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April 2009In this issue:Promotions
PromotionsLibrarianDeb Schmidle, Research and Learning Services, Olin/Uris Libraries
Deb has been at the Cornell Library system on and off since 1978 in various capacities and many of you have worked with her far longer than I have. In the short three years that I have worked with her, however, I have been amazed at her dedication, professionalism, and grace. Listing her professional achievements alone would require pages and pages--from Outreach Services Librarian at ILR, to Bibliographer for History and Information Science and Policy at the University at Albany, Director of Library and Educational Services at Nylink, Collection Development Librarian at ILR, Social Sciences Coordinator in Collections, Reference, Instruction, and Outreach to her current position as the Director of Research and Learning Services at Olin/Uris Libraries. What she brings to the table professionally is profound expertise in collections building and public services, deep understanding of the current state of the library profession and an inspired vision for the future of libraries. But the most important thing that she brings is her ability to work well with everyone, treat her colleagues with respect and understanding, and negotiate and facilitate complex issues and discussions. A short list of the projects that she has worked on or led in the last three years would include the WorldCat Selection Management Group, CDExec, the Social Science Team, Task Force on Selector Training and Professional Development, Government Documents Task Force, VIVO, and of course the Large-Scale Digitization projects with Microsoft and Google. There is, of course, a reason that goes beyond her knowledge and expertise, of why she is asked to serve on or lead so many CUL team projects and efforts and it is precisely her people skills and her colleagues' trust in and respect for her. Congratulations, Deb! Kornelia Tancheva Suzanne Cohen, ILR Catherwood Library
She took the initiative in 2002 to chair a committee on working papers exploring how best to make them more accessible and preserve them long term. Consisting of Catherwood staff and ILR faculty, this group recommended we implement a digital repository in partnership with Berkeley Electronic Press. Suzanne promoted the benefits of being represented on DigitalCommons@ILR. Nearly 70% of our faculty now contribute some version of their research output to this venture and the number is growing. Our repository contains upwards of 7,000 documents relating to our subject field and experienced 600,000 full text downloads in the past year. Her leadership has been an important factor in the success of this venture. Suzanne’s willingness to move into the collection development role several years ago was a logical step to broaden her knowledge base and advance the agenda in another area of special interest—the identification and preservation of born digital materials. Learning how to acquire the obvious, identify the gray literature, and relate all of this to the born digital takes energy and intellect. Her growing publication record is impressive. She coauthored (with Phil Davis) a paper published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (2001) entitled, “Effect of the Web on Undergraduate Citation Behavior: 1996-1999.” This essay received much attention in the literature and was the recipient of an ALA Library Instruction Roundtable (LIRT) best paper award. Her chapter on how to research decisions of the National Labor Relations Board and related court decisions, which appeared in A Guide to Sources of Information on the National Labor Relations Board (Routledge 2002) and coauthored by Professor Michael Gold, is an especially clear prescription for doing research on this subject. The rank of Librarian is reserved for exceptional professionals who make a substantial difference and Suzanne’s promotion is well deserved. Gordon Law Associate LibrarianJames Alberts, Music Library/LTS Cataloging
In addition to his responsibilities in the music library, Jim has served on a number of CUL committees and was instrumental in designing the current LTS Web pages. Jim has undertaken several major cataloging projects, including a large gift of LPs from Vincente Stasolla, and coordinated efforts to catalog the LPs from the Johan Kugelberg Hip-Hip Collection in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Jim also has served on several national committees and is an active participant in cataloging discussions at the national level, serving as chair of the Music Library Association’s MARC Formats Subcommittee and as liaison to ALA’s MARC Advisory and Machine Readable Bibliographic Information (MARBI) Committees. Jim’s understanding of and commitment to national efforts also are evidenced by his ongoing contributions to the NACO-Music Project. The music library, technical services, and CUL have benefited from Jim’s unpretentious leadership. Jim is a supportive and thoughtful colleague; please join me in congratulating him on this promotion. Bonna Boettcher Gregory Green, Echols Collection on Southeast Asia, Kroch Library Greg's research revolves around the history and culture of the Lao people in Laos and Thailand. He enjoys doing comparative work on the history, peoples, cultures, and languages of mainland Southeast Asia. He has done research on people's ability to access and utilize information in the Lao P.D.R. and has created a documentary video about the city of Vientiane, Laos using various sites in the city to comment on the flow of history and culture in the city and country. He also has played a key role in developing the Southeast Asia Digital Library, a collaborative project involving the Southeast Asia library collections around the country and numerous international partners. He continues to work at building capacity for collecting material on Southeast Asia through collaborative projects among similar collections around the world. Outside of work in the Library, Greg enjoys spending time at home with his wife and four children, where work in the yard and around the house provides a daily escape from the concerns of books, serials, and various digital projects. As Greg's new supervisor, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him and his expertise. I have great respect for his accomplishments and his passion to work on making the Echols collection an even more important, world-wide resource than it already is. Congratulations Greg! John Saylor Julie Jones, Law Library
As Head of Information Services, Julie fulfills many different roles in the law school and the law library. She is a reference and research librarian, she teaches several credit courses in legal research, and she oversees several teams, including the Faculty Services, Public Relations and Publications, and Web site teams. She has a special talent to get things done and coordinate staff efforts from different departments. Last year, she started a current awareness service for faculty, Infobrief, which is well received and a good public relations tool for the library’s visibility. She is creative and shows a great spirit of initiative. On her own, she developed the “Legal Research Engine,” a very useful search engine that was noted in several blogs and listservs, and is widely used by researchers worldwide. One of her major accomplishments has been directing operations needed to redesign the law library Web site. It was a complex operation, and she worked with a team of law library staff members, the outside designers hired for the job, and our Web master. Her task included the coordination of the redesign, as well as the reorganization of the contents, with many new pages to be written. It was quite complex, and she can be commended for achieving the project in the most successful way, with only modest financial and staff resources. Julie is an effective teacher of several credit courses in legal research. She relates exceedingly well to her faculty as a library liaison. She coordinates the production of beautiful displays, brochures, and bookmarks, which are valued by faculty and students. She has been very active within CUL, including serving on the CUL Chief Strategist Search Committee. She is engaged professionally at the national level with AALL, the American Association of Law Libraries, and most recently served as the Chair of the AALL Publications Committee. She is an excellent writer, and was recently awarded an award prize for her piece “Not Just Key Numbers and Keywords Anymore: How User Interface Design Affects Legal Research,” which she presented in several venues and published in Law Library Journal. In sum, Julie has made important contributions to the Law Library, Law School, CUL, and the profession, for which she richly deserves this promotion to Associate Librarian. Claire Germain Thomas Mills, Law Library
Thomas has been a key part of the Law Library’s digitization efforts and taken part in various digital projects, including the Donovan, Liberia, Hein historical trials, and CUL’s Microsoft projects. These projects expose the Law Library collections to worldwide use, including visits of scholars who write books on the Holocaust and other topics. In 2007, Thomas helped organize the Starr Foundation Workshop on electronic legal research, which brought law librarians from other countries to exchange ideas about electronic legal research, law libraries, and different cultures. Furthermore, Thomas took the initiative with Beth Katzoff to propose and organize an Asian law research workshop as part of the meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law, held at Cornell Law School in November 2007. These two international events were a great success. Thomas has played a leading role in the Cornell Undergraduate Information Competency Initiative, funded by a grant from CUL and the office of the Vice Provost for undergraduate education. This initiative encourages Cornell faculty to explore creative and effective ways to engage students by integrating research skills into the classroom and the curriculum through the redesign of undergraduate courses. Eight Cornell faculty were selected to participate throughout the 2008-2009 academic year, and the projects involve coordinating efforts with consultants from the University Library, the Center for Learning and Teaching, and Academic Technology Services and User Support. This successful endeavor demonstrates that Thomas can handle a complex project with much success. Thomas is a vital part of the many activities and services the library is engaged in. He sees the big picture and he has a keen sense of the pedagogical needs of students. His contributions to the Law Library, the Law School, and CUL are numerous and of exceptional quality. We congratulate him on his promotion to Associate Librarian. Claire Germain Matthew Morrison, Law Library
While an Assistant, Matt actively participated in several key areas: faculty liaison duties, annual student orientation, our advanced legal research course, and the annual prepare to practice week where the library reaches out to students to help them refine their research skills to succeed in their summer employment. He also serves as library liaison to the Cornell Law Review. Matt continues to excel in these areas and has implemented new services, including the annual training of faculty research assistants, teaching a one credit legal research course to LLM students, and adding value to the annual student survey by slicing and dicing data in new ways. He is the “go to guy” for Lexis and Westlaw handling passwords, information, training, and contact with the database representatives. Matt is now coordinator of student services and oversees all our student outreach. He is the library’s expert in the developing area of empirical legal research and co-authored an annotated bibliography of current resources. Matt has participated in professional activities at CUL as Chair of the Academic Personnel Policy Committee and member of the Reference and Outreach committees. He served a term as Treasurer of the Association of Law Libraries of NY. On the national level, Matt serves as editorial board member of both the Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law and the Law Library Journal. Matt will be busy during this summer’s annual meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries by giving a session on empirical legal research and moderating a session on military law. His paper "Where Web 2.0 and Legal Information Intersect: Adjusting Course without Getting Lost" is available in the Law School online depository. Matt’s exceptional research skills and a wonderful rapport with students are essential to the Law Library’s mission. Matt holds a J.D. from Mercer University, an M.S.L.S. from the University of Kentucky, and a B.S. from Virginia Tech. He has experience in academic law libraries in Kentucky and Georgia, where he is admitted to practice. His southern roots have been challenged by Ithaca’s weather, but Matt remains a fan of the Kentucky Blue Grass and the Kentucky Derby. Jean Callihan Ira Revels, Division of Library Information Technologies
Most recently, Ira has been the driving force behind CUL’s partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Ira determined that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation would be interested in funding the project and helped develop the grant that secured funding. She was instrumental in helping change the focus of the grant from graduate education in digital librarianship to training of librarians involved with the HBCU Library Alliance, and in securing a second round of funding. As project manager on the grant, she has played an active role in developing and teaching a digital imaging curriculum for the twenty participating libraries. She has visited most of the campuses, serves as the technical liaison for the project, and promotes its use through conferences and publications. Recently she organized a new training session on audio and video digitization that was a tremendous success. Ira has become a leading professional in the field, active in both ALA and ACRL. For the ALA Black Caucus, Ira has served as Secretary and Webmaster as well as on its Recruitment and Professional Development Committee. She also served on ACRL’s First-Year Experience Task Force and its Effective Practices Committee, and has been a member of the Membership Committee of ACRL’s African American Studies Section. She has made presentations (among others) to the ALA (in 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2008), ACRL (in 2003), the National Diversity in Libraries Conference in 2004, and to an IMLS sponsored workshop on digital collection building. She also collaborated with her CUL colleagues on writing three articles. Her professional contributions led to her being named one of Library Journal’s “Movers and Shakers” of 2006 and to being awarded the John C. Tyson Award from ALA’s Black Caucus in 2007. Ira’s contributions do not stop with the library. She has also been very active with the local Cornell community. For example, she is an active member of a group of Cornell minority professional women, and also has been the co-chairperson of the Village at Ithaca, a grassroots educational initiative begun with the active support of Cornell faculty and staff. Ira’s ability to work on a variety of different projects, her technical and instructional skills, and her ability to reach out to and connect with different audiences and community groups makes her a perfect example of the librarian of the future. CUL has been fortunate that her Fellowship term has turned into something much more lasting. Peter Hirtle Senior Assistant LibrarianBronwen Bledsoe, South Asia Collection, Kroch Library I just recently started working with Bronwen as her supervisor and enjoy her friendliness, creativity and willingness to teach me about the complexities of her work. In learning more about her background, I was very impressed by the warm welcome she received by the South Asia Program on the front page of the Spring 2006 South Asia Newsletter: "Bronwen did her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she graduated with a double B.A. in Anthropology and South Asian Studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, in 2004, with a Dissertation entitled Written in Stone: Inscriptions of the Katmandu Valley's Three Kingdoms, which refigures late medieval history in the light of temple inscriptions in Sanskrit and Newari. She was able to tie the information from these inscriptions to changes in political structures based on events of the time. She found that these stone inscriptions, which were generally ignored by historians and scholars, turned out to be a remarkable source for hearing primary voices, when one is no longer looking for facts, but for what people actually said in the conversations of that period. Through these translations, she was able to learn about the people politically, socially, religiously and culturally, as they are linked together. She has spent a total of seven years in Nepal over a 25-year period. Not only is Bronwen well-versed as a South Asian scholar, familiar with the use of library collections, but she also served as the Assistant to Chicago's Bibliographer for Southern Asia since 1997. She spent nine years managing the collection and more than twenty years using area studies libraries, making her quite qualified for her current position as Curator, with a deep understanding of the needs of both students and faculty. As current Chair of the Committee on South Asian Libraries and Documentation, she is increasingly aware of the strategies that fellow librarians have framed to pursue common goals. Exposure over the years to an array of externally-funded projects has made her familiar with the prospects and procedures of applying for grant support. One of the priorities in her new position is to familiarize herself with the individual needs of the South Asia faculty, and try to accommodate them as best she can, realizing that, while some of the needs are common, some are extraordinary. She aims to further develop the collection's existing strengths, reflecting Cornell's specialization as a "center for the peripheries" of South Asia. She hopes to build a collection for Sri Lanka and the Himalayan region without parallel in the Western hemisphere. Academic training, years of library work, and institutional support form a firm basis for these endeavors. The SAP wishes Dr. Bledsoe a happy and successful career at Cornell." Congratulations Bronwen! John Saylor Jeffrey Petersen, Echols Collection on Southeast Asia, Kroch Library
Having spent years researching aspects of life in the Philippines before his time at CUL, Jeff has been expanding his knowledge of the region by learning the Indonesian language. He is now completing his second year of formal courses in Indonesian. With Indonesian added to English and Tagalog, Jeff can now handle most of the publishing done in his area of responsibility. Jeff’s language skills and formal training in anthropology and library science greatly enhance our work here in the Echols Collection where we cover the many peoples and languages of Southeast Asia. Jeff’s interests are not limited to the subjects of his formal training, and being a good conversationalist, he’s happy to talk to anyone about almost any subject. You will appreciate his insight on any number of topics, especially those related to improving library services. So stop by and talk to him some time and don’t forget to congratulate him on his well deserved promotion. Greg Green Banner photographs of Julie Jones, Thomas Mills, and Matt Morrison by Sheryl Sinkow; all other photographs providedCornell United Way 2008 Achieves Its Goal
This year participation at Cornell was at 16%. In the Library however our participation rate was 23%. Endowed units that surpassed university participation include CRIO (now called Research & Learning Services), DLIT, RMC, Engineering, Law, Library Administration, LTS Acquisitions, LTS Cataloging, LTS E-Resources & Serials, Physical Sciences, Preservation & Collection Maintenance, Public Services & Assessment, Asia Collections, and Library Research. [Apologies for unit name changes that happened after August when the university set up their reporting site.] Many thanks to Rachel Brill, Lee Cartmill, Donna Moore, and Scott Wicks, who helped within the Library. Sincere thanks to all who contributed to the success of this campaign and to those who continue to support United Way year after year. It is a measure of the generosity of the Library and its values that as one of the larger units in the campaign it participates at such a high rate. Our community is stronger for it. People NewsWELCOMEThere are no new hires to report. PROMOTIONSThe Weill Cornell Medical Library is pleased to announce the following promotions: Esdel Watkins has been promoted from Senior Library Assistant to Interlibrary Services Supervisor. He will coordinate Interlibrary and Document Delivery services and manage a team of 2.5 employees. Shauntae Brown and Kamaria Romeo have been promoted from Interlibrary Services Aide to Interlibrary Services Assistant. CHANGESJoanne Leary from Engineering has taken on additional responsibilities, working part-time in the Research and Assessment Unit, while continuing to provide Access Services support to the unit libraries. Michelle Paolillo has transferred to the Division of Library Information Technologies (DLIT). Jill Ulbricht from Physical Sciences has taken on additional part-time duties as administrative manager in the Department of Research & Learning Services, Olin/Uris Libraries. CONGRATULATIONSWeill Cornell Medical College Librarian Paul Albert Authors Review on Vitamin D Appearing in Autoimmunity Reviews
Gaby Castro Gessner Runner-up Paraprofessional of the Year Congratulations to Gaby Castro Gessner, Reference Specialist in Research and Learning Services, who was a runner-up for the annual Paraprofessional of the Year Award offered by Library Journal and sponsored by Brodart Library Supplies. The award recognizes the essential role of paraprofessionals in providing excellent library service. Gaby was one of only three who were publicly acknowledged in this national competition. Gaby's supervisor, Deb Schmidle, wrote about her in the nominating letter: Gaby was hired as a Reference Assistant at Olin Library, Cornell University Library (CUL) in 2002. Within three years, she was promoted to Reference Specialist and Student Supervisor. Just this past month, her duties were expanded to include the supervision of three reference assistants. Gaby approaches her supervisory role with commitment and dedication. She has created online training tutorials in Blackboard for the student assistants and uses Blackboard as a tool for student assistants to track the questions they receive and to provide them with feedback. Her strong sense of public service and her tenacity at approaching challenging questions makes her a favorite with our users. While these traits are admirable, it is Gaby’s significant contribution to CUL in other unique and innovative ways that I feel makes her a strong candidate for this award.
Shortly after her arrival at Olin Library, Gaby worked in collaboration with students from Computer Science 501 at Cornell to develop an online reference statistics reporting system (RSRS). This project served two purposes; it gave Cornell students an opportunity to work in unique collaboration with CUL and it provided our department with a much-needed system to collect reference statistics in an electronic format. The success of the RSRS system led to its adaptation throughout Cornell’s twenty libraries and has been instrumental in ensuring that all units are reporting consistent statistics. It also has a built-in system for generating reports—both at the mirco-level (by service point or unit) and the macro-level (CUL-wide, multiple units, etc.). Data from this system has greatly assisted me in the revision of staffing patterns at our reference desks. Gaby has also been very involved with user research at CUL, notably as a member of a CUL team working with the University of Rochester’s eXtensible Catalog project. This Mellon-supported project will result in the creation of an open-source library catalog that brings together all library-created, licensed, and purchased resources into a common Web 2.0 system, allowing for user-contributed data and the insertion of the library in nonlibrary systems such as course-management systems. As a member of this team, Gaby received training on conducting ethnographic research and conducted interviews with faculty and graduate students. Continuing the theme of ethnographic research, Gaby proposed and is currently conducting an ethnographic observation of user behavior at Uris Library. This research consists of observing users at several times throughout the day and evening in the library, recording user conduct (reading, eating, sleeping, working in groups, working alone) as well as the electronic devices utilized by our users (cell phones, laptops, etc.). The collected data will assist us in making policy decisions regarding building hours, access points and the reconfiguration of user space. I feel that Gaby Castro Gessner is an invaluable member of our department and CUL and I strongly support her nomination for this award. Deb Schmidle Photograph provided by Gaby Castro Gessner
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 Please join me in congratulating Mary Ochs who will become the new director of Mann Library in early April. In her six months of "interim-ship," she has done an outstanding job. When we asked Mary to become the interim Mann director in October 2008, I wrote on CU-Lib that she was uniquely qualified. We were fortunate--she had an undergraduate degree from CALS (MLS, Syracuse); impressive success in grant-writing; pioneering work in international agriculture; broad experience in collection development, instruction, interlibrary loan, and cataloging in Mann, Olin, and Uris; as well as a bounty of personal attributes--her intellect, creativity, resilience, and compassion. Not everyone could step into a position with budget reductions, reorganizations, and information explosions swirling about them but Mary has. The deans and associate deans with whom she has worked over the past six months have said how impressive she is; they've valued her openness to new ideas, her creative suggestions to problems, and her collaborative approach with issues. On Monday, Sharon Tennyson (chair of the Mann Library Faculty Committee), Anne Kenney, and I "stripped" Mary of her interim title and celebrated her new role. A decade ago, Mary told me that her dream job would be "director of Mann Library." It's a challenging time to take on a new position but I have no doubt that Mary will succeed. Please join me in wishing her much success in her new "dream job!" Photographs of Mary provided by Mann Library CommunicationsWeill Cornell Medical Library Wins Creative Promotions Award For the second year in a row, the Weill Cornell Medical Library has won a Creative Promotions Award from the Medical Library Association as part of an annual contest sponsored by that organization in honor of National Medical Librarians Month. The centerpiece of this year’s entry was a short, original, animated film conceived and created by Loretta Merlo, Manager of Circulation Service. Episode #1 of “The Counter-Entropy Squad” depicts a medical librarian “superhero” attending pediatric rounds, laptop in hand, who is able to call up pertinent medical information in a flash – a very useful super power indeed! For Merlo, two random factors converged to inspire the idea. First, an off-handed remark by Dr. Roger Greif, a WCMC emeritus professor in Physiology and Biophysics, was seized upon as an excellent metaphor. Dr. Greif characterized the Library staff as “fighting entropy”. The idea that we were so adept at accessing and managing information that we appear to reverse the second law of thermodynamics was not only science-related but smart and funny as well. From there, it was but a small step to the idea of a Library superhero.
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When Elizabeth contacted me about writing a piece for Deb to celebrate her promotion to Librarian, I knew that the only difficult thing in this request would be for me to limit the number of superlatives I am going to use. 
We hired Suzanne Cohen in the spring of 1997. She developed into one of our most valued staff members whose performance is characterized by distinguished service and high professional achievement. As our Reference Services Coordinator, Suzanne gave our program more coherence and relevance to the school’s core mission. Suzanne thinks very clearly and is able to win people over to her view of what the modern library and information center should be doing to meet the needs of our users.
James (Jim) Alberts serves as Assistant Music Librarian and Coordinator of the Music Cataloging Unit. Since joining CUL in 2003, Jim has made many contributions to the music library, CUL, and to the profession. Jim’s primary responsibilities include selecting and cataloging sound and video recordings, supervising the music technical services staff, assisting at music public service desks, and maintaining the music library’s Web pages and blog. Jim’s knowledge of many music genres, from jazz to avant-garde to world musics, insures that we acquire a broad range of recordings to meet the needs of faculty, students and researchers. Jim is adept at tracking down recordings that are difficult to locate, a talent appreciated by both music and dance faculty. Jim’s expertise has been invaluable in evaluating online music resources, including online audio databases, text-based databases, and WorldCat Local. He quickly discerns advantages and disadvantages in content, quality, and search engine performance.
Gregory Green started his position as Curator of the John M. Echols Collection on Southeast Asia on June 5, 2006. Greg came to Cornell from Northern Illinois University Libraries where he was Curator of the Donn V. Hart Southeast Asia Collection. He has also worked at Arizona State University Libraries as the Southeast Asia Bibliographer while attending the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science. He has an MLS (2003), an MA in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley (1999) and a BA in History and Asian Studies from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah (1995).
Julie Jones has been a key part of Cornell Law Library since her arrival in May 2004. In her first professional library position, she brought with her many skills acquired from her experience as a practicing attorney, and excellent academic credentials, including a federal judge clerkship, a high honor reserved for the best law students.
In his years at Cornell since he arrived in November 2003, Thomas has made outstanding contributions to the Law Library. Thomas’s responsibilities were recently expanded and recognized with the new title of “Head of Collections.” In that capacity, in addition to his current responsibilities for teaching and reference, Thomas oversees and coordinates the activities of the collection development team, the foreign and international law team, and the rare books and special collections team. Thomas is an effective library liaison with several faculty. His teaching portfolio is extensive. He teaches the current first year Lawyering course, International and Foreign Law Research, Online Legal Research, and a new course for undergraduates on U.S. legal research. He also goes beyond the call of duty for students, e.g., coaching and accompanying them to the International Moot Court competition.
Matt Morrison joined the Law Library in August 2003 as an Assistant Librarian. He was welcomed with open arms and immediately assigned teaching duties. Fortunately, Matt had experience teaching legal research. Even more fortunately for us, he easily became part of the team. The Law Library staff appreciated his hard work, sense of humor, and wonderful baking skills. His pecan pie is now a vital part of library celebrations.
After receiving an M.Ed. degree in Instructional Design from Northwestern State University and an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh, Ira Revels came to Cornell in 2001 through the Library Fellowship program. One of the more notable accomplishments of her Fellowship tenure was her work in connection with a CUL committee to design a summer outreach and information literacy program for high school students of color. Ira’s interest in information literacy also led her to design a course based around hip hop music and culture. She found two different Cornell courses with which she could work, arranged presentations to a number of different campus groups, and designed and implemented a curriculum. Her interest in hip hop has continued unabated, and she recently played a key role in connecting the Cornell hip hop community to the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in support of the latter’s programs associated with the acquisition of the 
Brownwen Bledsoe came to Cornell in the fall of 2006 to be the Curator for the South Asia Collection in Kroch Library. At that time she was also appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian Studies to facilitate her participation as of member of the faculty, teach courses, and advise students working on research projects. 
Jeffrey Petersen joined the Echols Collection as the Southeast Asia Librarian in 2005. Since then, Jeff has diligently taken on duties in collection development, reference, and instruction focusing on the insular side of the region, including the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, and the Philippines. Jeff is dedicated to providing superior services to the collection’s patrons as evidenced by the numerous compliments given him by people who have benefited from his expertise and willingness to help. Another example of the assistance he provides to researchers is his 
In a challenging year the Cornell United Way Campaign met 108% of its goal with another record-breaking contribution to the county of nearly $800,000 -- $798,622 to be precise. Campaign chair Joanne DeStefano, Vice President for Finance and CFO, announced the results at the conclusion on March 11 in Willard Straight Hall at a modest celebration designed to raise awareness for hunger with another fund raiser, "Bring a Can to Work Day."
Mary Ochs Director of Mann Library 
I am very pleased to announce that Julie Delay will serve as the Cornell University Library's next director of human resources. Julie is currently the director of human resources for the college of engineering and will retain that role while adding the library to her portfolio. For the library, Julie will have overall responsibility for providing the strategic leadership for library human resource programs, policies and procedures, represent the library community on matters of university policy and practice, and oversee the operation of the library human resources office. I feel confident that this shared services arrangement will meet the human resources needs of the library community in large part because of the outstanding staff we already have in place. Lyndsi Prignon and Linda Bryan have provided exemplary leadership and initiative during the past several months and will continue to provide the same high quality services under Julie's leadership. Both have certification that is nationally recognized as the credential for human resources professionals and this arrangement will also provide them with opportunities to grow and continue to expand their knowledge base. Bonnie Bailey's administrative support during this interim period has been critical in allowing us to provide needed services while being short handed for these many months. I want to thank them all for their dedication and willingness to "go the extra mile" during this time.
Thanks to Martha Walker for sending us these photos of one of her favorite work hats. It was made for her by Karen Brummond, artist and former Digital Image Instruction Assistant, after a series of rather remarkable facility-related issues. 
Karen is now teaching at the University of Rochester. Martha says it reminds her that life is a process of adapting, growing, and moving (!), but we want to know why is it that Fine Arts seems to have all the fun?