Newman Library

On October 22, Newman Library welcomed Professor Wu Zhirong , Deputy Director of Shanghai Normal University Library for a half-day visit.  The City University of New York has initiated a librarian exchange program with Shanghai Normal University and Newman Library will serve as one of the host sites.  He is pictured below (right) with Professor Sheau-yueh Chao, Newman Library’s Head of Cataloging.

According to his biography: “Wu Zhirong has been Deputy Director of Shanghai Normal University Library since 1993.  In 2002, he was appointed Professor. He graduated from Shanghai Normal University in 1981, majoring in library science.  He attended the Eastern China Normal University Graduate School of Library Information Science and received a Master’s degree in 1987.  Professor Wu has published over fifty articles, authored two books, and edited two more.  In 1996 he chaired the International Symposium on Information Resources and Social Development at Wuhan University, and in 2008 the Forum on Library Collections and Publishing at Shanghai Normal University.

Professor Wu’s book, Digital Library:  From Concept to Reality, is the first specialized work on building a digital library in the Chinese library profession.  It has been cited over 270 times.  Library professionals have named his book one of the ten best in the archives of library information science.  Due to its high citation rate, Professor Wu’s book has been selected by Report of the Impact of Humanities and Social Sciences on Scholarship, 2001-2004 as one of the highest cited books in information and archival management.

Professor Wu has been a forerunner in the study of digital information exchange, evident in his manuscript, Virtual and Reality:  Study of Digital Information Exchange.  He also completed a digital information study project for the Shanghai Education Commission. Further, Professor Wu is also assistant director of the Publication and Translation Committee of the Shanghai Library Association.  He also serves as a specialist responsible for reviewing articles submitted to the Journal of Library Information Science.  Lastly, Professor Wu is a member of the Municipal Committee for Evaluation of Senior Professional Titles in Library and Information Science.”

Photo: Courtesy of R. Phillips

Update:  Professor Cane’s lecture is available for viewing from the Digital Media Library.

The Newman Library will present a lecture by Professor David Cane, of Brown University, entitled “The World War II Letters of Lawrence Cane” (CCNY ’35). Professor Cane will be speaking about his father who served in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Professor Cane is the author of a book about his father called Fighting Fascism in Europe.

Date:  November 4, 2009

Time:  2:00-3:30

Place: Information and Technology Building,151 East 25^th Street,Room: 763

For more information please contact Professor Sandra Roff at 646 312 1623.

Professor Randy Hensley, the Newman Library’s Head of Instruction, is the co-Principal Investigator of a research project that has been awarded $249,000 by the Institute of Museum and Library Studies.   Professor Hensley became involved in the development of the project, “Pathways to Excellence and Achievement in Research and Learning (PEARL)”, while he was working at the University of Hawaii (UHM).  Although he is now at Baruch College, he will continue to participate in the project with his UHM colleagues Dr. Violet Harada, Margit Watts and Michael-Brian Ogawa.

The following is the abstract of the project as published on the IMLS web site:

Faculty and librarians at the University of Hawaii (UHM) will design, implement, and assess a team-based model of professional development for high school librarians and teachers collaborating to help high school students construct rigorous, inquiry-focused, capstone research projects. The UHM team will cooperate with the Hawaii Department of Education and the Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education to address the “expectation gaps” between the standards students must meet to earn a high school diploma and the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in their post-high school pursuits. The gaps identified include many 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, interpreting information, and analytic reasoning. The project will produce a training guide that can be used to create similar professional development programs, including training agendas, instructional materials, and recommended resources. The end goal of this three-year initiative is to produce a replicable model of professional development that may be used in other training contexts.

In response to requests from Baruch students for additional access to computers on campus, the Baruch Computing and Technology Center (BCTC) has opened an extension of its main computing lab on the second floor of the Newman Library.  The 58 computers in this satellite facility have the same software that is found in the main lab and assistance is provided by BCTC lab staff who wear yellow vests.  The area is managed by the BCTC, therefore users should direct questions to BCTC lab staff.  Due to software license restrictions, the BCTC lab computers may only be used by current Baruch College students, faculty and staff.  In addition to housing the BCTC satellite lab, the library provides 28 computers of its own on the second floor for library users who only need access to online library resources and the Internet.

Preventive maintenance continues on the façade of the Information and Technology Building, 151 East 25th Street. The required work has experienced delays due to weather and material delivery. The anticipated completion will be in November, at which time the protective platform erected over the sidewalk will be removed.

The Newman Library has collaborated with Baruch College’s Management Department to create an online simulation game entitled “Industry Islands” that teaches business students how to effectively use Porter’s Five Forces model to analyze an industry. In the game, users assume the role of a consultant and conduct an analysis of the brewery industry.The project leads were Professors Louise Klusek (Library) and Mehmet Genc (Management).

Undergraduate Student Government has selected the library’s extended building hour period for Fall 2009 mid-term examinations. For Baruch students, the library will be open continuously from 7:00 am on October 14th through 11:59 pm on October 21^st.

The Newman Library will host a traveling exhibit from the National Braille Press honoring the bicentennial of the birth of Louis Braille.  The exhibit, “Louis Braille: Celebrating 200 Years of Braille”, will be on display on the second floor of the library November 23 – December 23, 2009.  The exhibit will also include items created by the Baruch College Computer Center for Visually Impaired People that won the Center’s Director, Dr. Karen Gourgey, the inaugural Touch of Genius prize.  In conjunction with the exhibit, On December 3 at 6:00 p.m. C. Michael Mellor will deliver a talk based on his award winning biography, Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius.

On September 25, 2009 Chief Librarian, Arthur Downing testified before the Higher Education Committee of the City Council as part of the Committee’s oversight hearings on the rising cost  of textbooks for CUNY students.  He reported to the Committee on several Baruch College initiatives that are designed to assist students with the financial burden of getting access to their required readings.  One is the CUNY Textbook Initiative that enabled the Newman Library to increase its collection of textbooks by 500 titles.  In the first month of operation the library’s reserve desk has processed almost 6,000 loans of books purchased through this program.

The brick repointing that is currently underway is required by NYC Local Law #11 as life and safety preventive maintenance.  The work was originally scheduled for completion before the start of the Fall 2009 semester.  However, the unusually heavy rains this summer delayed the work, so that now the completion date is the end of October.  Library users who are disturbed by the noise are encouraged to use the areas of the building without the scaffolding.