Spring 2020 CUS/ACRL-NJ Newsletter

From the President

By Cara Berg

NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ Chapter President

The first call for submissions to this newsletter came out on February 10. I remember reading that and thinking about what I was going to write: focusing on the VALE Conference and the upcoming NJLA Conference where, as in previous years, we would have strong academic librarian representation.

It is now two months later and things are so very different. I’ve been so in awe of my colleagues from across the state – how we have all been collaborating and working tirelessly to ensure the library services are still available even when the library buildings are physically closed.

Your ACRL-NJ/NJLA CUS Executive Board still continues our work during this! We sent a statement to the governor’s office echoing NJLA’s statement about the need to close libraries during the pandemic. We have still held our monthly meetings although there are conversations about adjusting to our new normal, however long it may last. Our committees have continued to meet as well: picking award winners, preparing for next year’s slate, and promoting workshops and initiatives. The art of meeting remains important – I can say that it’s great to see my colleagues virtually and talk together about how we’re all getting through this.

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the VALE Conference, which somehow feels like it happened at least a year ago. I am hopeful that soon we’ll be able to conference again, in-person. No matter what, your ACRL-NJ/NJLA CUS Executive Board will still be hard at work for our members and our communities, whether we’re still working at home or back in person on campus.

Stay safe and healthy, New Jersey!

Cara Berg is a reference librarian at William Paterson University. She can be reached at bergc1@wpunj.edu.

VALE Updates

By Melissa Lena, VALE Program Manager

The COVID-19 pandemic reached New Jersey in early March. By March 18th, Governor Murphy ordered all public and private schools in the state, including institutions of higher education, to close as part of a wide-ranging effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Despite this statewide shutdown of campuses, many college and university libraries remained open. These administrators said the libraries were critical for the migration to online instruction and would remain open with limited hours. Libraries responded with a range of prevention and mitigation measures, including increased cleaning by library and custodial staff, providing hand sanitizer for patrons, canceling public events, and expanding remote work policies for staff.

Academic librarians were gravely concerned about this mandate to work despite their exposure risks to the coronavirus outbreak. Amid these growing concerns, and with thanks to the advocacy of the New Jersey Library Association, Governor Murphy ordered the mandatory closure of all libraries in the state until further notice, including academic libraries, on March 21st.

During this time, our libraries have and will continue to serve their campus communities; albeit now entirely through virtual means. Members have created their own Coronavirus/COVID-19 guides that can be found on their library’s homepage, with information related to how they are adapting to serve users’ needs. These guides include library-specific policy changes, general resources on pandemic education, prevention and preparation, and access instructions to the library's online collections. Library staff remain available virtually to assist with research and reference needs via phone, email, texting, and chat services.

As an academic library consortium, VALE continues to serve its members. On March 13th, the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) issued a Statement on the Global COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Library Services and Resources; which was endorsed by the VALE Executive Committee. The statement “is intended to help publishers and other content providers from whom we license electronic information resources and purchase printed content understand better how the current global COVID-19 pandemic affects the worldwide information community. Its second purpose is to suggest a range of approaches that we believe are in the mutual best interest of libraries and the providers of information services.”

VALE and its member libraries are responding to a range of complexities in a time of great unknowns. Our mission to “further excellence in learning and research through innovative and collaborative approaches to information resources and services” remains salient. We will continue to adapt in these changing and difficult times.

VALE 2020 Conference

Berkeley College librarians Bonnie Lafazan, Ryan Norman, Susan Van Alstyne, Maria Deptula and Amanda Piekart attend the VALE 2020 Conference in Long Branch, NJ.

Gary Marks, Jr. (WPU) is this month's Member Spotlight

Be sure to read the Member Spotlight on the NJLA CUS / ACRL-NJ website to learn more about Gary Marks, Jr., a librarian at William Paterson University!

Announcements

Georgian Court University

Part-time librarian Steven J. Maricic recently had his novel, Defense Mechanism, published by Speaking Volumes. Available for purchase on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/y8s3c6me

Montclair State University

Montclair State’s Institutional Repository Team was honored with the second annual Karen Hunter Memorial Award sponsored by Elsevier. Under the leadership of Sprague Library Dean Judith Lin Hunt, team members include Mei Ling Chow, Kathleen Hughes, Siobhan McCarthy, Paul Martinez, Denise O’Shea, Karen Ramsden, and Darren Sweeper. Since the public launch in April 2018, the repository showed a 96 percent increase in downloads by early 2020. Their project has enhanced research and collaboration while contributing great value to the university. Please see the following Library Connect article for more information: https://libraryconnect.elsevier.com/articles/ir-outreach-and-partnership-yield-award-winning-results

Ramapo College of New Jersey

Leigh Keller, Serials/Information Literacy Coordinator, was appointed Interim Library Director in Summer 2019.

2020 NJLA CUS / ACRL-NJ Distinguished Service Award

Heather A. Dalal, Associate Professor - Librarian at Rider University, is the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Service Award, granted by the New Jersey Library Association’s College and University Section/Association of College and Research Libraries New Jersey chapter (NJLA-CUS/ACRL-NJ). This honor is awarded annually to an individual who, by their outstanding contributions, has directly enriched the profession of librarianship in New Jersey. This award honors Heather’s leadership on behalf of libraries, librarians and the library profession in New Jersey.

Heather served as ACRL-NJ vice president (2015-2016) and president (2016-2017), and she has also long participated as both member and chair of the User Education Committee. Currently she is the chair of the Research Committee and newly formed Strategic Planning committee. Since 2013, she has been an active member of the ACRL Distance Learning Section (DLS). She has also served on the DLS Instruction Committee and the Standards Committee, and is currently serving on the Nominations Committee and as co-chair as of the Strategic Planning Committee.

At Rider University, Heather has served on many committees that bring her library and information science expertise into higher education, such as the President’s Faculty Advisory Committee, Learning Management Systems Committee, the Shared Read Committee, the First Year Experience Task Force, and the Provost's Intellectual Climate Committee, to name just a few. She has also led Rider's information literacy assessment (IL) on campus and coordinated Rider’s involvement in the statewide IL assessment project of 2017. When Middle States in 2014 omitted IL from accreditation criteria, she advocated to reinstate IL by helping write the letter on behalf of New Jersey librarians. And when ACRL in 2014-15 was taking comments about the switch from its IL Standards to the Framework for Information Literacy, Heather led the chorus of NJ voices raising concerns about how this would affect the teaching and assessment of IL on our campuses, which became known as the “NJ Open Letter.”

Heather's scholarship is ongoing, tending to focus on improving students' information literacy skills and how to increase awareness of library resources. Dalal has authored and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed articles as well as a book and book chapter. She has also written conference papers and presented on her research nationally and internationally.

Heather’s contributions to librarianship span several of the categories considered for the Distinguished Service Award: service in professional associations, innovation in library services and management, contribution to the literature of librarianship, excellence in teaching, and consistent dedication to the needs of New Jersey academic libraries and librarians. Heather’s commitment to and passion for her work show in her every endeavor.

Congratulations, Heather!

2020 NJLA CUS / ACRL-NJ Research Award Winner

Congratulations to Dr. Sharon Whitfield, Rider University, the winner of the 2020 NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ Research Award for her publication, “Women Technology Librarians as Good Citizens,” published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship (Volume 45, Issue 5, September 2019). Her qualitative research is focused on women technology librarians and their organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), specifically helping behaviors, within a gendered profession, as well as how their experiences identify how OCB perpetuates a lack of organizational justice, gender segregation, and inequity within the contemporary academic library. This study reveals some of the structural and cultural barriers that women librarians in technological roles face. Dr. Whitfield thoughtfully recommends changes in practice, policy, and research in order that the gauntlet that women face can be interrogated and a transformation can begin.

Please join us in congratulating Sharon!

The Librarian's Guide to Teaching Podcast

NJLA CUS Reference & User Education Committee co-chair, Amanda Piekart (Berkeley College) along with Jessica Kiebler (Pace University) have recently combined their passion for podcasts and information literacy instruction and started The Librarian's Guide to Teaching podcast! They are interested in sharing their experiences teaching information literacy, discussing current trends, and having meaningful conversations about librarianship! Recent episode topics include diving into The 2020 Horizon Report, storytelling in education and an interview with the co-author of the recent Project Information Literacy algorithm report, Barbara Fister. They welcome listener suggestions for upcoming episodes and host conversations on librarianship and teaching at the podcast Twitter account @Librarian_Guide.

The bi-weekly podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Overcast and Spotify as well as additional platforms.

VALE OER Ambassadors: Creating a Community of Practice

By Alison Cole, Felician University; Ken Karol, Passaic County Community College; Janet Marler, Ocean County College; and Marilyn N. Ochoa, Middlesex County College

Note: The OER Ambassadors can also be contacted at njoerambassadors@gmail.com

Introduction

For the 2019-2020 academic year, The Virtual Academic Library Environment (VALE), a consortium of 50 New Jersey college and university libraries and the New Jersey State Library, appointed four academic librarians to serve as Open Educational Resources (OER) Ambassadors. VALE envisioned that the OER Ambassadors would act as leaders and mentors for OER adoption and OER practices across NJ institutions. The goal was to support individual institution’s implementation of OER while providing a mechanism for institutions in NJ to forge collaborative ventures and cooperative efforts.

In late February of 2019, VALE held two days of training conducted by the Open Textbook Network. Over 125 participants were trained on OER and its adoption.. Within a week of the workshops, VALE solicited applications for the four statewide OER Ambassador positions.

Summer 2019

On June 13th, 2019, the VALE OER Summit was held at Raritan Valley Community College. The ambassadors met in person for the first time and conducted a “Meet Your OER Ambassadors” breakout session. Information gathered from its discussion helped inform a survey vehicle to identify where institutions stood in key areas of OER adoption and to determine the type(s) of support that would be needed. The survey responses indicated that almost 97% of respondents’ institutions planned to adopt OER. About 24% of respondents had no OER courses at their schools; just under half responded that there was at least one OER course. A small percentage (12%) indicated 5-9 OER courses, with 3 respondents indicated 20 or more courses were utilizing OER materials. Given the high level of institutional interest in OER, and the lack of actual adoption of OER, there was a real desire and need for education on how to find, use, create and implement OER in instruction.

The ambassadors attended the Open Textbook Network’s Summer Institute and Summit (OTNSI) in July 2019. Following the OTNSI, the OER Ambassadors have led a one year, coordinated, statewide effort to advance OER and textbook affordability in NJ higher education. This work has primarily been done by visiting institutions and providing workshops, collecting data from institutions, participating in OTN’s Google Group and VALE’s OER listserv, and networking with librarians and faculty across institutions to form collaborative relationships around OER implementation.

A VALE OER committee was formed and charged with leading and coordinating VALE’s OER efforts. The committee consists of an EC member, the four OER ambassadors, and the OTN administrative contact. In addition to the ambassadors, 2019-2020 committee members are: Greg Fallon, Co-Chair; Steve Chudnick, Co-Chair; Kurt Wagner, VALE Executive Committee Chair.

OER at Ramapo College

By Hilary Westgate

Since 2017, librarians at Ramapo College have been working steadily on the College’s OER initiatives, beginning when librarians Sam Wittenberg and Hilary Westgate attended the Northeast Regional OER Summit at the University of Massachusetts in 2017 and 2019. More recently, Hilary attended the New Jersey OER Summit in 2019, and both attended multiple VALE and Open Textbook Network trainings, workshops, and conference sessions offered in New Jersey. A professional staff member in our Instructional Design Center (IDC) also attended an Open Textbook Network training with us. From what we learned at conferences and workshops, we took the following steps: Created an OER LibGuide to be shared with Ramapo faculty (https://libguides.ramapo.edu/oer); presented to fellow librarians; presented multiple workshops for faculty with the Faculty Resource Center (FRC) and at our College’s Faculty Development Day; presented to all Unit Councils (the meetings of each school within the College), and sent targeted emails to faculty with offers to assist in finding OER, setting up meetings when applicable.

We learned that first we had to share what OER and Open Access actually mean, why they might be worth using, and where to find them before we could hope to increase their use on our campus. Workshops and presentations to faculty have been helpful throughout the past few years, but we do encounter the common related questions about these resources, such as their reliability and quality, review processes, ‘publishing’ processes, accessibility, longevity, availability in specialized subject areas, and more. These are all completely reasonable questions, and the workshops and conferences helped us to understand and share the answers to many of them. We always stress that faculty have the final say in their choice of materials, and we hope to simply offer them options and ideas for lower-cost, high-quality alternatives.

College-wide, the RCNJ Student Government Association wrote and passed a bill in November 2017 asking faculty to consider using more Open Access materials and/or OER in selecting course materials, in order to reduce costs for students. A few months later, the Faculty Assembly voted to create a campus OER Task Force with these goals:

Raise awareness among the faculty about the benefits of OER and how OER can be implemented in their courses;
Identify areas that will achieve the greatest financial savings for the most students; and
Work with faculty and other stakeholders to transition course materials to OER or other cost saving materials in the areas identified.

Half a Million in Savings and Counting: OER Efforts at Raritan Valley Community College

By Megan Dempsey

Raritan Valley Community College has been offering faculty mini-grants for converting courses to zero-textbook costs since May, 2018. The Evelyn S. Field Library has been spearheading this initiative, advocating for the creation of the OER Steering Committee, working with the RVCC Foundation to seek donor funding for faculty mini-grants, providing professional development and assistance with finding OER, and managing data collection for the initiative. As of December, 2019, this program has realized $455,486.50 in student textbook savings. Enrollments and annual savings can be viewed on our Student Savings data dashboard. Savings data for the current spring semester will be collected soon, and we anticipate total savings to approach close to $1 million with the cumulative savings of courses that have already converted and the addition of new courses each semester.

Our approach to textbook affordability has been broad and flexible, rather than strictly OER adoption. Faculty converting to z-courses use a combination of openly licensed educational materials and copyrighted “free-to-student" materials. In addition, some courses run every section using free course materials while other courses only have z-sections taught by specific faculty. For example, three faculty teaching Introduction to Business collaborated on a grant-funded project to adopt the open textbook Fundamentals of Business from Virginia Tech and create all of the supplemental materials (including Alexa skills) that were needed to support a large number of adjunct faculty teaching the course. On the other hand, Introduction to Literature is taught by several different faculty in the English department, some of whom have curated resources to run it as a z-course, others who prefer to continue using a traditional anthology or who supplement free resources with a couple of inexpensive literary texts (a paperback novel, for example).

We are also promoting “low-cost” courses for which materials total less than $45. These include courses like Introduction to Poetry, which uses a text that runs anywhere from $20 used/rented to $40 new, and General Chemistry I & II, which use OpenStax Chemistry: Atoms First supplemented by Knewton access for $44 for two semesters. Giving faculty the flexibility to choose the best method for making their course materials free or low-cost has enabled us to continue to expand our affordability efforts beyond the initial early-adopters of OER. (However, we do not consider publisher inclusive access models to be part of our z-course initiative.)

To engage faculty who have not yet participated in an OER workshop, the Instructional Services Librarian (who chairs the OER Steering Committee) offered a professional development workshop, “Breaking the Textbook Barrier: Why and How to Convert to a Z-course." She had attended the VALE Open Textbook Network trainings last year, and this workshop was modeled after the OTN Faculty Workshop. After the workshop, faculty who attended were invited to submit a review of a textbook from the Open Textbook Library and upon completion, they received a $200 stipend. 21 faculty members registered for the workshop, 17 attended, 14 wrote a textbook review, 3 indicated they would adopt an open textbook, and 12 said they would maybe adopt.

Research Drop-in Room Expands Virtual Services

By the Berkeley College Library

In early March, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced colleges and universities to rapidly adopt to distance learning, academic libraries also had to quickly transition their library services virtually. Virtual library services were nothing new for the Berkeley College Library. Our library already had blazed the trail by providing instruction as embedded librarians for online courses, live chat open 80 hours a week, and a virtual appointment system providing students with research consultations via Zoom video conference. With an Online Campus constituting 30% of our college population, and an additional 20%+ of all student taking at least one online course, the Berkeley College Library collections and research/instructional services were already equipped to provide equal access for both onsite and onsite students.

Even with these virtual services established, we were concerned for our onsite students who were transitioning to the virtual environment for the very first time and would miss out on in-person interactions for research help with their assignments. Our immediate response the creation of a special Libguide that would accentuate our services and resources while the library buildings are closed. The Continuity of Library Services Libguide emphasizes our services and librarians’ availability, as well as provides access to various research support tools, all in one place. While brainstorming about this Continuity Libguide, we also decided to create another Libguide that would organize many “free” offerings available during the pandemics. We linked the Free Resources Guide to the “Continuity of Services” guide, hoping that students and staff would find some of the free resources such a museum tours, free hotspots, ebooks/audible books and workout apps, helpful for themselves or their families. And we were right. Shortly after launching our Libguides, we received an email from one of our coworkers:

“Just wanted to tell you how appreciative I am of you and your team with the Free Resources for kids for the LibGuides. We (As well as my sister and her family) are taking advantage of all of the resources!”

Cheng Library is Here for Students During COVID-19

By Nancy Weiner

“We’re Here for You!” quickly became the message we conveyed to students and faculty once classes moved online and it was determined that the library building would be closed. Based on the video Instructional Design Librarian Tony Joachim created, a similar message was prominently placed on the library homepage that linked to information about our available services, such as 24/7 chat reference, virtual research requests, online instruction, course research guides, databases and tutorials. We also included information about borrowing materials and outstanding loans, along with information about Interlibrary Loan services. We also included various email addresses for students and faculty to contact us if they had any questions.

Another key element highlighted is the libguide, “Free and Enhanced Access to E-Resources During the Coronavirus Restrictions” that Electronic Resources Librarian Richard Kearney created. With many vendors and publishers providing free access to various types of online resources, the guide has become a valuable resource and has been viewed nearly 400 times in a three-week period and we continue to add resources. Helping faculty and students locate electronic versions of textbooks on reserve in the library is just one of the ways that we have been helping to make things easier for students and faculty during this challenging time.

Early on, Provost Josh Powers sent out an email blast to all students and faculty that highlighted available library services. We have continued to convey the message, “We are here for you!” through campus wide email announcements and through direct outreach to faculty. The latter has been done by creating newsletters using the Smore.com website and sent out to departments by their librarian liaisons. This has allowed us to contact faculty directly to highlight available services. Co-Coordinator of User Education, Cara Berg, also contacted faculty with library instruction sessions scheduled to let them know the sessions could be held online. We are pleased to report that most faculty took advantage of the online option. Outreach Librarian Gary Marks is coordinating minute long videos by library faculty and staff for the library’s social media channels that highlight services relevant to our students and faculty.

We're Here for You! @ The Cheng Library can be viewed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9NBP7ZhXvYY

Reconnecting with Each Other in the Current Pandemic

This article is reprinted from the Seton Hall Special Collections and The Gallery Blog: https://blogs.shu.edu/archives/2020/04/reconnecting-with-each-other-in-t...

By Sarah Ponichtera

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life at Seton Hall as it has for millions of others around the country and the world. In the name of saving lives by practicing social distancing, it has scattered us into our homes around the region and the country. Although we are now physically distant from one another, we remain united as Setonians through our connection to Seton Hall.

Seton Hall Commencement, 1885

To reconnect as a community, we seek your stories of what this time has been like for you. We have established a website to submit short personal narratives. We hope that sharing these stories with one another will bring us back together in a new way, through sharing our personal experiences of this moment. When we move forward, because there will be a time when we move forward, we plan to listen to these stories together as a community, reflect on what we have learned, and let them guide us into the future.

To participate, please record a 1-3 minute narrative about your experience, using any video or audio equipment available to you, and submit the file to our e-Repository. Please also submit an image that represents your narrative, which will appear next to your recording in the published archive.

Adapting to Online

By Anthony C. Joachim

At William Paterson University’s Cheng Library, we are constantly looking for ways to improve online learning opportunities for students. Partnerships with liaison departments have often led to virtual information literacy sessions and tutorial ideas. One such partnership has been with the first-year students’ orientation course; known, over the years, as First Year Seminar, Pioneer Success Seminar, and most recently Will.Power.101.

Last summer, long before concerns of a pandemic were even a glimmer on the horizon, Cara Berg and I were invited to join in planning the library module of this introductory course. We proposed a number of workshops for students to learn information literacy skills, while reserving research instruction for subject-based classes. Among these experiences were sessions on avoiding plagiarism, exploring ebooks, and critical evaluation of information.

During the spring semester, we were asked to do a live session during the program’s Library module, for which we planned an ongoing series of webinars throughout the day on April 6th. This would allow us to reach all 52 sections of Will.Power and ensure that all students receive the same content. These webinars were designed around the research process, and used the ACRL Framework’s Information Creation as a Process frame to set learning outcomes.

Unfortunately, everything changed in mid-March of this year with the rise of the coronavirus and its devastating effects on communities around the world. Courses shifted to online and students were forced to adjust to this new way of learning. As always, the library was ready to meet this new challenge by moving services, staff, and even instruction online!

MARAC Fall 2020 Coming to Long Branch

By Bob Golon, Local Arrangements Committee, MARAC NJ

MARAC Fall 2020 is coming to the Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch from October 22nd through the 24th. Mark your calendars because the New Jersey Caucus invites NJLA College and University Section members to three days of informative workshops and programming while enjoying the history and ambience of the northern New Jersey Shore region.

The theme of MARAC Fall 2020 is “Jersey Shore and Sound: Celebrating Music and Harmony in Archival Collections.” The Jersey Shore has famously nurtured a variety of sounds, from jazz to bluegrass, to rock, and many other forms in-between. Join us as we discuss issues such as unique archival needs of the music scene, music’s ability to represent groups commonly left out of the traditional archival record, the archives of little-known and world-renowned musicians past and present, and looking at the collective rhythms of this timeless, diverse, and resonant subject area.

NJLA members are most certainly familiar with our host hotel, the Ocean Place Resort and Spa. Just a short stroll down the boardwalk is Pier Village, an array of over 30 shops and restaurants that appeals to every taste. Enjoy first-rate entertainment at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank or the Pollak Center for the Arts at Monmouth University. To experience the cradle of the Jersey Shore rock culture and sound, visit the Stone Pony, the Wonder Bar and the Paramount Theater in nearby Asbury Park. Of course, your MARAC musical journey would not be complete without a visit to the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University, home of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection. You can also explore the history of the local region at the Church of the Presidents Museum, President Garfield’s Tea House, the Monmouth County Historical Association and the Navesink Twin Lights.

Conveniently located off of Exit 105 of the Garden State Parkway, MARAC Fall 2020 is also accessible via the North Jersey Coast rail line of New Jersey Transit and by bus. Registration and programming details are forthcoming, so keep your eyes on both your chapter newsletter and the conference web page at https://marac2020longbranch.wordpress.com. For additional information, contact the Local Arrangements Committee co-chairs, Tara Maharjan or Melissa Ziobro at tara.maharjan@rutgers.edu or mziobro@monmouth.edu.

Mark your calendars for MARAC Fall 2020 in Long Branch because, as Bruce sings in the Tom Waits composition “Jersey Girl,” “down the shore everything’s alright.”

25th Anniversary of Rowan University’s Campbell Library

By Kathryn Croskey

Faculty, friends, administrators and staff celebrated the 25th anniversary of Rowan University’s Keith and Shirley Campbell Library Feb. 5 with a party that harkened back to 1995, the year the facility opened.

Adding to the theme were a selfie posing station with a backdrop from “Friends,” the nineties TV megahit, “Friends”-inspired t-shirt give-a-ways and live musical performances of 1990s pop tunes.

Campbell Library was built through a bond referendum in 1995, the 118,000 square-foot library replaced Savitz Library. In November 2000, Keith and Shirley Campbell donated $1.5 million to establish an endowment for the Rowan University Library. In recognition of their generosity, the Board of Trustees renamed the facility in their honor. The Campbell Family are the proud owners of Mannington Mills, Salem-based, flooring company founded in 1915.

Scott P. Muir (Associate Provost) speaking to the University President, honored guest Johnny Campbell, librarians, staff and guests.

While the Campbells did not attend the ceremony, their son, Rowan alumnus Johnny Campbell ’08, MBA ’15, said his parents were inspired by University benefactor Henry Rowan, whose $100 million gift forever changed then-Glassboro State College and the region.

“They believed that every great university should have a great library,” Campbell said.

Rowan Associate Provost Scott P. Muir, who leads Rowan University Libraries (Campbell, CMSRU Library and RowanSOM Health Sciences Library), said largely because of the Campbell endowment students have access to many newly renovated spaces. The three libraries together spend nearly $5 million annually to offer a vast amount of information including hundreds of databases, thousands of peer-reviewed electronic journals and a wide collection of print materials.

“One of the things we’re doing now with the Campbell endowment is updating the digital scholarship center with new equipment to enable the creation of research including media, photographs and other materials that are not in print,” Muir said.

Meredith Baubles, a sophomore engineering student from Woolwich Township, was asked to speak at the anniversary celebration representing the student population. Below is an abbreviated version of Meredith’s speech which demonstrates the value and impact of New Jersey libraries.

“Libraries in all forms and sizes have been special places to me for not only information but also inspiration. Whether standing in the 3-story library at Thomas Edison National Historical Park at his Essex county labs, visiting a sculpture at a Camden County library lawn, boarding the Salem County Bookmobile, or volunteering at the Logan branch of the Gloucester County Library System, I have a deep and abiding appreciation for what libraries provide to society and communities everywhere.
My first experience at Campbell Library happened before I was a student at Rowan. My high school history teacher brought the history club to learn about the academic resources available in the community in order to obtain source material for our research paper topics. During the multiple summer meetups, not only were necessary materials available but also the librarians and staff were remarkably helpful and friendly.
Since fall 2018, I’ve spent many days in the Campbell Library. My first stop, besides my classes, on my first day was to explore more of the library with friends.
Libraries have been central to my education both in and outside the classroom, so when I saw information on the Rowan Announcer about the Campbell Student Advisory, I knew I wanted to join. The advisory group meets during the semester and students share feedback on topics regarding the library. Past discussions have included topics like the online resources and wayfinding around the building. Attending and participating in the meetings is a priority for me, because I remain informed and am able to share input about the library.
Whether I’m sitting on the second floor working on assignments, meeting up with friends to socialize on the fourth floor, collaborating with groups on projects in a study room, or attending extracurricular meetings, the library serves as a campus hub for me and many others. I am grateful for the opportunity today to share how important and integral the library is; thank you to everyone at the Campbell Library for being a resource for students; thank you to President Houshmand for being at the helm as Rowan continues to rise; and thank you to the Campbell family for your generosity that has supported students over the past 25 years, now, and in the future.”

Kathryn Croskey is the Marketing & Outreach Specialist for Rowan University Libraries. Kathryn can be reached at croskey@rowan.edu.

The NJLA Professional Development Newsletter

The NJLA Professional Development Newsletter is accepting content on an ongoing basis. Potential topics include:

articles about using tech tools
articles about managing projects, team building, and collaboration
information about past, current, and future professional development opportunities
contributions to one of the ongoing sections below

Every issue includes the following sections and a future issue could focus on you!

Inspiration Corner In this section, the writer will share tips on staying inspired and up-to-date with the profession.
Well, How Did I Get Here?, Pathways to Success In this section, the writer will describe how they arrived at their current position.
NJLA Officers In this new section, an NJLA officer will describe their position and the work that is involved.

Here are copies of our past issues:

If you would like to write an article about professional development amid the COVID-19 pandemic for our next issue, I would need your article by May 10th.

If you have any questions, or would like to contribute to an upcoming issue, please contact Theresa Agostinelli, NJLA Newsletter Editor @ agostinellit@gmail.com

Editors

The CUS/ACRL-NJ Newsletter is edited by Joan Dalrymple, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Bergen Community College and Katie Maricic Cohen, Interlibrary Loan, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Editors Joan Dalrymple and Katie Cohen pose for a picture during the Summer 2015 Marketing and Communications Committee Meeting at Monmouth University Library.