Mary Robison Email & Phone Number

Yonkers, New York, United States

I lead the reference and adult services department at the Riverfront Library in downtown Yonkers, the 4th largest city in New York, with a population of 200,000+. Our team of 22 full- and part-time professional librarians and staff creates and leads innovative programs for teens and adults. I oversee library collection development for fiction, non-fiction, multimedia, and local history, manage YPL's large local history collection and physical archives, and I create policy and collection development guidelines for the library system. As principal investigator/liaison between YPL and Sarah Lawrence College, I work with with faculty and university administration on a multiyear, $1.2 million dollar grant from the Mellon Foundation to support civic engagement. This relationship gives college students experience engaging with library patrons of all ages on Yonkers history and library programs. Their work includes interviews with local citizens of all ages on topics ranging from memories of schools and libraries, to explorations of desegregation and Black Power movements. Students develop multimedia programs, podcasts, and learn to research and create content on the YPL digital and physical archives. Internships include marketing, research, archives, and assisting librarians with programs, and the library benefits through their research findings and media projects.

Yonkers, New York

Programming for seniors, collection development in fiction, audio and large-print holdings. Promote library access and services at community events, meetings, and fairs. Technology instruction, specialized assistance for patrons with help desk appointments.Program development, specifically for seniors, including an Introduction to Genealogy class, genealogy club that meets each month to work on genealogy projects at the library, along with an occasional field trip. Facilitate nutrition education programs, book groups. Other program responsibilities include crafts programs for seniors, Alzheimer’s disease programs, and presentations by the Westchester Independent Living Center and the Pace Center for Women’s Justice. Assist with the Yonkers High School’s IB student program as part of the Riverfront Library’s collaboration with Sarah Lawrence College and Yonkers Public Schools, teaching bibliographic instruction to high school students and providing reference assistance for students.Organize, inventory, managing database of government documents in local repository. Manage, supervise workload for two part-time clerks in their technical services and book processing work, resolving cataloging issues as they arise, participate in job interviews and supervision of library pages.

Greater New York City Area

I handle public services, reference, bibliographic instruction and archives at the Christoph Keller, Jr. Library of the General Theological Seminary. I hire, manage and supervise library assistants, volunteers and interns and maintain the library website, blog and social media presence. I manage the seminary’s archives and institutional records and perform in-depth research using special collections. I promote our library and its resources through various outreach projects and communicate with students using Twitter, our WordPress blog and Facebook, with email marketing through Mailchimp.. When I am able to motivate a student to improve her research skills and become enthusiastic about her project -- when I can provide a researcher with that crucial article through interlibrary loan -- I know that I’ve done my job well. I work closely with professors to incorporate library resources into their classes, guest-lecture and offer workshops and presentations about archival materials and special collections.I am passionate about working with students, teaching information literacy, promoting primary source research in our library’s special collections, and providing quality library public services.

White Plains, New York

Managed archives of approximately 3,000 linear feet.Worked collaboratively with Commission on Archives and History to determine needs and priorities; represented archives at Annual Conference, regional meetings and conferences; advised Conference Center administration on corporate records management issues.Research services, reference assistance for individuals, conference staff and local churches. Collaborated with area archivists and theological librarians to expand access to collections; supported the work of genealogical researchers using primary source material in archives and online research databases. Developed original content for archives website, newsletters, social media and exhibits at conference center (www.nyac.com/archives); outreach efforts to local churches, workshops and presentations on records management. Created crowdsourcing activity for Annual Conference to identify content in hundreds of archival photographs. Interactive program provided valuable historical information for archival holdings and publicized the archives to 6,000 area United Methodists.Processed and described collections using DACS/EAD principles, managed databases of acquisitions, holdings, inventory unprocessed materials, set arrangement priorities, supervised, mentored part-time volunteer.

New York, New York

Archival processing of dance collections: appraised, described, processed materials. Created finding aids, EAD encoding using FileMaker Pro and X Metal. Robert Kovich Papers. http://archives.nypl.org/dan/19858Martha Hill Papers. http://archives.nypl.org/dan/19863Bertram Ross Papers. http://archives.nypl.org/dan/19862

Legal, internet research, tracked legislation.Managed publishing process for judicial forms, manuals, training materials, proficient in a variety of word processing technologies and legacy software.Coordinated employee benefits, planned conferences, training sessions.

Mslis, Archives, Rare Books And Special Collections

Bachelor Of Arts, Religion, Geography

Education record

M.A., Anglican Studies