Meeting of the Board of Regents | February 2009

Cultural Education Committee Minutes

February 9, 2009

5:05 p.m. – 5:50 p.m.

Regents Room, EB

REGENTS COMMITTEE ON CULTURAL EDUCATION

Regent James C. Dawson, Chair of the Cultural Education Committee, submitted the following written report.

Your Committee on Cultural Education had its scheduled meeting on February 9, 2009.

In attendance were: Regents Dawson, Bowman, Brooks Hopkins, Gardner, Phillips, and Young.

Absent: Regent Tilles

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Chairs’ Remarks: Regent Dawson greeted everyone and opened the meeting with an update on the Cultural Education Trust Board meetings, the New Netherlands and Rockwell Kent exhibits.

Deputy’s Report: Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey Cannell greeted everyone and introduced the new Assistant Commissioner for Libraries and State Librarian, Bernard Margolis.  Mr. Cannell talked briefly about the Deputy’s Monthly Report that had been electronically distributed to the Board on Regents prior to the February meeting along with a short video clip of Mr. Cannell talking about the New Netherland Project display that is on the fourth floor Terrace in the Museum.  Hard copies of monthly report were provided for meeting attendees. 

CE (A) 1 - Amendment to Section 92.1 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the State Library’s Circulation Policy

Bernard Margolis, State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for the Library provided a brief report in which the State Library is seeking adoption of the amended NYCRR, title 8, section 92.1(b) as previously presented at the September 2008 CE Committee meeting.  A Notice of Proposed Rule Making was published in the State Register on November 26, 2008 with no comments received.  The amendment would include NY Resident Borrowers as a permanent category, providing increased accessibility to the materials of the State Library to New Yorkers and, if adopted, will have an effective date of March 5, 2009. 

MOTION BY:                 Regent Phillips

SECONDED BY:          Regent Bowman

ACTION:                        Carried

CE (D) 2 - Archives:  Report and Demonstration of the Ventana al Pasado and La Escuela Electronica Projects

Chris Ward, State Archivist and Assistant Commissioner for the Archives provided a brief history regarding the above projects which represent the culmination of over 15 years of work by the State Archives and partner institutions to identify, collect, manage, preserve, and provide access to collections and important documents which might have otherwise been lost.  Twenty-four repositories have developed significant collections that document different aspects of Latino culture, life and politics in New York State.

Ms. Ward introduced the two presenters Maria Holden and Julie Daniels.  Maria Holden, Archives and Records Management Specialist 5, State Archives, presented on Ventana al Pasado – Windows on the Past – which brings together Latino/Hispanic collections and contains detailed information about the records of individuals and organizations that have contributed to government, communities, arts and culture, and education including bilingual education. 

Julie Daniels, Coordinator, State Archives provided a demonstration of the La Escuela Electronica/The Electronic Schoolhouse website.   This bilingual, document-based teacher resource and educational resource meets P-16 goals such as, improve outcomes for English Language Learners; strengthen instruction and integrates technology as well as provides the capability to develop customized learning activities for each document.  Ms. Daniels also spoke of teachers’ responses to this website and of marketing and promotion of the site to educators.

CE (D) 1 - New York State Universal Broadband Access Grant Program

Bernard Margolis provided the Regents with a brief introduction and what he envisions for the State Library and its service to public, academic, and school libraries.  Mr. Margolis, briefly spoke of the State Library’s current statewide initiatives to improve broadband access in public libraries and introduced Mary Linda Todd of Library Development, project director for these programs.  Ms. Todd provided a comprehensive update of the status of the following grant projects and what they mean for libraries and broadband access in New York.

These grant projects target rural and suburban public libraries that service high need communities and that may have a very low rate or no internet access, consequently, the public may not be able to take advantage of E-Government services (applying for food stamps, unemployment benefits, submit on-line job applications or access and use databases such as those offered in the Statewide Internet Library to get updated information on such topics as business, consumer and health issues). Ms. Todd provided detailed information related to each of the above programs.

These three grant initiatives, which build upon and support each other, will have a far-reaching impact on New York’s public libraries by creating affordable and sustainable high speed internet access, enabling library users the ability to access E-Government services, job-searching information, and other internet-dependent services.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:00 p.m.