Michelle Costello, Education and Community Engagement Librarian; and Tracy Paradis, Digital Collections & Archives Librarian, received a $3700 grant from the Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries for their project proposal with Wadsworth Library in Geneseo, NY. Michelle and Tracy’s "Growing a Maker Community" project will fund a growing collaborative relationship between the library staff of SUNY Geneseo and Wadsworth Public Library in their work to establish and promote a maker community in their region. The Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries is a fund which honors Harold Hacker, former director of the Monroe County Library System and founder of the Rochester Regional Library Council and Pioneer Library System.
One of the first events that is part of the "Growing a Maker Community" project is the Geneseo Maker Fest, which will be held March 30, 2019. The Maker Fest is planned around engaging in three domains: physical, cognitive and performative. Quoting from the Geneseo Maker Fest website: “From beginner to artisan, we encourage all stages of expertise and skill level to participate. Our goal is to expand the scope of what constitutes ‘Making’ with an emphasis on user engagement as well as to inspire attendees to join in the Maker Movement themselves. We particularly encourage interactive exhibits that highlight the process of making (or fixing!) things. The stations and activities at the event will be designed to emphasize user engagement and activity in the three making domains identified.”
Brandon West, Head of Milne Library Research Instruction, presented a poster at the Library Assessment Conference in Houston, TX, titled "Restructuring Reference Services Using Assessment Data" in December 2018. His project focuses on how Milne Library transitioned its reference services from a traditional reference desk to an office hours model. Under the new reference model, librarians offer 34 hours per week of drop-in reference time that can also be scheduled via LibCal. The number of student research consultations has increased 200%, while drastically reducing ready reference questions that are now triaged by student workers.
In January 2019, Tracy Paradis transitioned to a new role at Milne Library. Formerly a Research Instruction Librarian and liaison to Art History, Music, and Theatre & Dance, Tracy will be the Digital Collections & Archives Librarian. As a new member of the Collection Management department, Tracy will be responsible for creating new policies, workflows, and programming in support of digitizing Milne's extensive Special Collections and Archives. Congratulations, Tracy!
In the last quarter of 2018, the Milne Library website and several web applications underwent a redesign for Usability and Accessibility. The redesign was based on analysis of results from a Usability Study conducted throughout the summer of 2018 by Leah Root, Library Web Developer; Brandon West, Head of Research Instruction; and Alan Witt, Research Instruction Librarian. The Usability Study included a variety of student groups who tested common Library website tasks and provided feedback. Leah Root also worked with an Accessibility analyst to ensure that web pages and web applications met WCAG 2.0 Accessibility standards for readability, visual contrast, and navigation with assistive technology. The Accessibility design effort improves information and resource access for students and for the community at large.
