April 2012

Academic Promotions
People News
Retirements
The Lighthearted Library

Kaleidoscope is the internal newsletter of CUL. We publish every two months during the academic year, and appear mid month in August, October, December, February, and April. Submissions are due the penultimate (next-to-last) week of the month preceding publication. If you wish to receive a reminder you should contact et14. Please help us to celebrate our resources and ourselves while preserving some of our history.

Academic Promotions

Librarian

Jesse Koennecke, LTS E-Resources, Mann Library

Please join me in congratulating Jesse on his promotion to Librarian.  Jesse is currently Head of the Electronic Resources Unit in Library Technical Services, but his work for the CUL community goes back over twenty years, beginning as a student employee in Olin Library while completing his undergraduate degree.  Jesse’s responsibilities in his different library roles have provided him with many skills and much experience for his current position in the fast changing world of e-resources.  Jesse worked as a Network and Systems Administrator and Evening and Weekend Supervisor in Olin/Kroch/Uris Access Services before becoming Head of Access Services at the Albert R. Mann Library in 2001.

In 2009 I was very pleased that Jesse accepted an appointment as Electronic Resources Librarian; he brought public services experience and excellent technical skills to the Unit.  In his new role he has been very active professionally both here at Cornell and in the larger library community.  He has consistently shown an interest and ability in exploring new technologies to enhance access to our expanding online collections.  Most recently he has been chair of the Summon Implementation Team–see his article on the WebFeat Transition in Kaleidoscope--but his interests are broad and whether working with CUL colleagues or 2CUL colleagues he is forward-looking and contributes significantly to many initiatives and services. (Bill Kara)

Associate Librarian

Camille Andrews, Mann Library

Camille plays a key role at Mann and CUL in the areas of learning technologies, instruction, and assessment. She is helping to keep the libraries current in new technologies for learning and instruction and how they are being used, and how they could be used in the classrooms and libraries.  Camille has been carefully monitoring technical trends and developments and matching them to student needs.  In 2011 she and the Mann Learning Technologies Team focused on the Bissett Collaborative Center. Under Camille’s leadership, the team developed a process for gathering data about student use of the current facility and their need for new technologies for collaboration and learning.  This work continues, and should result in an upgrade to the Bissett space in 2012; Camille is also working with her colleagues in Mann on a potential expansion of the library’s collaborative work spaces.

Camille continues to work in the information literacy area.  In addition to front line teaching accomplishments she provided assessment services for courses taught by other librarians and worked with Thomas Mills and other CUL librarians on the CUL information literacy initiatives.  She also spent a week in Ethiopia in the fall co-teaching, with Gracian Chimwaza, an information literacy workshop for Haramaya and Mekelle Universities.

Camille is thoroughly engaged with her profession.  She writes letters for HCEC students, works with the BOCES, and the CALS Human Diversity subcommittee of the Curriculum Committee.  She also presented a paper at the 2011 ACRL National Conference and is currently preparing a presentation for the Academic Librarians 2012 Conference in Syracuse, New York. (Howard Raskin)

Bronwen Bledsoe, South Asia, Kroch Library

Congratulations to Bronwen Bledsoe on her well deserved promotion to Associate Librarian. Bronwen came to Cornell in 2006 as the Curator of the South Asia Collection in Kroch Library and as such is responsible for the overall operation and development of the South Asia Collection. At that time she was also appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian Studies to facilitate her participation as a member of the faculty, teach courses, and advise students working on research projects.

She received a warm welcome from the South Asia Program (SAP) on the front page of the Spring 2006 South Asia Newsletter:

"Bronwen did her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she graduated with a double BA in Anthropology and South Asian Studies. She received her PhD from the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, in 2004, with a Dissertation entitled Written in Stone: Inscriptions of the Katmandu Valley’s Three Kingdoms, which refigures late medieval history in the light of temple inscriptions in Sanskrit and Newari. She was able to tie the information from these inscriptions to changes in political structures based on events of the time. She found that these stone inscriptions, which were generally ignored by historians and scholars, turned out to be a remarkable source for hearing primary voices, when one is no longer looking for facts, but for what people actually said in the conversations of that period. Through these translations, she was able to learn about the people politically, socially, religiously and culturally, as they are linked together. She has spent a total of seven years in Nepal over a 25-year period. Not only is Bronwen well-versed as a South Asian scholar, familiar with the use of library collections, but she also served as the Assistant to Chicago’s Bibliographer for Southern Asia since 1997. One of the priorities in her new position is to familiarize herself with the individual needs of the South Asia faculty, and try to accommodate them as best she can, realizing that, while some of the needs are common, some are extraordinary. She aims to further develop the collection’s existing strengths, reflecting Cornell s specialization as a center for the peripheries of South Asia. She hopes to build a collection for Sri Lanka and the Himalayan region without parallel in the Western hemisphere. Academic training, years of library work, and institutional support form a firm basis for these endeavors. The SAP wishes Dr. Bledsoe a happy and successful career at Cornell."

Bronwen has indeed been very successful. She is an innovator and leader in our 2CUL partnership with Columbia regarding the South Asian collection. Her vision is the 2CUL partnership will create a combined collection on South Asia that is broader and more diverse than either partner could achieve alone. 2CUL enables us to take advantage of improved discovery and delivery services to share little-used materials in particular.

But she also believes the combined resources of Cornell and Columbia are not nearly enough to ensure that our patrons can have access to the full spectrum of resources needed for South Asian studies. The 2CUL partners can only purchase and house a fraction—perhaps a quarter—of the materials coming out of South Asia each year. For the rest, we must depend on our partners in InterLibrary Loan.

In this regard she is providing a leadership role for South Asian librarians who are now banding together to ensure that the widest possible range of materials that we cannot individually own will be freely available on ILL. Even before 2CUL began, Cornell and the University of Wisconsin-Madison had entered into a pilot agreement in 2008 aimed at improving the US national collection. In 2010 the National Cooperative Collections for South Asian Studies project picked up steam. Cornell, Columbia, and Madison are among some 20-odd institutions signed on to begin a mutually agreed distribution of collecting responsibilities at the national level. They are working with the Global Resources Network (GRN) at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) to coordinate and maximize our individual and collective strengths.

One thing I especially appreciate about Bronwen is that she sends me postcards from all over South Asia while she is on her buying trips. I have quite an interesting collection. (John M. Saylor) (Photograph of Bronwen Bledsoe by Carla DeMello)

Christian Miller, ILR Catherwood Library

Chris came to Catherwood in May 2007 as the Reference, Instruction and Outreach Coordinator and plunged immediately into life at Catherwood and CUL. He took over our workshop offerings and designed two new workshops, Finding Company HR Practices and Business Research for ILR Students, that were well received. Chris came to us with a background in health care and was asked to be part of the ILR team that co-taught Work, Health and Healthcare, something he continues to this day. He has been active in working with ILR faculty to find new and innovative ways to entice students into the library when they need research help. He is a featured speaker at ILR orientations for incoming freshman as well as graduate students. He has offered workshops such as “Blogging the World at Work” for the alumni and works with the pre-freshman program during the summer. Over the years, he has participated in CUL’s Freshman Orientation at Barton Hall , the Hasbrouck Family Resource fair, CU Grad Orientation, and the Staff Education Day. He has also acted as a small group facilitator for the CU First Year Reading Project every year since he joined CUL. In 2008 Chris was awarded a Faculty Innovation Grant for creating a module on an Interactive Model for Teaching Research Skills that featured issues around academic integrity.

He is a sought after presenter and has appeared many times in Professional/Career Development with offerings such as “Navigating a Sea of Software Tools,” panel discussion on LibGuides, “A Crash Course in Cloud Computing,” and has led the memorable Speed Networking events. Outside of CUL, he has presented at Eastern NY ACRL, the Columbia Reference Symposium, SUNYLA, the Library Management Institute, the Upper New York Science Librarian meeting, UNYSLA, and SLA, both as a single act and with a co-presenter, on topics ranging from professional development for librarians to LibGuides to technology issues to creativity. He is also known for his creation of the Zombie Survival Guide.

And I haven’t even mentioned his committee work yet! He has served on many committees since his arrival , both for Catherwood, the ILR School, and CUL, including the Services and Outreach Functional team, the Library Future Task Force, ILR HR Director Search Committee, the Library Outside the Library, the WebFeat Transition Team, and the LibGuides Implementation Team, to name but a few. He has also been very active in SLA, both in the Upstate New York Chapter and the national level. He was instrumental in the formation of the new Academic Division and served as the chair of the division in 2011-12. He is also a member of the SLA Executive Board.

You might think that after all of that, Chris does not have time for a personal life. But he does! He is also a member of the local improv group ComedyFLOPS, Finger Lakes Original Pranksters, a group that allocates some of their show donations to local charities, such as Healthy Food for All.

We are lucky to have such a multifaceted and talented person like Chris and I feel certain that he will continue to bring his creativity and enthusiasm to all that he does at CUL! (Deb Lamb-Deans)

Jeffrey Petersen, Echols Collection, Kroch Library

I first met Jeff when he was a graduate student in the Library and Information Science program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At the time, I was the curator of the Southeast Asia collection at Northern Illinois University. Jeff and I had communicated on a number of occasions about possible job opportunities and when the position he now occupies here came open, I encouraged him to apply. I had no idea at the time that I would soon follow him here to become his supervisor and have to live with the consequences of my encouragement. I should add that I am happy with those consequences.

Jeff has done a wonderful job working to build the Echols Collection. His dedication to the collection is obvious by how seriously he takes every decision regarding the collection’s future. He takes his public services responsibilities equally as seriously.

Regarding that service, I wrote a piece in 2009 in this same newsletter about Jeff when he was promoted to Senior Assistant Librarian. In it I stated that, “Jeff is dedicated to providing superior services to the collection’s patrons as evidenced by the numerous compliments given him by people who have benefited from his expertise and willingness to help.” I reaffirm that statement and can add that the compliments continue to arrive regularly.

I congratulate Jeff on his promotion and look forward to collaborating with him in the upcoming years. (Greg Green)

Senior Assistant Librarian

Jeremy Cusker, Engineering Library

Jeremy Cusker has been the Earth Sciences & Engineering Outreach Librarian since 2009 and worked as a reference assistant in Engineering before that. In terms of developing as a subject librarian he has shown remarkable growth with Earth Sciences. Recently he has been assigned to be liaison to Civil, Environmental, Biological, and Systems Engineering.

In these interesting times with the transition of the Engineering Library to a virtual library I have had the pleasure of working more closely with him. I appreciate his hard work and initiative working creatively and independently. Jeremy has embraced the transition of the Engineering Library and was very involved in the process. He went through a very large number of accumulated gift books to identify those things we needed for the collection and arranged for their disposition. He worked with Jill Powell on paper subscriptions and the reference collection. Jeremy also was the lead on producing a steady flow of well-designed signs and posters (both paper and digital) that greatly helped communicate the transition of the Engineering library. Jeremy has also been very involved in our Web presence. He is a hardworking and effective member of the Engineering Library Website Redesign Project.

In a virtual library where outreach and liaison work is very important Jeremy has been excellent. He reaches out to faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. He is involved in many classes, seminars, student project teams, and student groups. His presentations and instruction sessions are well received and he is invited back. He takes pride in supporting undergraduates and graduate students both through groups and in one-on-one reference service.

Jeremy is a valued participant in the Engineering, Math, and Physical Sciences team. He participates and contributes to a number of Library committees. He has also attended quite a number of workshop and conferences and has presented several times at conferences. He is very involved in professional development and takes advantage of numerous opportunities. (Steve  Rockey; photograph of Jeremy Cusker by Carla DeMello)

Boris Michev, Research and Learning Services, Olin Library

Bringing new meaning to the concept of “global perspectives,” Boris Michev has literally helped shape CUL’s sense of its place in the world. A seasoned traveler with roots in Bulgaria and the United States, he works with cartographic materials of all kinds, every day, with patrons and colleagues all over the world. The Maps and Geospatial Information Librarian, Boris also heads the Maps and Media unit of Research and Learning Services, Olin & Uris Libraries. In addition to managing and developing strategic directions for the collections, Boris selects materials on geography, cartography and urban studies, and is the Library Liaison to the City and Regional Planning Department in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

Entirely in keeping with his cartographic inclinations, Boris’s professional portfolio bears out his global reach. Not only is he able to communicate with patrons and colleagues in seven different languages, he is a member of the Library Board of the American Research Center in Sofia, Bulgaria and was on the steering committee that investigated and recommended the creation of a commission on neocartography for the International Cartographic Association. Since joining the library as night supervisor in Uris Library in 1993, Boris has been a fixture in both Olin and Uris Libraries. He went on to become the media assistant, then head of the media department for both Olin and Uris. Adding to his MA in history from Sofia University (Sofia, Bulgaria), he returned to school and earned an MLS from Syracuse University, taking courses in Cornell’s ILR and Law Schools along the way.

In 2009, Boris’s abilities and performance were formally recognized when he became the Map and Geospatial Information Librarian and head of the Maps and Media unit. Since then, he has been involved in a number of projects related to the physical and digital care of maps and media collections, such as Images from the Cornell Map Collections (delivered via Luna Insight). An active exhibition curator and designer, Boris has produced a number of installations for the maps and media display cases on the lower level of Olin Library, including the ever-popular Unusual Maps: Exploring Different Geographies, 1961: A Newborn Library … and the World Beyond (part of the Olin@50 exhibition), and Columbia or America: 500 Years of Controversy—to name just a few. Be sure to stop by for an extended visit to Columbia or America, a consideration of Vespucci’s legacy. It’s on display now through the summer. Boris is a member of the Visual Resources Working Group, the Usability Committee, and CUGIS (Cornell’s GIS discussion group). Further afield, Boris is active on national and regional committees, such as SYNERGIS (Tompkins County GIS professionals) and MAGIRT (ALA’s Map and Geospatial Information Round Table).

Boris has made quite an impression on patrons and colleagues, and has charted new courses for himself and for the rest of us. Please congratulate Boris on his promotion to Senior Assistant Librarian, and stay tuned for more news of Boris’s global perspectives in the future. (Susette Newberry)

Liz Muller, Rare & Manuscript Collections

Liz Muller joined RMC as Curator of Media and Digital Collections and Head of Archival Technical Services in October of 2011, and I still can’t figure out how we functioned without her! Prior to coming to RMC, she rose through the ranks in Central Library Operations, beginning as a Catalog Management Assistant before working as a Rare Book Cataloger, Metadata Librarian, and finally as Assistant Director of Cataloging and Metadata Services (CMS). She holds an MA in the History of Architecture and Urbanism from Cornell and an MS in Library and Information Science, with a Graduate Certificate in Special Collections, from the University of Illinois.

As Assistant Director of CMS, she coordinated the cataloging of materials in special formats, including rare materials, music, and digital collections.  She also was responsible for various visual resources cataloging projects including the maintenance of the PiCtor database for visual resources cataloging and the ARTstor Shared Shelf development initiative.  She provided metadata consulting for digital initiatives such as the Kroch Asia Rare Materials Archive (KARMA), now available online. She also worked on the Grants Program for Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences, reviewing incoming applications and developing preliminary budgets and project plans. 

Liz’s role as Digital and Media Curator in RMC can be seen as a logical extension of the work that she did as Assistant Director of CMS, especially in the area of image preservation and cataloging.  She continues to be identified as someone who is knowledgeable about digital questions, and we are fortunate to have her expertise with Shared Shelf. She has taken leadership for Web archiving, using Archive-It, and we’ve appreciated her calm and systematic approach.  She has taken the lead on our media collections, both in reformatting audio tapes and motion picture film and in working with Professor Tim Murray on the Rose Goldsen Collection in New Media Art.  In her role as Head of Archival Technical  Services, she’s learned quickly and has brought new energy to our operations While managing reproductions doesn’t neatly fit into either of these categories, it does bridge them, and I have been grateful for her willingness to take on those complex responsibilities. I’ve also been pleased by how quickly she has picked up the very complicated rights issues associated with our materials.

Liz has been professionally active, both within CUL and in the larger world. During 2011, she served on six committees (!): the Special Collections Council, Visual Resources Working Group, Cornell University Archival Repository (CULAR) Steering Committee, Metadata Working Group Steering Committee (chair), Mann Digital Repository Steering Group, and Mann Library Virtual Library Task Force.  She also served on two librarian search committees during 2011, one for the Metadata Librarians (two positions) in LTS and one for the Visual Resources and Public Services Librarian in the Fine Arts Library.  She also serves as a mentor for the CUL Mentoring Program. 

Outside of CUL, she serves on the Editorial Committee for SAHARA (Society of Architectural Historians Architecture Resources Archive), on the Data Standards Committee of the Visual Resources Association (VRA), and on the Committee on the Future of University Libraries within the University Libraries Section of ACRL.   She has given various presentations at CUL and elsewhere.  She taught a workshop in the University of Virginia Library on image cataloging, “Describing Cultural Materials: Cataloging using VRA Core and CCO;” and she presented an invited lecture on “Metadata Librarianship in Practice” at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies.

I have enjoyed working directly with Liz these past months.  She always seems to handle multiple responsibilities and increasing demands on her time calmly and professionally, and I appreciate her energy, intelligence, expertise, lively curiosity, and sense of humor. We congratulate her on her richly deserved promotion to Senior Assistant Librarian/Archivist and look forward to her continuing growth and professional success. (Elaine Engst; photograph of Liz Muller by Carla DeMello)

Senior Assistant Archivist

Cheryl Beredo, ILR Catherwood Library

Cheryl Beredo returned to Cornell, where she received her BA while working in RMC, in early 2010 as the Kheel Center’s ILGWU (International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union) Project Archivist. In that role, she was responsible for imposing intellectual order on a collection of over 2,500 boxes of official records, correspondence, publications, photographs, audio-visual materials, and memorabilia. In her new role as Director of the Kheel Center, she will be directing one of the largest labor and employment archives in the world as it approaches the wonderful opportunities which our new information environment provides.

In the process of tackling the ILGWU archives, Cheryl consistently impressed us with her intelligence, drive, and overall archival skills. Whether working with her Kheel Center colleagues, CUL peers, ILR professors, labor historians, or former ILGWU officers and members, she has been able to quickly form strong working relationships which have moved the project forward and occasionally into welcome new directions. These relationships brought in additional unique ILGWU-related records held by members and in offices of the defunct union’s successor organizations.

Cheryl was a prime component of last year’s Triangle Factory Fire centennial commemoration. In addition to working closely with researchers, union officials, and the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, she published a piece on the centennial and our work in Archival Outlook and gave a presentation at the annual meeting of the National Council of Public History annual meeting in conjunction with other commemoration representatives. She provided content for and worked closely with the designers of the refurbished Triangle Fire website and was our liaison with Ithaca’s Labor-Religion Coalition.

In addition to her MLS from Pittsburgh, Cheryl completed her PhD in American Studies while working on the ILGWU project. She has presented part of her dissertation on archives and American colonial rule in turn-of-the-century Philippines at the Association for Library and Information Science Education annual meeting and is currently revising part of it for publication by Litwin Books.

Cheryl was an ALA Spectrum Scholar as a student at Pittsburgh and is a member of SAA’s Mosaic Scholarship Selection Committee. She will be one of 25 archivists attending the prestigious Archives Leadership Institute in Madison, WI in July. She is currently the co-chair of CUL’s Career Development Committee.

We are delighted to have Cheryl on staff and excited about her new role. (Curtis Lyons)

Welcome

Jing Carlson is the new Collections Assistant in the Wason E. Asia Collections. A native speaker of Chinese, Jing has a degree from Beijing University. Most recently, she worked as a consultant/educator for the Cornell University East Asia Program performing outreach related to Chinese language and culture to area schools. Jing has worked with the ESL program for visiting scholars at Cornell University, the ESL advanced class at TC3, and also has experience as an interpreter for a travel agency. Jing volunteered in the Wason Collection several years ago and we are delighted to welcome her back to the Library.

Adrienne Cook joined the Olin/Uris Interlibrary Loan Services Department in mid March. Adrienne has a BA in Literature from SUNY Empire State College, speaks Spanish, is learning Mandarin, and has volunteered for the Tompkins County Public Library and Project Gutenberg. Welcome to the Library, Adrienne.

Kathryn Dowgiewicz is the new ILGWU Project Archivist in the Kheel Center. Katie has her MLIS, BA, and BFA from Wayne State University and held two positions at their Reuther Library, first as Archivist and Curator for their National Association of Letter Carriers papers and then as their overall Exhibits Designer, Fabricator, and Curator. She has also worked as archivist for R.L. Polk & Co., publisher of many of the city directories familiar to archivists and historians, and most recently was the Digital Imaging Project Manager on a large digitization project at General Motors.Katie will be continuing our work processing the records of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, our most popular and largest collection at ca. 2,500 boxes. Her duties will include: working with Kheel Director and former ILGWU Project Archivist Cheryl Beredo and the rest of the Kheel Center staff to organize and provide descriptions for the rich ILGWU and ILGWU-related records, including many papers collected during the first two years of this project; working directly with researchers to answer queries related to the union and their records; working with potential donors and former ILGWU officers and members; and expanding content on our new ILGWU website: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ilgwu/. The Kheel Center and CUL are delighted to welcome her.

Serena Ward is the new acquisitions assistant in the Music Library. Serena received her Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College and her Master of Music from the University of New Mexico.

Prior to her recent return to Ithaca, Serena founded and managed a music school in Albuquerque, providing private and group instruction, as well as retail sales. She served as a flute clinician in the Albuquerque area and performed with several area orchestras. Welcome to the Library, Serena.

Promotions, Transfers, & Reassignments

In light of the increasingly diverse responsibilities associated with the Olin/Uris public service desks in Access Services, the positions of Amanda Bartley, Liz Kluz, Kim Laine, Troy Shaver, and Kari Teeter have been upgraded to Public Services Assistant III. Please join us in congratulating them. (Wendy Wilcox and Bethany Silfer)

Above: Kari Teeter on left, Amanda Bartley on right

Above, Troy Shaver standing by the Little Missouri River in Wind Canyon, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, western North Dakota.

Above: Kim Laine on left, Liz Kluz on right

Congratulations to Liisa Mobley who has been promoted to E-resources Coordinator in the E-resources Unit. In this new role, Liisa will be expanding her responsibilities to include negotiating and signing licenses and coordinating some of the day-to-day activities in the unit. Recent LTS restructuring and the continued increase in e-resource acquisitions have highlighted a need for additional support for licensing. Liisa has consistently demonstrated over the years a desire and ability to take on new responsibilities and to improve our existing methods of doing our work. I am certain that she will excel in these new areas as well. Please join me in congratulating Liisa on her promotion. (Jesse Koennecke)

Sharon Powers has been promoted to Public Services Assistant III in the Africana Library in part because of the greater responsibility she has taken on in patron assistance when the Africana Librarian is out of the office. This includes but is not limited to reference assistance to library patrons in the use of the online public library catalog, searching national electronic databases, and answering basic reference questions. In addition, she provides one-on-one training in the use of Blackboard (a course management Web site) to both students and faculty, which directly ties into the mission of the Cornell University Library of teaching, research, and outreach. It is hard to believe that she first began her CUL career in the Law Library some twenty years ago. We look forward to more years where she will be able to lend her expertise and service at Africana. (Eric Acree)