Intersession Hours

Library's hours during the intersession:

December 16-20, 2013: 8:30-4:30

December 21-22, 2013: CLOSED

December 23-24, 2013: 8:30-4:30

December 25, 2013: CLOSED

December 26-27, 2013: 8:30-4:30

January 1, 2014: CLOSED

January 2-3, 2014: 8:30-4:30

January 4-5, 2014: CLOSED

January 6-10, 2014: 8:30-4:30

January 11-12, 2014: CLOSED

January13-15, 2014: 8:30-4:30

Regular hours resume on January 16, 2014

Happy Holidays

A special holiday message from the Librarians at the Stephen B. Luce Library

http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/holiday2013.html

Joseph Williams

On December 4th, 2013, the Stephen B. Luce Library welcomed its own Joseph Williams, author of Four Years Before the Mast: A History of New York's Maritime College for a book talk and signing.  Published by the Fort Schuyler Press, the book is the first comprehensive history of Maritime College.  It is a narrative of the school that is peppered with anecdotes and adventures of its graduates.

Mr. Williams shared a select number of the anecdotes with the audience ranging from cadet adventures in Europe to heroism on September 11, 2001.  The well attended event culminated with a question and answer session, followed by the book signing.

Library's hours to accommodate Sunday's Open House activities.

The Library will open at 8AM for this Sunday’s (December 8th, 2013) Open House activities.

The hours of operation will be 8am to 7pm.

Library's Extended Hours

Library's Extended Hours

The week before finals and during finals week the library will extend its hours.

For the days December 2-5, 2013  and December 9-12, 2013 the library's hours will be:

8:30am-11:00pm

Library Book Talk/Signing - First Published History of Maritime College

THE FORT SCHUYLER PRESS IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF ITS LATEST TITLE …

Four Years Before the Mast: A History of New York’s Maritime College

Book Signing and Talk to be held at the Stephen B. Luce Library, Wednesday, December 4^th at 5p.m.

Hardcover will be on sale at a discount for the college community.

Under New York City's Throgs Neck Bridge lies a spit of land dominated by a pentagonal, 19th-century fortress that today houses a school that has trained mariners since the age of sail. Within Fort Schuyler's walls are stories of heroism and mutinies, shipwrecks and desertions. In Four Years Before the Mast, author Joseph A. Williams uses his access to archival materials to tell the tale of that institution known today as SUNY Maritime College. The story begins during the age of sail when disaster and mutiny created a new demand for trained mariners. In response, in 1873, New York State established a nautical school under the auspices of the New York City Board of Education. Originally based aboard the square-rigged sloop-of-war St. Mary's, the school taught boys to run the rigging, tie knots, holystone the decks, and navigate on yearly cruises across the Atlantic. In its beginning in the 19th century, the school was constantly confused for a reformatory where "bad boys were made good." Because of its cost, it was seen as a symbol of government waste, and its opponents repeatedly tried to shut it down. But despite the criticisms, the school survived and its tough training practices created generations of gallant sea officers who led the American merchant fleet into the modern world. In 1938, after a bruising political battle with Robert Moses, the school came ashore at Fort Schuyler in the Bronx. In the following decades, it continued its tradition of training sea officers as a college within the State University of New York. Four Years Before the Mast is a narrative history of a unique institution that offers anecdotes from the 19th to 21st centuries revealing the harrowing existence of life at sea, death in the high Arctic, daring rescues of foundered ships, U-Boat attacks, and heroism on 9/11.

“After 140 years of producing outstanding officers for the American merchant marine, the State University of New York Maritime College has a history worthy of its long and distinguished tradition.  Four Years Before the Mast is lively, well-illustrated, entertaining, and a delight to read.” – Kenneth T. Jackson, Editor-in-Chief, The Encyclopedia of New York City, Barzun Professor of History, Columbia University, and past president of the New-York Historical Society.

“Joseph Williams races from one vivid anecdote to the next in his lively account of New York’s Maritime College.  He deftly combines scholarship and storytelling, and the book often plays out like a string of surprise naval encounters.  We meet rigid captains, mutineers, cadet pranksters, drunken hooligans; we head to the North Pole with one graduate and watch another fulfill his lifelong dream to become… a ballet dancer.  Williams – to his great credit – keeps his sense of humor throughout as he chronicles the college’s recurring battles for funds and respect.” – Richard Zacks, bestselling author of The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines and the Secret Mission of 1805.

“Meticulously detailed, yet charmingly personal, Four Years Before the Mast is a must-read for anyone interested in the evolution of professional marine education in the United States.” – W. Jeffrey Bolster, Professor of History, University of New Hampshire.  Winner of the 2013 Bancroft Prize for The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail.

About the Author:   Joseph A. Williams is a librarian and archivist at the Stephen B. Luce Library.  He holds an MA in History and an MLS in Library and Information Science from Queens College.  His work has been featured in several professional and academic journals.  After four years of work combing through archives and interviewing alumni, he is pleased to offer Four Years Before the Mast, the first published history of Maritime College.

Publisher:  The Fort Schuyler Press

ISBN: 978-0-9899394-0-9

Available for purchase on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989939405 or at the Ship’s Store

Discount to be offered for the attendees of the Book Signing Event at the Stephen B. Luce Library on December 4^th at 5 p.m.

For questions, please contact the Fort Schuyler Press at fsp@sunymaritime.edu

American Legion Visits the Stephen B. Luce Library

American Legion Visits the Stephen B. Luce Library

The local chapter of the American Legion took their annual tour of SUNY Maritime on November 8, 2013 which was led by Distinguished Service Professor, Barbara Warkentine.  One of their many stops was the Stephen B. Luce Library.

The 9 member group included the State Commander of the American Legion, the State President of the American Legion Auxiliary and the State Commander of the Sons of the Legion.

The library tour was led by Library Director, Shafeek Fazal and Assistant Library Director, Joseph Williams.  Some of the points of interests were the Marine Society’s By Laws and Charter exhibit, the Felix Riesenberg exhibit,the history and architecture of the library, among others.

Open SUNY Textbooks

SUNY faculty and libraries innovate to solve problems of high-cost textbooks by producing high-quality open textbooks

SUNY Faculty and libraries published two free online open textbooks today for Open SUNY Textbooks; Literature, the Humanities and Humanity by Theodore Steinberg, and Native Peoples of North America by Professor Susan Stebbins, Ph.D. are being released as part of Open Access Week, a global event now in its sixth year that aims to promote open access in scholarship, research, teaching, and learning. 

Open SUNY Textbooks is an open access textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York libraries and supported by SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants. This initiative publishes high-quality, cost-effective course resources by engaging faculty as authors and peer-reviewers, and libraries as publishing infrastructure. The pilot launched in 2012, providing an editorial framework and service to authors, students and faculty, and establishing a community of practice among libraries. The first pilot is publishing 15 titles in 2013, with a second pilot to follow that will add more textbooks and participating libraries.

Participating libraries in the 2012-2013 pilot include SUNY Geneseo, College at Brockport, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY Fredonia, Upstate Medical University, and University at Buffalo, with support from other SUNY libraries and SUNY Press.  

The Open SUNY Textbook program will publish 15 books this fall on subjects such as Anthropology, Business, Computer Science, Education, English, Geological Sciences, Mathematics, Music Education, and Physics. Open SUNY Textbooks will be made available for download at www.opensuny.org. 

The two books released this week are:

• “Literature, the Humanities and Humanity,” written by SUNY Fredonia Distinguished Teaching Professor Ted Steinberg, a professor at the college for more than 40 years. The book focuses on the reading and teaching of literature and will be used most frequently by English education majors.
• “Native Peoples of North America,” written by SUNY Potsdam Professor of Anthropology Dr. Susan Stebbins. The textbook is an anthropological introduction to the Native peoples of what are now the United States and Canada, focusing on presenting both historical and contemporary information from anthropological categories such as language, kinship, economic and political organization, religion and spirituality and art.

W. Jeffrey Bolster

On October 16, 2013, the Stephen B. Luce Library as part of its Library Lecture series welcomed W. Jeffrey Bolster, author of The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail.  Bolster, a Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire, has published extensively on the human relationship with the sea.  He is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, notably the highly distinguished 2013 Bancroft Prize for the aforementioned book. His lecture chronicled man’s devastating impact on the population of the Atlantic waters off the New England shoreline from the 1800s and thereafter.

An engaging speaker, Bolster provided the audience with fascinating historical documents to illustrate the challenge that generations have faced and subsequent will continue to face with regard to the depleting marine stocks of the Atlantic waters and beyond. The well attended event culminated with a question and answer session, followed by a brief book signing.

Upcoming Library Lecture Series: W. Jeffrey Bolster

SUNY Maritime  Stephen B. Luce Library

Library Lecture Series:  Navigate Your Course @ Your Library

W. Jeffrey Bolster, author of The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail.

October 16, 2013 @ 1345

W. Jeffrey Bolster is a Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire where his research interests include maritime history, African-American history, environmental history and Atlantic history.  He has published extensively on the human relationship with the sea.  His numerous publications to date include 5 books and a multitude of articles and reviews.  He is the recipient of many awards and prizes, notably the highly distinguished 2013 Bancroft Prize for his most recent book, The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail.  An avid public speaker, Bolster is steadfast in his commitment to sharing his books and related topics with all.

 

Since the Viking ascendancy in the Middle Ages, the Atlantic has shaped the lives of people who depend upon it for survival. And just as surely, people have shaped the Atlantic. In his innovative account of this interdependency, W. Jeffrey Bolster, a historian and professional seafarer, takes us through a millennium-long environmental history of our impact on one of the largest ecosystems in the world.

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Farewell Constantia Constantinou

 

The Stephen  B. Luce Library bids a warm farewell to its director, Constantia Constantinou.

Constantia has been named the Dean of University Libraries at Stony Brook University.

She has served as the library director and library department chair since August of 2001.  Twice a recipient of CIES Fulbright awards, Fulbright Scholar (2010-11) and Fulbright Senior Specialist (2004-05), Constantia’s work and dedication has served to enhance the library’s strong museum collaboration with professional organizations.  Further, her commitment to advancing the principles of information provision and accessibility has been exceptional.

She has been a strong academic leader and a distinguished scholar as well as a mentor and inspiration to many.

We wish to express our gratitude to her for her many years of stellar service and dedication to the Stephen B. Luce Library.