Stockton Library is proud to present our first Full Professor in the Library

Stockton University awarded the very first Full professor rank to one of the librarians in The Richard E. Bjork Library.  Ms. Jian Wang, our head cataloger was promoted to Assistant Director/Professor in the Library, effective September 1, 2016.

The entire library staff congratulated and celebrated Ms. Jian Wang’s success and the highest honor bestowed on her. It is not surprising to see Ms. Wang receiving the promotion.  She has demonstrated leadership roles in her job responsibilities as the Head Cataloger in the Bjork E. Library, in her service as chair of various local, state and national committees, and in her prolific scholarly activities.  Excellence in all these three areas are basic promotion criteria applied to all teaching and librarian faculty.

Getting a promotion is not easy at Stockton University for librarians.  Due to the language in the union contract, opportunity for merit promotion must be announced by the University President.  For a very long time, there was no announcement from the two former presidents regarding promotion for Stockton librarians.   The very first structural promotion was in 1999, only after a long battle with the administration, and the final re-organization of the Library.  The first announcement for a merit promotion opportunity was in 2002, and a subsequent one in 2007. The latest one was announced in October 2015.

As the Head of the Cataloging Department, Ms. Wang oversees all aspects of the department including training and supervising technical assistants in her department;    developing policies, procedures and manuals to guide and empower the staff to take on new roles and tasks, such as the creation of streaming video materials and various digitization initiatives; insuring no backlog in the processing of new library materials; and conducting assessment and self-evaluation of the department to motivate her staff, to enhance the online catalog, and to improve access to information.

Under Ms. Wang’s leadership, we witnessed a smooth migration of the online library system from the DRA system to SIRSI, and most recently, the successful transition from AACR2 international cataloging standard to the new RDA standard.

Ms. Wang has shown vision, constantly exploring emerging technologies and embracing change to support the mission and goals of the Library and University.  She has taken a leadership role in other library projects, such as educating the library users in the promotion of book care, the digitization initiatives showcasing the ten collections thus far created, and carrying out library-wide assessment projects.   

Although library faculty are not allocated specific blocks of time for research, Ms. Wang has, in fact, carried out such research activity and has consistently produced scholarly publications in the field of library science, including the publication of a book chapter, journal articles, reviews, and research and professional reports.  In addition, she has made countless conference presentations at state, national, and international levels, as well as here at Stockton University. 

Ms. Wang has served as chair and vice chair of various committees of the American Library Association (ALA).  These committees set preservation standards and practices in the field of preservation.  She has also worked as a web editor to upgrade and enrich the contents of these committees' websites.  At the state level, Ms. Wang served as the chair of the Bibliographic Control Committee (BCMC) under Virtual Academic Library Environment (VALE) as well as the chair of its Research Subcommittee.  Ms. Wang initiated the formation of and then co-chaired a new Archives and Special Collections Committee at NJLA-CUS/ACRL-NJ.  This new committee seeks to identify and confront issues relating to archives and special collections, and to promote the state's unique collections.

On the local level, Ms. Wang has served on different committees and task forces, such as the Research and Professional Development Committee, the Academic Policies Committee, the Graduate Studies Committee and the Student Services Committee.  She was the first library senator elected to the then newly formed Stockton Faculty Senate.  Her community services included initiating an Earth Day event with the S.A.V.E. student club, presenting an annual "National Library Week" exhibit, translating documents between English and Chinese for Stockton and the local community, and participating in many other community projects.

In recognition of Ms. Jian Wang’s achievements as Head of Cataloging Department, her vision and leadership role in many library projects, her service and contributions to various committees, and the high quality of her scholarly publications and presentations, Stockton University promoted her to the position of Assistant Director/Professor in the Library. 

Congratulations!  

Kerry Chang-FitzGibbon is the Serials Librarian at Stockton University. She can be reached at Kerry.chang@stockton.edu.