Happy Holidays

I wish all readers of this blog a happy and healthy holiday season and new year. The NJIT Library will be open on Christmas Eve from 7:30 AM until 4:45 PM, but will close from December 25th until January 3rd.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by my job-related blog. It will go on hiatus until the NJIT Library reopens on January 4th.

If you are interested you may read my personal journal at http://www.bruceslutsky.com

Information Literacy Skills for students of Environmental Policy

I had asked a professor who teaches EPS 202, Science Technology and the Environment, to send me sample copies of papers that were submitted this past semester. The topics were:

• Wind Energy
• How to Reduce One's Environment Footprint

I did not want to evaluate the quality of the actual paper, but to observe how the students formatted the references. The papers were satisfactory for undergraduates. A few were a little too concise, but did answer the questions. The actual sources used were appropriate but were usually formatted incorrectly. Here are some of the problems that I observed:

• Students cited articles obtained from Science Direct and Scopus as web sites.
• A student cited chapters within a research level monograph as a complete book
• Three students neglected to state the articles he used were retrieved from a database

From examining papers submitted in two classes it appears that students in advanced courses forget what they have learned in the Research Roadmaps taught at the freshman level. I think we need to develop handouts to review the proper way to cite and types of reference used in a research paper.

NJIT Library Holiday Party at Seabra's Rodizio

Last Friday the NJIT Library staff had our annual holiday luncheon. This year we picked Seabra's Rodizio in Newark. Your's truly is enjoying his lunch with Richard Sweeney, University Librarian.

Information Literacy in Environmental Engineering

We teach information literacy skills in the introductory course Humanities 101 with the hope that these skills would be carried over to future courses that students take at NJIT. We are obviously a tech school so nobody comes here to major in English literature, but the information gathering skills obtained in that course should be applied when students write papers in science and engineering courses later in the curriculum. I gave a lecture to ENE 262, Introduction to Environmental Engineering. The students worked in teams to write papers on the following topics:

• Differences between bottled and tap water
• Disinfection of drinking water
• State of the art in landfill design
• Carbon Footprints of Transportation Vehicles
• Reuse of water

When I analyzed the papers for use of information literacy skills, I made the following observations:

• Although I stressed the use of Scopus and Scifinder Scholar when I lectured, the use of these databases seemed to be minimal

• Most students did use web sites instead of peer reviewed journals

• Most of the web sites in the bibliographies were from government agencies.

• One student listed two books in his bibliography that were not found in the NJIT Library catalog. When I checked those books in Worldcat, I found out that they were classified as juvenile literature.

• Several students thought that Science Direct, a database, was the name of a journal

• Most of the citations to web sites were not formatted correctly.

I think these observations will be helpful in revising the Research Roadmaps in the future. We have to teach students the difference between a journal and a database. We also need to handout information reviewing the proper way to cite sources in advanced information literacy classes.

Planning the 2010 New Jersey Chemistry Olympics

Late this afternoon I attended a meeting in the Chemistry Department with Borislaw Bilash and other New Jersey high school chemistry teachers to plan the 2010 Chemistry Olympics which will be held Wednesday May 19 at NJIT. I will again be the judge for the Information Search. This year students will bring a model of a molecule of an antiviral drug on the day of the event. They will also have 25 minutes to use the published literature to get answers to questions posed to them about antivirals. It has been a rewarding experience doing this over the years.

Article in the current issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship

Preparing Science Librarians for Success: An Evaluation of Position Advertisements and Recommendations for Library Science Curricula

http://www.istl.org/09-fall/article1.html

Some points made:

• Only 40% required a subject specific bachelors degree, except 83% of all chemistry positions did


• Only 29% required a 2nd masters degree or PhD (I have observed that to get tenure a librarian must get a 2nd masters degree, thus many entry level librarians are seeking that degree


• There is no consensus in the literature as to whether a science background should be required for a science librarian position.

University Wide Holiday Party Today

Today I attended my 18th university holiday party. A few weeks ago we got a memo from the Vice President of Human Resources advising us that the party would be scaled down this year. We have to understand that since the university budget has been cut in all areas. There was less food this year than there was for earlier parties. It was nice to see people that we don't encounter regularly in our daily work.

Two Meetings at the Dana Library Yesterday

The Newark campus of Rutgers University is literally across the street from NJIT. Yesterday I had two meetings at the Dana Library there. The morning meeting was with the VALE reference services committee. We discussed the results of a survey that was distributed to the member libraries. This was in preparation for a presentation at the annual meeting on January 8th.

In the afternoon the reference librarians at NJIT met with Haipeng Li and Bob Nahory of the Dana staff to discuss a grant proposal for developing a diverse science librarianship program in New Jersey. The proposed program will seek support from the Laura Bush 21st Century Program at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to recurit and prepare 20 science librarians in a new science librarianship certificate program.

When Acronyms Don't Work

Would anybody search Intrenational Business Machines when wanting information about IBM? Likewise does anyone know that NBC stands for the Natioanl Broadcasting Company? Last night a student said he had a problem finding the company profile of the automaker BMW in Business Source Premier. It turns out that this company is listed under the German name Bayerische Motoren Werke AG. So I found out that acronyms don't work all the time.

METRO meeting on ICT Digital Literacy

Today, I attended a meeting at METRO about ICT Literacy in Libraries given by Kathryn Shaughnessy of St. John’s University. ICT is an acronym for information and communication technology. Let me use this journal entry to summarize the notes that I took. Kathy set up the following page for this workshop:

http://delicious.com/tag/metro/tag/metro_ict_literacy

Information literacy (IL) teaches students how to become researchers. However, IL is compounded by changes in technology. We are now in the era of Web 2.0 which allows people to create, publish, and preserve information. Technology has become a communications mode.

There is both a technological and cognitive approach to ICT. Librarians must use the technology which is a subset of IL. We are all challenged by the problem of information overload.

Information literacy for life implies research skills in life long learning.

ICT Literacy is using digital technology, communications tools and/or networks to manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge society.

I was amused when Kathy demonstrated ICT Jeopardy which she uses when she teaches at St. Johns.

Technology in Libraries: Essays in Honor of Anne Grodzins Lipow

While looking for electronic books to add to the NJIT Library catalog I found:

Technology in Libraries: Essays in Honor of Anne Grodzins Lipow. Ed. Roy Tennant. Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2008. N. pag. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. <http://techinlibraries.com/>

In 2003 Anne was the keynote speaker at the VALE annual meeting. The title of her talk was Beyond the Horseless Carriage: Re-professionalizing our work. I remember her saying that the job of a reference librarian should also be professional. Sadly Anne passed away in 2004 at age 69. An obituary may be found at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/12/MNLIPOWANN35.DTL

I just read one chapter of this book titled "The Legacy of Anne Lipow" by Karen Schneider. I will try to read the rest of the book over a period of time.

Why do chat reference patrons use such strange handles?

When a library patron approaches the reference desk for assistance he/she does not have to give their name. Most prefer to be anonymous. Likewise, many chat reference patrons just give their first name or pick a handle some of which are quite silly. Today someone gave the handle "Your Eyeballs". At least the topic was sensible - this individual was looking for information on housing in colonial Connecticut. The transcript:


Patron:09:26:46 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Chat Transcript: What was housing like in colonial Connecticut?
Librarian 1:09:26:46 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Note: Patron's screen name: Your eyeballs
Librarian 1:09:27:36 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Librarian 'NJ INSTofTECH Bruce' has joined the session.
Librarian 1:09:28:08 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Hello, this is Bruce from the library at NJIT. Please give me a few minutes to answer your question
Librarian 1:09:30:01 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Here is a site about colonial connecticut in general http://www.usahistory.info/New-England/Connecticut.html
Patron:09:31:38 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
can you find anything about the housing?
Librarian 1:09:32:12 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Here is an article about housing in colonial New England which would include CT. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/4/78.04.03.x.html
Librarian 1:09:34:33 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Here is a short article from the NY Times
Librarian 1:09:34:39 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Dig Gives New View of Colonial Housing. Authors:SUSAN PEARSALL Source:New York Times; 12/24/2000, p9, 0p Document Type:Article Abstract:AN archaeological dig in Andover has found remains of a medieval-style long house, the first one ever discovered in Connecticut. Until now, no long houses like this one, 15 feet wide and 60 feet long, had been found in New England dating from much past 1650; the Andover house was built in 1705. Historians say this long house challenges assumptions about traditional New England housing. ''People think the typical New England house was a hall-and-parlor house with a central chimney, but the archaeological evidence is showing us that we had a wide range of different types of houses, including long houses,'' said Emerson W. Baker, a history professor at Salem State College in Massachusetts. Dr. Baker, an archaeologist, lives in Maine and is familiar with the half-dozen long houses found there.
Librarian 1:09:37:41 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
I found reference to this book `War and Society in Colonial Connecticut,` by Harold E. Selesky which may discuss housing.
Librarian 1:09:39:37 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Here is an article from the ARchitectural Record published in 1915 which may be of interest
Librarian 1:09:39:46 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Colonial architecture in Connecticut ... / Source: Architectural record 1915 Apr., v. 37, p. 360-369 ; 1915 May, p. 445-452 ; 1915 June, p. 547-556 Details: ill. Language: In English. SUBJECT(S) Descriptor: Colonial architecture -- United States -- Connecticut.
Librarian 1:09:40:13 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
You may have to go to your local library and order it through interlibrary loan
Librarian 1:09:41:27 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Are you still there?
Patron:09:42:07 2009/12/03 (GMT-5)
Patron is no longer connected.

I think the article from the Architectural Record answers the question. I always hate it when a chat reference session ends abruptly. You never know if the customer is satisfied.

Impromptu Lecture for Chem E 101

I was on the late shift today and was not scheduled to come in until 1 PM. When I arrived at 12:45 PM there was a voice mail message for me from Professor Reg Tomkins. The guest lecturer for Chemical Engineering 101 had cancelled at the last minute and he needed a speaker for the 5 PM class. The goals of this introductory course are:

An introduction to some simple concepts of chemical engineering
An awareness of careers in chemical engineering
To gain familiarity with departmental policies
A knowledge of ethics and professionalism

There was no information literacy lecture scheduled so it was inserted just a few hours before the class. Many of the students had just taken the Research Roadmaps in their humanities class. So I said that the principles learned there can be applied to finding information in chemistry and chemical engineering. I showed them the web sites that I had developed with selected internet sources in chemicak engineering. I only was given 30 minutes so I had to be very cursory in my coverage. I showed them how to answer the following questions:

Find a schematic for the manufacture of aspirin

Find a reference for the corrosion of steel in sulfuric acid

Find a picture of a twin screw extruder

Find the structure of caffeine

I obviously don't know how much the students will retain. I did say that I was avialble to them in the future if they had questions about library issues.

Received my invitation from Google Wave Today

Speaking of Google--I received my invitation today to join Google Wave today. I think there will be a learning curve on how to use it. is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. I made contacts today with my NJIT collegue Heather Huey and Val Forrestal at Stevens. Let me take some time to learn how to use it.

Will Google Take Over All Libraries?

I suggest my readers see this entry http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2009/what-happens-when-libraries-are-shut-down/ from Ellyssa Kroski's blog Ilibrarian. Many special libraries have either closed or downsized in recent years. The photo states that the library is closed and that researchers should consult Google.

When we give classes to college students, we advise them that the sites that they find by searching Google may not be reliable and they should search library databases to find peer reviewed information. In the years to come Google could take over the reference function. Many reliable databases are emulating Google in their search interfaces. When I answer question for the chat service QANDANJ I often find the information for the patron through a Google search. The last time I checked Google had 71% market share of all search engines.

February 10th is the date of the Joint Upstate Downstate New York Meeting of Science Librarians

In August I reported in this journal that I was beginning to plan a joint science librarians meeting with the Upstate New York Science Librarians group. I have arranged with METRO to have the meeting on Wednesday February 10, 2010. The upstaters will attend the meeting through web conferencing software. The theme will be Trends in Sci/Tech and Medical Publishing. I have invited representatives from 4 major publishers. I will announce more details later.

Humorous Metaphor of the Day

I had a discussion with a colleague today about the use of Google Scholar in cited reference counts for faculty being considered for promotion and/or tenure. I suggested she research the topic using a database covering the library literature. She found this article which was quite on the mark:

Jacso, P. (2009). GOOGLE SCHOLAR'S GHOST AUTHORS. Library Journal, 134(18), 26-27. Retrieved from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database.

There was a statement by Professor Jasco there which was quite humorous:

"Google Scholar's publication/citation counts and metadata for bibliometric and scientometric evaluations too often resemble Bernie Madoff's profit numbers. Just as investors preferred the nonexistent reality described by Madoff's tally, users may like the publication/citation counts reported by GS and the many inflated indicators derived from them."

My First Meeting at the VALE Reference Services Committee meeting

For readers of this journal outside of New Jersey VALE (Virtual Academic Library Environment) is a consortium of college and university librarians. Please click on the link for more information. Today I attended my first meeting of the Reference Services Committee which was held at the Alexander Library at the College Avenue campus of Rutgers.

From May 1974 until December 1976 I lived in New Brunswick in my "previous life as a laboratory chemist." My personal journal has an entry that discusses my time there. Whenever I go to a professional meeting at Rutgers, I observe how the town has changed in the 30+ years since I lived there. Any place changes over time.

The committee discussed a reference survey that it is sending to the library directors of the state. We also viewed some web sites that considered reference statistics applications and the use of text messaging in reference.

Reference Statistics Applications:

a. http://www.slideshare.net/vacekrae/libstats-demo-and-overview - Open Source Libstats
b. http://www.altarama.com.au/deskstat.htm - commercial Artamara's RefTracker
c. http://libraryassessment.org/bm~doc/leibold.pps
d. http://bkarrgerlich.googlepages.com/tryingthereadscale

Text-a-Librarian:

a. Online presentation: http://www.textalibrarian.com/emerging.php
b. Features page: http://www.textalibrarian.com/features.php
c. One page PDF: http://www.textalibrarian.com/TextALibrarian-InfoSheet.pdf

Two free web sites that help to evaluate journals

Yesterday I posed the question about evaluating scientific magazines to the Science Librarians listserv. The definitive answer was that the Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) provides circulation data for periodicals which can be used to gauge the quality of a magazine. However this is a fee based service.

Irwin Weintraub of Brooklyn College did provide these two free services that can be used to evaluate journals.

Take a look at SCImagojr .com [FREE!]. This is a project from Spain, which is analyzing journals according to usage -- the project is, I believe, supported by Elsevier. In any case, their dataset is the Scopus database! Be sure to read their ABOUT page:http://www.scimagojr.com/aboutus.php

Another free site you may want to look at is eigenfactor .org, which is using the journal database that is the foundation for Web of Science. Using Eigenfactor, you can get ranking according to either the Eigenfactor Score (a kind of google-like page rank score) or the Article Influence Score (a kind of Impact Factor) -- in both cases, the higher the score, the better! Interestingly, at the Eigenfactor site, you can also get a Cost-effectiveness ranking (Price per Eigenfactor)!

Question from a graduate student

A few weeks ago I posted an entry about an exemplary graduate student. Last Friday he posed a unique question to me. He asked how can magazines not journals covering semiconductors can be ranked. Of course journals are ranked by Journal Citation Reports by impact factor. I really had to think this one out. I should him Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory where most of the semiconductor magazines were classified under electronics. I suggested that the best way to rank magazines would be to do it through circulation statistics. These magazines would be purchased by libraries and individuals who are working in the field.

Any thoughts on what other criteria can be used to gauge the quality of scientific magazines?

Information Literacy vs Calculus/Intermittent vs Continuous

Students in the science and engineering curriculum must successfully complete calculus in their freshman year since it is a prerequisite for so many other courses. Is it necessary to re-teach calculus in succeeding courses? Of course not. Students continously use what they learned in calculus in subsequent courses.

The situation for information literacy is different. At NJIT we have provided basic information literacy training in the Research Roadmaps given in Humanities 101 and 102. Students immediately apply what they learned since they must write papers using library databases. Not all courses later in the science/engineering curriculum require students to write papers using peer reviewed literature. Thus information literacy skills are used intermitently and may be forgotten later on. Perhaps notes used in our Research Roadmaps should be made available to advanced students who must write papers.

This entry was originally written in the NJIT Library's Information Literacy Blog at https://blogs.njit.edu/infolit/ . I certainly invited any NJIT faculty or other librarians to go to that site and make comments.

Adventures in Reference - Good and Bad

It's always nice to get a challenging reference question especially when it is in my area of expertise (chemistry). This morning I logged into QANDANJ and a student wrote down a structure of a chemical substance. Some years back when I worked as a chemical information specialist for a drug company, I would have been able to answer this question almost instantly. I explained to the online patron that I would a few minutes. About 5 minutes later, this person said "hurry up you [expletive deleted]". I immediately terminated the session.

Below is a chat transcript from yesterday where the patron started out with a very vague question and gradually made it more specific. After each of the patrons responses, there was a long pause. On a few occasions I almost gave up since I thought the person left the chat. Below is the transcript:


Chat Transcript: Do you have information regarding financial support?
Librarian 1:15:14:14 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Note: Patron's screen name: -
Librarian 1:15:15:18 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Librarian 'NJ INSTofTECH Bruce' has joined the session.
Librarian 1:15:15:58 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Hello, this is Bruce from the library at NJIT. Your question is somewhat vague. Please clarigy and say exactly what information you need.
Patron:15:20:09 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Do you have information regarding pension annuity contracts?
Librarian 1:15:20:57 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Is this New Jersey state pensions. I still need a clarification.
Patron:15:24:09 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
I'm looking for the pension information for a multinational corporation headquarted in New York City?
Librarian 1:15:24:34 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
What is the name of the corporation?
Patron:15:25:02 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Bristol Myers Squibb
Librarian 1:15:25:18 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
I will see what I can find, please give me a few minutes
Librarian 1:15:27:07 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
I found some information at this web site http://www.bms.com/careers/Benefits/Pages/FinacialSavings.aspx
Librarian 1:15:27:28 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Retirement/Pension Plan: Bristol-Myers Squibb provides retirement benefits to eligible employees based on years of service and a plan formula based on final average pay. If you have a question regarding your pension or savings benefits, please contact the Bristol-Myers Squibb Savings and Pension Center at 877-208-0795. Bristol-Myers Squibb retirees may also log into Benefits Express Internet site at: https://benefitsexpress.bms.com/.
Librarian 1:15:27:51 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Are you a current employee or retiree of Bristol Meyers Squibb
Librarian 1:15:29:09 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
I can only provide you information that is on the open web. I can not provide any proprietary information about company benefits
Librarian 1:15:32:01 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Are you still on the line?
Patron:15:34:25 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Yes
Librarian 1:15:35:25 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
I really can't give you any more information, since it is private information of Bristol Meyers Squibb
Librarian 1:15:36:28 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
I suggest you phone 877-208-0795 if you are a current or past employee.
Librarian 1:15:36:38 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Are you applying for a position there?
Patron:15:39:01 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Possibly, however I would like to find out the financial stability of their pension plans , given the current financial crisis.
Librarian 1:15:39:23 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Let me see if I can find any information
Librarian 1:15:41:56 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Pensions & Investments; 2/23/2009, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p1-22, 2p Document Type:Article Subject Terms:*PENSION plan funding BRISTOL-Myers Squibb Co. Geographic Terms:UNITED States Company/Entity:BRISTOL-Myers Squibb Co. DUNS Number: 001288497 Ticker: BMY COCA-Cola Co. DUNS Number: 003296175 Ticker: KO ALASKA Permanent Fund Corp. Abstract:The article presents news briefs related to the pension plan funds. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. expects to contribute a total of $550 million to its $4.1 billion U.S. pension plan, according to the company's 10-K filing. Coca-Cola Co. is reportedly adopting a cash balance plan for most U.S. salaried and hourly employees hired as of Jan. 1, 2010. The $27.7 billion Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. stopped plans for two alternative investments approved in July because of a 25% decline in the fund's value.
Librarian 1:15:43:36 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Here is some financial information about BMS http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/pensions.asp?ric=BMY
Librarian 1:15:47:01 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
This is all the information I can find from the resources at my disposal
Librarian 1:15:47:19 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
I wish I could be more helpful
Librarian 1:15:47:42 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
If you need further help, please feel free to login again. It's been a pleasure serving you at QandANJ.org.
Librarian 1:15:47:46 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Librarian ended chat session.
Librarian 1:15:47:50 2009/11/10 (GMT-5)
Note: Set Resolution: Answered

On a brighter note, I helped a student at the reference desk find some information about a Shakespearean play. About an hour later, I walked toward the student center and saw this student walking with a friend. A nodded to him and a few seconds he said to this friend that this man was very helpful to me in the library. It's nice to get some gratitude.

Reference Question of the Evening

I am working on the late shift tonight so here is a good question that came at 5:30. Students are required to edit a page of the Wikipedia. This student had to report on computer printers with the Energy Star Standard. The article discussed the standard as applied to computers, but not to printers specifically. I showed the student how to find relevant articles using Lexis Nexis and Business Source premier.

Transcript from a Chat with an Appreciative Patron

I have discussed chat reference in this journal before. You spend time trying to find information for a person and you often don't know if the customer is satisfied with the results. I send the information over and nothing happens. After a while I must log off the session and wait for another chat. Today I received a question from at student at Eastern Illinois University. I sent her 8 articles in PDF and felt that she appreciated what I did for her. Here is the transcript:

Chat Transcript: I am looking for scholarly journals and need a total of 5. I have found 2 but I am having trouble trying to find others. The topic of discussion is Racism. I would like to talk about several issues of racism. For esxample, race, ethnicity, education, unbias, and sports. In addition to the sports portion; an article talking about Caster Semenya (sp??) Women athlete in South Africa. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Librarian 14:13:04]: Librarian 'NJ INSTofTECH Bruce' has joined the session. [Librarian 14:13:54]: Hello Lashaunda, this is Bruce from the library at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. This is a national chat service

[Patron 14:14:21]: Hi Bruce!

[Librarian 14:14:53]: Let me lookat Academic Search Premier which is a popular database here and see if I can find some articles in scholarly journals for you.

[Patron 14:15:44]: Thank you I appreciate that. I looked at several of the databases and found 2 but I am having trouble finding more.

[Librarian 14:18:56]: I did a search on Racism and sports in Academic Search Premier and limited my search to Peer Reviewed journals and full-text availability. Let me send you 5 of the articles


[Librarian 14:25:08]: I just sent you 5 articles in PDF

[Librarian 14:27:27]: Please check your e-mail

[Patron 14:27:48]: I received them...Are there a couple more that have racism and education and/or an article about if it still exists today? Thanks!

[Librarian 14:28:07]: Let me search the database again

[Patron 14:29:17]: Thank you. [Librarian 14:33:26]: I just sent you 3 articles in pdf considering racism in education

[Patron 14:36:23]: Got them...thankyou so much for your help Bruce. In the future, if I have trouble trying to find some good articles other than what I find in the database...can I use this service?

[Librarian 14:38:51]: yes, you may use this service at any time. Yo may also want to speak to your librarian at your university if you need assistance using the datbases that are available to you

[Librarian 14:39:17]: I sent you one newspaper article about Caster Semenya

[Patron 14:39:33]: Will do. Thank you so much for your excellent service. :)...Thank you!!

[Librarian 14:40:01]: You are welcome. Is there anything more that I can do for you right now?

[Librarian 14:41:34]: Thank you for using this service.

[Librarian 14:41:39]: Librarian ended chat session.

Reference Question of the Day

I was sitting at the reference desk and received the same question from a reference chat and a walk up patron. Likely, they were in the same class. They wanted information about campus crime or rape. One of them was interested in newspaper articles while the other specifically want law cases where the university was sued. I referred both of them to Lexis Nexis Academic Universe.

The Fall 2009 CINF E-News is now available

When I first edited the CINF E-News in 1999 it was only available to members of the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information. I think about 2005 the executive committee of the division decided to make it open access. So if any readers of Bruce at the NJIT Library are interested, it is available at http://www.acscinf.org. I thank all the authors who made contributions to it.

I attended the METRO Annual Meeting Yesterday

Yesterday I attended the METRO annual meeting held at the SUNY College of Optometry l;ocated on 42nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. I arrived a little early so I walked around the area which was my stomping ground from 1983-90 when I worked at the Science and Technology Division of the New York Public Library. There were certainly many new buildings in the vicinity since I had left NYPL 19 years ago. There was scaffolding around NYPL, so I assumed the facade of the building was being cleaned.

I checked in at 1:30 and took at tour of the Harold Kohn Vision Science Library. Until 2000 the City University of New York Graduate Center was in that building. I organized a careers in chemical information workshop held in that building in November 1989.

The METRO meeting became with welcoming remarks from Executive Director Dottie Hiebing and Dr. David Heath, President of the SUNY College of Optometry. A member of the Staff of State Senator Thomas Duane accepted an award for his advocacy of libraries.

The keynote speaker was John Blyberg, Assistant Director for Innovation and User Experience at the Darien, Ct. Public Library. The title of his talk was Getting Out of the Weeds: Understanding and Managing an Ecology of Information. His Powerpoint of this talk may be viewed at http://slideshare.net/jblyberg.

ASTM Standards Day at the NJIT Library

While I was scheduled at the reference desk this morning, I received 3 questions about ASTM Standards. We have the print not the electronic version. The latter costs more and would have to be renewed every year. 2006 is the latest set of ASTM standards we own. One of the three questions was about a standard that appeared in the 2007 edition. The patron had to order it through interlibrary loan.

Congratulations to 2009 Service Awards Recipients

At 3 PM today there will be a reception recognizing the long time service of NJIT employees who have reched milestone anniversaries. The following library employees will be honored and receive service pins:

• Lucy Velez - 10 years
• Roz Yates - 15 years
• Doreen Mettle - 20 years

Back to Editing the CINF E-News

CINF is the acronym used for the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information. I am the founding editor of the CINF E-News which is an electronic publication of the division which is issued about 6-8 weeks after the ACS National meeting to advise the membership of the lastest activities. I was the editor from 1999-2005. The current editor had some pressing work and personal commitments and couldn't work on the issue, so the Chair of the Division asked me if I could edit the current issue. I am working on it.

Recalling My Library Training

Back when I was in Russell Sage Junior High School (Fall 1961 - Spring 1964) we went to the library once a week. We would get a lesson in how to use the card catalog (no computers in those days) or the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature to find information. I received no library instruction at Forest Hills High School (1964 - 1967), City College of New York (1967-72) and the University of Rhode Island (1972-74). If I had to write a paper, I intuitively had to learn the research techniques. I remember I had to rewrite my bibliography for my MS thesis in chemistry since my references were formatted incorrectly. I did not receive any training in how to use published resources until I enrolled in the Pratt Institute School of Library and Information Science in 1979. Times have certainly changed.

Research Question of the Day

On of the university administrators came into see me today about a research project. The topic was the correlation between social cohesion and urban populations. I showed her how to search this topic in Scopus and PubMed Medline. She showed me some key papers that she had already found on this topic. I demonstrated how to retrieve the papers in Scopus and to then find the papers citing those significant publications.

Statement from an Exemplary Graduate Student

Mr. Patel (not his real name) dropped by the reference desk this evening just to say hello. In all my years as a reference library Patel is easily the most information competent student that I've met. We always frown inwardly when we get the simple and mundane reference or directional question, but when Patel comes around he always has an intelligent question. His major is electrical engineering, but his research topics are on the border of chemistry, solid state physics, and electronics. He is quite adept at searching the major databases and asks questions about the advanced features. Working with him is indeed a pleasure.

Tonight I asked Mr. Patel if he ever took any classes in how to use the databases. He said he had never taken a class given by one of the librarians at NJIT. Think about that. I won't comment any further.

MyMetro Meeting tonight

The meeting tonight was about career development for librarians and seeking continuing education that could help a librarian improve his/her position or find a new one. The convener Rachel King introduced the panelists:

• Ellen Mehling - Queensborough Public Library
• Sheila Sterling - Law Librarian
• Alice Flynn - Program Director of the Palmer School of Library and Information in Manhattan

All three spoke about their job histories. They had to make career moves involutary as almost everyone must do these days. They suggested that librarians reinvent themselves through continuing education. We should build upon skills that we already have. We should be flexible and enthusiastic about learning new skills. It was suggested that people follow job ads to see what skills that employers are seeking.

Reference Question of the Day

A student was looking for information on ethical issues relating to genetically modified food. I was able to find information for her from the following databases:

• Academic Search Premier
• Scopus
• Lexis Nexis
• Omnifile

New Format for this Journal

Please comment if you:

• Like this new format
• Dislike the format
• Are indifferent

I never know the impact of this journal since I rarely get comments

Career Day at NJIT

When I see students in business attire and a crowd around the printer in the information commons it can only mean that today is Career Day organized by Career Development Services. It is always difficult for any graduate to get his/her first professional position, but these are very difficult times. There seems to be some improvement in the economic picture, but every month there are more layoffs announced. Thus hiring must be very slow in almost every industry. So I wish every NJIT graduate well in their search for a position.

More on the H Index

The H index was discussed in this journal before. One particular professor is being considered for tenure and is obviously anxious about it. In yesterday's entry I mentioned that he asked me to compare his H index to his departmental colleagues. Only one full and one distinguished professor had higher values in the Web of Science or Scopus. The values were higher in the Web of Science since its covers more older journals. Today I did a literature search in Academic Search Premier to find articles that documented the use of the H index in evaluating the prestige of scientists. I found several papers that documented that.

If any librarians reading this journal are interested, I can e-mail the pdfs of the good papers. You can reach me at Bruce.Slutsky@njit.edu .

Random Thoughts of the Day

1. We are almost finished with the Research Roadmaps given to students of Humanities 101. Only 5 people came to my class today, although there are about 150 students who have not attended. I have classes scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday.

2. I received a phone call from a professor concerned about his cited reference count as he is being evaluated for tenure. A very recent paper of his was cited, but he is concerned that the databases we use (Scopus, Web of Science, and Scifinder Scholar) won't pick it up. He is also concerned that the databases and journals often misspell his name. He asked me to compare his H index with that of colleagues in his department. Cited references are only one criterion that the committee uses in granting or denying tenure. Politics is often a major factor.

3. Many of my previous employers were closed on Columbus Day, but NJIT has always been open. I can't complain since we get Fridays off over the summer. The subways and bus were significantly less crowded making the commute easier.

Congratulations to Professor Kamalesh Sirkar

Yesterday Professor Kamalesh Sirkar, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at NJIT, received the prestigious Excellence in Research Prize and Medal presented by the New Jersey Institute of Technology Board of Overseers. He is an internationally known expert in membrane separations. He holds 25 patents and is the author of 156 refereed articles and 18 book chapters.

Every year I do a search to determine how many publications cite his works. In January 2009 there were 4655 papers citing his work. For more information about Dr. Sirkar please go to http://www.njit.edu/overseersmedal

I certainly offer him a hearty congratulations.

October 7, 2009 Snapshot: One Day in the Life of NJ Libraries

The New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) launched a project called Snapshot: One day in the life of New Jersey Libraries to capture the impact that New Jersey libraries have on their communities on a typical day.

Our adminstrative assistant Lucy Velez took a picture of me teaching a section of the Research Roadmaps.

The Pubget Database is now available through the NJIT Library

Pubget is a search engine for PDFs in the life sciences. It indexes nearly 20 million life science research documents, including those in PubMed®. You search it like you would PubMed or Google Scholar. The difference is Pubget gets you the PDF right away. Pubget solves the problem of full-text document access in life science research. Instead of search results linking to papers, with Pubget's proprietary technology, the search results ARE the papers. Once you find the papers you want, you can save, manage and share them—all online.

The NJIT version is configured to feature journals that are used by the Biomedical Engineering Department. Users may establish an account and customize the list of journals

2 unrelated thoughts of the day - Twitter and Handshake

Twitter was the major topic of the last two library meetings that I have attended. My question concerns the cost/benefit analysis of using Twitter. There is no financial cost to a person or organization who uses Twitter, but time is money. It seems that some people use an extensive amount of time just tweeting away. Has the use of Tweeter improved library service? Can this be justified to management? How many hours a week do librarian tweeters spend doing their thing?

The NJIT Library including myself is involved in the Research Roadmaps. There was one student in this morning's class who seemed especially interested and asked several questions during my lecture. At the end of the lecture he thanked me and shook my hand. I've received some handshakes after long reference transactions, but not after a class.

Joint Meeting of the METRO Science Librarians and Lib 2.0 SIGs today

Last spring I consulted with Linda Braun who coordinates the Special Interest Groups for METRO (Metropolitan New York Library Council) on how I can reinigorate my science librarians group after my last meeting had a disappointing turnout. She suggested that I have a joint meeting with the Library 2.0 group. This meeting was held today featuring Joe Murphy Science Librarian of Yale University who spoke about Social Networking Competencies for Librarians.

I was happy to see a turnout of about 35. There is also the old fashioned social networking of talking to people face to face. This is still extremely important in this Web 2.0 era. You really don't "know" a person until you have met him/her face to face. Even if you have exchanged hundreds of e-mails, instant messages, and tweets, your opinion of a person will often changed once you have met him/her. It was nice to reconnect with colleagues and meet new ones.

Notes from the meeting may be summarized at http://etherpad.com/METROsnlit

Joe's paper on this topic that was presented at the March 2009 ACRL meeting may be found at http://bit.ly/acrlpaper

The Powerpoint may be found at http://slideshare.net/joseph.murphy

8 people from the meeting had lunch at a nearby diner after the meeting.

Environmental Engineering Students were Attentive for a While

Every semester I teach a class to ENE 262, Introduction to Environmental Engineering. The students must work in teams to write a paper using peer review sources on a related topic. Some of the topics this term are:

• Carbon Footprints of Transportation Vehicles
• Nanoparticles in personal care products
• Sensors for water supply research
• State of the Art in landfilling

The professor had to be at a meeting in Trenton so he picked today for me to give the library lecture. I was afraid that the students would not be attentive and think that the class was not really necessary. I was pleasantly surprised for the first 50 minutes of the class, but toward the end I observed restlessness among the students. I picked a few of the topics and showed how they could be searched in Scopus and in the EPA database. My Powerpoint presentation may be found at http://library.njit.edu/docs/ENE262_Spring2009.ppt

The NJIT Library is on Facebook and Twitter

• NJIT Library onTwitter
• Bruce Slutsky on Twitter
• Friends of the NJIT Library on Facebook
• Bruce Slutsky on Facebook

Remember Microfilm Reader Printers?

This afternoon I assisted a civil engineering graduate student find some old references. We had to order 3 from interlibrary and found 2 from the print collection. However, 3 articles that he needed were in journals that the NJIT library has in micoform only. So, I go up to the machine similar to the one above and saw that both plugs were out. Yes, it has been months since I had to refer someone to the microfilm machine. I always dread it since every patron has to be shown how to use this dinosaur. It turned out that the machine was out of toner. I was told by circulation supervisor that toner was ordered over the summer and she would have to check with the administrative assistant to see if it had arrived.

We retrieved the reels with the articles needed by the student. We told him if the toner cartridge had arrived a student worker would make the copies for him. If not we would order the articles through interlibrary loan. Yes, there are even low tech problems in libraries.

Meeting with the Biomedical Engineering Faculty

Implementing information literacy into the biomedical engineering (BME) curriculum at NJIT has always been a challenge. Until now I have just gotten my "15 minutes of fame" giving a short lecture in the Fundamentals of Engineering Design Course. This is given at the Freshman level when students are using mostly textbooks and would not need the technical journal literature in their field. This morning I had a meeting with a few of the faculty to try to determine where it could fit in. They felt students in BME 310 (biomedical computing) could get an assignment where they would need to find how a signal processing can be applied to a problem in biomedical engineering. They are having a full faculty meeting on Wednesday when they will discuss this.

NJIT Library Information Literacy Blog

Please check it out at http://blogs.njit.edu/infolit

Teaching Students How to Find Physical and Thermodynamic Properties of Chemical Substances

I taught this even during my early days at the NJIT Libraries. Back then I brought a book cart of the printed data compilations such as:

• The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
• Langes Handbook
• JANAF Thermochemical Tables

As the years passed more resources became available on the web for free. I also say that for common substances there are usually several places where they can find the same information. Sometimes there is a conflict of values. Over the years I have compiled a web site with lists of resources where they may find physical and thermodynamic data. I even show how they may even by lucky and find properties of a substance by doing a Google search.

I give them an assignment based on what I cover in the lecture. Students are not allowed to use the Wikipedia. Every semester students seem to find one or more resources not familiar to me. I always say that there is more than one way to skin a cat when trying to find this type of information.

17th Anniversary at NJIT

It was 17 years ago today that I started at the NJIT Library. Within the month of September 1992 4 reference librarians, a director of reference, and a director of technical processing were hired. Let me explain this very unusual situation.

After a new University Librarian was hired in October 1991 almost the entire professional staff resigned within several months. From what I heard there was just not a match between the expectations of the University Librarian and the skills and values of the professional staff that she inherited.

At the same time the library moved to the Central Avenue Building. Back then I kept saying that it was like the blind leading the blind. Eventually we all became acclimated to the situation.

The two directors did not work out and left within two years. One reference librarian left after 5 years while the other three (including myself obviously) remain at NJIT. Two of us are still reference librarians while one moved on to University Web Services.

Helping out with the Research Roadmaps

The research roadmaps offered by the NJIT Library are described at http://library.njit.edu/researchhelpdesk/instruction/workshops.php . Today I did a workshop for IL 101 given to Freshman taking Humanities 101. The course description is as follows:

Focuses on developing written and oral communication skills; emphasizes writing expository and research essays; preparing oral reports; drafting, revising, editing; evaluation and proper documentation of source material; using rhetorical strategies such as narration and argument.

The librarians must reach over 900 students taking this course. The majority of the sections are taught by the liaison to the humanities and the information literacy specialist. Even though I prefer teaching classes in chemistry and related disciplines, I am willing to help out with this endeavor. I try to explain to students that learning how to use information resources is a gradual process. They learn the basics in this introductory course, but eventually must learn the specialized databases in their major. Hopefully the information literacy skills learned here are taken with them as they move to a graduate program and eventually into a business environment.

Chemical Abstracts Service Announces its 50 Millionth Substance

Here is an excerpt from the press release issued by Jim Corning:


"Columbus, Ohio (September 8, 2009) – Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society, announced that on September 7 it recorded the 50 millionth substance in CAS REGISTRY, the world’s most comprehensive and high-quality compendium of publicly disclosed chemical information. The recently registered substance is a novel arylmethylidene heterocycle with analgesic properties. Reaching the 50 million mark so quickly is an indicator of the accelerating pace of scientific knowledge. CAS registered the 40 millionth substance just nine months ago—in contrast, it took 33 years for CAS to register the 10 millionth compound in 1990."

The complete press release may be found at
http://www.cas.org/newsevents/releases/50millionth090809.html

For an up to date count users may consult http://www.cas.org/cgi-bin/cas/regreport.pl

Most substances (80%?) have appeared in the literature only once.

My Powerpoints are on Slideshare

I found out about a service called Slideshare where a person can mount his/her Powerpoint presentations to allow others to use them. My 6 files are available at http://www.slideshare.net/bruceslutsky . It states how many times each Powerpoint has been viewed. I was surprised to see that my lesson on how to find information in civil and environmental engineering was viewed 46 times in 5 days, more than the chemistry related files.

Presentation to Chemical Engineering Graduate Students Yesterday

I gave a presentation to CHE 794 yesterday. Below is a description of the course from the NJIT course catalog:

ChE 794 - Professional Presentations for Ph.D. Students (0 credits)Intended to help students make better technical presentations. Each student is required to make a presentation on a research topic; guest lectures will occur during the semester. Effective From: Fall 2007

Professor Boris Khusid asked me to talk about how I use Powerpoint in my work. I gave a brief introduction on how Powerpoint can be used effectively and that it should assist the speaker and not be a distraction. I then described the 4 Powerpoints that I use at NJIT to teach chemistry/chemical engineering students to find information from print and electronic sources:

1. General Introduction
2. How to Find Physical Property Data
3. Chemical Abstracts and Scifinder Scholar
4. Scopus and other resources

My training has to be very cursory. I also invite students to come to me in the future if they need assistance in finding information. They did seem to be attentive, but nobody asked questions. Under these circumstances it is impossible to assess the impact of the lecture. I don't expect students to become chemical information specialists, but just to be aware of the resources in their field that are available now and in the future when they move on to another academic program or to industry.

Started Using Slideshare today

I recently became aware of the program Slideshare. I am in the process of uploading the Powerpoint Presentations I've developed at NJIT so I can more easily share them with my colleagues.

It seems that students only want online resources

This morning I went onto QANDANJ and received a question from a Rutgers student. She had given me 2 incomplete citations and wanted an online source for them. It took me a little time to determine that they were both book chapters from books that Rutgers had only in print format. She seemed very disappointed that the sources were not available online. I have had some discussions with faculty who say that today's students do not want to read. I guess that's the way it is with today's students.

Working on the late shift

Once the academic year begins we work one day a week from 1 PM to 8 PM. The librarian on the late shift must be at the reference desk from 5 PM - 8 PM. The first hour is usually busy since the day students are still here while the evening students are arriving and often visit the library before class. From 6 PM - 8 PM there are few transactions at the desk since students are in class until 9 PM. The main advantage of working late is avoiding the rush hour crowds on the trains. The disadvantage is getting home late and waking up early the next morning.

First day of Classes at NJIT

It is very hard for me to remember my first day as a Freshman at CCNY in September 1967. Today, the campus came to life after 3 1/2 months of dormancy. President Altenkirch greeted the students with his annual pancake breakfast on the green. There was considerable action at the reference desk when I was there from 10 -11. We are prepared for the usual question that come from new students. I printed out a campus map to direct students to academic buildings. Returning students often find that their computing accounts don't work so I have the handout giving instuctions on restoring their passwords. Then, of course are the dreaded textbook questions that will persist for weeks. I understand that the cost of textbooks are prohibitively high especially in the scientific and engineering disciplines. I always say to students that as a general rule the library doesn' carry required textbooks and that their professor feels that it is in their best interest to own the book.

How Quickly Do Users Adopt Enhancements to Databases

Today I recieved an e-mail from Chemical Abstracts Service noting enhancements to Scifinder Scholar coming in September. I assume this was demonstrated at ACS National Meeting in Washington. As of now the enhancements have been activated for preview. Training and support resources are available at http://www.cas.org/getscibeta/. I viewed a 50 minute Web Ex seminar which demonstrated the changes. Back in the "old days" we had to travel to see a demonstration of databases.

Several hours ago I sent a group e-mail to all of those who have accounts to the web version of Scifinder Scholar announcing these changes. I invited them to come see me for a demonstration of the new features. Perhaps, I should wait a few days before I draw any conclusions. I just sense that users of databases are resistant to change. Some months ago as documented in this journal a large percentage of NJIT users wanted to stay with the client version. Chemical information specialist use Scifinder regularly and are likely to embrace the advances. I am guessing that the intermittant user is reluctant to use new features. Maybe, they just take longer.

Chemical/Pharmaceutical Engineering Orientations

Pharmaceutical Engineering is a program within the Chemical Engineering Department at NJIT. This morning I spoke for about 15 minutes at their orientation. I spoke introduced them to the published resources that are available for their program at NJIT. Students coming to a new school must really be overwhelmed coming to a different environment. The transition is especially difficult for international students who must adapt to a new culture. At this point learning how to use library resources in not paramount to them. I also state that my door is always open to them, if they need assistance in the future after they are acclimated to their new surroundings.

In the early afternoon I spoke to the general chemical engineering graduate students. I did mention that I will be speaking to them next week in CHE 794, so similarly my remarks were brief.

Budget Cuts force the NJIT Library to Reduce Hours for the Fall Semester

Like everyone else the NJIT Library has been hit with budget cuts. The hours for the Fall Semester are as follows:

Monday - Thursday - 7:30 AM - 11:45 PM
Friday - 7:30 AM - 7:45 PM
Saturday - 10 AM - 5:45 PM - no reference librarian will be available
Sunday - 1:oo PM - 8:45 PM - no reference librarian will be available

During the late semester and final exam period the library will stay open until 2:45 AM on Monday - Thursday nights

First Anniversary of this Journal

A year ago today, I started this journal to facilitate communication among my professional acquaintances and NJIT students, faculty and staff who may need my assistance in finding technical information. I have averaged one entry every two days. I do monitor the activity on this journal through Google Analytics and have observed perhaps 3 hits a day on the average. Very few people write comments to my entries, so it is difficult to ascertain the impact of this journal.

In any event, thanks for dropping by.

Bruce Slutsky

Everyone Loves Google - Even Postdocs

Every semester I teach a class on how to find physical properties of substances to chemistry students. Since a new postdoc was teaching the class, I made an appointment to see her to discuss the lecture. I showed her what I've done in the past and the web site that I compiled that lists resources to find property data. I would even use Moodle to distribute and grade the assignment that I give.

At the end of the meeting I made a little small talk about Scifinder Scholar. I asked if she was aware of the two versions of it and if she searches it. She said that she was looking for a rare substances and found a reference to a journal article by searching Google. So why should libraries purchase expensive databases when people find their information through Google.

Everyone loves Google - Even postdocs.

The OPAC at the NJIT Library was upgraded today

Some of the new features are:

1) New look and feel for WebVoyage - the new interface includes user-focused search screens, improved navigation and labeling, and a re-designed Quick Search option.

2) Redesigned titles summary list display - new features include citation-style catalog entries, alternating background colors for items on the display, a "filter your search" box on the title summary display, new positioning for the print/save/export actions, and a reorganization of the "Edit Search", "Save Search", jump bar, and sort menu options.

3) Redesigned record display layout in the OPAC - the new WebVoyage provides updated bibliographic displays that include easily-understood labels and the most-commonly-used fields. A new feature, the "Action Box", is prominently displayed on the page to encourage users to place requests, download and print the record, and access additional information about the title. A jump bar located above the Action Box provides easy navigation within the record set and to the research results.

4) Google Book Search link - this feature was implemented in the previous software version (6.5.3). Library patrons can enhance their findings with Google Book Search features such as full text, book previews, cover jacket thumbnails, and a mashup from Google Maps linking pages in a book describing a specific place to its location on the world map. Users will see this link automatically when the title is available at Google Book Search.

5) New "Exit" actions in WebVoyage - A configurable countdown timer have been added that gives the users an alert before the session ends. Upon timing out, WebVoyage will refresh to a new start page, ready for another user to begin a new search in the catalog.

6) Redesigned patron information display in the OPAC - patrons will be able to view a summary of their account transactions with hyperlinks to the relevant sections of the display, and see additional addresses and telephone numbers the library has on record. These changes will provide patrons with an easier-to-use "My Account" display and offer them a more complete picture of their transactions and account information.

7) Printing, emailing or saving OPAC records - The print, save and email options in WebVoyage will be enhanced to add a "Select All" option, make the "Retain Selected" option automatically retain records when moving to a new page, allow emails to be sent to multiple addresses, and permit the users to enter comments to be sent with the email.

8) OPAC accessibility - The redesign closely following section 508 and W3C web accessibility guidelines; WebVoyage includes advanced markup and use of tagging to provide better navigation for patrons using assistive technology. Specific attention has been give to providing "alt" tags for all images and non-text elements, using CSS to govern display, limiting the use of tables, minimizing repetitive content where possible, and adding descriptive text to hidden data elements resulting in a better interface for library patrons.

9) Support for Firefox Web Browser - WebVoyage is supported on the Firefox web browser.

Information Literacy in biomedical engineering has always been a challenge

Biomedical engineering as a profession as well as the department at NJIT has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. At one time it was a program within the Electrical Engineering Department. To date, I was only allowed to give a 15 minute library lecture in FED 101 (Fundamentals of Engineering Design). I do feel that it is too early to introduce subject specific journals and databases so early in the curriculum. Students need a solid foundation in their major before they can understand the technical literature. I had a short conversation with a professor in that department where the following courses were suggested for a library lecture:

• BME 301 - Electrical Fundamentals of Biomedical Engineering
• BME 303 - Biological and Chemical Foundations of Biomedical Engineering

Unfortuately the chairman of the department was not available today for a consultation on this issue.

Finally beginning to plan a meeting of Upstate and Downstate New York Science Librarians

My librarian colleagues and readers of this blog know that I am the convener of the METRO Science Librarians SIG . For several years I have been aware of the Upstate New York Science Librarians Group which meets once a year. I have had some preliminary e-mail discussions with a few of their librarians about a joint meeting, but nothing ever materialized. Today I spoke with Heidi Webb, a student at Syracuse University, who is interested in helping me to organize such a meeting. We thought of January-February 2010 as a good time for such a meeting.

I am glad that I was finally able to break down some frontiers in the planning of this meeting.

Information Literacy in the Chemical Engineering Curriculum

For a number of years I have given 3 lectures in Chemical Engineering 396 described as the first course in chemical engineering capstone laboratory where experiments are conducted in the areas of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Bench and pilot-scale equipment is used. I have given three lectures:

• Introduction to the Literature of Chemical Engineering
• Scifinder Scholar
• Scopus and other resources of interest

I agreed to combine the three lectures into one lasting for about 90 minutes. I asked the professor if there is any way of assessing the skills learned in that lecture. He said no since when the students write their laboratory reports they only need to cite their textbook and laboratory manual.

On the way to lunch I accidentally encountered the Chair of the Department. I suggested that I give a quiz at the end of the senior year which would see if the students know how to use the literature in their field as they reach graduation. The grade would not count in any course Likely I will have to make a proposal at a departmental meeting.

End of Summer Session II

Time sure passes quickly. Today is August 6 which marks the end of Summer Session II at NJIT. Like most colleges NJIT has two 5-week sessions. The Fall semester will begin early this year on August 31. Thus, the next 3 weeks are usually the slowest weeks of the year for the library. There will be some graduate students and faculty coming in to use the library. Entering students will come around to explore their new environment.

Attended a Metro Webinar on Keeping Up with Tech Trends

Today's technology makes it possible to attend a professional meeting at home or at one's workplace. Today I attended a webinar offered by METRO about keeping up with trends in technology. We all have a comfort zone and it is often difficult for us (especially older people like myself) to try new technologies when the old ones still work.

The following sites were recommended for following general technology trends:

• New York Times Technology Section
• Read Write Web
• Wired Magazine
• Life Hacker
• CNET
• Slashdot

The following sites were recommended to follow library related trends:

• Lita Blog
• Planet Code 4 Lib
• Stephen's Lighthouse
• Tame the Web
• Shifted Librarian
• Digital Reference (Stephen Francoeur0
• Blyberg.net
• Tech metro

Narrated another Powerpoint Today

Over this summer I created a Powerpoint presentation on finding information in the environmental sciences. I showed how to find a book on climate change and articles on the relationship between climate change and air pollution using Academic Search Premier, Scopus, and Lexis-Nexis. Today I went over to Media and Instructional Services and narrated it using Camtasia. Hopefully the students in this course will find it useful.

New Interface for Voyager OPAC

Today we were introduced to the new interface for the Voyage OPAC. It will be implemented on August so it will be ready for the fall semester.

Some of the new features are:

1) New look and feel for WebVoyage - the new interface includes user-focused search screens, improved navigation and labeling, and a re-designed Quick Search option.

2) Redesigned titles summary list display - new features include citation-style catalog entries, alternating background colors for items on the display, a "filter your search" box on the title summary display, new positioning for the print/save/export actions, and a reorganization of the "Edit Search", "Save Search", jump bar, and sort menu options.

3) Redesigned record display layout in the OPAC - the new WebVoyage provides updated bibliographic displays that include easily-understood labels and the most-commonly-used fields. A new feature, the "Action Box", is prominently displayed on the page to encourage users to place requests, download and print the record, and access additional information about the title. A jump bar located above the Action Box provides easy navigation within the record set and to the research results.

4) Google Book Search link - this feature was implemented in the previous software version (6.5.3). Library patrons can enhance their findings with Google Book Search features such as full text, book previews, cover jacket thumbnails, and a mashup from Google Maps linking pages in a book describing a specific place to its location on the world map. Users will see this link automatically when the title is available at Google Book Search.

5) New "Exit" actions in WebVoyage - A configurable countdown timer have been added that gives the users an alert before the session ends. Upon timing out, WebVoyage will refresh to a new start page, ready for another user to begin a new search in the catalog.

6) Redesigned patron information display in the OPAC - patrons will be able to view a summary of their account transactions with hyperlinks to the relevant sections of the display, and see additional addresses and telephone numbers the library has on record. These changes will provide patrons with an easier-to-use "My Account" display and offer them a more complete picture of their transactions and account information.

7) Printing, emailing or saving OPAC records - The print, save and email options in WebVoyage will be enhanced to add a "Select All" option, make the "Retain Selected" option automatically retain records when moving to a new page, allow emails to be sent to multiple addresses, and permit the users to enter comments to be sent with the email.

8) OPAC accessibility - The redesign closely following section 508 and W3C web accessibility guidelines; WebVoyage includes advanced markup and use of tagging to provide better navigation for patrons using assistive technology. Specific attention has been give to providing "alt" tags for all images and non-text elements, using CSS to govern display, limiting the use of tables, minimizing repetitive content where possible, and adding descriptive text to hidden data elements resulting in a better interface for library patrons.

9) Support for Firefox Web Browser - WebVoyage is supported on the Firefox web browser.

Long Term Project for the Reference Staff - An Online Information Literacy Textbook

I hope we are not being asked to rediscover the wheel. There are information literacy textbooks available, but they are aimed at librarians or library school students. We need to make the university administration aware of what we are doing, but is it necessary to write it in a textbook format?

I still feel that subject specific information literacy is not necessary at the lower undergraduate level. Many years ago when I was a chemistry student, I did not need to search the literature at the undergraduate level. Doing it too early in the curriculum will only bore students and perhaps even create hostility toward us. "Oh, do we really need a library lecture?"

Back to Work Today - Only 275 e-mails this time

When I left on Thursday July 16 I remembered to set for no mail on the reference librarian and chemical information listservs. Thus, I had 275 instead of 400 e-mails to answer. Most of them, of course were not important. I got a few requests for documents, but two of them were for journals that we already have in our print collection. It is always very annoying when users request items that we already have, but that's the way it is. The library usage is still very slow. The summer programs at NJIT are still going very strong. Hundreds of younger students are making their "joyful noise" on campus.

Took a MyMetro Webinar Today

Yes, I am still on vacation today, but I took a 30 minute webinar on Zotero given by Jason Kucsma of METRO. Zotero is is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. I had installed it on my work computer, but never really worked with it. The 30 minute webinar was just a basic introduction. When I get back to work, I'll have to spend some time working with it.

I do monitor my two journals using Google Analytics. I was please to see that "Bruce at the NJIT Library" received some hits while I was away from work. Thanks for stopping by.

Going on Staycation Again

If there are regular readers of this blog, I don't want anyone to worry if they don't see any postings for a week or so. I am taking vacation time next week and will not return to NJIT until Monday July 27. I will be staying at home for the most part. One day I will take a bus trip to Atlantic City. I have tickets to the Paul McCartney concert at Citifield on Tuesday July 21. Goodbye for now.

Research Question of the Day

Today I was asked to compile a list of printed and online resources that give information about scholarships for adults. To find printed resources I searched WorldCat. None of the printed resources were available in the NJIT Library. I relied on Google to find online sources. I limited my search to resources that inlcuded only scholarhsip information for adults or veterans. Many of the general scholarship resources included scholarships that did not specify ages of the applicants.

Web Site with Resources of Interest to Pharmaceutical and Computational Chemists

It took me a day to compile the web site I discussed in yesterday's entry:

http://library.njit.edu/researchhelpdesk/subjectguides/Pharmaceutical-Chemistry.php

Please check it out

Compiling a List of Resources for Pharmaceutical Chemisty/Chemical Engineering

In the course of a week I must read hundreds of postings from various listservs of interest to science librarians. Most of the time I look at the posting briefly and delete it. Today I read a posting by Rajarshi Guha of Indiana University on CHMINF-L, the chemical information listserv. The thread was concerned with free resources with information about chemical substances especially those with medicinal activity. He made reference to the following article in the Journal of Cheminformatics:
http://www.jcheminf.com/content/1/1/10

This paper inspired me to compile a page of resources supporing the programs in pharmaceutcial chemistry/engineering at NJIT. The paper does mention some commercial sources that we don't have at NJIT.

Do Librarians Come on Too Strong With Information Literacy?

It is the librarian's role to convince faculty and students of the need to develop information literacy skills to become competitive in their academic endeavors and more important when they eventually enter the business world in their chosen profession. Professionals must know how to recognize the need for information and know how to use the proper tools to find and evaluate the information they need. There is no argument about the importance of acquiring these skills.

I do perceive that very often academic librarians come on too strong in advocating for information literacy. We should not impose ourselves on people when we promote our services. Very often students will say "I know that already" and similarly faculty will state there is no time in this course for information literacy training. Do you ever feel intimidated by an overly aggressive retail salesman? I feel that often librarians come on too strong in their advocacy. I certainly would not want to antagonize a student or faculty member that way.

Should Librarians Promote Searching with Google

Much has been said and written about the Google phenomenon. I have actually heard on the radio and read in books the following statement which I am paraphrasing "Years ago when we needed information, we had to go to the library. Now all we have to do is search Google." Librarians have tried to steer students away from search engines to the bibliographic databases to find peer reviewed articles. We also teach students how to evaluate web sites.

Perhaps librarians in their information literacy classes give examples where students can find reputable information using Google. There is an old saying 'if you can't beat them, join them." Examples can be given where false information is found using Google. Another exercise may ask students to compare results using Google and a bibliographic database.

List of Librarian Blogs

Librarians reading my blog may be interested in this list of librarian blogs:

http://www.thelibrarynews.com/librarian-blogs/

Students should rent textbooks instead of buying them

Since I was off from work today, I sat in Alley Pond Park and readseveral sections of yesterday's New York Times. There was an article titled We Rent Movies, So Why Not Textbooks. At the beginning of every semester reference librarians are bombarded by students doing simple book searches for required textbooks. I always show the student how to find a book, but my standard response is the library does not collect required textbooks, your professor feels that it is in your best interest to buy the book. Certainly, textbooks especially in the science and engineering disciplines are expensive, but the cost of textbooks is part of the cost of an education. What bothers me is that publishers constantly change the editions of textbooks to dry up the used book market. Does basic calculus, chemistry, or physics, change in a few years?

This article describes two online services where students can rent books:

• Chegg.com
• Bookrenter.com

Back when I was a student, I kept books in my major (chemistry), but sold other subjects to the book store or to another student at the end of the semester. Renting textbooks can save money for students.

4 Day Weekend

The NJIT Library will be closed until Tuesday July 7th. Time to rest.

Project Seed Students Visit the NJIT Library

Project SEED, administered by the American Chemical Society, is a summer research program for economically disadvantaged high school students to experience what it’s like to be a chemist. Today I spoke to groups of students who will be working this summer with Professor Lisa Axe of Civil and Environment Engineering and Professor Trevor Tyson of Physics. I taught them the basics of library research, that they should search for basic information in books before they even consider searching databases for articles. Some of the students were interesting in high temperature superconductors. Another was interested in the chemicals that existed in glass beads that are used as highway markers.

Joined MyMetro Today

For many years through my Science Librarians SIG, I have been active in METRO, the Metropolitan New York Library Council. It is New York’s leading provider of training and support for library and information professionals at every stage of their careers. Its individual membership program, myMETRO, connects individual librarians, archivists, information professionals, students, and retirees to an array of unique networking opportunities, dynamic learning resources, and other valuable benefits. Thus I will be able to take continuing education courses at a discounted rate. With a poor budget, it is unlikely that NJIT will be able to fund my going to national meetings. Most of the cost of these meetings is for hotel and other living and travel expenses. Since I will be footing the bill, I would rather my person funds pay for the professional development not travel. Sometimes we have to make some difficult choices.

Information Literacy for the Environmental Policy Area

Last week I met with Professors Nancy Jackson and Zeyuan Qiu to discuss information literacy training in the environmental policy area. This area may be tricky since it is so multidisciplinary. I would not give a lecture to the class, but develop a Powerpint presentation that moves the students from the Research Roadmaps to resources specific to this area. After consulting with the faculty later in the summer, I would do a presentation with Camtasia to demonstrate some searches.

My Suggestion to NJIT Users of Scifinder Scholar

I reported in this journal that since many users of Scifinder Scholar here prefer the client based version, I have split my two seats between the two versions. I examine the statistics sent every month by Chemical Abstracts Service and noticed that several users of the web version keep trying to access the database several times when the "seat" is being used. The statistics also show that there are more turnaways for the web version. I sent an e-mail to NJIT users of Scifinder suggesting they download the client even if the web version is their preference.

Editing the Copy for the Chemical Information Bulletin

I think I have written in this blog that I am active in the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information. I am the Assistant Editor of the Chemical Information Bulletin which is published about a month before the Society's national meeting. I am editing the copy before we submit it to the printer. In the future, the Chemical Information Bulletin will be available only in electronic format.

Back to Work - 400 Emails waiting for me

Even though I took my laptop on vacation, I resolved not to look at my work e-mail. I came back and found over 400 e-mails. It takes time to look through them to find out that 90% are not important.

On Vacation until June 22

I will be on vacation from NJIT until Monday June 22. I will take a short trip with the family to Springfield, Massachusetts to see the Basketball Hall of Fame and other attractions in the area. There will be no new posts in this blog until then.

METRO Science Librarians SIG Meeting Today

I announced the topic for today a roundtable discussion on information literacy. Besides me there were 5 particpants:

• Kris Fitzpatrick - IEEE
• Allan Barnett - Institute of Physics Publishing
• Steve Chudnick - Brookdale Community College
• Dorothea Coiffe - Borough of Manhattan Community College
• Erica Sauer - Student at Rutgers University

We talked about how important that information literacy skills were once students graduated and had jobs in industry. They must be able to evaluate information to make proper business decisions. We also discussed how important formation literacy skills when students or professionals search several databases simultaneously (federated searching).

The conversation did meander away from information literacy but in a positive way. Kris announced that IEEE will be releasing a new search interface in January which will emulate Google. I commented about Google "If you can't beat them, join them." Since students seem so comfortable with the #1 search engine, publishers are trying to emulate them. The new interface will allow for faceted searching.

I was disappointed in the turnout. In all the years that I have run this group, this meeting had the lowest turnout. Perhaps June is a bad time to have a meeting. Maybe people did not want to come out on a damp dreary day. A comment was made the quality rather than the quantity was more important. I will reconvene the group in the Fall.

Should I go to the American Chemical Society Meeting in Washington in August?

For most recent years I have attended the American Chemical Society National Meeting usually held in August. This year it is being held in Washington, but I have doubts on whether I should go. With car expenses, hotel, and meeting registration it is an expensive proposition. In the past NJIT has paid for at least part of it, but the budget will be very tight and I may have to foot the bill for everything. Since hotels in the city are so expensive, I usually stay at a hotel in Rockville, Maryland and take the METRO to the meeting. If I don't go to that meeting, I will likely go to several one day meetings in Manhattan throughout the year. I have time to think about this.

My Comment about adding arts and humanities to Scopus

I sent this to the Science Librarians Listserv (sts-l@ala.org)

Scopus has recently announced that it has almost doubled its coverage in the arts and humanities by adding 1450 titles to make a total of about 3500 journals going back to 2002. For several years now, I have used Scopus to do searches in a wide range of areas within the scientific, medical and engineering disciplines. I am quite satisfied with the search interface, journal coverage, and special features of the database. It has been popular with library users at NJIT since we first introduced it.

I question the advisability of integrating the arts and humanities into the same database with the sciences. Scopus gives the user the option of limiting a search to life sciences, physical sciences, health sciences, and social sciences. There is no option to limit to arts and the humanities. According to their announcement the coverage in the arts and humanities only goes back to 2002. A user searching a topic in the arts and humanities may not realize that and miss significant relevant information by limiting the search to Scopus.

My suggestion to Elsevier is to set up a separate database for the Arts and Humanities as is done with the Web of Science.

Visitor from H.W. Wilson

Today a saleswomen from H.W. Wilson, a publisher of library databases, came to the NJIT Library to discuss Wilson Omnifile Full Text Select Edition. We have had the Omnifile Mega edition, but may have to scale down our database collection. The Select version includes only records with the full-text of the article. An interesting feature is the ability to hear an audio version of the html version of the full article. The user can also download it as a podcast for future reference. The full-text can also be translated into other languages.

Fridays off all summer

For several years now NJIT has been closed on Fridays during the summer. Since there are no classes scheduled on Fridays, the administration felt that it could save on energy costs by closing Fridays. They claim that $200,000/year is saved. A few faculty and graduate students complained that research productivity is reduced on a 4 day week. They are in the minority since most people enjoy three day weekends. It's too bad that it is raining today.

Report from Library Camp at Brooklyn College yesterday

This was the first professional meeting that I've attended since March. I had attended a smiliar library camp at Baruch College in August 2007. Talks at professional meetings are usually prepared in advance. At a "camp" the meeting is announced on a Wiki where people can suggest topics. At the first session of the camp the events with their moderators are arranged. Like any meeting, it is impossible to attend every session.

I suggested the topic "How Should We Handle the Dinosaur Known as the Reference Desk". I was concerned about the dropping off of face to face transactions at the reference desk. The participants suggested that librarians roam to see if people needed assistance. People reported that many library patrons would rather communicate electronically. A summary of this session compiled by Myron, a student at the Queens College Library School may be found at:

http://libcampnyc.pbworks.com/Reference-Desk-as-Dinosaur

My second session was Social Media Marketing moderated by Ellyssa Kroski. She discussed many Web 2.0 services that could be used in libraries. Some of the resources she discussed were:

• Twitterfeed
• Sitemeter
• Widgetbox
• Ping.fm
• Protopage

After lunch Stephen Francoeur moderated a session titled the Future of Digital Reference Services . People talked about their experiences with various chat reference services. Stephen also demonstrated the service Etherpad , the only web-based word processor that allows people to work together in really real-time.

My last session was titled Publicizing collections using 2-0 and Twitter 101. Susan Chute talked about the use of Voicethread and blogging at the New York Public Library. Valerie Forrestal gave a primer in the uses of Twitter. I am wondering if it is just a fad or is it here to stay. It seems to be a real consumer of time.

Many of the Web 2.0 resources that were discussed at the meeting seem redundant. It was worthwhile to go to learn about what other libraries are doing.

I met Susan Gormley who worked with me at the Science and Technology Division of NYPL over 20 years ago.

Now I will go back to the Wiki and read about other sessions.

Twitter Account for the NJIT Library Reference

Since Twitter seems to be the "big thing" these days, I set up NJITRef as the Twitter account for NJIT Library Reference. Only time will tell if Twitter is a fad or if it is here to stay. Below is a reference to a good article on the library usage of Twitter.

Milstein, S. (2009, March). Twitter FOR Libraries (and Librarians). Online, 33(2), 34-35. Retrieved June 2, 2009, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database

Scifinder Scholar Statistics for the Past 7 weeks

In the middle of April I polled users of Scifinder Scholar to ascertain their preference for web or client version. The results indicated a slight preference for the client version. At that point in time only 17 of the 80 registered users voted. Now I have 148 users who registered for passwords of the web version. At that point I reallocated my 2 seats: 1 for the web and 1 for the client version. The usage statistics since that time indicated that 64.5% of the attempts were for the web version while 35.5% were for the client version. The turnaway rate for the web version was 25.6% while the rate for the client was much lower at 19.7%.

Go figure - they say that prerfer the client version, but more peopleuse the web.