DLIS Students Attend SLA Student Swing

January 24, 2015—SLA-NY hosted a panel of recent graduates of metropolitan library schools to impart knowledge, tips and wisdom to current area library school students. The student swing panel consisted of graduates of local programs at Pratt, Palmer, Rutgers, Queens College and St. John’s. Participants and attendees were invited to tour the new St. John’s Davis Library at the Manhattan Campus and offered refreshments after braving the elements to attend the Student Swing. Key topics discussed by the panel included navigating through library school, finding an internship and landing that first job.

Summer Internship at MOMA, by Mary Glynn

I spent the summer interning at the museum of modern art library, which really was a great experience, once I got over the fact that I was the oldest intern ever! There were a lot of general circulation duties like shelving and paging because it is a closed stacks library, but I also got involved in a number of specific projects. My favorite work was working with the preservation librarian, which is so much more involved than I was aware of. The MOMA library has a wonderful collection of art books but many of them are special collections and in pretty bad condition. These were sent to the building MOMA has in Queens and put on a waiting list essentially for repair. This varied from simply creating covers for them to very involved re creation of books where the spine was badly damaged. I was able to utilize my creative side working on these projects, and the only down side is the building in Long Island city was seriously the coldest place I have ever worked. Artwork and special collections not on exhibition are housed there so it is a very climate controlled environment. The book collection housed here though is unbelievable, and I had many books in my hands worth over $20,000.

Symposium Keynote Speaker Maureen Sullivan

We were very grateful to have the ALA president- elect, Maureen Sullivan, speak to the DLIS community at the Spring Symposium on March 24th.

Ms. Sullivan discussed her impressive and rewarding work in the field, including over 30 years as a consultant to libraries for organization development, strategic planning, and leadership development. She spoke about increasing collaboration between different ALA divisions and chapters, the need to be active in the field, and asked “What do we need to know?” for supporting learning and libraries. She advised against using the term ‘advocacy’, as she feels it makes it “we and they” rather than all of us together. And she asked the attendees for feedback on why they might not join ALA, or what they would like to get from their membership experience.

She is open to emails and other communication as she concludes her year as president-elect and begins her year as president this summer.

Success Stories

Christopher Ross, MLS’10

Taryn Rucinski, MLS’12

Denise McIver, MLS’11

Linda Miles, MLS’11

Amy Sarola, MLS’11

Simonetta Gerbitz MLS’12

Claire DiCoccio, MLS’11

 

Amy Sarola ‘11 MLS

is currently working at Oliver Wyman- Health and Life Sciences in New York City, doing pharmaceutical research. She’s also the Public Relations Chair of the governing board of SLA-NY.

Claire DiCioccio ’11 MLS

is currently a research consultant at The Quorum Initiative, an organization for women executives in international business, education, and government.

Christopher Ross’10 MLS,

a former Fulbright grant recipient, is working in Beijing at an education and admission consulting firm, Due West Education, where he oversees the graduate school consulting services.

Linda Miles ‘11 MLS

is now a Public Services Librarian at Yeshiva University in New York City, where she’s collaborating with the writing program to develop information literacy instruction to be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum.

Denise McIver ’11 MLS

was recently featured in the February 2012 issue of Black Enterprise Magazine, in an article titled, “The 21st Century Librarian”: http://www.onlinedigitalpubs. com/display_article.php?id= 946862

Assemgul Temirkhanova ,

an Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program alumni and former DLIS student, is the Head of Information Resources Service at Nazarbayev University Library in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Katelyn Angell ’09 MLS

is leaving her position as a reference librarian at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY for one at Long Island University in Brooklyn. She recently presented at the DLIS Spring Symposium, on Progressive Librarianship and diversity in the library field. She has forthcoming articles in Library Journal and Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society.

Nicholas Kramer ’11 MLS

is currently working in the Special Data Projects Unit at The Foundation Center. He recently presented at the DLIS Spring Symposium on The Foundation Center: Resources on Philanthropy. He also blogs about politics and librarianship under the alias Corporate Dread http://corporatedread.tum blr.com

Taryn Rucinski ’12 MLS

recently had an article published in the Legal History and Rare Books AALL-SIS Newsletter, titled “Archive Spotlight: Water Resources Collections and Archives”: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/lh rb/lhrb.pdf

Barbara Deakin ’11 MLS

is self-employed as a real estate title closer; she is using her library training to develop a document management aspect to her job as a title closer. Since graduating she also worked for 6 months as a law librarian for Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

Dan Murphy ’10 MLS

 is employed at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as an Information Specialist for Regulatory Initiatives. He oversees a client-facing website tracking the regulatory implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. Cleary’s efforts were recognized in the Financial Times 2011 “Business of Law” rankings.

Victoria Shimmons’11 MLS

works as a youth services librarian at the Farmingdale Public Library. She recently presented at the DLIS Spring Symposium on Children’s Reclassification: From Picture Books to Nonfiction.

Simonetta Gerbitz, ’12 MLS

will be pursuing her doctorate in Library and Information Science! She will begin studies in the Fall at LIU.

Squashing the Stereotype

Elizabeth Brooks ’12 MLS

Elizabeth has only just graduated from our program, but she has already begun work in her new role as the Client Services Supervisor for the Advanced Reference Services Department at Infotrieve. Infotrieve facilitates and manages corporate information centers in more than half of the Fortune 500 companies located around the world.

Infotrieve encourages ingenuity in its employees. Elizabeth’s position was created upon her hiring, giving her the opportunity to develop and implement original workflow solutions. She was drawn to the position by her interest in innovative problem solving. Her education in the complex areas of Competitive

Intelligence and Knowledge Management has enriched her accomplishments. She hopes her work will encourage other librarians to use these techniques in addressing current information needs, wherever they may work. Elizabeth is a shining example of the ways in which librarians achieve far more than the stereotype would suggest.

Amelia Costigan ’11 MLS

In May 2011, Amelia graduated from DLIS as a member of the first cohort of the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grant. After graduation, she began her career as an associate librarian at the Catalyst Information Center.

Catalyst is a non-profit organization that provides information to employers of women around the world so that women and their employers can succeed in business. Catalyst was the 2011 winner of the SLA’s annual Centers of Excellence Award.

As an associate librarian, Amelia does research and analysis for member companies on a variety of diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace, in addition to providing information to the media and research staff.

Amelia has incorporated her knowledge of graphic design into her librarian work. By transforming data into information graphics, she creates presentations that are far more user-friendly.

Currently, Amelia’s focus is on businesswomen working in India.

Amelia recently published a paper, The Case for Gender Diversity in India, that explores the benefits of gender diversity in the Indian workplace. She is writing The Legal Framework for Women and Work in India, a paper intended for human resource professionals who work for companies expanding into India.

If you will be attending the SLA Conference in Chicago this July, Amelia would be happy to meet you there. She will also be attending, and looks forward to meeting fellow DLIS alumni!

Summer Intern Round Up

DLIS students stayed busy this summer! Internships come in many shapes and sizes, but most importantly are a way for students to get real life experience in their chosen specialty. The “intern round-up” is to recognize the great work our students have done over the break and to demonstrate the variety of experiences available.

Felissa Fine interned at Baruch College.

Katrina Ortega interned at the Archive of Contemporary Music.

Megan Margino helped process the archival collections of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council and completed a technical services project in the Suffolk Community College Library.

Christian Collins interned for the Queens Library’s New Americans Program, the department responsible for materials and services for speakers of languages other than English in Queen’s 62 community libraries.

Sharell Walker attended the annual ALA conference and was part Spectrum Diversity group and meetings.

Len Savoleo began an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, started an inventory of the stacks- checking for damaged books, and getting to know all the different aspects of their library.

Stephanie Jo Elstro interned at Poets House cataloging and preparing for their annual showcase of poetry published in the last year.

 Christian Collins interned for the Queens Library’s New The Americans Program, the department responsible for materials and services for speakers of languages other than English in Queen’s 62 community libraries.”

Some of our interns will be speaking at the DLIS Fall 2012 Symposium on November 3rd. Join us to hear all of the interesting things they have to say!

DLIS Spring Symposium

This spring’s Symposium was a great success with attendance from many alumni, students, faculty, and local librarian professionals. Many LIS topics were presented including: community engagement, children services, databases & metadata & more!

ALA President Elect

The featured speaker Barbara Stripling, ALA President Elect, spoke with enthusiasm and inspired attendees to focus on the important work in librarianship: literacy, innovation, and community engagement. Of particular interest to our archive students, Dr. Stripling discussed moving toward primary sources. Studies show when context for cultural objects is expressed, a viewer’s empathy for the culture is increased. Students and attendees enjoyed Dr. Stripling’s presence throughout the day, enjoyed conversation   with her, and her terrific energy and passion was spread. Thank you for joining us, Dr. Stripling!

Faculty & Professionals 

A number of professionals from the NY Metro area spoke about programming and problem solving. Alumna Selina Sharmin presented on programming and services initiated by the New Americans Program at Queens Public Library. Sharmin inspired the audience with experiences in developing programs for multiethnic communities, and even to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider. The director of Gold Cost Library, Michael Morea, explained his innovated approach to helping users with everyday technology needs. He recommends that his librarians provide “the info people are not going to find out of the box”. Beth Reiten, a professional trainer for ProQuest, described facets of the bibliographic company, and the numerous possibilities for librarians and information professionals in these arenas.

Students and Alumni

The symposium is a great place for students and alumni to practice presenting in the profession. Recent alumna April Earle and current student Kathleen Curran (right) presented on the Oral History Project they have assisted with through their class projects. Recent graduate Leslie Chen and Gabrielle Hew shared unique perspectives on popular culture. Many students were in attendance and enjoyed conversing with the area professionals. A group of both current students and alumni presented on interning experiences, projects they completed through internships, and their personal perspectives on starting out in a new

Preparing for Summer Break: More than Stocking up on Beach Reads

As the days get longer, DLIS faculty and students begin to prepare for summer break. Summer break is a great opportunity to pick up a course and an internship. During the summer months, the DLIS of=ice is open and available to students, but faculty and staff work lighter hours. Please contact us if you need assistance, and stay up to date with your SJU email. Below we answer some of FAQ about summer semesters:

What courses are offered?

You can view the course listing on the DLIS Current Students page. Summer courses are offered in two sessions, with a week long intensive Post Session. Summer session dates:

Summer Session I: May 28 – July 9. Summer Session II: July 11 – August 22 Post Session: August 19 – August 23

Can I study abroad?

Yes. Courses are being offered this summer in Rome. Registration has already closed, but contact the department immediately if you are still interested. Also, consider internship opportunities abroad. Internships can count toward credits. Work with your advisor to apply for credit. Plan ahead for an opportunity to study abroad with Dr. Lee in Jamaica next Spring.

Are there scholarships and graduate assistantships available? Yes, they are limited. Graduate assistantships have already been assigned, but if interested in summer graduate assistantship let your supervisor know or contact DLIS today. Summer assistantships at St. John’s are for summer tuition only. No stipend is provided.

The O’Connell Scholarship still applies to summer courses.

How do I find an internship?

There are many ways to find internships, now is the time to start for summer. 1) DLIS regularly forwards internships postings, so check your email! 2) Talk with your advisor or a faculty member.  3) INeedaLibraryJob.com is one of the most comprehensive websites for positions in the Library and Information Science field. 4) SJU Career Link: The SJU Career link is full of internships with employers seeking St. John’s students. Do not miss this excellent resource, which includes many LIS positions.

I am not able to take summer courses, how else can I stay engaged with LIS?
1) Connect with professional associations.  2)Study for comprehensive exams and prepare your ePortfolio. 3) Read LIS blogs & professional publications. 4) Volunteer 5) Join a student group.

I don’t live near New York, but want to stay engaged with DLIS, what can I do?
Register for LIS 270 tutorial; follow us on Facebook; join a student group.

Do I need to check my St. John’s email during summer break?
YES! It is how DLIS contacts you with important information about courses, registration, your bursar bill, jobs, internships, etc. If you don’t like logging into your SJU email, be sure to forward to an email account you check daily. If going on vacation, it is good professional practice to set up an alert that you are not checking your email. Be sure to provide a return date for when you will check your email. Information Science field.

 

Recap the Night: DLIS Semiannual Meeting

A brief dinner followed the welcoming of this semester’s new LIS students to the program on Wednesday, January 15.  In the Saval Auditorium of the St. John’s Manhattan campus, returning students and faculty joined our newcomers to welcome the 2014 spring semester.

A Message from the Director

November was a remarkable month for DLIS. Alumni, students, staff and friends celebrated the 75^th Anniversary of the creation of DLIS at the New York Municipal Archive, an appropriate venue in every way. The building’s beautiful architecture, the elegant food, the notable honorees and the archive’s fascinating exhibits combined with St. John’s own exhibit about the history of DLIS to provide an opportunity to remember who we are and the profession we represent. I want to thank the committee, ably chaired by Pat Canale; Eileen Flannelly and the City of New York, our hosts; St. John’s University; and our sponsors for making this a perfect commemoration. We need to build on this very positive experience.