The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Category: Units

  • This Month in the Agenda – November 1990

    Hypercard Brown Bag Lunch, November 9, 1990
    Overdue Notice

    This note was recently received at Douglass Library accompanying a book that was overdue in 1963. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

    TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

    My malicious brother, John Doe, died recently and left us with a house full of books he had stolen from every library he ever lived near.

    The enclosed book appears to be yours. I am returning it with the hope it will still be of some value to you.

    On behalf of the entire family, I sincerely regret my brother’s action.

    Jane Doe

    The Agenda 12, no. 43 (November 4, 1990)

    Ruth on the Move

    On January 1, 1991, Ruth Simmons will begin a FASP leave and step down from her position of Director of Special Collections and Archives. At that time, she will become Senior Archivist and Curator of the Griffis Collection.

    The Agenda 12, no. 45 (November 25, 1990)

    Welcome!

    Personnel Changes – Staff

    Arrivals

    Natalie Delker, Library Assistant 3, LSM
    Dolores Evans, Secretarial Assistant II, Library Administration
    Helen Slim, Library Assistant 3, Camden Library
    Tracey Meyer, Library Supervisor III, TAS
    Joy Willinger, Senior Accounting Clerk, Library Administration

    The Agenda 12, no. 45 (November 25, 1990)

  • What’s Happening around Rutgers – November 2019

    “Top Girls” Theater Performance

    Friday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.
    Fine Arts Building, Walter K. Gordon Theater, Camden

    The Rutgers–Camden theater program presents Top Girls. Hilarious and haunting, Caryl Churchill’s feminist masterpiece set in Margaret Thatcher’s England is a wildly innovative play about a country divided by its own ambitions. Marlene has reached the pinnacle of success as the head of the Top Girls Employment Agency—but at what price? Purchase tickets. (Additional shows on Saturday and Sunday.)

    Philip Roth Lecture: Sean Wilentz

    Monday, November 4, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
    Newark Public Library, Newark

    This year’s lecturer is Princeton’s Sean Wilentz. Mr. Wilentz is the author of a wide range of books including The Rise of American Democracy, No Property in Man, Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation’s Founding, and Bob Dylan in America.

    His lecture topic is American Slavery, American Anti-slavery. After retiring, Mr. Roth devoted most of his reading to the study of American history.

    Professor Wilentz was Roth’s guide, helping him to make book selections and engaging in discussions of the material.

    The event is free. Valet parking is available. Seating will be available on a first-come/first-served basis.

    RSVP here.

    Planetary Science Late Night

    Wednesday, November 6, 4:00–8:00 p.m.
    Rutgers Geology Museum, New Brunswick

    Visit us on Wednesday, November 6th, and learn about our Solar System and all of its planetary bodies! Demonstrations, arts and crafts and educational activities will be set up around the museum for this event and people are welcome to come and go as they please. We encourage all ages to come participate and learn something new! More information.

  • Quick Takes on Events and News – November 2019

    SWPACA Call for Papers

    Proposals for papers and panels are now being accepted for the 41st annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association conference! One of the nation’s largest interdisciplinary academic conferences, SWPACA offers nearly 70 subject areas, each typically featuring multiple panels. The deadline has been extended to November 20. Visit the SWPACA website for more information.

    Dan Morgenstern Named IJS Executive Director Emeritus

    The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) at Rutgers University–Newark has appointed Dan Morgenstern Executive Director Emeritus of IJS and has named a yearlong fellowship in his honor to celebrate his 90th birthday and significant contributions to jazz scholarship. Homage will continue in the spring with a symposium on Morgenstern’s life and legacy. Read all the details on the Rutgers–Newark news site.

    Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne State

    On November 11 at Douglass Library, the Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne State (EMEWS) will present live electronic music made for laptop orchestra, game controllers, smartphones, and drum machines. The event is part of the ensemble’s EMEWS to the East tour, and it is supported by New Music USA. This event is free and open to the public!

    Rutgers Football from the Vault Panel Discussion

    Rutgers University is well known as the birthplace of intercollegiate football. On November 18, 2019, we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first football game with a panel of Rutgers historians. Thomas J. Frusciano was Rutgers University Archivist at Rutgers from 1989 to 2017 and the author of The Rutgers University Football Vault: History of the Scarlet Knights. Tom will provide an overview of Rutgers football history. Steve Greene is a 1979 graduate of Rutgers and the author of the forthcoming 1869 – American Football Kicks Off ! New Discoveries at the Birthplace of Intercollegiate Football. Finally, Stephen Dalina is a recent graduate of Rutgers University–Newark. Currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in world history at Rutgers, he will reflect on his experience co-curating the exhibition Rutgers Football from the Vault: Celebrating 150 Years with Interim University Archivist Erika Gorder. Visit the events calendar for more information.

    Digital Collection Spotlight: The Stedman Gallery

    The Stedman Gallery Collection features works from the Stedman Art Gallery, which was established in 1975 and is located in the Fine Arts Center at Rutgers University–Camden.

    The digital collection includes a variety of artworks ranging from chalk and charcoal drawings, to acrylic and oil paintings, to 19th-century Ukiyo-e, a type of Japanese woodblock print depicting Kabuki actors and other scenes from daily life. For more information, visit the digital collection portal or the Steadman Gallery website.

    Alumni Association Graduation Tour

    Know a graduating senior? Make sure you let them know about the Rutgers Alumni Association’s annual graduation trip! This year’s grad trip explores classic Europe, including England, France, Italy, the Vatican City, and Greece. Visit the Alumni Association’s website for more information.

  • “Sticky Interdependence” and the BIG Collection

    Earlier this semester, my fellow BTAA library directors and I issued a joint statement publicly committing to an interdependent future and introducing the idea of the BIG Collection.

    This is a strategic and coordinated approach to sustaining the scholarly content held in our collections and enhancing our users’ path from discovery to delivery of that content. The initiative draws on the analysis of collective collection opportunities conducted by Lorcan Dempsey in the report Operationalizing the BIG Collective Collection: A Case Study of Consolidation vs Autonomy, which I have discussed in previous issues of the Agenda.

    Planning for this initiative is underway with the appointment of three committees to scope, plan, and realize the necessary programmatic components. These include the Content Committee, which will identify strategies for managing existing print collections and more strongly coordinating collections for optimal distribution; the Applications Committee, which is responsible for improving network fulfillment and creating unified and coherent discovery of BTAA collections; and the Enterprise (Steering) Committee, which works in the areas of strategy and policy and is responsible for oversight of the BIG Collection.

    As co-chair of the Applications Committee and a member of the Enterprise Committee, I am deeply invested in the success of the BIG Collection initiative and committed to the vision that it represents. This vision—“of a more codependent system in which research libraries pledge to preserve individual collection areas, allowing other institutions to allocate spending elsewhere”—as it was described in a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education—comes from the understanding that the time has come to move away from models based on non-productive competition. Throughout the BTAA, library directors have embraced the idea that you don’t get big by making someone else small, and it will take a real, lasting commitment to collaboration for us to successfully chart a course forward in the current information landscape. My colleague James Hilton at Michigan calls this idea “sticky interdependence” and I think this phrase captures nicely the imperative for us not just to work together, but to do so in a way that is sustainable in the long term.

    At Rutgers, we are well positioned to contribute to this sort of initiative because of our experience building interdependence between the four campuses. As you know, our planning process helps us determine the best ways to work together and how to leverage shared resources so that they have the greatest impact on the most users. It has also helped us understand how more purposeful coordination can lead to a more effective system overall. This is the experience that I plan to bring to my work on the BIG Collection committees.

    Simply put, in any networked environment, all members have to rise up together. Nobody can do it alone. This is as true for the libraries at Rutgers as it is for the institutions across the BTAA.

    In our statement on the BIG Collection, we emphasize the importance of intentional, collaborative action that advances a shared mission and ensures the collective good. We have learned this lesson first-hand at Rutgers, and now we are seeing the idea take hold at a larger scale. I believe very strongly that this cooperative, interdependent future is the best way forward—for Rutgers, for the Big Ten, and for all the students and scholars that our institutions collectively serve.

  • Harry Potter, Books We Read, Science Café – What’s Cooking at Chang?

    The fall 2019 semester has brought literature, science, and even a little magic to the Stephen and Lucy Chang Library on Cook Campus.

    In course papers on redesigning the Chang Science Library submitted for the Landscape Architecture course in 2018, students expressed their strong interest in events at the library that are “educational, entertaining, and competitive.” Inspired also by the revelation that Rutgers students not only read for fun, but enjoy a wide variety of genres and topics, the Chang Science Library took the challenge to meet the interests and expectations of the Rutgers community today.

    In the summer of 2019, we developed a group of new programs to promote recreational reading at the library under an umbrella initiative called Books We Read. The idea originated from library sessions in spring 2019 taught as part of a SEBS course called Portals to Academic Success (PASS), where students were tasked to find one of their favorite books in QuickSearch and, using a template, create a poster including the book’s title, its availability at the Libraries, an image, and the proper citation. A select group of posters were displayed at Chang Library after the course, but when students asked for a virtual home for the posters the Books We Read website was born. Galleries of these posters are still available on the site as examples of peer-to-peer book recommendations.

    Books We Read is exactly what the name suggests: an initiative to promote, highlight, and build communities around reading for pleasure at Rutgers. Hosted on the brand new Rutgers WordPress site, the Books We Read website aims to facilitate non-required reading through book suggestions from students for other students. It also links to a curated lists of books available at Rutgers Libraries in a LibGuide, updated frequently. The browsable collection showcasing books in American literature and recreational reading also includes titles for ESL (English as a Second Language) readers.

    Led by Nick Allred (MSt., Oxford), PhD candidate at the Rutgers English Department and Graduate Specialist at New Brunswick Libraries, a weekly short-fiction reading group has begun meeting on Wednesdays at Chang Science Library in the Fall semester to promote reading for fun. Students are invited to join as often as they like, and no preparation is required as we will be reading the pieces in session. Advertised as “like SPEED-DATING THE LIBRARY STACKS”, the program will allow students to encounter writers from classic to contemporary, discuss the experience with friends, and maybe even start a fling with a new favorite author or genre.

    The reading program, along with the web site, wishes to create a sustainable model of reading for pleasure individually or in a group setting, using the Libraries’ collection. It intends to connect students with library resources, while helping them learn about library research for their school assignments. By providing tips and resources, the sessions and the web site also empower students to create book clubs or reading groups of their own.

    The kick-off event on Tuesday, September 17 revolved around one of the most beloved recreational reads on Rutgers (or any) campus: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. SEBS faculty and students volunteered to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone aloud in shifts throughout the day, all while enjoying Harry Potter-themed outfits, activities, food, drinks (butterbeer, anyone?), and goodies. Over 30 readers participated, split evenly between faculty and students – the latter drawn largely from two dedicated student groups, READ, the Rutgers University Book Club and Muggle Mayhem (the Rutgers Chapter of Harry Potter Alliance). The competition aspect of the event involved Harry Potter trivia and spells managed by students and an international component to identify languages of book covers from the international editions. Thanks to art librarian Megan Lotts and archivist Tara Maharjan, participants also got a chance to make buttons and color in unusual (or magical!) archival images scanned from special collections.

    The event was extremely well received on the Cook Campus and the Libraries and SEBS social media. The success is based on Chang’s central location on campus and partnerships previously established with the SEBS Office of Academic Affairs and the SEBS International Office. The two new student group partners hopefully will strengthen ties with pleasure readers on other campuses.

    Another new initiative also shows a great promise for all parties. On September 18, the first Science Café was held at the Chang Science Library. A popular event on the Cook Campus, the Science Café series invites experts and laypeople to have coffee and chat about important issues in science. The successful event, entitled “Why We Need Pest Management”, will be followed by two more: on October 24, Oscar Schofield will discuss “Why Rutgers is Building a Global Ocean Observing a System and it is COOL!” and on November 14, Donna Fennell and Kevin Dixon will talk about how “Microbes are in the Atmosphere!”, both from 10 am to 11 am.

     

  • Library Reading Lists Created within Multiple LMSs

    Students in electronic classroomThe Ex Libris Leganto Reading List Management tool is now available for use in Blackboard, Canvas, and Sakai. The reading list tool can help instructors create impactful resource lists using library content and integrate a variety of materials into one, easy-to-use list. The tool is accessible from inside the learning management system, so students can access the reading list, along with other course resources. Instructors and librarians can collaboratively create and process reading lists for students from all types of resources.

    Because the reading lists tool is integrated in Blackboard, Canvas, and Sakai, access to materials is easy and streamlined for students.

    Here are some of the key features:

    • Instructors can create reading lists from books, articles, streaming media, and other resources held by the Libraries or add their own content. Reading lists integrate with the saved favorites feature on QuickSearch and lists can be used for multiple sections of a course or copied into new courses.
    • Reading lists can be divided into sections, by chronology, or by citation type.
    • Instructors and students can view information about each citation such as availability and status.
    • Instructors can collaborate with peers to enrich reading lists and keep them up to date.
    • Instructors can access usage data about their reading lists.

    The tool is now available in the external tools sections of the learning management systems. For more information, or if you have any questions, contact me at maria.breger@rutgers.edu.

  • Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – November 2019

    quicksearch logoThe project to append Rutgers Law Libraries’ Koha Catalog data to our instance of Alma and QuickSearch is picking up the pace. During the summer the Implementation Team and its working groups met with our counterparts at Law to review Alma configuration options and best practices for data cleanup and loading records. Then in September and October, Law supplied configuration and mapping forms and exported their full catalog of bibs and patrons to Ex Libris.

    Below is the tentative schedule for the remainder of the Law Append project:

    October 2019

    • Ex Libris performs test load and builds test system
    • Law starts using our ILLiad and redirects their users to our ILLiad form

    November 2019

    • Law and Libraries review results of test load
    • Libraries provide Alma training
    • Law stops lending under NJRLL (Law Camden) and RULAW (Law Newark) symbols in ILLiad
    • Law Exports Koha Catalog Titles to OCLC
    • OCLC attaches NjR symbol to Law titles in WorldCat

    December 2019

    • Continue Alma Training

    January 3, 2020

    • Law provides final version of configuration forms and extracts to Ex Libris

    January 4-8, 2020

    • Technical Services and Fulfillment Activities are frozen
    • Ex Libris appends Law data to our instance of Alma and QuickSearch

    January 9, 2020

    • Law Goes Live with Alma and QuickSearch

    January 10, 2020

    • Load Offline Circulation transactions

    January 2020

    • OCLC removes NJRLL and RULAW symbols from existing Law titles in WorldCat

  • Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

    Robeson Library’s cultural sensitivity and diversity training in August.

    Diversity, equity, and inclusion are acknowledged as being fundamental values of the American Library Association and its members, and diversity is listed as one of ALA’s key action areas. The Libraries’ philosophy is that “as the intellectual commons of one the most diverse universities in the nation, Rutgers University Libraries advance and promote diversity in all its forms. We believe the Libraries are stronger and can more effectively support the mission of Rutgers when we are inclusive and equitable.”

    Paul Robeson Library has reaffirmed its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by creating a comprehensive action plan with strategic FY20-21 priorities. One of the initiatives from the Robeson priorities led to an all-staff, day-long training session in August on cultural sensitivity and diversity with Baseemah Ismail. Ismail is a senior human resources generalist, with experience in an array of HR functions including diversity strategy, training, talent acquisition and retention, and organizational development and design; a certified Development Dimensions International learning systems facilitator, as well as a DiSC Communication Styles and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator practitioner. The training addressed understanding cultural differences, awareness of biases, enhancing sensitivity to cultural sensitivities, and differences and strategies for fostering a cohesive workplace.

  • What’s Happening around Rutgers – September 2019

    Painting
    Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein

    Tuesday, September 3, 2019 to Sunday, January 5, 2020
    Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick

    Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein is a groundbreaking exhibition that explores how modern art was influenced by advances in science, from Einstein’s theory of relativity to newly powerful microscopic and telescopic lenses. A first-of-its-kind touring exhibition, Dimensionism is organized by the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College and opened at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

    Learn more.

    Savage Feast book
    Writers House: “Savage Feast” with Boris Fishman

    Thursday, September 12 | 12:45 to 1:45 p.m.
    Rutgers–Camden Writers House

    Boris Fishman was born in Minsk, Belarus, and immigrated with his family to New York in 1988, at nine. He is the author of the novel A Replacement Life, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year that also won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and the American Library Association’s Sophie Brody Medal, and Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo, also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His new book is Savage Feast, a nonfiction family history told through recipes. He lives in New York City and teaches creative writing at Princeton University.

    Learn more.

    Gardens Party
    Rutgers Gardens party

    Thursday, September 26, 2019 | 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
    Rutgers Gardens, New Brunswick

    At this year’s Gardens Party, we will celebrate the opening of Cook’s Market. Our weekly farm market, now housed in its permanent green-roof structure, features vendors of local and Jersey-fresh products, many of whom will be featured at the party.

    At the event, Dr. Dennis Werner will be presented with the 2019 Hamilton Award. Dr. Werner is a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science, and was recently named the Alumni Association Distinguished Undergraduate Professor by North Carolina State University.

    We will be joined by chef, grocer, and television personality “Produce Pete” Napolitano, for a book signing, who is well known across the state for his weekly fruit and vegetable segments on NBC affiliates in the greater New York and Philadelphia areas.

    Learn more and register.

    Porch fest
    The Newark Porch Fest in Forest Hill

    Saturday, September 28 | 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
    Forest Hill, Newark

    This inaugural celebration of community arts will take place in Newark’s Forest Hill historic district. Organized by the Forest Hill Community Association, our FREE family-friendly event will have amateur and professional artists (both performing and visual) volunteering to showcase their talents. Residents from Forest Hill will make their porches available to serve as community stages to accommodate the artists. Attendees will be invited to visit stages across the neighborhood to enjoy a full afternoon of entertainment, food, and fun. Visit us at Facebook: Newark Porchfest or Instagram: @newarkporchfest for updates and information.

    Learn more.

  • This Month in the Agenda – September 2002

    Rubbing Shoulders with the Pres’

    In August, President George W. Bush asked Paul Robeson Library’s Julie Still to join him in Waco, Texas for a national economic forum.

    Julie is a member of an investment club and participated in July in a town meeting in Philadelphia organized by the United States Secretary of Commerce that focused on small investors’ reactions to corporate misdeeds. Julie spoke up and was quoted by an AP reporter and then in a Philadelphia Inquirer story. One or both stories apparently caught the eye of the President’s people, and she got invited to Waco.

    Getting Hi-Tech

    Congratulations to Paul Robeson Library’s Vibiana Bowman, whose article “Reading Between the Lines: An Evaluation of WindowEyes Screen Reader as a Reference Tool for Teaching and Learning” was published in the latest issue of Library Hi Tech. This is a special issue of Library Hi Tech devoted to accessibility of Web information resources for people with disabilities.

    Gifts from Taipei

    Colleagues or students visiting the undergraduate reading room on the first floor of Alexander Library may notice a large new artwork, taking up much of the wall space near the windows overlooking the entry walkway.

    “A City of Cathay” was donated in June by the Taipei Cultural Center in New York City. The Taipei Cultural Center also donated a significant collection of Chinese language books and journals to the East Asian Library in May.

    Power to the People

    After a regular August maintenance downtime was completed, IRIS returned to regular use with two significant modifications. The Rutgers Request Service (RRS) changed its name to the Rutgers Delivery Service (RDS), and a major new feature, user-initiated holds, became available.

    The name change to the Rutgers Delivery Service reflects the Rutgers University Libraries growing use of technology to save time, enhance services, and offer increased options to Libraries users.

    The Agenda 24, no. 14 (September 8, 2002)