Eastern New York Chapter of ACRL Newsletter

Volume 30, Number 2, Fall 2006

Contents

• President's Letter
• Board of Directors candidates
• Librarian of the Year Nominations
• Conferences & Other Program Activity
• NYSHEI Update
• Notes from the Field

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President's Letter

Dear ENY/ACRL Members,

Next week at this time students will be back on campus and we will all be busy teaching, providing reference services, reviewing policies, cataloging rush orders and tending to the thousand and one tasks that accompany a new semester. Before life on campus gets too hectic, I’d like to take a moment to let you know what is new in our organization.

The most noteworthy news is that ENY/ACRL members voted, in a straw poll, to produce only one conference a year in the spring. The 2007 conference will take place on May 21, at SUNY Institute for Technology in Utica. However, ENY/ACRL still plans to provide professional development opportunities during the fall semester. This fall we are co-sponsoring the Eighth Annual Symposium on Scholarly Communication: Converting and Preserving the Scholarly Record . This symposium will take place on October 24, 2006 at the University at Albany. Speakers from academic institutions that are grappling with issues associated with the digitization of scholarly resources will lead discussions during this daylong event. For more information and to register visit
http://library.albany.edu/services/symposium/Symposium06/.

ENY/ACRL will also, for the first time, have a presence at the New York Library Association (NYLA) conference in Saratoga Springs, November 1-4. Longtime ENY/ACRL member Uma Sharma will lead a workshop titled; Future of Libraries: Musings from ENY/ACRL Conferences. Join us on Nov. 4th at 8:00 am at NYLA in Saratoga to learn about trends that started with ENY/ACRL.

Speaking of NYLA, ENY/ACRL will strengthen the ties between the two organizations by becoming a non-profit organizational member of NYLA. This will allow us to lend our organizational muscle to NYLA initiatives. We will be focusing especially on legislative initiatives. Gretchen Lieb our Government Relations Committee Chair has volunteered to be the liaison between the two organizations.

The program committee is busy creating policies and procedures for the production of regional brown bag workshops each Fall. We will hear more about that this spring at our business meeting.

The new Janice Graham Newkirk Scholarship will also be awarded at our Spring business meeting. It is not too early to apply for this substantial monetary award. Interested students may visit http://www.enyacrl.org/newkirk.php for information and application materials.

We also have a new archivist this year. Michelle Parry of Oswego State University, SUNY, has volunteered to take on the job following the retirement of Carla List. The ENY/ACRL Board of Directors wishes to thank Carla for her many years of service as archivist. We also welcome Michelle with gratitude for taking on this important role.

ENY/ACRL welcomes member involvement in our many committees. This organization is a wonderful way to meet other area academic librarians. I look forward to productive year, working with all of you.

Deborah Bernnard
President, ENY/ACRL
University at Albany, SUNY

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Wanted: Board of Directors Candidates

Board of Directors for 2006-07: Nominations are open for VP/Program Chair, Secretary, and Communications Chair.

The Chapter seeks candidates for the spring 2007 elections. Candidates are required to be current members of the chapter and to submit a biographical and interest statement for the ballot to the Nominations Chair, Mary Anne Waltz, at waltzm@rpi.edu by January 15, 2007.

The position of Vice President/Program Chair/President Elect is a three-year commitment. After the first year of planning the conference as chair of the program committee, the Program Chair serves as president in the second year, and as past president in charge of nominations and awards in the third year.

It is expected that the vice president and/or the president attend ACRL Chapters’ Council meetings at Midwinter and Annual ALA conferences to represent the ENY Chapter. Generous financial support to attend these conferences is provided.

The positions of secretary and communication chair are two-year terms.  The Secretary is responsible for recording the proceedings of the Board as well as assisting with the annual election and any necessary by-law votes.  The Communications Chair manages the Chapter website and email discussion group, is responsible for editing and publishing the ENY/ACRL Newsletter, and keeps members up to date on chapter issues.

Additional details of position responsibility are available in the Officer’s Handbook on the Chapter webpage.

The Board of Directors meets three times a year. Two meetings are held at a campus centrally located in the region. One meeting in winter is held via a telephone conference call. The chapter reimburses board members for mileage for travel to meetings at a rate of $0.20 per mile.

If you are interested in serving on the Board, or if you know someone who might, please contact Mary Anne Waltz at waltzm@rpi.edu. Nominations should be submitted to Mary Anne by January 10, 2007. Ballots are scheduled to be sent out on February 1, 2007.

Ballots will be sent to all who paid their dues for the Chapter’s membership year that runs September 1 through August 31.

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Librarian of the Year Nominations

ENY/ACRL LIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINATION DEADLINE: January 15.

Know an outstanding member of the chapter whose work has benefited the profession and the chapter? Honor that colleague with a nomination to the ENY/ACRL Librarian of the Year Award. ENY/ACRL is now seeking nominations. The Librarian of the Year Award recognizes an ENY/ACRL member who has exhibited dedication to fulfilling the ACRL mission and furthering the goals and objectives of ACRL and ENY/ACRL in particular. The award includes a plaque and a $250 honorarium, which is presented at ENY/ACRL's spring conference. For more details see http://www.enyacrl.org/loy.html

January 15 is the deadline for submissions for nominations. Please submit nominations to Past President, Mary Anne Waltz, via e-mail at waltzm@rpi.edu. The nomination form is available on the web site at http://www.enyacrl.org/LOYform.html .

The recipient will have exhibited a dedication to fulfilling the ACRL mission and furthering the goals and objectives of ACRL and ENY/ACRL, in particular. He/she will exemplify the essence of librarianship through a commitment to service, professionalism, and accomplishment. In addition, the recipient may have demonstrated leadership qualities, served as a role model to colleagues, or developed innovative policies or projects that have enhanced operations in his/her own library, the region or the state.

Previous ENY/ACRL Librarian of the Year Award recipients are:

• Susan Zappen, 2006	Cerise Oberman, 1999
  Jane Subramanian, 2004	Gillian McCombs, 1998
  Lynne King, 2003	Carla List, 1997
  Barbara Via, 2002	Elaine Coppola, 1996
  Mary Jane Brustman, 2001	Janice Newkirk, 1995
  Michael Engle, 2000	Mary Alice Lynch, 1994

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Conferences & Other Program Activity

Last Spring, at our business meeting, we floated the idea of putting on only one conference per year in the Spring. Instead of producing a Fall conference, ENY/ACRL will pursue other ideas, such as presenting regional brown bag workshops and co-sponsoring other Fall offerings. ENY/ACRL members responded positively to this proposal in a straw ballot distributed this summer. Accordingly, ENY/ACRL will not be hosting a Fall conference this year.

However, ENY/ACRL is pleased to announce that we are co-sponsoring the Eighth Annual Symposium on Scholarly Communication on October 24, 2006 at the University at Albany. The Symposium is titled Converting and Preserving the Scholarly Record and will feature speakers from Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard, University of North Carolina and the electronic archiving service, Portico. This is an opportunity to join colleagues in examining the issues that stem from the ongoing transformation of scholarly materials into digital formats.

Other activities coming up include:

Fall 2006

October 24, 2006 - Symposium at University at Albany
November 4, 2006, 8am - “Future of Libraries: Musings from ENY/ACRL Conferences.” Presented in collaboration with the NYLA Conference by Uma Sharma (Syracuse University) and Kathryn Johns-Masten (Siena College)

Spring 2007

May 21, 2007 - “Who’s Driving the Technology Bus?” Spring Conference of ENYACRL. SUNY IT, Utica
This conference will focus on emerging technologies and how library services can adapt with them.

Fall 2007

Regional Brown Bag Meetings on the theme of Marketing/Outreach/Town and Gown Relationships

Spring 2008

Spring Conference of ENYACRL Tentative Location: Syracuse University

The Eighth Annual Symposium on Scholarly Communication.

Organizers describe the symposium as follows:

“News of digitization projects for scholarly materials reaches us almost daily. How will digital resources remain accessible over time? In order to discuss this and other questions, the University at Albany is pleased to present our fall 2006 symposium: "Converting and Preserving the Scholarly Record", Sponsored by University at Albany, University Libraries, in conjunction with the College of Computing and Information, Ebsco, ENY/ACRL and NYSHEI, October 24, 2006 in the Campus Center Assembly Hall.

While it is apparent that publishers, librarians and scholars are all beginning to rely on the benefits of digital formats, practical ways to address digital preservation must be developed and implemented in time to support unbroken, continuing access of our digital scholarship into perpetuity.

You are invited to participate in the symposium and study the issues stemming from digitization activities in substantive and provocative discussions during this day-long event. Keynote speaker Jeffrey Horell of Dartmouth College will provide an overview of the issues. John Saylor of Cornell, Dale Flecker of Harvard University, Eileen Fenton of PORTICO, and Sarah Michalak of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present issues and emerging responses from areas where digitization is having profound impact.

"Converting and Preserving the Scholarly Record" will take place October 24, 2006 from 8:45 am to 4:15 pm in the Assembly Hall at the University at Albany. Registration is $35.00, including lunch and parking for the day. “

Use this link http://library.albany.edu/services/symposium/Symposium06/ for more information and to register. You can also find information on the Symposium on our Web Site www.enyacrl.org .

Please note that some presentations from the Spring 06 Conference: Data is the Answer. What is the Question? are available on the ENY/ACRL website.

Deborah Bernnard,
President, ENY/ACRL
University at Albany, SUNY

Francine M. Apollo
Vice President/Program Chair
SUNY Cobleskill

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New York State Higher Education Initiative Update

NYSHEI was founded in 2002, by SUNY Provost Peter Salins and librarians from SUNY, CUNY, and private colleges and universities to develop, enhance and preserve our research and educational services, collections and resources for the benefit of faculty, students, and the larger research community, and to promote new methods of scholarly communication. Since that time its membership has grown to 138 colleges and universities, more than 80% of the libraries eligible for membership. Its activities have centered on providing members with information on aspects of the changes in scholarly communication, collaborative institutional repositories, and digital preservation; working with Nylink on developing statewide contracts for electronic resources; and advocacy for academic libraries within the higher education community.

With the June 30, 2006, retirement of its first Executive Director, John Townsend, the NYSHEI board of directors* appointed an interim director, met in a retreat to clarify and affirm the organization’s priorities, and decided on the qualities and responsibilities of the next Executive Director. The search process has begun. Advertisements will appear in September publications and on listservs. Nominations are welcome and should be sent to Search Committee Chair, Chris Filstrup. (cfilstrup@notes.cc.sunysb.edu)

NYSHEI’s three highest priorities, affirmed at the July retreat, are:

• • Advocacy and funding for high-end databases from state funds.
• • Building community among the membership through a variety of personal and written communications and increasing opportunities for members to participate in NYSHEI advocacy and other activities.
• • Participating in the development of interoperable resource sharing systems within New York State through advocacy, facilitating partnerships, and information sharing.

In addition to the search for a new executive director, NYSHEI’s primary activity is implementing its Advocacy Working Group’s action plan of meetings and contacts with leaders in higher education including college presidents and chancellors, legislators and staff, state officials, and partner organizations during the summer and fall to advocate for state funding to leverage academic libraries’ expenditures for science and technology information.

Planning will soon begin for the 2007 annual meeting. Seventy members attended the June 2006 annual meeting at Columbia University. The topic, “Meeting the Challenges of Digital Preservation” was well received. The papers of the speakers are available on the NYSHEI website. http://www.nyshei.org/Events/2006annualmtg/annualmtg06.htm The planning committee welcomes recommendations for program topics and speakers. (Gary Thompson, Siena College (Thompson@siena.edu); Peter Genovese, Monroe Community College (pgenovese@monroecc.edu); Bart Harloe, St. Lawrence University (BHarloe@Stlawu.edu); and Patricia Renfro, Columbia University pr339@columbia.edu).

Subsequent to the annual meeting where digital preservation of e-journals was among the topics considered, NYSHEI entered into an agreement with Portico, wherein NYSHEI members who become founding archive participants will receive an additional 5% discount on Annual Archive Support fees for the length of a member’s participation. This discount is beyond the initial Archive Founder discounts. More information is available at the NYSHEI website. http://nyshei.org/offers/portico.htm

The University at Albany continues its scholarly communication symposia on October 24, 2006, with a program on Converting and Preserving the Scholarly Record. NYSHEI is pleased to be a co-sponsor of the program, and Sharon Bonk will chair the speakers’ panel. Program information and registration are available at the UA website. http://library.albany.edu/services/symposium/Symposium06/

I am pleased to be serving as the Interim Executive Director of NYSHEI. I served as a member of the founding board of directors,and while director of Queens College Library, I was a participating member of the organization.

Sharon Bonk (bonks@nyshei.org)

*Current NYSHEI Board members:

 

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Notes from the Field

College of Saint Rose

Maria Kessler has joined the College of Saint Rose as College Archivist/Reference Librarian.

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Herkimer County Community College

HCCC has finalized plans for the renovation and expansion of the Library/Learning Center/Bookstore building with the expected groundbreaking set for November 2006. The plans include an expansion of the building, renovation of the existing structure and relocation of the Learning Center. The project is expected to take 15 months to complete. A transition team will be appointed to coordinate construction schedules with service priorities to insure access to library services and collections during the project.

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Hudson Valley Community College

Ed Menke, part-time librarian died this past Spring.  He will be missed by all.

Daniel Towne has been hired as a part-time librarian.

Robert Matthews received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship.

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Le Moyne College

Le Moyne College joined Connect NY and effectively "added" millions of volumes to its collection.

The library is testing a staff blog this fall for all its employees and student assistants to keep abreast of such things as events, forthcoming class assignments, new policies, glitches, database problems. http://lemoynelibrary.blog.com

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New York State Library

Congratulations to Cassie Artale and Mary Linda Todd, both promoted to Library Development Specialist 2 positions.

The Research Library welcomed Christine Szczerba, Senior Librarian in Public Services.

Congratulations to Laura Boggs, student assistant in Library Development, who was named “best Capital District female singer-songwriter” in the annual Metroland “Best of” issue.

Information about the Library’s free programs and training sessions is available at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/press.htm

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Matt Benzing published an article entitled, "Luwak: a content management solution." in Library Hi Tech, vol.24, issue 1.

Jeanne Keefe presented papers and moderated sessions at three national conferences including the Museum Computer Network Conference, the College Art Association Conference, and the Visual Resources Association Conference.

RPI successfully completed an electronic theses and dissertations pilot project. PhD candidates were given the option of depositing their theses electronically using DigiTool software. Beginning with the Fall 06 semester, all PhD candidates will be required to provide an electronic copy of their thesis, which will be managed using DigiTool. The public interface is still a work in progress and the full-text of dissertations are restricted to RPI users only, but you can take a peek and look at abstracts at http://digitool.rpi.edu:8881/R/.

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Sage College

Amy Pass has joined The Sage Colleges Libraries. She is the Information Literacy Librarian with a rank of Assistant Professor. She has her B.A. English from SUNY Geneseo and her M.L.S. from Catholic University of America. Amy serves as library liaison for the Humanities.

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Skidmore College

Andrew Ashton, Systems Librarian, gave a presentation, "Tech Tools For Small Libraries," at the New England Voyager User's Group Conference in Worcester, MA at Assumption College in July. In his talk, Andy focused on ColdFusion application development to enhance Voyager functionality.

Barbara Norelli, Instructional Services/Social Sciences Librarian, has written a chapter, "Basic Training: Putting Undergraduate Government Students Through the Paces,"which is included in the soon-to-be released ACRL monograph, Teaching Information Skills to Social Sciences Students and Practitioners: A Casebook of Applications.

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SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Returning students to SUNY-ESF were pleased to see these changes in their Moon Library: 

• An Academic Center has been established to provide tutoring and writing support. 
• A new quiet study room was created on the lower level away from most noise and activity of the main floor.
• The current periodicals room was “remodeled.”  Because so few titles are received in paper, excess shelving was removed creating an open space (and exposing a window) where some comfortable seating has been arranged. 
• Some bean bag chairs have been added to the main reading room, along with some other comfortable seating. 

Kristen Blake, a student from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies will be an intern with Moon Library this semester.

Jane Verostek has returned part time from her maternity leave.  Baby Minerva, now 5 months old, is spending time with her grandmother while Jane is at work. 

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SUNY Oswego

Penfield Library at SUNY Oswego is happy to announce the arrival of two full time librarians to our department. David Clendinning joins us as Associate Director. David was previously at Florida State University- Tallahassee, where he served as Head of Reference. Emily Hart was recently hired as our new Reference and Special Instruction Librarian. Emily comes to us from Daniel A. Reed Library, SUNY Fredonia, where she held the position of Reference, Instruction, and Web Services Librarian. Aside from her reference and instruction duties, Emily will be organizing the library's involvement in events like orientation, and other initiatives that promote campus and community outreach. Welcome to both of you!

Penfield Library has subscribed to Central Search, Serials Solutions federated search product. CentralSearch has been incorporated into the library’s subject guides so that the core databases in each discipline – along with the library’s catalog (included mid-September) – may be searched simultaneously. For more details see: http://www.oswego.edu/library/ref/db/centralsearch.html

Tom Larson was one of five national winners of Google’s “Tips of the Trade” contest for librarians. His essay on using Google Earth in his Global Studies 100 class: “London: A Global City,” was selected, and Tom was filmed for Google’s “Tips of the Trade” movie, which was shown at the American Library Association conference in New Orleans in June. The video will be available on Google’s Librarian Center Web site: www.google.com/librariancenter . Tom will be available for autographs on request.

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SUNY Plattsburgh

Information Outreach Coordinator Holly Heller Ross has received a Fulbright Research Award to study Information Literacy in Cairo, Egypt next Summer. Way to go Holly!

Mila C. Su has joined the Library Faculty as Access Services Coordinator. Welcome aboard Mila!

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SUNY Potsdam

Nancy Alzo is serving on the SUNY Borrowing Task Force as a representative for the Comprehensive Colleges. This task force has been appointed by the SUNYConnect Advisory Committee. The vision for SUNY Borrowing is to better serve patrons by developing a University-wide, unfiltered borrowing system that moves library materials throughout SUNY in ways that are quick, reliable and efficient. The Task Force will be responsible for helping to set the parameters for an appropriate environment for SUNY libraries to meet aggressive inter-campus borrowing targets.

Marianne Hebert presented a poster session at the 38th Annual SUNYLA Conference, June 14-16 at SUNY Geneseo. Her poster session "Ref Pod Blog and Active Desktop" is available at: http://www2.potsdam.edu/hebertm/refpodblog/.

Jenica Rogers gave a presentation titled "Why DSpace can and should work for all SUNY institutions" at the 38th Annual SUNYLA Conference, June 14-16 at SUNY Geneseo. She included a description of how an institutional repository can serve the local needs of any institution while also contributing to the broader scholarly communications community, and outlining the steps necessary to begin a repository. The presentation is online, available at http://www2.potsdam.edu/rogersjp/SUNYLA06/. She also gave a poster session "Don’t Forget Libraries Have Books! Promoting Reading at Your Library", which focused on our college libraries' browsing collection, the Potsdam Reads blog, and the Bregman Book Discussions, which are partially sponsored by the College Libraries.

Jane Subramanian was a presenter at the New York Archives 2006 Annual Conference Program, June 14-16 at Vassar College. She was one of three presenters for the session "Regional Digitization Projects: Tips on the Do's and Don'ts".

SUNY Potsdam Crumb Library reopened on August 21st, after completion of asbestos abatement during the summer.

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Syracuse University

Pamela Thomas, formerly Digital Projects Coordinator in Digital Library Development Services, accepted a position as Media Librarian, effective September 1. Pamela's new contact information is < pthomas@syr.edu > and (315) 443-5526.

Elise Calvi was appointed to the position of Reference Librarian, effective October 1, 2006. She will join the Professional Programs and General Reference Department. Elise was formerly the Head of Preservation at the University of Delaware Library.

Pamela McLaughlin, Head of Digital Library Development Services, was recently elected chair of Nylink Council, which serves in an advisory capacity to the executive director and plays a leadership role in the development of Nylink's strategic planning and priorities. She will begin her term in September 2006. Nylink is a membership organization representing over 350 libraries and information organizations throughout New York State and surrounding areas. Pamela was previously Council secretary and chair of the Strategic Planning Committee.

Nicolette Schneider, Reference and Access Services Librarian and Peter Verheyen, Preservation and Digital Access Librarian (both of the Special Collections Research Center), presented at the Digitization Expo & Vendor Showcase sponsored by the Western NY Library Resources Council. They spoke on the digitization of SU Library primary resources and the implications there-of on public services.

Nancy Turner, Head, Digital & Electronic Resource Management Services, participated in the ENY/ACRL Spring Conference 2006: Data is the Answer. What is the Question? Nancy's presentation entitled, "Awash in Numbers: New directions for managing electronic resources and their usage statistics" is available on the conference web page.

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University at Albany

Appointments

Yu-Hui Chen has been appointed as the new Bibliographer and Outreach Librarian for Education at the rank of Senior Assistant Librarian.

Jean McLaughlin has been appointed as the new Honors College/Assessment Librarian at the rank of Senior Assistant Librarian.

Christina Connor has been appointed as an Instructional Support Associate on a part time, temporary basis. She is working with Collection Development and in Reference.

Gerry Burke has been approved for tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Librarian.

Publications

Laura Cohen published, "Blogs in Academia: A Resource Guide" in Choice 43 Special Issue: 7-15. This is Laura's eighth invited essay for the Choice web issues.

Presentations

Laura Cohen chaired the LITA Internet Resources Interest Group this year. The group presented a well-attended and lively program at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, "The Ultimate Debate: Who Controls the Future of Search?" A detailed description of the event is available on the LITA blog, http://litablog.org/.

Consultancies

Laura Cohen was invited to join the IngentaConnect Library Advisory Group. This is a group of ten librarians who will advise Ingenta on the development of its library services and provide guidance on current issues in the information industry.

Other

Laura Cohen is taking a six-month Sabbatical leave starting this fall to investigate Library 2.0 initiatives.

The University at Albany Libraries’ M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections is hosting an academic program to celebrate 2006 Archives Week. The program "University in Exile: Refugee Scholars, the New School for Social Research, and the German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collection" sponsored by the University Libraries, Center for Jewish Studies, and the College of Arts and Sciences will be presented on Thursday, October 12, 2006, in the Standish Room of the Science Library, University at Albany, SUNY. The program will include: Dr. Claus-Dieter Krohn’s discussion of this unique period of immigration; Dr. Johannes Evelein’s discussion of the role of German and Jewish émigré writers in American intellectual history; and Dr. John M. Spalek’s discussion of the founding and growth of the German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collection at the University at Albany Library. Additional information about the program is available at http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/EmigreProgram_flyer2.pdf.

The German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collection in the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives presently consists of more than 1,500 cubic feet of personal papers, organizational records, political pamphlets, tape recordings, photographs, and related research materials documenting the German intellectual exodus of the 1930s and 1940s. Additional information about the German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collection is available at http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/emigre.htm. For more information contact: Brian Keough, Head, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University at Albany, SUNY Albany, NY 12222. bkeough@albany.edu Tel: (518) 437-3931.

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