April/May 2004 - Cornell University Library

CORNELL
Kaleidoscope
Volume 12, Number 5
L I B R A R Y
In This Issue....
1
Promotions of
Librarians
2
Strawberry Breeding
at the New York State
Agricultural
Experiment Station
1882-2003
3
April/May 2004
Promotions of Librarians
Sr. Assistant Librarian
Virginia Cole, Olin Library
Virginia joined the Reference Services
Department in 1998 as a Reference
Assistant. Her deep background in history
and medieval studies along with an
astonishing work ethic quickly made her
indispensable. She took on increasingly
important roles within the department while,
at the same time, finishing her PhD in
History at SUNY Binghamton. PhD in hand
(Royal almsgiving in medieval England: A
study in the ritual and administrative
construction of kingship), Virginia joined the
department as a professional librarian in
2001.
Virginia is one of the star reference librarian/
instructors for IRIS Reference Services. She
not only teaches a host of class-related
bibliographic instruction sessions, she also
provides graduate-level instruction for the
History Department, the Medieval Studies
Program, and the Near Eastern Studies
Department. And that means a continual
parade of dazzled graduate students
heading for research consultations in her
office. Talk about “embedded librarians:”
she also is teaching a Freshman Writing
seminar for the History Department this
semester! Virginia’s web guides and
outreach pages in support of her teaching
areas are models for the department. She
is also the selector for Medieval Studies.
Maureen Morris (see below) and Virginia
team up to produce streaming video
tutorials for subjects as diverse as
navigating the library gateway to using the
Continued on page 2
Adelson Library Opens
4
In Memoriam:
Tom Turner
6-7
CUL Arts Show 2004
9
2004 Fuerst Awards
12
People News
Mann Library staff help CALS celebrate its hundredth anniversary: Jesse Koennecke on drums, Jim MorrisKnower on guitar. Walking books are Ashley Miller, Tom Clausen, Liisa Mobley, Meg Ackerblade and Judy
Miller. They follow a Volvo with license plate, Gateway to Information.
December of 2001 he joined the Hotel Library where he is
currently a reference librarian and the Library’s Instruction
Coordinator.
Promotions--continued from page 1
International Medieval Bibliography. They’ve shared their
expertise in this area at several national and local conferences.
One of Thad’s “hobbies” is writing and he is especially adept at
short essays. My favorite is a piece he wrote on moving to
Ithaca, “Relocating: The Beginning of a Great Adventure.” In
the article he talks about weighing professional job choices
against personal preferences for a sense of place. We are
pleased that Ithaca won the big city small city battle (although
“emerging” according to USA Today) and that Thad has joined
us as a colleague. Thad’s professional interests range from
writing book reviews to Web design. Thad currently serves as
the Upstate New York Special Libraries Association
Webmaster and was instrumental in the design of their new
Web presence. Committee work is also important to Thad and
he is a member of several groups as well as a co-chair of the
Documentation Committee. Although a “hotelie” librarian on
most days, Thad is also a virtual participant in Olin reference
via their “Chat Reference” program. Thad enjoys exploring new
service delivery mechanisms and tapping into technologies
that advance these opportunities.
Virginia’s contribution doesn’t stop there. She is the
coordinator for our Digital Reference Service, which requires
her to understand and monitor a complex technology and then
provide training to keep the staff up to speed on rapidly
changing software and evolving policies, particularly in chat
reference. Virginia is part of a team that proposed and won an
impressive internal grant to study reference interaction in
different media. This had turned into an extremely fruitful
collaboration with the Communications Department and
promises many interesting results. Under Virginia’s energetic
leadership the Bibliographic Database Management Group has
become active and is pursuing site-licensing of an online
bibliographic manager for Cornell in addition to rationalizing its
web presence.
Virginia is a wonderful colleague. Her energy is infectious and
she throws herself into her many tasks with unbounded
enthusiasm and a searching intellect. We’re looking forward to
many more years of grants, projects, and manic laughter.
—Bob Kibbee
Please join me in congratulating Thad on his promotion to
Senior Assistant Librarian.
—Lynn Brown
Thad Dickinson, Hotel Library
Mihoko Hosoi, Hotel Library
Congratulations to Thad Dickinson on his recent promotion to
Senior Assistant Librarian. I’m pleased to publicly share the
good news with our library community through this issue of
Kaleidoscope. Thad received his MLIS degree from the
University of Texas at Austin in 1999. After graduation he was
in the enviable position of having to choose from amongst three
simultaneous job offers before assuming the position of
reference librarian at Loyola University in Chicago. In
It is with pleasure that I announce Mihoko Hosoi’s promotion to
Senior Assistant Librarian in this issue of Kaleidoscope.
Mihoko joined the Hotel Library in the spring of 2001. After
receiving her MLS degree in 2000, from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mihoko was selected to be a Library
Fellow at the University of California at Santa Barbara. We are
Continued on page 4
Strawberry
Breeding at the
New York State
Agricultural
Experiment Station
1882-2003
Strawberries have been a
part of the Geneva Experiment Station since day one.
The first seeds were planted
in 1882, the same year the
station was established.
Crosses were first made at
Geneva in 1889, before any
other experiment station in the United States. The first station bulletin dealing
with strawberries (no.24) came out in 1890. Since 1894 the station has
introduced a total of 40 new strawberry varieties! Come see the new exhibit
at the Lee Library in Geneva!
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Adelson Library Opens
CUL’s 20th unit library, the Adelson Library at the Cornell
Laboratory of Ornithology, officially opened on May 5, 2004.
Library staff members were invited to the ribbon-cutting
ceremony and enjoyed touring the spacious facility in the new
Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity.
The Adelson Library contains a rich array of historical and
contemporary ornithological materials, and is named in
honor of university trustee Ellen G. Adelson ‘58, in recognition
of her gift to underwrite its construction.
Clockwise from top left: Jacie Spoon, the library’s new
director; the Adelson Library; Jacie shows CUL staff
members how to access the Adelson Library’s catalog
records; Sarah Thomas cuts the ribbon to officially open
CUL’s 20th unit library
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Promotions--continued from page 2
in the last three years.
fortunate to have her back on the East Coast and a member of
our library community.
Jesse is also responsible for developing or enhancing the use
of technologies for the delivery of our collection to our patrons.
He was on the team that developed the Digital Audio Reserve
service (with Carmen Blankenship, Jeff Piestrak, and Tom
Riker). Class lectures for several classes are now available
online through streaming audio, rather than students having to
check out lecture tapes. He and Terry Kristensen chaired the
group that brought up the electronic document delivery service
My Document Delivery. This project is in the pilot stage and
will become a campus-wide service for the fall. He was also
on the group chaired by Pat Court that reviewed our retention
habits for patron records and designed and promulgated the
guidelines for best controlling patron records.
He has made presentations on Image Server and E-Reserves
at the Endeavor User Group (with Carmen Blankenship), and
on E-Reserves at Cornell at the Endeavor Mid-Atlantic meeting, and the Central New York Library Resources Council, the
latter co-presented with Carmen.
Mihoko is the Hotel Library’s Reference and Hostline Coordinator. Hostline is one of the first fee-based reference programs
introduced on campus. Under her tutelage Hostline has seen
significant growth in revenues and industry prominence. Many
of Hostline’s ‘clients’ are associated with major corporations in
the hospitality industry. Although very busy in the Hotel Library
Mihoko still finds time to contribute to library committees. She
is also very active in campus groups outside of the library and
is currently serving as President of the Japanese Graduate
Students and Scholars Association. Those of you who read
ARBA (American Reference Books Annual) have probably
spotted her name associated with reviews in the social
sciences. She has written numerous reviews over the last
couple of years and the next volume of ARBA will contain more
than a half dozen reviews that she has authored.
Jesse is a member of the OPAC group, the Personalized
Library Services group (working to improve the links between ereserves, CourseInfo and course Web pages), and the Economic Status of Librarians group. He is the Voyager administrator for the Life Sciences units (Mann, Entomology, Geneva,
Veterinary, and now the Laboratory of Ornithology). He was
involved in the planning and Voyager setup for the library at the
Laboratory of Ornithology. He and Carmen are on the Endeavor user group, and he is on the Voyager upgrade committee. Jesse is also an accomplished musician and has
performed at several Cornell events.
—Kathy Chiang
Please join me in extending congratulations to Mihoko on her
promotion to Senior Assistant Librarian.
—Lynn Brown
Jesse Koennecke, Mann Library
Jesse has contributed to CUL Access services overall as well
as Mann Library individually. He manages a unit of 9+ staff
who are doing high quality, high volume production services. In
response to leaner economic times he has reorganized the
Access Services unit to do the same quality of work with fewer
lines. Overall Public Services has been able to ‘save’ 2.5 lines
In Memoriam
Friends, family, and colleagues of
Tom Turner gathered together in Mann
Library on March 22 to dedicate a work of
art to his memory. After welcoming remarks
by Janet McCue, Howard Raskin explained
the selection process for acquiring the
artwork. The ceremony included comments
from artist Bob Bertoia, poetry readings,
and music by Sarah Chandler.
The Mann Library Art Committee identified
and viewed the work of five local artists
over a four-month period late last year.
The piece the Committee selected, a sculpture made out of cherry, was commissioned
from artist Bob Bertoia. “Poet’s Table,”
along with a plaque dedicating the work to
Tom’s memory, is located on the first floor
of Mann Library.
Photo by John Reis Studio
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Lee LaFleur, Mann Library
Lee LaFleur has been the Social
Sciences Bibliographer at Mann Library
since February 2002. He is the primary
selector for social science material for
Mann Library and the liaison with the
social science departments of the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
and the College of Human Ecology.
Since coming to Mann, Lee has made a
special effort to get to know the faculty
and students in these departments and
keeps up-to-date on new areas of
emphasis in social science research
and teaching in CALS and CHE. Lee
has also been involved with a number of
special projects related to Mann’s social
science collections. He is a member of
the CUGIR team, he was the chair of a
group assigned to review Mann’s
audiovisual material policies and procedures, and he coordinated the move of
the Curriculum Collection from the
Education Department to Mann Library.
In addition to his regular responsibilities,
Lee is currently chair of the Social
Sciences Team and a member of the
Collection Development Executive
Group. Lee serves as Secretary to the
Academic Assembly and as the Mann
Library representative on the Educational
Policies Committee for the College of
Human Ecology. In the wider library
community, Lee has been an active
member of the American Library Association. Before coming to Mann, Lee
was one of the first CUL Minority
Fellows. In this capacity, Lee worked in
the Nestle Library in the Hotel School,
Olin/Uris Reference, and the Department
of Preservation and Conservation.
In addition to his many work-related
accomplishments, Lee has made a
number of contributions to the Ithaca
community. Lee helped organize the
library fellowship program for local
minority youth, and he works in the local
Big Brother program. Lee also shares
his friendly personality and quick wit with
all of us in the Collection Development
Division of Mann Library on a daily basis.
Congratulations to Lee on his welldeserved promotion!
—Mary Ochs
Maureen Morris, Olin Library
Maureen joined the Reference
Department in March 2001 after two
years at the much sunnier library at
Arizona State University West in
Phoenix. Since Maureen has her MLIS
from the University of Western Ontario,
however, coming to Ithaca was
something like coming home. Maureen
made an immediate impact as an
instructor and she is increasingly sought
after in this role. She and Virginia Cole
led the staff in number of class-related
instruction sessions taught over the last
two years.
Maureen also provides instruction in our
workshop series. Maureen recently
designed a Dreamweaver Workshop.
She also designed herself, or shared in
the design of, workshops in PowerPoint,
Photoshop, and JavaScript. Her
expertise in these areas has made her
an important trainer in our ongoing
program for staff development.
Maureen’s interest in instruction has led
to a series of successful streaming video
tutorials, which she developed with
Virginia Cole (above). She also has
designed a significant number of web
pages in support of programs and
classes. She has recently designed,
with Janie Harris, a customized outreach
page for the Sociology Department.
In addition to her contribution to
reference and instruction, Maureen is the
Web Librarian for CUL. In this role she
chairs the Gateway Committee, which
maintains the Library Gateway. Two
years ago Maureen used her knowledge
of Web page design and the
requirements of a cohesive web
presence to provide support for the
complete redesign of the Gateway. This
was a showcase for Maureen’s hallmark
ability to listen to and balance
competing views and agendas and then
build a consensus that results in a
successful product. Patrons and staff
alike have been unanimous in their
praise for the new interface.
With Gateway redesign behind her,
Maureen has recently tackled the long
overdue redesign of the Olin Library and
Uris Library Web sites. Her redesigned
sites have been very effective. They’re
not only attractive, but the new
organization of our material into useable
categories has probably doubled our
efficiency. Maureen is also on the
Personalized Library Services Working
Group, which is working on several areas
with strong future potential. Maureen has
quickly developed a reputation for
intelligence, skill, and hard work, which
makes her increasingly in demand for
committees and projects throughout the
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system. She is a model consensus
builder who respects her co-workers and
is respected in turn.
Maureen is a great colleague valued not
only for her impressive skills and
intellect, but her easy manner,
approachability, and humor.
—Bob Kibbee
Susette Newberry, Division of Rare
and Manuscript Collections
Susette’s scholarly background in the
History of Art and Photography culminated in her PhD in the History of Art
in1999. In July 2000 she was hired as
the Visual Resources Archivist in the
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC). Her first years were spent
working with RMC Image collections,
especially launching the Andrew
Dickson White architectural photographs
and other photographic collections in the
new Luna Insight software. In retrospect, for Susette, these early years
were a tranquil period, entirely different
from the pressures of her current
position.
With the reorganization of RMC in 2003,
Susette was promoted to the position of
Coordinator of Public Programs. In this
new role she took on many new primary
responsibilities, including exhibition
production and coordination, tours and
public outreach, (in the last fiscal year
RMC had a total of 264 tours and
classes), management of digital reproductions, along with her involvement in
many key CUL projects and initiatives
such as the 7 Millionth Volume. In
addition to these tasks, Susette curated
the exhibition Artifex: Leonard Baskin &
the Gehenna Press and served as cocurator of the exhibits installed to
celebrate the inauguration of President
Jeffrey Lehman.
Susette has shown that she can be an
extremely resourceful staff member who
is totally dedicated to the success of the
Library whatever the project and deadlines. For example, she was able to
design and coordinate the production of
the large outside banner celebrating the
acquisition of the Library’s sevenmillionth volume with only three days
notice. In fact, she took the challenge in
stride and, low and behold, in three days
I was helping her hang our first banner in
the window. This set a precedent, and
Continued on page 8
CUL Arts Show 2004
Artists
Susann Argetsinger
Joan Brink
Roswitha Clark
Roger Clearwater
Peg Coogan
Jeff Diver
Barbara B. Eden
Betsy Elswit
Rhea Garen
David Jones
George Kozak
Cynthia Lange
John Marmora
Pete Schlough
Kari Smith
Kelly Smallidge
Nancy Sola
Library Knitters
Allen Phillips
Library Quilters
Ardeen White
Katie Williams
Mikki Winberg
Performers
Ron & Mary Wesche and
Dan & Rosemarie Saikkonen
Round dancing
Ritsu Katsumata
Electric violin and digital looper
Kim LaMorte
Guitar original and vocals
The Ezra Clarinet Trio
Lenora Schneller, clarinet
Alan Nussbaum, clarinet
Mark G. Simon, bass clarinet
Keith Jenkins, accordion
and Jesse Koennecke, percussion
Vashti, a.k.a. Anne Carson
Egyptian/Turkish Dance
Dave Davies and Ed Weissman
Guitar and vocals
“Won’t you waive my fees, Marie?”
An original song, composed by Kim LaMorte, inspired by
Elvis Presley, in dedication to one of our long-time staff
members, Marie Powers!
Don’t be cruel to me, babe, you got me all shook up
You say I owe this dough, oh, I just don’t know
Little sister, check your system once again.
They’re not my books—do I look like a readin’ man?
So, please, won’t you waive my fees, Marie?
Well, that’s alright, mama
I think I remember them now ...
I mailed them to you when I was stationed overseas
So, if returned to sender, they’d be in Germany
So, please, won’t you waive my fees, Marie?
You ain’t heard nothin’ ‘bout my hound dog?
She ate the books and left me
It sent me to Heartbreak Hotel—
I loved that dog like Lisa Marie
So, please, won’t you waive my fees, Marie?
Priscilla used to love me tender, then we parted ways
I don’t even know where that girl is these days
But—it’s now or never, I’ve got to come clean with you
She got the books in the divorce with my blue suede shoes
Clockwise from center:
photography by Susann Argetsinger;
artwear by the Library Knitters;
children’s literature by Mikki Winberg;
watercolors by George Kozak,
and an Edwardian corset
and bustle skirt by Allan Phillips
So, please, won’t you waive my fees, Marie?
You say I owe this dough, oh, I just don’t know
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Left to right: Ceramic
art from Nancy Solla
Anne Carson as
“Vashti”
“Ed and Dave” performing
“Sometimes I miss who I was
with you”
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Promotions--continued from page 5
Allegheny College and an MLIS from the University of Hawaii at
Manoa. She began her career in 1983 at the University of
Hawaii Library, holding positions in Circulation Stacks and
Records and in Database Management, before joining Hawaii’s
Library Systems Office. She has served as CUL’s Database
Enrichment Librarian for the past three years.
these banners have now become a standard feature of the
visual publicity for the Division’s exhibitions, as have the “sails”
that grace the hallways on the way down to Kroch. Susette’s
professionalism has not only enhanced the presence of RMC
but her work has wider benefits for the Library as a whole. In
the four years that she has worked in RMC, she has turned out
to be a tremendous asset for the Division and we are gratified
that her talents are being recognized library wide.
Zoe is a dedicated, service-oriented librarian. Her work in
CTS’s Post-Cataloging Services (PCS) is challenging and
varied. In addition to supervising the unit’s barcoding and
retrospective conversion cleanup operations, Zoe is also active
in PCS workflow planning and batch processing. Her
analytical skills are especially valuable in a department that
leans heavily on workflow efficiencies and automated methods.
Zoe currently chairs the CUL Academic Assembly Steering
Committee and serves on three LITA committees within ALA.
She is a regular participant in Voyager’s EndUser meetings
and represents CUL on the Voyager Unicode Taskforce. She
is also co-editor of the “New & Noteworthy” and “Calendar”
columns in Library Hi Tech News.
—Jim LeBlanc
On a more informal note, Susette’s talents are truly multifaceted. She combines a wicked sense of humor with a
storytelling finesse and flair; her legends from her diplomatic
days are wondrous. In no particular order of importance she is
extremely bright, witty, diligent, funny, artistic, imaginative, an
editing stickler/maven, font freak, knitter par excellence,
artichoke lover, photographic specialist, accent mimic, and
lover of The Office. Finally, in addition to her many other
talents, Susette is the co-owner of the Ampers& Press for
which she is the designer and printer.
—Eli Brown
Kizer Walker, Math Library
Nathan Rupp, Mann Library
Kizer Walker joined CUL as EMPSL Digital Projects Librarian
November 2001. Kizer earned the PhD from Cornell University
in German Studies and while attending the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University interned with the CUL
Department of Preservation and Conservation. As part of his
graduate assistantship at Syracuse he developed and coordinated the first annual 21st Century Librarian Award competition. At the May 2002 graduation ceremonies, Kizer was
honored with the Graduate Leadership Award. During his three
years at CUL, Kizer has written a number of successful grant
proposals including the NSF-funded Kinematic Models for
Digital Design Library (KMODDL) for which he serves as
project manager. He also manages local activities of the
Digital Mathematics Library (another of his successful proposals) and the Electronic Mathematical Archive Network Initiative
(EMANI). He tracks and co-ordinates local discussion and
planning of mathematics-related activities.
Since beginning in his position at the Albert R. Mann Library in
2001, Nate has built on his earlier experience at Bucknell
University and quickly became involved in numerous activities
at Mann Library and throughout the CUL System.
In his position as Metadata Librarian, Nate’s responsibilities
not only include the original cataloging for serials and electronic resources, but also examining and implementing
metadata solutions for digital collections. Nate’s metadata
work has included participation on the development team for
the Home Economics Archive: Research, Tradition, and
History (HEARTH) and the maintenance and addition of
records for the Core Historical List of Agriculture (CHLA). Nate
has been an active participant in CUL committees and task
forces. During the last few years CUL’s e-resources collections have grown considerably and Nate has worked closely
with others on campus to examine the cataloging needs and
possibilities for these collections.
Kizer has contributed to CUL through a number of committees
including the Personalized Library Services Committee, the
Committee on Professional Development, which he has cochaired, the Task Force on Record Retention, and the Training
Advisory Committee. He participated in the Models for
Academic Support (MAS 2010) review and has been involved
in planning and presentations of two Teaching and Learning
with Technology Expos. In addition to his grant writing Kizer is
the author of a number of publications in both German Studies
and Librarianship. He has published articles in New German
Critique, Telos, Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, and
RLG DigiNews. He is a regular editor of the EMPSL Standard
and has contributed a co-authored article about EMPSL to the
Upstate Update.
Nate is involved in a wide range of library activities and is active
in professional forums. This April he’ll have presentations with
Cornell colleagues at the Digital Library Federation and
EndUser. Last June he presented a workshop at the North
American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) annual conference
entitled, “From Catalogers to Ontologists: Changing Roles and
Opportunities for Technical Services Librarians.” He currently
serves on NASIG’s Continuing Education Committee and
Nylink’s Collections and Technical Services Group. Nate has
had a very active start to his Cornell career. With his skills,
interests, and responsiveness he clearly contributes to building
and maintaining CUL’s excellent collections and services.
—Bill Kara
Elizabeth Stewart-Marshall, Central Technical Services
Recently, Kizer took on collection development for Classics,
Ancient History, Archaeology, and Numismatics and spends
one day a week in Olin Library.
—Jean Poland
Casey Westerman, ILR Catherwood Library
Elizabeth (Zoe) Stewart-Marshall arrived at Cornell in November
2001, having left the paradisiacal setting of the University of
Hawaii Library to join what we like to think of as our highpowered library environment set in the fickle, climactic
purgatory of the mainland Northeast. Zoe holds a BA from
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2004 Fuerst
Awards
Congratulations to the 2004 Fuerst
Award Winners!
Five students received this year’s Fuerst
Outstanding Library Student Employee
Award at a reception held on April 12th in
Kroch Library. The awards, funded by an
endowment established by alumnus
William F. Fuerst, Jr. ’39, recognize
student workers in Cornell University
Library units for exceptional performance, leadership, and service to the
campus.
A graduate of the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences, Bill Fuerst created
the Outstanding Library Student
Employee Awards in 1995. A longtime
Ithaca resident, Bill was well known for
his special kinship with students. Most
of his volunteer efforts were dedicated to
programs and activities that improve the
Cornell experience for undergraduates.
Library supervisors submit nominations
for the Fuerst Award and a committee of
representatives from throughout CUL
selects the winners each year.
Accompanied by a cash gift of $500
each, the Fuerst Awards are the most
financially generous student employee
award on campus.
Daniel Burstein has worked in Mann
Library Interlibrary Loan Department
since transferring to Cornell in Fall 2002.
He immediately gained the confidence of
the ILS staff with his maturity, good
humor, and understanding of our
workload driven environments. During
the summer of 2003, a combination of
staff turnover and hiring freezes created
a Mann ILS staffing challenge. Dan was
the only student who was fully capable
of assuming staff responsibilities. He
was offered a fulltime job for the summer
and enthusiastically accepted this
opportunity and earned respect as a
colleague. Dan is also trusted with
independent decision-making and has a
good sense of when to consult with the
rest of the team.
Jenny Gaborski is currently a senior,
majoring in Human
Biology, Health, and
Society. She has
worked in the Math
Library as a student
assistant since 2001.
Jenny has always been
eager to learn all the
aspects of her position From left: Diego Jimenez-Orozco, Greg Karamitis, Sarah Thomas,
and has proven herself Jennifer Gaborski, Katherine Nunn, Daniel Burstein.
through her reliability,
initiative, and, above all, her positive
Greg Karamitis joined the Management
attitude. She always goes the extra
Library during the fall of 2000 and has
mile to help anyone with questions or
been one of their most promising student
concerns they might have while in the
employees. Greg’s boundless energy
library. Jenny has proven to be invaluand cheerful disposition were evident
able whether working in access services
from the beginning. He tackles every
or taking on special reference projects.
task with vigor, turning out an amazing
volume of high quality work. In the
Diego Jiminez-Orozco started working
second semester of his sophomore year,
at Mann Library as a student computer
Greg was selected to the position of
operator in 2000. He staffed the desk
student supervisor. This position
and provided technical support to
presented him with both a tremendous
patrons. In Fall 2001, he worked on the
jump in responsibility and a chance to
ORACLE project, an online tutorial that
let his teaching and organizational skills
explains extensive uses of the Cornell
shine. Greg threw himself wholeheartLibrary Catalogue. Already, his value as
edly into the job adding extra hours to
a skilled worker in the Library began to
his workload and changing his schedule
match that of a regular employee. In
on short notice to come in when he was
Spring 2002, Diego was hired as a
needed.
database programmer. In this position
he continued to work with the diligence,
Katherine Nunn has been working in
positive energy, and competence that
the Fine Arts Library since January
were the hallmarks of his work at Mann.
2001. She quickly mastered the tasks
assigned to her at the circulation desk.
By now staff would recommend him
Katherine’s knowledge has progressed
enthusiastically for Library projects
from general circulation functions to
requiring professional programming
processing of reserves, helping with
skills. Diego has been recognized by
serials check in, and this semester she
many as one of the top student workers
has been promoted to student superviaround, a person who has demonstrated
sor. Even before she was selected as
maturity, reliability, and successful
know-how. In May 2003 Diego was hired student supervisor, she was always
cheerfully helping new students during
as a full-time student employee working
her shifts at the circulation desk to
for two different projects, one as an
familiarize them with the methods used
administrative assistant on the Physics
and the policies enforced that are so
arXiv project with D-LIT, the other as a
senior student programmer and systems important to running a smooth program.
Katherine has proven that she is more
administrative assistant with CIDC.
Indeed, Diego has made many important than capable to accomplish whatever
she sets out to do. Working with
contributions, which will remain part of
Katherine has always been a delightful
the Library’s resources well after he
experience.
graduates.
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Promotions--continued from page 8
these qualities.
Casey Westerman, the Technical Services Archivist with the
Kheel Center of Catherwood Library, has just been promoted to
the rank of Senior Assistant Archivist. He received an MLS with
an archival concentration from the University of Illinois in 1999.
Following his graduate training, Mr. Westerman was employed
as Archivist at the DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins
County. He joined the staff of the Kheel Center in March of
2001.
David is not afraid to question the status quo and replace it
with new ideas that are reasoned, sound, effective, and
efficient. But David goes beyond defining new ideas and
workflows—he implements them, too. Shortly after becoming
the Head of Bibliographic Control Services, David investigated,
planned, and implemented a strategy that would make it
possible for CTS to eliminate its extensive backlog of uncataloged materials—classification on receipt (COR). As a result,
the days of the cataloging backlog in CTS are numbered. We
anticipate, as a result of the efforts of the energetic staff he
leads, that the backlog will be eliminated by December 2004.
Mr. Westerman is responsible for the arrangement and
description of the text resources of the Kheel Center, including
the Center’s extensive manuscript, rare pamphlet and rare
book collections, which arrive at the Center at the rate of 500
linear feet a year. He and his student assistants produce
finding aids for these materials, see to their physical processing, and enter their location in the Center’s shelving database
which he has helped design.
Following strong personal interest and his obvious talent for
writing, David has spearheaded a new, semi-annual newsletter
that will seek to offer the story behind the story of CUL’s
remarkable collections and how they become available for
readers to discover and use. Academic libraries would be in
serious trouble meeting today and tomorrow’s user needs
without the Davids in the profession. Cornell University Library
is fortunate to have David Banush.
—Scott Wicks
Among Casey’s more interesting projects in the last couple of
years have been creating the metadata for and preparing
existing finding aids for digitization and web publication using
Encoded Archival Descriptive techniques. To date, over 300
finding aids to Kheel Center collections are available online.
He has also supervised the populating of the second of the
Kheel Center’s two 10,000 cubic foot stack areas; in the
process, he coordinated collection retrieval from several
storage areas including the Library Annex. Most recently, he
has helped put the finishing touches on the Kheel Center’s
collection management database, which is meant to replace
the complex paper trail that currently exists for each
collection.
Angela Horne, Management Library
The Management Library congratulates Angela Horne on her
promotion to Associate Librarian. It is our pleasure to publicly
celebrate her promotion in this Kaleidoscope issue. Angela is
a very talented librarian and has contributed so much to our
unit. Her promotion to Associate Librarian is a formal recognition of her many accomplishments in CUL and in the profession at large.
Beyond the confines of Ives Hall, Mr. Westerman has involved
himself in the wider Cornell community. He has served as a
member (2001-2002) and subsequently as chair (2002-2003) of
the Economic Status of Librarians Committee for the Academic
Assembly. Casey is also the staff advisor for a registered
student organization, the Fanclub Collective, which brings 15
concerts of contemporary music per year to the Cornell
campus.
—Richard Strassberg
When I wrote last fall in support of her candidacy for promotion
I remember being struck by the fact that Angela had only been
with us since the summer of 1999. Although relatively short on
years her “professional career” has been marked by significant
events, accomplishments, and milestones. It was at her
interview that I learned that she was the inaugural winner of the
OCLC/Canadian Library Association’s, “Promoting Technology
in Libraries Award.” Since joining CUL she has demonstrated
numerous ways to effectively harness technology in support of
our patrons. MyLibrary was conceived and developed by the
original members of the Personalized Library Services
Committee. Angela has been with the committee almost
since inception and spearheaded the development of the
“MyContents” component. In 2002, MyLibrary was selected
by ALA’s RUSA division as an, “innovative Web-based reference service” in the category of “personalized library services”.
In the same year, RUSA’s Machine Automated Reference
Services section (MARS) recognized the Management
Library’s Research FAQ as “an innovative web-based reference
service.” Angela was instrumental in the successful development of both services.
Associate Librarian
David Banush, Central Technical Services
David Banush is head of Bibliographic Control Services in
Central Technical Services. In this role he directs the activity
of twenty-two cataloging staff, who ensure the timely processing of CTS’s new acquisitions. Last year, CTS cataloging
activity exceeded 126,000 titles. Yes, you heard it right—over
126,000 items cataloged! Before joining the CTS Management
Team in 2002, David worked at the Catherwood Library, first as
Technical Services Librarian and Manuscripts Cataloger (1998
– 1999) and then became the Coordinator of Technical
Services (1999 – 2002).
An important theme underlying many of Angela’s goals is the
value of mentoring others. On the local scene she has
promoted mentoring through the Professional Development
Committee activities and program. She has also successfully
led similar efforts on regional committees and in library
schools. While President of the Upstate NY Special Libraries
Association she targeted outreach efforts that increased
student attendance at chapter meetings and increased their
David’s leadership both locally and internationally is substantial. One example—his role as chair of the Standing Committee on Training, Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)—is
testimony to his skills, accomplishments, and international
reputation as a dedicated and hard-working, results-oriented
professional librarian, and Cornell has taken advantage of
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membership numbers in SLA. She has
spoken to library school students
encouraging them to join our ranks and
guiding them in their professional career
choices. Her publications often carry
the same message, including her 2001
Kaleidoscope article, “Mentoring Matters.”
The Management Library tips its hat to
Angela. Her promotion is well deserved
and cause for celebration. Congratulations from your friends and colleagues.
—Lynn Brown
Terry Kristensen, Veterinary Library
Terry Kristensen joined the Veterinary
Library staff in January of 2001. She
came to the position of Assistant
Director of Programs and Services with a
very rich and varied background and
experience. Her prior experience
includes working as Media Services
Director for Glenview Public School in
Illinois. She then worked for Apple
Computer for seven years and for the
CBORD Group in Ithaca as Director of
Client Services. As a consultant she
provided services to the local SPCA.
Terry has an MEd in Library Science and
an MEd in Psychology from the University of Arizona.
In 2002 Terry’s visiting appointment
became a permanent appointment and
she was promoted to Associate Director
of the Veterinary Library. Her role is to
plan, develop, and manage vital new
initiatives for the library. She is also
responsible for determining the optimal
application of technology for the development of library services. Her duties
include project management leadership,
oversight and coordination of the implementation of library projects, priorities,
commitments, and current services.
Terry is the best project manager I have
ever worked with. Some of the significant projects she has taken a leadership
role in have been the delivery of My
Content, Alumni and Friends Access,
and My Document Delivery in CUL. In
the College she played a leadership role
in redefining the College Web site.
Subsequently, she is now spearheading
the redesign of the site. In the Veterinary Library she has created the
Veterinary Procedures Collection, a very
important collaborative project with
faculty and with the Office of Educational
Development in the College. She also
manages staff in the Electronic Services
Department in the Veterinary Library.
Terry’s professional development
activities have been significant. She has
given presentations and poster sessions
at ALA, ENY/ACRL, SUNYLA, and
EDUCAUSE. She has co-authored an
article with Angela Horne entitled, ”The
Development of MyContents, an Enriched Electronic Tables of Contents
Service,” which will be published in April
of 2004 in Portal.
Terry’s commitment to the Veterinary
Library, to CUL, and to the College of
Veterinary Medicine is clear. Working
with Terry makes my job more fun and
rewarding. She has great creative
energy, she is enthusiastic, and she
gets things done. Congratulations to
Terry on her promotion and thanks for
being part of our community.
—Erla P. Heyns
Librarian/Archivist
Gregory Lawrence, Mann Library
Greg Lawrence started in his position as
Government Information Librarian at the
Albert R. Mann Library in 1992. During
the last twelve years Greg has been
involved in many initiatives and has
made many contributions, not only to
Mann Library, but to the CUL system.
Greg’s position includes work both in
Technical Services and Collection
Development. He also consults with
Library users on their government
information needs, often digging deep for
the statistical information they need for
their research.
During the last decade the world of
government information has changed
considerably and it was an important
time for the Library to have someone in a
position to track and help influence
changes in access to government
information. Greg served on the Depository Library Council from 1997 to 2000.
Greg has been recognized for his work
several times in the last few years. He
was a key originator and leader in the
development and ongoing evolution of the
USDA Economics and Statistics
System. In 1999 the USDA team, led
by Greg, received the USDA Secretary’s
Honor Award. In 2000 he was recognized by the New York Library Association with the Mildred Lowe Award for his
work with government documents in New
York and at the national level, as well as
the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for
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Excellence in Librarianship. For the
SUNY Chancellor’s Award, the full range
of each candidate’s activities is considered, including leadership, innovation,
and contributions to the profession.
More recently, in January 2003, he was
awarded the Catherine J. Reynolds
Research Grant to study the information
needs of users of the USDA System.
With his interests in a wide range of
important library issues, Greg has
contributed much to CUL’s success in
meeting new challenges.
—Bill Kara
People News--continued from page 12
such libraries in the world.
Phil has a remarkable record of service to
the greater Ithaca community. At one time
or another, he has served on practically
every volunteer board in Ithaca and
Lansing. In recognition of his service to
youth, the Village of Lansing dedicated a
local park on Uptown Road in his honor in
1995. Retirement for Phil will likely involve
time for a transition to more volunteer
activities, cruises in the Caribbean, hiking
on the Finger Lakes Trails, downhill skiing
at Labrador, and time to enlarge a growing
CD jazz collection. Interspersed will be
visits to grandchildren in Ithaca, Rochester,
and Southern California.
—Gordon Law
On April 6, Eileen Parlange retired from
her position as Collections Specialist in the
Wason Collection after sixteen years
service. She began her library career in
Central Technical Services as a
retrospective conversion technician. When
she moved to Wason, Eileen quickly
became that unit’s chief administrator,
diplomat, and mother confessor. Librarians
relied on her mastery of the bureaucracy
and her ability to get things done;
generations of students were devoted to
Eileen, and everyone who knew her
recognized her kindness, tact, and grace.
—David Block
Good-bye
Good-bye and good luck to Charlotte
Bynum, Law Library; Valerie Jacoski,
IRIS Administration; Eileen Parlange,
Wason East Asia Collections; Kelly
Thompson, D-LIT; and Chris DeWilde,
Annex Library; who recently left the Library.
University Library
201 Olin Library
Ithaca, NY 14853-5301
(607) 255-5068
http://www.library.cornell.edu/staffweb/Kaleidoscope/
Kaleidoscope is published bi-monthly except June and July by Cornell University Library and printed at CUL Photocopy Services. Editorial Committee: Marty Crowe, Elizabeth Fontana, Vanessa Ng, and Elizabeth Teskey.
People News
Welcome
On May 3rd, Bill Kara, Head of Technical Services in Mann
Library, was honored with the 2004 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for
Excellence in Librarianship. In writing this nomination for Bill, I
solicited input from several colleagues. One told me that, “Bill
personified collaboration.” In an age that requires close collaboration and respect for partners, Bill has the skills and the motivation
to work toward common goals. He is informed and thoughtful,
respectful and articulate. His department is recognized for its hightech and high touch services. Karen Calhoun said that Bill is a
dedicated librarian who is “attuned not only to the needs and
operations of his own library but also to the innovations needed in
the library profession as a whole.” But, the quote that I think best
personifies Bill is the one that Gordon Law provided. Gordon said,
“Bill is really a saint ... patient, careful, organized, and sensitive to
all the interpersonal issues involved in getting people to work
together.” Please join me in congratulating this saintly man and
celebrating his contributions to the Cornell University Library over
the past twenty years! —Janet McCue
Chris Campbell is the new accounts representative in the
endowed Library Accounting Services department. Chris will
provide accounting services for all CTS units, Administrative
Operations, and various units within IRIS. Chris worked for many
years at Tompkins County Trust Company and, most recently,
held a banking position in Roanoke, Virginia.
Emilie Karr recently joined the Subscriptions Unit of Acquisitions/
CTS as a half-time serials assistant. Prior to coming to Ithaca,
Emilie was a serials assistant at Harvard University Law Library for
two years. She also held a work-study position in the Archives
and Special Collections Department at Bowdoin College when she
was a student there.
Phuong Le has been working as a casual employee in Wason
since May 2002 and has recently joined CTSAcquisitions as a technical services assistant.
Congratulations to Sally Lockwood and Vanessa Ng, who
earned degrees this year through the employee degree program.
Sally earned a bachelor’s in romance studies with a concentration
in Spanish and Latin American studies, and Vanessa earned a
bachelor’s in communications and environmental policy.
James Reidy has joined Digital Library and Information Technologies as a programmer/analyst. He previously worked for D-LIT as
a temporary Web programmer developer.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Patrick J. Stevens, on the publication of
Volume 293 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography: Icelandic
Writers. In addition to editing the volume and shepherding
contributors from all over the world, he wrote the introduction and
several entries. Elaine Engst says, “A credit to Patrick, to the
Fiske Icelandic Collection, and to the Cornell University Library,
this handsome volume will be a valuable contribution to scholarship.”
Congratulations to Phil Davis who was recently honored with two
awards for his innovative research. In the March 15 issue of
Library Journal, Phil was named one of the Library Journal Movers
& Shakers. And for the second year in a row, Phil has had an
article named to the LIRT Top Twenty library instruction articles of
the year. His article, published in Portal: Libraries and the
Academy, is called, “Effect of the Web on Undergraduate Citation
Behavior: Guiding Student Scholarship in a Networked Age.”
Retirements
Congratulations to Claire Germain, the Edward Cornell Law
Librarian, who has been elected Vice President/President Elect of
the American Association of Law Libraries. The AALL includes
more than 5000 members and provides leadership in the field of
legal information. Claire’s three-year term will begin in July.
Philip R. Dankert was born and grew up in Hanover, New
Hampshire and graduated from Colby College with a degree in
economics. After service in the Army, he entered the library
science program at Simmons College, graduating in 1963. Shortly
thereafter he began work in the acquisitions department at Olin
Library. In 1968, Phil transferred over to ILR as Catherwood’s
reference librarian. In 1970 he assumed his current responsibility
for building Catherwood’s print and electronic based collections.
His experience acquiring the literature in the field of industrial and
labor relations and human resources management is unrivaled in
this country. Approximately 60% of the volumes on Catherwood’s
shelves have been acquired during his stewardship of building the
foremost library of its type in North America and one of only three
Congratulations to Diane Hillmann and Elaine Westbrooks on
the forthcoming publication of their new book, Metadata in Practice
(Chicago, ALA Editions, 2004).When asked for an overview, Diane
says, “This book is an attempt to bring together a great deal of
metadata experience, in aid of the poor souls who contact both
editors regularly with the question: ‘Where do I start?’ It was also
intended to serve as a practical companion to Priscilla Caplan’s,
‘Introduction to Metadata.’”
Continued on page 11
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