SPRING 2014
Joint Effort to Reach out to MLIS Students
By Leslin Charles, Heather Dalal, Megan Dempsey, and Ma Lei Hsieh
The NJLA CUS User Education (User Ed) Committee and VALENJ Shared Information Literacy (SIL)Committee have a shared goal to connect with the local graduate school to emphasize the importance of instructional design and/or user education courses for future academic librarians. This began when members reflected on their own experiences as graduate LIS students and how none expected to be so focused on instruction. Members notice how this continues to shock recent graduates who join the academic library profession.
After a literature review for some evidence, committee members participated in a panel at the 2013 VALENJ Users’ Conference. Both the literature and the attendees at the panel agreed with the feelings – that future academic librarians do not anticipate they will be teaching much and therefore do not find Information Literacy or User Education courses very applicable and practical. As a result, a committee member was invited to participate in part of a panel given to the Student College, Academic, and Research Library Association (SCARLA) at Rutgers SC&I. Members of SCARLA have since informed their peers and given other presentations on this topic. In addition, the relationship between SCARLA and the joint committees has grown. Committees’ members have been invited to participate in other panels and meetings, and SCARLA has collaborated with CUS on other activities.
Joint Committee members gave input in preparation for the VALE 2014 Poster Session, LIS Students: Step into the Ring of Academic Librarianship: Becoming the Best Candidate. This was another attempt to discuss with the greater NJ academic library community the need for information literacy training in Graduate LIS programs.
Additionally, it is well known that Rutgers MLIS faculty always appreciate input from practicing librarians to improve their programs. In a conversation with administrators from SC&I at Rutgers, the suggestion was made for members of our committees to review the syllabus for the information literacy course and endorse it. Then a statement can be placed on the website showing students that a professional organization recommends taking this course.
The 2013 Ithaka S+R US Library Survey found that 97% of library directors who responded to the survey ranked helping undergraduate develop information literacy skills as “very important” among the services their library provides. Our research and experience has shown that a large proportion of posted academic librarian positions include teaching responsibilities, even if the position’s primary role is not user education. The joint committees feel it is very important to spread this message to LIS students so that they are fully prepared to enter the academic library job market. Such outreach is beneficial not just to the students, but to the academic library community who are looking for the most qualified candidates for any position in the library.
For more information about this intiative contact Heather Dalal, chair of the Graduate MLIS Outreach Subcommittee at hdalal@rider.edu.
Want to get involved with the SIL and User Ed Committees? Contact one of the Co-Chairs: SIL: Megan Dempsey (Raritan Valley) & Leslin Charles (Rutgers) User Ed: Heather Dalal (Rider) & Ma Lei Hsieh (Rider)
From the President, Gracemary Smulewitz, What’s Been Happening at NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ? :
Throughout this year we have hosted several programs in partnership with the Colloquium program at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. All have been of poignant interest to the academic library community. On April 29th we hosted a Web cast offered by ACRL entitled “Dress Your Data for Success.” Tricia Clayton of Georgia State University presented tips and tricks on data visualization. We were so fortunate to have Anselm Spoerri, Assistant Professor at the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers University and Minglu Wang, Data Services Librarian at John Cotton Dana Library of Rutgers University present prior to the Web cast on creative visualization projects they have worked on and then chat with the audience after the Web cast for enlightening discussion. Their presentations were creative, dynamic and stimulating, offering an engaging way to think of analysis.
The image above is a slide from Dr. Spoerri’s presentation using searchCrystal. The slide illustrates the grouping of the top 100 Wikipedia searches over different periods of time. The colorful slide is intricate but Dr. Spoerri’s explanation gave clarity to the content which could not have happened with the raw data.
NJLA Conference The New Jersey Library Association Annual Conference is a month away. Once again it is at the Revel Hotel in Atlantic City. The conference always offers very thought provoking programs that are topical and sometimes controversial in nature. The conference offers you an opportunity to find out what your colleagues are doing at their institutions, how Infographics, a tool that offers graphic visual representations of information and data, can be used for marketing and can help to demonstrate the value of the library. There are also talks on virtual reference. This year Jeffrey Beale will be speaking at the College and University Section Luncheon about predatory publishing. It is all food for thought and conversation.
If you are passionate about any topic, you can present for 5 minutes at the Ignite Session. A “no fuss “ opportunity where you have a chance to influence others.
Check it all out right here: http://njlaconference.info/ and then join us!!!
Gracemary Smulewitz is President of NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ. She is the Head of Distributed Technical Services at Rutgers.
Remembering Ourida Oubraham
By Romel Espinel
Ourida Oubraham, Director of the Samuel C. Williams Library at Stevens Institute of Technology, passed away on December 23, 2013. Ourida, a beloved member of the Stevens community, joined the library in 1984 and was appointed director in 2007. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Algiers University in Algeria, and a Master of Science in Library Science from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
As director, Ourida tirelessly promoted the library as a vital component of the Stevens experience. Always with an eye on the library’s future, she thought first of its users and looked for ways to serve them better, introducing simple-search discovery on the library website and new hardware, including scanners, iPads, and laptops, to give the Stevens community access to diverse forms of technology. She oversaw improvements in document delivery and the creation of a textbook reserve program, as well as an increase in study space and the creation of a media room providing resources to help students prepare presentations.
Ourida encouraged collaboration between librarians and faculty to ensure that the teaching and evaluation of information and digital literacy skills continues to be an important part of student learning.
To promote the legacy of Stevens, she spearheaded initiatives to improve the preservation of the university’s treasures and history, and she organized an annual reception to recognize Stevens authors.
It is telling of her devotion to the library that one of her last acts as director was the creation of a feasibility study designed to evaluate the library and propose ideas for improving the use of library space and resources in the future. The library will continue the improvements she began to honor her commitment to our community.
Romel Espinel is a librarian at the Samuel C. Williams Library at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Documents Association of New Jersey (DANJ) 2013 Fall Conference
By Ma Lei Hsieh
The 2013 DANJ annual conference “Global Information, Local Access” was held at Princeton University on November 1st. The conference was co-sponsored by LibraryLinkNJ. Iain Watt, the conference keynote speaker and the chief of the United Nation’s (UN) Dag Hammarskjold Library, spoke on “Libraries and Access to International Documentation—Trends and Speculations.” Other conference
Two special awards were given to Mary Fetzer of Rutgers University and Susan White of Princeton University for their long-term commitment and contributions to the document librarianship. Both recipients were happily surprised. This year’s award for best New Jersey state documents was given to Next Stop Metuchen: Three Railroads Shape a Crossroads Community by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Best New Jersey government website award was given to NJ Sandy Transparency: Accountability, Integrity, Oversight by Office of the State Comptroller (http://nj.gov/comptroller/sandytransparency/index.shtml). Caitlyn Cook of Ocean County College was elected as the Vice-President, along with the other DANJ officers.
The 2014 DANJ conference will be held on Friday, October 31, at Princeton University with the theme honoring New Jersey’s 350th anniversary. Check out the DANJ website http://www.danj.org/ for more information about DANJ conferences presentations (slides and videos), Facebook, Twitter and more.
Ma Lei Hsieh is a librarian at Rider University.
Photos’ captions: DANJ 2013 special award recipients Mary Betzer of Rutgers University (left) and Susan White (right) of Princeton University
Facebook Photo
2013 DANJ Conference speakers from left to right: Susan Kurtas, Carlos Yordan, Beth Patterson, Iain Watt, Jim Church, Mary Fetzer, and Jeremy Darrington. Facebook Photo
Embracing the Zombie Apocalypse (and other Pop Culture Phenomenon)
By Katie Maricic
Zombies seem to be everywhere these days. They are invading TV, movies and the pages of many graphic novels, and many students can’t get enough of them. Even those who have never watched a zombie movie in their lives may have given in to the love story of Warm Bodies, may have been sucked into the cultural phenomenon of the Walking Dead. So what does this have to do with academic libraries?
Many of you may say nothing, unless the day comes when we need to barricade ourselves into the library to protect our precious tomes from the flesh-eating monsters. After all, they eat cows, so maybe they’d go after the leather-bound volumes? But in reality, I believe that if college students are interested in zombies then zombies have very much to do with academic libraries. Yes, the library is a place for students to find resources to support their undergraduate or graduate learning and scholarly research. But what about those students who may never set foot in a library to find a book or learn to use a database? How do we get them interested in using the library?
My answer is to reach out to them by grabbing their attention with topics that are very interesting to them. This could be with zombies, vampires, Fifty Shades-type erotic literature, or even fun historical fiction a la Downton Abbey. Displays, reading lists, LibGuides and creative programming are just a few ways to perform exciting outreach to hard-to-reach college students.
I tried this idea for outreach in 2013 while working at Berkeley College. I created a presentation and accompanying display called "Embracing the Zombie Apocalypse: Why We Are Obsessed With the End of the World." The inspiration for this program came from Jonathan Maberry "Teens at the End of Time" session at the 2013 NJLA Conference in Atlantic City. Maberry is the New York Times Best-selling author of the Rot and Ruin series, and his talk covered all types of apocalyptic literature. I was fascinated by my first real exposure to the zombie sub-genre, and I decided this type of lecture/discussion could inspire some students to read and use the library.
The one-shot program I developed was open to all students, staff and faculty. I invited some professors to bring their Literature, Critical Reading and Art of Creativity classes to watch and participate. It took place in the student center so that any passer-by would be encouraged to sit down and participate. Armed with a PowerPoint presentation filled with graphics, videos and book trailers, I spoke about the history and range of the popular genre of apocalyptic literature with a focus on the zombie apocalypse sub-genre. We covered everything from classic dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 to current popular dystopias of the Hunger Games and Divergent; from I am Legend (the grandfather of zombie fiction) to modern day twists on classics like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Alice in Zombieland.
I engaged students in discussion as I tried to get them to use critical reading skills to discover why people relate to zombie fiction and the deeper meanings behind the 
seemingly basic shoot-em-up storylines. Students and professors were surprised to learn about the psychological reasons we are attracted to fantasies of destruction and rebuilding, and the deep ethical issues that are raised when tough survival decisions need to be made (How do you deal with a loved one-turned-zombie? How do you deal with criminals in a world with no justice system?). When asked to think critically about these reasons, students came up with some interesting answers. One student said that people who are afraid of dying might find comfort in a world with zombies because they do not have to completely die. Another said that people connect because they feel like zombies in their everyday life cycle of waking up, going to work, going to sleep, and doing it all over again. This discussion helped to get students thinking critically about literature while library materials were promoted.
In an effort to market library services, I asked program attendees which zombie materials they would like to see in the library. I excitedly informed students that we already owned some of the materials they requested, and told them we could order others that they found interesting. I used this to show students that the library is here to serve them, and that we can request materials they need via Interlibrary Loan, and sometimes even purchase requested materials.
Speaking of purchasing materials, Berkley College Libraries has a collection of popular fiction and films which allowed me to purchase some zombie and apocalyptic literature and films to go along with the zombie program. We created a library display that coincided with the program, and resulted in many check outs. During the summer quarter there were 26 checkouts from the display: 15 books and 11 DVDs. This was impressive for our small Woodbridge campus library!
After the presentation, the best compliment I received was from a student who sat down in the student center to watch my presentation simply to fill time in between classes. She said, "I didn't think this would be interesting at all, but it was really interesting!" Later she came into the library to check out some zombie materials, and a new library user was born.
The idea of promoting popular literature and library services at your college library does not need to be about promoting zombies. Piggy-back off the new Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey TV series to promote your collection of science books that are collecting dust on the shelf. Tie-in the Sochi Olympics and problems in the Ukraine to push your strong collection of Russian and Soviet Union materials. Just do the best you can to show students that the library has interesting stuff that is relevant to today's world! Let them know the library is not just for academics, but can also be a place for life-long learning that is current, trendy and exciting!
Katie Maricic is the Interlibrary Loan and Reference and Instruction Librarian at Ramapo College of New Jersey.
CUS Luncheon Speaker at NJLA Conference
By Mary Mallery
The CUS Luncheon Speaker this year is the controversial librarian, Jeffrey Beall, from the University of Colorado, Denver, who created the online List of Predatory Publishers for the Scholarly Open Access community at: http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/
Here is his story from a Wikipedia article on him that is currently "under dispute" at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Beall: "Beall has been a librarian for 22 years and is well known for his opposition to predatory open access publishing, a term he coined. He has published a number of analyses of predatory OA journals such as one of Bentham Open in The Charleston Advisor in 2009. However, his interest in such journals began when, in 2008, he began receiving numerous requests from dubious journals to serve on their editorial boards. He has said that he "immediately became fascinated because most of the e-mails contained numerous grammatical errors." He has since produced a well-known and regularly updated list of what he states are predatory open access publishers....
Beall is quite outspoken and often in the news, having been threatened with lawsuits from publishers on his List as well as cited in a sting operation in the journal Natunere published in 2013 that verified the validity of his List by submitting a poor quality spoof paper: "The results show that Beall is good at spotting publishers with poor quality control: For the publishers on his list that completed the review process, 82% accepted the paper." See: Butler, D. (2013). "Investigating journals: The dark side of publishing". Nature 495 (7442): 433–435. doi:10.1038/495433a"
Mr. Beall will be the speaking on Wednesday, June 3rd, at the CUS Luncheon. The complete list of sessions, programs, posters and events for the NJLA 2014 Conference is available online at: http://njlaconference.info/schedule
Mary Mallery is the Associate Dean for Technical Services at the Harry A. Sprague Library at Montclair State University. She is chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee of
NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ.
Technology Innovation Awards
The NJLA College and University Section (CUS) Technology Committee is pleased to announce that the NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ Technology Innovation Award winners for 2014 are: 4-Year Institution Technology Innovation Award The Medical Subject Searching Project from Rowan University, led by
- Sharon Whitfield— Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
- Micki McIntyre—Rowan University, School of Osteopathic Medicine
- Kevin Block—Rowan University, School of Osteopathic Medicine
- Nancy Calabretta—Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
- Viola Loder-Smith—Rowan University Libraries
- Philip Shafer—Rowan University, Web Service Department
- Karen Stesis—Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
- 2-Year Institution Technology Innovation Award The Media Services Equipment Management Project from Bergen Community College, led by
- Rong Wang, Assistant Director
- They are joined by this year's nominees for the Awards:
- EAKO Project– Laura Palumbo, Martin Kesselman, and Connie Wu —Rutgers University Libraries
- Rider Libraries Minute—Heather Dalal—Rider University
- Guarini Library Facebook Page—Laura Kortz—New Jersey City University
- The Big De-Dupe Project—Guy Dobson—Drew University
- Berkeley College Interior Design Ebrary Files Project—Maria Deptula and Marlene Doty—Berkeley College
- Library Faculty Self-Scheduling Project—Kate McGivern- Bergen Community College
- Winners and nominees for the awards will be honored at the NJLA 2014 Conference. The winners will be presented at the Technology Innovation Forum on Wednesday, June 4th, from 9:00-10:00AM at the Revel Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. The nominees will present their innovations during the Poster Sessions on Wednesday, June 4th from 11:15am-12:15pm at the Revel Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. The Two Technology Innovation Awards will be presented at the College and University Section Luncheon on Wednesday, June 4th. Registration information is online at: http://njlaconference.info/ The early registration deadline is May 13th.
SCARLA Panel on Outreach in Academic Libraries
By Roslyn Grandy
SCARLA hosted a panel on outreach and programming in academic libraries that was coordinated by Roslyn Grandy, secretary of SCARLA. It was held on Tuesday, March 25th at 6:30 at the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers. Outreach is often addressed in the school or public library setting, but there is little said in MLIS classes or written in library science literature about outreach at colleges and universities. We consider it an important topic because forming and strengthening connections with the students and staff at our respective institutions is vital to raising awareness of our resources and services.
We had four excellent panelists who presented on outreach activities they have conducted and answered questions afterward. Our first presenter was Megan Lotts, Art Librarian at Rutgers University. Here are some of the ideas she discussed:
Our next two panelists were Amanda Piekart, Information Literacy Instructional Designer at Berkeley College, and Bonnie Lafazan, Library Director at Berkeley College. They gave a joint presentation, which was adapted from the one they gave at the VALE 2014conference. (Editor’s Note: See their article in this issue about successful programming in academic
libraries.)
The last panelist was Heather Dalal, Instruction and Emerging Technologies Librarian at Rider
University.
Discussion:
Roslyn Grandy is secretary of SCARLA, the Student College, Academic, and Research Libraries Association at Rutgers University.
How to Lead the Way for Lifelong Learning through Successful Programming
By Bonnie Lafazan and Amanda Piekart
Academic librarians frequently wear many hats in serving our library users, but there are various ways we can reach our community beyond our library walls. Library programming provides librarians the opportunity to be the face of our libraries, actively collaborate with other departments, and reach a diverse population of users. Here is an example of some successful programs created by Berkeley College Libraries: https://www.youtube.com/v/0n7KYC1I2Rs%26feature=youtu.be
In order to create successful programs that lead the way for lifelong learning, there are several components that should be considered: incorporate lifelong learning literacies; outreach and collaboration and choosing the appropriate delivery method in order to reach your diverse populations.
Incorporate Lifelong Learning Literacies
In order to create programs to inspire students to learn new interests and become lifelong learners, you may consider programming ideas that go beyond the curriculum and beyond our typical information literacy instruction programs. Ways in which to do so is to explore other types of literacies such as digital, consumer, arts & cultural and demystifying the complexity of learning new things.
For example, a digital literacy program such as “Tech Trends Series” or a “Productivity Tools and Apps”; a consumer literacy program where students learn to use popular consumer websites (i.e. WebMD, PC World, Consumer Reports); an arts & cultural literacy event where librarians take students to local museums and libraries; and/or presentation on 3-D printing or e-readers in order to help demystify the complexity of learning about new trends.
Outreach and Collaboration
Once you have created your program idea using one of the literacies mentioned above, you should consider getting away from your desk and go out and reach your users! Attend other programs on campus, participate in information literacy instruction activities, get involved in student clubs (perhaps become an advisor to a club); or participate in a college-wide community service day. By attending other programs and getting involved in the community, not only will your students and community see librarians as leaders on campus, but you’ll be able to establish meaningful relationships with staff and faculty which will open the door for future collaboration opportunities.
Some departments you may consider collaborating with are Student Development, Academic Support Center, Career Services, Faculty and/or perhaps a multi-department collaboration. One opportunity to collaborate with various departments is for National Information Literacy Month. A successful program at Berkeley College held during National Information Literacy Month was “OMG-Will Texting Destroy the English Language?” This was a multi-department collaboration where a panel consisted of a representative from the Library, Academic Support Center and Faculty.
Array of Delivery Methods to Reach Diverse Populations
When creating library programming, it is important to use an array of delivery methods to reach your diverse population of users (i.e. evening students, commuters, online students). For example, for students short on time, you might consider holding short programs. For evening students; a library meet and greet with coffee and light refreshments; for gamers, chess tournaments or Wii tournaments; for employees and faculty, a film club; for online students a three-month long Book Club discussion via Facebook; and for students who would not normally attend library programming, tying a class to come to the event. Remember, it’s not just the audience you reach, but how you reach them. One method for successful delivery of a program is rather than having a one-shot event, is to have the event run all quarter or semester long (i.e. online book discussion or film club) in order to give all patrons an opportunity to participate. One successful way to deliver programming at Berkeley College has been via Google Hangouts on Air which allows you to record your event as its happening and then link it to YouTube for future viewings.
Conclusion
As an academic librarian, you have to think beyond your daily tasks: You can no longer can stay behind your desk and wait for your community to come to you. In order for libraries to continue to thrive, especially in the current digital age where we continually have to justify our value to our community and our stakeholders, it is our job to become the leaders in our college communities through successful library programming. When creating your next program, consider these components and you too can lead the way for lifelong learning through successful library programs.
Bonnie Lafazan, Director, Woodbridge Campus Library, Berkeley College and Amanda Piekart, Information Literacy Instructional Designer recently presented “Off the Ropes and Away from the Desk: How to Lead the Way for Lifelong Learning Through Successful Programming” at the VALE / NJ ACRL / NJLA CUS Fifteenth Annual Users' Conference on January 10, 2014 at Rutgers University in Piscataway, NJ and at SCARLA’s Panel on Outreach in Academic Libraries on March 25, 2014 at Rutgers School of Communication and Information in New Brunswick, NJ.
Announcements
The College of New Jersey
Dr. Yuji Tosaka, Cataloging/Metadata Librarian, TCNJ Library, is co-PI on a project awarded a 2014 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians Program grant for $498,773. Drexel University, College of Computing & Informatics’ Dr. Jung-ran Park, Associate Professor, is the PI and Dr. Christopher C. Yang, Associate Professor, is also a co-PI. The three-year project, “Building a Workforce of Next Generation Librarians for 21st Century Global Information Access,” will develop a new approach to providing access to resources and opportunities for all levels of cataloging and metadata professionals nationwide. It will feature the building of a self-sustaining digital repository for professional development resources to support self-directed lifelong professional learning; a collaborative virtual platform for professionals to communicate, mentor, and share library projects, applications, and best practices; and an open-source webinar series with sequential learning modules to enhance professional knowledge and skills about current developments and emerging trends in the field.
Felician College
At Felician College, construction has begun on an Education Commons, to be administered by the Felician College Libraries, in what was originally the Messler Library of Fairleigh Dickinson University's Rutherford campus. The project will bring a full complement of library services to the campus and balance them with services already provided on the college's Lodi campus. In 1998 the college acquired the Rutherford campus, and the library is the last building to be renovated and re-opened. The Education Commons will contain smart classrooms for research instruction, eight group study rooms of varying sizes, a media/editing lab, seminar room, all-hours computer laboratory, commons space for collaboration and peer-to-peer exchange, additional gathering spaces, and a café. Representatives of the Center for Learning and Information Technology will maintain a presence in the Education Commons as well. The architects for the project are Arcari + Iovino of Little Ferry.
Paul Glassman, Director of Library Services & Associate Professor, received a Summer 2014 Hybrid Course Development Grant from the Division of Continuing Studies at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, for Art Librarianship, a course he developed and has taught during summer semesters at Rutgers since 2003. Half of the class sessions will be online, with the remainder featuring guest speakers on their areas of expertise, such as appraisal, image management, integrated access to art information, and artists' books.
He also received a grant from the Council of Independent Colleges for four faculty members (two from Library Services, one from Religious Studies, and one from Philosophy) to attend an information fluency workshop in Charleston, South Carolina in February. (Because of a snow storm on February 13, 2014, the workshop was postponed to 2015.)
In late February Professor Glassman hosted a Fulbright Scholar from Moscow, Victor Zverevich, who shares an interest in library design and space planning. (See Rutgers University announcements below.) At VALEnj's 2014 Annual Users' Conference, Professor Glassman presented the workshop Library Renovation Dos and Don'ts on developing a project team to ensure full participation by user groups in the design process. For the forthcoming Small Library Manager's Handbook, edited by Alice Graves and to be co-published by the Medical Library Association and Rowman & Littlefield in 2014, he contributed a chapter on the same topic.
Georgian Court University
Jeffrey C. Donnelly, M.L.S., M.A., Systems Librarian, Health & Exercise Science Librarian was promoted to Associate Librarian.
Rowan University
Lisa Price, MSLIS, Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine Health Sciences Library, recently completed two CE courses offered by the National Library of Medicine. After completing a six-week online course, Fundamentals of Bioinformatics and Searching, Lisa was invited to attend a five-day in-depth class, Librarian’s Guide to NCBI, in Bethesda, MD. This class provided 19 Librarians from all across the country an opportunity to learn about the variety of genetics databases available at the National Center for Biomedical Research (NCBI) and introduced effective search techniques for each. Lisa is excited about using her new skills to support RowanSOM’s faculty and student researchers, through both reference services and instructional resources.
Rutgers University
Bonnie Fong, Physical Sciences Librarian and Coordinator of Emerging Technologies at the John Cotton Dana Library, has published an article in an open access peer-reviewed journal:
Bonnie L. Fong. (2014). “Searching for the Formula: How Librarians Teach Chemistry Graduate Students Research Skills.” Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 75. DOI:10.5062/F4J1014M
Rutgers community members now have an attractive new space, with many more options, in the John Cotton Dana Library. A newly renovated and expanded computing laboratory on the first floor offers 96 all-in-one PCs, a work space for students using personal mobile devices, three black and white printers, and one color printer. New furniture in the computing lab increases student work space. New reservation software being piloted in the laboratory allows students to reserve a computer with the click of a button. The laboratory will be monitored by a full time employee and three lab consultants, situated at a new service desk located next to the Dana Library Reference Desk. See the full story at http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/news/newly-expanded-computer-lab-dana-library
Fulbright Scholar Victor Zverevich, formerly the head of the department of research and development at the Moscow City Library Center, arrived in November 2013 and began his research in the Alexander Library. Victor’s research project focuses on “Virtual Space and the US Academic and Public Libraries: Structure, Operation, Services.” It looks at the way libraries arrange their “virtual” spaces (websites and/or pages in social media), the services libraries provide to their users in “virtual” mode (from websites and/or pages in social media) and users’ accessibility of those services. He chose to study the Rutgers University Libraries because, in many ways, it represents a close to ideal type of virtually connected library system. A cohesive central library administration enables individual library facilities on Rutgers campuses across the state to fluidly share human resources and library materials. The Rutgers library system also works with a broad range of regional and national library consortia, encompassing academic and public libraries, allowing the system to provide a robust range of services that no one library could possible offer on its own. See the full story at: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/news/fulbright-scholar-russia-studying-ru-libraries
In the upcoming academic year (2014-2015) five librarians in the Rutgers University Libraries will be ‘walking the walk’ of their faculty colleagues, by teaching Byrne Seminars courses. Undergraduate Academic Affairs on the New Brunswick campuses offers 1-credit courses called Byrne Seminars for first-year students, taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty, limited to 20 students. The purpose of the seminars is to offer new students the opportunity to engage with each other and faculty around a topic of mutual interest. The five librarians will offer Byrne Seminar classes on topics certain to appeal to incoming students. The librarians are: Music and Performing Arts Librarian Jonathan Sauceda; Latin American, African, Latino, Spanish and Portuguese Studies Liaison Librarian, Melissa Gasparotto; Instructional Design/Education Librarian Leslin Charles; Chemistry and Physics Librarian Laura Palumbo; and Engineering Librarian Connie Wu. See the full story at: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/news/five-librarians-slated-teach-byrne-seminar-classes
Seton Hall University
Elizabeth Leonard, Assistant Dean for Information Technology, Resources Acquisition, & Description, has two publications to announce:
Leonard, Elizabeth, and Erin McCaffrey, eds. Virtually Embedded: The Librarian in an Online Environment. Chicago: ACRL, 2014. Print.
Leonard, Elizabeth. "Taste Testing Scholarly and Popular Content to Learn about Authority and Information Context." The Embedded Librarian's Cookbook. Chicago: ACRL, 2014. N. pag. Print. Forthcoming.
Middlesex County College Library Unveils a New Archives Room
By Adriana Kuzyszyn
The Middlesex County College Library in Edison is pleased to announce a revamped and reorganized Archives. Chartered by the Middlesex County College Board of Trustees in 1983,the mission of the Archives is to collect and preserve college publications, correspondence, photographs, drawings, sound recordings,
video recordings, ephemera and other materials that document the history of Middlesex County College, the faculty, students and staff. The room in which the Archives had previously been housed proved insufficient for the growing collection. Mark Thompson, Library Director, saw less than ideal conditions coupled with the approaching fiftieth anniversary of Middlesex County College as an ideal reason to spearhead a renovation of the Archives.
The new home of the Archives serves two functions. The redesigned area has dedicated space for both collection storage and user access. A temperature and humidity controlled room contains the collection’s materials. In addition to increased shelving for storage, a new cabinet was purchased to house event posters, theater advertisements, and large objects.
The Archives is particularly well suited to serving the needs of researchers now due to the creation of a user area. The former Archives did not have a proper space within which patrons could use archival materials. For this reason, the front-end of the new Archives was designed with researchers in mind. A computer, copier/scanner, microfilm reader, and large table accommodate the needs of students, staff, alumni, and the public.
The Middlesex County College Library is thrilled to present this new space to researchers and has received an array of requests to access materials since the redesign’s completion. An appointment is required to visit the Archives. For more information about the Archives and to submit a request to research, visit the College Archives LibGuide at http://middlesexcc.libguides.com/archives.
Adriana Kuzyszyn is a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Middlesex County College.
Questions for New Jersey Curriculum Materials and Education Librarians
By Sheila Kirven
Who are we?
As defined by the Guidelines for Curriculum Materials Centers (2003, rev.2008, p.1) (http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/aboutacrl/direc...), the Curriculum Materials Librarian is in charge of "…a physical location of a curriculum materials collection. Curriculum materials centers are often housed in a main campus library, a branch library building, or in an academic building housing the campus education academic programs". This collection consists of "…educational resources that provide curriculum and instructional experiences for P-12 students. These materials are used by educators to develop curricula and lesson plans and may also be used in actual instructional situations with P-12 students. These materials also provide information for those doing research."
The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (2003, 2nd ed.), vol. 2 edited by Miriam Drake, p.972, describes an Education Librarian as a subject specialist in a variety of libraries including academic libraries who "…support inquiry in education and the preparation of teachers at all levels" Shonda Brisco in Chapter 10 of Curriculum Materials Collections and Centers: Legacies from the past, visions of the future (2012), p.202 notes the transformation of curriculum materials centers into a “collection of K-12 textbooks, theoretical print materials, and curriculum guides housed separately within the library’s main collection”. This is usually the collection over which the Education Librarian presides.
Where are we?
It is a bit more difficult to discover where and how many of these specialized librarians are currently in higher education institutions. At the beginning of this year Judy Walker, Margaret Gregor, Rita Kohrman, Lorna Lueck, and Linda Teel produced a survey (http://uncc.surveyshare.com/s/AYACBWC) to be used in the compilation of a new Directory of Curriculum Materials Centers and Collections. As of February, 2014 only three librarians in New Jersey had filled out the survey.
How do we connect professionally?
In 1998, I became the Curriculum Librarian at the newly minted New Jersey City University formerly Jersey City State College. In the first few years of my tenure, I was transformed from a Curriculum Librarian to an Education Librarian.
As an Education (Services) Librarian, my collection was on the open shelves of the library and I became a subject specialist offering reference services with my colleagues and maintaining the education and juvenile collections. As I did, when I was a Curriculum Librarian, I acted as the Library Liaison to the College of Education.
I did feel rather isolated, but that changed when Yvonne Roux, Curriculum Librarian at William Paterson University, reached out to me and invited me to a meeting of the Education Curriculum Materials Center Interest Group of ACRL/NY. I met other Curriculum Materials Librarians who had the same interests, issues and concerns that I did. I was also introduced to the Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) Listserv (http://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/ebss/eb...) in which I could connect virtually and nationally with librarians in mine and related disciplines.
I am now the co-chair of the Education/Curriculum Librarian's Group, Metro NY/NJ, the successor to the ACRL/NY Curriculum Materials Center Interest Group. It is a group of education/curriculum librarians who meet virtually or in person two to three times a year to discuss issues of education, librarianship and management of our collections or to attend workshops of interest. There are no membership fees or affiliation requirements. Our members are from institutions in both New York and New Jersey. (Please contact me at skirven@njcu.edu if you are interested in joining.)
What can we do for the future?
I was lucky to connect with a group of Curriculum Materials and Education Librarians early in my career. But, many of us still remain unconnected. Many traditional Curriculum Librarians have been transformed into subject specialists (Education Librarians). I hope that these subject specialists will also connect with their colleagues through the survey, (http://uncc.surveyshare.com/s/AYACBWC), so we can get an adequate count of how many of us there are and what are our collections and duties. We are in a transformative time and it would help to take a snapshot now of our present realities so that we can come together and plan for our futures.
Why does it matter?
In a time of increasing standards for educational professionals and the P-12 students they teach, as well as increasing assessments in higher education, we need to provide all stakeholders in P-20 education with the required tools and knowledge to succeed. A well-equipped Curriculum Materials Center (with print, digital, and virtual tools) and a model instructional program can foster the teacher/librarian collaboration that enhances K-12 student learning and achievement (Yoder, K., Curriculum Materials Collections and Centers, 2012, p.202). Similarly, I believe an effective Education Librarian/Liaison with an enhanced collection of P-12 texts, juvenile literature, and access to print, digital and virtual tools supported by the library administration and the College of Education can foster collaboration and outreach that enhance pre-service teacher experiences and achievement.
Working in isolation and separately from this very connected higher education world is not a viable alternative. We first have to identify ourselves and our resources, and then communicate our issues and concerns with one another.
If you are an Education Librarian or a Curriculum Materials Librarian, please fill out the survey at http://uncc.surveyshare.com/s/AYACBWC. If you are interested in communicating with local professionals, please contact me at skirven@njcu.edu to join the Education/Curriculum Librarian's Group, Metro NY/NJ.
Sheila Kirven is the Education Services Librarian at New Jersey City University.
The Future of Technology in Education: The Adoption of Chromebooks in Academia
by Amy B. Popp
Increasingly, universities, as well as primary and secondary schools in the United States and throughout the world will replace traditional desktop personal computers with mobile technology. The most popular devices being chosen are Chromebooks and iPads. Research has shown that the addition of Chromebooks, in particular, are a cost-effective alternative to desktop computers, iPads and other mobile technology. More and more universities are adopting Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks are a perfect accompaniment to this program.
There are several reasons Chromebooks are gaining popularity in universities. These devices are portable, inexpensive, and support Google Apps for Education. However, there are pros and cons to using Chromebooks versus traditional desktop computers. One of the strongest selling points for Chromebooks is that they are extremely affordable. On average, prices for these devices range from $250 to $300 a piece (see Table 1). Large institutions can usually negotiate discounted rates as well.
In the article, “The Hard(ware) Choice”, author Jennifer Demski discusses the reasons administrators in several different schools chose to purchase Chromebooks and tablets over computers. One administrator said, “The Chromebook stood out as a device that would meet our needs based on the seamless integration with Google Apps for Education...a full web browser to support web 2.0 tools, and a management console that easily enables us to register devices, filter access from home, and push out apps to all devices. The Chromebook also stood out because of the long battery life, instant Chrome OS updates, and virus protection.”
Another positive aspect of Chromebooks is that they give the appearance of a traditional, albeit small, laptop, but run on the Chrome operating system, simply allowing for work on applications hosted online. If a university has implemented Google Apps for Education, the addition of Chromebooks is a natural choice (Alcaidinho, 2014). Faculty and students do not need additional instruction on how to use Chrome applications because they have already been using them. Chromebooks also are designed for more productivity than tablets. Tablets are great for surfing the Internet, watching a movie, reading books, and interactive learning. But Chromebooks enable users to create documents, spreadsheets, slide shows, and simple videos; they also have a laptop-like keyboard that makes typing easy (Ng, 2013). These projects can be worked on collaboratively through sharing settings and also submitted to teachers for a grade. In addition, there are many applications available for free or little cost to users of Chromebooks. Some of the most popular are Pixlr Editor, Evernote, and WeVideo (Ng, 2013).
One of the biggest negative aspects of replacing computers with Chromebooks is that students are limited to applications found in the Chrome store or in Google Drive (Google Documents, Slides, Spreadsheets, etc.). If a student has gotten used to using Microsoft products, they would need to convert them to Google applications to continue work on them. Chromebooks run only online applications so software such as Photoshop, Movie Maker, iMovie, Dreamweaver, etc. are not available to students. Students would have to use online applications found in the Chrome store. These online products do not allow students to do advanced photo, video editing, coding, or other advanced operations (Hepburn, 2013). In his article, “Mastering Computers”, Goldsborough comments, “If you need heavy-duty horsepower for computer-aided design, computer programming, music or video editing, or serious gaming, the best choice in personal computing, better than laptops or tablets, remains a desktop PC.” Therefore, universities definitely should have some labs with desktop computers for student use.
The addition of mobile devices such as Chromebooks in schools is certainly one of the most popular and ongoing trends in technology in education. The adoption of this technology will only increase in the next five to ten years. Desktop computers will be needed less and less in schools; the desirable technology will be increasingly easy to transport and use. A review of recent research suggests that Chromebooks are the most economic and functional alternative to desktop computers. However, it is important for universities to have several labs with desktop computers when students need to use specialized software. In the coming years, there is one certainty: the type of learning tools that are selected for schools may change, but the desire for mobile, cost-effective tools will remain.
References
Alcaidinho, J. (2014). Strength and charm. School Library Journal, 60(3), 15.
Asher-Schapiro, A., & Hermeling, A. (2013). Racing the iPad in K12 Education. District Administration, 49(4), 70-73. Chacos, B. (2013). What's with all the Chromebooks?. PC World, 31(4), 15.
Chase, J. E. (2012). Chromebooks help raise bar. District Administration, 48(10), 22-24 Chromebooks Increasingly popular with schools. (2013). Electronic Education Report, 20(21), 1-7.
Goldsborough, R. (2014). Mastering computers. Tech Directions, 73(8), 12.
Hepburn, H. (2013). Cost of tablets for schools becomes easier to swallow. The Times Educational Supplement Scotland, (2308), 6.
Kellner, T. (2012). What Google's new Chromebook says about the future. Washington Times, The (DC), 9.
Marshalltown Schools move towards digital instruction with Chromebooks. (2013). Electronic Education Report, 20(20), 1-3. More districts choosing Chromebooks for education. (2012). Electronic Education Report, 19(3), 3-4.
Takahashi, P. (2013, June 20). Clark County students cleared to start bringing own laptops, tablets to school. The Las Vegas Sun.
Ng, S. Y. (2013, Jun 03). Living in the cloud with chrome. The Business Times.
Popp, A. (2013, Spring). Google Apps for Education surpasses expectations. CUS/ACRL NJ Newsletter. Renda, A. (2012). Competition, neutrality and diversity in the cloud. Communications & Strategies, 85(1), 23-44,222.
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Amy B. Popp is a School Library Media Specialist, Technology teacher, Webmaster, and Public Relations Coordinator at Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair, NJ. She holds an MSLIS from Drexel University. Currently, she is attaining her post-graduate certification in School Library Media Specialization at Seton Hall University. As the Google Apps for Education Administrator at Immaculate Conception High School, she plans to continue exploring new uses for Google Apps for Education, as well as Chromebooks, in secondary and higher education. Her e-mail address is amybpopp@gmail.com.