NYSHEI News

Rhonna Goodman of Manhattanville College, along with fellow NYSHEI Board Member Charling Fagan of Sarah Lawrence College, hosted a NYSHEI regional meeting with members of the Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization (WALDO).

At the meeting, the third such meeting of NYSHEI with WALDO, 12 Westchester County Academic Libraries met with NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer to discuss NYSHEI advocacy on behalf of all academic and research libraries and prospects for success in the 2009 state budget cycle.

“We are building a movement,” said Jason Kramer. “Energetic and active cooperation between public and private institutions, of all sizes, bridging upstate and downstate will, in time, reap great rewards for all involved.”

On Friday, September 5 the latest NYSHEI regional meeting was hosted at Niagara County Community College. Attended by staff of the University of Buffalo and NCCC the meeting again proved a good forum for spreading the news of NYSHEI while gaining useful insights into what ARIA would mean to NYSHEI libraries.

Arranged by NCCC’s Elizabeth Fulwell and NYSHEI’s Jason Kramer, the meeting featured a lively discussion about improving academic library advocacy on-campus and in the community.

The regional meeting was followed by a meeting with members of the NCCC small business development center. This meeting offered new ideas for cross-promoting the necessity of an “information infrastructure” in New York while exploring potential joint initiatives.

After a site visit at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer headed to Alfred for the a NYSHEI regional meeting in the Herrick Library of Alfred University.

Hosted by Stephen Crandall, Library Director at Alfred, the meeting was joined by Carla Johnson, Director of the Scholes Library, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and David Haggstrom, Director of the Hinkle Library, State University of New York College of Technology at Alfred.

Following an established pattern, the meeting featured a report on recent NYSHEI advocacy success stories, a detailed discussion of ARIA, preparation for the coming challenges in a difficult fiscal climate, as well as some talk about future NYSHEI plans.

On July 29, 2008 Adelphi University Library Director Charles Simpson hosted a regional NYSHEI meeting at the Swirbul library on the Garden City campus.

Joining Simpson and NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer were Bob Martin of Molloy College, Ilona Middleton of Suffolk Community College, Deborah Dolan of Hofstra University, Herb Biblio of LILRC, Ann Minutella, Sarah Pomerantz, Elayne Gardstein, and Debbi Smith of Adelphi.

Following a brief presentation that highlighted the NYSHEI advocacy successes of the past year, Kramer stressed the difficulty of the coming state fiscal year.

“Later today Governor Paterson will announce a growing financial problem and call for new levels of austerity from state government. Funding for new programs, like ARIA, will be virtually nonexistent in the coming months. If we hope to be successful NYSHEI must experience dramatic growth in the participation of librarians in the advocacy process. Frankly, we cannot hope to be success if more librarians join our growing chorus of NYSHEI supporters,” said Kramer.

Inger Curth, Library Director at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, this week hosted a North Country regional meeting of NYSHEI. Recognizing the need to project the voices of the library beyond the stacks, Ms. Curth invited a wide array of guest to the meeting. The result was an exciting example of the collaborative partnerships NYSHEI has sought.

Attending the meeting on behalf of NYSHEI were Ms. Curth and Jason Kramer, NYSHEI Executive Director, as well as Connie Holberg, incoming Library Director at JCC, Rebecca Thompson, Library Director at SUNY Potsdam, and Mary Beth Bell, Library Director at SUNY Oswego.

Attending the meeting from the Jefferson Community College administration and faculty were, Jill Bettinger, Dean for Continuing Education, A. Pope Vickers, Business Professor, Ed Knapp, Dean for Curriculum and Instruction, Linda Dittrich, Dean for Mathematics and Science, and Betsy Penrose, Vice President for Students.

Attending the meeting were three individuals with a workforce and economic development charge, Eric Constance, Director of the Small Business Development Center, Karen Delmonico, President and CEO of the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce, and Michelle Gefell, Director of Career Planning and Placement.

As well as educating more people about the importance of academic and research libraries, and their need for ARIA, one tangible result of the meeting were a few ideas to improve NYSHEI outreach to the small business community.