Here is the campus update submitted earlier by our librarian Elizabeth Berilla to the SUNYLA Newsletter:
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Campus Update
September 2012
With hardly a moment to spare over the summer months, the librarians of the Stephen B. Luce Library have taken to the road, sea, and skies since May. Library Director Constantia Constantinou was selected to have her paper, “Towards Peace: One Library at a Time, One Nation at a Time,” presented at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions in Lappeenranta, Finland in August. Her work highlighted her time spent as a Fulbright Scholar in Cyprus, where she introduced new library collaborations between Turkish and Greek Cypriot library communities. Constantia’s paper was delivered by two Fulbright recipients, Professor Miller (CUNY, Queens College) and Professor Schlesinger (CUNY, Lehman College). Additionally, her paper “Enhancing the Maritime Curriculum with Online Education and Scholarly Resources” was published in the 5th International Congress on Maritime Transport, Technological Innovations, and Research 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, June 2012, and Constantia’s paper “Knowledge for the Ages: Preserving Rare Collections through Digitization and Content-Based Access, was presented at the International Conference in Qualitative Quantitative Measures in Libraries (QQML) in Limerick, Ireland, May 2012. Constantia’s distinction as a Distinguished Librarian led to her selection as a member of the SUNY Distinguished Academy Executive Committee.
Librarian and Institutional Archivist Elizabeth Berilla (Reference, Instruction and Outreach Librarian) joined Constantia in presenting at SUNYLA in June. Constantia’s presentation on “Transcending Boundaries to Increase Cultural Understanding between Countries” reflected her experiences in Cyprus, while Elizabeth’s presentation “Anchors en Vogue: The Institutional Archives and Identity of Maritime College” focused on archives, preservation, and access efforts. Kimmy Szeto (Cataloging and Metadata Librarian) presented as well at ALA’s Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA in June on “RDA to RDF: Transitioning to the FRBR Catalog and the Semantic Web.” Jennifer O’Keefe (Coordinator of Circulation and User Services) and Elizabeth Berilla co-authored “Repository Reviews: Stephen B. Luce Library, Archives, and Special Collections,” which was published in the Summer 2012 edition of the Metropolitan Archivist.
Kimmy Szeto and Elizabeth Berilla have successfully returned from spending a collective 90 days at sea aboard the EMPIRE STATE VI, the training ship of Maritime College, as the ship’s librarians. Kimmy represented the library during the first half of cruise, which departed campus on May 7 and traveled to the Azores and Reykjavík, Iceland, before returning to the U.S. in Norfolk, VA. Elizabeth joined the ship during the switch out in Norfolk and was aboard through Gibraltar and Liverpool, England, before the final return to the Bronx on August 6. Kimmy and Elizabeth are happy to share they have regained their “land-legs”!
Kudos to Shafeek Fazal (Assistant Director, Head of Reference and Access Services), Joe Williams (Head of Acquisitions and Technical Services), and all library faculty and staff for the recent award of a New York State Education Department Conservation Preservation Discretionary Grant. The award will be used for a comprehensive assessment and preservation survey of the repository area including long range planning for the Institutional Archives and Special Collections of the Stephen B. Luce Library and Maritime College. Under the review of a representative from the Northeast Document Conservation Center, the Archives will undergo a thorough review with attention paid to the conservation needs of some of the most rare and unique of our collections. Congratulations, all!
