Promotions
Librarian
Virginia Cole, Research & Learning Services
A highly-valued and productive member of the Library’s reference, instruction, and outreach team and, specifically, of the Department of Research & Learning Services, Virginia Cole has provided leadership for a number of projects and has contributed her energy and insights to many local and national library initiatives. Virginia unfailingly sets and exceeds high standards for herself, leading her colleagues in efforts to adjust services so that they nurture, rather than complicate, our patrons’ research experience. She has contributed to many, many projects and programs, but I’d like to highlight just a few. A longtime leader of Cornell’s Digital Reference Services, especially chat and cooperative chat, Virginia is also an active member of the Ask Us 24/7 Cooperative for New York State, the OCLC Chat/Question Point Academic Cooperative, and a member of the American Library Association’s RUSA Reference Services Section Executive Committee. A pillar of the Citation Management Committee (and also on the RefWorks Advisory Board), Virginia teaches and advises countless patrons on a variety of citation management tools and solutions.
Virginia has achieved outstanding results in outreach to academic patrons as well as to alumni. She teaches over fifty instruction sessions a year—a remarkable achievement—including workshops, course-related sessions, and seminars, through which she reaches hundreds of Cornell students and shares with them her passion for research, especially on topics relating to Medieval Studies and History. As a member of the recent Liaison Strategic Task Force, she advised on a range of issues associated with academic outreach, but she has also extended services to alumni through genealogy workshops as well as through her leadership of the Alumni Outreach Task Force. Finally, I’d like to list a particularly noteworthy aspect of Virginia’s outreach achievements: as a moving force behind the Humanities PhD Immersion Program, Virginia has brought her experience as a librarian and a former humanities doctoral student (she holds a PhD in History) to bear in developing and implementing an effective instruction program that was profoundly useful to grad students. Please join her colleagues in Research & Learning Services in congratulating Virginia on her well-deserved promotion to Librarian. (Susette Newberry)
Rich Entlich, Scholarly Resources
Congratulations to Rich Entlich on his well earned and deserved promotion to Librarian. I have worked with him on several projects over the years including the development of the KMODDL project. I have had the opportunity to work much more closely with him since 2010 when he moved to the Scholarly Resources division of the library as collection analyst and I have learned a lot from him in this relationship. In this position his work focuses on analysis and reporting on data related to library resources and their use, with an emphasis on collaboration within Borrow Direct and 2CUL. During this time he has done numerous and valuable collection analysis projects for selectors. A major contribution was extensive data analysis he carried out that underlies the 2010 Print Collection Usage report: Kizer Walker, Richard Entlich, et al., Report of the Collection Development Executive Committee Task Force on Print Collection Usage.
Rich has had a long and varied career with the Cornell Library system, beginning in 1977 when he was a student employee in the Physical Sciences Library. In the mid-80s, he was a member of the intrepid recon team that converted much of the Q-T portion of the card catalog. Rich received his MLS from Syracuse in 1990 after completing an internship in the Technical Services unit at Mann Library, and then worked for eight years at Mann, first as a systems analyst on the CORE (Chemistry Online Retrieval Experiment) Project, and then as preservation librarian. During this period, Rich also worked on the Making of America, Core Historical Literature of Agriculture, and TEEAL (The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library) projects.
After a short period away from the library, Rich returned to CUL in 1999 as part of the Preservation and Conservation Dept in Olin where he focused on research, training, and publishing. He was an instructor in the department's NEH-funded digital imaging and digital preservation workshops, co-authored the related web tutorials, and was a regular contributor to RLG DigiNews. He also co-authored a major report for CLIR on e-journal preservation - see E-Journal Archiving Metes and Bounds: A Survey of the Landscape (2006), by Anne R. Kenney, Richard Entlich, Peter B. Hirtle, Nancy Y. McGovern, and Ellie L. Buckley (HTML and PDF with commentary at clir.org). During this time, Rich was a co-recipient of the LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology and the Society of American Archivists Preservation Publication Award. In 2010, after a few years in the Research & Assessment Unit, Rich moved to his current position as Collection Analyst in Collection Development.
In another collaborative context, Rich has decade-long ties to the South Central Regional Library Council and currently serves as CUL's representative to its Board of Trustees. The Council recognized his contributions by granting him its Spirit Award in 2011.
I look forward to working with Rich as more and more of our work relies on decision making based on data. (John M. Saylor)
Archivist
Laurent Ferri, Rare & Manuscript Collections
Laurent Ferri with
sexpert and Cornell friend
Susie Bright
Laurent Ferri’s well-deserved promotion to full librarian/archivist this year is the culmination of many years of creative and dedicated service. His energy, intelligence, and curiosity have been an asset to the Library and the campus since his initial 2007 appointment as RMC’s “French Collections” curator. Laurent now works not only as one of RMC’s primary curators, with a special expertise in pre-1800 holdings, but his scholarship and academic excellence have been recognized by multiple units of the College of Arts and Sciences, where he serves as a member of the Cornell Graduate School (in the field of Medieval Studies), as Acting Director of the French Studies Program (of which he has been in charge multiple times!) and, this semester, as a co-teacher of a course on Latin Paleography. He is also a frequent guest curator at the Johnson Museum of Art and serves as an active Fellow of Alice Cook House.
Laurent’s teaching sessions with RMC’s rare and unique artifacts win consistent raves from faculty and students alike, and his creative collection building activities have brought interesting new materials to the Library, ranging from an 18th century sharkskin binding, to medieval manuscript leaves, to his personal passion: a collection of 61 movie posters about witches and witchcraft, augmenting the Library’s internationally renowned Witchcraft Collection. His colleagues appreciate him for his humor and many skills, not the least of which are singing, dancing, waffle-making. It is a pleasure to congratulate Laurent on his promotion. (Katherine Reagan)
Associate Librarian
Kaila Bussert, Research & Learning Services
Kaila Bussert has made quite a mark on Cornell and on the profession since she arrived at Ithaca in 2007, and brings a standard of excellence to all aspects of her job. Kaila is universally respected by her colleagues, and is especially noted for her innovative ideas for answering reference and instruction challenges and ability to forecast patron research needs, particularly on the topics of social media and visual resources. She has very skillfully combined her interests and expertise in information literacy and visual resources through groundbreaking work on the ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. With three other members of an ACRL task force, she co-authored—virtually from scratch—a set of competency standards and obtained ACRL board approval for this first nationally-recognized set of standards for visual literacy. Her contributions to this significant initiative positioned Cornell at the forefront of visual and information literacy, and realized an important milestone in CUL’s objective to “build informational literacy programs to achieve college learning outcomes.” This work has led to several publishing and presentation opportunities that have been positively received.
At Cornell, Kaila has provided inspired and thoughtful leadership as co-chair of the Visual Resources Working Group for several years, especially encouraging and guiding the growth of public services support for visual resources across the disciplines. She has also sought opportunities for extending reference and instruction services as past co-chair of the Reference and Outreach Committee and as current chair of the Instruction Committee. Well attuned to outreach opportunities, she has successfully built a visual resources consultation service for faculty and students seeking research and instruction assistance in a wide variety of disciplines. Likewise, Kaila’s flexibility and keen observations have made her an effective liaison to the Fulbright Program and Institute for Social Sciences. Please join her colleagues in Research & Learning Services in congratulating Kaila on her well-deserved promotion to Associate Librarian. (Susette Newberry)
Tracey Snyder, LTS Cataloging
Tracey Snyder joined the Cornell University Library staff in August 2010, after serving as a music cataloger at the University of Chicago Library for four years. Tracey’s move to Ithaca was actually a return, since she earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Clarinet Performance and Music Education at Ithaca College, before moving on to the University of Limerick (Ireland) for her MA in Ethnomusicology and Indiana University for her MA in Musicology and Master of Library Science degrees. Tracey is
Assistant Music Librarian and LTS Music Cataloging Coordinator.
Given the broad scope of her assignment, Tracey has done an exemplary job of integrating multiple facets of librarianship – selection, cataloging, bibliographic instruction, and reference – into a coherent and dynamic library persona. In this context, she has demonstrated a seemingly effortless flexibility of intellect and action. As the AV selector for the Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance, Tracey displays an astute knowledge of Department of Music needs. As a cataloger, Tracey played an important role as co-chair of Cornell’s RDA Training Committee, a group that was instrumental in preparing CUL to roll out the complex, new cataloging standard on April 1st. As Assistant Music Librarian, Tracey has maintained the Music Library Web site and provided bibliographic instruction, LibGuides, and tours for a number of music courses. She is also taking part in the long-time Cornell tradition of national-level participation and leadership in the Music Library Association (MLA), represents MLA on ALA’s Cataloging Committee: Description and Access (CC:DA), and has been an active participant in the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG).
Finally, as everyone who has worked with her knows, Tracey is friendly, enthusiastic, witty, and charming – qualities that enrich her role as an academic ambassador for LTS, the Music Library, and CUL, both within and beyond Cornell. Congratulations to Tracey Snyder for her well-deserved promotion! (Jim LeBlanc)
Associate Archivist
Randall Miles, HLM Library
Randall has been Technical Services Archivist at the Kheel Center since 2007, and in his time at Cornell, he has proven to be a great contributor and colleague. Randall's responsibilities as Technical Services Archivist include planning and supervising archival processing, creating EAD guides to the Kheel Center's collections, accessioning new collections, and managing the Center’s secure stacks and archival supplies.
The centerpiece of Randall's many accomplishments is his development of an integrated database to manage and report on all of these technical functions at the Kheel Center. The Kheel Integrated Database (KIDB) streamlines the work from the moment a collection comes in the door to the moment a researcher opens a box in the reading room.
Randall's development of this and related tools and workflows have been critical part to advancing the Kheel Center's work. Thanks in very large part to Randall’s contributions, the elimination of our processing backlog is well in sight; we are able to easily analyze both strengths and gaps in our holdings; and staff can easily manage special projects.
In anticipation of and since the formation of the Hospitality, Labor and Management (HLM) Library, Randall's talents in the areas of workflow development, project management, and computer programming have been a great service to departments beyond the Kheel Center. Whether the task related to collections management, logistics, or anything else, Randall has worked diligently to help ensure the team’s success.
In addition to his responsibilities at the Kheel Center and the HLM Library, Randall has been of service to CUL and the archival profession. Randall has served on the Economic Status of Librarians Committee and Fuerst Award Committee, as well as the Metadata Working Group and the Usability Group.
Randall has presented at regional and national conferences and published in Cod4Lib Journal. Since January 2011, he has maintained The Programmable Archivist, a blog with tips for archivists looking to automate technical processes in archives—visitors to his blog come from 57 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
Please join me in congratulating Randall Miles on his promotion to Associate Archivist. We are lucky to have him here! (Cheryl Beredo)
Senior Assistant Librarian
Gaby Castro Gessner, Library Research
After eight years at Olin Library as an information assistant and specialist, Gaby became our research and assessment analyst in Assessment and Communication in 2010. She works with a wide range of unit libraries, departments, and committees to help them answer questions related to user needs and patterns. She uses her qualitative research skills and knowledge of library data to help refine the clients’ thinking about their needs and to design and execute user studies using best fit strategies. She enjoys the variety and fast pace of her job where she gets to mix big picture thinking with detailed expertise. She is an anthropologist and archeologist by training, so observing people and drawing conclusions about them from evidence is a great fit for her.
Gaby has been very active in other aspects of assessment work, too. She has co-chaired the Usability Committee and has been championing an assessment angle to CUL’s instruction program. She has several publications and presentations at major national library conferences such as ACRL and ARL Assessment. She is also a regularly invited guest lecturer for CU’s Anth 2455: Real World Anthropology.
Besides library assessment Gaby also keeps up her scholarship in archeology publishing and presenting widely. She has received grants to fund her archeological field work in Turkmenistan’s Kahkha Province.
Gaby is the ultimate team player who is game for lots of new ideas, including being the guinea pig for our new LibScope staff profile series (and see below also). And as anyone who has worked with her knows, she has a great sense of humor and is a pleasure to work with.
Congratulations, Gaby, on your well-deserved promotion! (Zsuzsa Koltay)
LibeScope
Library Communications recently created a new series for the Library home page called LibeScope. The series, which features staff from units across campus, introduces patrons to some of the talented people who work in the Library through a question and answer format. Its tagline says, In this LibeScope series, interviews with library staff reveal their skills, talents, interests and backgrounds. Three staff have been featured to date. See below for the teaser question and click on the link for the full interview.
What do a librarian and an air traffic controller have in common?
Who he is: Ken Bolton, research librarian at the School of Hotel Administration.
What he does: A little bit of everything. Reference, teaching, outreach, collection development, and anything else that might come up.
For the entire interview see here.
Seeing an outsider's perspective through the eyes of a librarian / anthropologist...
Who she is: Gabriela Castro Gessner, research and assessment analyst.
What she does: I evaluate our library services so that we can constantly improve to make sure we’re doing the best we can for our users. I’m the qualitative voice in our Research & Assessment Unit — I interview and observe people, I run focus groups, I do a lot of looking at context and interpreting and analyzing.
For the entire interview see here.
Can YOU do your job in four different languages?
Who she is: Apikanya (“M”) McCarty, original cataloger.
Original catalogers provide detailed descriptions of library resources using international standards, so that people can find them when they’re searching in the Library’s online catalog or on the web.
What she does: My area is Southeast Asian collections, so I catalog materials in three different languages from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
For the entire interview see here.
Technical Services Corner: E-Resources Troubleshooting
Liisa Mobley
Several years ago, when I first started to work with electronic resources, I used to think of e-resource problems as being just like those creepy crawly creatures you find when you pick up a rock. Strangely fascinating, but the first urge is to put the rock right back down! They might bite! Over the years, though, the creepy crawlies have become not so strange, but still fascinating.
In recent years, we’ve been able to introduce more staff to the wonders of e-resources troubleshooting. As most staff, including myself, were originally involved with handling print materials in tech services, it takes a bit of time to adjust to the e-resources terrain. Troubleshooting embraces a whole different set of concepts for e-resources -- licensing, complicated acquisition models, openURLs, PURLs, EZproxy, authentication, IP addresses, platform changes, and on and on -- all the things which can break along the way to a patron getting access.
We never know what kinds of problems are going to arise. We hope that “please clear your cache and cookies” is enough advice to get the patron on their way. However, it may turn out that a publisher just migrated all of their products to a new platform and the process didn’t turn out well, so the old URLs don’t re-direct to the new site, our holdings aren’t correct, our EZproxy setup stops working for off-campus access, and openURLs linking from databases or Summon start to break, and fun and joy (a.k.a. chaos) ensue. Or, maybe the resource is a database we’ve never used before, and we don’t really know how it is supposed to be used, but we’ll try to figure out, and we hope we are using the resource correctly to be able to test access issues.
If your eyes have glazed over at this point from all the details, don’t feel bad, it happens to most people. Since there is so much to learn, it takes at least a couple of years to become comfortable with the concepts. Even then, learning continues, as technology changes every few minutes. Expect some chaos!
And, because there is so much to learn, we can’t possibly learn it all, and we rely on the knowledge of our colleagues to help. In the e-resources unit, four of us have regular “LIBIT shifts” -- monitoring LIBIT and the other problem reporting email lists: Sally Lockwood, Heather Shipman (our most recent member), Rebecca Utz, and I. Jesse Koennecke, our supervisor, gets asked all kinds of questions, as do Jim Spear -- for ebooks, Deb Warfield -- for serials payments, and Bill Kara -- for all the knowledge he has accumulated over the years. Outside of our department, we rely on the inestimable Amy Blumenthal, who gets all of the “Amy questions” -- remote access, weird EZproxy stuff, and others. But, the list goes on: Peter Martinez takes care of openURL problems, among other things, Gary Branch helps us with batch processing questions, Pam Stansbury helps with cataloging questions, and several other people in LTS, reference staff, and many others in the Library help us every day (and my apologies if I have left out any names!). And, of course, the latest additions are our 2CUL partners at Columbia, who will be helping us to tame the wild world of e-resources.
People in LTS
Xin Li and Boaz Nadav-Manes
“When everything is going smoothly, which is 99.9% of the time, the unit is so great at doing everything so seamlessly, you don’t always notice it.”
Like sunset and sunrise, the technical services department has always been there.
It is big, it is nimble, it moves fast. How fast? 95,000 volumes, 92,000 e-journals, 903,000 e-books, $17 million dollars a year fast!
Who are the people behind this big operation? How did they come to LTS? Why do they stay? Do they like their jobs? What do others think of what they do?
We decided to slow time down for just a little to find answers to these questions. We began a project called “People in LTS” which is aimed at honoring the staff. It is an interview project that is completely voluntary and open to all LTS staff members, as well as staff who are not working in LTS but would like to share their thoughts. The 5-7 minute long interviews tell stories and perspectives that are often unknown. (Boaz Nadav-Manes above right)
To listen to an interview go to the LTS website: http://lts.library.cornell.edu/peopleproject/arroyo
To discover which interview questions we ask see here: https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/peoplelts/Interview+Questions
To find out more about this project go here: https://confluence.cornell.edu/x/nIp4Cw
Our hope is to add new interviews gradually. We welcome volunteers! If you are interested, please contact Laurie Stevens, Pedro Arroyo, or Cynthia Rich.
Welcome
Jackie Beal is the new HR Generalist in Library Human Resource. Jackie has broad experience across Cornell University. She has previously worked in a variety of roles in the University’s HR office, as Project Coordinator / Administrator in Planning Design & Construction, HR Manager for Facilities Administration, and Administrative Manager for Cornell Plantations. Jackie has a good track record of building collaborative and effective working relationships with many staff across the university and is looking forward to meeting and working with staff throughout the Libraries.
Jason Edwards is the new Assistant Coordinator of Course Reserves in O/K/U Access Services. Jason previously worked as a graphic designer and Art Director for Portosa Studios where he worked on a long-term design and administration project for Disney Cruise Lines. Jason holds a BFA in Art & Design from Grand Valley State University.
Hannah Marshall is the new Art History Image Cataloger in LTS Cataloging. Hannah holds a BA in Art History from The University of California at Irvine and an MLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to coming to Cornell, Hannah worked in New York City as a research intern for the Artifex Press. Hannah’s primary responsibility will be the creation of original metadata records for art history visual resources in conjunction with imaging services provided by CUL’s Digital Consulting & Production Services (DCAPS).
Devin Sanera is the new Instructional Technology Coordinator in Research & Learning Services. Prior to coming to Cornell, Devin worked as a Technical Support Specialist at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and as Student Manager at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Devin has a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems, with dual economics and philosophy minors, from RIT. He enjoys working with students, as well as supporting faculty and staff with their technical needs. (Photograph by Carla DeMello)
Carissa Vogel is the new Assistant Director for Research & Instruction at the Law Library. Carissa is responsible for coordinating the research portion of lawyering, overseeing reference, faculty liaison and outreach services. Carissa comes to Cornell from Columbia Law School’s Diamond Library where she was most recently Head of Public Services and Lecturer in Law. Carissa spent several years in practice in California before deciding to become an academic law librarian. She holds an MLIS from the University of Washington, a JD from the University of New Hampshire, and a BA from the University of California – Berkeley. Carissa taught first-year legal research courses, legal research for LLM students, sections of Advanced Legal Research, and Prepare to Practice sessions on Intellectual Property legal research in her previous position at Columbia Law School. She has been published in several library publications and is an active member of AALL, the American Association of Law Librarians. (Photograph by Chris O'Hara)
Transfers/Promotions
John Cline has transferred from Mann Library to CUL-IT and has been promoted to Web Programmer/Developer. John spent the past 11 years at Mann Library where he maintained the USDA statistics site and the AgCensus system, among many other projects. Since last summer, John has been an important member of the Discovery and Access implementation team, helping to implement the "Blacklight catalog." Prior to coming to Cornell, John worked as a software engineer at Lockheed-Martin.
Troy Shaver has been promoted to Coordinator of Course Reserves in O/K/U Access Services. He brings with him seven years of experience working for the library system—congratulations, Troy!
Congratulations
Please join me in congratulating Bonna Boettcher who was honored this past weekend with the Music Library Association's MLA Citation. This award is the Association's tribute for lifetime achievement (just like the Academy Awards!) and is given in recognition of distinguished service to music librarianship over the course of a career.
In exquisite calligraphy, the award praises Bonna for her leadership and her mentorship to music librarians and to the MLA. It acknowledges her organizational skills and her commitment to helping the organization grow and adapt. It praises her kind words, helpful advice, and scholarly activities. I've attached a copy of the citation so you can read the tribute that her MLA colleagues gave. Congratulations, Bonna, on making it "a profession that we all love a little bit more because of her." ( Janet McCue, message to CU-LIB 03/04/13; photograph by Carla DeMello)
Congratulations to
Tony Cosgrave (OKU reference) and Matt Connolly (CUL-IT) who contributed a chapter to the following book that was just published:
Mobile Library Services: Best Practices, Edited by Charles Harmon and Michael Messina (Scarecrow Press, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2013). Tony and Matt's work is the lead chapter and is titled:
“A Student-Library Collaboration to Create CULite: An iPhone App for the Cornell University Library.”
The publisher's description of the monograph reads:
"Just as Andrew Carnegie’s support changed the landscape of public libraries in America, Apple’s launch of the iPhone on June 29, 2007 forever altered how people expected to interact with services. Libraries, like every other kind of organization, must now make their services—not just their catalogs—
available on an array of mobile devices. Mobile Library Services provides 11 proven ways to reach out to mobile users and increase your library’s relevance to their day-to-day lives. Librarians detail how they created mobile apps to how they went mobile on a shoestring budget. Written by public, academic, and special librarians, these 11 best practices offer models for libraries of every type and size." (Tony Cosgrave above right, photograph by Carla DeMello; Matt Connolly above left)
I am delighted to announce that our new fundraising publication, Why Give to the Library, won Honorable Mention at the ALA Best of Show PR Xchange competition in the print fundraising material category. The need for the publication was articulated by Jennifer Sawyer. The general concept of the interactive wheel popped out of the extremely creative brain of Carla DeMello who was also the designer of the piece. 
The content was partially written by Gwen Glazer and partially selected by Eveline Ferretti from quotes submitted by users during the “got words” raffle run by RAU and the faculty petition for the collections.The beautiful printing job that makes the piece such an engaging and addictively tactile experience was done by Callahan Digital Printing of Binghamton. Congratulations to all on winning this prestigious award! (Zsuzsa Koltay; Carla DeMello above left, standing beside one of the heads placed in Olin Library's facade, Eveline Ferretti above right, and Gwen Glazer below)
Webinar: Managing Research Data – From Goals to Reality
14 May from 11-12 PM EST (UTC 15:00-16:00)
Join a dialog between Sally Rumsey, Digital Research Librarian at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, and Wendy Kozlowski, Science Data and Metadata Librarian at Cornell, on how they are managing research data—the raw output of research investigations, not the resulting reports. Both will provide the context in which they are handling research data, their goals, current activities and plans, with demonstrations of the systems they are developing. Participants who are also managing research data are invited to chime in on how they are addressing the issues Sally and Wendy raise, or if you aren’t yet, ask questions of those who are. OCLC Program Officer Karen Smith Yoshimura will provide an overview of OCLC research activities in various aspects of dataset curation and will facilitate the discussion. For more information contact Wendy Kozlowski (wak57).
Nominations for the 2013 Outstanding Performance Award for Library Staff
It is time once again to nominate your most deserving employee(s) or group of employees for the 2013 Outstanding Performance Award for Library Staff. To be eligible, the employee must be a regular, non-academic full-time or part-time member of the library staff.
Through the generosity of the Boissonnas family, we have been able to establish an endowment for an annual CUL Outstanding Performance Award. The award of up to $1,000 may be in the form of cash, or financial support for professional travel or training opportunities.
To nominate an individual employee or group of employees, please answer the questions on the nomination form detailing the accomplishments of the employee or group. The nomination form is available at: http://www.library.cornell.edu/Adminops/libhumres/outstanding.html. You may also wish to include a cover letter. Do not include separate letters of support unless they add substantively to the nomination.
The selection of the winner(s) will be based on the information provided on the nomination form. Please be sure to address the criteria when writing the nominations. While there is no minimum length of service required, special consideration will be given to long-term employees.
Nominations must be submitted by Friday, May 10, 2013. Your nominations should be addressed to me in care of Lyndsi Prignon, Director of Library Human Resources in 213 Olin Library. The winner(s) will be notified in early June and will receive the award at the annual CUL Service Awards ceremony.
Many thanks, Anne
Out & About
On February 13, 2013, the Library of Congress unveiled "The Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Plan," a blueprint for saving America’s recorded sound heritage for future generations. Bonna Boettcher and Peter Hirtle served on two of the contributing task forces that helped prepare the report.
Dianne Dietrich, along with Gail Steinhart, recently presented a panel at ACRL: "Coming to an Understanding: A Cross-Institutional Examination of Assessments of Data Curation Needs."
On February 14, 2013, Peter Hirtle was one of the speakers in the University of Oxford’s Cultural Heritage Forum series. Peter was part of a panel on “What is cultural heritage law?” A podcast of the talk (and the other talks in the forum series) is available here. See below for a screen capture from the video.
Sarah How, European Studies Librarian, Research & Learning Services, received a Luigi Einaudi Chair Innovation Grant from the Cornell Institute for European Studies. She will use her grant money to travel to Paris next month, where she will attend the Salon du Livre, France’s International/Francophone/French publishing exposition and research the administration of contemporary political imagery collections in French libraries.
2CUL Technical Services were extensively represented at this year’s Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference in Austin, Texas. Jesse Koennecke, E-Resources Librarian and Head of the LTS E-Resources Unit, was an ubiquitous podium and panel presence. As featured speaker, or co-presenting with colleagues from both Cornell and Columbia, Jesse participated in no less than four sessions! In “MOOCs and Libraries: Massively Open Online Courses or Maybe Others Ought to Create,” Jesse spoke about how libraries can and should be part of the planning and implementation of MOOCs. Along with Columbia’s Colleen Major and Cornell’s Boaz Nadav-Manes, Director of LTS Acquisitions and Automated Technical Services, Jesse participated in another panel on “Extreme E-Resource Endeavors: From PDA to POOF! to Interface Management and More …,” in which the speakers gave a set of lightning talks on how the 2CUL partners are looking for ways to manage emerging e-resource user needs. With Columbia’s Susan Marcin, Jesse talked about the ongoing development of best practices for the management of streaming video collections at Columbia and Cornell University Libraries in a session playfully called “I Stream, You Stream: The Growth of Streaming Video Collection and Developing Ways to Manage Them.” Finally, along with Susan Marcin, LTS E-Resources Coordinator Liisa Mobley, and Boaz Nadav-Manes, Jesse participated in a panel called “You Got a Problem with That? We’re Working on a Solution: The Future of E-Resource Management and Troubleshooting in a Unified 2CUL Context.”
LTS Science Data & Metadata Librarian, Wendy Kozlowski, gave a poster presentation entitled “The Electronic Lab Notebook: Piloting a Research Data Management Tool at Cornell University” at Columbia’s Research Data Symposium on February 27th. The symposium was hosted by Columbia’s Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, its Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering, and Elsevier. In her presentation, Wendy spoke about the complexities and evolving nature of maintaining laboratory records in the digital age and the pilot project in which Cornell is currently engaged to support the clear and consistent documentation required for tracking, sharing, and reproducing scientific research.
Jim LeBlanc’s article, “The Ass Dreams of Shaun’s Bottomless Heart: Shakespeare and the Dream-Work in Finnegans Wake 403-407,” appears in the newly published collection, Renascent Joyce (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2013), pp. 81-89. This essay is a revised and expanded version of a talk Jim gave at the XXI International James Joyce Symposium at the Université François-Rabelais in Tours, France in 2008. Jim also presented a paper entitled “Two (More) Words for Joyce” at the 18th Irregular Miami J’yce Birthday Conference, sponsored by the University of Miami in early February. Jim is the Director of Library Technical Services.
Leah McEwen has recently co-edited the book: Special Issues in Data Management; ACS Symposium Series Volume 1110 (DOI: 10.1021/bk-2012-1110).
For three days in February, February 18-20, Oya Y. Rieger participated in the SPARC Japan workshop in Tokyo to discuss the sustainability implications of open access information systems.
Insights for Managers from Confucius to Gandhi, co-authored by Don Schnedeker, has been picked up by Books 24x7! Don’s book is now available on SkillSoft’s on-demand platform designed to bring trusted industry knowledge to workers in today’s business environment.
Natalie Sheridan (directly above) has recently completed the Office Professionals Certificate Course offered here at Cornell University.
Tracey Snyder, Assistant Music Librarian and Music Cataloging Coordinator, gave an “RDA Lightning Talk” at the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG) Annual Meeting in San Jose, California in late February. The next day she served as one of the coordinators and instructors for a continuing education workshop entitled “Hit the Ground Running! RDA Training for Music Catalogers”, co-sponsored by MOUG and by the Music Library Association in conjunction with that organization’s 82nd Annual Meeting. 
This workshop aimed to provide music catalogers with essential training for RDA resource description and access points, as well as a hands-on opportunity for participants to catalog music resources using RDA and receive immediate feedback from the instructors. In consultation with her colleagues, Tracey is also continuing to develop the LibGuide that she created to accompany the workshop.
Jill Wilson’s article “Ultimate Outreach: Exploring the Outreach Sea within the Engineering, Math and Physical Sciences Libraries at Cornell University” was published in Science and Technology Libraries; 32:1.
Anne Kenney introduces the keynote speaker, Lynette Chappell-Williams
Career Development Week 2013 was structured around themed days which included: Personal Research & Development; HR Issues; Technology, Initiatives & Tools; Departments & Innovations; and Research & Collections. Twenty-four sessions were held across campus at Mann, Olin, and Kroch. Presentations can be found here.
The keynote address kicked off the week with Associate Vice President for Inclusion and Workforce Diversity, Lynette Chappell-Williams speaking on diversity initiatives across the campus and encouraging all attendees to make one small change towards creating an inclusive environment. For the first time ever, select sessions were offered via Webex for remote staff and those unable to attend in person. While audiences ranged in size, everyone was engaged, asking numerous questions and offering feedback. It was inspiring that so many came out to support fellow library staff and hear not only what they are currently working on but also discover their interests outside the library. Despite the cold weather and the wintry conditions, the Career Development Committee felt the week was a success and looks forward to next year. (Jessica Withers and Katie Dowgiewicz)
CUL: A New Perspective; from left Dan Blackaby, Aliqae Geraci, Marsha Taichman
Poster session, LILAC: An overview of the Library Instruction Leadership Academy; from left
Tom Ottaviano, Sarah Young
Being a Virtual Staff Member;
from left Xin Li, Andy Goldman; on screen Neely Tang and also Gwen Glazer
Announcements
From: Anne R. Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Tue 2/5/2013
Subject: Take One: February 5, 2013 (Open Letter to Faculty)
Today, we sent this letter to all faculty providing updates on our work. I wanted to share this with you—please let me know if faculty offer comments to you on its contents. As you can see, lots of things going on and as always major thanks for making it all possible. And special thanks to Communications and Assessment for drafting this letter. Have a healthy and productive week.
Dear colleagues,
At the start of the spring semester, I’d like to share some news with you.
The Faculty Senate will hold a faculty forum in search of a common vision for the future of research libraries....
Building our collections has continued to be our major priority....
Economic issues and the sustainability of how scholars and scientists communicate their research results have long been a concern for the academy....
I am very pleased to announce a three-year grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to take our innovative collaboration with Columbia University Library, 2CUL, to its next level....
Construction has started in Olin Library on a new graduate student area on the 5th floor....
For the entire letter see here.
***
From: Anne R. Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Tue 2/19/2013
Subject: Take One: February 18, 2013 (Judging and Being Judged)
I’m not sure whether you are following the case of a publisher suing a librarian for his negative comments about the quality of the publishers’ output. As reported in the February 8 edition of Inside Higher Ed, Edwin Mellen Press is charging librarian Dale Askey and his current employer (McMaster University) with libel and claiming damages of over $4M. The case is bizarre on a number of fronts.
For the fascinating details see here.
***
From: Anne R. Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Wed 2/20/2013
Subject: Update on 2CUL Phase 2
As you know, we recently announced a three-year, $350,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will enable the integration of technical services functions at the Columbia and Cornell University Libraries. This project represents the primary focus of the next phase of the 2CUL collaboration, a partnership through which our two libraries are making a long-term commitment to pool our capacities to address the current and evolving needs of the students and scholars we support.
While the new Mellon funding covers technical services integration activities, co-managed by Kate Harcourt, Director of Original and Special Materials Cataloging at Columbia University Library, and Jim LeBlanc, the scope of our ongoing work is much broader. We have seven additional goals that we aim to accomplish over the next three years:
1. Secure a sustainable institutional commitment to the 2CUL partnership.
2. Develop and embrace comprehensive strategies for collection building, resource sharing and discovery, digital preservation, global partnerships, and emerging services.
3. Select, co-purchase, and implement a joint library management system.
4. Mainstream 2CUL activities beyond technical services integration.
5. Ensure support for 2CUL by faculty and students.
6. Enable budgetary transparency on behalf of 2CUL.
7. Assess and implement additional partnership arrangements with other institutions on behalf of 2CUL.
For the next steps and the entire update see here.
***
From: Anne Richardson Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Mon 3/25/2013
Subject: Take One: March 25, 2013 (Final Reports for Priority Objective Teams Now Available)
I’m pleased to announce that the reports for the priority objective teams to advance the Library’s Strategic Plan, 2010-2012, are now available, along with LEG’s responses and recommendations at http://staffweb.library.cornell.edu/node/3637. I wanted to take a moment specifically to thank the groups for their wonderful work over the last couple of years. Some of their recommendations have already been implemented or are underway; others will be mainstreamed into the appropriate groups’ work. I’d also like to update you on the first objective over the past two years, which is “ Return the Library to its position among the top ten academic institutions in the Association of Research Libraries in terms of collections support. Seek increased allocations from the University, reallocate resources internally, and pursue external funding from donors, foundations, and others to support a vital and outstanding collection.” This is an ongoing effort, which will take us through the Sesquicentennial of Cornell in 2015. You may recall that there is a campaign for collections for $15M that is a part of our overall campaign to raise $60M for the library. This $15M goal is a shared one between the Library ($7.75M) and the schools and colleges ($7.25). To date, the library has raised $3.15M or nearly 41% of our goal. The various schools and colleges are also working to secure support for the library and are engaged with alumni who have the potential and an interest in the library. We are also very pleased to have secured co-chairs for this campaign and I’ll be meeting with one of them this week to lay out a strategy for the next several years of fund-raising. Jennifer Sawyer has kept me busy meeting with potential donors (23 such visits year to date with more planned) and there are several proposals for significant gifts in process. Meanwhile, we are seeking increased support for the collections budget for the coming fiscal years. The consolidated budget model is complicating this landscape but Lee Cartmill and I remain cautiously optimistic that our budget requests will bear fruit. In the coming months I’ll share more information on the budget and our fund-raising efforts.
Have a healthy and productive week.
***
From:
Mary Beth Martini-Lyons
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Thu 3/28/2013
Subject:
D&A Update: Staff Beta Available NOW
The Discovery & Access Implementation Team has been hard at work since July developing a prototype of a customizable next generation catalogue interface intended to combine the best of the Classic Catalog and World Cat Local, and serve as the user interface for any new Library Management System we deploy, such as ALMA.
The new catalog includes a simple, intuitive interface and faceted browsing which allows users to refine results by filtering for various attributes, such as online resources, library location, language and more, as well as relevancy ranked search results and better integration with our various delivery services.
As the project is in active development, there exist a number of known bugs and issues. More information on these issues can be found here: https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/disacc/Blacklight+Catalog+Release+Notes In particular, the advanced search feature is currently being refined to provide more accurate results, and we are working on some issues of navigating between simple and advanced search. The team will continue working on the interface, providing periodic updated releases, but we are interested in your feedback now. Please follow this link: https://search.library.cornell.edu to try out the new catalog interface, and write to us at cul-dafeedback-l@list.cornell.edu or use the feedback link from within the catalog interface to let us know what you think. We’re interested in learning about issues you discover, as well as what you like and don’t like.
The Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of many of our colleagues, who graciously offered their time, expertise and insight to inform this project. We will continue to rely on you, the CUL community, to provide feedback and input as we strive to make our catalog better.
On behalf of the Discovery & Access Implementation Team,
Mary Beth Martini-Lyons, Maureen Morris & Adam Smith Co-chairs
***
From: Jim LeBlanc
To: CATALOGERS-L
Sent: Mon 4/1/2013
Subject: RDA Implementation at Cornell: Update
I am pleased to announce that we have completed our BIBCO review with Robert Maxwell. We are now a fully approved RDA PCC library for books, as well as for NACO work in all formats. We should also be using RDA routinely for serials, but await CONSER review before we can code serial records as PCC. Tracey informs me that we are also now using RDA routinely for music scores. So, here’s an updated statement of our general policy for RDA cataloging as of today, RDA Day One:
- RDA is now the default for all original cataloging of newly received print monographs and serials, including PCC BIBCO work, and for original cataloging of music scores
- RDA is required for all NACO work
- RDA is optional for original cataloging in other formats (e.g. videorecordings, sound recordings, microforms, maps, e-resources).
- Accept RDA copy, but do not “upgrade” AACR2 copy to RDA
Thanks to everyone who had in hand in the planning, training, reviewing, and learning involved in making Cornell an RDA library.
Editor's note: Kaleidoscope will feature the story behind this major implementation in a future issue of the newsletter. Stay tuned!
***
From: Anne Richardson Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Mon 4/8/2013
Subject: Take One: April 8, 2013 (National Library Week)
Next week the US will celebrate National Library Week, which the American Library Association has sponsored since 1958. This year’s theme is “Communities matter at your library.” Certainly we could highlight the Cornell community and its commitment and use of the libraries on campus. But I’d like to highlight the theme of communities by focusing on our own community within the library. Each and every one of you who contribute to making CUL such an incredible place. Collectively and individually you help Cornellians and each other succeed, you nourish and inspire intellectual curiosity, you are leaders in innovation and collaboration, and all the time you remain accessible, knowledgeable, and approachable. I’m proud and honored to be part of this community, which clearly matters every day.
Tuesday, April 16 is National Library Worker’s Day, and today a card is being mailed to each of you. Later this month we will be holding an ice cream social, complete with toppings, to celebrate our community. Thank you for all that you do.
I’ll be on vacation beginning next week. Take One will return at the end of April.
Have a healthy and productive week.
***
Good-bye
Good-bye and good luck to
- Margaret Carleton, LTS - Acquisitions
- Angela Horne, HLM Library
- Judd Karlman, O/K/U Access Services
- Pat Schafer, Library Administrative Operations
- Deb Schmidle, Research & Learning Services
who recently left the Library.
Retirements
Pat Schafer, Administrative Operations
After 36 years at CUL, Pat Schafer retired in February. Over her three decades in the Library, Pat often quipped that she held the record for the most working titles, primarily representing management assignments in public services. These assignments gave her the opportunity to contribute to many notable Cornell initiatives. Although she will be very much missed, her colleagues wish her a long and happy retirement. (Photograph by Carla DeMello)
Deb Schmidle, Research & Learning Services
After 35 years at CUL, Deb Schmidle, the director of the Olin/Uris Research and Learning Services Department retired at the end of March.
Deb first joined CUL in March 1978 as a record inputter and card filer. She was soon promoted to Searcher I in the Catalog Department of Olin Library, but in 1979 she resigned to return to school. In 1980 she was hired for the Hotel re-cataloging project on a temporary basis, and in 1981 returned as a full-time Library Aide in the Physical Sciences Library. In 1982, she transferred to the Cataloging Department, where she worked until 1987, when she went back to school for her Master’s degree.
In 1988, Deb became the Senior Information Assistant in the reference department of Olin Library where she worked until 1995. Between 1995 and 1997, she worked for the Access Services Department after which she transferred to the ILR Library as a reference librarian for four years. After three years working in Albany, in 2004 she returned to Catherwood as a Collection Development Librarian. In 2006 Deb accepted the position of Social Sciences Coordinator in the Olin/Uris Collections, Reference, Instruction, and Outreach Department, and in 2008 she became the Director of the Department, which was re-named Research and Learning Services.
Kornelia Tancheva speaks at the retirement party; the gift for Deb has not yet been unveiled.
As must already be evident, Deb has worked not only in a number of CUL libraries, but also in a variety of functional units and areas. Just in the last four years, she has not only lead a department of 24 academic and non-academic staff, plus students, but also provided reference, instruction, and consultation services, selected in the area of economics, served as a liaison to the Department of Economics, and lead a number of system-wide initiatives and projects, such as chairing the Public Services Executive Committee (PSEC) and co-chairing the Discovery and Access Team.
There are many other things that I could point to as some of Deb’s greatest achievements in the years I have worked with her. But as I think about what the most significant one is from my perspective in the six years we have worked together, I invariably come to what I consider her greatest strength—that is, her people skills. She has worked extremely well with a very diverse group of colleagues, supervisors, and supervisees in order to fully understand the individual communication styles, values, and stakeholder interests of all of her colleagues. To this end, she has displayed steadfast patience, respect, and a collegial attitude, being ever mindful of the goal of serving the mission of CUL.
Deb Schmidle and Johanna Williams
It has not only been easy to work with Deb, it has been a real pleasure and as I look to the future, I can only hope that we will be able to find someone as dedicated, compassionate, and truly devoted to the Library as Deb. Let us all wish Deb a happy retirement, full of wonderful trips to far-away places, pursuit of her passion for and involvement in theatre, and many Oscar parties!
Jim LeBlanc and Kornelia Tancheva
Thank you for all your contributions to CUL, Deb! We will truly miss you! (Kornelia Tancheva)
Dear CUL,
Just a short note to extend my heartfelt thanks for the wonderful send-off last Thursday. When I first entered Olin Library as a card filer and inputter in what was then Catalog Maintenance, I had no idea either that I would end up spending the better part of 35 years at Cornell or that I would work in four different libraries and three different functional units. I was fortunate to make many lasting friendships at CUL throughout the years and, as I somewhat ineloquently expressed last week, in many ways my CUL colleagues feel more like family than work partners.
To the denizens of R&LS, you will be hearing from me separately, but I do want you to know that what I said at the staff meeting last week only reflected a fraction of my respect and gratitude to all of you.
I have my retiree ID and new parking pass, so you can be sure I will still be on campus!
Thanks again--see you in the stacks. Deb
In addition to a china teapot, Deb was presented with a framed reproduction of a work in the Map Collection (where Deb once worked): The Wonderground Map of London Town, by MacDonald “Max” Gill, 1914. The Underground Electric Railways Company of London commissioned MacDonald Gill to create a map of the London underground system. He created this masterpiece of pictorial cartography, which was so popular with the tube-traveling public that he went on to make six other maps for the company. Although not so well known as his older brother, typographer and printmaker Eric Gill, MacDonald “Max” Gill was a prolific and versatile graphic artist, calligrapher, illustrator, painter of murals, and of course, cartographer.
Farewell
Angela Horne, Hospitality, Labor, and Management Library
It is with very mixed feelings that I write to tell you that Angela will be leaving Cornell to be the new Head of the Rosenfeld Management Library at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. This is a prestigious position in one of the top 10 business libraries in the US and she will be following Rita Costello, a mentor of Angela’s who retired from the position a year ago. While we are excited for her to get this wonderful opportunity, clearly we are sad to be losing such a strong and vital part of the HLM Library.
Angela and I have worked closely together to develop the consolidation plan, shepherd it through a long approval process, and move it into implementation. In the process, I have learned much from her not only in the area of business and management librarianship, but in essential skills such as management and communications in the workplace. Her work leading our searches, bringing together our organizational development efforts, and leading the provision of our research support, instruction, collection development, and outreach has been outstanding. To a great degree, we have come together as an HLM Library due to her superb work.
Angela’s last day in the office will be March 6th and we will be hosting a going-away party for her in Sage Hall the morning of March 5th. More information to follow as we finalize the event. (Curtis Lyons)
Barbara Bartholomew with Janet McCue at the reception; Angela Horne is in the background.
Per Angela's request, there were no speeches, just a reception for colleagues to bid her farewell. Earlier her colleagues in the HLM Library had taken her to lunch and presented gifts including
essentials for life in Los Angeles
and a gift certificate to one of the many fine restaurants
she wanted to dine at. At the reception, in place of a guestbook, visitors wrote individual postcards to Angela which she will read when she gets to L.A.
Angela Horne with Elena MacGurn who came back to wish Angela well.
The reception in the Ramin Parlor included elegant food and a beautiful fresh-fruit-covered cake. The room was full of colleagues from libraries across campus as well as Johnson School faculty, including the dean of the
Johnson Graduate School of Management, Soumitra Dutta, who wrote this to the Johnson community: "Many of you know Angela as the responsive librarian, always welcoming the challenge of complex research or tracking down a particular manuscript, book, or fact. Yet she contributed a great deal more to the school, its faculty, and the thousands of MBA students who have passed through the Management Library during her time here. Angela planned and led the introduction of innovative library services and the integration of new technologies at Sage Hall. She created and taught seminars on using those tools and technologies, and for the first time, negotiated and launched access to some library services to Johnson alumni. In 2010, under Angela’s leadership, the Management Library received the prestigious Center of Excellence Service Award from the Special Libraries Association for the library's ability to adapt to changing user needs and its focus on the customer."
Maureen Morris, Linda Bryan who recently retired but came back for Angela's party, Angela Horne, and Patrizia Sione; Angela is already dreaming of California.
Projected on the wall during the reception was a slide show, created by Carla DeMello and Susan Kendrick, of Angela--but not over the years; rather, it was prospective and showed Angela in all her new haunts including Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles. It even showed her star on the Hollywood boulevard--who knew? We at Cornell knew and we are sad to see our star go. Best wishes to Angela as she heads to a new appointment and sunny climes. (Slides by Carla DeMello and Susan Kendrick; photographs by Susan Kendrick; food and flowers organized by Julie Dean; party invitation by Jessica Withers)
Obituaries
Elizabeth E. "Betty" Porteus, 1938 - 2013
Elizabeth E. “Betty” Porteus, 75, a long time resident of Dryden, NY died on March 28, 2013 at the Cayuga Medical Center at Ithaca. Betty was born March 21, 1938 in Greenport, NY and graduated from Dryden High School in 1955. She graduated from Central City Business Institute in Syracuse (CCBI) in 1957 with a certificate in Medical Secretarial Studies. Betty worked at Cornell for 44 years as a Collections Assistant in Reference in Olin/Uris Libraries. She witnessed many changes in the Library between 1957 when she first started and 2001 when she retired; indeed, in 1957 Olin Library had not yet been built. Those who worked with her remember her wit and great sense of humor.
A memorial service was held on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at The First Presbyterian Church of Dryden. Memorials in Betty's name may be made to the Dryden Ambulance Fund, P.O. Box 397, Dryden, NY 13053-0397, or to The First Presbyterian Church of Dryden (P.O. Box 42, Dryden, NY 13053-0042) where she sang in the choir for many years.
The Lighthearted Library: Cartoons by Betsy Elswit
Below is the cartoon we left you with in February and the captions sent in by your co-workers. After them you will find another new cartoon waiting for your insight and sense of humor. (Photograph of Betsy Elswit by Shirley Cowles)
Haven't you finished the new issue of Exterminators' Weekly yet? (Jim Spear)
Well, I still like snail mail and print newspapers. (Ada Albright)
Don't believe everything you read. (Keith Jenkins)
You're from an incredibly advanced civilization and you still prefer paper? (Jeff Petersen)
You won't be feeling so comfortable when you get to the article on pesticides. (Elizabeth Teskey)
Sorry, but the Space Aliens Reading Room is downstairs. (Margaret Nichols)
Sorry, but as the sign says, 5-legged giant snails in the library must be accompanied by a shell. (Margaret Nichols)
Didn't they ask you to wear gloves? I don't have time to wipe slimy prints when re-shelving materials. (Elizabeth Teskey)
And here is the new one:
Credits: Kaleidoscope is published bi-monthly except June and July
by Cornell University Library. Editor: Elizabeth Teskey, Layout: Carla DeMello and Jenn Colt-Demaree
