NYSHEI News

Patrick Callahan, Director of the Library at Purchase College, has joined the NYSHEI Governing Board representing the SUNY 4-year colleges.

Mr. Callahan became Purchase College Library Director in 1999.  Prior to that, he worked for almost twenty years in technical services, including as Assistant Dean for Collections and Technical Services at St. John’s University (Queens, NY), Assistant Dean for Technical Services at Ball State University (Muncie, IN), Head of Cataloging at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and as a cataloger at the Center for Research Libraries (Chicago, IL).

Mr. Callahan has twice served as president of the Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization (WALDO) and has served on its Executive Board for over twelve years.   He has served as chair of the SUNY Council of Library Directors and as president of the New York Technical Services Librarians. Mr. Callahan served on numerous American Library Association committees including as chair of the ALCTS Committee to Study Serials Cataloging and chair of the ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Committee.

He holds a MLS from Indiana University, a MA in American History from Ball State, and a BA from the College of William and Mary.  Mr. Callahan will fill the NYSHEI Board seat being vacated by Constantia Constantinou of SUNY Maritime College who will be on sabbatical.

NYSHEI founding board member, and former board chair Louise Sherby has been appointed by the New York State Board of Regents to the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries.  The term for Ms.  Sherby will be until 2014.

Ms. Sherby served as the Associate Dean and Chief Librarian at Hunter College Libraries, City University of New York from 1996-2009 and is on sabbatical leave for this academic year.   Prior to this, Ms. Sherby was the Assistant Director for Public Services at the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.  She received her Doctorate of Library Science at Columbia University.  She served as Chair of the NewYork Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI) 2006-07, and as Associate Dean served on the Council of Chief Librarians, City University of New York, and on the Dean’s Council at Hunter College. She is currently on the Editorial Board of Urban Library Journal.

“Ms. Sherby is a bedrock supporter of NYSHEI and a stalwart advocate for all academic and research libraries.  I applaud the wisdom displayed by the Regents in selecting Louise to this advisory body,” said NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer.

Other members of the Council are:   Barbara Hamlin, Wood Library Board of Trustees, Canandaigua;  Jill Hurst-Wahl, Hurst Associates, Syracuse; Sara Kelly Johns, Lake Placid Middle/Senior High School, Lake Placid; Tim Johnson, New York University Libraries, New York City; John Monahan, Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES, Yorktown Heights; Gerald Nichols, Palmer Institute for Public Library Organization and Management, Brookville; Bridget Quinn-Carey, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo; and Sam Simon, Ramapo Catskill Library System Board of Trustees, South Nyack.  Ellen Bach, David Ferriero, Norm Jacknis, and Lucretia McClure have completed their five-year terms with distinction, leading the Regents Advisory Council efforts to provide information about New York’s libraries to legislators and other decision makers.

The Regents Advisory Council on Libraries works with the officers of the State Education Department in developing a comprehensive statewide library and information policy, and makes recommendations to the Regents concerning the implementation of the program.  The Council is broadly representative of libraries and statewide constituencies served by the New York State Library.   For more information about the Regents Advisory Council, visit the State Library’s website at: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/index.html.

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.