Campus Updates

[jenndevito]

Please share any campus updates using this thread. Thank you!

[jenndevito]

We are welcoming several people to the Stony Brook University Libraries:

Charles Cannini started on June 6 as an Evening/Weekend Supervisor. Chuck has extensive experience in public libraries, working as a Circulation Clerk and Librarian Assistant in libraries such as the Sayville, Bayport-Blue Point, and South Country public libraries. Chuck has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Creative Writing for Entertainment from Full Sail University (Florida).

Dr. Ahmad Pratama will be joining the University Libraries on June 20 as the Data Literacies Lead. He will be building a robust data literacies program to meet the evolving needs of the data science and AI communities. Dr. Pratama earned his Ph.D. in Technology, Policy, and Innovation at Stony Brook University. He also holds a Master’s degree in Information Technology from Monash University (Australia) and a Bachelor of Engineering from Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia). From 2019 to 2021, Ahmad served as an Assistant Professor of Information Technology in his home country, Indonesia. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022. During his tenure, he secured several awards and grants to fund his research and community service initiatives. He hosted and co-organized the first Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science (SICSS) ever held in Southeast Asia. He also played a key role in an international consortium of universities that secured a €1.35 million grant from the European Union for the project “Overcoming Digital Divide between Europe and Southeast Asia”.

Also, Health Sciences Librarian Sunny Chung has been chosen to join the upcoming cohort of the Medical Library Association’s Rising Stars. This selective initiative is designed to equip emerging librarians with the skills and knowledge necessary for future leadership roles within the association. Over the course of the program, participants will engage in monthly classes, receive mentorship, gain insights into MLA’s organizational framework, and collaborate on a group project.

[Jocelyn Ireland]

Several MVCC library staff members were recognized at the end of semester college recognition ceremony. Milo Cameron completed the two year New Faculty Experience training program. Jocelyn Ireland received promotion to Associate Professor and a Who Made Your Day Award. Claire Ehrlich, along with the General Education Committee, received the Eye of the Hawk Award. Kristen VanValkenburg received the Excellence in Part-Time Service Award.

Three librarians presented at the MVCC May Institute, a campus-wide professional development event. Milo Cameron presented a Blackout Poetry Workshop and session on Comics in the Classroom. Claire Ehrlich and Jocelyn Ireland co-presented with Dr. Dina Radeljas and Dr. Shahida Dar on AI in the Classroom.

Library Director Steve Frisbee volunteered to be the next Senate Vice Chair. Steve also adopted an adorable shih tzu/maltese mix named Watson. We all love Watson's visits to the library.

Milo and Jocelyn will be presenting at SUNYLA. See you there!

[Michelle Bowers]

We’re excited to have a new intern with us for part of the summer. John Dalisto, a Colgate computer science student, is helping us with a range of projects in the Archives, Access Services, and more.

Last week, three of our staff were honorees in Upstate’s Employee Recognition Day for their years of service: Laura Benjamin (10 years), Deidre Brennan (20 years), and Stephanie Helsher (5 years).

The Access Services team has been busy preparing and hosting student orientation for a new cohort of PT and PA students this month. They’re also busy brainstorming new programming ideas for the fall semester in addition to some events for the summer, including another Narcan training session later this month.

Across the library, we’re using the (relatively) quieter time of year to regroup and refresh some areas that don’t always get dedicated attention, like our web and social media presence, and making/overhauling promotional and training info for several of our resources.

[Kate Brent]

Cobleskill has added a new position, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, to assist with managing that area.  Dr. Gary Z. Morris will start in this position June 20.  His areas of responsibility will include the Library, and his office will be in the library building.

Freya Gibbon will be presenting at the SUNYLA conference at one of the pre-conference sessions Wednesday afternoon.

It's pretty quiet in the Library over the summer, but we're doing inventory and other maintenance projects, so we're busy.  Our next big event will be participating in the orientation activities during move-in in August - details are still TBD.

[kstanwicks]

UAlbany Libraries received Insight into Diversity Magazine's inaugural Library Excellence in Access and Diversity Award.

The University Libraries hosted an event on 3/27 called Framing the Future to seek feedback from students on space and service design. Students provided feedback on technology, furniture, wayfinding, and design concepts that they would like to see in our libraries.

UAlbany is hosting the IDS conference this July, and we hope to see a number of colleagues from SUNY libraries in Albany.

The University Libraries have received the 2024 Lavender Award from UAlbany's Office of Intercultural Student Engagement. The Lavender Awards recognizes Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Allied Faculty, Staff, and Students for their efforts in promoting LGBTQ+ Equity. Amanda Lowe, Deborah LaFond, and Melody Palmer (Library Ambassador) have also been recognized with the Unsung Hero Award. These awards will be presented at the annual Lavender Celebration on May 8.

Jesús Alonso-Regalado has been instrumental in developing the Latin American, Caribbean, Latinx, and Iberian Free Online Resources, also known as LACLI (https://lacli.info/  and https://twitter.com/LACLIproject). Jesús is the principal investigator for the SALALM Award for Institutional Collaborative Initiatives to support experiential opportunities for UAlbany students and students in Brazil and Mexico working in the LACLI project. LACLI was also awarded the Digital Humanities (DH) Awards 2023 for best DH dataset (http://dhawards.org/dhawards2023/results/) in April 2024, and LASA Archives' Libraries and Digital Scholarship Section Award for Best Digital Scholarship Project went to LACLI in April 2024.

The New York State Regents recently appointed Brian Keough (Head of Special Collections, Archives, and Preservation) to the position of State Archivist and Assistant Commissioner for the New York State Archives. Brian has been a member of the University Libraries faculty for 25 years. He begins his new position August 1.

[mbeechey]

In May, MCC Libraries played a part in the annual Scholars' Day events by hosted a well attended Celebration of Learning. Students presented their work in a more casual fashion like a science fair.  We hosted a smaller scale of our Take a Brain Break week which included our two newest therapy dog friends.

Our Director, Katie Ghidiu, has taken a 6 month leave to hike the Pacific Crest Trail(!) and our Associate Director, Alice Wilson, and I will be keeping the library afloat for a few months. 

Three of our library staff received SUNY Chancellor Awards this spring- Director-Katie Ghidiu, Instructional Technologies Librarian- Dax Parasnis-Samar, and Principal Library Clerk- Bill Archer. 

We are in the process of hiring a PT temporary librarian (through December) to help with summer projects and regular librarian duties into the fall.

More new furniture will be arriving in the next few months to complete a refresh of our third/quiet floor at the LVG Library. We are hoping to secure new artwork, do some painting, and possibly new rugs. Updated computers will also be arriving this summer to replace those which will not be supported with the upcoming Windows updates.