Campus Updates

[cfishner]

Please post your campus updates here. As always, please also include your name/campus in the update.

[maeichelberger]

Staff updates:
-Maxine Koberg, Senior Library Clerk extraordinaire and currently the longest-serving member of the college community (46 years!) is retiring effective 1/29/16. Former part-time circulation clerk Laura Peck has been hired as her replacement.
-We have a new part-time reference librarian, Barb Biljan, who started last week, replacing Justin Cronise.
-We're currently interviewing for two part-time circ positions

We're still knee-deep in Middle States preparation, and all full-time librarians are serving on committees.

Check out the SUNYLA newsletter for info about various contests and events that we held this past fall. Be on the lookout for Batgirl and Princess Leia sightings on campus . . .

[millerjaACC]

More than 60 students from English classes at Cambridge High School in Washington County visited the SUNY Adirondack campus during the mornings of Jan. 6 and 7. Because it was during the winter break with few college students, students were able to enjoy the less-crowded library space. After an introductory tour and research session with Reference and Instruction Librarian Joyce Miller, students used library resources to research their 10-page controversial issues papers. Cambridge librarian Terese Brennan and the school's English teachers have been bringing students for a morning on our campus during winter break for several years now.
 
Dan Foote is returning to the SUNY Adirondack Library staff as a library specialist. The library staff is very happy to have him back not only for his top-notch computer skills, but more importantly, for his extremely helpful and pleasant manner.

[Rebecca Hyams]

SUNY Maritime:

At the end of the Fall semester we finished a weeding project of our bound periodicals and had several rows of shelves taken out of the library. We have some temporary furniture right now and are looking to see how students are using the space.

SUNY Maritime was awarded a $750,000 grant from SUNY to build what the administration is calling an "Academic Success Center" which will be housed partially in the library. Some of the money will be going towards renovations in our space to better meet the needs of our users. Right now an architect is working with us and surveys have gone out to start identifying what our users need from a modern library space.

We've started the process of reaching out to faculty to start a massive weed of our circulating collection. We hope to have that done by the end of the school year in May.

We've hired a Archivist and Scholarly Communications Librarian! Annie Tummino has most recently worked at Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library as a Project Archivist. Previously she has worked on grant-funded projects at METRO and the Queens Museum. She will be starting with us in late February and we're super excited to have her join us.

We also had a new part-time Librarian join our staff in December, Martin Zmijewski. He's been brave enough to take on Government Document duties, along with some other tasks, and mainly splits Evening/Weekend hours long-time part time Librarian Geri Hebert.

Last week Kristin Hart and Rebecca Hyams presented at METRO's annual conference. Their presentation was titled "You've Done PDA, What About PDW?: Patron-Driven Weeding at the SUNY Maritime Library".

[AprilDavies]

We’ve shuffled some positions here at Van Wagnen Library. Brendan Aucoin is now managing Circulation. Katherine Brent has added some Systems duties as well as Archives & Special Collections to her ILL responsibilities. April Davies is now Head of Public & Technical Services.

Preparations continue for the 2016 SUNY Undergraduate Research Showcase to be held here at Cobleskill. SURC 2016 is scheduled for April 15th. Renowned cancer researcher Jill Bargonetti will give the keynote address. The proposal deadline is Feb. 5th: http://blog.cobleskill.edu/SURC/surc.html.

[Susanna]

Classes start today!

We're still tinkering with our space after one full semester of integrated tutoring services.   

We had a very noisy fall semester and are trying to start our semester off on a better (i.e., slippered) foot. 

In preparation for Margaret Anderson's retirement this summer we're redistributing some responsibilities as well as conducting a search for a full-time librarian. 

Participation in our photo-exploration game for our developmental writing classes is reaching 100%, and the team Quest we play with academic writing courses at the beginning of each semester is still going strong.  It promises to be a whirlwind first couple of weeks!

[rnous]

Albany Updates
Rebecca Nous

Save the Dates: Campus Conversations

Launched in spring 2015, Campus Conversations in Standish showcases faculty research and expertise and also connects members of the UAlbany community in an exchange of ideas and perspectives.  The University Libraries are pleased to announce the Spring 2016 Campus Conversations in Standish schedule:

     Rabi Musah, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry, University at Albany
     Smokes, Chews and Brews: The Dangers and Crackdown on Legal Plant Highs
     February 24, 2016. 12:35 pm - 1:30 pm

     James Stellar, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, University at Albany
     Your Brain: Unconscious Decision-making and How it Affects Your Life and Learning
     March 2, 2016. 12:35 pm -1:30pm

     Rick Fogarty, Ph.D., Associate Professor, History, University at Albany
     What Can 1916 Tell Us About 2016? Europe, Islam, and the Middle East
     April 6, 2016. 12:35 pm-1:30pm

All Campus Conversations will be held in the Patricia and J. Spencer Standish Board Room, located on the third floor of the Science Library at the University at Albany. 


Personnel News

We have had a number of personnel changes recently:

--John Heffernan has joined our staff as the Evening Circulation Clerk at the Science Library
--Morissa McQuide has joined the University Library as the Evening Circulation Clerk
--Carol Anne Germain will be leaving Information Literacy and joining the Collections Division at University Libraries in February
--Amanda Lowe has accepted a new position as Lending and Access Services Associate at the University Library, and is no longer acting as our Information Commons Evening Coordinator
--Angela Persico has joined the Libraries as a Resource Sharing and Reserves Associate
--Debora Cheney has joined University ITS and is no longer acting as the Libraries’ AD for Public Services
--Angela McMichael has resigned as Serials Coordinator
--John Pardavila has resigned as the University Libraries Web Developer/Designer
 
We will be advertising for several positions in the coming months.

[Karen Ferington]

We welcomed a new part-time reference librarian for our spring semester, Bridget Baker, a graduate of SUNY-Geneseo. She will help out at the reference desk and also do some library instruction.

Nancy Kennedy, Library Director, and Jeanne Tuohey, Reference Librarian, presented a workshop called “Creating Effective Library Assignments That Enhance Creative Thinking and Information Literacy Skills” for our Professional Development Days in January. This workshop is a move toward more collaboration between the librarians and the faculty to achieve course goals and objectives.

All of our library staff is very busy preparing for our move out of our  4-story library building later this semester as the library is renovated and transformed into a Learning Commons.  All of the materials and the people have to leave the building for the next 18-24 months during the construction and move 2 buildings away into a now closed 2nd floor cafeteria.  Our mantra for the near future will need to be “There’s no gain without pain.” Wish us all luck!

[LeahGalka]

Butler Library at Buffalo State
Delegate: Leah Galka

At the start of the fall 2015 semester, Butler Library at Buffalo State launched a newly designed and imagined website to the campus. For the redesign, we migrated to LibGuides CMS, which allowed our web team to develop, redesign, and launch the new website in just under two months.

We welcomed Joe Riggie, Information Systems Librarian, to the Butler Library team this month. Joe comes to Buffalo State after 6 years working as a systems librarian at Erie Community College

The search for our new library director has been extended. The new closing date is this Friday - January 29, 2016. For complete information: https://goo.gl/M1JyS7.

Buffalo State recently hosted a successful OER conference presented by Lumen Learning on our campus, and we’re excited to see what comes of that.

I’m the new SUNYLA delegate at Buffalo State. More about our news and events will be in the next SUNYLA newsletter.

Thanks!
- Leah

[Laura Evans]

Our new Dean of Libraries, Curtis Kendrick, has arrived! He is a very welcome addition to the Binghamton University Libraries, and we're all looking forward to seeing where his leadership takes us.

[jenndevito]

Renovations began in the Melville Library’s North Reading Room. The renovations are expected to last through the spring semester.

We announced a 24 hour schedule for the Central Reading Room. The room is now open 24 hours a day Sunday through Thursday.

Nathan Baum, Associate Dean for Collection Strategy and Management, retired this month after 35 years at Stony Brook University.
Heath Martin will be joining Stony Brook University Libraries on March 1, 2016 as the new Associate Dean for Collection Strategy and Management. Heath comes to us from the University of Kentucky Libraries.

We are recruiting for several positions, including Head of the Health Sciences Library, Digital Projects Librarian, Web Services Librarian and manager for the Southampton campus library.