Lunch With a Leader
President Bailey has donated his time, and a lunch prepared by the college's Culinary Program, in order to benefit the Communities In Schools organization.
President K. Ray Bailey is one of the participants in the Communities In Schools' online fund-raising auction, Lunch with a Leader. The winner of lunch with President Bailey will enjoy a meal prepared by A-B Tech's Culinary Program, one of the top-rated programs in the country, and be able to discuss educational issues of the day, as well as life as the president of a community college. The bidding began at noon Feb. 1.
Lunch With A Leader gives participants the opportunity for unique personal experiences with leaders from every walk of life, all up for bid to benefit the local efforts of Communities In Schools, the nation's leading community-based organization helping students succeed in school and prepare for life.
From Jan. 18 through Feb. 11, the public can bid online at www.lunchwithaleader.com to spend time with local, state, and national leaders. All have agreed to take an auction winner for a one-hour lunch at a venue of the leader's choosing. Each auction winner will have the opportunity for an autograph and photo.
The Lunch with a Leader auction features leading figures from education, arts and entertainment, journalism, politics, sports and public service. For more information and a complete list of participants, visit www.lunchwithaleader.com.
LRC System Migration
The LRC will update its current library management software during Spring Break. The LRC will be closed to all patrons during the week of March 21-24.
Changes are coming to the LRC over Spring Break. The LRC will implement an extensive upgrade to its 17-year-old library management software requiring the center to be closed March 21-24.
The existing DYNIX software, which has been in continuous use since the 1987-88 school year, will be upgraded to Dynix Inc.'s newest product, Horizon. Library staff who have been used to dealing with antiquated, green-screen software, will see an enormous change as the LRC moves to a true Windows interface with software that offers more options and much greater flexibility
"We are pleased to have A-B Tech's administrative and financial support in our effort to migrate the Library's management system software to the next level of technology and service for our patrons. This is a historic step for the library, building on the commitment the College demonstrated in the mid-l980s for automating the college library," said Shirley McLaughlin, director of the LRC.
The library's public catalog, which is already Windows-based, will not change in appearance as dramatically as the LRC staff workstations. "It won't be a big shock to the students," said Librarian Terry Wyszynski.
However, the Horizon system will enable the LRC to add new features to the public catalog such as additional search options and customized lists that will provide even greater assistance and functionality for patrons. "Now we will have the flexibility to set up different patron types and other features," she said.
Implementation of the new system will involve moving all library data, including over 115,000 bibliographic, item, and patron records, to a new database. This database will reside on new, higher-capacity servers. When classes resume on March 28, the LRC will be operating with the new system.
"Many of the staff functions will be quite different, streamlined, more efficient and user friendly. The staff is currently in training for these new procedures," McLaughlin said.
According to McLaughlin A-B Tech was in the first group of 10 North Carolina community colleges to convert their card catalogs to machine-readable records. This conversion was done during l982-85. A microfilm-based catalog was used for three years. In October l987, the purchase of the current system, DYNIX, provided the first truly computer-based catalog. In January 1988, A-B Tech was the first North Carolina community college to actually circulate materials with an online circulation system.
"I'm confident A-B Tech's library will continue to build on its early success with library automation and maintain its dedication and commitment to outstanding patron service. This new library management software allows us to take a giant leap forward for A-B Tech and its library clientele," McLaughlin said.
Leadership Asheville
President Bailey addresses members of Leadership Asheville 23 during a presentation called "Leadership Potpourri: Education, Economic Development and More" Jan. 19 at A-B Tech's Enka Campus. Members of the LA Class of 2005 include Dick Mauney, A-B Tech's vice president of Administrative Services, and Mike McCarthy, executive director of Corporate and Economic Development.