Messages

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March 15, 2019 Council Meeting @ Onondaga / Re: Campus Updates

« on: April 16, 2019, 01:09:56 PM »

The first annual Geneseo Maker Fest was held on March 30, 2019.  Nearly 200 people attended, and several families stayed for the entire day. 
A variety of individuals and organizations ran maker stations and demonstrations, including SUNY Geneseo students, Milne Library staff, The Finger Lakes Community Woodshop, Rochester LEGO User Group, MakeAcademy, and numerous community members who wished to share their creative and technical knowledge with others.
Kudos to Michelle Costello, Education and Community Engagement Librarian; and Tracy Paradis, Digital Collections & Archives Librarian, for organizing this community outreach event.

Creative Commons’ founding member and Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig delivered the keynote address for SUNY Open Education Resources Week at Geneseo in March.

A warm welcome to Alessandra Otero, who became Milne Library’s newest Research Instruction Librarian in March 2019.  She brings to Milne her years of experience and knowledge in academic research, information literacy,  library instruction, research and reference services, scholarly communication, data management, and library promotion. Alessandra originally hails from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, “a town known for its college and tasty mangos.” She has a Master’s Degree in Information Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Theory of Art from the University of Puerto Rico.

A warm welcome to Teddy Gyamfi , who joined Milne in March 2019 as the Library Evening Access Services Manager.
Teddy brings an extensive background of operations management, marketing, community outreach, customer service, and supervisory positions in non-profit, public, private, and library settings. Teddy has a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies from SUNY Binghamton.


Best wishes and congratulations to Donna Ayers, who retired in March 2019, after 14 years of service to Milne Library.

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January 18, 2019 Council Meeting @ FIT / Re: Campus Updates

« on: January 18, 2019, 08:34:27 AM »

Michelle Costello, Education and Community Engagement Librarian; and Tracy Paradis, Digital Collections & Archives Librarian, received a $3700 grant from the Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries for their project proposal with Wadsworth Library in Geneseo, NY. Michelle and Tracy’s  "Growing a Maker Community"  project will fund a growing collaborative relationship between the library staff of SUNY Geneseo and Wadsworth Public Library in their work to establish and promote a maker community in their region.  The Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries is a fund which honors Harold Hacker, former director of the Monroe County Library System and founder of the Rochester Regional Library Council and Pioneer Library System.

One of the first events that is part of the "Growing a Maker Community" project is the Geneseo Maker Fest, which will be held March 30, 2019.  The Maker Fest is planned around engaging in three domains: physical, cognitive and performative.  Quoting from the Geneseo Maker Fest website: “From beginner to artisan, we encourage all stages of expertise and skill level to participate. Our goal is to expand the scope of what constitutes ‘Making’ with an emphasis on user engagement as well as to inspire attendees to join in the Maker Movement themselves. We particularly encourage interactive exhibits that highlight the process of making (or fixing!) things. The stations and activities at the event will be designed to emphasize user engagement and activity in the three making domains identified.”

Brandon West, Head of Milne Library Research Instruction, presented a poster at the Library Assessment Conference in Houston, TX, titled "Restructuring Reference Services Using Assessment Data" in December 2018. His project focuses on how Milne Library transitioned its reference services from a traditional reference desk to an office hours model. Under the new reference model, librarians offer 34 hours per week of drop-in reference time that can also be scheduled via LibCal. The number of student research consultations has increased 200%, while drastically reducing ready reference questions that are now triaged by student workers.

In January 2019, Tracy Paradis transitioned to a new role at Milne Library. Formerly a Research Instruction Librarian and liaison to Art History, Music, and Theatre & Dance, Tracy will be the Digital Collections & Archives Librarian. As a new member of the Collection Management department, Tracy will be responsible for creating new policies, workflows, and programming in support of digitizing Milne's extensive Special Collections and Archives. Congratulations, Tracy!

In the last quarter of 2018, the Milne Library website and several web applications underwent a redesign for Usability and Accessibility. The redesign was based on analysis of results from a Usability Study conducted throughout the summer of 2018 by Leah Root, Library Web Developer; Brandon West, Head of Research Instruction; and Alan Witt, Research Instruction Librarian. The Usability Study included a variety of student groups who tested common Library website tasks and provided feedback.  Leah Root also worked with an Accessibility analyst to ensure that web pages and web applications met WCAG 2.0 Accessibility standards for readability, visual contrast, and navigation with assistive technology. The Accessibility design effort improves information and resource access for students and for the community at large.

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September 21, 2018 Council Meeting @ UAlbany / Re: Campus Updates - SUNY Geneseo

« on: September 24, 2018, 12:45:44 PM »

New Library Staff, Librarian promotions, awards, and innovative tools were in abundance at Milne Library over the past summer.

A warn welcome to our new Head of Collection Management, Alana Nuth. Alana comes to Milne Library with an extensive background in collection development, acquisitions, and electronic resources from her work at University of Vermont Libraries, Burlington, VT.   Alana also worked in electronic resources management as well as reference and instruction. 
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A warm welcome to our new Scholarly Communications Librarian and liaison to Sciences and Mathematics, Jonathan Grunert. Jon’s background includes experience in the sciences and with instruction at Colorado State University–Pueblo and Virginia Tech. Jon is excited about working with faculty and students in exploring publishing opportunities and promoting research.

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Congratulations to  Michelle Costello, Education and Community Engagement Librarian; and Brandon West, Head of Research Instruction Services for receiving promotions from Senior Assistant Librarian to Associate Librarian. 
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Michelle Costello’s ongoing work with Wadsworth Library in the Village of Geneseo earned Milne Library the Pioneer Library System Outstanding Collaboration Award. The Pioneer Library System is a New York State chartered, cooperative public library system serving the forty-two public libraries in Ontario, Wyoming, Wayne and Livingston counties, including Wadsworth Library.  The award will be presented to Michelle on October 10, 2018, at the Pioneer Library System annual meeting. Kudos and congratulations to Michelle Costello for her dedication to collaboration!
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The IDS Project recently won the 2018 Rethinking Resource Sharing Innovation Award.  The Milne Library-borne IDS Project was recognized for innovative contributions to resource sharing at the American Library Association 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, in June 2018.
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Milne Library once again helped to prepare AOP's Summer Program students for their academic life by guiding them in a short research project that included a poster session.  This year’s AOP Poster Session was held August 1, 2018.

Students created posters with their research findings on a topic related to the theme of civic engagement and the ideas contained in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Faculty, Staff, and the community were invited to view the posters and chat with the students about their research.
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On September 4, 2018, Milne Library launched the OER search tool, OASIS (Openly Available Sources Integrated Search).  OASIS gathers more than 155,000+ records from 52 different sources that have been carefully selected in collaboration with SUNY OER Services.  OASIS was developed with the goal of making the discovery of open content easier.  Some of the features of OASIS include the ability to limit search results by license, type, subject, source, and reviews available.   Users can also suggest new sources to be added to the catalog and/or share items of interest through email.  There is also a search widget that can be embedded in any website.  Currently, there are already 165 institutions across the country using the search widget.

For questions, comments, and/or feedback on OASIS contact Bill Jones (jonesw@geneseo.edu) and Ben Rawlins (rawlins@geneseo.edu).

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March 23, 2018 Council Meeting @ FLCC / Re: Campus Updates - SUNY Geneseo, Milne Library

« on: March 22, 2018, 02:25:52 PM »

SUNY Geneseo
Leah Root, delegate

Milne Library won the The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) 2018 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award.

"In an ACRL newsletter story, Ann Campion Riley, chairperson of the 2018 Excellence in Academic Libraries Committee and vice provost and university librarian at the University of Missouri, noted that Milne’s “strong commitment to open access to scholarship and educational resources, their Summer Library Research Academy, and work with local high schools,” highlighted the strength of its programs as described in its application. The application provided comprehensive supporting information in five categories: Creativity, Innovation, and Leadership; Research Instruction Program; Outreach and Community Engagement; Experiential Learning; and Responsiveness to the Community.

According to Library Director Ben Rawlins, the award is the highest that an academic library can achieve. In winning the award, Geneseo becomes the first SUNY library to earn the award, and also the first member institution in COPLAC.

Rawlins noted that a majority of library staff members were involved in the award nomination process, including librarians Brandon West, Dan Ross, Sherry Larson-Rhodes, and Alan Witt who edited and assembled the application materials. In addition, the application included multiple letters of support from faculty, staff, students and administrators at Geneseo and across SUNY. "

Read more here:
https://www.geneseo.edu/news/milne-library-makes-history-national-award

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Alana Nuth has accepted the position of Head of Collection Management at Milne Library, and will be joining us on June 28, 2018.

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We have added two new databases to our collection of resources: Web of Science, a scientific citation indexing service;  and HeinOnline, which indexes legal history and government documents, and includes the  National Survey of State Laws.

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Milne Library hosted another successful *Hour of Code* community workshop for youth in February. Spearheaded by SUNY Geneseo staff members  Dr. Kirk Anne, and Education and Community Engagement Librarian Michelle Costello, the workshop is part of the *The Hour of Code* global movement, which introduces kids to computer science, inspiring them to learn more, break stereotypes, and empowers them to solve challenging problems.  More information about *The Hour of Code* is at https://hourofcode.com/us

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Milne Library helped celebrate the 3rd annual National Book Review Month this February. Students in SUNY Geneseo Professor Lytton Smith's classes submitted book reviews via the NaRMO website (https://narmo.milne-library.org/ ), built by Milne Library Web Developer Leah Root.

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January 26, 2018 Council Meeting @ FIT / SUNY Geneseo Milne Library Positions Available

« on: January 30, 2018, 04:09:12 PM »

Milne Library has two new positions open: Research Instruction Librarian, and Head of Collection Management.   The Research Instruction Librarian job description is here:  https://jobs.geneseo.edu/postings/2057 , and the Head of Collection Management job description is here: https://jobs.geneseo.edu/postings/2036

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January 26, 2018 Council Meeting @ FIT / Re: Campus Updates - Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo

« on: January 23, 2018, 04:18:42 PM »

Milne Library celebrated the 200th anniversary of the construction of the NY State Erie Canal by hosting a traveling exhibit, “Two Hundred Years on the Erie Canal, 1817-2017.”  The exhibit was on display throughout November 2017 on the main floor of the library. The story of the canal’s historic significance and impact is told on four panels labeled Yankee Ingenuity, Moving Ideas, Canal Culture, and Dreamers & Builders.
The archival images used in the exhibit were selected from the Empire State Library Network’s (https://www.esln.org/)  New York Heritage(https://nyheritage.org/)  digital collections and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) (https://dp.la/) . Several copies of the exhibit, which is sponsored by a Humanities New York Action Grant (http://humanitiesny.org/ ), are traveling to libraries across the state through July 2018.

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January 26, 2018 Council Meeting @ FIT / Re: Campus Updates - Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo

« on: January 23, 2018, 04:15:14 PM »

Milne Library has two new positions open: Research Instruction Librarian, and Head of Collection Management.   The Research Instruction Librarian job description is here:  https://jobs.geneseo.edu/postings/2057  , and the Head of Collection Management job description is here: https://jobs.geneseo.edu/postings/2036

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To date, Milne Library’s Open SUNY Textbooks initiative (https://textbooks.opensuny.org) has published 20 books, representing faculty from 10 SUNY institutions. The texts have been downloaded over 260,000 times, used in high-profile massive open online classes (MOOCs), and remixed with other online open material.
The books are consistently rated 4 or higher out of 5 on the Open Textbook Library site, a catalog of peer-reviewed, open textbooks used internationally.

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Over winter break, Milne Library underwent space reconfigurations.  We added a new office space on the third floor and removed some cubicle walls on the main floor.  This allowed us to shift some of the library staff off of the main floor to free up more student study space.  The Library IT department moved into the old administration office, and the Library admin staff moved up to the third floor. In all, Milne Library was able to free up more than 1300 square feet of additional study space on the main floor. 

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November 3, 2017 Council Meeting @ Albany / SUNY Geneseo Campus Updates

« on: December 18, 2017, 04:37:31 PM »

Milne Library has partnered with the College’s Computing and Information Technology Department and Wadsworth Public Library in Geneseo to develop a workshop series designed to engage the community in computer coding. The program involves teaching SUNY Geneseo students how to use various types of technology, including the Oculus Rift, littleBits, 3D printing, and computer coding, and having them design workshops to deliver to the community.

The programming is specifically geared toward young women and introduces creative ways of incorporating technology into STEM subject areas.  Participants also get a chance to hear more about how Geneseo staff, faculty, and students are using these tools and technologies in their work and in their classes.
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Congratulations to two staff members accepting new roles in Milne Library:  Bill Jones, formerly IDS Project Creative Technologist, is now Milne's Digital Resources and Systems Librarian; and Dan Ross, who is now Milne's Head of Access Services.
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OER News: To date, Milne’s Open SUNY Textbooks initiative (https://textbooks.opensuny.org) has published 20 books, representing faculty from 10 SUNY institutions. The texts have been downloaded over 260,000 times, used in high-profile massive open online classes (MOOCs), and remixed with other online open material. The books are consistently rated 4 or higher out of 5 on the Open Textbook Library site, a catalog of peer-reviewed, open textbooks used internationally.