Changed the Layout of the Journal

Since I had some time over the break, I changed the style of this web site. I hope that readers of this journal enjoy the change. If not, please let me know. I added the ESPN widget to my personal journal .

NJIT is closed until January 5th

One of the advantages of working at NJIT is time off. The union contract allows the university to be closed from December 25th until January 1. This year the administration is giving us off Christmas Eve and Friday January 2nd. There would be few people around those days, and the university would have to heat the buildings, so they are giving us two extra days off.

My best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season and new year for readers of this journal and my personal journal.

I will not add new entries until NJIT reopens on January 5.

Assessment of Information Literacy Skill Using Writing Portfolios

Let me repeat my disclaimer that opinion here are my own and do not reflect those of NJIT or the management of the NJIT Library.





There has been much done in the area of information literacy defined as is the ability to recognize the extent and nature of an information need, then to locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information. Countless hours have been spent by librarians teaching students how to effectively use information resources available to them. Much research is done on how to assess information literacy skills of students. Let me describe the activities at NJIT as outlined in this paper by several my NJIT colleagues.





Direct Assessment of Information literacy using Writing Portfolios. By: Scharf, Davida; Elliot, Norbert; Huey, Heather A.; Briller, Vladimir; Joshi, Kamal. Journal of Academic Librarianship, Jul2007, Vol. 33 Issue 4, p462-477, 16p, 2 charts, 2 diagrams;



This Fall semester we taught every student of Humanities 101 3 lectures on how to use the information resources of the library. They were required to come outside of class. The students were required to maintain a portfolio of their writings for this course. After the class, the librarians examined the research paper to evaluate the students' information literacy skills. The five criteria that were evaluated:



1. Citation - the contents of the portfolio demonstrate that the students has cited sources so that the original source can be easily found.



2. Evidence of Independent Research - the portfolio includes evidence of research independent of sourcesindicated within the course syllabus



3. Appropriateness - the sources in this portfolio are apropriate to the topic the student addressed.



4. Integration - the sources cited in the portfolio have informed the course work. The researched work will demonstrate that the student has incorporated information in order to deepen critical thought.



5. Overall information literacy portfolio score. The contents of the portfolio demonstrate that the student has employed an information literacy framework.

For each of these 5 criterion the information literacy assessment skills are:

Very Strongly agree

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Very Strongly Disagree

The portfolios are evaluated after the grades for the course have been submitted. At this point the scores evaluate the program. There are a few concerns of mine:

The evaluations are very subjective and often varied greatly between two librarians who graded the respective portfolios.

The students do not get feedback on their information literacy assessment. The standards for students in this freshman writing course should not be as high as those for upper classmen or graduate students. By not getting feedback on their portfolio assessment, student can not learn from their mistakes. They must know not to find all their information by searching Google. When searching a database, they must know not to just take the first retrieved reference that looks relevant. They must take the time to evaluate many retrieed references and pick the best ones that are appropriate for their paper.

I think it is also important for librarians not to impose themselves on students. We are there to help them, but not to overwhelm with minutiae that they will never need. We are not training our students to become librarians. We want them to know when and how to integrate information resources into their professional and personal lives.

NJIT University Wide Holiday Party

I attended my 17th university wide holiday party. I remember that years ago it was so crowded in the old Wilson Alumni Center. Now it is held in the Hazell Ballroom of the Campus Center. The tables with food were outside while the seating area was inside the ballroom. There was even a large dance floor. There was a bigger variety of food this year.

NJIT Library Holiday Party

Today most of the NJIT Library drove out to the Manor in West Orange for our annual holiday party. We had been there in the past for several retirement luncheons, but this was outr first holiday party there. In some years, we had the party in the library conference room, while other years we went to local restaurants. The food was excellent, while everyone enjoyed themselves. It was nice to get away from the office for a few hours.

Passing of Val Metanomski

I was informed today of the passing of Val Metanomski of Chemical Abstracts Service. I had the pleasure of knowing Val through the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information. He was always very friendly to me when we met at national meeting of the society. As the archivist of the division he wrote "50 years of Chemical Information in the American Chemical Society 1943-1993". This volume documents my activities in the Division as a committee chair and a symposium organizer before 1993. Val will certainly be missed by all his professional colleagues. My condolences to the family.

A Celebration of the Life of Professor Dana Knox

In my journal entry of September 24, 2008 I reported the untimely passing of Dana Knox, Associate Provost and Professor of Chemical Engineering at NJIT. Today there was a celebration of his life at the Campus Center Atrium. There were moving speeches by Reginald Tomkins, Reobert Altenkirch, Priscilla Nelson, Joel Bloom, Rose Federici, Isabel Bracero, Robert Barat, Lisa Kardos, Kathy Kelly, David Ullman, Richard Sweeney, and John Federici.

We just created an area for the collection of Dana's chemical engineering books that were donated to the library. There is also a plaque that will be mounted in the library at a future date to recall his contributions to the university.

Reference Question of the Day

A student needed two papers discussing metabolism of anti-cancer drugs. We tried both Scifinder Scholar and Scopus using the search strategy drug metabolism and antineoplastic. We found references in both databases. The problem was finding articles that we had access at NJIT.

H Index - the hot topic of the week

This week I have received questions from 3 faculty about the H index, a concept that was first postulated in 2005 as a way of measuring the impact of a scientist through his/her publications. There is a good article in the Wikipedia that summarizes the H index. I was able to find the H index for these 3 professors using Scopus and the Web of Science. The latter gave a higher value since it covers older publications.

NJIT lost to St. Johns 82-54 in basketball

From 1990-92 I worked at the library at St. John's University in Queens. Just now St. John's beat NJIT 82-54 in men's basketball. I just heard part of the game on WBBR radio. The NJIT Highlanders have now lost 41 games in a row. I will not offer an opinion here. I am just stating the facts.

Cited References Searches for Faculty

The library is asked to do cited reference searches for faculty members applying for promotion or tenure. The number of cited references is an indication of how one researcher's work impacts on others in their respective specialty. There is an assumption that more cited references are a better gauge of the quality of the research. This maybe true, but there are certain some caveats. For example in the 1980s Fleischman and Pons wrote a paper on cold fusion, but their theory was really shot down. In this case a high number of cited references did not indicate quality. There could also be a controversial paper that receives many cited references from people expressing opinions on both sides of the issue. For example touch therapy in nursing is debatable, and a paper on that topic would yield researchers supporting both sides of the issue.

We search Scopus and the Web of Science to determine the number of cited references for each candidate. We also search Scifinder Scholar if the specialty is in a chemical related area. Since each of these databases has different journal coverage, we report the highest number. We do not use Google Scholar since that database included non-refereed papers. Some people fight tooth and nail for every cited reference they can get.

The Promotion and Tenure committee obviously uses many factors when evaluating candidates. They look at the quality of the journals which are often determined through the impact factor. There is always the "political factor."

Free Structure Drawing Programs for Chemists

Professional listservs are often a nuisance. A subscriber can receive umpteen e-mails a day from members of that listserve. Very often someone will start a thread and everyone and his brother has to get his two cents in about the subject. I subscribe to chminf-l, a virtual community of chemical information specialists. I know many of the people from the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information. Today there was a post from Symyx Technologies offering a free structure drawing program for academics. I downloaded it myself and passed the information along to my chemistry colleagues at NJIT.

Information Literacy Courses for Credit in New Jersey

I found out that the following colleges in NJ offer for credit courses in information literacy:

• Brookdale Community College
• Mercer County College
• Union College

All 3 are two year institutions.

NJIT Basketball Team Loses to Stony Brook 60-39

They are now 0-6 on the season and have now lost 39 in a row. No further comment.

Looking for an Expert on Colloids in Pharmaceuticals

Yesterday afternoon I attended a seminar given by Professor Raj Dave of the chemical engineering department who summarized his research about nanoparticles. At the end of the seminar Reg Tomkins approached me about looking for a future seminar speaker on colloids in pharmaceuticals. My first thought on doing this was to search Scifinder Scholar using the keywords colloids and pharmaceuticals. The results were somewhat vague. I asked Reg to give me a more definitive topic where I could find experts. I came up with another idea. I searched our online catalog under the subject "colloids in medicine" I found the following two books:


Title:
Colloid stability and application in pharmacy /


Title:
Colloidal nanoparticles in biotechnology /

In the front of each book there is a list of the contributing authors with their afiliations. Most of these authors were from Europe, but I did find a handful of experts that I would think are appropriate for speakers. If necessary, I will do further research on this.

Reference Question of the Day

I received this through QANDANJ:

I need information on toll booth photography, what type of equipment and camera is used.

I searched Google and the Scopus database using the following phrases:

Traffic enforcement cameras
Automatic Number Plate Recognition

The patron was satisfied with the information I sent him.

Information Literacy Forever

With profuse apologies to John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Information Literacy.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Information Literacy forever.

Living is easy with eyes closed,
misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
It doesn't matter much to me.
Let me take you down,
'cause I'm going to Information Literacy.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Information Literacy forever.

No one I think is in my tree,
I mean it must be high or low.
That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right.
That is I think it's not too bad.
Let me take you down,
'cause I'm going to Information Literacy.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Information Literacy forever.

Always no sometimes think it's me,
but you know I know when it's a dream.
I think, er No, I mean, er Yes but it's all wrong.
That is I think I disagree.
Let me take you down,
'cause I'm going to Information Literacy.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.

Information Literacy forever.
Information Literacy forever.
Information Literacy forever.

Comparing Herbal Medicines to traditional pharmaceuticals

A student was looking for case studies comparing the use of herbal medicines with traditional pharmaceuticals. I showed him how to search for it in Scopus which includes the records for Medline. We did find some good articles, but the problems were that many of the retrieved records were from journals not held in print or electronically from the NJIT library.

I announced to the NJIT community the coming of Scifinder Scholar on the Web

I am pleased to announce that NJIT will be moving to a web version of Scifinder Scholar in the spring semester. It will no longer be necessary to download software or remember the site.prf file. The database will not change, but there will be some new enhancements. A major change will be that every NJIT person wanting to search SFS will have to create their own username and password to use the web version. Each user must have an active NJIT e-mail address. In early 2009 I will send instructions on how to register. The client version of Scifinder Scholar will be available until the beginning of the spring semester. I will make an announcement when NJIT access to it will cease.

Chemical Abstracts Service is giving e-seminars on the web version of Scifinder Scholar.

Finally a couple of chemistry reference questions

1. A student wanted information on testing of pharmaceutical packaging. We searched Business Source Premier, Scopus, and Scifinder Scholar. Some of the retrieved references were on the testing of the pharmaceutical ingredient not the packaging. "Testing" was a stop word in Scifinder Scholar so we used integrity of pharmaceutical packaging to search. Again, my friends at Chemical Abstract Service through a curve ball at me. Integrity mapped to integral which created false hits.

2. A second student was looking for information on the effect of pore size on membrane filtration. Scopus had the advantage since one could sort by relevance. He only needed two references on the topic.

NJIT's Provost has stepped down

Provost Priscilla Nelson announced that she is stepping down as Provost, the chief academic officer at NJIT. In the organization scheme, the library is under the Provost so my big boss Richard Sweeney reports to her. I assume that for now Dr. Nelson will assume another position at NJIT. I wish her well in her future endeavors.

Volunteered to Serve as Assistant Editor of the Chemical Information Bulletin

I don't think I've ever mentioned on this blog that for many years I have been active in the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information. I have contributed in the following capacities:

• Chair of the Careers Committee – organized several careers in Chemical Information Workshops
  
  Chair of the Publications Committee
  
  Editor of CINF E-News
  
  Education Committee - member

Today there was a call on one of the listservs for someone to volunteer to be the Assistant Editior for the printed Chemical Information Bulletin which is pulbished twice a year. I volunteered and was told that I would have to be approved by the editor. Let's see what happens.

Met with a TIAA-CREF Counselor Today

Like everyone else I am worried about the loss in value of my TIAA-CREF pension. Part of it is in a savings account while the other part is in stocks which have obviously diminished in value. I still have at least 9 years before I will retire which is a very long time. Certainly, the stock market is likely to recover in that time. He told me that at any time I can withdraw the funds in stocks and put them in savings. I have decided to stay the course and not change my withdrawls to this pension fund.

Reference Questions of the Day

I received this question when I was on QANDANJ this morning. Someone needed information about a Samuel Mason Clark who lived from 1910-39. I received on other information. After I checked the most likely sources and couldn't find anything, I went back to the chat and tried to ask the patron if he knew the field of endeavor for this person. The person had left the chat. This my general complaint about chat reference. They just don't want to wait.

At the reference desk someone wanted information about the adverse effects of human growth hormone. I started out by showing him Scopus and Medline, but those sources seemed too technical. I then referred him to http://medlineplus.gov/ where he found some web sites that gave him the information he needed at the appropriate level.

A student came into my office asking for the prices of bulk chemicals. I was able to find her information from the Business Source Premier database.

Students are very often vague when they pose a question and we must get them to be more specific. Here is an example:

A student ask for articles on engineering management. I referred him to Business Source Premier and found too many articles. He then said lets try chemical engineering management. He then said he a pharmaceutical engineering student as was looking for information in that area. He only needed one article.

Thought of the Day - Interlibrary Loan Requests

No library can provide all items to all patrons, no matter how big it is. I worked for the Research Library of NYPL from 1983-90. People were always asking for materials that we didn't have. There was a myth that NYPL had everything and had a telephone reference service that could answer any question. Anyway, the NJIT Library always has budgetary problems and often graduate students and faculty rely on the interlibrary loan service. I remember one graduate student who complained that she had to order everything she needed from outside. What bothers me is when people don't bother to look things up in our catalog or journals listing to see if we have the item they need. They essentially waste their own time.

Recent Reference Questions

Where can I find matlab program that generates AM signals?

What wer the cave paintings of altamira?

1650s Puritan attitudes towards sex, adultery and gender roles

I'm trying to find research on back-alley abortions.

New Jersey Transit is Unreasonable on the Newark Light Rail

New Jersey Transit has a very primitive way of collecting fares on the Newark Light Rail. You must purchase a ticket and stamp it. At times, fare inspectors are on duty to check tickets. I had a discussion with a student yesterday who was given a summons for $71 because she forgot to stamp the ticket. Couldn't those turkeys given her the benefit of the doubt and just given her a warning? The fare from Newark Penn Station to NJIT is 65 cents except from 4 - 6 PM when it is $1.35. Yesterday I observed two students being issued summons since they had the wrong ticket. Can't they just pay the difference? This primitive method of fare collection just preserves antiquated jobs. I read the New Jersey Transit loses $200,000/year from passengers who don't pay the fair and are not caught. With all the technology available today, can't they devise a modern method of fare collection? If you don't pay, you just can't get on the train.

METRO Science Librarians SIG Meeting today

Location - Baruch College, William and Anita Newman Library, 4th Floor Conference Room, 151 East 25th Street, New York, NY

Topic - Updates on Digital Projects in Science Libraries
Scheduled Speakers:

Ron Jantz - Rutgers University - An Institutional and Architectural Framework for Creating and Preserving Authentic Digital Objects

Mike Luby - National Science Digital Library - Updates to the NSDL

Reference Questions of the evening

1. A student was looking for information on the importance of the family. One of the problems was finding articles in psychology journals that were too technical for him. I showed him Academic Search Premier and Lexis-Nexis. We found better articles using the terms family values and family relations.

2. A second student needed information on green offices. i strated him off in Scopus where we found some relevant information. Some good articles were in conference proceedings not available to us. I showed him Academic Search Premier and the Avery Architecture database. When I did a book search I found him this perfect source:


Title:
Green office buildings : a practical guide to development /
Primary material:
Book
Publisher:
Washington, D.C. : ULI, c2005.
Persistent URL for this Item:
http://librarius.njit.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=130246
ISBN:
0874209374
Google Book Search:
More Information About This Book


Location:
Arch Desk
Call Number:
NA6230 .G74 2005
Num items:
1

September 14, 1992 -

Today I was honored for 15+ years of service at an Awards Ceremony in the Campus Center Ballroom. Where did all these years go? There are good days, bad days, interesting days, and boring days as well. You have to be happy to have a job these days.

Fundamentals of Engineering Design for Civil Engineering Freshman

I was asked to give a class for freshman civil engineering majors taking the Fundamentals of Engineering Design class. Most of these students had already been taken the library lectures given to Humanities 101 students. I talked about the structure of the technical literature and how state of the art information originally presented at conferences or published in research journals eventually is discussed in college textbooks. Students should begin their research using books and then do a database search for more recent research developments. The instructor asked me to demonsrate how to find information on earthquake resistant buildings. I found that there were several books written on this topic which should be consulted first. I then did the search in Scopus and showed how displaying by relevance was helpful. When I speak to freshmen, I always say the information seeking skills are developed over time.

A Challenge for Library Instruction

The opinions expressed in this entry are of Bruce Slutsky and not anyone else at NJIT. If anyone would like to discuss it with me, please see me in person. There are certain types of communication not appropriate for e-mail.

Teachers can not force students to like a subject. This includes chemistry, physics, history, literature, or library science. In recent years, librarians have pushed for information literacy in the curriculum. Most university administrators have been receptive to this initiative. It is simply defined as the ability to both search and access information, not only through traditional means, but also through the use of information and communication technologies. Librarians do play an important role in the information literacy process, but some of it belongs with the teaching faculty.

There is anecdotal evidence that students frown on library lectures. I remember back in junior high school we had one period a week when the librarian showed us how to search the card catalog and Readers Guide. I received no other formal training until I changed careers and went to library school. There is a technique to make students at least receptive to the class. I think that is to show that what they are learning now will be relevant to them in the future. The worst thing we can do is to teach library science to them. They will be bored to death and possibly even hostile. They need to learn enough to integrate information resources to their academic and personal lives.

This semester, I have taught some students in Humanities 101, the writing course given to freshmen. I start out by asking them to put their names in Google and see if they can find themselves or someone else with their name on the Internet. I use this as an ice breaker to show them that online searching can be fun. The aim of a second class is to evaluate the validity of web sites. I start out by asking them to Google their favorite entertainer and see if they think the retrieved web sites provide valid information.

Most of my experience has been in teaching students to find information in chemistry and related fields. I start out by saying that as they advance in their academic careers, their needs for information becomes more difficult. They will no longer have readings assigned to them by their professors. They must use online and print resources to find information they need. I always say that before they do their dissertation research, they must search to see that nobody else has done the same research. They will all eventually work in industry where they must be aware of what their competitors are doing.

It is always frustrating to see inattentive students in class. You can often see them doing homework, whispering among themselves, and playing with their cell phones. We really need to show the students that what we are teaching them is relevant now and in the future.

Halloween

For the second year in a row, I wore this mask for Halloween. I startled a few people with it.

Attila the Hun

Although NJIT is a science and engineering school, we still get many reference questions in the humanities. This evening a student needed information about Attila the Hun and the history of that era. Our collection is weak in that area so I also searched the Rutgers catalog limiting the results to the Dana Library. We searched under the subjects Attila, Huns, and Asia, Central-history in both libraries.

Reference Question on QANDANJ

QANDANJ is a statewide chat reference service. I try to monitor the questions from 9 AM - 10 AM from Monday - Thursday. Today I got this question:

What is the life expectancy in the US for both men and women from 1984 to 2004. I need the numbers so I can graph them. I found the information he needed at:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_09.pdf

Chemical Engineering Seminar Today

Today, I attended the chemical engineering department seminar:

Passivation of NanoAluminum for Energetics Applications, Dr. Jason Jouet Naval Surface Wafare Center, Indian Head, MD

Reference Question of the Day

A student was looking for information on how alage can help alleviate global warming. Algae can absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Iron fillings have been added to the oceans to promote gwoth of algae so more carbon dioxide can be sequestered from the atmosphere.

Disclaimer

This journal represents the thoughts of Bruce Slutsky, Technical Reference Librarian at NJIT. It is not a publication of NJIT in any way. I am using this to document my experiences in the library. It is in part an outreach tool hoping to advise students and faculty of the services of the NJIT Library.

Talking about the Mets on the Commute Home

The gentleman in the photo above is Eric Katz, Professor of Philosophy at NJIT. His commute is actually worse than mine since he lives in Bay Shore, Long Island. He takes New Jersey Transit to Penn Station and from there the Long Island Rail Road to his home. Since he is on the teaching faculty he only has to come to NJIT the three days a week that he has to teach. Yesterday I met him on the way home. Most of our conversation was devoted to what the Mets will do in the offseason to improve the team for 2009. He bought a Saturdays plan for Shea Stadium in 2008, but does not know if he will be able to get tickets for Citifield in 2009. It is always nice to be able to talk to someone on the trains. I used to meet Lynn Mullins, the head librarian at Rutgers-Newark, but she retired.

Fruitful Discussions on Public Transportation

It is unusual for me to meet colleagues on the New York City Subway system, but I often meet people on New Jersey Transit more often on the Newark Light Rail, the last leg of my journey to work. Some of the people I meet from time to time are Eric Blitz of University Advancement, Kam Sirkar of Chemical Engineering, Lenny Kaplan of Athletics, and Christine Cervelli of Career Services. For the first time today I encountered Michael Bieber, Professor of Information Systems. We spoke about a project he is working on with the Library and asked me to participate in it. It is important to me that the time I spend commuting is used constructively. Believe me I had done tons of reading over the year on the trains. I am glad to see more NJIT people using public transportation. Each rider is one less car meaning less air pollution and congestion in Newark.

Physics Literacy to the Rescue

For much of the day we now have students working at the reference desk. They can answer the straightforward questions, but are instructed to call us when there is a complicated reference question. I was at a meeting in the faculty commons when I received a phone call that my assistance was needed. The student was looking for information about the public perception and understanding of physics. I first showed him how to find books on the general topic of science literacy. There was nothing specific about physics so we looked in Academic Search Premier and Omnifile and found a few articles specifically on physics literacy. The student was happy with what I found for him.

When I first started at NJIT, President Fenster spoke to the new hires and said it was always more important to talk to our students than it was to talk among ourselves. He compared it to going to a department store and just seeing the employees talk among themselves, while a customer could not get help.

Seminar to Civil Engineering Graduate Students

Today I gave my standard lecture to civil engineering graduate students on how to use the NJIT databases to support their research. I was pleasantly surprised this time that the students were attentive. They were not surfing the webs with laptops or playing with cell phones. I got some very good questions indicating that the students had used these resources before. One student asked about cited references which I usually don't discuss. I was also asked about impact factors which are found in Journal Citation Reports not available at NJIT. There is a world of difference in lecturing to graduate students. The databases have more relevance to their current studies.

Pharmaceutical Chemistry Program at NJIT

A university attempts to attract more students by introducing new programs. Today I had the pleasure of meeting consultant Art Greenberg to discuss the NJIT library's role in this initiative. He was a professor in the chemistry department at NJIT from 1977-89 and is currently the Dean at the University of New Hampshire. I discussed how our library has been historically underfunded as compared to similar institutions. I told him that in recent months I have bought books in pharmaceutical chemistry in anticipation of the program's implementation. Ideally we should get extra money to purchase additional resources. We should also have databases such as Beilstein Crossfile, Knovel, and Merck Index Online

Today's lunch with Sayed

I usually eat lunch at the NJIT cafeteria, but today I decided to do something different. Sayed Hassan (see above) and I decided to go to McGovern's a bar a few blocks away. I just can't drink beer at 12 noon so I had a corned beef sandwich with a coke. It was nice to get away for lunch for a change.

Does anyone at the NJIT Library object to this post?

Reference Questions Today

A graduate student wanted to know if the glass from cathode ray tubes which contains toxic metals was recycled in China and sold to comapnies in the United States.

Another student was interested in the relationships between internships and careers.

I got a call from the architecture library asking for advice on finding information on New York City's Water Tunnel #3

New Address for my personal journal

Please check out http://www.bruceslutsky.com which is my new address for my personal journal. This is what I do when I am not at NJIT.

Will Submit an article to Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship

I am in the process of completing an article titled "Does the Course in Science and Technology Reference Motivate Career Choices?" I just sent a query e-mail to the editor who said she would be interested. I have to write an abstract for the article and then I will ask a couple of colleagues to make some comments before I submit it. I did much of this research over the summer when my workload was less.

Two Meetings Today :(

At 9:00 AM we had a meeting to discuss information literacy. At 10 AM there was a general librarians meeting. I will not say anything more :)

Bill Skawinski - A remarkable man

I ran into Bill Skawinski today during my walk around campus today during lunch. He was waiting for his ride home. I have known Bill since my early days at NJIT in the 1990s. Over the years he has been one of my favorite people on campus. As you can see from the photo, he is a chemist. However, he is blind but his handicap in no way stops him from being and excellent teacher and researcher. Please see this article about Bill from an American Chemical Society site about handicapped chemists. http://membership.acs.org/C/CWD/workchem/edueast.htm#gen86

My 15 minutes of Fame in Biomedical Engineering Class

It is often difficult to convince faculty that it is important that students receive training in the use of the library's databases. The biomedical engineering department has been a challenge for me. Today I was just given 15 minutes to talk to the Fundamentals of Engineering Design class. I just briefly mentioned how basic information on a subject (I chose tissue engineering) for this class can be found in books while more current information must be found in research journals that can be searched through databases such as Scopus, Medline, and the IEEE Electronic Library. I guess a 15 minute mini-lecture to students is better than none at all.

Looking for information on Polymers with Boron

I helped a student today research this question on Scifinder Scholar. The problem was that many of his references talked about polymers in one context and a substance with boron in another context. This is a problem encountered in many electronic searches. He would have to go through his list of reference and carefully evaluate the information retrieved to see if it answered his question.

I announced the next METRO Science Librarians SIG meeting today

Next Meeting: Friday November 7, 2008, 1:30 PM. Please note the change in location for this meeting. I am also ask that people RSVP for this meeting since we need to provide a list of attendees to security at Baruch Location - Baruch College, William and Anita Newman Library, 4th Floor Conference Room, 151 East 25th Street, New York, NY (http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/help/buildingmaps.html )

Topic - Updates on Digital Projects in Science Libraries
Scheduled Speakers:
Ron Jantz - Rutgers University - An Institutional and Architectural Framework for Creating and Preserving Authentic Digital Objects
Mike Luby - National Science Digital Library - Updates to the NSDL

If enough people are interested we can meet at 12 noon for lunch. Please RSVP and indicate if you want to go to the meeting only or if you are interested in going out for lunch.

I would like to thank Jennifer King and Lisa Ellis for arranging for the room at Baruch College.

Please see the SIG’s Wiki.

Cited Reference Searches are starting

We are always asked to do cited reference searches for candidates for promotion and tenure at NJIT. The number of times an author is cited is an indication of the impact of that researcher's work on others. Today I was asked by Dr. Somenath Mitra of the chemistry department to do a search for him. He is applying to become a Distinguished Professor. Although I can not appoint anyone at NJIT to that level, I can help them provide the documentation they need to the committee which makes that recommendation to the Provost. We search Scopus, Web of Science and Scifinder Scholar and report the highest value. The number of cited references is only one factor that the committee uses in making their decision.

More on the photoluminescence of Germanium

I admire that this student is extremely persistant in trying to find the precise information that he needs. I explained to him that I don't have any further ideas, but I could query my colleagues through CHMINF-L, the chemical information listserv. I asked him to explain exactly what he was looking for and what he already searched. He sent me this information. I will edit it and post to the listserv. Perhaps someone else may have some other ideas that would lead him to his elusive answer. Chemistry librarians at other universities may have more specialized resources not at NJIT.

Gathering in Memory of Dana Knox

Many colleagues of Dana met in the Campus Ballroom to reminisce about Dana. I was impressed when Lisa Kardos, a student of his, spoke on his impact on her. She emulates his teaching style. I now recall a little experience I had with him a few years ago. As I lectured to the chemical engineering students, I told a joke that didn't go over. Dana laughed anyway to make me feel good. He will certainly be missed by the university community.

Sad News at NJIT

We just received an announcement that Dana Knox, Assistant Provost and Professor of Chemical Engineering, suddenly passed away this morning. This is quite shocking since Dana was only in his early 50s, and I just saw him yesterday at Toni Penna's retirement luncheon. I knew Dana since I first started at NJIT in 1992. I fondly remember the lunches we had at the NJIT Pub with other faculty when he kidded about how long it would take the food to arrive after it was ordered. My condolences to his family.

Retirement Luncheon for Toni Penna

I worked with Toni Penna when I taught Freshman Seminar for 12 consecutive years. She was the administrative assistant to the Dean of Freshman Studies. About 50 people from the NJIT community came to the luncheon. It was especially nice to see some people that retired or moved on.

A Handshake is a Quiet Applause

This semester we have had students working at the reference desk to answer the routine questions. So far this has worked out well, since the students call out the librarians when there is a research question. Today I was consulted by a question for African American mathematicians. I checked the catalog under the keywords above. I found there was a subject heading women and minorities in mathematics. There was one book that really had the information this student needed. We also searched under Afro American Scientists and Mathematicians Biography. I showed him how to search MatchSciNet and Academic Search Premier under those subjects. Once he identified specific mathematicians, he could do a search under those names. This student was very appreciative of the help I gave him and shook my hand as we finished the reference transaction. A handshake is a quiet applause.

Followup Orientation for International Students

Today, I was asked to speak at a Followup Orientation for international students. We are now three weeks into the Fall semester, so I think the Director of International Students wants to make sure the students are getting acclimated the American culture in general and to life at NJIT in particular. I gave a short 5 minute talk on the library services. It was a little difficult to do since they was not a computer with internet access set up in the lecture hall. I discussed the library liaison program and that students should get to know their respective liaison.

The program started with a professor in the School of Architecture lecturing on the history of Newark. He then showed a DVD of a Rutgers professor showing students many of the points of interest in the city. It was obvious that the students were not paying attention to this. The Director even cut off the DVD.

I must ask, How much orientation is enough? This has to be evaluated as to how much staff time and effort goes into this and what is the benefit to students. If they are being bored, then this entire endeavor may just be wasted.

Photoluminescence spectra of Germanium

I have been helping a graduate student research this topic for over a week now. I must admire his persistency in trying to find a very specific aspect of this topic. I showed him how to develop search strategies in Scifinder Scholar, Scopus, and INSPEC. He is very thorough in looking at abstracts and obtaining the papers that he believes have relevant information. A little while ago he showed me a paper that discussed the spectra of p-type germanium. He explained to me that he needed the same information for the p-type.

Teaching the Environmental Engineering Class

For many years I have given my standard library lecture for ENE 262 taught by Professor Taha Marhaba. I think he sets the record for hearing my lecture the highest number of times since I have been at NJIT. The students are given a choice of assignments. I demonstrate how to use Scifinder Scholar and Scopus to find the information that they need. Below is the list for this semester:

1. Pharmaceutical compounds in source water; assessment, types, solutions.
2. Removal of Endocrine-disturbing Compounds (EDCs) from Water.
3. Nanotechnology for treatment of environmental pollution.
4. Sensors for water supply security.
5. Synthetic organic substances in the air that are of concern to drinking water; sources, types, effects, prevention and removal.
6. Greywater Reuse; requirements, technology, acceptance, regulations
7. Formation and reduction of smog in the atmosphere; chemistry of formation, regulations and treaties, solutions.
8. State of the Art of Landfilling
9. Impact of Various Winter Road Deicing Processes on the Environment
10. Solidification and stabilization of hazardous waste.
11. Disinfection of drinking water; regulations and standards, types and chemistry, advantages/disadvantages, outlook.

Concerned about my TIAA-CREF Pension

For my 18 years working at universities I have had a TIAA-CREF pension. NJIT pays 8% of my salary while I also donate a portion of my income to the fund which is split into a savings account and a stock portfolio. I am concerned since the stock market has dropped so much recently. I was told not to worry since I don't plan on retiring for at least 9 years. In that time the stock market should recover.

Teaching my class on how to find physical properties of chemical substances

I must have taught my class on how to find physical properties of chemical substances since the first year I was at NJIT in 1992. A narrated version of my Powerpoint could be found linked at http://library.njit.edu/researchhelpdesk/subjectguides/phys-prop.php . That page lists resources that I show students where they can find the physical property data that they need. There was a technological glitch today, the library's laptop could not connect with the Internet outside of NJIT. I was able to navigate through the NJIT library pages, but I could not go outside on the Internet. Fortunately, one of the students lent me his laptop so that I could demonstrate some sites. For years I have shown Chemfinder as a source of data, but its publisher has greatly restricting the amount of data available free on the web. I gave the students an assignment due next week.

QANDANJ, a chat reference service

NJIT participates in a chat service called QANDANJ. Students and the general public can submit questions that we try to answer. Today I received a questions about the budget for military technology and World War II. I used Academic Search Premier to find articles and WorldCat to find books that could answer this patron's question. I was never thrilled with the concept of chat reference since the time it takes to communicate is longer than with a face to face encounter. New information technologies are supposed to save time while chat reference can take longer. We also use a chat service at the eference desk.

Just a routine day until 7 PM

I was on the late shift today, so I missed the campus event in memory of those lost on September 11, 2001. There were some alumni and a former trustee who perished on that horrific day. The wife of the Dean of Student Services also died in the World Trade Center. Today, I just verified some interlibrary loan requests. We received a small allotment of money to purchase books, which I'd like to spend before they take it away. At 7 PM i got a challenging question from a graduate student. He was looking for photoluminescence spectra of germanium. It turns out that INSPEC was the best database for this question since it covers the physics literature better than Scifinder or Scopus.

Compiling a list of Chairs of Chemical Engineering Departments

The chemical engineering department here at NJIT will soon be advertising a faculty opening. Since they want to send the advertisements to chemical engineering departments over the country they asked me to compile a list of department chairs. I compiled it using a directory produced at the University of Texas. It was a tedious job, but I completed it in a few days.

Graduate Seminar for Chemistry and Enviromental Science - Almost a Murphy's law day

The biggest pain in the neck in giving classes is setting up the computer and XGA. The professor had a laptop with Windows Vista. I never used that new operating system and it was hard to navigate. It failed to download Scifinder Scholar. Luckily, another professor who was there offered his laptop with Windows XP. 99% of my epxerience with PCs is with a desktop so I had a little difficulty naviagting with the trackball on this laptop. I didn't want to waste any more time so I could talk about Scifinder Scholar, but could not demonstrate it. I completed the Powerpoint and then showed some of the web sites that I compiled with chemical information. This time I did get some questions from students. It does seem that some are too shy to speak in front of the class, but came to speak with me privately afterwards. I got this one nice comment from a student:

Hi Mr. Slutsky,I was very well enlightened by your presentation today, thank you. I will be very pleased if you can send me a copy of your presentation.Thank you.

Activities of the Day

1. At 9 AM I met with Keith Williams and Blake Haggerty to set up Moodle, a course management software package, to work with the Research Roadmap classes given by the NJIT Library staff.

2. At 10 AM I started to compile a list of chemical engineering chairs with their e-mail addresses at the request of Reg Tomkins. They have some openings and want to send the announcements to chemical engineering departments across the USA.

3. At 11 AM I came to the reference desk. Again, no substantial questions. I was kind to a few students who desparately needed to print out documents while there were no open computers in the Information commons. I let them print from the computer at the reference desk.

4. I received an e-mail from Ron Jantz of Rutgers agreeing to speak at the METRO Science Librarians meeting at the end of October.

Coming in to lecture on a Saturday

In the 16 years I have been at NJIT I have never gone there on a Saturday. For the last few years I have given my information lectures to Chem E 396, an undergraduate course. There are 3 lecures that I give:

1. Overview
2. Scifinder Scholar
3. Scopus and other databases

This semester the course was given on Saturday. I told the professor I will condense my 3 lectures into one so I would only have to make one trip. The inconvenience about coming in Saturdays is that the trains run less often. When I got to downtown Newark by New Jersey Transit, I decided to walk the one mile to NJIT instead of taking the Newark light rail. I was just afraid that the light rail would run extremely infrequently. I got to the lecture on time and finished by 11:30 at the professor's request. Due to the impending tropic storm I decided to leave immediately to try to get home before it started.

The campus was very empty this Saturday. I assume that most of the dormitory students who live in NJ, go home for the weekend. When I returned to the library, Cherron and Clifford were there with only 10 or so students in the information common. The nuisance of the day was spending twice as much time traveling as I was there. I only have to do it once.

Lecture to Chemical Engineering Graduate Students

Yesterday at 4 PM, I gave my lecture on how to find information in chemistry and chemical engineering to graduate students taking CHE 794 - Professional presentations. All students in that class are required to talk about their research projects. It was convenient to give my lecture at the beginning of the semester. Since most of the students had heard me talk before I decided on the fly to give my advanced lecture. I assumed that most of the students were aware of the NJIT databases. I showed the the list of online resources that I compiled over the years. I also demonstrated some of the advanced features of Scifinder Scholar and Scopus. It is frustrating when students don't ask questions. Is it because they are just not interested or do the know the material anyway. I asked for some sample search questions, but nobody volunteered so I had to bring my own searches. It is also hard to determine the impact of my lecture on the students.

Visit from an old friend

Dr. Stanislav Dukhin has intermitantly been a research professor of civil engineering at NJIT. He doesn' teach classes, but works with graduates students on their research projects. For a while, I see him quite regularly, but then he "disappears". Today I saw him for the first time in at least a year. He must be in his late 70s and has published prolifically for many years. However, every time he comes to see me, I must patiently explain to him the bascis of finding books and periodical articles. Since he lost his computing privileges at NJIT, he told me that he just searched Google and found a lot of junk. Today I showed him Google Scholar which is a free database of research articles. I did an author search on him in Scopus and found 194 articles. Below is a list of his most recent publications:

Dukhin, S. S., Kovalchuk, V. I., Aksenenko, E. V., & Miller, R. (2008). Surfactant accumulation within the top foam layer due to rupture of external foam films. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 137(1), 45-56. Retrieved from www.scopus.com

Dukhin, S. S., Shen, Y., Dave, R., & Pfeffer, R. (2007). Development in modeling submicron particle formation in two phases flow of solvent-supercritical antisolvent emulsion. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 134-135, 72-88. Retrieved from www.scopus.com

Dukhin, A. S., Dukhin, S. S., & Goetz, P. J. (2007). Gravity as a factor of aggregative stability and coagulation. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 134-135, 35-71. Retrieved from www.scopus.com

Dukhin, S. S., Zimmermann, R., & Werner, C. (2007). Electrophoresis of soft particles at high electrolyte concentrations: An interpretation by the henry theory. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 313(2), 676-679. Retrieved from www.scopus.com

Dukhin, A. S., Fluck, D., Goetz, P. J., Shilov, V. N., & Dukhin, S. S. (2007). Characterization of fractal particles using acoustics, electroacoustics, light scattering, image analysis, and conductivity. Langmuir, 23(10), 5338-5351. Retrieved from www.scopus.com

Meeting with the Principal Investigator of the Faculty Publications Database

Today I met with Nancy Steffen-Fluhr the principal investigator of the project to compile the faculty publications database. One of the goals of her project is to investigate the collaborative relationships among the contributing authors. She is very concerned that the database be as exhaustive as possible. She discovered that there were many publications of the CVs of NJIT faculty that were not found in the commercial databases. We determined that publications at small conferences and in new e-journals were not included in Scopus or the Ebscohost databases. We spent much of our time in my office and at lunch discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the commercial bibliographic databases that we have. For example Scopus was very good at picking up the author affiliations, but there was inconsistency in the data entry. Are we the New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJIT, New Jersey Inst of Technol or what? She figured that there are 16 ways the institution name could be in a database. The coverage of Scopus is excellent after 1995, but there still is a lack of confidence in older data. We are especially concerned about the affiliation data in the ACM Digital Library since that database has publications not found anywhere else. For this project Nancy was not concerned about the School of Architecture or the humanities.

Typical First Day of Classes

I had to work the late shift so I didn't arrive at NJIT until 1 PM. I missed the president's annual pancake breakfast that gives to the community. I was bombarded with textbook questions. One student just said that the bookstore was sold out of the calculus text. We now refere questions about computer accounts to the lab assistant. There are always a directional questions since new students don't know their way around the campus yet. Tomorrow is another day.

Not Teaching Freshman Seminar this Year

I started at NJIT in September 1992, but started teaching a section of Freshman seminar in September 1996. Perhaps facilitate is a better word than teach. I did this for 12 years in a row, but I feel this year it is time for me to give it up. A few of my colleagues in the library did participate in the program, but not nearly as long as I. It was my opinion that Freshman Seminar should not be a burden on the students, since although attendance is required, there is no academic credit for it. Students recieve a grade of satisfactory or unsatisfactory at the end of the 10 week course. Over the years I failed only a few students who were absent too many times. My feeling is that cutting class will catch up to them sooner or later. For most of the 12 years I organized the library tours. One of my biggest diasappointments was when several students in my section a few years ago, walked away from my tour. Was it that boring? Since blogging is so popular among students, I assigned students last year to write a blog of 10 entires discussing their experiences as a first year student. Less than half the class did the assignment that I thought would be fun for them.

I felt that pariticipating in the Freshman seminar program was good service to NJIT. I decided to stp, because I feel that a younger person would be more effective in reaching the students. It is 41 years since I was a freshman at CCNY. 1967 was in a completely different era socially, politically, and technlogically. I think a graduate student or even an upperclassman would be more effective in helping new students acclimate to college life.

4 cited references to one of my papers

In 1991 while I was at St. John's University, I wrote this paper:


How to Avoid Science Anxiety Among Science Librarians Page Range: 11 - 19 DOI: 10.1300/J122v12n01_03 Copyright Year: 1991
Contributors:
Bruce Slutsky BS, MS, Supervising Science Librarian, St. John's University, Jamaica, NY


Abstract:
Science librarians not educated in the sciences can be effective in reference, collection development, bibliographic instruction, and database searching if they understand issues in science and technology that affect the general public and are trained properly on the job. Since library school education in science/technology librarianship can not completely prepare one for a career, chief science librarians must train new employees in all phases of their jobs. In the interviewing process the library manager must ascertain that the candidate is interested in science, willing to learn necessary skills, and not afraid to handle difficult reference questions. Science anxiety among science librarians can be avoided.

I just found out today through using Google Scholar

HTML] ►Spotlight on the Subject Knowledge of Chemistry Librarians: Results of a SurveyC Hooper-Lane - Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 1999 - istl.orgA survey of academic chemistry librarians concerning how they obtain and maintain subject knowledge found that 86% took college level chemistry courses, 64% have a science degree, and 43% have a degree in chemistry. To continue ... Cited by 11 - Related articles - Cached - Web Search - All 7 versions


The Face of 21st Century Physical Science Librarianship - [PDF] ►haworthpressinc.comL Ortega, CM Brown - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIES, 2005 - haworthpress.comABSTRACT. Physical science librarians from the US and Canada par- ticipated in a survey about their educational background, experience, and professional activity. This group of information professionals can be characterized as ... Cited by 4 - Related articles - Web Search - BL Direct - All 5 versions


Recruiting the BestC Brown - Science & Technology Libraries, 2006 - haworthpress.comSUMMARY. Analysis of position announcements appearing in the archives of the CHMINF-L and STS-L online discussion forums dated January 2005 through February 2006 indicates the persistence of the requirement for a background in ... Related articles - Web Search - BL Direct - All 5 versions


Becoming a Science Librarian: Accident, Serendipity, or Purposeful Plan?DM Beck, R Callison - Science & Technology Libraries, 2006 - haworthpress.comSUMMARY. Increasing concern has been expressed in the literature regarding the recruitment and retention of qualified librarians within the profession. Science and Technology Libraries share equally in con- sidering the consequences of ... Related articles - Web Search - BL Direct - All 5 versions

Students are Asking About Textbooks

It's the time of the year when students come to the reference desk asking if the NJIT library carries the required textbook for their course. I understand that textbooks especially in the science and engineering disciplines are very expensive and that students often lack the money to buy them. They can certainly save money by purchasing a used copy. The publishers are somewhat "nasty" by unnecessarily revising textbooks thus making the used older editions obsolete. Doe calculus or basic chemistry change over a five year period? I tell students that the textbooks are part of the cost of their education. Their professor feels it is in their best interest to own the book. Buying every textbook would wipe out the library's budget. Even if we did buy every textbook, they would have to be on reserve and only available for a few hours. A student must have access to their textbooks at all time. A chemical engineering professor suggested that students form a study group with one copy of the book available to all. This would save money.

More Planning for the Fall Semester

We had a reference meeting for about an hour to make some plans for the new semester. We are enhancing our training of freshman taking the English Composition course. They will be taking 3 Research Roadmap classes given by our staff. David and Heather will be giving most of them since their experise is in the humanities. I contacted Professor Taha Marhaba and arranged to teach his class in Environmental Engineering as I have done for many years. It is always frustrating when students don't ask questions. Are they totally disinterested? Do they understand the materials and not need the lecture? Is the lecture over their heads?

Orientations for new graduate students in chemistry and chemical engineering

Today I spoke at graduate student orientations for Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science and the Otto York Department of Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering (boy is that a mouthful). I kept my remarks brief since I will be giving seminars to these students in the weeks to come. I explained to the students that it was my job to familiarize them with the resources available to them and to show them how to use them optimally. More students came into the library today since they are preparing themselves for the new fall semester.

International Students Orientation Today

The orientation for new international students was held today on the second floor of the Campus Center. At 8:30 when the library opened we were bombarded with students needing to use the photocopiers. This happens once a year. Student prefer not to make photocopies and pay 10 cents a copy when they can scan books or articles and not have to pay anything. I think the international students had to photocopy their immigration documentation.

Getting Ready for the Fall Semester

Today was the first Friday that we had to work since June. The university saves $200,000 in energy costs by closing on Fridays during the summer. I just made arrangements to teach my seminars in chemistry and chemical engineering during the first few weeks of the semester. I hope that the students will be attentive and learn something. It can be very frustrating when you see students playing with their cell phones and being non-attentive in a low tech way.

NJIT Faculty Publications Database

For two years I have been a consultant to the production of the faculty publications database. Professor Nancy Steffen-Flur is the principal investigator of this project. She is trying to determine the relationships of the collaborators especially the difference in collaborations among women. I am working with Maria Plummer and Christopher Pax who are students working with Nancy. We had a little meeting today since Maria was confused about the new interface in the EbscoHost databases. There also seemed to be more references to NJIT publications in the Scopus database that they originally could not find. This is a work in progress.

Returned from the Philadelphia ACS Meeting

I returned today after spending 3 days at the American Chemical Society national meeting in Philadelphia. I decided to make some minor revisions to my PowerPoint presentations for chemistry and chemical engineering classes for the upcoming Fall semester.

Starting a blog about the NJIT Library

I am starting this blog to facilitate communication among students, faculty and staff who need my services at the NJIT Library. This is a work in progress, so I will try to spruce it up over time. Anyone in the NJIT community is welcome to comment.