NYSHEI News

Austin Booth joins the NYSHEI Governing Board.  Elected by the SUNY Council of Library Directors to represent SUNY doctoral degree granting institutions on the NYSHEI Board, Ms. Booth succeeds Chris Filstrup of Stony Brook University.

Ms. Booth is Director of Collections, University Libraries for the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.  She holds a MA in English from the University of Michigan (where she is also a PhD candidate), an MLIS from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a BA in English and a BA in Economics from Cornell University.

Ms. Booth’s publications include two edited books from MIT Press on gender and cyberculture, as well as journal articles and book chapters on usability, instructional design, and teaching cultural studies.  Her current research interests include the economics of information and scholarly communication in the humanities.  She also intermittently returns to her as yet unfinished PhD dissertation, which focuses on secrecy and nineteenth-century information culture.

Chandra McKenzie, Assistant Provost and Director of Libraries at the Rochester Institute of Technology, joins the NYSHEI Governing Board.  Ms. McKenzie was elected to represent large, private colleges and universities.

Chandra McKenzie is a SUNY Buffalo and Rochester Institute of Technology alumna with dual Master’s Degrees in Instructional Technology and Library Science. During her long tenure at RIT, Ms. McKenzie served as Associate Director of RIT’s Wallace Library for fourteen years. As such, she was instrumental in planning and execution of the library’s 65,000 sq. ft. building renovation/addition and working with former Director, Pat Albanese to create the Java Wally’s Café. Ms. McKenzie’s regular duties included management of the Cataloging, Circulation, Interlibrary Loan and Serials/Acquisitions departments. She also served as Head of Reference for seven years and as such, also coordinated the Library’s instruction program.

Ms. McKenzie served six months as Interim Director until November of 2002, when she was named Assistant Provost and Director of RIT Libraries. Her focus has been on Library service enhancements that enrich campus culture and strengthen campus community. She is responsible for the creation of the Library’s Idea Factory, the implementation of an extensive schedule of library events and lecture series, and launching the Publishing and Scholarship Support Center. Other library initiatives and facilities include the Lawson Publishing Center (home of RIT’s University press), the RIT Museum and the Deaf Studies Archive. Technology initiatives include the creation and growth of an institutional repository called RIT Digital Media Library and the development of the first open access journals on campus.

RIT Libraries is a founding 5 member of the ConnectNY consortium, whose 14 members share a combined catalog of over six million items. RIT Libraries provides all technology and training support for the consortium. RIT Libraries was also the recipient of the 2006 ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award.

Chandra McKenzie joins Pearl Berger of Yeshiva University as representitives of large private institutions, succeeding Bart Harloe of St. Lawrence University.

Ruth Copans, College Librarian at Skidmore  College, has joined the NYSHEI Governing Board representing small & medium sized private institutions.

Ms. Copans started out as an English teacher, went to France and studied bookbinding and book conservation, and eventually got an MLS from University at Albany. She has done research and published in a variety of areas including The Guild of Women Bookbinders, Golden Age American Women Illustrators, Contemporary French Bookbinders, and Literary Society Libraries in American Colleges in the 19th Century, and Contemporary American Book Artists.

Ms. Copans succeeds NYSHEI Founding Board Member Rhonna Goodman of Manhattanville College on the Board.  Copans joins Charling Fagan of Sarah Lawrence College and Beverly Marcoline of Utica College as representatives of the small and medium private colleges.  Elected in 2009, her term ends in 2012.

On June 15, 2009, the Academic Research Information Access (ARIA) act was passed by the New York State Assembly.  With no votes in opposition, the Assembly voted to enact ARIA, and thereby passed the most significant piece of legislation for academic and research libraries in a generation.

The vote by the full Assembly capped a day of whirlwind activities.  ARIA started the day in the Way & Means Committee, having already successful passed the Assembly Committee on Economic Development.  In Ways and Means, ARIA again recieved unanimous, bipartisan support and was quickly shuttled to the Assembly Rules Committee.  Again, with unanimous, bipartisan support, the Rules Committee recommended ARIA to the full chamber.

Assigned calendar number 282, ARIA rapidly moved to “third reading,” (a prequisite for voting) and faced the full Assembly.  Sheparded by prime sponsor Assembyman Robin Schimminger, ARIA passed the Assembly.

This is a major milestone for NYSHEI, and all public and private academic and research libraries.  However, we must now await for the situation in the Senate to settle before we can make further progress.

Stephanie Walker, incoming Chief Librarian at Brooklyn College, joins the NYSHEI Governing Board.  Ms. Walker was elected by the CUNY Council of Chief Librarians to fill one of the two CUNY slots on the NYSHEI Board.

Ms.Walker is a Professor, Chair of the Library, and Acting (until July 1) Chief Librarian & Executive Director of Academic Information Technology at Brooklyn College, City University of New York.  Before coming to Brooklyn College, she held positions as Manager of Collections for the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School; University Librarian and Dean at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; and Head Librarian of the Dental Library of the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Ms. Walker has also held numerous IT-related positions.  She holds a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Toronto, and Masters and Bachelors degrees in English from the University of Waterloo.  Her research interests include Open Access Publishing; Scholarly Communications in the Digital Environment; Open Source Computing and Its Applications in Library and Information Environments; and Innovative Ways of Providing Library Services to Online Learners.

Ms. Walker begins her three-year term filling the seat formerly held by Dr. Louise Sherby, a founding member of the NYSHEI Board, 2006-07 NYSHEI Board Chair, and Chief Librarian at Hunter College.