Best Wishes to Maria Denaro on Her Retirement

After 25 years of dedicated service to NJIT Maria Denaro is retiring.  Everyone appreciates the fine workthat she did behind the circulation desk all those years.  She must have worked with thousands of students, faculty and staff.  I think she is a little young to retire, but the decision was hers to leave at this time.

I certainly wish her all the best and now she'll have all the time she needs for her leisure time activities.  She will be sorely missed.

Remembering Richard Sweeney for His Kindness

Today I tried to get to work a little early as it was the day of the Chemistry Olympics at NJIT. When I got to the library I observed some commotion by the circulation staff, but I couldn't pay attention to it as I was in a hurry to get to the competition. I started out as usual but at 9:30 I got an email from Davida saying that Rich Sweeney was hit by a car as he was crossing the street after parking his car. He was hurt very badly and was taken to the hospital. About two hours later Cindy Wos from the chemical engineering department came in to say that he died from the injuries he sustained in the accident.

Just after lunch I returned to the library as the staff huddled together comforting each other. President Joel Bloom and Provost Fadi Deek came by to comfort the staff and brought a few people from the counseling center.

I must remember Richard Sweeney for the kindness he should the staff over the 20 years he was University Librarian. Just after he assumed the position he invited the entire library staff to his home for a barbeque. It always a tradition for him to take people out to lunch for their birthdays. Sometimes it would be in a group while other times he would take one person out. He was especially kind to me in September 1997 when he went out of his way to attend my father's funeral. On several occasions he went to funerals of family members of staff. He always liked to make small talk with me about the New York Mets.

He will be certainly be missed by the entire NJIT and library communities. My sincere condolences to his family.

To quote radio personality Harry Harrison “Every day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.”

Chemist Bill Skawinski is Retiring

Today there was a very nice retirement party in the Chemistry Department for Bill Skawinski.  I wrote a nice entry about Bill in this blog in 2008.  I have known him for all the years I have worked at NJIT and I must say that it was a pleasure.  I taught a class to his honors section of organic chemistry on how to find toxicological information on substances.  He will be sorely missed.

New Publication

"Bibliometric Analysis and Comparison of Two STEM LIS Journals: Science & Technology Libraries and Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship (2005–2014)" has been published on Taylor & Francis Online. It is available at:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0194262X.2016.1171191.

Random Thoughts for April

It is near the end of April as we approach the end of the spring semester.  My major complaint is that the situation is same old same old.  We still get so few walk up reference transactions, yet I read on librarian listservs that other libraries report many questions even in the evening hours.  My theory is that NJIT students are “tech savvy” and can navigate through online databases with minimal assistance.  I am more upset that students majoring in chemistry and related disciplines rarely ask for more me.  Years ago I had regular consultations with graduate students and faculty.

This semester I taught a share of the research roadmaps which are given to freshman taking a required humanities course.  As in previous semesters most students don’t hand in their assignments on time, while some don’t even bother.  What can we do?

20 months until I retire at the end of 2017.

Satellite Meeting of STELLA Librarians Unconference at NYU Bobst Library on May 20

Some time ago the 2016 STELLA Unconference was announced for May 20-21 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. STELLA is an acronym for Science, Technology, and Engineering Library Leaders in Action.

The METRO Science and Medical Librarians SIG is holding a satellite event at the NYU Bobst Library (Room 619) On Friday May 20 from 12:15 PM – 5:00 PM.  Since the METRO offices are closed on Fridays, I had to find another location.  I thank Kara Whatley of NYU Libraries for allowing METRO to use their facility for this event.

Here is the schedule:

12:15-1:15pm

Planning Session

1:15-2:30pm

Breakout Session 1

2:30-2:45pm

Break

2:45-4:00pm

Breakout Session 2

4:00-5:00pm

60 minute wrap-up and report back from sessions

We will be communicating with the people in North Carolina through Skype.

Please register at  http://metro.org/events/745/

METRO Science Librarians SIG Meeting Wednesday April 27

The next METRO Science and Medical Librarians SIG meeting will be:

Wednesday April 27 1:30 PM at METRO Headquarters

57 East 11th Street - 4th Floor

It will be a research forum with the following speakers:

•       Esther Jackson – New York Botanical Garden - Survey of institutions that offer plant information services to the public.

•       Clara Tran and Jennifer Lyon – Stony Brook University - Faculty Use of Author Identifiers and Researcher Networking Tools

•       Danielle Aloia and Robin Naughton -New York Academy of Medicine - Share #GreyLit: Using Social Media to Communicate Grey Literature. 

•       John Carey and Ajatshatru Pathak – Reference Mode Preferences: A Survey of Students at Hunter College and Queensborough Community College.

•       Robin Wright (Lehman College) and Latrina Keith  (Albert Einstein  College of Medicine) - Wearable Technology: If the Tech Fits, Wear It

 An Outreach Project funded by an NN/LM MAR grant to teach medication safety to K-2 students Shelly Warwick, Touro College

Register at http://metro.org/events/735/