After a number of years without a full-time head of reference, the library is delighted to welcome Associate Professor Robert Laurich to that position. He joined the department’s faculty in September.

Professor Laurich is not a new face, however, as he has been an adjunct reference librarian at the Cohen Information Desk since January 1998 where he says he “rediscovered my love of reference work in a large college.”

During his adjunct period at CCNY, he continued to work full-time at Hunter College where he was the head librarian at the School of Social Work Library, assuming that position in 1996.  As that library’s head he twice earned recognition for service in ceremonies at the School of Social Work in 1998 and 1999. Of his time as library head, Professor Laurich notes that  “my experience in social work was wonderful. However, I missed the diversity of working with both undergraduate and graduate students. The range of questions here is much more challenging.”

His association with the Hunter Library began in 1976 as a student aid. He subsequently served in various positions in the Technical Services and Acquisitions Divisions there while earning a master’s in library science. Professor Laurich joined the Hunter Library faculty as Acquisitions Librarian in 1992, the year he earned his MLS from Queens College.  He continued his studies, earning a second  master’s, an MS Ed from Baruch College in 1995.

One of his particular interests as a librarian is bibliographic instruction, an area in which he has published extensively. An article ready for publication, “Computer Anxiety and Bibliographic Instruction,” underscores the changing nature of library instruction today.  He is also co-author of Aids and Women which won a 1992 award as outstanding reference book from the American Library Association (ALA).

Beyond the library, Professor Laurich enjoys fine dining and even co-authored an article, “Tempting the Palate in Manhattan: From Modest Bistros to Haute Cuisine,” in anticipation of the well-attended 1996 convention of the ALA in New York.

At the start of his new position at City, he looks forward to working with the students and faculty of the college. “As a product of CUNY (his B.A. is also from Queens) I hope to better serve the needs of the entire CCNY community.”

The library warmly welcomes Beth Zopf to the recently created position of CCNY Art and Architecture Slide Curator.  In that position, Ms. Zopf will divide her time among the two slide collections separately housed in the Art Department (Compton-Goethals 241) and in the School of Architecture (Shepard 303). The curator, who reports to the Chief Librarian, will also devote time to developing a digital image resource center in the library.

Ms. Zopf hails most recently from Chicago, having been at Northwestern University's Art History Slide Library for nearly seven years, the last four serving as Head Curator. While there she supervised a collection of over 270,000 slides and 40,000 study photographs. Her approach was "to create an environment that is easy for the patron to navigate—highly organized and accessible....a place that encourages faculty and students to ask questions, make suggestions and find answers." She was successful there in obtaining additional funds through grant applications and was the 1997 unanimous choice of the art history faculty to be a nominee for the university's Employee of the Year Award, for which she was a finalist.

Majoring in English with a minor in art history, Ms. Zopf received her BA from Loyola University, Chicago. Graduate course work at Northwestern in French and German soon followed.

At City College she looks forward to the challenge of supervising and growing two different although related visual resource collections and to applying her skills in Web development and digital imaging in the process.  Her continued active participation in the Visual Resources Association and in the Art Libraries Society of North America will also benefit her new college community.

The Architecture Library welcomes Nilda Sanchez in the college office assistant position long held by Ellen Chirico, to whom we wish a very happy retirement. Ms. Sanchez, a 1997 graduate of The Borough of Manhattan Community College where she majored in business management, recently worked at the city's Department of Sanitation. She welcomes her public service role in the library and looks forward to working with our patrons.  Nilda will continue her college studies at CCNY in the near future.

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