This month we travel back in time 38 years to June 1980. What were the hot topics around the Libraries?
Not So Fast
Whether it’s 1980 or 2018, the summer is always a good time for a picnic. (Don’t forget to RSVP for ours in this issue of the Agenda!)
The Library Administration has abandoned plans to sponsor a van to drive ALA conference attendees to New York City. Study has shown that public transportation is more cost effective due to the length of the daily conference schedule and the number of people attending meetings at different hours. Individual transportation arrangements will allow conference participants to be in New York for the meetings they are interested in attending.
Participants whose official work station is New Brunswick or Newark will be reimbursed for bus or train fare to New York from their work station. Participants may, at their option, take a personal car, but reimbursement will be only to the level of train or bus fare.
The Agenda 2, no. 22 (June 2, 1980)
Times Have Changed
Staff Opening: Alexander Library: Circulation Department. Library Assistant III. A primary requirement for this position is keypunching.
The Agenda 2, no. 23 (June 2, 1980)
What’s in a Name?
The Ad Hoc Group for Online Database Searching announces a contest for the name of the newest RUL baby – a system-wide service for online database searching. As an example, we have the name proposed by Jean Hamlin as a parting shot: ROARS Rutgers Online Access Reference Service. If you can top this, submit your suggestion to Pat Piermatti at LSM by July 8. The winner – of a free search on the database of her/his choice – will be announced on July 15.
The Agenda 2, no. 23 (June 9, 1980)
Getting a Little Summer Work Done
The Kilmer Area Library will be closed for a period of five weeks, June 30 to August 1, 1980, in order that the asbestos ceilings may be resealed. The mail for Kilmer will be delivered to Douglass Library and sorted there. Ellie Spielman will be at Douglass until July 17, and Emma Warren will be there during the last three weeks in July. If anyone needs to contact them, or any of the other Kilmer staff through them, please call extension 9407.
Human Resources–Newark in partnership with the Chancellor’s Office will sponsor lunch for 300 employees at Stonsby Commons in celebration of National Employee Appreciation Day.
In addition, a representative from Dining Services will host a table on-site providing employees an opportunity to sign up for the Raiders Card Program. Dining Services; in collaboration with the Staff Appreciation Committee and HR Newark, is excited to present our First Annual “RU-N Restaurant Week” to be hosted in May 2018 – details coming soon! Any employee and student enrolled in the Raiders Card Program will receive a discounted price and/or prix fixe menu at participating Raider Card Restaurant locations.
In order to ensure everyone has the opportunity to take part; the first 100 employees during the allotted times below, must present their RU-N Employee ID to eat FREE. The time slots are as follows:
Nevermore featuring the works of Leonid Lamm opens at the Zimmerli on March 3.
Nevermore: Leonid Lamm, Selected Works
Saturday, March 3 – Sunday, September 30 Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers–New Brunswick
This exhibition is Leonid Lamm’s first museum retrospective in the United States. It acknowledges Lamm’s significant effect on the development of Soviet nonconformist art and, subsequently, in establishing its legacy both within and outside the Soviet Union. This show comprises more than 60 works of art, largely drawn from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union, the Claude and Nina Gruen Collection of Contemporary Russian Art, and the collection of Lamm’s wife and daughter. The selected work, which spans his prolific seventy-year career, demonstrates that Lamm’s artistic development was stimulated by a lifelong inquiry into the multidimensional energy of space. Learn more.
The A Call to Action: Future Challenges for a New Puerto Rico conference takes place at Rutgers–Camden on March 30.
A Call to Action: Future Challenges for a New Puerto Rico
Friday, March 30 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Campus Center, Rutgers–Camden
This one-day symposium will unite experts in dialogue and conversation around the current state of affairs in Puerto Rico and the future challenges and opportunities in rebuilding the island following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Featuring keynote speaker The Hon. Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, mayor of San Juan. Presented by the Rutgers–Camden Community Leadership Center.
Sure, the Libraries play host to a slew of great events throughout the year—but so do other units across the university. Check out what’s in store from other departments in November.
The Rutgers Jewish Film Festival takes place October 29–November 12.
The Rutgers Jewish Film Festival
October 29–November 12
Times and locations vary, Rutgers–New Brunswick
The Rutgers New Jersey Jewish Film Festival showcases dramatic and documentary features from around the world, each of which offers unique insight about Jewish life.
(How) Can Teaching be a Force for Justice? presented by the GSE takes place on November 2.
(How) Can Teaching be a Force for Justice?
Thursday, November 2
Reception 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Lecture 4:30 p.m.
Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers–New Brunswick
The Graduate School of Education cordially invites you to join them to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the GSE. In honor of their anniversary, they are launching the Advancing Excellence and Equity in Education Distinguished Lecture Series. Dr. Deborah Loewenberg Ball, the Willi William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of education at the University of Michigan, and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, the director of TeachingWorks and the current President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) will give the inaugural lecture on diversity and inclusion in the STEM fields.
Rutgers–Camden’s Conference on Cuba will be open to the public on November 6.
International Conference on Cuba
Monday, November 6
8:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Campus Center, Rutgers–Camden
Conference on the Future Directions for a New Cuba: Building Sustainable Partnerships will explore how institutions of higher learning build sustainable public-private partnerships for research and entrepreneurial programs in sustainable agriculture, education, the medical sciences, the arts, and community development. Dignitaries and leading scholars from the University of Havana, San Geronimo University, and the University of Medical Sciences of Havana will discuss research on effective strategies for increased development in Cuba as the country continues to normalize relations with the United States. The first day of this weeklong conference is open to the public, and will feature a 9:30 a.m. keynote address by Ambassador José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez of the Cuban Mission to the United States.
The Timeless Lessons of Wall Street’s Scandals
Thursday, November 9
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
15 Washington Street, Rutgers–Newark
A timely talk by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times contributing writer and author of A First-Class Catastrophe: The Road to Black Monday in Wall Street Historyand The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust.
In May 2017, HBO released its film-length adaptation of The Wizard of Lies, with Robert De Niro starring in the title role and Ms. Henriques playing herself. The film was nominated for four Emmy awards, including “Best Picture.”
The Rutgers Climate Institute’s symposium will be held on November 15.
Rutgers Climate Symposium 2017: Climate Change and Cities
November 15, 2017
8:15 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Livingston Student Center, Rutgers–New Brunswick
This one-day symposium is intended to stimulate interaction and collaboration among the community of natural and social science researchers and university students interested in climate change who are from institutions in the greater New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia region. Over 200 attendees representing more than 20 research institutions in our region participate annually. Talks are centered on the symposium theme. The poster session invites abstracts on climate change scholarship and are not restricted to the theme. There is no fee to attend but registration is required.
R. David Lankes will present about the future of library and information science at Alexander Library (and online!) November 15.
Claiming Victory and Moving On – MI Colloquium by R. David Lankes
The rise of information as an idea and discipline since World War II has been driven by the belief that information underlies, and can change, just about every other discipline and industry. When every industry is an information industry, what is left in library and information science? Lankes will lay out a new emerging world view based not on data, or information, but knowledge and meaning. He will talk about the necessity to shift the narrative in libraries and iSchools and propose an agenda focused on communities and the common good. Free and open to the public, no RSVP required.
Imagining Research, Researching Imagination
November 16, 2017
4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Writers House, Rutgers–Camden
Novelist Janet Benton, author of Lilli de Jong, and Janet Golden, professor of history, Rutgers–Camden, come together to explore the ways imagination and research inform the writing of both fiction and history, drawing on their mutual interest in the history of mothers and infants. Books will be for sale following the conversation. Admission is free but please RSVP.
Join the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY for a special fireside chat on November 29.
Prospects for the National and Regional Economy: Federal Reserve Bank of New York Fireside Chat
Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences and Department of Economics invites local and regional business leaders to join us for a discussion with William C. Dudley, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Light breakfast, networking, presentation, discussion, and Q&A.
This edition of “This Month in the Agenda” takes us back to November takes us back 25 years to November 1992. What was the latest and greatest from the Libraries?
Coordinator of the Coordinating Committee?
This listing of the Libraries’ committees from November 1992 shows that the organizational structure has changed a bit in the last quarter century.
Dem Bones, Dem Bones
As Halloween got closer, the Library of Science and Medicine had received calls from patrons who wanted to scare their friends:
One caller said she was studying archaeology and wanted to know if the library had any bones she could check out.
Another asked if LSM had skeletons to circulate.
There was only one librarian on the reference desk when the calls came so they pointed out that they had a “skeleton crew” one could observe.
–The Agenda 14, no. 22 (November 1, 1992)
Welcome to the Family
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
cordially invites you to attend
The Dedication of the Art Library
Tuesday, November 17, 1992
at 10:00 a.m.
Art Library – Main Reading Room
College Avenue Campus
New Brunswick, New Jersey
This beautiful new structure blends with its stately neighbors and is part of an arts complex that serves both undergraduate and graduate students.
RSVP (908) 932-7505
(acceptance only)
–The Agenda 14, no. 23 (November 15, 1992)
Getting Electronic
During November and December the libraries are making several databases on OCLC’s patron reference service, FirstSearch, available to the RU community. FirstSearch is easy to use and has many online HELPs. Users do not need any special training or documentation in order to search the databases. Included in the trial are the following databases: WorldCat (the OCLC Online Union Catalog) OCLC Serials Table of Contents Database: ContentsFirst and ArticleFirst, Biography Index, Business Periodicals Index, Concise Engineering Index, Consumers Index, ERIC, FactSearch, the GPO Monthly Catalog, Humanities Index, MiniGeoRef, PAIS Decade, Readers’ Guide Abstracts, Readers” Guide Periodical Literature, Social Sciences Index and Wilsons Business Abstracts.
FirstSearch is now a menu choice on INFO as well as on networked terminals in the libraries for the trial period. You can access FirstSearch through library terminals or by dialing into the system by doing the following:
On January 1, 1993 the exchange for the Camden Campus will change to 225 from 757. Therefore, for example, our number for reference assistance will be 225-6034 instead of 757-6034. Please note that the four digit extension will NOT be affected.
–The Agenda 14, no. 24 (November 29, 1992)
A New Face in Special Collections
Erika Gorder has been named Consumers’ Research Archives Project Assistant. She returns to Special Collections and Archives after working in Government Publications and Circulation in the Alexander Library 1991-92. She will be working with Greg[ory Williams] on the arrangement and description of the Archives and with Jan Riemer on the preservation of the Archives.
Many of you will have seen by now that this year’s State of the Libraries meeting on December 6 features special guest speaker Calvin K. Lai. (If you haven’t yet registered on Eventbrite, please take a moment to do so. Enter SOTL2017 when prompted for a password.) In advance of his visit to Rutgers, let’s learn a bit more about his research.
As director of research for Project Implicit, Lai explores implicit biases, or the tensions between our conscious experience and unconscious mind and the resultant disconnect between our thoughts and actions. These biases are evident when, for instance, our attitudes about particular groups of people (based on their gender, race, religion, weight, ability, and so on) are at odds with our explicitly stated values about those groups.
Lai’s research focuses on different approaches to changing our implicit biases and the question of whether changing these biases is actually the best approach for mitigating their effects on our behavior. He also offers lectures and workshops to organizations that discuss how unwanted influences can impair organizational performance.
If you simply can’t wait to learn more, visit the Project Implicit website to complete an Implicit Association Test on your own or check out Who, Me? Biased?, a video series on implicit bias from the New York Times that features Lai (above).
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.
Welcome to the newest regular feature of the Agenda. In “This Month in the Agenda,” we’ll explore highlights from this month in the history of Rutgers University Libraries. For the inaugural column, we’ll travel back in time 33 years to October 1984. What news was buzzing around the Libraries?
My, How the Times Have Changed
A five year summary of library statistics spanning FY 79/80 to FY 83/84.
East Asian Library Making Waves
The East Asian Library and the International Center have received $14,000 from the New Jersey Department of Higher Education to establish an in-house automated information and delivery service to support East Asian research and curriculum development at Rutgers and within the New Jersey State Colleges System.
–Weekly Agenda 6, no. 40 (October 1, 1984).
Dinner, Anyone?
Name the Libraries’ integrated system, commonly known as Geac, and win a dinner at The Frog and the Peach in New Brunswick.
The online system now includes cataloging and circulation elements, but the name should be flexible enough to cover all additional subsystems as well as the online catalog
Submit names to Kamala Truscott, Library Administration by October 31.
–Weekly Agenda 6, no. 41 (October 8, 1984).
The DeWitt Library Society of the Rutgers University Libraries invites you to share in the pleasure of an evening celebrating good books on Tuesday, November 13, 1984. The festivities celebrate the completion of a very successful year for our National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant.
–Weekly Agenda 6, no. 43 (October 22, 1984).
Movin’ On Up
Changes in Position
Timothy Corlis, Library Assistant II, Central Technical Services
–Weekly Agenda 6, no. 41 (October 8, 1984).
Cabinet Report
Edelman: Working on Title II-C proposals in Special Collections: Consumer Archive, Latin American Archive, Afro-American Archive. Proposal deadline is November 1. Reported on meeting to be held regarding Performance Appraisals. Discussed METRO: G. Neely will attend meeting on 10/25. Senator Case’s furniture to leave the Librarian’s office; to be placed in Special Collections Seminar Room.
–Weekly Agenda 6, no. 43 (October 22, 1984).
Spam Filter Needed
Campus mail is designed to be used for University business between departments of the University. Campus mail should not be used for transport of personal mail, chain letters or other unauthorized uses. Employees who make unauthorized use of campus mail may be subject to reprimand.
–Weekly Agenda 6, no. 43 (October 22, 1984).
On Exhibit
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Materials, Mabel Smith Douglass Library
Through December 1 – “American Presidential Elections, 1904–1984,” Department of Special Collections, Archibald S. Alexander Library
Through November 7 – Wood Sculpture and Drawings by Jane Teller, Mabel Smith Douglass Library
–Weekly Agenda 6, no. 43 (October 22, 1984).
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into the Libraries’ past! Special thanks to Erica Parin for her idea to start this column.
Please send comments or suggestions about “This Month in the Agenda” to Matt Badessa.
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.
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.
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!
