Staff Notes: Farewell to Sharon Britton

Sharon Britton has retired from her position as Sawyer Library Director, and we wish her well in all her future kayaking, biking and family visiting pursuits!

Speech in honor of Sharon delivered May 30 2018:

Hello everyone! Thank you for coming to support Sharon Britton, the Mildred F. Sawyer Library Director until 5:00pm today when she might actually retire from Suffolk University and full time academic librarianship

We have all had an opportunity to work with Sharon as she engaged in events, projects and committees across campus. Sharon has probably attended every single community event held in this Poetry Center, and her commitment to the Employees Activity Council (EAC) programming ranges from regular First Friday SU spirit displays to last-second intensive decoration support for planned events. Sharon tirelessly advocates for the library’s interests at the Teaching Innovation Learning and Technology (TILT) Committee, Faculty and Professional Learning Community (FPLC), and at any “space meeting” she can politely muscle her way into. As Sharon has set the example for strong campus engagement, I believe you would agree that you are seeing librarians in more places across campus.

Within the library walls, Sharon has emphasized open communication, maintaining an open-door policy for staff to engage her in everything from feisty discussions about professional librarianship to compassionate (and confidential) personal conversations. Sharon has devoted much of her attention to increasing collaboration between departments on library-wide projects and enhancing library services for all users. As library director, Sharon oversaw the completion of the Sawyer Library Commons which grew seating and collaborative space for student use within the library. Sharon also supervised the integration of the former NESAD library’s collection with the Sawyer library collection, and welcomed the Moakley Archive and Institute as a new department of Sawyer library.

Sharon has led Sawyer library with sincerity and care for the past 5 years; please join me as we thank her tremendously for her service.

Off-Campus Authentication Upgrade

Dear Faculty and Students,

Suffolk University libraries are upgrading the service you use to sign into library databases from off-campus. This change is necessary for compliance with current web security standards, and it will improve reliable access to our materials from off-campus.

What this means for you:

 Off-campus database users will now log in using the standard Suffolk University username and password information.

Some resources may still request the old login information during this transition phase. Please supply your old login information to access those resources.

Switching to the new service requires the libraries to change the database links. During the Spring 2018 semester, library staff will maintain the older authentication service, which provides access to the databases via the older links. After June 2018, the older service will no longer be maintained.

What this means for you:

Old links to databases, including direct links to articles, may break after June 2018.

Though some older links may remain functional after June, they will become increasingly less reliable.

Please update any links to databases or to content within databases in your research notes, syllabi, Blackboard platforms, etc.

As always, library staff is available to you for assistance! Please do not hesitate to email, call, or stop by your library for help.

Sincerely,

Moakley Library and Sawyer Library Staff

Contact Information
John Joseph Moakley Law Library	Mildred F. Sawyer Library
lawref@suffolk.edu	sawlib@suffolk.edu
617-573-8177	617-573-8535
Moakley Library Hours	Sawyer Library Hours