Chat Online With Librarians at Mann

By wpengine | March 7, 2002

With Mann Library’s new LiveHelp program, students can ask Mann librarians questions over the Internet in real time. Running from 6 to 9 p.m., Monday to Thursday, the LiveHelp program is available from the Mann Library’s main Web site.

Mann librarians hope the LiveHelp program will assist students in use of the Mann Library’s Web site and the Cornell Library Gateway.

The chat software, called 24/7 Reference, allows librarians to guide a student to part of a Web site, even if the librarian and student are physically separated. Both the student and librarian see a split screen Web site with their chat on the right side and the Library Gateway Web site on the left side. The student’s screen changes as the librarian guides the student through his or her problem.

The software also sends a transcript of the chat conversation to the users after the session ends.

“[The student] will see what I’m seeing, and I can see what they are seeing,” said Meryl Brodsky, public services library for Mann Library. “It works pretty well if you can see [their perspective]…. It’s pretty cool.”

The LiveHelp librarians at Mann generally talk to about one person per night, with use growing steadily. “It has been increasing, people have been finding it, and we’ve been getting more and more,” Brodsky said.

“[The amount of traffic has] picked up in the last few weeks,” said Jim Morris-Knower, publicity and public relations coordinator for Mann.

According to Brodsky, the low student response to the program may be due to a lack of advertising on the Library’s part. Despite the convenience of the system, librarians reported that the medium has its drawbacks.

“In person, you get body language from people. In chat, people are quick to say, ‘Thank you, good-bye.’ You don’t know if you’ve really helped them.”

Mann Library installed the LiveHelp system in early February as part of an effort to expand their resource base for students.

“[The program was] something the library has been talking about for a couple of years,” said Morris-Knower.

Olin, Uris and Kroch Libraries have run LiveHelp as a joint service since January 2000. At the time, few other institutions had installed similar services.

“They sort of broke the trail,” said Morris-Knower.

According to Paul Constantine, head reference librarian at the Olin-Uris-Kroch system, the service has proved very successful.

“Students seem to like LiveHelp because they can get reference help from anywhere they have access to the Web,” said Constantine.

Olin-Uris-Kroch are participating in a cooperative effort with University of Washington to expand the LiveHelp system’s hours. By taking advantage of the time difference between the two universities, the librarians from each can assist more students during a wider range of hours.

Currently, Mann Library is trying LiveHelp on a trial basis.

“I think the idea is to see, is this the right software and is this the right service?” said Morris-Knower. “[We’re asking] is this appealing, is this of added value or is it just gimmicky?”

Students showed mixed reactions to the service. “I usually just come to the library when I have to do research,” said Christine Banks ’03. “I think it’s a good idea. … It saves you a trip to the library, if you don’t want to go.”

“I haven’t used [LiveHelp] … I don’t think I would use it really,” said Dava Cazcolli grad.

Archived article by Shannon Brescher

Just Another Dear John

By wpengine March 8, 2002

After his Academy Award-nominated bad-guy turn in Training Day, Denzel Washington returns to the big screen in the Nick Cassavetes’ drama John Q., playing his usual “noble guy with a nice smile” role. Yet it is this ‘nice’-ness that the film evokes from Washington and all its usually talented actors that erase whatever credibility the film could have had and replace it with a sermon on the trials of the modern American. Washington is American-man, John Quincy Archibald, a lowly factory worker who only nets $18,000 a year to support his young family in the semi-rural Chicago outback. John’s wife, Denise, played by a youthful Kimberly Elise and their young son, Michael, played by Daniel Smith, play word games during long drives in John’s pick-up truck. They sing when they go to church. They could be the most wholesome on-screen family since, well, ever. During one of their sweet-as-apple-pie activities, John and Denise cheer on Michael during a Little League game (of course he plays Little League!) and as the boy goes to take second base he falls and his eyes roll back in his head. From this scene on, all the shortcomings of John Archibald’s meager existence catch up with him and he realizes the world does not care if he has more American values than the Bible belt. Little Michael is rushed to the hospital, where the doctors are curiously more attractive, speak as if anyone can understand medical jargon and inform the grieving family that their son will die if he isn’t placed on the organ donor waiting list and have a $250,000 heart transplant. John’s insurance doesn’t cover it, the government’s no help and he doesn’t have $250,000 to spend. Anne Heche is perfect as quiet hospital director Rebecca Payne, who doesn’t care about his pleading; her hospital doesn’t do any work for free and his son will not be placed on the list unless he pays. What do you mean that family values won’t pay for a $250,000 heart transplant? John decides not to take “no” for an answer and does the next best thing: he takes the hospital emergency room hostage until his son gets placed on the donor list. However, instead of trying to overpower the the roly-poly John, most of the hostages instead come to revere him as a family man, even while he’s threatening their lives with a gun. Like clockwork, police officers, fans, and media vultures arrive to fill out the cast and skate through their lines as if they were practicing for some other film. Talented actors, such as the perennially-slimy James Woods, Ray Liotta, Eddie Griffin, Shawn Hatosy, Robert Duvall and a host of others unfortunately cannot rise above Cassavetes’ anxious direction and a script which tries to be too much, too fast. There are signs of life in this dark and depressing drama-commentary on life: witnessing Liotta and Duvall pitch a hissy-fit during a sub-plot is definitely one of them. Although the film has the best intentions, it plays with the truth too much and is too predictable to rise to the levels which it is desperately aiming. If you take any of the moral lessons thrown at you in John Q. away with you, learn that American values will only get you so far. You’ll have to use guns to finish the job.Archived article by Carlos Perkins
C.U.'s Decision To Close Ward Reactor Stands

By wpengine March 8, 2002

With the proposed June 30 closing date of the Ward Reactor looming on the horizon, the National Association of Cancer Patients (NACP) yesterday intensified pressure on University officials to reverse their resolution to shut down the reactor. They called for the University to “consider the human lives that will be affected” by their decision. In an open letter addressed to President Hunter R. Rawlings III, Nicki Hobson, executive director of the NACP, affirmed the reactor’s capacity to produce life-saving medical isotopes. “On behalf of the millions of Americans currently battling cancer and those who will be diagnosed in the future, I am writing to urge you to keep the Cornell research reactor operating,” Hobson said. Medical isotopes are utilized to treat and diagnose fatal cancers such as blood cancer, breast cancer, and bone cancer. “It is a national resource that is capable of producing many medical isotopes that are essential to the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer,” she added. Hobson’s request is the latest in a series of objections to the controversial decision to shut down the TRIGA nuclear fission reactor, which was approved unanimously by the Board of Trustees last summer. The Faculty Senate rejected the plan to decommission in full nearly a year ago, and undergraduates opposed the decision, staging a rally in front of Day Hall in October. The Ward Center, which is located on the Engineering Quad, has housed the fission reactor for the last 40 years. Cornell’s reactor is one of only 26 operating university research reactors in the country. It is currently utilized to conduct research in areas including geological sciences, dendochronology, theoretical and applied mechanics. University officials remained adamant that the decision to close the Ward Center for Nuclear Studies and suspend reactor operation will not be reviewed. Robert Richardson, vice provost of research, said yesterday that the matter was “closed” and that decommissioning would commence according to schedule. Richardson reiterated that space considerations and the high cost of maintaining the lab are the key issues that prompted the decision to decommission. “The space available at the University is a major problem,” Richardson said. “The maintenance of the lab is expensive and the space is very valuable.” Currently, the plans for future of the Ward site remain unclear. In December, the University submitted a proposal to the Army Research Office to house the Institute for Solider Nanotechnologies, which was slated to occupy the area now utilized by the Ward Center. Last month, the proposal, which would have brought the University $50 million in federal grants, was rejected. In an interview with the Sun, Provost Biddy (Carolyn A.) Martin said that the fate of the area remains undecided. “A lot will depend on what ideas the faculty develop and on what plans the new Dean of Engineering has for the college,” Martin said. Representatives from the NACP suggested that the cost of maintaining the reactor could easily be defrayed by the lucrative sale of medical isotopes to prospective patients. Hobson indicated in her letter to Rawlings that the marketing of these isotopes would “significantly affect the economics of operating the reactor.” “The sale of isotopes could eventually pay for the price of the reactor,” said Marlene Oliver, the Northwest chair of the NACP, who has been closely monitoring the situation at the Ward Center over the last few months. Oliver, who is also a member of the National Cancer Institute, traveled to Washington, D.C. last month in an effort to lobby members of Congress, members of the current administration and several prominent labor leaders to challenge the University’s ruling. Oliver’s trip was funded by labor groups “who were tired of seeing their colleagues and friends die of cancer,” she said. “If the reactor is shut down, it is gone forever, and that would be a travesty for cancer patients,” Oliver said. “Cornell has the capacity to produce these isotopes in quantities that are sufficient to treat patients.” According to Oliver, over 90 percent of the medical isotopes used in the United States are imported. Isotopes are less costly to administer to patients than chemotherapy and radiation, and result in fewer deleterious side effects, she added. Although it was originally unclear whether the Ward facility had the capacity and strength to produce medical isotopes, a simulation run by Pacific Northwest Labs earlier this year confirmed that the reactor was equipped to produce Leutetium-177, which is used to treat cancer, along with a variety of other isotopes, according to Deinert. Deinert believes that it was vital for an outside group to perform the study in order to avoid issues of bias. “We got back surprisingly good results,” he said. “It became clear at this time that our reactor could contribute to producing medical isotopes in large enough quantities and in high enough intensities to be of serious interest.” Still, University administrators believe that it is not in Cornell’s best interest to maintain the reactor’s functionality. John Silcox, vice provost of physical sciences and engineering echoed Richardson’s concern for the academic agenda of the engineering college. “If there is a need for isotopes, ultimately, someone else will step in and supply them,” he said. “Our concern is for our academic programs.” Archived article by Jason Leff