IRIS News and Notes, February 2005
Final Issue
Do your part!
The No Food Campaign
Services
24 hour access in Uris
CL-Cubed
North campus library drop box in the works
Facilities
Language Resource Center
Kroch Sprinkler Project
Africana Library Opens
Annex Expansion
Kroch Asia
Government Reading Room
Electronic Text Center
IMG Review Group recommendations accepted
IRIS IT support
Outreach
Staff News: Comings, Goings, and Kudos
Calendars and Almanacs in Asia
The
No Food Campaign
You may have noticed the flipcharts and
food-damage display in Olin and then Uris libraries at the beginning
of the semester, which were designed to encourage student input
and support for the no food campaign. The range of suggestions left
me laughing one minute and jotting down notes the next. As a librarian,
my personal fav was:
“Pass the Uris Patriot Act: monitor library records, use
hidden cameras, and detain violators indefinitely; secretly transport
them to TC3 for interrogation.”
The student contest followed on the heels of the staff contest to
solicit creative solutions for dealing with the rampant consumption
of food in the library proper. In comparing the staff suggestions
to those from students, I was surprised to learn that the students
suggested much harsher penalties for food offenders—from heavy
fines to the suspension of library and computer privileges, to search
dogs at the library entrance, to the posting of mug shots on a Wall
of Shame.
The Cabinet had fun reviewing the staff and students suggestions
but found it difficult to pick among the choices. In the end, however,
we’re pleased to announce the following winners.
Staff Winners:
1st place: Clay Chiment for her
suggestion to place a "large, clearly marked, trash can in the
library entrance for a few days during high "new patron traffic" periods with
a sign asking patrons to leave their food behind when they enter the
library. The trash can could be 'decorated' or in some way made
to fit in with the library decor as long as the signage was clear
and visible to everyone entering the building. A variation of
the trash can at the main door would be to place a can (again during
high use periods) just outside the doors of the various library cafés.
This would remind patrons leaving the café that their food shouldn't
go with them into the stacks."
2nd place: Bethany Silfer 
for her suggestion to "laminate
sticker 
mice/rats to scale stuck around the library floor (outside
the café,near trash cans, down the first floor corridor along the
side—basically places where we see food that would catch the
eye of would-be food consumers...a visual reminder that food crumbs
= Mice."
3rd place: Nancy Skipper for her suggestion to use "income
from sales [in the café] could be used to pay for security patrols."
Student winners:
1st place: Andrew Love, a graduate
student in City and Regional Planning, for his suggestion to launch
a publicity campaign that utilizes famous
people from Cornell speaking lovingly about the library and including
quotes on how food and drink put the collection at risk.
2nd place: Stephanie Goldfarb,
an Engineering student, for her suggestion to rearrange Libe Café so
there more room to sit, eat, and work.
3rd place: Joshua
Rosenthal, a graduate
student in Archaeology, for
his suggestion to replace the current drink containers in the cafés
with real spill-proof ones.
Aside from the two contests, we’ve also hired food patrols
to make rounds. During the week, this job falls to Kathryn Hughes and
on the weekend, Access Services has hired a graduate student Amitav, who
works from 2-4 pm on Saturdays and 3-11 pm on Sundays. We’re
also working with Food Services to limit the sale of drinks in the
cafés to those in approved containers only. There are new signs
posted; the bug screen savers are back on public computers; and a
small committee, consisting of John Marmora, Barbara
Eden, Carmen Blankinship, Bethany
Silfer, and Kathryn Hughes are developing staff guidelines
and food policies for patrons. We’re also encouraging library
staff to set an example by using only approved containers and
not walking through the library with open food. This is especially
important when you enter the library or exit the cafés in Uris
or Olin or the staff lounge. If you purchase food in one of the cafés,
be sure to enclose it in one of the paper bags supplied by staff there.
This effort is beginning to pay off as the amount of food consumption—at
least in Olin—is reportedly way down from last semester. We’ll
keep at it and with your help, I think we can reach the tipping point
on this. Thanks.
Services
In the last issue of IRIS
N&N we provided statistics
on two new services: MyDocument Delivery and Library to Library Book
Deliver. Two other services introduced last year have also met with
amazing success. First, the 24-hour access to Uris Library has proved
extremely popular since its introduction last January. During the
spring semester, over 11,700 patrons made use of Uris Library between
2:00 am and 8:00 am; in the fall this number increased by 25% to 14,646.
What's interesting is that only 6,335 of them entered the building
between those hours—the others had come in before 2:00 am and
stayed on. In both semesters Wednesday night/Thursday
morning proved to be the most popular night in Uris, but the other
nights were busy as well. News of the 24-hour access has spread beyond
Ithaca, as reported in articles in The
Harvard Crimson and Newsweek.
The second new service—the Cornell Library Collaborative Learning
Computer Lab (CL3)—has also met with great success. During
its first three full months of operation, October-December, 3,941
students made use of the lab outside of regularly scheduled class
use, with many of the evening hours being totally booked.
Room
configurations at the end of a day confirm that collaborative work
is popular. The percent of users who worked in groups as opposed to
individually ranged from 21% of all users in December to 39% in November.
Students have been fairly uniform in their praise of the facility
and equipment. An undergrad recently requested the use of equipment,
including a partridge and pear tree: “I am using the LCD projector
and the tripod for a Photography II assignment. The partridge
and pear tree are for my true love, the Creation Station.”
North campus library drop box in the works
Based
on a request from the Student Library Advisory Council, PSEC charged
the Ad Hoc Committee on Document Delivery to investigate the feasibility
of a north campus book drop. The committee, consisting of Carmen
Blankinship, Jesse Koennecke, Deb Lamb-Deans, Lydia Pettis, Howard
Raskin (chair),
and Sharon Wargo, are completing their report, which recommends
that book drops be placed in the Robert Purcell Community Center.
As soon as the projected costs associated with this service are completed,
the report will go to LMT for their consideration.
Facilities
Language Resource Center
It’s been off again and on
again, and this time it looks like it might be off for good. Word from
Day Hall is that the Institute for Social Sciences, which is moving
to Hughes Hall for next year, will remain there permanently. This means
that the Language Resource Center will stay in Noyes Lodge and not come
to Olin.
Kroch Sprinkler Project
The Kroch fire detection and suppression
system replacement project started on Monday and will run through
early July. The system is being upgraded from a dry to a wet sprinkler
system. Kroch will remain open while most of the work is happening,
but it will be necessary to close certain areas of the building for
short periods of time. There
will be no staff or patron access to the 1B stacks and the Rare and
Manuscript 2B stacks (vault) from March 18th at 5 pm until March
28th at 7 am while piping is installed. Work will continue
after that in the north and south mezzanines and the B1 and B2 office
areas. The level 1 Asia stacks will also be closed from May 20th until
June 9, 2005 to install piping. Sharon Wargo is
serving as the project coordinator, Beth Katzoff is serving
as the liaison from Kroch Asia, and David Corson is representing
RMC.
Africana Library opens
The Africana library was back in business for the spring semester and if you
haven’t been over to see it yet, it’s a beaut! A pre-dedication
celebration of the new Africana Center and Library was held Wednesday, February
16, which included a ritual of libation and washing followed by a reception
and party. The official opening of the Africana Center will happen on Friday,
April 29.
Annex expansion update
The Annex Planning Committee is proceeding apace in its preparations for the
new annex modules, scheduled to be completed in August. The group, chaired
by Xin Li, and including Barbara Eden, John Hoffmann, Cammie
Hoffmier, John Marmora, Margaret Nichols, and Zoe Stewart-Marshall,
is reviewing the stack measurements statistics, updating them to reflect
new space needs that have emerged in the past several months. The group will
work with CD Exec to prioritize selection policies for those libraries that
will run out of space by 2010. They will use this information to calculate
a
volume count for moves planned over the first year of occupancy. A move-in
date is set for October, but due to some construction issues, it might get
pushed back several weeks. The group will devote its next meeting to a consideration
of issues related to accommodating rare and archival materials.
Kroch Asia
The Severinghaus
Reading Room has also been spiffed up. The microfilm readers and fiche
cabinets have been moved to a new location, making way for a new table
and bookcases to provide access
to
more reference works and new acquisitions in the reading room. A new
digital microfilm reader has also been added. New study carrels,
chairs, and lighting complete the facelift. In a subsequent phase,
the fiche cabinets will be moved to the stacks, providing space for
additional bookshelves. In addition, the curators are drawing up plans
for the space vacated by the five staff members who have transferred
to Library Technical Services. In the cards are offices for Beth
Katzoff and Xian
Wu. And finally, the Library has recently received a generous
gift from Mr. I. Hwan Cho to substantially increase our holdings in
Korean studies and refurbish Room B59 for research and seminars in
support of the Asian programs. The room will house a collection of
core reference resources on Asian religions and will be named The
Cho II Hwan Seminar Room for Asian Thought, Culture, and Religion
in their honor. 
Government Reading Room
With generous support from Howard Weg and Sarah
Thomas,
the Government Reading Room (405 Olin) has been refurbished along
the lines of the Classics Reading Room, with new carpet, paint, upgrading
of the power and data supply, beautiful new tables and chairs, and
(still to come) study carrels, a library research computer, and wall
decorations.
Electronic Text Center
With special thanks for Laura Heisey and Megan
Perez,
the ETC now boasts several new computers and upgraded security software.
The CD-ROM and DVD collection is being weeded down to the higher demand
titles and reference staff are developing a proposal on the future
use of the ETC.
IMG Review Group recommendations accepted
At its
December meeting, the IRIS Management Group (IMG) reviewed and largely
accepted the recommendations of
the IMG Review Group that was charged to consider its future role.
The IMG Review group consisted of Eric Acree, Lenore Coral (first
chair), Martha Hsu, Adnan Malik, Nancy McGovern (second chair), and Martha
Walker. The
group considered issues of organization, communication, meeting frequency,
and management. Based on their recommendations, IMG will now meet
quarterly and a Steering Committee will set the agenda for each meeting.
The first Steering Committee consists of Don Schnedeker(Chair),Nancy
McGovern (Cabinet liaison), Adnan Malik, Carmen Blankinship, and Joel
Copenhagen. Suggestions for the April meeting agenda should be
submitted to any of the Committee’s members.
IRIS IT support
As you may recall, last November responsibility for computing
support in Olin, Uris, and Kroch Asia was transferred from IRIS to
DLIT. Oliver Habicht, Director of Desktop Services, has
provided the following update on administrative changes in his unit
as they relate to IRIS, which will go into effect today.
I would like to publicly acknowledge the dedication Rick Lightbody and Joe
Richardson have demonstrated in providing IT support during
this period of transition, and extend an appreciation to the IRIS
Local Support Providers who have served to amplify Rick and Joe's
efforts, and whom we all will continue to rely on.
Over the past several months, Desktop Services staff, working in
coordination with IRIS management staff, have created a plan to formally
shift centralized IT support response from a two-person "group response" to a response
headed by an assigned primary Desktop Services IT support provider for each
IRIS unit, backed up by their Desktop Services colleagues. Since the
procedural changes for IRIS staff related to making this change is expected
to be small, we will formally implement this change on February 22.
What does this mean to you? Most of the IT
support-related procedures will remain the same. As with the
former IRIS TST group, Desktop Services staff's general availability
will be regular business hours (M-F, 8 am-4:30 pm). Please continue
to first seek IT-related assistance from your IRIS Local IT Support
Provider. Since the "IRIS TST" group
is no longer an entity, the email address to contact each unit's Desktop
Services assigned staff person is: <cul-dshelp-l>.
You can also use the above email list to report any public computer
issues or problems within the following IRIS libraries: Olin Library,
Uris Library, Kroch Library, Africana Library, or the Fine Arts Library. For the
Music Library, please use the above list when communicating about the centrally-supported
Desktop Services public computers.
The current Desktop Services staff assignments, along with a summary
of the above information, is available at the Desktop Services web
site.
The
assignment of particular Desktop Services staff to each IRIS unit
will allow Desktop Services to adjust to and advocate for each unit's
IT needs within the context of providing more efficient centralized
services. Considering
the importance of the relationship between the primary Desktop Services
staff assigned to an IRIS unit and that unit's staff, changes to these
Desktop Services staff assignments will be kept to a minimum. However,
there will be adjustments made in order to adapt to changing circumstances
within either the IRIS or Desktop Services organizations. Looking
ahead, all Desktop Services staff look forward to working with you
so we can achieve your unit's and the Library's goals. ~Oliver
Habicht
Outreach
Staff have been busy publicizing library services. Thanks to the
work of a group chaired by Ida Martinez and including Tony
Cosgrave, Barbara
Eden, Beth Katzoff, and Bethany Silfer, we have a new
brochure on services and facilities in Olin, Kroch, and Uris, called find
it! Copies are available at the entrances and reference desks of the three
libraries as well as on the web (under
Quick Links).
For the second semester in
a row, the CUL Instruction Working Group, co-chaired by Tony Cosgrave and Kornelia
Tancheva, has produced an integrated instruction brochure, 
which
lists the workshops, orientation sessions, and tours in the Catherwood,
Law, Management, Mann, Olin, Physical Sciences, Uris, and Veterinary
libraries.
We noted last time that the
Library and CIT had joined forces to bring RefWorks to the campus.
Jointly funded by CUL and CIT, RefWorks is a web-based tool for managing
citations and bibliographies that allows users to easily import and
organize references from online database searches. Workshops and other
information are listed online in
addition to the login. Library staff training took place largely
before the semester began, but staff are always welcome to attend
the "regular" workshops being offered throughout the semester
at Catherwood, Mann, and Olin. To date, student and faculty
reaction has been extremely positive. 
The IRIS Design Team
had a hand in publicizing all of these
efforts, but I think my favorite piece to come out of the Team is
the postcard sent to faculty advertising the new File
Format and Media Migration Service provided by IRIS Research and Assessment Services.
To date, sixteen faculty have requested support dealing with their
obsolete files and the staff have been able to offer effective solutions
to twelve of them.
Staff News:
Comings and Goings
IRIS has
had more than its fair share of staff comings and goings in the past
two months. Perhaps Information Services takes the cake, however,
with six new hires. Here’s where things stand.
Access Services has three new staff members. Heidi
Mallinson has assumed the position of evening/weekend supervisor.
She may be familiar to those of you who are in the library late,
as for the past year she has worked a position split between Collection
Management and Access, working until 2:30 am. She is filling the
position held by Mikki Winberg, who has moved to New York
City. Olivia Nellums joins the team as the late night 10:30
pm- 2:30 am staff member. She is pursuing a library degree at Syracuse
and also works at the Finger Lakes Community Newspapers as a contributing
writer and office manager and a freelance writer for the Ithaca
Times. Moriah Eden joins Access Services in a temporary
position. She is familiar to many of you as she has worked
in Olin as a student worker. Moriah has just completed her
MLS at the University of Buffalo.
Africana: Sylvia Nyana has returned to
the Africana Library as Senior Night Supervisor. Previous to working
at Africana, Sylvia worked at Mann Library. In 2003 she received
her M.L.S from the University at Buffalo, while working at Africana
Library. In 2002 Sylvia was awarded the Staff Outstanding Performance
Award.
Collection Development: To accommodate the four
staff members in Communications and Media Relations in 504 (Mary
Beth Bunge, Marty Crowe, Beth Fontana, and a to-be-determined
events coordinator), Wanda Wawro switched offices and Will
Sayers is now occupying a study on the second floor (221). Patrick
Stevens will do his collection development work in his office
in RMC.
Interlibrary Services: after working part time
in Interlibrary Services for 5 months, Karen Ohlsten moved
into a full time position on January 13. She brings her
warm, friendly personality and many years of library experience. Jessica
Welker began
working part time in Interlibrary Services on February 1. Jessica
has been a student worker at ILR Circulation for four years.
Preservation and Collection Maintenance: Kelly
Smallidge has
just returned to working in CUL halftime as a stacks manager in
PCM.
Information Services: No
sooner had Camille
Andrews joined
IRIS as a Library Fellow than she accepted a job as reference librarian
at Mann Library. However, thanks to Janet McCue's support, Camille
will continue part time with IRIS Reference Services, working on department
projects, staffing the desk, and doing some instruction. This summer
she’ll probably be working with DCAPS on the faculty grants
project. While in IRIS, she will be located in Room 215 Olin (Mon.-Thurs.)
and can be reached at 5-9563.
Sara Spoonhower has left the Library but happily not the
University. Sara accepted a position in Principal Gifts in the Division
of Alumni Affairs and Development. She joined OKU Access Services
in 1997 and since the creation of IRIS in 2002, Sara has served as
the Administrative Assistant for all of the units in Information Services.
IRIS Administration: Xin Li has moved
into her new office in 215 Olin (phone: 5-7026). She has been
dividing her time between the CUL technical services integration and
IRIS, but as of February 15, an increasing amount of her time is being
devoted to IRIS. Kim LaMorte will be going on maternity leave
after March 4, but I’m pleased to report that we just hired
Tiffany Howe to fill in while she’s out. Tiffany’s
first day of work will be March 7.
Kroch Asia: Jeffrey Peterson is joining
the Echols Collection as the Southeast Asian Librarian. Jeff received
both his MA in Anthropology from Northern Illinois University
and
his MLS from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in December 2004.
His first day of work will be March 7. As part of the Kroch Asia technical
services integration, five colleagues from Echols and Wason are relocating
to Central Technical Services. Youngoak Bond, Chun Mei
Lyons, and Wei
Tseng have moved to workstations in 110 Olin. Yayoi Koizumi and Ben
Abel are moving tomorrow. They,
along with the Asia curators and CTS managers and supervisors are
in the process of analyzing and adjusting the Wason and Echols technical
services workflows as needed.
Kudos
Congratulations to Megan Perez who has been
awarded an ACRL 12th National Conference Library Support Staff Scholarship.
The purpose of the scholarship is to provide opportunities for academic
and research library support staff to update their skills and knowledge
by participating in the ACRL conference.
Peter Hirtle has been invited to join a select working
group formed by the Library of Congress Copyright Office to review
Section 108 of the US Copyright Law (the section that deals with copying
by libraries and archives). The group will be meeting once every
two months, alternating between Washington, DC and NYC.
Angela Horne will be giving an upcoming talk to the Tompkins
County Chamber of Commerce. This invitation came as a result
of the Management Library’s participation in the fall Entrepreneurship
Expo held at Willard Straight Hall.
Sarah
How and I both participated in the 2005 conference of the
Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association
of American Publishers earlier this month. Sarah participated
in a Plenary Session, "Defining Open Access:
What Does the Demand for Required Open Access Demand From You?" and
I participated in the pre-conference, "How to Survive & Thrive
in a Search Engine Culture."
The library has been awarded $312,809 from the National Endowment
for the Humanities to fund a second round of the Digital Preservation
Management Workshops. A total of six workshops will be held here over
the next two years, with the first workshop scheduled for May 16-20.
Calendars and Almanacs in Asia
Formal methods of time measurement have a long history in Asia. From Shang
oracle bone inscriptions in China in the 14 th century BC to texts of the
classical Hindu calendar of 1000 BC, calendars in Asia have taken on many
forms. Predating western calendars, the methods of time measurement in Asia
have varied by country, culture, religion, dynasty, and historical period.
Some of those variations remain today. Most parts of the world tend to follow
the Gregorian calendar, but people in many Asian countries continue to use
their own regionally or nationally specific calendars and almanacs alongside
the Western calendar. In Japan, for example, the current year is Heisei 17,
denoting the 17 th year of the current Emperor’s reign. In China today,
the traditional lunar calendar with its 60-year cycle is used in addition
to the Western calendar that was adopted in 1911. Take a look at the newspapers
in the Asia Reading Room and, in many cases, you will find both the date
in the Gregorian calendar and the date from the calendar of that region.
In celebration of the Chinese New Year—and the beginning of the Year
of the Rooster in the Chinese twelve-year animal cycle—a new display
in the Severinghaus Reading Room includes a sampling of calendars and almanacs
and their many uses taken from the holdings in the Asia Collections. The
display is on view until March 31, 2005.
~Beth Katzoff
That’s it, period. I’ve
really enjoyed bringing you IRIS
News & Notes for the past three years, but I’ve
managed to work myself out of this job. Beginning next month, Sarah
Thomas and the Department of Communications and
Media Relations will begin issuing a new monthly electronic publication
for all staff—Inside
CUL—which is patterned on IRIS News & Notes. IRIS
news will be included there, but I’ll still welcome your
thoughts and suggestions, so drop me a note any time.
Thanks,
Anne
