SU Libraries – The Best Place for Veterans
In 2014, Chancellor Kent Syverud declared that Syracuse University would become the best place for veterans. Currently, there are over 1,000 veteran and military-connected students at SU, and Syracuse University is also the best place for veteran employees. In partnership with the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA), the Syracuse University Veterans Affinity Group (SUVA) is open to all campus employees with military service experience or a passion for supporting those who have served. The group has grown to over 200 members since its founding, providing members with monthly professional development, networking receptions, and community service opportunities like Oakwood Cemetery veteran section cleanups and CNY Veteran Parade and Expo participation.
This month, SUVA members attended a luncheon to learn more about the Libraries’ support of veterans through its services and resources.
Patricia Giles, OVMA liaison librarian, shared some of the ways the Libraries cultivates connections with both veteran and military-connected students and employees through involvement with the Student Veterans Organization (SVO), the Syracuse University Early Commissioning Program (ECP), the Defense Comptrollership Program through Martin J. Whitman School of Management, and the Military Visual Journalism Program in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Through the SVO, Giles routinely provides orientation tours and overviews of research resources available to incoming and current students, individual consultations with students on research assignments, instruction to student groups and classes on using the Libraries’ website and Search, research office hours at the NVRC Veterans Lounge and a monthly email to highlight resources and events at the Libraries. Giles has also worked with the SVO for the past several years to curate a Student Veterans exhibit that allows students to share their backgrounds, experiences and stories with the greater campus community. Giles has overseen book displays and resources on topical areas such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, the history of women in the armed forces, and so on. The Research Guide for Veterans and Military Connected Students provides a comprehensive resource for research, writing, books, services, associations and more.
Giles reminded employee veterans that they can borrow books, CDs, videos, DVDs, games, laptops, technology and other items at the Libraries, as well as having free access to online resources like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and Syracuse.com, and online videos through Kanopy, Criterion Pictures and Swank Digital Campus.
Grace Swinnerton, the IVMF Research and Digital Projects Librarian, presented to SUVA the collaboration between IVMF and SU Libraries to create the IVMF Digital Library in 2019, a flagship initiative that provides centralized access to research, data and resources focused on veterans and military families. It includes both IVMF-generated and externally curated resources, including an Entrepreneurship Collection, an Employing Veteran and Military Family Talent Collection (which was funded by USAA), a Publications space for IVMF- produced research and reports, and most recently a Research Collection. Voices of Service posters that highlight work being done at Syracuse University by, for and about veterans have been added to the University’s institutional repository, SURFACE, as well as the IVMF Digital Library Research Collection. The IVMF Digital Library, through the SU Research Collection, serves as an open access repository for the aggregation, preservation and persistent access to veteran-affiliated research conducted across the University.
Meg Mason, University Archivist, shared examples of materials in the Special Collections Research Center’s University Archives that documents SU’s rich history with veterans, including images of the Students Army Training Corps at Syracuse University in 1918; war service records of students from World War I; photographs of the campus during and just after World War II; news, bulletins and course materials during World War II; veteran alumni papers that include cartoons, dormitory assignments and tuition ledgers; and ROTC materials. In 2016, Mason curated an exhibition in the Special Collections Research Center titled “Our Doors Opened Wide: Syracuse University and the GI Bill, 1945-1950” which was later transitioned into a digital exhibition.
Being the best place for veterans is not just a focus in November at Syracuse University. From the National Veterans Resource Center to the resources made available to veteran students, employees and military-connected members of the campus community, Syracuse tangibly demonstrates our commitment to veterans.