Remembering Uncle Bill

This weekend we went to Pennsylvania to honor and lay to rest John's Uncle Bill, seen here in the center of the photo. Today would have been his 68th birthday. I'd like to share some stories about the group in this photo, (L-R: Judi, Bill, Chuck).

Bill and Judi met at an airport, where she was a passenger in distress, and he was a manager for US Airways. He helped her out, and later followed up with her to make sure things worked out. It was the beginning of a long and loving relationship of about 15 years.

Bill was very close to a cousin, Mary Ellen, who I met at the funeral. She gave a beautiful eulogy, telling the story of how she and Bill kept in touch over the years, and one time when he called to chat, her husband said she was in the hospital, recovering from cancer. Bill immediately took vacation time, and flew from CA to NJ to spend several days visiting her in the hospital. Before he left, he took off his (St. Christopher's)? medal and put it on her, and told her to wear it as until she was feeling better, and he would be with her while she recovered. She did recover, and wore it for a full year.

The man to the right of Bill in the photo, is his older brother, Chuck. Chuck, upon hearing that Bill was very ill, earlier this year, left his home in Texas, and flew up to PA to help Judi care for Bill in the final month of his life. As much as might have liked to be able to help him get better, that was not to be. But, I believe, he provided a great service of love to both Judi and Bill, and helped make his remaining time and his passing more peaceful and comfortable.

They are great people, and even greater role models. Much love to all.

Kim

Things that are keeping me busy this spring

1. 4H: 3 meetings a month, and I'm doing most of the planning. We've done Public Presentations, and are working on planting seeds for our gardens. Aeddon and Alden joined John and I on an outing to the Orchid Show at the Buffalo Botanical Gardens. Alden is proud of being able to set the timer on the camera and be part of this photo. Don't you think he did a nice job?
2. School: This semester is Managing New Product Design and Development. 4 components to each module. The obligatory discussion forum, with its first post protocol (you can't see any posts until you've made one); an ongoing group project to design a new product; reading about 150 pages from the book; and homework assignments which consist of answering any 2 questions at the end of the chapters.
3. Finally, work. Digital Commons stuff is going well, with several new collections under way, including: the College of 2025, EOP newsletters and two new journals - Philosophic Exchange and Journal of Literary Onomastics - both in the design stage! I'm hosting 2 conferences, the 2013 Diversity Conference and 2013 Graduate Research Conference. 
4. Grants: Besides the two technology grant applications I just completed (a new scanner for ILL, with Logan, and a 3D scanner to go with the 3D printer we are getting); I am also trying to get a Conversations in the Disciplines grant to host a conference on Using Institutional Repositories to host/promote Open Access Journals (or something like that). It is a very involved grant application, and I am trying to get Josh Beatty, Ben Hockenberry, and Marc Dewey to join me. 
5. Webinar: In early April, I will be co-presenting a bepress Digital Commons webinar on  Institutional Repositories Supporting Community Engagement, Part 2: Regional Research at the College at Brockport (SUNY) and University of of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Institutional repositories can play a key role in a college or university’s mission to serve the greater community. At the College at Brockport (SUNY), Kim Myers views the repository as an ideal venue for supporting and sharing regional, community-oriented scholarship. SUNY Brockport has long been a center for Great Lakes research, but for years this valuable research was housed primarily on one professor’s computer. Working with Professor Joseph Makarewicz, Kim has created an IR collection to archive and disseminate these research articles, government documents, community newsletters, and technical reports. 
6. Article for
   Library Publishing Toolkit
   We are looking for experts and those who have learned on the job to write articles about their experiences with a library publishing program, service or project. These experiences could be a range of activities from working with authors on copy editing and copyright issues to digitization of archival materials or utilizing print on demand services. All of these activities comprise the new role libraries are filling–and we want to hear about it.
   Specific areas of interest include:
   

• What programs and services are offered by libraries to writers?
• Does your library help users develop curated content to publishing in either in print or digital form?
• What strategies are being used to select items for digitization?
• Has your library identified unique print materials to be digitized and potentially sold?
• Has your library developed partnerships with other agencies to support digital publishing?

• The compilation of these articles will become the Library Publishing Toolkit. This open access publication will share a broad range of publishing strategies and projects from both academic and public libraries. It will serve as an essential guide and set of workflows for libraries of various types to get started or improve efficiency with publishing services. 

7. Finally, there is the June 2013 SUNYLA presentation with Josh Beatty to prepare for. Our premise is going to be how two different colleges use a similar tool (Digital Commons) in different ways to accomplish their goals.

Oh, and maybe do an internship this summer with Institutional Research. And try and talk my boss into a promotion.

That's whats been keeping me busy, besides the usual and not so usual family things. What have you been up to?