Clayton State to Celebrate GALILEO’s 15th Birthday Tomorrow

There’s a party going on at Clayton State University on Tuesday, Sept. 21. It’s a birthday party for GALILEO, the core on-line resource for the libraries and media centers of Georgia. And, there’s no more appropriate place to celebrate this anniversary than beside the Clayton State Library.

Georgia's electronic library that links the University System of Georgia (USG), the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), K-12 schools, private institutions, and public libraries, has been a national model program from its inception. And, although GALILEO (which stands for GeorgiA Library LEarning Online) serves the entire state of Georgia, the project has especially strong ties to Clayton State. The chair of the original USG committee than got GALILEO up and running in less than 150 days was former Clayton State President Dr. Richard A. Skinner. In addition, the USG’s main partner in GALILEO, the Georgia DTAE, was once headed up by another former Clayton State administrator, former Interim President Michael F. Vollmer. Furthermore, Clayton State Dean of Libraries, Dr. Gordon Baker, is the immediate past chair of the GALILEO Steering Committee.

The University System launched GALILEO using special initiative funding from then-Governor Zell Miller and General Assembly of Georgia in 1995. Within 150 days of funding, thanks to Skinner’s committee, GALILEO was available at the University System¹s 34 colleges and universities. Shortly thereafter, access was broadened to include private academic libraries, technical colleges, public libraries and public schools. GALILEO is currently available through 2500 institutions.

“Way back in 1995, long before Google, GALILEO helped bring the University System of Georgia libraries, students, faculty, and staff the ability to search indexes and retrieve full-text materials on this new thing called the `World Wide Web,’ using something called `ASCII text,’” recalls Baker. “For many of these users, GALILEO was their first introduction to the Internet, much less graphical interfaces, as well as the benefits this technology had for learning and research. In fact, GALILEO helped put public computers into the University System libraries and provided fax machines for interlibrary loan articles, at time when some campuses had a single fax machine in the President’s office. Institutions that had only a few journals suddenly had access to hundreds of journals.”

The Clayton State University Library will celebrate GALILEO’s 15th birthday on Tuesday, Sept. 21, on Main Street of the James M. Baker University Center (right in front of the Library entrance) with birthday cake to be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (or until the cake runs out.)

A unit of the University System of Georgia, Clayton State University is an outstanding comprehensive metropolitan university located 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.
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Boy Scouts of America Hold Scout Fair

The Boy Scouts of America in Clayton County District will be holding a free family event at Starr Park on Saturday, September 19, 2009. This event, which is called Tara District Scout Fair, will run from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. This free family event will have a number of activities for children of all ages.

The Clayton County Scouts will be offering a number of activities including shooting slingshots, blow guns, and rockets. Most exciting, the Fire Department will be on hand giving tours of a fire truck. Richard Davies, the event coordinator and volunteer said, “This will be the best event of its kind in the county this year!”

Baker Field in Starr Park located at 803 Forest Parkway in Forest Park will host this free family event. District Commissioner Jerry Martin recently observed, “The Boy Scouts in Clayton Co are really stepping up to the plate by offering a family friendly event like this for free. Every family in Clayton County should make it a point to attend; it will be a great time.”

“It is important for the community to have places to interact together. I’m very proud of the numerous volunteers that spent many long hours working to make this event possible. Without them and the boys this couldn’t have been possible,” said Lee Harper, District Executive for the Tara District.

For almost 100 years, Scouting programs have instilled in youth the values found in the Scout Oath and Law. Today, these values are just as relevant in helping youth grow to their full potential as they were in 1910. Scouting helps youth develop academic skills, self-confidence, ethics, leadership skills, and citizenship skills that influence their adult lives. The Mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

The Atlanta Area Council Boy Scouts of America covers 13 metro-Atlanta Counties: Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, and Rockdale. Last year, the Atlanta Area Council served over 44,000 youth, and 10,000 adult volunteers, with over 900 youth 400 adults in Clayton County Scouting. The Atlanta Area Council Volunteer Service Center, located at 1800 Circle 75 Pkwy, Atlanta, Georgia, is the operations center for all of the Council’s activities throughout the year.

For more information about the Tara District Scout Fair, please contact Lee Harper at 404-790-6455 or at lharper@atlantabsa.org
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Frankie Lyle Chapter #2074, UDC, Hosts 2nd Annual Bar-B-Q

The Frankie Lyle Chapter #2074 of the UDC in Jonesboro, GA will host its 2nd annual Bar-B-Q on Saturday, May 16 from 5:00p.m. to 8:00p.m. at the Old Historical Jail on King Street in Jonesboro. Tickets are $6.00 and can be purchased at the event. Bar-B-Q plate consists of chopped pork, slaw, pickles, stew, and bread, and tea. Take out plates available. Baked goods will be auctioned at the end of the Bar-B-Q. Bar-B-Q cooked by retired Sheriff Bill Lemacks and his top chefs.
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Clayton State Student Body Named “Most Diverse” for the Sixth Time

For the sixth time since 2001, the student body at Clayton State University has topped the Racial Diversity rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges edition.

Although Clayton State currently has four active masters programs, the 2009 edition of America’s Best Colleges, which is based upon the 200/2008 academic year, ranks the University’s student population as the most racially diverse among baccalaureate colleges in the southern United States.

Clayton State’s 57 percent African-American student body was a significant factor in the U.S. News ranking, but not the only factor. As the magazine notes, “to identify colleges where students are most likely to encounter undergraduates different from themselves, U.S. News factors in the proportion of minority students – leaving out international students – and the overall mix of groups in each institution’s 2007-2008 student body.”

A unit of the University System of Georgia, Clayton State University is an outstanding, comprehensive metropolitan university located 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.