Newman Library

News

The Newman Library has expanded its successful student laptop loan service to include loans to Baruch College faculty.  Faculty who are interested in borrowing a laptop should call the library systems department at 646-312-1640 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM or post the request using the library systems contact form, at least one working day in advance.  Please note that the laptops are NOT distributed at the student laptop loan desk on the 3rd floor of the library.  Once the request is received, an appointment will be arranged with the requester to pick up the laptop from the systems department.  The loan period is a maximum of seven days.

Professor Louise Klusek, Head of Reference, is interviewed in the August 2008 issue of Library Connect, which is devoted to the topic of eLearning.  The questions focus on Professor Klusek's involvement in the development of several online tutorials, including Beginner’s Guide to Business Research, featured as site of the month by ACRL, and Guide to Financial Statements, named by MERLOT as a "classic" instructional resource in the field of Business.  Most recently she was the library's lead participant in the creation of a Guide to Research for Oral Presentations.

For the first time Baruch College has been included in Princeton Review's directory of The Best 368 Colleges. The directory includes the results of student surveys concerning the quality of academic services and campus life. According to Princeton review students reported that Baruch College has a "Great Library", as well as "Great Computer Facilities". Baruch College Press Release: "Baruch College In Top 15% U.S. Campuses, According to 2009 Princeton Review"

The Library Instruction Round Table of the American Library Association has once again selected an article by a member of the Newman Library faculty as one of the top twenty publications of the year in the area of information literacy/library instruction. Professor Aisha Peña, information services librarian, co-authored “Online Library Tutorials, Narratives, and Scripts”, which appeared in the Journal of Academic Librarianship (2007, volume 33, pages 106-117). The Round Table noted that, "This is a timely article that discusses the differences between print and online communication—and how these differences need to be addressed as we create online tutorials for information literacy." The Round Table’s Top 20 choices were announced in its June 2008 newsletter.

In preparation for the 2008 presidential election, the Newman Library has launched an interactive web exhibit, Red States, Blue States: Electoral Strategy Behind the Map. The site was designed to help students: Enhance their understanding of the US Presidential election using a visual, map-based approach Deconstruct the simple red state / blue state dichotomy used by the mass media Improve their geographic information literacy Identify patterns and trends that impact the election process Discover quantitative data sources that are useful for political and social analysis Explore different election scenarios with an interactive map The project was created by Geospatial Librarian Frank Donnelly, Information Services Librarian Chris Tuthill, and Web Designer Rasun Williams. The site was reviewed and by Professors Gerry DeMaio and Louis Bolce of the Political Science Department at Baruch College and by several members of the Newman Library's faculty and staff. http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/pres_election_08map/

Three members of the Newman Library faculty recently received recognition for their work: Professor Lisa Ellis was interviewed for an article in the May 2008 issue of CUNY Matters entitled, "Beyond Googling: Tech Savvy Students Discover New "Deep Search" Options Via Campus Libraries." Professor Ellis stresses the importance of increasing students’ knowledge of powerful search techniques that can be used in over 200 research databases available at Baruch College. The Research & Scholarship Committee of the Instruction Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries has selected an article co-authored by Professor Aisha Peña for inclusion in its "Bibliography of Citations Related to the Research Agenda for Library Instruction and Information Literacy." According to the ACRL web site, "The bibliography lists publications that advance librarians' knowledge of issues related to learners, teaching, organizational context, and assessment." Professor Peña's article, "Online library tutorials, narratives, and scripts" appeared in the Journal of Academic Librarianship in 2007. Professor Stephen Francoeur was profiled on the "Meet Our Members" web site of the Association of College and Research Libraries. In addition, OCLC has posted a streaming video of Professor Francoeur's presentation as part of a panel on "best practices in cooperative virtual reference" at the American Library Association's mid-winter conference in January 2008

Baruch College students who are waiting for a group study room no longer need to be near the Newman Library circulation desk to find out when one is available.  The library now alerts students via a cell phone call or a flashing "coaster".

The Institute of Turkish Studies has awarded the Newman Library $2,500 to acquire a collection of Turkish Literature in translation.  During the 2008-09 academic year the collection will be displayed in the library's Engelman Reading Room.  The library will work with the Baruch College Turkish Student Association to promote awareness of the collection and develop programming around the holdings.  The grant proposal was written by Arthur Downing, Chief Librarian, and Christopher Tuthill, Information Services Librarian.

Each year since 2003 Baruch College has awarded the Abraham J. Briloff Prizes in Ethics to recognize scholarship in the field of ethics, with an emphasis on ethics in professional life. For the third consecutive year a student of Professor Jerry Bornstein, Deputy Chief Librarian, has received the award for a paper written as an assignment in Information and Society (LIB3040), a course in the Newman Library's Information Studies minor program. The 2007 winner, undergraduate student Adriana Aldarondo submitted the paper, "The Internet: A Fresh Frontier for an Old Disgrace Is Freedom of Speech the Freedom to Hate Online?" The judges noted that her entry "extends the traditional debates over freedom of speech vs. civic responsibility into the post-modern world of the Internet. The author makes a convincing case that some regulation of speech is necessary to prevent on-line discourse from being dominated by hate groups. Even civil libertarians or proponents of an absolute freedom of speech will benefit from this carefully argued critique of this position."

In response to student requests for additional seating space the Newman Library has converted the cubicles that had held microfilm readers into StudyPods. The StudyPods are located on the third floor across from the laptop loan desk. Each StudyPod includes a comfortable chair with a writing tablet and four electrical outlets so that students may run electronic equipment, such as a laptop (See below). Student reaction has been positive (example1, example 2). The library is identifying other spaces where seating may be added.