Campus Updates

[flintopj]

We've been busy trying to fill empty positions, both on campus in general and in the library.  Janet Potter, Assoc. Provost for Library and Information Services retired at the end of December.  Her position has been eliminated. The library reporting has been reorganized, separating the reporting of the Library and Academic IT.  Each area will have a director that reports directly to the Provost.

We are currently doing interviews for Library Director and Technology Librarian.  The campus is searching for a Provost (whom the Library Director will report to).  Upon the retirement of Kay Benjamin we requested to advertise for another Reference Librarian, this request has been deferred twice by the Cabinet.  Kay has returned, part-time, till the end of May.  Michelle Hendley, Reference librarian, will be going on a six-month sabbatical, beginning in July.  Several other faculty positions on campus are also being interviewed for.

Andy Perry is currently Interim Director.  His technology duties have been somewhat dispersed to Anne McFarland and Pamela Flinton, many he has retained. 

SUNY Oneonta is hosting the CIT Conference in May this year (http://www.cit.suny.edu/).

Given our staffing situation we have not rolled out any new initiatives.

[Sarah]

I am saddened to report that Linda Pauling, our Interlibrary Loan Clerk for over 40 years, has announced her resignation effective the end of May.  She is one of the Library’s original “pioneers” (as they are called at FLCC) and she will be sorely missed.

Sarah Moon has completed the LibGuides Library Research Tutorial.  While, available to all classes, the tutorial will be of great assistance to online and distance students.  A separate assessment within the ANGEL LMS will provide instructors with the ability to pull the assessment into individual courses. 

This semester the Library began a thin client trial. Eight traditional PC’s have been converted to thin clients. At the end of the semester we will evaluate the successfulness of the systems.

The college launched FLCC Connects (http://flccconnects.com/) as a central hub for all college published social media.

[kathleenquinlivan]

Associate Librarian Laura Taddeo and Stacy Hubbard, Associate Professor in the UB English Department, have received an NEH grant to support five reading, viewing and discussion programs featuring the documentary “Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women” and the companion biography of the same name.  Laura and Stacy will collaborate with area libraries and historical societies to develop the outreach programs in the coming months. 

Our e-book purchase-on-demand pilot program is underway.  Records for over 50,000 as-yet-not-purchased e-books have been added to our catalog; the Libraries purchase a particular title after it's been downloaded twice for a short-term loan. We're excited about this patron-driven approach to collection development; the pilot should provide plenty of data for analysis.

The Libraries recently introduced two new discipline-specific versions of our Library Skills Workbook—a health-sciences version and a music version.  We now have four versions of the workbook: these two, the original, and an engineering version.

Amazon Kindles are now available in the UB Libraries. Our Kindles are pre-loaded with current bestsellers, award-winners and more, and students, faculty and staff can try them out during the e-book reader pilot project.