December 2003
Volume 23
(back issues)

In this Issue

New Library Employees

Lauren King Law Library Circulation and Access Library Services Assistant I began work on November 10, 2003. My home town is Wallingford. I attended Philadelphia University. I enjoy spending time with my family, reading, cooking, and watching the Yankees are my interests.
Paul Belbusti Acquisitions Acqusitions Assistant I I began work on Tuesday, November 4, 2003. My home town is North Branford, CT. I attended Southern Connecticut State University. My interests are playing guitar and singing in my band leftandright, writing of any kind, brewing beer, hiking, pretending to be a wine connoisseur. Great to be a part of the team! Check out my band's web site at www.leftandright.net . Come see us perform!
Elisa Nascimento Latin American Collection Acquisitions Assistant II I began work on November 3, 2003. My home town is Orange, CT. I attended Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences. My interests are reading, movies, and cooking.
Kathryn Trotti Serials Support Team/Acquisitions Department Acquisitions Assistant II I began work on November 10, 2003. My home town is Atlanta, Georgia. I attended Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA. My interests are reading, taking classes, and hiking with my dog Chance.
Cindy Zwies Catalog Department Science Libraries Cataloging Coordinator/LSF Cataloging Coordinator I started on November 10, 2003. Huntington Beach, CA is where I came from, my home town is Honolulu, HI. I attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa. My interests include British comedy (TV) fan--(particularly KUA). I've fallen in love with beautiful Connecticut!

Moving Forward Feedback

On Tuesday November 4 around, two hundred members of the Yale University Library (YUL) gathered for an all day large-group meeting, which brought together staff members representing all levels and locations. The purpose of the meeting was to continue participation in translating the Library's mission, vision, and values into action,
evaluate progress so far, and explore what needs to be done to continue moving forward. Moving Forward was the final of a series of large group meetings where all members of the YUL community contributed to the Library's strategic planning efforts. For more information on the Library strategic plan, please visit (http://www.library.yale.edu/strategicplanning/)

What some participants wrote about the meeting:
"The one thing that today accomplished was to finally involve everyone in the process."

"The best part of these meetings is meeting people from outside your unit and learning what they do."

"Action remains to be seen-but these meetings and guidelines have given each of us permission to do our part of the action and to push for more."

"Wonderful participation. Unclear on previous progress/meetings. Seems there are gaps that have been overlooked as yet (for progress across the board)."

"I think that there is still much to do with regards to communicating of strategic goals-that they are still not well understood by significant numbers of staff."

"We received updates on what has been done so far, but I don't feel that there was much room for evaluation of the strategic plan. We gave a lot of ideas based on the strategic plan but putting them into action remains to be seen. We need to follow up meetings in about a year."

"A lot of people at my table kept coming back to the question: "What will this mean for me on a day-to-day basis?" I think we next need to address those questions."

"While it is always good and helpful to get people together to promote a sense of community-I felt that the strategy goals were confusing and full of jargon-not realistic."

"It was a good learning experience."

"Process worked well but will fade without constructive, engaging follow-up."

Staff Member in Focus

Joan Emmet
Collection Development

Who is Joan Emmet and What is NERL?

Many of you probably know Joan Emmet either by name or perhaps by sight. But exactly who is Joan and what does she do in room 127?

Joan is the Program Support Librarian for NERL, a position she has held at Yale Library since May of 1999. But what is NERL you ask? NERL stands for NorthEast Research Libraries Consortium which was founded in 1996 by 16 core member institutions. Their objective was to collectively license electronic resources at better prices and terms than was possible as individual institutions. Today they remain true to that goal and have 26 core members (all are also members of ARL) and 39 affiliate member institutions and are under license from 60 vendors or publishers. Members pay annual dues to cover operating expenses and attend an annual meeting hosted by a member institution to discuss how the group is working and to look at their three-year sunset clause. Joan says that though the organization spreads some of the resource investigation among the members, the day-to-day operations are mostly a one-person operation. With the help of Ann Okerson, the NERL Coordinator and inspiration behind the group, Joan has been able to increase the volume of electronic resources licensed. Ann donates her time and expertise daily to NERL efforts. The office also receives valuable clerical support from Diana Quinones. Joan says that NERL has saved thousands of dollars for the member institutions and is also economical for the publisher as well.

For more information on NERL visit it's website at http://www.library.yale.edu/NERLpublic/

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And now…who is Joan Emmet? Having received her MLS from Syracuse University in 1997 Joan says she enjoys attending ALA in various parts of the country. But she says that 2002 was her big year. She received three awards for her work from various committees that year. First, there was the Association of Connecticut Library Boards Award for her volunteer activity (Joan maintains their website). Then the Friends of Connecticut Library gave her an award for maintaining their web site. Joan also received the Service Quality award from the Yale Library.

About four times a year, Joan travels to Florida to visit her parents. She enjoys books on CD (mostly mysteries) while driving back and forth from Durham and enjoys listening to Jazz and Blues. Joan also likes to read and likes most movies. (She has seen all three of the Matrix movies.) She likes popcorn (a lot!), cookies, and Indian food. (Joan is a vegetarian!) She is not much of a TV person, but does occasionally catch CSI or Law and Order (although she says she can hardly stay up late enough for L&O).

Joan's husband is a polymer chemist, her son is a junior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and her daughter is a senior in high school. Joan said they are starting the college application process for her right now. Two dogs and a cat round out Joan's family.

But I know Joan as the "Fair Lady." The Durham Fair is held the last full weekend in September, and Joan volunteers in the canning department and data processing department (computer resources). In the canning department she helps to take in the over 1,000 entries they have each year and enters them into the computer. The largest category is pickles and jams and jellies. She has also judged pickles for the past several years. This involves opening and tasting hundreds of jars. Joan says that no two pickles are created equal. One must look at the technical aspect of the pickle even if one doesn't like the taste: aspects such as the fullness of the jar, clarity of the liquid, texture of the pickle, and does it represent what it is labeled as.

When not judging pickles, Joan will be serving on the committee of the Northeast chapter of ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries). She will plan the food and assist with the agenda for their spring conference at Bryant College in April of 2004.

And last, but not least, Joan is Chair of the Accessibility Resource Network Committee for the Yale Library. This group will be co-hosting with STOD a Disability Awareness Forum on December 10, 2003. For more information on Library Services for People with Disabilities go to:
http://www.library.yale.edu/services/disabilities.html

So the next time you are in the vicinity of Joan's office stop by to say hello and check out her aquarium window to the world.

By Randy Main
Technical Services

Staff Submissions

Recipes

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie (Gourmet, 1979)
Dana Peterman
Social Science Library

Ginger Snaps
Julie Niemeyer
Music Library

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A Word From the University Librarian

Connecting with Library staff: a mixed picture of strategic planning; planning for budget reductions; continued collaboration, celebrations and teamwork

November has been a busy month for staff activities. The Moving Forward meeting for some two hundred staff at the Omni Hotel on November 4 was the last in our series of large group meetings, and fulfilled the aim of involving virtually every member of staff in the strategic planning activity. With the Strategic Plan now in place, there is a good record of achievement to set against each of the action plans. This latest meeting considered how to measure our success during the next five years, and how to establish targets and measures that take full account of the quality of the Library's work, not just numeric measures. Each of the large group meetings, starting with Focus Forward in January, has provided distinctive thinking at different stages of the process. The challenges are to demonstrate the progress we have made, and to ensure that we do indeed reap full benefit from the contributions made by all staff. A full record of the Moving Forward meeting, including all the comments and feedback, as well as responses to questions asked at and after the meeting, is being mounted on the staff front door, at www.library.yale.edu/strategicplanning.

It is even more of a challenge to continue moving forward at a time of cuts in staffing levels. Expectations will have to be reexamined in every sphere, and where it is not possible to reach earlier targets with streamlined resources, that will have to be made clear, and targets will need to be reexamined and if necessary, adjusted. The good news is that we have a period of eighteen months in which to achieve the full 5% reductions that the university expects of us. During that time, reductions will be achieved both by reducing expenditure on equipment, subscriptions and other non-staff items, and by choosing not to fill just a small number of the vacancies that will arise naturally from resignations and retirements. Nobody expects to see any layoffs in the Library's ranks as a result of these budget reductions.

The Library Management Team will be looking at all vacancies to determine which are the most important to fill, either to continue core operations, or to fulfill high priorities in the Strategic Plan. Where any vacant position is not filled, the supervisors concerned are asked to specify the consequences of doing without it, so that necessary adjustments in their department's work can be made. In addition, we will be redoubling our efforts to win grants and endowments for some Library activities, bringing in externally-funded positions to replace some that were formerly funded from the university's general allocation. Across the university, teams of managers are taking a close look at redundant activities and areas where work can be shared between units. This will help achieve the necessary savings for the university as a whole and, I hope, may also reduce some of the administrative burdens placed on the Library. It is never easy to face budgetary cuts, but with a well articulated Strategic Plan and the action plans flowing from it, we are in a strong position to do so with clear understanding of the impact on our core services and staff, and to plan how best to fit our priorities for the future to these reduced resources. In all of this, the suggestions, comments and team work of all members of staff are critically important. I will be visiting all departments within the next few months; and I shall look forward to hearing personally from as many staff as possible. The comments page on the staff front door (www.library.yale.edu/~fdstaff) is available at all times for thoughts and suggestions.

Meanwhile, it has been an unalloyed pleasure to welcome large numbers of new staff to the Library's ranks. Twenty-seven new members of staff attended a day-long orientation program on October 30 and on November 13 LiSA, the Library Staff Association, organized a reception to welcome the sixty-nine people who have joined the staff during the past twelve months. There is an extraordinary number of national origins and language skills among our new colleagues, and an even greater array of special interests and leisure activities. During the past year, people have moved from Florida, California, France, Latvia, Sweden, Indonesia, and a host of other places far and near, to join Yale University Library. Some staff write fiction or poetry, some swim, some run, quite a few keep pets, many are theater buffs and several are involved in performing music or drama themselves. Many members of the staff, both long-standing and new, contribute actively to the community as volunteers in different capacities. The Holiday Party on December 4 will give us all our next opportunity to meet up, get to know more about each other, and meet each other's families. I look forward keenly to being there.

by Alice Prochaska

Join Alice, The University Librarian for Tea Time @ the Sociology Lounge   Thursday, December 18, 2003 9.30 - 10.30 am Sociology Lounge   Remember Alice has office hours every Monday between 8:30am-9:30am. Please call Antonia for an appointment @ ext. 21818.

Library in Focus

Manuscripts and Archives

Manuscripts and Archives is a major Yale center for historical documentation, promoting and sustaining the research and teaching missions of the University, and serving as the documentary memory of the Yale community. The resources and services of Manuscripts and Archives are available to all members of the Yale community as well as to researchers from outside the University who wish to make use of them.

To visit the Manuscripts and Archives web site click here:
http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa

Did you know...

Manuscripts and Archives includes The Lucie Weinstein Papers which comprise .5 linear feet of correspondence, writings, clippings, and photographs documenting her efforts to establish a memorial to Jewish victims from Bad Berleburg who died in the Holocaust, and efforts by family members to assist and trace relatives in Europe during and after World War II. The collection is open to researchers in Manuscripts and Archives.

Lucie Weinstein (nee Krebs) was born in Bad Berleburg, Germany, in 1924. She was expelled from school in 1938 for being a Jew. While her parents awaited permission to emigrate to America, and fearing for the safety of their children, they sent Lucie and her brother and sister to live with the Lindheim family (Lucie's mother's sister's family) in Belgium. After two years, the children went back to Germany. Their parents, with the help of relatives in the United States, had finally obtained permission to emigrate. The family arrived in America in 1941. Almost all of the remaining members of both their immediate and extended families, who remained in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, died in the Holocaust. Lucie married Stanley Weinstein in 1951. She traveled to Japan with him and while living there, attended the Tokyo University of the Fine Arts. She later earned a Masters degree from Harvard, and a Ph.D. from Yale University, specializing in Buddhist art. She taught art history at Southern Connecticut State University for twenty-five years. In the late 1990s, Lucie worked to establish a memorial to Jewish victims from Bad Berleburg who died in the Holocaust. The monument was dedicated in Bad Berleburg in May 2000.

Information was provided by Nicole Benevento in Manuscripts and Archives

Department Highlights

Service Quality Improvement Awards

The deadline for the Service Quality Improvement Awards has been extended to Monday, December 8.

If over the past year, you have thought to yourself that a colleague's activity or project was deserving of a Service Quality Improvement Award, please take a moment to fill out the nomination form.

The time period for consideration is July 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003.

Nominations should be returned by December 8, 2003 to the attention of Bernadette Cioffi in Library Human Resources.

More information regarding the awards is available at:
http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/about.htm

Nominations shoudl be returned by December 8, 2003 to the attention of Bernadette Cioffi in Library Human Resources. The time period for consideration is July 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003.

The nomination form is available to print at:
http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/nomination_form2003.pdf

Please do not hesitate to contact any member of the committee if you have any questions or wish to discuss the award process.

2002-2003 Service Quality Improvement Awards Committee

Sharon Forbes
Jan Glover (Chair)
Claire Halloran
Jeanette Murdock
Holly Grossetta Nardini
Bernadette Cioffi (Ex-Officio)
Danuta Nitecki (Sponsor)

Watch for more information about the SQI Awards Ceremony that will be held in late January or early February 2004.

HR in Focus

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Calendar of Events

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HR Updates

In Case of Snow

The following excerpt, from the University Extreme Weather Policy, is the core of the University policy concerning staff obligations and pay practices in the face of extreme weather conditions. The full policy can be found online at www.yale.edu/hronline/exweath.htm

“As we know, Yale is a complex institution with thousands of residents who must be fed and sheltered regardless of the weather. Health-care services to the ill, police protection and many research projects cannot cease. In short, the University never totally closes. Accordingly, no department or school has the authority to release staff with pay. Only the Secretary & Vice President of the University may authorize the early release of nonessential employees with pay. If the Secretary authorizes such an early release, department and schools may release nonessential employees in accordance with the policy… At the very minimum those services that are defined as ‘essential’ to the operation of the University must still be provided by staff members.”

To view the current weather status, visit www.yale.edu/snow. An inclement-weather telephone message line is also available by calling 432-SNOW (7669).

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Strategic Planning Web site

New documents related to YUL's strategic planning initiative continue to be added to the Strategic Planning Website (http://www.library.yale.edu/strategicplanning/). The newest addition includes staff feedback from the Focus Forward and Spring Forward large group meetings. Additional feedback and information will be added after the Moving Forward meeting. Please take a few minutes to review this site, and catch up on the Library's progress!

And while you're at it, be sure to review the Staff Front Door (http://www.library.yale.edu/~fdstaff/) and offer us feedback on what you find useful in this site.

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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~Nicole Benevento~Susan Brady~Lynn Sette~George Stranz~Pedro Soto~
Julie Niemeyer~Tanya Allen~Emily Horning~Diane Ducharme~Ceasar Zapata~

Wellness in Focus

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Humor in Focus

Wellness Now

Controlling Weight During the Holidays

It is the holiday season. With all the parties and merry going, how can you resist the temptation to overindulge and keep within the carefully charted weight control program? The following tips from USDA dietitians can help you navigate the caloric minefield.

• Slow down! It takes 20 minutes for your brain to send the signal that you've had enough to eat. This also means that, you may not need a second helping most of the time. Your brain hasn't got the message that you had enough yet due to the 20 minute lag time in communications!
  
• Check out the buffet table and decide what you really want to sample. Allow yourself to eat a little of your three or four favorite dishes.
  
• Don't stand near the buffet table while socializing. You're likely to nibble on extra food without even realizing it.
  
• Know when to skip a party. If you overate at a party the night before, you might want to bow out of the next day's gathering to help get your eating patterns back under control.
  
• Don't drink alcohol on an empty stomach. It lowers your inhibitions and can set up your body to crave more food. And remember, alcohol is a high-calorie substance, too. So try to alternate between drinking alcohol and water. You'll cut the calories you're drinking in half.
  
• Even if it's traditionally a time of struggle for you diet-wise, try not to think of the holiday season only in terms of don'ts. (It may make you feel depressed and then eat to compensate!)

Concentrate instead on following these nutritional guidelines from the Center for Science in the Public Interest:

Eat a low-fat diet with adequate protein.

Eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

Eat plenty of roughage--good sources are whole grains and high-fiber cereals.

Go easy on salt.

Try to consume 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams of calcium daily from low-fat foods and/or take a calcium supplement.

Take a multivitamin/mineral supplement with roughly 100 percent of the daily value for most nutrients, including vitamin D, E, and folic acid.

Another essential component for a successful management of your weight during the holiday season is exercise. Technically, if you burn the calories you consume, you cannot pick up any weight. However, this gets tougher as you get older. Your metabolism will slow down over time and burn fewer calories. So, older people need more exercise than their younger counterparts -- so don't quit exercising during the holidays. You need it more at this time than at any other time. Exercise burns calories and also lessens stress, which commonly leads to overeating.

Don’t be too harsh on yourself in case you overindulge in the spirit of the season. Formulate a solid strategy on how you're going to eat during the holidays, and if you do overeat, don't be so disappointed with yourself that you give up your positive eating habits. One day of overindulgence won't ruin your health or body permanently. Even if you make some mistakes during the holidays and pick up a few pounds don't despair; you have plenty of time to lose the extra weight and you'll have one resolution ready to go on New Year's Eve, like millions of others: lose those pounds!

(Source: USDA, Center for Public Interest)

Jessica Linicus has supplied this article from:
http://www.1stholistic.com/liv_controlling-weight-during-holidays.htm

Think Now

Yale Photos

To see more photos click here

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