The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Category: Articles

  • Promoting OAT at Rutgers–Camden

    During a Library Student Advisory Board meeting in the fall, student members discussed the difficulty their peers experience paying for required textbooks. To learn more, we invited Zara Wilkinson to talk to us about the library’s Open & Affordable Textbooks (OAT) program. This inspired board members Oriana Holmes-Price, Grace Latini, and Erika Pitsker to plan a faculty panel event to promote the OAT program to the rest of the student body. They invited Zara Wilkinson, librarian for the OAT program, Dr. Jamie Dunaev, Assistant Teaching Professor in Psychology, Dr. Nancy Cresse, Clinical Assistant Professor in Nursing, and Dr. Bethany Welch, Lecturer in Urban Studies to discuss their experiences with the OAT program and their philosophy towards open educational resources more generally. After diligent effort on the part of the Board members, we held the panel, Open & Affordable Textbooks: Faculty and Student Perspectives, on April 6th. Faculty, staff, and students in Camden attended and learned about the importance and impact of open and affordable textbooks and the library’s efforts to support students and faculty through the OAT program. Many students expressed interest in taking an OAT course and helping to expand the program to additional courses and departments. The Paul Robeson Library Student Advisory Board plans to continue championing the Open & Affordable Textbooks program.   

    Additionally, the Rutgers-Camden Student Government Association has voiced its support for the OAT Program through ongoing dialogues with librarians Zara Wilkinson and John Powell. The executive board of the SGA has brainstormed a variety of collaborative initiatives, including the development of a university-wide portal of course materials developed because of the OAT program and a form where students can submit recommendations for OAT or submit classes which they had to drop due to additional costs from textbooks or access codes.  

  • Introducing Our New Chancellor of Rutgers–Camden

    I am delighted to announce that the Board of Governors has confirmed the appointment of Dr. Antonio D. Tillis as Chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden, effective July 1, 2021. Dr. Tillis, a scholar of Latin American Literature with an Afro-Hispanic emphasis, has served for the past four years as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Houston Downtown (UHD), and in July 2020 was appointed as interim president of UHD.

    In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Antonio D. Tillis has been a visionary and effective administrative leader. Among other achievements at UHD, Dr. Tillis has established new programs and grant funds for faculty development and research, created a postdoctoral fellowship program, instituted a professional development award for staff, launched a center for Arab studies, enhanced undergraduate advising, and provided funding to hire additional underrepresented tenure-track faculty. As interim president, he established a presidential task force on diversity and worked with city authorities to create new student internships in Houston.

    Prior to his arrival in Houston, Dr. Tillis served as dean of the College of Charleston’s School of Languages, Culture and World Affairs for three years. From 2009 to 2014, he chaired the African and African American Studies program at Dartmouth College. And while on the faculty at Purdue University from 2000 to 2009, Dr. Tillis was director of Study Abroad, then director of undergraduate and graduate studies, and then the inaugural director of Purdue’s Latin American and Latino Studies Program.

    Antonio D. Tillis earned his bachelor’s degree in Spanish at Vanderbilt University, his master’s in Spanish Literature at Howard University, and his doctorate in Latin American Literature (Afro-Hispanic Emphasis) at the University of Missouri at Columbia. In his scholarship, Dr. Tillis has authored or edited several books, most recently co-authoring The Afro-Hispanic Reader and Anthology in 2018. Earlier titles include The Trayvon Martin in ‘US’: An American Tragedy (2015) and Critical Perspectives in Afro-Latin American Literature (2013). He is also co-editor of the book series Black Diasporic Worlds: Origins and Evolutions from New World Slaving. For more details, see the news story here.

    Dr. Tillis is the right leader for Rutgers University-Camden, which is well-positioned to build on its successes, including its continued commitment to students of all backgrounds and its growing research impact. I’m thrilled that we found such a talented person to serve as chancellor, and I want to thank all the members of the search committee, led by Executive Vice President Prabhas Moghe and Professor Jane Siegel, for their diligence and thoughtful consideration of a very strong pool of candidates.

    I am extremely grateful to Margaret Marsh, one of our university’s greatest citizens, for answering the call last year to step in once again as Interim Chancellor and providing strong and steady leadership over the past year. We couldn’t have been better served, especially at such a difficult time in our institution’s and nation’s history, and I thank her on behalf of the entire Rutgers community.

    As noted earlier, Dr. Tillis will begin his tenure July 1. I am deeply impressed by his experience and expertise and inspired by his passion and excitement about leading the Rutgers–Camden community. I know he is eager to meet the members of our community in the coming weeks and months as public health guidelines allow. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Tillis to Rutgers.

    Sincerely,
    Jonathan Holloway
    President and University Professor

  • Update on the Basie Collection

    The Institute of Jazz Studies has been working diligently to inventory the Basie family papers as part of the project funded by a $433,500 Save America’s Treasures Grant, awarded to the Institute in late 2020.  Ben Houtman started in his position as Project Coordinator in January 2021 and quickly facilitated the safe transport of the collection to Dana Library for the inventory.  After the inventory is complete, the Institute will send unstable and damaged artifacts and archival materials from the collection to a team of conservators for treatment.  Finally, with support from a $23,500 New Jersey Historical Commission grant, the Institute will arrange and describe the archival materials in the collection to open it for use in 2022.

    14k gold money clip, inscribed from Jerry Lewis to the “Count”
    Hohner soprano melodica
    Photo album page
    Ebony Lifetime Achievement Award to Count Basie

  • Rutgers Connect Recent Changes and Enhancements

    OIT has announced some recent changes and enhancements in Rutgers Connect. We’ve highlighted and described some of them here. Some are already available, while others are currently rolling out to all Microsoft users. Please do not hesitate to contact IIS at support@rulhelp.rutgers.edu if you have questions or comments about these new or enhanced features, or anything in Rutgers Connect.

     Outlook on the web (OWA): Update in Accessing Mail, Calendar, People, and To Do

    Microsoft is rolling out a newly designed app bar on the left side of the folder pane that will change how users access Mail, Calendar, People, and To Do. The app bar will make it easier to launch Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote on the web directly from Outlook on the web.

    OneDrive: 250GB Upload Capability 

    Microsoft is raising the upload file size limit of its OneDrive file storage service from 100GB to 250GB. This improvement will allow users to upload files of up to 250GB into OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint. Please keep in mind that factors such as bandwidth, location, and network capacity may impact large uploads.

    Microsoft Word: Text Predictions

    Microsoft has begun rolling out a new text prediction feature to speed up the writing of documents written in English. Word will highlight grayed-out predictions when users are writing a document. Suggestions can be accepted using the Tab key or rejected by hitting Escape or continuing to type. The new text predictions feature will be enabled by default but can be disabled if desired. The feature reduces spelling and grammar errors and learns over time to give the best recommendations based on your writing style. Text predictions were previously made available in Outlook on the web where it can also be disabled if desired.

    Microsoft Word: Modern Comments

    Modern Comments, first introduced in the mobile and Web versions of Word, have been improved based on feedback and are now available in Word for Windows and Word for Mac. Enhancements include improved keyboard shortcuts and @mention notifications and will start rolling out to Windows and Mac users in April. Modern Comments offer enriched collaboration coupled with the ability to assign and resolve comments and respond to @mention notifications via email.

    Microsoft Teams: History Menu

    Microsoft has introduced a history menu in the Microsoft Teams desktop clients that displays a user’s recently visited locations. By hovering over the backward and forward navigation buttons at the top of the Teams client, users will be able to see recently visited locations in Microsoft Teams. The history menu makes it easier to navigate to previous locations, such as nested tabs and documents.

    Teams Meetings: Participants Increased

    Microsoft is increasing the limit of participants and chat size in interactive meetings from 300 to 1,000.

    Microsoft Teams: New File Sharing Experience

    Microsoft is updating the file sharing and access control experience in Microsoft Teams to align with the existing functionality across the other Microsoft 365 applications. When users share a file from within Teams (desktop/web), they will have the option to create sharing links that provide access to people with existing access, people within your organization, and specific people. Before users share a file in a chat and channels, they will be notified if recipients don’t have permission to view the file. The user can change permissions before they share the file (if they have permission to do so). The default file sharing setting for Teams will remain the same and will continue to reflect default permissions in SharePoint, as the two work together.

     

  • Insights Analytics Tool Now Available in Canvas

    Library Tutorial Insights assessment and reporting provides a view of assessment and usage data for the tutorials that are used in a course. The detailed interface allows the course instructor to analyze learner performance on specific assessment questions, gauge students’ information literacy skills, and respond to problem areas more quickly and efficiently.

    NimblyWise and Credo Reference Insights Analytics tool is now integrated in the Canvas master courses:

    • Communication
    • Critical Thinking
    • Information Literacy
    • Health Sciences
    • Core Information Literacy and Critical Thinking

    Instructors who download any of these resources from Canvas Commons will have the option to use the Insights tool from within their Canvas course:

    Instructors who already have the library lessons in their course can download just the Insights tool from Canvas Commons:

    For questions about Library tutorials, contact Maria Breger at maria.breger@rutgers.edu

    View the complete list of the Libraries Teaching & Learning topics.

  • Website Redesign Project Update – May 2021

    The redesign project reached a real milestone late last week, with the official handoff of the website from NewCity to the Rutgers team. This follows an intense period of testing, during which we worked closely with NewCity to ensure that the site was built and working as planned. We’re really pleased with what they’ve delivered and think it will suit our needs well. We’ll continue to have NewCity’s support over the next few months, both for development work and to consult about content. Amy has been working with subject matter experts and content teams from across the libraries and is excited that the real work of content building is finally underway.

    The team have targeted Wednesday, July 7 for a launch date. This is a huge project with a lot of dependencies, but we’re feeling fairly confident that we’ll hit this target. Several weeks prior to launch, Amy and the project team will be working with front-line staff and faculty to do site walk-throughs and answer any questions about where to find various pieces of information and how to perform common tasks. We’ll also be reaching out to external stakeholders to announce the new site in mid-June. The project team will be developing plans for that outreach over the next few weeks.

    In related news, planning for the libraries-wide adoption of LibCal Events is underway, and the project to develop a new subject vocabulary is wrapped up, thanks to a lot of thoughtful librarian involvement. Subject specialists are in the process of assigning updated lists of subject-specific resources and choosing top recommendations for our users. That project will also set us up to effectively connect users with the appropriate librarian for their subject.

    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 – May 2021

    Ex Libris Datacenter Migration and Outage

    During Memorial Day weekend Ex Libris will migrate our cloud platform which includes Alma, QuickSearch(Primo VE), Leganto, and Esploro to a new datacenter.  From 9:00 PM on Saturday, May 29th until 09:00 PM Sunday, May 30th we expect the entire platform to be unavailable due to this migration activity.  The Ex Libris Implementation Team will be updating the libraries as the date approaches with more details.

    Rialto

    The technical implementation of Rialto is progressing well. The firm order buying cycle configuration is complete and work on transitioning the DDA from Oasis to Rialto will finalize soon. We hope to train Selectors on the use of Rialto over this coming summer.

    Transition to ReShare

    User request history in EzBorrow will not be migrated to ReShare. Instructions are being developed for users who wish to export this data in advance of the transition and will be shared in the near future.

  • Leading the Way into the Future

    It’s hard to believe that this is my last article for the Agenda. When I look back at all that we have accomplished since I arrived at Rutgers in 2015—from the implementation of our new library system and QuickSearch, to the repeated successes of our Open and Affordable Textbooks program, to our pivot to an online-centric model of service delivery in the face of COVID-19, to our redesigned website, to the countless other achievements that I don’t have space to mention here—I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride. Looking back at the work that we have been able to accomplish to advance teaching and learning at Rutgers in these six years leaves me feeling incredibly grateful and fortunate to have had the pleasure of leading such a hardworking, intelligent, and creative group of colleagues.

    But all things must come to an end, and before I leave you in the capable hands of Consuella, I thought I would take one last opportunity to orient us toward the future and encourage you all to continue down the path we’ve begun charting during my tenure as university librarian.

    As a new article in The Chronicle of Higher Education illustrates, libraries are well-situated to lead their universities into the new era of higher education—not only because of the expertise we developed as we nimbly pivoted our services online with the outbreak of the pandemic, but also because of the community-building, “front porch” role our physical spaces will serve as students and faculty begin to repopulate our campuses. Over time, we’ve gained the experience and developed the tools to be leaders in this moment, but it’s up to us to make sure we are ready to answer the call.

    Put simply, now is the time for libraries to shine. If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that libraries have the ability to be impressively flexible and inventive in the face of unforeseen challenges, with a sharp focus on meeting our users’ needs and maximizing the impact of our limited resources. With disruptive changes ongoing in the scholarly communication and higher education landscapes—from new transformative agreements to the emergence of the hybrid classroom—we will need to continue demonstrating such ingenuity for the foreseeable future.

    While I am stepping down from my position, I am not leaving Rutgers. I know the Libraries will do well under Consuella’s leadership, and I am certain that the next university librarian, whoever they may be, will be able to build on the significant momentum we’ve gained over the last six years. I look forward to the next chapter of the Libraries’ history, and I feel confident that we will realize our place, in the words of President Holloway, as the “heart of the university.”

    One last time, on behalf of all the Rutgers students and faculty that we serve: thank you for everything that you do.

  • Storing Files in Box – Personal Folder vs Group Folder

    Box is a cloud-based file storage application where students, faculty and staff can securely store, manage, and share files. With an unlimited storage capacity, Box offers a great way to store lots of data and share it with colleagues. However, there are some important distinctions between using a ‘personal share’ and a ‘managed group share.’

    What is the difference between a personal folder and a group folder?

    When you activate your Rutgers Box account, you can begin storing and sharing data right away. When you share a folder from within your Box account with a colleague, that is considered a personal share, because you are the owner of the share.

    When you open a ticket and request a Box folder, that is a managed group share. In this case, users are assigned to have access to the folder, but no user owns the share. If you want users added or removed from the share, you must open a ticket.

    This is an important distinction because if you are sharing data that is part of a personal share, and the owner leaves the University, the data will no longer be accessible. However, with a managed group share, that data will continue to live perpetually, regardless of the status of its members.

    How can I tell if my folder is a personal folder or a group folder?

    Managed group shares are typically enclosed in parentheses. However, you can also verify by doing the following:

    1. Login to your box account (box.rutgers.edu).
    2. Right click on a folder.
    3. Select “More actions.”
    4. Select “Manage collaborators.” If the owner is “Share-RUL,” then it is a managed group share.

    How do I request a group folder?

    Send an email to support@rulhelp.rutgers.edu. We will need you to suggest a folder name and tell us who should have access to the folder, and what permissions you want them to have.

    For more information, visit Rutgers Box Storage Service page in Staff Resources.

  • Reading List: Documentation and Resources Update

    The Reading Lists: Documentation and Resources LibGuide has been updated to include another page that describes additional functionality.  New content includes a quick start guide as well as printable handouts.  Liaisons can share this information with course instructors whether their courses are in Canvas, Blackboard, or Sakai.

    • Manage Sections (Edit/Add/Move/Set Dates):
    • Add Your Own Resource
    • Set Complete
    • Publish the Reading List
    • View the Reading List as a Student

    View the Reading List: Documentation and Resources.

    For questions about Library tutorials, contact Maria Breger at maria.breger@rutgers.edu

    View the complete list of the Libraries Teaching & Learning topics.