Save the Date:
Holiday Party and
DSA Award
December 4th
Goldstein
Faculty Center
Noon - 2 p.m.
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 The Learning Commons has begun a new reference service this fall that takes its services on the road. During busier hours of the week, LC staff rove the building (every floor but 6) looking out for patrons who have that "lost" look - and just being obvious and approachable for those who may have information needs.
Roving staff wear colorful name tags so they stand out a bit. They use a lightweight and speedy laptop to provide service and record our statistics. They also have a cell phone so they can be reached by service desk staff and can call out when necessary to answer a question.
LC rovers check in with staff on the upper floors, and if there is a second patron waiting for service, they jump in to help. When students are covering the upper floor desks, LC staff provide another source of support for them, just in case.
Please feel free to share this information with your users and encourage them to take advantage of this service. Suggestions? Let me know!
Lesley Pease
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Welcome Teresa Harris 
Please welcome Teresa Harris, new SCRC staff member who is the Project Coordinator for the NEH Breuer grant. Teresa's office is located in Special Collections in Room 602. She can be reached at x2916 or tmharr01@syr.edu.
Teresa is a Ph.D. candidate in Architectural History at Columbia University. Prior to coming to Syracuse University, she held a graduate internship at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia and was executive assistant at the Architecture League of New York.
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An Eventful Week
Following Dean Thorin's address to the University Senate on November 11, we had an eventful week, with several mentions in various news outlets, not to mention the student protest on Wednesday. We have already begun exploring new directions to resolve our space problems, at least temporarily, and will be sharing more information with Library staff as details emerge. Plans are in the works for an all-staff meeting sometime before the semester break - stay tuned for the date and time.
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New Home for Belfer's Baby Grand
SU Library and the College of Visual and Performing Arts are now making sweet music together courtesy of a baby grand piano. The Library recently presented VPA with the gift of a Kurtzman baby grand piano that was previously housed in the Belfer Audio Laboratory.
The Library planned to sell the seldom-used piano, estimated to be worth around $5,000, and had advertised it in the local community. After discussing its availability with Ann Clark, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Dean of Libraries Suzanne Thorin decided instead to give the piano to VPA. Thorin sees the gift as a great opportunity for the Library to impact the lives of VPA students and faculty. Now located in the newly renovated lobby area of the Warehouse downtown, the piano is used by students for impromptu performances and recitals, providing a soundtrack for daily activities.
Commenting on the gift, Dean Ann Clarke said, "I love having the piano down there. This gift is a testimonial to the privilege of working in an institution where shared interest across what would customarily be called institutional silos, is not theory, it is practice. It is illustrated in actions like this that yield positive change."
To preserve the piano's condition and continue its already long life, VPA is installing internal humidity control. The School of Music will see to its care and feeding.
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Mellon Grant Update
In the fall 2008 edition of the Library Connection it was announced that SU Library received a $250,000 Mellon Foundation grant to create a detailed catalog of the historical 78-rpm sounds recordings held by SU's Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive. Since then, the Library has completed this project cataloging 9,000 Decca label recordings.
Upon receiving this grant, SU Library became a partner in a Mellon-funded 78s cataloging project, joining Yale University, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and Stanford University. The project aimed to make historical 78-rpm sound recordings at these institutions more accessible to users worldwide and to increase the quality of the cataloging of these recordings.
The 9,000 Decca recordings cataloged by SU Library are now searchable in the Library's online catalog and havebeen added to the WorldCat database, a global library network, along with the recordings from the partner institutions. Access to complete and accurate information about these recordings will allow scholars and historical sound enthusiasts the ability to search multiple databases simultaneously to gather detailed information on each cataloged recording.
Some of the titles held by the Belfer Audio Archive that were cataloged during this project include Skyliner, the theme song on American Forces Network program "Midnight in Munich" from 1947; When I Lost You, a song written by Irving Berlin about his first wife who died of typhoid fever, and Star Dust featuring Larry Adler playing harmonica solos with John Kirby's Orchestra.
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Staff News
Got news? Please feel free to send us any news items that you would like to share with colleagues -- graduations, weddings, new babies, travels, and such. As always, we welcome your feedback, comments, questions, or story ideas. Send your contributions to libcom@syr.edu.
Many thanks for your interest!
The Editors
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