Archives > IRIS News and Notes September 2003
IRIS
News & Notes September 2003
Contents:
Envisioning the Future of Olin Library
Library Annex Feasibility Study
Current Periodicals and Newspapers Reading Room Opens
Staff Changes
Echols Curator Search Committee Appointed
Public Computing Changes in Olin
New Role for Uris Media Center
Collection Development Training Manual Online
Images from John Dean’s Retirement Party
I
don’t know if you caught the story on NPR recently, but Nancy
Pearl, Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at
the Seattle Public Library, is the model for a new 5-inch-tall action
figure by the Seattle-based company Accoutrements. Pearl was the brain
child behind "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book," an effort
to build community connections through reading. The program has been emulated
in cities across the country and around the world.
The action
figure assumes the shushing gesture, which is triggered by a button on
the doll's back. This move beat out the option of having a removable hair
bun. As a representative from the company explained in an article
in the Seattle Times, "The ejectable hair bun had many technical
hurdles to overcome and we thought doing two clichés was over the
top." Nancy Pearl believes that the action figure will determine
"which librarians have a sense of humor."
In response
to the NPR
interview, librarians across the country are dividing into two camps:
those who support the figure and those who see it as perpetuating the
stereotyped image of librarians.
Erica
Olsen of the IRIS Research Department provides an alternative library
icon, shown above, as seen on her Librarian
Avengers Website.
I thought
we’d take our own poll, so please use the comments box at the end
of this issue to share your thoughts on this action figure. We’ll
tally the results and report back next month.
Envisioning
the Future of Olin Library
As we reported several months ago, the University approved the Library’s
request to fund schematic design work in Olin to address life safety and
environmental issues. Olin’s 42-year old HVAC system needs to be
replaced and fire suppression/fire detection systems must be installed.
In addition, planning is underway to renovate floors 3-8 of the Olin “stack
tower.” These planning efforts will lead to the development of design
scenarios that will better define the project’s scope, identify
the areas of greatest need, and allow for more accurate cost estimates.
Shepley
Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott (SBRA) was chosen as the architectural
firm for this design phase. Over the summer senior library administrators
met with the architects to assess the physical condition of the library’s
external shell and to consider the visual impact of Olin on the surrounding
buildings and green space. Design alternatives have ranged from the modest
to the dramatic, as these schematics demonstrate.
This
month we’re turning our attention to programmatic elements in the
Olin stack tower that will help shape the future of scholarship and learning
over the next 50 years. We’ll be conducting a series of events to
solicit feedback from faculty, students, and staff in this analysis, as
highlighted in the shedule of events. We’d appreciate your thoughts
on the future of Olin and suggestions on how we can communicate with you
and your colleagues during this critical planning phase.
Library
Annex Feasibility Study
Work is also underway to prepare a feasibility report for an addition
to the Library Annex Facility to be built as soon as next year. The exact
size of the addition is yet to be determined, but it is a possible that
it could be a very large storage facility (2-5 times larger than the present
Annex). The facility will hold books, but also films, archives, and other
types of materials.
The architect
for the new project will be Bruce Scott from the architectural
firm of Russell, Scott, Steedle & Capone, located in Cambridge, MA.
Bruce Scott has considerable experience building this type of facility
at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Reese Dill, of Dill & Company,
Boston, MA, who was a direct consultant to the University Library for
the 1998 warehouse, will also participate in the design effort. John
Hoffmann and Susan Currie will represent Cornell University
Library. The feasibility team also includes staff from University Planning,
Design and Construction. The time frame for the feasibility study is very
short— September-November 2003.
Current
Periodicals and Newspapers Reading Room Opens
We are very pleased to announce that the Current Periodicals and Newspapers
Reading Room has been moved to 101 Olin Library. 
This
room offers beautiful views of Uris Library as well as access to over
1,500 current periodicals and the most recent issue of 117 domestic and
foreign newspapers. New tables and comfortable soft seating have been
ordered, which we hope to install by late September. The room was open
to the public on the first day of classes, August 28. It is designated
as a quiet reading room for consulting the collections housed there, and
we have implemented a policy of no food/drinks, cell phones, or laptop
computers in the room. The newly organized Newspaper Stacks, housing the
back issues of newspapers, is now located in the lower level. We will
be adding more user seating and tables in this area in the coming months.
Staff
Changes
Beth Katzoff has joined the Asia Collections as Head
of Public Services. She returns to her alma mater (class of ’90)
after taking degrees from Harvard (MA 1993) and Columbia (M.Phil. 1996,
Ph.D. 2000). For the past three years, Beth worked as Reference Librarian
in the Japanese Section of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress,
providing generalist and specialist services in the largest collection
of Japanese materials outside of Japan. In the Asia Collections she will
coordinate reference and instruction programs, maintain the Collections’
Web presence and coordinate Asia grant applications. Her office is B47
Kroch, and though she is not yet connected to the campus computer network,
her phone extension is 4-8392.
On September
1, Bob Kibbee became the head of Reference Services, after serving
as co-chair with Nancy Skipper for the past year. Nancy assumes
the position of associate head of Reference Services.
Other
good news from Reference is the appointment of Ida Martinez as
Outreach Librarian. Ida came to Cornell just a little over a year ago
as a Minority Fellow, and will bring her considerable talents to bear
in this new academic position that is designed to spearhead outreach to
library constituents. Ida is also assuming collection development duties
for Latino Studies.
Jim
Alberts joined the Music Library in June as the Assistant Music Librarian.
Jim comes to Cornell from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia
where he served as Catalog Librarian for two years.
There
have been departures in IRIS as well. Chief among them is the loss of
Allen Riedy, who returns to the University of Hawaii Library—from
whence he came in 1990—as Head of Asia Collections. During his tenure,
first as Southeast Asia Librarian and then Curator, Allen worked diligently
to make the John M. Echols Collection on Southeast Asia the premiere repository
of its kind. As librarian, adjunct professor of Asian Studies, and fixture
in the Southeast Asian research community, Allen was recognized as a top
flight professional and colleague. We wish him farewell and mahalo.
Tina
Hein, Reference Assistant, moved west to Seattle, but keeps the reference
staff updated with pictures of her beautiful baby. Becky McCleary,
Collections Assistant in Maps, is now studying historic preservation in
graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. The Fine Arts weekend
and evening supervisor, Judy Barrett-Acosta transferred to a
new position in Day Hall. Evening Access Services Circulation Assistant,
Matt Gelder, moved on to a position with the Ithaca Children's
Garden. And, Kelly Thompson, an evening and weekend supervisor
in Access Services is about to transfer to D-LIT as the Administrative
Manager. Happily we will still get to see Kelly regularly.
IRIS
staff are still on the move. Pat Schafer is now comfortably ensconced
in 101E (John Dean’s former office). John Dean has moved
into Joan Brink’s former office in Olin B32; Joan has moved
into Barbara Eden’s former office, also in B32. Carla
DeMello and Valerie Jacoski have moved into Pat’s
former office in 213. On Monday, Mary Arsenault also moved into
213, where she has taken up her new duties as Financial Coordinator, responsible
for managing operating budget and income accounts for all of IRIS. Sara
Spoonhower is moving her desk to Debra Bacon’s former spot
in 106. Sara will expand her administrative support responsibilities from
Access Services to all of Information Services. Debra Bacon is assuming
Becky McCleary's former duties as the Maps Collections Assistant and is
now located in the Map Room. And you can still find Marie Powers in 101C
when she is not staffing 116. Stay tuned next month for more moves to
be announced, but I’m hoping we’re coming to the end of musical
chairs for awhile.
Echols
Curator Search Committee Appointed
With Allen Riedy’s departure, the search is underway for
a new Curator of the Echols Collection. We will be seeking a senior professional
for this position and our hopes are to interview candidates either late
this year or more likely, in January/February, with the goal of having
someone in place by mid to late spring. The Search Committee has been
named and will include the following individuals:
Ross Atkinson
Thak Chaloemtiarana (Associate Professor; head of the Southeast
Asia Program)
John Dean
Thomas Hahn
Anne Kenney(chair)
Keith Taylor (Professor of Asian Studies)
Martha Walker
For more information on the search process, contact Susan Markowitz.
Public
Computing in Olin
As noted in an earlier IRIS N&N, we have been studying the
use patterns of public computers in Olin over the past year and have concluded
that our first priority is to ensure access to library resources and the
public catalog. Toward this end and before the fall semester started,
Desktop Services designated six additional computers on the south side
of Tiger Alley as Library Research Only computers. The SunRays were swapped
out on the north side for six new computers that support Netprint and
provide access to library materials. The three standing ones also support
email access. Desktop Services has also enabled email access on one computer
per stack floor where two public computers are available. While we will
continue to support some personal productivity workstations in Olin for
word processing, email, and other processing functions, users will be
encouraged to use the many machines available in Uris.
New
Role for Uris Media Center
Work has begun on converting the old Uris Library media center room into
a new teaching and learning space focused on the collaborative use of
high-end computing. IRIS is partnering with Professor David Schwartz
in Computer Science, who has a Faculty Innovation in Teaching grant, and
with CIT to use some unspent FABIT funds to revamp the room. The project
is an outgrowth of a recognition that while students and faculty have
access to computers all over campus, there are few spaces specifically
designed for groups that wish to use computers and other advanced technologies
to collaborate on projects. Our goal is to develop a facility where teams
of two to four students can get together to work on projects that require
high-end computing and library resources. We hope to have the lab open
early in the new year.
Olin
Collection Development Training Manual Online
Martha Hsu recently announced the completion of an online collection
development training manual. While mainly intended for new selectors in
Olin, it may be useful for more veteran selectors as well, including those
outside Olin.
Images
from John Dean’s Retirement Party
On Friday, August 29, nearly 100 people gathered to honor John Dean
for his many contributions to preservation over the past 50 years and
for his development of CUL’s preservation program. John is internationally
respected as a true craftsman and for his innovations in both book conservation
and physical materials processing. He is best known, however, as a gifted
teacher, and through various apprenticeships and training programs that
he established in the past 30 years, John has trained and mentored many
conservators and preservation professionals all over the world. I thought
you’d enjoy some of the photos
from this event.
That's it for this month. As always, drop me a line with
your comments and suggestions. And don't forget to give us your reaction
to the new librarian action figure.
Anne
