New Staff Profile: Timothy Valente

Tim Valente–Scholarly Communications Librarian at Midtown

Where were you born? 

I was born in Rahway, New Jersey.

Where else have you lived?

I was raised and lived in Central New Jersey, including Woodbridge Township and New Brunswick. Currently, I live in Woodside, New York.

What languages do you speak?

English, although I’ve studied Italian and still am conversational (need much more practice).

What fields have you studied and/or degrees have you earned?

Master of Information (Library and Information Science), BA in History. I’m interested in social history, history from below, and history of the book.

What is the part of your job that you enjoy the most?

I enjoy promoting open access; to research, to education, to textbooks and other materials. Library instruction is also very rewarding in that I can see an immediate tangible impact of my work.

What do you think will be the most challenging part of your job?

The perception that open access material is inherently lower quality than traditionally published material. It’s natural to be suspicious of something that is free. However, despite some bad actors (e.g. predatory journals), open-access materials have an immensely positive impact, allowing for greater readership and more citations.

I’m inspired by the work of libraries and non-profits to make knowledge freely and universally available; Wikipedia, Internet Archive, Directory of Open Access Journals, and HathiTrust are some of my favorites.

Your ideal vacation?  

Cabin, lake, canoe, fishing rod.

Any hobbies?  

I love to cook and also play the drums.

Favorite food?

Soup. Chicken to lentil to Tom Yum and everything in between.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most of us probably don’t know.

For a time I wanted to become a chef. Perhaps that will still happen in the future.

New Staff Profile: Georgia Westbrook

Georgia Westbrook, OER and Instruction Librarian

Where were you born?

I was born and raised in the Southern Tier region of New York, which is about three hours from New York City by car.

Where else have you lived?

I haven’t lived anywhere else, so I am very excited to move to the city and to try someplace new!

What languages do you speak?

I am only fluent in English, but I dabbled in French and Latin during high school and undergrad, and I hope to pick up French again soon.

What fields have you studied and/or degrees have you earned?

I have a bachelor’s degree in art history and a master’s degree in library and information science.

 What is the part of your job that you enjoy the most?

I most enjoy helping faculty and students find and use free and affordable course resources because it means that students are more engaged and more likely to stay in, and succeed in their classes. Knowing that the work I do can have such a significant impact is so rewarding.

What do you think will be the most challenging part of your job?

I think the most challenging part of the job will be getting in the classroom and teaching whole classes about library resources. I have worked with students one-on-one at the reference desk during graduate school, so I am excited to translate that experience — plus what I learn as I work more in this role — to this new responsibility.

Your ideal vacation?

My ideal vacation is a week on the beach with lots of sleeping, swimming, and reading books.  

Any hobbies?  

Like most other librarians, I love to read, and I enjoy cooking and baking, too.

Favorite food?

This changes all the time, but right now, my favorite food is key lime pie.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most of us probably don’t know.

I can drive a stick shift.

 

New Library Staff Profile: Michael Kahn

Michael Kahn–Librarian at BP 53

Where were you born? I was born in Brooklyn, New York and have lived there most of my life there.

Where else have you lived? As part of my yeshiva studies, I lived in Jerusalem, Israel and Lakewood, New Jersey.

What languages do you speak? While I am a native English speaker I also can converse in Yiddish and can read and understand Hebrew.

New Library Staff Profile

Where were you born?

I was born in Brooklyn, New York and lived in Williamsburg for the first 16 years of my life.

Where else have you lived?

Besides Brooklyn, I have lived on Long Island. I currently reside in a village home to a (moderately famous) prognosticating groundhog and one of the last cooperative farms on Nassau County.

España sobre dues rodes: Parte Dos

(image: Jeff MacDonald, IRCO, Portland, OR)

If you’ve been reading this blog for some time, you may have noticed that my trips:

• Are suddenly suggested by someone other than myself (or involuntary body part movements…or wine)
• Are something I am a little too easily talked into going on
• Get broken up into two parts
• Include potentially perilous transitions between those parts

Of course, this could also all just be me and my flair for the overly dramatic.

España en dos ruedas: Parte Uno

 

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane…I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain.  Jane says, “I’m going away to Spain when I get some money saved.”  I’ve never been to Spain, but I kinda like the music.

Duke University Archives. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

You now know pretty much all ArchivistPhil knew of Spain prior to a week-long trip I just took to that nation. Yup, three little pop songs referring to a country with roots going back as far as 35,000 years. Who says archivists can’t be uncultured boors?

Library Staff Memories of Rita Hilu

We asked Touro College Libraries staff to tell us their memories of Rita Hilu, our Starrett City Library Assistant who recently passed away. Here are their thoughts.

Starrett City: An Interview with Rita Hilu

This post was originally from 2016. Over the weekend, Starrett City Library Assistant Rita Hilu passed away. Rita was an incredibly important member of the Touro College Libraries staff, and we want to remind everyone of what made her so special to students, faculty, and staff.

Rita Hilu (top left) with faculty and students before a library class

What is the name of your site and where is it located?

The Starrett City Library is located at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue in
Brooklyn, between Marine Park and Howard Beach near the Jamaica Bay. 

Library Staff Profile: Starrett City Library Assistant Rita Hilu

This post is originally from 2014. It continues our tribute to Rita Hilu, who passed away last weekend. Rita was an incredibly important member of the Touro College Libraries staff, and we want to remind everyone of what made her so special to students, faculty, and staff.

The Fall 2009 issue of the Starrett City campus newsletter Touro Times featured a glowing profile on one of Touro’s most beloved information professionals, Rita Hilu.

Thank you again, Rita Hilu

This blog was originally posted in 2015. Over the weekend, Starrett City Library Assistant Rita Hilu passed away. Rita was an incredibly important member of the Touro College Libraries staff, and we want to remind everyone of what made her so special to students, faculty, and staff.

After receiving many positive comments and remarks by Starrett City students and faculty on the Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey in December, Ms. Rita Hilu, our wonderful library staff at Starrett City, responds in her own words with gratitude and encouragement: