Eastern New York Chapter of ACRL Newsletter 

President's Report by Inga Barnello

Leading a professional organization with a solid financial foundation and a dedicated board of directors is not a difficult job. While several thank-you messages will be sent my way, I send them along and tip my cap (my Red Sox World Championship one!) to our board of directors. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Mike McLane, Mary Anne Waltz, Martha Walker, Sheldon Wein, Steve Black, John Thomas and Gretchen Lieb for their work this year.

The challenges ahead for the incoming board and our members are conference planning and membership activity. At the close of my presidential year, work on a comprehensive conference planning handbook is just beginning. My goal is that this planning tool will include both processes and timelines that will ultimately lead to an eighteen-month planning cycle and ensure that incoming Program Chairs have a framework with which to “hit the ground running.” I will continue with this project and complete it in my year as Past President.

In terms of membership participation, I call to our members to get actively involved with the organization. Help with committee work, some of which occurs virtually, and some that involves travel within the region. Members are best source of advertising. Tell your coworkers to join and send membership information their way. Run for office. Apply for a research grant. Nominate a co-worker for Librarian of the Year. ENY-ACRL is the single easiest professional organization to belong too and the board’s aim is to make it easier to participate. Conference registration rates for the past two conferences were lowered to $30. Our dues structure of $12 and $15 reaps high dividends of affordable regional conferences and a newsletter that helps keep abreast of our sister libraries, each other, and news from ACRL.

My active involvement in the Chapter starting some 15 years ago is the single best thing I ever did for professional development. Thank you for your confidence in selecting me as President and your support these past two years.

Inga H. Barnello
President, 2004-05

Vice President/Program Chair Report by Mary Anne Waltz

Greetings,

The first order of business here is to express thanks to all who made the Spring Conference so successful. I want to especially thank Mary Lindner, the Local Arrangements Chair, and Steve Black who assisted her. This year’s Program Committee was a great group to work with, and they took on extra responsibility during my absences. And of course thanks to Inga for standing in for me at the Conference.

I’m sorry I had to miss the Conference; all comments I’ve heard have been very positive and complementary. Two thirds of the attendees completed the evaluation form, and 96% of them rated the conference overall as Excellent or Good.

This year’s Program Committee is already busy planning the Fall Conference. Mark your calendars now for the date - Friday, October 21 – and the place – Vassar College.

I know that summer is a hectic time; we are all trying to squeeze in some personal time off, while preparing for the Fall semester. But I’d like to remind you to consider applying for a Newkirk Award. The application deadline is September 1, a busy time in the academic year, so the sooner you can apply, the better. The information is online at http://enyacrl.org/newkirk.html

Enjoy your summer, and we’ll see you in Poughkeepsie in October.

Mary Anne Waltz
Vice President, 2004-2005

Past President/Nominations Committee Chair Report by Michael J. McLane

The following candidates were elected as officers and members of the ENY/ACRL Board for 2005-2006:

• Vice President/President Elect/Program Planning Chair: Deborah Bernnard, SUNY Albany
• Secretary: Lorraine Melita, SUNY Cortland
• Communications Chair: Patricia Hults, RPI

Gretchen Lieb of Vassar College was appointed to the Chair of the Government Relations Committee following the Spring 2004 Conference.

Mary Anne Waltz of RPI becomes ENY/ACRL President as of the Annual Business meeting on May 16, and Inga Barnello becomes Past President and Chair of the Nominating and Elections Committee.

Continuing Board Members are:

• Treasurer: Sheldon Wein, New York State Library
• Membership Chair: John Thomas, Jefferson Community College

Completing their terms of office are:

• Secretary: Martha Walker, Cornell
• Communications Chair: Steve Black, College of St. Rose

I am disappointed to report that, despite repeated call for nominations, there were no nominations this year for either the Librarian of the Year Award or the Janice Graham Newkirk Research Award. Given the wealth of talent and collegiality within ENY/ACRL, I find this puzzling. I urge Chapter members to familiarize themselves with these awards and to plan now to submit nominations in 2005-2006. Information on both awards is available on the Chapter website.

Finally, I would like to say how much I have enjoyed working with the ENY/ACRL Board and membership for the past three years. It has been a real pleasure, and I thank you.

Michael J. McLane
Central New York Library Resources Council

Treasurer's Report by Sheldon Wein

ENY/ACRL is in excellent financial condition. Our financial status is very healthy and this will allow ENY/ACRL to continue to provide vibrant programs for its members.

Checking account balance as of March 31, 2005: $ 22,531.62

ENY/ACRL gave $250 in awards in 2004.

Spring Conference 2004, Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs

• 88 paid registrations
• $500 in vendor support
• Total Income $3,395
• Total Expenses $3,616.33
• Net loss: $221.33

Janice Graham Newkirk Research Fund balance as of March 31, 2005: $ 23,303.39. There were no applications for a Newkirk Fund award in 2004.

Respectfully submitted

Sheldon Wein
Treasurer ENY/ACRL
May 16, 2005

Membership Committee Report by John Thomas

ENY/ACRL currently has 193 members representing 64 institutions. 88 members are also members of the national ACRL organization.

My activities for this first year as chair have included: becoming familiar with the membership database and record keeping duties of the position, maintaining the membership database, recruiting members for the committee, and developing recruiting materials.

In addition to the chair, the Membership Committee has three other members.

They are:

• Mary Lynn Bensen, SUNY Oneonta
• Amy Hillick, Orange County Community College
• Kathleen Horton, SUNY Canton

We are still looking for a few good librarians to join our group! If you are interested in helping us out and serving your organization, please contact me. We would especially welcome members from the Central New York and Capital regions.

This spring we prepared a new Web page for the ENY/ACRL site entitled “Why Join ENY/ACRL?” We will soon be contacting liaisons and suggesting that they use this page as they recruit new members at their institutions. The page is linked to from the ENY/ACRL home page and can also be found here: http://enyacrl.org/join.htm

I have identified several organizations where we have current members, but we do not have official institutional liaisons. This summer our committee will be contacting active members to serve as liaisons -- please consider serving in this important capacity. If you would like to volunteer or have questions, please contact me.

John Thomas
Membership Chair

Nominations for Librarian of the Year Award

Please make the following notations in your calendars. December 15 marks one month from the deadline for nominations for the ENYACRL Librarian of the Year (LOY) Award. January 15 is the deadline for submissions for LOY Award. Please submit nominations to Past President, Inga H. Barnello, via e-mail at barnello@lemoyne.edu.

Call for Applications: Janice Graham Newkirk Research Award

The Janice Graham Newkirk Research Award provides funding for members of ENY/ACRL to pursue research on any aspect of library technology, reference service, or bibliographic instruction.  A monetary award will be made annually, with the amount of the award based on the growth of the fund.  The minimum amount will be $350.  The award can be used to finance travel or research costs, including such things as hiring a research assistant, the purchase of computer hardware, software, or supplies needed to carry out the research project, or the cost of conference attendance.  Chapter members may submit applications. The family of Janice Graham Newkirk established a fund in memory of Janice, former board member. Application forms are available at http://www.enyacrl.org/newkirk_application.htm.

Chapter Conferences: A Message from the Past President

Please consider offering your campus as a site for Fall 2006, and even Spring 2007. (The Fall 2005 conference will be held at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie on October 21st and the Spring 2006 conference will be held at Hamilton College.) Fall conferences are typically held in mid-October on Mondays or Fridays. Spring conferences are held in mid or late May and can be on any day of the week. The chapter defers to the librarians at that campus on the date selection. The selection of conference themes is the responsibility of the program committee, led by the Vice President/Program Chair. For information on the responsibilities for hosting a conference and serving as local arrangements chair, please contact Deborah Bernnard, current Program Chair at DBernnard@uamail.albany.edu.

At the close of my presidential year, I began work on a comprehensive Conference Planning Handbook to replace the Local Arrangements Handbook. The goals are to 1) create a planning tool that includes procedures, checklists, policies, and timelines, and 2) to implement an eighteen-month planning cycle for the Chapter’s conferences. To ensure that incoming Program Chairs have a framework with which to “hit the ground running” in May when they take office, there needs to be a longer lead time. I will continue with this project and complete it in my year as Past President. Working with me on this handbook project are Barbara Norelli, Mike McLane, Gretchen Lieb, Lorraine Melita, and Martha Walker.

With this handbook available in January 2006, the program committee and the local arrangements teams will have the necessary information they need at the earliest possible junction in the planning cycle.

--Inga Barnello

Consider Running: Positions on Board of Directors Available for 2006-07

The Chapter seeks candidates for the spring elections. Elections will take place in March for the positions of Treasurer, Membership, and Vice President/Program Chair. 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, Inga H. Barnello at barnello@lemoyne.edu by January 15, 2006. The positions of treasurer and membership chair are two-year terms. The treasurer is responsible for all bank accounts, financial reports, and all questions relating to fiduciary matters that come before the Chapter. The Membership Chair is responsible for promoting and tracking membership, collecting dues, maintaining the database of members, creating an annual membership directory, and overseeing a membership “network” of liaisons on each campus.

The vice presidency is a three-year commitment that involves serving as chair of the program committee the first year, 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 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. Beginning in 2005-2006, the chapter will reimburse board members for mileage for travel to meetings at a rate of $0.20 per mile.

Notes from the Field

Binghamton

The Binghamton University Libraries are proud to announce our first digital newsletter, available at:
http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/librarylinks/index.html

Rachelle Moore, long-time librarian, retired May 18. We would like to welcome Angelique Jenks-Brown as our new Science Librarian.

Janet Hogan and Sarah Maximiek presented "BlackBoard: Where Students and Libraries Connect" at the Conference on Instructional Technologies on May 26.

Elizabeth Brown presented "From Student to Scientist: Using a Team-teaching Approach to Develop Scientific Communication Skills" at the Conference on Instructional Technologies on May 25. The Libraries received a recognition award from the Educational Opportunity Program due to the efforts of Janet Hogan, Sarah Maximiek in providing library instruction and orientation for the summer program, and Bev Singer's work in developing the exhibit honoring Michael V. Boyd, past director, EOP.

Herb Poetzl has written the preface to Fredrick Trollini's "The Shakespeare Productions of Max Reinhardt (Mellon, 2005), which utilized the Max Reinhardt Collection of Binghamton University Special Collections to a great depth.

Central New York Library Resources Council

Michael McLane has accepted the position of Director of the Library at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.  He will be assuming this position in August, 2005.

ConnectNY

Union College and Siena College have joined ConnectNY as Charter members. Both Siena and Union have activated their ConnectNY union catalogs so that students and faculty are now taking advantage of this new system for sharing resources in New York. In addition, United States Military Academy Library at West Point and the Bard College Library have also recently joined ConnectNY ,. Their collections will be added to the system in 2005. ConnectNY represents the collaboration of libraries within New York State dedicated to sharing research materials as efficiently and quickly as possible for faculty, staff, and students at the participating institutions. ConnectNY allows library patrons to initiate online, direct-borrowing requests from their respective member library, with requested items delivered within 48 hours. The consortial arrangement substantially increased the number of titles available to member library users and reduces the unit cost of resource sharing among participating. The aggregated collection now numbers close to 4.5 million volumes.  Over 70% of the unique records are still held by only one library in the system. The founding members are: Rochester Institute of Technology, St. Lawrence University, Colgate University, Vassar College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Hamilton College

Information Commons Pilot Program at Hamilton College

Hamilton College is currently developing an Information Commons environment to provide high-level research assistance and creative input for multimedia applications in the presentation of ideas and projects, combined in one location for easy student access and referral. Currently, as a Pilot Program, it is a “walk-up” service for 2 afternoon hours each weekday, at the Reference Desk service point. During other times, referral to relevant professional contacts is available.

This student service environment is a mirror of what Hamilton has already developed for faculty in this same context. This faculty program, "HILLgroup (Hamilton Information & Learning Liaisons)", provides expertise and instructional technology support for curricular development and research, usually by appointment. Each HILLGroup project is supported by a team of librarians and ITS professionals.

The collaboration between Library and ITS has been fruitful and instructive for both departments. We consider ourselves to still be very much in the learning and development stages of the service, and we would be glad to share our findings and our perspective with anyone considering such a service, or with those who already have such a service in place.

Contact Information:

Sharon Britton, Director of Public Services, Hamilton College, sbritton@hamilton.edu

Hamilton Information Commons Web Site: http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/ic/ic_home.html

Hamilton HILLgroup Web Site: http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/hillgroup/index.html

Herkimer County Community College

New York State Library

Richard Hoenzsch, Senior Librarian (Automation), died February 28, 2005. He had been a member of the State Library’s staff since 2000. His work was very instrumental in extending access to state library electronic resources, including the online catalog and digitized collections, over the Internet.

James Lane, Associate Librarian (Preservation), retired in April.

State Librarian Janet M. Welch has been named to the American Library Association/Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA) National Advocacy Honor Roll in recognition of her outstanding work in supporting and strengthening library services in New York State. Other New York honorees are Senator Hugh T. Farley and The New York Times.

 Katherine (Kate) Storms, Senior Librarian (Public Services), is a graduate of the State Education Department Leadership Academy and Hudson Valley Community College (with an Associate’s degree in Electrical Construction and Maintenance).

The State Library is being featured in “spot” announcements on the noon WAMC radio weather program three times a week through June 2005.

Plattsburgh

Nancy Hoshlyk, Associate Librarian, was inducted into the Psi Chapter (Plattsburgh's local chapter) of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a professional honorary society of women educators. Debra Kimok, Special Collections/Reference Librarian, has received three grants and one scholarship to attend the Modern Archives Institute (MAI) in Washington, DC, this summer. Kimok was awarded the Society of American Archivists Colonial Dames of America Scholarship; the grants were awarded by SUNYLA (State University of New York Librarians Association), NNYLN (Northern New York Library Network) and the Plattsburgh State Professional Development Individual Award Program.

Carla List-Handley, Distinguished Librarian, led her third workshop at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in April, "Making the Invisible Visible: Identifying and Incorporating Information Literacy in Your Curriculum." She led another "Teaching as Performance "workshop in Potsdam, sponsored by NNYLN.RPISkidmore CollegeSUNY Oswego University at Albany

Potsdam

The SUNY Potsdam Faculty Senate at its meeting on May 25, 2005 presented "A Resolution of Congratulations & Gratitude to Rebecca Thompson, Chair of the Visioning Refocused Task Force and to the key participants in this process...   Your individual and collective contributions of creativity, time, and energy have culminated in a process that attests to the power of shared governance as a tool for creating a well-considered vision for SUNY Potsdam."   Librarian Jenica Rogers was also among the list of key participants.

Jane Subramanian was recipient of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship on May 6, 2005.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

D. Ellen Bonner resigned her position as Coordinator of Technical Services to take a similar position at Mt. Holyoke College.

Connie Fritz, BioSciences Librarian at the Research Libraries attended the Annual SLA Conference in Toronto from June 5-8. The conference was very well organized and well attended.

Patricia Hults has been appointed Coordinator of Technical Services.

E. Connie Powell, Physical and Mathematical Sciences Librarian, has a paper published in volume 25 Science & Technology Libraries. "The History and Resources of the National Institute of Standards and Technology" traces the history of the National Institute of Standards and Technology from its beginnings as the National Bureau of Standards, and covers the current resources and services that NIST makes available to commercial and academic laboratories.

Earlier this year, Connie also attended the American Chemical Society conference in San Diego California and participated in the ASDL (Analytical Sciences Digital Library) conference held in conjunction with ACS. ASDL is a resource for educators and students in the analytical sciences.

Fran Scott assisted with the planning and programming of "Re-mapping Our Urban Spaces," a joint meeting of the Ontario and Western New York chapters of the Art Libraries Society of North America which was held from May 12-14 at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto.

Vassar College

Vassar College Libraries applied for and received funding from the Multi-Volume Sets Project of the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (the NCC) for the Japanese periodical titled Himawari (Sunflower).  This is a reprint of a journal for young Japanese women, originally published in late 40s through 50s. 

The NCC Multi-Volume Sets Project makes grants for the purchase of expensive multi-volume sets of Japanese language materials that are in demand by users and not held elsewhere in North America.  The Project is intended to support the purchase of those expensive multi-volume sets that are considered important for research, but are somewhat specialized and would not fit within ordinary acquisition plans.  All materials acquired through this project are lent free of charge through interlibrary loan.

Chiharu Watsky, the librarian liaison with the Asian Studies Program, played an important role in this grant process.

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Patricia Hults, Communications Committee Chair Eastern New York Chapter of ACRL 

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