A Message from the President

Rosanne Humes

The ACRL/NY Executive Board and the Symposium Committee have been very busy the past few months.
The Symposium Committee, led by Susanne Markgren, Vice President/President Elect and Symposium Committee Chair, is putting the finishing touches on the December 4, 2009 event. The Symposium, entitled “Emerging Leadership in Academic Libraries” will be held at Baruch College, Vertical Campus Conference Center, 55 Lexington Ave, in New York. Our speakers will be: Mary Carmen Chimato, Head of Access and Delivery Services, North Carolina State University; Amanda Etches-Johnson, User Experience Librarian, McMaster University; Damon Jaggars, Associate University Librarian for Collections and Services, Columbia University; and Brian Mathews, Assistant Librarian, Outreach and Academic Services, University of California, Santa Barbara.
The Executive Board has been evaluating and reorganizing the discussion groups. We have combined the Technical Services, Collection Development and Electronic Resources discussion groups and renamed them the Resource Sharing Group. We have eliminated Access Services, Cultural Diversity and Education/CMC, and added User Experience and Distance Learning.
To promote the groups and encourage new members, ACRL/NY has arranged for a different discussion group to meet at Mercy College Manhattan Campus each month. The discussion groups meet from 9:00 to 10:45, before the Symposium Committee that meets from 11:00 to 12:30, and then the Executive Board has its meeting from 1:00 to 3:30.
For more information on the Symposium, the Discussion Groups and all ACRL/NY business, please visit our website.

2009 Symposium: Emerging Leadership in Academic Libraries

Leaders inspire and motivate us. Leaders create vision and purpose. But what does it take to be a leader in today’s academic library? How do we mentor and sustain leaders within our organizations? How do we take charge of our own career paths and move into leadership roles? This symposium will address these questions while opening up a discussion of leadership across the different stages of librarianship.

The symposium will be held at the Baruch College, Vertical Campus Conference Center, 14th floor, Friday, December 4, 2009 from 9 am to 3:30 pm. For more information, and registration, please visit the 2009 symposium website: http://acrlnysymp09.wordpress.com/

ACRL/NY User Experience Discussion Group

The first organizational meeting of the ACRL/NY User Experience Discussion Group, led by discussion chair Carrie Netzer Wajda, was held on Friday, September 11th at Mercy College. The topic brought 14 attendees from diverse backgrounds and academic institutions. After a brief networking and meeting period from 9-9:30, the meeting opened at 9:30 with an introduction to the User Experience Discussion Group by ACRL/NY board members. This was followed by a roundtable discussion of attendees’ knowledge of and interest in usabilty issues.
During a lively discussion, participants expressed curiosity and concerns about how to do usabilty research using surveys, interviews, and web analytic software. Generally, the discussion focused on the idea that making libraries more usable for our patrons shouldn’t be difficult – indeed, the best way to achieve better usability is to make the research process less burdensome on librarians.
Based upon participant feedback, it was proposed that the group meet twice or three times per year, perhaps with an event component. The next meeting’s discussion, to be held in early December, will consider survey design, administration, and working with institutional research boards. The December meeting’s location and date t.b.d. Meeting minutes are posted on the discussion group website at http://acrlnyux.wordpress.com/.

The group can also be found online on Facebook Groups.

Join ACRL/NY!

ACRLNY offers many opportunities to foster growth and professional development in academic librarianship.  One way we achieve this is to offer discussion groups that allow members to create programs, share ideas and network with other librarians from the New York metropolitan area. To reflect changing trends in the field, some of these groups have been newly  modified. The current groups are: Information Literacy/Instruction, New Librarians, Resource Sharing, User Experience , and Special  Collections /Archives.  If you would like to join one of these  groups for the coming year, check off the appropriate box  on the membership form when you renew.  http://www.acrlny.org/membership.htm
We thank you for your past support and depend on your membership to provide outstanding events of interest to all academic librarians.
       
Bellinda Wise
Membership Secretary

About ACRL/NY

Connections: The ACRL/NY Newsletter, is published  by the Greater New York Metropolitan Area Chapter / Association of College and Research Libraries, Inc.

Submissions and suggestions can be sent to the current news editor:

Sarah VanGundy
Reference and Instruction Librarian
SUNY Purchase College Library
735 Anderson Hill Rd
Purchase, NY 10577
sarah.vangundy@purchase.edu

Links to past issues of Connections may be found here: http://www.acrlny.org/news.htm

Membership
You may find the membership form for joining ACRL/NY at the ACRL/NY website: http://www.acrlny.org/
Join online: http://www.acrlny.org/membership.htm 
or
By mail: http://www.acrlny.org/membership2008-2009.pdf

ACRL/NY NYC Section Tours the American Numismatic Society Exhibition

ACRL/NY NYC Section Tours the American Numismatic Society Exhibition at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the American Numismatic Society Library

On May 14, 2009, the ACRL/NY New York City Geographical Section was treated to two wonderful informative guided tours. Members first gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for a private tour of the American Numismatic Society (ANS) exhibit, Drachmas, Doubloons, and Dollars: The History of Money. With over 800 numismatic objects, this is one of the most comprehensive collections from the ANS illustrating the history of money from the beginning of coinage to the present. Emphasizing important items in the exhibit, ANS numismatist, Michael Parrish, guided ACRL/NY members through the exhibit. Members gained a better understanding of the functions of money and its cultural and historical value.
ACRL/NY members then proceeded to the American Numismatic Society (75 Varick Street in NYC) for a guided tour of their library by ANS Librarian, Elizabeth Hahn. Information on how the numismatic literature is cataloged at the ANS was provided by ANS cataloger, Jared Camins-Esakov.
One of the oldest institutions and museums in New York and the United States, the ANS was founded on 15 March 15, 1858 by twelve collectors: Augustus B. Sage, Asher T. Atkinson, Alfred Boghton, Dr Thomas Dunn English, James D. Foskett, Dr Isaac Hand Gibbs, Edward Groh, Ezra Hill, Jacob J. Melber, John Cooper Vail, and Henry Whitmore. James D. Fosket organized its library in 1858. in accordance with the mission of the ANS, to foster academic scholarship in numismatics; to promote the scholarly study of coins, medals, and related objects.
The ANS holds one of the largest numismatic collections in the world and its library contains one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of numismatic literature. Besides thousands of offprints of numismatic articles, the ANS Library also contains over 100,000 books, manuscripts, periodicals, microfilms, auction catalogs, and photographs. The library also has a comprehensive reference and non-numismatic collection, e.g., literature on archaeology, art history, economic history and other related disciplines.
The ANS Library developed and ranks as one of the best and finest academic research institutions for numismatic scholars around the world. The Library’s collection not only serves the museum’s staff but also the annual ANS Graduate Student Seminar, members of the ANS and the general public.
Throughout its early history, from 1858 to 1907, the American Numismatic Society and its Library were constantly in search of a permanent home. As the Library and numismatic collections expanded, the need for larger quarters and a permanent home became more urgent. Between 1907 and 2004, the permanent home of the American Numismatic Society and its Library was at Audubon Terrace, 155th Street and Broadway, in the section of New York City called Washington Heights. But when the library and museum needed larger quarters due to the increase size of their numismatic and literature collections, they purchased a larger building at 96 Fulton Street in the Wall Street, which they named the Donald Groves Building. During the summer of 2004, the ANS relocated from Audubon Terrace to the Donald Groves Building.  Their doors opened to the public on 18 June 2004 and this would be the first cultural institution to open in lower Manhattan since the September 11 terrorist attacks. During the summer of 2008, the ANS relocated to 75 Varick Street in NYC.

For an image of the Library
http://www.numismatics.org/Library/ANSLibrary

Barbara Bonous-Smit
Queensborough Community College, CUNY