Tag Archives: library staff

Retirement of Allison Cywin, Art Education, Art History & Media Studies Librarian

Allison Cywin Spring 2023

Allison Cywin joined UMass Dartmouth in the summer of 2004 and has served as the Director of the Visual Resource Center (VRC) in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. During her tenure, she transformed the VRC from a traditional slide library to an image and multimedia digital repository.  Her role has been to generate and manage digital assets and disseminate these resources for the purpose of classroom instruction and research campus wide.

Cywin began her career as the curator of the Newport Art Museum. Over ten-years in this position, she curated many contemporary exhibitions featuring works by well-known artists: Andy Warhol, Howard Ben Tre, Tom Patti, Stephan Brigidi, and Chris Van Allsburg, among others.  

In the early 1990’s, Cywin became the Graphics Curator at the Rhode Island Historical Society’s research library. The graphics collection represents three-centuries of iconographic materials that included photography, prints, drawings, architectural drawings, cartography, and 16mm television newsfilm collection.  Before leaving the Society to join UMass Dartmouth, she established an in-house digital lab to digitize and preserve the Society’s nineteenth-century glass plate, nitrate, and acetate negative collections.

Allison has completed numerous digital projects in her career at UMass Dartmouth, and most recently, along with Art Education, Art History & Media Studies Professor Anna Dempsey, Cywin created an interactive tour of UMass Dartmouth which focuses on the brutalist aesthetic, and the work of renowned architect Paul Marvin Rudolph. This tour is available through the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth website at https://prudolph.lib.umassd.edu,  https://www.umassd.edu/virtual-tour/architecture and www.umassbrut.org. It is approximately 45 minutes and includes thirteen video stops as well as links to arts and cultural organizations and tourist designations to encourage visitation and commerce in the region.

The UMD librarians wish Allison the best in her retirement and many adventures with her family! She has been an asset to UMass Dartmouth and CVPA.

New Interim Dean of Library Services, Judy Farrar

We are excited to announce the appointment of Judy Farrar as the new Interim Dean of Library Services. Ms. Farrar joined the UMass Dartmouth library in 1996 as the Archives and Special Collections Librarian. As Provost Huang noted in his campus announcement, “Ms. Farrar has seen the Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections grow exponentially, from less than 100 linear feet to a collection of over 2,000 linear feet. She has been part of major initiatives like the establishment of the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives, the addition of the papers of former Congressman Barney Frank, the acquisition of the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Archives, and a major facility renovation.” Ms. Farrar also has a long history of innovation and collaboration with library, campus, and community partners. We look forward to her applying her knowledge and experience in this new role!

Librarian/Yoga Teachers: Uncovering a Unique Population

Kari Mofford, UMassD Librarian and certified yoga instructor, co-authored “Librarian/Yoga Teachers: Uncovering a Unique Population” for the Journal of New Librarianship. The article is available at https://newlibs.org/index.php/jonl/issue/current.

Abstract: A survey was created to determine whether or not there is a community of librarians/library workers who are also certified to teach yoga. The survey helped to identify the size of the community and explored the participant’s experiences associated with the dual skills sets. Results show there are strong benefits for those library workers who have their yoga certification, but there are also concerns and challenges that demonstrate a need for a more formal community and further research. 

Position Opening: STEM Librarian

UMass Dartmouth welcomes applications for the position of Assistant/Associate Librarian for the STEM disciplines. The STEM librarian will serve as liaison to the departments of biology, chemistry, and mathematics; the College of Engineering; and the School for Marine Science & Technology.

Minimum requirements:

  • Master’s degree in Library/Information Science from an ALA-accredited degree program or equivalent; degree must be completed by start date
  • Professional experience as an academic or special librarian serving students, faculty, or researchers in one or more of the assigned liaison areas; or strong subject background in the sciences, engineering, or a related field as demonstrated by significant coursework, undergraduate minor, undergraduate or graduate degree

Minimum salary for Assistant Librarian is $63,863; minimum salary for Associate Librarian is $74,789. Review of applications will begin November 18, 2019 and continue until the position is filled.

For further details of the position and to apply, please visit: https://careers.umassd.edu/dartmouth/en-us/job/500942/assistantassociate-librarian-information-services-stem-librarian

The Claire T. Carney Library is located on the campus of UMass Dartmouth, the only research university located on the South Coast of Massachusetts. The region has many options for city, town, and country living, as well as easy access to art, music, and cultural institutions in cities such as Providence, Boston, and New York. New England is home to amazing outdoor recreation, from hiking to skiing to enjoying the beaches on nearby Cape Cod. Our library is the campus hub, providing space for research and study and serving as a social gathering place. Our library staff are active in our campus community, participating in events, committees, and faculty governance.

Damaris Berner, Cataloger Exemplar, Retires! She Will Be Missed!

Pictures of Damaris Chapin-Berner on her last day as UMassD Cataloger

 

Damaris Berner rolled her last cart of newly cataloged books out of her office last Tuesday, completing her story at UMassD and beginning the next chapter of her life. During her time here, Damaris helped move the library forward in many ways, including  creating metadata for a wide array of print and electronic resources and through her  collaborative work on projects throughout the library. Most recently she served as a key team member on several vital library projects such as the merger of the UMass Law School Library collection into the Claire T. Carney Library‘s integrated library system, the library renovation collection relocation project and her efforts as a core member of the team that implemented library’s next generation Alma Unified Resource Management system and the Primo discovery and delivery system. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t note her remarkable efforts in support of the Claire T. Carney Library Associates. From books to eBooks to born digital objects Damaris endeavored to make the library’s resources findable and retrievable to all students, researchers and readers alike. She will be missed by all!