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.