The First Day of Classes at the NJIT Library

It is the first day of classes at NJIT; the more things change the more they stay the same.  President Joel Bloom continued a tradition started by his predecessor and offered students a pancake breakfast.  This is certainly a nice gesture of the university administration.  Let’s move into the library.  It certainly seems strange to see it so crowded when it has been so empty since May 15.  Of course, the information commons is the most popular area.  It is impossible to be a student without a computer.  It was busier years ago when fewer students had laptops.

We get the same categories of questions:

·         Directional – we must understand that new students don’t yet know their way around

·         Computer Accounts – these questions are referred to the lab assistants

·         Textbook – the students get their syllabus and check the bookstore where the prices of the books scare them.  They try to save money by getting it in the library.  It is our policy not to carry them. My standard comment is “Your professor feels that it is in your best interest to own the book.”  University bookstores now rent textbooks.  Back when I was a student, I would keep a textbook if it was in chemistry.   I would sell back other books.

And so it goes.