Campus Updates

[alana]

Please share any campus updates using this thread!

[jenndevito]

Janet Clarke, Associate Dean for Research & User Engagement, and Stephen Sullivan, Instructional Support Technician were recognized for their years of service (25 years and 30 years respectively) at Stony Brook University.

The University Libraries received a grant from the William E. & Maude S. Pritchard Charitable Trust to support a project in partnership with Brentwood High School to improve college and workforce research skills. The grant team consists of principal investigator Janet Clarke, Associate Dean for Research & User Engagement, co-principal investigators Chris Kretz, Head of Academic Engagement, and Christine Fena, Undergraduate Success Librarian, with administrative support from Stacey Horath and Zerina Makhdoomi.

Gisele Schierhorst, Head of the Music Library, hosted a listening session on October 19. She played selections of the library’s vinyl collection for a full house.
A list of titles played appears below: 
“Where or When” from the musical Babes in Arms, by Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart, jazz arrangement performed by pianist Erroll Garner w/ bass and drums
“Mornin’ Sun,” the opening vocal trio from the opera Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein
Reprise from the cantata Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
“Cloudburst” by Kirkland/Harris, sung by vocal jazz trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross   
Gavotte 1 & 2 from Suite No. 6 for violoncello solo by Johann Sebastian Bach
“Over The Rainbow” from the movie The Wizard of Oz, by Arlen/Harburg, performed by jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan 
“Boleras Sevillanas,” an Andalusian folk song
Aubade Provencal by Fritz Kreisler, for violin and piano 
“Che gelida manina” from opera La Boheme, by Giacomo Puccini
“All I Want” from the album Blue, song composed and performed by Joni Mitchell 
String Quartet in F, 2nd movement, by Maurice Ravel
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” by Cole Porter, big band arrangement by Nelson Riddle featuring Frank Sinatra on vocals

On Friday September 23rd through Sunday September 25th, the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences and SBUHacks Committee hosted their annual hackathon in the University Libraries’ Central Reading Room. The SBUHacks Committee and their volunteers transformed the Central Reading Room into a coding headquarters where over 300 students gathered together, in teams, for a 48 hour coding marathon. At our first in-person SBUHacks event since 2019, we heard speeches from Director Brian Cheung, Vice Director Christopher Moore, Rahul Sondhi (one of the founding students of SBUHacks), Min Um-Mandhyan (one of the founding professional staff of SBUHacks), College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean Jon Longtin, P.E., University Libraries Dean Karim Boughida, as well as event partners Major League Hacking and Resideo. In addition to an ideal work environment, with mentors and volunteers available for assistance on projects, participants were treated to meals, activities and swag; and submitted their projects for a chance to win prizes from a total of 15 categories. On Sunday, 53 groups submitted completed projects to the panel of 20 judges; with 9 groups winning prizes such as Apple airpods, JBL speakers, and Apple iPads.

[Dana Laird]

Bonnie Swoger began as Library Director at Drake Memorial Library on August 4th. She has over 20 years of experience in higher education. Most recently, she served as the Associate Director of RIT Libraries at the Rochester Institute of Technology. At RIT she managed large library projects, led cross-functional teams, and managed interlibrary loan operations. Prior to RIT, she spent 12 years working at SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library as a Science Librarian and, later, the Head of Reference and Access Services. At Geneseo she worked closely with faculty to incorporate information literacy skills into classes and assignments, and led library efforts to understand how faculty publishing practices vary across the disciplines. She holds a BS in Geology from St. Lawrence University, an MS in Geology from Kent State University, and an MLS from the University at Buffalo.

Virginia Wakim joined Drake Memorial Library in May as Access Services Librarian. In this role, she oversees and guides public facing library services including circulation, reserves, and interlibrary loan. Previously she served as Lending Supervisor and Document Delivery Coordinator at University of California, Irvine and received her MLIS from San Jose State University.

We are excited to have Bonnie and Virginia at Brockport!

Dr. Logan Rath completed his PhD with conferral on July 1, 2022. Logan’s dissertation is titled, “Information Literacy Is a Social Practice: Refinement of a Threshold Concept for Academic Instruction Librarians.” Work from the first phase of his study has been published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship and will soon be published in the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (JELIS). Logan has also presented his work at ISIC in Berlin, Germany. He will also be presenting his work in the upcoming ALISE and ASIS&T conferences in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Student Engagement Committee began the semester with several exciting events. Among them were an interactive display for Banned Books Week, two Music @ Noon sessions in the library, and a book talk featuring Brockport alumnus Dr. dann Broyld. We also had a screening of Change the Subject, the 2019 film that documents Dartmouth College students lobbying the Library of Congress to replace the term "Illegal aliens" with "Undocumented immigrants" in the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Following the screening, we had a panel session featuring librarian Jill Baron and Óscar Rubén Cornejo Cásares.

For the remainder of the semester, we will be hosting a two-sentence horror story competition, a weeklong scavenger hunt, and Late Night events for mid-terms and finals. We are also collaborating with several other departments on campus on a Book Tasting series where each month a guest reader will select a book that represents the topic of the month: Hispanic heritage, BIPOC LGBT, and Indigenous People.

[Adam Saunders]

Just a small update since our last post in September.

The library is also fortunate to once again be hosting the art of CNY local artist Lee Brown Coye in a gallery display titled Night Creeps: The Art of Lee Brown Coye. Lee Brown Coye is best known for his macabre fantasy and horror illustrations.  For more than fifty years his artistic talents covered a wide range of paintings, scratch art, as well as illustrations for books and magazines. The gallery display will remain in the library through the month of September.

SUNY Morrisville also saw the departure of one of its own. Michelle Mitchell has found new opportunities as Reference and Instruction Librarian at Syracuse University. Michelle was an incredible asset to our team and will be sorely missed. We wish her the greatest of luck in her future endeavors.

[Alicia Marrese]

This year the FLCC library welcomed Adam Widera as the Automated Systems & Technical Services Librarian!

The library ran a Mini Makerspace Fair during FLCC’s Laker Day on 10/18--a day when all classes are cancelled and events are held on campus for students. Students were invited to see our 3D printer and participate in other activities like creating origami, coloring bookmarks, and making buttons. The event was well-attended and was a good way to help bring people back into the library!

We have also been working on ways to better promote the library's resources to the FLCC community. To start, we've been updating themed displays more frequently and have started posting signs around campus that highlight specific resources.

[cfishner]

The Resnick Library at SUNY Delhi was excited to host our 4th annual Library Con (this year it was the Totally 90's Library Con) on October 19th. We welcomed over 200 students into the library for our event during the evening. Students met therapy dogs, participated in a costume contest, escape room, made some crafts, listened to great talks from some of our faculty on topics such as "Fads of the '90's" and "Final Fantasy", played games, and got to get their own customized trucker hat. Our book bundle raffle prizes were highly sought after. We can't wait to host our 5th annual Con in October of 2023 - that one will be villainous!

The fall semester has busy with an uptick in requests for library instruction, including our popular virtual Library Orientation Escape Room. Additionally, library staff have been changing out displays to keep up with campus events and themes, such as the Campus Semester Read of "Callings" and the activities that are surrounding this book.

Banned Books Week was celebrated by focusing on the importance of First Amendment rights and how censorship can affect everyone in a community this year. The display and books chosen for it were a big hit.

We are still searching for an Electronic Resources and Systems Librarian - please feel free to share this posting with anyone you know who may be a good candidate! https://delhi.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=150410

[kstanwicks]

The Libraries recently worked to raise awareness around banned books week and censorship. We have a new Banned Books Club, and a new episode of the Librarians with Lattes podcast focuses on Banned Books Week (https://anchor.fm/ualbany-libraries/episodes/Librarians-with-Lattes---Banned-Books-Week-2022-e1o94ti/a-a8iug3h).

The Libraries hosted Open Access Week events, including a talk on climate justice using open data resources by Dr. Stacy Pettigrew and her students, Kaylee Steward & John Correira.

The Libraries partnered with the Center For the Humanities, Arts, and Technosciences to present the Outer Space Film Festival October 13 - 16.

Therapy Dogs were in our Science Library October 18 for a stress-less midterm exam break.

[Rebecca Hewitt]

Still here 

[mbeechey]

We are excited to welcome Seyvion Scott as our new First Year Experience Librarian and look forward to the connections she will be making with our students.

Recently the libraries have been experiencing a surge of students meeting in-person with librarians for research help.

Our award winning Information Literacy badging program, developed by Instructional Technologies Librarian Dax Parasnin-Samar and Associate Library Director Alice Wilson is now integrated as a course into Brightspace for any MCC faculty to use and/or assign to their students.

[crossfja]

The E. H. Butler Library has been working on logistics for possibly hosting SUNYLA 2024.

Our archive has recently hosted a local history group to view items from our Franczak Room (Polish history collection).

Librarian Julie Setele will be having four of the authors of "Choice Words" speak (virtually) to their Social Justice Book Club, as well as the campus community at large.

[cmarten]

Good morning everyone! 

Not a whole lot to report from Purchase.  We still don't have a director, but our interim directors, Darcy Gervasio and Kim Detterbeck, along with our building manager/director admin assistant, Eileen DeGuiseppe, are doing a fantastic job.

We are also anticipating the arrival of two new librarians, provided the paperwork all gets sorted out soon, one in November and one in January.  Meanwhile we are preparing for their arrival.

Carrie Marten

[berowskfj@herkimer.edu]

Here at Herkimer, effective Setpember 1, we promoted Ann Prior to Full Time Librarian for Public Services and Archives.  Ann had been with us in a part-time role as a Reference Librarian since 2018.

[Danielle Walkup]

Hi there!
Apologies in the delay on sending this along.
We have some staffing updates. Please join us in welcoming Kathleen Erwin and Charlotte Pines. Kathleen Erwin is our new part-time librarian and Charlotte Pines is our new part-time Library Specialist. We also have an intern joining us for the next few months- Laura Scott. She is enrolled in University at Albany's MSIS program.
Our Library Services Assistant Jessica, recently got married in August, and our Research Services Librarian, Danielle (myself) got married in October.

[erinwilburn]

Over the summer we completed a massive evaluation and weeding of the physical collection.  We also integrated the reference collection into the general/circulating collection, and removed the reference shelving from the first floor altogether.  This has created new work spaces that students seem really pleased with!  Our circulating collection occupies a smaller footprint upstairs as well, and we found some tables elsewhere on campus that we could re-purpose for student use there.

A major repair of our roof was recently completed.  Now we are looking forward to a much-needed HVAC system repair/update -- no word yet on exactly when/how this project will proceed, though.

[fitzgeraldl]

The biggest update for SUNY Canton is our new Library Director Dr. Anna Ching-Yu Wong! Dr. Ching-Yu Wong joins us from Shawnee, Kansas where she worked as a Senior Information Scientist for Quintiles IMS Pharmaceutical Company. Prior to this, Dr. Ching-Yu Wong served as an academic librarian at several institutions including community and technical colleges, and as a library director for Brown Mackie College at Kansas City, KS. Dr. Ching-Yu Wong received her Ph.D. in Professional Studies in Information Management from Syracuse University.