A New York University student, Andrew Williamson-Noble, committed suicide in Bobst Library at 4:30 this morning. He died after throwing himself from the 10th floor into the central atrium below. (Read NYU President John Sexton's community-wide email in the Huffington Post.)
After a spate of suicides earlier this decade, NYU erected 8-foot plexiglass barriers along the atrium-side of the library's stairwells and corridors to prevent further attempts. I work in Bobst Library and can attest that it is one depressing, vertiginous folly. Thanks, Philip Johnson. I'm not being glib. Nothing about Bobst's design inspires scholarship or contemplation. It's uncomfortable, physically and psychically. Perhaps these reflections have no bearing on this sad story, but they're worth pondering.
Showing posts with label NYU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NYU. Show all posts
03 November 2009
08 March 2009
Long Live NY Libraries, Long Live the King & Other Tales
In lieu of a weekly activities update (offerings are slim, but do check the calendar), allow me to present a smattering of noteworthy news items:
This year's Library Lobby Day is especially significant as we face an 18% decrease in state Library Aid funding. At a time when public library use is skyrocketing, our patrons can't afford cuts that limit their access to library services. So hop Metro-North to Albany this Tuesday morning and join NYLA in support of New York's libraries.
Celebrate the 500th anniversary of that lovable rapscallion Henry VIII's accession to the throne with VIVAT REX! at the Grolier Club. " 'VIVAT REX!' takes its title from the Latin version of the familiar English phrase 'Long live the King!,' which appears in a woodblock print in the first sanctioned English Bible (1539). This work is among the 140 items that shed light on Henry VIII as man and monarch—his education, character, and unrelenting attempts to father a male heir." This exhibition—created in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library, Harvard's Houghton Library, and the Morgan Library—is accompanied by three lectures.
Starting in Fall 2009, Pratt Institute will offer a dual-degree program in Digital Arts and Information (the acronym-tastic MSLIS and MFA in DA).
NYU has begun their renovation of a portion of Bobst Library Lower Level 1 formerly occupied by technical services staff (see this previous post for commentary on the move). As a former NYU employee, I'm particularly thrilled to hear that the high school horror-fest restrooms are slated for upgrade.
Gothamist interviewed NYPL's "Librarian to the Stars," David Smith.
This year's Library Lobby Day is especially significant as we face an 18% decrease in state Library Aid funding. At a time when public library use is skyrocketing, our patrons can't afford cuts that limit their access to library services. So hop Metro-North to Albany this Tuesday morning and join NYLA in support of New York's libraries.
Celebrate the 500th anniversary of that lovable rapscallion Henry VIII's accession to the throne with VIVAT REX! at the Grolier Club. " 'VIVAT REX!' takes its title from the Latin version of the familiar English phrase 'Long live the King!,' which appears in a woodblock print in the first sanctioned English Bible (1539). This work is among the 140 items that shed light on Henry VIII as man and monarch—his education, character, and unrelenting attempts to father a male heir." This exhibition—created in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library, Harvard's Houghton Library, and the Morgan Library—is accompanied by three lectures.
Starting in Fall 2009, Pratt Institute will offer a dual-degree program in Digital Arts and Information (the acronym-tastic MSLIS and MFA in DA).
NYU has begun their renovation of a portion of Bobst Library Lower Level 1 formerly occupied by technical services staff (see this previous post for commentary on the move). As a former NYU employee, I'm particularly thrilled to hear that the high school horror-fest restrooms are slated for upgrade.
Gothamist interviewed NYPL's "Librarian to the Stars," David Smith.
20 February 2009
Eastern Migration: NYU Tech Services Moves Out of Bobst
Shelved @ NYC welcomes guest blogger Sommer Browning, a recently festooned library school graduate with the inside scoop on NYU's crosstown maneuver.
Last Thursday, well for the last week -- and for the supervisors, the last many months -- the entire Technical Services Department at NYU moved from Bobst Library to the third floor of 20 Cooper Square. By Tuesday afternoon we were actually cataloging books. Somehow, thousands of books, decades of invoices, dozens of book trucks, computers, office chairs, file cabinets, hundreds of feet of shelving and to my chagrin, six large boxes of unearthed microfilm that I will have to catalog, moved four blocks away to our new office. My name is Sommer Browning. I'm a copy cataloger, cataloging everything from serials to microfilm, and I've been at NYU for nearly four years.
We moved because NYU wanted our basement library space for classrooms and many of us were pretty unhappy down there in bowels of Bobst. It was wonderful to be in the library, to head upstairs to check call numbers or talk to the Government Documents librarian about a weird serial, but now we have windows! And fresh air and a clean office and a pleasant break room. It's only been a week so please realize that I'm still reeling from my new intake of natural light. The next time I'm sweating over the intricacies of cataloging a multi-volume that has become a serial with monthly supplements and we have three monograph records for it in Bobcat with three different call numbers and I walk over to Bobst to sort it all out and have forgotten the peculiar details of what I was doing, ask me how much I care that I can watch plastic bags blowing around the streets of New York City from my cubicle. But until then, me and my quickly reviving Swedish Ivy are quite pleased.
The square footage is nearly identical to our old digs, except we have lost some shelving space because of the one long wall of windows. But we can't get too used to the space, it's temporary. We are supposedly moving again, to an undisclosed location, in two years. When that happens, I hope we will have the great direction and organization we had for this move. Our acting department director, Meg Manahan, and our acting head of cataloging, Elizabeth Lilker, did an amazing job keeping us happy and focused while we bumbled around with boxes and tons of discombobulated office supplies and asked questions about how our plants would survive. Actually, yesterday, we found out that one of the two shipments of our plants tipped over and was destroyed. But seriously, for us underlings, besides some initial disgruntlement about our new seating chart, which seems for the most part to be fixed, a box of mangled plants has been the worst of it. We are very lucky that, besides Meg and Elizabeth, we had very capable supervisors planning this move. I can't imagine the hard work and long hours that went into it. I don't want to, frankly, especially since just a few months ago we made an ILS switch, from Advance to Aleph. To move a department of 50 or so people, after teaching us all a pretty complicated new system is Herculean--and a lot to ask of your TSD on top of our regular work. We also catalog books for at least four other consortium libraries. But as we unpack and get used to where the pencil sharpeners are, we all seem to be excited about our new space. Maybe it's just because I now sit by the entrance to the lounge, but I've noticed everyone saying "good morning" a lot more and asking where we can go to get a good cup of coffee in our new neighborhood.
Last Thursday, well for the last week -- and for the supervisors, the last many months -- the entire Technical Services Department at NYU moved from Bobst Library to the third floor of 20 Cooper Square. By Tuesday afternoon we were actually cataloging books. Somehow, thousands of books, decades of invoices, dozens of book trucks, computers, office chairs, file cabinets, hundreds of feet of shelving and to my chagrin, six large boxes of unearthed microfilm that I will have to catalog, moved four blocks away to our new office. My name is Sommer Browning. I'm a copy cataloger, cataloging everything from serials to microfilm, and I've been at NYU for nearly four years.
We moved because NYU wanted our basement library space for classrooms and many of us were pretty unhappy down there in bowels of Bobst. It was wonderful to be in the library, to head upstairs to check call numbers or talk to the Government Documents librarian about a weird serial, but now we have windows! And fresh air and a clean office and a pleasant break room. It's only been a week so please realize that I'm still reeling from my new intake of natural light. The next time I'm sweating over the intricacies of cataloging a multi-volume that has become a serial with monthly supplements and we have three monograph records for it in Bobcat with three different call numbers and I walk over to Bobst to sort it all out and have forgotten the peculiar details of what I was doing, ask me how much I care that I can watch plastic bags blowing around the streets of New York City from my cubicle. But until then, me and my quickly reviving Swedish Ivy are quite pleased.
The square footage is nearly identical to our old digs, except we have lost some shelving space because of the one long wall of windows. But we can't get too used to the space, it's temporary. We are supposedly moving again, to an undisclosed location, in two years. When that happens, I hope we will have the great direction and organization we had for this move. Our acting department director, Meg Manahan, and our acting head of cataloging, Elizabeth Lilker, did an amazing job keeping us happy and focused while we bumbled around with boxes and tons of discombobulated office supplies and asked questions about how our plants would survive. Actually, yesterday, we found out that one of the two shipments of our plants tipped over and was destroyed. But seriously, for us underlings, besides some initial disgruntlement about our new seating chart, which seems for the most part to be fixed, a box of mangled plants has been the worst of it. We are very lucky that, besides Meg and Elizabeth, we had very capable supervisors planning this move. I can't imagine the hard work and long hours that went into it. I don't want to, frankly, especially since just a few months ago we made an ILS switch, from Advance to Aleph. To move a department of 50 or so people, after teaching us all a pretty complicated new system is Herculean--and a lot to ask of your TSD on top of our regular work. We also catalog books for at least four other consortium libraries. But as we unpack and get used to where the pencil sharpeners are, we all seem to be excited about our new space. Maybe it's just because I now sit by the entrance to the lounge, but I've noticed everyone saying "good morning" a lot more and asking where we can go to get a good cup of coffee in our new neighborhood.
19 February 2009
NYU Stages the City's First Student Takeover of 2009
Following in the ideological footsteps of last year's New School occupiers, NYU students have barricaded themselves within the Kimmel Center cafeteria in an effort to force the school's administration to adopt "democratic, accountable and socially just" policies.
Take Back NYU -- the student group running the show -- has been active for a couple years now. Their demands include: budget transparency; 2110 union recognition; fair labor practices; scholarships for 13 Palestinian students; tuition stabilization; and, finally, "that the general public have access to Bobst Library." Interesting....
Media coverage abounds and NYU Local has an embedded reporter live-blogging the proceedings.
Take Back NYU -- the student group running the show -- has been active for a couple years now. Their demands include: budget transparency; 2110 union recognition; fair labor practices; scholarships for 13 Palestinian students; tuition stabilization; and, finally, "that the general public have access to Bobst Library." Interesting....
Media coverage abounds and NYU Local has an embedded reporter live-blogging the proceedings.
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