The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Category: News

  • Announcing the BTAA BIG Collection Steering Committee

    The Library Directors of the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) are pleased to announce the appointment of the BIG Collection Steering Committee. The objective of the BIG Collection is to create a coherent knowledge environment for Big Ten faculty and students, with content universally available to all without regard to which institution produced or purchased it. The BIG Collection will be supported by interoperable services and systems at scale that rest on a foundation of shared infrastructure.

    The Steering Committee will act as the umbrella for the initiative and the executive steward of resources and strategy.  It will guide the BTAA in implementing successful infrastructure and policy to bridge the fifteen separate libraries of our universities toward being experienced and managed as one collection, fully networked–the BIG Collection.

    As the overarching initiative to advance the commitment to a shared, interdependent future for the research libraries of the Big Ten, the BIG Collection is the lead idea, the center of gravity to align resources and activities across BTAA library initiatives. “The convening of the Steering Committee represents a significant step toward bringing shape and form to the vision of the BIG Collection,” said Maurice York, Director of Library Initiatives for the Big Ten Academic Alliance. “As a community and an alliance, we will collectively design the future that we want to see. This group is charged with thinking on behalf of the whole and holding the collective strategy. There is much more to come.”

    For more information, see “Historic Move: Big Ten Libraries Commit to Managing Separate Collections as a Single Collection (The BIG Collection)” on INFOdocket.

  • Quick Takes on Events and News – November 2020

    One of America’s Most Celebrated Writers Meets More than 300 Readers on Zoom

    On September 27, Connie Wu organized a special Meeting Author and Book Discussion event on Zoom. Ha Jin, an award-winning writer and a professor of the Department of Literature and Writing at Boston University, joined the virtual event from his home. Even though it was 9:00 on Sunday night, almost bedtime for many people, 288 accounts logged into this Zoom session. Because many accounts were joined by couples at the same time, at least 300 people shared a literary feast brought by Professor Jin.

    Ha Jin has published more than 20 books, and has won almost all literary awards in English writing: Flannery O’Connor Short Story Award, Hemingway Foundation/Pen Club Award, Guggenheim Scholarship, National Book Award, PEN/Faukner Award, Asia Society Award, Townsend Fiction Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2012), PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Remote Center Literature Prize, etc. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2006.

    Ha Jin shared his view on writing and knowledge on international literature. He also answered many questions from audiences with his wisdom and insight.

    The session lasted until 11:00 p.m. All attendees were attracted by Ha Jin’s literary accomplishment and charming personality. Many attendees expressed their appreciation of the evening. Three Rutgers professors who participated in the session say: “It was such a wonderful and enjoyable virtual event”; “Ha Jin is a truly rich mind, a profoundly humble and outstanding gentleman”; and “he is an admirable, honest, great writer!”

    Submitted by Connie Wu

    New Brunswick Librarians Play Key Role in New Ithaka Report

    Understanding the many constituencies that make up an academic library’s patrons is a formidable task. Scientists utilize resources quite differently from artists, and even scholars within a specific discipline like the humanities may have divergent practices and expectations depending on their academic niche and experience of library services at previous institutions. In the Fall of 2018, under the auspices of Ithaka S+R and the Modern Language Association (MLA), New Brunswick Libraries began a qualitative study of the information needs of faculty in languages, literature and cultural studies at Rutgers University—New Brunswick. The study was conducted by Triveni Kuchi, James P. Niessen, and Jonathan Sauceda. The purpose was to examine the research practices of faculty in a particular field, namely languages and literature, to identify what resources and services scholars currently use and wish they had access to at Rutgers. A report was completed in the Fall of 2019 and made available on the Scholarly Open Access at Rutgers repository (SOAR).

    In addition to Rutgers University, thirteen other university libraries across the United States and a team from MLA participated in the languages and literature study. A capstone report that analyzed and combined all the information and findings from individual reports was published by Ithaka S+R on September 9, 2020.

    Check out the MLA report on “Language and Literature Research in Regional Comprehensive Institutions” and Ithaka S+R’s blog post about the study.

    Full reports are available from:

    Cooper, Danielle, Cate Mahoney, Rebecca Springer, Robert Behra, Ian G. Beilin, Guy Burak, Margaret Burri, et al. “Supporting Research in Languages and Literature.” Ithaka S+R. September 9, 2020. https://doi.org/10.18665/sr.313810.

    Kuchi, Triveni, James P. Niessen, and Jonathan Sauceda. “Research practices of scholars in literatures, writing, and cultural studies: a qualitative study of faculty at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.” October 31, 2019. https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-2ydq-5h89.

    Submitted by Triveni Kuchi

    “Book Women” Delivered Library Books on Horseback during Great Depression

    Did you know? In the depths of the Great Depression, groups of librarians known as the “book women” loaded up their horses with books and journeyed deep into the Kentucky mountains to deliver reading material to the state’s poorest, most-isolated communities. Read more in this article from Southern Living.

    Submitted by Marty Barnett

    Librarians and Archivists Join Universitywide Society and Pandemic Initiative

    More than two dozen faculty and staff from the School of Arts and Sciences and other schools across Rutgers University have joined forces to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and research and collaborate on projects that address the global health crisis.

    Francesca Giannetti, Erika Gorder, and Christie Lutz are part of one of the sub-topic working groups called Digital Humanities: (NJ) Oral History, Libraries and Archives. This subgroup is comprised of archivists, librarians, public and oral historians and others interested in public humanities methods and engagement. They are exploring methods to preserve, through archival and oral historical documentation, some of the ways in which teaching and learning shifted in response to the pandemic.

    Submitted by Christie Lutz 

    No Power? No Problem

    There are a many negatives for RUL resulting from the pandemic, but today is an unusual plus.  With the North half of College Avenue Campus experiencing a power outage, our “distributed library faculty and staff” are able to continue to provide services in spite of the power outage. It strikes me that a “positive” story would be possible under these circumstances. (Pun intended 🙂)

    Submitted by Tim Corlis

  • Announcing Archival Description of Notated Music and the Guidelines for Archival Description of Notated Music

    In early October the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and the Music Library Association (MLA) co-published a new open-access ebook, Archival Description of Notated Music (ADNM), co-authored by the MLA Working Group for Archival Description of Music Materials, which I had the pleasure of co-chairing with Dr. John Bewley, a Rutgers alumnus and the retired associate librarian/archivist at the University at Buffalo Music Library.  Working Group members also included Sofía Becerra-Licha, lead archivist at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Maristella Feustle, music special collections librarian at the University of North Texas; Vincent J. Novara, head of the Acquisitions and Processing Section in the Music Division at the Library of Congress; Matthew Snyder, archivist at the New York Public Library; and Karen Spicher, manuscript cataloger and processing archivist at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

    ADNM provides guidance intended for a wide readership and is helpful for experienced archivists with limited knowledge of music, music librarians with limited knowledge of archival practice, students in MLIS and archival studies programs, and others with responsibility for archival collections with notated music. The book includes discussion of fundamental archival principles as applied to collections with notated music, recommendations for descriptive approaches based on the musical and non-musical content of a collection, a glossary, and an annotated resource list. In addition, included as an appendix are the Guidelines for Archival Description of Notated Music, which provide a standard for archival description of notated music and represent the first subject-specific supplement to Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS). The Guidelines were endorsed by the SAA Council as an external standard at the end of 2019. Both the Guidelines and ADNM are available via MLA’s Humanities Commons repository. ADNM may also be downloaded free-of-charge from the SAA Bookstore.

    The Working Group started the project in 2016, and none of us expected it to become a full-length book and professionally-endorsed standard, much less require four years and countless hours of meetings to complete. We took a collective approach to authorship: one or two group members drafted each section of the book, which we then revised and edited as a group. Although this approach was time-consuming, the final publications represent our consensus agreement on standardized archival practice and the full range of group members’ considerable expertise. We also solicited and incorporated feedback from colleagues in other music libraries and archives and collaborated closely with SAA’s Technical Subcommittee on DACS, which contributed to SAA’s endorsement of the Guidelines. This cross-organizational collaboration was essential to the successful outcome and will hopefully serve as a model for future DACS supplements.

  • Zoom: Security Updates, New Help Guides, and Training Resources Available

    New security features introduced by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) make it possible to ensure security and prevent unwanted guests in your Zoom meetings. If you host online meetings using Zoom, please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with these important updates:

    To assist you in becoming familiar with Zoom and to help answer some of your questions, IIS has compiled some Zoom Help Guides and Training resources. Topics include basic information to get you started with Zoom, FAQs, as well as training documentation and video tutorials.

    If you have questions or need assistance with Zoom, please contact IIS via email at support@rulhelp.rutgers.edu.

  • Website Redesign Project Update – November 2020

    The website redesign project team has completed baseline usability testing and analysis, and we’ve combined that with other research from the discovery process and are now moving into wireframing. Using the ideas generated during prototyping sessions last month with each of the local library groups, we’re developing an architecture for the site that will balance each unit’s desire for flexibility with the need for a sustainable infrastructure that provides our users with streamlined, easy access to our most popular resources.

    Over the coming weeks and months, our team will be busy reviewing wireframes and revisions from the team at NewCity. Once the wireframes are approved, we’ll go through the same process with mockups, which will incorporate more of the look and feel of the pages along with example content. The new site will be built out of components, rather than templated pages – this is a different way to think about building web pages that puts greater power in the hands of content creators and managers. It will allow for greater flexibility and easier updates than our current setup, and each unit will be able to create and maintain beautiful, useful, up-to-date pages that reflect their users’ needs. The project team will be learning about how to work with a component library during the wireframing/mockup phase, and more people will be brought in for training once the component library is fully developed and we’re building out the actual site content.

    As always, you’re welcome to reach out anytime with questions or comments. Send us an email: webservices@libraries.rutgers.edu.

  • Ex Libris Implementation Team Update – November 2020

    Alma Analytics Upgrade

    Alma Analytics will be upgraded the week of November 1. Users who want to retain their personal reports in My Folders after the upgrade will need to save a copy in the Analytics shared folder’s Migration directory by October 31. Instructions to save your reports for the upgrade can be found here.

    New Alma Layout

    Ex Libris has introduced a new layout for Alma and items such as the main menu and persistent search box have moved to new locations on the screen. The new layout is currently in a testing phase. Users who want to familiarize themselves with the new layout can toggle it on themselves by following the instructions found here. The new layout becomes the default on November 1.

    Esploro Update

    The Esploro implementation is proceeding apace. All of our research assets have now been migrated from RUcore to Esploro. Next steps will include data cleanup, system and UI configuration, staff and user training, and integration with the library website. The Esploro research portal is scheduled to be released in January 2021. The rollout will be accompanied by the creation of a new support channel in LibAnswers to answer inquiries related to using the repository, depositing works, and the open access policy.

    Chapter Delivery Button

    The Chapter Delivery button is now available on many monograph collections in QuickSearch. At a time when access is limited, the addition of button raises awareness of this service and provides our patrons with expedient access to our monograph collection. These requests are being brokered by ILLiad and filled electronically via Document Delivery.  Patrons can also continue to access the Book Chapter Request form via their ILLiad account to place requests.

    Click and Collect Statistics

    Click and Collect usage rose from an average of 211 items per week during the summer to an average of 320 items per week during the semester. The week with the most requests so far was the first week of the semester (August 31-September 6) with 368 requests completed. Graduate students are the most frequent users of Click and Collect at 48% followed by faculty and staff at 36% and undergraduates at 17%. Thanks to the work of our onsite fulfillment teams we have circulated over 3,000 items to users via Click and Collect since the program began on August 3rd.

    Fulfillment Workflow Review and Redesign

    Efforts to review and redesign workflows supporting Course Reserves, Chapter and Article Delivery, ILL, etc. have begun. High level process mapping is being completed along with preparation for the impending switch to Leganto. Meetings with each campus will be scheduled to discuss the efforts and potential new workflows in more detail. Be on the lookout for more info!

  • Personal Librarian Program Enters Its Second Year

    Student success librarian Samantha Kannegiser of the Paul Robeson Library kicked off the Personal Librarian Program, now in its second year, on August 28 with a “Meet Your Personal Librarian” event. The Personal Librarian Program is run in collaboration with the Student Success Coach office, part of the Department of Student Academic Success on the Camden campus. Through this program, the library personally connects with over 400 students per year.

    As part of this program, our Scarlet Scholar students have a dedicated librarian throughout their first academic year. Personal Librarians Katie Anderson, Samantha Kannegiser, Julie Still, and Zara Wilkinson are each paired with a Student Success Coach to provide targeted outreach to a select cohort of students, sending timely emails with tips, tutorials, library updates, and events. Library processes, terminology, resources, and services can overwhelm new students who are unfamiliar with academic libraries. Our goal is to relay information to students when it is most needed, making them comfortable asking questions of librarians, navigating library resources, and attending library events with their peers.

    We are looking forward to another year connecting with our students through the Personal Librarian Program and hope to eventually expand the initiative to include more of our first-year undergraduates.

  • Rutgers Connect: Recent Changes and Enhancements

    Some recent changes and enhancements in Rutgers Connect have been announced by OIT. Several are highlighted and described here. Please do not hesitate to contact IIS at support@rulhelp.rutgers.edu if you have questions or comments about these enhanced or new features, or anything related to Rutgers Connect. 

    Login Upgrade:

    Rutgers Connect now allows you to log in with any of your aliases. You are no longer limited to logging in with NetID@libraries.rutgers.edu, and can now use any of the email addresses connected to your account including NetID@libraries.rutgers.edu, NetID@rutgers.edu, or firstname.lastname@rutgers.edu 

    Send Later Option in OWA:

    Microsoft has added a new “Send later” feature for Outlook on the web (OWA) that allows you to schedule your messages to be sent later. This feature was previously only available in the Outlook Desktop Client. To access this feature while composing a message, navigate to the dropdown arrow beside the Send button, click on the ‘Send later’ option, and you will see a pop-up that will allow you to choose the date and time for scheduling the email. Until the message is sent, it will appear in your Drafts folder where you may change or cancel the message.

    End Meetings and Appointments Early in OWA:

    Already available in the Desktop Client, Microsoft is now adding the “end appointments and meetings earlier” setting to Outlook on the web. This setting allows you to end all the events you schedule earlier, with a pre-determined time for events that are under or over 60 minutes. This buffer helps you take breaks in back-to-back meetings. This can be enabled in calendar settings, under the “Events and Invitations” tab.

    OneDrive File Size Increase:

    Microsoft has increased the maximum size from 15GB to 100GB for files uploaded to OneDrive. For uploading very large files, Microsoft recommends using its OneDrive Desktop client. 

    Microsoft Teams New Meeting Experience:

    Several new features have been implemented in the new Teams experience. To enable them, select your profile picture at the top of the Teams app, then Settings > General. Select “Turn on new meeting experience” and restart Teams. The new experience includes features such as pop-out meetings by default, meeting control changes, user interface changes, large gallery view (up to 49 streams), and Together mode. Detailed information about these changes can be found here.

    Screen Recording Now Available in Stream:

    Directly from Microsoft Stream, you can now create short screen recordings of up to 15 minutes, including your camera and microphone, without additional software. To utilize this feature, Select Create > Record screen in Microsoft Stream. More details can be found here.

    View Sign-ins:

    Microsoft now lets you view your sign-ins via https://mysignins.microsoft.com/. Though this information has always been logged, you can now view your own recent activity.

     

  • Notes from Libraries HR

    Past Workshops

    Returning to Rutgers Safely:  Wear Your Mask, Watch Your Distance & Wash Your Hands

    Information Sessions on COVID-19 Health and Safety Precautions were held earlier this month hosted in partnership with Rutgers Environmental Health and Safety (REHS).  Subject experts and instructors Peter Skeels, REHS, Manager of Health and Safety Services and Christine D’Angelo, MPH, Health and Safety Specialist II, spoke about safety precautions intended to mitigate the risks of the spread of COVID-19 as staff, faculty, and certain students begin to return to work on campus and offered knowledgeable tips.

    The sessions were intended for employees returning to buildings onsite.   Attendees had the opportunity to choose among various sessions and ask questions.   All staff and faculty are expected to follow university policies and guidelines in order to sustain a healthy campus.  It is important that we all diligently adhere to these health precautions. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact REHS at 848-445-2550.

    As a reminder, the state is requiring additional compliance training regardless of any previous medical, health, or professional training you may have taken. The specific module can be accessed through your compliance training page under “Safety Short: Coronaviruses and COVID-19”:  https://rutgersu.percipio.com

    Additional University-wide COVID-19 Information can be found in the Returning to Rutgers guide and here for health and safety.

    Understanding the Manager’s Role Under FFCRA

    Earlier this month, essential training on understanding the manager’s role in employee leave options under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) and understanding the manager’s role in Accommodations, was provided in a recorded presentation to supervisors.  The session was intended to explain university policy as it relates to leaves of absence to ensure supervisors are giving the correct information and support to employees.

    Employees who are expected to return to the workplace and who wish to seek a reasonable accommodation, should contact Office of Employment Equity (for Staff) or Academic Labor Relations (for Faculty).

    Supervisors had the opportunity to choose to attend various virtual drop-in sessions and ask questions hosted by Libraries HR.

    Employees with specific questions should make appointments by contacting Libraries HR:

    Michele Petosa, Coordinator of Human Resources at (848)-932-5949 or email rulhr@rutgers.edu

    Erica Parin, Administrative Assistant at (848)-932-5947 or email rulhr@rutgers.edu

    Additional information from the NJDOL, DOL, and University Human Resources is below:

    A message from Occupational Health on Influenza Vaccinations:

    “Occupational Health remains committed to keeping our faculty and staff safe during this global COVID-19 pandemic.  We strongly encourage all Rutgers employees to receive a flu shot this year.  Those employees who have not returned to campus should receive their vaccine at their local pharmacy which is provided at no cost with most medical insurances.  For those currently on campus, we will have 3 curbside outdoor flu clinics at the Hurtado Health Center located in New Brunswick.  We will partner again with Walgreens to assist with providing vaccinations at these clinics, so employees should bring their medical insurance cards at the time of the visit.  Occupational Health will provide any uninsured employee with the vaccine free of charge.  As parking and hours are limited, on campus employees may also consider receiving the vaccine at a local pharmacy.  Due to COVID-19 infection control concerns, this year we will not be able to schedule any off site vaccination clinics.  All graduate students should contact Student Health for their flu shot.”

    The curbside outdoor flu clinics will be located in New Brunswick, at this time no clinics are currently scheduled for Newark or Camden.    Additional information will be shared as we learn more, including dates and times—Be on the lookout for announcements from Libraries HR!

    Rutgers Occupational Health offices by location:

    • Rutgers–New Brunswick, Rutgers–Newark, and Rutgers–Camden: 848-932-8254
    • Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) Newark: 973-972-2900
    • RBHS New Brunswick/Piscataway and University Correctional Health Care: 848-445-0123 ext. 2
    • Robert Wood Johnson Medical School faculty and staff: 732-235-6559 

    Stay safe!

    Upcoming Reminders from Libraries HR

    As you prepare to embrace the Fall semester, reminders for employees can be found below as a new academic year is upon us!

    • Rutgers Employee First Initiative—University Human Resources is pleased to announce the Rutgers Employees First initiative. This initiative is intended to provide employees with tools and resources to support and promote employee wellness and build communities of interest around topics relevant to your needs and interests. To explore resources, please visit
    • Online Harassment Prevention Annual Training—All employees should receive an email from “Skillsoft”, a third party vendor, requesting you to complete online training regarding mandatory Harassment Prevention Education. The university uses a third party vendor, “Skillsoft”, as a provider of cloud-based learning and online training for it’s annual harassment prevention education.   Employees must complete this annual mandatory training no later than November 6, 2020.   If you have not yet received your personalized training link, employees may complete the training by logging in with their NetID This training is done on annual basis and is mandatory.
    • COVID-19 Compliance Training: The state is requiring mandatory compliance training regardless of any previous medical, health, or professional training you may have taken. Employees must complete this mandatory training by logging in with their NetID here.  The specific module can be accessed through your compliance training page under “Safety Short: Coronaviruses and COVID-19”:  https://rutgersu.percipio.com
    • Ethics Armor system-Outside Activity Questionnaire (OAQ)–As a reminder, all University faculty and staff members must complete an Outside Activity Questionnaire (OAQ) in the Ethics Armor system in accordance with University Policy.
    • Rutgers University employees (including legacy UMDNJ employees) should update their emergency contact information, home address, phone number(s), and or legal name changes with the Human Resources & Payroll system in your myRutgers Portal as follows:
    • Voluntary Self ID – Ethnicity/Race–We encourage you to take a moment to update your Race/Ethnicity demographic information. Although this two-item questionnaire is voluntary, we hope that you choose to complete it. The data from this survey helps us to build a modern and diverse workforce. Having the ability to benchmark our success in our hiring practices aids us in many ways. It helps us plan for our future state, as well as ensures federal and state affirmative action requirements are being met.
      • Please visit the myRutgers Portal at https://my.rutgers.edu/. Upon login, go to the Employee Self Service tab and click on Ethnic Groups under Personal Information to complete this short questionnaire.

    Any questions or concerns, please contact Libraries HR.

    Best wishes for good health and a safe year!

     

  • LibCal Isn’t Just Hours Anymore

    Many of you have heard of the LibCal application from Springshare, LLC, but did you know that it does more than one thing? LibCal is actually made up of five modules – Hours, Spaces/Seats, Appointments, and Events/Calendars. Each of these modules have benefit for libraries, librarians, students, faculty, and staff.

    RUL has been using the Hours module for several years to display the hours that each library, library unit and desk is open. The website homepage displays building hours for the current day, as well as links to the Camden, NBL, Newark and RBHS libraries. At the moment, all library buildings are marked as Closed.

    We’ve used the Spaces module to accept and track reservations of different types of spaces in our libraries. If you’re familiar with Group Study Rooms online reservations for nine of our libraries, you have seen Spaces. We can define different categories of Spaces. Alexander Library’s One Button Studio is a specialized type of Space that has its own category. We created a third category for the Click and Collect service.  After patrons use QuickSearch to find and charge out materials, they receive a link to reserve a time to pick-up their materials. Reserving that time is done in the LibCal Spaces module. A recent enhancement to the Spaces module is the Seats add-on. This feature allows specific seats to be reserved in libraries but is currently not used at Rutgers because our buildings are not open for library services.

    Some library employees have begun using the Appointments module, which enables staff to publicize time when they are available to meet with patrons. Currently, these meetings are for online appointments only. Rutgers faculty, librarians, staff, students, or non-Rutgers researchers can request an appointment.  When our libraries are again open, the Appointments module can facilitate scheduling on-site appointments at any of the campus libraries.  RUL staff can publicize their available hours on individual calendars, or be grouped by location or function, such as RBHS Librarians. You can see some current appointment calendars at https://libcal.rutgers.edu/appointments.

    We are just beginning to make use of the Events module. This feature allows us to set up calendars for any type of event at the Libraries. Some examples are RUL workshops, student instruction, RUL-wide events, and even lectures that are open to the public. As with appointments, this module operates with calendars and reservations. Events are displayed on calendars, and reservations can be accepted for events that require them. An example of NBL’s workshop calendar is at https://libcal.rutgers.edu/calendar/nblworkshops.

    For more information about LibCal and how it can help you provide library services to the students and faculty at Rutgers, contact the LibCal Admin, Marty Barnett.