Campus Updates

[alana]

Please use this thread to share any campus updates! Thank you!

[jenndevito]

On November 1, 2023, the Stony Brook University Libraries hosted a Human Library event where people volunteered to be “books” and visitors could “check out a book” and spend some time learning about that person’s experiences. The event was well attended and received. https://humanlibrary.org/

Health Sciences Librarian Sunny Chung was featured in an article by the Network of the National Library of Medicine. https://news.nnlm.gov/region_7/2023/11/06/member-spotlight-sunny-chung-and-stony-brook-university-health-sciences-library/

On October 19, 2023, the University Libraries hosted a nursing panel in honor of Filipino American History Month. Nerissa Balce, Associate Professor of Asian & Asian American Studies, moderated the panel. Other panelists included: Sofia Reyes, Clinical Instructor, School of Nursing; Director of Simulation Education,,Lani Blanco, Clinical Instructor, School of Nursing; Faculty Advisor for the Pre-Nursing Society, and Maria Bune, Adjunct Faculty, School of Nursing; SBU Alumna. The event was held in a hybrid format and had more than 90 attendees.

On Friday, December 1, the University Libraries will be celebrating its 60th anniversary. The event will include a panel discussion followed by a reception. https://library.stonybrook.edu/2023/11/02/save-the-date-celebrate-sbu-libraries-with-us/

[Kate Brent]

News from the Van Wagenen Library at SUNY Cobleskill:

Our evening circulation supervisor has left us to take a new position outside SUNY.  The position is being searched.

The chili contest was a success!  Prizes were awarded for best tasting, hottest, and most unique chili.  Watch for future updates for Mac and Cheese is Love in February.

"Pause for Paws" therapy dogs return to the Library November 27, a reprise of their successful visit October 16.

[Adam Saunders]

A short update this month from SUNY Morrisville.

Librarian Adam Mizelle attended the SUNY Conference Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (DEISJ) in the Curriculum: Building a Community of Practice on November 3rd & 4th at the University at Albany. This conference brought aspiring DEISJ faculty together with seasoned DEISJ instructors and scholars who can share their expertise in teaching and learning, research, course development, and assessment of DEISJ content.

At the end of September the library once again proudly held its annual Le Brown Coye Exhibit. This year’s event titled Titan of the Crypt: Lee Brown Coye Art Exhibit is running from September 24th, 2023 to February 4th 2024. The exhibit embarks visitors on a journey into the dark and eerie realm of one of the most renowned macabre artists of the 20th century, Lee Brown Coye. Exploring a diverse selection of Lee Brown Coye's works, from his chilling illustrations for the works of H.P. Lovecraft to his haunting depictions of otherworldly creatures and supernatural scenes. This gallery display is in conjunction with Colgate University’s exhibit titled Tales of Terra: A Lee Brown Coye Retrospective where around 30 of Morrisville’s Coye works are being loaned for the event. Tales of Terra runs from September 21st, 2023 to March 3rd, 2024 at the Dana Arts Center Picker Art Gallery.

At the end of October the library held an amazing Halloween reception with students and faculty showing up in costume (Baldur’s Gate 3 characters were hot this year). A corner of the library was transformed into a small haunted house and everyone was treated to a spread of seasonal donuts, apple cider, candy, and coffee.

We have already started looking ahead to the end of the semester and planning for events for the students. The Massage Therapy Program students will be in again to provide free chair massages, and health services has already provided us with a wealth of goodies to give away at our Positivity Station. Students will also be provided free coffee, tea, and cookies during finals week provided by a CAB grant. It is hard to believe that the end of the semester is almost upon us!

[Tina Kiernan]

DCC librarians have had a record semester for information literacy classes. At present, 70 classes have been taught or scheduled with faculty still submitting requests for classes.  Our Zine program has been gaining momentum, and we have welcomed aboard two new part-time Access Services clerks, Remy Naumann and Orianna Santiago.

The Ritz Library is also working with the Learning Commons to provide outreach to our residence hall students, and we’re collaborating with our Art faculty to bring a “pop-up” student art gallery to the library. 

[Chrissy O'Grady]

New Paltz update

The library has been the spot for many events this semester. On Oct. 5th, Campus held a community public talk in the library with Barbara M. Allen, sixth-generation granddaughter of Sojourner Truth. There was an invite only luncheon afterwards with members of the public and the campus community. The annual Sound Your Truth event was held in the courtyard in front of the library on Oct. 13th. The theme was courage and the annual event aims to foster community and amplify underrepresented voices on campus. Librarian Kate Bellody and student employees partnered with LGBTQ+ Program Manager Fresia Martinez Olivera for a Pronoun Pin Making event on Oct. 18th. The Friends of the Sojourner Truth Library hosted a Halloween flash book sale on Oct. 31st. The always popular Ceramics Sale occurred in the library lobby from Nov. 9-10. Lastly, the Friends of the Library hosted the 16th annual Dennis O'Keefe Lecture on Nov. 13th. NP President Darrell P. Wheeler was the speaker and spoke about challenges/opportunities facing public higher education. Check out the library's Instagram for photos of events @sunynplibrary.

We are seeking to hire provisional Library Clerk 2. The deadline to apply is Nov. 20th. Please share with those interested and review the job posting: https://www.newpaltz.edu/hr/displayjobdetails.php?id=2765

Lastly, we are turning a corner on our ground floor mold problem and are beginning to see cleaned books come back. We do not know when the floor will reopen but we expect early next year.

[Michelle Bowers]

We are pleased to announce that James Evans has accepted the role of Evidence Synthesis Librarian. James has a great mix of experience and enthusiasm, and we are excited to welcome him on November 30th.

Jennifer Sullivan co-hosted a presentation by graphic novel author MK Czerwiec, who led a very well-received conversation about graphic medicine and her book Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371.

The presentation paired well with our current traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine: “AIDS, Posters & Stories of Public Health: A People’s History of a Pandemic.” The physical exhibit is on display in our library until December 12th, and the digital version can be found at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/aids-posters/index.html.

Some wonderful therapy dogs joined us on 11/16, and provided some much-appreciated stress relief to our students (and librarians).

[kstanwicks]

The Libraries have partnered with the Campus Art Museum to showcase materials from our Libros/Arte collection: Handmade Books from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Libraries hosted a number of workshops for Open Access Week, including Finding Citation Counts & Journal Impact Factors Using Web of Science & Journal Citation Reports; The ORCID iD Advantage: An Introduction to ORCID for Scholars & Researchers; Getting Cozy with Scholars Archive: From Submission to User Stats; Data Management Planning & DMPTool: Tips & Tricks.

We held a ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil our new podcasting studio on October 12.

Amanda Lowe coordinated a number of events around Banned Books Week including a Banned Books read out and discussion, a discussion about Fahrenheit 451, a Drag Queen Story Time.

Library faculty have given a number of presentations over the past 2 months:
- Adams, Abigail. “Werewolf on Campus: Gamification and Misinformation.” Presentation at NYLA 2023 Conference, Saratoga Springs, November 3, 2023.
- Alonso-Regalado, Jesús. “A Day in the Life of a Subject Librarian.” Simmons University. October 20, 2023.
- Boyle, Jodi, Maureen Cresci Callahan, Jenny Gotwals, and Elizabeth Novara. “Documenting the History of the Equal Rights Amendment at 100.” Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference Fall Meeting, Saratoga Springs, NY, October 20, 2023.
- Gregory Wiedeman, "Preserving Websites" (Capital District Library Council Webinar (remote), November 14, 2023).
- Hackstadt, Angela & Abigail Adams. “Werewolves at the Door: Disinformation Mitigation Theory and Practice.” Presentation, University Libraries Expert Workshop, Online, September 27, 2023.
- Ross, Gabriel. "Trans Rights to Read!: Assessing Transgender Subject Material Collections in SUNY Academic Libraries." Presentation at 2023 SUNY Oneonta PRISM Conference, Oneonta, NY, October 21, 2023.
- Seaman, Priscilla and Kaori Otera Chen. “Building Bridges: Student Perceptions of Subject-Specific Library Resources.” Poster presented at the Central New York Library Resources Council (CLRC) Annual Conference, Oneida, NY, October 2023.
- Hatch, Carey, Tyler Norton, & Kabel Stanwicks. “Our Libraries, Our Future, Our Journey.” Presentation at NYLA 2023 Conference, Saratoga Springs, November 3, 2023.

Library faculty and staff met with external reviewers October 2-3 as part of our administrative assessment.

[cfishner]

Delhi's Resnick Library hosted our 5th LibraryCon - Villains event in October to great success. Over 250 students attended over the course of the evening. Campus collaborators and community partners helped provide a variety of activities for our students including a caricature artist, speakers, raffle prizes, crafting, demos of tabletop games and mini-fig painting, and more. We are starting the planning process for next year's event.

Library Instruction has seen a marked increase this semester, librarians have conducted nearly as many sessions this semester as all of last academic year.

E-Resources Librarian Sarah Meisch-Lacombe has left Delhi to pursue an opportunity outside of the SUNY system. We wish her well. We are awaiting word on whether or not we can search for this position. This puts the library down 2 Librarians.

Steve Dixon, Librarian, has published multiple book reviews in Library Journal over the last several months, including one for "Serving Patrons with Disabilities: Perspectives and insights from people with disabilities", which he says should be required reading for all library professionals.

Carrie Fishner is working on the planning for our end of semester activities, including Night Against Procrastination and Stress Less Activities (including the student/staff favorite visits from our therapy dog friends).

Respectfully,
Carrie Fishner, delegate

[Dana Laird]

Drake Memorial Library recently hosted a True Crime Series, featuring various events over a few weeks. There was a panel discussion with local news reporters about the challenges and ethics of reporting true crime cases, a discussion with a true crime author, and a Clueless @ Drake immersive mystery event, to note a few. More about the series can be found here: https://library.brockport.edu/TrueCrimeSeries2023.

Virginia Wakim, Access Services Librarian, has left Brockport. We wish her well in her future endeavors. We are hopeful we can get approval to begin a search for this or a similar but revised position. We have two librarian and one clerical search ongoing at this time.

[Jocelyn Ireland]

MVCC will be hosting a Battle of the Books competition for local middle and high school students in March 2024. Teams of students will compete in a quiz bowl competition with questions based on a reading list of around 30 books.

The Utica campus library is conducting a space usage study. Every hour a staff member is tallying the number of visitors in different areas of the library. Interestingly, the most popular area has been the silent study area. We believe upgraded chairs, rearranging carrels to have a better window view with improved labelling and access of outlets has impacted the success of the area. We have also upgraded our group study area with whiteboard tables and mobile whiteboards.

Jocelyn Ireland presented at the Oneida County Historians Association annual conference on local history resources available at MVCC Utica Library.

[mbeechey]

As I write this we are having some much anticipated, new furniture installed on our third (quiet) floor. We are excited to be moving some of our space out of the 1960s!

We are at the end of the hiring process in replacing a Senior Library Clerk position and are looking forward to being almost fully staffed in our Access Services area.

Our FYE Librarian left the college in September and we are not anticipating approval to replace the position anytime soon.

We have partnered with the Counseling Department and are excited to have a new therapy dog in the library visiting regularly each week!

Library staff is planning for Take a Brain Break Week at the end of the semester and will be providing stress relief for students as the finish the semester.  We are also beginning plans to again host the Celebration of Learning in May which runs parallel to our Scholars' Day events.

[dawnjwalton]

-New Director of Libraries started this semester: Dawn Walton
-Currently recruiting for an adjunct librarian at Jamestown