Welcome (back), Bonnie and George!

It’s been a busy year in the Library, with two important Library staff transitions. You may recall that last year at this time, we bid a fond farewell to Katie Duke, Coordinator of Information Literacy, and welcomed George Aulisio as our new Part-Time Reference Librarian. This year saw us searching for a Librarian to take Katie’s place, and our very own Bonnie Oldham turned out to be the best candidate for the job! This meant Bonnie’s position as Distance Learning Library Services Coordinator became vacant, and after yet another search (this time with one of the largest applicant pools ever seen at the Library), our joy was doubled when George emerged as the top candidate for this position. And so, we welcome (back) Bonnie and George, each in a new job role — Bonnie as Information Literacy Coordinator and George as Distance Learning Library Services Coordinator!

Bonnie and George in their 2nd floor office in the Weinberg Memorial Library

Bonnie was born in Harrisburg, PA, and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She has lived in Georgia and New Jersey, and twenty years ago she returned to Pennsylvania, where she has remained ever since. She currently resides in Shavertown. She received her undergraduate degree (A.B.) in History from Chestnut Hill College, her Master of Library Science degree from Kutztown University, and her Master of Science in Organizational Management degree from Misericordia University. Bonnie brings 19 total years of experience in academic libraries to her new role as Information Literacy Coordinator.

George grew up in Old Forge, PA, and still calls Old Forge his home. George received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degree from Bloomsburg University, his Master of Library Science degree from Drexel University, and is currently pursuing his Master of Liberal Arts degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

If you are a student or faculty member in the Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Exercise Science and Sport, or Nursing Departments, then Bonnie is the Librarian you will want to get to know. She is the collection development and information literacy liaison to these departments, just as George is the liaison to the Philosophy, Communication, Mathematics and Computer Science Departments. Both are especially looking forward to working more with faculty and students in their collection development areas.

In her free time, Bonnie enjoys cooking and doing crafts – for example, five years ago she made her daughter’s wedding dress. George, who has a deep thirst for knowledge, spends much of his free time pursuing his studies; however, he also enjoys yard work, including cutting the grass and trimming the trees. Both enjoy reading (what librarian doesn’t?), and both can be found sharing the same 2^nd floor office in the Weinberg Memorial Library. George can be found in the Library most evenings of the week, Sunday through Thursday, while Bonnie is easiest to find during the day, Monday through Friday. Feel free to stop by and say hello to them – they both welcome visitors!

Spring 2009 Newsletter

The Spring 2009 issue of the Weinberg Memorial Library newsletter has arrived!  You can pick up the a paper copy of the Information Update at the Weinberg, or read the online edition.

This semester’s issue, edited by public services librarian Kevin Norris, features an interview with five of the Weinberg’s “NextGen” librarians, in which we discuss our careers, librarian stereotypes (including “guybrarians”),  recent library innovations, and the library of 2050.  Let us know what you think!

New face at WML – Reference Librarian

Greetings to all University students, faculty, staff, and members of the public! I am yet another new staff member at the Weinberg Memorial Library (WML).  My name is Neil Grimes and I was born and grew up in Wilkes-Barre which is a part of the Northeast PA region.  You can find me working at the Reference desk on Sundays from 12pm-5pm and Monday evenings from 6pm-11:30pm.  I began working at the WML back in March of this year.  Everyone has been very welcoming and supportive!  I can’t thank everyone enough for making me feel like the University of Scranton is almost like a second home.  Each day that I spend on campus I find that I learn something different and something new from my co-workers, students, faculty, and members of the public.  

For my undergraduate education, I attended King’s College in Wilkes-Barre where I majored in history and secondary education.  During my undergraduate years, I worked at UPS where I sorted, scanned, and loaded packages and mail that was being sent to places all over the United States.  If you are curious as to how the whole shipping process works, feel free to ask me.  Following my four years at King’s I went on to graduate school at Clarion University of Pennsylvania where I received my Master’s in Library Science.  Following graduation, I began working as a high school librarian in the Wilkes-Barre area. 

Among the skills that I feel one needs to succeed in the 21st century are critical thinking skills, effective writing skills, public speaking skills, and research skills.  These are all skills that I have sharpened over the years and that I use on a daily basis.  Whether we realize it or not, people are constantly using their research skills when they seek to answer questions in their daily lives.  Librarians are very helpful in instructing people as to the best way to research and answer questions, even the most difficult questions.  You would be surprised as to how much you can learn from librarians!  Don’t be afraid to ask for help as librarians are very good to pointing you to the information that you are looking for.

I have been interested in reading and libraries as far back as I can remember.  Among the first books that I ever read were by Dr. Seuss, as I am sure that these are among the first books that most children read.  The most recent book that I finished was I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, a true crime story that solves the case of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance once and for all.  I won’t reveal any of the details, but I do highly recommend that you read the book.  Recently, I read that Martin Scorsese is going to make this book into a movie starring Robert DeNiro. 

Outside of spending time in libraries , I love to travel and have been to Italy, Toronto, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Tampa, Florida, and Lawrence, Kansas.  This is not a comprehensive list of the places that I have been to, but it does hit many of the highlights.  Every new place I travel to brings with it new memories as well as the opportunity for some great photographs.  There are some great places to take photographs on campus, don’t be afraid to capture some memories when the chance presents itself.

Need Journal Articles from 1865?

Then JSTOR is a database you want to try.

If you are looking for journal articles from as far back as 1865, this database will provide them for you, and in .PDF full-text format too. Here’s how you would run a search for your topic, in order to find articles about that topic, which were written in bygone days:

• Select JSTOR on our A-Z List of Databases.
• The way to narrow your search to find journal articles from a specific time period is to place a check-mark in the box next to “Article” under “Limit To: Type:” and then to put the range of years you are looking for in the “Limit To: Date Range:” fields. So, for example, if I want journal articles on my topic from the years 1865-1940, I will check off “Articles” and then put “From: 1865″ and “To: 1940.”
• Then, type your search topic into the Advanced Search field at the top of the page. Keep in mind that your topic may have been called by a different name back in the 1800s!
• Then click “Search,” look for article titles that cover what you need, click into them to read the abstracts (summaries) as needed, and select the .PDF option for viewing, printing and saving the articles for your research.

Remember, if you’re working from home or your dorm, make sure you first sign into My.Scranton.edu, and then select “A-Z Database Listing” from inside the Library tab. This way, when you eventually get to JSTOR, the database will recognize you as a student, and it will let you access the full-text .PDF of the articles you need.

Ever wonder what was being written about, say, librarians, in the late 1800s-early 1900s? Go give the search a try to find out!* There is one very interesting article from 1929 about a study of ways that librarians cultivated “wholesome reading interests” back then (“Methods Employed to Stimulate Interests in Reading. I” by William F. Rasche, from The School Review, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jan., 1929), pp. 29-36) — very interesting indeed.

*So, okay, I know most of you probably don’t care about librarians and our fascinating history as public figures in the community… Ahem. But! Whatever your research interest is (for instance, I know there’s an assignment going around about researching the same social issue in 3 different historical time periods) JSTOR is a great place to start in your search for old journal articles on the topic.

I Love My Librarian!

 

The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians. The awards program will demonstrate how librarians are improving the lives of the people in their communities.

Up to ten winners will be selected annually and will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception in New York hosted by The New York Times at TheTimesCenter on December 9, 2008. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library.

The award is administered by the American Library Association with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times.

Eligibility Requirements

Who Can Nominate a Librarian

Nominators of public librarians must be public library users.

Nominators of librarians in college, community college or university libraries must be users of those libraries, e.g. students, faculty, or staff members.

Who Can Be Nominated

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

Timeline for Nominations

Nominations for public libraries are open and must be completed by October 1, 2008. Nominations for college, community college, or university librarian and school library media specialists open September 2 and must be completed by October 15, 2008.

Nominate a Public Librarian | Nominate a College, Community College or University Librarian

March of the New Librarians…

Hello there! My name is Donna Mazziotti*, and I’m yet another of your new librarians here at the U. Although I’ve been around since last March, I figured this is a great place to tell you a little more about myself. You’ll usually find me on the 2nd floor at the Reference Desk in the late afternoons and evenings, Sundays through Thursdays.

This is me:

Donna M. -- Your Friendly, Neighborhood Reference Librarian

So, what would you like to know about me? I hail originally from Elmsford, NY (right next to White Plains, NY, which is just north of NYC). I went to undergrad at NYU, where I majored in Drama and English. Any theatre or literature geeks out there will find in me a kindred spirit! Then I went to Library School at Long Island University, where they turned me into a Searching-Junkie. This means if you have a really tricky question about how to search for information about a topic, I won’t rest (literally) until we find something useful on it. In some circles, the fact that I enjoy this endeavor makes me a geek… But that’s okay, because I have way too much fun doing it, so I can say sincerely that I look forward to meeting you soon and helping you tackle those tricky research questions!!

See you at the ref desk…

*Not to be confused with Donna Ramos, our esteemed cataloging librarian.

Greetings from a New Librarian

Hello Students, Staff, the Public at-large, and Faculty!

My name is George Aulisio and I’ve been hired to fill-in for Ms. Katie S. Duke. My title is Public Services Librarian and I am here to help in anyway I can. The majority of my duties will invole answering Reference Questions, mostly at the reference desk, but I do have an office (Library 2nd Floor, Room 207a). If you have a question that you would like me to specifically answer and I am not at the Reference desk, then I encourage you to shoot me an email or visit me while I’m sitting in my office.

Here I am...

Let me tell you a little bit about myself…

As an undergraduate I studied Philosophy at Bloomsburg University with areas of interest in 20th Century Analytic philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Neurophysics, Philosophy of Physics and other science related fields that spawn philosophical questions.

Eventually one day I would like to earn at least a Master’s degree in philosophy, but the real idea is to eventually be able to earn the Ph.D. Most universities expect academic librarians to earn a second master’s degree before they are up for tenure, so this path of study would be my first choice.

For graduate school I attended Drexel University earning a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science and did participate in OnLine distance education. Any students who are currently studying at the University of Scranton who are OnLine students (or are considering taking an OnLine class) that need some help or guidance, feel free to send those questions my way, I’d be happy to help in any way I could.

Besides my professional life, in my personal life I enjoy going to the movies, reading, socializing, and just procrastinating on the internet.

I’m very excited to be here and I wish everyone an Enjoyable school year!

New librarian in town

Kristen

Hi everybody! I’m Kristen, the new Digital Services Librarian here at the Weinberg Memorial Library. I’ll be working on all sorts of digital library projects, from digitizing the University’s archival collections to using new technologies like social networking to better serve the University community – be sure to post a comment below if you have any ideas for me. As a former chemist, I’m also looking forward to working with the University’s science departments – although Katie Duke has left behind some enormous shoes to fill!

I’m originally from the Wyoming Valley, although I haven’t lived here in about eight years, so moving to Scranton feels like coming home. It’s been so fun over the past few weeks to rediscover all of my favorite places in NEPA, like the running path around Lake Scranton and (of course) Manning’s ice cream in Clarks Summit. But a lot has changed since I grew up here, so if you see me on campus, please stop me and let me know where YOUR favorite NEPA place is!

Farewell, Professor Duke!

This is a summer of change here at the Weinberg Memorial Library. One such change is the departure of our esteemed Coordinator of Information Literacy, Prof. Katie Duke. Katie’s retirement after 23 years of serving the Scranton community is the beginning of the next set of adventures life has in store for her. Students and faculty in the Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Science, Mathematics, Nursing, Philosophy and Physics Departments know Katie for information literacy sessions in these subject areas which have always been exciting and useful, chock full of knowledge and gusto. The entire university community has Katie to thank for an Information Literacy program that is lauded and valued by so many, both within the university community and those outside of it. Her love for the research process comes out in all that she does, and for this she will be fondly missed.

Thank you, Katie, for your years of love and service!

“Study hard, and have fun!”

“Planning for the Whole-istic Library”

Last Thursday a group of us had the opportunity to attend the Spring Workshop jointly presented by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Library Network (NPLN) and the Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Library Association (NEPALA). It was a very nice walk of 5 blocks in the Scranton sunshine over to nearby Lackawanna College, who was hosting the event.

After registration and a brief welcome, librarians from all over Northeastern PA settled into the beautiful, plush seats of Lackawanna College’s Mellow Theater to hear Keynote speaker Jill Hurst-Wahl share with us what her 20 years business/library experience have revealed to her about trends in the library.

The Mellow Theater at Lackawanna College; image taken from: http://www.lackawanna.edu/mellow/mellow.html

She challenged the librarians present — hailing from public, college/university, and special libraries — by arguing that the only way libraries could ever become obsolete would be if we (i.e. librarians) allow them to become so. It’s our job to make users “dependent” on the library — and not because we feel the need for some kind of power trip! ;) A healthy dependence on the library, in my opinion, would stem from making our unique and exciting resources known to users (in our case, students, faculty and even the public), and furthermore by illustrating and teaching just how useful our information resources are to these key stakeholders.

(And yes, I just called our students stakeholders — if you’re a student, I bet you’ve never been called this before, huh? :) Information is power! :::cue super-hero music::: )

Jill Hurst-Wahl believes that the way to do these things is to “be where they are” — by “they” she means our library users, which in our case means most often students.

And where are you guys hanging out these days? On facebook, AIM, maybe MySpace (I get the feeling MySpace may be slowly going out of style — am I right?), and all sorts of other “Web 2.0″ technologies. And so, that is were we must be as well.

As an aside, I feel the need to give a shout-out to our very own librarian Bonnie Oldham, who shares the night-shift with me at the ref desk. Bonnie serves on the 2008 Northeast Chapter Board for NEPALA, and helped put together this very cool event — so kudos to Bonnie for that!

There were a few other fun and interesting meetings and workshops at the event, but for me the Keynote Speaker stood out the most — followed very closely by the food served for lunch! :) Overall it was an interesting and exciting day — especially for this new librarian!

For information about this event as well as the NEPALA, visit:

Northeast Chapter of PaLA Wiki

Contact info for Jill Hurst-Wahl:
hurst@HurstAssociates.com
Meebo & Skype: jill.hurst.wahl
www.HurstAssociates.com
www.Digitization101.com
www.eNetworking101.com