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• Deadline: June 7, 2012
• Grant Amount: Up to $150,000. The Commission expects to make up to 8 grants in this category, for a total of up to $700,000.
• Grant Term: 1-3 years
• Funding Period: No earlier than January 1, 2013
• Note: 1:1 cost share requirement

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) seeks proposals that use cost-effective methods to digitize nationally significant historical record collections and make the digital versions freely available online. Projects must make use of existing holdings of historical repositories and consist of entire collections or series. The materials should already be available to the public at the archives and described so that projects can re-use existing information to serve as metadata for the digitized collection.

Read more about this opportunity on the NHPRC website.

IMLS National Leadership Grants

• Deadline: Feb 1, 2012
• Grant Amount: Up to $500,000 for Project Grants; up to $50,000 for Planning Grants; up to 100,000 for National Forum Grants
• Grant Term: Up to 3 years for Project Grants; up to 1 year for Planning Grants and National Forum Grants.
• Note: 1:1 match requirement for requests over $250,000

National Leadership Grants support projects that address challenges faced by the museum, library, and/or archive fields and that have the potential to advance practice in those fields. Successful proposals will seek innovative responses to the challenge(s) identified in the proposals, and will have national impact.

The National Leadership Grant program accepts applications under four main categories:

• Advancing Digital Resources—Supporting the creation, use, presentation, and preservation of significant digital resources as well as the development of tools to enhance access, use, and management of digital assets.
• Research—Supporting research that investigates key questions that are important to museum, library, and archival practice.
• Demonstration—Supporting projects that produce a replicable model or practice that is usable, adaptable, or scalable by other institutions for improving services and performance.
• Library Museum Collaboration Grants— Supporting collaborative projects (between museums and/or libraries and other community organizations) that address the educational, economic, cultural, or social needs of a community. In 2012, a funding priority will be projects that promote early learning.

Applicants may choose to submit a Project Grant, Planning Grant, or National Forum Grant proposal in any of the above categories.

Read more about this opportunity on the IMLS website.

Open Access Week 2011

Open Access Publishing in the Sciences

As part of Open Access Week 2011, Hunter College will be hosting a talk by Robert Schatz, North American Sales Manager for open access publisher BioMed Central. Mr. Schatz will offer an overview of open access publishing in science, technology, and medical fields, along with an inside look at the workings of BioMed Central and its parent company, Springer Science & Business Media. Librarians and working scientists or researchers alike are invited to attend.

The event will take place on Thursday, Oct. 27, from 3-5 pm. The venue is the Gene Center (at Hunter College), in its Internet2 Video Collaboration Facility, 695 Park Avenue, Room HN 310. We hope to see you there!

Using Open Educational Materials in Your Courses

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
3:30-5:00pm
Rm A543, City Tech Library (Atrium Building), City Tech

Open Access Happy Hour: Your Rights as an Author

Wednesday, October 26, 2011
5:30-7:00pm
Rm A632, Faculty Lounge (Atrium Building), City Tech

You Know What You Write, But Do You Know Your Rights?
Understanding and Protecting Your Rights as an Author

Thursday, October 27, 2011
12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Brooklyn College Library, Room 412C

Friday, October 28, 2011
5-7pm
CUNY Graduate Center—Room 9204
free and open to the public

Download the resource packet here.

Envisioned as the second part of the program’s two-year pilot, it was attended by many of the participants of the 2010 L.E.A.D. inaugural workshop.

“L.E.A.D. has had a positive impact from attendees’ perspectives,” says Professor Lim. “It has given them the opportunity to exchange ideas, but not in a vacuum.” During the session, attendees expressed their desire for CUNY chief librarians to participate in a similar workshop in order to be exposed to the same issues and share their concerns and feedback. Accordingly, a seminar for chief librarians, also led by Maureen Sullivan, has been tentatively scheduled for November 2011.

Curtis Kendrick, University Dean for Libraries and Information Resources emphasizes that the workshop addresses the unique role of the academic librarian, “The L.E.A.D. seminar series is a recognition that managing a library has always been a complex matter, and requires many different skills.” By bringing together managers from across the institution, the seminar encourages interaction, he says. If managers know each other, they are likely to feel more comfortable picking up the phone to discuss a specific issue or to find out how things work at another library. Kendrick envisions broader participation in next year’s L.E.A.D. workshop, with this year’s alumni involved in planning and administration for the incoming group. This participation would contribute to the workshop’s mission. “It will build the group’s cohesiveness,” he says. Kendrick expects that a new cycle of workshops will be available in May 2012 to new CUNY participants who are or will be in managerial positions.

The L.E.A.D. workshop series grew out of a 2008 CUNY Council of Chief Librarians (CCL) retreat, which identified leadership training as a strategic initiative and formed a committee to develop the program. Committee chair Professor Consuella Askew, who was then Chief Librarian at the Graduate School of Journalism, conceived of the program as a way to nurture future chief librarians from within CUNY in the face of impending retirements.

Attendees of the second workshop included:

• Barbara Bonous-Smit, Queensborough Community College
• Daniel Cherubin, Hunter College
• Jill Cirasella, Brooklyn College
• Jane Cramer, Brooklyn College
• Amirta Dhawan, City College
• Beth Evans, Brooklyn College
• Raquel Gabriel, CUNY School of Law
• Michael Handis, CUNY Graduate Center
• Rhonda Johnson, Hostos Community College
• Curtis Kendrick, CUNY Office of Library Services
• Jeffery Kroessler, John Jay College
• Laroi Lawton, Bronx Community College
• Julie Lim, CUNY School of Law
• Catherine Lyons, Hostos Community College
• Michael Miller, Queens College
• Alexei Oulanov, Medgar Evers College
• Steven Ovadia, LaGuardia Community College
• Linda Rath, Baruch College
• Mariana Regalado, Brooklyn College
• Jonathan Saxon, CUNY School of Law
• Ellen Sexton, John Jay College
• Junior Tidal, CUNY City Tech
• Susan Voge, Lehman College
• Scott White, LaGuardia Community College
• Constance Williams, Queensborough Community College

Read more about L.E.A.D.

The following is the text of the response submitted by Curtis Kendrick, University Dean for Libraries and Information Resources.

For centuries New York has been a beacon of hope for those seeking expanded opportunities and better lives for their families.  And now, even as this migration continues for newcomers, all New Yorkers are finding the need to migrate to new modalities for employment, education, information, communication, interaction and entertainment.  What these new modalities have in common is that they increasingly rely on digital technology, and there are significant implications of this migration for libraries across all sectors in New York State.

Noted legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky has written that “an informed public is the greatest weapon of democracy.”  Over the next ten years the libraries in New York State need to become better positioned to arm our current and future citizens with the tools they need to compete effectively in a global marketplace for jobs, education, healthcare and prosperity.  We live in an age of information overabundance, but as we know, while information is ubiquitous, knowledge is less so, and wisdom rarer still.

Technology has led to the decentralization of authority for producing books, music, movies.  Individuals are creating their own content – wikis, blogs, YouTube videos etc.   As the band The Kinks noted, “There are stars in every city, in every house and on every street.”  Anyone can be an author or creator of content now as the barriers to entry are so low.   And with so many more creators, so much more information is being produced.  As the amount of available information multiplies, the problem of being able to find high quality, vetted information becomes magnified.  Add to that the array of technological devices that are introduced to the market place and it is no wonder that we are already suffering from information overload.  And it is about to get worse.  Predictions about how much data is produced every year vary, but there is marked consistency in reporting that these rates are accelerating dramatically.  If our citizens are challenged to keep pace now, one can imagine the severity of this problem by the year 2020.  We need to work now to pull together components, many of which are already in place, to develop a state-wide information infrastructure.

New York State has an opportunity through our network of libraries to build a comprehensive information services system.  Librarians are at the center of this comprehensive system, identifying high quality information resources, negotiating collaboratively with corporations to secure favorable pricing, working with the archival and museum communities to ensure perpetual access to our cultural legacy, and designing, developing and delivering high quality services with efficiency and economy.  As new technologies emerge, it is at our libraries where much of the public will first be able to experience the new tools.  And as new processes and procedures are developed for how to manage the coming information explosion, librarians, as was the case in the print-dominated world, are well positioned to be leaders in assessing needs and organizing new and more precise ways of accessing content and building bridges for our citizens to find precisely the information they need when they need it.

It is not sufficient any longer for librarians to simply guide people.  We also need to teach them how to become educated consumers and producers of information.  Librarians use the phrase information literacy, but it is really a form of critical thinking.  Teaching people how to find information, assess it and evaluate it, and use it legally and ethically is a daunting challenge, but one to which we must rise for New Yorkers to fulfill Thomas Jefferson’s vision that “an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.”

Technology is also being utilized now to establish digital repositories where high quality content can be made available either instead of or in parallel with traditional distribution channels.  Were New York able to develop a state-wide digital repository it would lead to scale economies, reduced redundancies, and increased opportunities for collaboration across institutions.  Clearly there are many issues to resolve with such a transformation, but New York State can play a global leadership role in this transformation by drawing upon the skills and expertise of its librarian community.

Collaboration must be a key theme as we look forward over the next decade.  Across New York State our libraries have done an exemplary job of collaboration.  In the academic sector, the establishment of the New York State Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI) has brought together academic libraries from both the public and private sectors.  NYSHEI has developed a concept for an Academic Research Information Access (ARIA) and has been encouraging the New York State Legislature to vote in favor of creating this legislation.  With full funding, ARIA would lead to State funding of $15 million towards high-end research resources.  The legislation currently before the Assembly and the Senate (S3736-2011/A5181-2011) includes the following:

The public and private academic and research libraries of New York individually license research and development information resources, access to which is vitally important to the furtherance of an innovation-based economy. The primary obstacles limiting access to these information resources both at institutions of higher education, and within the entrepreneurial community, are the high cost of licensing agreements and restrictive contracts that inhibit collaboration. New companies and emerging industries will be encouraged to locate their business in New York State adding to state revenues that are derived by the existence of such private and public sector commerce. Therefore, it is in the best interests of the economic development and higher education interests of this state to enact the academic research information access act.

The passage of the ARIA legislation would be beneficial to libraries and small businesses across New York State, and would be consistent with the development of the New York Comprehensive Information System proposed by State Librarian Bernard Margolis.

New York’s libraries are not waiting for the passage of the ARIA legislation to engage in deep collaboration.  In New York City, three leading institutions, Columbia University, New York University, and the New York Public Library have recently announced the Manhattan Research Library Initiative (MARLI).  Under the terms of this initiative scholars from any of the three institutions may borrow materials directly onsite at one of the partners.  Also in New York City, the library systems of The City University of New York and the Department of Education have launched a high school to college working group to help make the two systems more congruent.  At the state-wide level, many libraries are members of the Information Delivery Services project based at SUNY Geneseo. The goal of the IDS Project is to promote innovative resource-sharing strategies, policies and procedures that optimize mutual access to the information resources of all IDS Project libraries.[1] Additional support for the IDS Project would allow for even greater utilization of the vast resources, print and electronic, that are acquired by libraries in New York State.  In addition, state support for a physical delivery system to transport materials across the state would extend the benefit of a book purchased on Long Island being used by a community college student upstate in St. Lawrence County.

While these collaborations have much promise, there are obstacles to fuller collaboration as a result of New York State procurement practices.  The Regents Advisory Council on Libraries might consider advising the New York State Regents to advocate for streamlined procurement practices to facilitate joint procurements by entities such as CUNY, SUNY and the New York State Library.  There is an opportunity here for vast savings as a result of the leverage that could be brought to bear by working together in this fashion.

In summary then, the strategic plan for libraries in New York State over the next decade should include the following components:

• Provide information literacy instruction across school, public and academic libraries

• Advance the passage of the ARIA legislation

• Support the IDS project including a statewide delivery system.

• Work to streamline procurement practices in New York

• Develop a state-wide digital repository to house and make available the rich array of materials being developed within the state

Read more about the Regents Advisory Council and the statewide plan.

The Office of Library Services is pleased to announce a CUNY Critical Thinking Skills Initiative with support from the Verizon Foundation. The 21^st Century is marked by the pervasiveness of the Internet, as well as other forms of electronic information and communication media. Strong information literacy skills are ever more crucial to academic success, the effective use of information technology in the workplace, and the development of lifelong problem solving and critical thinking skills. As a leader in community college education, The City University of New York is dedicated to improving student achievement and preparing their community college students to assume a place in today’s competitive market. The Office of Library Services Initiative is working towards this goal by providing CUNY community college students with online instruction in information literacy to promote academic and professional success.

This initiative will offer two online information literacy courses in the Fall 2011 semester—a one credit course at LaGuardia Community College and a three credit course through The School of Professional Studies’ Online BA program—in order to strengthen CUNY community college students’ information competence and critical thinking skills. Information competence includes asking the right questions, locating and evaluating relevant information from a wide variety of sources, and then properly applying that information to both immediate and future projects. Enrolled students will participate in a pre- and post-course Educational Testing Service iSkills™ assessment which will evaluate the outcome of this OLS initiative.

Each student enrolled in either online course through LaGuardia Community College or The School of Professional Studies will obtain a personal netbook during the length of the Fall 2011 semester to encourage the completion of their online coursework. The pre- and post-course iSkills™ assessment for enrolled students will demonstrate their ability to employ critical thinking and problem-solving skills to real life scenarios. An analysis of pre- and post-course scores will offer great insight into the impact of information literacy skills on critical thinking in today’s digital work environment. Students who successfully pass their online course and complete the ETS post-course iSkills™ assessment will be eligible to keep their netbooks and receive the ETS iCritical Thinking™ certification, a recognized and valued credential for potential employers, to further enhance their Associate’s degree.

Casari, William (Hostos Community College) for Street Life: Connecting Cultures of Santo Domingo and New York City

Chao, Sheau-yueh (Baruch College) for The Yuan Chronicle

Coiffe, Dorothea (Borough of Manhattan Community College) for Moving Image Websites for Undergraduate Education: An Annotated Webliography

Collins, Kathleen (John Jay) for Dr. Joyce Brothers and American Television: A Joint Biography

Donabedian, David (Hunter College) for Twenty Years After: Armenian Research Libraries Today

Dzurak, Ewa (College of Staten Island) for Comparative history of three Polish academic libraries

Kaser, James (College of Staten Island) for New Orleans in Fiction

Lyons, Kate (Hostos Community College) for A research analysis of the applicability of different iOS development tools to library resource creation

Marcus, Sara (Queensborough Community College) for The History and Applicability of Sears Subject Headings

McKay, Devin (Queensborough Community College) for American Benedictine Libraries: A Comparison at Three Monasteries

Smale, Maura (New York College of Technology) and Mariana Regalado (Brooklyn College) for The Scholarly Habits of Undergraduate Students at CUNY, Phase III

Tobar, Cynthia (Grad Center) for Grassroots Organizing and Working-Class Feminist Activism at Welfare Rights Initiative

The ranking is based on a study conducted by Tony Stankus, FSLA, Life Sciences Librarian, Science Coordinator & Professor, and Editor-in-Chief, Science & Technology Libraries at the University of Arkansas, and Amy Hardin, a member of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The study analyzed author affiliations of over 2,000 papers published in the 11 most cited journals in special librarianship subject areas.

Curtis Kendrick, University Dean for Libraries and Information Resources, accepted the award on behalf of the CUNY libraries at a ceremony recognizing the top 50 universities ranking in the study. “This award is really for CUNY library faculty, to recognize their contributions to the literature,” he said. “I’m grateful to be accepting it on their behalf.” The event took place on June 13, 2011, as part of a session on scholarly publishing at the 2011 SLA Annual Conference in Philadelphia.

According to Mr. Stankus, the institutions ranked in the study’s top 50 are among the top 4% in the country in terms of scholarly productivity in this area. Among the institutions with authors represented in the survey were 99 of the 100 most heavily endowed research universities in the U.S. and 95 of the country’s 100 top-tier schools.

The top 50 ranking was published in the June/July issue of the SLA journal Information Outlook together with a brief commentary on the shared characteristics of the winning institutions. Detailed analyses of the study will appear later this year in three separate articles (in Science & Technology Libraries, in the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, and in Practical Academic Librarianship, the new open access journal of SLA’s Academic Division).

CUNY’s successful application to become a host institution was compiled and submitted by a 10-member task force led by Bronwen Densmore, Instructional Design Librarian at New York City College of Technology, and John Carey, Head Librarian of the Health Professions library at Hunter College. The task force also administrated the event.

Program topics included:

• New methods of scholarly publishing and communication
• Copyright and intellectual property
• The economics of scholarly publishing and communication
• Open access and openness as a principle

“CUNY was selected in part because of its past work in the areas of scholarly communication and open access,”  said Curtis Kendrick, University Dean for Libraries and Information Resources. “At CUNY and at other universities, these issues have increased in importance. This trend is in part due to the economic conundrum confronting academic libraries: the cost of materials is increasing while budgets, particularly at publicly supported universities, are decreasing. As significant, perhaps, developments in scholarly communication also affect other areas of concern for librarians such as copyright, interlibrary loan, and information literacy.”