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.