NYSHEI News

The Rensselaer Research Libraries, comprised of the Folsom Library and the Architecture Library, provide the university community with information resources and services in support of both teaching and research missions. Collaboration with the Cole Library, located in Hartford, Connecticut, further enhances library support on both campuses. Rensselaer was one of the founding members of the very successful Connect NY consortium whose members share rapid courier access to a combined online catalog of their book collections.

The 2005 renewal of the main floor of the Folsom Library represents its first major refurbishment since its opening in 1976. “Information hubs” disguise concrete columns and integrate physical and virtual space while offering high speed research access. Academic and social interactions are fostered in an attractive environment with newly opened vistas to the beautiful surroundings.

The “sails” art wall behind the Circulation Desk consists of an inverted Hobo-Dyer Equal Area projection map of the world featuring Rensselaer’s theme “Why not change the world?” repeated in many of the campus community’s languages. Designed by Jorge Vidal (Rensselaer class of ’91), the project has won recognition in two areas. It was named an Outstanding Project in the Educational Interiors Showcase competition by American School & University and the Library Café was featured in Fresh Cup Magazine, a trade publication for the beverage industry.

In keeping with its technological history, the application of technology to improve services and to preserve and provide access to collections is central to the Libraries’ mission. Wireless internet connectivity is available throughout the Folsom and Architecture Libraries to Rensselaer students who are all equipped with notebook computers. A project to collect and preserve electronic theses and dissertations has been implemented. Finally, the Institute Archives and Special Collections group recently rolled out an online Institute Images and Publications Database.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation’s oldest technological university. Located in Troy, New York, the university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences.

Bob Mayo
RPI

As Columbia University prepares for the speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Amadinejad, NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D – Manhattan) contemplates cutting state aid to the University.

The New York Sun account is here.

On October 2, 2007, from 10:00 am – 11:00 am, Portico will present a webcast exclusively for NYSHEI members.

As researchers, faculty and students become more dependent upon the convenience and enhanced accessibility of electronic scholarly journals, there has been wide-spread concern about the long-term preservation and future accessibility of this valuable educational resource.

The Portico archiving service offers a permanent archive of electronic scholarly journals, thereby providing protection against the potential loss of access to e-literature integral to a library’s collection. Portico also provides a reliable means to secure perpetual access, if participating publishers choose to designate Portico as a provider of post-cancellation access.

Please join Portico for a review of their archiving service along with an update on the Archive’s progress in 2007.

To participate in this event, please send an email to participation@portico.org.

Yesterday’s I Live New York summit, hosted by First Lady Silda Spitzer, was billed as an effort to address the “brain drain” of – primarily – educated young professionals from upstate New York. However, the theme was optimism.

It was an unusual event, and not just for the dissonance between the condition of the upstate economy and the cheerleading of the event. The Summit attracted a very wide range of participants, ranging from students and average citizens to Capitol insiders and leaders of business and academia. The diverse egalitarianism of the event was a welcome departure from usual political events, but necessitated an agenda with more breadth than depth.

Local media accounts of the event can be found here and here.

The summit was the backdrop for the announcement of a task force charged with developing strategies to attract and retain a young professional workforce.

Importantly for NYSHEI, the event built the case for our “information infrastructure” as embodied by ARIA. Colloboration, innovation, access to information resources, all were commonly cited as needs of upstate New York. When the event report is formally issued, it will serve as yet another strong springboard for promoting the NYSHEI agenda.

Founded in 1932, Vaughn College students pursue bachelor and associate degrees in engineering, technology, management and aviation at the main campus located near LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

In addition to 42,000 shelved volumes, the library now offers 18,000 full-text periodicals and more than 35,000 e-books online. Under the leadership of Librarian Jo Ann Jayne, the library is constantly expanding its offerings and is the epicenter of knowledge for faculty and students. The library web portal is also a powerful tool and is just one aspect of the already multifaceted library resource center. The library’s resources are available online with scholarly journal articles and research databases just a few clicks away. Students, particularly students who take courses online with Vaughn, can also access an information literacy tutorial that assists them in learning effective search techniques.

As an institution focused on the fields of aviation and technology, Vaughn has acquired several significant archival materials including a piece of the Wright Flyer, a signed copy of an Amelia Earhart book autographed to one of Vaughn’s founders, a signed copy of Jimmy Doolittle’s autobiography (signed when he came to campus to receive an honorary degree), a piece of the famed Doolittle raiders airplane, and a commemorative poster signed by all of the living World War I flying aces in the early 1980s.

Librarian Director Joann Jayne, who has been with Vaughn College for more than 35 years, is excited about the future when a modern, well-equipped, two-tier library will be built as part of Vaughn’s comprehensive campaign to meet the needs of several new academic degree programs. This roughly 10,000 square foot space will include instructional and study space for the nearly 1,100 first-generation college students that Vaughn serves. The College also plans to work closely with the neighboring communities to create programming and provide resources for the largely immigrant population.

For more information about Vaughn College, please see the website at www.vaughn.edu.