Friday, December 2, 2005

Digital Librarian joins the GPB Team

Georgia Public Broadcasting has added a new member to its team to help create and manage a new and exciting resource for educators. Catherine Mukua has been hired as the Digital Librarian for GPB's new Digital Library. The Digital Library, launched in October, is a searchable collection of Digital Media which includes video, audio and other media from Georgia Public Television, Radio, State Government, and other Georgia organizations.

Catherine earned her masters degree in Library Science from North Carolina Central University, in addition to holding two bachelors degrees; B.A. Sociology/English literature and B.S. Library Science from Lucknow University and Banaras Hindu University located in India. Catherine also has a strong talent for language, as she can speak four languages fluently.

Catherine has worked as a professional librarian for over ten years, in Nairobi Kenya, Raleigh North Carolina and Jacksonville Florida before joining GPB in October 2005. Catherine looks forward to assisting Georgia educators with informational needs and using the digital collections/services at GPB.

For more information:
You may contact Catherine at
cmukua@gpb.org or (404) 685-2406

Thursday, December 1, 2005

GPB December Staff Feature: Patrice Weaver

When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore with tremendous force leaving a path of destruction, the number of calls for help was overwhelming with too few answers. Many individuals wanted to help, asking the question 'What can I do?' Patrice Weaver, Operations Manager for the Education and Technology Division at Georgia Public Broadcasting, is one person who instead of asking questions stepped up and created answers.

Upon receiving a request from Atlanta's City of Refuge, an outreach program dedicated to helping those in need within Atlanta, Patrice did not hesitate to take action from the very beginning. She spent the entire weekend following Hurricane Katrina at the City of Refuge shelter, helping evacuees from our neighboring states. Victims had little else than the clothes on their backs, often arriving without shoes or prescribed medications. Many had to swim from their homes and were lucky to be alive. Patrice helped register victims, who were often unable to provide required documentation, such as social security cards. Patrice worked with individuals to help them overcome these roadblocks to receive the assistance they so desperately needed.

When Monday came, exhausted from the weekend's events, her efforts did not stop. Patrice pooled her resources at work to initiate and organize a school supply drive for all of the children that would soon be pouring into the Georgia school system. With the help of other members of the Education and Technology Services division of GPB, she created and distributed a suggested donations list to all Georgia Public Broadcasting employees. Items ranged from markers and backpacks to basic hygiene items such as toothbrushes and underwear. After two weeks of collecting generously donated items from the building's employees, three full vanloads of supplies were delivered to the shelter for distribution across the state.

Patrice also rallied the members of the Education Technology Services division at GPB to travel to the Monroe Street Red Cross to donate blood at a time when supplies were running dangerously low. Though many individuals at GPB worked to help hurricane victims in various ways, Patrice helped bring some organization to those efforts allowing our helping hands to extend a little further.

NOVA ScienceNOW Café at GaETC

The GaETC conference came to town November 9th -11th. We, at Georgia Public Broadcasting, took this opportunity to hold a NOVA ScienceNOW Café at our booth on Wednesday morning. We served refreshments, had a guest speaker, and showed a video clip. The topic was a hot one - hurricanes. Lisa Mozer, the meteorologist with Fernbank Science Center, gave a riveting presentation all about hurricanes. Our viewers learned about the history of some of the biggest hurricanes, how hurricanes are formed, how they are named, and the different types. We then showed a NOVA video clip that first aired back in January of 2005. The clip covered what would happen to New Orleans if a big hurricane hit the city. It foretold the destruction of Katrina. We had a full house at our presentation and two lucky winners took home flash drives donated for raffle by NOVA.