September 2005

Volume 40
Back Issues: Past Library Links Articles

In this Issue

New Library Staff

Cheri Cercone
Manuscripts and Archives
Library Services Assistant
08/02/05

Kathrine Aydelott
Library Administrative Services
Manager
08/08/05

Christopher Leland
Catalog Department
Catalog Assistant
08/08/05

Kelly Hovendick
Social Science Library and Information Services
Librarian
08/15/05

Jessica Slawski
Library Administrative Services
Research Assistant
08/15/05

Michael Colavolpe
Library Administrative Services
Administrative Associate
08/15/05

Fei Huang
East Asia Collection
Catalog Assistant
08/15/05

Transferring Staff

Margaret Seca
Library Service Assistant
Access Services

Departing Staff

Kate Ganski
Beinecke Library
Catalog Assistant
07/29/05

Catherine Schindler
Beinecke Library
Library Services Assistant
07/28/05

Michelle Rubino
Access Services
Library Services Assistant
07/20/05

Dayan Fitzpatrick
Human Resources
Administrative Assistant
07/08/05

Randolph Main
Technical Services
Senior Administrative Assistant
07/08/05

Cindy Zwies
Cataloging
Librarian
06/30/05

Nicole Bouche
Beinecke Library
Librarian
04/30/05

Staff In Focus

Librarian Promotions

Dear colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to announce the Librarians on the staff of the Yale University Library who have been promoted in this year’s promotion review process, and to offer them warmest congratulations:

From Librarian I to II
Kathleen Burns, Beinecke Library
Michael Forstrom, Beinecke Library
Kevin Glick, Manuscripts and Archives
Abdul Ahad Hannawi, Near Eastern Collection
Dana Peterman, Social Science Libraries and Information Services

From Librarian II to III
Ellen Doon, Beinecke Library
Todd Fell, Catalog Department Rare Book Team
Marsha Garman, Acquisitions (formerly Integrated Library Technical Services)
Jae Rossman, Arts Libraries

From Librarian III to IV
Toby Appel, Historical Medical Library
Suzanne Eggleston Lovejoy, Music Library
Andrew Shimp, Engineering Library
Dajin Sun, Catalog Department

From Librarian IV to V
Kendall Crilly, Music Library
Margaret Powell, Lewis Walpole Library
Martha Smalley, Divinity Library
Christine Weideman, Manuscripts and Archives

********************

These staff have notched up impressive records of contribution to the Library, and its users and the profession. Their dossiers have made wonderful reading.

Librarians at an early stage of their careers, promotion to Librarian II, are praised for important contributions in innovative fields: archiving electronic and audio-visual materials, tackling large archival collections with apparently limitless patience for the bibliographic challenges, taking over quality control for digital images, conceptualizing the Library’s approach to electronic records in a new way, taking joy in the exact and detailed cataloging of rare material at the same time as sustaining excellent rates of production, and attending to the development of staff with imagination and sensitivity. Levels of professional engagement outside the Library are high, including membership of national bodies and contributions to professional publications; and these librarians are also contributing to important professional and staffing committees within the Library.

The dossiers of those promoted to Librarian III show impressive evidence of sustained professional development, and major contributions to the Library’s work. Researching external collections in the process of cataloging one of our own, to piece together fragmentary information that greatly enhances scholarly understanding; revising practice manuals; developing new web pages that will help resolve cataloging problems in the future; deploying rare language skills to unlock previously inaccessible collections; writing the specifications to fix Voyager’s record-loading process, analyzing problems and providing solutions; revitalizing an entire area of the Library’s collections through energetic exhibition programs, responding with grace and enthusiasm to faculty suggestions, and cultivating good relations with artists and dealers. All of these people have exhibited exceptional dedication to their work. They have devoted time also to serving on Library committees, engaging in additional training, and furthering the development of their colleagues through work on SCOPA.

At the level of promotions to librarian IV, there is also a rich crop of talent to celebrate. Some of these librarians engage with the Yale community regularly by teaching and publishing in their fields of academic expertise as well as providing library and bibliographic instruction. They have developed instructional resources on behalf of the Library, produced distinguished work at a national and international level, and at the same time, worked on an extraordinary range of Library committees and working groups. In addition to stellar performances in teaching and training, they are praised for their high volume of output, for redesigning web sites, and for important bibliographic publications. Here are some of the phrases used by their referees: “an outstanding resource who has made the collections visible and vital through deft management”; “exceptional mastery” shown by an “exemplary reference librarian” who has contributed to the development of faculty members’ own research ideas; “in my 53 years in academia I myself have not met any librarian whom I would rank higher”; and “a wonderful job in rebuilding the Team… and providing the highest quality training and support” while at the same time producing a bibliography which is “a landmark in the field”.

And then there are the senior promotions, to the rank of Librarian V. Here, we hear of “an extraordinary record of enthusiastic, energetic leadership within the fields of … librarianship, teaching and performance” with “a significant impact on [the] peer group”. Another set of comments refers not only to the individual’s leadership and continuing exceptional performance in the field, but again, to a significant impact on the relevant field of studies at Yale. Membership of national and international bodies makes a significant contribution to the reputation of Yale University Library. In another case, international work involves training and teaching in far-flung parts of the world, as well as “helping to shape the future of the Library in ways that far surpassed the parameters of the job description”. A junior librarian/archivist in another library comments on one individual’s mentoring work: “I feel honored by x’s willingness to help me grow as an archivist”, and this same individual has won national recognition for designing workshops and training tools, and publications on professional standards in different aspects of the field. The Promotion Review Committee writes of one successful candidate for promotion to Librarian V that they have demonstrated “not only a deep, powerful and long-sustained mastery of … librarianship but also made multiple important contributions to Yale and to the international [specialist] library community”. Another candidate is described as “a prominent member of the national professional community”.

I have found it both exhilarating and humbling, this year as I have done every year of my tenure so far at Yale, to read of my colleagues’ extraordinary energy and accomplishments. Once again, I would like to extend to all the librarians promoted this year, my warmest personal congratulations, as well as deepest thanks for their contribution to the Library and Yale University.

Finally, I wish to thank the Promotion Review Committee, chaired by George Miles, for their outstanding work and careful attention to the Library’s standards for promotion. As I have stated in the past, it is one of the most demanding committee tasks in the Library, and I am deeply grateful to see the work done so well.

Please join me in congratulating all those who have been promoted.

Alice Prochaska

Managerial Promotions

Dear colleagues,

It gives me very great pleasure to announce that the following members of M&P Library staff have been promoted with effect from September 1, 2005:

Band I to Band II
Cesar Zapata, Law Library

Band II to Band III
Marybeth Bean, Kline Science Library
Susan Burdick, Divinity Library
Martha Clark, Law Library
Cindy Greenspun, Access Services
Rebecca Hamilton, Acquisitions
Judith Parker, Access Services
Patricia Simon, Acquisitions
Lisa Thomas, Access Services
Susan Tucker, Acquisitions

Band III to Band IV
Roy Bohlander, Library Business Office
Bernadette Cioffi, Library Human Resources

Band IV to Band V
Deborah McGraw, Library Business Office

********************

The recommendations of the Promotion Review Committee document an extraordinary range of work undertaken by these members of staff. They plan and coordinate departmental workloads, hire, train and supervise staff, administer budgets, analyze statistical reports on the Library’s work, manage coverage of busy service desks, design restructured systems, deal with building renovations, support Library-wide changes in grading and performance appraisal, carry out delicate negotiations, provide for effective document delivery, put in place enhanced protection for rare items in the Library’s collections, develop their own and their co-workers’ expertise in specialist areas of Library work, manage the unceasing flow of new books into the Library and on to our shelves, identify savings, handle sensitive security issues, and much more.

In all the work they do, these dedicated professionals display qualities of leadership and team work that greatly enhance their contribution to the Library in all aspects of their jobs. They are praised by the Promotion Review Committee for their flexibility, their readiness to initiate and adopt change, their engagement in professional development for themselves and their staff, their commitment to the values of high-quality service, and their sensitivity to personnel issues. I am proud to work with these managers.

I also wish to comment on this first year of the new promotion review process for Managerial and Professional staff. Until this year the Library had no systematic review process whereby individuals on the M&P grades could be promoted on the basis of their own performance. Job progression was attained by re-grading a position, rather than as a recognition of excellent performance. I salute the Managerial Performance and Promotion Committee (MPPC) led by Patricia Thurston and sponsored by Diane Turner for designing the new bands, which are closely parallel to those of the Librarian grades, and putting in place the new promotion process. Their web site is at http://www.library.yale.edu/lhr/mppc/.

Finally, I extend heartfelt thanks to all members of the promotion Review Committee: Patricia Thurston (chair) Dolores Cullen, John Gallagher, Roy Lechich, Regina Romero and Alan Solomon. They worked very hard to implement this new process with all the rigor and objectivity that is essential for a good, fair, and consistent promotion system. They read reams of documentation with close attention, advised honestly and objectively, observed total confidentiality, and altogether set a high standard for the process in future years.


Alice Prochaska
September 8 2005

Staff in Focus: Hannah Bennett
by Tanya Angell Allen

As part of Hannah Bennett's preparation for a paper on the popular Law and Order TV show--which she presented at the Mid Atlantic Popular Culture Conference last November--Bennett did an experiment to see how many hours of Law and Order she could watch in one week.

The answer was thirty hours.

When asked how many hours of Law and Order she had watched in addition to these thirty hours throughout the rest of her research-period, Bennett replied that she'd rather not answer that question, as she was too embarrassed.

Bennett is currently a Public Services Librarian at the Arts Library, and previously worked as a Reference and Research Librarian at the Art Institute of Chicago. She has a Masters in Library Science from the University of Illinois and a Masters in Medieval Studies from the University of York U.K. During the past academic year she also gave a paper at the University of London on William Morris' trips to Iceland, plus another for the New England Library Instruction Group on how to determine studio artist's research needs.

Bennett, who refers to the three current Law and Order shows as "visual nicotine," began her research on the show when she moved to New Haven in January 2004. She describes Law and Order as a relaxing form of entertainment and a "cerebral release." Watching the show is comparable to completing a Monday New York Times crossword puzzle, she says, explaining that the Monday puzzles are not as challenging as the puzzles that paper runs on Saturdays, but one still enjoys completing them.

Bennett is disturbed, however, by the way that the shows simplify complicated issues. In her paper she writes of how "The storylines of all the Law and Order shows converge a dire, traumatic, private event with a palatable, public collective space. Consequently much of the appeal of the Law and Order shows is that in this chaotic, irrational world of heinous offenses, complicated legal tactics, and grisly crime scenes, the offense is resolved with detachment and evenness."

She also talks of how, like the show ER, Law and Order is an example of America's preoccupation with "wound culture." Bennett quotes Cornell English Professor Mark Seltzer, author of Serial Killers: Death and Life in America's Wound Culture, in saying that in these TV shows "the world, half meat and half machinery, is in a perpetual state of emergency."

Weary of wound culture, Bennett has finally broken her Law and Order addiction. Since presenting her paper she has ceased watching the show. She has cut down to the most basic cable service, which contains no TNT, USA, or A & E--all shows which regularly carry reruns of the series.

She instead spends her spare time watching documentaries, getting through her pile of back issues of the New York Review of Books, and getting to know the New Haven community.

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Library In Focus

Illuminating Tales: The Art of Mark Podwal

Many original works by renowned artist Mark Podwal, are currently on display as part of an enticing new exhibit in Sterling Memorial Library. “Illuminating Tales: The Art of Mark Podwal”, is being co-sponsored by Yale University Library’s Judaica and Arts of the Book Collections, both housed in Sterling Memorial Library. Podwal, a native New Yorker who is also Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology at New York University School of Medicine, was a gifted artist even as a child. As he states in his own words,

"It started with an illness, perhaps just a 'bad cold’ that caused me to miss the first days of kindergarten. As a result, my name was not on the class roster. When my teacher read out the attendance list, as she did every morning, my name was never called. Until the day my teacher noticed my drawing of a train, I was invisible to her. And so it seemed to me, at the age of five, that my existence depended on my art."

Podwal has certainly enjoyed a prestigious career so far. His drawings have appeared in the New York Times since 1972. He has authored and illustrated a number of books including Jerusalem Sky, A Book of Hebrew Letters, A Jewish Bestiary and A Sweet Year. He has also collaborated with such authors as Elie Wiesel, Cynthia Ozick, Francine Klagsbrun and Francine Prose. While noted for his drawings and gouache acrylic paintings, Podwal has also been involved in special projects that include designs for the Congressional Gold Medal presented by President Reagan to Elie Wiesel, an Aubusson tapestry in collaboration with Gloria Ross for Temple Emanu-El in New York City and a seder plate for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His art has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, among others. His work is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Harvard Fogg Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, among many others. He is represented by Forum Gallery. Currently, he is being honored by Random House Publishers as the “Kid’s Author Spotlight of the month” for August 2005. Harold Bloom has written, "Mark Podwal, in every sense, is an illuminator”.

The exhibit includes original paintings, drawings, and prints, many of which were used as book illustrations. Books including the work of Podwal and other media to which his artwork has been adapted are also on display. The exhibit includes a section highlighting some of the books Podwal illustrated for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Elie Wiesel. A special reception to celebrate the exhibit and the art of Mark Podwal will be held on September 27th from 4-5pm in the Sterling Memorial Library lecture hall. Elie Wiesel will be attending the event and giving a few remarks to honor his great friend. The exhibit is open to the public until the end of October.

For further information about the exhibit or reception, please contact: Nanette Stahl at: nannette.stahl@yale.edu or Jae Rossman at: jae.rossman@yale.edu

"Come and Read" (page 51) from Wiesel, Elie. King Solomon and His Magic Ring. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1999.

Event Highlights

Red Cross Blood Drive -- Results

The Library Staff Association and the American Red Cross would like to thank everyone who participated in yesterday's blood drive. We collected 38 pints of viable blood and had 9 deferrals (usually due to low iron or other temporary conditions). This is great and due to our participation, we can save up to 84 lives!!

Thanks again,
The Library Staff Association

Library Committee Fair

The Communications Committee and LiSA sponsored the Library Committee Fair on June 14, 2005. Many library staff members attended to learn more about the Communications Committee, Cross-Training Committee, Joint Departmental Committee, Library Links, Library Staff Association, Service Quality Improvement Council, Staff Training and Organizational Development, and the Standing Committee on Professional Awareness. Attendees enjoyed refreshments and entered to win door prizes. Lyte Bytes also sponsored workshops about effective committee participation. The fair was a great way to ask committee members about their work and to express interest in being involved in it.

Ice Cream Social

Field Day

A wide view of the Lighthouse Park's pavilion, where our 2005 Library Staff Field Day took place this past July 23rd

A display of some of the delicious cakes and pies, provided by some staff members for our annual library staff field day

Did you Know?

Michael Colavolpe Michael Colavolpe began work on Monday August 15 as the Administrative Associate in Alice Prochaska's office. Michael rejoins Yale after living for four years in Orlando, Florida, where he entertained countless tourists as a performer at Universal Studios, designed web sites freelance, and served as office manager for a local scientific firm. He worked for several years previously in the Medical and Nursing Schools at Yale. We are absolutely delighted that he has decided to come to work for us. He will be managing Alice's office, including scheduling Alice's calendar, and he joins the team of Diana Timlin, Amanda Patrick and Alice working on communications and development for the benefit of the Library system as a whole.

HR in Focus

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New Human Resources Staff Members

Sarah Pavlick My current position at Yale University is as an Administrative Assistant in Library Human Resources at the Sterling Memorial Library. The general purpose for my position is to provide administrative support to the Library Human Resources staff with emphasis on information processing, customer service, scheduling and coordinating activities, and clerical support. I found myself in the position of returning to the workforce, after taking time off to have children, at a time when a job opening came available in Library Human Resources. My current position in Library Human resources is the same position I held in 1986-1988. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to return to a job, and a place, with such a dedicated, supportive, and flexible group of people I have ever worked with. Hobbies: My Children Animals Horseback Riding Gardening

Julie K Cohen I started as Office Assistant II in the Library Human Resources at the Sterling Memorial Library on August 23, 2005. I have previously worked as an office assistant in an architecture firm and worked with elementary school children during summer school programs as a teacher's aide. I am studying towards a B.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing. Hobbies: Music Photography Longboarding

Upcoming Events

In 1918 an important announcement gave the first news of a spectacular bequest that would bring significant transformation to the center of the Yale campus. John William Sterling, a wealthy Yale alumnus, had bequeathed $17 million with the only stipulation that Yale build “at least one enduring, useful and architecturally beautiful edifice, which will constitute a fitting memorial of my gratitude to and affection for my Alma Mater.” At the time, University Librarian Andrew Keogh was coping with a collection that had doubled in size since 1905 to over one million volumes, and the University decided that the principal memorial should be Sterling Memorial Library.

Seventy-five years later, preparations are now underway to mark the anniversary of Sterling Memorial Library and to celebrate the work of the entire University Library system, now housed in some twenty-two buildings. The inaugural event will be the opening of a special exhibit in Sterling Memorial Library at the beginning of September. Curated by Judith Ann Schiff, Chief Research Archivist at Yale University Library, the exhibit of materials from Manuscripts and Archives will feature selected renderings by the architect, James Gamble Rogers, photographs of clay models of the ornamental sculpture by René Chambellan and stained glass windows by Owen Bonawit, and letters and documents by University Librarian Andrew Keogh, Yale President James R. Angell, and early champions of the library. A selection of photographs, including the depiction of various stages of the interior and exterior construction of the library and documentation of the opening and dedication and the founding of the Yale Library Associates in 1930, will all be on display.

By the opening of the academic year 1930/31, Sterling Memorial Library, although not officially completed, was in operation. For nearly twelve years university administrators, librarians, and faculty had worked cooperatively with the architect, James Gamble Rogers, to create the finest library possible and a "fitting memorial" to its benefactor John William Sterling, Yale 1864. For Andrew Keogh and his staff, it was an enormous task to organize a central library from three core buildings and collections scattered throughout the campus. His only disappointment was that his request for a 5 million-volume facility resulted in only 3.5 million. In 1930 the library with a seating capacity for 2000 readers was completed at an expenditure of nearly $8 million, with an additional maintenance fund of $2 million provided by the Sterling Trustees.

While the building was taking shape, English professor Chauncey Brewster Tinker worked to encourage the donation of collections and funds. In a landmark address to the alumni in 1924, the beloved professor stated: “There are three distinguishing marks of a university: a group of students, a corps of instructors, and a collection of books, and of these three the most important is the collection of books.” He reminded the alumni that no university or civilization could exist without “the recorded thought of the past,” and recounted Keogh’s fear that the magnificence of the library building would overshadow its purpose. The librarian, only half in jest, had suggested that a motto be inscribed over the entrance, “This is not the Yale Library. That is inside.” Tinker then pointed out to those alumni whose primary interest was teaching rather than research, “you must have teachers here who are men and learned men,” and “a library of millions of volumes, with strange books in it, out-of-the-way books, rare books, and expensive books.” The alumni listened to Tinker and Keogh, and donated generously and thus the association of the “Yale Library Associates” was born.

Since the opening of the Old Library in the 1840s the collection had grown from 20,000 volumes to nearly 2,000,000 by the time Sterling Memorial Library opened in 1930. Carved by the entrance are the words, "The library is the heart of the university," and the heart of the library is the collection of originally forty books contributed by Yale's founding ministers. To honor them, the seventeen surviving volumes were hand-carried by librarians in a ceremonial procession from the old library and placed as the first books in the new library. As Sterling’s lofty book tower and inner spaces extended the observer’s vision, they also seemed to expand the concepts of what a great library might contain. New types of library materials were acquired including manuscript collections, maps, wartime ephemera, photographs, and sound recordings.

At the dedication in April 1931, President James Rowland Angell praised “the librarian, the architect, and the builder" who "conjured up a dream of surpassing majesty and then translated it into innumerable ingenious and gracious forms. Here is incarnate the intellectual and spiritual life of Yale." His vision of the library as “a very temple of the mind" has been fulfilled. For seventy-five years, Sterling Memorial Library has been and will continue to be the heart of the university, a magnetic force, attracting outstanding research materials and scholars and motivating their interaction in an inspirational setting.

The upcoming anniversary season will extend from October to April, marking both the opening and the dedication of the Sterling Memorial Library. The renowned historian David McCullough will give a special lecture entitled “The Heart of the University” on October 21st, to celebrate both the anniversary of the building and the 75th anniversary of the Yale Library Associates. In addition to the 75th exhibit, which will be on view until the end of January, the anniversary celebrations will also include a variety of other special events. The “Treasures of the Yale Library” series will include special tours, lectures and open days catering to students, faculty, staff and the general public.

For more information about the 75th Anniversary Exhibit, please contact judith.schiff@yale.edu
For more information about the ‘Treasures of the Yale Library’ anniversary events, please contact amanda.patrick@yale.edu

Yale Holiday Calendar

Learning Plan Highlights

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

HR Updates

Announcement of New Administrator for Tuition Reimbursement

As a member of the Yale Community, I am writing to inform you of two changes regarding the administration of the Tuition Reimbursement Program for employees. First, Yale University has contracted with Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Services, Inc. to provide program administration for the Tuition Reimbursement Program. And second, a streamlined approach for requesting reimbursement for doctoral programs will be implemented.
The decision to transfer the administration of tuition claim processing to ADP, an outside vendor, will allow the University to reduce and control operating costs and to leverage the systems and staffing expertise required to handle the volume of tuition transactions. ADP is one of the largest providers of employer services with more than 30 years experience. For more information about ADP, visit the company's web site at www.adp.com

NEW PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR

The Organizational Development & Learning Center “Learning Center” will transition the tuition reimbursement administrative responsibility to ADP. This change in program administration will provide the following comprehensive services:

• Reimbursement processing and fulfillment (payment)
• Program participant education and administrative support
• Services Center Support including a question and answer line
• Program related printed and/or electronic communications
• Program participant appeals service

Below is a timeline which describes the process for inquires and/or application submission to either the Learning Center or ADP:

APPLICATION PROCESS

Employees in pursuit of a doctoral level degree will no longer have to obtain supervisory approval. Therefore, employees are able to pursue all degree levels without supervisory approval. It is important to note, that the change to ADP, does not change the dollar limits on reimbursement.

For your records, attached are copies of the updated University Tuition Reimbursement Policy & Procedure documentation and the updated ADP Tuition Reimbursement Application. These materials are also available on line at www.yale.edu/learningcenter, Other Services.

Should you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact the Organizational Development & Learning Center at 203-432-5660 or learning@yale.edu.

Call for SCOPA Grant Applications

I would like to remind you that fall is the time to apply for a SCOPA (Standing Committee on Professional Awareness) grant. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2005. SCOPA grants support innovative research and investigative projects undertaken by members of the managerial and professional staff of the Yale University Library. The grants provide incentive and financial assistance for projects that contribute to the Yale library community via scholarly research, creative program applications, or feasibility/pilot studies. The program is administered by SCOPA.

Grants are awarded annually, with a call for proposals going out each fall. The winning proposals are announced by December 15. Awards are made for the calendar year that immediately follows the application period (e.g., grants announced in the fall/winter of 2005 will be effective from January through December of 2006). More information about SCOPA grants is available on the SCOPA website at:

http://www.library.yale.edu/scopa/grants/grantgui.html

Please be sure to follow the guidelines and instructions carefully when you submit your application.

Rowena Griem
Chair, SCOPA Grants Subcommittee

05-06 Casual Rates

Effective September 1, 2005, the minimum hourly rates for non- student casual employees performing work comparable to clerical and technical work are:

Student Employment Update

Student Rehires/Rate Change:
- Rehires are students who have worked the previous academic year and/or summer in the library.
- If it is a rate change, please indicate additional responsibilities that student will be assuming.

Student Terminations:
- Please submit terminations in a timely manner using the on-line student termination form. Be sure to include date of termination.

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