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Newsletter Edit: Fall 2019

Click here for an accessible PDF version of this newsletter.

Welcome to the Neil Hellman Library! Let me tell you a little bit about what we do, and what’s new in the building.

All our libraries are here primarily to give you the resources you need to tackle your projects, assignments, life goals, and personal interests. Our librarians and staff determine how best to help every Saint Rose community member with what they need, and they make it happen. Anytime the building is open there are staff here to help you. And in a lot of cases we can even help you when the doors are locked and the lights are out. My job – oh, hi, I’m Drew, by the way – is to take care of the problems so your friendly neighborhood librarians can get you whatever you need.

Fun fact – it’s your library. We offer things like research help at the Reference Desk, (certain) textbooks in our Course Reserves collection, online Databases, Interlibrary Loan services to get you resources from universities across America, study rooms throughout the building, and even after hours research help via chat all to help you with your projects and papers. But we also have leisure reading, comic books, board games, and stress relievers during Finals to help balance the work with a little bit of fun. Drop by and ask us about these offerings, or check out our webpage to learn more if you’re shy. No judgment.

Just remember this: We may not know the answer but we are trained to find it for you.That goes for academic work but also for the hundred other things that pop up in your life at Saint Rose; things like personal interests, world events, campus offices, technology, and so on. When in doubt, give us a shot. And if you need something we don’t have, let us know – maybe we can make it happen. Seriously.

Hope to see you!

-Drew Urbanek, Library Director

A Peek At Popular
Services & Resources

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Access to published research is a key component of the scholarly communication cycle. ILL provides the community with free access to articles, books, and other material not owned by the library. We recently borrowed a book that traveled all the way from New Zealand, demonstrating just how far we’ll go to support the scholarship of Saint Rose students and faculty!

One of our most popular databases, Kanopy is an on-demand streaming platform that contains over 30,000 documentaries, films, and other educational material. The database includes the Criterion Collection and countless popular movies.

Requests by faculty for library instruction has increased by 30% this semester (when compared to the total number of classes taught by librarians during fall 2018).
The Reference Desk had 1,100+ interactions with students, staff, and faculty in the first 5 weeks of this semester.
Interlibrary Loan filled 1,851 article and loan requests during the last academic year.
2,644 streaming titles were accessed on Kanopy during the last academic year. The most popular title was Child Development Theorists.
The highest head count in the building during the 2018/2019 academic year occurred on Monday, December 10, 2018, when we had 177 people in the library at 2pm.

2019 Library Undergraduate Research Award Winners

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
First Place: Frank Houser
Faculty Sponsor: Nancy Dorr, Psychology
Second Place: Kyle Humphreys
Faculty Sponsor: Jin Kim, Communications

Math & Science
First Place: Lauren Zakrzewski
Faculty Sponsor: Brad Bauer, Chemistry
Second Place: Gregory M. John
Faculty Sponsor: Brad Bauer, Chemistry

The Library Undergraduate Research Award recognizes exemplary scholarship from students who demonstrate creativity and thoughtfulness in their approach to research. All students who participate in the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium are eligible to compete for the award. Faculty from across the schools are invited to participate as research sponsors and award judges. Visit our website to learn more last year’s winning projects and for application and deadline information.

The Human Library

The Neil Hellman Library held a Human Library event on March 16th, 2019. The Human Library is an international organization whose purpose is to build community, and to attempt to reduce racial bias, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ethnocentrism and various other kinds of implicit bias through dialogue.

The event was organized by Kate Moss Head of Reference, Instruction and Outreach, in collaboration with the Student Association, and students from various constituencies across campus. Special thanks to Political Science student, Aliyah Poinsette, who
volunteered many hours to the project. Participant response to this event was very positive. Many told us that this event had a deep impact on them and changed their perspectives. At the event many students asked when we would be able to do it again. We are hoping to hold another event in the spring 2020 semester.

Contact Kate Moss if you’d like to get involved.

The Patricia Standish Curriculum Library

Located in Lally, the Curriculum Library (CL) houses children’s literature, lesson-planning resources, and hands-on educational materials to support undergraduate and graduate studies in The School of Education. Roseann Marlett, CL coordinator, shares the following about CL happenings and accomplishments from the 2018/19 academic year:

During the spring 2019 semester an average of 125 students visited the Curriculum Library daily (Monday through Thursday). Several days the CL had over 200 visitors!
The most popular circulating item last year was the game Pop-the-Pig! This children’s game is used to teach counting and sorting, in addition to being loads of fun.
All items from the Winkler Center were moved to the CL and integrated into our collection. They are now available for checkout.
Our entire collection was weeded, inventoried, and many new items were added.
Amber Risch, CL reference assistant, celebrated her 10^th anniversary of working at the CL.

PDF

What in the Hellman? FALL 2019
Accessible PDF version.