Greetings Colleagues, I trust you're well. Today I'm celebrating the Mary McLeod Bethune commemorative stamp. Issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 1985, it is the eighth stamp in its Black Heritage USA series. EXCITING UPDATES Preserving the Story of the HBCU Library Alliance - historical document The HBCU Library Alliance was awarded its first direct grant funding in 2010 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to document and disseminate member success stories and the history of the HBCU Library Alliance. I'm so pleased and excited to report that the Alliance's historical document "A Decade of Achievement, a Call to Excellence: The History and Contributions of the HBCU Library Alliance" has been published by the peer-reviewed International Journal of Academic Library and Information Science. Paste this link http://www.academicresearchjournals.org/IJALIS/Content/2014/February/Content.htm into your address bar to access the article. Expanding Library Support for Faculty Research in HBCUs This is the Alliance's second direct grant award, with a goal of assessing and strengthening library services in support of faculty research. The HBCU Faculty Development Network is our project partner. Laurette Foster, Prairie View A&M (TX), is our contact. The four-member Faculty Advisory Committee has developed a Library Survey aimed to gather information from selected HBCUs to determine their current services, capacity and needs regarding faculty research support. After testing by this committee, the survey will be distributed to members that include research in their missions. Complete and return the survey as soon as possible so that we can continue project activities. The nine-member Faculty Library Advisory Committee is meeting this Friday in Atlanta. Statistician Dr. Sharon Freeman has developed and forwarded a draft Faculty Survey to the committee for their review. The Faculty Survey aims to gather information from faculty at HBCUs that incorporate research in their core missions. The survey will gather information that can assist libraries in understanding faculty research interests, challenges and support needs. I'll update you as we move forward with survey distribution and reporting on results. CEU's for HBCU Library Alliance classes I'm excited to report that the Alliance has been approved to offer CEU credit for a series of web-based classes. These classes will be fee-based to cover the costs of the CEU and the Alliance. Our initial series will be The Six Domains of Leadership, presented by Dr. Flavia Eldemire. These classes provide instruction on how to develop leadership skills by focusing on specific behaviors and their corresponding effects. Thanks are in order to Board member Paulette Bracy for her assistance in securing CEU approval. Stay tuned for details. Contact me directly if you have questions or need additional information. Respectfully, 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 404-702-5854 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.