464 Norwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14222-1504
- HONORS and INTERVIEWS
Winner: Western New York Library Resources Council Professional Development Grant, 2006
Honoree: Artvoice Local Heroes 2005. Arnold, Sarah, "Local Heroes: A Half-Dozen of the Many Individuals Who Make a Difference in Buffalo." Artvoice, August 25, 2005: 18
Interim Appointee: Architectural Historian seat, Preservation Board of the City of Buffalo, 2005
President of the Board of Trustees, Preservation Coalition of Erie County, 2005-2007 and 2007-2009; member of Executive Director search committee; elected Secretary of the Board, 2004; elected to board, 2002
Feature article: Ward, Diane Marie and Dowski, Craig A.,
"Training M.L.S. Students to
Catalog." Computers in Libraries, September 2003: 22-25
Cynthia's website, Buffalo Full
Text, was used as a training resource at the State University of
New York at Buffalo
Honoree: Richardson Towers Community Association (RTCA),
August 2003
Invited to serve as honorary chairperson of RTCA's first annual Porch
and Garden
Tour.
Interviewee: Bridger, Chet, "Roots Online: Free Site Helps
Research Family Tree
Information." Buffalo News, May 7, 2002: E-1
Interviewee: Hausman, Anna Geronimo, "Arrested Development:
The Key to Buffalo's
Stagnation." Buffalo Spree, January/February 2001: 70-75,
236-239
Feature article: Voell, Paula, "Building on the Past with a
Website, a Book, and a
Library Job that has her on the Cutting Edge of Buffalo's Glories,
Cynthia Van Ness
Shares her Passion for the City's Future." Buffalo News,
October 31,
2000: C-1
Interviewee: Schmitt, Jane, "Owners Want to Know: Who Built
the House?" Business
First of Buffalo, August 28, 2000
Appointee: Mayor's Task Force for Interpreting the History of the Inner Harbor, Spring-Summer 2000
Elected to Beta Phi Mu Honor Society, 1994
Winner: Baker & Taylor Books/New York Library Association
[NYLA] New Members Round
Table Grassroots Grant, 1993
- PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Supervise all aspects of library service, including professional staff, reference inquiries, collection development, budgeting, cataloging, and conservation.
LIBRARIAN I, e-Branch; Humanities & Social Sciences Department. Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, November 2000 to May 2006
Provided in-person reference service to patrons with inquiries on all aspects of the humanities: arts, literature, languages, history, religion, philosophy, entertainment, sociology, recreation, law, education, geography. Provided telephone reference service to patrons with factual or brief inquiries on all subject matter.Responsible for collection development in the area of sociology, languages, foreign fiction, and English as a second language. Curated occasional rare book exhibits, contributed to digital projects. Trained public services staff on SIRSI Unicorn circulation system. Served on Outreach Committee and Technology Services Committee.
LIBRARIAN I, Special Collections Department/Grosvenor
Room, Buffalo
& Erie County Public Library, July 1995 to November 2000, May 2006
to present
Provided telephone, postal, email, and in-person reference service to
patrons with
genealogy, local history, and map-related inquiries, including the use
of censuses and
census indices,passenger list indices, civil war muster rolls, church
and cemetery
records, Sanborn maps, topographic maps, newspaper and periodical
indices, online and
card catalogs, compiled genealogies, genealogical databases and
websites.
Responsible for collection development in the areas of local
architecture and history,
maps, and vertical files. Designed and delivered departmental tours and
genealogical or
local history programs for community groups. Researched, compiled,
designed,
and edited
bibliographies and finding aids [see Recent
Publications].
Served on Electronic Resources Committee, Government Documents
Committee, and Remote
Reference Committee.
LIBRARIAN I, Extension Services Department, Buffalo
& Erie County Public
Library, March 1994-July 1995
Provided telephone and in-person reference service to patrons of
diverse backgrounds.
Performed collection development tasks for children's collection,
mobile collection, and
prison collection. Designed, scheduled, and delivered preschool and
elementary-grade
programs. Scheduled and supervised page staff.
- COMPUTER EXPERIENCE
SIRSI Unicorn Public Services Training Committee, 2005
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library [BECPL] Technology Services Committee, 2003 to 2005
BECPL Digital Projects Team, Spring 2000
BECPL Internet Team, Fall 1998
MS Office
HTML
- RECENT PUBLICATIONS
[ http://www.buffalolib.org/refdesk/subcat.asp?cid=347 ]
Back cover annotation for City on the Edge, 2007
[ http://www.buffaloresearch.com/blurb.html ]
"Re-Wrighting Buffalo: Build the Larkin Row Houses," Buffalo Spree, July-August 2006: 150.
[ http://www.buffaloresearch.com/essays/LarkinRowhouses.html]
"Is There a Buffalo in your Family Tree?" The New York
Researcher, v. 17 no. 2, Spring 2006: 23-25.
[
http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=13]
Frank Lloyd Wright in Buffalo: A Selected Bibliography, Buffalo, New York: Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, 1997; revised and expanded 2006.
"Erie County" [essay], Encyclopedia of New York State.
Syracuse, NY : Syracuse
University Press, © 2005: 522-525.
[http://encyclopedianys.syr.edu/]
Searching Family History at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, 9th ed. Buffalo, New York: Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, 2004.
"Buffalo Webwatch," Buffalo Gazette, June 2001-April
2002.
[http://www.buffaloresearch.com/webwatch.html]
"In Search of Buffalo's First Professional African-American
Architect"
[http://www.buffaloresearch.com/essays/brent.html]
"What Battered Books Can Teach You About Library Science," Ancestry
Daily News,
October 11, 2000.
[http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/news/articles/2655.asp]
"Shameless Begging: Ten Low-Budget Tactics for Local History
Collection
Development," FGS Forum, Summer 2000: 23-24.
[http://www.buffaloresearch.com/essays/FGSForum.html]
"Locating Death Notices and Obituaries in Buffalo Newspapers," Western New York Genealogical Society Journal, June 2000: 13-17.
Victorian Buffalo: Images from the Buffalo and Erie
County
Public Library.
Buffalo, New York: Western New York Wares, ©1999, reprinted 2003.
[http://www.wnybooks.com/victorian.html]
"Three Views From the Bridge: Ugly Today, Beautiful Manana," Artvoice,
September 16-22, 1999: 16.
[http://www.buffaloresearch.com/essays/bridge.html]
"The Old Curiosity Shop," Buffalo Preservation Report,
June-July 1996: 6.
[http://preserve.bfn.org/bpr/june96/858main/index.html]
- WEBMASTER EXPERIENCE
[http://www.buffaloresearch.com]
A portal to Cynthia's suite of websites on architecture, businesses, genealogy, fiction, images, maps, and full-text works for Buffalo. It incorporates and succeeds a pioneering page called Roots, founded at Buffalo Freenet 1993, one of the oldest genealogy websites in cyberspace
Queen City Contra Dancers, 1998 to present
[http://www.qccd.org]
- SELECTED SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS and WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS
BuffaloTours.org, Buffalo, NY, Summer 2006-2007
Walking Tour: "Crime and Scandal"
Tribute to Jane Jacobs, Buffalo, NY, May 2006
Lecture and Panel Discussion: "Death and Life of Great American Cities"
Artvoice Inaugural Geek Meet, Buffalo, NY, February 2006
Lecture: "The Web as a Buffalo Historical Archive"
Preservation Coalition of Erie County, Buffalo, NY, October
2005
Lecture: "The Preservation Web: Using the Internet for Research,
Networking, and
Hellraising"
Preservation Coalition of Erie County, Buffalo, NY, Summer
2005-present
Workshop: "Betty Barcode Tells All: The Secrets of Researching Your
Personal
Landmark"
New York State United Teachers Winter Leadership Conference,
Buffalo, NY, March
2005
Workshop: "Preserving a Local History"
Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Buffalo, NY, March
2005
Lecture: "Women in Buffalo's History"
Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, Buffalo, NY,
December 2004
Lecture: "House History Research in 45 Minutes or Less"
Beta Phi Mu, Annual New Member Induction Meeting, Buffalo, NY,
November 2003
and Victorian Society in America, Annual Meeting, Buffalo, NY, May 2003
Banquet Speaker: "In Their Own Words: First Person Accounts of Buffalo
in the 19th
Century"
New York Genealogy and Biography Society, Annual Meeting,
Buffalo, NY, September
2003
Workshops: "What Is and Is Not Online for Buffalo Research" and
"Special
Collections/Grosvenor Room: A Virtual Tour"
New York Library Association Annual Conference, Buffalo, NY,
October 2002
Panel Presentation: "Treasures of Buffalo"
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY, 2002-2003
Workshop: "Online Genealogy"
Western New York Library Resources Council, Cheektowaga, NY,
May 2002
Workshop: "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Genealogist?"
Twentieth Century Club, Buffalo, NY, April 2001
Speech: "What I Learned About Women in Buffalo's Architectural History
While Writing
Victorian Buffalo"
Graycliff Conservancy, Derby, NY, May 2000
Presentation: "Frank Lloyd Wright at the Buffalo and Erie County Public
Library"
Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, Buffalo, NY, April
1999
Presentation: "The Process of Historic Preservation: Documentary
Research"
Western New York Genealogical Society, Buffalo, NY, 1998-2000
Various presentations
- EDUCATION
University at Buffalo School of Information and Library Studies, Buffalo, NY
Now renamed School of Informatics
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History
State University of New York/Empire State College, Genesee Valley
Chapter, Rochester,
NY
Degree program included practicums at the Rochester Museum and
Science Center, the Memorial Art Gallery, and the now-defunct Village
Gate Art Center [all in Rochester, NY] assisting curators, preparators,
and carpenters with exhibition research and installation.
- CONTINUING EDUCATION and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
"Adobe Dreamweaver, Introduction & Intermediate"
Rare Book School, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA,
March
2006
"Implementing Encoded Archival Description" week-long intensive seminar
Western New York Library Resources Council, Cheektowaga, NY,
October 2005
"Archives and Manuscripts: Arrangement and Description" workshop
Western New York Library Resources Council, Cheektowaga, NY,
September 2003
"Ask a WNY Librarian" chat reference training
Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Buffalo, NY, Fall
2002 and Spring 2003
"History of Buffalo and Western New York" seminar, parts I and II
Lake Ontario Archives Conference, Buffalo, NY, June 2001 and
Ithaca, NY, June 2002
Full conference attendance
Western New York Library Resources Council, Cheektowaga, NY,
November 2000
"Care and Identification of Your Photographic Collection"
Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Conference,
Rochester, NY, August 1996
Full conference attendance
Squeaky Wheel/Buffalo Media Resources, Buffalo, NY, 1996
"Introductory HTML"
- COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Beta Phi Mu
Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society
Burchfield-Penney Art Center
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Preservation Coalition of Erie County
Preservation League of New York State
Western New York Book Arts Collaborative
- CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE
Exhibit: "The Way We Were: Scenes from Buffalo's Past"
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Rare Book Room and
Mark Twain Room, 2004-present:
"Buffalo's Radial Street Plan, 1804-2004: A 200th Anniversary Exhibit"
"Dear Livy: Mark Twain's Love Letters"
"Mark Twain and Paperback Art"
"Mark Twain's Ghost Story"
"First Published in Buffalo"
"Mark Twain on Race and Racism"
References available upon request
Last updated September 2007
http://www.buffaloresearch.com/resume.html