December 2009

Table Of Contents
NNYLN Renews Ask Us 24/7 Services
NNYLN Assists Agencies With Scanning
Out & About
Gouverneur Library Receives NYLA PLS Award
"Chateaugay Chasm" Photos On Exhibit
People In The News

NNYLN Renews Ask Us 24/7 Services

The Northern New York Library Network has renewed its Ask Us 24/7 virtual reference service. The service is offered in partnership with the Western New York Library Resources Council and other 3Rs councils around the state. Ask Us 24/7 is a virtual chat service that connects people with reference librarians, and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Users are not necessarily chatting with a librarian from their home library, but they will be chatting with a reference librarian who is prepared to meet their information needs.

Ask Us 24/7 is a cooperative service. Reference staff from participating North Country libraries log hours providing online reference services for incoming inquiries - they help with questions about users’ home libraries, and answers to other questions users may have by using a range of Internet sources and specialized databases. A referral component directs inquiries to the user’s home library if assistance can only be provided through that avenue.

The NNYLN subsidizes the cost of Ask US 24/7 in order to keep the cost of participation low. It also provides training to help libraries make the most effective use of the service.

Connie Holberg, director of Jefferson Community College’s Melvil Dewey Library, noted, "We have been offering Ask Us 24/7 for the past year and are extremely pleased to have the service for our students. Participation is based on FTE - in our case we put in three hours a week - and in return we have an academic librarian available for our students whenever they need help 24 hours a day.

"We have worked at marketing Ask Us 24/7 and can see the results. Our monthly statistics show our students are using the service far more than our previously offered chat reference services (AOL and Meebo), or email reference. We also have a large number of online courses and Ask Us 24/7 provides convenient reference service for those students who are not able to come to the library," Ms. Holberg added.

Enrollment is now open for member libraries that would like to participate; call John Hammond (315-265-1119) for more information.

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Recently asked 24/7 questions:

Q: "I know Morristown, NY and Gouverneur, NY are named after Gouverneur Morris, but I am wonder ing, how did NY State decide to do that?"

Q: "I am citing a paper in APA format, but I am confused about Works cited and References page. Should I do 2 separate pages?"

Q: "Where can I find Primary Sources on the Franciscans?"

Q: "I’m looking for information about teams with color- named mascots, like the Syracuse Orange. Can you give me some more info about these?"

Q: "Can you help me find any information on the rise of Napoleon III, focusing on the years 1848-1850?"

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NNYLN Assists Agencies With Scanning

The NNY Library Network has successfully scanned 2,630 images and created data for each image from 19 binders for the Town of Volney History Center.

This was the first project the Network undertook after announcing it is ready to assist institutions with the scanning and item description portions of their digitization projects for the North Country Digital History website (http://history.nnyln.net).

The Volney images and data are in the process of being converted to CONTENTdm to be added to the NCDH website.


Among the pieces of the Volney collection is a copy of this photo of Josephine and Leonardo Curcuruto entitiled "Volney Muck Farming."

Organizations participating in the North Country Digital History project are Clarkson University, Essex County Historical Society, Jefferson Community College, Paul Smiths College, Potsdam Public Museum, St. Lawrence County Historical Association, St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES SLS, St. Lawrence University Library, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Environmental Division, Saranac Lake Free Library, SUNY Canton, SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Potsdam, Thousand Islands Museum of Clayton, and Tupper Lake Public Library.

Additional content from these institutions as well as participation from new organizations is highly encouraged.

While the contributing organizations are responsible for organizing their collections, the Network can scan the items, enter the data for item descriptions, and post to the site.

Those institution wishing to scan their own items may use equipment available at the NNYLN building in Potsdam.

For more information about the project, or to add additional content, contact Pam Ouimet at 315-265-1119. pouimet@nnyln.org

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Out & About

Classes:

  • "Mail Merge with Microsoft Office 2007" will be held Wednesday, December 2 from 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the NNYLN in Potsdam. The fee is $10 for library staff, free to Blue Line library staff, and $29.95 for all others.

Office Information:

  • There will be a meeting of the NNYLN Board of Trustees on Thursday, December 3, at 10:00 a.m.

  • The NNYLN office will be closed Thursday & Friday, December 24 & 25 in observance of the Christmas holiday, and Friday, January 1 in observance of the new year.

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Gouverneur Library Receives NYLA PLS Award

By Charlotte Garofalo

The Gouverneur Library was recently honored by the Public Library Section of the New York Library Association. The 2009 Annual Conference was held in Niagara Falls October 14-17 and honored the Gouverneur Library for its recent Library Loft renovation project.

Every year the Public Library Section awards a plaque and $1,000 to each of two libraries for a renovation or a new construction project. The focus of the award is the impact the construction project has had on the library’s ability to provide services to its community. Emphasis is placed on projects that demonstrate cost effective solutions to space Challenges, as well as innovative usage of space and the floor plan of the new construction.

The new Library Loft converted the old unused attic of the building into a new much needed space for youth and adult programs, meetings and recreational reading.


Susan Considine, Director of the Public Library Section of the New York Library Association, presents the award plaque to Gouverneur Library Manager Charlotte Garofalo (r).

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"Chateaugay Chasm" Photos On Exhibit

            

The Chateaugay Historical Society recently had a display at the Chateaugay Memorial Library.

The subject of the display was the Chateaugay Chasm. This local geological formation was a well known tourist attraction from the 1890s until 1907. It was generally regarded to rival the spectacular views of both Ausable Chasm and Watkins Glen.

The display contained photos of the major features of the sandstone cliffs, waterfalls and overlooks.

In the book Routes and Rates for Summer Tours... Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad, the Chateaugay Chasm is described as "... surpassing in rugged grandeur, (and) natural beauty.

"The waters of the Chateaugay lakes find outlet to the St. Lawrence through a hilly country, and for several miles after leaving the lakes the scenery is wild, picturesque and grand. At the Chasm the whole volume is forced through a narrow gorge, walled in on either side by high and perpendicular cliffs, with but one or two places where descent into the Chasm can be made," the book states.

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People In The News

  • Tracey LaBarge of the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System has announced that after 25 years, she retired at the end of November. Tracey served as a technical services/reference library clerk.
  • The NNY Library Network has received word that former NNYLN trustee Mary H. Smallman passed away on October 26, 2009. Mary was well known in Northern New York for her decades of work to preserve the history of the region and its families. Mary was the Hammond Town Historian, St. Lawrence County Historian and into her late 80s performed genealogical research. She was a founder of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association, and a member of the Nihanawate Chapter of the DAR, the Board of Directors of the North Country Library System, Board of Trustees of Paul Smith's College, and the 1976 New York State Bi-Centennial Committee. In 1999, she was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the New York State Assembly.
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  • The NNY Library Network has received word that former NNYLN trustee Mary Emma Overlease passed away on October 23, 2009. Mary was a founding member of the North Country Reference and Research Resources Council. In January 1949 she worked at Canton ATC Library and then went to Columbia University. After receiving her Masters she continued to work as head librarian at Canton ATC, retiring in 1970 after 21 years. Mary owned a cottage at Oak Point on the St. Lawrence River since 1947, where she hosted a number of NNYLN Board meetings.

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