DLIS Symposium 7: From the Classroom to the Community: Social Justice in Library & Information Science

April 18, 2015 – Professors, students, and field professionals gathered on a warm Saturday afternoon at the St. John’s University Queens Campus for an enlightening series of presentations on the issue of social justice in librarianship. A blend of professional talks and student presentations, Symposium 7 offered attendees a wide array of viewpoints on issues facing information professionals today, including digital representation of cultural heritage objects, library services to the incarcerated, the benefits of professional organizations to students and recent graduates, and revolutionizing library service to communities. Professional speakers included author and DLIS alumnae Marybeth Zeman and Michael Edison of the Smithsonian Institution, Open Knowledge Foundation, Council on Library and Information Resources.

DLIS Alumni Publishes Book as ‘Jailhouse Librarian’

Marybeth Zeman, MLS’09

Marybeth Zeman began to pursue a Masters in Library and Information Science in 2007. She was awarded a Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian scholarship, which supports early career development of librarians with promise of strong leadership in the field. During the program Zeman worked closely with Professor Kevin Rioux, Ph.D. focusing on coursework that emphasized community outreach to disadvantaged populations.

Upon graduation in 2009, Zeman began working at the Nassau County Correctional Center. A jailhouse librarian, Zeman has recently shared her professional experiences with St. John’s University Office of Marketing and Communications to promote her recently published book, Tales of a Jailhouse Librarian: Challenging the Juvenile Justice System One Book at a Time.

DLIS Student Wins University Essay Contest

Congratulations to Danielle Manri, a DLIS student, for her prize-winning Academic Service-Learning essay!

 

 

St. John’s University offers both undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to compete in an essay contest regarding the participation in the University’s Academic Service-Learning Program. The essay contest, established in 1998, is held annually in the spring. Participants compete for a cash prize and a chance to have their essay published as a feature on the Academic Service-Learning Website.

 The essay is the student’s response to the fulfillment of the University’s Vincentian mission to search out the causes of poverty and social injustice to encourage adaptable, effective and concrete solutions through community service that directly relates to the student’s current coursework.

Alumni Report Back: Good News from the Field

Taryn Rucinski, MLS’12

St. John University DLIS Alumni Taryn Rucinski, environmental law librarian and adjunct professor at Pace Law School has shown support for our program by keeping us updated on advances and achievements in her career.  Alumni reports from the field encourages students to work hard and believe there are jobs to be had and respectable careers to pursue upon graduation.

Series: DLIS Alumni in Higher Education Administration

Christine Goodwin earned her MLS in 1998 here at St. John’s. Today she works as the campus Director of Data Management, Analysis and Reporting. I sat down with Christine to speak about her role on campus as a higher education administrator and found just how applicable a LIS degree can truly be.

DLIS Guest Speaker: Victor Zverevich

 On April 1^st, DLIS alum and current Fullbright fellow at Rutgers University presented to the department and library staff, faculty and students: Libraries & Librarianship in Present Russia: An Attempt of Comparative Analysis from the United States. Victor, originally from Russia, held 3 different library positions upon receiving his MLS degree at St. John’s in 1995. His current work in the field is entitled: Virtual Space at the US Academic and Public Libraries: Structure, Operation and Services.

New Faculty Member!

We are excited to announce that Dr. Christine Angel will be joining the DLIS community beginning this summer! Dr. Angel hails from South Carolina, where she has been working as a teaching fellow and completing her Ph.D. as an IMLS scholar in the LIS department at the University of South Carolina. Her research has included work in digital image representation and retrieval, archival representation, museum informatics, and metadata. She has additionally worked for years as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer and Air Crew Life Support Technician.

Look for her courses to begin in the fall, and give her a big welcome when you see her!

Success Stories & Paths to DLIS

Patricia Canale has been an employee of St. John’s for 23 years. For years she contemplated returning to school, finally deciding on the MLS program at St. John’s. While in the program, Patricia was the recipient of the prestigious IMLS scholarship. She is now working in the Office of the Registrar, in the capacity of Associate Registrar.

 

Robert Drzewicki had 25 years experience in financial services before deciding to further his education by pursuing a MLS degree at St. John’s. Robert was a recipient of the IMLS scholarship. Robert is currently the Content Information Manager at Gartner, Inc. and belongs to several LIS associations and two association boards.

 

 

Linda Miles completed many academic endeavors before discovering the LIS program at St. John’s. For nearly eleven years, Linda worked at the library of the Lincoln Center Institute. Interested in Special Libraries and art programs for non-profit organizations, Linda recently completed her MLS degree at St. John’s. Recently, Linda accepted the position of Public Services Librarian at Yeshiva University.

Success Stories

Christopher Ross, MLS’10

Claire DiCoccio, MLS’11

Simonetta Gerbitz MLS’12

Amy Sarola, MLS’11

Denise McIver, MLS’11

Taryn Rucinski, MLS’12

Linda Miles, 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.

Current Students, Alumni Report Back to DLIS

After graduating, DLIS’ Alumni create opportunities and expand career horizons. Alumni are strongly encouraged to stay connected to DLIS and keep us updated about what they are experiencing in their professional lives.

Denise McIver (‘11) has been working with the California African American Museum (CAAM) library for six

months. Denise will be speaking at the DLIS Fall Symposium about her experiences there, so please join us to hear about all she has done. You can also read Denise’s written account of her experiences at CAAM by logging into the Blackboard 270 Colloquium and clicking on “Denise McIver” under DLIS News.

Kate Angell (‘09) recently began a new job as a reference and instruction librarian at Long Island University in

Brooklyn. The position is tenure track and requires a second Master’s degree. Kate is applying for a Master’s in Psychology, which she intends to begin this fall.

Current Students, Alumni

Isaac Samuels:  Touro Law Center in Central Islip brought 2009 graduate Isaac Samuels aboard as an educational technology specialist/reference librarian in its Gould Law Library. Samuels previously practiced as a law clerk, associate attorney and attorney of counsel for Leeds Morelli & Brown of Carle Place. Congratulations Isaac!

Stacy Posillico:  Stacy was awarded one of the Type 2 (continuing student) scholarships from LLAGNY and received the scholarship at the LLAGNY Dinner on June 5th. This summer she worked as an intern at Touro Law School Library.

Michele Mason-Coles (‘11)  Michele found a fellowship with the U.S. National Library of Medicine. During her first year, she completed several projects including legislative tracking.