Southeastern News Online May, 2004 Vol. 2  No. 1

Candidates for SENYLRC's Board of Trustees

Four candidates are to be elected to SENYLRC’s Board of Trustees. Three are eligible for re-election and one to replace an unexpired term. Board of Trustee election ballots were recently distributed to each member library.

The first term of the following three members of SENYLRC's Board of Trustees expire at the end of this fiscal year, June 30, 2004. They are eligible for re-election.

Representing the Academic Library Community:
Barbara Durniak (Vassar College)
Jeff Katz (Bard College)

Representing the Special Library Community:
Judith McGrath (formerly from Middletown Psychiatric Center)

Elizabeth (Liz) Bushey, representing the general library community, will not be returning as a Board member Celia Seupel from High Falls, NY is the candidate to replace Liz.

A representative from each SENYLRC member library is to vote for four candidates no later than Friday, May 28, 2004.

The results of the election will be announced at the 37th Annual Meeting on June 4, 2004 at Bard College.

What follows is a statement from each of the four candidates:

Barbara Durniak, Vassar College, representing the Academic Library Community

I have been a reference librarian at Vassar College for twenty years. In addition to reference and instruction, I coordinate the evaluation of new and maintenance of existing electronic resources. My first association with SENYLRC was as a member of the Continuing Education committee back in the mid-1980s. For the last five years, I have served on the Board of Trustees. During this time the Council, with input from all the members of the Board, staff, committees, and members, participated in the development of the Council’s Five Year Plan of Service. I am impressed by the many initiatives the Council has implemented, such as VDX, consortial database purchasing, the Hudson Valley Heritage digitization project, and outstanding CE workshops. At the same time, SENYLRC, like most institutions in the region, is dealing with how to support and expand resources and services during a time of repeated funding cuts. As Board liaison to the Regional Interlibrary Loan, Regional Automation, and Digital Advisory committees, I have had an opportunity to meet many of you, to witness your hard work, and to hear your concerns. I have learned much from my first term of service as a trustee and I would welcome the opportunity to serve an additional term.

Jeff Katz, Bard College, representing the Academic Library Community

I’ve been working in libraries for nearly 30 years and I’ve loved every day, since the first day of my first job. Whether I am driving the bookmobile; writing radio plays with sixth-graders; conducting management workshops; renovating branches; writing grant proposals; or dancing around as the Summer Reading Club mascot, I understand the nobility of my job to be in helping the community wherever I am to become more resourceful, more original and, well, happier. I’ve worked in large urban libraries, small suburban branches, special libraries, with state agencies and college libraries, and I’ve never tired of trying to make those libraries more responsive, more energetic and more committed to the people they serve.

For the past five years I’ve had the great pleasure of working closely with the terrific staff and board at SENYLRC. I would welcome the opportunity to continue on the board as we craft a strategy for becoming the kind of organization our membership needs through the first decade of the 21st century.

Judith McGrath, representing the Special Library Community

Membership on the SENYLRC Board, working closely with SENYLRC staff, has been a rich learning experience for me as, since 1996, it has afforded me opportunities to participate in Board committees, strategic planning sessions and retreats, and to serve as Secretary, then President, of the Board. Working with such a lively, informed, and dedicated group of people (SE Board and staff) is a privilege.

Although a fairly recent “retiree”, currently working part-time in reference at Middletown Thrall Library, throughout my library career the bulk of my experience has been with special libraries, whose needs and interests I will continue to represent.

Celia Seupel, representing the Research & Public Community at Large

First, there is the smell. Found especially in deserted corridors with the old and seldom-read books. The smell of a world pressed to a perceptible page, beneath an aging cover, in print. Then, of course, there’s the sound. Not mere silence, but hush. The unhurried hush of a hundred years that would not be time enough to know them all. Then, too, the anticipation. Ah, so many companions, waiting for me! What else could this be but my library, my harbor, my refuge?

In love with books and libraries ever since I can remember, I have written, read and collected books all my life. With two books of poetry published in the 1980s (out of print now, of course) and two books (fiction and memoir) still searching for a publisher, my work has included every sort of writing there is: advertising, journalism, medical writing, educational materials, websites. I studied writing at Columbia U, where I received my MFA, and then studied some more at NYU, where I received my MA in English. I’ve taught all kinds of writing in many places; currently, I teach Business Writing (online) at NYU’s Stern Graduate School of Business, and I teach Freshman Composition at SUNY Ulster. Other jobs titles have included Acting PR Director for the NYC Red Cross and an Editorial Director at Scholastic Inc. I’ve owned a few businesses, and currently run a Bed and Breakfast in High Falls, where I am working on my next book while I simultaneously try to survive my children’s adolescence.

Thanks for nominating me to the Board for the Southeastern NY Library Resources Council. I would be delighted to be of service.

By John Shaloiko, Executive Director

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