What to Worry About When Planning a Professional Meeting

I just received some posters from the American Chemical Society to begin to promote the ACS on Campus event forDecember 5.  At this point it is just a preliminary announcement to keep the date open.  There are always worries when planning a professional meeting:

·         The biggest one is how many people will come.  This of course is very difficult to predict.  When I plan events for the METRO Science Librarians SIG the attendance ranged from 6 to 30.  There is always an excuse for people not coming.

·         The second worry is the weather.  December 5 is likely too early for a major snowstorm.  In any event, I expect most of the attendees will be from NJIT or Rutgers-Newark

·         One of the speakers can’t make it at the last minute.

My late Dad always told me to take things one day at a time.  I also read that in the Dale Carnegie book.  Don’t Worry Be Happy!

Some Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning

I did not mind working yesterday which was Columbus Day.  I can't complain since we get Fridays off during the summer and the week off between Christmas and New Years.  The public transportation in New York and New Jersey was on a regular weekday schedule.

Students in Chemical Engineering 396 completed their assignment to use technical databases to find relevant articles.  I had time to grade only 2 papers, but I perused through the others and noted that although students were given the choice to use either Scopus or Scifinder Scholar, only 1 out of 20 used Scifinder.  During the lecture I discussed both equally and considered the advantages and disadvantages of both.  I really think that students did not want to set up an account for Scifinder and remember another username and password.  They preferred to follow the path of least resistance and searched Scopus.  Chemical Abstracts Service is very protective of their database, and just do not want anyone to walk up to a public computer in an academic library to search Scifinder.

I am home this morning since I am working on the late shift.  The number of substantial reference transactions at the desk continues to decline.  Last Tuesday nobody approached the reference desk between 5 PM and 7 PM.  Oh well.

STELLA Unconference is Coming to Brooklyn College Nov 9-10

STELLA is an acronym for Science Technology and Engineering Library Leaders in Action.  There was an unconference in Denver in 2010, but one is coming to Brooklyn College on November 9th and 10th.  As of today 75 people have signed up.  The organizers state that registration will be capped at 80.

Registration

Ideas for Sessions

I would like to thank the organizers in advance for all the work they have done so far:

Jeffra Diane Bussmann (California State University, East Bay)
Jill Cirasella (Brooklyn College)
Neil Dazet (Brooklyn College)
Joseph Kraus (University of Denver)
Margaret Smith (NYU)

ACS on Campus is Coming to NJIT on December 5

I am in the early stages of organizing an ACS on Campus event at NJIT for Wednesday December 5.  The preliminary program is:

12:00 – 12:30 pm – Registration and lunch (will have boxed lunches available)

12:30 – 1:00 pm – Welcome and Opening Remarks

1:00 – 2:30 pm – Basics and Ethics of Scholarly Publishing

2:30 – 3:15 pm – SciFinder

3:15 – 3:30 pm – Break

3:30 – 5:30 pm – ACS Career Pathways: Finding Your Path in Industry or Higher Education

Closing Remarks

More details will be forthcoming.  Hopefully a formal announcement with the names of the speakers will be made within a few weeks.  This event will be open to faculty and students throughout New Jersey.

For further information you may e-mail Bruce.Slutsky@njit.edu  

Today is my 20th Anniversary at NJIT

In is hard to believe that I have worked at the NJIT Library for 20 years.  Where did all this time go?  Things certainly change over time.  When I came the internet was in its infancy as all we had was text based e-mail while there was no world wide web.  We only had two CD-ROM based databases:  Applied Science and Technology Index and the Proquest Business Database.  All the journals were in print.  Back then most of the first floor was devoted to reference books while today it is an information commons with over 100 computers for the students.

Over 20 years there have been many staff changes which is expected.  There are two librarians and five clerks who were hired before me who are still in the library.  There was a strange situation as 4 reference librarians and two directors were hired during the summer of 1992.  The two directors left within a short time, but the four reference librarians stayed.  One of my reference colleagues became the Database and Serials Librarian at NJIT about a year ago.  Another relocated to California after 5 years with NJIT.  A third became Director of Web Services at NJIT and subsequently left for a similar position at NYU.  I have survived 20 years in reference.

Some things just never change.  We have always been confronted with a poor materials budget which has not grown with NJIT.  There are many more research interests and the library is challenged in trying to meet the information needs of an expanding community.  I have been frustrated by the dramatic decline in reference transactions.  Perhaps the database publishers have designed their electronic products so that end users need minimal instruction on how to use them.

I guess I still have a few more years to go before I can retire.  I look forward to the time when New Jersey Transit will lose its “most reliable customer.”

Remembering September 11th at NJIT

Tuesday September 11, 2001 started out normally as an early semester day.  The temperature was seasonable as there were no clouds in the sky.  After I completed a freshman seminar tour that morning, a colleague told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.  At that point everyone thought it was just a terrible accident.  As time passed I heard about the second plane hitting the WTC and the third at the Pentagon and the fourth crashing in Western Pennsylvania.  Everyone knew that this was a terrorist attack.  NJIT stayed open until 12 noon.  Since public transportation had stopped, I had no way of getting home.  My boss, Rich Sweeney, invited me to stay at his home that night.  His son Tommy worked nearby at the World Financial Center, so Rich did not know his status.  Tommy came home about 4 PM.  Classes resumed the next day as we found out that the wife of the new Dean of Students perished in the South Tower.

All of our lives have changed since that dreadful day.  There is a memorial on campus (see above) to remember several alumni and a former trustee who were lost.

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.