Opening for a Science/Engineering Librarian at NJIT

Be part of a Technical Reference Librarian academic team at New Jersey Institute of Technology, a public science and technology research university.  This non-tenured position is responsible for performing professional reference librarian duties such as virtual reference assistance, information literacy instruction and assessment, collection development, developing information literacy learning modules, preparing and presenting library orientations, conducting promotion and tenure searches, etc.

NJIT, close to Manhattan, seeks an experienced reference librarian with an MLS, subject expertise in chemistry, mathematics, physics, biology, management, computer science or engineering and other requirements.  For the complete job description and application procedure view:  http://njit.jobs/applicants/Central?quickFind=51921   for Technical Reference Librarian.

Salary commensurate with credentials and experience.   Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. 

I Admire My Young Enthusiastic Colleagues

Whenever I go to professional meetings I admire the enthusiasm of my younger colleagues who are new to the profession.  Most presenters are “newbies” who greatly embrace emerging technologies.  I observed that at both the recent VALE conference at Rutgers and the METRO Annual Meeting at Baruch College.  Younger librarians are “born with a chip” and did not struggle with having to use print resources to research topics.  Older professionals like me experienced many transitions from print to online resources.  It is often difficult to adjust to the newer way of researching.  Google did not exist when I was a student.  Yes, the profession has undergone change in the past and there will be more changes in the future.

Scientific Publishers Should Maintain a Dialog With Customers

There should never be an adversarial relationship between publishers and their customers.  Librarians must understand that there are costs involved in producing a scholarly journal whether it is in print or electronic format.  Publishers must also realize that library budgets are strained and difficult decisions must be made when subscribing or cancelling titles.  There are certain issues that face both parties.  The literature is growing since there is still pressure on new faculty to attain tenure.  There are new sub-disciplines especially in the scientific disciplines and publishers are creating more specialized journals.  Is this necessary or should articles in new “micro-disciplines” be absorbed into established serials?  Is open access a panacea?  In this case the burden of payment is placed on the researchers not the librarians.

Pricing was much easier years ago when there were only print journals.  A large organization would often need multiple copies of popular titles that would be circulated.  It would pay a fixed amount for each extra copy needed.  Publishers are now determining pricing on the history of usage of a journal by the institution.  Bundling journals is another controversial issue in pricing.  A library may complain that it is forced to buy access to journals that are rarely if ever used.  Is paying per download a viable option?

In an open letter to the Library community Brandon Nordin of ACS publication admits “No pricing model is ever perfect.” 

It is very important that publishers maintain a dialog with their customers and evaluate their suggestions for pricing.  This can be done on a one to one basis or at national, regional, or local meetings of processional societies.

Notes from the 2013 VALE Users'' Conference

On Friday January 4^th I attended the 14^th annual VALE User’s Conference.  Where have all these years gone?  I remember attending a meeting all those years ago when the concept of a consortium of academic libraries was first discussed.  In 2013 were almost 300 librarians attending with a multitude of poster and breakout sessions.  As usual it was nice to encounter colleagues from other New Jersey colleges.  I will only comment on sessions that I attended.

Session B01 – VALID Project Update: Project Planning and Implementation Milestones

I have been following this project for several years and am disappointed that it has not yet come to fruition.  Marianne Gaunt, the University Librarian at Rutgers, stated that project will hopefully be done in two years.  It is my opinion that the project has moved slowly since the members of the implementation task force are from different institutions and can only devote so much time to this project.  VuFind has been selected as the discovery tool while the entire system will be on the Amazon Web Services Cloud Server.  This server will be located on multiple servers and not hosted by one institution.  Thus all member institutions will have access.

Session B09 VALID: Reference and Resource Sharing Update

Joseph Deodato of Rutgers spoke about the features that were recommended by the Reference Committee for the discovery layer.  I actually chaired this subcommittee that made these suggestions.  Judy Matthew of William Paterson University described how there would be a VALID circulation policy that will create a seamless experience for users.  Problems may be encountered when the circulation policy of a college differs from that of the consortium as a whole.

Featured Speaker – Dr. Ellie A. Fogarty, Vice President of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education

She spoke on the role of librarians in the assessment process.  When a university is evaluated by Middle States, the library should not stand alone.  There must be accountability and transparency  in this process.  Education should be competency based. 

Session B20: Determining the most appropriate type(s) of a assessment in library instruction – Bonnie Fong of Rutgers University

The assessment process considers who, what when, where and how.  These principles also apply in journalism.  We must determine what we are trying to assess including the learning objectives and exactly what is being taught.  We must assess both pre- and post-session.