Q & A with Femi Cadmus, the New Edward Cornell Law Librarian
Q: What was your previous job? What did you most enjoy about it and how long were you there?
Previously I was Associate Law librarian for Administration at the Lillian Goldman Library at Yale Law School. I was charged with managing the personnel and budget functions of the library and developing and implementing the library’s strategic goals.
In the three years I was at Yale, I truly enjoyed a wonderful relationship with all of my colleagues, who were innovative, cutting edge, early adopters, forward thinking, collegial, resourceful, energetic, and fun!
Q: How did you come to be a law librarian? Was it something you always knew you would do after law school?
I am certainly the epitome of the “accidental librarian” as I stumbled on law librarianship, never at any time planning on it as a career. My first career opportunity after completing a master’s degree in law in England was as a law research assistant at the University of Oklahoma Law Library. I had no idea that this was really a reference desk job, responding to the queries of faculty, students, and the general public. Even though I was initially terrified at the reference desk, not having then a background in U.S. law and legal research, I quickly learned the job and grew to appreciate the work of librarians. Soon after I enrolled in library school and obtained a master’s degree in library science. The rest is history!
Q: Your first day at Cornell Law Library was August 22. What were your first impressions? Is there anything that surprised you?
My first official day was August 22. However, I had visited with staff twice during the summer and had formed a lot of impressions then, so nothing in particular caught me by surprise on my first official day. My thoughts were that this was a great group with tremendous talent, well trained and prepared to rise to the challenges facing the evolving 21st century law library.
Q: As far as you can tell at this point, what are the differences between Cornell Law School and Yale Law School? Are the students different? Do they have different needs?
I see both law schools to be very similar, the student body is about the same size and is highly accomplished and very diverse. In both institutions you will find prolific, highly respected faculty with wide ranging interests, intellectual and scholarship pursuits.
Student needs in both institutions are not very different. What is definitely similar is the steady influx of “digital natives” - students whose technology and social networking needs are well developed and highly sophisticated. As librarians we must remain fully positioned and trained to respond well to these needs.
Q: What do you think is the role of the library in the education of the student and the law student in particular? How well are we functioning in that role?
The role of the library has always been central and pivotal to the education of the law student. In past years, librarians developed and expanded great print collections and library programs to fulfill the research and scholarly needs of our students. Now in the digital era, there is a noticeable shift towards building digital collections and reconfiguring library space to create a welcoming environment that meets the collaborative and even leisure needs of our students. Here at the Cornell Law Library, with planned renovations in the law school and library, we are currently positioned to respond strategically to this changing landscape.
Q: We heard that you had implemented a very different kind of service for Yale students, one that involved checking out a dog at the circulation desk. Can you tell us about that idea, what need it fills, and how it came to be?
The therapy dog program at the Lillian Goldman Library at Yale Law School was the innovative and brilliant idea of Julian Aiken, the access services librarian. The central idea was to provide relief for students during stressful times of the school year like exams. It has been received wonderfully by the law school student body at Yale. In fact, we co-wrote an article that details the implementation of the program which you can read here.
Thank you! We have selected a few paragraphs, including your opening and closing paragraphs, from your article for our readers.
The motivation for introducing a therapy dog to the Yale Law Library was twofold. Inarguably, attending law school can sometimes be stressful. Studies indicate that, particularly in the first year of law school, when newcomers are adjusting to new teaching methods, materials, external and internal expectations, and even geographic locations, students can experience elevated stress levels. The evidence that visits from therapy dogs have resulted in increased happiness, calmness, and overall emotional well-being was a strong factor in proposing the introduction of Monty, the therapy dog, to the stacks: the health and general happiness of the students in our school is of paramount importance to the Yale Law School and Library.
Another area of great importance to the Library is, of course, our ongoing efforts to meet the needs and support the broader interests of our user population, to remain relevant in an era in which collections are increasingly electronic and in which, indeed, a J.D. can be obtained entirely online. In a 2008 conversation about the future of law libraries, Blair Kauffman, Director of the Yale Law Library, discussed the law library in terms of “what architects call a 'third place' - where your home is your first place, an office or a classroom is a second place, and social places, like dining halls and lounges and coffee shops and bookstores and libraries are a third place. The library is a third place that speaks to individual study and research. It's the one thing that really distinguishes residential education from other types of education ... the library is what holds the students to the law school."
There is existing evidence attesting to the fact that libraries which spend time focusing upon becoming more welcoming and attractive to students enjoy increased usage. At the Yale Law Library a good deal of creative thinking is encouraged, in an effort to provide creative, non-traditional services to our patrons. The library lends, for example, bicycles, soccer balls and goals, phone chargers, umbrellas, iPads, DVDs and popular fiction, in addition to the customary print legal materials. These services have all been greeted positively by Yale law students.
The provision of a therapy dog was considered a very natural extension of the library's innovative and positive approach to its users. Implementing a library therapy dog program has created yet another avenue for the library to interact directly with students, cultivate face time, and solidify our traditional role as librarians while providing a pioneering service which students have embraced as invaluable. While it exacts a substantial investment of time and resources, if carefully planned out it yields excellent results in terms of solidifying relationships with one most important library patron base - students.
Q: Your resume shows that you were born in Nigeria and have lived in several countries, including earning degrees from the University of Warwick in England and the University of Oklahoma. What kind of perspective does that give you in your work life here at Cornell?
My resume shows that I studied in Nigeria, however I was born in New York City, so I am truly excited about returning to my birth state! Having studied in three different continents, I think I have a nice global perspective and find it very easy to relate to people of different cultures and backgrounds.
OOPS, apologies for the mistake! Working too quickly here.
No problem – it is a logical deduction which happens to everyone!
Q: Like most places, Ithaca grows on you. People come here to go to school and some never leave. Of course some people also hate Ithaca. What does your family think of Ithaca?
My family absolutely loves the natural beauty of Ithaca and the friendliness of people. Having lived mostly in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, my teenagers are not particularly impressed with Ithaca Mall and what they perceive as a dearth of modern conveniences and entertainment!
Q: The Law Library has a long tradition of sharing baking and cooking for birthdays, special occasions, and celebrations – it has a cookbook containing staff recipes going back 30 or 40 years to present times. What do you bring to the mix?
Hmm - I don’t do a whole of baking and cooking and will be happy to make a purchase for the law library at the local bakery!
Catalog Record for Monty
Monty : legal therapy dog
THERAPY DOG
[High Wickham, Eng., 2000]
Monty's Profile
Monty at Play
Items
LOCATION |
Call No. |
Status |
ADDITIONAL INFO |
Ask at Circ. |
SF428.2 .M66 2011 |
NOT CHK'D OUT |
|
More Details
Readers and Hoarders Unite: New Student Reading Project
Lance Heidig
In August thousands of new Cornell students joined faculty, staff, alumni and members of the Ithaca community in reading E. L. Doctorow’s novel, Homer and Langley, for the 2011 New Student Reading Project. Based on the real life Collyer brothers, infamous New York City hoarders, the novel provided a glimpse of what happens when “good” collecting goes “bad.”
Over 20 Library staff members lead small group discussions at a variety of campus locations during Fall Orientation Week, and once again Carla DeMello designed the Reading Project’s poster (a copy of which hangs outside President Skorton’s office) and Lance Heidig provided content and information for the Reading Project Web site.
Links:
New Student Reading Project
NSRP Facebook page
Cornell Chronicle Online article
"I feel my typewriters, my table, my chair to have that assurance of a solid world, where things take up space, where there is not the endless emptiness of insubstantial thought that leads to nowhere but itself." (Cornell University Edition, p. 207)
Rare Trials Pamphlet Collection at Law Library to Be Digitized
Jean Callihan
In 1927 the Law Library purchased a collection of 321 Trial Pamphlets ranging in date from the late seventeenth to the late nineteenth centuries. That same year they were bound together in groups of ten to twelve. More than eighty years later a grant from the Save America’s Treasures program, administered by the National Park Service, will allow those rare and brittle pamphlets to be cleaned, chemically stabilized, and individually bound, as well as digitized and indexed online. Researchers will be able to hold them in their hands again and researchers worldwide will have access to them online.
The Trial Pamphlets are contemporary accounts of trials sometimes involving prominent citizens and often revolving around especially controversial or lurid topics. They were mass produced and quickly sold on the street to an audience demanding news but also entertainment. Some pamphlets include details and illustrations of scandalous crimes, and others include “execution sermons,” which were meant to serve as cautionary tales. Most of them include valuable information not available elsewhere such as verbatim transcripts of testimony and arguments of counsel, depositions of parties, and illustrations of evidence used in the trial.
Because cases were not officially reported until the 1830s, the collection provides a rare source of contemporary information for researchers of seventeenth to nineteenth century trials. In addition, the pamphlets in this collection document the transfer of legal tradition, including the biases within that system, from Great Britain to the United States. Thus the collection is of immense value to legal historians as well as an important resource for historians, sociologists, and criminologists, among other scholars.
“These pamphlets provide a snapshot into a particular time period from a point of view that isn’t available in more ‘traditional’ resources,” said Thomas Mills,
Assistant Director for Collections and Curator of Rare Books. “The pamphlets contain a wealth of information about the daily lives of ordinary people, especially women and minorities, whose stories are not well represented in American legal history.”
The pamphlets reflect contemporary attitudes towards issues such as capital punishment, the institution of marriage, abortion, and the insanity defense, issues that people still struggle with in American society today. The collection also contains numerous accounts of trials involving important events in American history. From the Civil War period alone, the collection includes pamphlets on the trial of John Brown for the raid on Harper’s Ferry, the trial of John Surratt for the murder of President Lincoln, and the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.
The vast majority of the pamphlets are from American trials; approximately 8 percent of the pamphlets are reports of British trials and comprise the oldest trials in the collection. A bibliographic survey found that more than half of the collection is unique to Cornell Law Library or to be found only in one or two other libraries. “No other pamphlet collection of this type and scope is available online, and digitizing this material will be a significant contribution toward building a first-class digital library for Cornell and the rest of the world,” said Danielle Mericle, coordinator of the Library’s Digital Consulting and Production services which will be doing both the conservation and digitization in-house.
The Trials Pamphlet Collection was awarded $155,700 for conservation and digitization from the Save America’s Treasures 2010 program. Cornell is one of only a few libraries to receive funding from the program that year, thanks in part to the efforts of Barbara Berger Eden, director of the Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance and Principal Investigator for the grant. “This recognition shows we’re justified in feeling incredibly proud of our collections here at Cornell,” said Barbara. “Without careful preservation, this part of history would have been lost forever, but now the originals will be kept safe while providing worldwide access to the content.”
Unit in the Spotlight: Library Human Resources
Human Resources unit from left: Bonnie Bailey, Lyndsi Prignon, Linda Bryan, Sandy Dhimitri (photograph by Carla DeMello)
Library Human Resources takes a leadership role in providing programs and services in accordance with Cornell University's core values and human resource principles. Library HR’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, recruitment, employee relations, training and development, policy interpretation, regulatory compliance, and partnering with senior management on strategic planning. We also act as a liaison between several university departments, including Payroll, The Office of Human Resources, Benefits and Student Employment.
Library Human Resources also takes pride in the events that we offer to recognize our valued staff. Some of these events include the annual Library Service Awards, the CUL Outstanding Performance Award, and the Fuerst Outstanding Student Award.
Library HR strives to provide an open environment where employees can feel welcome to stop by to ask questions or just say hello. Employees may also get information by going to http://www.library.cornell.edu/Adminops/libhumres/ or emailing LibHR@cornell.edu .
The office was recently relocated to 213 Olin Library, so do stop in if you haven’t already!
Second Annual VIVO Conference Highlights Growth of Cornell’s Homegrown Research Discovery Tool
Jim Morris-Knower
If you’ve been around Cornell for a while, you might very well remember when VIVO was this great little in-house tool developed by the library for discovering who was doing what in the Cornell Life Sciences community. My, how our kid has grown up—eight years after its release in 2003, VIVO now covers all of Cornell and is set to become the research discovery tool for the entire country and, quite possibly, the world.
Consider this: seven institutions, including Cornell, recently received $12.2 million in funding from the National Center for Research Resources of NIH to enable national networking with VIVO. And the USDA is about to release a VIVO with almost 1,000 researchers from agencies including the Agricultural Research Service, Forest Services, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Internationally, the VIVO Code base (Vitro) is in use by the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Australian National Data Service.
So many people around the world want to develop their own VIVO sites, in fact, that there is now an annual VIVO conference for developers and potential users. The second annual VIVO conference, held in Washington DC at the end of August, brought together over 260 participants from as far away as Europe, China, and Chile to discuss how to implement the technology and how to develop applications using VIVO. Brian Lowe, a Mann programmer who is actively involved in VIVO's development and who spoke at the conference, says that the gathering represents much more than an event focused solely on the software itself and demonstrates the growing interest in using computer technology to make connections between researchers. “One might be hard pressed to find a larger conference focused on practical applications of semantic web technologies," he says. An explanation for those who may not know: in a semantic web, computers analyze a vast range of seemingly unrelated data and make links between the various and scattered content and people. This is what VIVO originally did for the Life Sciences Initiative—it made connections between Cornell faculty and their research that weren’t otherwise easily identified.
This great and growing interest in VIVO and its semantic web technology is also evident when you look at the download statistics for the code to install and run VIVO –the application was downloaded 2,200 times in the last 12 months. If you’d like to start your own semantic web, you can download the code at http://sourceforge.net/p/vivo/home/VIVO/ . And if you’re a Cornell faculty member, you’re in VIVO. Check yourself out and start making connections at vivo.cornell.edu.
Vivo's semantic web in action: this slide shows the co-author network for Cornell scientist Susan McCouch
A VIVO TIMELINE
1998: Genomics Initiative started at Cornell
1999: CU Library reviews Initiative and implications for library services
2000: CU Library holds meetings with Genomics Initiative faculty to propose genomics information portal
2002: Genomics Initiative morphs into New Life Sciences Initiative; Life Sciences Working Group created in CU Library
2003: VIVO application first developed at Cornell
2004: First campus release of VIVO as database-driven application
2006: Funding from Office of the Provost to include all Cornell faculty and disciplines
2007: VIVO re-implemented as semantic web application using RDF, OWL, Jena and SPARQL; VIVO implemented at University of Florida
2009: Seven institutions receive $12.2 million in funding from the National Center for Research Resources of NIH to enable national networking with VIVO
2010: VIVO Cornell migrated to release 1 version 1.1
2011: VIVO Cornell migrated to release 1 version 2
Welcome
William (Bill) Cowdery is the new Evening/Weekend Supervisor and Technical Processing Assistant in the Music Library. Bill holds the Ph.D. in musicology from Cornell; his doctoral thesis is entitled “The Early Vocal Works of Johann Sebastian Bach: Studies in Style, Scoring, and Chronology.” His bachelor’s degree also is from Cornell, in Mathematics and Russian, and he has taught at Cornell, Ithaca College, Rutgers, and Colgate. In addition to working with Neal Zaslaw on The Compleat Mozart, as well as contributing to several other publications, Bill is well known in the Ithaca musical community. He serves as Organist and Music Director at the First Congregational Church, Director of the Chorus of the Finger Lakes, and Choral Accompanist with Cornell's department of Music; he is an active performer with local and regional ensembles.
O/K/U Access Services is happy to welcome Kim Laine back to the department. Kim, who you may remember as Kim LaMorte during her tenure at Access Services in 2005-2007, has rejoined the department as a public services assistant. Previous to 2005 she worked in Library administration for three years. Kim has a BA from Loyola College. Kim returns to help work the late night shift at Olin. While you may not see her often throughout the semester, you may spot her at the circulation desk at earlier hours during winter recess and in-semester breaks.
Sarah Reinbold is the new Instructional Design Librarian at Weill Cornell Medical College Library. In this position Sarah will devote 50% of her time to the WCMC Library and 50% to the Distributed e-Library Qatar. She will design, develop, and deliver instructional programming in a variety of formats for both libraries as well as provide copyright expertise to both campuses. She will report to Mark Funk in NYC and Ross Bowron in Doha. Sarah received a Master's in Library and Information Science from Kent State University and holds a master trainer certification in instructional design. Most recently Sarah was the Web Content Manager for the Cleveland Clinic Digestive Disease Institute. She has a strong background in instructional design in the private industry and a solid history in grant writing and development. Please welcome Sarah as our newest faculty memeber at WCMC NYC and Qatar.
Welcome to Jill Wilson, the new Outreach Coordinator & Collections Specialist for the Engineering, Math and Physical Sciences Libraries. She will be working with the EMPS subject librarians, the research departments and across CUL to enhance communication and develop an awareness of library services. She will be creating and designing guides, presentation materials, publications for instruction and workshops, submitting and monitoring acquisition requests and access to online resources, collecting and analyzing metrics on usage patterns and cost data, and developing reports of all these activities for a wide range of stakeholders as we continue to articulate the scope of these emerging virtual libraries. Jill comes to us with years of experience working in libraries, starting out as a high school student page in her local public library, then working in her alma mater’s library, Wells College. After graduation, she has held jobs at the Albany Law Library as a cataloging and book repair specialist and at Dewey Graduate Library of University at Albany as a Reference Associate – all while earning her MSIS degree from University at Albany in 2009.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Amy Emerson, Research Attorney at the Law Library, who was awarded the Spirit of the FCIL-SIS Award at the annual conference in Philadelphia in July. The award is given annually by the Foreign, Comparative & International Law Special Interest Section (FCIL-SIS) of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) to the members who most embody the goals of the group including promoting education in foreign, comparative and international law for specialists and non-specialists; increasing active and broader participation of FCIL-SIS members; and enhancing the position of FCIL-SIS within AALL. These goals are embodied through teaching, presenting at conferences, committee work, writing articles for publication, sharing syllabi and course materials, outreach to Law Schools, and mentoring. The AALL is the pre-eminent professional organization for lawyer librarians. For more about the FCIL-SIS see here.
Promotions, Transfers, & Reassignments
Cheryl Beredo, currently the ILGWU Project Archivist at the Kheel Center, will become the next Director of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives beginning January 1, 2012. For more information see announcement below.
Evan Earle has been promoted to Collections Assistant V in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Evan is now Archival Technical Services Coordinator. (photograph of Evan left)
Lance Heidig, currently a Reference and Instruction Librarian in Research & Learning Services (Olin/Uris), will become Outreach and Learning Services Librarian for Olin/Uris and RMC, effective January 1, 2012. For more information see announcement below.
Brenda Marston will become RMC's Head of Research Services following Eli Brown's departure at the end of October. For more information see RMC Changes below.
Liz Muller will join RMC as Head of Archival Technical Services and Digital and Media Collections Curator at the end of October. See RMC Changes below.
Eisha Prather will become RMC's Reproductions Services Coordinator at the end of October. See RMC Changes below.
Wendy Wilcox, currently a Reference and Instruction Librarian in Research & Learning Services (Olin/Uris), will become Access Services Librarian for Olin and Uris, effective February 16, 2012, following the retirement of Carmen Blankinship from this position. For more information see announcement below.
Hilary Wong will become RMC's half-time Reference Services Coordinator at the end of October. See RMC Changes below.
Rebecca Utz has been promoted to Technical Services Assistant V in LTS E-Resources and Serials. (photograph of Rebecca at right)
Out & About
Michele Brown’s binding of The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City by Carl Smith was selected for inclusion in the juried exhibition One Book, Many Interpretations: Second Edition, which opened at the Chicago Public Library in August. The exhibition commemorates the ten-year anniversary of Chicago’s “One Book, One Chicago” program, which has aims to cultivate a culture of reading by bringing “[the] diverse city together around one outstanding book.” Michele is Book Conservator in CLO’s Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance.
Back to School: CUL Mentor-Librarians Travel to Syracuse to Meet with eScience Librarianship Students
Since fall of 2010, eight Cornell librarians have been participating in a mentorship program for eight MS-LIS students at Syracuse. The students are eScience Librarian fellows, in a program funded by the Intitute for Museum and Library Services (for more see here: http://eslib.ischool.syr.edu/). Each participating librarian is paired with a student, and students and mentors are encouraged to interact with others in the group, making for a dynamic mentorship network. On September 7, mentors traveled to Syracuse to have lunch with the students and to hear about their summer internship experiences. Internships included placements with the Scientific Data Consulting Group at the University of Virginia, the Smithsonian, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the Astrophysics Data System, the libraries at the University of Wyoming and Syracuse University, and two internships at Cornell (VIVO, and the Cornell Biological Field Station). CUL has realized other benefits from this partnership as well, including students tackling real-life questions for the library for course projects. Participating CUL librarians include Kathy Chiang, Jeremy Cusker, Dianne Dietrich, Jim Morris-Knower, Mary Ochs, Jill Powell, Gail Steinhart (coordinator and co-PI), and Sarah Wright. (Gail Steinhart)
Standards Development at CUL
A new metadata format developed at CUL has been approved for use with the NISO standard The OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive Services (ANSI/NISO Z39.88-2004).
For the last two years, David Ruddy and Adam Chandler have been working with Eric Rebillard, Professor of Classics and History at Cornell, to develop and implement a way to build links between citations to Classical literature and corresponding full-text resources on the Web. The group decided to use the OpenURL standard, but this required the development of a new metadata format to encode "canonical citations." A canonical citation is a citation to a work, or passage within a work, that is independent of any specific published edition or translation of the work. Examples include "Homer, Iliad, 1:125-130," or "Romans 5:19."
From left: Eric Rebillard, Adam Chandler, David Ruddy
The new Canonical Citation Metadata Format and corresponding Community Profile were approved by the OpenURL Maintenance Agency in August. Approval was an important and crucial step in implementing a linking solution. Adam and Eric are now building a Classical Works Knowledge Base (http://cwkb.org) that will use the new metadata format to provide an intermediary service between a Classical text discovery service and a user's OpenURL link resolver. Besides providing improved linking capabilities for users of Classical literature, this new service will demonstrate a linking model applicable to other domains. (David Ruddy)
Mann Librarians Present Workshops in South Africa
From left:
ITOCA staff members Blessing Chataira, Chipo Msengezi, Jim Morris-Knower from Mann, and Michael Chimalizeni
Mann librarians Joy Paulson, Baseema Banoo Krkoska, Jim Morris-Knower, and Jesse Koennecke are working with ITOCA (Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa) in their newly developed CEPD – Continuing Education and Professional Development workshop program. Joy, Baseema, Jim, and Jesse, in collaboration with staff at ITOCA, have developed workshops in Grant Writing, Information Literacy, Citation Management, and E-Resources Management. Joy, Baseema, and Jim have already travelled to Centurion, South Africa (near Pretoria) to carry out their workshops, and Jesse will go in early 2012. While they were there, they also had a bit of time to see some of the sights of Africa! (Mary Ochs)
Announcements
From: Anne R. Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Mon 8/29/2011
Subject: Take One: August 29, 2011 (Implementing the Priority Objectives for 2011-2012)
I am pleased to announce that we have in place teams to implement the ten priority objectives that LEG and the Managers’ Council have approved for the next year or so. You may recall that the Strategic Plan (http://staffweb.library.cornell.edu/toward2015) numbers over 50 objectives—and work will move forward on many of them in this time period. But our focus will be on giving legs to these ten objectives. Each of them has a Lib Exec sponsor, a lead or co-lead, and team members. The teams will seek broad input both within the library and with key constituents. And it will be important for the leads to work closely with each other to ensure a coherency of effort. Here are the ten teams (the numbers represent the goal and objective as presented in the Strategic Plan). They are also available on the staff web at http://staffweb.library.cornell.edu/PriorityObjectives.
For the entire message see here.
***
From: Anne R. Kenney
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Tue 9/6/2011
Subject: Take One: September 6, 2011 (Central Library Operations Post Scott)
This morning I met with staff from Central Library Operations (CLO) to brief them on the organizational restructuring prompted by Scott Wick’s departure for Harvard. In the coming weeks there will be more information to report as internal reorganization continues, but here are the Cliff Notes on changes that became effective today.
- Xin Li will become the Associate University Librarian for Central Library Operations. She will be returning from Taiwan July 1, 2012 and so for the next nine months, she will be devoting more of her time to CLO as well as completing her assignments in the international partnerships arena. At that time she will also reassume managerial responsibility for Communications and Assessment.
- Jim LeBlanc will become the Director for Library Technical Services, which will encompass the following units: Acquisitions Services, Cataloging and Metadata Services, E-Resources and Serials Management, Database Quality, Batch Processing and Metadata Management, and Commercial Binding and Preparations. Until Xin Li returns to Ithaca, Jim will attend Library Executive Group meetings, representing technical services issues there. I have asked Jim to work with Xin in rethinking Library Technical Services, with four guiding factors: integration with Columbia by 2014/15 in a 2CUL technical services operation once a joint Library Management System can be implemented; expanded license arrangements to drive down costs, increase the level of cataloging and shelf ready services, protect access rights, and extend third party digital preservation of licensed resources; expanded metadata services to encompass new forms of content and data as well as web-based materials deemed critical to research and scholarship; and contractual relations with other national and international research libraries in cataloging and making available global resources, especially those that do not lend themselves to vendor supplied metadata or copy cataloging.
- Barbara Eden will remain Director of Preservation and Conservation and move to Oya Rieger’s division, Digital Scholarship Services, thus enabling physical preservation and digital preservation to be considered in tandem. Barbara will also become the Library’s Grants Officer, charged with identifying greater external funding opportunities and pursuing grants and contracts.
- Kornelia Tancheva will become Director of Olin/Uris and the Library Annex. In addition to the Annex, she will also assume responsibility for stacks management in Olin/Uris/Kroch Asia, as well as Inter-library Services.
Although these changes become effective today, it will take some time for the implementation to occur and for all the details to be worked out. We expect to post new organizational charts in the coming weeks. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Have and healthy and productive week,
***
From: Xin Li
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Wed 9/14/2011
Subject: Library Technical Services: Additional Changes
Dear colleagues,
I’d like to inform you of several additional organizational changes we are making within the Library Technical Services following Scott Wicks’ departure:
- The Batch Processing & Metadata Management Unit will join the Acquisitions and Resource Sharing Services group lead by Boaz Nadav-Manes. We have renamed this department: Acquisitions & Automated Technical Services.
- The Database Quality Unit and the Commercial Binding, Preparations, and Physical Processing Unit will join the E-Resource, Serials, and Database Management Services group, formally lead by Jim LeBlanc. We have renamed this department: E-Resources, Serials, and Post-Cataloging Services. Bill Kara has been appointed Director to lead this department.
- Jesse Koennecke has been appointed Head of the E-Resources Unit, a unit in Bill Kara’s department.
These changes will take effect on Sept. 15, 2011. The attached organizational chart illustrates the new structure of LTS as a whole. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me (xl49) or Jim LeBlanc (jdl8).
***
From:
Bonna Boettcher
To:
CU-LIB
Sent: Tue 9/20/2011
Subject:
New Temporary Home for the Fine Arts Library
Colleagues,
I am forwarding a message that Kent Kleinman, Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, sent to the AAP community earlier today. In his message, he outlines the plan to move the Fine Arts Library during Fall Break from the Sibley Dome and the second floor of Sibley East to the third floor of Rand. This is a temporary move, realizing the first step of an improved facility for the FAL. I have a preliminary diagram of the layout, which I would be glad to share (I can't send it via CU-LIB, as it exceeds the message size limit).
As outlined, the current plan is to close the FAL to the public as of 11 pm on Thursday, 6 October. The staff will use Friday, 7 October to move to Rand III, and movers will relocate the collection Saturday through Monday. We are reserving much of Tuesday, 11 October to ensure that enough systems are in place to resume public functions, with reopening scheduled for 5p – 11p on Tuesday, 11 October. If plans need to change, I will send a message to CU-LIB and contact affected units.
This is a long-awaited and welcome move, and though stressful for the staff, we are confident that it is what has been needed for many years.
Please direct any questions or concerns to me.
...
The long-term vision for the FAL proposes a comprehensive rehabilitation of the second and third floors of Rand Hall to become the university’s future art and design library, including significant expansions of digital capabilities and visual resource support. This vision, as articulated in the 2010–11 Design Library Task Force Report, is a top priority in AAP’s capital and development plans.
For the rest of this message see here.
***
From: Elaine D Engst
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Mon 9/26/2011
Subject: RMC Changes
As many of you have heard by now, Eleanor Brown has been offered a position as head of special collections at North Carolina State University, and she will be leaving Cornell to take up this new post. It is sad news indeed for RMC, but a wonderful opportunity for Eli.
Eli has contributed nearly ten years of imagination, hard work, and dedication to multiple areas of RMC and CUL. Her energy, expertise, enthusiasm, and good spirits will be sorely missed.
I know you will join me in congratulating Eli on her new job. Her last day will be October 31.
Eli’s departure and some earlier departures this summer have necessitated an organizational restructuring within RMC. We have been working with Anne and Lee to fill the very big gaps left by Julia Parker’s retirement and Ana Guimaraes’ leaving in June and now by Eli’s announcement.
I am pleased to announce that Liz Muller will join RMC as Head of Archival Technical Services and Digital and Media Collections Curator. Liz will assume the responsibilities previously held by Eli for archival technical services, reproductions services, digital projects management, and media curation. We are indeed fortunate to be able to add Liz’s talents and knowledge to special collections. I also am pleased to announce that Evan Earle has been promoted to Archival Technical Services Coordinator and that Jude Corina (previously funded on project money) has been appointed to a regular position as a Special Collections Assistant. Additionally, Eisha Prather will become RMC’s Reproductions Services Coordinator (a function previously carried out by Ana Guimaraes), while retaining her Exhibitions Coordinator responsibilities.
I am very grateful to Brenda Marston who graciously agreed to take over the public services management responsibilities previously held by Eli. In addition to her curatorial responsibilities, Brenda will now become RMC’s Head of Research Services. Assisting Brenda will be Hilary Wong (previously funded on project money), who will become RMC’s half-time Reference Services Coordinator, assuming some of the responsibilities previously held by Ana. She will continue as a Senior Manuscript Processing Specialist for the other half of her position.
These changes will take place on or around November 1. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
***
From: Elaine D Engst
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Mon 9/26/2011
Subject: Another Change
Kornelia Tancheva and I are very happy to announce that Lance Heidig, Reference and Instruction Librarian in the Olin/Uris Department of Research and Learning Services (R&LS), has accepted a joint appointment between R&LS and the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC). Starting January 1, 2012, his new title will be Outreach and Learning Services Librarian for Olin/Uris and RMC. Anne made this appointment in recognition of Lance’s tremendous contributions to CUL’s outreach activities, and his superb work in RMC on the Mark Twain exhibition in 2009. This dual appointment will also help build closer working ties between Olin/Uris and RMC, and expand the horizons of CUL’s teaching and outreach efforts.
Both Kornelia and I are very excited and are looking forward to the opportunities that this split appointment presents for our units and for the Library as a whole.
***
From: Kornelia Vassileva Tancheva
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Mon 9/26/2011
Subject: Yet Another Staffing Change
Today must be the time for staffing changes announcements.
I am very happy to announce that Wendy Wilcox, a Reference and Instruction Librarian in the Department of Research and Learning Services in Olin/Uris has accepted the position of Access Services Librarian for Olin and Uris. Her appointment becomes effective on February 16, 2012, following Carmen Blankinship’s retirement from this position.
Please congratulate Wendy on this exciting opportunity. Wendy, I am looking forward to working closely with you on charting the new directions for Access Services in Olin/Uris and the Library system as a whole! Congratulations! (Wendy above with her daughters)
***
From: Curtis Lyons
To: CU-LIB
Sent: Thu 10/6/2011
Subject: New Kheel Center Director
I am delighted to announce that Cheryl Beredo has accepted our offer to be the next Director of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives beginning January 1, 2012. Between now and then, Cheryl will be completing her current project work and Patrizia Sione will continue as the interim Director. Patrizia and I both look forward to working with Cheryl in the transition to this new and important role.
Cheryl has been with the Kheel Center since February 2010 as the ILGWU Project Archivist. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union records are the Center’s largest and most heavily used collection and her work has included processing those records, assisting researchers, arranging for additional donations of materials from former ILGWU officers and members, and working closely with the foundation which is providing the funding for this initiative. Prior to this position, Cheryl worked at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Schlesinger Library, and in Cornell’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Cheryl received her BA from Cornell, her MLIS from Pitt, and her PhD in American Studies from the University of Hawaii.
One reason for announcing this January change now is to allow us to begin the search for her successor. We are highly optimistic that we will receive additional funding for the project in November and are eager to launch the search in order to avoid a loss of momentum.
Please join me in congratulating Cheryl and welcoming her into this new and challenging role.
***
Good-bye
Good-bye and good luck to Ellen Cramer, Mann Library; Oliver Habicht, CUL IT; Iantha Haight, Law Library; Bhargava Deepak Konidena, Mann Library; Sherry Hubbard, Commercial Binding, Preparations, & Physical Processing; Marty Kurth, Digital Scholarship Services; Cayenna Ponchione, Music Library; Anup Sawant, Mann Library; Chad Walsh, O/K/U Access Services; Scott Wicks, Central Library Operations; and Rebecca Younes, Mann Library, CUL IT; who recently left the Library.
Farewell
Oliver Habicht, CUL Information Technology
Please join us to wish farewell to Oliver on Thursday, September 29th, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM in 703 Olin Library.
A book will be available for you to include a personal message to Oliver. If you are unable to attend the reception, but would like to include a note to Oliver, the book will be available beginning September 21 in 501 Olin Library.
Oliver was recently honored for his twenty years of service to Cornell, during which he was engaged in many aspects of the evolving information technology landscape. As his service award article noted, he initially served as a lab coordinator with CIT before joining the Library in 1997. He began his Library career with the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections, working on a number of database related projects, including the initial prototype for GloPAD, as well as an Electronic Records Archive Project. Beginning in March 1999, Oliver created a new CUL-wide desktop services support unit, serving as director of that unit for over ten years. As part of that process, he built a dedicated team focused on providing excellent support to Library staff and users. He has also served as a very careful and thoughtful steward of the Library’s resources, negotiating excellent terms for equipment and services from a wide variety of sources.
The esteem that Oliver Habicht is held in by his colleagues at the Library and Cornell was obvious by the very heavy turnout for his farewell party on September 29th. We are all very grateful for Oliver’s many years of service, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors. (Dean Krafft; photograph by Carla DeMello)
Iantha Haight, Law Library
Iantha Haight, Research Attorney and Lecturer in Law, has left Cornell to go to Wichita Falls, Texas, where her husband has a new job. We will certainly miss them, and their daughter Vinnae, born in May. Iantha was universally loved in her work here at Cornell.
Iantha was an excellent researcher, working closely with several law faculty on their writing projects and finding extensive, elusive information for them. She created the Law Library’s blog, The Competitive Edge, and worked closely with the library’s Web site. She created a popular new course for upper level law students in Online Legal Research: Free Sources, and successfully teamed with John Mollenkamp to teach research to first year students in Lawyering.
We are happy for Iantha moving on to this new phase of her life, but we will feel her absence keenly and wish her all the best. (Pat Court)
Marty Kurth, Digital Scholarship Services
Please join us in 703 Olin Library from 9:30 to 11:30 on Monday, August 15th to wish Marty farewell as he wraps up his time at CUL and transitions full time to his new position at NYU.
On August 15, we had a chance to celebrate Marty Kurth's contributions to CUL during his farewell party. Marty joined the Library in 1999 as the head of the Academic Cataloging Unit in Central Technical Services (CTS) and held several different positions during his thirteen-year career as the Library entered a period of rapid change and innovation. In 2000, Marty became head of cataloging and took on a major role in the implementation of a new Library Management System, Voyager. He also contributed greatly to the success of the CUL Electronic Resources Committee (ERC). In 2002, he participated in the reengineering efforts by creating a CTS Metadata Services department for which he became director. One of his most significant contributions to the Library however is his participation in yet another reorganization of CTS, and he was also an important partner as we conceptualized the new Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS) unit during 2002-2003.
In 2006, Marty became Director of Discovery Systems and Services (DSS), which merged the formerly separate Library Systems and Metadata Services groups. Then, in 2009 he joined DLIT as the director of IT Infrastructure overseeing Desktop Services, Systems Architecture, and the Digital Media Group. He also successfully shepherded the implementation of WebFeat, CUL’s first federated search engine.
When I try to characterize Marty's work style some of the words that come to mind include intelligent, cordial, respectful, balanced, poised, responsible, articulate, positive, flexible, confident, and dignified. He is truly a team player who promotes collaboration and builds alliances. He encourages flexibility and resourcefulness by word and example. He blends his technical and managerial expertise with his excellent interpersonal skills. He is articulate and well-known as a leader in the profession.
Marty has worked in cataloging and metadata for his entire career except for his appointment in DLIT that involved systems and desktop services. He is now back to technical services administration. We are saying farewell as he assumes a position at NYU as Director of Knowledge Access and Resource Management Services. Marty is leaving us with great memories and enduring contributions. We wish you the best, Marty! (Oya Rieger)
Scott Wicks, Library Administration
Scott Wicks, our associate university librarian for Central Library Operations, has been appointed Head of Information and Technical Services at Harvard University Library. He’ll be responsible for shaping the strategic direction of Harvard’s technical services functions and serve as a member of the leadership team.
I’m excited for him and his next steps, but I’m also so sad to see him go. He’s been an integral part of CUL for more than 20 years and he’s seen — and overseen — revolutionary changes in the Library. We will miss him deeply.
His last day will be Wednesday, Aug. 31.
Scott’s farewell party will be Monday, Aug. 29, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Olin 703 – please stop by and wish him the best of luck in his new endeavors. (Anne Kenney; photographs by Rachel Brill)
The Library said farewell to Scott on August 29 in a room packed to overflowing with friends and colleagues. Anne recalled the first time she met Scott in 1988, and apparently he also remembered that meeting well since she was “very pregnant” at the time. Anne delivered a quick overview of Scott’s career: Scott came to Cornell as Assistant Acquisitions Librarian; five years later he was Head of Acquisitions; in 2001 Bibliographic Control and Government Documents were added to his portfolio; 2006 found him as Head of Library Technical Services and, together with colleagues Angela Horne and Nate Rupp, he earned his MBA through the Cornell-Queen’s Boardroom EMBA program while working full-time; in 2008 Scott became Associate University Librarian; shortly thereafter Central Library Operations was formed and other units were added to his division, including Preservation and Collection Maintenance, the Annex, and Interlibrary Services.
Anne praised his innovation, collegiality, and creativity. His work on an Integrated Tool for Selection and Ordering at Cornell University Library, ITSO CUL, garnered him recognition at the national level. He has advanced greatly our relationship with Columbia and through 2CUL explored possibilities for collaboration and sharing of resources. POOF is another innovation, like ITSO CUL, that is still used today. While examples of his talent abound, he is also modest and gives credit where it is due – he reminded colleagues that the acronym ITSO CUL was not his invention but that of Jean Pajerek. Scott’s energy, leadership, and vision have been evident over the last twenty years and his legacy is visible both in Technical Services and the Library as a whole. We will miss Scott but expect to see improved relations with Harvard (!). Seriously, we will miss him and wish him well.
Several gifts were presented, including a Big Red Bear, socks to keep warm during Harvard Cornell hockey games, a Cornell umbrella, and a print of Kennedy holding the Cornell Bear.
Farewell Song for Scott Wicks
By Jim Spear
Performed by Jim with Pedro Arroyo and sung to the tune,“They Tried to Make Me Go to Rehab”
We HEARD that you are GOING to HARVARD and we said No, No, No
LEAVING Big Red, choosing CRIMSON instead, no more C – L – O
We won’t GET you out of our mind … Cause you're SIMPLY one of a kiiind
While we KNOW you’ll succeed at HARVARD, we wish you wouldn’t go go go
Solo:
Traveled East from Chicago to Cornellll
Right-off staff knew that you’d excellll
And you JUMPED IN and helped create a system
Called ITSO-CUL, that became WorldCat Selection.
YOU - encouraged all your staffff
And you HAD – a - NICE way - to MAKE - us laugh….
Duo:
SO, as we say good-bye--we WANT--to MAKE SURE--you know know know
We WISH you all the BEST--as YOU CONTINUE your quest--to grow grow grow
Fiction fantasy is your STYYYLE …. and WATCHING Glee does MAKE you smile
While we KNOW you’ll succeed at HARVARD, we’re going to miss you so so so
Solo:
HAR—ry-POT-ter, HOB-bits and Twi-liiight
We’ll – remember – ALL - THOSE - THINGS - you liii-iked
Duo:
NOW - as we are – JUST – ABOUT - to END - our little - show show show
We are VERY glad to say - YOU are someone that we got to know know know
Though you’re leaving C-U-L … at HARVARD - or - WHERE-ever - you’ll do swell
SO - FOND farewell – and don’t FORGET to go WITH the flow flow flowwwww.
The Lighthearted Library: Cartoons by Betsy Elswit
This winter, the Library's own cartoon caption contest was born when Betsy's cartoons debuted at the first interactive art event at the CUL Art Extravaganza. Below is the cartoon we left you with in August and the captions sent in by your co-workers. After those captions you will find another new cartoon waiting for your musings. (Photograph of Betsy Elswit by Shirley Cowles)
The new bookkeeping system has Susan climbing a wall and at the end of her rope. (Robin Messing)
Shelf reading takes on new meaning in the Annex. (Elizabeth Teskey - I admit my caption isn't accurate to the Annex)
Did the cuts in procurement really eliminate library step stools? (Barbara Eden)
Newest climbing course offering from Cornell Outdoor Education: Library Stacks Climbing. Requires no previous stacks experience. Introduces you to rappelling while retrieving and replacing books, rope and book truck handling, knots and book bindings, safety, and various climbing techniques. Graduates of the class will be certified to climb the Library Annex stacks. (Liisa Mobley)
Sarah and Betsy practiced their shelf ballet for hours in hopes of being picked for America's Got Talent. (Jacie Spoon)
Books help you reach for the moon! (Lydia Pettis)
Who knew there was a climbing wall in the stacks? (Michael Engle)
When you get to the top, tell me what you've learned. (Michael Engle)
I've heard of social climbing, but this is ridiculous. (Michael Engle)
I'm looking for Peter Pan! (Ada Albright)
HERE'S A NEW ONE TO MULL OVER FOR THE NEXT ISSUE
Credits: Kaleidoscope is published bi-monthly except June and July
by Cornell University Library. Editor: Elizabeth Teskey, Layout: Carla DeMello and Jenn Colt-Demaree
Monty's Profile 
Monty at Play