| Happy Holidays!
|
|
|
Profile: New Catalog Librarian
Brian Dobreski
Brian Dobreski comes to SUL from the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, where he was Digitization Project Librarian. He's no stranger to the area, however, having received an MSLIS from the iSchool in 2006. Brian worked previously at the Fayetteville Free Library and at OCPL, where he was awarded the Ossie C. Golden Trustees Award in 2008.
Brian says that he was interested in Syracuse because of the wealth of materials in its collections, especially Belfer, and the opportunities they present for a cataloger. Since his arrival, he's been spending time becoming familiar with our systems and resources and has a number of ideas for projects in which he'd like to be involved. In particular, Brian mentioned the NACO Music Project, of which SUL is a member. NMP is a group of member libraries that cooperatively contribute name and name/uniform title authority records to the national authority file. Brian has already participated in NACO training at the Library of Congress, so his experience should enable the Library to make progress with this important program.
As we talked on a recent snowy morning, Brian's screen displayed a bib record for a Belfer sound recording by the Synodeia Orchestra - in Greek! It is just this type of material that intrigues Brian and we certainly have enough of it to keep him occupied for some time to come. Welcome, Brian.
|
Profile: New Resident Librarian Camille Chesley The job of Resident Librarian in  the Learning Commons seems tailor-made for Camille Chesley. A native of Maryland, Camille received an MSLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BA from Oberlin College. She was also selected to participate in both the Spectrum Leadership and ARL Leadership institutes and received an Andrew W. Mellon Librarian Recruitment internship while an undergrad at Oberlin. Camille's resume lists an impressive number of internships and assistantships, including stints with the Asian Division of the Library of Congress, Alexander Street Press, the Spirit of '76 Museum, the University of Maryland Law Library, Ingalls Library at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC). When I asked her how she was getting along in her new position, Camille spoke with enthusiasm about the Learning Commons' team. She commented on how helpful everyone has been in helping her get her bearings. She is most excited about the breadth of experience she'll get and says she "wants to become involved with a little bit of everything." Right now, she is working on an assessment of the LC's table top signage. She has experience with assessment, having been a member of Library Assessment Working Group while at Illinois, which worked with findings from their LibQUAL assessment. Camille said that while some of the comments were "disheartening, it was all good, actionable stuff to improve the Library." We wish her all the best as she begins to make her mark here!
|
 Two of the Library's elves, Jackie andGerri, with the cartload of gifts collected for the Library's holiday sharing family. In addition to gifts for this Congolese family, including five children, library staff generously provided over $400 in monetary contributions used to purchase gift cards from Walmart and Price Chopper. Many thanks to all who helped make this holiday a whole lot brighter for this family.
|
|
Distinguished Service Award winner Russell Silverstein
 Russell Silverstein, Head of Library Information Technology Services, was presented with the Distinguished Service Award on December 14, 2010 at the Library HolidayParty and Recognition Event held at the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center. Russell was honored by his coworkers with this annual award to recognize a Library staff member who has made significant contributions to the Syracuse University Library and its user community. The recipient of the award receives a certificate and a gift, and their name is engraved on a plaque that hangs in the first floor of Bird Library. Russell has worked at the Library in ITS since 2003, when he was hired as a Data Systems Administrator. He also held the positions of Information Technology Manager, Assistant Head of Information Technology Services and Interim Head of Information Technology Services. Nomination and reference letters for Russell included comments like, "IT has dramatically improved under his tenure" and "Russ has been extremely supportive and helpful in facilitating solutions to our technological needs." Another letter writer noted that "The most significant accomplishment ... is the culture of customer service he has instilled in his staff." The IT department of the library isn't just about keeping the equipment running. It's about helping to find the correct tools to enhance the ever-changing work of staff and patrons and having the skills to work across all departments of the Library. Russell is an exemplary leader in these aspects. Russell was commended for being "proactive, patron-centered, responsive, and collegial in his role." The Library is lucky to have such a talented manager for its IT department. |
Dean's Commendations
Dean Thorin presented commendations to three individuals and one group at the Library's recent holiday luncheon.
Gerry McCarthy was commended for her outstanding job performance in her first year as supervisor in the Learning Commons. Lesley said of Gerry; "She has the best initiative, independent thinking, knowing when and how to consult, and creativity of any supervisor I have worked with in 10 years as a department head."
Also receiving a commendation was Yuxin Yang. Yuxin was recognized for her work and dedication to the Library's Chinese Book Collection project. Yuxin's unique contributions to this three year effort includes assisting in the cataloging of the Chinese books, learning and using the Chinese-Japanese-Korean (CJK) software to create new catalog records, working with the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), helping them to plan how to expand the collection, and communicating with authors, Chinese scholars, and the Chinese community in Syracuse to help grow the collection. The final individual award went to Suzanne Preate for her leadership and perseverance in the successful implementation of SUrface. The successful SUrface launch was in large part due to Suzanne's leadership with the interdepartmental SUrface planning team through every aspect of the design, structure, criteria, and policies that lead to the local and unique look and feel of SUrface. She served as liaison to the bepress Digital Commons team, worked tirelessly with Sarah Theimer on metadata challenges, advised the subject specialists about the submission process, and conducted a countless number of demonstration sessions.
The final commendation went to the Sci-Tech Attack Team.Team members for planning and oversight were Bobbi Gwilt (Chair, ARMS), Terriruth Carrier (PMC), Kelley Lasher (Acquisitions & Cataloging), Charlie Russo (Access), Randy Money (Access), Melinda Dermody (Access), and Jackie Allred (BSO). Team members for front line work are Virginia Strauch, Matt Biviano, Tony Carbone and Brian Byrns.
The SciTech Attack Team was charged with a number of tasks related to the collections in the Science & Technology library including complete retrospective conversion, item record creation and barcoding, and executing the de-accession and transfer decisions related to the electronic backfile purchases in preparation for restoring and revitalizing the Reading Room. This commendation is in recognition of this multi-departmental collaborative work, acknowledging not only the large numbers of titles handled, but also the careful attention to detail and the active communication process that accompanied this process. We have made a substantial increase in the science e-resources and we have made a significant physical change in the SciTech Library and prepared it for further changes in its spaces, services, and collections.
|
SU student wins KNOVEL contest
 SU student Andy Quach was awarded one of 20 prizes in this year's very successful Knovel Challenge, a contest based on use of one of our most important engineering resources. Andy's was one of more than 10,000 entries in this international competition. SU ranked 21st out of over 500 schools in the number of student entries, beating Purdue, which has one of the biggest engineering schools in the country! SU's success was no doubt due to the amount of outreach, teaching, and publicity done by subject specialist Elizabeth Wallace.
|
Understanding the New Landscape training schedule
The Understanding the New Library Landscape training schedule is now available. These sessions, scheduled from January 4th through the 14th, are open to all library staff. Session leaders will provide a current overview of all of the Library's areas and functions, which will be informative for staff throughout the Library. To register for a class, login to libtrain.syr.edu and go to the Training Course Calendar for January 2011. Questions? Contact Gerri McCarthy.
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
|
