UMass Dartmouth is now a member of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Membership provides access to a vast archive of data sets in the social sciences as well as health and business, and offers us discounted tuition rates and travel stipends for courses in ICPSR’s Summer Program in Quantitative Methods.

Membership is funded through research indirect funds that are allocated to the Library Services, Information Resources, and Technology Division. ICPSR is accessible from the Claire T. Carney Library’s Articles & Databases page. Dr. Heidi Berggren is the Official Representative for UMass Dartmouth.”

Dr. Sharon Weiner, Dean of Library Services at the UMassD Claire T. Carney Library, co-chaired the third annual Peabody Academic Library Leadership Institute at Vanderbilt University from July 6-10, 2008.  Twenty-five Institute Fellows represented colleges and universities in 17 states.  Several from under-represented groups and minority-serving institutions were awarded Laura Bush Scholarships from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to attend.  The Institute speakers were nationally-recognized figures in higher education leadership.  They focused on understanding the higher education environment so that library leaders can position their libraries to support institutional missions.

Mary Adams, the Nursing and Health Sciences Librarian at UMass Dartmouth, received the 2008 PH/HA Research Award for the best paper in the field of public health or health administration librarianship at the Medical Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago on May 20th.

Ms. Adams co-authored the award winning article with Kris Alpi of North Carolina State University. The article identified the most cited journals in public health and community nursing and the databases that provided the most thorough indexing of these journals.

Alpi KM, Adams MG.
Mapping the literature of public health and community nursing.
J Med Libr Assoc 2007 Jan;95(1):e6-9.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Library Associates presented a check for $3,500 to Library Dean Sharon Weiner at their annual meeting on May 14. The purpose of the donation is to purchase books in the humanities, specifically, music, art, English literature, and history. They also presented a plaque that recognized a program organized by the Library Associates this year, “Four Male Authors.”

Dean Weiner gave a presentation on the symbolic value of libraries.

The following officers were elected for 2008/09: President, Cindy Yoken; Vice President, Richard Kugler; Recording Secretary, Claudette Roy; Corresponding Secretary, Maureen Lewis; Treasurer, Diane Xavier; Assistant Treasurer, Rita Raymond; Members at Large, Melvin Levine, Walter Mierzejewski, Robert Moore; Nominations, Norman Brassard; Membership, Joyce LeBlanc; Programs, Mel Yoken; Hospitality, Donna Brown and Maria Sanguinetti; Publicity, Richard Ward; Donations, Virginia Callas; Historians, Cecelia Denwood and Edith Andrews; Literary Group, Susan Gabert and Janet Friedman; Library Liaison, Damaris Chapin-Berner.”

As announced previously by Anthony J. Garro, Provost and Vice Chancellor For Academic Affairs:

The First Annual Celebration of Scholarship and Research Reception was held on May 13th in the Browsing Area of the Claire T. Carney Library. The reception served as an opportunity for the university community to celebrate the scholarship and research of our faculty and staff.

The scholarship and research recognized represented the intellectual and creative work (other than books) of our faculty and staff that have been published, performed or otherwise disseminated during the period from Summer 2006 and Spring 2007. More than 150 such items of scholarship were be recognized at this reception. These works were representative of the inspirational and groundbreaking activity that takes place across campus.

This collection of work will remain as constant reminder to all of us that ideas can build bridges between people, communities and cultures.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
7:00-8:30 p.m.
Library Browsing Area

The Claire T. Carney Library Associates 2008 Annual Meeting and election of Officers

Speaker: Library Dean, Dr. Sharon Weiner “The Symbolic Value of the Library”

Reception to follow the program.

The annual meeting is free and open to the public.

Each year at the Honors Convocation the library presents Student Library Employee Academic Achievement Awards to the five student library workers with the highest cumulative grade point averages. In order to be eligible the student worker must be an undergraduate (any year) with a minimum GPA of 3.2.
The winners of the Student Library Employee Academic Achievement Awards for 2007-2008 are:

Samantha Cardone, English major, works in Archives
Rochelle Fontaine, Graphic Design major, works in Circulation
Kayla Logan, CVPA Art Education major, works in Interlibrary Loan
Rosannette Rivera, Art Education major, works in Circulation
Gabrielle Streeter, Music major, works in Interlibrary Loan

They will each receive a gift certificate from Baker Books at the Honors Convocation on Wednesday May 7th. The awards will be presented by Library Dean Sharon Weiner.

- as reported by Mary Adams, library coordinator for the Student Library Employee Academic Achievement Awards.

Heirloom Discovery Day is a UMass Dartmouth Claire T. Carney Library Associates fundraiser.

Details:
Heirloom Discovery Day
March 30, 2 - 4:30
Library Browsing area
Claire T. Carney Library
Parking available in lot 13
Light refreshments will be available.

The Claire T. Carney Library Associates are hosting an Heirloom Discovery Day at UMass Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth, MA.

The event will be Sunday, March 30 at 2-4:30 p.m. in the Claire T. Carney library browsing area.

Senior appraiser Francis H. McNamee of the Marion Antique Shop and Paula Dean, who appraises jewelry and collectibles, will be featured.

• Each appraisal will be $5 payable at the door.
• There is a three item limit.
• Bring portable items and photographs of items that are too heavy to carry in.
• Do not bring coins, books or stamps.

For more information contact Rita Raymond at 508.995.3528.

The Claire T. Carney Library is currently featuring an exhibit of 15 art books created by students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Participating students completed the course on bookmaking, known as the Art of the Book, taught in the fall semester by Design Professor and CVPA Assistant Dean, Janine Wong. The purpose of the course is to explore “the possibilities inherent in the book’s function as a repository of ideas and a form for expression.”

Students study historical books and develop new forms by creating a variety of book structures, both traditional and contemporary. Students explore structure and content of the book form and are introduced to print process and technologies as well as
decorative papers.

Each book features original haiku by John P. Landry. Landry serves on the staff of the English department at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In April 2007 he was named the official Poet Laureate for the city of New Bedford by Mayor Scott W. Lang. The Poet Laureate’s official duties for the city are to compose and read poetry at various venues and special events within New Bedford.

The exhibit is located in the glass display cases on the first floor of the library. The following students participated: Victor Morse, Matt Sullivan, Danielle Lavoie, Gianna Abbondanza, Amy Williams, Nick Carey, Stacey Sarber, Sadira Rashidi, Amy McGillicuddy, Savanna Ferreira, Christina Martins, Jennifer Soares, Beth Enko, Lisel Dexheimer, and Erin LaPlante.

In collaboration with Claire T. Carney Library, Dartmouth Public Libraries produced an informative guide to the April 1st town elections. The guide provides access to YouTube interviews with candidates for Select Board, candidate-written editorials, key ballot questions, and essential voter information on topics such as registering to vote and voting locations.

A major professional publication, Library Journal, wrote “it’s one of the finer pages I’ve seen in my ongoing survey of public libraries’ election-education initiatives: easily accessible, simply organized and straightforwardly designed, seriously informative…”

We encourage town residents to be civically engaged and to make informed voting decisions. The library’s “Smart Voting Begins at the Library” guide will certainly help residents achieve this goal.