The Final Report of the UMass Dartmouth Learning Commons Planning Committee has been released. The committee was formed in the Fall of 2007 with three co-chairs Magali Carrera (Professor of Art History), Donna Massano (CITS), and Sharon Weiner (Library). The committee was given the following charge:

“The UMass Dartmouth Learning Commons (LC) Planning Committee will develop plans for the services, technology, resources, and space for the LC on the first and second floors of the Claire T. Carney Library. The LC will be an interdisciplinary collaborative learning space that will provide seamless access to resources, technology, and people to support teaching, learning, and research. The LC will advance the University mission to be “actively engaged in personalized teaching and innovative research” and will help to fulfill the University’s vision of “providing a personalized academic environment where the scholarly research and creative activities of faculty and graduate students are interwoven with the undergraduate experience.” It will also advance the vision of providing “enhanced technological capabilities for the delivery of our educational and outreach programs.” As an integrated environment that fosters engagement, collaboration, and discovery, the LC will meet the changing and emerging needs of teaching, learning, and scholarship at UMass Dartmouth.”

The next phase of planning will be the formation of three new teams: LC Management Team, Transition Team, and Implementation Team.

See the UMass Dartmouth Learning Commons Planning Committee Final Report for full details.

Claire T. Carney Library Science Librarian, Elizabeth Winiarz, has been awarded an $8,000.00 Cranberry Research Grant to provide literature support for ongoing cranberry research. The Claire T. Carney Library has a very good collection to support cranberry research and this new grant will add to what is already available. The library maintains subscriptions to several journals where much of the literature is published and purchases a variety of sources that are not easily accessible. These include a collection of theses and dissertations from all over the United States and Canada publishing cutting edge research on cranberry growth, properties, biochemistry and medicinal potential. Take a look at our online subject guide: Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon).

Bruce Barnes, a librarian at the UMass Dartmouth Claire T. Carney library, virtually unveiled a website dedicated to Paul Rudolph and His Architecture today.

Mr. Barnes stated that the web site’s purpose is to produce a comprehensive reference resource on this famous man and his architecture with an emphasis on SMTI / UMass Dartmouth. The culmination of years of work, Mr. Barnes hopes that the site will become a unique central resource for a variety of materials on the topic.

The website provides a comprehensive bibliography of the works, writings and life of the architect, complete with supporting images, documents and media.

On December 26, President Bush signed the end-of-the-year (http://www.rules.house.gov/110_fy08_omni.htm) omnibus package that makes the National Institutes of Health (NIH) public access policy mandatory.

Section 218 of the bill provides that:

“The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.”

December 5, 2007 - Robert F. Stoico/FIRSTFED Grand Reading Room Gift Announced - Robert F. Stoico, founder of The Robert F. Stoico / FIRSTFED Charitable Foundation announces $1 million gift to UMass Dartmouth. The university plans to invest $750,000 of its gift in the physical renovation of the Claire T. Carney Library and establish the Robert F. Stoico/FIRSTFED Grand Reading Room. The Grand Reading Room will be a stately, dynamic and spacious two-story room with an ambience that promotes intellectual richness, purpose and inspiration. It will have floor to ceiling windows that will provide spectacular views of the campus in all seasons, and be a place easily changed to accommodate small or large groups of people who are working together.

Please check the Library Building Renovation & Expansion Program page on the the Claire T. Carney Library web site for further updates and more information on the library’s renovation plans.

Jatin Patel was the winner of a chocolate Santa donated to the Library by Dr. John Weiner.
Jatin is a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science. Jatin is shown in
the photograph with the donor and Dr. Sharon Weiner, Dean of Library Services.

Chocolate Santa Give Away: The holidays can be a little sweeter for one lucky UMass Dartmouth student …

The Claire T. Carney Library has a large dark chocolate Santa (13 inches high!)
that it will give to one UMass Dartmouth student on Friday December 14.

Yum. Look at a larger image of the Chocolate Santa!

Students are encouraged to visit the Circulation Desk on the first floor to register for the drawing which will be held at 10 AM on Friday December 14, the last day of classes.

Only students are eligible for the drawing and only one entry per person please.

Congratulations to Liz Winiarz, our Claire T. Carney Library’s Science Librarian, who has been elected president-elect of the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC)! IAMSLIC is an organization of individuals and institutions involved with aquatic science information.

Begun in 1975 in Woods Hole, IAMSLIC numbers over 400 members from more than 70 countries. IAMSLIC’s purpose is to promote cooperation and sharing of resources among libraries and information centers which specialize in any aspect of aquatic science –freshwater, brackish and marine.

IAMSLIC is a formal non-profit organization. All types and sizes of libraries and information centers participate, including research and policy institutions, government agencies, colleges, universities, non-profit and for-profit organizations.

Over the coming year Elizabeth with coordinate planning of the program content for next year’s IAMSLIC annual conference to be held at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji.

Participation in this organization brings recognition to UMass Dartmouth and benefits our programs by increasing access to library collections at other institutions worldwide.

(Pictured above from left to right: Peter Fritzler, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Secretary; Jan Haspeslagh, Flanders Marine Institute, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ), Junior President Elect; Barbara Butler, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Library, President; Elizabeth Winiarz, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Library, President-Elect)

The Claire T. Carney Library Associates present:

Literary Lifelines: Honoring Male Authors -
A Special Benefit to support the Claire T. Carney Library Archives Expansion

• Andre Dubus III (Short story writer)
• William Martin (Novelist)
• X.J. Kennedy (Poet)
• Richard J. Ward (Author)

Reception and Book Signing Following the Event

Where:
Claire T. Carney Library Browsing Area
7 pm - Thursday, November 29, 2007
Parking available in Lot 13

Tickets: $20 ($15 for Library Associate Members)
Free for students with ID!
Tickets available at the door and by advance purchase

For more information and reservations: 508-995-3528
Checks payable to: Claire T. Carney Library Associates
1032 Sterling St., New Bedford, MA 02745

index.html.