Northeast GIS Librarians 2nd Annual Meeting, 2006

Co-hosted by The Lionel Pincus and Pricess Firyal Map Division & Columbia University Libraries.

Location:
The New York Public Library
Humanities & Social Sciences Library
The Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Division
5th Avenue & 42nd Street, Room 117

Date:
Monday, May 15th 2006

Guest Speaker: Tsering Wangyal Shawa
Princeton University Library's GIS Services
Abstract: This talk will focus on the three main functions of Princeton University Library's GIS services: collection development, data dissemination and archiving, and formulating a collection development policy; building systems, standards, workflows in disseminating geographic information online; and general ideas of what sorts of GIS references and analysis help we provide to our patrons.

Speaker Biography: Tsering Wangyal Shawa is a Geographic Information Systems Librarian at Princeton University. He has widespread experience in geospatial data selection, software, and hardware, and holds degrees in the areas of library science, education, geography, and cartography. He is the current chair of the American Library Association Map and Geography Round Table (2005-2006) and is the chair of the Geographic Technologies Committee. He was selected by the National Research Council and the Federal Geographic Data Committee's Homeland Security Working Group to study and publish reports on "Licensing Geographic Data and Services" and "Guidelines for Providing Appropriate Access to Geospatial Data in Response to Security Concerns." He was a consultant for the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (THDL) based at the University of Virginia and was a Cartographic Users Advisory Council (CUAC) member from 2002-2005. He was born in Tibet and has lived and taught geography and cartography to high school and college students in India, Nepal, Kenya, and Sudan.

Guest Speaker: Gail Steinhart
Geospatial Data Tools and Services for Academic Library Users: the Mann Library experience
Abstract: GIS and map librarians in academic libraries daily try to meet information and technology-related needs of increasing variety and complexity. I'll review the current range of activities at Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library, and invite discussion on these topics. I'll also present brief overviews of some projects currently in development, and invite feedback on a new approach to creating an online directory of geospatial resources.

Speaker Biography: Gail Steinhart is Environmental Sciences and GIS Librarian at Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University. As a public services librarian, she works at the reference desk, participates in the library's instruction program, and provides specialized instruction and consulting services in Geographic Information Systems. She coordinates the work of the team that maintains CUGIR (the Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository, an online repository of geospatial data for New York State), is member of a team exploring models for academic libraries to provide services related to research data, and participates in other information technology and digital library projects.

She holds a BS degree in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University. From 1990 to 2004, she worked in environmental research. She returned to school in 2003, enrolling in the Library and Information Science program at Syracuse University in 2003 and earned her M.S. in May, 2005.