Some Thoughts Before the New Academic Year Starts

August is almost over as we are thinking about the beginning of the Fall 2013 semester at NJIT.  There is a Greek Village and a new Honors College Dormitory opening the semester.  Students started to move in yesterday.   The Central King Building is in the process of being renovated.  The student body is growing with new programs throughout the various colleges within NJIT.

There were some changes in the library this summer as we completed the inventory project.  Many outdated and damaged books were removed from the collection.  We also moved the reference collection from to the second floor where current periodicals were once housed.  There are now so few periodicals received in paper.

The new students seem to be getting younger, but they are the same age.  I am getting older.  We’ll get the same old directional questions, but there was a time (21 years ago already) when I was new to NJIT and did not know my way around.  I do sense that the number of reference questions will continue to decline.  In my opinion the reference desk should be closed as a public service point with the circulation staff directing appropriate questions to the librarians in their offices.

Time moves forward as nothing stays the same

The New York City Department of Education Does Not Value Librarians

I am commenting on this article that appeared in the WallStreet Journal  that was also reported last night on New York 1 News.  It is quite sad that the New York City Department of Education does not value librarians.  The article reports that there are only 333 certified librarians in city schools down from 399 only four years ago and not all of them are working as librarians. 17 librarians are employed as substitute teachers instead of being laid off.  Schools with 700 or more students must have a full-time librarian, while middle or high schools with 100 – 300 students are required to have a part-time librarian.  However, the Department of Education is asking the state to waive those requirements stating advances in technology are making it harder to retain librarians.

I guess that even early on students use Google and Wikipedia and are not aware of more sophisticated research and fact finding techniques.  I also surmise that print and electronic resources are inadequate in high schools as they often are in universities.

I recall in the early 1960s at JHS 190 Queens we had one period a week when we visited the school library.  The librarian taught us to use the card catalog and the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature.  Back in elementary school, we would occasionally walk over to the local branch of the Queensborough Public Library (QBL).  I never used the Forest Hills High School library as I would take the subway to the main branch of QBL in Jamaica to do my assignments.

In the future, will university administrators take the same attitude as the NYC Department of Education toward librarians?  I certainly hope not.