Greetings Colleagues, I trust you're well. Today I'm celebrating Marian Anderson and Ralph Bunche, who in 1963 both received the first Medals of Freedom from President John F. Kennedy, the creator of the award. Anderson worked for several years as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Human_Rights_Committee> and as a "goodwill ambassadress" for the United States Department of State<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State>, giving concerts all over the world. She participated in the civil rights movement<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1954%E2%80%9368)> in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom> in 1963. Ralph Bunche was a Nobel Peace Prize-winning academic and U.N. diplomat known for his peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean. Free Live Webinar: Rethink: Reimagining the Library as a "Place"- Wednesday, February 24, 1:00 ET Description: Libraries continue to be provoked by questions of relevancy and value in today's technologically driven culture. Circulation is trending down and budgets for library collections and operations are suffering annual cuts. These are challenging times indeed, especially for our close community of libraries within the HBCU Alliance. There is hope. Join us for a transformative conversation aimed at reconnecting our students and constituents to the magic of libraries. This webinar will review the concept of "Library as Place," and empower participants to lead their libraries and institutions in developing vision plans, goals, and initiatives that will recapture the imagination and value of libraries. The session will include time allocated for participants to share best practices and to create opportunities for cross institution collaboration. This session is open to all. Learning Outcomes: At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to define and apply the concept of "Library as Place," discover opportunities to recalibrate discussions of library value, share and learn best practices, and feel empowered to lead their respective libraries and institutions into rethinking the role and resources of academic libraries. Instructor: Jamaal Fisher is the Circulation/Reference Librarian at LeMoyne-Owen College. He is a proud graduate of North Carolina Central University's School of Library & Information Science and has served in both academic and public libraries since 2004. He has many accomplishments including being named as an ALA Reach 21 Scholar, IMLS Diversity Scholar, and past participant in the HBCU Library Alliance's Leadership Institute. Jamaal's professional interests include mentoring next generation librarians, information literacy, and transforming libraries into cultural learning places. Registration: Paste this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SKZ3J28 into your address bar and register no later than Friday, February 19th. Log-in instructions will get forwarded on Tuesday, February 23rd. Stay tuned! Sandra SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-592-4820 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.