NYSHEI News

You can now access all testimony delivered to the Commission on Higher Education at the November 15, 2007 hearing at Nassau Community College.

Chris Filstrup Dean and Director of Libraries at Stony Brook University, and NYSHEI Board Chair-Elect, today testified before the Commission on Higher Education during the hearing at Nassau Community College.

Filstrup maintained the NYSHEI effort to raise awareness about the importance of academic libraries in achieving world-class higher education opportunities, and empowering the development of a knowledge-based economy. The NYSHEI ARIA proposal was the centerpiece of his testimony.

Read the testimony. testimony-ncc-hearing.doc

On Wednesday, November 12, NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer visited the United State Military Academy at West Point, Library Director Joseph Barth, and members of the staff.

Though unique among NYSHEI members institutions, the USMA library faces the same challenges as all academic and research libraries in New York. The recent visit provided a welcome opportunity for Kramer to learn how NYSHEI can better serve this federal institution, while USMA learning more about NYSHEI advocacy efforts in New York.

“By standing with NYSHEI, West Point lends a level of prestige and credibility to our advocacy efforts. The mention of West Point usually grabs the attention of our state decision-makers, thereby improving our chances for successful advocacy,” said Kramer.

NYSHEI members meet at the Begley Library of Schenectady County Community College on November 5, 2007.

Representatives from SCCC, Hudson Valley Community College, University at Albany, the New York State Library, Siena College, and the Dickerson Library of the Wadsworth Center met with NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer to learn more about the current status of NYSHEI advocacy. The conversation centered on NYSHEI’s promotion of ARIA before Governor Spitzer’s Commission on Higher Education and among members of the State Senate and Assembly.

Of particular interest to attendees was the blossoming, and productive, collaboration occurring between NYSHEI, the State Library, and the SUNY Council of Library Directors. Meshing NYSHEI’s ARIA proposal with the SCLD proposal for a SUNY digital library and NOVELny was seen as a way of strengthening all three.

Special thanks are owed to Lynne King, Director of the Library at SCCC for arranging and promoting this meeting.

The NYSHEI Board unanimously adopted a resolution objecting to the recent decision of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to discontinue its participation in JSTOR.

The statement has been send to the AAAS Board of Directors.

aaas-science-decision-re-jstor.doc

Thank you to all NYSHEI members who expressed their opinions to the Board on this matter.