to suppress.

I am not generally fond of mysteries, and confess to being often skeptical of gringo accounts of Mexican life--yet I loved reading Charles's book, and so will you: it's perceptive, caring, and just plain fun. You can find out more about it on his Santo Gordo blog, http://santogordo.blogspot.com/.

Charles will give a public reading from his novel this Saturday, August 25th, at 2:00 PM at Harbor Books, 270 Capistrano Road, in Half Moon Bay.

Congratulations to Charles--and happy reading to all you who take the Santo Gordo plunge!

HighWire Press is delighted to announce that Hugh Blackbourn has been appointed Senior Publication Manager, leading HighWire's customer support team based in the United Kingdom.

Hugh is an experienced publisher, having spent nearly 4 years as Head of Publishing for the Wellcome Trust, where he was responsible for all web and print publications profiling the Trust's activities. While there, he helped formulate the proposal that would become eLife, a researcher‐led digital publication to be hosted on HighWire later this year.

"I have been a HighWire fan for some time," said Hugh from his London office. "This is a wonderful opportunity to add my expertise to an organization focused on supporting and extending the reach and influence of research communication."

"I am absolutely thrilled to have someone so experienced ‐ and demonstrably successful ‐ in research, publishing, and business join the HighWire team," says Mark Johnson, HighWire's Director of Publisher Relations. "Hugh is going to be a tremendous resource for our clients in the UK and Europe."

Hugh is a biologist by training, with a PhD from Reading University followed by postdoctoral research at both Reading and Cambridge University. He left academia to become the launch Editor of Trends in Plant Science, and subsequently became the Managing Editor of a range of Trends titles.

Prior to working at the Wellcome Trust, Hugh was a publisher at Nature Publishing Group, where he led the Nature Reviews collection of journals (2004‐2007), launched Nature Protocols, and later led the Nature Life Sciences collection of journals (2007‐2008). In addition to his editorial and business development work, he obtained an MBA from The Open University in 2003.

The Society of American Archivists held its annual conference – the theme was “Beyond Borders” – in San Diego, California last week. It was a very full schedule, with three SUL staff members from the Special Collections Manuscripts Division presenting. First up was Laura Williams, currently the project archivist on the Stop AIDS Project. She presented at the MDOR (Metadata and Digital Object) Roundtable to a very full audience on our recent efforts using a new software (PhotoMechanic) and workflow for bulk cataloging of digital image collections.

The highly successful Library Concierge Program now has an Advisory Group. The Concierge Program Advisory Group is an ongoing group working with Chris Bourg, AUL for Public Services, to ensure that goals of the Concierge program are met by:

1. Developing future topics and making recommendations on the overall direction and content of the Concierge program.

2. Contributing to an institutional culture of continuing staff professional development and training.

3. Providing guidelines, training, and other direct program support (logistics and coaching of presenters as needed) to ensure that the Concierge program meets the goals of providing library staff with Concierge sessions that:

• are engaging and meaningful to a diverse audience,
• describe the varied services, collections, and projects provided by the Stanford University Libraries to the faculty, students and staff of Stanford University,
• empower each participant to be able to engage in a Marguerite Moment about each session's topic. 

The Concierge Program Advisory Group consists of:

• Kimberly Hayworth
• Helen Josephine
• Kris Kasianovitz
• Erin Scott
• Malgorzata Schaefer

The group's email address is: sulair-cpag@lists.stanford.edu

The executive sponsor of the Library Concierge Project is Chris Bourg.

Stanford University Libraries' staff members can sign up for the Library Concierge Project on CourseWork.