|
 |
||||||||||||||||
February 2006In this issue:Ten Years of InSITE Ten Years of InSITE, and Going StrongElizabeth Teskey
What started as a simple, current awareness tool for the Law School community, in print and electronically as an online newsletter, has become a searchable database. For the month of November 2005 alone, InSITE pages were visited 147,280 times by 9,520 unique visitors from all over the world. As a tenth anniversary gift to readers, Jean has arranged for InSITE content to be delivered also via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). A testament to its longevity, InSITE is delivered to hundreds of subscribers. Jean estimates that approximately half of them are original subscribers and have been receiving the biweekly newsletter since its inception. She often receives notes of appreciation from her readers, such as the one from Sue at the University of Wisconsin: “Jean, after so many years of perusing your InSITE issues, I just thought I would let you know that I do appreciate this project. I often forward sites to our faculty and they have also expressed appreciation. Keep up the good work” (August 10, 2004). Good work, indeed. InSITE has been favorably reviewed by the Social Science Information Gateway, the Librarians’ Internet Index, the well-respected Internet Law Researcher, the Scout Report (which celebrated its own tenth anniversary in 2004), and most recently the Law Library Journal. In her recent article, “Cool Web Sites,” Mary Whisner writes: “Finally, there are more structured ways of learning about new sites, such as checking blogs and Web sites that post news. One that I subscribe to is Cornell Law Library’s InSITE, a bi-weekly e-mail newsletter that reviews interesting law-related sites. I am always behind on my e-mail, but I have found that these reviews have a good shelf life: if I sit down and read a dozen reviews at once, the sites that were reviewed months ago are still there and still worth looking at. Back issues are archived, and InSITE also has a searchable database of reviews—and so it, itself, is a cool Web site” (Law Library Journal, Chicago: AALL, Vol.97, no.4, Fall 2005, p.726). Recently Jean became aware of InSITE’s popularity in the blogging world, especially in technical and law library blogs. The legal research blog of Lewis & Clark Law School’s Boley Law Library, called BOLEYBLOGS!, says, “One of our favorite resources for discovering online legal resources is InSITE, provided by the good law librarians of the Cornell Law Library. . . . Will InSITE replace Google, FindLaw, or even Cornell’s own LII as great starting points for legal Web resources? Nah, but that’s not the point. Rather, InSITE is the work of librarians providing high quality, useful Web sites of potential interest to the legal community” (February 6th, 2006). And just last week, Jean was asked for permission to republish her newsletter in a blog that reaches out beyond the law library community to the general public. She said yes. Although an automated Web-crawler is no longer used, Jean still finds hundreds of sites to review. She says that she is always on the lookout, whether reading the paper or surfing the Web, at work or at home. Print resources, newsletters, the Social Science Information Gateway—they’re all fertile ground for Jean. Readers often ask her to review sites and Jean says she welcomes suggestions. Ten years later, the newsletter is still produced in essentially the same way: several sites are chosen for review (usually five); her colleagues, the Research Attorneys, review them and write annotations; and Jean edits and compiles the newsletter. Two times per month, usually ten times per year—that’s approximately one thousand annotations by my estimate. I asked Jean what her favorite discovery was or what was memorable from her years on the project. No Web site stood out in her mind, but she was reminded of an amusing exchange at a conference two years ago. As she labored to find a seat in a crowded room at the annual American Association of Law Libraries meeting in Boston, a seated woman read her nametag and exclaimed, “Jean Pajerek! You’re our hero!” Perhaps a turning point for the newsletter came in 1998 when it received its own ISSN from the Library of Congress. But ten years is a long time by any standard. Businesses come and go, favorite restaurants collapse, and pulp fiction is long forgotten (never mind the difficulties presented by serial name changes, interruptions, and cessations). When InSITE was created by Jean, she was Head of Cataloging at the Law Library. Today she is Head of Technical Services and Information Management. None of the original writers is working at the Law Library, but InSITE is heading into its second decade, thanks to our hero, Jean Pajerek.
Vanished Worlds, Enduring PeopleDon’t miss the current display at the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Vanished Worlds, Enduring People: Cornell University Library’s Native American Collection. It will be up until June 2, 2006, and you can also view it online. Significantly enhanced by the acquisition of the Huntington Free Library Native American Collection, our holdings include such rarities as the 19th century Quechua Catechism, a pictographic catechism created as a memory aid for the Quechua-speaking people of the Andes. Shown below is the page for the Apostle’s Creed.
Quechua Catechism. Chile, 19th century. How Many Libraries Are in CUL?Peter Hirtle
This is a surprisingly hard question to answer. The CUL Annual Report, the Individual Libraries page of the CUL Gateway, and the Cornell Fact Book all have different listings.(1) At least one CUL staff member maintains a list that suggests that there are only nineteen libraries, as does the Encompass FAQ and Web pages at Mann Library and the Africana Library, among others. Other staff members could probably come up with twenty-one or twenty-two candidates. The true answer, of course, depends on what you define as a library unit. Is it a building? A public service point? A collection above a certain size? All are possible answers, and in practice all are used to define library units at Cornell. Even the terminology is up for grabs. The CUL Annual Report speaks of “twenty libraries,” whereas the library administration Web site speaks of “library units” and the CU Fact Book refers to “member libraries” (as if each library was an independent unit that was part of a system rather than being a component part of one library). Recently I wanted to test my skills using WebSurveyor, a simple-to-use Web survey program supported by CIT. Asking CUL staff their opinion of the component units currently in the system—and what, if any, should be added—seemed like a good sample problem. The Survey: general findingsThree things became apparent during the survey. First, there are a lot of things that call themselves libraries at Cornell! With the assistance of Oliver Habicht and Randi Kepecs, I identified forty-seven libraries either at Cornell or to some extent associated with it. There were reading libraries in the dorms and residences, libraries in research units, and departmental libraries such as the Hart Memorial Library (part of the ROTC program) and the Wilcox Library (the library of the faculty club at the Statler). In spite of our effort to be comprehensive, one survey respondent noted that we left out some units. The index of Voyager locations includes the Agricultural Engineering Library, the Biochemistry Reading Room, the Food Science Library, and the Plant Pathology Library, none of which made the survey list. The Shoals Marine Lab was also suggested as a candidate. Others expressed confusion about the Asian Collections. Do they represent a library themselves? If so, are they separate from Kroch (which also includes the Rare and Manuscript Collections), or is Kroch shorthand for an Asian Collections library? Second, I learned that it is hard to name and alphabetize a list. Does one call it the Hotel Library or the Nestlé Library? Do you alphabetize by the “A” in “Albert” or the “M” in “Mann”? One respondent suggested adding the Africana Library, which means that they must have missed the John Henrik Clarke Africana Library on the list. Third, I learned that while the WebSurveyor tool is easy to learn and use, it comes at the price of functionality. I would have liked to have been able to limit people to twenty selections in the first column, but there was no easy way that I could find to do this. The lack of controls may have affected the results. Results: the current 20 And what were the results? I received 73 responses to the survey. There was almost universal agreement on eighteen of the libraries. 85% to 97% of the respondents knew that the Lab of Ornithology, Catherwood, Physical Sciences, Africana, Entomology, Music, Engineering, Fine Arts, Vet, Management, Kroch, Law, Geneva, Mann, Mathematics, Hotel, Olin, and Uris are part of CUL. Physical Sciences, Fine Arts, Law, and Mann all tied with all but two of the respondents including them in CUL. (2) So which two libraries bring the total to twenty? 64% of respondents thought the Library Annex was a CUL library unit; 60% included the Medical College library; 38% said that the Rare and Manuscripts Collection was a library; and 22% thought that CISER is part of CUL. 15% thought the Kheel Center was a separate library unit, perhaps in recognition that the services it provides are similar to those offered by RMC. The low percentage for the Medical College (which is part of CUL) may be due in part to the fact that no responses to the survey were received from New York. The Most Likely 19th and 20th Library Units
Fig. 1 The CUL Annual Report, which is perhaps the most authoritative of the listings, includes RMC and excludes the Library Annex. Since the Library Annex is designed to be a storage facility for other library units for infrequently circulated items, this makes sense. One wonders whether in the future our conception of library units might shift from concern with physical space and focus instead on the services offered. Most of all, it would seem that there is the need for an educational campaign among library staff to help them understand CUL’s organization. Results: the next addition The responses to which library units, if any, should be added to CUL were much more limited, perhaps in part because many people already assumed that the Library Annex or CISER were separate units within CUL. (Alternatively, most staff could be happy with CUL the way it is.) The Weill Medical College was favored by eight people to be the next library unit to join (though it already is part of CUL). Seven people wanted the Paleontological Research Institute library or the Arecibo library to become part of CUL. One wonders if the bad weather in January may have had anything to do with the interest in the latter, since it is likely some staff would occasionally have to make a site visit to Puerto Rico if Arecibo became part of CUL! Six staff wished to include the Durland Alternatives Library; no other library received more than three votes. There seems to be a strong belief in “library as place:” there were no votes for VIVO, the Virtual Life Sciences Library, in spite of its great success. My thanks to everyone who participated in the survey! 1) One might not want to accept the “facts” in the Fact Book at face value. The cover of the current 2005-2006 Cornell Facts includes Ezra Cornell’s quote, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study” and attributes it to 1865, whereas University Archivist Elaine Engst has dated the quote to 1868. 2) One respondent indicated that they could not include Olin since Olin, Uris, and Kroch are all one organizational unit. Computers for Southside and South AfricaHave you ever wondered where old computers go after the Net Admin delivers your new one? Sometimes you see advertisements for older machines, “free to a good home,” or for sale for a nominal fee, but more often than not you see them in junk piles, or increasingly at the side of the road. The Cornell Library however has other ways of disposing of them. Sharon Wargo, former Operations Manager for Facilities, reveals there is a “computer storage room in what used to be a women’s powder room” where older computers are stacked. When the room gets full, Adam Spry, from the Mail Processing unit, notifies Al Heiman at CIT. Al, the CIT Public Labs Coordinator, has several uses for them and is quick to pick them up when called. When he gets backed up, sometimes Walt Smithers from University Recycling gets them. Last fall, Al was able to send computers to Bothlabelo, South Africa. He says they arrived relatively quickly, perhaps because they had government schools and the South African Rotary club on their side. A few weeks later, he also sent several to a university in Togo. Another one of Al’s projects involves collaboration with Ithaca High School on the “Algebra Initiative.” This is a plan to place computers in the homes of students who need help with math homework. Part of the plan involves working with the Cornell Pan African Scholars Association with the objective that they would identify homes with the greatest need and raise funds for the endeavor. John Hoffmann, Director of Facilities and Planning, says the Library was also able to give some computers to a program run out of GIAC. Most people know that the Greater Ithaca Activities Center serves some of the poorest neighborhoods in Ithaca, where the “digital divide” is the greatest. Last spring they started a program whereby they hoped eventually to prepare a recycled computer for every family in the area. They were set up to wipe the Hard Drives themselves, but what they especially needed were systems, parts like keyboards and mice. John says they welcomed the Library’s donation of computers and peripheral devices. Although in 1984 only 8.2% of American households had a personal computer, by 1998 that figure had risen to 42.1%. Conservative estimates put that number today at 60%. In the business world and even at Cornell University we must be close to 100%. Factor in the average life for a computer at about four years, or make it six if you want, and that’s a lot of computers coming and going. Whether used computers go to South Africa or Southside, recycling them is a growing imperative with benefits for the environment as well as our brothers and sisters at home and abroad. See the online photo gallery of computers for South Africa. Martin Luther King, Jr. Exhibit at Africana LibraryEric Acree Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was celebrated this year on January 16, 2006. These two posters feature the April 14, 1961 visit to Cornell University of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He came to speak at a fund-raiser in Bailey Hall. It was reported in the Cornell Daily Sun that Dr. King's appearance was primarily in his capacity as Chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). SCLC was formed in 1957 to aid in the Civil Rights Movement. SCLC was established after the boycott of 381 days of the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. This boycott led to the desegregation of the buses and is viewed by many as one of the greatest accomplishments of the Civil Rights Era. Joining Dr. King in this visit was the Rev. Joseph Lowery. At the time Rev. Lowery served on the Board of SCLC as Vice-President. The posters are on loan from Donald Schnedeker (Management and Hotel Libraries). They were copied from the collection of Don's father in-law, Dr. Edward Hart, an Ithaca Ophthalmologist.
Unit in the SpotlightMusic
People NewsWelcomeBonna Boettcher is the new Music Librarian. Bonna comes to Cornell from Bowling Green State University where she served as Professor, Chair of the Department of Archival Collections and Branches, and Head of the Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives. Prior to moving to Bowling Green in 1992, Bonna was a member of the library faculty at Western Kentucky University with responsibilities in reference and collection development. Bonna received her B.Mus. from Concordia College, her M.F.A. and D.M.A from the University of Iowa, and her M.L.I.S from the University of Western Ontario. In addition to her considerable administrative experience and subject knowledge, Bonna joins Cornell as an established leader in music librarianship. Among her many accomplishments, she is currently serving as the President of the Music Library Association. In addition to her appointment in the Library, Bonna has an appointment in the Department of Music as Adjunct Professor. Welcome back to Lynn Brown, recently retired from the Management Library, who has agreed to serve as Interim Director of Library Communications. Lynn returned to the Library in this capacity on January 23 and will serve until June 30, or until a permanent director is hired. Lynn plans to work three days a week, typically Monday through Wednesday, and will be serving primarily as a facilitator and coordinator of the unit. We are delighted that Lynn has agreed to help out in this interim period. Patti Burns is a new accounts representative in DLIT. Patti comes to us from Gypsum Express LTD in Syracuse where she worked as an office manager. Christopher Kluz is the new night supervisor for the Law Library. He comes to us from The Bookery where he worked last year, after moving to Ithaca from Chicago. Christopher has a BA in philosophy from the University of Chicago. While studying at Chicago he also worked at the John Crerar Library, the university’s science and technology library. Michael Luther is a new collections assistant in the Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Michael is one of the friendly faces that you may encounter at the reception desk, but he has a variety of responsibilities, including front desk and event coverage, Reference services, paging and staffing the Reference and Security desks, and processing manuscript and archival collections. Michael has a BA in sociology from Georgia. Previously he worked at Borders Books as a corporate sales representative. Rich McGowan has been appointed assistant librarian in Information Services at the Weill Cornell Medical Library. He previously worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago Health Sciences Library and at Northwestern University’s Galter Health Sciences Library. Rich has a BA in English literature from Salve Regina University in Newport, RI and an MLS from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rich’s research interests include emerging technologies and their role in fulfilling users’ information and research needs. Library Accounting Services welcomes Jinhee Roper, the new accounts representative. Jinhee comes to us from Kennedy Valve in Elmira where she worked in Accounts Payable. Rebecca Sellen is also a new accounts representative in Library Accounting. Becky comes to us from Consumer Credit Counseling Services of CNY where she worked as a credit counselor. Donna Schulman has joined the Reference staff in the Catherwood Library. Donna has worked with us for many years in her role as Librarian at the Lenz Library serving ILR's New York City Extension Office. Although Donna will continue to work out of the New York City office, we are looking forward to much closer collaboration in the future. Donna has been with Cornell for over twenty years. She holds an MS with honors from the School of Library Service at Columbia and also an MS in Women's Studies from the City University of New York. Adam Smith is returning to the library as a programmer/analyst in DLIT. Adam comes to us from the Academic Technology Center in CIT where he also worked as a programmer/analyst. Before working in CIT, Adam worked in Mann Library. Johanna Williams is a new public services assistant in Olin Access Services. Johanna was hired as the Student Supervisor on Jan 3rd. When not working at the Olin and Uris Access services desks she is supervising approximately 27 students. These are students who work at the Olin Circulation desk, perform Carrel and Faculty Study Rounds, and sometimes fill in at the Uris Security desk. Many of you will recognize Johanna as she worked in Libe Cafe. She comes to us with over fifteen years of student supervisory and direct front-line customer service experience. Promotions Congratulations
Congratulations to Mike Fordon, public services assistant and Coordinator of Document Delivery, Lee Library, Geneva, for a truly one-of-a-kind document delivery that he recently made. As the story goes, he got a panicked phone call from a local pastor who was en route from a funeral to the graveside but had forgotten to bring the prayer she had promised the family she would read. Mike was asked if he could print out a copy of the Prayer of St. Francis and toss it in the passenger window as the car went by. He managed to do so, and we’re guessing the burial service went as planned. For those who question the truth of this story, it may be easier to believe if we tell you that Mike knew the caller. But we’re sure he would have done it for a stranger too. Ask him about it sometime. Congratulations to the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections for receiving the 2006 Leab Award for the best electronic exhibition of special collections materials for the online exhibition, From Dublin to Ithaca: Cornell’s James Joyce Collection. The Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Awards are given for excellence in the publication of catalogs and brochures that accompany exhibitions of library and archival materials, as well as for electronic exhibitions of such materials. The other top contenders for the award were two other RMC online exhibitions: The Passionate Collector: Willard Fiske and his Libraries and Get Out the Vote!: Campaigning for the U. S. Presidency. Credit for the online exhibitions goes to the many library staff members who contributed to their production and success. Tom Hickerson notes that Ken Williams, who designed and created all three online exhibitions, “deserves special credit for his excellent graphic design, as well as for his sophisticated use of web technologies to produce meaningful, attractive, and easily navigable sites. Ken's remarkable abilities reflect a marvelous combination of visual and cultural aesthetics, design skills, and technical expertise.”
Good-byeGood bye and good luck to David Elliott from the Law Library, David Jones from DLIT, Emilie Karr from Library Technical Services, Jackie Morris from Library Accounting, and Sharon Wargo from Facilities, who recently left the Library. RetirementsJackie Morris
At the gathering in her honor on that day, the Library gave Jackie several gifts, including a framed print of Uris tower signed by many of her colleagues, a gift certificate to Sam’s Club, and a new, high-tech, Kodak digital camera and printer. Among the many speakers, Lee Cartmill spoke about Jackie’s career, and Tami Magnus read the following letter from Jackie’s most recent supervisor, Linda Westlake, who retired in December. To Jackie and friends, from one recent retiree to the next, When I first met Jackie ten years ago, she was already talking about retirement being just around the corner—but it seemed she and Bill were just too busy enjoying life’s pleasures. I recall Jackie announcing on more than one occasion that retirement had been delayed as a result of an exciting new adventure or project. When they went on an ocean cruise with the local band, Donna the Buffalo, a few years ago, Jackie came back and said they had a great time but would have to work one more year. Then Jackie and Bill decided to put in a new driveway at their big house on the hill—some of you may know their driveway is named Morris Manor Drive and is actually longer than many Berkshire town roads. After that project, Jackie announced she would have to work another year. Last year, Jackie and Bill went on a lengthy cruise through the Panama Canal. That trip must have been a life-changing experience, because when they came back there was no more talk about delaying retirement. Instead, serious retirement planning seemed to begin shortly after that trip. When I think of Jackie, I think of someone who is always reaching out and connecting with people. While she is never shy to share her opinion, Jackie’s heart is always open and she fills her time with service to others—her family, her church, charitable organizations like the Relay for Life, and many others in the community. The library also has benefited tremendously from Jackie’s extensive financial experience, knowledge, and high service standards. Jackie knows how to navigate university policies and systems to meet the needs of librarians and staff. She can find the fastest way to get that last minute cash advance request actually in advance of the ALA trip (!) or to pay the vendor by next week or to know the best person to call at the Controller’s office to expedite a transaction. With nearly forty years of service in Library Accounting, Jackie knows how things are done now, how current procedures evolved from past practice, why things are done the way they are and, in some cases, why things should definitely be done differently. Based on Jackie’s valuable library experience, I suggest CUL find a way to catalog her knowledge and, perhaps, to offer her a retirement home in the Kroch Archives for safekeeping and easy access. Jackie is also quick to offer help to her colleagues. She is always willing to train new staff members (including training me ten years ago), to personally deliver a rush foreign currency payment request to East Hill Plaza on her way home from work, to help plan the next holiday party, and to tell a slightly off color joke to ease tensions during a particularly busy work day. I am now enjoying the holidays with family in Florida, but I truly regret missing Jackie’s retirement party. Another thing that Jackie does very well is party and I know it will be a good one—in fact, I know there will be multiple parties to celebrate this exciting event! I wish Jackie and Bill the very best in retirement. They both have dedicated their entire careers to Cornell and have made steady and significant contributions day after day. They deserve the best as they “cruise” into retirement. 2005 Holiday Party
Credits: Kaleidoscope is published bi-monthly except June and July by Cornell University Library. Editor: Elizabeth Teskey, Photography: Cynthia Lange, Layout: Carla DeMello and Jenn Colt-Demaree |
||||||||||||||||
|
Cornell University Library Gateway | Cornell Library Catalog | Cornell University | Webmaster © 2005 Cornell University Library |
It started as an extension of a project at the Legal Information Institute called “BigEar.” BigEar was a Web crawler that roamed the Web in search of law-related online resources. Law librarians reviewed the sites that were most promising, and wrote annotations for the best resources in a newsletter called InSITE. The date was February 19, 1996. Ten years later, BigEar is now defunct; Law librarians have come and gone; but InSITE is alive and well thanks to its founding editor, Jean Pajerek.
We all know that there are twenty units in the Cornell University Library, but do you know what those twenty units are?
Michael Friedman, in his newly created position of Outreach Services Associate, provides in-office guidance to the faculty and academic staff of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM). With growing emphasis on electronic access, the Veterinary Library wants to ensure that each patron is aware of and can easily use the “library” on their desktop as fully as possible. In support of that commitment, Michael meets with staff members individually and in small groups within their offices, laboratories, and other work spaces to ensure that their computers are set up for the most efficient and streamlined access to the library’s various services and collections—and that the patron understands how to use them. Michael is a natural for this position since he has been informally offering these services for some time in his former role of Electronic Services Specialist.
Congratulations to Katherine Reagan who will assume the title of Ernest L. Stern ’56 Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts for the next five years. The Ernest L. Stern curatorship is assigned by the University Librarian on a limited-term basis to honor the contribution of the incumbent to the Library. Katherine has been a member of the Cornell University Library staff since 1995 and has been curator of rare books in the Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections since 2000. During her tenure she has been responsible for enriching the Library’s substantial holdings of English and American literature and American history and for adding significant materials to numerous other collecting domains, including children’s literature, travel and tourism, and women’s history. Katherine's efforts have resulted in many outstanding additions to the University’s rare book and manuscript holdings. Over the past year she has been instrumental in bringing to Cornell a nationally prominent Native American collection, the Jon A. Lindseth ’56 Russian fable collection, and the gift of a distinguished gathering of books and manuscripts by Herman Melville. In addition to these achievements, her course for Cornell’s Department of English on the history of the book has attracted an oversubscription of students. Congratulations, Katherine! (Photo by Kevin Stearns/University Photography)
Congratulations again to Philip Davis, who was asked to join the editorial board of the journal, College & Research Libraries (C&RL). Phil was honored with this position as a result of his dedication to research in library and information science. C&RL is one of the top research journals in its field and highly selective, rejecting sixty percent of submitted manuscripts. Colleagues may recall reading about Phil’s discovery of unethical publishing practices at journal publisher Emerald in the 
Congratulations again to Carla DeMello for designing the award-winning 
