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  Many outdated and damaged books were removed from the collection.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.

My Favorite NJIT Student is Moving On

After 6 years as a doctoral student my favorite student is finally moving on from NJIT.  Since I would rather not reveal his name on a public web site I will refer to him as Mr. Patel.  He was a student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering although his research was in the physics of quantum/nano-scale phenomena.  Throughout his time at NJIT he actively sought me out for advice on how to use information resources to support his research.  Although Mr. Patel never attended an information literacy lecture, he is the most information competent individual I have encountered in all my years as a librarian.  He knew to use the databases and not to “Google” to find information.

After his doctoral thesis defense, he approached for advice on how to look for a professional position.  I wish he had started looking earlier, but in the long run things worked out for him.  When a brief search for an industrial position failed, I suggested he pursue a post-doctoral fellowship.  With great pleasure, I wrote letters of recommendation for him.  I am pleased to say that he accepted a post doc at the College of Nanoscience and Engineering at SUNY Albany.  I obviously wish him well as he assumes this position and certainly hope he does not fall into the “post doc” trap and just moves from one temporary position to another.

In my 21 years at NJIT I have seen thousands of students come and go.  Most of them never needed the services of a reference librarian.  I will sorely miss Mr. Patel as he moves forward in life.

The New York Public Library is Being Sued to Stop Renovations

An organization called Advocates for Justice is suing the New York Public Library to stop renovations at the famous building at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.   This organization accuses the library of violating its charter and the state’s Constitution by dismantling seven floors of stacks and removing books from the site.

In my opinion NYPL is doing the right thing by moving into the future and not staying in the past.  Libraries are no longer a depository for printed resources.  When I worked at the Science and Technology Division from 1983-1990 I observed layers of dust on miles and miles of stacks implying that much material had not been used in decades.

NYPL is certainly not discarding any volumes as they will be moved to a remote storage facility and may be accessed by interested researchers.  This renovation plan will be a benefit for all library users and in the long run will also help NYPL save money.

Making the Transition from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail

About three years ago I wrote an entry in this journal about coping with e-mail overload  It is hard to believe that e-mail has been around academic circles for about 20 years.  We have used it so long that we can't perceive how we ever did without it.  Is it a blessing or a curse?  Some people use e-mail to avoid a face to face confrontation.  on the other hand it is so much easier to communicate with more people than snail mail

When I first started at NJIT I used a Vax based system called Tesla named after the famous physicist.  Some years later we moved to Microsoft Outlook.  In early 2013 the university decided to standardize all e-mail accounts and move everyone to a Gmail system which students have used since 2008.  Yesterday, was the day of transition for me.

Like everything else, there will be a learning curve.  I guess we all must cope with technological change.

The NJIT Library will be Open on Fridays Throughout the Summer in 2013

In previous years all of NJIT was closed on Fridays including the library during June, July, and most of August.  This year the library will be open from 8:30 AM - 4:45 PM on Fridays.  There will be one reference librarian and two circulation clerks on duty all day to assist students, faculty, and staff.

Time for a Staycation

Everyone including me needs time away from their job.  I have 20 vacation and 3 personal days that I must take each year, so I usually take most of them during the summer when library business is slow.  I usually take time off in late May after the Chemistry Olympics, but this year we were told we had to work on the inventory project.  So I will be taking off the first week in June this year just to stay at home and home and take it easy.  I guess we can call this “staycation”.

I will not look at my work e-mail during this time.  Actually my e-mail account will be transitioned from Outlook to Webmail by Google when I am out.  NJIT is doing this to standardized all e-mail accounts of students, faculty and staff.  Webmail by Google has a capacity of 25 GB while the Outlook system can only handle 1 GB per account.  There will obviously be a learning curve while transitioning to the new system.