Random Thoughts at the End of the Semester

The continuing trend of decreasing transactions at the reference desk was the most disappointing issue for me this year. Also, less people have contacted me through e-mail, phone or in person despite many efforts of outreach. What are the possible reasons?

1. Information literacy efforts have succeeded. Students know how to effectively use the resources that we provide.

2. The publishers provide resources that are used with minimal training.

It was frustrating this year to face a limit budget for print and electronic resources. The dollar amount was flat but the costs of books, serials, and databases are rising above the rate of inflation. Since we are a research university a decision was made to spend more on journals and databases than books. I understand this but the book budget is so poor :)

This year I became interested in the VALE OLS (Open Library System) known as VALID. I have done some reading on the new generation of library catalogs and look forward to its implementation. I will be on a panel at the VALE meeting in January to discuss issues relating to the discovery tools.

The QANDANJ chat reference service ends on December 31. I have mixed feelings about chat reference which I have expressed in this blog. I do hope that the libraries in New Jersey will be able to find the funds to participate in a similar service in the future.

My best wishes for a happy holiday season for all of my readers

The NJIT Library Holiday Party

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  The library staff had our annual holiday party at the Spanish Tavern in the Ironbound section of Newark

QANDANJ to Cease on December 31, 2011

The announcement was made on the web site today that the service is ending at the end of the year. It also states "discussions are ongoing regarding future plans for a new service." If readers of NJITBRUCE search this blog under QANDANJ they will find many comments that I have made over the years about specific reference questions and chat reference in general.  I have mixed feelings about its demise.  I have fielded many challenging questions through this service, but many of the patrons were disrespectful as they posed nuisance questions and often demanded an instant answer to a difficult question.

Michael Maziekien, the chair of the NJLA Taskforce on Virtual Reference reports that they are looking into other services and possible funding sources to continue chat reference.  It is obvious that there will be a gap in statewide service.

I would be interested in participating in a new service as long as NJIT does not have to incur a cost.  Over the years very few NJIT students accessed QANDANJ.

Starting to Plan for the 2012 New Jersey Chemistry Olympics

It seems that we just held the 2011 New Jersey Chemistry Olympics , but last night was the first planning meeting for the 2012 event.  For the first time Natalie Macke will be coordinating the competition succeeding Borislaw Bilash.  This year I will am running the Information Search as I've done for many years.  In part one of the event students are judged on the accuracy of a model of a molecule.  This year students will bring in a model of a dye molecule.  Students will use the internet in part two to answer questions about dyes.

Information on the details of each event and instructions on how each high school can register will be issued after the first of the calendar year.  I observe that students have fun in participating in the various events.

Comment on an article in the New York Times About Old Style Books

There is an article in today's New York Times titled Selling Books by Their Gilded Covers.  I must say that in popular and scholarly publishing that e-books are here to stay and that this trend will continue.  There are certainly some bibliophiles out there who still love the printed book.  Fancy covers and book jackets can attract those readers to the traditional tome.  I bought an Amazon Kindle last year and love the convenience of not having to schlep a heavy book in the subway. Of course, a year later there is the Amazon Kindle Fire which is a better e-reader.

Comments on the article "Upheaval at the New York Public Library"

Today Facebook friends Trevor Dawes and Ricky Waller provided a link to an article in The Nation titled Upheaval at the New York Public Library (http://www.thenation.com/article/164881/upheaval-new-york-public-library) . I would like to recall my experiences at NYPL when I worked there from 1983-1990 in the Science and Technology Division and then comment on the article.

The Science and Technology Division (STC) was in Room 121 of what was then known as the Central Research Building at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue. That division were merged with the Economics and Public Affairs division of the library in the 1990s and later moved to SIBL (Science Industry and Business Library) at Madison Avenue and 34th Street. The collection of STC was limited to the physical sciences and engineering disciplines. The biggest problem that I faced as a librarian was locating the items requested by patrons. The archaic Billings call letter system was used for older items while newer materials were shelved on the third floor of the stacks by size. Since the books and periodicals were in stacks not open to the public, patrons had to submit call slips and wait for the materials. The librarian had to determine whether the item was in Room 121 or in storage at the Annex at 521 West 43rd Street. This was often not an easy job and patrons became annoyed when they had to wait or find out that the desired item was in another building.

NYPL, of course is a research library with a non-circulating collection. It was often called the “Library of Last Resort.” Too many patrons perceived it as a popular library and were referred to the Mid-Manhattan Library across the street. A large amount of money was needed to fund resources and staffing to serve independent scholars not affiliated with a university. Sadly, we did get our share of derelicts and other undesirables who used the library. Back then there was no internet, so researchers had to use print resources. In the late 1980s we introduced CD-ROM based databases.

Let’s turn the clock to 2011 and the article mentioned above which discussed the Central Library Plan (CLP) for the landmark building now known as the Schwarzman Building. All libraries including NYPL have faced terrible budget cuts and had to cut staff and resources. The article states that a few specialized divisions were closed. The centerpiece of the CLP would be the construction of a state of the art computer orientated library. This would mean demolishing the stacks that hold 3 million books.

The controversy as stated in the article is to decide if the Schwarzman should remain as a depository for scholarly printed materials or should it become a computer orientated library. At the risk of the ire of some of my librarian colleagues, I choose the latter.
Over the past 20 years more and more popular and scholarly publications have become electronic. I have seen many students refuse to touch a print resource even if it has the information they need. A move to an electronic library will actually bring more people to NYPL which implies more private funds coming in. The printed materials that are displaced can be moved to either the stack extension under Bryant Park or the storage facility in Princeton, NJ. As time passes, these materials will be used less often. If there is a space problem, perhaps some of the research libraries such as NYU or Columbia can adopt them. The article states that there is a pilot program in place that allows certain NYPL users to check out books from Columbia or NYU. In any event, it would be impossible to digitize every scholarly publication.

Just some thoughts from a librarian with over 30 years in the field.

Free E-Books with Advertisements

Today a colleague brought to my attention Bookboon , a web site that offers free e-books.  They currently offer textbooks, business books, and travel guides.  The only "catch" is that each e-book has advertisements in the text.  Perhaps this business model will work and expand.  After all haven't we watched television shows with commericals for two generations?  If it can save students money, it should work.

Thoughts on the declining number of reference transactions

The number of reference transactions continues to decline. It is frustrating to sit at the reference desk and observe numerous students pass by without asking a question. A few years ago as a student approached the desk I said “Can I help you?” His response was no, I just wanted to use the waste basket. But what are the reasons for this decline?


1. Information Literacy instruction is working. Students have learned from their instruction and are applying the skills they have learned.

2. The publishers have succeeded in providing databases that students can learn by themselves. They can effectively use a search strategy, evaluate the references, retrieve the articles they need and use them in their papers.

3. Students are happy with what they find by searching Google. The publishers often make their search engines resemble Google.

4. Students are embarrassed to approach the reference desk. During every class I give I invite students to come ask questions, but they seldom do.

Do any of my readers have any thoughts on how to encourage students to ask questions?

Study: College Students rarely use librarians' expertise

This article appeared in USA Today and obviously doesn't tell me anything that I already know.  It reports on a study done by ERIAL (Enthographic Research in Illinois Library Project).

Whenever I give a class I always tell the students that I am always more than willing to help them with their research endeavors, but fewer students either approach me at the reference desk or contact me privately.  Steve Kolowich, the author of the USA Today article states that librarians and professors are partially to blame for this problem.  The ERIAL researchers state that students feel intimidated and alienated.  Are today's students just too embarassed to ask for help while years ago there was often a line of people waiting for assistance.

This article states the problem, but in my opinion does not offer a clear solution.

Always Glad to Help Out Library Science Students

Back in the Fall of 1992, my first semester at NJIT, I taught Science and Technology Reference at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science.  I did this at their Manhattan extension which at that time was at the New School.  It has since moved to the Bobst Library at NYU.  I gave the students an assignment to visit a science library and to interview the science librarian.  They then reported back to the class.

A few days ago I received this e-mail from Sabrina at North Carolina Central University.

Mr. Slutsky,


I am a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science at North Carolina Central University. I am currently enrolled in a course that deals with science and technology resources for librarians. My professor, Dr. Susan Aber, has given a class assignment to interview a librarian responsible for science, engineering, or technology resources. The purpose of the interview is to give students an idea of some of the daily responsibilities of a Sci-tech librarian.


I searched the internet for science and technology librarians and found your science, technology, and medical librarians special interest group. I understand that you must be very busy. I am hopeful, however, that you will agree to a short (approximately 10 minutes) interview.

For your information, I am listing the interview questions below.



1. What duties are expected of you as a Sci-tech librarian?

2. What types of resources do you need to accomplish the job successfully?

3. Can you provide an example of a recent reference question that you were asked by a library patron?

4. Do you give instruction sessions or create subject guides for finding Sci-tech sources? If so, are they for patrons or for your own use?

If you are willing to be interviewed, I would be happy to phone you at your convenience. If you prefer, you can also provide an email response to the four questions above.


I appreciate your time and hope that you are willing to be interviewed for my class assignment
 
I was very happy to speak with this student.  I mentioned that the cost of science/engineering resources was so much higher than those for the humanities and social sciences.  Wherever possible we try to use free internet resources like ChemSpider and the NIST Webbook.

Jason Kucsma is appointed Executive Director of METRO

It was announced at the Annual Meeting of the Metropolitan New York Library Council Meeting on October 17th that Jason Kucsma was appointed its Executive Director succeeding Dottie Hiebing who recently retired.  As convener of the Science Librarians SIG I had the pleasure of working with Jason in his position as Emerging Technologies Manager.  I congratulate him and wish him well in his new position.

Offical Announcement

When Faculty are not information literate

Information literacy and its assessment has been discussed throughout the library community for years.  What do you do when faculty lack these skills?  In the course of a year I get requests for books or documents from senior faculty.  It is a simple matter of searching the library catalog to see if we have the item and if it is available in print or electronic format.  Is it a matter of laziness or arrogance?  I will always answer the question, but do it reluctantly.  It is my job to provide information to my community, but I have to think of that old cliche - "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for one day.  Show a man how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.

Again - Information Literacy and the Substitute Teacher

About a year ago I wrote an entry about a frustrating experience in teaching to a class of biomedical engineering students.  A similar situation occurred on Monday while teaching to a chemical enginering class.  Out of 20 students in the class only 14 came.  Several arrived very late while a few others left in the middle.  I have certainly experienced this before, but it is especially disappointing when advanced undergraduates don’t take a class in their major seriously  I tried to explain how important learning how to find information in peer reviewed sources is so important, but they saw me as a substitute teacher.  I gave the class an assignment, and told the professors that the no shows and walk outs should get "zeros" if they don't do the assignment.

Only 10 out of the 20 students enrolled in the class even bothered to submit the assignment. [Added to this journal entry on November 9, 2011]

Providing alumni access to library databases

I was intrigued by this article which reports that 19 universities now provide access to JSTOR by paying 10% more than the institution's current license fee.  From time to time the reference librarians do get questions from alumni asking if they can access the databases remotely.  The answer is no since once students graduate they lose their computing privileges.  They are certainly welcome to visit NJIT and get a guest ID and search the databases.  However, this option is often impractical.

Certainly, a university should maintain good relationships with their alumni by providing at least some library services.  JSTOR is a humanities database that does not provide access to current journals.  I tend to doubt that scientiic and technical publishers would follow JSTOR's lead and allow universities to give free access to alumni who now work for profit making organizations.

Reference Question from a Non-Affiliate

In this era of Google, very few indepedent researchers visit academic libraries.  This morning an older gentleman had a reference question about a chemical company that existed from the 1930s to 1960s.  He already did his Googling, but figured he needed to search print resources.  I explained that the collection at NJIT served the curriculum here and that I doubted that there would be historical information about a company.  I was able to find articles and patents where this company was listed as a corporate author.  This gave him some information on what the company manufactured.  I referred him to the Dana Library at Rutgers which has a much stronger business collection.  He also said that he planned to visit the New Jersey Historical Society.

It's nice to get an unusual and challenging reference question.

The American Institute of Physics offers free access to publications of Nobel Laureates

AIP is pleased to make available free of charge a selection of research papers these Nobel Laureates have published in its journals, Conference Proceedings, and Physics Today magazine. To view any of these materials go to http://journals.aip.org/Nobel2011.html.


Sharing half the prize is Saul Perlmutter from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley. Sharing the other half jointly are Brian P. Schmidt from the Australian National University, and Adam G. Riess from Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute.

I thank the American Instiute of Physics for making this offer to the physics community.

Congratulations to Ellen Lieberman

Ellen Lieberman, Director of Extended Learning Delivery has accepted the postion of Assistant Dean at Douglass Residential college - Rutgers University.  She will be leaving NJIT after 26 years of distinguished service.  I certainly congratulation Ellen and wish her the best on her position.  I had the pleasure of assisting her in her research endeavors.  She will be sorely missed.

Opening for a Technical Reference Librarian at NJIT

Newark, NJ -- Technical Reference Librarian needed at NJIT

The New Jersey Institute of Technology is seeking a Technical Reference Librarian who resprts to the Director of Reference and works primarily as the library's liaison to assigned engineering or other academic departments for reference, information literacy instruction, assessment, collection development, and user satisfaction.  Also performs literature searching and citation analysis, creation of online subject and course guides and tutorials, and other duties as necessary.

Qualifications Required:

1.    Masters in Library or Information Science (ALA Accredited)

2.    BA/BS degree (in science, mathematics or engineering highly desirable)

3.    Significant successful professional academic reference or research service experience.

4.    Extensive knowledge and experience in one or more scientific and technical disciplines taught at NJIT.

5.    Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

6.    Excellent personal and interpersonal skills (energy, creativity, initiative, friendliness, etc.).

7.    Teaching experience.

8.    Public service oriented; maintains collegial professional relationship with library faculty, students, NJIT staff, library staff, and administrators.

9.    Excellent computer skills. (e.g. Windows, Microsoft Office, E-learning authoring software such as Camtasia,  course management software, content management software). Excellent searching skills (e.g. citation databases, full text/image databases and integrated library systems). 

10. Extensive internet and web searching experience.

11. Keeps current as professional librarian.

Full-time, Monday-Friday. Typical work week includes one evening (until 7pm) per week during fall and spring semesters and two weekends per year.  

The position is by contract, non-tenured (Librarians are not eligible for tenure at NJIT.)  Selected candidate must become a New Jersey resident within 365 days of appointment.

To apply for the permanent position please refer to the complete job description including preferred qualifications and essential characteristics.  Apply online through the NJIT employment system.  https://njit.jobs/   Posting Number:  0600742.

It is often impossible to assess information literacy skills

Assessment of information literacy is important for accreditation reports. But very often it is just impossible to do. Yesterday I gave a seminar to new chemistry graduate students. I gave my standard lecture where I describe the organization of the technical literature and point out the resources offered by the NJIT library. I concluded by demonstrating sample searches in Scifinder Scholar and Scopus and showing how they can retrieve the full-text of the references found to be relevant.

I stated the skills need to search and evaluate information need to be developed over a period of time. The students could not become proficient by just listening to a one hour lecture. I suggested they practice searching the databases before they actually need them for a research question. As my lecture ended a student approached me since he was having a minor problem establishing his Scifinder Scholar account. About an hour later he approached me at the reference desk and asked for my Powerpoint presentation. I just love the “eager beavers”.

I will not be able to test these students on the skills in my lecture. I will never be able to observe their using the databases. Hopefully, some of them will approach me for assistance in the future when they want to hone their skills. Thus, information literacy assessment in this case is just impossible.

Some Thoughts About the New Jersey First Act

The New Jersey First Act which went into effect on September 1, 2011 requires all state employees including those in colleges to be New Jersey residents. Any employee who resided outside NJ on September 1 is exempt. Since I have lived in New York since I was employed by NJIT in 1992, I will not have to move. Anyone who starts working for the state after September 1 must establish residency within one year.

There are two loopholes:

1. The move to New Jersey would create hardship for the employee
2. If a candidate from out of state provides a unique skill, he/she can be exempt from the residency requirement.

The law does not apply to temporary employees of the university including adjunct professors.

Last Spring the newspaper reports stated that many in NJ government felt that if a person was earning a living from NJ state taxes, he/she should live in the state and contribute to the local economy. I feel that this law may create more harm than good. New Jersey is a small state which could get good applicants from New York, Pennsylvania, or Delaware who may decline a job offer if compelled to relocate.

Explanation from Human Resources at NJIT

Full Text of the Act

METRO Science Librarians SIG will meet Friday October 21 at 2 PM

The next meeting of the METRO Science Librarians SIG will be:

Friday October 21 2:00-4:30 PM. It will be a research forum with the following speakers:

· "Open Access Initiatives in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia," John Carey, Hunter Health Professions Library, Hunter College

· "Internet Filtering and Liberal Education in the South Caucasus," David Donabedian, Hunter College

· “Bridging the Gap from Wikipedia to Scholarly Sources: A Simple Library Bookmarklet", Valerie Forrestal and Barbara Arnett, Stevens Institute of Technology

It will be at METRO Headquarters at
57 East 11th Street – 4th floor
New York, NY

Please register at http://www.metro.org/en/cev/101

You may see our web site at http://libguides.metro.org/science_librarians
For further information, please contact

Bruce Slutsky
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Robert Van Houten Library
323 Martin Luther King Blvd
Newark, NJ 07102

Bruce.Slutsky@njit.edu

Phone (973) 642-4950

Fax (973) 643-5601


Follow me on Twitter at NJITREF

First Day of Classes at NJIT

It is hard to believe that summer is almost over as classes begin today at NJIT.  The students are not getting younger; I am getting older.  The semester begins with the President's pancake breakfast outside the campus center.  Students will inevitably cone to the library looking for their textbook.  I really don't want to discuss that issue again.  Sometimes, situations don't change.  Back to work now.

Are Library Lectures Effective When Given During Orientation Week?

Today, the new international graduate students broke out into groups based on their major. At 10 AM I spoke to the pharmaceutical engineering students while at 11 AM I met with chemical engineers. For both sessions I had less time than I would like to give a thorough introduction to information sources in their fields. I decided not to use my usual powerpoints and go directly to the library’s web site to demonstrate resources offered by the library.


The students were attentive and seemed to be interested in my lectures. I demonstrated the library catalog, Scopus and Scifinder Scholar. I gave out my business card and told students that I was available for questions at any time in the future. I wonder if a library lecture at an orientation will be effective in the long run. Some of these students are new to the United States and must adapt to a new culture. Using library resources is not the most important thing for them at this time. In my opinion this lecture would have more of an impact if given a few weeks into the semester.

Hiring Student Reference Assistants for the Fall Semester

For several years reference has hired student assistants to screen the questions coming to the help desk. If the patron has a simple bibliographic or directional question, the student worker can answer it. We expect the assistant to refer complex question to the reference librarian on duty. Today we started to interview candidates for the fall semester.


Hiring is never easy at any level. We never know how well the employee will work out and how long he/she will stay on the job. We automatically eliminated applicants who sent a poorly written resume in response to the advertisement. Candidates with experience in a library were given full consideration. Graduate students are usually more mature and more likely to perform. Students are financially dependent on their families and could use money from a part time job to pay for some of their expenses. Since the programs at NJIT are rigorous we are afraid that students will leave a part time job so that they can spend more time on their studies. Let’s hope for the best.

Opening for an E-Resources/Serials Librarian at NJIT

A detailed job description and instructions on how to apply for this position may be found at:

https://blogs.njit.edu/library/2011/08/15/position-announcement-e-resources-serials-librarian/

Tony Stankus Wins an Award From the Special Libraries Association

Congratulations to Tony Stankus for winning the 2011 Distinguished Member Award of the BioMedical & Life Sciences Division of the Special Libraries Association.  Details may be found at http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=16334

Comments about Interlibrary Loans

Interlibrary loans (ILL) are essential to any library since it can not satisfy all information needs of all patrons.  Even when I worked at the big New York Public Library  people were always asking for materials that we didn't own.  It is very easy to request an ILL by using an electronic form.  The collection at NJIT is weak since the library did not grow as the research interests of the university expanded.  Several years ago a graduate student in information systems complained that every book she needed had to be ordered from another university.

It bothers me when a patron sends an ILL for an item that the library owns.  Certainly, one make an honest mistake, but most of the time I feel that the patron is just too lazy to check the library's online catalog before submitting a request.  This causes an unnecessary delay in the researcher's having the information needed.  Is it laziness or is the information literacy training not effective?

Looking Ahead to the Fall Semester

Summer session classes have just ended at NJIT. Likewise the pre-college programs are also finished for the season. I feel badly for these youngsters who just may have nothing else to do for the rest of the summer. Hopefully their stay at NJIT was beneficial and perhaps some enroll here in the future. For the next 3 weeks the library usage will be very light. I will be greatly anticipating the beginning of the Fall Semester. Provost Ian Gatley will be launching a learning initiatives program in the Fall. Hopefully students will be able to learn more effectively in groups than they can as individuals. Can these groups stay together over the academic year? Personality problems could arise that may thwart the effective of learning communities. I think they will place a bigger demand on the group study rooms in the library.


For further information, please see:

http://www.njit.edu/provost/initiatives/learning-communities/index.php

http://www.njit.edu/communityconnections/  

The high cost of journals and e-books should not hamper innovation in Sci/Tech

This blog entry will raise questions rather than answer them. A post in the listserv CHMINF-L by Val Tucci of The College of New Jersey made a reference to a letter to the editor In the July 25, 2011 issue of the Chemical and Engineering News written by Wendy Quinn, a librarian at AMRI.  She brings up the rising costs of technical publications in electronic format. She quotes Stewart Lyman, owner and manager of Lyman Biopharma in Seattle who states that scientists at small biotech companies are reading fewer journal articles because of lack of access to them. He continues by saying that the decrease in scientific reading leads to a decrease in innovation.


There is certainly no argument that limited library budgets in academia and industry does impede the access to information. But impeding it in my opinion does not mean preventing the flow of information from going to the creator to someone else who needs it sometime in the future. If a scientist or professor had a subscription to all relevant journals, how much could he or she read? Journal articles by their nature are very detailed and takes much time to read thoroughly.

Almost all publishers provide access to abstracts of journal articles for free on the web. Very often a researcher can understand the research findings in a paper by just reading a summary. Academics can use interlibrary loan and industrial scientists can use the pay per view option to purchase the full text of articles they really need for retrospective research or current awareness.

This problem will not go away since there is no way that publishers will lower their costs. Corporate and Academic libraries must pursue the just in time model of providing information even more. I think that scientists need to be careful about selecting materials that they must read.

Passing of Former Colleague Dan Gawiak

Some of my readers who are librarians may not know that I started my career as a chemist.  My second was with a company that was known as UOP Fragrances where I started in June 1975.  While I was employed there one of my colleagues was Dan Gawiak. I remember eating lunch with him several times.  Shortly after I began there, the company was sold to a Dutch outfit called Naarden.  In late 1976 in a big reorganization they fired everyone from the research director to the bottle washer in one feel swoop leaving Dan and I on the unemployment line.  I ended up at Pfizer in Groton, Ct. while Dan landed a position at Sun Chemical Company in Carlstadt, NJ.  We keept in touch for several years.  I vaguely remember going out for pizza with him in the late 1970s.

I eventually became a chemistry librarian while Dan stayed as a laboratory chemist.  In 1987 or 1988 I ran into Dan at an STN International training session in midtown Manhattan while I worked for NYPL.  At that time Dan worked at Hexagon Laboratories in the Bronx and was interested in learning about chemical searching.  After that I lost touch with him.

Today, while reading the Chemical and Engineering News of July 18 I read that Dan passed away last November at age 60.  At the time of his untimely passing he worked at Baxter Healthcare in Cherry Hill, NJ.  I found an obituary of Dan at http://hosting-tributes-1611.tributes.com/show/Daniel-Gawiak-89980657.

It is very sad to read about the passing of colleagues at a young age.  In this professional blog, I previous reported the passings of:

• Reynaldo Alejandro from NYPL
• Jamie MacInnis from NJIT

In my personal journal I previously reported the passing of my University of Rhode Island friend and colleague Mike Frechette.

When I read about these untimely passings I must recall Harry Harrison's famous quote "Every Day Should be unrapped like a special gift."

Thinking About Patron Driven E-book Acquisitions

There is no doubt e-books have become more popular in academic and mainstream publishing.  I vaguely remember reading that during the last Christmas season sales of electronic books exceeded that of print books on Amazon.com. In the past academic librarians purchase books while taking suggestions from students and faculty.  This model has predominated in the early days of e-books.

The librarians at NJIT have mulled over the idea of patron driven e-book acquisitions.  We are thinking of allowing patrons to borrow any electronic they want.  If a book is borrowed five times, the library would purchase the book.  Like everything else, the devil is in the details.  How would we implement this?  In my opinion budgetary constraints would hamper this.  We would not want to offer a service and then retract it when funds dry out.

There are a few reports of how other libraries have implemented this:

The experience of Southern Illinois University Carbondale is doumented in

Nabe, Jonathan., Imre, Andrea. (2011). Let the Patron Drive: Purchase on Demand of E-books. The Serials Librarian, 60, 193-197.

There is a discussion in this blog entry http://edlab.tc.columbia.edu/index.php?q=node/6036

9000 selected MARC records were added to the catalog for student initiated e-book purchases.  If a book was accessed 3 times, purchase was automatically initiated.  470 e-books were purchased in this fashion while 235 were used again after purchase.

A similar initiative at Grand Valley State University in Michigan  was documented at http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/?p=1099 

They loaded 50,000 EBL records and in 4 months had 2109 STLs at a cost of $20,382 and 160 purchases at a cost of $11,840 for a total of $32,322.

We will discuss this at NJIT in the days and weeks to come.  Hopefully, we will be able to implement some form of patron initiated e-book requests by the fall semester.

A New Model in Scientific Publishing

I have just read an article in the Chemical and Engineering News titled Research Funders to Start Journal.  The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Max Planck Society, and Wellcome Trust are launching a new open access biomedical journal to commence next summer.  It will be different since the peer review will be speeded up so that decisions will be made within three to four weeks.  Mark Walport, the director of the Wellcome Trust, states that the current process is too slow while the editors are no longer practicing scientists.  This new journal will be supported by the three funding agencies and will not charge author fees.

Time will tell if other funding agencies will follow and publish their own journals.  Will this yet unnamed journal attract top notch researchers?

Mashups

This morning I took a three hour course at METRO on mashups as they can be applied to libraries.  It was given by Nicole Engard who wrote the following book on the topic:

Engard, Nicole C. Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data. Medford, N.J: Information Today, Inc, 2009. Print.

She defined a mashup as a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool.  Actually I had been working with Mashups even though I didn't relaize it.  Since I have one of my twitter feeds on this blog, it is considered a mashup.

She started the lecture by describing mashups such as http://nyc.bestparking.com/ which mashes Google Maps and parking data.  Later in the lecture she showed some library mashups.

I will now have to review my notes and visit the web sites that were mentioned in the lecture.

Summer Research Experience for Teachers at NJIT

For the first time in almost 19 years at NJIT I taught to a group of teacher in the Summer Research Experience for Teachers Program.  Teachers from high schools teaching science, technology, and pre-engineering are part of a research group engaged in studies of pharmaceutical particulate and composite systems.

I gave the standard lecture that I give to chemistry and chemical engineering students.  I gave it quickly since I wanted the teachers to get some hands on experience searching NJIT databases such as Scopus and Scifinder Scholar.  I was pleased to see these teachers interested in what I presented to them.  They will be at NJIT for about 6 weeks and hopefully they will use the information seeking skills that I taught them.

Some Thoughts on the Demise of the Client Version of Scifinder Scholar

If I remember correctly it was in 1999 when NJIT first subscribed to Scifinder Scholar (SFS) when it was only available in the client version.  Before then students and faculty had to discuss their chemistry related searches with me.  I would have to access Chemical Abstracts via STN and do the search after 5 PM to get the 80% academic discount.

SFS was the only database that was not on the web while our subscription was limited to two simultaneous users.  I remember walking over to the labs and installing it on computers and demonstrating it to promote its usage and unique features.  I regularly received frantic phone calls and e-mails stating that the database did not work.  Usually the searcher neglected to download the site.prf or placed it in the wrong directory.  CAS regularly changed the version of the client software necessitating searchers to download it and override the older version which eventually became obsolete.  Since many researchers used the database infrequently, they could not search with an older version of the software.

The community of chemical information professionals made a case to CAS for a web version of SFS.  I must compliment CAS for always being responsive to its customers.  It was in 2007 or 2008 when the web version of SFS became a reality offering many new enhancements.  I encouraged NJIT users of SFS to make the transition to the web.  I made a unilateral decision to take away the client version, but too many researchers insisted that I reinstate the client version which they felt was faster. My opinion was that the only advantage to the client was the faster access, but the special features of the web version were more important than speed.  I compromised and allowed one user for the web and one for the client.

During the summer of 2010 CAS announced that the client would be discontinued on June 30, 2011.  My users insisted that I provide access to the client until the very last day (today).

I shed no tears for the demise of the client software.  We all must move on and adopt the latest technology.  After making several announcements I am wondering when I will get the first phone call or e-mail asking "What happened to Scifinder?"

Do Patrons of Chat Reference Know They Are Chatting with a Librarian?

QANDANJ obvious means questions and answers from New Jersey people.  Many times I feel that the patron thinks he/she can get an answer about anything.  Very often they don't realize they are talking to a librarian.  For the question below I referred the patron to the divorce laws in New Jersey and Alabama, but suggested that an attorney be consulted.  She seemed satisfied with the information I gave her.

Patron:
09:33:03 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Chat Transcript: Divorce
Librarian 1:
09:33:03 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Note: Patron's screen name: bigbrowneyes57
Librarian 1:
09:33:15 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Librarian 'NJ INSTofTECH Bruce' has joined the session.
Librarian 1:
09:33:46 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Hi, I'm Bruce Slutsky, a librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Your library and my library are part of a nationwide cooperative of libraries that staff this service. I'm reading your question now.
Librarian 1:
09:34:12 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Dorothy - what specifically do you need to know about divorce?
Patron:
09:35:00 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) I would like to get a divorce;however, I am not sure that I am even this married.I got married 35 years ago to a man I only stayed with 3 months.I have not seen this man since June of 1976 am I still legally married?
Librarian 1:
09:35:51 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) May I assume this is in New Jersey?
Patron:
09:36:14 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) No it was in the state of Alabama.
Librarian 1:
09:36:49 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Let me see if I can find the divorce laws for the states of Alabama and new Jersey
Librarian 1:
09:36:56 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Are you living in New Jersey now?
Patron:
09:37:51 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Yes I am.I've lived here since May,2004 in Asbury Park.
Librarian 1:
09:39:04 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Here is a web site about divorce law in Alabama http://www.divorceinfo.com/alabamalaw.htm
Librarian 1:
09:40:17 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Here is a web site about divorce law in New Jersey http://www.njlawnet.com/njlawreview/divorceoverview.html
Librarian 1:
09:40:59 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Here is another site http://www.divorcelawinfo.com/NJ/njdivexpln.htm
Librarian 1:
09:42:02 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) I am a librarian and do not feel qualified to answer this question
Librarian 1:
09:42:23 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) I suggest you consult with an attorney who specializes in Divorce
Librarian 1:
09:43:55 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) This site is a partial list of divorce lawyers near Asbury Park http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIC_enUS321US367&q=divorce+site%3anj.gov#q=divorce+lawyers+asbury+park+new+jersey&hl=en&rlz=1T4GGIC_enUS321US367&prmd=ivnscm&source=univ&tbm=plcs&tbo=u&ei=1UIDTue-AYXq0gHVoJDhDQ&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CFsQtQMwAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=5a678f6409ce1751&biw=1259&bih=792
Librarian 1:
09:47:09 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) I am sorry, but I can't be of further assistance to you
Patron:
09:47:15 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Thank you so much Mr.Bruce Slutsky.I have met and fallen in love with a very wonderful man and I want to become his wife,but I want to make sure that I am legally able to do this first.Thanks a million for all the feedback,as I really appreciate it.
Librarian 1:
09:47:34 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Bye
Librarian 1:
09:47:36 2011/06/23 (GMT -0400) Librarian ended chat session

Adjunct Faculty are certainly an asset to universities

As I returned from vacation I recieved an email from one of my favorite adjuncts in the chemistry department stating that for health reasons he is resigning.  After retiring as a research director of a major chemical company, he came to NJIT to teach.  He taught here for 10 years.  Adjuncts bring to the university expertise and experience that faculty members don't have.  Since salaries for adjuncts are low good people from industry often don't want to teach. It is important for retirees to be active so teaching is a very good option.  Most of my expereinces with adjuncts as a librarian at NJIT have been positive.  They are certainly an asset.

Unrealistic Expectations of Chat Reference

This had to be the most complex question that I ever received on chat reference.

I'm trying to do some research on a substrate similar to particleboard. I'm interested in looking into tests for changes in humidity and swelling. The hardest part is finding allowable values. I have a sheet from the Herman Miller standards from 07/29/87 and it mentions water stability. It gives a few percentages for maximum allowable expansion and absorption. There is also a TM Number, TM-2205. I wasn't sure if that could be a manual or test standard number. If so, I would be very interested in getting a copy. The values don't mean much if I don't know how to test them. I was also wondering if Herman Miller has published other standards since 1987. ASTM withdrew a few humidity standard as of 2001, so I want something as recent as possible. I'm specifically looking for quality assurance for particleboard when used as a work surface or table top.

Below is the transcript from this chat session.  What was most frustrating was that the chat was a "one way street."  I received no responses from him as I sent him information.  I suggested that he make an appointment the engineering librarian at his school and work at length on how to find the desired information.

Hi, I'm Bruce Slutsky, a librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Your library and my library are part of a nationwide cooperative of libraries that staff this service. I'm reading your question now.
Bruce Slutsky:
09:33:16 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) Sam, this is a very complex question. There is only so much that we can do in chat reference. We can guide you through the research process, but can not do extensive research through chat. Let me see if I can find some information about standards by Herman Miller
Bruce Slutsky:
09:35:26 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) Would this web site be of interest to you/ http://www.hermanmiller.com/Design-Resources/Materials/Quality-Standards ? Is this the same Herman Miller?
Bruce Slutsky:
09:39:13 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) A did a search in the ASTM standards database on humidity http://www.astm.org/search/standards-search.html?query=humidity&searchType=standards-summary Perhaps you should look at this answer set
Bruce Slutsky:
09:40:38 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) I did the same for swelling http://www.astm.org/search/standards-search.html?query=swelling&searchType=standards-summary#62858837
Bruce Slutsky:
09:49:10 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) Chat reference should be a two way street. It is very frustrating for me not to hear back from you.
Bruce Slutsky:
09:50:32 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) I suggest you make an appointment with  the engineering Librarian at your university .
Bruce Slutsky:
09:50:44 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) I hope that what I have sent you is useful
Bruce Slutsky:
09:50:48 2011/06/09 (GMT -0400) Librarian ended chat session.

Some Thoughts on the Summer Session

Let's turn the clock back to the historical summer of 1969.  Since this is a professional blog I won't discuss the cultural history of that era.  I was an  chemistry undergraduate student at City College at that time and took two summer session courses.  One was in basic economics while the other was an introduction to sociology.  Back then advice was given to me not to take a course in my major over the summer.

Summer session courses are very concentrated.  Even though the number of class hours is the same as those during a normal Fall or Spring Semester the professor just can not cover the same amount of material.  This situation is true today at NJIT.  There are relatively few course offered.  I assume that some students chose summer classes so their class load are less during the normal semesters.  It must be difficult to concentrate on studyng when the weather is so hot.  Fortunately, the classrooms are air conditioned.

NJIT will close on Fridays during the summer

This is the last Friday that NJIT will be open until late August.  There are no classes scheduled on Friday and the university administration reports that $200,000/year is saved in energy costs by working a Monday - Thursday schedule.  We are required to work 30 hours over the 4 days.

A few professors and one graduate student complained to me the research productivity declines due to a 4 day schedule.

Weeding Project for the Summer

The New York Public Library where I worked from 1983-90 was a library of record, thus nothing could be discarded.  Whenever possible older books and periodicals were preserved.  The NJIT Library supports research and coursework.  This summer I am working on an organized weeding project. We need to make room in the stacks since they are getting tight. A student worker is perusing the stacks in my subject areas of responsibility.  She is removing duplicates of older materials and books that are in poor physical condition. 

2011 New Jersey Chemistry Olympics

I can not remember the exact year that I started the information search for the New Jersey Chemistry Olympics, but it was likely in the late 1990s.  At that point in time the information search was an event devoted to finding chemical information on the internet.  I remember working with Professor Fadi Deek as a judge in the GITC Building.  At the end of today's even I spoke with Fadi who is now the Dean of the  College of Science and Liberal Arts.  Since that time this event was combined with the molecular modelling event.

The students bring in a modle of a top selling pharmaceutical which is evaluated for the:

• Complexity of the model
• Accuracy of the bond angles
• Accuracy of bond lengths
• Accuracy of the size of the atoms
• Aesthetics of the model

The second part entails searching the internet to answer questions about Lipitor which is the top selling drug.  the scores are added up,   This year Riverdell High School won the event.  I congratulate Carrie Jacobus and her students.  I also thank the following who assisted in the event:

• Professor Kathleen Gilbert
• Frank Houlihan
• Megha Thakkar
• Madhuleena Bhadra

There is a total of 10 events which are described at http://sites.google.com/site/njchemistryolympics/home

Each team picks up points for their placement in each event.  Riverdell High School also won the prize for the entire event.  There are really no losers here.  Each student learns by participating and collaborating with their fellow students.  It is certainly nice to win an event, but the experience is quite valuable.

All the students, advisors and sponsors should be commended.  Special recognition should be give to Borislaw Bilash who is stepping down after 14 years as Director of the Olympics.  It certainly has been a pleasure to work with him all these years.  Natalie Macke of Pascack Hills High School will succeed him.

I am already looking forward to next year.

QANDANJ gets a new lease on life

Here are excerpts from an e-mail sent by Cheryl O'Connor, the Executive Director of LibraryLinkNJ, The New Jersey Library Cooperative.

Last week, the LibraryLinkNJ Executive Board received and unanimously approved a contract extension from the New Jersey State Library for QandANJ @ $50,000. This contract extension will commence July 1, 2011 and will allow us to continue the service into September.


Based on input from participants at the NJLA Reference Section meeting on May 13, the service will remain 24/7 during the contract extension.

New Jersey Library Association Reference Section Chair, Michael Maziekien, shared by email on Saturday that he anticipates “that the NJLA Executive Board will be appointing a task force to assess our immediate plans for virtual reference in New Jersey.”

I have mixed feelings about chat reference as I have expressed in this journal.  Traffic during the summer is low anyway.  It gives individuals who may be afraid to approach a reference librarian in person a venue to ask questions.  Some patrons do expect too much of the librarian and cut off the chat if the question can not be answered immediately.  My biggest gripe is that too many patrons think they have reached their local librarian and ask a question that can not be answered by someone from another institution.

NJIT users of Scifinder Scholar are finally moving to the Web

I received my monthly statistics from Scifinder Scholar.  I was pleased to see the percentage of users using the client version has dropped considerably from March to April.

March - 41.3% used the client version
April -   24.6% used the client version

I think they have finally gotten the message that it goes away June 30 whether they like it or not.  By reading some listservs for chemistry librarians I have found out that some universities have already taken away the client version.

How do you subdivide an inadequate budget for journals and databases?

It is very hard to answer that question especially since budgets for library resources are going down while the prices are increasing, often at a rate higher than inflation.  It seems that no matter what formula is used to compile a budget, somebody will be agrieved by the process.  Even a very large library can never please all its users.  When I worked for the Science and Technology Division of the New York Public Library from 1983-90, people were always asking for materials that we didn't own.

For many years at NJIT each department has been given 50 points to allocate to databases so that they may be prioritized.  On the surface this seems to be fair, but a large department has the same number of votes as a smaller one.  It is like the United States Senate where California and Alaska have the same number of votes.  How can a research university with doctoral programs ever think of cancelling IEEE Explore or Scifinder Scholar?  If the budget is cut further in the future, some core resources just may have to go.

Compiling the journals but by department is complicated.  Each department is given a dollar allocation based on the number of students, faculty and research dollars.  Every year each department must submit a prioritized list of journals.  Titles near the bottom of the list will not be ordered.  However, very often departments are not charged for a title since it is part of a journal package or part of an aggregator database.

I don't have an answer for this.  We have to try to please most of the people most of the time.

It's Nice to See Librarians Acknowledged by a Book's Author

Authors usually place acknowledgements in the front or back of a book.  He/she mentions the people who provide invaluable help in writing the book.  The author usually lists the people who were interviewed for the book.  A few days ago I picked up the following book at the public library:

Rosengren, John. Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid: The Year That Changed Baseball Forever. Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2008. Print.

I will quote directly for the author's acknowedgements:

"A special thank you to the entire staff of the Minneapolis Public Library, with its generous baseball collection.  You tutored me in the new technology, replaced the toner in the cartridge, and led me through the stacks with unflagging patience and kindness.  I appreciate that."

Perhaps this small paragraph be included in library school textbooks.  It's nice to be appreciated.

Will be Working Shorthanded this Summer

The NJIT Library had 5 reference librarians until March 2010 when one of my colleagues resigned.  Since this position has not been filled and may be lost permanently, we have worked with just 4 for over a year.  Since that time, the technical services librarians have helped out by each working one reference shift a week.  We also use students at the reference desk who call us when there is a question they can't handle.  One of may colleagues is leaving next week on family leave and will not return until August leaving just 3 of us.  During better financial times, the university administration would have let us hire a temp to fill in.  Obviously over the summer people take vacation.  So there will be several weeks when there will be only two reference librarians.  All I can say is "when the going gets tough, the tough get going."  Library usage is much slower over the summer anyway.

Famous Quote "I couldn't find anything searching Google"

I think all reference librarians have heard that several times in the course of an academic year.  Today a student approached me asking how to find a case study on deceptive marketing practices by a company.  "I couldn't find anything searching Google."  I should him how to use Business Source Complete to find the information that he needed so he could easily pick out a case study.

It is just disappointing that students just think of Google whenever they have a research question. How can information literacy steer students away from this "Google way of thinking"?

Opening for an Architecture Library Specialist at NJIT

NJIT seeks an energetic, self motivated and service-oriented Architecture Library Specialist at the branch library located within the College of Architecture and Design. This facility houses over 21,000 books, 80,000 slides, 18,000 digital images, and numerous other materials. Working under the supervision of the Architecture Library Director, the successful candidate will be able to multi-task in a fast paced, challenging environment while being responsible for day-to-day operations during the closing shift and in the absence of the Director. Current hours during the academic year are 12:30 pm - 8:30 pm Monday through Thursday and 10:00 am - 6:00 pm on Friday. Hours vary during summer and break periods. See our web site at http://archlib.njit.edu//.


The successful candidate will be delivering services to more than a thousand undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students in architecture, art, and design disciplines. Typical responsibilities include individual and group instruction, reference assistance, and maintenance of digital collections. Other shared responsibilities will be processing library materials, training and supervising student assistants, and occasionally circulating library holdings and equipment. Preferred qualifications: MLS from ALA accredited program; knowledge of art, architecture, and design, experience with digital projects, ability to communicate clearly and concisely; excellent writing and computer skills; good organizational skills. Competitive salary depends upon experience and qualifications.

View full job description. Position is open until filled.


The university reserves the right to substitute equivalent education and/or experience at its discretion. NJIT is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer and encourages women, minorities, persons with disabilities and Vietnam era and disabled veterans to apply.

Apply Online Now

Top 25 Journals with Publications by NJIT Scientists

I searched Scopus to determine the top 25 journals where NJIT scientists published.  Likely publications from  the School of Management and College of Architecture and Design were not covered exhaustively in Scopus.


Astrophysical Journal 225
Solar Physics 87
Applied Physics Letters 78
Journal of Physical Chemistry A 77
IEEE Communications Letters 50
Powder Technology 45
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 44
Physical Review B 42

Journal of Applied Physics 41
Pattern Recognition 39
Journal of Membrane Science 38
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 35
Transportation Research Record 35
Physical Review E 34
Physics of Fluids 33
Physical Review Letters 31
IEEE Transactions on Communications 30
IEEE Transactions on System Man and Cybernetics 27
Electronics Letters 26
Combustion and Flame 25
SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics 24
IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 24
AICHE Journal 24
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 24

IEEE Communications Magazine 23

James Neal - Prospects for Systemic Change Across Academic Libraries

I monitor the hits on the entries of this blog by using Google Analytics.  Many of my readers landed on my commentary of Jim Neal's talk at the VALE annual meeting in January.  Many of the points that he discussed at that meeting including the National Digital Library were considered in an article in the March/April 2011 Educase Review .  He also said that many academic libraries continue to maintain redundant and inefficient library operations.  I was disappointed that "Information Literacy - Stop the Madness" was not discussed in the article. 

QANDANJ Chat Reference to Cease Operations on June 30, 2011

We received this annnoucement today from Cheryl O'Connor:

This project, developed and managed by the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative under the direction of SJRLC Executive Director Karen Hyman and funded by the New Jersey State Library, was the first of its kind in the nation. Launched in 2001, it was a model for many other statewide virtual reference services that emerged all over the country. The QandANJ project grew in popularity as word of mouth spread about its existence. To keep up with demand SJRLC continued to recruit and train reference librarians throughout the state. Without all of the volunteer librarians who took on this new challenge, the service would never have become truly statewide.


Even with all of the volunteer assistance, the program still has the fixed costs for a coordinator, public relations and marketing and software licenses to name a few. When state budget cuts were enacted last year, the decision was made to keep QandANJ active at least through June of this year in order to incorporate NJLA’s South Jersey Works initiative. With local libraries experiencing budget cuts it has become more difficult to allow staff the work time to participate. These reasons have resulted in this very difficult decision being made by the State Library and disseminated by the grantee, LibraryLinkNJ.

The main issues that I have with chat reference that I have disccused here is:

1. Many questions had to answered by the patron's library.  I think many users of the chat service did not realize they were chatting with somebody at another institution.
2. So many patron's were very impatient.  They would often log off if they didn't get their answer right away.
3. Very few if any were NJIT students.  Thus I spent NJIT time working with students at other universities.
4. On the other hand I did receive many interesting reference questions from appreciative customers.

April Fool's Day at the NJIT Library

Our wonderful circulation clerk Maria Denaro really has a sense of humor.  Early this morning she e-mailed a letter of resignation to Rich Sweeney, the University Librarian.  In her letter she stated that her family bought an Italian restaurant.  It didn't take Rich long to figure out that this was an April Fools Day prank.

Later in the day, she came back from lunch saying "Guess who I met outside?  It is Madalyn who retired several years ago.  I just found out the Madalyn got married to a young guy."  It took me a few minutes to realize that this was another April Fools Day joke.

Remember, Laughter is the best medicine.

High Tech Version of the Dog Ate the Homework

I received this e-mail from a student:

Hi Mr. Bruce


The e-mail which you sent us regarding our Math-225004 class with chemical properties to research somehow got deleted. Can you please send me the mail again as soon as possible so that I can do my assignment on time, because it is due on mon 28th march 2011.

At least this student contacted me before the assignment was due.  He may have been a victim of e-mail overload.  He deleted an e-mail that was important.

Expecting Ingratitude in electronic reference

Students and faculty who come to the reference are always courteous and appreciative of the help that we give them.  A thank you at the end of a reference transaction really helps.  I find just the opposite is true in electronic reference.  Within the last day I have experienced two cases of ingratitude.

This question came through e-mail from an NJIT student:

Hi Sir.



I had been asked to find Antoine equations ,from NIST chemistry webbook, for both hexane and heptane but I couldn't find them. Both equations are expressed in Pressure, Temperature and x( mole fraction). Because I need them for my homework next monday, please email them to me if you can
 
It took me about a half hour to find the answer to this question.  I sent him the answer through e-mail and even should him how I found the information.  He did not acknowledge receipt of the information I sent.
 
Here is a chat reference question I got this morning:
 
hi, i need to find an article based on research on how to motivate students to learn anything from environment:ecosystem/biodiversity/etc. In other wods if there is a method (checked by working with students) which is working.
 
I did a search in ERIC and sent one article that I thought was relevant.  I suggested she use the search strategy SU - Motivation and SU - Environmental Education and evaluate the references.  I got absolutely no responses from her during the chat session.  Finally at 10 AM I was "saved by the bell" since my shift at the chat service ended.
 
And so it goes.  I guess there is nothing we can do about this.

Next METRO Science Librarians SIG Meeting Thursday April 14

Current Trends in Electronic Scholarly Communication

Co-sponsored by The Scholarly Communications and Information Innovation Lab (SCIIL) of LIU (Long Island University) Palmer School of Library and Information Science.

Date: Thursday April 14, 2011

Time: 1:30-3:30 PM

Location: METRO (The Metropolitan New York Library Council) 57 East 11th Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10003-4605



METRO and SCIIL are pleased to announce: Current Trends in Electronic Scholarly Communication, a panel for LIS students and information professionals.

Please register at http://www.metro.org/en/cev/44


How can professionals and the public access, utilize and trust the proliferation of scientific and medical information available to them? How can online service providers improve their performance, delivering more robust and useful content? Google, Yahoo and other online search engine giants have a critical need for focused research from academic sources that can guide them as they strive to expand their business models and expertise, seeking to bring relevant information to a broader consumer base. The Scholarly Communications and Information Innovation Lab (SCIIL) is designed to support all of these issues, and has already undertaken some significant projects including: research on how researchers perceive value in journals; new trends in online learning in higher education; a new online course in Scholarly Communications and Electronic Publishing, which was offered in Fall 2010 for the LIU and WISE students.

This panel will showcase three LIS professionals who engaged in final project for the online graduate course in Scholarly Communications and Electronic Publishing course in Fall 2010 and a presentation of the recent research on International Scholarly Collaboration by Dr. Selenay Aytac, Associate Director of SCIIL.


During their presentations, each of the four panelists will share their projects. An open forum will follow the panel's presentations, and everyone will be encouraged to participate in the discussion on Current Trends in Electronic Scholarly Communication.



Dr. John J. Regazzi, the director of the SCIIL and Professor in the College of Education and Information Sciences will moderate the event.




PROGRAM

1. Welcoming and Introduction to the Scholarly Communications and Information Innovation Lab of LIU (5 minutes)

by Dr. John J. Regazzi Professor, and Director, Scholarly Communications and Information Innovation Lab College of Education and Information Sciences
LIU

2. International Scholarly Collaboration of Turkish Scientists (15 minutes)

By Dr. Selenay Aytac, Assistant Professor, Librarian of LIU

3. The E-journal Past and the E-book Future (15 minutes)

By Dr. William Maltarich, NYU

4. Open Access Development Analysis in China (15 minutes)

By Duo Li, MS and Doctoral Student in Information Studies, C. W. Post Campus, Long Island University


5. Scholarly Communication Librarians’ Guidance for Faculty Publication (15 minutes)

By Will Cross, JD, Digital Copyright Specialist for the University of North Carolina and a master's candidate at the UNC School of Information and Library Science.

6. Q&As

NJIT Students Spruce Up the Warren Street Station on the Newark Light Rail

At 11:30 this morning there was a brief ceremony for the unveiling of two murals depicting NJIT and the city of Newark.  There were speeches made by:

• NJIT President Robert Altenkirch
• New Jersey Transit Executive Director James Weinstein
• Former NJIT Student Senate President Baker Assaf
• Current NJIT Student President  Dominick Cirillo

Tjhe Student Senate worked very hard over the years to help make the train station more appealing to those taking public transportation to NJIT.  Students, faculty and staff certainly save energy by using mass transit instead of driving their cars.  The rising gasoline prices make this a cost effective option.  I have ridden on New Jersey Transit for the 18 1/2 years I have been employed at NJIT.

More information

When photos become available I will post them.

Please check out this video

What is the future of reference librarianship?

The biggest change in reference librarianship is the great decline in the number of transactions that come to the reference desk. With each succeeding semester the number of people that come to the desk is less and less. I just hate it when someone approaches the desk and says “I’m sorry to bother you.” We are there so people can bother us. For a few years student workers have staffed the reference desk for many hours each week. They are instructed on how to answer the basic questions and know when to refer the difficult questions to the reference librarian on call. This has worked out very well.

I sense that many students are learning to use information resources in their field by themselves.  When they become aware of the resources available to them, they learn to use them intuitively.  Perhaps the thought processes involved in searching Google and Wikipedia are easily transferred when they search a publisher database.  Thus I question the effectiveness of classes that librarians give.  Perhaps there should be a true information competency exam which could compare the grades of students who have received formal training from a librarian to those who didn't.

I guess I am not answering the question that I am posing in the title of this journal entry.  Should librarians be more assertive in their relationships with faculty?  That could backfire.  I never like to impose myself on people.  I don't want to be like an overly aggressive salesman.

Should reference librarians work more closely with their colleagues in technical processing?  I certainly would like to learn more about digitization projects.

I guess I am thinking aloud on a rainy Sunday morning.

The NJIT Library is going Mobile

We took the first step in going Mobile by having a QR code for our library home page:

http://goo.gl/aN05c.qr

Thanks to Assistant University Librarian Ann Hoang for making this happen.



A Challenging Reference Question is A Nice Way to Start the Day

Today I arrived at my desk a little before 12 noon since I am working on the late shift today.  As a "ritual" I turn on my computer and then check my phone for messages.  It seems unusual these days that old-fashioned Alexander Graham Bell technology is used for reference.  Anyway, I recieved a question from a graduate student asking for information on the analysis of pentachlorophenol.  He said he had trouble narrowing his answer set in Scopus and Science Direct.  He was not familiar with Scifinder Scholar.  Since he only came to campus once a week, I told him I could do the search and e-mail the results.

In my e-mail I explained the steps in doing the search and that the next step was for him to evaluate the abstracts to see if the retrieved references answered his question.

I Appreciate Donations to the NJIT Library

Over the past two days I have received two donations of books to the NJIT Library. Two people from the vicinity have gone through their basements and brought to my attention a few hundred technical books. I appreciate the fact that people do not want to discard publication they have held for years. They want students and faculty to have access to them.

Most of the donations we receive are placed on shelves outside the library for students to take for their personal use. Whenever I receive a donation I examine each item and check the catalog to see if we hold it. If we don’t, I check the date of publication. We don’t input dated materials into our collection. However students usually take older textbooks for their personal use.

I thank all of those who donated books to the NJIT Library.

There is a glut of Ph D chemists

Last week I read this article in the Chemical and Engineering News:

Bethany Halford

Doctoral Dilemma Chemical and Engineering News January 31, 2011 Volume 89, Number 5 pp. 46 - 52

I consider myself a hyphenated librarian (Chemistry-Librarian).  I don't recall commented in this blog about my previous career as a chemist.  I received a masters degree in chemistry at the University of Rhode Island and worked for 3 years as a laboratory chemist before changing careers.  I never had the desire to pursue a doctorate in chemistry since I always considered myself a generalist.  All reference librarians are likely generalists.

The article states that the American Chemical Society estimates that 196 programs (including NJIT) grant doctoral degrees in chemistry.  Both George Whitesides of Harvard and John Deutch of MIT state that academic chemistry is overpopulated.

The sad thing is that so many new graduates can not get jobs commensurate with that degree.  Many become postdocs for many years or remain underemployed inside or outside chemistry.  With the numerous mergers and acquisitions in the pharmacetical industry in recent years, many excellent scientists have lost their jobs and have difficulty being re-employed.

Magazines are not dead

I certain read many popular magazines at home or on my commute.  I found an advertisement in one of them saying "We surf the Internet.  We swim in Magazines."

It contiues by saying that during the 12 year life of Google magazine readership increased 11 percent.  A new medium doesn't necessarily displace an existing one.  For example, the Ipod didn't replace CD players.

I enjoy flipping through pages of a magazine and choosing the articles that I want to read in depth.  Sometimes I am content on reading the captions or just looking at the pictures.  It is rare that someone wants to read every article of a technical journal.

I am certain that printed versions of technical journals are dieing, but magazines are here to stay.

Will An Optional Information Literacy Session Work?

About 10 years ago I offered an optional general session to the Graduate Student Association teaching the generalties of database searching.  Only 5 students came.  Here is part of an e-mail that I just received from a chemistry professor:

I ask the students to search chemical literature to come up with ideas for projects. (Students work in teams of two/team). Basically I want them to find one or more papers (mainly computational in nature) on a particular topic of interest to them. Then I will work with them to refine the project to a "do-able" level. I've already suggested that they look at JOURNNAL OF MOLECULAR STRUCTURE (THEOCHEM) for project ideas.


But browsing a journal is different than searching the lit.



The course has 20 grad students (18 MS & 2 PhD) & 5 undergrads. About 10-12 of the grad students attended your chemical lit searching seminar in our dept last Sept--but they prob'ly forgot it already. & since you didn't have internet access, it was difficult for you to explain. None of the undergrads have any idea of how to search the lit.

The professor said that she didn't have the time for me to come to her class.  I had two suggestions:

1. I could hold an optional session at 5 PM, one hour before their class begins.
2. I can invite students to make appointments with me for an individual or group session

Perhaps I am being a bit cynical, but I really wonder how many students will come. I am going to suggest option #2.

Random Thoughts of the Day

It's just Monday while the next winter storm is supposed to come tomorrow.  The forecast is for a wintry mix of snow, sleet freezing rain and if we're lucky some warm rain.  Anyway I had an eventful shift at the reference desk.  For the first time, I juggled two reference chats.  One was very short as the student asked for a web site with chemical structures.  I referred him to Chemspider.  The other chat was quite lengthy as the student needed TAPPI (Technical Association of the Paper and Pulp Industry) Standards.  The NJIT Library does not have them so I referred him to the organization's web site.  He was able to use the search engine to determine exactly which standards he needed.  I suggested that he try our interlibrary loan service to see if we could get them from another university.

Of course there was the expected textbook questions two weeks into the semester.

45 Percent of the Nation's Undergraduates Learn Very Little in the First Two years of College

This morning Jim Kerr on  Q-104.3 said that he read an article in a newspaper saying that 45% of the nation'a undergraduates learn very little in the first two years of college.  A did a little research and found the article in the New York Times  which quotes from:

Arum, Richard, and Josipa Roksa. Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print.

There is a discussion of this at http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/24/does-college-make-you-smarter/dealing-with-a-different-type-of-college-student

I really should purchase this book and make up my mind.  I certainly learned quite a bit all those years ago in my undergraduate days at CCNY.  These early courses did form a foundation to what I learned later along.  I think an issue is that much of what is learned becomes obsolete in a short period of time.

Just some thoughts on a snowy evening.

Why do students rush to complete an assignment?

This morning I gave a class to chemical engineering students on the basics of the literature resources of their field.  The powerpoints are found on this Libguide http://researchguides.njit.edu/che396 .  I discussed the basics of searching Scifinder Scholar and Scopus.  Several times I mentioned that it takes the database only a few seconds to execute a search and display an answer set.  It takes more time for the researcher to evaluate the retrieved references since very often the search term are in the bibliographic record or abstract, but not in the desired relationship.  The students received training passwords and had to find 5 references on one of these topics:


Liquid hold-up in packed columns (or towers) for any of the following packing types: Jaeger rings, tri-packs, Novalox saddles, pall rings


Heat transfer coefficients for a flat plate exchanger


A model for particle elutriation from a fluidized bed of particles


Model for rotary kiln drier (dryer)

I told the students the training passwords expired at the end of the day.  I suggested they do the search while they had the training password and to evaluate the results later. The students were give one week to complete this assignment, but half the class turned in their assignment within 30 minutes.  Why did they rush?

1.  The assignment was too easy and they felt they had picked the 5 most relevant articles.
2.  They were not interested in literature searching and just wanted to get it finished ASAP

My concern was in either event, their expose to literature searching was just too brief.  It is my hope that the student will know when and how to use Scifinder Scholar in the future.

I will have to compare the grades of students who submitted the assignment quicky versus those who took their time with it.

Random Thoughts at the Beginning of the Spring Semester

As the Spring semester begins in the dead of winter I recall January 1972 as I entered the University of Rhode Island starting on my masters degree in chemistry. It felt very strange starting out in a new school in the middle of the academic year.  Last week a new graduate student in civil engineering approached me about research in sustainability in structural engineering.  It was nice to see such an enthusiastic student.

There are much less directional questions at this time since most students know their way around the campus.  However we will get our share of textbook questions after students see the prices at the bookstore.  There are slightly less students during the spring semester since some found out in the Fall that NJIT was not the right school for them.  Many students graduate as I did all those years ago in January.  Thus, most universities lose more students than they gain at this point.

Life goes on.

Tony Stankus spoke to the METRO Science Librarians SIG about Open Access Journals

Tony Stankus of the University of Arkansas spoke to the METRO Science Librarians SIG about the future of open access (OA) journals. We used Skype so that he spoke to us from his library.

Certainly if librarians had their way, all journals would be open access since our respective organizations would not have to pay for subscriptions. However, there are other players who must be considered. .The obvious advantage of OA journals is that it will increase readership. OA journals will help research become known to a wider audience. If an organization, can not afford a subscription-based journal, its researchers can not read it.

Successful journals will attract the best researchers. Thus established journals in any field will have nothing to worry about from newer OA journals. Physicists will want to publish in the Physical Review series while chemists will submit their manuscripts to the Journal of the American Chemical Society. I suppose any scientist is pleased when he/she is published in a prestigious journal, but is blind to the cost of it to the organization’s library.

Tony said that chemistry was the toughest field to start an OA journal. I just checked the Directory of Open Access Journals and noted there were 128 chemistry journals.

OA journals are most successful in biology and the medical sciences. The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and BioMed Central were the most noted publishers.

He concluded by saying that OA publishing will co-exit with subscription based models but not overtake them.

New York Times Article related to Jim Neal's Remarks at the VALE Conference

An article in the Business Section of Sunday's New York Times Business section titled Playing Catch-up in a Digital Library Race reminded me of remarks made by Jim Neal at the VALE conference.  It states that the National Library of Norway has already scanned about 170,000 books, 250,000 newspapers, 610,000 hours of radio broadcasts, 200,000 hours of TV and 500,000 photographs. The article by Natasha Singer echoes Jim Neal's thoughts by stating "Until recently, however, many American institutions and academic centers have concentrated on making scans of their own special treasures, or collaborating with one another on themed projects, rather than combining their electronic resources into a single online access point."

The key is having a single online access point.  Google Books is a popular resource for digital information, but it can't digitize everything.  What is the solution?  This is a challenge for today's librarians to construct the digital library of tomorrow.

Jim Neal's Keynote Address at the VALE Annual Meeing

Jim Neal, the Vice President of Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University was the keynote speaker. The title of his talk was “The Imperfect Storm: Propsects for Systemic Change Across Academic Libraries.”

I will say without reservation, it was the best VALE Keynote address since the annual conference commenced. I took notes to prevent my mind from wandering. My analysis will not be exhaustive. I will focus on the statements that impressed me the most.

There are changing roles in the library with a corresponding shifting vision. There are redundant and inefficient library operations and old work flows that need to be changed. Is the traditional reference desk really needed? [my thought]. This is an aging and ineffective service paradigm. There is constant change and new organizational models need to be built. We must respond to smaller budgets and prepare for accountability.

He mentioned that alumni and donors are largely ignored. My experience has been that very few alumni use the NJIT Library. Perhaps if we reached out to them, they would use our services and make donations specifically to support library resources.

A last copy print repository network is needed as libraries should be less reliant on printed books. He proposed a national public digital library with a dot lib domain that would create access to digital collections. There should be a national strategy for a print depository program.

He also briefly discussed:

• The creation of a library PAC (political action committee)
• 3 electronic books were purchased for every print book this Christmas season
• Columbia has 2 FTE librarians involved with assessment
• Columbia and Cornell are involved in a collaborative agreement called 2CUL
• The research libraries of NYPL will allow Columbia and NYU graduate students to check books out of the library

One remark that he made that I enjoyed was “Information Literacy – Stop the Madness!” I do feel that many librarians are coming on too strong with information literacy. It is important, but is only a small part of the academic curriculum.  I certainly don't think that Jim is "anti-information literacy."  I just interpret him as thinking similiar to me that librarians should tone it down somwhat.  People can feel threatened when we are in their faces so to speak.

Jim really covered a lot of ground in a small amount of time.  As of Monday January 10th, his powerpoint was not on the VALE site.  I would like to include it here.

Photos from the conference were taken by Ray Schwartz

The Powerpoint of Jim Neal's talk can be found at http://www.valenj.org/annual-conference/2011/keynote-speaker (entered by Bruce on January 18)

2011 VALE Meeting Preliminary Report

I have not created any entries here for almost 2 weeks.  I hope nobody thought I abandoned this blog.  Before I write a detailed analysis of the meeting, I feel that I must review my notes and look at some of the web sites described by the speakers.  For now, let me talk about the "social networking" aspects of this and other professional meetings.

A major purpose of this an other meetings is to meet colleagues face to face to discuss professional issues informally.  It was nice to encounter former NJIT librarians who have moved on to other New Jersey Universities:

David McMillan - Caldwell College
Ellen Johnston - Caldwell College
Carol Nurse - Montclair State
Ray Schwartz - William Paterson University
Josene - Union County College

I'll mention a few of the people I had spoke to today

Stevens crew:
Linda Benninghove
Scott Smith
Valerie Forrestal
Barbara Arnett

Dana Library Crew
Ann Watkins
Bobbi Tipton
Natalie Borosovets

Dave Peterson - Burlington County College

Olivia Nellums - Camden County College - check out her blog at http://librarianscommute.blogspot.com/

Maureen Gorman and Valerie Tucci - TCNJ

There were many more.

We also had a meeting of the VALE Reference Services Commitee

For more information see http://www.valenj.org/meeting/valenj-acrlnjla-cus-users-conference .  The Twitter tag for the conference was #vale2011

Check this journal in a few days for more of my reflections on the meeting.