The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Category: Articles

  • Quick takes on events & news – June 2016

    Top 10 Skills for Professional Success

    June 23. 2016
    9 a.m. – 12 p.m.    		 This course is ideal for staff, managers, supervisors, and administrators who recognize the need to improve their overall confidence and competence in critical skills and apply positive strategies for transferring ideas learned to the workplace.

    Location: Pane Room, 1st floor, Alexander Library with teleconference to Smith Library, Dana Library and Robeson Library

    RSVP: Erica Parin on behalf of the Professional Development Committee

    Digital Humanities Lab Open Houses

    June 2. 2016
    10 a.m.June 8. 2016
    12 p.m.    		 We’re hosting a couple of DH Lab Open House events in early summer session as a way to acquaint faculty and students with this research space. If you are curious about how to use this space, or what is available there, please feel free to join us. At each event, there’ll be a short presentation followed by an open discussion on digital humanities work and research at Rutgers.

    Location: Digital Humanities Lab, Room 406-407, Alexander Library

    Refreshments will be provided. RSVP with preferred date to Francesca Giannetti.

    Open and Affordable Textbooks at Rutgers

    The Libraries have recently formed a taskforce to plan and implement the President’s Affordable Textbook grant initiative. This taskforce has representation from RBHS, Newark, Camden, and New Brunswick and will be charged, among other things, with creating criteria for judging course redesign grants. We are excited to have the support of the Open Textbook Network in these efforts, as we have recently joined this nation-wide system of partners, with a wealth of experience in promoting access, affordability, and student success through the use of open and affordable textbooks. In the next few months, we will be actively working with all of our colleagues at the Libraries to shape this program and educate students and faculty about the importance (and learning benefits) of open texts. Stay tuned for much more to come, including a website describing the grant process, application guidelines to share with interested faculty, as well as workshops organized by the Open Textbook Network in the fall semester. Please feel free to email the chair of the taskforce, Lily Todorinova, with any thoughts or suggestions. We look forward to working with you!

    -Lily Todorinova

    Dana Library Loans Portable DVD Players

    film-145099_960_720 175As part of the growing TechnologyLending @Dana Library program, four portable DVD players will be available for short-term loan to Rutgers University students, faculty, and staff, beginning May 31, 2016. The players may be borrowed for up to four hours, with the option of one in-person, four-hour renewal, if there is at least one other DVD player available. They may be used in or out of the library, and must be returned exclusively to the Dana Library circulation desk at least 30 minutes before library closing. Students are also asked to report any problems with the DVD players to library staff upon return.For more complete information, please read Portable DVD Player Borrowing: Policy and Procedures, issued on May 25.

    -Tad Hershorn

    Watch “Preserving Your Digital Life” with Krista White and Isaiah Beard

    webinarOur stories as individuals and as members of a community are preserved in each of our homes, in our family histories, and in life stories—not just in libraries, archives, and museums. Today, many of us record and keep these stories in digital formats, often on our smartphones. The ability to easily create audio and video recordings leads to deep and rich documentation of events that may be personally important but may also have regional or national significance. Preserving these narratives for our families and for future generations means considering how we create the files and how we store them. As part of ALA Preservation Week, Krista White and Isaiah Beard presented a Webinar Titled “Preserving Your Digital Life” that touched on these issues, and provided a high-level primer on how best to make sure your digital memories stay in focus for years to come. Watch their presentation on YouTube.

    -Isaiah Beard

  • Rutgers University Libraries at the American Library Association Meeting

    ALA logo

    The American Library Association Meeting will take place later this month in Orlando, Florida. Here are highlights from the program that feature our colleagues:

    Research, Writing, and Publishing Fair

    June 25. 2016
    10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.    		 Are you interested in publishing? Would you like to learn about a variety of opportunities to publish, resources to help you get started with writing an article or a book, and tools that will make research and writing for publication better and easier? Please join us for the Research, Writing, and Publishing Fair, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet with ALCTS editors, the Library Research Round Table, learn about publishing mentoring opportunities in ALA, and more. Sponsored by ALCTS Leadership Development Committee. Co-Sponsored by ALA Library Research Round Table (LRRT), ALCTS New Members Interest Group (ANMIG), and ALA New Members Round Table (NMRT).

    Speaker: Mary Beth Weber (Rutgers University Libraries)

    ACRL Arts Publications and Research Committee Annual Discussion Forum

    June 25. 2016
    3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.    		 Join ACRL Arts Publications and Research Committee for their Annual Discussion Forum! This year’s forum will feature the following presentations:

    • “Artists as Scholars: The Research Behavior of Dance Faculty” by Shannon Marie Robinson (Drexel University)
    • “Building Bridges, Creating Partnerships and Elevating the Arts: the Rutgers University Art Library Exhibition Spaces” by Megan Lotts (Rutgers University Libraries)
    • “You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato: Collection Format Preference of Music Faculty” by A. Carey Huddlestun (Kennesaw State University)

     

    If there are additional Rutgers University Libraries highlights I should include here, leave a comment below or let me know.

  • “Spring Sutras” Exhibit at Dana Library

    spring sutras on exhibitSpring Sutras, a work of renewal and hope by installation and book artist Karen Guancione, took shape while she was caring for Mary Guancione, her elderly mother who was suffering from dementia.

    On display now on the fourth floor of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University–Newark, Spring Sutras features thousands of recycled catalog cards that cascade in hand-sewn, brilliantly translucent strands from a two-story-high skylight, surrounding and touching viewers as they move through the space.  Hundreds of faux flowers suspended in the accompanying display cases fill the gallery with swaths of vibrant color.

    In stark contrast to the environment in which it was created—what Guancione described as “an endless, exhausting, all-consuming caregiving hell”—Spring Sutras exudes a sense of tranquility and solace. “While caregiving around the clock in the house where my mother had lived for 65 years, I was able to work near her and string together the thousands of pieces of paper—a repetitive, meditative act that enabled me to continue making art,” said Guancione, who was recently awarded a 2016 Individual Artist Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for Works on Paper.

    Funded by a Rutgers–Newark cultural programming grant, the exhibition is one of several projects commemorating the city’s 350th anniversary by drawing inspiration from the nation’s largest and most varied collection of Japanese cherry trees in Newark’s Branch Brook Park. Spring Sutras accompanies a display in the library’s lobby, on loan from the Essex County Parks Department, that details Branch Brook Park’s first planted trees; it is also a fitting prelude to Cherry Blossoms in Winter, a forthcoming multimedia public art project spearheaded by the Rutgers–Newark College of Arts and Sciences that will invite amateur and professional artists from throughout the region to install works in the bare branches of the park’s cherry trees.

    More than just a product of the artist’s personal struggles, the installation also celebrates bringing new life to things we discard or forget. Drawing upon the literal Sanskrit meaning of sutra, or a thread of knowledge sewn over time, Guancione chose to work with hand-typed catalog cards—a tool long since abandoned by libraries as a means of indexing their collections. “In an age of digital information, I have relished holding in hand the many singular pieces of paper that once spoke of a vast and impressive array of accumulated knowledge,” she said. “The strung flower garlands celebrate new life and honor the old and departed.”

    For Michael Joseph, rare book librarian at Rutgers University Libraries, Guancione’s installation celebrates the way in which libraries as institutions are able to constantly reinvent themselves. “Spring Sutras reaches toward a vision of ecstatic renewal,” explained Joseph. “Intriguingly, the catalog cards suspended like leaves or stars have been assembled in roughly alphabetical order, preserving and transforming not only the librarian’s tools of organization, but the original library vision: it, too, changes and becomes part of what is renewed and endures.”

    Spring Sutras runs through the fall. The exhibition is free and open to the public, and an opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 2, from 7-9 p.m. in the Dana Gallery on the fourth floor of the library.

  • RBHS Librarians Present Eight Posters at Medical Library Association

    • Author: Yini Zhu

    Rutgers University Libraries were well represented at the poster session for the annual meeting of the Medical Library Association (MLA). A total of eight posters were presented by librarians from RWJ and Smith Libraries that capture a range of activities from access services and event assessment to systematic review and participation in medicine rounds. The posters were selected by juries comprised of association members and RBHS bears the distinction of having the most posters from a single library system in the show.

    Held from May 13 – 18, 2016, In Toronto, this year the meeting was a collaboration by MLA, the Canadian Health Libraries Association/Association des bibliotheques de la santé du Canada (CHLA/ABSC), and the Clinical Librarians Conference (CLC).

    Peruse the posters in the slideshow at the top of this page (click on the images to see PDFs). You can also view the posters & abstracts at the links below, on the meeting app, or in the official online program.

     

    RBHS Posters from MLA

    Title Author(s)
    Reflective Practice for Professional Development through a Collaborative Systematic Review Project Misa Mi, Jie Li, Lin Wu, Wendy Wu, Yingting Zhang
    Librarian Participation in “Hands-On” Evidence-Based Medicine Rounds with Pediatric Residents Pamela Hargwood
    Introducing EBM Concepts to Academic Librarians: A New Model for Instruction Roberta Bronson Fitzpatrick, Margaret Rush Dreker
    SHARE the Info: Spreading Health Awareness with Resources and Education: A National Network of Libraries of Medicine-Funded Program Yini Zhu, Mina Ghajar, Ermira Mitre
    Library Services and Cultural Competency in Health Professions Education and Patient Care Misa Mi, Yingting Zhang
    Counting the Colorful: The Events Assessment Task Force Roberta Bronson Fitzpatrick, Leslin Charles, Ann Watkins, Zara Wilkinson, Megan Lotts
    Adding More Tiles to the Mosaic: The Library and EBM in a Time of Curriculum Revision Margaret Rush Dreker, Roberta Bronson Fitzpatrick
    Teach and Tell: Access Services’ Role in the Big Picture Yini Zhu

     

     

  • Smith Library Stressbusters: Anatomy Rare Book Show and Tell

    anatomy inviteIn addition to bubble-popping and “make your own squeeze ball” stressbuster activities, the George F. Smith Library of the Health Sciences hosted its first “Anatomy Rare Book Show and Tell” on Friday, May 13. Over the afternoon, 18 attendees (15 students, 2 librarians, and a regular library visitor) dropped by to see, touch (supervised!), and learn about:

    • Andreas Vesalius, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (2nd edition, 1555 – a gorgeous book with renowned illustrations, with our copy featuring a magnificent 1572 binding)
    • G. Bidloo, Anatomia Humani Corporis (1st edition, 1685 – folio size with awesome and gruesome giant plates)
    • Henry Gray, Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical (1st British edition, 1858, and 1st American edition, 1859 – fantastic pedagogical illustrations, and thanks to television, probably the best-known textbook title)

    Librarian lessons learned:

    Patron serendipity: A first-year medical student recently visited Special Collections and expressed interest in the rare books. She was concluding gross anatomy studies, and really liked the idea of a show and tell of classic anatomical works. She was happy to post news of the event on the private Facebook page of the first year students.  So if one patron is interested, it’s reasonable to conclude that maybe more than one will be interested!

    Location location location: Instead of using the Special Collections reading room, the books were displayed in E-Classroom 2, a recently renovated room closer to where students congregate on Smith Library’s upper floor.  A sign taped to a chair and an open door worked to draw some second-year students temporarily away from their USMLE Step 1 studies. Prompted by a Vesalian illustration, some even recalled which bone in the human body is the only bone not connected to another.

    If it works, do it again:  Attendees showed interest and stayed longer than originally anticipated. (By the end, my voice was shot.) So I intend to make similar rare book, manuscript, or even historical object show and tell events a regular end of semester activity.

     

  • Behind the Scenes of the Historic Commencement of 2016

    The view on commencement day. Photo credit: Nick Romanenko, University Photographer, Creative Services
    The view on commencement day. Photo credit: Nick Romanenko, University Photographer, Creative Services

    On September 27, 2005 at the opening of the exhibition of the newly purchased East Jersey materials held at Morven Museum and Gardens in Princeton, Richard P. McCormick, distinguished professor of history at Rutgers, presented remarks on the extraordinary acquisition of colonial New Jersey documents from Christie’s. “What a glorious day!” McCormick stated at the beginning of his address. I’m sure that, as a Rutgers University historian, he would have felt the same way about Commencement in 2016.

    Indeed, it was a “glorious day” for the entire university community. To have the first sitting President of United States present the Commencement address was perhaps the signature event in the year-long celebration of Rutgers’ 250th anniversary.

    As a member of the Executive Planning Committee for Rutgers 250, I was involved in early discussions and was delighted to hear Matt Weismantel, Senior Director of Rutgers 250, was considering extending an invitation to President Barack Obama. We knew it was likely a far-fetched idea, given the complexity of scheduling and the number of invitations a president receives for such occasions, but there were numerous factors that weighed in favor of Rutgers, particularly its celebration as the eighth oldest college in the nation and its distinctly diverse student population. A three-year campaign, as highlighted in President Obama’s commencement remarks, resulted in a last-minute acceptance and dramatic preparations for a presidential visit to the Banks of the Old Raritan.

    I was fortunate to contribute to the events of this remarkable day. On the Friday preceding commencement, I received a call from Greg Trevor, director of media relations, asking if I would do an interview with WNYC (NPR) about Rutgers history. I told Greg that I would be more than willing to participate and that evening I participated in a five-minute conversation for a segment of “All Things Considered” that aired the following day at 5:30 p.m.

    During our preparations for the “All Things Considered” interview, I mentioned to Greg that I did not have a ticket for Sunday’s ceremony. If anything, I thought he might be able to get me a ticket as a professional courtesy, so I could observe this historic moment in my capacity as the university archivist. But Greg went one step further and added me to the Media Relations team that assembled in the press box at High Point Solutions Stadium.

    So, in addition to being a spectator, I also contributed to the event by informing the media about Rutgers past. During commencement, I was interviewed by both print media (the Star Ledger, Home News, Bergen Record, among others) as well as broadcast media (WCTC and WRSU).

    As I sat in the box at the 50-yard line looking at the crowd and listening to a wonderful commencement address, I kept thinking about Richard P. McCormick and wondering what his reaction would have been. To me, it was one of the most significant days in Rutgers history and I’m sure Richard McCormick would have agreed!

    “What a glorious day!” indeed.

  • National Library of Medicine Biomedical Informatics Fellows Named from Rutgers

    NLM
    Yingting Zhang from RWJ Library (l) and Yini Zhu from Smith Library (r) were both named to the prestigious Medicine Medical Informatics Fellowship.

    Yini Zhu (Smith Library) and Yingting Zhang (RWJ Library) were both named to the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Biomedical Informatics Fellow program through a competitive application process. Yini attended a week-long medical informatics workshop held at Augusta University, Augusta, GA, in April 2016. Yingting will attend the same program in fall 2016.

    This program introduces participants to the fundamental concepts and application areas of biomedical informatics with components including principles of controlled terminology/vocabulary, standards, mathematical modeling, bioinformatics, natural language processing, and more.

    NLM’s program recruits from health sciences educators, librarians, administrators, clinical practitioners, and faculty who can become agents of change in their respective institutions by becoming a “field force” to train other on these concepts.

    The benefits of attendance at the fellowship program were immediate. Following her participation in the NLM program, Yini Zhu joined Minglu Wang and Bonnie L. Fong to present a Data Management Plan workshop to a group of Rutgers Newark and RBHS faculty, researchers, and staff on May 3, 2016. Yini covered the fundamentals and best practices of data sharing plans required by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) while Minglu and Bonnie addressed data management plans.

    Click here to learn more about the Biomedical Informatics program.

     

  • News from The New Brunswick Libraries’ Undergraduate Experience Team

    Lily Todorinova and Rose Barbalace describe some of the activities the New Brunswick Libraries’ Undergraduate Experience Team have undertaken in recent months or have planned for the summer.

    #ClubAlex

    IMG_7530The Libraries partnered with Student Affairs once again to bring Club Alex back to Alexander Library during Senior Days. This much-anticipated annual event, which sold out within minutes, saw hundreds of graduating seniors and their guests descend upon the library-turned-nightclub on the day following the conclusion of finals. Alexander was transformed with all the trappings one would expect of an actual club: mood lighting and pipe and drape walls helped set the tone in the reference room—which featured a DJ, dance floor, and bar—and an R&B lounge was installed on the ground floor for those who preferred a more intimate atmosphere. A photo booth allowed partygoers to capture the excitement of the evening, and a massive Pac-Man-themed light show was projected onto the atrium walls to the delight of all in attendance.  The buzz on social media was considerable, with many students expressing their gratitude and enthusiasm—and perhaps even more alumni wishing that they had had the chance to party at the library when they were still at Rutgers! Club Alex is a great opportunity for us to create an impression of the Libraries that will last in students’ minds well beyond graduation, and we are grateful to be a partner in this event each year.

    Aresty Undergraduate Research

    The Summer Science Program of the Aresty Research Center offers sophomores an intensive research experience with a dedicated faculty adviser, as well summer  housing and a $3000 stipend. This year, students are working on a diversity of fascinating topics, from cancer prevention, to wearable devices and impact on dietary behaviors, to cataloging emission lines from simulated galaxies. Recognizing the importance of information literacy to the success of these students, the Center has recently reached out to Lily Todorinova, Undergraduate Experience Librarian, to lead several research sessions for the students. With the help of Laura Palumbo, Chemistry & Physics Librarian and Science Data Specialist, we will hold several active learning-based workshops for the 60 or so students in the program, which will focus on finding, evaluating, and using scholarly sources. We are excited to support these students and help them navigate the wealth of academic research resources available to them.

    -Lily Todorinova

    Undergraduate Experience Team Exam Week Stressbuster Report

    IMG_7438
    Students relax with therapy dogs in the lobby of Douglass Library during Spring 2016 Stressbusters.

    During the spring semester exam period (May 2 – May 11) the New Brunswick libraries hosted over 22 stressbuster events and activities, engaging with hundreds of students. New this semester we expanded our stressbuster activities to the Art Library, Math/Physics Library, and Chang Science Library each offering snacks and bottled water. The students expressed their thanks and appreciation as they waited patiently in line for their cookie or coffee. The pet therapy sessions were also extremely popular with many students staying nearly the whole hour with their favorite dog.

    Here are some of the highlights of items distributed during finals week:

    • 1480 bottles of water
    • 1000 ear plugs
    • 768 cookies
    • 675 sandwiches
    • 500 cups of coffee
    • 480 granola bars
    • 388 bags of chips
    • 160 packs of fruit snacks
    • 126 packages of cookies
    • 20 gallons of iced tea
    • 20 gallons of lemonade
    • 7 pet therapy sessions
    • 5 lbs. of chocolate
    • brunch at the Library of Science and Medicine serving coffee, orange juice, bagels, croissants, muffins, and pound cake. (Tried something new, students loved it!)
    • hundreds of coloring pages, stickers, stamps, and other craft supplies offered at two de-stress stations.

    Special thanks to Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs, RU Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club, Creature Comfort Pet Therapy, Jimmy John’s, New Brunswick Libraries Administration, and Rutgers Health, Outreach, Promotion and Education for sponsoring these events.

    -Rose Barbalace

  • Annual Celebrations for Staff and Faculty of Rutgers University Libraries (2016)

    Recently, the University convened two events to recognize faculty and staff who are celebrating a decade increment of employment at Rutgers. We are delighted to announce that more than 25 of our colleagues were included in the festivities and hope you join us in congratulating them on these accomplishments:

     

    10 Fay Austin (TAS)

    Ashwin Bijur (TAS)

    Kevin Conover (RIS)

    Eric Fizur (Robeson Library)

    Qun Luo (RIS)

    Holly Muller (RIS)

    Alfreda Richardson (RIS)

    Christopher Singh (Dana Library)

    Li Sun (TAS)

    William Torres (RIS)

     
    20 Stephanie Bartz (RIS)

    Barbara Grau (RIS)

    Charlene Houser (Central administration)

    Yoshiko Ishii (Dana Library)

    Mei Ling Lo (RIS)

    Andres Martinez (RIS)

    Fernanda Perrone (SC/UA)

    Julie Still (Robeson Library)

     
    30 Ka-Neng Au (Dana Library)

    Gary Golden (Robeson Library)

    David Hoover (TAS)

    Martin Kesselman (RIS)

    Kenneth Kuehl (Central administration)

    Linda Langschied (TAS)

    Julianna Ritter (TAS)

    James Robinson (RIS)

     
    40 Natalie Borisovets (Dana Library)

     

     

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  • Dana Library Staff Development Day 2016

    NR04DanaLibrarySpringNewark01On May 13th, 2016, Dana Library hosted its second annual staff development day which was centered on exploring the question, “What does it mean to be a user centered academic library in the 21st century?” A “user centered” library was defined as one that optimizes the library experience around how users can, want, or need to use it, rather than forcing the users to change their behavior to accommodate it. Impending renovations to our third floor and the concurrent Rutgers University Library master facilities planning process for an overall building renovation prompted the need for us to take a critical look at where we are now in terms of services, collections and space and where we envision ourselves to be in the future. The full day agenda included invited speakers from the Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N) Division of Student Affairs representing the Office of ADA Services and Veteran Affairs, Counseling Services, and Judicial Affairs, and Student Development/Educational Programming, along with the Rutgers University Center for Organizational Leadership and Development.

    After a brief welcome and introduction to the day, the RU-N Division of Student Affairs started the program of events off with a highly informative and engaging session on student wellness and campus safety. The Dana faculty and staff learned more about the resources and processes concerning our students’ care and well-being while attending RU-N. Topics covered include the Campus Awareness Response and Education (CARE) Team, ADA Services, and understanding student behaviors. The latter portion of the presentation included an interactive role play activity based on the five basic styles for conflict management. This experiential activity, was entertaining—we identified a number of potential Emmy award winning actors amongst us—and allowed us to more easily identify conflict styles, along with potential methods to manage them.

    The Dana faculty had already been engaged in a data gathering process to inform our self-analysis. The remainder of the morning consisted of presenting the data collected and compiled, sharing demographic information about the community we serve, and getting a detailed look at the services we provide, along with usage data. The information shared in the presentations served as background and context for the facilitated small group discussions regarding our services that took place in the afternoon. Recognizing that our services are for the most part centralized with little room for experimentation, faculty and staff discussed services that we would continue, those that might be discontinued or tweaked, and the potential for creating new services. The afternoon was full of rich and seemingly robust discussion evidenced by the resulting recommendations.

    The activities of the 2016 Dana Staff Development Day serve to move us closer to the user centered library we aspire to be, as we become more aware and self-reflective of how we interact with our users and each other. Our work continues as we take action on those recommendations that can be easily realized in the short turn and enfolding those with long term implications into future goals for our library.