The School Library Journal blog featured a post “LM_NET needs money to keep going” that featured Blythe Bennett, assistant director of school media at Syracuse University School of Information Studies.
The post focused on the fundraising efforts of a popular online discussion board for media specialists called LM_NET, a service that was co-created at the iSchool in 1992 and that Bennett helps maintain. The discussion group that has been in operation for almost 20 years allows media specialists around the country to exchange ideas, share book recommendations, and debate issues. The listserv currently has more than 12,000 members.
“The recent financial recession has taken its toll on the LM_NET general operating fund,” said Sue Wurster, a former iSchool staff member and the current LM_NET co-dministrator who works with Bennett and Michelle Kelley. “The part-time administrators are banking on each of LM_NET’s 12,000 readers to each donate $1 in order for them to meet their goal.”
“The fund drive will help LM_NET become partly self-sufficient, allow us to sustain and maintain current LM_NET service,” Wurster said.
As assistant director of the School Media program, Bennett coordinates services for campus and distance education students pursuing their school media certification, supervises internships, and assists the School Media program director in implementing program assessment and improvement. She is also the director of the Regnier Summer Institute at the iSchool. She holds an M.L.S with a specialization in school media from Syracuse University, a teaching certification, and a B.S. in Spanish and sociology from Marietta College.