Happy New Year! I am pleased to step into the role of ACRL/NY President for 2010. This year we will continue with many of the initiatives we began in 2009. Our discussion groups have been reorganized to better fit the ever-changing roles and diverse interests of today’s librarians, and we working with other library organizations in the area to collaborate on advocacy issues and sponsor programs that will appeal to academic librarians.
Our annual symposium, Emerging Leadership in Academic Libraries, was held on December 4, 2009, at Baruch College’s Vertical Campus Conference Center. From all accounts (and evaluations) it was an enormous success. This was the first year it was held in this location on the 14th floor. The large sunny room worked quite well for the poster presentations, and the round tables provided attendees an excellent space for networking. There were four speakers, all librarians in leadership roles: Brian Mathews, Amanda Etches-Johnson, Mary Carmen Chimato, and Damon Jaggars. Their abstracts, bios, and reading recommendations, as well as poster session abstracts and a bibliography can be found on the symposium web site: http://acrlnysymp09.wordpress.com/
I want to thank Caroline Fuchs for her work as our dedicated legislative advocate. She asked Assemblyman Mike Miller (of the 38th District) to come to the symposium and say a few words on the importance of funding to maintain and sustain our libraries. His presence was much appreciated by the attendees.
I am delighted to introduce Carrie Eastman as the Symposium Planning Committee Chair for 2010, and the Vice President/President Elect. She already has lots of ideas for the 2010 symposium. If you are interested in serving on the Symposium Planning Committee, please contact her.
The rest of the Executive Board for 2010 is as follows:
Rosanne Humes, Immediate Ex-President
Katrina Frazier, Acting Treasurer
Bellinda Wise, Membership Secretary
Sarah VanGundy, News Editor
Marsha Spiegelman, Secretary
Monica Berger, Webmaster, Blogteam
Scott Rummler*, Webteam
Caroline Fuchs, Legislative Liaison
Lois Cherepon, Archives Coordinator
Geographic Sections:
Susan Werner, Chair, Long Island
Fiona Grady*, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, Long Island
Barbara Bonous-Smit, Chair, New York City
Anne Leonard, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, New York City
Gloria Meisel, Chair, Westchester
Kris Wycisk, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, Westchester
Discussion Groups:
Distance Learning
Kathryn G. Shaughnessy*, Chair
Education/CMC
Sheila Kirven*, Co-Chair
Amy Catalano*, Co-Chair
Information Literacy/Instruction
Eloise Bellard, Chair
New Librarians
Michael Handis*, Chair
Resource Sharing
Maureen Weicher, Chair
Special Collections and Archives
Keith Muchowski*, Chair
User Experience
Carrie Netzer Wajda, Chair
We will hold the following discussion group meetings this Spring: Information Literacy/Instruction on February 19, CMC/Education on March 19, Distance Learning on April 9, and Resource Sharing on May 7. These will be initial, kick-off meetings for these groups. Please contact the chair of the group if you are interested in attending. You do not need to be a member of ACRL/NY for the initial meetings, but you will need to join to continue to be a member of the discussion group. In addition, the User Experience Discussion Group will meet on February 3. See the ACRL/NY web site for further details: http://www.acrlny.org/
Thanks to the continuing board members for all your hard work, unlimited enthusiasm, and much needed support. And welcome to our newest board members (so noted by an asterisk after their names). I’m looking forward to working with all of you to promote our association, advocate for libraries in the greater New York City area, and offer our members motivating and provocative programs, meetings, and discussions in 2010.
–Susanne Markgren
