Argentine footballer, Lionel Messi. According to Forbes.com, Lionel (Leo) Messi earned $130 million dollars in 2022. $75 million on the field, $55 million off the field.
Congratulations to Scholes Library student employee Tyreek Ormil on being selected as Alfred University’s Sportsman of the Year!
The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that “Competing with Honor and Integrity” is an essential component of a student-athlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. Tyreek embodies these traits on and off the field. Tyreek is known for his reliability, hard work and positive attitude.
Information literacy is not just for research projects! Alfred University Librarians Kevin Adams, Samantha Dannick, John Hosford, and Mechele Romanchock will present a brief overview of information literacy theory followed by practical strategies for fact-checking, avoiding misinformation, and applying information literacy concepts in daily life as well as in the classroom.
The panel presentation will be Thursday, November, 10th in-person from 12:10 to 1:00pm in Nevins Theatre, Powell Campus Center.
For those not able to make it to Nevins, there is a Zoom link which is the same each week.
The Bergren Forum is sponsored by the Division of Human Studies and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Bring a brown bag lunch if you wish. Coffee and tea will be provided.
But people who Zoom in will have to make their own tea or coffee.
In the summer of 2020, Alfred University Libraries made a Commitment to Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression. In this commitment, we affirmed our support for the mission of the Black Lives Matter movement, recognized the role libraries have played in creating and perpetuating systems of oppression (we are not immune), and committed to action items — both short-term and long-term — designed to strengthen the inclusivity of AU Libraries. Our commitment was intended to be a living document, supporting a sustainable and ongoing process of change.
In this post, we continue informing the Alfred University community on our progress and lay out where we plan on going next.
2021-22 Progress:
We continued working to establish a Student Advisory Group (SAG) with the mission of providing a dedicated venue for student input and feedback on where the Libraries are doing well and where there is room for improvement.
We acknowledge that at this point we have had difficulty sustaining the SAG, but we believe it is important to keep working towards this goal.
Over the course of the year we worked to secure both funds and permission from University administration to pay SAG members for their time and contributions to the Libraries. We believe that compensating people for their mental and emotional labor is important, and we are excited to have accomplished this piece of implementing the SAG.
Bystander Intervention and Conflict Deescalation training facilitated by Right to Be (formerly Hollaback!) was incorporated into the Fall AU Libraries retreat for all professional library personnel.
Incorporated the Alfred University Land Acknowledgement (developed in collaboration with the Seneca Nation) and a page on accessibility in the libraries into the new AU Libraries website (libraries.alfred.edu)
A reading and discussion group for library personnel focused on anti-racism and anti-oppression met several times. We discussed:
First meeting: Convened the group, established ground rules/norms, discussed the overall mission of the group, and brainstormed articles to read.
Khuu, Michelle. “Make the Library Loud: Removing communication barriers for library workers with hearing loss.” up//root.
Brown, Jennifer. “Are student workers the answer to our diversity ‘problem’?” WOC+lib.
Farkas, Meredith. “So I’m a conspiracy theorist now? A call for retraction.” Information Wants To Be Free. and Soehner, Catherine B. and Chanel Roe. “Conspiratorial Thinking in Academic Libraries: Implications for Change Management and Leadership.” In the Library with the Lead Pipe.
All professional library personnel were encouraged to participate in Safe Zone training.
Established a Zine collection to add voices, perspectives, and modalities of expression not traditionally included in academic libraries.
Subscribed to the Black Life in America database and the Diversity and Ethnic Studies electronic book collection to improve coverage of the experience and impact of African Americans, and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Conducted an audit of furniture in public library spaces aimed at evaluating the presence of products of prison labor. The process and outcomes of this audit were presented at the annual conference of the SUNY Librarians Association.
Ongoing Projects:
Continue working with the Student Advisory Group to hear, discuss, and integrate student suggestions and feedback for library collections, events, projects, services, displays, and policies.
Continue reading and discussion group for library personnel focused on anti-racism and anti-oppression topics.
Continue soliciting feedback from the student body on “What would make you feel more welcome and/or comfortable in the Alfred University Libraries?”
Strongly encourage all professional library personnel to participate in Safe Zone training.
Integrate anti-racist and/or anti-oppression values and language into the Alfred University Libraries Mission, Vision, and Values.
Expand the Libraries’ anti-oppression efforts to explicitly incorporate other marginalized populations, such as the LGBTQ+ and disability communities.
Include the Alfred University land-acknowledgement statement at the start of all library programs.
Survey library staff for feedback on bystander intervention and conflict de escalation training.
New Action Items:
Implement ethical purchasing recommendations for furniture, and continue to develop guidelines for other library purchases.
Contribute to discussions within SUNY about bias in catalog records/critical cataloging.
Encourage staff to include pronouns in email signatures.
Develop documentation of equitable hiring procedures — based on the 2020-21 librarian search process and a continued evaluation of best-practices — to inform future library searches.
Along with notes about the aspects of the search which improved equity, this documentation should include notes on the trouble-spots which were identified during the search and suggestions for addressing them in future searches.
*24 Hour study rooms in Herrick and Scholes are available anytime! Stop in to the service desk during library hours with your AU ID to receive the access code.
In observance of September as Color Blindness Awareness Month, Alfred University will be giving away two pairs of EnChroma glasses designed to help people with color blindness. EnChroma, the Berkeley, CA company co-founded by Alfred University alumnus Don McPherson ’84 M.S., ’88 PhD, donated the glasses to the University.
People can register for the free drawings—hosted by Alfred University Libraries—during Family Weekend/Homecoming, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24. To enter, go to Herrick Memorial Library and Samuel R. Scholes Library—during the hours of operation listed below—where interactive EnChroma displays will provide information on color blindness and how the glasses were developed. Anyone who visits the display—students and their families, staff, faculty, alumni, local community members—can enter to win a pair of EnChroma glasses.
Visitors can also try on one of the pairs from the libraries’ circulating collection of EnChroma glasses. Herrick and Scholes libraries each have 10 pairs of the glasses, which can be checked out and borrowed for up to seven days.
Following are the hours of operation of Herrick and Scholes libraries during Homecoming/Family Weekend:
EnChroma was co-founded in 2010 by Don McPherson, a co-inventor of the EnChroma lens technology. McPherson, who earned master’s and doctoral degrees in glass science engineering from Alfred University, serves as EnChroma’s chief science officer.
There will be one drawing at Herrick and another at Scholes; people can enter both drawings. Registrants will be notified by Monday, September 26. Email: libraries@alfred.edu for more details.
Alfred University Libraries will host its first Team Trivia Night of the fall semester from 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10 in Herrick’s Bookend Lounge.
Returning as host of Team Trivia Night is Mike Allen of Elmira. His trivia questions cover a broad range of topics such as current events, sports, geography, and history. He intersperses his trivia questions with pop music, making for an enjoyable evening for those participating.
After a two-year Covid-induced hiatus, this will be the twelfth year that Mike has been hosting Team Trivia twice a semester at Herrick Library. He has also hosted at Hornell area restaurants for more than a decade.
Groups are welcome to come to compete as a team; individuals are also welcome to play either solo or to join others to compete for the prizes awarded to the top teams.
Pizza and soft drinks along with milk and cookies will be provided, free of charge, to all participants.
Additional Team Trivia events at Herrick Library have been scheduled for the 2022-23 academic year have been scheduled for Saturdays, Nov.10, Feb. 18, and April 15.
