Watch for Ballots in February!
Librarian of the Year Award Nominations Sought
Janice Graham Newkirk Research Award- 1997 Recipients' Report
SUNY/OCLC Changes Name to NYLINK
Documentary Heritage Program Web Site
The Visual Resources Collection at Vassar College
From the Editor's Desk
February will be a busy time of year for all of us, so please make a commitment now to vote and return your ballot promptly when received. Don't let it get buried under a mountain of papers and miss the deadline for its return! Your vote is needed to keep the chapter strong and active.
Lynne King
Past President and Nominations Chair
Enclosed in this issue and available at the Chapter's website (Please note new URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/acrl/acrlhome.html) is information on and a nomination form for the 1999 Librarian of the Year Award. Please take a few moments to consider nominating a colleague whose contributions have benefitted the chapter and our profession. ENY/ACRL covers a wide geographic region and the Nominations Committee relies on suggestions from members for this important award. Previous award recepients are:
Lynne King
Past President and Nominations Chair
On behalf of Cheryl LaGuardia and myself, I extend sincere appreciation for the $500 award conveyed to us by the Janice Graham Newkirk Award Committee in October 1997. Please share this message of gratitude with the members of the Committee and the Graham and Newkirk families.
The Newkirk grant provided an opportunity for us to begin research on the question of whether technology is changing the librarian's image and also provided funds to attend the 28th Popular Culture Association and 20th American Culture Association Annual Join Conferences on April 8-11, 1998 in Orlando Florida.
It was here that we presented our preliminary findings in a paper entitled "From Buns to Bytes: How Technology is Changing the Librarian's Image." Ours was one of four papers in the panel, "Libraries & Popular Culture: Changing Technology, Changing Stereotypes?"
It was a truly energizing experience to be launched on our topic the first day of this gargantuan venue where more than 400 scheduled panels explored the panoply of topics which defines the study of Popular and American Culture. Both Cheryl and I had the opportunity to speak and our presentation was well received according to moderator Doug Highsmith.
Interestingly, our findings were not supportive of our original thesis. We found only one well documented instance in the popular literature to support the idea that technology is changing the image of librarians in popular culture, i.e., the former Batgirl, who, after suffering crippling injuries, employed technology to transform herself into an information goddess to the Super Heroes, known as Oracle.
What we found instead was the increasing dependence on electronic information technologies in libraries and the almost universal availability of unmediated access to information via WWW may in fact be contributing to a radical redefinition of the concept of "librarian" and "libraries." We were even persuaded to ask ourselves the disturbing question: "Will the concept of 'librarian' disappear altogether?" We continue our study and continue to acknowledge the support that the Newkirk Award provided for its initiation.
Mary Cahill
Reference & Interlibrary Loan
Schaffer Library
Union College
Nearly 350 institutions, geographically dispersed throughout New York State and adjacent regions in Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and representing more than 700 academic, special, government, law, medical, public, school and non-profit libraries, constitute SUNY/OCLC membership.
Over the years Network offerings have expanded beyond OCLC products and services. The scope of information, technology, training and user support has grown in response to the rapid technological advances that affect libraries.
The new name is intended to encompass the Network's primary range of members and continually expanding services since the Network was founded twenty-five years ago.
"The Network name more closely represents a true picture of the range of libraries we serve and the spectrum of services and products that we offer," stated Mary-Alice Lynch, Director of The SUNY/OCLC Network. Our new name reflects our mission to partner with our member libraries, providing the best and most cost effective information technology and resources available.
The Network address, phone and fax numbers will not change. A new Web address will be announced at a later date.
As Nylink, the Network will continue to offer training and provide user support in all areas of OCLC including Communications and Access, Reference Services, Resource Sharing, Searching OCLC, and Technical Services; and will disseminate news and updates about OCLC products and services. Additional Network services include access to a wide range of reference products, on-site consulting, and tape processing.
The SUNY/OCLC Network, established in 1973, is a not-for-profit membership organization for all types of libraries and information organizations throughout New York State and surrounding areas. Its mission is to enhance collaboration and cooperation and to facilitate access to and implementation and support of quality, cost-effective information technologies, products, and services for its members.
Katie DeFazio
DHP Regional Archivist
Central New York Library Resources Council
3049 E. Genesee St.
Syracuse, NY 13224-1690
The slide database, currently consisting of 64,000 records, was implemented in 1991 and resides on a campus AlphaServer. Soon this database will be exported into File Maker Pro 4.0. In the graphic design of the new database, a thumbnail scan of the newly accessioned slides will be included on the record and will serve both the cataloger and the patron as a ready reference. The new database has been designed to be core compliant with the Visual Resources Association data standards committee guidelines.
In 1996 a website was created to support Art 105/106, the introductory two semester survey course of the history of art. This website contains 1,225 digitized images and is based upon a list of 464 monuments. The images on the site, firewalled and available only on the LAN, can be viewed by students from computer clusters in their dorms. Scanned in a relatively low resolution jpeg on a Polaroid 35mm Sprint Scan, the images are retouched with Photoshop on a PowerMac G3. Each academic year three to four web pages are now made for the individual art history courses. Originally these websites were "hard coded" using the HTML. Changes were quite difficult to make since every semester the lists of images to be studied is altered. By writing PERL scripts that read the File Maker Pro database used for the digitized images, it is now much easier to add, delete and rearrange the images when necessary.
James F. Monteith
Visual Resources Librarian
Nov. 12, 1998
Please remember to take advantage of the ENY/ACRL website and listserv. Instructions for joining the listserv are available on these web pages.
Keep me posted on what's happening on your campus, and I'll see you in May at SUNY Cortland!
Thanks,
Kristin Strohmeyer
Editor, ENY/ACRL Newsletter
Updated March 10, 1999 MOE
Eastern New York Chapter
Association of College and Research Libraries
URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/acrl/winter99.html