Southeastern News Online July, 2004 Vol. 2  No. 2

SENYLRC to Participate in
"Recruiting & Educating Librarians" Grant

The NYS Library was recently notified by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that this federal agency is awarding the NYS Library $995,630 over a 3-year program to “Recruit and Educate Librarians for the 21st Century.”

The NYS Library is to be commended in submitting an application deemed worthy by IMLS to award the full amount of the grant moneys requested. The statewide project, coordinated by the NYS Library, is titled “Making It Real! Recruitment, Education, and Learning: Creating a New Generation of Librarians to Serve New Yorkers.” The program’s intent is to recruit new librarians who represent diverse groups and who will acquire competencies for providing library services to diverse populations. A key component of the grant is to incorporate 13 library systems, partnering with graduate schools of library and information science, to award to librarian recruits 15 scholarships and traineeships in “teaching libraries” where they will acquire practical, hands-on experience and mentoring.

One of these “library recruits” comes directly from SENYLRC staff! SENYLRC is particularly excited about this award in that it will realize over $36,000 during the 3 year period for library science student Jennifer Palmentiero (SENYLRC’s Program Assistant). Jennifer is focusing on digital librarianship at the Division of Library and Information Science, St. John University, Queens, NY. Most of this money will subsidize Jennifer’s SENYLRC salary as she embarks in her new role at SENYLRC – attending St. John’s and interning at the teaching libraries. “I have been interested in and excited about SENYLRC's regional digitization effort since the beginning, and I cannot be more thrilled about the opportunity to be a part of this emerging service. I look forward to continuing my studies at St. John's and my work with the teaching libraries to acquire the skills needed for digital librarianship. I also look forward to working with the staff from cultural heritage organizations in the region to provide access to their unique historical collections through the Hudson Valley Heritage website.”

Jennifer Palmentiero

How did this all come about? Upon recommendation by the regional Digital Advisory and Technology Review and Advisory Committees, and upon approval of the Board of Trustees, SENYLRC is now venturing into a new consortial service. This service is creating a platform, method and best practices to allow cultural heritage institutions (libraries, museums and historical societies) to create digital copies of collections in multiple formats, create the necessary metadata, and make them available to the general public and researchers through the SENYLRC-hosted “Hudson Valley Heritage” (HVH) website. HVH is envisioned as a multi-institutional collaborative collection of digital objects representing the rich history of the Hudson Valley. The long-term success of this digital initiative requires council staff with the appropriate skills and experience to provide hands on assistance and training, consultation and guidance to the various cultural heritage organizations within the region who wish to participate and contribute digital objects to Hudson Valley Heritage.

SENYLRC is creating a new position for Jennifer who will be acquiring the appropriate digitizing knowledge and skills through this opportunity. This position is called “Digital Project Assistant.” While working on her MLS degree with a digital library focus, Jennifer will simultaneously learn, through hands-on involvement at the teaching organizations, about the key issues involved in digital projects: standards and best practices, metadata alternatives, scanning, front end web design, ownership and copyright. Jennifer has already started to apprentice at the one of the teaching libraries, United States Military Academy in Special Collections & Archives. In addition, the she will work with another teaching organization, Wilderstein Preservation, a museum, library and archive, which is beginning a pilot project to create digital content for the SENYLRC HVH digital initiative. She also plans to work with the staff at Vassar College Special Collections to transfer its existing 200 digital image collection to the HVH CONTENTdm (digital management software) platform, thereby gaining experience in exporting data from MARC format to Dublin Core and CONTENTdm. Other regional resources from various organizations, like Marlboro Public Library’s historic photograph collection, will eventually be included in the HVH initiative and which will offer additional hands on opportunities. The position of Digital Project Assistant is expected to move from an assisting role to a teaching and advising role as Jennifer gains experience under the direction of the teaching organizations and knowledge through professional education as well as academic coursework.

Ron Patkus, Associate Director of the Library for Special Collections at Vassar College and Chair of SENYLRC’s Digital Advisory Committee believes SENYLRC is privileged to be included in this NYS Library grant from the IMLS: “Funds from this grant will allow SENYLRC to hire a colleague who can directly assist the cultural institutions of our area in the creation of digital products. The Digital Advisory Committee is now well-positioned to move forward with its digital initiative for the Hudson Valley.”

By John Shaloiko, Executive Director

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