• From the President
• Announcements
• Ray Schwartz Retires from William Paterson University
• VALE Updates
• Seton Hall University Receives State Grant for Collaboration
• Rutgers Graduate Student Chapter Keeps Momentum Going in Challenging Times
• The Human Library at Brookdale Community College
• History, Now and Then: Teaching Historiography and Information Literacy to High School Students
• Treasures in One's Own Backyard: Moon Series Milestone
• CUS Intern Grows from Experience
• 2023 CUS/ACRL-NJ Research Award
• 2023 CUS/ACRL-NJ Technology Award
• On Exhibit: Paul Robeson: Activist, Artist, Actor, Alum
• TikTok: Time to Reflect on the Past Year
• Rutgers University Libraries News

After 27 years with three state universities in New Jersey, Ray Schwartz, Head of Library Information Systems, retired on January 1, 2023. Ray joined the Cheng Library in October 2004 as Systems Librarian, responsible for supporting the Library’s integrated library system and other library technologies. In 2016, Ray was promoted to Head of Library Information Systems. One of his initial tasks was serving as project manager, from implementation to completion, during the library’s transition to the Ex Libris Alma platform.  

Ray has presented and participated at library associations and committees at the regional, national, and international levels for over 30 years. Notable is his involvement with IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations), IGeLU (Joint International Group of Ex Libris Users), ELUNA (Ex Libris Users of North America) and ENUG (Ex Libris Northeast Users Group).  

Ray will continue to be involved in library development, research, and mentoring. In addition, he plans to be more involved with the arts and community issues in Jersey City. Enjoy your retirement, Ray!  

The season of change at VALE, announced in the Fall NJLA newsletter, continues steadily in Spring. After five months on the job, I still don’t fit into Melissa Lena’s shoes, although they’re not as loose as they used to be! Kurt Wagner (Monmouth) and Leigh Keller (Ramapo), co-chairs of our Purchasing and Licensing committee, also are still adjusting to the ebbs and flows of consortial database acquisitions. And just as we feel a little comfortable with our chores, up comes annual renewals–but more on that later.

Since we last reported, VALE addressed the thorny “WALDO-Lyrasis matter.” You recall that WALDO ceased operations over a year ago, handing its existing contracts to Lyrasis. This transition meant that twenty-four VALE members who, through WALDO, subscribed to sixteen databases from nine vendors now had one year to decide to join Lyrasis to maintain these subscriptions. The trouble was, many of these VALE libraries did not want to join Lyrasis, urging VALE to step in, and we did. We’re negotiating with the nine vendors to offer their products through VALE to give our members a choice of whether or not to join Lyrasis. This project is ongoing and now butts up against our renewal cycle, which makes us nervous. But the bright side is that we’ve discovered that many other VALE members deal with these nine vendors directly, giving VALE a chance to persuade these members to subscribe through VALE, increasing our e-resources traffic. Stay tuned!

Speaking of renewals, we’ve taken the first step in the process, which is contacting vendors to discuss FY24 pricing. Of the eighteen vendors contacted, six have responded, and only one of the six reported an increase of over three percent. That offer is an initial one, so we’ll see. The next step is to have vendors fill out spreadsheets with agreed-upon pricing which are then uploaded to Consortia Manager. In May, We’ll publish renewal and new product pricing to your ConsortiaManager account. You’ll notice we haven’t said much about adding new product offers, trials, and the like. It’s because we haven’t done much on that score over the last several months, simply because we’re too busy learning the workflows we need to know to maintain these subscriptions. Our goal is to increase e-resource offers in FY25, which we’ll pursue vigorously once we master our workflows.

Please contact me with questions about VALE services. I look forward to hearing from you!

Joe Toth is the Interim Program Manager at VALE.  Joe has worked at Ocean County College and Stockton University and has held several VALE committee positions over the last decade. He can be reached at joe.toth@njedge.net. 

By Kyle Downey

In April of 2022, the Office of Grants and Research Services at Seton Hall University (SHU) awarded faculty researchers in the University Library and in the School of Health and Medical Sciences (SHMS), the Cultivating Research, Innovation and Talent component of the New Jersey Opportunity Meets Innovation (OMI) Challenge Grant.  The aim of the grant project was to study recently graduated Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students to assess their beliefs, self-efficacy, and cultural readiness related to evidence-based practice (EBP). EBP is the integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and the best research evidence into the decision-making process for patient care.¹ During their course of study at SHU, these students had participated in an updated curriculum developed by a health sciences librarian and DPT faculty which integrated the five steps of evidence-based practice (EBP) into their curriculum.  This longitudinal cohort study (which ends this December) will assess the impact of the curriculum redesign on these newly licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy. 

While the grant was awarded back in 2022, the collaboration between the librarian, Kyle Downey (left), and the School of Health Medical Sciences professors, Angela Lis (below, right) and Lauren Snowden (below, left), date back to the summer of 2018, when the new interprofessional health sciences (IHS) campus was established in Nutley, New Jersey.  Downey, who was recently hired as a liaison librarian for SHMS and the College of Nursing at Seton Hall earlier that summer, was quickly introduced to Professor Lis.  The two worked together along with Professor Snowden to review and revise the curriculum considering the newly published guidelines for teaching EBP skills in a DPT program.  Over the course of several meetings, the three worked out a curriculum that would include a significant amount of library instruction for the DPT graduate students.

One of the first tasks was to move away from the traditional one-shot library instruction session that is so frequently taught to first-year graduate students. By embedding the librarian into the didactic courses of Critical Inquiry I and Critical Inquiry II, the core concepts and skills required for EBP would be taught early on and continually reinforced over the duration of the DPT program.  No longer would the librarian just be introduced during the first year of the program, but rather, would be involved in EBP instruction throughout the full 3 years.

A web-based PT Toolkit (research guide) has been implemented and contains all tools required for the successful integration of EBP skills into the students didactic and clinical learning. Downey worked with Lis to create a usability survey for the students to use with the aim of collecting information on how accessible and useful these guides are.  Most of the student feedback was positive, and small changes and additions were added over time, including a “create an alert” guide and additional links to outside organizations that have resources on clinical practice guidelines and clinical summaries.

Being awarded the OMI grant is a major step in the continuation of this strong interdisciplinary collaboration. Working alongside Physical Therapy faculty and two student volunteers, the grant will allow the team to assess if recent DPT graduates retain and apply learned EBP skills once they join the clinical workforce.  Students may volunteer to be included in study by taking the “Self-Assessment of EBP skills” Qualtrics survey, in which they are awarded a $20 Amazon gift card upon completion.

Will the efforts of an embedded librarian pay off?  Will the resources that have been developed during the curriculum revision continue to be utilized? We hope that this project will answer these important questions, as it has implications not only for our work at SHU, but for the wider Physical Therapy and Health Sciences library community. In the meantime, this collaboration between the library and physical therapy department will only continue to grow stronger.

Acknowledgements:

I’d like to thank the students research assistants for their help and assistance during the grant project. Jenna Eoga is a DPT student at Seton Hall University.  Suchismita Sahu is a graduate student in the Master of Healthcare Administration program at Seton Hall University.  Both have helped with the creation and implementation of the Qualtrics survey as well as collecting and organizing the data for our statistician to assess.

Reference

1. Sackett DL. Evidence-based medicine. Semin Perinatol. 1997;21(1):3-5. doi:10.1016/s0146-0005(97)80013-4

Kyle Downey is a librarian at the College of Nursing & School of Health and Medical Sciences at Seton Hall University. 

By Maryalice Rocks

It has been an exciting time for SCARLA, the Student College, Academic, and Research Libraries Association at Rutgers University, with academic life and activities approximating pre-Covid levels for the first time in three years.

Following up on the energy of the Banned Books event it co-sponsored in September, SCARLA planned and executed a virtual discussion panel with current Rutgers librarians, held on November 17, 2022. The panel featured librarians from diverse backgrounds and positions within the Rutgers Library system—including Leslin Charles (Instructional Design Librarian, Carr Library); Kayo Denda (Head, Margery Somers Foster Center & Librarian for Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Douglass Library); and Fernanda Perrone (Archivist & Head, Exhibitions Program, Alexander Library). Panelists first described the work they do now, giving an insider glimpse into various day-in-the-life scenarios for a Rutgers librarian. They also spoke about their career paths and what led them to their current position at Rutgers, and talked about which MI (Master of Information) classes they found most valuable to prepare for their current role. Following these insights, participants had the opportunity to ask a variety of questions during the open Q&A, on topics such as research interests, collaborations, and more.

SCARLA enjoys strong collaborative relationships with its two sister organizations at Rutgers: LISSA (Library and Information Science Student Association) and SOURCE (the Society of American Archivists student chapter). On February 16, the three student groups co-sponsored the perennial student favorite, “Chat & Chill,” a series that brings guests representing diverse areas of librarianship to Rutgers—virtually—for an informal talk with MI students. Past presenters have included leaders in the field such as Emily Drabinski, Nancy Kranich, and countless others. This time, students were excited to welcome Amy C. Vo, who is Special Collections Processing Archivist at Princeton University Library. The dialog presented a perfect opportunity for those considering careers in archives/preservation or higher education to listen to Vo talk about her job, ask questions about her career path, and connect with classmates who have similar interests.

On February 23, SCARLA held its CritLib Collective, an annual offering in which participants read a selected scholarly article about some aspect of critical librarianship and discuss it in an open forum composed of current MI students, faculty, and practicing librarians. For this most recent iteration of the series, the group chose “Access is Not Problem Solving: Disability Justice and Libraries,” by Alana Kumbier and Julia Starkey. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2016.0004) The conversation was lively, and participants discussed creative and just ways to address access, sharing best practices from personal experiences and the literature.

While the e-board was busy developing its next big event—a virtual panel with RU School of Communication & Information (SC&I) Alums planned for April 19—contract negotiations had  stalled between Rutgers administration and several of its faculty unions, resulting in a strike action by the unions starting on April 10. Choosing to not cross the picket line, even virtually, SCARLA made the difficult decision to postpone the panel in solidarity with those seeking fairer pay and more job security. Subsequently, on April 15, a tentative agreement between Rutgers’ administration and the unions was reached, resulting in a suspension of the strike. A new date for the panel has not been announced as of this writing, but the board continues to be excited about the group of speakers it has assembled, including Wafa Fatima Isfahani (Librarian for Special Collections, Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation), Fobazi Ettarh (independent librarian, scholar and consultant), Lorin Jackson (Executive Director for Region 2 Regional Medical Library at Medical University of South Carolina), and Vanessa Kitzie (Associate Professor, University of South Carolina). Panelists will discuss their professional interests, life after graduation, job searches, and advice for current students. Their presentations will be followed by a Q&A session, with participants having the option to submit questions ahead of time or ask them during the event.

Also in April, SCARLA held an election for its slate of officers for the 2023—2024 academic year. The board thanks its graduating members, outgoing president Victoria Sun and secretary Desmond Kidney, for their unwavering dedication and leadership during challenging times. It welcomes with excitement its newly-elected officers: Carolyn Quimby (president); Erin Mustard (vice president), M.A. Rocks (treasurer); Bethany Falcon (secretary); and David Moles (webmaster).

SCARLA is the graduate student organization at Rutgers University dedicated to academic and research librarianship; it is affiliated with the NJLA College and University Section and the New Jersey Chapter of ACRL. SCARLA’s current president is Victoria Sun; Erin Mustard is the vice president. Current executive board members include Bethany Falcon, Desmond Kidney, David Moles, Carolyn Quimby, and M. A. Rocks. SCARLA’s faculty advisors are Dr. Marie Radford and Dr. Gretchen Stahlman. For more information, including details about upcoming events, visit https://scarla.rutgers.edu. 

Those interested in connecting with SCARLA, can join the listserv by sending an email to comminfo_scarla-join@email.rutgers.edu, with the word “subscribe” as the subject line. They can also email Dr. Marie Radford (one of SCARLA’s faculty advisors) at mradford@comminfo.rutgers.edu. 

Anyone who has an employment or internship opportunity for the SC&I Job Board, please email details to Ildi Koczan, Assistant Director of Student Services for Careers at ildi.koczan@rutgers.edu.

Maryalice Rocks serves as SCARLA Executive Board Member-at-Large. SCARLA is the Student College, Academic, and Research Libraries Association at Rutgers University.