Meeting Graduate Students in Small Groups

As I mentioned here a few months ago, I wanted to meet with small groups of graduate students to see if I could elicit some questions or feedback.  After doing it with three groups of chemical engineering graduate students I would say it was somewhat successful.   It was my experience that students in large lecture halls are reluctant to ask questions.  Some of the questions and comments were:

• What happens when I am asked for password or a credit card when I try to download a journal article?
• How do I get an account for Scifnder?
• How can I recommend the library subscribe to certain journals not now available?
• How do I update to the latest version of EndNote?

Random Thoughts at the Middle of the Semester

It is just past the second half of the semester so just to keep this blog alive I think I’ll put down some random thoughts.

I met with a group of 6 Kam Sirkar’s graduate students a few weeks ago as a follow up to the formal training session that I gave at the beginning of the semester to chemical engineering graduate students.  My meeting didn’t start out well as one student remarked, didn’t you speak to us a few weeks ago.  I explained that I wanted an informal session where students could feel free to ask questions.  After a while the students opened up.  I have another session scheduled with Ed Dreizin’s students in a few weeks.

I am grateful that for this semester at least I am finished doing cited reference searches for the Provost’s Office.  Candidates for Distinguished Professor have very long lists of publications and it is a very tedious procedure to get statistics for Scopus, Web of Science, and Scifinder.  Since NJIT does not subscribe to the Web of Science it we have to go across the street to the Dana Library at Rutgers-Newark to do the search.

We just had a successful meeting about Systematic Reviews at the METRO Science Librarians SIG.  We had a turnout of about 30 which was just about the biggest in the 15 years that I have convened the group.

We are trying to make a push for an institutional repository at NJIT.  I am disappointed that one is not in place as we are a research university.  I am also going to have institutional repositories as the theme of the next METRO meeting.