News: September, 2004 - Vol. 9, No. 1
Table of Contents
Chancellor's Classroom Initiative
Donor reception
Lasse Antonsen illustrates his presentation about the architect Paul Rudolph and the design of the campus.Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack greeted guests at the library’s second annual Donor Reception, held in June. Also taking an opportunity to thank our donors and friends for their continuing support were Library Dean Ann Montgomery Smith; Vice Chancellor Robert Green, who guides the division of Library Services, Information Resources and Technology; and Donald H. Ramsbottom, executive director of the University Foundation.
The featured speaker was Lasse Antonsen, director of the university’s art galleries and professor of art history, who spoke about architect Paul Rudolph and the design of the UMass Dartmouth campus—a significant theme, given that this year marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the campus. Antonsen’s talk was complemented by a display of some of Rudolph’s actual drawings and designs for the campus. Acquisitions librarian Bruce Barnes also made a presentation about his ongoing work in designing a Paul Rudolph web site, to be hosted by the library. Working with staff from the library’s Systems department, Barnes is creating a site that will digitally preserve Rudolph’s enduring legacy for scholars and researchers.
A highlight of the evening was the interesting discussion and reminiscences about the university by a number of the guests—both faculty members and community members—who have had longstanding associations with UMass Dartmouth and its predecessor schools.
New Staff
The University Library appointed two new staff members this summer; please join us in welcoming them.
Damaris Chapin-Berner
Yueqing Chen has been named Digital Services Technician for the library’s Systems and Digital Services department. She will be responsible for providing the programming and technical expertise needed for the development and integration of library systems, applications and services.
Previously, Chen was a web developer and system administrator at AcademicKeys, an internet-based company focusing on employment resources for academic professionals, and was a web developer for a network security company for the healthcare industry.
While studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for her master’s degree in computer and information sciences, Chen worked as an assistant in the school’s library. Chen said that she is “pleased to return to the academic environment” and “is looking forward to providing improved digital services for the UMD library.”
When not concentrating on systems and applications, Chen enjoys jogging, playing tennis, volleyball and basketball. She’s also happy to be living near the ocean.
Damaris Chapin-Berner was appointed Head of Cataloging for the UMass Dartmouth Library in August. Previous to this, she was a cataloger for the Northeastern University Law School Library, and earlier was cataloger for the North Shore Community College Libraries.
Chapin-Berner earned her master’s degree in Library Science from Simmons College with a concentration in cataloging. In addition to her library degree, she holds a Nonprofit Management graduate certificate from Northeastern University. She earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in English literature, from UMass Dartmouth.
Any questions, comments and suggestions about cataloging can be directed to Chapin-Berner at x 8671. And please stop by Technical Services to say hello!
New chair for Information Services
Kate Randall Haley has been elected chair of the library’s Information Services department. She succeeds Paige Gibbs, who recently resigned after three years of exellent service.
Retirement
We bid a very fond farewell to longtime reference librarian Jane Booth, who retired this summer after nearly 40 years of service. Booth’s career with the university began when the library was housed in the Purchase Street building in downtown New Bedford and progressed as the library moved to the third floor of Group I and finally to our own building, which opened in 1972. As the field of information services evolved from the use of printed materials to a burgeoning array of online resources, Booth advanced in her profession, making a graceful transition to each new development. Students and faculty members alike will miss her assistance, particularly in her subject specialty areas and as a friendly, knowledgeable guide at the reference desk.
Archives news
Sylvia Mininberg of Laguna Hills, CA, donated several pieces of Mount Washington Glass and Pairpoint silverplate, all manufactured in New Bedford, to the Archives of the Center for Jewish Culture. The gift is valued at over $6,000.
• Archivist Judy Farrar has created a new web site within the Archives and Special Collections site that chronicles the history of the Swain School of Design. Founded in New Bedford in 1881, Swain merged with UMass Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts in 1988.
Featuring many images from the Swain collections, the site also provides a timeline illustrated by Swain's striking school catalog covers, many of which were designed by students for an annual competition.
• Retired UMass Dartmouth design professor Howard Glasser was the founder and driving force behind the famed Eisteddfod International Folk Festival, which brought thousands of music lovers to our campus every fall from 1971 to 1996. He has committed his massive personal collection to the newly established Howard T. Glasser Archives. The collection consists of audio recordings of folk music gatherings, Eisteddfod performances, and audio interviews of folk musicians recorded during his travels in Scotland in the 1960s.
Glasser enjoys an international reputation in folk music circles, and this collection will be very important to scholars and musicians when it is finally opened. The collection will be transferred to the Archives gradually over the next few years. Since there are hundreds of audio recordings on older format tapes, Glasser has set up a fund to support the collection, with an initial gift of $5,000.
This year, the Archives was a sponsor of the continuing Eisteddfod tradition, which now lives on in Brooklyn.
• On behalf of the Archives of the Center for Jewish Culture collections, Farrar received a “community building mini-grant” from the United Way of Greater New Bedford to cover printing costs for a brochure detailing a tour of Jewish historical sites in New Bedford. The tour highlights current and past synagogues, residential and business districts, and other sites of historical and cultural significance. Concurrently, the tour’s text and photos will be featured on the Archives web site as a “virtual tour.” The project complements the ongoing work of the Archives of the Center for Jewish Culture to interview local Jewish residents. To date, the collection includes more than 161 oral history interviews.
• Archives and Special Collections has acquired two more important oral history collections. The first is a student project directed by Prof. Mel Yoken of the foreign language department to interview French Canadian immigrants in eastern Massachusetts. The other is a series of interviews conducted by Prof. Dan Georgianna of the economics department about the scallop industry in New Bedford.
Library Associates news
• The UMass Dartmouth Library Associates are selling “savings passes” to Filene’s Charity Day which will run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday, November 8. This is a ticket-holders-only event before the new Dartmouth Mall Filene's opens to the public later that week. The pass offers discounts from 25% to 10% on a variety of merchandise and also provides an entry form for Grand Opening prize drawings.
Tickets are $5 each; contact Christine Allen (x8946) for more information. All proceeds of the Associates' ticket sales will benefit the library.
• The Library Associates donated $7,000 to the Library for academic year 2003-2004. Associates president Dr. Mel Yoken presented the check to Dean Ann Montgomery Smith at the organization’s annual meeting in May. The gift will be used to advance the relocation and renovation of the library’s Archives and Special Collections, which preserves documents relating to the history both of the university and of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Newly elected officers for the 2004-2005 academic year are president, Nancy Kiernan; vice president, Dr. Richard Ward; recording secretary, Claudette Roy-Viall; corresponding secretary, Nancy Vital; treasurer, Jeanne Corliss; assistant treasurer, Rita Raymond; and members-at-large, Virginia Callas, Annette Dwyer, and Cordelia Dumas.
For more information or to become a member, contact Christine Allen, x8946.
Finding books in the library and other videos available online
Students and other library users who need pointers about how to locate a book in our collection now have a new online aid. Finding books in the UMass Dartmouth Library was created by librarians Mary Adams, Kate Randall Haley and Linda Zieper and videographer Heather Tripp.
To promote and enhance the use of library collections and services, library Systems staff, (working in collaboration with the PhotoGraphics department and Computing & Information Services) have begun to develop a series of multimedia projects. These projects are available via the web in a variety of formats such as Windows Media, Real Media and QuickTime. Topics currently available include library instruction as well as presentations made in the library’s Browsing Area, from DNA in the Courtroom (a Brown Bag Lunch program) to The Emerging Place of Scholarship in the 21st Century (sponsored by the Faculty Federation and the Faculty Senate).
Chancellor's Classroom Initiative
Chancellor MacCormack’s 2004 Classroom Initiative has met its goal of upgrading more than 30 classrooms for the 2004-2005 academic year. The overall goal is to transform our classrooms into comfortable, easy-to-use technology-enabled learning spaces.
For detailed information about the Chancellor’s 2004 Classroom Initiative, including a list of the technology-enabled classrooms, please visit the initiative’s web site.
Working with the Classroom Advisory Committee, project manager Peggy Dias and the technical project management of Tim O'Neil, plus staff members from CITS, many other staff across campus as well as with outside vendors, staff members of the library’s Access Services department provide planning, implementation and front-line support for the technology-enabled classrooms. Access Services department head Catherine Fortier-Barnes contributes project management skills to the initiative. Paul Souza provides initial training to faculty assigned to the classrooms, as well as follow-up support in how to use specific equipment in the rooms. Ongoing customer service is provided by staff in the Mobile Computing Lending Program (MCLP) who are trained and coordinated by Diane Gomes.
Paul Souza has developed an instruction manual for the technology-enabled classrooms which is available online. He and his students did a heroic job the weekend before the start of classes to get all of the video equipment installed and running for the first 8 a.m. classes of the semester.
Student employee's work featured
Behind the Twin Towers. (Photo courtesy of Miyuki Akai)
Miyuki Akai, a graduate student in fiber arts who works as the library’s exhibits assistant, has had one of her works showcased in Fiberarts Design Book 7. Celebrating the diversity and excellence of contemporary fiber artistry, the book features 550 works selected by the judges of FIBERARTS magazine from nearly 6,000 entries. Akai’s piece—called Behind the Twin Towers and made of quilted cyanotype, yarn, wood and metal springs—appeared in the fiber sculpture and installations section.
Staff news
Videographer Heather Tripp edited "Dostum: An Afghan Warlord’s War on Terror"; General Dostum is pictured, left. (Photo courtesy of Brian Glyn Williams.)
• Videographer Heather Tripp of PhotoGraphics worked with history professor Brian Glyn Williams to produce Dostum: An Afghan Warlord's War on Terror, a documentary centering on the two weeks Williams spent with Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, and his 25,000-man army.
To bring to life one of the most important figures in the “war on terror,” Tripp wove together combat footage shot by Dostum during his destruction of the Taliban in Nov. 2001, Williams’ own footage of Afghanistan, photographs taken by Williams and by Dostum's warriors, maps and background documentary footage.
The documentary received rave reviews when it debuted in New York at the annual convention of the International Association for the Study of Nationalities, a gathering of scholars in the fields of history, archeology, linguistics, politics, and anthropology in Eurasia. Williams has had requests for copies of the film from around the world, and it been shown at Harvard University and at the Naval War Academy in Newport as well as here at the university at an event sponsored by the Alumni Association.
• Staff members from LSIRT (Library Services, Information Resources and Technology) joined forces to present a Learning + Technology Expo in spring 2004. Most events were held in the library’s Browsing Area and Reading/Reception Room.
The planning committee for the week-long series of educational programs about information technology included Peggy Dias (chair), Christine Allen, Catherine Fortier-Barnes, Magali Carrera, Andrew Darling, Susan Jennings, Anthony Martin and Charlie McNeil, with strong creative support from the PhotoGraphics team (Manny Pereira, D Confar, Heather Tripp and Justin Maucione).
The Expo featured presentations, poster sessions, and informational open houses with contributions from virtually every area of the Library and CITS as well as from faculty and staff across campus and guest speakers. For the “Librarians Online” program, librarians Mary Adams, Linda Zieper and Geri Cubbal joined professors Phyllis Currier (Nursing), Magali Carrera (Art History) and Jen Riley (English) to illustrate how informational literacy and library skills can be enhanced through online tools.
• Library Dean Ann Montgomery Smith was one of the featured speakers on Jazz for Success, a CD created by Norman Barber, director of the Residential Educational Programs and Assessment office. With background music by royal hartigan of the music department, the CD introduces members of the faculty and administration who share information, encouragement and challenges to incoming students at UMass Dartmouth.
• Kate Randall Haley, reference librarian for business and economics, recently presented a paper at the Special Libraries Association’s annual conference titled “Assessment of Library Services to Business Students and Faculty at UMass Dartmouth.” The paper focused on Randall Haley’s and the Library Instruction Committee’s ongoing work measuring effectiveness and outcomes of library instruction, reference services, and outreach for general courses such as English 101, entry-level business communications courses, and more specialized upper level courses. Randall Haley included specific examples from the course she teaches in the marketing department, “Marketing Intelligence and Information Technology.” Randall Haley has been an adjunct faculty member at the Charlton School of Business since fall 2000.
• Elizabeth Winiarz, reference librarian for sciences, was included as a co-author on a paper with members of the chemistry and biochemistry department. "Ethnochemistry and pharmacology of Uncaria (Rubiaceae)" was written by Mary E. Heitzman, Catherine C. Neto, E. Winiarz, Abraham J. Vaisberg and Gerald B. Hammond. The paper has been accepted for publication in the journal Phytochemistry.
Winiarz received a $5,000 grant from the UMass Dartmouth Cranberry Research Fund to purchase cranberry research support materials for the library.
Winiarz attended the International Association of Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers conference in Hobart, Tasmania; she serves as secretary for the organization. She has also been named to the board of ArtWorks! in New Bedford.
• Paige Gibbs, reference librarian for engineering, philosophy and psychology, attended the American Society for Engineering Education annual conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
As president of the Rhode Island chapter of the Special Libraries Association, Gibbs arranged the program for the chapter's annual meeting held at Bryant College. The topic was “Product Positioning: a Win-Win for the Big Blue Bug and Rhode Island,” presented by Tony DeJesus of New England Pest Control.
• Mary Adams, reference librarian for nursing, medical laboratory science and the health sciences, attended the Medical Library Association annual meeting in Washington, D.C., where she completed her 2-year term as secretary/treasurer of the Public Services Section. She also attended the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) New England Library Instruction Group’s (NELIG) annual program, “Creative Collaborations: It Takes a Campus to Educate a Student.” Adams is currently serving on the NELIG steering committee for 2004-2005. She also attended the first annual Massachusetts Colleges Online E-Learning Conference at Bridgewater State College.
Adams served as secretary of the Southeastern Massachusetts Consortium of Health Sciences Libraries last year and has served as a judge for the Taunton High School Science Fair.
She has twice been a guest speaker for the St. Luke’s Hospital project to provide library health information outreach to the greater New Bedford community. Adams spoke about health information resources at the university library that are available to the local community.
• Taylor Garron, the 12-year-old daughter of systems analyst Chris Garron of the library’s Systems department, has just completed a 6-month stint as a cast member of “ZOOM,” the daily interactive television series “by kids, for kids” produced by WGBH Boston. Taylor was one of the seven youthful cast members for ZOOM’s season 7, which will begin airing on public television stations across the country in April 2005. Taylor auditioned for her part twice and finally, after her second try in January 2004, earned her spot on ZOOM from a field of 2,100 talented candidates. Find out more about ZOOM here.
