November 2004

Volume 32
Back Issues: Past Library Links Articles

In this Issue

New Library Employees

Jonathan Lill Art and Architecture Library 2004 Kress Fellow in Art Librarianship I began work on October 1st. I grew up in Chicago but lived in New York for more than 6 years and in Boston for 3 years. Most recently I have been living in Brooklyn. I have a BFA in painting from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MLS from Simmons College in Boston. I have some background in artists' books, bookbinding and printmaking. I am a compulsive crossword solver and I am perennially seeking opponents for Scrabble, Boggle, or teammates for trivia at Anna Liffey's. Otherwise I am still discovering the pleasures that can be had in New Haven without needing a car.
Patrick Butler Engineering Library Supervisor I began work on October 11, 2004. I am from Massachusetts and attended SUNY Albany, St. John's University, NY My hobbies include sailing.
Chris Kaminski Science Libraries (Geology Library) Library Service Assistant II I began work on October 18, 2004, and I am from Middletown and attended CCSU and received a B.A. in History. I enjoy playing golf, attending Red Sox games, traveling and I am also a history buff.

Promotions

Ellen Doon
Beinecke Library
Assistant Head, Manuscript Unit
10/1/04

Departing Employees

Staff Achievements

John Vincenti, CIPM

On October 16 John Vincenti, Manager, Building Operations & Security, received certification as an Institutional Protection Manager from the Professional Certification Committee of the International Foundation for Cultural Propert Protection.

Event Highlights

Staff Highlights

Long Service Awards
Our ongoing celebration of the Library's Long Service Awardees

Edith Fortes

The library has been the setting for Edith's work accomplishments for thirty years. Her first ten years were at Photographic Services which was under the Public Services umbrella. They did the photocopying, photography, photostats, copyflo and offset printing for the library as well as the microfilming for the university. As more photo-copiers and personal computers were introduced into the university, the department was eliminated.

After ten years as part of Public Services, they became part of the Preservation Department. Edith is an Acquisitions Assistant in the Acquisitions Core Program and prepares materials that are to be filmed. During these thirty years, she has had ten supervisors.

Once she was in the position of having a Yale Library book that was the only copy in the United States. It had many black and white photographs. The problem was, it was missing many pages. Feeling enterprising, she investigated and located another copy in South Africa. The South African copy was also missing pages. Edith borrowed the book from South Africa and by meticulous and patient work performed Preservation magic: two complete books, plus a file copy.

At work she puts forth her best effort, but states it simply: "When we are here, if we are not doing our best... I could be home cleaning
my house! I like the challenge of finding a book that has one or two copies in the world and I can preserve it."

Edith's eyes sparkle when she says, "I read a lot." Creativity and preserving things just seem to be part of her life. She videotapes interesting televised "decor" and "home construction" directions and practices decoupage and other procedures on junk pieces until she gets it right. Some techniques she learned, years ago, from her father. Edith keeps very busy at Morning Star Church where she is the custodian. After work, she goes to her church where she attends to its orderliness for the frequent meetings that take place during the week.

Married to Stephan Fortes, their daughter is Kecia, and their ten year old grandson is Motley.

Diane Kaplan

Currently enjoying her thirtieth year at the Yale Library, Diane is Head of Public Services in Manuscripts and Archives. It is a collection of wide range, supports research and teaching in many disciplines at Yale, and patrons come from all over the world to use it. The authors of the papers in this collection are not limited to Yale graduates, and some of the most prominent include Charles Lindbergh, Anne Lindbergh, Henry Stimson (class of 1888, who served five different presidents and was secretary of war during WW II), Dean Acheson, Chester Bowles, William F. Buckley, Jr., Vincent Price, and Eli Whitney. There is a letter from the young Eli Whitney to his father, explaining that he has developed a cotton gin. Diane notes that what we picture as the classic handwritten manuscript, treasured for its visible corrections and smudges, may soon be history. Increasingly we are collecting materials created digitally.

Besides knitting, Diane cooks and bakes healthful food for her family. She and her husband Stephen Mayer care about recycling and making good use of materials that their family already has. To relax, she likes to walk in the fresh air.

Diane and her husband went on their first Elderhostel trip to Charleston, SC. It was a fulfilling week long program about Charleston's history, geology, and architecture. Part of the fun was meeting people from all over the country.

Through her synagogue, Diane is involved with social action. She has worked in a soup kitchen, collected food for the Hamden Food Bank, and helped a social worker with requests for a family who suddenly had to move to a totally bare apartment. She sincerely adds that it is a privilege to help.

Diane and Stephen's two children are Hans, a recent graduate of Clark University; and Rini, who is studying recreation management at the University of Vermont.

Debra Bush

In her twenty-five years at Yale, having journeyed from Beinecke to CCL to Manuscripts & Archives, Debra has worked at the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies for 15 years. When the collection came to Yale in 1982 there were 200 testimonies. Now there are over 4,000. As a Library Services Assistant, Debbie's duties range from clerical to preliminary accessioning material to preservation of older tapes. Joanne Rudof is not only Debbie's supervisor, but her friend. Debbie said, "It is not what you have in life, but who you have; and Joanne Rudof fits that bill very well."

The work is rewarding for Debbie; it's not just a job. The subject matter is emotionally intense, but that is tempered by realizing the collection can help researchers and future generations to hear individual stories that make the Holocaust personal. The Archive also videotapes interviews by Holocaust By-Standers: soldiers, priests, slave laborers, anyone who was an eyewitness.

Debbie says that her several hobbies include, "Reading, of course!", singing, and her work with her family social club. Together they sponsor trips, baseball teams, and various other social events.

Debbie's children are Amir, 21, Safiya, 15 and Anisah, 13. Her husband, Curtis, is President of CB Maintenance. He works with many businesses in the downtown New Haven area. Curtis is an avid fisherman.

Agape Christian Center is the spiritual support of her life. It is what keeps her going. It is the motivation behind being able to work for the library all these years. Her warm laugh makes that visible.

Go Red Sox !!

Diane Quinones (Electronic Collections) and Kevin Pacelli (Microtext) proudly don their Red Sox gear in celebration of the Red Sox win in the World Series Championships, ending an 86 year drought. "I've waited 40 years for them to win and my dad, he's waited 70 years," says a beaming Kevin who has plans to head up to Boston for the celebratory parade.

People Who Make a Difference

In the recent American League Championships between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, Joe Simone an avid Yankees fan from Security, was confident of a Yankees win. With the Yankees up three games to nothing, Joe wagered his Babe Ruth collector's card that he has had for 30 years against his friend's Carl Yastrzemski card.

In what tuned out to be the impossible, the Red Sox came back to win the Championship, winning four straight games. Joe was devastated over the loss of his Babe Ruth card and couldn't believe how foolish he was to have wagered the card in the first place. News of Joe's wager traveled through the halls of Sterling and within two days of hearing Joe's predicament, Nancy Redding and Sandy Weber from Access Services, presented Joe with a Babe Ruth collector's photograph and card.

"I'm not sure what they had to give up but I am extremely touched and really surprised by their generosity", says Joe. You can be assured that he won't be wagering those items anytime soon.

Staff Submissions

Recipes

Herding with my Shetland Sheepdogs
by Sue Jaffe

A few years ago I decided to take up herding with my Shetland Sheepdogs. I was intrigued with the idea of training a dog to perfect a task they were bred to do.
The first dog I started with was Stormie, seen in the picture with the sheep. He eventually went on the get his first two herding titles under the AKC program. Unfortunately as we were working on his HS (Herding Started) title, he was diagnosed with a spinal problem. His vet said if he got hit by a sheep he could become paralyzed. We tried switching to herding ducks but he was afraid of them so his herding career ended.
Now the problem was I was hooked on herding but only had one other dog. I never tried herding with her since she has hip dysplasia & I figured she wouldn't be able to keep up with the sheep. A friend suggested I try Carissa on ducks. Well, lo & behold she took right to them & has never looked back. Ducks are much harder to work than sheep since the slightest movement by the dog or handler can change their direction. Carissa & I entered our first ASCA trial a couple of weeks ago & she qualified & placed 2nd her first day. The second day we couldn't get the ducks moving & didn't get around the course to qualify. She needs one more qualifying run to get her first title, STD-d, (Started Trial Dog-ducks).
In April I got a new puppy Danny, who comes from a strong herding background.
I started him on ducks & recently tried him on sheep. He took to both readily & looks like he's going to be a great herding prospect.
There are four different organizations offering herding trials; AKC, ASCA, AHBA
& ISDS. All of them have different requirements for dogs to qualify for titles. There are basically two different types of herding dogs, those who tend the stock by keeping it in
a certain area & those who bring the stock to the handler.
If anyone has a herding dog & is interested in seeing if they have the instinct to herd the AKC offers an instinct test, as do many herding dog clubs. The web also has a lot of information or you may contact me.

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A Message from the University Librarian

This fall seems to be even busier for many of us than the fall semester normally is. The Library is undertaking a great range of new activities, and contemplating others, while at the same time we take stock of how we carry out our core, regular, daily services. News of a major collection space management initiative to support our basic services appears separately below.

Recent news includes the award of a grant of just over $400,000 by the Mellon Foundation, to support the Library in leading a campus-wide "Collections Collaborative". Richard Szary will lead this effort to find and create new ways of bringing collections together, crossing institutional boundaries, for use in research and teaching at Yale. Supported by a committee established by the Provost, the project will invite initiatives from all of Yale's collection-based units, including the Art Gallery, the British Art Center and the Peabody Museum. It is a wonderful opportunity for the Library to take the lead in making the University's collection assets more visible and more widely used.

I am also delighted that we are now moving into the active design phase for the renovation of Cross Campus Library and Machine City. The appointment of architect Thomas Beeby, a former Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, and his firm Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge, is exciting news. We are now working towards the summer of 2006 as the date by when we hope construction can begin. This will impose a challenging timetable for clearing CCL, and I hope to report sometime in the next few months on firm plans for its temporary move. The clearance and construction project, under the direction of Danuta Nitecki, are supported by special funds, not from the Library's central budget. But great resources of time and staff expertise will be needed. The end result will be a greatly enhanced, flexible space designed as an intensive-use library to accommodate changing modes of study and learning now and for decades into the future.

Building on successful implementation of many priorities in the Strategic Plan, we are now moving forward to put in place some more specific goals and measures against certain of our action plans. These will help us all to see how well the Library is doing, to take pride in achievements and aspire to further progress; and also, equally important, to understand what we need to do more efficiently, how to accommodate our new work alongside our present services, and what we have to defer until resources permit. We will become progressively more accountable to each other, and to the university and all Library users, for the way we put our resources to work. We are working in a context of university-wide enhancements to the support services that underpin Yale as a leading world-class university; and many of you have sent in valuable comments to the website at http://www.whynot.net/yale/. We are also part of the North American community of research libraries which, through the membership of the Association of Research Libraries, is re-examining how we account to our respective constituencies and how we compare our services among each other.

You will hear much more about our approach to evaluating our work at both the institutional and the individual level. All Library staff are being closely consulted, for example, by the Performance Appraisal System Committee led by Chris Weideman, and I do encourage you to keep in touch with its progress, and its schedule of meetings with departments, at http://www.library.yale.edu/lhr/pasc/ . Yale University Library is one of the Yale units that has led the way in supporting staff through learning plans, and by seeking to introduce clarity and accountability in its evaluation and promotion systems. In parallel with the PASC committee, a committee led by Susan Burdick and Patricia Thurston is making recommendations for promotion criteria for M&P staff. As we make progress on this front, the Library is seen as an organization that supports and promotes the professionalism of all its staff, provides continuing training and support for good management, and gives everyone an environment in which they can excel and celebrate high performance.

Alice Prochaska

Library in Focus

Medical Library

New Furniture in the Medical Library

The library as a physical place continues to be important in an electronic era. New carpeting, furniture, lamps and paintings have transformed the stack level in the Medical Library into a marvelous study and collaborative area for library users. The comfortable sofas and chairs provide a refuge for all Medical Center staff. Visit this newly renovated area next time you are in the Library.

Did You Know?

HR in Focus

If you have a Learning Plan success that you would like to share, contact Shaundolyn Slaughter at 432-1810.

For more information on the Learning Plan go to: http://www.library.yale.edu/training/stod/learningplan.html

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Library Jobs Available Click Here for Jobs

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Wellness in Focus

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Thanksgiving Special

As American as Pumpkin Pie
by Karin Goldstein, Curator of Original Collections, Plimoth Plantations

A November afternoon, 1910… Two immigrant factory workers are eating lunch. “Marcella,” says one woman to her friend, “why do we have this Thursday as a day off?” “I don’t know,” her friend replies. “Something about the chicken holiday.” This is how the mother of one Plymouth resident was introduced to Thanksgiving.

This tradition of American culture must have seemed bewildering to newcomers. As reformers pondered how to teach new immigrants how to become good Americans, many looked to examples from the past. Since the early 20th century, the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving have been used to teach both new Americans and school children about American history and values. This is just one of many ways that people have looked at the holiday over time.

For the complete article please visit http://www.plimoth.org/learn/history/thanksgiving/pumpkinpie.asp

Think Now

2005 ONLINE OPEN ENROLLMENT: OCTOBER 18 - NOVEMBER 16

The online process for the 2005 Annual Open Enrollment is now underway. You may review and/or update your medical and/or dental programs and enroll in a Flexible Spending Account at the Employee Self-Service website: http://www.yale.edu/hronline/selfservice/

The entire open enrollment process - including reviewing your existing benefits and making any necessary changes - can be handled online. This is an easy and convenient way to make enrollment changes for 2005. Employees can simply log on at http://www.yale.edu/hronline/selfservice.

Your Yale Net ID is required to log on to the secure site. Once online,you can access your personal benefits statement, view dependent data and make changes to your health insurance and flexible spending benefits for 2005.

ONLINE PERSONAL STATEMENT OF BENEFITS
Again this year, you can obtain an electronic version of your Annual Statement of Benefits, which shows detailed information regarding your existing benefit elections and their value for the current calendar year.

BENEFITS CHANGES FOR 2005
The following changes will be effective for the 2005 calendar year:
* NEW CENTURY PREFERRED PLAN FOR FACULTY/M&P
* ANTHEM REPLACES CIGNA FOR TWO DENTAL PLANS
* NEW DENTAL RATES FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2005

For full details on these changes, go to the Benefits website at:http://www.yale.edu/hronline/benefits/news.html

OPEN ENROLLMENT DEADLINES
The deadline for making changes to your health or dental plan is November 16

The deadline for enrolling in a Flexible Spending Account is December 17

All enrollment changes are effective January 1, 2005.

Note: there will be a brief outage from October 29 at 5:00 pm through November 1 at 8:00 am, due to a scheduled system upgrade. If you have any questions or comments, please email benefits.office@yale.edu.

If you are not making changes to your medical and/or dental programs, you should still logon to view your existing benefit plans and to verify your home address and dependent information.

Rates and program brochures are online at:http://www.yale.edu/hronline/benefits/oe_2005.html

Additional assistance is available by clicking on any of the Help buttons on the website.

When you are ready to begin, go to this link:http://www.yale.edu/hronline/selfservice/

Wellness Now

Given that many of us may not be receiving our customary flu vaccines this year, the commonsense methods of preventing the spread of the flu will be even more important than usual. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has an excellent website devoted entirely to flu information at:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

A handy guide to such simple but effective preventative methods as frequent handwashing, avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth, covering your cough, and staying home when sick can be reached at:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/stopgerms.htm

Other extensive information about flu, including recent news headlines and links to many sites with highly specific information on chronic conditions that may interact with flu, can be found at
the influenza page of MedlinePlus (created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health).

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/influenza.html

~Diane Ducharme

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Library Links is published throughout the year to acquaint the Library Employees and others of events in the Yale Libraries. Please direct comments and questions to Sharon Tarascio, Editor, Library Human Resources, Sterling Memorial Library phone: 432-1810, email: sharon.tarascio@yale.edu Copyright 2004© Yale University Library A Library Human Resource Publication Send all comments to the Editor, Sharon Tarascio If you would like something or someone featured in the next Library Links, please contact me at sharon.tarascio@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. ~Tanya Allen~Marybeth Bean~Susan Brady~Diane Ducharme~Robin Gordon~Andrew Gray~Claire Halloran~Emily Horning~Randy Main~Julie Niemeyer~Lynn Sette~Pedro Soto~George Stranz~Ceasar Zapata~

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This file last modified 11/01/04
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