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August 2008In this issue:Service Awards 2008 Service Awards 200846 Years
Nancy Dean, Rare and Manuscript Collections Nancy has worked in the Cornell University Library for forty-six years, first in the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives and now in its successor, the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC). Throughout the years, Nancy most enjoyed helping patrons to use the unique materials in the library. She takes particular pride on being one of the first staff members honored with a Staff Outstanding Performance Award. Generations of researchers have appreciated her patience, experience, and knowledge. Although her specialty is genealogy and local history, she quickly became adept at providing basic reference service for the whole range of collections represented in RMC. She worked closely with individual researchers of all levels of expertise, from students to experienced scholars. She conducted workshops for various groups on using Cornell’s extensive genealogical resources, and she enthusiastically participated in describing the treasures of our collections during our annual Reunion “show-and-tell.” She assisted curators in doing research and assembling materials for exhibits and other special projects, and her knowledge of the collections and her years of experience made her an invaluable resource to all of her colleagues. Nancy was also active in Library activities. For many years she served as our United Way representative and helped with library picnics and other events. Most of all, Nancy is one of the nicest people we know. We were sad to see Nancy retire in June of this year, but we know that, after forty-six years of work, she richly deserves the break. She will continue to live in Jacksonville and has many plans for the future. We will miss seeing her every day, but we will definitely be keeping in touch with her! Eli Brown 45 Years Linda Petro, LTS E-Resources and Serials Management Linda was hired in 1963 into a temporary position to type catalog cards. Her talent for accuracy was recognized quickly, and she was offered a permanent position proofreading master catalog cards to be duplicated for the card catalog. All those catalog cards have now been converted to online records. Linda watched with mixed feelings over the years as the cards were discarded, but the online records still represent all the books and serials received during that time. Linda transferred to be the department secretary in the Serials Department, where she was not only responsible for secretarial duties, but also for many of the functional responsibilities of the department. Linda is the most conscientious, dependable person I have worked with. Linda's long experience and knowledge of publishing practices and record keeping for serials is invaluable. Linda's high accuracy of work is much appreciated. Linda is most diligent in her work--the records she works with are highly accurate. She still enjoys all the challenges of record keeping for serial publications. Linda, in her free time, enjoys reading the many mystery novels she borrows from the library. Linda also enjoys traveling throughout the United States. She has visited many states. Congratulations on forty-five years of service to the Cornell community! Elizabeth Perenyi 40 Years
Joan Brink, Preservation and Collection Maintenance, Conservation Joan has been working at CUL for the past forty years. Joan began her career in the Serials and Binding Department. When the Department of Preservation and Conservation was created in 1985, she became a key member of that unit. Her position has evolved and she is currently the Conservation Liaison. In this role, Joan is responsible for surveying and tracking materials from the Rare collections prior to treatment in the conservation lab. She also manages the environmental monitoring system, maintains the departmental databases, and orders the wide variety of supplies for the department. We all rely on Joani’s outstanding organizational talent to assist the department in our work. Her institutional memory is a great asset. Joan is willing to tackle any assignment given to her and maintains a positive attitude. When she is not at work, Joani loves to garden, raise her shelties, renovate her home, and spend time with her family. Barbara B. Eden Elizabeth Perenyi, LTS E-Resources and Serials Management Elizabeth Perenyi was initially hired for a three-month temporary appointment at the end of 1967 to help reduce a serials ordering backlog. There is no longer a serials ordering backlog, but now forty years later Elizabeth is still ordering serials for CUL, but she is also doing much much more. In her first twenty years at Cornell Elizabeth was involved in nearly every aspect of maintaining the serials collections, including serving six years as a serials cataloger. For the last twenty years she has supervised serials staff both in the "old" Central Technical Services and in the "new" Library Technical Services. She is currently the Serials Unit Supervisor in the E-Resources & Serials Management Unit. Her extensive knowledge of numerous accounts, procedures, and policies and her persistence in dealing with publishers and vendors on myriad acquisitions issues are invaluable. During the last several years she has increasingly been involved in e-journal ordering and account maintenance as CUL has moved towards e-access or e-only access to journals in its collections. Elizabeth contributes significantly to keeping the serials collections vital and up-to-date. Elizabeth's contributions to LTS and CUL were highlighted in the winter 2007 issue of Backstory. Bill Kara Will Parker, Fine Arts Library Will Parker has worked at Cornell for forty years. Attempting to summarize a career that spans four decades is an awesome responsibility, particularly when considering these historic years . . . the late 1960s through the early 2000s. Will has witnessed remarkable social and cultural changes on this campus (and indeed throughout the world), often from the stacks of Olin, Uris, Kroch, or the Fine Arts Libraries. During these years, Will has shelved and kept orderly hundreds of thousands of volumes, so that our patrons can locate and engage their thinking with CUL’s holdings; his is a service driven life. A rough estimate follows. Let’s imagine that Will is able to shelve, trace, pull, shift, and/or pack 200 volumes a day: that turns into 1000 books a week . . . times . . . 48 weeks a year (he gets a vacation now and then) . . . times . . . 40 years. This equals 1,920,000 volumes that Will has personally handled. Another way to look at it is that Will has personally shelved 25% of Cornell’s holdings! It’s amazing. Will has many interests and is known throughout the region for his love and collection of Georgian music and his passion for and ability to produce model railroads. I am not able to fully convey the depth of Will’s interest in and achievements regarding his activity in these areas. I do know, however, that his friendships are deep and his talent is strong. Will is easy to talk with and he enjoys sharing his interests in music and railroading. I encourage anyone with similar interests to become acquainted with Will. His years of experience, practice, and study are certain to add to your knowledge of these subjects. Cornell has benefited from forty years of Will’s dedication, service, and personal touch. He knows the library inside out. His observations of patron browsing practices and borrowing trends are insightful, his time in the stacks well spent. Thank you, Will. Martha Walker 35 Years
Helen Hamilton, ILR Catherwood Library Helen began working at Olin Library in 1961 and was here for several years. After a brief hiatus to start a family, she returned to Cornell in 1973, this time at Catherwood Library. She has now been at the Catherwood Library for thirty-five years and in that time has made an indelible mark on both the library and the ILR School itself. At the library, she does many jobs such as filing looseleaf services, responding to interlibrary loan requests, and many other duties. Her true value, however, lies in her interactions with her colleagues both at the Catherwood Library and with the faculty, staff, and students of the ILR School. She is an incredibly valuable resource to all of these groups both for her institutional knowledge and her pleasant attitude. She can often be found at the front desk offering a cheerful "good morning" as staff and patrons enter the library. Helen has also been the ILR Staff Association Sunshine Person for quite some time. Helen has been especially valuable to me as I have made my way through my first year here. She has offered a great deal of information on the history of the library and the school as well as the people in it. I often will rely on Helen's knowledge to bring myself up to speed about how things have been done in the time she has been here, and truly appreciate all she has done for me, as she has done for so many others whether they were faculty, staff, or students. Christian Miller John Saylor, Engineering Library After thirty-five years John Saylor continues to lead his colleagues courageously and creatively into the future. John came to Cornell in January of 1973. With the exception of a six-month stint in Mann Library in 1980, some time off to build his house, and a few years concentrating on the National Science Digital Library, John has been making major contributions to the Engineering Library. In 1987, after a short time as acting director, he became director of the Engineering Library. In 1998, John served as acting associate university librarian for engineering, mathematics, and physical sciences. In 1999, he integrated the Engineering Library and College of Engineering computer instruction laboratories to create the Academic Computing Center in the Engineering Library (ACCEL). John was Director of Collection Development for the National Science Digital Library, an NSF grant on which he was co-PI. He was PI on the NSDL grant for Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library (KMODDL). While he was working on NSDL and KMODDL John retained collection development responsibilities for engineering and computer science materials. He was co-PI on several other grants including Synthesis: National Engineering Education Delivery System (NEEDS) from 1990 to1995. John pioneered a number of CUL digital projects including an early open access computer science technical reports database. He has served on the library advisory boards of several publishers and is in demand as a speaker. As Interim AUL for Scholarly Communications and Collections, John has worked hard to integrate the two directions. He has moved our scholarly communications agenda forward by expanding eCommons@Cornell, establishing a campus-wide group to discuss scholarly communications, attending meetings of faculty to discuss publication practices, and mentoring many of his colleagues. We are fortunate that John has been willing to lend his considerable expertise in these areas and to represent us so effectively at the national level. In 2007, the Engineering Libraries Division of the American Society for Engineering Education presented John with the prestigious Homer I. Bernhardt Distinguished Service Award. The awards committee cited John’s leadership in engineering librarianship, his pioneering work in advancing the cause of digital libraries and open access initiatives, and his record of presentation, collaboration, and publishing. John is busy in his time away from the library as well. He is an active member of the High Noon Athletic Club. He also plays guitar and provides vocals for the popular local swing, blues, rock, and rockabilly group, The Purple Valley. Jean Poland Marijo Wilson, LTS Cataloging Marijo started her CUL career at the Veterinary Library when typewriters, power erasers, and 3 x 5 index cards were among catalogers’ primary tools. In 1976, she moved to Mann Library, which remains her primary work location. During her long tenure at Cornell, Marijo has accumulated great experience as a cataloger, working with all formats, training a large number of staff members, and keeping current with the latest tools of the trade. Marijo has seen the coming (and going) of RLIN, NOTIS, and even the power eraser. Throughout all the changes, she has remained a steadfast resource for her colleagues and a treasure trove of institutional knowledge and history. Marijo has had a strong interest in ergonomics issues and has given presentations on that topic in professional forums. She has also been involved in the planning of the offices for Library Technical Services at Mann and on the Mann building committee. Since the integration of Technical Services in 2005, Marijo has assisted in a cataloging quality control project and has worked part of the week in Olin cataloging materials for other libraries on campus. Marijo’s good humor and easy-going manner, along with her vast experience, make her as welcome a presence in Olin as she has been at Mann for decades. David Banush 30 Years
Yen Bui, LTS Cataloging Yen is the original cataloger of Vietnamese and Burmese materials, but her contributions to the department are much broader than that. Yen is willing and anxious to help out whenever and wherever her Vietnamese expertise is needed. She answers requests from other libraries (such as the Vietnam National Library in Hanoi) and, since the Echols Collection is an internationally renowned collection, helps researchers and graduate students the world over work with the Vietnamese-language sources of the Echols Collection. Closer to home, she works generously with Echols and CTS Acquisitions whenever her Vietnamese language skills are necessary, sorting out invoices, inputting questions, etc. She also spends a good part of her own vacation in Vietnam each year buying Vietnamese-language items for the collection. We tease her that she only has herself to blame when the cataloging of these items piles up on her! Pam Stansbury Susan Cobb, Preservation and Collection Maintenance, Commercial Binding Susie supervises the Commercial Binding and Preparations unit for CUL. Susie has spent her career at Cornell processing serials and she can quickly recite the binding history of many of the titles. Susie is well-liked by all of her colleagues. Her staff is very dedicated and this is confirmed by their longevity in their positions. Susie has a large and close-knit family. Almost every weekend there is either a birthday party or a family celebration. She is an excellent cook and baker and is active in her church. Barbara B. Eden Janet Gillespie, Law Library Janet Gillespie epitomizes the long-term employee at Cornell who makes this institution so incredibly effective. She carries so much history and knowledge in her head and heart that it is difficult to imagine the Law Library without her. Janet is the Access Services Supervisor, supervising circulation, reserves, document delivery, and the stacks. As a member of the professional staff, she also serves on the Research Team and provides regular reference assistance to students, faculty, and others who come to the Reference Desk. With her history Master’s degree, Janet has been interested in the history of Myron Taylor Hall which houses the law school. She identified and collected materials on the recent occasion of the 75th anniversary of the building, which went into an exhibit and a Web page of the school’s history. She has also been identifying “medium rare” volumes in the stacks which need extra protection. But don’t be fooled into thinking that Janet is primarily a quiet historian in the stacks. She is a people person extraordinaire! Janet thrives on meeting the new bunch of students and faculty who arrive each fall. And she is always full of great ideas on how to make their work here easier and more pleasant. After thirty years of meeting all the newcomers, she represents the Law Library well as a friendly face in the Reading Room to all our students, faculty, and other guests who keep Cornell the successful enterprise that she loves. Pat Court Rosemary Saikkonen, LTS E-Resources and Serials Management Rosemarie joined the Serials Department, Central Technical Services on November 10, 1977. During the past 30 years, Rosemarie pretty much held the same position, but the responsibilities of her position kept changing and evolving throughout the years. The most recent change was the Technical Services integration in 2005, when Rosemarie moved from Olin Library to Mann Library, along with other staff members, to join the technical services staff at Mann Library to create the new E-Resources and Serials Management Unit. In her daily activities, Rosemarie receives periodicals and serial publications and claims missed and overdue issues, but her primary responsibility is posting the charges for a large number of invoices for the many periodicals and serial publications received in all libraries on campus, except for the Law Library. Rosemarie truly enjoys this aspect of her position; she is the happiest when she is working on the large renewal invoices at the end and beginning of the year. Her wealth of knowledge and expertise in serials processing is immeasurable and truly appreciated. Rosemarie truly is a team player and has a delightful sense of humor. We can always count on Rosemarie to make occasions special. She makes delicious cakes for celebrating birthdays. Our unit feels that we have our very own "cake lady." Rosemarie and her husband, Dan, spend much of their leisure time dancing. Dan and Rosemarie have demonstrated their talent at several library events. The audience was very appreciative of the graceful dancing and the enjoyment they showed. Congratulations on thirty years of service, Rose. Elizabeth Perenyi Patricia Schafer, Public Services and Assessment Pat started her library career as a reference librarian at the Chicago Public Library after graduating from Columbia University’s School of Library Service in 1969. She moved back East in 1973, first working at SUNY at Oswego as a reference librarian and then as the director of a small public library outside of New York City before joining the Cornell staff in 1977. Over her three decades at CUL, Pat may hold the records for the most working titles (11), primarily representing management assignments in public services, and has had the opportunity to contribute to many notable Cornell initiatives. Asked for her most memorable, Pat listed the following:
Currently, Pat is in the midst of what she says is her “biggest and best” assignment, the renovation of Olin Library. Outside of work Pat has no interests and leads an empty life (this is a direct quote from her!). Anne Kenney 25 Years
Carla Bahn, Fine Arts Library In November 1982, Carla Bahn began her Cornell career working in technical services in Uris Library. Carla worked in Uris for twenty years, serving in both the reserves and student supervisor capacities. During the winter of 2002, Carla moved to the Fine Arts Library where she now oversees our reserves and billing operations. As well, Carla serves as the circulation supervisor, making certain that our circulation desk is staffed at all times and that our patrons are well-served. These are Carla’s official duties. Her unofficial duties include: birthday, get well soon, good bye and good luck, congratulations, and all-manner of greeting card selection for FAL staff and friends. (If card-selection were an Olympic sport, Carla would be on her way to Beijing right now!) Carla is also a wonderful baker. She collects cook books and loves to share delicious home-made treats with staff, particularly on special occasions. Finally, Carla seems to have a knack for finding the perfect animal or pet picture available on the internet to illustrate an encounter, mood, or predicament that could benefit from some levity. I know that I speak for all FAL staff when I say that Carla is a pleasure to work with. In addition to being thoughtful, kind, and considerate of her co-workers, her unique sense of humor and ability to make us laugh bring joy to our workplace. Martha Walker Jan Frantz, Database Management Services, Physical Processing It is a pleasure to work with Jan. Her cheerful attitude and warm personality make the workplace more pleasant. She is dedicated and hardworking. I can always rely on Jan to take the initiative to get the job done. Any task she undertakes will be completed with efficiency and accuracy. After many years of working in Physical Processing, Jan had the opportunity to learn inputting and fast cataloging. Although this task represents a small percentage of her duties, it created a challenge for Jan, who is excited about learning something new. Outside the library, Jan's home and family keep her busy. She enjoys shopping, sewing, and cooking (everyone loves her egg rolls!), and taking trips with her husband, George, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Maria. Debra Warfield Sue Hills, Law Library Sue has one of those “behind the scenes” library jobs. It’s a job that takes place largely outside the public view, but without which the Law Library would not be able to function. While perhaps not perceived as glamorous, receiving the mail, checking in materials, and keeping on top of claims are all essential parts of a library’s operation. At the Law Library, Sue is the person who has been performing these indispensable tasks for the past 25 years. Sue manages to keep tabs on hundreds of complicated legal publications, making sure the Library’s collection is kept up-to-date and properly bound, all the while maintaining her cheerful and cooperative demeanor. Her upbeat attitude and sense of humor help to make the Law Library a pleasant place to work. Sue’s exceptional organizational skills and mastery of logistics have made her the Law Library’s main social events coordinator, a role in which she excels! We are very pleased to congratulate Sue on her 25 years of service to the Law Library and Cornell. Jean Pajerek Linda Miller, Research and Assessment Linda was first hired as the Photocopy Service Assistant, GR-16, in April 1982. In her 90-day Probationary Review, her supervisor remarked: "[Linda] works well with the public. Learns quickly.... A very competent employee. Asks for work to do when completed tasks." The performance reviews that followed over the next 25 years all used the phrases like these to describe Linda: "Completed all assignments and frequently asked for more. Her work was accurate, thorough and she was very dependable.... She thinks about what she is doing and applies common sense and logic to her work…. Superb. Does outstanding amount of quality work." Those of us who work with Linda know that these descriptions are true. I've been Linda's direct supervisor since November 2006. This short period of time has been incredibly demanding for all team members of the Research and Assessment Unit, including Linda, because we were charged with a new mission and had to hit the ground running. Linda has been the person who shouldered the heaviest weight of data collection and reporting for CUL. She brings a quiet quality to our team. She is incredibly dedicated and dependable. There is no task that Linda has not delivered after having promised it. She is a quick learner. She values collaboration and goes the extra mile to make sure that colleagues' voices and concerns are heard and considered. Many of you know that Linda has the monumental task of producing the CUL Annual Statistics Report every year and meeting many data requests from various University offices and external agencies. But you may not know that Linda loves gardening and is an excellent nature photographer. Congratulations, Linda, and thank you! Xin Li Robin Shoemaker, JGSM Management Library Robin recently celebrated a remarkable 25 years of service. She has held a variety of positions in different departments, ranging from the University Registrar’s Office, to Olin Library, to the Management Library. In her current position at the Management Library, Robin handles all aspects of periodicals and also serves as network administrator. She has upgraded her computer skills over the years through workshops and other training opportunities; we’re glad to have her troubleshooting abilities when problems arise! When not busy at the Management Library, or helping her peers throughout the library system with tricky periodical problems, Robin enjoys spending time with her family, including her Boston Terriers, Stitch and Grace. Thank you, Robin, for all your contributions! Angela Horne Pam Stansbury, LTS Cataloging When Pam Stansbury began her full-time career at CUL as a member of the LC copy cataloging unit, Ronald Reagan was in his first term, NOTIS was a mere four years old, and if you had a radio-enabled Walkman, you may have heard Olivia Newton-John singing, “Let’s Get Physical”. Obviously, a few things have changed in the intervening years. But Pam’s good cheer, organizational skills, and problem-solving abilities have guided her through all of the many twists and turns her career has taken since she first began working for CUL as a student in the Wason collection. Pam is currently the supervisor of the Band E original catalogers in LTS Cataloging, a diverse and very talented group of staff who provide intellectual access to new resources in many formats and languages available to our users every day. Beyond coordinating their work, Pam has also been involved with several projects recently, including work on Find Databases clean-up and the E-Book Task Force. Well-known in LTS as a logistics ace she’s successfully coordinated more moves in 110 Olin than any person should have to. Pam has been tapped to lend her expertise to the Olin renovation team for space planning. Pam has been a longtime volunteer for the Tompkins County SPCA and is a frequent foster mom to homeless kittens and cats, where her supervisory and logistics skills are as invaluable as they are in the library. David Banush Angie Wagner, ILR Catherwood Library Angie Wagner began her Cornell University Library career back in 1983 working as a serials receiver for Debbie Moran at Olin Library. This was before NOTIS, requiring Angie to carefully enter everything into the venerable Kardex. After this came several years in monographic receiving, eventually graduating to the position of blanket order searcher in Olin Technical Services. In both positions, she reported to Mary Wesche. Angie became one of the earliest “FastCat” catalogers when that procedure was initially adopted by the system. In 1989, she moved over to Catherwood as a serials cataloger working with Chung Kim. Always eager to learn and accept more responsibility, Angie was a natural choice to head up circulation/reserves during one of our reorganizations at Catherwood in 2002. Her technical services knowledge, carried over into her new assignment, enabled Angie to do some of our processing (adds/withdrawals) in addition to oversight responsibility for Access Services. Flexibility is her middle name. Flexibility also implies a variety of other interests and that certainly describes Angie outside the library. She is an avid golfer and often serves as a volunteer for the Ladies Pro Golf Association (LPGA) tour when it comes to Elmira. In addition to golf, she enjoys working out as a boxer (with a particularly mean left jab) and kickboxing as well. She runs in marathons for the Leukemia foundation and has raised $3,700 to date for the cause. Gardening and quilting are also outlets for her leisure time when not teaching step classes and kickboxing at a gym in Cortland. Angie loves animals and stables two horses at her home in Groton, in addition to three dogs and a cat. For the moment, she is drawing the line on any more pets. However, Angie’s primary devotion (in addition to Catherwood, of course) is her family and especially her four grandchildren: Cameron 11, Alex 7, Jack, 7, and Cadie 6. Cornell is fortunate to have been able to keep someone with so much energy, talent, and flexibility for such a long time . . . and she does indeed get it all done. Congratulations go to Angie for this first 25 years of service at Cornell. Gordon T. Law, Jr. 20 Years
Mary Arsenault, Public Services and Assessment Mary came to Cornell in 1987. She was hired as an administrative aide at the International Students and Scholars Office. In spring of 1994, she became the administrative assistant in the Preservation/Conservation Department at the Library. Eight months into the job, Mary's contribution was already noted. Her then supervisor, John Dean, wrote in that year's performance review: "Because of the particular nature of the Department and its typically chaotic environment, it has taken Mary a little time to gain some familiarity with the variety of the systems ... the work that Mary has been doing in this area is a valuable contribution to the work of the entire Department." The years that followed were filled with changes on all fronts: funding changes, students and staff changes, space shortage, and reorganizations. Almost in every year's performance review, Mary's supervisor referred to change. One remark was quite representative: "The work of the Department continues to expand in both quantity and range.... Space in the office is a problem…. Mary must continuously re-arrange some of the office working areas to seat often impromptu meetings." Mary's job responsibilities increased every year. She advanced from C-level to E-level over the years. She has demonstrated remarkable ability to adapt to new challenges, acquire new job skills, learn new technology, and perform new job functions. Mary has a strong sense of commitment to her job. Conscientious, hardworking, reliable are the words that come to mind when I think about her. Being the Accounts Coordinator of the Public Services and Assessment, Mary's job responsibility requires her to interact with a wide range of library staff as well as colleagues beyond Cornell Library's and the University's walls. Mary is consistently professional. She is a quiet person, a wonderfully kind colleague. She loves horses and enjoys riding with her friends. Congratulations, Mary, and thank you for all your contributions to the Library! Xin Li Amy Blumenthal, DLIT Desktop Services Amy Blumenthal joined the Library as an Olin/ Kroch/ Uris (O/K/U) information reference assistant in January 1988, and later that year, additionally, became a collections assistant in the Wason Collection where she pressed into service her Cornell BA in Asian Studies and her Chinese language skills. She was afraid of computers and was sure she could never learn how to use them, but over time it became clear she was mistaken. Amy was the first staff member of the nascent Desktop Services (DLIT) group in 1999 and has played key roles as reflected in her most recent promotion this past January. Her service ethic and problem-solving acumen is legendary and her infectious drive to effectively and responsively serve both staff and patrons is reflected by twice being awarded the Outstanding Performance Award for Library Staff, as part of two distinctly different Library teams she's integral to: one in 2000 (along with two other Desktop Services staff) and the other in 2005 (along with three Library-wide Technical Problems Response Team colleagues). People regularly cite examples in which Amy goes "above and beyond" the call of duty and "the extra mile" for both our patrons and staff and we are very fortunate to have her as part of the Library family! Amy cherishes her cats Chester and Catsby, and has a passion for cats in general, as evident in her work area decorations and sometimes in her oft-fanciful attire. She is an avid bicycle rider but longs for more snow so she can enjoy her new snowshoes. Oliver Habicht Pamela Clearwater, Preservation and Collection Maintenance As a self-proclaimed “research junkie,” Pamela spends a lot of time reading, most often about the U.S. Civil War period or genealogy, although quite often a murder mystery or a good, old-fashioned, horror novel manages to slip in there just as frequently. She has been a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1997 as well as belonging to the Civil War Preservation Trust. She has been a re-enactor since 2001 and a member of the Civil War Heritage Foundation, a living history Civil War reenactment group, since 2003. When not reading, researching, or re-enacting, Pamela is also a published author with short stories, essays, and poetry appearing in several small press publications over the past ten years in the United States, England, and Australia, as well as having three erotica novels published since 2006. Currently she has donned her Agatha Christie guise and is working on her first, horror-inspired, murder mystery set in the fictionalized version of her hometown of Berkshire, N.Y. (All names have been changed to protect the innocent and/or guilty, of course.) Pamela is the proud mother of two teenage children, Devon and Aurora; step-mother to a seven-year-old, overly affectionate Siberian Husky named Clare; and to two guinea pigs named Nona and Mina. I have enjoyed working with Pam for the last twenty years. She works primarily on sending periodicals to the bindery, but is willing and able to help on any other projects. She has a wonderful sense of humor and isn't afraid to use it. Susan Cobb Roger Clearwater, Preservation and Collection Maintenance If you work in Olin Library and someone mentions Halloween, chances are good that an image of Roger Clearwater springs to mind. He could be dressed as a paper deliveryman, an eerie clown named Bobo, a seven foot tall alien, or that endearing elderly co-worker in support hose, Agnes Ingrid Dempsey. Roger’s good humor and friendly manner make him an excellent trainer. He has worked with interns and trainees from across the United States and around the world, building connections that allow him to convey the techniques of repairing and protecting the physical collections of libraries. Roger recently earned a well-deserved promotion to Book Repair Coordinator and Student Supervisor. He undertakes these responsibilities while continuing to refine his skills at the bench, treating rare materials. His interests outside of work are diverse. It is not unusual to check in with Roger on a Monday morning and discover that he has spent time with his teenage kids, rewired an antique light fixture, bought a broken down pump organ at an auction, and wallpapered his kitchen! Why Roger would want to pretend to be someone else is beyond me, but as long as he does it only once a year, that’s okay with me. Pat Fox Michelle Eastman, Library Administration Although Michelle is celebrating twenty years of service at Cornell, it came as a surprise to me that she has only had four years with us in the library. In the summer of 2004, Tom Hickerson had the good sense to hire Michelle into DLIT, and two summers later, Sarah Thomas snapped her up to serve in Library Administration where she serves as the Executive Staff Assistant to the University Librarian and the senior managers, and as office manager for Library Administration. She is currently providing invaluable staff support to the Olin Library Renovation Project. Michelle was first hired at Cornell University by the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, where she worked for sixteen years--first with the Program on Employment and Disability and then with the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies. Anne Kenney Laura Heisey, DLIT Desktop Services Laura Heisey started working at Cornell University in July 1987 and has spent her entire career in the Library. Her service to the Library was recognized in 2000 with CUL's Staff Outstanding Performance Award. For the past nine years Laura has been (and continues to be!) a valuable member of Library Desktop Services. In providing service for Library staff Laura wears many hats and none more important than her role as Desktop Services' public computers guru. Over the years she has overseen the deployment and maintenance of our 200+ public computers distributed across the Ithaca campus. Prior to joining Desktop Services in May 1999 Laura Heisey worked in Library Technical Services (LTS previously known as CTS). Laura is a collector of Depression-era, elegant glassware by A. H. Heisey (no known relation), and Victorian-era micromosaic jewelry. Laura is known to get weak in the knees over the cars at drag races. She recently sold her own beloved 1970 Stage 1 Buick GSX, though she maintains visitation rights. Peter Magnus Rick Lightbody, DLIT Desktop Services Rick Lightbody started working for the Cornell Library in 1987 as the Uris Library media assistant. He also coordinated the Library's lecture recording program. From 1987 until the program’s discontinuance in 1995, Rick oversaw the production of over 3000 audio recordings of campus lectures covering a great variety of topics and disciplines. In 1990, Rick was promoted to media supervisor and took on responsibility for overseeing the ongoing renovation of Uris Library Media facilities. He also was in charge of developing Uris's video collection and undertook a systematic expansion of its holdings of American and foreign film classics on video, finding innovative ways to stretch a very limited budget. He improved database access to information about the Media Department's holdings, and he helped implement some of the first Ethernet connectivity in Uris Library. In the mid-90s Rick's job began changing to officially include computer-related responsibilities, first for Uris Circulation and Media, then for the Access Services Division in Uris, Olin. and the Library Annex. Eventually, his office moved to Olin and he became the first full-time desktop computer support provider for Access Services. He also worked on some large and interesting projects. For example, he developed the first electronic document delivery system for the Annex. And he created a complex system of MS Access queries to generate statistical reports on the use of the Illiad interlibrary loan system. With the creation of IRIS (Instruction, Research, and Information Services), Rick became part of "TST", IRIS's Technology Support Team, and for a time he served as its coordinator. A few years later, Rick and his TST colleagues joined Desktop Services (DS) under the leadership of Oliver Habicht. Currently, in addition to working the DS help desk with his colleagues, Rick has primary responsibility for maintaining DS's staff computer "image" (standardized software configuration), for coordinating the systematized patching of computers, and for acting as DS's liaison to CIT regarding the campus-wide Active Directory. During his tenure with the Library, Rick was able to complete his bachelor’s degree in film studies. In his time away from work, he enjoys not only watching and discussing good films, but also dancing waltz, contra, swing, traditional ethnic, and many other dance forms, attending music concerts and festivals, hiking, and photography and nature study. Eventually he also hopes to return to his long-standing love of singing . . . but he hasn't figured out how to fit that back in yet. Peter Magnus Patricia E. Miller, Flower-Sprecher Veterinary Library During her twenty years in the Cornell University Library, Pat Miller has been a busy person and seen many changes across the system. Back in 1987 she was first hired as a technical services assistant in the Physical Sciences Library to receive and claim serials as well as prepare bindery, fill interlibrary loans, and staff the circulation desk. Pat then moved to Olin Library in 1990 as a searcher in Interlibrary Services. It was there that she learned a lot more about searching in NOTIS and handling ILL requests that prepared for her next position as Interlibrary Services assistant in Mann Library the following year. During her time at Mann Library between 1991 and 1998, Pat went on to eventually be in charge of managing the nine tiers of stacks with a crew of 40+ students. Further changes occurred when Pat became the Veterinary Library’s Circulation Supervisor in 1998. This involved managing the day-to-day activities of the Library and again supervising numerous student assistants. In the Veterinary Library, Pat also came back to her technical services roots in processing monographs, serials, and bindery for a short period. During this time, the Cornell Library migrated from NOTIS to Voyager. Her current responsibilities as reference assistant offers her further opportunities for providing public services to Cornell patrons, handling fee-based transactions for those outside the University as well as acquisitions, and gift searching as well as training students. Because Pat also holds an R.N. degree and has a genuine love of animals, she has been a team leader and a team member in the College of Veterinary Medicine program, “Cornell Companions”. This program brings pet dogs, cats, and other animals to visit nursing homes and other local health care facilities. She has volunteered in spay-neuter clinics in Schuyler County and is registered with Therapy Dogs Inc., and makes “one on one” visits with her dog Owen to various private homes and institutions. Pat’s varied career, positive service orientation, and versatility have given her a unique and broad perspective. It also points up the potential for growth and development across the Library, diversity within the community, and many opportunities for dedicated service along the way. Erla Heyns Laura Robert, Law Library As Stacks Supervisor at the Law Library, Laura has overseen the orderly arrangement of 700,000 books for twenty years. She has managed this with the assistance of the many student assistants she has trained and supervised. She has been an important part of the Access Services team, working at the circulation desk and helping with many of the services provided by this department to faculty and students. Laura takes a special interest in the Law students, often asking how they are doing along with providing them with the materials they need. She contributes to the friendly community atmosphere which is fostered in the Law Library. Laura has overseen many special projects, including the organization of the Supreme Court Records and Briefs. As is true of other members of the library staff, Laura's greatest contribution has been her interest in and attention to the students who have worked with her and the law student population. She is always ready to assist in any way she can. Her student assistants often let her know how and what they are doing in the years after they have graduated. Laura has also had a great involvement with students as an instructor in the Outdoor Education Department at Cornell. Laura and her students have prevailed over weather and terrain on many of Ithaca's trails on bike or on foot. She is an artist and a writer--one more CUL staff member who is multi-talented. Janet Gillespie Marty Schlabach, Frank A. Lee Library (Geneva) and Entomology Library The Great Gypsy Moth War, a book published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2005, gives a flavor of Marty’s career. This book which chronicles a 19th century campaign to eradicate the gypsy moth also introduces us to Marty. Robert Spear, like many other fans of Marty’s work, says: “My off-line research began at the Comstock Memorial Entomology Library at Cornell University where chief librarian, Marty Schlabach . . . welcomed me to the world of highly obscure publications of considerable age in stacks that rolled on wheels.” Marty has introduced many faculty and students to obscure publications that turned out to be very relevant to their research. He has fans from all over the world and many supporters in his own Cornell backyard where he is the director of the Lee Library at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) in Geneva as well as director of the Comstock Entomology Library in Ithaca. In his twenty years at Cornell, Marty has worked with several NYSAES directors and several different department chairs in Entomology. Each of them has been impressed by Marty’s dedication, professionalism, and intellect. In fact, one quip that former chair, Don Rutz, made several years ago is just as relevant today. He said that, “if John Henry and Anna Botsford Comstock had the opportunity to select the librarian to manage and care for their world class library, I am absolutely certain that Marty Schlabach would be their unanimous choice.” But Marty does not only focus on obscure publications related to gypsy moths. He is equally at home with obscure publications on the wine and grape industry in NYS. Working with staff from RMC, Marty and Mike Fordon (Public Services Assistant, Lee Library) have talked with viticulturalists, winemakers, oenophiles, and collectors to help gather the reports, letters, diaries, and memorabilia that document the story of grape growing and winemaking in the United States. The Archive celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2008 and Thomas Pinney, author of The History of Wine in America, acknowledged the importance of the Eastern Wine and Grape Archive when he visited recently. In his introduction to his book, Pinney also noted, “the most striking fact that I have learned in writing this book is how little is known about the subject. There is a history of winegrowing to be written for almost every state in the nation. . . . For the most part, the work remains undone.” Thanks to the efforts of staff to grow the Eastern Wine and Grape Archive, we will know a little more about this story, too. Marty is passionate about research and passionate about gardening. He was a founding member of the Organic Farming Association of New York and is an active member of the Finger Lakes Land Trust. Some time you might catch him on the dance floor where he is an excellent contra-dancer but just as frequently you might find him looking for an elusive bird or wildflower in the woods. It’s a pleasure to celebrate Marty’s 20th anniversary at Cornell and to celebrate his many accomplishments! Janet McCue Carol Snedeker, LTS E-Resources and Serials Management Carol joined Technical Services, the Serials Department in February 1988. Carol quickly learned the requirements for highly accurate serials record keeping, which includes receiving serials and claiming of missed and overdue issues. Her special assignment is to keep the claiming process running smoothly. She trains serials receiving staff the claiming process. The process has changed greatly over the years. Now that there is access to subscription agents, publishers, and organizations’ Websites, it no longer involves just sending a request. In addition to reviewing our own check-in records, staff is also doing the research on whether an issue has been published, is it really time to send a request, and to update our check-in records accordingly. Carol moved to Mann Library in 2005, along with many other staff members of the serials management team, following Library Technical Services integration. We appreciate Carol's dedication to doing a good job in everything she does. She is always ready to participate in special projects, and willing to learn new tasks. Carol has a friendly, easy-going personality, which made the integration that much more successful for the unit. Carol is involved in many community activities. She lends her support to Special Olympics events, and both facilitates and ensures that her daughter, Kelley, is able to attend as many activities as she would like. Congratulations on twenty years of service, Carol. Elizabeth Perenyi Scott Wicks, LTS Administration Scott has completed twenty years of his original three-year plan. Well, that’s how he tells it, anyway. It was a cold day in January . . . really, it was, when Scott interviewed at Cornell. We were about to implement the NOTIS system and we managed to steal him away from the University of Illinois at Chicago where he was already steeped in the NOTIS nomenclature. In the intervening years, he has always had a drive and focus for how to take technical services processing and make it better serve the users whose goals are to gain access to the content. He credits his focus on automated solutions to his first CUL mentor, Christian Boissonnas. “Christian encouraged me to focus on the desired outcome and not to get too caught up in why we couldn't achieve it. If you hear yourself saying ‘yes, but . . . ,’ then it’s time to stop to think how you CAN achieve your goal.” He likes to credit Karen Calhoun with helping him to consider the bigger picture and recalls his first assignment with her as they plotted out key stakeholders who could make or break a change in the existing workflows. Following on those two excellent teachers, he enrolled in one of Cornell’s MBA programs to put all he had learned into a more formal framework. But he says that it still boils down to focusing on the ultimate goal. Finding agreement on just what that is is what makes working at CUL so much fun. Anne Kenney Jane Ruth Wood, Mann Library When we received the invitation to the service awards ceremony, Jane Ruth exclaimed, “I never thought I would be here so long!" She vividly remembers when she started working as a part-time reference assistant at Mann Library twenty years ago. At that time, Mann was the proud owner of two computer terminals. Jane Ruth had no trouble learning how to use these “machines” as she was trained in programming during her high school biology teaching career. That was probably the most telling fact about Jane Ruth--she knows how to stay ahead in the game. She said that she learns at least one new thing every day at Mann. As library reference services reinvent themselves, Jane Ruth is enthralled with the challenges of change and looks forward to every new information resource. Jane Ruth brings her teaching experience to her position for which Mann library patrons are appreciative. We aim to provide our users the gourmet information experience. But Jane Ruth’s clientele get treated to a home cooked meal. Jane Ruth adds one delicious ingredient to her service--empathy. She has an inside track on the trials and tribulations of being a student. As a result, she knows how to put library users at ease with her compassionate manner. She remembers patron names, their individual needs, and when they return next time to the library; she retrieves deep knowledge of the users’ information needs and establishes long lasting relationships. Jane Ruth is the first person you are likely to meet in the mornings if you stroll into Mann. Don't be surprised if it becomes a habit for you to stop by the reference desk. Jane Ruth is a friend, confidante, and dependable colleague to many people who work at or use Mann Library. Their day often begins with Jane Ruth’s friendly greeting. And you know what? There is no better way to start your day. Baseema Banoo Krkoska 15 Years
Carole Atkinson, Asia Collections Carole Atkinson, Senior Information Assistant for the Asia Collections in Kroch Library, has been active in the Asia Collections since the 1992 opening of the Kroch Library. As part of her responsibility overseeing the Asia Reading Room, she maintains the reference collection, reading room periodicals and newspapers, supervises student assistants, and curates exhibits for the Reading Room such as the current exhibit on the Olympic Games in Asia. In 1996, Carole’s work expanded to include a newspaper microfilming project for the Echols Collection in Southeast Asia. Carole traveled the globe before settling down in Ithaca, N.Y. in 1989. As a child, she attended the “American School in Japan” (ASIJ) in Tokyo for elementary and junior high school. She then moved to Hawaii with her family to attend high school at the prestigious Punahou (some may recognize this as the same high school attended by Barack Obama). After spending one year at the University of Hawaii, she transferred to the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California (where she met her intended, Ross Atkinson). After graduating with a degree in German, she and Ross moved to Boston. During their third year in Boston, Ross was drafted in the Army during the Vietnam War (in the middle of his graduate work at Harvard University). It was during their three-year appointment in Germany that Carole found her first library job at HQUSAREUR (headquarters, United States Army, Europe, in Heidelberg). Here she processed interlibrary loans for material requests across the European Command (what she remembers most vividly is the large number of requests for information on the occupation of funeral directorship!). After returning to Boston, Carole and Ross welcomed their son Andy in 1976, while Carole worked at Harvard Law Library as the weekend circulation supervisor and in technical services. She also worked at the International Legal Studies Library at Harvard at the information and circulation desk. Following their tenure at Harvard, they moved to Evanston, Illinois where Carole worked for five years at the Evanston Public Library in the Art, Film & Music Department. It was here where she began attending Library School at the Northern Illinois University. When they moved to Iowa City, she continued her studies at the University of Iowa and received her degree in 1987, all while working at the Iowa City Public Library in the AV and reference departments. Their final stop was Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1989 where Carole has blessed us with her dedication and hard work in the Asia Collections for the last fifteen years. When questioned about her favorite aspect of her job, she immediately proclaimed “the people!” Her interactions with the staff in the Asia Collections as well as folks in other library departments are the source of her fulfillment as a Senior Information Assistant. In her free time, Carole is a frequenter of Fall Creek Cinemas and Cinemapolis, Gimme Coffee, and the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. And, in terms of her favorite memory of Cornell University Library over the last fifteen years, you will have to ask Carole directly (I was sworn to secrecy). All I will say is that it involves Slope Day! Wendy Wilcox Jon Corson-Rikert, Mann Library Jon Corson-Rikert has worked at Cornell for fifteen years. For the first half of his Cornell career, he was in the Program of Computer Graphics and for the second half, in Mann Library. I recently attended a meeting with Don Greenberg, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Graphics and Director of the Program of Computer Graphics. Professor Greenberg talked about the pivotal role Jon played in his program and how he valued Jon’s collaborative nature, deep commitment, and creative insights. These are qualities that we all admire in Jon. Prior to moving to Ithaca, Jon worked at Harvard University’s Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis. At Harvard, he supported an early mapping software application and also served as the project leader developing ROOTS, topological map digitizing and editing software. Jon brought all of this prior experience in computer mapping, graphics, relational databases, project management, and people skills to Mann Library in 2001. Jon’s accomplishments in the library are many. He led the design of CUGIR II (Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository); he developed e-Clips, a video clip collection on Entrepreneurship, Business, and Leadership; and he introduced us to VIVO. VIVO began as a life sciences portal but the VIVO concept is contagious. Jon used the same technology to develop the CALS Research portal and soon the provost’s office imagined VIVO as the university’s research portal. VIVO is all about relationships—semantic relationships and people relationships. Jon works closely with Brian Caruso and Brian Lowe to develop the technologies. He’s collaborated with the College Business Officers Group, CIT, and offices across the university to integrate systems and expand content. Steve Lutter, Assistant Director for Information Systems at CIT, praises “Jon’s leadership, collaborative style, professional demeanor, high energy, and stamina.... Jon writes well, presents complex ideas effectively to a variety of audiences, and interacts exceptionally well with college leaders.” Oya Rieger echoes these remarks and says that “Jon’s knowledge, experience and good insights, his cordial and collaborative style make him one of my most valued IT colleagues.” Several years ago, Jon established a primary goal for himself “to make ITS the best work environment for each individual.” As head of Mann Library’s Information Technology Services, Jon has a deep commitment to his staff and their professional development. He celebrates accomplishments and encourages collaboration. Jon has a wooden mantelpiece in his office and several pieces of art that he has sculpted. For me, the mantle and the art symbolize the creative and supportive environment that Jon has fostered. It is a pleasure honoring Jon’s fifteenth anniversary and I look forward to celebrating his twentieth! Janet McCue Rich Entlich, Research and Assessment If you've heard Rich introduce himself at a Library event, you'd know that he would say that he has been around the Cornell Libraries for a while now and has had a wide variety of jobs through the years. To name a few: he was a Data Editor, Senior Systems Analyst, Intern of Technical Services, Technical Projects Manger, Preservation Librarian and Full-Text Genre Specialist, Digital Projects Librarian, and most recently a Research and Assessment Librarian. Among his many accomplishments, the more recent ones are his RLG DigiNews FAQs and other topics published in the DigiNews. These received great recognition in the field and were frequently cited by key sites like Current Cites. Rich was a core member of the research team for Project Prism and has worked on Political Communications Web Archiving, File Format Media Migration Service, and other projects. When the Research and Assessment Unit was charged with a new mission in 2007 and its previous supervisor left Cornell, Rich managed to conclude all legacy work such as publishing the last issue of RLG DigiNews, completing the KMODDL white paper, and bringing the File Format Migration Service to closure. Rich is a dedicated employee and his work is always of very high quality and thoroughness. He is someone who will always lend a friendly hand to help. He has a particularly strong skill in assessing technologies. Rich can take on a tool that he has never used, pick it apart, study it, find all the intricate functionalities the tool has, and suggest the best use of it. Rich has a big heart for community service. He devotes a good portion of his time and energy to Babbage’s Basement of Ithaca, a program benefiting the Sciencenter. Rich is a loving father and is very devoted to his family. Thank you, Rich! Xin Li Caitlin Finlay, Interlibrary Services Caitlin Finlay joined Olin Interlibrary Services in 1993 after receiving her B.A. in Anthropology from the State University of New York, College at Purchase the previous year. Having mastered the various duties in the unit and contributed to seemingly countless programmatic enhancements and technology implementations over the years, Caitlin was a natural to assume the leadership of Olin ILS following the retirement of the longtime head of the unit, Julie Copenhagen, in 2007. Julie’s shoes were the proverbially “big ones” to fill, but to quote Julie at the time, “I feel I can retire confident that she will provide continuity to our very successful operation.” And, she has! Adaptability has been and will continue to be a critical skill for anyone interested in working in the resource sharing area both because of advances in technology, but also because of changes in policy and consortial agreements and/or operations. Caitlin and her staff will be affected by some exciting, but challenging potential initiatives this coming year: the likelihood of a new Borrow Direct system to implement and the potential for additional partners; the impact of CUL’s implementation of WorldCat Local with a likely increase in ILL requests; a possible move to free local document delivery; and, of course, the upcoming renovation of Olin Library. Fortunately, Caitlin has demonstrated on countless occasions over the years her ability to accept, indeed welcome, change. In addition to moving easily into the role of head of the unit, Caitlin ably represents ILS on pertinent committees. She is a valued member of the Get it! Team and PSEC’s Access Services Committee. She also serves on the SCRLC Resource Sharing Committee. Congratulations, Caitlin, on 15 years of service and a successful first year as head of Olin ILS. Now, enjoy that annual vacation to Maine you so look forward to every year! Pat Schafer Holly King, Frank A. Lee Library, Geneva Experiment Station Holly’s career at Cornell began fifteen years ago in the insect rearing lab of Professor Wendell Roelofs, in the Entomology Department at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva. From there she moved into the role of Accounts Representative for the Department of Entomology and later for the Department of Horticultural Sciences. In 2003, she was enticed to join Lee Library as a collections assistant. Her responsibilities are diverse, as is usually the case in a small library. Her tasks range from serials check-in to circulation coordinator to events management to accounts monitor and lots of responsibilities in between. She shares the day-to-day management of the library with Mike Fordon and handles any task that might emerge. Holly’s service attitude is very well suited to the library environment. She is constantly on-call, balancing her regular tasks with the needs of patrons. Her creativity and sense of craftsmanship are put to good use in displays, exhibits, and other visually-oriented endeavors. She brought with her substantial experience managing financial accounts, and that has been very beneficial to Lee Library. In addition to being a strong team player in the library, she has participated in many Station-wide events, projects, and committees. Bring a Child to Work Day, the Station’s 125th anniversary celebration, and Parrott Hall restoration efforts are just samples of her broader involvement. Though the library has not benefited directly from all fifteen years of her Cornell experience, we are delighted with her many contributions since she has joined Lee Library, and we look forward to many more. Marty Schlabach Jesse Koennecke, Mann Library As Head of Access Services in Mann Library Jesse provides leadership, direction, and vision for staff and students working in circulation, course reserves, interlibrary loan, document delivery, security systems, and stacks management. These past few years, Jesse has played a critical role in the Mann Library building renovation project as well. That we could get a certificate of occupancy for the building one day and be ready for service the next day is a strong testimony to Jesse’s commitment to excellent service. He was able to lead his staff through the entire move process without missing a service beat--his staff provided the same consistently excellent service to users of the library during this tumultuous time. Within the Cornell library system, Jesse is considered a leader and a collaborator. He has taken a leadership role in implementing several important programs on campus that significantly improved document delivery services. These include more efficient interlibrary services, such as Borrow Direct and RAPID, as well as enhanced document delivery to faculty offices. He also led the access services community in the transition to using Blackboard for the delivery of electronic reserves. Jesse has worked with colleagues, programmers, and vendors to improve interoperability among the various technical systems used by the library. His work on these teams required a strong understanding of the range of systems, an ability to communicate functional requirements, and perseverance and commitment to ensure a successful implementation. Jesse has a broad view of the profession and stays on top of the issues facing the access services community. Jesse has presented his work at the South Central Regional Library Council, Endeavor conferences, the Research Library Group Shares meeting, and at the Ivy+ Access Services Symposium. He has chaired conference committee planning groups and consulted with colleagues at other institutions. He is a member of the NYLINK Resource Sharing Summit Planning Committee, has been group president of the Endeavor Mid-Atlantic User’s Group, and planned and organized a regional conference for this organization. Jesse loves his profession and the challenges it presents; he respects his staff and the institution for which he works. Jesse is creative, intelligent, and hard working but he also has a great sense of humor and can put the challenges into perspective. Howard Raskin Gordon Law, ILR Catherwood Library It’s been fifteen years since Gordon Law came back to Cornell. From 1972 to 1983 Gordon served as Head of Information Services at Catherwood. Then he moved to West Lafayette, Indiana to become director of the Management and Economics Library at Purdue University. He returned to upstate New York to direct Catherwood Library in 1993. Gordon was part of the Catherwood team in 1977 when the effort began to obtain funding to renovate Ives Hall and construct the library. He missed much of the planning process but returned in time to direct completion of the work and to build the services of a very impressive library. Under Gordon’s leadership Catherwood has become an integral part of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations as well as an active partner in developing Cornell University Library services. Gordon has been accurately described as “persuasive, professional, and entrepreneurial.” He is also a visionary as evidenced by his early support of DigitalCommons@ILR and his recognition of the importance of library support to develop content. He has made it a priority to build relationships with ILR faculty, staff, and students as well as with alumni. This summer ILR celebrated one of Gordon’s many achievements, the naming of the directorship of Catherwood Library in honor of Harriet Morel Oxman, ILR class of 1948. His professional contributions are many. Gordon is also an exceptionally skilled woodworker. He is a music enthusiast who has attended many seasons of the Chicago Symphony. He celebrates that part of him that remains a Hoosier by attending the Indy 500 as often as he can. Thank you, Gordon, for returning to Cornell. Jean Poland Cindy Sweet, Mann Library Cindy Sweet joined the serials staff of the Albert R. Mann Library in 1992. Before beginning at CUL she worked for the Seneca Army Depot. Her position there included handling many accounting details. Her admirable ability to handle numerous details was certainly critical to her success in dealing with serials, their receipt, claiming, binding, and payments, at Cornell. Over the last fifteen years Cindy has increasingly been involved in nearly all aspects of serials work within Mann Library and then, following technical services integration in 2005, she was increasingly involved with campus-wide serials issues in her work in LTS. Since the late 1990s Cindy has also had an evolving role in accounting work within Mann Library. This work has continued to develop and beginning July 14, 2008 Cindy's primary assignment will be involving accounts work in the Mann Library Administrative Office. LTS, however, is very fortunate to keep Cindy and her excellent skills part-time even after this change in focus for her position. Bill Kara Terri Whitaker, JGSM Management Library Terri’s fifteen years at the Management Library have been marked with dedication to her job and community. In her role as Office Manager, Terri handles the ins and outs of our unit like a pro. She knows who to turn to in any situation and she helps keep our student staff on track during the daytime hours. Terri has enjoyed serving on committees outside our department, including event planning teams in the Johnson School. She is well-regarded by her peers as a contributor, someone who cares about her job and the people with whom she works. 2008 was a year of especial note for Terri as she was widely recognized for saving the life of a Johnson School student. She received many accolades for her courageous effort, including the Johnson School’s Dean’s Award which was handed out at the school’s June staff celebration. Terri somehow manages to juggle a busy job with her family, including two children who are involved in many extra curricular activities such as baseball and baton competitions. Thank you, Terri, for everything you do! Angela Horne 10 Years
David Banush, LTS Cataloging A decade with David . . . it’s hard to believe that David has been at CUL for ten years, but alas, the documents do not lie. His first assignment was as Technical Services Librarian and Manuscripts Cataloger at the ILR Library and Kheel Center. Working with such luminaries as Richard Strassberg and Gordon Law gave David early guidance for how to succeed in library business. While there, among other notable achievements, he managed their technical services migration from NOTIS to Voyager. For those of us in the know, we can appreciate what that task involved. In 2002, David joined the staff in what is now called Library Technical Services (LTS) as Head of Bibliographic Control Services (aka Cataloging). His first major assignment was to develop Cornell’s classification-on-receipt process that was to allow CUL to maintain a no-cataloging backlog operation. He and his staff completed the cataloging backlog in 2004. See the story here: http://www.library.cornell.edu/backstory/v1n2/addentr.htm#backlog. We are able to read the progression of the backlog’s demise because David conceived of and edited the LTS newsletter, Backstory. Through this medium, David has taken technical services topics and made them fun to read. In addition to his local writing contributions, he has penned a number of professional articles that have brought him both fame and flaming arrows from those who have strong emotional reactions to David’s rational examinations of cataloging theory and practice. If you haven’t already done so, I recommend you read them. On the fame side, David has been directly involved with the Library of Congress’s Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) since his initial appointment in 2001. Through his work with the PCC, David’s voice has been among those few looking at the broader picture of cataloging to help focus on maximizing international efforts that will support users’ needs for information discovery and retrieval. In this era of the Google and Amazon OPACs, the proliferation of full text and quasi-textual publications, and an international trend reflecting a shrinking of resources for traditional library services, it’s comforting to know that David is an active leader pointing the way to ensure that today’s and tomorrow’s users will find whatever they are looking for. Scott Wicks Ken Bolton, Nestle Library, School of Hotel Administration Ken began his career at Cornell as a weekend and evening supervisor in Olin and Uris libraries. While juggling work, school, and stay-at-home dad duties, Ken was able to earn a Master’s of Library Science degree from Syracuse University in 2001. After a brief stint as a Research Analyst in Cornell's Alumni Affairs and Development office, he returned to the library as a Reference Specialist at the Management Library in 2003. In January, 2008, we welcomed Ken as the new Public Services Librarian at the Nestle Library in the School of Hotel Administration. Ken lives in Ithaca with his wife, daughter, cat, and several coyotes. He is a big sports fan, both as a spectator and participant--including swimming, running, basketball, and racquetball. In his spare time, Ken creates book indexes. For more information, see www.boltonindexing.com. Don Schnedeker Virginia Cole, Collections, Reference, Instruction and Outreach I must confess I was surprised when I saw that Virginia has been at CUL for only ten years: she seems such an indispensable part of the system and has accomplished so much as a reference librarian, instructor, selector for Medieval Studies, and digital reference pioneer and leader, that it is hard to believe it has been only ten years. Her knowledge of history and medieval resources, including primary sources, is unsurpassed. Her reference expertise, as well as her success as a liaison to the Medieval Studies program, is underpinned by her Ph.D. in history, as well as by her continued research using historical sources. Her experiences as a reference librarian have enriched her knowledge of information sources throughout the humanities and social sciences and she has recently become the CRIO department's expert in genealogical research. Her liaison work with the History Department and the Medieval Studies Program is exemplary--no wonder she was recently specifically mentioned as one of the reasons a candidate accepted a job offer! A short list of the new initiatives that Virginia conceptualized, enthusiastically championed, and implemented in the last year only would be enough to show the extent of her contribution to our services. She was the driving force behind the library purchasing RefShare, a citation sharing component of RefWorks (which, coincidentally she also brought to Cornell in years past); she was instrumental in launching the Ask a Librarian Blog in January 2008; the launching of the pilot 24/7 reference cooperative service and in its subsequent assessment and approval on a permanent basis by PSEC; the launching of an IM reference component of QuestionPoint; and in introducing walk-in sessions for RefWorks and EndNote on Friday afternoons in Olin. Those of us who have worked with her know that Virginia's enthusiasm is contagious and that she has the ability to bring about change based on understanding the changes in our patrons' needs, work and research habits and practices, the changes in the information landscape in the research library of today, and the technology opportunities and challenges that underlie user services. And we also know that she never gives up on meeting the needs of our patrons, no matter how convoluted the research question she has been asked might be, or how impossible the navigation of the organizational approval process might appear. I like to say that when Virginia decided not to pursue a faculty teaching career in history, but instead to work in a library, history lost and the library world won! Congratulations, Virginia! Kornelia Tancheva Tom Cotton, Library Administrative Operations Tom Cotton began work at Cornell in 1997 in the Shipping and Receiving Department at Biotech. In 1998, Tom joined the staff in the Library Shipping and Receiving Department and quickly established himself as a valuable member of the team in that department. Because of Tom's special aptitude for building and facilities work and his “can do” attitude he was a perfect fit when he stepped into the position of Building Coordinator in 1999. One year later, he moved to his current position of Facilities Coordinator, where he quickly gained a vast knowledge of the complex mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems of Olin, Kroch, and Uris Libraries. Tom's ability to quickly and efficiently complete a project, no matter how big or small, is one of his greatest assets. As we look forward to the Olin renovation, it’s clear that Tom’s knowledge and skills will be invaluable. Tom is a member of the Unites States Navy Reserve, and in September 2007 he was ordered to active duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to Port Vessel Operations in Kuwait and assisted with the unloading and loading of 23 military vessels and the moving of upwards of 50,000 pieces of equipment. He returned to his position as Facilities Coordinator at the Library in July and we are all happy to have him back When Tom is not working at Cornell or fulfilling his military duty for the Navy, he volunteers with the Candor Fire Department and is an EMT with the Candor Emergency Squad. Phil Koons Julie Dean, ILR Catherwood Library December 3, 1997 was our lucky day. That was the day Julie Dean began her career at the Catherwood Library as a technical services assistant, splitting her time between the technical services unit and the director’s office. She assisted in the acquisition of serial publications for Catherwood’s collection, provided administrative assistance to our collection development librarian, and handled payment processing for all library materials, as well as other goods and services. Julie did not arrive at Catherwood with previous library experience, but it did not take her long to learn the ropes. Within a short time she mastered her responsibilities and strived to expand upon the knowledge she had gained. As her job evolved and she became more involved in the library’s administrative and financial areas, Julie’s title was changed to accounts representative, the title she holds today. Julie has seen many changes occur in both the CUL system and at the ILR School over the past ten years. However, change does not concern her. She fully understands that change is inevitable and effortlessly rolls with the flow. Besides being versatile, Julie brings fresh ideas and sound perspective to our organization. She is creative, but realistic; and when volunteers are needed, she is the first to offer her services. Julie has also instinctively become Catherwood’s events coordinator. She is so good at organizing and seeing to the details of events that we have come to rely heavily on her expertise in this area. One of Julie’s most admired accomplishments is her graduation from Tompkins-Cortland Community College with a liberal arts degree in 2005, while working full time and caring for her husband and three children. She is definitely an incredible role model to her children and others. Julie’s position responsibilities are changing once again with the retirement of her supervisor in July 2008. She has taken on added responsibilities and there is no doubt that she will continue to perform admirably. So congratulations, Julie, and may your next ten, twenty, or thirty years be as productive and satisfying as the last ten have been! Linda Young Peter Delacuadra, LTS Cataloging Peter joined the Inputting unit in the fall of 2000, after previous stints as a collections assistant at the Annex (beginning in ’98), and as an assistant for John Marmora’s barcoding and item maintenance project in 1997. Since his arrival, he has developed into one of the most versatile players on the team, and his ability to handle a variety of different tasks has benefited several units greatly in the Library’s Technical Services department. As a Network Administrator, he’s a frontline troubleshooter for computer issues in room 110, calming the fires of frustration for many of his colleagues. His additional training to order materials in difficult languages, as well as his direct handling of several batch-loading processes for our Approval plans, help ensure the arrival and expedited processing of hundreds of titles per week through the Acquisitions and Cataloging units, beyond those which he inputs directly. With the myriad tasks he performs across LTS, it’s a wonder that Peter has time to process so many Standing Order, Rush, and Pink Flyer materials for the Inputting unit! Whether it’s a work-related task, a story about a softball injury, or a discussion about LA basketball or the NY Yankees, I can always count on Peter for his straight-forward opinions, easy-going attitude, and a wisecrack or two. Library Technical Services is lucky to have him on its roster, and given the frequent curveballs and change-ups that we face here, it’s a boon to know that Peter can run them down or hit them out of the park whenever we need him to. Pedro Arroyo Stephen Gollnick, ILR Catherwood Library In 1997, Steve joined the circulation department in Catherwood as the reserve coordinator/evening weekend supervisor. He currently fills the role of digital resources specialist for Catherwood, working on our Web site and digital repository. A graduate of Ithaca College with a BA in art history, Steve is well known in the local music scene as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist for the band Hubcap. Steve brings his artistic touch to his work at Catherwood, including the many photo images on the Library’s Web pages. Congratulations Steve and thank you for your ten years of service. Mary Newhart Thomas Hunt, O/K/U Collection Maintenance Tom Hunt became a serials collection maintenance assistant for the O/K/U collections after being hired to work on the 1998--2000 Annex Expansion and Move Project. He has recently added the role of Student Supervisor to his job responsibilities. Tom handles our daily operations in a balanced and professional manner. He can always be relied upon to create a prioritized work flow that provides seamless service to our patrons. Tom sets the tone for those around him such that teamwork and harmony are bywords of his presence. He treats everyone with respect and he is genuinely interested in providing service to others. Tom fits right in whenever he is asked to be part of a project that requires teamwork. Everyone, whatever their ideas and lifestyle, feels at ease in his presence, while at the same time acknowledging his propensity and expectation for hard work and a job well done. Tom is always quick and eager to learn new technologies and procedures; he will help out whenever asked regardless of where he is needed or what he has to do. He displays uncommon flexibility, even at a moments notice. He is comfortable doing both physical work, such as hanging shelves, and mental work, such as exacting record updating. He has an outstanding attendance record that has bolstered the department. Outside of his work at the library, Tom is an avid fisherman and hunter. He is a member of the Ten Point Archery Club and Butterfly Waterfowl Association. These are hunting clubs whose members enjoy the outdoors while making an effort to enhance habitat for ducks, geese, grouse, deer, and turkey. In the past he has collected stream samples of aquatic insects to help a friend’s aquarium. His love for fly-fishing has taken him across the country, looking for “trout hot-spots.” Tom is a huge sports fan, as well. Mostly, he cheers for any of the Syracuse teams, but especially the football, basketball, and lacrosse teams. As far as the professional teams go, he cheers mainly for the Washington Redskins. He also has an interest in fine dining, especially Thai food. John Marmora Nan Hyland, Mann Library Nan Hyland began working at Mann Library as the Public Access Computing Coordinator in 1998. Since then her innovative ideas and diverse skills have been put into service as Spatial Data/GIS Librarian, Reference Coordinator, and most recently Collection Development Coordinator for Mann Library. Over the past ten years, Nan has worked on a variety of innovative CUL and Mann Library programs including CUGIR (Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository), the USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information Service, the introduction of Chat Reference, the Gateway Help Redesign, and many others. Nan is always quick to say “yes” to join a team with a challenge! Nan is not all work, work, work, however. Her quick sense of humor often provides a laugh for her colleagues, who thoroughly enjoy working with her. Congratulations to Nan on her ten years of service to the Cornell University Library! Mary Ochs William Klinko, Mann Library Bill puts the “t” in teamwork. He will jump in and do whatever needs to be done, no questions asked. This was indispensable during the move to the renovated building, when Bill worked on such diverse tasks as moving the server room, activating the networking, fixing phones that weren’t working, removing static in the new classroom, moving furniture around, modifying cubes, and building storage shelving. As Systems Administrator for 30+ servers, Bill is often called upon to work outside of normal business hours. He does so with professionalism and enthusiasm. Since becoming Mann Library’s Systems Administrator ten years ago, Bill has implemented many improvements. One such improvement is a system monitoring process that enables Bill to know the “health” of each system at a glance. He knows if there is a problem before he is called about it. Bill also implemented a backup system with off-site storage of tapes and UPS units (backup power supplies) for each server. Bill has his Amateur Radio License. He offers his services to many charity events. Holly Mistlebauer Francis Lutkenhouse, LTS Cataloging After spending seven years in Olin’s Physical Processing department, Francis joined the Inputting unit in mid-2005, and since then he has established himself as an indispensable member of our team. He processes a wide range of incoming materials in a variety of languages, and is well-known around the office for his rock-solid production, reliability, and punctuality: not only can you set your watch by his arrival and break time, I believe the folks at NIST also used his routine to improve the accuracy of their newest atomic clock. All joking aside, Francis has been a friendly and generous presence in Room 110 since he began working here. He greets several colleagues in the morning using one of a half-dozen different languages, and is always up for learning a new greeting if a co-worker is willing to teach him. On the shelf behind him, he keeps an M&Ms dispenser stocked at all times, so that fellow LTSers can enjoy a quick bite as they pass. I enjoy chatting with Francis about movies and popular music, and it’s always interesting to see what kind of quote, tidbit, or factoid he’ll offer next. As we celebrate ten years of his service, we celebrate a teammate who is as unique and dependable as the superheroes on the shirts he wears. Congratulations, Francis, and Excelsior! Pedro Arroyo Nathan Miner, O/K/U Collection Maintenance Nate Miner was originally hired in 1998 for the Annex project by John Marmora, and worked mostly at the Annex accessioning books. When the project ended in 2000 he started working for Joel Copenhagen in Collection Management, shelving books in Uris Library. He has since then divided his time between Serials and CM, working as a book mover, shelver, and on special projects. Joel retired last year and I moved Nate over to Olin where he continues to work for John and for me. Nate’s work is impeccable and he is a valued member of our department. Outside of work Nate’s interests include travel, film, and trivia night at Korova. His most recent travel experience was a mission trip with a group from his church to Argentina in 2005. Jon Frankel Jim Morris-Knower, Mann Library Jim has played a key role on many public relations initiatives throughout his ten-year career in Mann Library. He is the editor of Mannifest, and is a major content contributor to this library newsletter. Jim has been proactive in identifying new marketing opportunities for the library. He has established productive relationships with the editors of eCALSconnect (the online newsletter of the College of Ag and Life Sciences), and CCE News (the Council on Chiropractic Education News), creating additional venues for marketing the library’s services and resources. Jim works on publicity for events and outreach activities, including working closely with undergraduate students to organize and publicize a poster session and open house for the Research Paper, an undergraduate research publication. Jim writes and distributes event publicity for our gallery shows, and devised a comprehensive publicity distribution plan that includes contacting departments, utilizing a variety of email lists, the Cornell Chronicle, and local print and online publications. As Co-Chair of the Reference and Outreach Committee, Jim has been a leader in identifying, planning and organizing a series of very successful outreach forums. These have been well attended, and have promoted lively discussions and the exchange of new ideas. Jim has been active in Mann as well, lending his expertise to several multi-media production projects including a tutorial for Access Services that instructs faculty on the reserve process, online tutorials for Endnote and Refworks, and voice-overs for several Mann Podcasts. Additionally, Jim played a key role in the planning of the library’s grand opening in August 2007. Jim also organizes, publicizes, and hosts Mann Library’s annual graduate student orientation, an event that continues to evolve and grow. This past year, Jim led a team of Mann staff through the process of defining our vision for the library's LCD (liquid crystal display) program. Jim guided the committee through many discussions about content for the screens, how to identify new content, and ultimately, how to manage this program. We will be implementing his committee’s recommendations when we re-launch our LCD program this summer. A current outreach initiative finds Jim working closely with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE). Working with CCE administrative staff on campus and with the Tompkins County office he is developing a survey that will be distributed to CCE educators throughout the state. This survey will help Jim identify areas in which the library can further support CCE. Jim brings enthusiasm, positive energy and collegiality to all he does. He is always willing to take on an extra reference desk shift or teaching assignment, always with a smile. Jim’s door is always open and he is generous with his time--be it to consult with a colleague who needs information about Refworks or with a patron who needs an answer to a question. His knowledge of reference sources, service ethic, and wonderful sense of humor make him one of the most popular reference librarians with students, faculty, and staff. Howard Raskin Annemarie Morse, Engineering Library If your mental image of an engineering computer lab manager is someone with thick glasses, a perpetual five o’clock shadow, and a fondness for Space Food Sticks, your vision would be correct--in TV Land. In the real world of the Engineering Library/College of Engineering’s academic computing center (ACCEL), you would be considerably off the mark. Annemarie Morse, who has been the lab’s operations manager since October 2005, is a contagiously genial and highly energetic woman whose talents include technological knowledge, interpersonal skills, and a very noteworthy flair for preparing and pairing fine food and wine. As the ACCEL coordinator, Annemarie works tirelessly to hire and train a large staff of student consultants, to maintain and upgrade the hardware and software used in the lab, and to establish and adapt services in support of engineering faculty, staff, and student needs. As the ASTech Libraries’ Web consultant and computer support representative, she participates in a variety of Web projects and technology initiatives and is a continuing member of the Public Computing Advisory Committee (PCAC). Off duty, Annemarie trades her manager’s laptop for a sommelier’s tastevin. This past spring, she was a graduate Teaching Assistant for the Wines and Vines course in the Enology program of CALS. As program director of the Vinophile Society, the Ithaca area’s wine education and appreciation club, Annemarie plans monthly tasting menus, opening up the world of wine to area residents who have an evening to spare and a desire to learn about and sample wines across a range of countries, producers, and price points. Finally, Annemarie graduated from Cornell in the Class of 1986. She is the mother of two girls and lives with her husband (and ponies, chickens, cats, dogs, etc.) on a small farm in Richford, NY. Joanne Leary Natalie Sheridan, Mathematics Library Natalie Sheridan began her CUL career in 1998 at O/K/U as a public services assistant. In 1999 her son Ryan was born and she wanted to spend more time with him, so in the fall she accepted the responsibility of Evening Supervisor at Uris Library. Natalie transferred to the Mathematics Library as Branch Manager/Access Services Student Supervisor in September 2001. She enjoys all aspects of her job from answering reference questions to the hiring and training of student employees. Before starting her CUL career Natalie held the position of Interlibrary Services Supervisor at Ithaca College for nine years while taking classes. Natalie has two sisters that have been employed within the CU Library system. She enjoys spending her free time with her son, friends, and family and vacationing in North Carolina. Steve Rockey Adam Smith, DLIT, DMG Web Development and Management Adam Smith has had a long history with Cornell University and the Library. Adam is an alumnus of Cornell who began working as an intern at Mann Library while earning his library degree from Syracuse University. He moved on to work in Mann's Information Technology Section on such projects as the Campus Library Gateway, ILLiad, MyUpdates, MyContents, and the USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System. For several years afterward, Adam worked in the Academic Technology Section of CIT on the Faculty Innovation Grants program, primarily developing Web based content management systems. Since 2006, Adam has been working in DLIT on such projects as developing Cornell's Open Archive Information System (OAIS), Partners in Animal Health, and a digital asset management system based on Fedora. Adam is a valued member of the DLIT development team. George Kozak Catherine Vellake, Engineering Library Catherine Vellake began her Cornell University Library career in the fall of 1997, working as the night supervisor briefly at the Physical Sciences Library and then a permanent move to the Engineering Library where she is currently the night supervisor and stacks manager. She cares a great deal about our patrons and maintaining a peaceful academic studying environment. Catherine has made many contributions at the Engineering Library in the past ten years particularly in stacks maintenance. Working with students in CEE 593 they came up with a plan and shifted the whole collection so that it is now in straight call number order from Stack one through to the Basement of the Engineering Library. With their data she also created a shelf reading procedure called “Quick Read”. These endeavors have made a huge positive impact for staff and patrons trying to locate our materials. Catherine has an intense passion for books and learning new things, so library work is the perfect career choice for her. If she’s not at work you will probably run in to her perusing the book shelves at the campus store! We are very appreciative of her work at the Engineering Library and congratulate her on ten years of service and anticipate many, many more! Melody Padgett Olivia Vent, Mann Library Olivia Vent began working at Cornell in 1997 as the Outreach Coordinator for CIIFAD, the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development. Olivia came to Cornell with wealth of previous experience in the international agricultural community, working both at the secretariat of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and at several of the research centers in Africa and Latin America which make up the CGIAR. Currently Olivia serves as the TEEAL/AGORA Outreach Coordinator at Mann Library. (For those who rarely make it over to Mann library or have little science background, these are the well-established digital collections, The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library and Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture.) Over the past five years she has played a key role in developing the successful TEEAL/AGORA train-the-trainer program in Africa, as well as writing the grant proposals that have funded these programs. Olivia brings energy, insights, and experience which have greatly enhanced Mann’s international programs. Congratulations to Olivia on her ten years of service to Cornell University! Mary Ochs Service Awards photographs supplied by Library Human Resources STAFF OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARDS 2008
Established through the generosity of the Christian Boissonas family in 1998, the 2008 Outstanding Performance Awards went to Robin Messing and John Marmora. The following remarks were read by Anne Kenney at the annual service awards luncheon on June 20, 2008. Robin Messing, O/K/U Collection Maintenance Robin is about to complete twenty-seven years of exceptional service. He started his Library career in Uris Library Circulation Department a little more than a year after graduating from Cornell. During his tenure at Uris he acquired a detailed knowledge of circulation, shelving, and security procedures. For the last seven years he has managed the O/K/U microform collection and helped out with serials collection maintenance. He has also played an important role in many special projects, most recently the transfers to the Library Annex, the Large Scale Digitization Initiative, and the technical aspects of measuring the stacks of several libraries, including Olin, in preparation for its renovation. Robin’s Supervisor, John Marmora, noted that Robin will go out of his way to provide outstanding service to each and every patron. He will accompany a patron to compact shelving and show them how to use it if they are having trouble. He is especially patient when assisting patrons with our microform machines. Robin is a team player who really enjoys building effective relationships with co-workers both within and across departments. He actively participates in setting the standards and protocols for special projects and he can be counted on to give honest feedback to his co-workers. Robin nurtures positive relationships with everyone around him and he is a firm believer that our attitude and actions can make a difference here at Cornell. While maintaining very high standards for himself and others, Robin looks to the shared task at hand as an opportunity to create community while achieving departmental goals. John Marmora, O/K/U Collection Maintenance John began his career working in for the Library in 1988 as an evening supervisor in Olin Access Services. During this time John consistently demonstrated a positive and productive attitude about his work. He was self-motivated and upbeat in dealing with the patrons, co-workers, and students working at the Olin circulation desk. John assumed increasing responsibility over the years, and in 1995 he became an Administrator II in Access Services with responsibility for serials, newspaper, and microforms. In 1998 upon completion of the fist high density Annex storage module, as of result of his organizational skills John was asked to manage the movement of materials from central campus to the Annex. This was an extremely challenging project since it was the first time for this type of mass movement of collections for CUL. Currently, in addition to his regular duties of managing the back of the house work for serials and microforms processing, he is currently engaged in preparing for the Olin Renovation. This is potentially the move that will be the most complex, with items going to surge space, temporary storage, and permanent storage. Barbara Berger Eden, John’s supervisor, said that John’s talents and abilities and all of the special projects that he has been assigned to have been a success. A tremendous amount of work has been accomplished, the staff are motivated, and impact on the patrons has been minimal. He is a team leader in the Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance and when I became Director, I relied on his wise counsel as I learned more about the public services side in the Library. Unit in the Spotlight: Adelson Library
Fuerst Awards 2008
Kathryn Kalaf, Class of ’08, Engineering Library Katie started working in the Engineering Library in March of 2007 as a Computer Assistant. According to her supervisor Ann Marie Morse, Katie is quite possibly one of our top performers at the computer lab, consistently exceeding our expectations. She often comes in to help out when problems arise and has stayed late and come in early if the need arises. She has come in at midnight to help get a room ready for a class that began the next day at 8 am! One of the most admirable things about Katie is that no task is beneath her. She will tackle difficult and mundane tasks with equal amounts of enthusiasm. David Rosen, Class of ’08, Law Library David has been working in the Law Library since August of 2005. According to Brian Eden, David’s supervisor, it is never necessary to ask David to do anything mainly because he sees what needs to be done and volunteers to do it. He is always busy because he will take on any task large or small, from organizing special collections to filing looseleafs. No job is a small job to him. He tackles all his duties with equal dedication. After many years of having our night supervisor work Sunday evenings, the Library found it could no longer support this schedule and decided to have a student take over the responsibility. Since David knows the library, understands circulation, works independently, exercises independent judgment, and is incredibly reliable, he was the obvious choice. Shianne Beer, Class of ’08, Mathematics Library Shianne started her employment with the Mathematics Library during the summer of 2005. She quickly distinguished herself because of her reliability, dedication, and professionalism that she has shown while working at the library. Her supervisor Natalie Sheridan has said that during the past year she has trained her on scanning documents for Interlibrary Loan. “This is not something I would normally ask of a student. It is something I would handle myself. Shianne was eager to learn this process and sincerely cares about doing a good job. Shianne has always been punctual for her 8 am opening shift. In the past three years that she has worked at the Math Library I can’t remember a day that she has called in sick.” Steve Rockey, Director of the Math Library, also gave a glowing review of Shianne’s work and noted that over the past year she has done two major projects for him, one in which she found double payments that were made and when fixed saved the Library and University thousands of dollars! Lisa Liebherr, Class of ’08, Mann Library Lisa has worked at Mann Library at the Access Services Desk for three academic semesters and part of one summer. Tom Clausen, Lisa’s supervisor, has this to say about Lisa: “Lisa has exhibited rare initiative throughout her time at Mann Library. She intuitively picked up on many ways to maximize her productivity each morning. Examples of her versatility include changing light bulbs to arranging flowers, as well as moving and arranging furniture and delivering faculty office request items to buildings around campus. Lisa enjoys finding any jobs within her job that ease the work load for the full time staff. Lisa has been so entirely self motivated and engaged with the widest range of duties that it is easy to forget that she is a student assistant and not part of our staff. The truth is we would all love to have someone as accomplished as Lisa be a part of our full time staff.” Laura Santamaria, Class of ’10, Management Library When Laura came to work for the Management Library in the fall of 2004 as a first semester freshman, she was quickly identified as one of those employees we all wish we could clone. Lee Ringland, Laura’s supervisor, said that Laura is remarkably proactive in her approach to problem-solving and regular library tasks and maintenance. She is tuned into the Management Library’s mission and priorities to a high degree, anticipating our needs and pointing out potential issues that might require attention. She always asks if there is more work she can do when she has completed her assignments. If she sees something that needs to be done, she will take it upon herself to ask about doing it. Members of the Management Library staff often tease her that she would make a superb librarian after she completes her studies, and perhaps she will. Her attention to detail and her love of libraries would serve her well. Erin Brasch, Class of ’08, O/K/U Collection Maintenance Erin started working in O/K/U Collection Maintenance in September of 2004. The Olin renovation is a top priority for CUL and Erin has been one of the linchpins, making the Olin measuring project a success for this priority. John Marmora, Erin’s supervisor, has this to say about Erin: “I have seen many students come and go during my 24 years as a student supervisor. It is only rarely that I see one who stands out as a person, as a student, and as an employee. Erin stands out in all walks of life. I have worked closely with Erin these past four years and he is one of just a handful of students whom I consider worthy of the Fuerst Award. Whether he is shelving serials in the stacks, doing an emergency project that requires exacting accuracy, or unraveling complex serial problems, Erin performs his tasks in the most efficient way while holding himself to the highest standards of excellence. He is comfortable with change, enthusiastic about new challenges, and he constantly demonstrates proficiency and balance in setting priorities.” International Fellowships: Cornell and University of Victoria Swap Law Librarians
The New England Law Library Consortium (NELLCO) unveiled an International Fellowship program in 2006. Member librarians could apply for one of six fellowships at participating law libraries in the U.S., England, or Canada. Under the pilot program, a Fellow would visit a host library for two weeks to observe operations and to share information. Fellows received financial aid from NELLCO to offset expenses. In return, the Fellow would make a presentation to the host library and submit an article on her experience. I had the honor to be selected as one of the first six Fellows. In April of 2008 I spent two weeks at the Diana M. Priestly Law Library at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law in Victoria, B.C. I opted for UVic because I have responsibility for collecting Canadian legal materials for the Law Library. I also wanted to experience a law school and law library quite different than Cornell. UVic Law School is a young school, founded in the 1960s. It is known for the social consciousness of its faculty and students, and for developing areas of law such as environmental law and First Nations (aboriginal) law. It does not have the extensive historical resources of a research library but provides excellent resources for students and lawyers in areas of current interest and practice areas. The short trip allowed me to briefly explore various facets of faculty, student, and online services. I submitted a list of questions and areas of interest to UVic before my arrival. The librarians made sure that all my questions were answered. Staff was enthusiastic about showing me how their library worked. Everyone was eager to discuss challenges presented by ever-changing technology and increasing costs. One highlight was observing a U.S. legal research class taught by the library director. It was an odd experience and reminded me that Canada is indeed a foreign country. However, attending s | ||||||||||||
