Service Awards 2011
40 Years
Steve Rockey, Math & Engineering Libraries
Although Steve has worked in the Cornell University Library for the past forty years, he actually came to Cornell in 1966 as an undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering. Sarah Thomas, former University Librarian, praised Steve’s “comfort with digital information, and his entrepreneurial outlook” in her tribute for Steve’s thirty-fifth anniversary. We were recently reminded of these characteristics as Steve led the effort to transform the Engineering Library into a virtual library with onsite subject specialists.
Steve started his career on the circulation desk at the Engineering Library in 1970 and became the Director of the Mathematics Library in 1972; in 2009, he became the director of the Math and Engineering Libraries. The next year, he and a faculty member, Mark Turnquist, co-chaired a committee of students, faculty, and library staff whose task was to re-envision the Engineering Library. The committee developed a compelling blueprint for this transformation; and for the past year, Steve and the staff of the Engineering Library have worked with colleagues throughout the system to realize that vision.
Steve recognizes that we are not “closing” a library or simply consolidating a collection but we are transforming the services and collections for this community of faculty and students. A key component of this transformation is bolstering the digital collections so that Cornell engineers are as privileged as Stanford faculty; for students, negotiating for extended hours with key card access for study spaces in Carpenter Hall and embedding onsite subject expertise to work with individual researchers or student project teams, are just as critical. For the entire community, Steve is collaborating with colleagues to develop cutting-edge discovery tools so that students and faculty can more easily find the information that they need.
Over the past few years, Steve has worked on strategic planning task forces with faculty and leadership teams with library staff. He is the Science Team representative on CDExec and AUL John Saylor appreciates Steve’s “ability to see the big picture and come up with clear strategies for solving difficult problems.” Nationally, he’s active in the Special Library Association, the Project Euclid Advisory Board, and more recently, he’s worked with colleagues to develop sustainability models for services, such as arXiv. Steve’s “comfort with digital information, and his entrepreneurial outlook” are virtues clearly on display in these projects. Anne Kenney recently praised his “long distinguished career which has been characterized by his flexibility in taking on new challenges.”
And, it is his flexibility that keeps him on rugged trails in the national parks in the summer and ice-skating in winter at Lynah Rink and cross country skis on Hammond Hill. This summer, you might find him rafting on the Green River or hiking in Glacier Park with his daughter, Kate ’06 and son, Ben ’04. Please join me in congratulating Steve on his fortieth anniversary and thanking him for his leadership in the libraries and his commitment to Cornell! (Janet McCue)
35 Years
Lee Cartmill and Anne Kenney
Lee Cartmill, Library Administrative Services
Lee Cartmill celebrated his thirty-fifth year at Cornell with his usual grace and modesty—not waiting for his name to be called to come up to receive his certificate! 
During his tenure at CUL, Lee has brought professionalism and accountability to every unit he has supervised, from accounting to HR to shipping to facilities and more. He brokered the shared HR directorship, not once but twice and each has been a great success. At long last Olin Library has completed a life safety project, on time and under budget. Lee’s guiding hand was instrumental in this notable milestone. And his skillful management of the budget was absolutely critical during the three-year Reimaging Cornell effort. I can’t imagine a better colleague to work with in good times and bad than Lee Cartmill. The Library is indeed fortunate to have Lee at the helm of Library Administrative Services. (Anne Kenney)
30 Years
Peter Campbell and Anne Kenney
Howard Brentlinger, Research & Learning Services
It is not surprising that Howard has remained faithful to the Library for that long – after all, his father was Director of the Tompkins County Public Library for many years. Howard is an extremely important part of the Maps & Media unit of Research & Learning Services, Olin & Uris Libraries. He is a man of various interests – from railroads to local history – and this has benefited both our patrons and me. I always consult him before I order a railroad map or an atlas or before I answer the question, “Do you have a map showing what Cass Park looked like in 1929?”
It must be noted that Howard is a very experienced student supervisor. He does an excellent job in all aspects of student supervision – from hiring to training and monitoring their performance. The Map Room students are so well prepared that I feel comfortable to allow them to answer some basic reference questions at the help desk.
Howard always seeks to improve and adapt to the changing library environment. He embraced the opportunity to work with the various hardware and software that we have to use every so often in our work. After becoming familiar with the scanning equipment and Adobe Photoshop, he is now learning the new content management system, Drupal. I am sure that when the next challenge presents itself, Howard will accept it calmly with that quiet resolve and determination of his. (Boris Michev)
Peter Campbell, Research & Learning Services
While recently curating an exhibit on the changing nature of Access Services for the Olin 50th Anniversary celebration, I was struck by the fact that I am probably one of the few public services staff left who remembers what a McBee card is. Luckily, I have Peter Campbell’s long –time public service experience to keep me company! Peter’s career at Cornell began with the Annex Project in 1980. He moved to collection management in 1981 and to the Circulation desk in 1983 before moving to the Olin Reference Department in 1991 where I first worked with him. Having had the opportunity to work with him again these past four years, I can attest to the fact that Peter’s reticent manner masks the invaluable assets he brings to the day-to-day operations of R&LS. In addition to providing outstanding reference service, Peter keeps our information wiki up to date, oversees the inventory and updating of our print materials, and assists the department in a variety of other activities. Drawing on his past life in journalism, Peter also possesses wonderful writing and editing skills and he regularly supplies feedback and editing on our department’s posters, signs, and publications.
In the past several years, Peter has weathered a number of organizational changes at work, not the least being his having had five different supervisors in the span of seven years! Peter always accepts these changes with calmness, good humor, and grace. Peter‘s collegiality and quiet sense of humor make him a much valued and respected member of RLS. Congratulations to Peter on 30 years of truly exemplary service to CUL! (Deb Schmidle)
Christiane O'Hara, Law Library
Chris O'Hara juggles a multitude of tasks with grace and patience, from the coordination of the student payroll and staff time cards, to the monitoring of the law library budget, office management duties, countless requests for staff travel advances and reimbursements, and so on. Chris is a hard worker and has a strong work ethic. She consistently shows how flexible she is in dealing courteously with every single person. Her generosity of spirit and diplomatic skills have a positive influence on all, and contribute to creating a great team atmosphere.
In her previous career, she worked for the Law School Dean's office and the Legal Writing faculty. The Law Library was fortunate in convincing her to take the position a few years ago. She has been a tremendous asset in facilitating relations within the Law School and with CUL departments. The success of Cornell Law School Library depends on both individual effort and effective team work. Her contributions to this endeavor areappreciated and valued. Chris is totally dedicated to the good of the institution and a vital part of the Law Library. (Claire Germain)
Ubaldo Valli, CLO Preservation & Collection Maintenance
Congratulations to Ubaldo on thrity years of service. (Jon Frankel; Ubaldo preferred not to have a write-up)
Kaye Westfall, CLO Preservation & Collection Maintenance
Congratulations to Kaye on thrity years of service. (Barbara Eden; Kaye preferred not to have a write-up)
Bob Willits, CLO E-Resources & Serials
I have had the pleasure of working with Bob for only two of his thirty years at Cornell. Bob has worked in the Library during his entire career at Cornell, and currently works in the E-Resources and Serials Management Unit located in Mann Library as a serials searcher. He is responsible for pre-catalog searching of new titles, title changes, and receiving and claiming of periodical and serial publications, in addition to solving complex searching problems.
During his tenure at CUL, Bob worked at Uris Library from 1981 to 1989, at the Hotel Library from 1989 to 1999, then at Olin Library, and finally at Mann Library where he has been since 2007. Bob has been a very valuable asset to our department and is more than willing to help out wherever he is needed. Bob’s many years of experience as well as his dependability and flexibility embody the characteristics of a truly exceptional employee. We congratulate Bob for his thirty years of service to the Cornell University Library and look forward to working with him in the future.
Among Bob’s pastimes is his large collection of music, focusing on jazz, big band, singers of the Great American Songbook (both past and present), '50s rock and roll, and Brazilian music. (Deb Warfield)
25 Years
From left, Jill Powell and Deb Schmidle
Debralyn Muscato, Research & Learning Services
In her twenty-five years in the Cornell University Library system Deb has learned, and worked at, almost every aspect of public services. Her dependability, flexibility, and understanding of the big picture have ensured quality public service during many changes. She quietly focuses on what needs to be done and makes sure the task is completed. Her commitment to excellent service and teamwork were demonstrated during the closing of the Physical Sciences Library. In the words of one of her former supervisors, “that the closure of the PSL facility happened with very few mishaps for users and collections … is a testament to Deb’s organizational and people-handling skills.”
She became part of the Maps & Media unit of Research & Learning Services, Olin & Uris Libraries, in 2009. Her excellent communication skills, vast experience, and enthusiasm helped her to transfer smoothly to a new position with new requirements. Always ready to help when help is needed, she undertook the difficult task to work at the busy reference desk in Olin Library and quickly established great rapport with her colleagues, and as importantly, with the library patrons.
2011 brought yet another change in the structure of the unit, but I am sure that her excellent organizational skills and self-motivated learning will enable her to assimilate the new information and use it to enhance the service she provides. (Boris Michev)
Jill Powell, Engineering Library
I met Jill Powell when she came to Cornell and she was good reference librarian right from the start. She rapidly became an excellent engineering reference librarian and this is no small achievement since that requires a tremendous subject scope from geology to mechanical engineering to computer science to nanotechnology to biomaterials and more. It also requires dealing with materials beyond books, journals, and bibliographic indices including patents, standards, technical reports, government documents, and complex specialized handbooks that are now transitioning to databases. Since 1988 Jill has been very active and highly respected in the Engineering Libraries Division of the American Association for Engineering Education, which is reflected in her holding an impressive series of committee assignments and elective offices including Division Chair. What started as a learning opportunity has become a leadership role for her.
John Saylor says: "It has been a great pleasure of mine to work with Jill Powell at Cornell since 1986. She has always been incredibly dedicated to her work, a staunch advocate for outstanding public service, a very kind colleague, and truly a proud Cornell Librarian. Jill has truly stepped up to the recent challenges and opportunities that we all currently are involved in and I know she will be a leader in Engineering Library work in the future. Thanks for all you do Jill."
When I was offered the directorship of Engineering Jill's presence was a factor in my decision to accept. Upon taking the position I soon realized I needed her to become the bibliographer for Engineering. In early discussions with Jill she expressed an interest in becoming more involved with collections. This was ideal since I wanted her to not just become involved but to take over the $1M budget. I’ve been particularly impressed with her rapid growth as a selector. She is well respected by other selectors and people in CLO that she has to interact with. Jill has become an expert in understanding e-resources and a highly effective negotiator with publishers not only on the price side where she has impressive success but also on the contract terms. She has excellent relations with users and can engage them in crucial conversations in her role as a liaison because of her subject knowledge and her understanding of the literature including how it is used and how it is acquired. This growth and accomplishment has come in interesting times first with a budget crisis and then with the transition of the Engineering library to a virtual library. She has embraced the digital future and become a force for change. She also is a leader in the EMPS libraries and I count on her for ideas and advice. She has accomplished a lot in twenty-five years and I am eager to see where she takes it from here. (Steve Rockey)
Deb Schmidle, Research & Learning Services
Deb Schmidle has been the Head of the Research and Learning Services Department in Olin and Uris Libraries since 2008. This position comes on the heels of a variety of positions with increasing responsibilities that she has held throughout her twenty-five years at CUL. She began her career in 1978 filing into the union catalog and inputting catalog records into OCLC, and worked in Circulation, Technical Services, Reference , and ILS in different libraries: the Physical sciences, Olin, and Catherwood. Deb briefly left Cornell between 2001 and 2004 for a collection development position at the University of Albany, and then a Directorship of Library and Education Services at Nylink. In 2004, she returned to Catherwood to do collection development and in 2006 came to Olin/Uris as the Social Sciences Coordinator in the Department of Collections, Reference, Instruction, and Outreach. When the Library administrative structure was changed in 2009 and we needed someone with a strong vision, management abilities, and deep expertise in public services and collections building to lead the department, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Deb was the ideal candidate.
In the last three years, Deb has more than lived up to the high expectations of this position. She has not only successfully led the department through multiple changes in services and priorities, but has also been an active participant in or leader of Olin/Uris, CUL-wide, or national initiatives. Just a handful of those are enough to illustrate the point: member of the first LSDI team, coordinator of the Olin/Uris selectors group, co-chair of PSEC, member of CD-Exec, participant in the graduate students in the humanities grant project, curator for the Olin’s 50th anniversary exhibit, member of the ACRL Research Program Planning Committee, secretary of the Executive Board of the Fund Raising and Financial Development Section of ALA’s Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) .… The list can go on forever. To all of these and the many other projects she has been involved in or has led, she invariably brings three qualities that make her an invaluable asset to the Library, the University, and the profession: knowledge and intellectual depth, team spirit, and leadership abilities. And of course, there’s a fourth one, which I personally appreciate a lot—a sense of humor, which makes working with her a delight.
Outside of her professional life, Deb is very passionate about the community and the arts. She serves on the Board of the Hangar Theatre, she was instrumental in bringing the productions of the National Theatre to Cinemapolis, and she takes beautiful pictures—if you haven’t seen her flower series, you are missing a lot! Congratulations on a wonderful twenty-five years of achievements, Deb! (Kornelia Tancheva)
20 Years
From left, Sally Lockwood, Oliver Habicht, Pat Court, Gary Branch, Kathryn Hughes
Gary Branch, CLO Batch Processing & Metadata Management
Gary Branch began his career at CUL in July 1990 as a senior records assistant in the Acquisitions Department in Central Technical Services. Throughout what has now been twenty-one years of service in library technical services at Cornell, Gary has also worked as a monographs searcher, a copy cataloger, a monographs specialist, and an administrative supervisor for both the Ordering Unit and, most recently, the Batch Processing & Metadata Management Unit. He has also served as the leader of the LTS NetAdmin Team for the past few years.
In the résumé he submitted when he first applied to work at the Library, Gary described himself as detail-oriented, dependable, hardworking, a good listener, and someone who can assimilate information quickly. He did not mislead us. In fact, Gary embodies all these traits, along with patience, resourcefulness, and technological savvy. He has recently been pronounced “indispensable” by one of his CLO colleagues. Among other formal acknowledgements of his contributions to technical services at Cornell, Gary has been the recipient of the “Blobzilla Award of Honor” for his outstanding contributions to the reduction of the ginormous cataloging backlog in the late 1990s, and the “EMPSL Certificate of Appreciation” in 2000 – an award presented to individuals outside of the Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences libraries who have made a major contribution to the work of the EMPSL libraries. No less importantly – at least in some circles – is Gary’s loyal support for the New York Yankees and Giants, as well as his devotion to all things Disney. (Jim LeBlanc)
Pat Court, Law Library
Pat Court's contributions to the Law Library have been numerous and varied. She has held the library together many times during staff illnesses and transitions, and currently serves as the Interim Director. She coordinates inter-departmental activities and Faculty Services in an excellent manner, teaches several credit courses in legal research with high student evaluations, and provides substantive law research to faculty, notably Professor Farina's E-Rule project and Professor Yale-Loehr's immigration treatise. Pat recently served on the Board of the Indiana University Alumni of the School of Library and Information Science, and her profile was published in their magazine. She is a great ambassador for Cornell abroad, with a special fondness for China where she has travelled several times, as an invited speaker and consultant.
Pat exemplifies hard work and dedication to the common good. Sheis a great asset to the Law School, CUL, and the University. Her professionalism and loyalty are an essential part of the excellence of Cornell Law Library. Her team spirit and collegiality are exemplary. (Claire Germain)
Michael Engle, Research & Learning Services
When I was asked to write this piece for Michael Engle, I was stymied as to how I could adequately reflect the many accomplishments of his twenty years’ service to CUL in two paragraphs, therefore I will touch on just a few of the highlights! Michael began his career at Cornell overseeing the reference services and instruction programs at Uris Library. In 1993, he joined the newly merged Olin and Uris Reference Services Department and been with the department through its many iterations. In addition to his role providing reference and instruction services to our users, Michael is also the selector for North American newspapers and the Reference collections in Olin and Uris Libraries. In this role, he has been instrumental in promoting social sciences and humanities reference resources in an environment of rapidly changing formats and resources availability, and transitioning both collections from print to online electronic resources. Michael has also been involved with technological initiatives throughout CUL over the years. Along with Kaila Bussert, he was a key player in the development of our nationally recognized “Research Minutes” vodcasts. More recently, he has worked on efforts to improve discovery and access to digital and physical information resources through his contributions to the WebFeat Transition Team and the Discovery and Access Working Group. One of Michael’s greatest traits is his sense of collegiality and teamwork. He regularly collaborates with a wide variety of library staff across all functional areas. Michael is generous with sharing his knowledge, providing training sessions for both R&LS staff and Olin/Uris Access Services staff. He promotes cross-functional and inter-unit collaboration by serving on and making valuable contributions to several committees and teams. In addition to the committees mentioned above, past and present team contributions include but are not limited to, the Curated List of Library Resources Project, the Newspaper Processing Task Force, the 2010 Promotion to Librarian Committee, and his current stint as co-chair of the Database Review Committee.
At home, Michael‘s long-term project is developing a grass-free, bird-friendly yard that uses deer-resistant native plants. He enjoys nature photography. He and his wife Jane periodically host staff potlucks on their back porch that may include homemade pizza and other culinary delights. They also travel to Chile regularly to visit family and to practice their Spanish. Congratulations to Michael on his twentieth anniversary! (Deb Schmidle)
Oliver Habicht, CUL Information Technology
Oliver Habicht has been engaged in the evolving use of information technology at Cornell for the past twenty years. He initially served as a lab coordinator with CIT, before joining the Library in 1997. He began his Library career with the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections, working on a number of database related projects, including the initial prototype for GloPAD, as well as an Electronic Records Archive Project. Beginning in March 1999, Oliver created a new CUL-wide desktop services support unit, serving as director of that unit for over 10 years. As part of that process, he built a dedicated team, focused on providing excellent support to Library staff and users. He has also served as a very careful and thoughtful steward of the Library’s resources, negotiating excellent terms for equipment and services from a wide variety of sources.
In addition to his work in the Library, Oliver has taken on a significant role in the broader IT community at Cornell. He has served on the executive committee of the Campus Computing Directors (CCD); served as the Library’s liaison to the IT Security Council, helping set broad security policy for Cornell; and worked on the Dell Bundles committee to negotiate and specify desktop and laptop configurations for the entire Cornell community. We can all be grateful for the time, energy, and dedication that Oliver has put into improving IT at Cornell over many, many years. (Dean Krafft)
Kathryn Hughes, CLO Preservation & Collection Maintenance
Congratulations to Kathryn on her twenty years of service to Cornell. You can always count on Kathy to be the department “power of positive thinking” person. She is kind and considerate, and when she is not at work she enjoys cooking and baking and spending time with her adorable grandchildren. (Barbara Eden)
Sally Lockwood, CLO Database Quality
For the past eight years, Sally has been a member of the Database Management Unit in Central Library Operations. Each day she juggles various responsibilities, working in the E-Resources and Serials Management Unit at Mann, the Receiving and Document Unit and the Database Management Unit at Olin. One of Sally’s accomplishments during this time was her involvement in the Olin/Asia Barcoding Project. She hired and trained an army of students to barcode books and update record holdings in the database. Her dedication and hard work was a major contributing factor to the success and completion of the project. Also, Sally was recently elected as a member of the Library Forum Committee.
During the summer months, Sally likes to have fun on the water. She does stand up paddle and this summer is learning to water ski. Sally participated in the Sixth Annual Fingerlakes Dragon Boat Festival. She was part of the local community team called Team Waterfront. They placed 2nd and received a silver medal. Congratulations Sally for twenty years of dedicated service to the Library. (Barb Tarbox)
15 Years
From left, John Howard, Barbara Bartholomew, Lynn Bertoia, Nelli Kurbanova, Donna Moore, Bethany Silfer
Barbara Bartholomew, Management Library
Before coming to Cornell, Barbara worked for eight years in the program for children at Tompkins County Public Library. Because of her keen interest in furthering young readers’ enthusiasm for learning, she had planned to pursue a career as a librarian focusing on children’s services. Happily, in 1995 circumstances brought her to CUL and a position as a reserves specialist in the Management Library. While her past experience had not brought her much in contact with the business world, Barbara’s love of learning and strong sense of history and the connection of present studies in business to the past soon had her taking classes and seminars in the Johnson School. These led to a rapport with many of the school’s faculty that enhanced her business insight and benefitted the reserves program as well.
When not occupied at CUL, Barbara works at developing her own landscaping business. She has always been an avid gardener, and with the addition of several semesters of courses in forestry and horticulture through CALS, has extended her hobby into a budding career. She also works as a free-lance copy editor. Currently, she and her husband, Dale, are in the process of selling their 1840s farmhouse south of Ithaca and building a new energy-efficient passive solar home next to Treman Park. Barbara also enjoys the company of her five children and her twin granddaughters. (Lee Ringland)
Lynn Bertoia, Assessment & Communication
Lynn came to the Library in May of 1996 as the administrative assistant for the office of Olin/Kroch/Uris Library, working for David Corson, Pat Schafer, and John Hoffmann. In 2002, she moved to the office of Library Administration where she enjoyed getting to know the broad Library community as well as many international guests. In 2005, she became the administrative manager for Library Communications, helping to plan numerous special projects with the communications team. Last September, she returned to the office of Library Administration as program coordinator for public events, providing support for the Library’s vast array of public lectures, book talks, and other sponsored events. She provides invaluable assistance in the promotion and coordination of these events.
Lynn has enjoyed working with a variety of individuals, from student assistants to faculty and leading scholars outside the library community who are invited to give public lectures celebrating exhibitions and collections. Some of her favorite projects were the Library’s Hip Hop Conference and the Visix digital signage project.
Before coming to the Library, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Windsor, Ontario, and attended Southern Illinois University as a graduate student in the School of Art and Design. Lynn and her husband have three daughters and have had the pleasure of seeing two daughters graduate from Cornell. The youngest is now a sophomore and on her way to becoming a graduate, and all are big fans of Cornell University Library. (Michelle Eastman)
Michele Brown, CLO Preservation & Collection Maintenance
It is hard to believe that fifteen years have passed since Michele joined CUL. She is a very talented book conservator and has been able to apply her talents to treat numerous items from our collections. When she is not at work she enjoys gardening, bird watching, and collecting fiction in which a character is a bookbinder or a conservator. Michele says that she loves being a book conservator because she gets to handle beautiful books that people from the past have touched and enjoyed. She is a firm believer that there is much more to a book than its content. (Barbara Eden)
John Howard, Annex Library
Many of you may recall John’s earlier years of working in the Shipping Department at Olin Library, with his cheerful, smiling face and boisterous laugh. John then moved on to the Library Annex in May of 1999. John is making a full circle these days and you may have seen him back at Olin on certain days or heard his laugh. John is a dedicated employee of the Library, but after hours he enjoys spending time with his two children and going home to the Cape. John also makes time to spend with his church youth group, as he is always jumping in to help whether it is at work, home, or within his community. (Cammie Wyckoff)
Nelli Kurbanova, CLO Acquisitions
Nelli Kurbanova is the Slavic languages specialist in the Acquisitions Department. and handles all acquisitions tasks, including ordering, receiving, communication with a variety of vendors, claiming, and fastcatting. She also is responsible for serials subscriptions in all Slavic languages. When Nelli arrived at Olin Library in late 1995, besides knowledge of her native Armenian language and many other languages, she brought with her an engaging and energetic personality.
Away from work, Nelli has a very busy life as well. Nelli’s formal training is in music, and when there is time she gives piano lessons. She and her family have been in Ithaca for twenty years, and on five different occasions she has sponsored families from Azerbaijan and Armenia, so that they can eventually become United States citizens too. And in addition to her immediate family, which consists of a husband, one son, two daughters, and two granddaughters, many of Nelli’s extended family live in Ithaca also, including her parents. Nelli willingly plays a significant role in the care of her parents, taking them to medical appointments and generally overseeing their well-being, and often generously reaches out to her parents’ friends when they need care.
Since Nelli and many other members of her family are good cooks and create delicious baked treats too, those of us who work with her are often the recipients of tasty culinary creations. Life never seems dull for the busy Nelli, nor for those around her! (Lois Purcell)
Donna Moore, Rare & Manuscript Collections
Donna Moore joined RMC as our administrative manager in the spring of 2007, coming to us from the College of Engineering, where she had worked for the previous years. Her responsibilities in RMC include the business, human resources, and administrative operations of a large and complex unit. Donna has done an excellent job in what was a challenging and new area for her. While administrative tasks may seem to be similar across the university, the Library in general and RMC in particular have a culture with significant differences. Donna was able to quickly develop an understanding of our culture and how it applied to her various responsibilities.
Donna works collaboratively with different staff in various areas of our operation. She’s been a great help in managing our complicated staffing needs, making sure that everyone is appointed on the right accounts at the right times, never an easy task when so many people have had temporary or term appointments. She’s been particularly effective in hiring and managing student assistants. She also keeps RMC’s many accounts in good shape, and I know she has gained the appreciation of Library Accounting staff for her willingness to ask questions and learn new systems. She also manages the budgets for RMC exhibitions and events, assists with events, helps with preparation of grant proposals, and coordinates various facilities projects. In addition, her administrative responsibilities have grown to include the “registrar” role for exhibitions loans, as well as publications management.
This past year, Donna spent her time away from work helping plan her daughter’s wedding. From the pictures, it looks like the event was a great success, with everyone looking as happy as can be. I know that Donna’s outstanding organizational skills would have helped make everything go smoothly! Despite the many competing demands on her time, Donna is always calm, cheerful, and ready to assist. We all appreciate her responsiveness, cooperation, and flexibility. It’s been a pleasure to have worked with her, and I look forward to the next years. (Elaine Engst)
Katherine Reagan, Rare & Manuscript Collections
Katherine Reagan has been a member of the staff of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections for fifteen years. She currently serves as the Ernest L. Stern ’56 Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts and as RMC’s Assistant Director for Collections. As curator, she is responsible for RMC’s rare book collections as well as historical and literary manuscript collections. She manages the rare book endowments and coordinates overall collection development activities for RMC. She has worked creatively and imaginatively to build the collections, building on existing strengths and developing new areas, including children’s literature, food and wine, recreation and sports, popular culture, and travel and tourism. She has played a leading role in bringing many magnificent gifts to the Library, including Johan Kugelberg’s Hip Hop Collection and associated collections; Stephen and Gail Rudin’s collections on American presidents, slavery, the Civil War, and literary and other autographs; Jon Lindseth’s Woman Suffrage Collection; and the beginnings of Stephan Loewentheil’s History of Photography collection.
Katherine also manages RMC’s very successful instruction program, and she is a very effective teacher, presenting numerous classes and tours for a wide variety of audiences, from freshman writing classes to graduate seminars. She teaches courses in the History of the Book in the English Department and Cornell Adult University, as well as teaching at the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School. She put together a major Hip Hop conference and performance in 2009, with a second major event this past spring. Both brought outstanding publicity to the division, the Library, and the university. With Steve Pond and Bonna Boettcher from the Music Department and Library, she developed a very successful undergraduate course focusing on the hip hop collection. Katherine also directs RMC’s exhibition program, curating or administering our numerous exhibitions and developing their associated events and publicity. She is currently working with Stephan Loewentheil and a visiting curator on our fall exhibition, which will document the first fifty years of American photography.
Katherine has worked to enhance the profile of Special Collections within the Cornell Library, currently serving on the Collection Development Executive Committee and the Managers’ Council. She has been professionally active in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the American Library Association, which she chaired in 2006. Additionally, in recognition of her professional achievements, the Grolier Club, an organization of distinguished collectors, librarians, scholars, printers, and other bibliophiles, elected her to membership. Katherine has been a valued colleague and friend for the past fifteen years. It’s been a pleasure to have worked with her, and I look forward to future successes. (Elaine Engst)
Bethany Silfer, O/K/U Access Services
It is rather strange to think that Bethany has worked in Olin /Uris Access Services for only fifteen years—she seems such an indispensable part of the operation and the department. She began as a circulation assistant and is now the administrative supervisor of the department. In just fifteen years, she has helped lead Access Services not only through multiple technological changes (does anyone remember exactly how many Voyager upgrades we’ve gone through in these years?), but also, and more importantly, through drastically re-envisioned public services. To name just a few: faculty office delivery was initiated; the Library Public Services Office was organized; ubiquitous returns and pick-ups were initiated; laptops and other equipment became available for patrons to check-out…. And in more recent (and still very visceral) memory, the Olin fire safety project required the relocation of all public services desks on the first floor, as well as the emptying of all individually occupied research spaces in the building. I cannot and do not want to imagine how we would have been able to do all of this without Bethany’s extensive planning efforts and perfect implementation—things that she excels at.
Bethany not only takes all changes in stride and leads other staff through them, but she always focuses on providing the best possible service to our patrons. She particularly enjoys being the library representative to Disability Services and has worked with Gannett Health Services and the Dean of Students Office in developing educational programs and materials on student mental health and well-being, which resulted in the training program, Notice and Respond: Assisting Students in Distress. (Kornelia Tancheva)
10 Years
From left, Chip Talmadge, Wei Tseng, Gail Steinhart, Cynthia Rich, Maureen Morris, Liisa Mobley, Jim Del Rosso, Ron Clarke, Milena Ataian, Mafalda Moore, Adam Chandler
Milena Ataian, CLO Acquisitions
Milena has worked all of her ten years in Library Technical Services. Milena is responsible for the daily serials check-in, receiving firm orders, and coordinating new acquisitions for the monographic receivers. Milena is well organized and takes this responsibility seriously.
Among Mika’s pastimes she enjoys spending time with her family. Congratulations Milena on your ten years of fine service to the Library! (Lisa Maybury)
Adam Chandler, CLO E-Resources & Serials
In August 2000, Adam Chandler left the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to join CUL as the CTS Information Technology Librarian. By his own admission a tinkerer, Adam has been a leader in technological innovation at Cornell for the last eleven years, both as a member of Central Technical Services and, for a brief time, as a programmer/analyst in DLIT’s Service Design Group. He has been the recipient of ACRL’s Samuel Lazerow Fellowship (for research in collections and technical services) and instrumental in the development of NISO’s Standard Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) and the NISO working group, Improving OpenURLs Through Analytics (IOTA). Among the numerous local initiatives on which Adam has left his mark are the development of ITSO CUL, the Mellon-funded development of the Classical Works Knowledge Base, and CUL’s Web Logs system.
Adam currently serves as CLO’s E-Resources & Database Management Research Librarian, working out of both Olin and Mann libraries. In fact, his assignments and interests often place him at the heart of CLO-wide endeavors. He has been praised as a practical and realistic, yet idealistic, thinker who is deeply committed to his work. Adam is also keenly devoted to his family – his wife, Sarah (former ILR librarian and current member of the Binghamton Philharmonic, Sarah Young), his daughter, Rose and his son, Hugh – and to the eleven-time Stanley Cup winners, the Detroit Red Wings! (Jim LeBlanc)
Ronald Clark, Library Administrative Services
Ron Clark began work at Cornell in November 2000 when he joined the staff in the Shipping and Receiving Department in Uris Library. He quickly established himself as a valuable member of the team in that department, learning the details of the operation and the layout of the campus and the unit libraries. In March 2004 Ron moved into the position of Building Coordinator in the Library Facilities department. His positive attitude, helpful nature, and excellent mechanical skills made a perfect fit for the job. In September 2007 Ron took on a one-year interim appointment as the Library Facilities Coordinator and then moved to a position as special projects coordinator for the Olin Renovation Project. In September 2010 Ron was promoted to his current position of permanent Facilities Coordinator, where he quickly gained a vast knowledge of the complex mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems of Olin, Kroch, Uris, and the Annex Libraries.
Ron’s contributions during the Olin Library Fire Safety Project have been tremendous. His ability to plan complex tasks as well as his attention to detail have helped make the project run smoothly. He has dealt with innumerable facility and construction issues, assisted with the moving of every department in Olin, and continued to deal with routine building maintenance and repair problems over the past year.
When Ron is not working at Cornell he runs a small vinyl lettering business and spends every opportunity he can with his family. Ron is a pleasure to work with and I look forward to working with him in the years to come. (Phil Koons)
Ellen Cramer, CUL Information Technology
Ellen Cramer worked for a number of years in the Computer Science and the Computer and Information Science Departments at Cornell before joining the VIVO project in Mann Library in December, 2009. She worked closely with Dean Krafft, John Saylor, and other Cornell Library staff on the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Project, and was tapped to join the VIVO project as a usability specialist soon after the award was announced.
With the departure of Medha Devare from Mann Library and the VIVO project in 2010, Elly's role in VIVO expanded to serve in multiple outreach and implementation roles for the National Institutes of Health VIVO grant project as well as provide leadership for VIVO Cornell. She has become the primary face of VIVO for institutions exploring adoption of the software, and has developed strong relationships across the Cornell campus for the Library in supporting and promoting VIVO as a resource for the entire Cornell community. (Jon Corson-Rikert)
James Del Rosso, ILR Catherwood Library
Jim has been working at the Catherwood Library since 2006, first as our Web Editor and Reference Assistant and now as our Web and Digital Projects Manager. Before coming to Catherwood, he worked at Mann Library doing Interlibrary Loan and he even had a stint in the Hotel School Library when he was a student worker. Yes, Jim is a Cornell alumnus, having earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Policy Analysis from the School of Human Ecology and his Master of Public Administration from the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs. But, there’s more! We were thrilled when Jim started pursuing a degree from Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies in 2007 and completed his MSLIS (with a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Digital Libraries) in 2009 – all while working full-time!
Many of you know Jim from working with him on a wide range of CUL committees and working groups: Libguides; Digital Reference; Reference and Outreach; Strategic Alignment Group; CUL Archival Repository Policy group; Ask a Librarian Reference Blog; Public Computing Advisory Committee. But did you know that Jim’s checkered past also includes several years as a test prep instructor and trainer for Kaplan (LSAT a specialty!), not to mention nearly a decade of acting? He recently played a starring role in a Collective Bargaining video produced by the ILR School Extension faculty. How about the fact that he’s an avid gamer? You may have even seen him at Teagle Hall, lifting heavy objects. Want to learn even more about Jim? -- he was recently interviewed for the Cornell University Staff Notes series. He also maintains a blog to practice writing and sharing his thoughts on being a Nascent Librarian. Jim’s passion for sharing information and connecting people with the information they need, whether in person or online, has made a hugely positive impact on Catherwood’s services to Cornell and the ILR community worldwide. Thank you, Jim! (Suzanne Cohen)
Jane Drumheller, Law Library
Jane began her time at the Law Library by working at the circulation desk and then expanded her skills to become an important part of the Document Delivery department. There she handles the lending side of interlibrary loan and manages course reserves. In all of these capacities, Jane serves as one of our best goodwill ambassadors for the library. She complements her friendly demeanor with excellent service and an ever-expanding knowledge of the library’s collections and procedures. Jane has developed a reliable reputation among the faculty and students who regularly request her by name. She is a pleasure to her co-workers who appreciate her fun personality and ready willingness to serve as a model team player. She is famous throughout the Law School for her great Halloween costumes. We are lucky to have Jane in the Law Library, and we thank her for her many years of dedicated service. (Amy Emerson)
Shane Hutchinson, Mann Library
As the coordinator of public computing in Mann and AV support for over forty technology rich classrooms within CALS, Shane has the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of students, faculty, and staff at Cornell—and that he does. Whether it’s recommending new AV technologies to enhance teaching, research, and learning, ensuring that all classrooms are functioning smoothly and meeting faculty expectations, or making sure that Mann has the appropriate software to support user needs, Shane plays a lead role.
A strong service orientation and work ethic, exceptional technical skills, superb organizational ability, and a proactive approach to just about everything are hallmarks of Shane’s work at Mann. Add to that his easy-going and collaborative work style and you have a very popular member of the library’s team. (Howard Raskin)
Liisa Mobley, CLO E-Resources & Serials
During Liisa’s ten years of service to CUL her position has evolved along with the Library’s collections. CUL’s online collections have grown rapidly during the last decade and although Liisa was initially hired to process print serials for the collection, through her interests and initiative, her responsibilities increasingly included more work for electronic resources. In her current position as an Electronic Resources Specialist she’s involved in nearly every aspect of initiating and maintaining access to these collections. Through her work with Libit-l Liisa and other staff throughout CUL are on the front line in troubleshooting access issues. In 2005 she shared the Outstanding Service Award with three other members of this front line team for their work. She’s always willing to delve into issues and to develop new skills, qualities critical for our ongoing service and success. It is a pleasure and privilege to work with Liisa and see her growth and dedication firsthand.
In addition to keeping busy with family and friends, Liisa is also known to her colleagues for her wonderful sketches and watercolors of plants and animals and has been active in the Finger Lakes chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. (Bill Kara)
Mafalda Moore, CLO Acquisitions
Mafalda Moore has a long history of working with various book dealers, distributors, and vendors, both before and during her ten years of employment at Olin, and is very knowledgeable in her field. In my short history as her supervisor, I’ve relied heavily on Mafalda’s guidance and advice, both of which are invaluable. She is a key player in the smooth running of the LTS ordering function, and in fact, her work is the foundation on which it runs. She is trained in all aspects of acquisitions work, but one of her most critical roles in the unit is as a trouble shooter, problem solver, and quality control manager as she solves numerous complex problems with regularity. Mafalda has a unique ability to identify and analyze a problem, and then arrive at a quick and successful resolution.
Mafalda is also an artist who has shown her work extensively, both locally and internationally. She continues to be active, with her installations focused on mixed media and video. (Lois Purcell)
Maureen Morris, Research & Learning Services
Maureen Morris came to Cornell from Western Ontario, via a stop-over at the University of Arizona West in Phoenix. In the ten years that she has been in R&LS, Maureen has made many contributions to CUL. In addition to her outstanding reference and instruction skills, Maureen serves as selector for Anthropology and Native American History. In her early days at Cornell, Maureen was a Web librarian and responsible for maintaining the Library Gateway. Over the years, she has also been involved in a dizzying array of committees and special projects. Her past and present contributions include, but are not limited to, participation in the Undergraduate Information Competency Initiative; serving as co-chair of the Database Review Committee; chairing the Social Science Team; co-chairing the Assessment and Usability Committee; and serving on the Alumni Access Committee, the WebFeat Transition Implementation Group, the WorldCat Local Implementation Team, the Olin/Uris Website redesign team, CDExec, and the Public Computing Advisory Committee. In addition to all of these achievements, Maureen has been active nationally, serving as International Poster Session Committee chair at ALA. As her many commitments prove, Maureen is in high demand at CUL! I greatly value and appreciate her outstanding work ethic; creativity; teamwork and collegial skills; and great sense of humor.
Although she has been in this country for more than a decade, Maureen’s Canadian roots remain strong, as evidenced by the Tim Horton memorabilia in her office and her yearly pilgrimage to the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph, Ontario. Congratulations to Maureen on ten years of dedicated service to CUL. (Deb Schmidle)
Susette Newberrry, Research & Learning Services
Writing two paragraphs about Susette’s many accomplishments at and contributions to CUL is an almost impossible task. After she received her Ph.D. in Art History from Cornell in 1999, she was hired as Visual Resources Archivist in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC). In 2007, we were fortunate enough to hire her in the then CRIO (Collections, Reference, Instruction and Outreach) Department in Olin/Uris Libraries as Outreach Coordinator/Usability Librarian. In 2009, Susette assumed the role of Assistant Director in the same department, now called Research and Learning Services (R&LS).
A large portion of Susette’s early responsibilities in R&LS focused on the department’s outreach program to the humanities and social sciences departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. Although her position in the department has changed, she still provides invaluable oversight of the Olin/Uris orientation events, new graduate student receptions, workshop programs and our Reunion programming. Her strong academic background also makes her a very effective selector and liaison to the departments of Art and Art History and Visual Resources and an active member of the CUL Visual Resources Working Group and the Art Libraries Society of North America. In addition, Susette has been very involved with technology-related initiatives within CUL. She organized and led the department’s podcast/vodcast project and was a member of the Public Services Measures/CountIt implementation team, served on PSEC and the CUL Web Vision team, and on three major grants.
When I think about the last year only, two major initiatives that Susette led immediately come to mind—the exhibit commemorating Olin Library’s 50th anniversary and the new Olin/Uris website. Both of these projects are a testament to Susette’s visual and artistic expertise, as well as to her organizational and leadership skills.
Susette applies the same passion and energy she brings to CUL to her life outside the library. She is a noted knitter and is currently knitting a book, a project that has been written about in books and magazines. She is also a gifted photographer and last year shared her academic knowledge of and passion for photography by teaching a course on the History of Photography at Ithaca College. I can’t wait to see what Susette will accomplish in the next ten years! (Kornelia Tancheva)
Zora Radoja, CLO Preservation & Collection Maintenance
Congratulations to Zora for her ten years of service. Zora is always upbeat and has an outstanding work ethic. When she is not at work she enjoys travelling, cooking (and sometimes she brings in treats for us!), and spending time with family and friends. (Barbara Eden)
Ira Revels, Digital Scholarship Services
Ira Revels is currently project manager of the CUL and Historically Black College and University (HBCU) digitization initiative, a grant project funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Working with a diverse set of institutions and people, Ira has single-handedly spearheaded this project, which aims to get HBCUs digitizing, preserving, and disseminating unique and important historical collections from their archives. Now in its third and final phase, Ira has been focusing on issues of sustainability and business modeling. With four new HBCU digital service centers firmly established, the initiative is ready to move from a “development” phase into full production. It is a testimony to Ira’s excellent leadership skills and tremendous vision that this project has achieved lift-off and is ready to sustain itself in the long-term.
Ira originally came to Cornell in 2001 through the Library Fellowship program. Since that time, Ira has become a leading professional in the field, active in both ALA and ACRL as well as the Cornell community of minority professional women. She has presented at numerous conferences and conducted multiple workshops. Most recently she presented on the HBCU initiative at the International Conference, Preserving Africa’s Ancient Manuscripts, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in December 2010. Her talk sparked great interest across multiple institutions in Africa, and Dr. Chaffe of Nigeria recently traveled to Cornell to learn more about embarking on complex digital initiatives. Ira is now in the final phases of completing her book, Managing Digital Projects, to be published by ALA Editions and slated for release in fall of 2011.
In addition to her many accomplishments within the library world, Ira is also a talented writer and teacher. Combining these two loves, she recently completed training to become a coach at The Life Writing Project, a not-for-profit project of the Center for Transformative Action at Cornell University. Ira is a true visionary and generous colleague, and a compassionate person. It is a pleasure working with Ira, and we look forward to continuing collaborations in the coming years. (Oya Rieger)
Cynthia Rich, CLO Acquisitions
It is hard to believe that Cynthia Rich has been a part of CUL for only ten years! During this time she has become an expert copy-cataloger dealing with special, hard-to-define materials, and serving as a resource to her colleagues on various, more complicated cataloging matters. More recently, Cynthia has taken an important leadership role in our Acquisitions and Resource Sharing department (formerly part of DMMS) by agreeing to manage an excellent team of copy-catalogers and inputters. In a very short time she has become familiar and even mastered many of our unique workflows and procedures. Her unique ability to comfortably “speak” and translate both processing languages really helps us to bridge across departments and enhance our staff skills through cross-training more effectively.
It is clear that Cynthia has a solid perspective on how staff members should be treated, and often volunteers to take on assignments that are beyond her immediate responsibilities and pertain to staff’s morale and sense of accomplishment. To name just a few examples of her “outside the box” thinking style: she initiated and took the lead on a successful “wish list” idea, in which staff members can suggest improvements to our workplace and workflows anonymously. She has also designed and distributed a new processing flyer that helped us to cut significantly on paper printouts, and was also a significant contributor to the “DMMS Goals and Values” document and posters. It is remarkable that even though Cynthia is very busy with all of her managerial duties, she still finds time to serve as an active Net-Admin and has definitely not neglected her fondness for doing some cataloging on her own! She participates in the RDA training committee and likes to share her knowledge with peers whenever possible. I also know that she has a box of curious cataloging challenges that she likes to work on whenever she feels like having fun.... I want to thank Cynthia for being such a proactive, conscientious, and highly valuable member of our team, and to wish her all the best with her next explorations! (Boaz Nadav-Manes)
Gail Steinhart, Mann Library
Before joining the library, Gail worked in the Center for the Environment. She was research coordinator for the Lake Ontario Biocomplexity Project, a multi-disciplinary, $3 million NSF-funded effort to understand the extent to which water residence time influences ecosystem structure and function in the coastal embayments of Lake Ontario. She started in CUL part-time while she was finishing her MLIS at Syracuse. She became the Environmental Sciences and GIS Librarian in the summer of 2005, and in October 2006, our first Research Data and Environmental Services Librarian. She led the group that was awarded an NSF grant to investigate how a library ‘staging repository’ might contribute to the scientific data management process. Gail maintains a high level of expertise in the extremely rapidly changing arena of data curation. She shares that knowledge with the Cornell community through her participation in the Data Discussion Group and the Research Data Management Group. She is also active in the national and international data curation community. In 2010 alone she presented, or participated in, IAALD, IASSIST, IATUL, IDCC, and the alphabetical outlier, the SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting. She is also the Cornell lead on a Syracuse iSchool IMLS funded project and in that role coordinates a mentorship program for eight eScience Librarianship Fellows.
Gail served on the inaugural Library Forum Steering Committee, at least six different search committees, and co-chaired the Data Working Group. In 2010 she was awarded the 2009-10 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship. She is a thoughtful colleague. She helps some of us keep up with new technologies. Sometimes, on a sunny day we’ll get an e-mail “walking break, meet at the circ desk at 10:00.” Gail is a Grassroots fan, a fiddler, and an athlete. She’s worked on the AIDS Ride for Life event, and in August will be making a 580 mile bicycle trip from Maine to Ithaca. (Kathy Chang)
Daniel Talmadge, CLO Database Quality
Chip splits his time between working in the Database Management Unit and the Inputting Unit in Central Library Operations. His responsibilities include creating preliminary and permanent records in the database for library materials in many languages and formats. Chip also works on various projects, updating bibliographic and holdings records. This year Chip was selected as a member of the Mentoring Committee.
Outside of work, Chip enjoys physical activities such as softball, golf, and running. He collects data and notes on various college and professional teams, primarily, but not exclusively, from the New England area and also publishes a sports blog. Similar research on contemporary Chinese politics and history also remains a key interest, one which has spanned both his student and staff careers at Cornell. Congratulations, Chip, for ten years of dedicated service to the Library. (Barb Tarbox)
Wei Tseng, CLO Database Quality
Wei is a member of the Database Management Unit in Central Library Operations. She works on various projects, updating bibliographic and holdings records in the database. Wei is a dedicated, conscientious, and hardworking individual. No matter what the department asks her to do, Wei always accepts with a smile.
Outside of work, Wei enjoys reading art history books. Her interests include books about pottery, impressionism, buildings, and Chinese calligraphy. Congratulations, Wei, for ten years of dedicated service to the Library. (Barb Tarbox)
Jill Ulbricht, Research & Learning Services
Jill has been the administrative manager for Olin/Uris and an administrative coordinator for unit libraries since 2009. Before she came to Cornell, she owned her own business and worked as a manager of production and operations consultant for Wolfram Research, Inc. Her previous positions at CUL also included Access Services Supervisor at the Physical Sciences Library and Administrative Manager for the ASTech Libraries.
In the ten years Jill has been with the Library, she has coordinated a variety of projects, some of the most notable recent ones of which are: the Physical Sciences Library collections and equipment moves, the Engineering Library collections move, the Fine Arts Library relocation, the Olin public services staff and desk moves for the fire safety project. In the process, she has had to pick up many new skills and apply her organizational abilities and attention to detail to complex and sometimes competing priorities. She has done so with tremendous grace and good spirits, and most importantly, with flying colors. Due to her in-depth planning and communication with all stakeholders, all of these projects, as complicated as they were, were completed on schedule and with as minimal inconvenience to staff and patrons as possible. In her “spare” time, Jill also performs financial analysis for the Director of Olin and Uris and for the AUL for TROL, helps with the Olin/Uris workshops, worked on the redesign of the Olin/Uris website, served as the administrative manager of the graduate students grant, and is now working on learning the new accounting and purchasing system! It hardly seems possible that one person can do so much and so well. But Jill does and we are all the luckier for that.
As I was preparing for Jill’s latest performance dialogue this year, I asked some of my library director colleagues for their feedback and it only seems fit to quote (with their permission) some of what they said about her, too. Steve Rockey said, “Jill has been invaluable as we have moved through the process to transition the Engineering Library. I do not know how I would have managed without her.” Martha Walker commented, “I cannot thank Janet enough for sending Jill our way. I am not entirely certain that the project would have been completed had Jill not been available to provide ‘know-how’.”
I for one know that none of the Olin/Uris projects Jill coordinated would have happened had it not been for her! Thank you, Jill, and congratulations on your accomplishments! (Kornelia Tancheva)
Judith Evelyn Wayno, Mann Library
Working with Judy produces comments from colleagues describing her as patient, thoughtful, professional, determined, reliable, prepared, respected, organized, and many more. She has been putting all of those good qualities to use in collection development at Mann for ten years and, since 2007, in public services as well. She came to Mann Library in 2001 without any previous library experience but applied her skills and affinities to her new job and quickly built her library-specific knowledge to become a valued member of the Mann collection development staff.
Judy facilitates many aspects of the selection process for Mann bibliographers, handles all aspects of gift books (from single volume to 10,000 volumes), keeps minutes of meetings, supervises student assistants, coordinates the exchange program, actively participates in all weeding and withdrawal projects, and in general keeps all of us in Collection Development on track. For the last four years she has also provided administrative support for reference services and worked as an information assistant. Collaborating with the Reference Coordinator, she manages the reference desk schedule and assures that the service point is always appropriately staffed, often stepping in herself on short notice. For both Collections and Services she regularly organizes events, manages the logistics for international visitors, facilitates interview schedules, assists with outreach efforts, participates in office/workspace planning and moves, and joins celebration planning committees. And she always welcomes the opportunity to gain new knowledge and learn new skills.
Her responsibilities require contact with a diverse array of students, staff, and faculty at Cornell as well as external to the university. Her service orientation has earned her the respect and appreciation of colleagues and the library user community. It has been a pleasure for me and many others to work with Judy and I look forward to her many contributions to the Library and the university in the years ahead. (Marty Schlabach)
Frances Webb, CUL Information Technology
Frances Webb joined Mann Library's Information Technology Services in 2001 as a programmer helping to maintain access to databases and other online resources via the then Library Gateway. She quickly demonstrated her aptitude for programming and library digital collection building and has become the principal developer supporting digital collections in Mann Library. She has been instrumental in bringing the Core Historical Literature of Agriculture and the Home Economics: Research, Tradition, History (Hearth) to life and keeping them updated with new content.
Frances has also been the technical driving force behind smaller digital subject collections including the E.F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection and the Harvest distributed repository of state historical agricultural materials. She has developed software to support digital collection building and has in the past year been a contributor to CUL's new Archival Repository project.
(Jon Corson-Rikert)
Outstanding Performance Award
Jon Corson-Rikert with Anne Kenney
Jonathan Corson-Rikert – CUL Information Technology, Mann Library – nominated by Dean Krafft
Jon’s leadership of the VIVO project, particularly in the past year, has been exemplary. He has consistently displayed an absolutely amazing effort - leading, supervising, and inspiring the development of VIVO as both an incredibly useful tool for organizing faculty and researcher information at Cornell, as well as developing an application of cutting-edge semantic web technologies. Dean wrote, “Since the start of the grant, Jon’s effort and engagement has stepped up to a whole new level. He coordinated a massive hiring, development, testing, and release effort, while personally contributing to almost every aspect of the VIVO project.” Jon has overseen four full releases of the VIVO production system, with two more scheduled before the end of the grant in August 2011.
Background: The VIVO project is seen as a highly valued resource for Cornell, with direct funding from the Provost, and strong support from the university’s VP for Communications and other senior administrators. The VIVO system is now being used to drive departmental web sites, as well as specialized web sites in support of research impacts and graduate education. VIVO itself has had a significant national and international impact. It has been officially adopted by one government agency, the USDA, and has either been adopted or is in the final stages of adoption at a number of universities. VIVO is being used by the Australian National Data Service as a data registry and by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to support knowledge networking.
Jon supervises 15 staff at Mann Library, all but three of whom work at least in part on the VIVO project. He has been a superb manager of the Mann Library IT staff, encouraging their efforts and helping them resolve problems, and inspiring them to an extraordinarily high level of innovation and productivity.
He has served on and made valuable contributions to a number of CUL committees and efforts over the past year, including discovery and access and academic technology strategic planning. He also serves as a national development lead for the NIH VIVO effort, coordinating development across Cornell, the University of Florida, and Indiana University. He has given numerous presentations at national conferences and events, as well as serving as a consultant and advisor on VIVO-related issues for national and international efforts ranging from the ORCID author identifier system to the federal government’s STAR metrics effort to measure research impact.
Even given the massive demands of the VIVO project, which have at times led to his working extraordinary hours, he is described as “…consistently courteous, responsive, helpful, and thoughtful. Jon is both brilliant and very modest about his own contributions, always giving most of the credit to the team and the individual leads and developers.” Dean concluded that Jon is an inspiring leader, an excellent manager, and a wonderful colleague.
Thank you and congratulations Jon!
Photographs from the Service Awards Breakfast provided by HR
Unit in the Spotlight: Copy Cataloging / Inputting
The Copy Cataloging / Inputting Unit, front row from left: Margaret Carleton, Peter DelaCuadra; middle row from left: Heather Shipman, Swe Swe Myint, Mei-Hsi Chen, Cynthia Rich; back row: Greg Nehler (photograph by Lois Purcell)
It was approximately one year ago that Copy Cataloging joined Acquisitions to form the Copy Cataloging / Inputting Unit. As with other cross-trained teams in Central Library Operations the activities of this unit are varied. Among them are receiving, claims, cancellations, bulk loading of records for approval books, processing Gifts, record enhancement for the Asia collections, e-books ordering, processing Cornell theses, and creating and updating bibs to provide and enhance patron access.
Along with these responsibilities is the pending change in cataloging rules from AACR2 to RDA (Resource Access & Description), a stepping stone on the path to the semantic web, a tremendous enhancement for users’ access. This is an exciting time for catalogers and inputters alike. There will be plenty of changes and new learning opportunities. (Cynthia Rich)
Fuerst Awards 2011
Fuerst award winners from left: Hannah R. Lee, RMC; Nichole Martin, Mann Library; Georgina Melbye, Management Library; Anne Kenney; Krystal Crespo, Nestlé Library; and Andrea Faldermeyer, Interlibrary Services (photograph by Carla DeMello)
Krystal Crespo, Class of '11
Krystal began working in the Nestlé Library as a freshman. She is described as "first and foremost a Hotelie,” providing outstanding commitment to delivering quality work. She is exceptionally service-minded, observing issues or situations and making recommendations for improvement or action to the Circulation Team. Examples ranged from taking extra steps to confirm if the loaner laptop batteries needed charging to taking the initiative to replace missing pages from a reserve course pack. She was quickly promoted to Student Supervisor which involves training new hires, supervising other students, and organizing a once-a-semester meeting. Student employees are also experiencing change related to the Library consolidation, resulting in a greater need to have students who are able to work well independently. Krystal has not disappointed and has been a model student employee. Besides working her regular shifts, she has stopped by the library to help out when she knew subs were needed, allowing staff to get other work done. The Circulation Team of Nestle Library has been able to accomplish projects, attend informational meetings, and manage their day-to-day duties largely due to Krystal’s outstanding performance. Krystal was nominated by
Karen Bobbett, Derrick Brown and Jessica Withers.
Andrea Faldermeyer – Class of '11
Andrea transferred to Cornell as a sophomore and has been employed by the Interlibrary Services department for the past three years. Andrea has proven that she is highly self-motivated and reliable and the staff is comfortable in trusting her to get things done without having to check on her. She understands the reasoning behind why tasks are done in a particular way, and has tailored everyday duties to make them most efficient for her. Joy Thomas, who nominated Andrea, wrote, “Having Andrea work with us is almost like having another staff member” and describes her as “one of the best student workers I have ever had the privilege of working with.” Andrea assists with processing Borrow Direct books and Joy noted that “she is the fastest student we have processing these books and we never need to double check because she is incredibly accurate.” Caitlin Finlay provided additional insight about Andrea, writing “ILS is a high-volume environment where speed and efficiency are extremely important, and Andrea consistently excels in both areas.”
Hannah Lee – Class of ’11
Hannah is currently completing her fourth year with the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Among the qualities which set Hannah apart from the other student employees are her “work ethic, attention to detail, and ability to excel at tasks after initial instructions with minimal supervision....” Hannah’s first project involved working on the William B. Provine Collection of Evolutionary Biology Reprints; a three year endeavor and one that resulted in 832 cubic feet of archival material upon completion. Jude Corina, who nominated Hannah, noted that she mastered all of the procedures “at a level that exceeded the other twenty-five students on the project” and remarked that he continues to use Hannah’s work as an example when training other students on similar procedures. He wrote, “The Provine Project became synonymous with cumbersome working conditions and repetitive procedures,” yet Hannah consistently demonstrated a cheerful attitude, initiative, and impressive organizational skills. Hannah is the only student – out of twenty-six who worked on the project – who stuck with it until completion and, without her help it would not have been completed on time. Jude stated that “Except for a name on the finding aid, it’s a shame patrons will never know how much hard work she has put into her projects.” Nominating Hannah for the Fuerst Award presents a perfect opportunity for recognizing how much her contributions are valued.
Nichole Martin – Class of ’11
Nichole has been a student employee at the Mann Library access services desk for the past 3 ½ years, including one full summer. Tom Clausen, who nominated Nichole, reported that she’s worked over 1,170 hours, averaging slightly over ten hours per week. Her consistent performance, combined with her willingness to work critical busy peak shifts has been noted by the regular staff and is greatly appreciated. Having a student employee who can handle the widest range of transactions and consequently allow the staff to attend to other behind-the-scenes work is desirable, and Tom emphasized that Nichole has been “absolutely invaluable in this regard.” She has demonstrated admirable tact and poise when dealing with difficult patrons or awkward situations and possesses “a very mature public services work ethic....” Tom wrote that she “gets it” in terms of what makes a successful public servant and said she “epitomizes so many winning qualities that fit the ingredients of an ideal student or even a full-time staff person interacting with patrons.”
Georgina Melbye – Class of ’11
Georgina’s employment with the Management Library began in the fall of 2008 and also included one summer. She distinguished herself immediately as a valuable addition to the staff and was soon coaching other student employees. Because of her strong leadership abilities and talent for instructing others, she was promoted to student supervisor in August 2009. Lee Ringland nominated Georgina and wrote that “she mixes instructional styles to suit the individual, from having them read a section of the circulation training manual to giving them hands on experience, to just backing away slightly to let them try their skills for the first time.” Lee added that, “For the last two years she has taken the lead in updating and revising the student training manual....” Georgina has become the “favorite go-to person to help with any student team working on special projects.” One specific project involved working to identify older runs of journals to split and move to the Annex. Georgina gathered data to support selections for moving, devised a sophisticated spreadsheet with relevant information, and calculated how many linear feet of shelf space each journal occupied, including its estimated growth for the next five years. Lee concluded that “Georgina provides “work that is lasting and valuable in moving the library forward.” She is pleasant and patient with everyone and helps to set a high tone for the library.
The Library is very fortunate to have such talented help from its student employees and welcomes the opportunity provided by Mr. Fuerst to recognize and thank them publicly. The Fuerst Awards were established in 1995 by alumnus William F. Fuerst, Jr. '39. This year marks the 17th annual awards event made possible by his generosity and so-named in his honor.
Career Development Week Highlights
Another very successful Career Development Week was held May 16 - 20 this year. As in past years there were presentations, discussions, poster sessions, and a bake-off; events were interesting and well attended. Members of the Career Development Committee include Cheryl Beredo, Linda Bryan (ex-officio), Jeremy Cusker, Eveline Ferretti, Pete Magnus, Boaz Nadav-Manes (co-chair), Eisha Prather (co-chair), Lynn Thitchener, and Library Forum Liaisons Randi Kepecs and Jessica Withers. Thanks to Pete Magnus for capturing some of the highlights in his photos. For the complete set of photos see here.
Stefan Kramer with his poster,
The Lifecycle of Social Science Research Data - Improved Discovery through better Metadata and Search Tools
Ken Bolton with his poster,
Nestle Library Twitter Cycle
Participants in the session,
Higher Ed For Everyone - Getting a Degree while Keeping Your Day Job
Gail Steinhart with her poster,
Ahead of the Curve: Mentoring for Emerging Careers in e-Science Librarianship
Jeremy Cusker with his poster,
What's Happening to the Engineering Library?
United Way 2010 - 2011
Hello everyone,
It’s been a long winter. This morning (May 3, 2011) I attended the 2010-11 United Way of Tompkins County Campaign celebration and volunteer appreciation event at the Moakley House at Cornell. The county had set for itself the goal of $2,111, 111 and it surpassed its goal with $2,114,334. Cornell’s part of that success was evident and celebrated at every turn. Mary Opperman, as Chair of the UW Board, presented opening remarks and in turn was recognized and thanked for her contribution. Paul Streeter, Chair of the Cornell campaign, was awarded the Patricia E. Stage Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award. The outstanding contribution of Cornell students in many initiatives including the Stuff the Bus Campaign, and annual A Capella concerts and Duff Balls, resulted in an award from United Way Worldwide, whose national panel of judges selected Cornell Student United Way as the Student United Way campus organization of the year. And the women’s hockey team was presented with a new community award created by this year’s campaign chairs for raising awareness and funds in a particularly visible and welcome way.
While Cornell met its goal through the stalwart support of approximately 16% of its employees, in the Library our participation rate was close to 24%. Our staff has shrunk over the last few years and we have all felt the need to tighten our belts, but we still find a way to help others less fortunate in our community. James Brown, the president of the county UW, paraphrased Warren Buffett when he said that writing a cheque, or its equivalent including volunteer work and service, moves a conversation to the level of commitment. Your generosity shows that kind of commitment and the belief that helping others makes this community a better place to live. Thank you for making the UW campaign at Cornell, and in Tompkins County, the success that it is. It’s been a long winter but you have improved the load for many people in countless ways. Cornell is a great university and the Library is a special part of its renown thanks to the people who work here. Thank you for your generosity.
Sincerely, Elizabeth Teskey, Ambassador (formerly called Division Deputy) for CUL
arXiv Turns 20
David Ruddy
arXiv.org, the open access scientific preprint repository, is 20 years old this month. Started in August 1991 by Paul Ginsparg at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, arXiv moved to Cornell in 2001, where it has been operated and supported by CUL. arXiv has become a primary means of communication for scientists in physics, astronomy, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, statistics, and quantitative finance. In certain sub-fields of these disciplines, nearly 100% of scientific papers are submitted to arXiv.
Submissions to arXiv have steadily increased for 20 years and now stand at over 6,000 per month. The Library manages a deadline-driven process of submission moderation, whereby experts from around the world review articles to ensure an appropriate level of quality and correct subject classification. Articles are posted within 24 hours of submission. This process is administered within Digital Scholarship Services by Jake Weiskoff and Don Beyer. The Library is also responsible for maintaining and developing arXiv's technical platform, work carried out within CUL Information Technologies.
After 10 years of support, CUL is in the midst of an extensive effort to design and implement a new business and governance model for arXiv. During an initial three-year interim period, started in 2010, the Library has asked those institutions that use arXiv the most (as measured by number of downloads), to contribute to the financial support of the system and its operation. This transition, from a CUL-supported service to a community-supported one, will be completed by the end of 2012. To read more about this effort, see http://arxiv.org/help/support. CUL staff working on arXiv include Don Beyer, Peter Halliday, Martin Lessmeister, Fiona Patrick, Oya Y. Rieger, David Ruddy, Thorsten Schwander, Simeon Warner, and Jake Weiskoff.
Annual Library Picnic
The Annual Library Picnic
Thursday, August 4
12:00 - 2:00 pm
The Big Red Barn
Come join the fun with yard games, enter in our prize raffle and enjoy great company!
CUL Picnic Raffle Prize Winners
Please come to 201 Olin Library to claim your prize
Cornell Outdoor: Climbing lessons for 2 ($75.00 value)
Yen Bui
Lab of Ornithology: Bag o goodies as listed ($64.00 value)
Kizer Walker
Banfi’s: Lunch for 2 ($40.00 value)
Susette Newberry
Temple of Zeus: $24.00 Gift certificates
(2 prizes)
Suzanne Cohen, Gaby Castro
Carol Kinsley-McNamara: ½ hour massage
Jesse Koennecke
Cornell cinema: 2 adult movie passes
(2 prizes)
Simeon Warner, Cheryl Beredo
Cornell Plantations: Guide Book
Mary Beth Martini-Lyons
Helen Newman Bowling: 15 certificates (5 prizes)
Stella Mitchell, Patrizia Sione, Masayo Uchiyama, Chris Miller, Catherine Cooke
Manndible Cafe: $5.00 gift cards (4 prizes)
Angela Morse, Richard Lader, Cynthia Rich, Rachel Brill
Libe Café (from HR): $5.00 gift cards (4 prizes)
Don Beyer, Lorena Nash, Roger Clearwater, Deb Muscato
Helen Newman: Nylon bag and light bulb
Curtis Lyons
Campus store: $25.00 gift certificate
Evan Earle
A big thank you to Joan Brink for her picnic photos placed throughout the Service Awards piece.
People News
Library Human Resources Office has Moved to 213 Olin Library
The Library Human Resources Office has moved to a new location! As many of you probably know, our office was temporarily relocated from 235 Olin Library to room 218 while our phase of the Olin Fire Safety Project was underway. We’re excited to report that the work was completed and Library HR moved into 213 Olin Library yesterday, July 26th. This new, permanent, office space is just down the hall from where Library HR had been located for years, so we hope everyone will find this to be an easy transition. Stop by to say hello if you’re in the neighborhood!
Welcome
Femi Cadmus is the new Edward Cornell Law Librarian. See Announcements below.
Jason Kovari is the new Metadata Librarian in the Cataloging and Metadata Services division of Central Library Operations.
Jason comes to us from the University of Mississippi, where he was Special Collections Digital Initiatives Librarian and Assistant Professor in the Archives and Special Collections. He received his MLS from the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and his BA in English from Binghamton University.
He will be providing metadata consulting, design, and development for digital projects, working with staff in Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS) and across CUL.
We are very glad to have him working with us!
Mary Schoenfelder is the new Preservation Assistant in Preservation & Collection Maintenance. Mary has an MLIS from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a BA in psychology from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, in St. Paul. She comes well prepared for various kinds of library work as she previously worked for Indiana University both as conservation technician and reference assistant. Her far reaching experience includes teaching English to junior high school students in Japan.
Hans Thorsten Schwander is the new programmer/analyst in DLIT. He joins both the repositories group in CUL-IT as a software developer working primarily on arXiv, and Digital Scholarship Services in a new role as arXiv editor. Thorsten has worked with arXiv since 1996 and comes to the Library from Cornell Information Science. He has both very deep technical knowledge and understanding of the practical and policy issues associated with running arXiv. He will be working from his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico and can be reached at TS325 or by phone.
Promotions, Transfers, & Reassignments
Lynn Bertoia has transferred from Library Communications to Library Administration.
Karen Bobbett has transferred from the Hotel Library to Digital Scholarship Services (DSS) in the Division of Library Information Technologies (DLIT). She will provide support to both DSS and CUL-IT.
Jenn Colt-Demaree has transferred from Library Communications to Digital Scholarship Services in DLIT.
Peter Hirtle has transferred from Scholarly Resources to CUL-IT. He continues to devote half his time to Collections and selector duties.
Rob Kotaska is now dividing his time between Research & Learning Services and O/K/U Access Services.
Management of the CISER Data Archive has shifted to Stefan Kramer, CISER's Research Data Management Librarian. In addition to managing the day-to-day operation of this valuable Cornell resource, Stefan will also be responsible for designing and implementing improvements and technical innovations to the CISER Data Archive.
Ryan Krolick is now a Public Services Assistant in Research & Learning Services.
CJ Lance has transferred from Library Communications to Library Administration.
Jackie Magagnosc has been promoted to Technical Services Assistant IV. Jackie began working at the Law Library in November 2010. Although hired to fill a support staff position, Jackie came to us with two decades of experience as a professional serials librarian. In the short time she has been with us she has made herself invaluable in check-in, claiming, and problem solving. With the retirement of one of our most experienced catalogers, Jackie will assume responsibility for cataloging as well. We are fortunate she has agreed to add to her job duties and congratulate her on her promotion. (Jean Pajerek)
Nicole Margirier has been promoted to Reference Specialist in Research & Learning Services.
Peter Martinez has been promoted to Technical Services Assistant V in Central Library Operations, Batch Processing & Metadata Management.
Michele Payne has been promoted to Public Services Assistant IV at the Annex Library.
Jinhee Roper has transferred from Digital Scholarship Services to the Library Finance and Budget Office.
Lenora Schneller has been promoted to Library Administrator for the Music and Fine Arts Libraries. (Lenora pictured right)
Suzanne Schwartz has transferred from the Maps and Media Collection in Research & Learning Services to Preservation & Collection Maintenance.
Catherine Vellake has transferred from the Engineering Library to ILR Catherwood Library.
Thank you
And finally, a big thank you to Pat Court who is serving as Interim Director of the Law Library until Femi Cadmus, the new Edward Cornell Law Librarian, arrives on August 22, 2011. Pat's extensive experience and her knowledge of the community are excellent assets for this role and we are grateful to her for taking on additional responsibilities.
Congratulations
Please join me in congratulating Linda Stewart who received the 2010 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship at the CALS Awards ceremony on Monday evening (April 25, 2011). Linda was honored for her noteworthy contributions to Mann and CUL in many areas over her 29 year career at Cornell. As her nomination stated, “From evaluating and selecting both print and electronic materials to be added to the collection to studying user behavior and examining use of information resources, Linda exemplifies the qualities of a librarian who has the best interests of the information consumer always in mind.” Congratulations, Linda! (Mary Ochs, Director, Albert R. Mann Library)
Congratulations to Kornelia Tancheva, Director of Olin & Uris Libraries and co-author of a book just out from ACRL, Scholarly Practice, Participatory Design and the eXtensible Catalog. Edited by Nancy Fried Foster, Katie Clark, Kornelia Tancheva, and Rebekah Kilzer, this book "examines the application of forward-thinking, collaborative research and design principles to the software development process." The book grew out of numerous interviews and workshops conducted toward understanding how researchers learn about and use scholarly resources. "In Scholarly Practice, Participatory Design and the eXtensible Catalog, members of the project team report on key findings of the user research that was done at Cornell University, Ohio State University, the University of Rochester and Yale University. 
The team members discuss the value of including library users and technology specialists from many disciplines in the software design and development process. The book will prove useful to librarians working with Web usability, user interface development or library catalogs, along with anyone interested in applying ethnographic research to a variety of development projects." Wendy Wilcox, a Librarian in the Olin/Uris Library Research & Learning Services Department co-authored a chapter on “Stumbling Blocks and their Workarounds” in the collection together with former R&LS member, Gaby Castro Gessner. Kaila Bussert co-authored a chapter called “Personal Management of Scholarly Information” together with Mann’s Kathy Chiang and Kornelia Tancheva. For the entire press release see here.
Out & About
Michele Brown, Book Conservator in CLO’s Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance, gave a workshop on Disaster Preparedness to the Western New York Library Resources Council on May 16 in Buffalo. Later in May, Michele conducted another workshop – this one on Mold: Identification, Prevention and Remediation – for the Los Angeles Preservation Network (LAPNet) at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
Barbara Berger Eden gave a presentation entitled “Preservation and Conservation 101” at the 2nd Annual North Country Archives and Special Collections Conference: Efficiency, Effectiveness and Education, held in April. Barbara spoke about establishing a preservation program with a focus on small cultural institutions. Her personal highlight was having the opportunity to speak in the Kate Smith Library Room at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Lake Placid. Though she had been to Lake Placid for vacations, she learned that Kate Smith is a local icon! Barbara is the Director of CLO’s Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance.
Lance Heidig, a Librarian in the Olin/Uris Library Research & Learning Services Department, co-authored a chapter called “Teaching Digital Literacy Digitally: A Collaborative Approach” for the publication, Dancing with Digital Natives: Staying in Step with the Generation That’s Transforming the Way Business Is Done (Medford, N.J., Cyberage Books, 2011). For more information about the book see here.
Peter Hirtle was an invited participant at the ARLIS/UK & Ireland meeting held on 13-15 July at the University of Leeds. Peter spoke in a copyright session on “Learning to live with risk,” and then joined Tim Padfield from The National Archives (UK version) in a breakout session on copyright.
Jesse Koennecke gave a presentation entitled “Bringing It All Together: Discovery Services as Part of the Whole” at the ALCTS CRS Electronic Resources Interest Group Meeting at ALA in New Orleans in June. In his talk, he reviewed the process through which CUL made its decision to purchase and implement the Serials Solutions Summon Service and what we learned along the way. Jesse is CLO’s Electronic Resources Librarian and E-Resources Team Coordinator.
Jason Kovari, Metadata Librarian in CLO’s Cataloging & Metadata Services Division, presented a case study on building the University of Mississippi’s digital collections during the 2011 ALA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) Preconference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in June. His talk focused on manipulating limited resources to broaden digital access to special collections materials. Jason’s presentation was part of a panel concerning “Digitization on a Shoestring,” which he also moderated.
Jim LeBlanc, Director of CLO’s E-Resources, Serials, and Database Management Services, gave a talk on “The Trauma of Recognition in Joyce’s ‘Eveline’” at the colloquium Cognitive Joyce: The Neuronal Text, held at the Institut du Monde Anglophone at the Université Sorbonne – Paris 3 in late May. In June, he presented a paper entitled “Chasing the Tail of Time: Escape, Event, and Identity in ‘An Encounter’” at the 2011 North American James Joyce Conference, held at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino and at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Jim also served as Academic Program Coordinator for the conference.
Liz Muller, Assistant Director of Cataloging & Metadata Services in CLO, taught a workshop for the University of Virginia Library entitled “Describing Cultural Materials: Cataloging Using VRA Core and CCO.” The workshop was attended by staff active in the areas of visual resources, cataloging/metadata, and digital libraries. Catalogers will utilize the workshop material while describing digital images of architecture held by the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library at UVA.
Boaz Nadav-Manes was a featured speaker at the ALA ALCTS Preconference on “Patron-Driven Acquisitions in Academic Libraries” in New Orleans in June. The aim of the preconference was to introduce participants to different PDA models, expose them to different PDA implementations at libraries of varying sizes, and offer strategies for set-up and management. Boaz is the Director of Acquisitions and Resource Sharing Services in CLO.
“The Cataloger and the Archivist Should Be Friends: or, Herding vs. Milking Special Collections,” an article by CLO’s Rare Materials Cataloging Coordinator, Margaret Nichols, appears in the Spring 2011 issue of RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, 12:1, pp. 25-33. Margaret also co-facilitated a discussion session entitled “Beyond the Coffee Break: Common Issues for Public and Technical Services in Special Collections” at ALA’s RBMS Preconference in Baton Rouge in June.
This summer Weill Cornell Medical Library continues its internship program. Don Carpenter and Irina Dubinskaya, rising juniors at Cornell University, have joined the Communications Team for the summer. Under the guidance of Digital Services Librarian Paul Albert, the two have worked on a mobile version of the Library’s website and a redesign of the Patient Resource Center web site. Additionally, Don has developed a web-based application used for managing and displaying data regarding patron access to services, while Irina has designed templates to be used for signs displayed in the Library. They will be returning to Cornell in the Fall to continue pursuing their Bachelor’s degrees. Irina is majoring in Information Science, while Don is double majoring in Information Science and Economics.
Announcements
From: Janet A. McCue
To: Cornell University Library
Sent: Thu 5/12/2011
Subject: Welcome to the New Law Librarian--Femi Cadmus!
Dear Colleagues,
It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of Femi Cadmus, the new Edward Cornell Law Librarian. In August, Femi will begin her duties with several impressive titles: Associate Dean for Library Services, Senior Lecturer in Law … and, the Edward Cornell Law Librarian. Femi comes to Cornell with equally impressive credentials. For the past three years, she has been the Associate Director for Administration and Lecturer in Legal Research at Yale University’s Lillian Goldman Law Library and prior to this appointment, she was the Associate Law Librarian at George Mason University Law Library. Femi has a rich professional and academic background that began with legal practice in a private law firm and the Ministry of Justice in Nigeria; graduate work at the University of Warwick in England and the University of Oklahoma; active professional memberships in the Bar and law library associations.
Femi is a visionary and a strong advocate; she believes in fostering a workplace culture of engagement and developing and maintaining innovative programs. As Dean Stewart Schwab recently said, Femi “will help guide us to build on our existing strengths to have a library that continues to give outstanding service to faculty and students as we confront the library challenges of the 21st century.”
Femi said that she is excited about the “prospect of fostering and contributing to the library’s mission of innovation and excellence, by bringing fresh and dynamic ideas to the table and engaging and nurturing the aspirations of an excellent team of librarians and staff.” These are excellent goals and I know that faculty, staff, and colleagues are eager to help her achieve them. Please join me in welcoming Femi to the Cornell community! (photograph provided)
***
From: Zsuzsa Koltay
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Tue 5/3/2011
Subject: CUL Publication Wins Best of Show Award!
The CUL calendar produced as last year’s annual report is the winner of the 2011 Best of Show competition in the Annual Reports - Print category! This annual competition is part of the ALA LLAMA PR Xchange program.
Congratulations to Carla DeMello (graphic design), Gwen Glazer (writing and editing), and Lynn Bertoia (project coordination) for this well-deserved honor!
***
From: Kornelia Vassileva Tancheva
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Thu 5/5/2011
Subject: Changes in the Newspaper Processing Pperation at Olin/Uris and Consolidation of the Maps and Media Desk
Dear Colleagues,
Just wanted to let you know about some operational and personnel changes in the Maps and Media Unit in Olin Library. Starting July 1st, the domestic and non-Asian foreign newspaper processing operation will be moving to the Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance. Suzanne Schwartz, who has been in charge of the operation, will also move to Barbara Berger Eden’s department and will relocate to B40 Olin Library.
We will be combining the Maps and Media desks and increasing the hours of operation of the Maps Room by using student coverage for the desk. The goal is to have the combined desks in place by July 1st, as well.
Deb Muscato will be the Media Supervisor in charge of the media operation, as well as of hiring Maps and Media students.
If you have any questions about the newspaper processing after July 1, please direct them to Barbara. If you have questions about any aspect of the Maps or Media Unit, please contact Boris Michev.
Finally, I would like to give a big thank-you to Suzanne for all her work in the Olin/Uris Maps and Media Unit and wish her the best in her new department. Thanks.
***
From: Scott B Wicks
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Fri 5/20/2011
Subject: Adjustment to CLO Organizational Structure Effective July 1
Dear Library Colleagues:
I want to share with you some news about a change to the CLO organizational structure.
Effective July 1, the Acquisitions Services and Interlibrary Lending Services units will form a new CLO division, Acquisitions and Resource Sharing Services with Boaz Nadav-Manes serving as director.
When CLO was originally formed, our design was for three divisions. In so doing, one of those divisions was significantly larger than the other two—Delivery & Metadata Management Services (DMMS). The outcome of this structure placed a large managerial burden on Jim LeBlanc. While he has done an excellent job with DMMS, his work life has been very busy managing the large and diverse division.
The impending change to the CLO organization reflects a better balance between the CLO senior management team’s portfolios. It will also allow Jim more time to work on Library-wide projects, something he does very well.
As his recent promotion to the rank of Senior Assistant Librarian attests, Boaz has developed a proven track record as hard-working, innovative, intelligent, and staff-centered. He begins as Director of Acquisitions and Resource Sharing Services and as an active member of the CLO Senior Management Team starting on July 1. Please join me in congratulating him. Thank you.
***
From: Leah Solla
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Wed 6/15/2011
Subject: Engineering Books on the Move!
Engineering Library Transition
The transition continues!
All the books headed to Math, Mann, Olin, Uris Reference, and Uris Reserve have been moved. The two biggest moves are getting underway this week. Approximately 20,000 volumes are headed to the Uris stacks where a shift is underway to make room for them. The remaining 135,000 volumes will be moved to the Annex by the end of the month. All of the books headed for Uris will be flipped to the Uris location at the start of the move, today! However, it will take several days for the move to actually be accomplished. Thus there is a possibility a book someone is looking for will not be in the Uris stacks where the catalog says it is. Uris and Engineering circulation will search for these books and we should be able to get them to users very quickly.
The Engineering circulation desk and stacks will remain open until June 30th from 9 am to 5 pm. The reading room/study area, including the computer area and the group study rooms is open on a 24/7 basis with access controlled via key card for anyone with a valid Cornell ID card in the evenings and over the weekends. Librarians Steven Rockey, Jill Powell, and Jeremy Cusker will remain in their Carpenter Hall offices and continue to assist users as in the past, enhancing their outreach efforts, building and stewarding the substantial and growing electronic collection. They can be reached individually or at:engranswers@cornell.edu.
Details, updates, and background are available at: http://engineering.library.cornell.edu/node/6791
Let us know if you have any questions!
Best, Leah Solla, on behalf of Steve Rockey
***
From: Library Communications
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Thu 6/23/2011
Subject: Project Euclid Receives 2011 PAM Division Award
Project Euclid — the premier platform and information community for mathematics and statistics resources from independent publishers — received the 2011 Division Award from the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division of the Special Libraries Association. Project Euclid is jointly managed by Cornell University Library and Duke University Press.
Given annually, this award recognizes significant contributions to the literature of physics, mathematics, or astronomy, and honors work that demonstrably improves the exchange of information within these three disciplines. The award also takes into consideration projects that benefit libraries.
“It is an honor for Project Euclid to receive the Special Library Association’s PAM Award,” said Mira Waller, Project Euclid Manager. “PAM is a community of peers and a strong voice for librarians and information experts around the world. In receiving this award I feel that Project Euclid is fulfilling its core mission of disseminating scholarly information in the fields of mathematics and statistics.”
Staff who work on Euclid, from left: David Ruddy, Shinwoo Kim, Martin Lessmeister
“The PAM Division Award is a real honor,” said David Ruddy, Cornell’s Project Euclid lead and Director of Scholarly Communications Services at Cornell University Library. “It is also validation that through strong collaborations the academy can effectively address challenges facing scholarly communications.”
Cornell University Library launched Project Euclid in 2000. In 2008, Cornell and Duke University Press established a collaborative partnership agreement to jointly manage and expand the project. Its mission is to advance scholarly communication in the field of theoretical and applied mathematics and statistics. It is designed to address the unique needs of low-cost independent and society journals.
For information about Project Euclid, please contact projecteuclid@dukeupress.edu, or visit projecteuclid.org
***
From: Jim LeBlanc
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Thu 6/30/2011
Subject: Evolution of CLO Delivery & Metadata Management Services
Dear Colleagues:
On May 20th, Scott Wicks, AUL for Central Library Operations, announced the formation of a new division in CLO, effective July 1st: Acquisitions & Resource Sharing Services, under the direction of Boaz Nadav-Manes. July 1st is now upon us, and we’d like to provide some further information regarding this administrative reorganization.
Delivery & Metadata Management Services (DMMS) is no more, at least not as a formal administrative structure. We have effectively split it in two. The two new divisions are:
Acquisitions and Resource Sharing Services (Boaz Nadav-Manes, Director)
- Acquisitions Coordinator (Pedro Arroyo)
- Copy Cataloging and Inputting Unit (Cynthia Rich, Administrative Supervisor)
- Ordering and Gifts Unit (Lois Purcell, Administrative Supervisor)
- Receiving and Documents Unit (Lisa Maybury, Administrative Supervisor)
- Interlibrary Services Unit (Caitlin Finlay, Administrative Supervisor)
E-Resources, Serials, and Database Management Services (Jim LeBlanc, Director)
- Batch Processing & Metadata Management Unit (Gary Branch, Administrative Supervisor)
- Database Quality Unit (Barb Tarbox, Administrative Supervisor)
- E-Resources & Serials Management Department (Bill Kara, Head; Jesse Koennecke, E-Resources Team Coordinator; Deb Warfield, Administrative Supervisor, Serials Management Unit )
- E-Resources & Database Management Research Librarian (Adam Chandler)
We will be updating the CLO Web site soon to reflect these changes. We know it’s difficult to keep up with CLO’s seemingly annual reorgs, so we don’t really expect everyone to keep all this straight. If you need to contact us, check out our Web site at http://clo.library.cornell.edu/ -- or just contact someone you know in CLO. We talk to each other a lot and will be sure your question or concern gets addressed.
- Jim LeBlanc & Boaz Nadav-Manes
***
From: Janet A. McCue
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Wed 6/29/2011
Subject: Update on the Fine Arts Library
Dear Colleagues,
I have a couple of important updates to make regarding the Fine Arts Library.
The [Design] Library Task Force, co-sponsored by CUL and AAP, made a series of recommendations in January 2011 related to strengthening the staffing in the FAL. In response to these recommendations, we will be making several staffing changes beginning July 1, 2011. Administratively, we have asked Bonna Boettcher to expand her responsibilities and become the Director of the Music Library & Fine Arts Library. Lenora Schneller also will extend her public services responsibilities across both libraries as the Administrative Supervisor. Both of these changes will allow Martha Walker to focus her responsibilities as the Architecture Librarian and Coordinator of Collections for the Fine Arts Library. In addition, we will be recruiting for a Visual Resources Librarian whose position will emphasize image resources, visual literacy, research consultations and outreach services. We also are consulting with colleagues on how to strengthen outreach services for City & Regional Planning, including GIS services.
The recommendations from the [Design] Library Task Force centered around two areas—enhancing the facility and strengthening the services.As you know, we announced last September that the FAL would be moving to Rand Hall to address the sad state of affairs in the Sibley location—falling plaster, lack of air-conditioning, limited space are all challenges that the staff, students, and faculty have been dealing with. The third floor of Rand Hall will be the initial interim home, pending a full renovation in the years to come for the second and third floors to be the permanent home. A number of small projects are being pursued in Rand Hall to make this first step/move possible, and the date of the move is still uncertain.
I am very grateful to the staff in the FAL and in the Music Library for their help in making this transition work so smoothly and their commitment to making the services and collections in the Fine Arts Library even better. The [Design] Library Task Force report is available on the library staff web: http://staffweb.library.cornell.edu/strategicplanning/unit-library-reviews/finearts if you’d like additional background but please let me know if you have questions about any of these changes.
***
From: Anne R. Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Tue 7/5/2011
Subject: Take One: July 5, 2011 (Engineering Library Transitions to a Virtual Library)
For the second time in two years, another library is going “virtual.” The Engineering Library’s transition is well underway and soon will join the Physical Sciences Library as Cornell’s second virtual library. By June 29, 165,000 volumes had been relocated from Carpenter. Duplicates were withdrawn and the majority of volumes moved to the Annex. , We retained those monographs that had circulated in the last five years on central campus, with 20,000 going to Uris, 3500 to Math, 1800 to Mann and 500 to Olin. So just what is a virtual library? It’s many things. Although there are few of the trappings of a physical library—no books on shelves, no circulation desk, no night closings—a virtual library retains most of the functions of its physical counterpart. There are subject specialists onsite, who continue to assist users as in the past, enhancing their outreach efforts, and engaging in building the vision and structure for the virtual library. They are working with colleagues on larger discovery and access projects and building customized discovery tools for researchers through CuLLR (Curated List of Library Resources) and the implementation of a Virtual Shelf Browse feature. And, they are working collaboratively with library staff in mathematics and physical sciences.The library’s former main reading room is now open 24/7 with key card access as a study area and computer lab to anyone with a current Cornell ID.The virtual library also provides a wealth of online scholarly resources. In the last two years the electronic collection has been strengthened considerably through reallocation from operational savings and gifts from donors, by augmenting the materials budget, and filling in online back files as one-time purchases.
Thanks to the extraordinary teamwork of the Engineering Library staff and the collaborative spirit of staff throughout the system we have made enormous progress in the transition. While there is not space to acknowledge everyone the following folks deserve a special shout out:
Jill Ulbrich, the project leader and orchestrator whose experience with the PSL transition was invaluable;
Jill Powell assisted by Jeremy Cusker worked hard to get e-resources in place for calendar 2011 subscriptions with great help from Bill Kara’s group in CLO;
Leah Solla provided guidance with her vision from her PSL experience & facilitated the acquisition of e-resources;
Dianne Dietrich has worked with others to develop the new virtual presence for Engineering, which will be deployed this summer;
Melody Padget kept the operations going even after much of the staff had left (and we wish her well in her transition to full time student);
Catherine Velake ran a number of projects in the stacks, including withdrawing duplicates, and working with CLO to get complicated holdings records corrected. She will be joining her former Engineering Library colleague Anne-Marie Mores at Catherwood Library;
Natalie Sheridan kept the home fires burning at the Math Library while all attention was focused on Engineering and supported all of the players listed above in many ways;
In addition to those noted above special thanks for working on the collection moves goes to Barbara Eden, Lydia Pettis, Barbara Tarbox, and Cammie Wyckoff;
And, last but not least, Steve Rockey whose vision and leadership, advocacy, tenacity, kindness and patience were key to this transition.
Please join me in congratulating this stellar group their teamwork and the progress they’ve made in transitioning to a virtual library environment!
Have a healthy and productive week.
***
From: Library Communications
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Fri 7/15/2011
Subject: Press Release: Cornell & Columbia Libraries Extend Collaboration
In Tight Economic Times, Cornell & Columbia Libraries Extend Collaboration
2CUL Partnership Brings Library Cards & Borrowing Privileges to Both Schools
NEW YORK (July 14, 2011) – In an era of shrinking budgets, how can academic libraries provide the best possible information for their communities?
Together.
A new borrowing program between Cornell University Library and Columbia University Libraries allows users at both schools to take out materials from both libraries — meaning that a Cornell student or faculty member spending time in New York City can register for a library card at Columbia and check out books, and vice versa for Columbia students and faculty spending time at Cornell’s Ithaca campus.
The reciprocal arrangement — the first program of its kind between Ivy League institutions — applies to current students, faculty, and staff at Columbia and Cornell. Visitors now have access to library facilities, expert staff, rich technologies and digital collections at both institutions.
For the entire press release see here.
Good-bye
Good-bye and good luck to Susan Argetsinger, Preservation & Collection Maintenance; Pam Baxter, Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER); Claire Germain (Law Library); Ana Guimaraes, RMC; Betsy Hand, Law Library; Sutani Havananda, CLO, Acquisitions & Resource Sharing; Elena MacGurn, Management Library; Melody Padgett, Engineeering Library; Julia Parker, RMC; and Nanci Trapani, CLO, E-Resources & Serials; who recently left the Library.
Farewell
Claire Germain, Law Library
Dear colleagues,
Law Library Dean Stewart Schwab announced this morning (October 10, 2010) to his faculty that Claire Germain has accepted a position at the University of Florida Law School, effective next summer, as a chaired professor of law and Associate Dean for Legal Information. Drawing on her expertise, Claire will also be involved with their programs in France. Fortunately, Claire has given us a long lead time to consider her successor and Janet McCue and I will work closely with Stewart to consider next steps. Please join me in congratulating Claire on this wonderful new opportunity and in thanking her for her major contributions to the Library and the Law School over the past 17 years.
All best, Anne
The Law School community said farewell to Claire Germain on April 27, 2011 at an elegant reception in the Law School atrium which included brie en croute and napoleons (what else?) among the appetizers and desserts. Claire left Cornell to be the Clarence J. TeSelle Professor of Law & Associate Dean for Legal Information at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, in Gainesville, Florida. Pat Court spoke on behalf of Law Library staff and Professors Kevin Clermont, Bob Hillman, and Valerie Hans represented faculty while Dean Schwab presided. 
At the reception, Claire was presented with a beautifully framed Susan Titus print of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake in an autumn setting.
Professor Hillman said, "my strong belief is that the Cornell Law Library under Claire has been second to none in its service to faculty and students. Claire has instilled in the library the ethic of making a 100% effort to facilitate the faculty's research. For example, I can't count the number of times my library liaison, Matt Morrison, through a program Claire started, has come to my aid efficiently and successfully in finding sources, obtaining works from the outside, and contributing research ideas." He continued, "My second observation: in large part because of Claire, the law school has a distinctly international atmosphere.... Third, Claire has kept Cornell Law on the international map through her many speaking engagements all over the world, her leadership of international organizations, and her many well-received publications. We enjoy a world-wide reputation as a leading international law school in no small part because of Claire's activities."
Professor Hans told the group about her first encounter with Claire. "Imagine my delight when I first met Claire, who greeted me with her characteristic warmth and enthusiasm and proclaimed, 'we will take care of you! I will carefully identify just the right liaison to meet your every need! In fact, we will anticipate your every need!' True to her word, Claire has presided over a well-oiled support machine. In the years since coming here, the qualtiy of my work has benefitted tremendously from her and others under her direction ...."
On her last day in May the staff held a surprise party with French champagne and a cake. They presented her with a beautifully framed photograph of the Reading Room and a book created for her by Carol Clune and Elizabeth Teskey, Cornell Law Library: A History in Pictures 1993 - 2011, For Claire Germain, Edward Cornell Law Librarian, A Fond Farewell from Law Library Staff.
See below for some of the remarks from her farewell reception.
Remarks by Pat Court:
I am here representing the 20 people who work in the Law Library as we all say good bye to Claire.
Over 17 years, we have been pulled up and along by her accomplishments and by her vision. 15 years ago she saw how Mirror Web Sites could expand cooperative projects with international partners. As President of the American Association of Law Libraries, she really put our Law Library on the map.
She has brought us so many Global Friends and Visitors and Staff that enriched the work of the library and of our staff. We hosted Olga, the law library intern from Barcelona; we built an extraordinary relationship with “the two Brazilians,” as we called them. And maybe it was Claire’s own history as an immigrant, but she saw possibilities in people and put them to work in the law library in ways that redound to her credit and their ever-lasting gratitude. Saah Quigee from Liberia came as refugee and got a part-time job shelving books. With a lot of hard work, his family eventually joined him in Ithaca, and he got a full-time job at the Africana Library. Sasha Skenderija from Bosnia came to Ithaca as a refugee with a PhD in library and information sciences. He has since become a Fulbright Senior Specialist, published a book of amazing poetry, and today he is the technical brains behind our award winning Web site and an invaluable colleague.
Those of you who have been here a long time know you’ve seen the library more and more involved in the life and intellectual enterprise of the law school since Claire arrived – the Avon Project, research workshops for seminar courses, librarians working with moot court teams, and with faculty research projects. And that’s what we all believe is our role here – to be an integral, full participatory player at the law school. I guess Claire taught us that!
After all these years, it is difficult to say good bye to a boss and to a friend like Claire. The work we do in the library for the law faculty and students, the way we work, the services we provide will continue because we hardly realize how much all of that flows from her vision. She has been a strong champion of the needs of the law library and of the staff. It is really hitting me now that her time with us is almost up, and there will be a hole left behind.
We wish Claire all the best in Florida, and we know her new library staff has a lot of challenges coming their way!
Remarks by Professor Kevin Clermont:
A sad fact of existence is that most comings and goings are, at bottom, insignificant. Cornell has suffered some losses over the years. But retirements are in the nature of things. Premature departures can be minor blips or even welcome events. But departures truly significant are infrequent. The big one in my era was Rudi Schlesinger. He was seen as the soul of the School. I was painfully reminded of the perception of loss by my disappointed students for years to come, because I was the one who picked up his Civil Procedure course.
Claire’s departure ranks right up there. In a way, she is a bigger loss, because hers is a unique role that she has filled uniquely well. Let me mention three ways we’ll miss her.
First, we will miss the cosmopolitan Claire. She writes and teaches on foreign and transnational law. Our foreign programs depend as much on her as on anyone, and as much on her diplomatic skills in dealing with the French as on anything else. She is the Director of our Dual Degree Program. She has been a prime mover of our Summer Institute in Paris from the beginning. I toasted her for that by taking her to Taillevent, then the finest restaurant in France and hence in the world. As we left, the waiter complimented her on how well she spoke French, for an American. Cornell will miss her energy, expertise, and diplomacy in maintaining our foreign programs – and most of all the joie she supplied in doing it all.
Second, we will miss the librarian Claire. To stick with the French theme, Victor Hugo said, “A library implies an act of faith.” We put our faith in Claire. She values the past, as in the wonderful Rare Book Collection she has assembled and displayed. She has her feet in the present, as she has emphasized service in developing the best law library in the country. And she has her eyes on the future. In the process of replacing her I have learned that the future of libraries everywhere is terrifying – and so I’ll miss her wisdom and steady hand on the tiller as we voyage ahead.
Third, and more personally, I’ll miss Claire the person. Some years ago I faced a severe and prolonged health crisis. That’s the sort of thing that convinces one of the values of community. The next speaker, Bob Hillman, proved to be his usually saintly self. And Claire too stepped up – checking in on me, helping me out, feeding me. She tutored me in countless French lessons. These convinced me she is not really French – we have been punk’d by a long elaborate French-accented prank. But the lessons also convinced me that she is a special human being. In all seriousness, she regenerated my will to live. I thank her now, and her wonderful husband, Stuart. I will really, really miss them.
Response by Clarie Germain:
Thank you so much for your kind words. Thank you Dean Schwab, Pat, Kevin, Bob, Valerie, and all of you who have come today. I wish that you had all written my performance evaluations! It is hard to summarize 17 years of my life in two minutes. I have spent some of the best years of my life at Cornell. My family and I have been very happy here, with my husband Stuart, and our son Nicolas.
As the Edward Cornell law librarian, I have had the privilege to work with a most wonderful Law Library staff: dedicated, hard working, devoted to faculty and students, fun-loving, and also good cooks.
As a faculty member, I have enjoyed teaching legal research, and then French law in Ithaca and during the Paris summer program. I also enjoyed participating in all the international activities of the law school, mostly with France, but recently with the Latin American law alumni at the Weintraubs house in Miami, and in Seoul, Korea. I am delighted to have now a wide circle of law alumni friends who stay in touch and come back to Cornell, especially my French students.
I would like to recognize Judge Walter Relihan, also a cornell alumnus, who presided over the ceremony when I became a U.S. citizen in 1995. As you know, I am as American as apple pie! I would also like to recognize Clare van den Blink, from CIT, with whom I travelled to France to do the French Law in Action web project in Paris.
I am proud to have forged strong friendships in Ithaca and especially within the law school. I will never forget you, my dear friends, our faculty lounge conversations, all the parties, here in Ithaca, and I also remember the parties in Paris in the summer, in my parents' apartment for the faculty in the Paris Summer Institute at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. My parents came to Ithaca many times, and enjoyed your friendship and hospitality. And, it seems to me, that is what life is about, friends and family. And friends are especially important when family is not around.
I wish you all the best. I will not forget you and the good times we had together. I certainly have enough pictures to help with souvenirs! I hope that you come and visit us in Gainesville, Florida. We have a nice guest suite in our courtyard house.
Photographs by Carol Clune
Retirements
Susann Argetsinger, Rare & Manuscript Collections, Preservation/Conservation
Please help us to congratulate Susann Argetsinger on her upcoming retirement! After nineteen years of exemplary work in preservation and conservation at Cornell University Library, Susann has decided to retire to New Hampshire and enjoy the White Mountains! We will host an open house on Tuesday, May 31, from 10-11am in the Conservation Lab at B31 Olin Library. Come to enjoy some home-baked treats and to wish Susann good luck. Her last work day is June 1st, so don’t miss this opportunity!
What is the word to describe someone who is creative, gracious, hardworking and generous? Why, Susann, of course! Susann Argetsinger could also be described as versatile. During her nineteen years at Olin Library, she has worked on numerous reformatting projects, from the Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection to The Making of America (MOA). Susann has participated in some unique projects: she and a colleague measured the shelf space in most of the libraries on campus, and she decorated the bulletin boards at Uris with discarded dust jackets. Susann spent time in the Maps collection, assisting patrons, repairing maps, and designing and mounting exhibits. In the conservation lab she has worked on rare and circulating collections, and helped to train students and interns.
During her last few weeks at work, people from across her years at Cornell stopped by to wish her well in her new endeavor -- retirement to New Hampshire. It is a tribute to Susann that she is remembered so fondly by so many people that she encountered during her career here. I will miss her finely observed stories about the natural world, her delicious coffee cake, her excellent reading recommendations and her warm smile. I can’t wait to find out what she does next! (Pat Fox)
Photographs by Roger Clearwater
From left: Janet McCue, Michele Brown, Anne Kenney,
student worker Stephen Acerra, Ann Carson
From left: Suzanne Schwartz, Will Parker, Kathryn Hughes in red, Pat Fox, Pete Hoyt
From left: Rick Lightbody, Carole Atkinson, Susann Argetsinger, John Dean
From left: Eileen Keating, Pat Schafer, Susann Argetsinger
From left: Carla DeMello, Barbara Eden, Susann Argetsinger
Betsy Hand, Law Library
Elizabeth (Betsy) Hand retired on May 12, 2011 after working at the Law Library for thirty-some years. She catalogued foreign language books, rare books, and serials. Betsy retired from the Law Library but not from Ithaca where she continues to live.
Betsy is mentioned in the CUL Weekly Gazette of June 17, 1985 (vol. 15, No. 47) in the piece titled, “Lizzie Borden Foiled in Attempt to Suppress the Press.” Jean Pajerek, then Assistant Catalog Librarian, writes, “In reading the May 3, 1985, issue of Publishers Weekly, Betsy Hand of the Law Library came across a brief note about an 1893 title called The Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders by Edwin H. Porter, a Fall River police reporter. According to the article, Lizzie Borden allegedly bought up and destroyed the entire edition; only 20 copies are believed to have escaped. Her interest piqued, Betsy discovered one of the surviving copies in the stacks of the Law Library. This rare contemporary account of the Borden murders is currently housed in the Trials Collection of the Law Library.”
Susan LaCette, Kevin Miller, Sharon Reeves, ILR Catherwood Library
In December 2010 three long time staff retired from Catherwood Library: Susan LaCette, Kevin Miller and Sharon Reeves. Together they have worked a total of 104 years for CUL, 91 of those years at Catherwood. They have enriched our lives as both employees and friends. We will certainly miss them!
From left: Sharon Reeves, Kevin Miller, Susan LaCette
Susan LaCette began working for CUL at Olin Library in 1974 as a library assistant in Circulation with Marie Powers, among others. In 1979 the Annex was opened and Susan was the first staff person to work there. After conquering the Annex, she started at Catherwood in 1980 as an evening/weekend supervisor in the Circulation department. With the retirement of Carolyn Zimmerman in 1993, Susan was acting head of the department for a year. In 1996 she decided to use her talents for Catherwood in a different manner and took the position of information assistant for our Reference department. In 1999 she was promoted to the position of reference specialist to acknowledge the quality of her work, knowledge, and contribution to the ILR School.
She has an number of accomplishment while at Catherwood Reference: revision of Workindex subject headings, the development of Workplace Issues Today (WIT), creation of many Web guides in several formats, creation of ILR Thesis and Dissertations, and management of our fee based service ILR:Access. Susan has been very active in our instruction program and has taught classes in LexisNexis, labor law, collective bargaining, and RefWorks, to name but a few. She has done more than her share of committee work as a member of the CU Employee Policy committee, ILR Administrative Affairs Team, and the Fuerst Awards Committee. She was also a member of the Bibliographic Database Management group (later the Citation Management Group) and was part of the effort that brought RefWorks to campus.
Over the years, many people have commented on Susan’s reliability, her excellent ability to train and supervise student assistants, and the fact that she has always been exceptionally well informed in all aspects of her position and Catherwood’s subject specialty. While working full time, she took classes at TC3 to obtain a paralegal degree. She has also taken many classes in ILR’s subject specialty to enhance her reference abilities over the years.
Susan came back to help us through the spring 2011 semester and we were more than grateful she did. Susan lives in Trumansburg and has two children , Judd and Lauren. She plans to travel with her husband, Ben Curtis, and to spend time working on her house.
Kevin Miller began working for CUL as a student assistant in the business library working for Miss Betsy Ann Olive. In 1977 he started as a full-time staff person at the Law Library. In 1981 he transferred to Catherwood as a night/weekend supervisor.
He has been a talented stacks manager and has shifted and moved our collection several times, usually in less than perfect circumstances. He was a part of the effort to interfile periodicals into the regular collection. Catherwood moved into our current stacks location in early 1998 but before that Kevin worked as part of the effort we called our “final inventory” to get both the collection and records in shape for moving. During the renovation of the reference area, he moved the reference collection to the 4th floor temporary location and back again. He has assisted in several Annex moves. He has shifted and shifted and shifted again, usually on his own during the summer.
But Kevin was more than just our stacks manager. He has participated in our efforts to bring up electronic reserves for fall 2001. He was known as an excellent student assistant supervisor and a resource for any questions they might have. He has worked as part of our bindery operations. Having been a night/weekend supervisor and an ILR faculty kid, he also had subject knowledge and was able to assist students in their information quests during those times he was the only staff person on site.
Kevin worked during those hours that most of us would not – those nights and weekend hours that are vital to students’ access to the library. When past supervisors spoke about Kevin, the terms used are “dependable,” “reliable,” and “steady”. He never did things halfway and had much pride in his work. He had an outstanding public service attitude and was congenial and helpful when dealing with patrons.
Kevin is also a talented musician. Over the years he has played baroque recorder, trumpet, keyboards, drums, electric bass, guitar, and banjo. He has a most curious mind and if one ever needed information on chupacabras, pop culture, sports, music, and interesting trivia, he was our man. He is also known as a cartoonist and in the Catherwood Director’s Conference Room is a framed Kevin original depicting our values.
Kevin agreed to come back on a part-time basis during the spring semester, which helped us out in a meaningful way. When speaking of retirement, Kevin was looking forward to spending time with his music, his garden, his cats, his lovely wife Linda, and helping out his mother.
Sharon Reeves first began working at the Law Library in 1975 in the cataloging department. She did such interesting tasks like correcting cards for the card catalog on a typewriter and then filing them. She pointed out that there were no computers back then. She worked for Marie Whitehead and Christian Boissonnas. She and Christian, both strong minded people, had a running battle over the room temperature. This usually ended in a draw.
In 1978 she moved to Catherwood Library and began working for Chung Kim, Harold Way, and Phil Dankert in cataloging and acquisitions. A few years later she moved to the acquisitions department full time and did such fun things as pre-order searching in the card catalog, RLIN, and NUC.
In June 1987, Sharon moved to a position within the director’s office and worked for both Shirley Harper and Gordon Law. While the original job title was “secretary,” Sharon quickly became what Gordon called the “handler of the director” and was also the face of the director’s office. She had a broad range of responsibilities, such as coordinating the director’s calendars, processing all staff travel, being the voice of the main library phone, coordinating events such as conferences and large meetings, working with our HR office and the Student Employment Office to appoint student assistants and monitor their timecards, keeping track of our facilities requests, handling all the director’s filing and correspondence, writing gift letters to donors, coordinating a large contacts database, and handling all our communications needs. In 1978 we moved to the Ives Tower and not only did she coordinate the move of the director’s office to the new location, she handled all the telecommunications and technology moves for the rest of the staff. She did the same when our reference staff was moved to temporary quarters during the renovation phase and then coordinated it again when they moved into the area after renovation.
Sharon is considered extremely dependable and was known to have worked well under pressure. She is well liked and one supervisor commented that Sharon was “a morale booster but not just in a social sense.” She is always eager to help you out, regardless of your needs. People in the ILR School agreed that she is an exceptional person and in 1998 she was the recipient of the ILR Outstanding Employee Award. She did her time as part of the Catherwood Social Committee over the years and coordinated many a potluck lunch and holiday party. She also sang in the choral group, the ILR Poinsettias, and entertained all ILR staff at holiday events.
We were fortunate to have Sharon back part time during the spring semester. She looks forward to spending her time with her family, especially her three grandchildren, Hannah, Lee’na and Cameron--with one on the way! She and her husband Sid live in Genoa. They are avid campers and look forward to spending more time camping during the nice weather. She also enjoys many crafts, such as crocheting, and gardening. (Deb Lamb-Deans)
The Lighthearted Library: Cartoons by Betsy Elswit
This winter, the Library's own cartoon caption contest was born when Betsy's cartoons debuted at the first interactive art event at the CUL Art Extravaganza. Below is the cartoon we left you with in April and the captions sent in by your co-workers. Finally, after those captions you will find another new cartoon waiting for your musings. (Photograph of Betsy Elswit by Shirley Cowles)
From print to net. Ada Albright
Proving that there is no sport too small for us to cover, ESPN8 would like to welcome you to our coverage of the 13th Annual Book Dunk Contest, here at ALA. Christian Miller
I knew this one would be a slam dunk! Elizabeth Teskey
Gee, I don't know why circulation is way down this year. Maybe it's because of this slam dunk requirement for using the self-checkout machine? Christian Miller
Lobster Boy integrated well to human society, but there were always certain 'things' that he never really grasped, like basketball. And reading. Christian Miller
The printed word ... a slam-dunk! Patricia A. Jones
We have new book scanning software designed by the NBA. It works like this .... Margaret Nichols
Last minute book drop, dunk and run!!! Suzanne Schwartz
Maybe this isn't what everyone was talking about when they were going on about their Netbooks? Suzanne Cohen
The IT department REALLY meant it when they said that due to budget cuts, they could provide nothing but netbook. Robin Messing
AND HERE'S A NEW ONE TO MULL OVER FOR THE NEXT ISSUE
Credits: Kaleidoscope is published bi-monthly except June and July
by Cornell University Library. Editor: Elizabeth Teskey, Layout: Carla DeMello and Jenn Colt-Demaree
