Shea writes “evenings & weekends. I can’t write during my lunch hour.” Shea went on to note that an hour provides too little time to switch gears. Fortunately, she can apply for reassignments which give library faculty 20 days dur-ing a semester to focus on academic projects. “I write at home on my lap-top and sofa during my personal time, but during reassignments I like to go to NYPL’s Performing Arts Library because the space is nice and they always have interesting exhibits to explore.”

Seamus who now has two masters is eligible also for 200 additional hours yearly for each of five years to work on tenure-related writing projects. Seamus said that he takes this time, “in both blocks and one day a week. I never write at home—has to be a library, usually the NYPL.”

2. Does most of Shea’s writing involve class assignments?

“Yes.” She will be working on her culminating thesis project which could, for example, consist of a collection of short stories or a novel. Any ideas? “I haven’t decided yet. It depends on how much I’m able to write dur-ing the summer.” What will you focus on after graduation? “I’d like to write

This issue CircumSpice is visiting with two of our newer librarians who—when not assisting students and faculty in finding needed information, or selecting books and electronic resources for the collection, or putting together library exhibits—are dedicated to writing in their spare time.

Seamus Scanlon, chief of the college’s CWE Library and a graduate of CCNY’s nationally ranked graduate Creative Writing Program, and Shea Taylor, chief of the Reference Division in the Cohen Library and a current student in her second-to-last semester of that same writing program, have a lot to talk about (certainly to write about). Something else they have in common is their attendance, a few years apart, at a writer’s retreat in Archer City, Texas, home of the Pulitzer-prize winning author, Larry McMurtry. Former Dean of Humanities Fred Reynolds and Professor Linsey Abrams, director of the college’s writing program, selected Shea and Seamus to join other top writing students in this experience where they met and worked with Mr. McMurtry.

CircumSpice sat down with Shea and Seamus to find out how they balance it all.

1. When do you find time to write?

City College Library of The City University of New York

no.80 (n.s.) Spring 2010

Two Librarians Putting Pen to Paper or—More Accurately—Fingers to Keyboard

Shea in conversation with fellow students on the Archer trip.

The Royal movie house in Archer made famous by The Last Picture Show, a 1971 movie based on Larry McMurtry’s book of the same name.

...continued on page 5

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both, but it’s really difficult to market short stories unless you are an established author.”

What is Seamus focusing on?

“Noir fiction - trying to emulate Cain, Macdonald, etc which is very difficult since they are master stylists. Thought as a kid if I read every crime writer it would

flow through me somehow (the lazy approach) and I could then just sit down and it would pour out but no luck so far! Not following the detective line – more the Parker novel approach.

My early interest in crime writing came about because the local library was on the first floor of the Galway Courthouse so on days when court was in session you

2 Spring 2010

From The Desk Of The Chief Librarian

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Support the CCNY Libraries every time you shop atAmazon.com!

Whenever you have the urge for some e-commerce, click on the Amazon.com button located in the lower corner of the libraries’ Web site:

www1.ccny.cuny.edu/library/

Perhaps you are noticing new faces at the reference desk, circulation counter or in the library classrooms when you visit us these days. A recent surge in retirements has literally changed the “face” of the City College Libraries.

• On March 1st, Prof. Amrita Dhawan joined us as Information Literacy Librarian.

• On February 1st, Ms. Helena Marvin joined us as Government Documents & Serials Librarian (substitute).

• Also on February 1st, Ms. Emma Curtis joined us as part-time Cataloging & Metadata Librarian.

• Also on February 1st, Ms. Regina Houghteling, Access Services Librarian, became a regular

member of the department after serving for a semester as a substitute in her position.

• Prof. Sarah Aponte has joined us as Dominican Studies Institute Librarian. Although Prof. Aponte has served in this position since the creation of the institute in 1994, she became a full-time faculty member in the Library Department as of last November 1st.

That takes care of the faculty, but it’s not the whole story. Among the new faces on the administrative staff are:

• Ms. Rosanna McCoy joined us on April 5th as Database Maintenance Assistant in

Technical Services.• On February 22nd, Mr. Ramel

Pearson joined us as Materials Processing and Conservation Manager in Technical Services.

And we take pleasure in congratulating Profs. Ching-Jung Chen (Visual Resources Librarian) and Sydney Van Nort (Archivist) on receiving tenure, both effective September 1, 2010.

Comments, suggestions and feedback regarding the library’s services are always welcome and should be addressed to me by calling x7271, sending email to prgcc@sci.ccny.cuny.edu, or by drop-ping by NAC 5/333 (Cohen Library).

Library Book Sale

Thursday, April 22

10-4

NAC Rotunda

Spring 2010 3

The Library Scene

Ebe P. Deleon. Our Neighbor on the Villa Vasquez Hills in 1982. Oil on Canvas. 2010

The March 2010 CCNY Women Make Art exhibit held in the Cohen Library’s Gallery featured a

heavy dose of library talent that this page happily acknowledges!

This exhibit was curated by Prof. Sylvia Netzer of the Art Department

Jody Spedding. Catti’s Garden. Cardboard. 2010

Jacqueline Gill. Mud Cloth Imagination. Textile. 2010

Juana Minier. Exercises in Style. 2009

Gladys Bacote. Bay View. Acrylic. 2009

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4 Spring 2010

In Memoriam

Grace Ellen McCrann

It is with profound sadness that the City College of New York Libraries announce the passing of Grace-Ellen McCrann on November 30, 2009.

From the first day that Prof. Grace-Ellen McCrann joined the library faculty at CCNY she made an impact. Her out-sized personality and total dedication to user services constantly pushed us all to upgrade both physical and virtual collec-tions and the pathways to their use.

Prof. McCrann spent her first year with us as an adjunct in the Reference Division, moving into the full-time gov-ernment documents librarian position in September 2001. Although she brought to the position some experience from the State Library of North Carolina, work-ing with government documents had not been her specialty. But anyone who encountered her would never know that. She brought zeal and passion to her posi-tion, becoming a goodwill ambassador for documents, encouraging everyone to consider them a primary source for almost any subject. Prof. McCrann went to great lengths to demystify documents and make them accessible to all users, and her enthusiasm for them was conta-gious.

Prof. McCrann is well known in cyber-space for her resource collections series, Government Views of . . . which includes web pages on the Iraq war, SARS, the Rosenberg Spy Case and D-Day, that have been linked to by hundreds of libraries, government agencies and edu-cational institutions.

She is also the author of numerous articles and book chapters that are heavily reliant on the use of government information, as well as its management

and preservation. Prof. McCrann was most recently working on a book chapter on using online documents to help offset library budget cuts and an article on digi-tal preservation of online documents. She curated the exhibit recently on view in the Cohen Library Atrium, The Cold War: Two Superpowers and their Spheres-of-Influence.

During four of her nine years at CCNY, Prof. McCrann also held the title of Reference Division chief, holding both positions while earning her second master’s degree in information science through SUNY’s Empire State College. She earned her MLS from North Carolina

Central University where she was elected to Beta Phi Mu, and her BA in communi-cations from Seton Hall where she was a National Merit Scholar.

Prof. McCrann was an integral part of the library’s information literacy program, teaching in the freshman inquiry series as well as a wide array of political sci-ence, legal studies, international studies and public policy sessions. She particu-larly enjoyed teaching and took great pains to add resources targeted to class topics to her web pages on the library “Research by Subject” web site, where she developed pages for American Studies, Government Publications, International Studies, Law & Legal Studies, Political Science and Public Policy and Public Affairs.

Prior to joining the CCNY library faculty, Prof, McCrann held positions at the New Jersey Historical Society, the Librarian’s Yellow Pages, District of Columbia Public Library, the State Library of North Carolina and the New Hanover Public Library in Wilmington, NC. In her pre-librarian days, she worked in marketing for several com-panies, including New York’s WOR radio.

She was a member of the American Library Association in both RUSA – Reference Users Association and GODORT – National Government Documents Round Table, the Association of College and Research Libraries, various local and regional library associations, and the New York Library Club where she served as Vice President.

Donations in Prof. McCrann’s memory may be made to: The Grace-Ellen McCrann Memorial Library Fund at the City College Libraries, 160 Convent Ave., New York, NY 10031.

Addendum: CircumSpice is adding this tribute to Grace-Ellen from the Library Association of the City University of New York (LACUNY):

In honor of the late Grace-Ellen McCrann, LACUNY will sponsor an annual Grace-Ellen McCrann Lecture Series to spotlight research by LACUNY members. The first lecture will be at the Spring Membership Meeting to be held from 1:30-3:30 pm on Friday, June 11, 2010 in the Skylight Room at the Graduate Center. At this meeting, 3-4 LACUNY

members will have the opportunity to speak about their research.

Spring 2010 5

class over two weeks. She stayed in a castle now serving as a monastery. The program paid 75% of her transportation costs making it cheaper than taking a summer course here. Shea did a lot of running & swimming in the beautiful setting & also had the opportunity to spend time in Vienna.

Seamus added that, “there was a strong emphasis on literature as well as writing which is unusual in MFA creative writing programs but it benefits greatly from this approach.” During the program Seamus was the recipient of three awards from the English and Drama departments as well as the winner of two bursaries

Fifty-plus guests gathered in late March to honor Associate Professor Laurel Franklin at her retirement party marking more than forty years of service to the City College Libraries. Attending were current CCNY colleagues, friends whose retirements preceded hers, and guests from across CUNY who had collaborated with Laurie in university-wide library committees including the cataloging group.

Laurie started officially at the Cohen Library as a lecturer in 1971, although

she had been a library fellow on cam-pus a few years earlier while earning her Columbia MLS. She earned a second master’s degree in history at CCNY in 1985. During her time here she served as president of the Library Association of

Laurel Franklin Retires

the City University of New York (LACUNY) in the late 90s and also participated on committees in other professional librarian organizations.

Laurie leaves her post as the long-running chief of cataloging, a position which allowed her a unique, firsthand look at how the CCNY Libraries’ collections have expanded and changed over the years. Laurie was ever a professional and gracious colleague who oversaw the reclassification of collections in the library, monitored the day-to-day running of her divsion, and responded to the many requests from those of us who worked in library divisions

outside the Cohen Library. Whether it was the cataloging of a piece of ephemeral architectural writing or another item requiring original cataloging, Laurie and her department were always ready, willing and able.

Post retirement, Laurie looks forward this spring to a three-month stay in England with her husband Woody. There they’ll visit with their daughter and grandson in Oxford, spend time traveling and camping in the country, and sojourn in France for a while also. It doesn’t sound too hard to take. Afterward, Laurie plans to spend time volunteering, visiting her

home in upstate New York, and keeping up with family and friends including for-mer colleagues.

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had to pass through a mass of prisoners in handcuffs, guards, detectives, jailers, newspaper reporters, victims, suspects, relatives of both all encapsulated in a thick blue fog of cigarette smoke.”

As well as writing Seamus has participated in many readings at various venues around New York - including the Cell Theatre, The Mysterious Bookshop, The Perch Cafe, Swifts, McNally Robinson Bookshop and The Ulysses Bar.

3. What do you consider especially valuable about the writing program?

Both answered: “The workshops where you submit your work and get feedback from fellow students. The professor gives commentary.” Shea added, “It was hard because you have to put yourself out there. Half will agree and half will disagree.”

The writing program also gave Shea the opportunity to take a summer course in an exchange program with the University of Graz, Austria. It was a three-credit

(grants) from the Irish Arts Council.

4. How hard is it to write? How do you get the ideas to put down on paper? Seamus answered that he has “not a clue where I start....just an idea takes hold....” Shea noted that “It depends where I am in the writing process. I need lots of time & quiet space to develop stuff.” Once she has an idea, “it’s just a matter of time.”

5. What was most note-worthy about the workshop in Archer City that you both attended in different years? Shea treasured the “time away from work to focus on the craft of writing. No responsibilities!” She enjoyed also “meeting Larry McMurtry, seeing how he works (two hours a day) and how he writes (on a typewriter).”

...continued on page 9

Two Librarians... continued from page 1

Shea with classmates in Austria

6 Spring 2010

On March 1 the CCNY Libraries welcomed our new information literacy librarian, Dr. Amrita Dhawan. Originally from India, where she taught college-level language and literature, Amrita came to the U.S. to

pursue further studies in the field of education. She completed a doctor-ate in philosophy and education at Columbia University Teachers College. Interested in technology’s role in the educational process, Amrita also studied programming and instructional design. She then worked in the area of edu-cational technology for private and non-profit organizations.

Amrita later chose to pursue her master’s degree in library science just as libraries were making more inroads in the digital arena. After completing her program at Queens College, she worked at corporate libraries but found that her real passion lay elsewhere. She interviewed several academic librarians about their careers, and found many of them very happy with their career choice. This, coupled with her desire to make a difference in the lives of stu-dents, led her to academic librarianship.

Since then, Amrita has worked as an adjunct librarian at Hunter College’s main and social work libraries and now, as an associate professor, she continues her academic career at the CCNY Libraries.

Amrita is enthusiastic about her new position and has already begun attending library information literacy sessions to assess current instruction and new possibilities for instructional design. Amrita has a lot on her plate, but in her spare time she enjoys watching independent and foreign films – which is great for us movie buffs at the CCNY Libraries.

Welcome, Amrita! Daisy Dominguez

ddominguez@ccny.cuny.edu

Library Hires New Chief of Access Services

Information Literacy Librarian on Board

The City College Libraries welcome Regina Kelly Houghteling as the new chief of access services. She joined the library department officially in Febuary 2010 after serving a semester as the library’s acting chief of access services. Regina came to the Cohen Library from the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library, where she worked in a

number of capacities, from circulation and reference to programming for all ages. A SUNY alumna with a bachelor’s in anthropology from Binghamton (she started out at City but transferred to Binghamton because of its archeology program), Regina received a master of information and library science degree from Pratt in 2007. She is currently working towards a second master’s at CCNY.

Prior to her library career, Regina traveled and worked on archeological digs in North Africa, Europe, and on American Indian reservations. In New Mexico, she worked as an assistant for artists, and as a writer for a Southwestern Arts magazine covering the work of artists seeking, she says, “inspiration and new ideas in the high deserts and mountains

of New Mexico.” After years away from New York she returned home and found work as an assistant to Charlotte Zolotow, a beloved children’s author and editor. The experience exposed her to the changing publishing worlds in both children’s and young adult literature. And Zolotow encouraged her to become a librarian. Regina is responsible for such things as circulation, inter-library loans and CLICS, electronic reserves, and stack maintenance. She looks forward to the opportunities and challenges of her new position. When she was asked about her long-term goals, Regina said simply, “I want to continue to improve the way we care for City College Libraries’ unique, aging, and irreplaceable collections, using the most state-of-the-art methods.”

William Gibbonswgibbons@ccny.cuny.edu

Spring 2010 7

City College Libraries are now using a new inter-library loan (ILL) deliv-ery system called ILLiad. The OCLC ILLiad Resource Sharing Management software automates routine inter-library loan functions, not to be confused with CLICS, which is our CUNY intra-library loan system for books. We have simultaneously joined the IDS project, a cooperative of 52 libraries (and growing) in New York State seeking to streamline document delivery and share resources. IDS will help us optimize ILLiad services. One way to get to ILLiad is from a link on the library homepage. Once there, set up your own account. Click on the link “Services” on the left side of the screen. ILLiad enables ILL requests to be processed entirely online, saving paper. At any time from your ILLiad account, you can review the status of requests in process, cancel those requests, renew certain loans, and review all past requests.

Desktop delivery of articles…electronically received articles will be available for 30 days through your ILLiad account. The system automatically emails you when a borrowed book or photocopy arrives. All electronic articles or book chapters will be delivered to your CCNY email account.

ILL staff will have data to generate reports about the performance of the interlibrary loan service including turn-around-time for requests, most requested journals, and other stats we can use to improve our service. ILLiad is available to students, faculty and staff in good standing. Textbooks may not be requested from ILLiad. Illiad is free! The IDS Project includes public and private libraries, the New York Public Library, and the New York State Library. IDS has a unified collection perspective:

Helping You Get the Information You Need!ILLIAD and Information Delivery Services Project (IDS)

resource sharing will optimize mutual access to the information resources of all IDS Project libraries.

As libraries continue to face tightening budgets, resource sharing becomes an increasingly important service. IDS is committed to the development of innovative tools and promotion of best practices. Through IDS we have access to approximately 32 million volumes and currently 80% of articles requested are delivered to your desktop in 48 hours! http://idsproject.org/About/AboutUs.aspx Thanks to Professor Beth Posner, CUNY Grad Center, for mentoring us as we learn to use ILLiad and IDS.

Regina K Houghteling reginekelly@yahoo.com

8 Spring 2010

Helena Marvin has been appointed government documents & serials librarian (substitute) through August 31. She is also a December 2009 MLS gradu-ate of Queens College. Additionally, Lena is a 2008 CCNY/Macaulay Honors College graduate. During her undergrad days she spent the summer of 2005 doing tech support for the libraries.

Emma Curtis, a December 2009 MLS graduate of the Queens College School of Library & Information Studies, has joined us as part-time cataloging & meta-data librarian. Emma is no stranger to us, having worked as an intern in Archives & Special Collections during library school helping to create the Free Academy Digital Collection, now mounted on the CUNY dSpace area for CCNY.

Now a CUNY office assistant at the Cohen Library Circulation Desk, Jody Spedding recently served in the same capacity at the Sci/Engineering Library on campus. Prior to that, Jody was a college assistant in the Archives Division while she was completing her CCNY MFA with a concentration in sculpture. She earned her BA in liberal arts from CCNY also. You can see an example of Jody’s artistry in the “Library Scene” section of this newsletter featuring the recent CCNY Women Make Art exhibit held in the Archives’s gallery.

Introducing New Faculty...

Ramel Pearson arrived to fill the management gap in the library’s Materials Processing Division that was created by the summer retirement of staff member Gloria Albergottie. Ramel earned his psychology degree in 2005 from Brooklyn College where he worked in that library’s Circulation Division as a college assistant. Now the MPC manager and a CUNY office assistant, Ramel supervises four student staff members who process recently cataloged books readying them for public perusal. He and his staff also do basic book repair. In this photo, Ramel is putting together a clamshell box used for fragile or rare materials.

CUNY administrative assistant Rosanna McCoy joins us as a database assistant in the Cataloging Division. This is not the first position Rosanna has held here at CCNY. Prior to her recent employment in CUNY Central’s Human Resources Office, Rosanna was a CUNY office assistant in CCNY’s Faculty and Staff Relations Office under then Dean John Snyder. Rosanna is just finishing up a certificate in web design at LIU, Brooklyn and is looking forward to the next level of certification in that area. In her free time, Rosanna enjoys designing jewelry.

The library welcomes all five!

...and New Staff

Library Exhibits/ Events 2010

is published by The City College Library, The City College of New York/CUNY138th Street and Convent Avenue NY, NY 10031Editor: Professor Judy Connortonjconnorton@ccny.cuny.eduPublication Committee: Professors Ching-Jung Chen, Claudia Lascar, William Gibbons, & Ms. Daisy DomingezProduction: Nilda SanchezISSN 0069-4215

Library Contact Information

650-7271650-7609650-7155650-7611-12650-8768650-7174650-8246650-8754650-7175

Chief Librarian Archives CirculationReference Architecture Music Science/EngineeringVR Library/ArchitectureVR Library/Art

Latinos in the United States: iPresente!

February 1- June 10, 2010Cohen Library Atrium

Costume Book CollectionAugust 30 - December 31,

2010Cohen Library Atrium

Langston Hughes FestivalAugust 30 - December 31,

2010Archives Gallery

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Seamus: “Archer City was restful, isolated, where you were only expected to write and read and eat chef Reynolds’

meals. Where pickup trucks drove by you on the quiet streets, where hard rain from low black clouds drenched you (unusual for Texas in May but just like Galway), where inspiring people like

Sue Deen and Louise Thomas shared their stories and their contentment of their place. Where you talked with other writers from City College and were again amazed by the diversity of talent and experience that is part of the MFA in Creative Writing.”

CircumSpice adds also that Seamus was one of only ten librarians nation-wide who recently received the 2009 Carnegie Corporation/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. Not only is this an outstanding honor, one that occurs after careful consideration of a pool of applicants who are nominated by the community of library users that they represent, but it is also one that bestows a $5,000 bonus on each deserving winner. Now that’s some-thing to write about.

Two Librarians... continued from page 5

One of Larry Mc Murty’’s four book depots - 250,000 books in total. Adam Eisenberg

Archer City with a sky reminiscent of Galway according to Seamus. Adam Eisenberg

Seamus Scanlon with his Carnegie Corporation/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award.