Random thoughts for November

It is now the middle of November as we are about ¾ of the way through the semester.  I am sorry to say that there is more of the same.  The number of walk up reference questions is next to nothing.  Once in a great while we’ll have a busy day at the desk.  I am more upset about the few people who come in and ask for me specifically.  This semester I have only answered three questions that required my chemistry background.

I am serving on a committee to make recommendations to remodel the library which was built in 1992.  So much space is occupied by print books and periodicals that are hardly used.  We need to open up those areas for more study spaces.  It puzzles me to see students in the cafeteria studying while not eating while the atmosphere in the library is more conducive to studying.  This committee visited libraries at Hudson County Community College and NYU-Poly to see how their libraries are configured.

We are searching for a new university librarian to fill the vacancy caused by the untimely death of Richard Sweeney.  I hope that the best possible candidate is appointed.

That’s all for now.

Random Thoughts for October

It is impossible to assess the effectiveness of a "library lecture" to graduate students.  I always say that they should follow-up and search the various databases that I discuss before they actually need them.  I was disappointed to see that only 12 people signed up for a Scifinder account during September.  I wonder if people avoid searching it since they don't want to be bothered with opening up an account and remembering a username and password.

The position of University Librarian was announced and posted on the Human Resources web site.  The Provost also announced the members of a search committee.  Recruitments in academia usually are lengthy, so I don't expect someone to be appointed for several months.

The Architecture Library coordinator announced her resignation after two years at that position.  For personal reasons she wanted to return to her native Michigan.  We all wish her all the best.

Today is My 24th Anniversary of Working at the NJIT Library

It was 24 years ago today that I started at the NJIT Library.  Certainly so much has changed over the years.   There were only a few staff computers while none were available to students in the library.  There were only dumb terminals to search the library’s online catalog.  We only had two CD-ROM databases back then:

• Applied Science and Technology Index
• Proquest Business Database

Email was very primitive as we used the Tesla computer which was a VMS/VAX.  The internet was in its infancy as there was only a text based browser to search the nascent World Wide Web.

The NJIT campus has expanded dramatically over these 24 years with more academic buildings, dormitories and a much larger student body.  Some faculty and staff sadly passed away over the years while others retired or moved on to other positions.

Life goes on and in the years to come there will be more technological change and growth of the campus.

Assignments Must Be Given After a Lecture on the Use of Information Resources

For several years I have taught a class in how to find information in chemical engineering.   At one time I was given 3 class sessions to do the class which included:

• An Overview
• Chemical Abstracts and Scifinder
• Scopus and other resources.

This semester I was limited to 70 minutes.  Thus I really had to rush through many of the concepts.  At the beginning I invited the students to come see me if they had any questions about the information resources discussed in class.  I also said they can’t learn to search the databases, by just listening to me and they should take some time after class to experiment with the databases.

In previous semesters when I taught this class, I was able to give an assignment for students to search Scifinder and Scopus to find relevant articles on several topics.  They were graded on how the retrieved information answered the search question and if they formatted the bibliographic information properly.  They were also required to determine if the retrieved article was in our library’s collection.

The professor no longer allows me to give this assignment.  She says the students have a big workload for this course and cannot be over overburdened.  I do give out search questions for the students to do voluntarily, but I doubt they will do them.

If there is no assignment, can this training be effectual?  Will they take the information literacy lecture seriously?  As usual, I observed students inattentive by looking at their smartphones and otherwise appearing disinterested.

What can I do?

The NJIT Library Will Not Be the Same as Maria and Yacie are Retiring

Maria and Yacie with Bruce looking on

 Last Friday we held a retirement luncheon for Maria and Yacie at Luigi's Italian Restaurant in Newark.  Maria retired at the end of May, but we had to postpone her party due to the tragic death of our university librarian.  Yacie will leave at the end of August.

They were both the best circulation clerks and will be sorely missed by the library staff and our patrons.  I wish them all the happiness in retirement.

METRO is Moving to the Far West Side

I found out last week that after 26 years at the same location METRO will be moving to a larger space at 11^th Avenue and 45^th Street.  I found out the details while I was at a meeting of SIG conveners but the official announcement may be found at http://metro.org/articles/a-new-home-for-the-metropolitan-new-york-library-council/ .

METRO wants to augment their services to the library community and needs a larger space to do so.  Only one event at a time can be accommodated at the East1th Street location, but the new space can accommodate 2 or 3 simultaneous events.  The owner of the East11^th Street building wants to renovate, thus if METRO stayed noise would likely disrupt the lectures.

I have enjoyed the professional relationship that I have with the METRO staff since I started the Science and Medical Librarians SIG in 2000.  I will miss coming to the Union Square area and browsing in Best Buy or the Strand bookstore.  It was also nice being convenient to the subway station there.  It will be a long walk from the Times Square station or I could take the M42 bus.

I certainly wish METRO well in their future endeavors on the far west side.



Random Comments for July

I went over to the Rutgers-Dana Library yesterday to do a cited reference search on Web of Science.  In the hour or so that I was there I observed 3 walkup reference questions and 1 phone call.  At NJIT over the summer, we are lucky to get one reference transaction a day.  I don't understand the difference.


Best wishes to my Rutgers colleague Bonnie Fong who is expecting a girl at the end of August.


Tomorrow I am going over to METRO to meet the other conveners of special interest groups.