Campus Updates

[cfishner]

Please post your campus update as replies to this thread (include your name and your campus, please).  Thank you!

[AprilDavies]

The library is going to be renovating and expanding the Special Collections area/s. We've been working with the designer and are very excited to see it become a reality. We're also getting some cool new group study furniture.

We were on the March cover of Choice! Check it out: http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/

Katherine Brent is heading off to Virginia Beach next week for the ILLiad Conference. April Davies will go to Portland the week after that for the ACRL conference. Katie DeRusso has been accepted into ACRL's Immersion 2015 Program Track, she will also be presenting at CIT with other SUNY librarians about the IITG-funded project they've been working on.

Quick items...
We're planning another Peeps diorama contest for this spring.
The first of our new 3D printers arrived last week. (I do love new toys!)

[Logan Rath]

Registration is still open for Publishing in Libraries (http://www.publishinginlibraries.org) on March 20th
Also, on April 10th, Brockport will be hosting the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC) in our Special Events and Recreation Center (SERC). For more information: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/surc/

On Friday, February 28th, Drake Memorial Library at The College at Brockport, hosted their second annual Comic Con.  The event ran from 9pm to 12:30am.  Over 160 students and community members attended.  The night began with a trivia game and finished with the announcement of the costume contest winner.
The student organizations were instrumental in making the Comic Con a success.  Late Night, an organization focused on providing students free, fun weekend activities, was our co-sponsor for the event.  Additional support for the event was contributed by the Brockport Gaming Association, Brockport Manga and Anime Club, Humans verses Zombie Club, LARPing Club and Dumbledore’s Army.  The clubs staffed the discussion panels, provided games, ran a concession stand and offered live demonstrations.
Rob Dumo, a comic book artist and a Brockport alumni, sold portraits, caricatures and copies of his original work Nightmare Unknown.  In addition, Rob provided an interesting panel discussion titled The Art of Comics.  Liz Pritchard, a Brockport student, sold posters and copies of her original comic, Paper Bag.  First Print Comics of Gates N.Y., offered a wide selection of material for both the casual and the serious comic book fans.   Student vendors provided a variety of creative items from colorful clay dragons to hand crocheted Moggles.
Comic Con is an event that promotes the library as more than just a place to study but as an active part of the campus community.    The event encourages students to view the library and its staff as being concerned with their needs and interests.

[jenndevito]

Lots of new faces at the Stony Brook University Libraries these days.  We've hired the following people for positions in the Library:

John Fitzgerald
Senior programmer/analyst in the Library Information Technology Department
John Fitzgerald is currently working for a consulting agency doing work for the Copper Ridge Institute, which is affiliated with the John Hopkins Medical School. Before that, he worked as a programmer in industry and as a mechanical engineer for the MTA in New York City where he worked with computer-based data of 3D subway tunnel characteristics.  He also introduced 3D computer-aided design practices to the Mechanical and Electrical Design Departments. John received a B.S. in Engineering Sciences from Stony Brook.

Lis Pankl
Head of Academic Engagement
Lis comes to us from Kansas State University Libraries where she was the Graduate and Faculty Services Librarian.  Previous to that, she worked as Humanities Librarian and Instruction Librarian at Kansas State.  Before earning her Master’s degree in Library Science at the University of North Texas, she taught English at high schools in Plano and Terrell, Texas, and at Western Texas College. 

In addition to her Library Science degree, Lis recently earned her PhD at Kansas State, writing her dissertation The Critical Geographies of Frida Kahlo.  She has served on ACRL and LLAMA committees, published articles and book chapters on library instruction and recruitment, and presented at a number of literature and geography conferences.

Sarita Sharma
Clerk in Access Services
Sarita has a B.S. from HMW College (India) and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Government College of Education (India).

Hu Wang
Senior programmer/analysts in the Library Information Technology Department
Hu will be joining Stony Brook University Libraries on March 26, 2015. Hu has worked as a software architect and senior programmer analyst for the American Institute of Physics (API) for over 20 years where he designed and implemented software systems and applications and developed programs.  Hu has a master's degree and a PhD in applied mathematics and statistics from Stony Brook and a BS from the Northeast Petroleum University in China. Dr. Wang is the recipient of several awards from AIP, Stony Brook and China and has published in such journals as the American Journal of Physiology, Applied Mathematics Letters, and Computers & Mathematics with Applications.

Jack Yi 
Senior programmer/analyst in the Library Information Technology Department
Jack Yi  has ten years experience in software development, data programming and management, and web development in private industry. .He has an M.S. in computer science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an M.A. in Demography from Sichuan University in China and an A.S. in Physics from Yichun University in China.

We’re celebrating Pi-day on Wednesday, March 11th in the Melville Library Galleria.  Visitors will get a FREE slice of pie and be able to enter to win numerous contests for a chance to win gift cards to the Bench Bar & Grill and Barnes & Noble. Learn more at http://guides.library.stonybrook.edu/piday

[Adam Saunders]

Morrisville State College
Adam Saunders

Update to GNED course

Morrisville library has been working hard on updating our 1 credit Basic Research Methods course, offered every spring semester. GNED104 is a required course for our natural science students and has been in need of revisions for some time. We approached this course update taking into account the new Framework for Information Literacy and developing learning outcomes that matched basic General Education requirements. Below is the new course title and catalog description.

GNED 104: Critical Information Literacy
A course designed to cultivate metaliterate citizens.  This course will provide lifelong skills that will enable students to become confident and independent consumers and creators of information.  Students will learn how to recognize their own information needs, and how to locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information.  Topics include plagiarism, publication styles, searching and retrieving information in controlled and uncontrolled environments, and becoming conscientious participants in information creation and dissemination.

Library Assessment Projects

Over the course of the spring and fall 2015 semesters our librarians will be conducting studies on several facets of library services.

Angela Rhodes – Study of Equipment Usage and Need in the Library

• The purpose of this study is to track turn-aways and equipment usage to make a strong proposal for the installment of more machines and printing/equipment services in the library (provided there is funding and support to implement these changes).  At the end of the semester, an analysis of usage of the library and the Cyberlab will be done, showcasing equipment usage by head counts, printer usage through print logs, and equipment services required to maintain the equipment services provided.  Part of the study will hopefully give some insight into why students select to come to the Cyberlab over the library or vice versa, as well as a longitudinal look at who is using the library and Cyberlab and when they are using it.  These analyses will hopefully present a picture of what can be done to improve the equipment and services rendered at both locations.

Laura Ryan – What Students Learn: A Pre/Post Test Assessment Study

• Assessment is a critical aspect of a successful instruction program.  As the new Instructional Services Librarian at Morrisville, Laura decided to start small and grow from there.  She is administering a pre-test and post-test assessment for the GNED 104 Basic Research Methods Class that she is teaching this semester.  It is her hope that it will provide a good starting point to see where students are in terms of Info Lit skills, as well as provide a way of seeing what they learned over the 10 week course.  This assessment project will also serve as a kind of “Intro” to assessment for Laura and will be a stepping stone to more involved methods of Information Literacy Instruction assessment in the future.

Adam Saunders – Library Website Navigation and Usability Study

• The purpose of this study is to analyze the behavior and strategies used by students navigating the Morrisville State College Library website. Student volunteers will be given specific tasks to carry out, as their actions on the computer will be recorded using screen capture software. Data collected will then be used to assess how students conduct searches for finding books, articles, subject guides, and finding library hours.  It is our hope that this data will provide insight that will allow us to make necessary adjustments to the webpage both navigational and the phrasing of resource labels. It will also provide useful information for instruction purposes, as we will be able to address weak or inefficient search strategies being used.

Oscar Display & Contest

The library once again ran its very popular Oscar Movie Display and contest. In the past we had asked students and faculty to submit their votes on which movies would win in each of the Oscar categories. This year we wanted to take the contest a step further and make it more involved. We have asked the campus community to submit a movie review for any of the 86 previous Best Picture Oscar winners. A drawing was held selecting one winner out of all submitted entrees. Additionally reviews we received will be used for next year’s Oscar display, which will allow students and faculty to read what their peers thought about a particular movie title.

[Michelle Bishop]

Hello from Oswego! Here some of the highlights of our recent projects and activities.

   •Candidate interviews for the Learning Technologies Librarian position beginning in next week
   •Ray Morrison is running for ENY/ACRL Program Chair/President Elect
   •Library gearing up to tackle strategic planning
   •Extensive renovations to the lobby area have been drawn up and are being discussed
   •Special Collections database growing due to increased digitization focus

[verostek]

SUNY ESF Campus Update/News by campus delegate - Jane Verostek

SUNY ESF hosted a very successful Harry Potter Friday the 13th event on Friday February 13th with about 50 students competing in a Harry Potter trivia event. We also had our on campus alchemy club do some hands on scientific experiments as a warm up to the event.

The Friends of Moon Library FOML hosted a "coffee with friends” event in Moon Library on the morning of Friday February 18th. It was a very successful event with faculty, emeriti, staff and the college president in attendance. The FOML now plans to have regular "coffee with friends" events in the library.

Moon Library has 2 displays up right now of items related to Hyde Park http://www.nps.gov/hofr/index.htm home of Franklin Roosevelt. Associate Librarian Jane Verostek of Special Collections and Archives pulled items for the display such as letters from FDR on white house letterhead to the deans of SUNY ESF.  During the time Hyde Park was developed until today - SUNY ESF has played a role in the tree plantings and landscape architecture of the property.

[millerjaACC]

In upcoming months, the SUNY Adirondack librarians will be focusing on specific ways to improve the academic performance of students for the Fall 2015 semester: personal librarians, regular e-mails and reminders, sign-up arrangements for study groups, and a streamlining of a section of the library's home page for easy access and readability.

Reference Librarian Mark Seabury created quick "how to" videos, now posted on these library pages: Finding More Books and Media (http://library.sunyacc.edu/books) and Find Articles (http://library.sunyacc.edu/articles). 

Reference and Instruction Librarian Joyce Miller is mentioned in the acknowledgements page of the newly-published novel Elephant Murders: Starbuck, by Dr. Susan Hunter, a medical anthropologist and frequent user of the SUNY Adirondack Library.

[Rebecca Hyams]

We've been keeping quite busy down here at Maritime this semester!

After interviewing several candidates for our Director position, the search committee decided to revise the posting and reopen the search. The current closing date on the reopened search is March 28th. We invite anyone that meets the qualifications and is interested to apply. The details are available at https://interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=54486

Last month we finished setting up a Faculty Scholarship repository within our collections in the SUNY Institutional Repository. The faculty are being encouraged to upload their work to our collection and a guide was created to not only show them how to upload, but inform them about author rights and access issues.

In the next few weeks our library is going to shift into Ship Mode. The TS Empire State VI will depart from our pier on May 11th so we're about to start on the many processes we need to transfer collections to the ship and make sure our students are well stocked with both leisure reading and materials for their ship-board courses. We also interviewed several candidates for the two Ship's Librarian positions and will announce the two librarians soon.

[rnous]

Greetings from Albany!

Dean and Director Search:
The Library Dean and Director search has officially begun.  The vacancy announcement can be seen here: http://albany.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=57437.  Please feel free to share with any qualified people you know who you think may be interested.  Application review will begin immediately, and applications should be submitted via the Isaacson Miller job ad: http://www.imsearch.com/5366.

Staffing Changes:
Dick Irving, Subject Specialist for Criminal Justice, Law, Political Science, and Public Administration and Policy will be retiring July 1.  Cathy Dwyer, our current Head of Reference and Government Documents Librarian, will be transitioning to that position.  Additionally, Chris Barber (Interlibrary Loan and Reserves clerk) and Suzi Dier (Interlibrary Loan and Reserves clerk) are retiring on April 23. 

Library Event:  Campus Conversations in Standish: NASA’s Search for Life Beyond the Earth (Wednesday, March 11)
NASA’s Search for Life Beyond the Earth premieres Campus Conversations in Standish, a new series showcasing UAlbany’s research and creative talents and sponsored by the UAlbany University Libraries.  Dr. John W. Delano, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, Collins Fellow, and Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, will briefly present the latest results from research in geochemistry, planetary science, and astronomy bearing on the search for life beyond earth. The presentation takes place on Wednesday, March 11 from 12:35 pm -1:30pm in the Science Library’s Standish Board Room on the Uptown Campus. Light refreshments will be served.

America East Finals:
UAlbany Men’s and Women’s basketball teams are playing in the America East Finals this weekend right here at UAlbany!  America East Women's Basketball Championship is Friday, March 13 @ 4:30 p.m. at SEFCU Arena (ESPNU) and America East Men's Basketball Championship is Saturday, March 14 @ 11:00 a.m., SEFCU Arena (ESPN2).  GO GREAT DANES!!

[maeichelberger]

We're conducting a search for a new circulation manager.

We have several events coming up in the next month:
-Our A Tale for Three Counties author, Laura McBride, is coming to talk about her book "We are called to rise"
-Our 14th annual student poetry contest is underway and the awards ceremony will be taking place at the end of April
-We're working with history faculty to present a Civil War display in April