The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Category: Department

  • Quick Takes on Events and News – January 2018

    Robert Kirkbride accepts the NJSAA Author Award for "Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital." Credit: Casey Ambrosio / The Daily Targum.
    Robert Kirkbride accepts the NJSAA Author Award for “Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.” Credit: Casey Ambrosio / The Daily Targum.
    NJ Academics Unite!

    The New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance held their annual Author Award Winners Panel at Alexander Library in December. These awards recognize works that reflect a new understanding of New Jersey’s history and culture, demonstrate evidence of original research in the application of New Jersey resources, or reveal new insights into a given topic.

    This year’s winners? Garry Wheeler Stone for Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle in the nonfiction scholarly category; Rusty Tagliareni and Robert Kirkbride for Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in the nonfiction popular category; and Maxine Lurie and Richard Veit for Envisioning New Jersey: An Illustrated History of the Garden State in the reference category. Read more in the Daily Targum’s recap of the awards.

    The Creative Life of Douglass opens at Douglass Library on January 16.
    The Creative Life of Douglass opens at Douglass Library on January 16.
    Celebrating a Century of Creativity

    The Creative Life of Douglass—an exhibition of materials from the University Archives chronicling ten decades of dance, theater, music, visual arts, and literature produced by the women of Douglass Residential College–opens at Douglass Library on January 16. The display, part of the #Douglass100 centennial celebration and held in partnership with the Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities, was curated by the Libraries’ Kayo Denda, Erika Gorder, and Fernanda Perrone.

    kite+key now offers payroll deduction for full time employees.
    kite+key now offers payroll deduction for full time employees.
    A New Way to Get Your Tech On

    kite+key, the Rutgers tech store, is now offering payroll deduction as a payment option for all full-time Rutgers faculty and staff. Employees can spread $250–$3,000 over one year, or 26 paychecks (10-month faculty payment schedule varies) with no interest! Payments as low as $9.62 per check for a $250 purchase to $115.38 per check for a $3,000 purchase. For more information and to view the Terms and Agreement, visit kiteandkey.rutgers.edu/payroll-deduction.

    Lookin’ Fresh

    The Libraries’ website refresh launched just before the holiday break and it looks fantastic. Kudos to the Web Improvement Team for their hard work in pulling all the changes off in time for the spring semester. Interested in learning more about the refresh and the research that informed the changes? Amy Kimura’s post from last month’s Agenda is definitely worth revisiting. And if you have any comments or suggestions for the team, head on over to their feedback submission form.

    Regina Koury begins as director of Paul Robeson Library on January 16.
    Regina Koury begins as director of Paul Robeson Library on January 16.
    A New Year, A New Vision

    This month we will welcome Regina Koury as the new director of Paul Robeson Library at Rutgers–Camden. Regina comes to us from Idaho State University, where she served as assistant university librarian for discovery and resource services.

    “It is a particular honor to have been selected as director of Paul Robeson Library,” she said when her appointment was announced. “I look forward to working with excellent library staff, students, and faculty; to continue expanding outstanding library services, collections, and spaces; and to collaborating on existing and new initiatives in support of the Rutgers–Camden community.”

    And we look forward to helping her achieve her vision! Read our press release to learn more about Regina.

    Marty Kesselman Will Give the 5th SAPAC Talk of the Year on January 16, 2018, 12 p.m.

    Marty Kesselman will present “Report of the Consumer Electronics Show,” on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, 12pm-1pm, in the Pane Room of Alexander Library (remote to Dana Library Special Collections Room, Robeson Library Conference Room, and Smith Library Conference Room). Topics to be covered include:

    • New technologies of potential use in libraries and how and why librarians can attend.
    • Report from the one day session, Transforming EDU that focuses on how technology is changing the face of teaching in various ways, e.g. credential vs. degrees, non traditional students, use of new technologies (e.g. virtual reality) in the classroom (and libraries), makerspaces, etc.
    • University innovation programs that encourage young science entrepreneurs and a potential new role for libraries.
    • How quickly this area is moving and how does one keep up.
    • Feedback and discussion with those that attend.
    A glimpse at the Milton to Milton exhibit on display at Alexander Library through February 28.
    A glimpse at the Milton to Milton exhibit on display at Alexander Library through February 28.
    Closing Soon: Catch These Displays while You Still Can!

    Opposition: The 23rd Annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium Exhibit @ Alexander Library through January 29

    The Big Read/Citizen: An American Lyric @ Robeson Library through January 5

    Milton to Milton: The Legacy of J. Milton French @ Alexander Library through February 28

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  • Web Improvement Team Update

    Web Improvement Team Update

    sample of website refresh
    Click to view larger file.

    The Web Improvement Team (WIT) is excited to announce some changes coming soon to the Rutgers University Libraries website. Since September, we’ve been speaking with our users (students, faculty, and staff) and analyzing survey and usage data to determine how we can begin to improve our website user experience. We’ve been exploring best practices for user-centered design, content strategy, responsive design, and accessibility. Through one-on-one conversations, focus groups, and data analysis, we have learned more about our users’ essential tasks and resources, pain points in the current design, and user preferences.

    Here are some of the takeaways from our first round of user research:

    • Users are very task-oriented, and generally come to the site knowing what they want; the scope of their use is quite narrow
    • The current homepage was thought to be too busy and complex
    • Pages are hard to read, with small text and too much content
    • Users spend very little time on most pages, and rarely scroll below “the fold”
    • A relatively small number of resources are especially heavily used (hours, room booking, A-Z database list, ILL, library account)

    We based our first round of changes on these findings. Our goals became to:

    • Surface and prioritize the most frequently used resources and services
    • Freshen up the look and feel: reduce visual clutter on the homepage, enlarge fonts for sitewide readability
    • Refine the presentation and content for a few key pages
    • Minimize initial disruption to lower-level pages

    Our overall approach is one of incremental change over radical redesign. Making incremental modifications based on user data ensures that those modifications are genuine improvements (as opposed to change for the sake of change, or change based on guesses or assumptions). If we’re proven wrong, smaller changes are easily reversed or refined. Although change can be uncomfortable at times, a continuous cycle of improvement and evaluation builds a sustainable, usable website that delivers a positive user experience.

    You’ll also notice that a lot of things haven’t changed: the red navigation bar, most of the underlying content, the mobile presence. These, too, will change in time, but require considerable user research, usability testing, and content control. There will be opportunities for students, staff, and faculty to get involved in future research.

    The new website is expected to be in place by late December, in time to greet students in the new semester.

    Stop by our poster at the State of the Libraries if you want to learn more!

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  • Retirement and YOU!

    Retirement and YOU!

    A new year is approaching! If you are thinking about retirement and what is involved in the process you should check out the important on-line links below that offer key information to help you prepare.

    ABP Retirement: Welcome to the Alternate Benefit Program Retirement Seminar Presentation [PDF].

    PERS Retirement: Welcome to the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) Retirement Seminar Presentation [PDF].

    Additionally, UHR offers seminars to both ABP and PERS members contemplating retirement.  If you are interested in attending a seminar, please check the Learning and Development Course Registration System under Employee Benefit and Work-Life Programs managed by University Human Resources.

    Please note: Employees will need to submit an intent to retire letter to their supervisors to advise of the effective date of retirement once they have fully committed to retire.

     

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  • Tom Frusciano Receives McDonough Award

    Tom Frusciano accepts the 2017 Roger McDonough Librarianship Award from Bob Vietrogoski.

    On October 24, at a meeting of the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance, the 2017 Roger McDonough Librarianship Award was presented to Thomas J. Frusciano, the university archivist of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This award is named for Roger H. McDonough, New Jersey state librarian from 1947 to 1975. Beginning in 2002, the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance, together with the New Jersey Historical Commission, Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference-New Jersey Caucus, and the New Jersey Library Association History & Preservation Section, has given this award annually to a librarian, archivist, or manuscript curator for excellence in service to the New Jersey history research community and/or the general public.

    A New Jersey native, Tom Frusciano is a tenured member of the library staff at Rutgers University Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives. He began his professional career as an archivist at Educational Testing Services in Princeton. He then became the first professionally trained university archivist at New York University, and later coauthored New York University and the City: An Illustrated History. At Rutgers since 1989, Frusciano has written or edited histories of the presidents of Rutgers, Douglass College, and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team, among many other subjects. In recent years, he played an integral role in the 2016 Rutgers 250th celebration, library exhibit, and commemorative historical volume entitled Rutgers: A 250th Anniversary Portrait. Starting in 2015, he also served on the Rutgers Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations, which produced the report Scarlet and Black. This committee’s important work has led to the new naming of James Dickson Carr Library (formerly Kilmer Library), now named in honor of Rutgers’ first African American graduate.

    Beyond Rutgers, Frusciano has long been professionally active, particularly in the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). He was elected to the SAA Council from 2009 to 2012, coedited the SAA manual Archival Arrangement and Description (2013), and was named an SAA Fellow in 2002. He has taught archival courses at both New York University’s Archival Management and Public History program, and the Rutgers School of Communication and Information. Some of his former students are now archivists and librarians at archives, libraries, and historical societies throughout New Jersey and elsewhere. He has also served on several editorial boards and coedited the Journal of Archival Organization.

    Tom is the fourth recipient of the McDonough Award from Rutgers University Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives, following Bonita Craft Grant (2011), Janet Riemer (2014), and Ron Becker (2015).

  • Humanism in Medicine: Teaching Poetry to Residents

    I serve as the clinical medical librarian for the Internal Medicine department at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark. This means I attend the residents’ morning reports every Thursday and Friday at 8 a.m. as they discuss patient cases to help them learn how to diagnose and treat the patients they serve. When a question comes up which can be answered by an article, I look up the answer in the medical literature and the chief residents share the results with the others via Sakai. I also train the residents in searching techniques in various databases such as PubMed, Scopus, or VisualDx.

    Dr. Mirela Feurdean, internal medicine residency program director at New Jersey Medical School, approached me in September 2017 about doing something a bit different with the residents. “I know you’re a poet,” she said to me. “Would you be interested in teaching a poetry workshop to the residents?” In my personal life, I’m a published poet who teaches a weekly workshop in Jersey City, and I just published my first chapbook this year. So of course, I said yes.

    The first workshop was held at noon on September 22, alongside free pizza for the residents. The residents were a bit shy, but 11 (out of 20 or so) ended up participating. I shared handouts with them that included a poem written by an award-winning internal medicine doctor, Rafael Campo, as well as a patient. I also shared a couple articles about how to use metaphors effectively when explaining science to patients. For example, research has shown that breast cancer patients who use battle or war metaphors to describe their experience with cancer have a higher incidence of depression than those who use positive words like “challenge” or “journey.” The words we use matter. The residents wrote poems employing medical metaphors, and some even submitted their finished poems to Ars Literarium, the literary journal of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and other RBHS Schools.

    The chief residents asked me to return the following month, and on October 20, we focused on short poems, learning a bit about the form haiku. This time, virtually all 20 or so residents participated. Even if they weren’t writing themselves, they snapped their fingers or clapped their hands to celebrate each other’s work as they started to share their writing. Dr. Ahmad Al Turk was inspired to write a clever quatrain, Odgen Nash-style.

    NSAIDs work for all
    Conditions that end with –itis,
    Summer, spring, or fall,
    But don’t get fooled with gastritis!

    By Ahmad Al Turk, MD

    The medical “joke” of the poem, for those without the medical background, is that NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen) can irritate the stomach and cause gastritis.

    However, not all the poems were strictly linked to medicine, and some of the doctors wrote about other aspects of their lives. One resident was inspired to share a rap he had previously written, and he nervously approached the front of the conference room. As he closed his rap, which shared a story about a patient who survived a dire medical situation, he encouraged his fellow doctors not to “go numb” as they continue their work as physicians. His fellow doctors cheered and clapped, and there were tears in the eyes of many.

    I look forward to continuing these workshops to my residents, as I hope to help them de-stress during a hectic time of their lives.

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  • Rutgers Hosts Nobel Laureate for 14th Annual Weisse Lecture (with some librarian help!)

    On September 19, 2017, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) hosted the 14th Annual Weisse Lecture on the History of Medicine. This year’s Weisse Lecturer was Dr. William C. Campbell, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine with Dr. Satoshi Omura of Japan “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.”

    In his presentation, “Finding Medication: Ivermectin and Beyond,” Dr. Campbell recounted the story of Ivermectin’s development and its antiparasitic uses in both animal and human health. A single pill taken yearly is preventative against river blindness (onchocerciasis), a disease found in South America, Africa, and Yemen. Since 1988, Merck has donated the drug (under the name Mectizan) for distribution within affected regions, and river blindness has been eliminated in most South American countries, with efforts to eliminate the disease in Africa still ongoing. In what he termed a “tirade,” Dr. Campbell stressed the need for much more drug discovery in an era of increasing drug resistance. He concluded his presentation with charming photographs and stories about the Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquets in Stockholm.

    Since its inception in 2004, the Weisse Lecture has been overseen by Dr. Allen Weisse. He and his wife Dr. Laura Weisse have endowed the lecture, which is presented as a grand rounds by the NJMS Department of Medicine. Previous Weisse Lectures have featured prominent medical historians and physician-historians, including T. Jock Murray, Michael Bliss, Barron Lerner, and Nancy Tomes. Dr. Allen Weisse himself is an accomplished physician-historian, having published two volumes of oral histories (Conversations in Medicine, and Heart to Heart) and several volumes of essays on medical history.

    Caption: Nobel Laureate (left) and librarian (right). Photo credit: Devayani Kumaran, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

    In 2016, Dr. Weisse designated me to assume the role of Weisse Lecture Coordinator. Over this past year, he and I worked together to organize this year’s lecture and luncheon. My duties ranged from choosing the luncheon menu with the caterer, to chauffeuring the Nobel Laureate to NJMS and back to the train station. Best of all, I had the honor of introducing Dr. Campbell to the standing-room-only crowd. I made sure to emphasize that even though he was born in Ireland, was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and the University of Wisconsin, and is now living in Massachusetts, his true home state is New Jersey. Both Dr. Weisse and Dr. Campbell served as presidents of the Medical History Society of New Jersey, an organization I have also actively supported, which has actively supported both Special Collections and me as well!

    With the support of colleagues in the NJMS Department of Medicine, I am assuming responsibility for the Weisse Lecture going forward. The annual Weisse Lecture is the premier medical history event at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Allen Weisse and Dr. Laura Weisse, and their love of medical history, the Weisse Lecture series is well positioned for a long and successful future.

  • University and City Celebrate 150 Years of Friendship with Fukui, Japan

    This week, Rutgers University Libraries and other New Brunswick institutions will welcome a delegation from Japan as part of the New Brunswick Sister Cities project. Fernanda Perrone is vice president of the group and has invited the delegation to visit Alexander Library and will give a presentation related to the Griffis Collection. The Global Experience Team is sponsoring refreshments after the presentation. If you are interested in learning more about this event, please contact Fernanda.

    Seems like a good time to revisit this terrific video:

     

    Sister Cities  Project Press Release:

    One hundred and fifty years ago, a young samurai from the province of Echizen (today Fukui prefecture) in the far west of Japan came to New Brunswick with the goal of entering Rutgers College. Kusakabe Taro arrived fired with the desire to “fulfill my duty to the Imperial realm by clarifying the defects in the relations between us Japanese and the foreigners in the light of the international law of all nations and universal principles.” Ranked number one in his class, Kusakabe became the first Japanese to graduate from Rutgers College, the first to become a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and, along with Niijima Jo at Amherst, the first to graduate from an American college. Tragically, Kusakabe died of tuberculosis on April 13, 1870, only weeks before commencement. He is buried in the Willow Grove Cemetery in New Brunswick along with seven other young Japanese. The following year, Kusakabe’s friend and classmate William Elliot Griffis traveled to Fukui to introduce Western-style educational methods into the local school system. Griffis would spend four years in Japan and a lifetime writing, teaching, and collecting information about Japan. His collection was bequeathed to the Rutgers University Libraries in 1928.

    Indeed Rutgers was an important destination for international students from Japan during the nineteenth century. Many of those who studied at Rutgers returned to Japan to become leaders in education, industry, and commerce. Although the last of this early group of Japanese students attended Rutgers in the 1920s, the relationship between the university and Fukui was re-discovered in the late 1950s by Rutgers administrator and professor of political science Ardath Burks. Working closely with the city of New Brunswick, programs and exchanges were initiated, and the William Elliot Griffis collection was organized and made available to the public. Rutgers and Fukui Universities became sister universities in 1981, and in 1982 New Brunswick and Fukui became sister cities. As well as the 150th anniversary of Kusakabe’s arrival, 2017 marks the 35th anniversary of the sister cities relationship.

    From October 4 to 7, New Brunswick will welcome a large delegation from the city of Fukui including the mayor and members of the City Council, members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and members of the Fukui International Citizens Association. Among the events planned are a Buddhist ceremony at Kusakabe’s grave on Thursday, October 5 and a lecture on “Kusakabe and His Friends,” which will held at Alexander Library on Friday, October 6. The delegation will also visit the Zimmerli Art Museum and the new Johnson and Johnson Museum and be entertained by the Rutgers Centers for Global Advancement and International Affairs, Rutgers Community Affairs, and Rutgers University Libraries at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. The Fukui Junior Chamber of Commerce will accompany two middle-school students who have written the best essays of the year about Kusakabe Taro. These children will have a chance to visit the New Brunswick Middle School and meet with their contemporaries there.

    In November 2017, New Brunswick mayor James Cahill will lead a delegation from New Brunswick to visit Fukui.

  • The Inaugural ALCTS Mentoring Program

    The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) issued a call for participation in its new Mentoring Program earlier this year. I submitted a mentor application because I have enjoyed serving as a mentor at Rutgers and welcomed the opportunity to work with ALCTS’ early career librarians—who are amazing! I’m a proponent of mentorship opportunities since they are mutually beneficial to both parties and I’ve personally benefitted from past mentoring relationships.  Here’s how the experience has been so far.

    Background of the ALCTS Mentoring Program

    The program resulted from the work of the ALCTS Leadership and Development Committee’s Mentoring Subcommittee, and runs from June 1, 2017 to April 30, 2018.  The call for participation sought applications from those interested in serving as a mentor or mentee—or both.

    The program’s goal are to

    • develop strong leadership in the areas of librarianship covered by ALCTS (acquisitions, cataloging and metadata, collection management, continuing resources, and preservation and reformatting),
    • support ALCTS members in developing professional skills,
    • cultivate leadership and involvement in ALCTS,
    • provide networking opportunities, and
    • expand members’ professional learning circles.

    The Requirements for Mentors and Mentees

    The first cohort of mentors and mentees consists of 41 pairs of librarians who are working with assigned program liaisons. The program is fairly formal. Matches were based on mentees’ expressed interests and each pair must complete a mentoring agreement form that addresses matters such as expectations, including how much time will be committed to the relationship and how often and in what mode(s) the pair will communicate. The mentor and mentee were required to develop three goals and detail how the mentor can best assist the mentee in achieving those goals. The pairs are also required to participate in an online training program at the beginning of their mentoring relationship.

    Resources:

    The time and effort that the Mentoring Subcommittee devoted to developing the program is evident through the resources they’ve made available, particularly the LibGuide (http://alcts.libguides.com/mentoring). Additionally, the program is based on a Mentoring Framework developed by the 2015 ALA Emerging Leaders. The program consists of four components for the matched pairs: planning, connecting, advancing, and transitioning.

    What’s It Like?

    I was thrilled to be selected for the program and very excited to learn with whom I had been paired. I’m also honored to be part of the program’s inaugural cohort. As instructed by our mentoring liaison, I reached out to my mentee right away with an email and we scheduled a phone call for later that week. We were both excited at the prospect of working together.

    Our initial conversation included completing the mentoring agreement, setting three goals, and deciding how often we would communicate with each other. One of my mentee’s goals is to become more involved with publishing. She has some solid ideas, but has not had a chance to follow up on them and welcomed guidance. We typically talk two times a month, and she will share with me the manuscript of a paper on which she is working. Our formal relationship ends in April, which feels as though it’s quickly approaching. The last part of our relationship will be to determine next steps, and I anticipate that while this is the end of one phase of our relationship, it won’t be the end.

    My Takeaways

    In my experience, mentoring is a mutually beneficial experience. In addition to guidance and advice I have provided to others, I, in turn, have learned things from mentees, which has helped me to develop my professional skills. For those who doubt the effectiveness of mentoring, consider this: Audrey J. Murrell, author of “Five Key Steps for Effective Mentoring Relationships,” indicates that research has shown that those individuals who have been mentored report higher salaries, more frequent promotions, greater job satisfaction, and are less likely to leave their jobs.

     

  • Mid-Atlantic Futures Conference Report

    • Irina Radeva (r) and SC&I scholarship recipients.

    Last week, I attended the Mid-Atlantic Futures Conference held in Atlantic City, NJ. Four other School of Communication and Information students and I attended this exciting two-day event thanks to a scholarship provided by the Library and Information Science Department and were accompanied by two SC&I instructors, Dr. Ross Todd and Dr. Joyce Valenza. The gathering was a great way to come together with like-minded library professionals and discover how libraries can thrive in a world full of ever-changing technology and vast information.

    The main question posed by the conference was, “How do we predict the future?” Among those trying to answer were keynote speakers Kevin Mitnick, the most elusive computer hacker in history; David Pescovitz, the research director at the Institute of the Future; Nicole Baker Rosa from the Future Schools; and Rutgers’ own Dr. James Hughes, University Professor and former dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Each speaker touched on the importance of knowing what libraries are and what they stand for, as well as keeping their eyes open not for trends, but for patterns that will point to the next big thing. There was a lot of discussion about artificial intelligence and virtual and augmented reality, and how they will affect both libraries and society. Acceleration strategist Phil Bowermaster proposed that the convergence of information and society is accelerating change, while communication specialist Rakia Reynolds shared a communication strategy that is both noticeable and disruptive.  Finally, Cindy Ball from Oculus Rift gave a demonstration of a virtual reality future that may be much closer than we think.

    So, how do we predict the future? We create it–with knowledge and imagination.

    I would like to thank Lilia Pavlovsky, director of the Master of Information program, who facilitated this opportunity for me, as well as Andy Martinez and Janet Croft for giving me approval to attend.

  • Quick Takes on Events and News – October 2017

    Chicago-Bound for Research Data Summit

    Congratulations to Yingting Zhang whose application for the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries’ Data Scholarship has been accepted. The award will support Yingting’s participation in the Research Data Access and Preservation Summit next year in Chicago. We look forward to hearing Yingting’s report from the conference!

    Fight the Flu. Get Your Shot!

    Don’t forget that Occupational Health will be providing flu shots for employees on Wednesday, October 4 from 11 a.m. to noon in the Pane Room of Alexander Library.

    Please RSVP to Michele Petosa at petosa@rutgers.edu by October 2. Be sure to download the consent form at http://occhealth.rutgers.edu/FluVaccine2017.html, print, complete, and bring it with you.

    It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s—The Artists’ Bookmobile!
    Peter and Donna Thomas return to Rutgers with their Artists’ Bookmobile on October 4.

    Rutgers University Libraries and art librarian Megan Lotts are delighted to welcome Peter and Donna Thomas and their traveling Artists’ Bookmobile back to Rutgers. Peter and Donna are known for their workshops in paper and book arts. Visit the Artists’ Bookmobile—a self-contained exhibit of book arts—and learn how they make their books. Join in a book arts sing along at 3 p.m. featuring a ukulele book.

    The Bookmobile will be parked outside Alexander Library on October 4 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. See you there!

    Carr is Cutting the Ribbon

    Join us on Tuesday, October 17 at 10 a.m. as we dedicate the James Dickson Carr Library in honor of Rutgers University’s first African American graduate. The program includes remarks by Rutgers–New Brunswick chancellor Debasish Dutta, an exhibit of materials about Carr and the history of the former Kilmer Library, as well as a reception. Please register to attend at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/carr-library-dedication-ceremony-registration-38281939311.

    #RutgersDana50 Kicks Off on a High Note

    Dana Library kicked off its 50th anniversary celebration with a birthday bash during Rutgers–Newark’s Fall Fest in September. The festivities included cupcakes and a live performance by hip-hop/jazz fusion band Nickel and Dime OPS. Check out a clip of the band courtesy of @RUNewark_Dana on Twitter.

    Exploring the Wonderful World of Illusions

    Thomas V. Papathomas, director of the Rutgers Laboratory of Vision Research, visited the Library of Science and Medicine last week for a special presentation on optical illusions, how our minds process perspective, and even how illusions can be used as accurate measures of schizophrenia.

    Aiding the Relief Effort in Puerto Rico

    Alexander and Dana Libraries hosted open data editathons last week in response to the Red Cross’s request for geospatial data to help with their relief operations on the island. Participants mapped from pre-hurricane imagery to give those involved in the relief efforts an operating picture of the island before the storm made impact. Kudos to our colleagues Francesca Giannetti and Krista White for their part in bringing this program together so quickly!

    New Video for Banned Books Week

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