Dr. Edgar Burke in his penthouse apartment at the Jersey City Medical Center.
On February 8, 2017, the Medical History Society of New Jersey (MHSNJ) and Rutgers University Libraries co-hosted the MHSNJ’s fifth annual Lunar Society winter meeting, held in the Pane Room at Alexander Library. Over 30 MHSNJ members, surgeons, librarians, and even an art history graduate student attended.
Not only was the meeting a series of three presentations about New Jersey medical history, it was also an art show. On display prior to the formal program were a selection of small paintings (mostly 4” x 4”) of surgical procedures and anatomical structures created by Dr. Edgar Burke (1890 – 1950). A longtime surgeon at the Jersey City Medical Center, Dr. Burke was also an artist of considerable skill. His realistic paintings of wildfowl, duck decoys, and fly fishing flies were published in several books in the 1930s and 1940s, and sell at auction to this day. Last spring, RBHS – Special Collections received a donation of over 800 previously unknown Burke medical artworks. These were the gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Neumeister, the son-in-law and daughter of Dr. Burke’s last surgical resident. While Dr. Burke undoubtedly used these paintings in teaching and in his own surgical practice, this Lunar Society event was likely their very first public exhibition.
In my presentation, I discussed Dr. Burke’s biography (such as is known – he seems to have been a rather private person), archival challenges in preserving and describing his artworks, and potential uses of this unique collection by medical and surgical historians, and perhaps even art historians.
I was followed by Dr. Theodore Eisenstat of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who provided a surgeon’s perspective on Dr. Burke’s paintings. Both of our presentations were enhanced by digitized images of Burke’s artwork, produced in the Digital Curation Research Center with the support of Isaiah Beard and James Hartstein.
The meeting’s final presentation was by Dr. Linda Whitfield Spinner, an authority on the history of medicine in Middlesex County. She discussed the role of women in the formation of two early New Brunswick hospitals. Founded in 1884 with support from Mrs. Grace Wells and other local women, the New Brunswick City Hospital became the John Wells Memorial Hospital, which later became Middlesex General Hospital and is now Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. The Sisters of Charity of the Order of Grey Nuns of Montreal were instrumental in establishing St. Peter’s Hospital in 1907.
Following the presentations, many attendees enjoyed lunch and fine conversation at the Rutgers Club. The next meeting of the Medical History Society of New Jersey will be held in May, at the Nassau Club in Princeton.
A request from the Spinoza Society sent us into the stacks in search of Baruch Spinoza’s René Descartes’ Principiorum Philosophiae. The Dutch philosopher’s response to René Descartes’ ontological arguments concerning substance (dualistic views that Spinoza, arguably a pantheist, sought to correct) was the first and only work of his to appear in print bearing his name, and Rutgers University Libraries’ copy, published in Amstelodami by Johannem Riewerts, is from the first edition. What particularly interested us was the binder’s waste on the covers, which clearly belonged to an early printed book.
It was a practice of book binders, dating back to the Medieval Period, to use whatever paper they had to hand to reinforce the strength of and to decorate a book’s covers. The paper covering the Libraries’ Principiorum Philosophiae included scribal marks (rubrications) and type that resembled the Roman types in other volumes in our rare book collection (specifically, in our copies of Nicolas Jenson’s Suetonius, and Vindelinus’s letters of Francesco Filelfo. It seemed highly possible that we had discovered leaves from an incunabulum we hadn’t recorded in our archives, but what we actually had proved to be even more exciting.
Working with our rare book cataloger, Silvana Notarmaso and Jeroen M.M. van de Ven, a postdoc researcher at Utrecht University in the Faculty of the Humanities, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, we determined that the leaves had once belonged to the editio princeps (first edition), of Aristotle’s De animalibus, a notable work in the history of Western philosophy inasmuch as it incorporates Aristotle’s thinking about the natural world, represents the first work on animal physiology, the first text on embryology, and includes a lengthy and quite graphic discussion on generation—with which Silvana notes our leaves are specifically concerned. Moreover, in identifying and classifying groups of animals and in explicating their functioning as a part of nature, Aristotle provided the basis for his philosophical analyses of relationships between structure, function, and purpose. De animalibus epitomizes Aristotle’s organizing principle.
Of course, we don’t know whether the binder of the Libraries’ copy of René Descartes’ Principiorum Philosophiae intended or even realized the intellectual connections he was drawing between cover and text (or the graphic nature of the reproductive passages), but Aristotle’s interest in relating natural specimens to a holistic system conceptually anticipates Spinoza’s central concern in his text, describing materiality and material objects as but modes of substance. Regardless of the binder’s intent or interests, we may claim that the Libraries’ Spinoza is one of those rare instances in which one can tell a book by its cover.
The Rutgers De animalibus (such as it was) was published in Venice by Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen in 1476, a work translated by Theodorus Gaza and edited by Ludovicus Podocatharus. The printers Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen were German merchants-turned-printers who acquired their printing material from Venice’s first printer (also a German immigrant), Vindelinus de Spira in 1473, during a slump in Venetian printing. Along with Nicolas Jenson, Colonia and Manthen dominated the highly-competitive Venetian printing business during the 1470s, producing 86 editions from 1474 to 1480, and merged their business with his in 1480. Intact copies of this edition of De animalibus are rare and highly valued. The last copy to go up to auction in 1998 sold for $96,000. While the Libraries own extraordinary samples of early Venetian printing in the form of intact works by Vindelinus, Jenson, and Aldus Manutius, these leaves are (as far as we know) the lone examples of work by Colonia and Manthem in our collection.
Note: The specific leaves covering the Libraries’ copy are from book 7, chapters 4 and 7 (sigs |1v, |2v, |3v and |4v).
In 2016, President Barchi asked the Libraries to pilot the OAT Project to address soaring textbook costs and to introduce more affordable materials into the classroom. The original plan was to provide 12 grants to faculty to incorporate low-cost course materials into their classes. Thanks to higher than expected faculty interest and the quality of their proposals, the Libraries quickly expanded the pilot program to 32 grants, impacting courses across the university in fields ranging from psychiatry, sociology, and public affairs to English, business, and physics. (For a complete list of grant recipients, please click here.)
Click here to read the news release, which includes reflections on the project from grant-winning professors Petros Levounis (Department of Psychiatry, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences), Neil Sheflin (Department of Economics, Rutgers–New Brunswick), and Matthew Giobbi (Department of Psychology, Rutgers–Newark).
Kilmer Library Named in Honor of James Dickson Carr
This month, the Board of Governors voted to rename Kilmer Library in honor of James Dickson Carr, Rutgers’ first African American graduate. He completed his degree in 1892, was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and went on to attend Columbia Law School.
Chancellor Richard Edwards told Rutgers Today that the library’s new name will be a fitting tribute to Carr, who was a noted scholar.
“Having Mr. Carr’s name on a building that is a core part of academic life where students go to study and where research is conducted is an important way to recognize his accomplishments,’’ he said.
Following graduation from Columbia Law School, Carr went on to become an assistant district attorney of New York County and held other offices in New York City government. To learn more about this accomplished Rutgers alumnus, please read this article from the Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries.
31st Annual Bishop Lecture: “Through the Eyes of a WWI Combat Engineer”
The 2017 Bishop Lecture will be presented by Dr. Virginia Dilkes, whose father served in WWI as a combat engineer.
Join Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives for the opening reception and the 31st annual Louis Faugères Bishop Lecture by Dr. Virginia A. Dilkes on the subject of “Through the Eyes of a WWI Combat Engineer,” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 9, 2017.
The lecture will also be the opening reception of the Rutgers University-New Brunswick Spring 2017 exhibition “Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken!”: New Jersey in the Great War. The exhibition, commemorating the Centennial of the Great War, will examine the storied history of our state during the Great War, showcasing one-of-a-kind documents, photographs, and artifacts from Rutgers University’s Special Collections and University Archives, the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey, and the Johnson & Johnson Archives.
Virginia Dilkes was born and raised in Iselin, New Jersey. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Michigan. Her interest in World War I stems from her father, who was a combat engineer in WWI. She has edited and published her father’s World War I memoirs in the book Remembering World War I: An Engineer’s Diary of the War. She is a volunteer for the U.S. WWI Centennial Commemoration Commission.
Celebration of Scholarship Takes Place in March
The annual Celebration of Scholarship will take place this year from March 27 to March 31. There will be coordinated events and displays across the Libraries, a social media campaign, a website presence, and more.
We need your support in soliciting submissions from Rutgers faculty of works to include in our showcase. In a departure from years past, we are accepting projects of all different types, not just books.
The submission forms and event info for Camden, Newark/New Brunswick, and RBHS are all available on the Celebration of Scholarship webpage.
Dana Library to Participate in Women in Media-Newark’s Annual International Film Festival
From the Rutgers–Newark press release: “Women in Media-Newark will hold its eighth annual International Film Festival March 28 through April 6 in celebration of Women’s History Month. Working in conjunction with Rutgers University–Newark, their major partner, WIM-N will host film festival over nine days at six venues. All events are free and open to the public.
“On Mach 31 – April 1, a symposium on Tayari Jones’ acclaimed novel ‘Silver Sparrow’ will take place as part of the film festival, in collaboration with Rutgers University-Newark’ s John Cotton Dana Library, as part of the Essex County Library Directors ‘Big Read Film’ screenings. A natural hair care demonstration and panel discussions also will take place at this free event. Dr. Consuella Askew, director of the Dana Library, states, ‘The John Cotton Dana Library at RU-N is a proud partner of the WIM-N Film Festival and the Symposium on Dr. Jones’ novel ‘Silver Sparrow’. Libraries are by design culturally based organizations. We acquire and make accessible many resources – not just books – that foster an informed citizenry in an increasingly global world. By virtue of its mission, our partnership with the WIM-N organization helps us meet this objective by enabling us to connect with our community in an engaging and meaningful way. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with WIM-N in the future.’”
READ Club Meets at Rutgers Art Library
A recent news story in the Daily Targum highlighted the READ club–“Rutgers’ first and only book discussion group,” according to their website. This group meets each month to escape the rigors of textbook and classroom reading and discuss a work of fiction, ranging from contemporary novels and literary fiction to poetry and short story collections.
The club meets in the Art Library and will be discussing Selma, 1965: The March that Changed the South at its February meeting.
#WednesdayWisdom Rolls Out in March
Wednesday Wisdom kicks off in March with an inspirational quote by Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis.
In response to a student’s suggestion on Instagram, we’re taking steps to add an inspirational flair to our library spaces and social media accounts. Each Wednesday starting on March 1, we will post a motivational quote to our social media channels using the popular hashtag #WednesdayWisdom. The quotes will also be provided in advance for posting throughout the libraries. Special thanks to Mary Hasaballa for the idea and to all the volunteers who are helping to bring a little positivity to the everyday lives of our students!
New Acquisitions in Special Collections and University Archives
The latest post on the What Exit? blog details acquisitions from fall 2016 to winter 2017. Highlights include titles such as The Mass Grave at the First Reformed Church, Scarlet and Black Volume 1: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History, The Ironbound: An Illustrated History of Newark’s “Down Neck,” Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen’s American Vision, and The Southern Education of a Jersey Girl: Adventures in Life and Love in the Heart of Dixie.
University of Oklahoma Libraries Survey
The University of Oklahoma Libraries invite you to participate in a research study being conducted under the auspices of the University of Oklahoma Norman Campus, entitled “Faculty Status: The Next Generation,” IRB #654523.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether faculty status and the opportunity to earn tenure are important considerations for recent graduates of MLS/MLIS programs who are seeking professional jobs in academic libraries.
If you received a master’s degree in library or information science in 2012 or later, you are eligible to participate in the study. The findings from this project will provide information that will shed light on the preferences of job seekers who are relatively new to the library and information profession.
Your participation will involve completion of an online survey and should take about 5 to 10 minutes of your time. Your involvement in the study is voluntary, and you may choose not to participate or to stop at any time. This survey is anonymous. No identifying information about you will be gathered.
If you have any questions about this research project, please feel free to call Karen Antell at 405-325-4142 or email kantell@ou.edu. Questions about your rights as a research participant or concerns about the project should be directed to the Institutional Review Board at the University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus by phone at 405-325-8110 or via email at irb@ou.edu.
Records at Play: The Institute of Jazz Studies @50
A new exhibit of materials from IJS titled Records at Play: The Institute of Jazz Studies @50 is the inaugural exhibit in the Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark ( 54 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ 07102). On display through the end of the calendar year, this will be the first time the IJS has exhibited so many of its treasures at once. Although they represent only a small fraction of the Institute’s collections, the artifacts, documents, and sound recordings in this exhibit provide a record of IJS history and the music at its core.
From the Boarding House to the Board Room: 250 Years of Women at Rutgers
The Libraries collaborated with multiple university partners on the documentary “From the Boarding House to Board Room: 250 years of Women at Rutgers” by award winning filmmaker June Cross which was shown last October. Kayo Denda just received notice that the YouTube video for the panel discussion following the film screening is now available.
About “From the Boarding House to Board Room”: Rutgers was founded in 1766 to educate young men, and so it remained for the first 152 years. Yet from the beginning women played vital but unrecognized roles. This film, directed by award-winning filmmaker June Cross and produced by the Institute for Women’s Leadership consortium, highlights the multiple layers of Rutgers’ ongoing transformation – from the campaign to create a separate, co-ordinate women’s college to the first female students to enter Rutgers College. While Rutgers’ story is distinctive, it is also universal. The film considers the radical transformation of higher education and how this revolution continues to meet the needs of 21st century students.
Tara Kelley trains NJDNP staff in operation of the equipment.
New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project February Update
The latest blog from the New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project introduces us to the new dedicated office space that has been prepared for the project at Alexander Library. It is replete with all the equipment needed for analyzing the papers on microfilm: “film reel arms, a light box, densitometer, jeweler’s loupe, a 100x handheld microscope, static-free cloths and (of course) white gloves,” writes project director Caryn Radick. Reach out to Peter Konin if you are interested in seeing the space.
Perhaps even more exciting, the advisory board has selected the newspapers that they hope to digitize and submitted them for approval to the Library of Congress. Once the titles are approved an announcement will follow shortly, so stay tuned for more from the NJDNP!
Tim Corlis and Erika Gorder teamed up in January to teach the NJLA workshop, “Archival Basics for Librarians: A workshop for new archivists and special collections librarians.” This workshop is geared toward public libraries who may encounter historical materials or have archival issues come up. It provides practical advice on immediate issues of preservation, writing a finding aid, archival materials, etc. This year, around 25 people participated and they had to turn additional registrations away. The need for this type of course is increasing. Winnowing library budgets mean there aren’t funds to hire archivists, though there continues to be a real need for archiving and conservation skills.
The Pony Wilson exhibit at Robeson Library. Credit: John Powell.
Exhibit at Robeson Library Remembers Longtime Athletic Director
Remembering Coach Wilbur “Pony” Wilson is on display now through March 8 at Paul Robeson Library. Wilson was the athletic director at Rutgers–Camden for over 28 years and coached the Pioneers basketball team to the first 20-win season in Rutgers–Camden athletics history. Under his leadership, the university expanded its varsity sports program from five to 14 teams, and his was the first name enshrined in the Rutgers–Camden Circle of Honor in February 2000.
The Kalmyks originated in Dzhungaria (today’s northern Xinjiang, China) in the 16th century. They proceeded via Russia and western Europe and, during the 1950s, established unique diasporic communities in Philadelphia as well as in Paterson and Howell. hrough illustrations, photographs, artifacts, and music recordings drawn from the Kalmyk Diaspora Archives Project, this exhibition showcases the Kalmyk journey from pastoral nomadism to post-WWII urban and suburban America.
NLM Director Appointed Interim NIH Associate Director for Data Science
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that National Library of Medicine director Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD will assume an additional role as NIH interim associate director for data science.
The associate director for data science and team provide input to the overall NIH vision and actions undertaken by each of the 27 institutes and centers in support of biomedical research as a digital enterprise. Among other duties, the office oversees the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative, stimulating the best developments in the data science community.
“I believe the future of health and health care rests on data—genomic data, environmental sensor-generated data, electronic health records data, patient-generated data, research collected data,” Dr. Brennan observed. “The data originating from research projects is becoming as important as the answers those research projects are providing.”
On April 20th through the 22nd, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) will hold its spring meeting in Newark at the Robert Treat Hotel. The meeting’s theme, “Adaptable Archives: Redefine, Repurpose and Renew,” is a fitting reflection of Newark’s continued renaissance. As a tri-chair for the meeting’s Local Arrangements Committee, I’m incredibly excited to welcome the expected 300-350 attendees and support their professional development while making an impact in Newark and showcasing the city and its transformation. MARAC serves archivists in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., locations rich with a diverse array of archives. The meeting’s program is jam-packed with tours of area historic sites, attractions, and repositories; sessions on topics ranging from Hurricane Sandy recovery to digital preservation of faculty and student research; workshops about using APIs in archives, identification of photographic formats, and more; and lots of opportunities for professional networking.
Numerous Rutgers divisions have been instrumental in supporting the meeting, including Rutgers University Libraries, the School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University—Newark, and the Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience. RUL deserves special recognition because of its role as sponsor and host of the all-conference reception via the Institute of Jazz Studies; for underwriting the cost of transportation for one of the tours to a local historic site; for its encouragement of library faculty, staff, and librarians to serve on the Local Arrangements and Program Committees, including Natalie Borisovets, Tim Corlis, Angela Lawrence, Tara Maharjan, and Bob Vietrogoski; and for providing space for Local Arrangement Committee meetings at Dana Library. RUL is also well represented in the program, with presenters including Christie Lutz, Sheridan Sayles, Krista White, and Ron Becker, and a tour of the Institute of Jazz Studies and its new exhibit Records at Play: The Institute of Jazz Studies @50. Clearly, Rutgers will be in the spotlight at the meeting!
Many of the meeting programs should be of interest not only to archivists and special collections professionals, but also to librarians, so I encourage all RUL faculty, staff, and librarians to peruse the conference program and consider attending. Early bird registration ends March 22nd, and more information is available on the conference blog, created by RUL’s own Tara Maharjan.
In closing, I would like to express my deep gratitude for RUL’s support and for the efforts of all RUL faculty, staff, and librarians involved in the meeting. Hope to see you in Newark this April!
Ed conducted an annual Snapshot Day to document the people and activities of the library.
Ed and Joe Wilder participate in an IJS Roundtable in 2007.
Ed (sporting some Rutgers gear!) and long-time colleague Vincent Pelote help move the IJS location in 1994.
L-R: Vinny, Loren Schoenberg (of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem), Dan Morgenstern (former IJS Director), and Ed Berger, circa 1984.
Throughout his time at IJS, Ed had a very close relationship with Benny Carter.
Ed poses with his colleagues and the 2016 Jazz Archives Fellows.
Recently Consuella Askew and Wayne Winborne sent around a note announcing that our colleague Ed Berger passed away suddenly and quite unexpectedly in January. Ed was a wonderful photographer and spent many hours documenting the spaces and faces of Dana Library and the Institute of Jazz Studies. Many of his photographs are posted on his Flickr site. Here, we take a moment to turn the camera back toward the photographer and offer a glimpse into his time and the people who he called colleagues and friends at the Institute of Jazz Studies.
Ed played a vital role in the growth and development of the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies where he filled a number of positions for nearly four decades. He was also an award-winning jazz writer and accomplished photographer, teacher, producer, and road manager.
A graduate of Indiana University with an M.L.S. from Rutgers, his most recent book was Softly, With Feeling: Joe Wilder and the Breaking of Barriers in American Music (Temple University Press, 2014), which received the Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ Award for Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz in 2015. He was a frequent contributor to Jazz Times as writer and photographer and for many years served as co-editor of the Journal of Jazz Studies.
Berger taught at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University, and from 1979 to 2014 was co-host of Jazz from the Archives on WBGO-FM. He enjoyed a long association with jazz master Benny Carter, serving as Carter’s road manager for nearly two decades, as well as producing two Grammy-winning recordings for the saxophonist. Berger’s other publications include Free Verse and Photos in the Key of Jazz (2015, with Gloria Krolak); Benny Carter: A Life in American Music (2002, with Morroe Berger and James Patrick); Basically Speaking: An Oral History of George Duvivier (1993); and Reminiscing in Tempo: The Life and Times of a Jazz Hustler (1990, with Teddy Reig).
He was a beloved friend, colleague, mentor, raconteur, and a true lover of jazz and jazz musicians. His loss is devastating to all of us at the IJS and to the broader jazz community across the globe.
A public celebration of Ed’s life is being planned and will be announced at a later date.
For the last few months, I’ve written about changes in the organizational structure of the Libraries as we clearly distinguish central vs. local functions, most recently talking about the role of the library directors in coordinating local services. It is easy to get lost in the details, so I think it is worth taking a step back and looking at what is driving this change. The 2014 Strategic Plan describes a vision for the University in the following way:
As one Rutgers, all of our campuses and units share common values, features, resources, and administrative and other centralized services. As distinct entities, however, the campuses and RBHS each have differentiated missions and future visions that emanate from this unified core. An important outcome of our planning process has been each campus’s and RBHS’s articulation of its own sense of self, each with unique elements of mission and future direction.
We are in the process of implementing this vision by developing an organization—structure, function, decision-making, communication, etc.—with a unified core that is responsive to distinct missions.
Something that has been clear to many of you, and is becoming clearer to me each day is that we—the Libraries—are a microcosm of the broader university. Just as the former executive vice president for academic affairs was responsible for New Brunswick and many of the central functions of the university, the former associate university librarian for research and instructional services was responsible for New Brunswick and many of the central functions of the Libraries. I could be wrong, but I think that the Libraries are the only academic unit that has central and local functions and, by extension, the only unit that is experiencing the full breadth and depth of these changes in roles, responsibilities, and culture.
Recently, I had a day with an interesting sequence of meetings that highlights the parallel structure of University and Libraries and underscores how profound the organizational changes are. In the morning, I attended a meeting of the Rutgers–New Brunswick chancellor search committee. In the afternoon, I met with the AVP/director of New Brunswick Libraries search committee.
Throughout the chancellor search meeting, conversations returned to two main themes. The first broadly addressed the relationship between the chancellor and the central units. Members of the chancellor’s search committee spent time discussing the relatively new (and narrower) scope of the position. It was clear that search committee, primarily comprised of Rutgers–New Brunswick faculty, had not had a chance to internalize the implications of this change for decision-making. Throughout the meeting, the question, “Is that New Brunswick or is it central?”, was raised repeatedly as discussion returned to the role of the chancellor within the University. Several of the search committee members asked detailed questions about the relationship between the chancellor and central services such as the Office of Information Technology, the Libraries, and Facilities, and wondered aloud how the new chancellor would get things done if key elements of the infrastructure were not a part of the position’s portfolio.
These questions struck a chord for me because they are the same questions we’ve been circling and addressing in recent months as we carefully separated Research and Instructional Services and New Brunswick functions. We have created structures, most notably the Shared User Services department and the Library Directors Group, to coordinate work across the campuses. Even with all of this progress, there are some details that we will need to resolve. Just as the New Brunswick faculty expressed concern related to the ability of the new chancellor to affect change, I think there are still questions that need to be resolved about how each of our library directors gets things done for their campuses.
I already see the transformation. Chancellors and other stakeholders on campuses are working directly with library directors to request specialized services, resources, and partnerships. As this shift occurs, we need to be sure that our central services can respond. Some questions this raises for me include: How do we create clear lines of communication and accountability between central services (Collections, Technical and Automated Services, Budget and Finance, Communications, Development) and the library directors? What is the relationship between coordinating bodies (e.g., Collections Analysis Group, Discovery Task Force) and the library directors? What does this shift mean for our decision-making regarding the structure of the website, the function of discovery, the collection allocation process, and more?
Although we have made an immense amount of progress is establishing clearer lines of responsibility within the Libraries, I am not certain that we have all of the infrastructure in place to enable library directors to effectively address the unique needs of the campuses. In recent weeks, Cabinet has worked on a planning calendar to help us all schedule and better understand major milestones throughout the year. In providing a cross-departmental look at what is happening each month, the planning calendar identifies activities that rely on this infrastructure. It also highlights activities that require feedback and information from financial and administrative contacts at the universities. Hopefully this will improve workflow and empower the library directors to anticipate and troubleshoot issues that may arise.
This is about to change. Rutgers–New Brunswick recently announced a new identity, using the tagline of “America converges here,” drawn from President Obama’s historical commencement speech last year. The new chancellor will have to formalize and strengthen an identity for New Brunswick. Given the parallel structures of the libraries and the university, it is not surprising, therefore, that our new AVP/director of New Brunswick Libraries will face a similar challenge to establish an identity for the New Brunswick Libraries.
While I am on the topic, I want to spend a minute clarifying an issue that I know has cause substantial confusion. These changes are not happening becauseof RCM. RCM is the new budget model that is being established because of these changes. The definition of Rutgers’ special version of RCM, helps to operationalize the vision of four distinct entities that emanate from a unified core of values, features, and services.
That is a lot of simultaneous change! Needless to say, interesting days lay ahead for us all.
Our librarians are out there every year, making presentations, leading panels, writing articles – and it really does make a difference. Sometimes it’s a contribution to the field and sometimes the impact is much more personal.
In 2010, Connie Wu gave a talk in titled: “From a Patent Examiner to an Academic Librarian,” at Life Beyond Patent Information Session of International Patent Information User Group 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, DC. Six years have now passed, but she received the following letter in January:
Hi Connie,
I am a fellow PIUG member. I just wanted to let you know how much you inspired me when you gave a talk at a PIUG meeting about being a librarian. I think that was in 2009 or 2010. I was so inspired that I enrolled in Kent State University’s program in 2010. Since I work full-time at LexisNexis, it took me 6 years to complete the program plus an additional program in Information Architecture. I graduated from Kent State on December 16, 2016 with a dual MLIS and M.Sc. in Information Architecture degree.
Thanks very much! I hope to thank you in person someday.
The un-named Sender is a Global Content and Project Specialist for Copyright, E-Commerce, Patent, Trademark, Trade Secret at LexisNexis.
When I arrived at Rutgers, I was charged with clarifying central vs. local functions. In the October and November issues of The Agenda, I talked about changes in the organizational structure that (among other things) moved central and shared librarieswide functions from purview of the AUL for Research and Instruction to central units.
In December, Cabinet reviewed the Committee Concept Map—a now historical document developed in late 2014 to better understand decision-making responsibilities and flows in the libraries. The diagram showed many different types of groups, including committees, working groups, taskforces, etc. and their reporting relationships. During the review process, we discussed each group—what work it was assigned, whether that work was complete, where it falls within the current organization’s footprint, and who ultimately is responsible for the output of the group. As a result of this work, some groups were sunsetted or moved to new reporting structures. These outcomes were already communicated via the cabinet minutes.
Finalizing the review of the Committee Concept Map enabled us (among other things) to clarify a few more areas where the lines between central and local responsibility were not clear—especially in the area of public services. Coordination of shared public services—LCC, Ask a Librarian, and Webscale Discovery—were all moved to Shared User Services (SUS). An additional 3 groups on the Committee Concept Map—Access Services, Disabilities, and ICOP—did not fit under the SUS umbrella. Instead, the work of these groups needs some level of central coordination even though their functions are local and the responsibility of the library director.
Access Services, for example, used to report to the AUL for research and instruction in her central coordinating role, even though they were addressing local policies (e.g., bulletin boards). While the committee itself has representatives from many locations, this reporting structure essentially meant that central was creating policies to govern local services and spaces (a perception further complicated by the former structure where the AUL for research and instruction was also the director of New Brunswick Libraries).
Under the new system, Access Services, along with Disabilities and ICOP, will report to a newly formed Directors Group that is composed of the library directors—Consuella Askew, Katie Anderson (in her role as interim director of Robeson Library), Judy Cohn, and Jeanne Boyle (in her role as interim director of New Brunswick Libraries)—and Rhonda Marker, the director of shared user services. This will align the important work of these committees more closely with their local units and clarify the director’s role in decision-making, while ensuring two-way flow of information about the needs and resources required for the work.
Since I know there have been a lot of questions, it is worth spending a little more time talking about the purpose and goals of the Directors Group. The directors convene to address local concerns, discuss shared issues and how they can work together to establish best practices and avoid duplicating effort. This group does not extend the responsibility or authority of the Library directors. Instead, it provides a means for Library directors to work together collectively to solve problems and to benefit from each other’s experience. Ultimately, each Library director is responsible for providing the vision, leadership, and management necessary to deliver collections, services, and spaces that are tailored for their local community.
Some of the comments that I heard noted that the Directors Group seemed to have taken on many of the responsibilities that USC used to have. As I think about the changes that are occurring at the University-level, and of my charge to clarify local vs. central function, I realize that the comments accurately reflect the changes in the libraries. In the past, decisions related to public services occurred centrally with a goal of developing the most cost-effective library system possible. Rutgers Libraries had a long history of successful internal collaboration. Now, each campus expects services that are tailored to meet local needs. Directors are being held accountable on their campuses for ensuring that the library system provides services (and collections) that directly support local initiatives and programs. The shift from a large, representative decision-making body to a more federated model that favors local decision-making is necessary to support the changes within the broader University context.
Before ending, I do want to acknowledge the hard work that went into finalizing the Committee Concept Map. We originally worked from a single-page document with over 40 administrative and faculty groups. On the administrative side, we now have a structured list 17 active committees, taskforces, and working groups with clearly defined “homes” in the Libraries. The faculty have also made substantial progress refining their committee structure. This project required a lot of heavy lifting and input from our colleagues, so please accept my thanks for your efforts.
If you have additional questions about these changes, please speak with your AUL or Director.
During the Fall 2016 semester, the Art Library distributed a unique coloring book to introduce students to the library’s services and spaces. Drawing on her fine art and graphic design skills, Megan Lotts illustrated and wrote the Art Library Coloring Book to connect in a creative and fun way with students and to educate individuals about the resources and possibilities available at the Art Library. I touched base with Megan about the inspiration behind this project and the response so far.
Jessica Pellien: What inspired you to start this project?
Megan Lotts: There are several reasons I undertook this project: I’m always looking for ways to connect with the departments that I liaise, and 3/4 of the individuals that I liaise to are makers, so this is a great way to connect with them. I’ve also been researching a fair amount about play and how to incorporate playing educational experiences inside and outside of the classroom. I would also say that I LOVE to color. I’m an only child, so I’ve spent a lot of time coloring, making, etc. And lastly, I’m tired of hearing students talk about how boring their one shot bibliography session was. I’ve never heard anyone walk away from a library session saying, man life is going to be great now that I know to use the EBSCOhost database. I believe it’s important to share in a conceptual way what the libraries are about & what can happen in a library.
JP: What was the process like to create the coloring book?
ML: I came up with an idea of what I thought patrons should know about the Art Library. Then I began making drawings, based on the space. After the initial drawings I worked with a variety of individuals, including faculty, students, and staff at Rutgers, as well as colleagues from other universities to fine tune the coloring book. I also worked with New Brunswick libraries administration to get approval and funding for the project and with the communications department on proofreading and the placement of the Libraries’ logo.
JP: How did your background in art help you?
ML: I’ve been an artist for over 20 years, trained as a painter, but I would consider myself a conceptual or installation artist, because I generally make site specific works, or conceptual projects that engage the user. In the case of the Art Library coloring book, the viewer or participant add the color to the artworks.
JP: Did this project require any special skills or resources?
ML: I used, pen, paper, and when needed I referred to images of the library I had taken or to the physical space. To put the book together, I used Microsoft publisher, because that was a program that I knew the Libraries’ printing department would be able to work with.
JP: How did you promote the coloring book to your users?
ML: All total, we printed 500 booklets and we also purchased small crayon packets which I labeled with stickers. We hosted a free, public pop-up making event in October at which we handed out coloring books and crayons. We also had some snacks to further entice people to participate. We encouraged users to share their coloring with us on social media, using the hashtag #RutgersColoring. We posted pages from coloring books, as well. Rutgers Today made a video about the coloring book and there were a lot of positive responses on social media from other Rutgers and library groups.
JP: How has the response been so far?
ML: I work in a very organic fashion and I never assume that a project I undertake will have a positive impact. However, I can report, that since I started this project I have had nothing but positive feedback from faculty, staff, and students. Many individuals have indicated they would like a similar coloring book for their library or campus department and have asked me how they would go about making one.
If you have a unique project to share, please let us know. We’d love to feature it in an upcoming issue of The Agenda.
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A request from the Spinoza Society sent us into the stacks in search of Baruch Spinoza’s 
Moreover, in identifying and classifying groups of animals and in explicating their functioning as a part of nature, Aristotle provided the basis for his philosophical analyses of relationships between structure, function, and purpose. De animalibus epitomizes Aristotle’s organizing principle.
The Rutgers De animalibus (such as it was) was published in Venice by Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen in 1476, a work translated by Theodorus Gaza and edited by Ludovicus Podocatharus. The printers Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen were German merchants-turned-printers who acquired their printing material from Venice’s first printer (also a German immigrant), Vindelinus de Spira in 1473, during a slump in Venetian printing. Along with Nicolas Jenson, Colonia and Manthen dominated the highly-competitive Venetian printing business during the 1470s, producing 86 editions from 1474 to 1480, and merged their business with his in 1480. Intact copies of this edition of De animalibus are rare and highly valued. The last copy to go up to auction in 1998 sold for $96,000. While the Libraries own extraordinary samples of early Venetian printing in the form of intact works by Vindelinus, Jenson, and Aldus Manutius, these leaves are (as far as we know) the lone examples of work by Colonia and Manthem in our collection.
The Digital Public Library of America announced the winners of the GIF IT UP competition. Enjoying this example? See more at their 
