Greening Libraries / Greener Communities (4) – Afternoon Keynote – Majora Carter

The LACUNY Institute “Greening Libraries ==> Greener Communities” was held on Friday, October 31, 2008 at the Bronx Library Center, a branch of the New York Public Library. The conference was co-sponsored by the Library Association of the City University of New York and the New York Public Library. It received support from the New York Library Club, Springer, EBSCO and BUSCA.

Following the breakout sessions, the branch manager for the Bronx Library Center, Leslie Harrison, welcomed everyone back into the auditorium and gave some history of the notable building. Then Jennifer King, LACUNY Institute co-chair, introduced the final speaker of the day, Majora Carter. King took a moment to ask the audience to join her in wishing Carter a happy birthday.

Majora Carter is the founder of the Sustainable South Bronx, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and someone the BBC World Service as called “New York City’s most influential environmentalist.”
She opened with her audience of librarians in mind. Carter’s image featured on the cover of the Scholastic book, Boundary Breakers: Remarkable People was the opening backdrop as the keynote recalled her childhood love for the Hunts Point branch of the New York Public Library. She offered some family history, weaving the personal and the public. Her parents’ immigration from the south, redlining, white flight and >Robert Moses’ building of highways through the Bronx to connect Manhattan and the suburbs all figured into the story. Landord disinvestment, the torching and abandonment of apartment buildings and the demolition of playgrounds and school band programs all colored Carter’s childhood and led to the demise of the Bronx. The borough now supports 40% of New York City’s waste sewage plants and power plants. Carter notes that both race and class have determined environmental injustice. As a result of this dumping in the Bronx one in four children has asthma and many suffer from learning disabilities.

Carter began her worked to stop environmental racism when New York City decided to close the Fresh Kills garbage dump and build a sewage treatment plant in the Bronx to replace it. Carter joined with others to revitalized the south Bronx water front that had become a dump. A neighborhood that had been defined by crime and garbage could now be defined by emerging green spaces. She founded Sustainable South Bronx (SSB) and helped develop the Bronx greenway master plan. This plan will use $1.25 Million to create a park that will eventually unify islands of green spaces in the Bronx. SSB went on to develop the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program (BEST), the first green training program in the U.S. Carter noted that people in the Bronx, with a 25% rate of unemployment, could be trained to do waterfront restoration, tree trimming, etc. Young people are being steered towards employment and away from prison. She illustrated how transformative BEST has been for the community with the story of how a young man trained in tree pruning became a social scientist when he realized that trimming trees let a street light flood an area that formerly had been a dark place where drug dealers lurked. Tree trimming led to crime reduction. Because the South Bronx has been used for so long as a dumping ground for other people’s waste, Carter and SSB have asked their community to look into this waste and think of ways they can use what is there. Young people have been trained in carpentry so that wooden palates from the food industry have been turned into furniture.

The Sustainable South Bronx has worked creatively. Lacking funds to publicize the newly developed park, they used the simple device of a green line painted down a sidewalk to lead people to the park They started a green roof program that even included small vegetable gardens. SSB has partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to bring a Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab) to the Bronx. The goal of FabLab is “to bring ‘digital fabrication,’ the modern means of production, to ordinary people for solving community problems. Ideas are conceived and designed in the digital world, and can be realized in the physical world through the FabLab.”

Carter is hopeful that the South Bronx can be turned into an Eco Industrial Center. Job creation within a community coupled with the resources available in the community can turn things around. SSB had identified an area of the Bronx that would be ideal for creating an Eco Industrial Center but, unfortunately, New York City chose to use the same site for a 2000 bed prison. Carter offered the site Green For All for further investigation. Its goal is to create green jobs here in the U.S. Green for All, along with Carter’s own, newly created consulting firm, work to help businesses and communities to see their green potential. Majoracartergoup itself is currently working with Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to ally the threat of a rising sea level.

Carter closed on a very powerful note, imagining that Martin Luther King did not see a future of white or black or yellow or brown, but rather a future for all of green. Green meaning people living healthy and sustainable lives.

How librarians will carry on a greening mission is a work in progress and calls for persistence and creative thinking. The LACUNY/NYPL conference “Greening Libraries ==> Greener Communities contributed in its way to set this course in motion.

Following Majora Carter’s presentation, Jennifer King presented Carter with a certificate from LACUNY honoring the environmental activist for her contribution, as a non-librarian, to the work of LACUNY.

City University of New York University Librarian, Curtis Kendrick, wrapped up the day. Kendrick thanked the audience for coming and congratulated CUNY libraries for the role they are playing in the University with its greater efforts towards creating a more sustainable institution.

Greening Libraries / Greener Communities (3) – Afternoon Breakouts – Greening Funding, Greening Gadgets, Greening Buildings

The LACUNY Institute “Greening Libraries ==> Greener Communities” was held on Friday, October 31, 2008 at the Bronx Library Center, a branch of the New York Public Library. The conference was co-sponsored by the Library Association of the City University of New York and the New York Public Library. It received support from the New York Library Club, Springer, EBSCO and BUSCA.

The program broke at mid-day for a green box lunch that supported local business and included wraps served on plates made from recycled yogurt containers and cloth napkins (that were all collected after the meal to be saved for use at future events), fresh apples and cider from a New York State farm, and handy recycling and composting bins.

On hand were representatives from Con Edison and Springer. The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities had materials on display. A tour of the Bronx Library Center provided a chance to learn first hand how the green building was constructed and functions.

The first part of the afternoon program offered three breakout sessions.

Session A: Ines Sucre, Reference Librarian, Foundation Center, spoke about “Greening Funds.”
Efforts by libraries to retrofit for sustainablity could use a boost from some outside funding. This is where the Foundation Center can help. Sucre noted that the Center produces trend reports and offers free and fee-based services. Its partnerships with public library branches supply free access to its databases. Sucre recommended that the audience read the Philanthropy News Digest, available on the Center’s web site, and also check out the RFP Bulletin to get ideas about what kinds of requests for funding have been written in the past. Sucre pointed out that only 20% funders have web sites so they often go to the Foundation Center to post their RFPs. Other features of the Foundation Center worth examining include its blog (often the source of book reviews), the Foundation Center statistics, and archived webinars and videos.

The Foundation Center web site includes five search tools. The web site itself can be searched. The Catalog of Non-Profit Literature is a searchable database of the literature of philanthropy . The Foundation Finder allows a search by name for basic information about private and community foundations in the U.S. Sucre noted the Foundation Finder which is similar to a service available on the Guidestar web site and acknowledged that an advantage of using Guidestar is that their site also includes foundations that have not yet offered grants. The 990 Finder ) allows visitors to look up the IRS returns (Forms 990 and 990-PF) of private foundations, public charities, and other nonprofits When examining a potential donor, libraries should take a look at the 990-PF’s to see patterns of funding. Sucre directed the audience specifically to p, 11 to examine the grants list of the organization. Lastly, the Foundation Directory Online Subscription Service with monthly or annual subscription options allows you to search the databases of over 90,000 grantmakers and more than 900,000 grants. Although, as noted, some libraries offer access to the database, you can only save searches if you have a private account. Sucre encouraged participants to register on the web site and to be careful when searching to only get the subject areas of interest.

Libraries will be happy to learn that the Foundation Center currently has information for grants for preservation in libraries archives and museum. And libraries thinking green should investigate trends in environmental funding, historically a small area of philanthropy. Education gets most grant money. But the good news is that giving for the environment and animals rose 10% in 2006.
Sucre described the foundation landscape. Private foundations only fund other non-profits. There are three types of foundations: independent (most are like this), company-sponsored, and operating (usually non-grant making). Foundations are required to make a 5% payout. The current distribution of giving shows that 39% of foundations have given 26% of all the funding in 2006. Small foundations are better bets for project level funding. Sucre advices that since some foundations do not give to uninvited fund seekers, send a query letter first before sending a proposal.

Session B. The second session offered Pamela Lieber, Supervising Librarian of the Adult Collection, Bronx Library Center spoke about Greening Gadgets.

BLOGGER NOTE: WERE YOU THERE? IF SO, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD YOUR NOTES FROM THE SESSION TO OUR BLOG? Contact Beth Evans, bevans at brooklyn dot cuny dot edu and Beth will be happy to include your notes in the LACUNY blog.

Session C. The third breakout session was a panel on Greening Buildings. Speaking on the panel, moderated by Sarah Laleman Ward (Moderator), Outreach Reference & Instruction Librarian, Hunter College Library, CUNY, were Daniel Heuberger AIA, Dattner Architects, Jim Lloyd, Assistant Vice President of Campus Operations, Baruch College, CUNY and John Denham, DenhamWolf.

BLOGGER NOTE: WERE YOU THERE? IF SO, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD YOUR NOTES FROM THE SESSION TO OUR BLOG? Contact Beth Evans, bevans at brooklyn dot cuny dot edu and Beth will be happy to include your notes in the LACUNY blog.

Greening Libraries / Greener Communities (1) – Morning Keynote – Fred Stoss

The LACUNY Institute “Greening Libraries ==> Greener Communities” was held on Friday, October 31, 2008 at the Bronx Library Center, a branch of the New York Public Library. The conference was co-sponsored by the Library Association of the City University of New York and the New York Public Library.   It received support from the New York Library Club, Springer, EBSCO and BUSCA.

Registration, opportunities for mingling, coffee and Dunkin Donuts, donated by the local shop at Kingsbridge Road and East Fordham Road (thank you DD’s!) greeted the crowd of nearly 150 librarians and others on the lower level of the newly built, silver-LEED certified public library building.

Beth Evans, LACUNY President, welcomed the conference attendees with references to Halloween and a warning that the topic of the day might be “disturbing informative,” the motto of the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Rita Ormsby, conference committee member, menu organizer and composter extraordinaire then introduced Fred Stoss who gave the opening keynote.

Stoss is an Associate Librarian (Biological Sciences) in the Science and Engineering Library at the University at Buffalo. He was trained by Al Gore and The Climate Project to give presentations of Gore’s slide show. Many have seen the show in Gore’s award-winning documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, or learned its lesson in Gore’s book of the same title. Stoss’s presentation resembled, in part, Gore’s film, but for the librarians in the audience, Stoss had something special to offer. For instance, the audience learned that the book An Inconvenient Truth may be the second most influential environmental book since Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring. Additionally, Scholastic has published a version of the book for children.

The film, An Inconvenient Truth is known for its data and graphs. Stoss offered one of his own graphs showing how book and article retrieval on the topic “global warming” has been on a steady rise for the past decade and has shown spikes during presidential election years.

Stoss described the story of global warming as a four act play. He pointed to recent examples of dramatic climate change and its dire consequences. Exponential population growth and changes in technology are much to blame. Librarians were put on their guard to expect spikes in searches on the term “environmental refugee.” Moreover, according to Stoss, innocent victims of global warming are not the only ones on the run. Elected officials have been evading the truth of the science that spells an unfortunate future.

Everyday examples of products and their surprisingly long-reaching carbon footprints enlivened the presentation. Stoss pointed to the cost to the environment of producing Walkers Crisps, the British potato chip. Eleven million bags per day exhales 890 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Michael Specter also targets this chip in his well-known, March 2008 New Yorker article, Big Foot. Stoss referenced the article. Scientist and librarian Stoss offered the shopper some comfort to help them wash down the carbon-sticker shock of the chips. He notes that here are good guys, too, on the supermarket shelves. Consider buying beer from the Brooklyn Brewery which generates its own wind power.

The presentation pushed, in the end, to motivate the audience to affect change, to find “the will to do it.” Stoss encouraged libraries to incorporate sustainability into their mission statements and to reach out to the community and elected officials to see the library as a source of data for achieving sustainability goals locally. The library will always be suitable as a venue for teaching good green practices through book displays (Stoss has slides that suggest a number of popular titles), exhibits and lectures. Like any good librarian, Stoss suggested links and sources for further study including those for:

http://apolloalliance.org

“The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of business, labor, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in America to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that are destabilizing our climate, and expand opportunities for American businesses and workers.”

http://coolcities.us/

From the Sierra Club, “Solving Global Warming, One City at a Time.”

http://www.greenlibrarianbozeman.blogspot.com/

Catherine McMullen’s blog

http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=contentinfodetail&articleid=CA6599608

Library Journal Design Institute

http://www.cphlibrary.org/documents/about/environmental-flyer.pdf

Clifton Park Halfmoon Library, an exemplary “green” library

http://www.nyserda.org/About/default.asp

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) “focuses solely on research and development with the goal of reducing the State’s petroleum consumption.”

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/srrt/tfoe/lbsc/librariesbuild.cfm

ALA site for Libraries Build Sustainable Communities

A question and answer session followed Stoss’s presentation. One audience member was concerned about the possible conflict in building green vs. complying with fire codes. Stoss urged libraries that, despite a tendency to “do it yourself” when it comes to greening a building, be sure to bring in experts or be sure to follow code when making renovations.

There was some discussion about measuring the green value of using older preservation methods (such as microfilm) vs. the move towards electronic preservation. Which is more ecologically friendly? The cost of producing the electricity to allow the viewing of electronic resources needs to be taken into account when examining the environmental cost of producing paper or other preservation media.

Finally, Stoss suggested that there may be entrepreneurial opportunities in going green that could be most effective if libraries work together.

Google Chrome, Google Docs, and the Explosion of Cloud Computing

The LACUNY Emerging Technologies Committee is pleased to announce our Fall meeting:

Google Chrome, Google Docs, and the Explosion of Cloud Computing
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
10:00am-noon
CUNY Graduate Center, Rm. 6418

Our theme is cloud computing, and our rough agenda is:

• Google Chrome: Kevin Reiss will demonstrate Google’s new browser
• Google Docs: Jill Cirasella and Maura Smale will demonstrate some of the ways that Google Docs can be used for collaborative work
• Open discussion on cloud computing: here are a few recent pieces that we can use as a springboard for discussion:
  • A recent Pew report: http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/262/report_display.asp
  • An interview with Richard Stallman in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman
  • Reaction to the Stallman interview: http://blogs.computerworld.com/rms_hates_cloud_computing_says_you_should_too

Q&A and discussion are strongly encouraged throughout these informal presentations. We’ll be in a computer classroom, so we can all experiment with cloud applications during the meeting.

RSVP to Maura Smale (msmale [at] citytech [dot] cuny [dot] edu) or Jill Cirasella (cirasella [at] brooklyn [dot] cuny [dot] edu).

PSC-CUNY Grants Workshop, Thursday, September 18

The LACUNY Professional Development Committee presents the PSC-CUNY Grants Workshop on Thursday, September 18 from 10-noon in the 4th floor conference room of the Newman Library at Baruch College. CUNY librarians who won grants to fund their research will speak about the process of designing a research project and crafting a successful application. Come learn from your colleagues and get inspired to submit your own application.

Please RSVP to Anne Leonard, aleonard@citytech.cuny.edu

The Newman Library is located at 151 E. 25th Street, New York, NY. Directions to Baruch College are here.

LACUNY Institute – Spring, 2008 – “The World in Your Library”

Missed the program or want to hear it again? Catch up now:

Listen to a moderated panel of international academic librarians who share their experiences on key issues including intellectual freedom, user services and professional development.

Panelists include:

Julia Bock, Acquisitions Librarian at Long Island University, discusses library services in Hungary | bio | audio

Sergio Chaparro, Assistant Professor, Simmons College, discusses international librarianship as a discipline | bio | audio

Mumtaz Memon, Fulbright Scholar and Mortenson Center Associate from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology in Pakistan | bio | audio

Judith Mavodza, Information Specialist at Metropolitan College of New York, formerly of Masvingo State University in Zimbabwe | bio| audio

Also, hear Diana Bartelli Carlin, Dean-in Residence and Director of International Outreach at the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C. and Chair of the Bologna Process task Force of the NAFSA: Association of International Educators, discuss “The Bologna Accord and Its Impact on Higher Education in the United States” | bio | audio

LACUNY Instruction Committee event: Rethinking Relevance

At the request of Robert Farell, one of the co-chairs of the LACUNY Instruction Committee, I am passing along the details about a March 21 event.

Library Association of the City University of New York (LACUNY)
Instruction Committee Spring Program

“Rethinking Relevance – Technology and Pedagogical Points of View”
(FREE REGISTRATION)

Keynote Speaker:

Tom Eland
Chair of Information Studies, Minnesota Community and Technical College

Respondents:

Deborah Richman, Vice President, Collarity (Palo Alto, CA)
Ann Grafstein, Coordinator of Library Instruction, Hofstra University
Jeff Gutkin, Director of Academic Computing, Wagner College

When:

Friday, March 21, 2008 — 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
(Lunch will be provided following event)

Where:

Borough of Manhattan Community College
Richard Harris Terrace (main entrance level)
199 Chambers St.
New York, New York 10007

Mr. Eland will be speaking on how technology has impacted the role of librarians as “disciplinary discourse mediators.”

Mr. Eland is chair of his institution’s Information Studies department and is known for having one of the most developed and innovative information literacy programs in the country. Mr. Eland teaches liberal arts classes in Information Studies that critically analyze the claims of information society advocates; the role of the mass media, the alternative press, and dissident groups and ideas in shaping American society; and the history of ideas and print culture. He also teaches classes in, and coordinates, the MCTC Library Information Technology degree program.

Respondents include:

Deborah Richman, Vice President, Collarity (www.collarity.com)
Currently working in the area of search development at Collarity, a Palo Alto based social search engine developer, Ms. Richman is also a regular contributor to the website Search Engine Watch. She has been employed with Looksmart, and About.com among other companies and recently presented a paper at the 2007 Special Libraries Association Conference entitled “Social Search Comes of Age.”

Ann Grafstein, Coordinator of Library Instruction, Hofstra University
Ms. Grafstein (MLS, University of Western Ontario, Ph.D., McGill University) is the Coordinator of Library Instruction at Hofstra University. She has spoken on information literacy at scholarly conferences, and was an invited speaker at the 4th Annual Scientific Symposium in Frankfurt, Germany in 2004. Her article “A Discipline-Based Approach to Information Literacy” that appeared in the Journal of Academic Librarianship in 2002 received the 2004 ACRL Instruction Section Publication Award. Her article entitled “Information Literacy and Technology: An Examination of Some Issues” was published in portal: Libraries and the Academy in 2007.

Jeff Gutkin, Director of Academic Computing, Wagner College.
Previously he was the Instructional Design Librarian for Wagner College’s Horrmann Library. Having received his MLS from Queens College GSLIS, he is currently completing a PhD in Educational Psychology, with a focus in Learning, Development and Instruction at the CUNY Graduate Center and an “Interactive Technology and Pedagogy” certificate under the direction of Stephen Brier. He is also the production editor of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Library Instruction Round Table Newsletter.

RSVP by Friday, March 14 to:
Elizabeth Namei
email: enamei@lagcc.cuny.edu
phone: 718-482-6019

Teaching & Technology Conference

Baruch College’s eleventh annual Teaching & Technology Conference will be held on March 28, 2008. You can register online. I’ll be doing a presentation there with my colleagues here at Baruch who helped implement Bearcat Search, our federated search tool that uses the 360 Search service from Serials Solutions.

Another colleague of mine from the library here, Frank Donnelly, will make a presentation that will provide an introduction to GIS (geographic information systems). Frank just started at Baruch last fall and has already made a number of contributions to our staff’s understanding of what GIS can do (check out his geography and GIS subject guide on the library web site).

Google and Libraries Conference – March 10, 2008

Register Now for Google and Libraries, on the METRO web site:
http://metronylibrary.augusoft.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=1010

Google and Libraries

An International Conference Sponsored by ILIAC,
The Harriman Institute and Columbia University Libraries, and METRO

School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
420 West 118th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive

Monday, March 10, 2008, 8:30AM – 4:30PM

Program & Speakers

Keynote: Google and the Libraries of Russia & the CIS. Yakov Shrayberg, Director of the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology (Moscow), and President of ILIAC (http://www.iliac.org/)

Reference Retooled: How Google Tools Strengthen and Streamline Reference Service. Jill Cirasella, Assistant Professor and Computational Sciences Specialist, Brooklyn College Library (http://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/cirasella/)

Google, Digitization Projects, & Library Contracts. Laura Quilter, Attorney-at-Law, Librarian, and Consultant on Open Source Licensing, Employee Intellectual Property Rights, and Related Topics (http://lquilter.net/)

The Googlization of Everything. Siva Vaidhyanathan, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Law, University of Virginia; author of Rewiring the Nation: The Place of Technology in American Studies (2007) (http://www.law.virginia.edu/lawweb/Faculty.nsf/PrFHPbW/sv2r; http://www.sivacracy.net/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siva_Vaidhyanathan)

What hath Google wrought? Is Google a boon or threat to libraries, librarians, and support staff?

What will become of access to library collections after they have been scanned by Google, Microsoft, and the Digital Archive? Who will “own” them and what kind of access will there be? Is there a future for libraries, librarians, and support staff? What will become of the print medium and the rest of the information that does not, or cannot be made to, reside on the Web? What is the impact of Google on the libraries of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), especially in view of the importance to them of Cyrillic and other non-Roman alphabet information?

Google and Libraries originated as part of a 2008 ILIAC study tour for librarians from Russia and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to meet and exchange ideas with Slavic librarians. Google and Libraries has been broadened so that there is a greatly expanded focus on U.S. Google-related issues. If you want to know more about the impact of Google on the future of libraries and library work, you should attend Google and Libraries.

Registration

Please register by using the link Google and Libraries, on the METRO web site:
http://metronylibrary.augusoft.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=1010

Attendance Charge (includes refreshments and lunch):

Columbia University Libraries Staff: $50
METRO Member Library Staff: $75
Non-METRO Library Staff & Others: $90

Sponsors:

The International Library, Information, and Analytical Center (ILIAC) is a non-profit US-based corporation of international status set up with the goal to contribute to the development of educational, scientific, cultural and business cooperation between Russia and CIS countries, and the USA and other developed countries. As part of its educational program, ILIAC promotes the regular exchange of teachers, students, and professionals. In attendance will be two-dozen or more English-speaking Russian and CIS librarians who are visiting study-tour participants.

The Harriman Institute and Columbia University Libraries, formerly the Russian Institute, has maintained its position as a leading center for the advancement of knowledge in the field of Russian and Eurasian studies through the research conducted by its faculty, students, fellows and visiting scholars and the training of scholars and professionals. The Harriman Institute, through its programs, conferences, lectures, and publications, seeks to create a forum for intellectual exchange and the further enhancement of our students’ education.

The Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) is a non-profit organization working to develop and maintain essential library services throughout New York City and Westchester County. METRO’s services are developed and delivered with broad input and support from an experienced staff of library professionals, the organization’s member libraries, an active board of trustees, government representatives and other experts in research and library operations.

Google and Libraries Planning Committee:

Members: Jenna Freedman, Coordinator of Reference Services and Zine Librarian, Barnard College Library; Jared Ingersoll, Director, Central Library, Vanderbilt University; Ksenia Volkova, Senior Researcher, Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology (Moscow), and ILIAC Representative

Chair, Maurice J. Freedman, Publisher, The U*N*A*B*A*S*H*E*D^TM Librarian, the ‘how I run my library good’^SM letter; and Past President, American Library Association

Library Camp NYC, August 14, 2007

Baruch College will be hosting Library Camp NYC on Tuesday, August 14, 2007. This event is being run as an “unconference,” which means that there will be no charge to attend and that the program will be decided by the attendees at the start of the day. For details on this event and on prior library camps, check out the Library Camp NYC wiki.