Campus Updates

[amlowe]

Please post your campus updates to this thread

[sarahmorehouse]

Our big news is that we have been re-organized again. The Library is now supervised by Frank VanderValk, Interim Dean of SUNY Empire Online. We are now side by side with the Instructional Designers in that part of the Organizational Chart. In that function, Frank reports to Provost Meg Benke, so our grand-boss is the same.

We anticipate cuts to library resources, based on what the budget analysts from the President's Office have told us informally.

Because of the re-org, many projects we had anticipated starting, finishing, or moving along towards done-ness have had a bit of a pause this December, so we don't have much other news.

[jenndevito]

The Stony Brook University Libraries partnered with Department of Art professor Nobuho Nagasawa for a socially-engaged art project titled “Emotional Treasures, Emotional Revelations.” Participants created small four-fold booklets and wrote an anonymous confession or secret in them. The booklets were then inserted into a book on the Libraries’ take a book/leave a book collection. The collection is housed in the Central Reading Room and visitors were able to browse the books and leave comments in the other pages of the booklets.

Just in time for finals, the University Libraries teamed up with tutors from the Writing Center to provide after hours help in the library. For two nights, students could meet with librarians and writing tutors for help on their research and writing projects.

On January 3, Interlibrary Loan Instructional Support Specialist Donna Sammis retired after 43 years of service to the University Libraries.

Matthew Hartman took on a new role in December. He is now the Resource Sharing Coordinator. Matthew started at the University Libraries in 2018 as an Overnight Supervisor. He has a BA in History & Political Science and an MA in Higher Education Administration, both from Stony Brook University.

There are a number of positions available. See: https://library.stonybrook.edu/about-us/employment/

[AprilDavies]

Winter break has been fairly quiet at the library. Planning is underway for the library's annual spring events: the Mac-n-Cheese is Love cookoff (Feb. 14); and the Student Research Showcase (date still being discussed, probably April/May). You're all welcome to join us for the extravaganza of mac-n-cheese if you're in the neighborhood; I think we had 17 varieties last year.

The “Most Dangerous Game of Jenga.” Library Student Assistant, Korah Witherell was recently profiled in her hometown paper where, among other subjects, she discussed her role as a member of SUNY Cobleskill’s Woodsmen’s Team. For some unfathomable reason, she did not discuss working at the library.    More at: http://www.oleantimesherald.com/lifestyle/timbersports-competitions-challenging-and-fun-for-portville-grad/article_1f5e538a-f207-559d-a8a0-16b8a30ea5c7.html

In campus news, Caribou Biofuels, Inc. recently entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize a portable rotary gasifier developed at SUNY Cobleskill. More at: https://web.cobleskill.edu/media/2019/12/12/caribou-biofuels-incorporated-signs-option-to-license-agreement-with-the-research-foundation-for-suny-on-behalf-of-suny-cobleskill/