The Major Events Committee is pleased to announce that this year’s Faculty/Staff Appreciation Picnic is slated for Wednesday, August 1 at the Rutgers Gardens Log Cabin/Pavilion (140 Log Cabin Road, North Brunswick, NJ 08902). The party starts at noon and runs till 4 p.m. Join us for an afternoon of music, food, games, and prizes inspired by summer at the Jersey shore!
You can RSVP now at http://go.rutgers.edu/xz5b1042. We look forward to seeing you there!
The final numbers from Rutgers Giving Day are in and we are pleased to report that the Libraries raised over $12,000 from more than 60 donors. As usual, many of these gifts came from our own faculty and staff—so thank you all for your continued support!
We were also excited to learn that we received extra funds from challenges on social media.
| Areas | Challenge(s) Won: | Award Total Amount: |
| Libraries– Camden | Lucky 21 | $200 |
| Libraries– University Wide | Scarlet Pride– social | $500 |
| Libraries– Newark | Lucky 21 | $100 |
As a tie-in to this year’s “Think Bigger” campaign, donors will be receiving a special acknowledgement letter and a light-up magnifier imprinted with the Rutgers University Libraries logotype.
Thank you to all who made Rutgers Giving Day another success!
Hello all –
I know I said we’d return to Frameworks this month, but events of the day (or month) have once again intervened. As we’ve seen from recent communications from the ExLibris Implementation Team, we are moving ahead full steam toward the June 1 go live date. I know many of you are preparing for the technical freeze and helping to communicate these changes to our users, but I write today with a different purpose.
We recently announced that the name of our search interface will be QuickSearch, and I am writing today to invite you to help us with the selection of a graphic to build recognition and visibility for our new service.
We want your input. You know your users and the Rutgers community – what they
like and dislike and what works for them.
We want to use this visual on our website and in marketing materials, so it has to be eye-catching and work in multiple formats. It will be used alongside messaging that emphasizes that QuickSearch allows users to search across our collections with greater efficiency, accuracy, and relevancy. With the help of the ExLibris Implementation Team, we have managed to whittle the options down to a top 7. We need your help to get this down to the final graphic.
So, with that in mind, please let us know:
Conversely, let us know:
Please click here to let us know what you think of our leading QuickSearch graphics so far. We are in a time crunch, so please get your comments in by Tuesday, May 8 at 5 p.m.
Thanks in advance! We’ll announce the QuickSearch graphic next Wednesday!
if you prefer to email your comments, please send them to me or Jessica Pellien.
Friday, May 4, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Rutgers–New Brunswick
Opening day of the farmers market. Stop by for the fun including the Lettuce Festival and cooking demonstration. See which of your favorite vendors are back and who is new. Click here for more information.
Saturday, May 5, 5 – 9 p.m.
Paul Robeson Campus Center – Essex Room
Rutgers–Newark
The Black Organization of Students Alumni Association (BOSAA) is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Organization of Students (BOS) with a dinner and awards ceremony. Alumni, students, and friends are invited to join in an evening of acknowledging the sisterly and brotherly love, respect, and struggles that the pioneers of diversity demonstrated during the late 1967-1968 historic event. Click here for more information.
Saturday, May 5, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Historical Society of Princeton and Princeton Battlefield State Park
“Landscapes of Conflict: Battlefield Preservation” will examine national, state, county, and municipal efforts at recognizing and preserving America’s fields of conflict. The day will include a morning of presentations from historians, archaeologists, and county planners and an afternoon battlefield tour. Part of the Continuing Education Program of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers University–Camden.
Tuesday, May 8, noon – 1 p.m.
Busch Student Center
Wednesday, May 9, noon – 1 p.m.
Student Activities Center
Thursday, May 10, noon – 1 p.m.
Douglass Student Center
Rutgers–New Brunswick
Mindfulness is the art of being a compassionate observer of your own experience. Meditation practice helps us to achieve mindfulness and reduce stress. All are welcome – faculty, staff, and students. No previous experience required. Click here for more information.
Through Saturday, May 26
Paul Robeson Galleries
Rutgers–Newark
The Shadows of Houses is a three-person show featuring black and white photographs from Terry Boddie, Shakia Lewis, and Cesar Melgar. The title of exhibition is taken from Newark native Amiri Baraka’s poem “Legacy,” a mediation on history and home. Melgar’s street photography cast a sharp eye on the inhabitants and city of Newark. Click here for more information.
Thursday, May 24, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
College Ave Student Center
Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research host a forum for clinicians, researchers, faculty and students to learn about the latest in cancer research and treatment. Click here for more information.
Migration Milestones
The implementation project continued to move forward as scheduled in April. We submitted the final migration form and link resolver form to Ex Libris. To address issues encountered during the Alma/Primo testing, we have been having weekly functional calls with Ex Libris and communicating with them constantly via the project’s Basecamp site. The Data Migration and System Integration Working Group has also been working hard on the third-party integration issues. The extract of Sirsi data for the final data load to Alma will start on May 5.
QuickSearch Announcements and News Page
Primo will be known as QuickSearch to the Rutgers community after we go live on June 1. In her recent messages to the university and RUL communities, Krisellen announced the release date of QuickSearch (June 1) and its impact on students and faculty. The Libraries also created a QuickSearch news page for the public. Please use the news page as a resource to answer user inquiries. Students and faculty can also submit questions or comments about QuickSearch directly to reference@rutgers.libanswers.com.
Upcoming Service Changes
In her message to RUL everyone, Krisellen also highlighted the following service changes that are coming up:
These temporary or short-term service changes are necessary for the successful implementation of Alma and Primo. We thank all the library faculty and staff for the help to minimize disruption.
Primo Training Schedule
Discovery Services Librarian Joseph Deodato recently announced a Primo/QuickSearch training schedule (see following) for public services librarians and staff. Many library faculty and staff have registered to attend the training sessions. Even though the registration is now closed, Joseph welcomes colleagues who did not register to attend any of the sessions. Please contact Joseph if you have any questions.
Primo Training Schedule (as of April 25, 2018)
| Date | Location | Time |
| May 1 | Dana Electronic Classroom II | 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. |
| May 2* | Robeson Electronic Classroom | 2 p.m.. – 4 p.m. |
| May 4* | Alexander SCC Lecture Hall | 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. |
| May 8 | RWJ Electronic Classroom | 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. |
| May 9 | Dana Electronic Classroom II | 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. |
| May 11 | Smith Electronic Classroom I | 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. |
| May 15* | Carr Conference Room | 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. |
| May 18 | Alexander Pane Room | 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. |
*indicates a new session or change of location
Submitted by Tao Yang and Abbey DiPaolo.
As many of you know, a group called the Web Advisory Committee (WAC) has been working to redesign the Rutgers University Libraries’ website…. The Rutgers Libraries’ web pages provide information about library collections, services, and personnel and facilitate communication and work among library faculty and staff. The redesign of our website will produce the flexibility we need to accommodate our current and future digital library and give our users an information tool that is more intuitive to use. Specifically, WAC expects the new website to provide important new features such as the following: 1) better integration with the university’s recommended “look & feel” for websites, resulting in a shorter learning curve, 2) improved and more intuitive navigation, and 3) new sources such as the “Digital Library Projects” and “Friends and Supporters” pages.
The Agenda 21, no. 9 (May 2, 1999)
We are pleased to report that Fernanda Perrone of Special Collections and University Archives (SC/UA) has been awarded an undergraduate research fellow from the Vice President for Undergraduate Education’s Rutgers Undergraduate Research Fellows Program.
The Undergraduate Research Fellow, Carlos J. Ron, will work with Fernanda on the “Documenting Inter-American Cooperation Project” and specifically on the Frances Grant Papers, which include the archives of the Inter-American Association for Democracy and Freedom and the Pan-American Woman’s Association.
The Agenda 21, no. 9 (May 2, 1999)
Libraries Essay Contest #3 Winner
Student Category
This semester I am working on my Senior thesis. I had never really spoken to a Librarian at Dana and was, at first, a bit reluctant because they always seem so busy. I decided to approach the reference desk with a question on obtaining an obscure government pamphlet that was going to be helpful in writing my paper. Their pleasant attitude hit me like a tidal wave of fresh air. Two big smiles greeted me and I immediately felt very comfortable. I was so pleasantly surprised!
I am used to living in a society where everyone is in a rush and not many people sincerely want to help. The Rutgers Librarians that helped me, that day, were quite the opposite. They showed great eagerness to help me and that’s something I really appreciate.
The Agenda 21, no. 10 (May 16, 1999)
The Electronic Reserves Working Group is happy to announce that RUL will start to provide electronic access to some documents on reserve this summer….. We will begin by providing electronic access to photocopies of sample exams, overheads, syllabi, problem sets, and lecture notes submitted by instructors for Reserves. Documents will be scanned on the Minolta PS 3000 in the Copy Center in New Brunswick, set up on the library’s web server, and delivered as Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) files in the Reserve module of IRIS. All Rutgers libraries will participate in the electronic reserve services….. Some libraries may scan and process documents for electronic reserves on-site in the future.
The Agenda 21, no. 11 (May 30, 1999)
Last month, I attended a panel discussion hosted by the Rutgers Communicators Network titled Social Media – Industry and Platform Trends for Owned and Paid Content. You can check out a recording of the event below:
While some of the discussion may not be directly applicable for units with limited or nonexistent budgets for social media advertising, here are some of my broader takeaways for social media at the Libraries:
Do you have your own ideas for how we can improve social media at the Libraries? Feel free to reach out and let me know.
Rutgers Day was last weekend and, by all accounts, it was another tremendous success. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped pull these great activities off! If you missed out on the fun, enjoy this collection of sights from our different locations.
Digital projects have been an integral part of the services that Rutgers University Libraries have provided over the past decade. Making some of our resources available online adds to the discovery and accessibility of those holdings, providing a valuable service to our patrons. The digitization of physical items also provides an additional layer of preservation, protecting the original item from additional wear, while ensuring the content lives on.
In light of this, the Digital Projects Template Working Group was formed in September 2017 to streamline and simplify the process for individual units, empowering them with the knowledge to embark on their own routine digital projects as their resources permit. We’ve worked hard during this time to document what types of items and collections make up a potential “routine” project; provide technical information on file formats and digitization standards; offer up minimum required descriptive metadata; and provide recommendations on rights statements. With this simplification documentation, we hope that there will be less of a bottleneck for routine digitization projects.
While the Digital Projects Template Working Group has completed their work, we realize that libraries also need guidance about the process to begin carrying out this work. Cabinet determined that a group will develop a workflow for routine digital projects. That effort is already under discussion.
Central units will provide support for these routine digital projects in the areas of digital preservation assessment, accessibility, and search portal and website creation. Shared User Services can consult with directors and project managers to answer questions about whether a digital project is routine, or perhaps more complex. We encourage everyone to visit our website and review the recommended guidelines for digital projects.
My research on social media and admitted overuse of Twitter has taken me on an interesting, and at times disturbing path in the past two years. While exploring the use of social media by the performance artists LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (specifically their durational artwork HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US, which has been attacked both physically and virtually by internet trolls and neo-Nazis), I came across some sinister corners of the internet where hate groups communicate, organize and work to harass those they hate. Social media apps such as Twitter and Facebook are in the news daily with stories involving free speech, harassment, “fake news” and the spread of propaganda. These problems with social media are not new, their anonymous nature has provided many with outlets to spread misinformation and vitriol and engage in harassing behavior in the past. What does seem to be newer is how the online hate is bubbling up and presenting itself in the real world in many forms from hate speech, marches, and graffiti to acts of physical violence. The President’s Symposium dedicated an entire day to discussions on both physical and virtual acts of hate with suggestions on how those of us in the Rutgers community might address them.
The President’s Symposium featured a number of different speakers and panelists. These speakers included Jeh Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Deborah T. Porits, former Chief of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, law professors, law enforcement professionals, lawyers, criminal justice professors, criminal justice students, a representative from the ADL, and Gurbrir S. Grewal, the Attorney General of New Jersey (who announced that bias crimes can now be reported online here: http://www.nj.gov/oag/bias/). All of the speakers provided a wealth of expertise and information along with their valuable insight into the state of incidents of hate locally, nationally, and worldwide. A highlight was the talk by Rabbi Francine Roston who spoke of the attacks on herself, her family, and her congregation in Whitefish, Montana by that town’s infamous resident Richard Spencer, self-proclaimed founder of the alt-right, and Andrew Anglin, head of the Daily Stormer. Her detailed and emotionally charged description of the online harassment and intimidation is an excellent way to understand the more sinister side of social media and misinformation. The story of how quickly false information spread through the online hate groups is important in informing us in libraries just how crucial information literacy skills are in this present state of “fake news”, digital disinformation, and propaganda. Several speakers emphasized the importance of fighting hate with information, presenting facts to counter “fake news,” calling out misinformation when it is observed and being diligent in monitoring the marketplace of ideas. These of course are all things that library professionals have been doing for some time and will continue to do; however, the content of the symposium further emphasizes the importance of information sharing and instruction in the specifically targeted fight against hate. I highly recommend reviewing the agenda and watching some of the content, especially the talk by Rabbi Francine Roston to enhance an understanding of the nature of hate and bias and how it can be countered.
Agenda: https://president.rutgers.edu/fighting-hate-while-preserving-freedom-best-practices-forum
Livestream of the symposium: https://livestream.com/rutgersitv/FightingHate
Rabbi Francine Roston’s talk: https://livestream.com/rutgersitv/FightingHate/videos/172404110
