2014 Conference

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Minglu Wang, Rutgers University

Laura Bowering Mullen, Rutgers University

In today’s constantly changing library world, the focus of academic librarians is evolving from reader services to researcher services. When new metrics are introduced to measure the impact of scholarly works, it is important for librarians to understand what altmetrics are, how they differ from the traditional metrics, what they have to do with research data citation and social media such as Twitter, and how they affect measurement of research quality and scholarly communication. This session presents an introduction to altmetrics so attendees will gain a better understanding of this concept and better serve their researchers.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Elizabeth Sosnowska, Rutgers University

Members of the New Jersey academic community are aware that on July 1, 2013 two of the UMDNJ medical schools and Rutgers University officially merged. For the libraries this meant that a great deal of analysis was performed prior to the merger to understand the impact on collections, including licenses, duplication, cataloging and holdings and responsibilities. Many spreadsheets were created and an approach for merging was established. The process required that the libraries be introspective and learn more about their own operations, audiences and culture as well as that of their new colleagues. The latter required strong communication skills and strong leadership. The benefits of the introspection transcend the merger. The intent of the presentation is to share our findings and how they applied to other projects, and how they can be of value to other institutions.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Intermediate

Bonnie Lafazan, Director, Berkeley College

Academic librarians frequently wear many hats in serving our library users, but there are various ways we can reach our community beyond our library walls. Library programming provides librarians the opportunity to be the face of our libraries, actively collaborate with other departments and reach a diverse population of users. This breakout session will demonstrate how to create meaningful programs that instill lifelong learning, provide an array of delivery methods and include numerous examples of successful programs that you can implement at your institution in order to make your library a leader within your campus community.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Dr. Julie O’Connell, Felician College

This session will detail Felician College’s Personal Librarians Project, a collaborative effort between the college library, the first-year experience program, and the developmental studies program of Felician College. The four library faculty members at Felician worked closely with the four learning communities of developmental first-year students to craft research assignments, deliver information literacy instruction, develop research methodologies, and meet individually with those students – all in an effort to reduce library anxiety.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Anne Ciliberti, William Paterson University

Marianne Gaunt, Rutgers University

This break-out session will feature an update on the VALE Academic Libraries Information Discovery (VALID) project provided by VALE OLS Steering Committee (VOSC) co-chairs, Ciliberti and Gaunt. They will review the planning efforts of the past year, focusing on recent achievements and the current status of the project. The update will be followed by a presentation by Agnew who will provide an in-depth analysis and review of progress on the development of Kuali OLE, the community-based software upon which the VALID project will be built. Agnew will describe the architecture and design principles which form the foundation of the OLE software as well as the current status of the OLE modules, including plans for an Electronic Resources Management (ERM) functionality. The presentation will conclude with a question and answer session.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Heather Dalal, Rider University

Virtual reference (VR) extends user services beyond library walls and open hours. It is becoming increasingly important with distance learning and electronic resources proliferating in academic institutions and libraries. This presentation presents findings from a survey of virtual reference on the websites of 362 academic libraries. The discussion will include the popular technologies for VR and the profile of those providing or not providing VR. Evidence indicates that the decision to provide virtual reference may be related to the annual cost for the parent institution, the number of graduate students, the highest degree offered, and the type of institution. The libraries that are open longer hours are more likely to provide chat as well. The targeted audience is not limited to public services librarians, but anyone who wants to learn interesting facts about VR.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Heather Cook, Caldwell College

Ginna Nicolas, Springshare

Talia Richards, Springshare

This panel session describes how LibAnalytics from Springshare provides an easy and cost-effective way for libraries to track different data points for assessment requirements, such as reference transactions, Access Service Desk transactions, information literacy pre- and post-tests, as well as database usage. Presenters will demonstrate how to create a reference data instance in LibAnalytics, best practices for training and communication, and methods for data analysis using the Data Explorer utility.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Krista White, Rutgers University

Minglu Wang, Rutgers University

Relatively little literature discuss graduate students’ information needs. To more fully support this underserved population in their roles as students, teachers (TA), researchers, and authors, librarians on the Rutgers-Newark campus led the development of a study to identify workshop topics most suitable for these students. Graduate program directors will be interviewed and their students surveyed about training needs in the areas of research, teaching, technology, finding grants and jobs. This presentation will focus primarily on results of most interest to librarians – responses related to information literacy, scholarly communication, digital humanities tools, data skills, and thesis writing.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Dr. Jack Tabor, Mercer County Community College

This presentation discusses how MCCC’s second-semester freshman English course has been revamped to provide greater emphasis on research and engaging library resources as part of the course’s writing task. With input from college librarians, English faculty shifted from a one-shot library orientation to a three-part research writing workshop approach in which students received both library instruction as well as librarian and faculty research assistance. Favorably received by both faculty and students since its implementation in 2012, this three session hands-on, semester-long focus on information literacy has helped students become better critical thinkers and more informed academic writers.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Linda Beninghove, Stevens Institute of Technology

Vicky Ludas Orlofsky, Stevens Institute of Technology

Ellie Horowitz, Stevens Institute of Technology

“Getting Started with Your Research” was a collaborative project between the Research & Reference Services and Web Services departments at the Stevens Institute of Technology. We created videos that were used to flip the information literacy classroom: Students would watch the video before they arrived at their instruction session by a librarian and then participate in activity-based learning exercises in class. Thus, this would free librarians from lecturing and enable them to provide more guidance during projects students were assigned. This session will provide librarians with detail about how to develop videos for flipping their information literacy sessions and in the process engage learners online as well.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Grace Agnew, Rutgers University

Guy Dobson, Drew University

Ann Hoang, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Chris Sterback, Rutgers University

Yongming Wang, The College of New Jersey

The VALE OLS Implementation Team’s (VOIT) work over the past year has focused, in large part, on creating a merged, de-duplicated, and composite database. When fully realized, this will form the nucleus of the VALE Academic Libraries Information Discovery (VALID) project: a shared library system where member institutions add records, tag holdings, and maintain a true consortial database of our common content. Users will be provided with a sophisticated and feature-rich search interface, VuFind, by which they will be able to search, limit via faceted result sets, and easily determine which library or libraries have the materials. This demonstration features the full record sets of the “Alpha” or early implementing institutions that comprise the membership of VOIT: Drew University, NJIT, Rutgers University, TCNJ, and WPUNJ. VOIT members will discuss how the database is created and displayed. A number of searches for a variety of item types will be performed, results examined, and a discussion will be invited on how the interface may be improved.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Anthony C. Joachim, William Paterson University

Maria Deptula, Berkeley College

Denise A. Brush, Rowan University

Michelle Martin, Burlington County College

Results of the 2009 VALE Reference Services Committee survey on the state of reference services in New Jersey indicated that about 78% of academic libraries were using some form of virtual reference to meet user needs. Since then, this type of outreach has become especially important as distance education programs continue to grow, across the state. Librarians from this committee will discuss their experiences with three different chat platforms: LibraryH3lp, LibAnswers, and Mosio. Panel members will discuss each product, highlighting information related to features, ease of use, technical support, costs and best practices.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory
B15 – The Power Punch of Virtual Reference Tools (PPT)

Jennifer Hunter, Rutgers University

The field of digital scholarship has expanded considerably in higher education in the last three decades. This case study at the Margery Somers Foster Center, Rutgers University Libraries, identifies the need to expand undergraduate students’ research capability and familiarity with digital scholarship. Using NVivo, a software that supports qualitative and mixed methods of research, we investigate ways to teach undergraduate students how to organize and analyze the content of interviews in the Douglass College Alumnae Oral History collection through the decades. Additionally, we explore ways to redefine academic library and librarians as active participants on campus, building undergraduate students’ research and digital capacity that enables them to navigate effectively and comfortably in the 21st century.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Intermediate

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Yongming Wang, The College of New Jersey

Today, Course Management Systems (CMS) have become one of the major tools for organizing and locating course information for both faculty and students. Pushing and inserting library resources and services inside individual course is not only beneficial to students learning, but also vital for the future of libraries. By using web 2.0 technologies with TCNJ’s newly implemented CMS (Canvas), we have created a framework of integrated course-related content and services such as databases, OPAC, ILL service, course reserve, subject guides, Google search box, and LTI. Students can easily find relevant information without leaving the CMS.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

Julia Pendagast, Rider University

David Reynolds, Rider University

Robert Lackie, Rider University

Meet the team behind the Rider Library Minutes, a series of short promotional videos which engage students while introducing them to the libraries’ resources, tools, and services. Inspired by the other universities’ library minutes, yet unique as our student workers act, direct, film, write, edit, and publish. This way the videos come across as useful advice from a friend instead of a formal lesson. And an added bonus: the students become more information literate and share their enthusiasm with their peers. We will describe the process and tools so attendees can leave knowing how to make their own videos.

Intended Audience: All Librarians
Level: Introductory

James Keehbler, NJLA Member Services Committee, Piscataway Public Library

Lisa DeLuca, William Paterson University

Kate Hossain, Bergen Community College

Erin Ackerman, The College of New Jersey

Whether sparring in Trenton or training in Toms River, NJLA is supporting academic librarians, conditioning new leaders, and spotlighting the brightest and best in the state. These days standing still doesn’t get it done, so the Association is proud to offer diverse, cutting-edge programs that spark ideas and solve problems. Networking, social activities, awards and presentation opportunities abound for active members at NJ’s colleges and universities. Talk to us about how we can keep on our toes and stay a step ahead – for you and with you in NJLA and the College and University Section (CUS) which includes membership in ACRL-NJ. Not a member? Join today and make sure to register for the College and University Section.

Romel Espinel, Steven Institute of Technology

Innovation is not limited to the latest and greatest technology. This year the Technology Committee, is not only offering an award for innovative technologies, but also looking for nominees who have wrangled existing technology like social media, Google docs, mobile apps, etc to solve problems in their academic libraries. We welcome nominations and self-nominations to be considered for the annual awards. Nominees present their innovations in February and decisions are made in March. Winners and some nominees are invited to give a presentation at the 2014 NJLA Annual Conference in June in Atlantic City.

William Bejarano, Rutgers University

The Center of Alcohol Studies (CAS) Library took a leadership role in the celebrations of the Center’s anniversary by offering material from its collection and setting up physical and virtual exhibits. A digital archive is currently under construction to extend the existing in-house physical displays in the conference room and the library with in-depth history and further details. A work in progress, the CAS Digital Archives is a virtual collection of documents, objects, and artifacts, as well as facts and concepts behind them held by the founders of alcohol studies. The poster highlights the challenges of undertaking the complex task with a small staff.

Megan Bratkovich, Caldwell College

Caldwell College’s Athletic Department administers the “Cougar Enrichment Program” for new student athletes requiring monitored study hours. The Jennings Library established a partnership with the Athletic Department to enhance this program. Library space was dedicated to the program; student tutors were incorporated into study sessions; and targeted information literacy workshops directly related to student requests were developed. In addition to creating a new relationship with the Athletic Department, the library forged connections with a targeted student population. This poster session will highlight the challenges faced and the solutions found as well as report the outcomes of the enhanced “Cougar Enrichment Program.”

Jianrong Wang, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

RDA (Resource Description and Access) is the new international cataloging standard that provides instructions and guidelines on formulating descriptive data for resource description and discovery. RDA was developed to meet the needs of users in the current rapidly-changing digital environment which the legacy AACR2 has failed to address. Implementing RDA has many benefits. However, it will also take tremendous time and effort to transform the current AACR2 environment to the RDA environment. This poster presentation will discuss the cost and benefits of implementing RDA and why it has become an inevitable trend. Practical approaches and steps of making the transition as easy as possible will also be illustrated.

Lynee R. Dokus, County College of Morris

Jaimie Donnelly, Georgian Court University

Amanda Piekart, Berkeley College

Increasingly, teaching skills are becoming necessary for academic librarians. Do administrators acknowledge the priority of these skills in the daily work of librarians? Do LIS students recognize the value of information literacy or education coursework in acquiring these skills? This poster session will highlight the types of instructional responsibilities of academic librarians (Lesson Planning, Assessment Strategies, Constructing Learning Outcomes, Instructional Technology, etc.). These tasks are not only important to articulate to students the type of coursework that can be considered, but to administrators the types of skills that can be emphasized on job postings.

LawrenWilkins, Hudson County Community College

David McMillian, William Paterson University

Research shows that 68% of smart phone users search daily for information on their mobile devices and students prefer apps versus mobile websites. A number of library vendors have developed free mobile applications for various devices. At the 2013 VALE conference, the Reference Services Committee presented on this topic and received many questions from the audience about the different apps. The goal of this poster presentation is to revisit the apps mentioned in the presentation, highlight their strengths and weaknesses, and address any updates made to them. Familiarity with these apps could encourage academic librarians to promote these valuable tools in an increasingly mobile environment.

Sharon Whitfield, Rowan University

The NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ Newsletter has entered the ring. We have come out swinging by using website technology to promote and enhance newsletter features. The editors of the newsletter will present to you how website technology has become our latest weapon in conveying information to New Jersey librarians. We will present the pros and cons of the different media and discuss the impact on the NJLA CUS/ACRL-NJ constituents.