Library News

Stephen Spatz, assistant Outreach and Support librarian, recently attended the Catholic Research Resources Alliance annual meeting at Loyola University, Chicago. While there, Stephen presented information on VuFind and Falvey Memorial Library’s Digital Library.

He demonstrated what Falvey’s VuFind open source software can do for the Catholic Portal, an internet search engine designed by the CRRA. The portal intends to “create easy, effective and global discovery of Catholic research resources” and to provide “access to rare, unique or infrequently held materials in academic libraries’ and seminaries’ special collections and archives.”

Villanova University is a new member of the CRRA. Representatives from other institutions - Notre Dame University, Marquette University, Boston College, Catholic University of America, Georgetown University and Seton Hall University - also attended.

The attendees resolved to implement a pilot project with a test database to experiment with data ingestion. The portal, using VuFind, is currently being reviewed by scholars to assess its usefulness for researchers.

By Alice Bampton

Dr. Suzanne Zamerowski (l.) and Barbara Quintiliano at the NLN Education Summit (Not pictured: Dr. Marcia Costello)

Barbara Quintiliano, M.L.S., M.A., instructional design librarian, presented the poster session “A Collaborative Approach to Population Assessment,” with College of Nursing faculty colleagues Marcia Costello, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., and Suzanne Zamerowski, Ph.D., R.N., at the National League for Nursing Education Summit, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, on Sept. 24 and 25.

The poster illustrated the collaboration between the instructional librarian and the course faculty that led to the creation of a matrix with hypertext links to important data sources.  The population assessment matrix enabled students in the capstone Nursing 4102 course, “Nursing and Health Promotion,” to locate online international, national, state and local health data quickly and efficiently, affording these students more time to interact directly with the populations being assessed.

The data collected for the population assessment projects helped to guide the students’ clinical experience as they developed and implemented public health education strategies for national and international communities.

On October 27, Falvey Memorial Library will host the inaugural lecture in the “Alfred F. Mannella and Rose T. Lauria-Mannella Distinguished Speakers Series.” Richard Juliani, Ph.D., sociology department, will describe his four decades of research on the Italian experience in Philadelphia, highlighting both challenges and future opportunities. His talk will begin at 7 p.m.

Alfred S. Mannella

In 1996, Falvey Memorial Library’s friend and supporter Alfred S. Mannella, ‘58 VSB, established two endowed library funds to support the purchase of books and other research materials as memorials to family members.

Now one of those funds will also support a lecture series.

The Speakers series honors Mr. Mannella’s parents, Alfred F. and Rose T. Lauria-Mannella. His father, the son of immigrants, was born in Philadelphia in 1904 and established himself as a tailor. An avid sports fan, he developed an interest in Villanova football starting in the 1930s when Maurice J. “Clipper” Smith was the coach.

His mother was the grandchild of immigrants and grew up in south Philadelphia. (more…)

Outreach librarian and Events and Outreach team leader Darren G. Poley, MA, MS, was promoted to Library Professional III, effective June 1.

An undergraduate alumnus of Gettysburg College, he represented Villanova University at the inauguration of Gettysburg’s new president, Janet Morgan Riggs, Ph.D., September 12.

Poley has been a librarian in Falvey Memorial Library for over ten years and teaches as an adjunct faculty member in the theology and religious studies department.

~Alice Bampton

Bartley Business Information Center, a branch location of Falvey Memorial Library, can be found in Room 1005, Bartley Hall. The center is a convenient location for VSB students to get expert assistance with their business research problems. It is staffed Monday through Thursday by librarians and MBAs: (left to right) Merrill Stein, Dennis Lambert and Linda Hauck.

Demian Katz recently joined VU as a library technology development specialist. Demian said that he is “excited to work with VuFind (Falvey’s open source online public access catalog).” He is “enthusiastic about open source” and  is “glad the library here embraces it.”

Library Director Joe Lucia said that Demian is a “talented and creative programmer,” and he will enable us “to regain some momentum with VuFind and related initiatives.”

Demian has both programming and reference experience. His latest position was with a software development company and earlier he worked as a reference technical assistant at Chester County Library in Exton. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from West Chester University and a master of library and information science degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

His hobby, which grew from a childhood interest and became a graduate school project, is maintaining a large bibliography of interactive fiction.

Article and photograph by Alice Bampton

Robin Bowles

Robin Bowles recently joined Falvey Memorial Library as a member of the Life Sciences/Nursing team. Robin has a master of science in library and information science from Drexel University where she specialized in medical and life sciences research and instruction. She received her bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with a concentration in science and mathematics from West Chester University. 

Before coming to Villanova University, she worked at Colorado State University as the interim liaison librarian in biology and veterinary medicine. She has also held positions at the University of Pennsylvania Biomedical Library in reference and interlibrary loan, and at the Devereux Behavioral Healthcare Library (Villanova, Pa.) in serials management, assessment, interlibrary loan and document delivery. 

Robin, a native of the Philadelphia area, noted that her high school graduation was held here on campus in the Pavilion. 

Her hobbies are hiking, sewing, logic puzzles and attempting to master all of Google’s products and services.

 Robin said, “I’m very excited by the prospect of forging long-term relationships with people here at Villanova …and integrating new technology into the learning environment of the future.”

Article by Alice Bampton; Photograph by Laura Hutelmyer 

Louise K. Green

During her 40-plus years at Falvey Memorial Library, Louise K. Green, who has a bachelor’s degree in education and a master of science in library science, has been a reference librarian, head of the reference department, lecturer in the library science department, instructor, acting library director, associate director for public services and a member of the Academic Integration team. She will retire at the end of May.

Early in May, she answered the following questions:

NT:  At what colleges did you receive your undergraduate and library degrees?
LG: I majored in mathematics at East Stroudsburg Teachers College (now East Stroudsburg University) and received my library degree from Villanova University in 1965.

NT:  How did you come to Falvey and when did you start?
LG:  While pursuing my degree, I worked as a graduate assistant in the library science department where I taught a one credit course to arts and sciences undergrads on the use of books and the library. When a part time position opened in Falvey, I was interested. Since my daughter was still young, I worked part time for six or seven years. I also taught graduate reference courses while working at Falvey. (more…)

On May 1, Falvey Memorial Library honored graduating seniors with the Falvey Scholars award. The award is given each year to distinguished Villanova seniors who have demonstrated outstanding undergraduate research in writing a senior thesis or completing a capstone project.

The 2009 Falvey Scholars, their mentors and research are as follows:

Sinéad Cloughley, English/Irish Studies (College of Arts and Sciences); Mentor: James Murphy, Ph.D.; Project: “A Study of Impact of the Irish Language on the Work of Four Modern Irish Writers: Yeats, Joyce, Ní Dhomhnaill and Friel”

Sara Fridinger, Biology (College of Arts and Sciences); Mentor: Louise Russo, Ph.D.; Project: “Bisphenol A: An Environmental Threat to Endocrine Function”

Martha Hughes, Economics and Statistics (School of Business); Mentor: Mary Kelly, Ph.D.; Project: “The United States and the European Union: How Differences in Monetary and Fiscal Policies Contribute to Differences in Economic Competitiveness Over Time”

Jennie Kotschneff (back, second left), with team members (front, l. to r.) Kristina Salcedo, Christine Matula, Patricia Abel, (back, l. to r.) Melissa Kay, Meghan Dwyer and Sarah Galvanek (College of Nursing); Mentor: Marcia Costello, Ph.D., R.D.; Project: “A Population Assessment of Chulucanas, Peru”

Mark Woods, Mechanical Engineering (College of Engineering); Mentor: C. ‘Nat’ Nataraj, Ph.D.; Project: “Unmanned Sailboat Control”

The students presented their papers in Falvey’s first floor lounge and were supported by family, friends and faculty. Library director Joe Lucia served as emcee and introduced the winners and their mentors. After presenting their research and engaging in a lively question and answer session with the audience, the students received framed certificates recognizing their achievements.

The Falvey Scholars steering committee consists of Lucia, Darren Poley, Outreach librarian, Edwin L. Goff, Ph.D., associate dean, Honors Program, and Jane Morris, director, and Nora Pillard, assistant director, Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

“The Falvey Scholars award honors the work of undergraduate exceptional talent,” said Lucia. This year, the award selection was broadened to name a student from each of the five discipline areas: Arts, Business, Science, Nursing and Engineering.

The winners were highlighted in a window display outside the first floor lounge. Joanne Quinn, Events and Outreach team, designed the display and the event programs and certificates.

Photographs by Natalie Tomasco

On April 16, Falvey students and staff gathered in the lounge to honor the library’s student employees. The staff relies on students to help at the main service desk, manage interlibrary loan materials, process new books, maintain the stacks, assist with library events, and offer support to the Academic Integration team, as well as other important duties.

Five of Falvey’s 65 student workers will be graduating in May. The Student Employee Appreciation Committee (SEAC) presented the graduating seniors with Villanova Alumni license plate holders and certificates of acknowledgement for their hard work.

Christine Rogers, Access and User Assistance, won a drawing for a $50 Gullifty’s restaurant gift certificate. SEAC member Bill Greene, who served as emcee, presented the prize to Christine.

Those attending the party enjoyed pizza and home-baked desserts. SEAC members are Bill Greene, Mary Heyman, Marie Roman, Joanne Quinn and Phylis Wright. Student employment is handled by the library director’s office.

Photograph by Alice Bampton