The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Category: Articles

  • Recapping Summer SAPAC

    In a year of many firsts, this summer saw RUL’s first Summer SAPAC talk series. After a discussion in the Spring Central Forum, SAPAC co-chairs Janet Croft and Bart Everts decided to send out a call for summer talks. SAPAC talks are a way for library faculty and staff to discuss research, programming, innovations, and more with a friendly audience of colleagues, and Summer SAPAC turnout was high. Bart Everts from the Robeson Library hosted the talks.

    6/9: A Modest Proposal: Trusted Pick-Up Points for Interlibrary Loan for Distant Users
    Janet Brennan Croft

    6/23 An Environmental Scan of Artists’ Book Collections: An Ontology for Visualization
    Sonia Yaco

    7/22 Digital Badging
    Grace Agnew, Mei Ling Lo, Ryan Womack

    8/11 The Library Freedom Institute: Becoming a Privacy Advocate
    Katie Anderson

    8/14 Closing the Transactional Distance in an Online Graduate Course through the Practice of Embedded Librarianship
    Leslin H. Charles

    8/18 “Agitation of the Question”: James McCune Smith’s Nomination for Fellowship to the New York Academy of Medicine, 1847
    Robert Vietrogoski

    8/25 From Digital to Computational: The Current and Near-Future State of Technology and Data Storage and How We Manage our Virtual Lives
    Isaiah Beard

     

     

  • 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.

  • Website Redesign Project Update – September 2020

    The website redesign project team is close to completing baseline usability testing, examining how student and faculty users complete common tasks on our site. Through this study, we’re gaining a better understanding of where usability problems lie and how we should prioritize and present various pieces of content on the site. Listening to users speak their thought process aloud is very enlightening, allowing us to learn a lot about their site usage and perceptions even beyond the steps they take to complete the assigned tasks. We’ve even learned a bit about what we’re doing right!

    As with the brand and messaging survey, we were happy to see a huge amount of interest in usability testing across units and user communities, and we’ve gathered a lot of valuable data that is steering how we move forward with the design of each site. We’ve also gathered a pool of people who were unable to participate in this study but are interested in being involved in future studies, which will make our next outreach efforts more streamlined.

    Local Library Owner groups are currently meeting with NewCity to workshop some prototype ideas, informed by analyses of all the discovery and audience research data gathered to date: stakeholder interviews, analytics, brand and messaging workshops and surveys, and usability/perception testing. These prototypes are just pen-and-paper outlines so far; NewCity will take a lot of inspiration and ideas from them, then will develop some more detailed and concrete options for us to explore. Over the course of the fall semester, we’ll get a real sense of how the sites are going to look and function, and content development will begin.

    We’ll be presenting at a central forum sometime early in the fall semester, so look out for an announcement about a date and time for that presentation.

    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 – September 2020

    The HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS) provides digital access to a significant portion of our titles held in print during temporary and involuntary disruptions to normal library collections services. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how patrons access and use library collections; to align with state recommendations and promote public safety in our library spaces, users are currently unable to freely browse and borrow from our physical collections. These restrictions allow us to offer a digital replacement for our print copies from the HathiTrust repository. Access to these titles is based on our print holdings and because the digital access offered by HathiTrust is provided in lieu of our print items, we cannot circulate both “copies” simultaneously to comply with copyright. For this reason, personal delivery and click and collect request options are not available for items with full text electronic access.

    Compliance with copyright also informs some of the features of the HathiTrust ETAS reading experience. Users must “check out” the digital copy for a short period of time to access. This provides a controlled experience that restricts the number of simultaneous users. When users are done browsing the item, they have the option to return the item right away to free it up for other users or to retain the checkout for a period of time. The material will automatically renew during active use and expire after 12 hours of inactivity. After an hour of inactivity, the title becomes eligible for new checkouts but will continue to default to the initial user if there are no checkout requests from other users. Users cannot print or download from materials held in the HathiTrust ETAS, but these items are eligible for chapter scanning and interlibrary loan.

    HathiTrust ETAS provides safe and immediate access to many of our print titles during our temporary service disruptions. Rutgers is periodically reevaluated for access to the HathiTrust ETAS and we will no longer be eligible for this service once users are able to freely access services and collections.

    HathiTrust provides detailed information about the ETAS on their website (https://www.hathitrust.org/ETAS-Description) including an information page that is specifically aimed at user questions (https://www.hathitrust.org/ETAS-User-Information#FAQ).

  • Collections Budget Statement for Fiscal Year 2021

    The public-facing document on the FY21 collections budget has now been posted to our website.

    You can view it here or by navigating to About > Mission, Vision, & Strategic Plan from the homepage.

  • Introducing Our New Values and Principles

    In the last issue of the Agenda, I wrote about the role of our Values and Principles and reflected a bit on the primacy of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion among them.

    Now that the final version has been posted publicly to our website—you can find them here or by navigating to About > Mission, Vision, & Strategic Plan on the Libraries’ homepage—I wanted to take some time to discuss the changes that Cabinet made.

    You will see that this document is not considerably different from what was initially recommended to us by the Values and Principles Taskforce. However, we thought it was important to add some prefatory remarks to describe the function of these values and principles within our organizational culture and explain the order in which they are listed:

    Rutgers University Libraries’ values and principles inform our efforts to support and enrich the instructional, research, and public service missions of Rutgers University. Our values represent our core beliefs, while each of the supporting principles describes how these values can and should be manifested in our day-to-day work. Serving as a compass to guide our interactions and decision-making, these elements differ from our annual priorities, which describe the “what” of our work rather than the “how” and “why.”
    We also acknowledge the difficult truth that not all of these values fully reflect our current reality. For this reason, we have chosen to foreground our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in recognition that we must do more to create a workplace that embraces individuals with a diversity of backgrounds, identities, and roles. Moving forward, we pledge to strive toward these standards of thought and behavior so that we may become an organization distinguished by a culture of fairness, respect, and opportunity for all.

    From the perspective of our leadership group, it is especially helpful to have these values and principles in place at this moment, when we are tasked with making difficult decisions related to budgetary reductions while continuing to provide excellent library service, all despite the challenges and uncertainties of the ever-shifting environment created by the pandemic. With this document as our “North Star,” we can continually look inward, examine our thoughts and behaviors, and make sure we are living up to the standards we have formally set forth.

    We should also not shy away from the fact that these values and principles are in some ways aspirational, particularly when it comes to our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. While we have made some strides in this area over the years through various programs, policy changes, and other activities, there is still work that remains to be done. Acknowledging our current situation is an important first step for us, as is the work that will be undertaken by the newly formed DEI Committee.

    Please do take the time to read back over these values and principles and reflect on how they can be brought to bear on your own day-to-day work and in your interactions with patrons and colleagues. Remember, as an organization, we have all contributed to the development of these ideals—and it is now our shared responsibility to collectively embody them.

  • Reflecting on Our Values and Principles

    As I’m sure you’ve seen in your email or the Cabinet minutes, the Libraries’ Values and Principles Taskforce recently completed its work and issued a final recommendation to Cabinet for consideration. We are still in the process of finalizing our values and principles and will post them to our website soon—but in my mind, this work could not have come at a better time, as the COVID pandemic, the shift to online-only, and now, planning for the phased return to our buildings, have all forced us to take a step back and determine what is core to library service.

    Our values and principles are different from our goals and priorities. The latter identify “what” we do, while the former describe the “how” and “why.” When these are finalized, we will have a set of ideals that we can use to guide our decision-making in the future—and in some ways, they have already begun to do so. For example, at the last Cabinet meeting, during which we discussed the taskforce’s recommendation to us, we decided to move the value of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) to the top of the list. This was a recognition of the importance of this value to us as a leadership group and an organization, as well as an acknowledgment of the reality that we have work to do in this area. Our first step forward is charging a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, which will take stock of our current environment in order to guide and recommend processes within the Libraries that embrace DEI. As a reflection of our ongoing commitment to this value, the DEI Committee will be a permanent group designed to provide continuing guidance on these issues, not a working group tasked with producing a single report or planning a one-off training.

    Of course, this is only one example of how our values and principles can serve as a compass for us. Moving forward, we should consistently refer to them as a guide when there are hard decisions to make or difficult conversations to have. When we embrace these values—DEI, Inquiry, Access, Service, and Collaboration—with the intent of truly living them, we can be confident in our ability to move forward in a way that meaningfully advances the missions of the Libraries and the university.

    I would once again like to thank the members of the taskforce—Mina Ghajar, Tom Glynn, Samantha Kannegiser, Elizabeth Surles, and Geoffrey Wood—for their extraordinary work. Their job was certainly not an easy one, and the way in which they sought input from faculty and staff across the Libraries was admirable. I encourage you to review our values and principles once they are posted and reflect on how you can embody them in your own day-to-day work.