Since March 17, a few residents in Warren, Watchung, Green Brook, and Long Hills and I have organized a donation campaign and raised a total of $31,214.60 from the local Chinese American community to donate PPEs to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital and St. Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick, Overlook Hospital in Summit, Somerset Medical Group in Somerset, and Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, as well as local EMT, police, and fire fighter units.
I have worked many nights trying to allocate PPE resources in the United States. I used my online search skills and technical background to perform the due diligence process and verified all PPE sources for quality and safety based on ASTM standards and CDC/FDA guidelines. Up to April 6, the following PPEs have been purchased and sent to the above organizations:
1,200 N95 masks
1,400 KN95 masks
8,800 surgical masks
1,014 DuPont protection gowns
472 3M safety googles
6,400 gloves
20 big boxes of wipes
8 big bottles of hand sanitizer
A few news media including the New York Times, Echoes-Sentinel, Bitpush News, and other local community newspapers have interviewed me and published articles about the effort.
Editor’s note: Kudos to Connie on this amazing and inspiring work!!
Google carts will arrive at Rutgers on March 2 for loading, with three quarters of them going to NBL. Of the ca. 194,000 volumes listed on the Google candidates spreadsheet, roughly 86% were in the New Brunswick Libraries.
Nearly 29% of the NBL Google candidates are in the Annex, and we’re beginning the process there. The NBL Google Team made the decision to use the 1900 publication date as the cutoff for anticipating whether scanned material might eventually become freely available and would not need to return to RUL. This date is a compromise and approximation; copyright findings are a complex process with later or earlier dates for American and non-American publications. Stephanie Bartz arranged the Annex Google candidates in call number and (for the journals) title order, and I gave NBL selectors two months to decide for materials in their subjects whether to accept the “send–do not return” option for pre-1900 publications, or “opt out” and require materials be returned. RUL will have search-only access in HathiTrust to scanned in-copyright publications, and we will retain the hard copy of these volumes after scanning.
Many NBL subject specialists weighed in with their preferences by initialing the spreadsheets or expressing them in meetings and online. The Annex candidates include many books and journals that saw the bulk of their circulation many decades ago and are now in poor condition, but available digitally or via interlibrary loan. As we finalized the Annex spreadsheets, I made decisions where selectors had not based on their expressed preferences and a conservative interpretation of RUL’s Print Retention and Withdrawal Guidelines that permit withdrawal of last copies if we have perpetual digital access to the content or at least five copies in North American libraries. Our current estimate is that of 54,115 volumes on the Google spreadsheet, 88% will be sent but returned, and 12% (mostly journals) will be sent but not returned with the prospect of both digital access and continued interlibrary loan access to the hard copies. I believe we found a good procedure that observes RUL policy and values the expertise of our subject specialists while eventually gaining badly needed shelf space for our Annex.
The Paul Robeson Library in Camden hosted an Oreo tasting and cookie exchange for libraries in the Camden area, on Tuesday, December 10. We worked with the Rutgers–Camden Law Library and Nilsa Cruz-Perez branch of the Camden Public Library. About 20 people from four different library systems attended. We tasted Oreos, talked about Alma as well as current and upcoming outreach efforts, and how we might work together on various projects. Julie Still and John Powell developed a logo (CAL for Camden Area Libraries) and made buttons for the event. All in attendance, and some who were unable to attend, indicated an interest in similar future events.
In August, President George W. Bush asked Paul Robeson Library’s Julie Still to join him in Waco, Texas for a national economic forum.
Julie is a member of an investment club and participated in July in a town meeting in Philadelphia organized by the United States Secretary of Commerce that focused on small investors’ reactions to corporate misdeeds. Julie spoke up and was quoted by an AP reporter and then in a Philadelphia Inquirer story. One or both stories apparently caught the eye of the President’s people, and she got invited to Waco.
Getting Hi-Tech
Congratulations to Paul Robeson Library’s Vibiana Bowman, whose article “Reading Between the Lines: An Evaluation of WindowEyes Screen Reader as a Reference Tool for Teaching and Learning” was published in the latest issue of Library Hi Tech. This is a special issue of Library Hi Tech devoted to accessibility of Web information resources for people with disabilities.
Gifts from Taipei
Colleagues or students visiting the undergraduate reading room on the first floor of Alexander Library may notice a large new artwork, taking up much of the wall space near the windows overlooking the entry walkway.
“A City of Cathay” was donated in June by the Taipei Cultural Center in New York City. The Taipei Cultural Center also donated a significant collection of Chinese language books and journals to the East Asian Library in May.
Power to the People
After a regular August maintenance downtime was completed, IRIS returned to regular use with two significant modifications. The Rutgers Request Service (RRS) changed its name to the Rutgers Delivery Service (RDS), and a major new feature, user-initiated holds, became available.
The name change to the Rutgers Delivery Service reflects the Rutgers University Libraries growing use of technology to save time, enhance services, and offer increased options to Libraries users.
Noah Mac and I during New Student Orientation at Carr Library.
One never thinks that a casual conversation with a librarian at Rutgers Day might impact a student’s decision to come to Rutgers University, but this is one such example.
Noah Mac, RU ’21 and I met for the first time during the cool morning of 2017 Rutgers Day. Noah and his father were among the many visitors to the Rutgers University Libraries table in front of the Art Library. I engaged in a conversation with them and learned that they were visiting from Michigan. The visit was important for Noah, a high school senior, as he was in the process of selecting the college where he was to spend the next four years. After a friendly conversation that included information on the 250-year history of Rutgers and library services available for undergraduate students, I often wondered which college Noah ended up attending, especially because Michigan has so many options of state universities with great academic standings.
It was a great pleasure for me to meet Noah for the second time in August 2018, when he was attending the New Student Orientation at Carr Library. He mentioned that the Rutgers Day conversation in 2017 had made a very positive impact on his decision in coming to Rutgers. Unexpectedly, Noah and I met for the third time during the 2019 New Student Orientation at Carr Library. This time, Noah was an orientation leader with the New Student Orientation and Family Programs guiding the incoming student groups from one event to another. After talking about his successful first year at Rutgers, Noah mentioned to me that the story he tells his group of incoming students, My Rutgers Story, includes “a librarian whom he met on Rutgers Day” who made him feel “not just another number,” impacting his decision!
Noah will be majoring in microbiology and in addition to his academic endeavors has other talents, including that of being a trumpet performer in the Rutgers Marching Band. He is certainly very talented, as he was one of the five trumpet performers (among 35 or so) to be selected to travel with the band to a football game in Ann Arbor, MI against University of Michigan in fall 2019. He is delighted to go back to his home state as a member of Rutgers Marching Band representing the university.
An Important Message for Faculty and Staff from the Center on Violence against Women and Children
Better Late than Never?
Stephanie Bartz reports on an amusing development: “We recently received a piece of mail for Donald F. Cameron. In case you don’t know, we have the Donald F. Cameron Reference Reading Room at Alexander, so his portrait is on the wall. Cameron was once the University Librarian. He retired in 1966. Just goes to show that mailing lists never die. Once you’re on one, your name has been recorded for posterity!”
Mina Ghajar.
Kudos for Mina
Congratulations are in order for Mina Ghajar, who received an acknowledgment in one of her nutrition students’ recently published articles, “Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Efforts through A Life Course Health Development Perspective: A Scoping Review.” You can read the article and view the acknowledgment here. Way to go, Mina!
Movers and shakers around the Libraries, July 1980.
Play ball!
RULSA is sponsoring a baseball trip on Sunday, July 20 for the Yankees vs. Kansas City game. The cost of the trip ($13.00 for RULSA members and their families, $13.50 for non-members and their families) will include the bus trip and box seats. The bus will leave the Alexander Library at 11:45 a.m. You may purchase your tickets form Eileen Barron, Douglass Library, extension 9411. The deadline for full payment is Thursday, July 10.
The Agenda 2, no. 27 (July 7, 1980)
Database Searching… Online!
Upon the request of the University Librarian Hendrik Edelman, Pat Piermatti convened a meeting of the Ad Hoc Group for Online Database Searching to discuss the issues involved in providing system-wide online database searching, heretofore offered by LSM and the Camden Law
Library alone….
Evelyn Greenberg presented Alexander Library’s proposal for the provision of online services beginning September 2, 1980. Initially Lockheed Information Systems DIALOG will be accessed for its social sciences and humanities databases. The fee structure and publicity materials must still be decided upon. Debbie Ludwig reviewed the Dana Library Task Force Preliminary Report for the Provision of Online Searching. Dana anticipates the commencement of their online service sometime after January 1, 1981. Debbie will have responsibility for the science databases, while Christine Demidowich will be responsible for the social sciences and humanities databases. The Bibliographic Retrieval Service and DIALOG will be the first two systems accessed.
The Institute for Research Design in Librarianship is an IMLS-funded program “designed to bring together a diverse group of academic and research librarians who are motivated and enthusiastic about conducting research but need additional training and/or other support to perform the steps successfully.”
The institute started in 2014. My cohort (2019) is the last IMLS-funded year, but the creators will continue the project using a paid model in the future. Our cohort included 23 librarians from colleges and universities all over the country. Our interests, experiences, and areas of librarianship were varied.
The 2019 cohort kicked things off in June with a one-week research boot camp at Loyola Marymount University. In seven days, we received research instruction from Dr. Lili Luo and Dr. Greg Guest, as well as individual consultations with our instructors and the IRDL creators, Kris Brancolini and Marie Kennedy. We also relied on each other to get “fresh eyes” on our projects and to commiserate when our projects seemed bigger than we could handle!
After that first week, our cohort will continue working with Kris, Marie, and a research mentor (a previous IRDL scholar) throughout the coming academic year. We each committed to completing our research projects in that time. To stay on track, we have periodic check-ins with each other to update everyone on progress, ask questions, and get support. We also work with our mentors monthly to review our work and get feedback. Our cohort also created a Slack group for talking about the different research methods we are using and coordinating future meetups.
The boot camp covered sampling techniques, proper statistical measures, and strategies for doing qualitative analysis. This was especially useful because after we learned something in class, we could request a consultation with one of the instructors to see how we could best apply a technique to our research project. I found this incredibly helpful when considering what statistical tests I should use for my study. The goal of my project is to determine the effectiveness of augmented reality on students’ perception of the library and librarians when used as part of an orientation for incoming first-year students. I’ll be comparing pre and post-orientation questionnaires from a group of students taking an augmented reality orientation and a group participating in a traditional orientation.
IRDL has already had a major impact on my research design. The proposal I submitted to the Institute in January is much different from the one I will be submitting in July. My methodology, sampling technique, and survey instruments underwent a complete overhaul in the week I spent at the institute. My confidence as a researcher has also increased and I feel more comfortable making decisions about what and how I will research as a practicing librarian.
I’m looking forward to the coming year when I’ll be completing my research project and working closely with my cohort and mentor. One aspect of IRDL which the directors continually emphasize is that our fellow scholars are part of our lifelong research network. We can ask questions of each other, collaborate, generate ideas, and rely on each other for support as we research throughout our careers. This kind of support, along with the knowledge I gained at the institute, has been transformative by making me feel more confident in asking questions and making decisions.
The Chang Science Library hosted exciting events in the Spring ’19 semester. Partnering with University Career Services (UCS) for the current academic year, the library replaced Martin Hall as a location for the popular Career Meet-Ups and weekly Drop-in Resume Critique Hours on the Cook campus in both semesters. Students were lining up in front of the newly minted Chang Consultation Room Tuesday afternoons to benefit from experienced career development specialist Larry Jacobs, who represents the UCS Food & Agriculture and Environmental & Natural Resources Career Cluster.
A remarkable poster exhibit evolved from a new partnership between the NBL SEBS Team and the SEBS Office of Academic Programs, which had started with an experiment to include a library component in the course Academic Mentoring in the fall semester. In April, undergraduate students of another course, Portals to Academic Success, visited the library to take pride in their work submitted during the library session of their class. Dubbed Books We Read, the assignment called for finding their favorite book in QuickSearch and, based on templates provided by the librarian-instructor, creating a poster with basic bibliographic information and availability at the Libraries. Complemented with images and quotes from the book or by other authors (and proper credits), over 100 small posters are now on display in the Chang Science Library.
Striving to balance schoolwork and pleasure, the library also hosted fun events. Indicating another strong partnership on campus started in 2018, Chang was chosen as one of the locations (with RUL goodies) for the Cook Campus Easter Egg Hunt hosted by the SEBS International Office, which added some diversion from the special SEBS international orientations and workshops held earlier.
A new partner in the spring semester, the SEBS Governing Council brought new excitement to the library. As only a few people signed up in advance, the Open Mic and Rutgers Roast event seemed to get a bumpy start, but turned out to be a huge success. A talented student opened it with his hilarious stand-up comedy routine, roasting Rutgers only mildly. It was followed by a poem recital and some personal stories from the audience, which put everyone at ease. Two undergrads ran Vine prompts, which encouraged participation from everyone, even if some, admittedly, felt suddenly old! Photos can attest that the 25+ attendees had a fantastic time and the idea may have some followers in other libraries in the future.
These events are examples of an attempt at Chang to meet students’ needs and wishes discovered by undergraduates of the course Social and Cultural Aspects of Design in Spring ’18. Taught by Laura Lawson, professor and dean, and Holly Nelson, associate professor of practice, the semester-long class assignment assessed and redesigned the Chang Science Library. Students’ data collection and analyses suggest that students would like libraries to become a place that provides educational, entertaining, and competitive events and opportunities for them during their studies.
Mary Beth Fecko, Technical and Automated Services, has written Cataloging Nonbook Resources: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians.
Cataloging is the starting point for access to nonbook materials, especially important for media which cannot be browsed in the manner of books. Cataloging Nonbook Resources offers the cataloger guidance and practice with nonbook materials. It covers the major formats: visual materials, sound recordings, maps, computer files, kits, and electronic resources. The text is meant to be used in conjunction with AACR2R. Each chapter includes examples of bibliographic records, examples of MARC tagging for various formats, and AACR2R rules for MARC tagged records along with Library of Congress Rule interpretations. This manual brings catalogers up to speed on “nontraditional” formats.
Congratulations, Mary Beth!
The Agenda 15, no. 9 (May 2, 1993)
Holdings and Pieces
The System and Database Management Department is scheduled for a major upgrade at the end of the summer. Because of the high interest in the upgrade the plans are as follows:
Holdings and Pieces Management is coming soon to our IRIS catalog. Why, you may ask, is Holdings and Pieces necessary? How will it affect our daily operations, and is the transition worth it?
Holdings and Pieces is Geac’s name for the software they developed to streamline management of individual items in the system, while retaining summary information. In this context, holdings refers to summary holdings, and pieces refers to the individual items.
Currently holdings information is kept in two separate sets of files: those for circulation and those for BPS. In the OPAC, information is drawn from both of these components. Holdings and Pieces Management (HPM) will integrate information that is now kept in separate files. For example, from either Circ or BPS, you will be able to determine circulation status and the date an item was added to the system. Staff will be able to change information in either function and will be able to record item-level notes.
The Agenda 15, no. 9 (May 2, 1993)
A Bit of Trivia
Patrons recalled 5,430 books from September to December, 1992. On average that’s 45 recalls placed per day!
The Agenda 15, no. 9 (May 2, 1993)
Phone-a-Friend
A special thank you is extended to all the volunteers from the library community who participated in the Annual Giving Phonothons for ’92 – ’93. By your volunteering to call alumni and parents you have helped to ensure the libraries continued growth as an intellectual resource for our Rutgers students.
Google carts will arrive at Rutgers on March 2 for loading, with three quarters of them going to NBL. Of the ca. 194,000 volumes listed on the Google candidates spreadsheet, roughly 86% were in the New Brunswick Libraries.
