April 2004
Volume 27
Back Issues: Past Library Links Articles

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In this Issue

New Library Employees

Transfers
Suman Luthra
Southeast Asia Collection
Acquisitions Assistant
3/8/2004

Departing Employees
Bethuel Hunter
Librarian In Residence
3/18/2004

Event Highlights

Service Quality Awards
Fourth Annual Awards 2004

The Service Quality Awards were held on Monday, February 23, 2004 at 2:00. The people listed below were recognized.

Staff Recognition Reception
5, 10, 15, 20 Years of Service

On Monday March 22, 2004 in the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, staff members gathered to recognize colleagues who have worked 5, 10, 15, and 20 years at Yale University. Alice Prochaska was present to announce the recipients as each came up to accept their award.

Staff Member in Focus

George Moore
Lead Person for Stacks & Privileges
Circulation Department, Medical Library

Actor, director, and photographer, George Moore has an interest in many activities outside of his work at the Medical Library. George became involved in the arts at the age of 16 and has been active in the arts ever since. Originally trained as a dancer, George was a solo performer for the European premier of Bernstein's Mass in Vienna, Austria in 1973.

When an injury ended his involvement in dancing, he turned to the theater and film. He has been involved in numerous projects. He directed live action segments for "The Price of Prejudice" for WTNH; became a founding member of the Performance Studio on Chapel Street; directed three Main Stage shows at the University of New Haven; became a founding member of the Wooster Square Revival; and directed and acted in the play "Herbert III" as part of the Afro-American Cultural Festival at the University of New Haven. The play was then adapted as a feature short film and has won several awards including the Best Actor Award at the Las Vegas Teachers and Entertainers Film Festival and the Best Independent Spirit Award at the Boston International Film Festival.

At his studio in New Haven, George is able to work on another interest, photography. He is primarily interested in portraiture. In addition to his responsibilities at the Circulation Desk, George is the curator of "Art in the Hallway", a small gallery at the Medical Library. He is currently Arts Commissioner and Vice Chairman at the Hamden Arts Commission.

In his free time, George likes to fish and go crabbing or take his 4 daughters on outings.

Article written by Lynn Sette, Medical Library

Staff Submissions

Recipes

Joe's Chicken Pasta
Submitted by Joe Simone from Sterling Security

Italian Easter Pie
Submitted by Lucille Houde from Research Services & Collections

Matzah Lasagna
Submitted by Robin Gordon from the Businesss Office

Staff Travel

Travel to Indochina
Written and submitted by Roy Bohlander

Travel along with Roy Bohlander from the Library Business Office on his latest adventure. This time his travels took him to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. From the floating gardens of Inle Lake, to the famous Angkor Wat, to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, and onto the Pak-Ou caves of Laos, enjoy the descriptive article and photos of his vacation travels.

Click here for pictures and to read more about Roy's trip.

Travel to the Fall 2003 Cross-Site Meeting
Main Theme: Domestic Violence in the Context of Children Exposed to Violence
Submitted & written by Jan Glover

The Fall Cross-Site Meeting was held in Sitka, Alaska, from September 10th thru September 12th at the Westmark Shee Atika Hotel. The meeting focused on the intersection between domestic violence and Child Protective Service.

Perhaps some of you don't know that the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV) is located at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine. Below Jan has included some pictures that she took from our September 2003 Cross Site meeting in Sitka, Alaska:

Click here to read more about the program.

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A Word From the University Librarian

The personal rewards of working with other research libraries

Yale University Library engages in so many different partnerships and consortia that it would be difficult to list them all. It is a source of constant pride to me, to find that we are able to share our expertise and the wealth of our collections in so many ways, advancing a common agenda of support for the scholarly community. When I attend meetings of my fellow library directors at the Association of Research Libraries and other forums, I get involved in discussions of the NERL purchasing policies, Borrow Direct and its positive impact on all of the seven libraries that participate, grant-funded projects that we share with others, such as the current project funded by the Mellon Foundation, drawing together the resources of the Shoah Foundation with those of our own Fortunoff Video Archive of Holocaust Testimonies and working with Rice University and the University of Southern California…. And the examples go on. In future issues of Library Links I will write about the Global Resources Network that involves research libraries in the US and overseas in enhancing access to rare, international research materials; and I hope other colleagues will write about their own experiences of consortial work.

Yale's reputation as a library open to sharing in and celebrating the exciting work of others has led to my receiving some wonderful invitations just recently. This week, for example, I spent two days in Providence with the university librarians of Columbia and the University of Virginia, conducting an intensive review of Brown University Library. At the beginning of February I flew out to southern California to give the keynote address at the celebrations for the University of California at San Diego Libraries acquiring their three millionth volume.

It was quite fascinating, even if also challenging in view of my crowded schedule, to research the collections and activities of UCSD libraries. Preparing my tribute to their highly distinctive collections, I learned about seventeenth-century discourses on the weather, a learned publication from the eighteenth century on seaweeds, and a modern experimental publication capturing dramatic and artistic performances. By way of returning UCSD's compliment to Yale in inviting me, I took as gifts for them three recent, all very beautiful, publications by the Beinecke Library: Stephen Parks's edition of essays celebrating the Beinecke's fortieth anniversary, Vincent Giroud's celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of St Petersburg, and George Miles's beautiful work on James Swann and the Pacific North West. (All presented in a Yale book bag emblazoned with a bulldog.) It added much to the pleasure of the whole trip, that the university generously accommodated me in a beach-side hotel in La Jolla, a short (and sunny) walk from the delights of La Jolla village with its wonderful cliff-top views, not to mention its shops. In the midst of a New Haven winter, this was a memorable break.

Join Alice, The University Librarian for Tea Time @ Spoon April 29th 2:30-3:30 May 25th 2:30-3:30 ~Locations will be announced in the future~ Remember Alice has Office hours every Monday between 8:30-9:30. Please call Antonia for an appointment @ 21818.

Library in Focus

HR in Focus

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Calendar of Events

HR Updates

Removal Of Social Security Number And Bank Info From Yale Pay Stubs

Effective March 1, 2004, payroll checks and direct deposit advices will no longer display the employee's Social Security Number (SSN) or bank accountinformation. This information has been suppressed to protect employees from the potential of identity theft.

The University has undertaken a long-term commitment to migrate away from the use of Social Security Numbers on any form of Yale identification where it isn't absolutely required, such as tax purposes. This modification is an important step toward securing the privacy of employees' social security numbers.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this please email us at Payroll@yale.edu.

The Yale Babysitting Service

The brand new Yale Babysitting Service (YBS) links Yale parents with Yale students who want to babysit. Parents can post sporadic one-time jobs, or regular basis jobs at their leisure.

To get started, visit: http://www.yale.edu/babysitting>http://www.yale.edu/babysitting

The YBS, made possible through the joint efforts of the Women Faculty Forum and Yale Worklife Program, seeks to address the need for babysitting outside of the hours during which childcare centers operate, linking Yale faculty, staff, post-doctoral and student parents with Yale students interested in providing babysitting services. The YBS can only be used by members of the Yale community with a Yale Net ID.

Suggestions and Comments
Send all comments to the Editor, Jessica Linicus

If you would like something or someone featured in the next Library Links, please contact me at Jessica.Linicus@yale.edu.

Library Human Resources hopes you enjoyed this issue of Library Links.
You can also contact one of the members of the Library Links Committee.

~Robin Gordon~Randy Main~Marybeth Bean~Susan Brady~Lynn Sette~George Stranz~Pedro Soto~
Julie Niemeyer~Tanya Allen~Emily Horning~Diane Ducharme~Ceasar Zapata~Claire Halloran~

Wellness in Focus

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Humor in Focus

Wellness Now

Stress Reduction

Rest, Relaxation and Sleep
Up to now we have looked at ways of managing specific, short-term stresses. Within Mind Tools' Stress Management Masterclass, we also look at long-term stress. A key facet of this is the way that people can sustain intense levels of stress for a while, but then burn out.

We will look at burnout in more detail in the next article. It is something that typically affects people who are highly committed to the work they do, probably much like you. When these people are faced by a stressful situation, more-often-than-not they respond with complete commitment, by working intensely hard at resolving it. To do this, they will work all hours, cancel vacations and cut back on sleep, all to make more time to tackle the problem.

If this is short-lived, then negative effects will be minimal and success will often be spectacular. If this hard work is sustained for a long time without relief, these people increasingly risk burnout.

We rest and sleep because we need to.

Rest and Relaxation
Rest is what we do to let stress subside. Rest at the end of a day, and at the end of a week, helps us to calm down.

Doing fun things that we enjoy in our leisure time compensates us for the unpleasant stress we experience at work, bringing some balance back into life. This is particularly important if we routinely experience unpleasant levels of stress.

A good way of getting rest and reducing long-term stress is to take up an enjoyable, non-rushed sport or hobby. If you spend all your working day competing, then can be very pleasant to be completely noncompetitive for some of your free time. Slow physical activities such as sailing or walking are good for this, as are others where there is little or no pressure for performance. Reading novels, watching television or socializing can also be very restful.

Vacations are particularly important, and you really do need to take these. Where possible, take two weeks off rather than just one week. A common observation that people make is that they really do not start to relax properly until the end of their first week of vacation.

Make sure that you take your vacations and that you use them to relax. Also, make sure that you get enough good quality rest during the week to keep on enjoying life to its fullest.

Sleep
The average person needs approximately eight hours sleep a night (although this can vary between three hours and eleven hours, depending on the person and his or her age).

If we are regularly short of sleep, then our concentration and our effectiveness suffer and our energy levels decline. We have all experienced this.

This diminishes our effectiveness in our job, and can therefore increase stress. As our concentration wanders, we start to make mistakes. As our energy declines, we become less proactive in what we do, reducing our control over events. This means that a situation that is already difficult and stressful can become worse, needing even more sacrifice to bring it back under control.

Make sure that you get enough sleep. If you have become used to being tired all the time, you will be amazed by how sharp and energetic you will feel once you start sleeping normally.

This article is an excerpt from “Managing Stress for Career Success”, the Mind Tools Stress Management Masterclass.

Imagery – Mental stress management
Sometimes we are not able to change our environment to manage stress – this may be the case where we do not have the power to change a situation, or where we are about to give an important performance. Imagery is a useful skill for relaxing in these situations.

The following articles are provided on an informational basis. Please consult with your doctor regarding any health information you read. Articles in "Wellness Now" are taken from various sources and are provided for general informational purposes only.

For information from this article click here

Article excerpt written by Gina Shaw
Article submitted by Jessica Linicus, Library Human Resources

Think Now

Yale Photos

To see more photos click here

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