December 2005

Volume 43
Back Issues: Past Library Links Articles

In this Issue

New Library Staff

Mary Hughes
Medical Library
Library Services Assistant
11/14/05

Daniel Shin
Access Services
Library Services Assistant
11/14/05

Departing Staff

Frederick Musto
Librarian
11/11/05

Staff In Focus

Anthony Riccio

Anthony Riccio has been busy managing the stacks at Sterling Memorial Library for the past ten years. In his spare time, Anthony has compiled two books with an original perspective on Italian-Americans. His Portrait of an Italian-American Neighborhood: the North End of Boston, a collection of photographs and oral histories, first was published in 1997. This month, Globe Pequot Press will publish a new version of the book, renamed Recollections of the North End of Boston: Images and Oral Histories. This new version includes a new preface and layout, twenty new photographs, and rescanned, higher quality versions of the original photographs.

The text of Recollections of the North End of Boston comes from interviews Anthony conducted while working in Boston, but his passion for Italian-American culture began as a child. He still can recount a childhood memory of his grandmother receiving letters in Italian from her family in Italy, and he vividly describes their walks through the neighborhood in search of an Italian speaker to translate them. Later, as an undergraduate at Providence College, Anthony spent two summers studying art history in Italy and was fascinated with both its roots and his own. He traveled to southern Italy to find his family and began to see parallels between their lives and his childhood. Anthony describes this time as a “journey backwards” during which he immersed himself in his family’s history and was compelled to capture even the smallest details of Italian village life through his photography.

Anthony next earned a master’s degree through a Florentine Fellowship from Syracuse University. He returned to Italy to study art history in more detail and to continue photographing the people and places he encountered. When Anthony returned to the US, he accepted a job in Boston’s North End to work with senior citizens, many of whom were immigrants from Italy. His passion for Italian history strengthened as he spent more time with them. Anthony started to record their conversations to be sure that the stories were captured accurately, and these narrations combined with his photography to inspire his first book. Years later, Anthony still speaks with awe about the people who welcomed him into their homes to share their remarkable history with him.

In addition to reissuing his book about Boston’s North End, Anthony has also been working for years on The Italian-American Experience in New Haven: Images and Oral Histories. He has conducted interviews with over 100 New Haven residents, and he notes that he met many participants through word of mouth: they were eager to share their stories with him, and also knew of others who had the same desire to contribute. Right now Anthony is working on the final edit of this book, which will be published in April 2006 by the SUNY Press. It has already received praise from scholars for its thoroughness and quality. Additionally, the Italian-American Historical Society recently recognized Anthony’s contributions in his field when its president invited him to contribute 30-40 photographs from the book to a display at Rome’s Archivio dello Stato about Italian-American immigrants. Excerpts from the oral histories are included with the photos.
While this month’s publication of Recollections of the North End of Boston is very exciting, Anthony’s forthcoming book about New Haven also is eagerly anticipated here at Yale. He thinks that The Italian-American Experience in New Haven will bring Yale and the community together in a new way because it is both an academic and personal exploration of the city’s rich history. He has been invited to give a Master’s Tea at Calhoun College in April to coincide with the book’s debut, and he may give a lecture at the Library. Anthony also has some ideas for future books, and enthusiastically notes that he would enjoy teaching a class or a seminar either about New Haven’s history or on methods for collecting and publishing oral histories.

Portrait of an Italian-American Neighborhood: the North End of Boston is held in the SML stacks: F73.9 I8 R53X 1997 (LC)+.

Acquisitions trip to The Republic of Kazakhstan

June 16-29, 2005
by
Tatjana Lorkovic
Curator, Slavic and East European Collection

The original intent of the trip was to visit several countries of Central Asia. That plan was derailed by the unstable political situation in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan where we were advised not to go at the present time. I was traveling together with Jared Ingersoll, the Librarian for Slavic-East European and Eurasian Studies at Columbia University, hence the reference to “we “ throughout the report. We traveled on joint United /Lufthansa flights via Frankfurt and stayed at the same hotel and later at an apartment in Almaty. After a grueling trip of more than twenty-four hours we were met at the airport by Lyalya Omarova, a book dealer with whom we occasionally do business, and she drove us in her van to “The Ambasador Hotel” on Zholtoksan Street.

view the entire report at: http://www.library.yale.edu/slavic/docs/kazakhstantrip/kazakhstantrip.html

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Library In Focus

State of the Library: A Staff Perspective

At the heart of University Librarian Alice Prochaska's State of the Library address was a vision for the future based on improving the information commons.

The first major element in her vision is the redesign of the Cross Campus Library. Prochaska's goal is to create social learning spaces to allow patrons to more effectively navigate the universe of electronic resources. CCL will close in May of 2006 and remain closed for 15 months while it is being renovated. The new entrance will be a gothic style pavilion that will mirror the Berkeley building. The interior of CCL will be styled to match more closely that of Sterling with a sweeping double stairway that should make the two buildings more continuous. The focus of the CCL redesign is to provide more emphasis on spaces where faculty and students can come together with librarians.

The other key element in Prochaska's vision is improving Yale's web presence. She wants to see a "personal library for every single individual at Yale." Yale's web presence has been rated at #31 and she wants to see this improve. The Integrated Access Council and the Portal Opportunities Group are undertaking two projects, the Teaching and Learning Portal and a Sakai-enabled course management system to allow patrons to customize their virtual library environment. Sakai is an open-source educational software project that has been used by a number of universities to create collaboration and learning environments. The library will also be working on digitizing its unique collections and packaging digital collections for greater usability.
Prochaska's ultimate hope is that "every member of the Yale community will feel connected" and the library will be "more and more fully used physically and virtually" and will provide "fundamental support in teaching and learning."
75 people attended the October 4 speech at Sterling, 34 the October 13 at Cushing/Whitney and 11 the October 14 at the Divinity school library.

Harvey Cushing: A Journey Through His Life

I’d like to call to your attention the current very special exhibit in the
Medical Library rotunda, Harvey Cushing: A Journey Through His Life. It will
continue on display through January 2006. The exhibit may be visited any time
that the Medical Library is open.

Harvey Cushing was the founder of neurosurgery as a surgical specialty. It was
Cushing who developed the painstaking procedures and instrumentation so that
entering the brain for removal of tumors would be not only feasible, but
effective. Most of the next generation of neurosurgeons trained with Cushing.
In addition Cushing was a celebrated clinical researcher, an accomplished
artist, a fine writer, a passionate collector of books, a medical historian and
bibliographer, and the chief founder of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney
Medical Library.

This exhibit was prepared for the Harvey Cushing Family Gathering, a reunion of
Cushing's grandchildren and descendants held at Yale School of Medicine on
October 1, 2005. It also celebrates the publication of the first new
full-length biography of Cushing since 1950, Michael Bliss's Harvey Cushing: A
Life in Surgery, published by Oxford University Press.

The exhibit includes Cushing diaries, scrapbooks, and notebooks of his years at
Yale and Harvard Medical School, foreign travel, and World War I; original
Cushing drawings; photographs; books: medals; and ephemera from the Historical
Library’s Cushing Collection. In addition to the display in the rotunda,
Cushing's surgical scrubs and white jacket, his army jacket, and a academic
robe for an honorary doctorate, lent by Manuscripts and Archives, are on
display in the hall leading to the Historical Library.

~ Toby Appel, Terry Dagradi, Sarah Burge, and Lynn Sette prepared the exhibit.

Commitee News

Colleagues,

On Monday, November 14, 2005 it gave me very great pleasure to launch the Yale University Library's new Diversity Council with an all-day retreat at the Rose Alumni House. The aim of the retreat was to develop objectives, goals and strategies for a Library work environment which promotes, encourages, fosters and supports a diverse work force. The retreat ended with a presentation by Robert Schwartz, the University's Associate Vice-President for Human Resources, who outlined the University's ambitious agenda for diversity across the campus.

The Council defined diversity to include and recognize individual attributes and differences such as age, race, gender, religion, cultural heritage and ethnic background, as well as less visible characteristics such as personal background, functional expertise, thinking styles, sexual orientation or disability. It developed an initial action plan to include three primary goals. These goals are:

* to be proactive in recruiting the most excellent candidates of diverse backgrounds and under represented minority groups;
* to improve the work climate and practices to promote, develop and foster diversity within the Yale University Library system;
* to provide opportunities for career development and mobility for all staff, especially qualified minority members, to advance from lower staff levels to higher positions.

The Diversity Council is made up of a wide variety of staff from the Yale University Library. Diane Turner, Associate University Librarian for Human Resources, is serving as the mentor and sponsor of the new Council. I am deeply grateful and excited that Richard Richie, Curator of the South & Southeast Asia Collections and Teresa Miguel, Reference Librarian from the Lillian Goldman Law Library have agreed to serve as co-chairs. You will be hearing more from them in the coming months.

I am very happy that the Library's Diversity Council has been launched and that the members below have enthusiastically agreed to assist with this important work. The Council would like to invite Library employees to share with individual members their ideas, concerns and suggestions for diversity related goals. Library colleagues serving on the new Diversity Council can be contacted through their departments and telephone numbers listed below:

Meg Bellinger. AUL for Integrated Library Systems and Technical Services. Tel: 432-2068
Sarah Elman. Associate Curator, East Asia Library. Tel: 432-8210
Carolyn Hardin Englehardt. Ministry Resource Director, Divinity Library. Tel: 432-5319
Charles Greenberg. Head Reference Librarian, Medical Library. Tel: 737-2960
Graziano Kratli. International Program Support Librarian, Collection Development. Tel: 432-1763
Daniel Lovins. Hebraica Team Leader, Catalog Department. Tel: 432-1707
Teresa Miguel. Reference Librarian, Law Library. Tel: 432-8023
Amanda Patrick. Library Dev. & Communications Associate, Administrative Services. Tel: 432-8061
Rich Richie. Curator, South & Southeast Asia Collections. Tel: 432-1858
Regina Romero. Associate Director of Finance, Beinecke Library. Tel: 432-2955
Ivette Silva. Acquisitions Assistant, Latin American Collection. Tel: 432-1835
Patricia Simon. Preparations Manager, Acquisitions Department. Tel: 432-1720
Diane Turner. AUL for Human Resources, Staff Training and Security. Tel: 432-1810
Richard A. Williams. Library Service Assistant, Access Services. Tel: 432-1857
Baolan Wu. Financial Assistant, Acquisitions Department. Tel: 436-1053

Alice Prochaska
University Librarian

HR in Focus

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Upcoming Events

75th Anniversary Events for December

Wednesday December 7th at 1pm
"Yale and the Babylonians"
An exploration of the history of Yale’s involvement with ancient Iraq.
Lecture by Professor Benjamin Foster, William M. Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature and Curator of the Yale Babylonian Collection
Location: Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

Treasures of the Babylonian and Near Eastern Collections
Guided tours through the largest assemblage of ancient cuneiform inscriptions in the United States, including inscriptions on clay tablets,
in Sterling Memorial Library's Babylonian Collection. Also included, a tour of Yale's Near Eastern Collection which is the oldest, richest and most current
collection in U.S. Universities.

Monday December 12 *
10:30am (Yale Library Staff only)
1:30pm (Yale Library Staff only)

Tuesday December 13 *
10:30am (open to the public)
1:30pm (open to the public)

* Registrations are required for all tours - please email anniversary75th@yale.edu to reserve your place

For more information about these and all other anniversary events, please go to: www.library.yale.edu/75th

Yale Holiday Calendar

HR Updates

Learning Plan Highlights

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New Nighttime Shuttle / Minibus Service

The University operates a nighttime shuttle, or "minibus" service that offers safe, free and convenient transportation to the Yale community seven days a week, year round. In addition to scheduled routes around campus, door-to-door service is available on request between 6:00 PM and 1:00 AM within a large zone. After 1:00 AM, all service is door-to-door.

We are pleased to announce several improvements that will be effective Monday, 11/28. The enhanced services will:
* focus on picking passengers up at their door
* provide door-to-door service from the Sterling Library area
* provide more frequent door-to-door drop off service, especially in high volume areas such as Prospect Hill/East Rock
* provide regular service between the residential colleges and nearby student residential areas
* increase service to the Nursing School

When you're being dropped off at your door, the driver will wait to ensure you have made it safely to your entrance before leaving. All drivers have been made aware of the increased need for vigilance at night, and we are working closely with the Police and Security Departments to ensure a safe and comfortable experience for all passengers.

Many of you are already familiar with Yale's daytime shuttle services, and we encourage you to also use the minibus at night as a safe, reliable way to travel throughout the area.

Call 432-6330 for the minibus.

Call 432-WALK for escort service; a uniformed Yale security officer will be dispatched to your location.

Visit www.yale.edu/minibus for detailed routes and service areas

After 1:00AM, all service is door-to-door. Between 6:00 PM and 1:00 AM, beginning November 28, service will include:
* A new bus will take passengers to their door from the Sterling Library area. The bus will make pick ups every 15 minutes along Wall Street at Woodbridge Hall, Rose Walk and the Law School.
* A new "Blue Line" will provide regular service between the residential colleges and the Dwight/Edgewood/Park/Howe neighborhood. Note: This "Blue Line" route will run between 8:00 PM and 3:00 AM.
* Four buses will travel a scheduled route around campus and then provide door-to-door service for those requesting it; wait time will now be 10 minutes.
* For service directly to your door, you may stay on the regular route until it ends at 135 Prospect Street (School of Management), after which it will take you to your door. Or, if your destination is in the Medical School area, you may catch/transfer to a minibus at 333 Cedar.
* For those not wishing to walk alone, dispatch will either send a security escort to pick you up and take you to your destination or to the minibus.
* Regular service is provided to and from Union Station.
* Two Special Services vans provide door-to-door service for those with special needs.

We began a number of these improvements several weeks ago and early indications are that they are already making a difference in passenger satisfaction. We continue to revise and improve service based on passenger feedback and encourage you to share comments with us at < mailto:yale.transit@yale.edu>yale.transit@yale.edu .

Janet Lindner,
Associate Vice President for Administration

WINTER BREAK PLANS

Staff share their upcoming winter break plans::

Relaxation. Eating,
Cooking , cleaning, shopping, watching grandchildren...grandchildren come FIRST!
Painting on the inside. Watching movies. Enjoying my family. Shopping.
Shopping in real stores, not on-line - it will get me in the spirit of the season.
Put up the tree.
Shopping in bargain basements!
Watching TV news about shoppers and getting a laugh - for instance someone saying, "I was at Wal-Mart at 4:00 AM!"

HOLIDAY STRESS

Before we go out from our workplaces to walk in the winter holiday season, let us spend a moment with one another.

In our diversity, we are much more alike than we take time to acknowledge. We share the one menu that is offered to human beings on our beautiful Earth: the menu of, "Effects of Living on Earth."

We are familiar with: great joys, great sorrows, great gifts, great burdens. In our rushing and possible isolation we may not let the obvious touch us: no one is ever, ever alone.
Why?
Because of our sameness. All the joys, all the fears are shared. We sit around the same table. Just for a moment,
empty your pocket on the table. You may feel a lot lighter.

Because there are so many web sites that offer Holiday Stress suggestions, you may want to take a look at some of them to
confirm that we are partners.
Maybe we can just take a deep breath and relax.

http://www.familyeducation.com/article/0,1120,1-3894,00.html

http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/103.cfm

http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=8

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Holiday_stress?OpenDocument

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