Roxanne Shirazi

@roxanneshirazi

Archives and dissertations, labor and libraries. Too much service. Shepherding CUNY history at @cdha.bsky.social She/her, white/Mexican. Not actually Iranian. Queens is the future 💫

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Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· 7d

The Chronicle of Higher Ed issued a new report (sponsored by Verizon! 🫠 ) called “Making Your Campus AI Ready.” There is a tiny bit on faculty involvement in campus technology decision making in which I’m quoted

Faculty members opposed the decision of the California State University system — the largest four-year higher-education system in the country
— to pay almost $17 million to OpenAl in 2025 to give all students, faculty members, and staff members access to ChatGPT Edu.
At the University of Colorado system, faculty members and students signed a letter opposing a similar $2-million contract with Open AI.
There are numerous reasons faculty members are unhappy with the contracts including concerns about privacy, security, and cost. In some cases, the multimillion-dollar contracts were agreed to amid major budget cuts. Despite requests by CSU faculty members not to renew the contract with Open Al, officials did so in June.

Roxanne Shirazi, an associate professor at the Mina Rees Library of the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center and a faculty senator for the CUNY system, says typically faculty members are asked to weigh in on decisions about tech tools and systems affecting teaching and learning.
But over the past several years, as technology has become more complex and the divide between academic and nonacademic technology more blurred, faculty members have become less included — especially at the early stages — in the decision making, she says.
Shirazi, chairperson for the past six years of CUNY's Faculty Senate standing committee on libraries and information technology, stresses that she is speaking for herself and not CUNY.
"Often those initial decisions happen, and we're playing catch up," she says. It's during the drawing up of the request for proposal "where you have the ability to say what you want the tool to do, what features you think you may need

to serve your needs. If the faculty aren't brought in and students aren't brought in at that stage, there's not a lot that we can do once the vendor bids. We can't really change what we're looking for mid-procurement."

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· 11d

Today’s research find in the old library listserv files: Announcing the first A.L.A Internet Room (1993)

Subject: Internet Room at ALA
To: Multiple recipients of list AUTOCAT

ANNOUNCING
the first A.L.A.
INTERNET ROOM

WHAT IT IS
The Internet Room is a 30' x 30' room in the New Orleans Convention Center that we hope will provide ALA attendees in New Orleans with access to and education about the resources of the Internet.
To make this possible, we will be providing two things:
1. A number of both Mac and DOS computers, with ICP/IP connectivity to the world beyond.
2. A number of eager volunteers, who are contributing some of their time in New Orleans to staff the Internet Room (and
have already suffered an onslaught of email messages that was the planning effort for this project :-)
WHO IT IS
The Internet Room is the volunteers, the sponsors, the instigators, the suggestors, but most of all, it is YOU. The Room exists as a service to A.L.A. members. Make the most of it, and drop by.
WHERE IT IS
The Internet Room will be located in a corner of the A.L.A. Offices.
There will be two doors, one opening to the Exhibits lacross from the Post Office near Aisle 100), and one opening to the A.L.A. Offices.

USE OF THE ROOM
Please feel free to drop in and use the Internet Room for any of your connectivity needs. If you feel confident enough with the basic Net-tools such as telnet, ftp, gopher, archie, etc., please feel free to use any computer that you find in the room. We will provide a list of the commands available at each machine.
If you are less sure of yourself, or would like to learn about the Internet, pick up a copy of our "Getting Started" handout, and 100k for one of our volunteers,
wearing a pink Staff badge.
If you have never accessed your account from a remote site before, be prepared for a potentially challenging experience. You'll need to know your complete address, because the macro you use at home may not be present in the Internet Room. Function keys may not work as you are accustomed. The Internet Room staffers will be armed with documentation to help you access you home mailer.
In addition, we will attempt to keep well stocked a variety of handouts located on the central tables. These handouts are introductory materials, how-to documents, and lists of resources for you to use and take with you. There will also be some examples of some of the more popular books on the Internet (these are personal copies, and should remain at the central tables.)
[…]
Also, a number of machines will be designated as priority handicapped computers. Feel free to use these, but if a handicapped user needs access, please be courteous and finish your session as soon as possible.
A GAME
In order to test your skills, we have devised a short quiz of 5 questions that can be answered using only the resources of the Nets.
If you are interested in playing, pick up a sheet listing the questions and try to answer them. The first 50 or so entrants returning the correct answers to a staff person will receive a nifty prize! The questions will test your skills with some of the basic Network tools. Don't feel like you have to answer them all in one sitting.

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· 13d

I love this city. Community paper shredding!

A flier from NY State Senator Kristen Gonzalez advertising a paper shredding event on Friday, August 7 in Astoria, Queens. People can bring paper to DSNY's shredding truck for secure disposal.

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· 22d

It’s time

Bluesky settings screen showing “Nolan” muted for 30 days

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 21

Courtesy “an Iranian woman in Brooklyn”

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 19

Capped off today’s Knicks celebration and Mamdani’s ode to NYC basketball by accessioning this scrapbook of Fiorello LaGuardia’s win in 1937: Mayoralty Battle Page, signed by the little flower himself

Leather bound cover with gold lettering: Mayoralty Battle Page by Maurice Postley

News clippings from the Daily News of the New York mayoral campaign in 1937. A pamphlet in front says: This is the new
New York. The result of La Guardia's honest and efficient administration. Keep It - Re-elect LaGuardia

Inscription signed by Fiorello LaGuardia says “In appreciation of a fine job”

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 17

Is there some kind of Manhattanhenge thing happening tonight? Because I was almost blinded walking to the train just now

34th Street heading west straight into the sun

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 14

Keeping it going

Citi Field with a kid in a Brunson Knicks jersey watching from the 3rd base line

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 13

Hello Chicago.

Some white fluffy clouds over he outfield

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 8

But a side street by the garden is totally emptied, feels like a movie set, or a post-apocalyptic ghost town (or careless paradise, however you want to look at it)

Penn Station and MSG entrance with the Empire State Building reflected in the glass building, from an empty street off 7th Avenue

Reverse shot of the empty lot and empty side street with pedestrians weaving freely through a careless street

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 8

Not to enter the discourse on here, but last week marked 25 years living in NYC for me. The longest I’ve lived in any city. Arrived May 30, 2001 and pretty soon lived by this sentiment

A Manhattan Mini Storage ad on the side of a pay phone booth in NYC that says, in all caps: Remember, if you leave the city, you’ll have to live in America

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 6

I was browsing the stacks again today

A red book cover with white block letters asking: Should students share the power? A Study of Their Role in College and University
Governance

by Earl J. McGrath

The back cover with a b&w photo of the author, a white man in a suit

A lifetime spent in educational administration, and in its study, is reflected in the pages of Should Students Share the Power? Dr. McGrath's present status as an elder statesman to whom governors of states and university
presidents and trustees alike turn for advice goes back to his service as United States Commissioner of Education under both Presidents Truman and Eisenhower (March 1949 to April 1953). Previously Professor of Education and Dean of Administration at the University of Buffalo, he had also served as Specialist in Higher Education for the American Council on Education, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the State University of lowa, and Professor of Education at the University of Chicago. After completing his stint as U.S. Commissioner of Education Dr. McGrath returned to the academic world as President and Chancellor of the University of Kansas City and as Chancellor of Eisenhower College. He joined the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1956 as Professor of Education and Director of the Institute of Higher Education, becoming Chairman of the Department of Higher Education in 1964. His many writings include The Graduate School and the Decline of Liberal Education, The Predominantly Negro Colleges and Universities in Transition, and The Liberal Arts College and the Emergent Caste System, as well as numerous articles in professional journals. Dr. McGrath, who has received 33 honorary degrees and several special awards for distinguished service in teaching, is currently Director of the Higher Education Center at Temple University.
MARTIN MEYERSON, who in his capacity as Chairman of the Assembly on University Goals and Governance contributed the Foreword to Should Students Share the Power? has recently left the post of President of the State University of New York at Buffalo to take up his work as the newly appointed President of the University of Pennsylvania.

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Jun 4

Adult child is at Central Park watching with friends

A big screen outside in Central Park summer stage showing the Knicks game. Crowd of people sitting on the grass watching the game

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· May 22

I am all for refusal as a tactic to protect higher ed from the ravages of AI but we also need to deal with the fact that many, many of our colleagues are super into it. Especially in the libraries. We need to start having 1-1 conversations that put one’s personal use into a broader context.

the problem is a system of this size thinking one systems librarian is enough.
We don't want to give up the fight to have more human staff to not only keep up but actively develop new projects.
Is her work with the tech actually freeing her up to do other things or is it displacing future colleagues while she continues to barely keep her head above water. (Just thinking out loud)

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· May 20

Crazy clouds happening right now in Astoria

Closeup of a blue sky with a bright white cloud positioned in front of dreary gray clouds as the rainstorm moves in. Fire escapes in the frame

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· May 13

So in addition to discovering plutonium, working on the Manhattan Project, serving as Chancellor of UC Berkeley, chairing the Atomic Energy Commission, and helping to ban nuclear tests, Seaborg also worked on Reagan’s “A Nation at Risk” report. Yes, that one www.sciencehistory.org/collections/...

Science History Institute Museum & Library
As with many of the others, Seaborg knew Ronald Reagan prior to his being elected to the White House. During Reagan's administration, Seaborg participated in the National Commission on Excellence in Education. In a 1983 report titled "A Nation at Risk," Seaborg notably contributed the passage, "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might have viewed it as an act of war."

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· May 13

People bring me the most interesting things these days… So today’s rabbit hole was Glenn Seaborg

A book open to the title page: Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Test Ban, by Glenn T. Seaborg

The next page of the book, which the author has inscribed: “To Mina, with my esteem and affection, Glenn, June 5, 1982”. The bottom of the page has a stamp for Mina Rees Library

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· May 10

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· May 1

My busiest day of the year but I still managed to wear red and wrangle a few pics of library workers showing our union solidarity because CUNY is contingent on us 💫

A collage of 7 pictures showing library workers at service desks and in the stacks, all wearing red. A little stuffed bird has a red hat and a button that says CUNY is contingent on us

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 28

I honestly can’t say which headline is a worse indictment of our times

Financial Times top headlines:

Ex-FBI head Comey charged with threatening Trump's life

Trump administration launches Disney probe after Jimmy Kimmel's Melania joke

US to put Donald Trump's face on

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 22

Love our student newspapers, c. 1984

“A funny thing happened on the way to education”: A line drawing of a suited person with a file box for a head, holding a suitcase labeled “state” overstuffed with money. They are raising a dagger called “tuition,” standing behind a student who has already been stabbed by daggers called “insurance,” “subway,” and “rent.” The student has a paper sticking out of their front pocket that says CUNY BILL and their mouth is open in shock/pain. Caption says “Student: Et tu Cuomé?”

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 18

Kenny the Jet, because Charlotte is gone fishing

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 15

lol

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 15

drop some KITCHENS

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 10

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 7

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Apr 7

I have decided to plow through my New Yorker backlog which goes back to the beginning of the year so I’m experiencing some time travel. Guess what, this cover is about Venezuela not Iran

The January 19 illustrated cover of the New Yorker depicting Donald Trump viewed from behind as he chugs from a barrel of oil like it’s a keg of beer

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Mar 20

The New Yorker is out here choosing violence

My phone’s lock screen with a New Yorker notification that just says “Why can’t you finish anything?”

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Mar 18

Getting ready to revive this tournament tradition, but this time I’m adding “read essays from University Keywords out loud to the college-aged kid” to the mix

A book, held open to Wayne L. Black’s entry on Athletics in the University Keywords book edited by Andy Hines

Roxanne Shirazi@roxanneshirazi· Mar 14

Spent an hour “chatting” with a Verizon support agent for something that should have been a 10 min call and the agent closes with…compliments? “I do not want to leave you” Who wants this?