NJSLA Blog

POSTPONED - April Fool's Day NJSLA Wine-Around - Wednesday, April 1

The NJSLA Wine-Around scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, has been postponed indefinitely because of a personal issue. Everyone who has signed up has been contacted about the postponement. For more information please contact Cheryl Erenberg.

Google 101: Google for Researchers — Courtesy of DC/SLA

The DC Chapter of SLA held its second Google 101 session (aka Google for Researchers) March 17, at the National Institutes of Health. The event was videotaped and is available as a webcast (1 hour, 37 minutes). A technical note: I had better luck with the Enhanced Video Podcast (MP4 file, which opened in QuickTime), than I did with the RealPlayer version at the top of the page referenced above.

Galen Panger from Google Public Affairs conducted the session. Panger leads the Google for Non-Profits team in the company's Washington, D.C., office, helping non-profits (and librarians!) put Google's free tools and technologies to work for their causes. Prior to joining Google, Galen interned with the World Bank's sustainable development unit in West Africa. He graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's in Public Policy in 2007.

You can view the slides below, via Slideshare, or download a PDF version.

Thank you to NJSLA member Kris Fitzpatrick, and to James King, "Information Architect" at the NIH Library and SLA/DC's First Vice President/President-Elect, for passing along this information.

— Eric Schwarz, NJSLA President

Added April 2: Please also see Carolyn Sosnowski's post on the SLA's Information Connections Center blog.

Google Tools For Researchers

View more presentations from dcsla.

'Democratic Idealist' John Cotton Dana Discussed at Newark Museum — Wednesday, April 22

The Newark Museum and SLA are both celebrating centennials in 2009. At the center of both institutions was John Cotton Dana, a quite busy man 100 years ago, as he was (a) the founding president of SLA (as many SLA members know), (b) the founding director of the Newark Museum, and (c) continuing as director of the Newark Public Library.

Librarian William A. Peniston at the Newark Museum has asked NJSLA to promote the following event:

Renowned art historian Carol Duncan will speak on pioneering librarian and museum director John Cotton Dana at the Newark Museum on Wednesday, April 22 at 2 p.m. An afternoon tea and book signing will follow. (The event is free; the book retails for $40.)

Carol Duncan is professor emeritus of art history at Ramapo College in New Jersey. An expert in the history of museums in the United States, she is author of numerous books and articles. Her most recent work is entitled "How to Have A Museum With Brains": John Cotton Dana and the Making of A Democratic Culture in America (Periscope, 2009).

In this critical study, Duncan examines the work of John Cotton Dana, best known as the director of the Newark Public Library from 1902 to 1929 and of the Newark Museum from 1909 to 1929. She is particularly interested in the tension between Dana "the democratic idealist who fought the powerful upper class of his city" and Dana "[the] ideologue who advanced upper-class agendas." Dana himself was "convinced that he could serve the cultural interests of all classes without compromise" -- a conviction that Duncan questions.

In the course of eight chapters, Duncan discusses the young Dana as a man "struggling to throw off a detested New England upbringing and remake himself as a free-thinking intellectual;" the professional Dana whose modernization and democratization program reshaped American public libraries; and the established Dana who "endeavored to create a progressive museum [as] an equivalent to his reformed library." Much of her book is devoted to his career as the director of The Newark Museum, where he "staged exhibitions ... that challenged conventional distinctions between art, craft and industrial design" and where he was "determined to establish the museum as a force within the new consumer economy."

This book is a welcomed addition to the scholarship on John Cotton Dana and The Newark Museum. Unlike earlier biographies, which have been celebratory in tone, this one situates the man in his times and adds significantly to the existing studies of the Progressive Era. It should make the man and his institutions better known to a wider audience and it should encourage all thinking individuals to reflect seriously on the role of libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions in the democratic world of today.

The Newark Museum is pleased to have Professor Carol Duncan speak to its diverse constituencies about the innovative work of its founding director during its centennial celebrations. And we invite you and your colleagues to attend this important event.

William A. Peniston, Ph.D.
Librarian
The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
Office: (973) 596-6625
Fax: (973) 642-0459
Email

See this event on the NJSLA Calendar and add it to Outlook.

Photo: John Cotton Dana, ca. 1910.
Credit (and link to download): Library of Congress (Bain News Service collection) via Flickr.
No known restrictions on publication.

 

Students and Information Professionals Mixer in NYC - Wednesday, April 1 (SLA-NY Event)

The New York Chapter of SLA Invites library and information science students & professionals to attend its Students and Information Professionals Mixer, Wednesday, April 1, 2009, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

There will be an opportunity to introduce yourself to the group and discuss Networking Strategies.

SLA NY especially thanks Open Society Institute/Soros Foundations for generously providing its conference center and the refreshments.

RSVP by Thursday, March 30 to Sarah Warner (swarner AT wontawk.com); 212/869-3348.

Open Society Institute/Soros Foundations
400 West 59th Street
3rd floor conference center.  Turn left out of the elevators, and then go straight ahead.
212-548-0181 (Leigh Hallingby phone)

The Open Society Institute located on 59th Street just West of Ninth Avenue/Columbus Avenue (Ninth becomes Columbus at 59th).  The nearest subway stop is Columbus Circle.  The first entrance to the building says 1 Columbus Place and is for apartments.  Use the second entrance which says OSI over the doorway.  The door is unlocked and the security guard is on duty Monday - Friday until 6 pm.  After 6 pm on weekdays, it may be necessary to use the telephone outside to call Security at ext. 1375 to come down and let you in.

See this event on the NJSLA Calendar and add it to Outlook.

Coming to SLA Annual? Learn about Open Source

From SLA Member and IT Blogging Section Chair Nicole Engard (email; Web site).

Looks like I had the featured SLA CE class earlier this month :) If you’ll be at SLA this year, make sure you register for my class to learn how you can use open source software in your library.

   Practical Open Source Software for Libraries and Librarians

   Date: Sunday, 14 June 2009
   Time: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
   Instructor: Nicole Engard, Open Source Evangelist, LibLime
  

Listen to podcast.

Let me know if you'll be there!! See you in June.

Register Online for Peter Bromberg's Talk on 'The Value of Leadership' — Thursday, April 23 at Rutgers Conference Center, New Brunswick

You can now register online for Peter Bromberg's talk, The Value of Leadership, the Leadership of Value: Remaining Relevant in Times of Change. Payment link is at the bottom of this post.

Peter is NJSLA's 2009 Alice Rankin Distinguished Lecturer. The lecture will be held Thursday, April 23, with a social hour at 5:30, buffet-style dinner at 6:30, with Peter’s presentation to follow.

He is the Assistant Director for South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative (SJRLC), where he helps over 600 multi-type libraries deliver top-tier service by providing them with a varied slate of continuing education opportunities.  Peter encourages libraries to push the envelope by developing and promoting cutting-edge services such as QandANJ.org, the country's first 24/7 collaborative virtual reference service, and a "Books by Mail" service currently in pilot. Peter was dubbed "The Transformer" by Library Journal when they named him as a 2008 Mover and Shaker. Peter founded the popular team blog, Library Garden, where he blogs regularly with other New Jersey librarians.

Please register online. If you wish to pay by check, please follow the Instructions within the registration form. If you wish to pay by PayPal (credit card optional), please use the link below in addition to registering online. If you register online first, you'll be taken back to this page to pay.

NJSLA 2009 Rankin Lecture - Registration

SLA Member $30.00Student $20.00Non-Member of SLA (Not a student) $35.00

See this event on the NJSLA Calendar and add it to Outlook.

SCILS Name Debate Continues in Advance of April 2 Rutgers Board of Governors Meeting

Library Journal continues to follow the debate about dropping "Library Studies" from the name of Rutgers University's School of Communication, Information and Library Studies.

LJ reports that Rutgers' board of governors could approve the change at its meeting April 2, and offers a point-counterpoint between SCILS Dean Jorge Reina Schement and Mary Chelton, professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Queens College, City University of New York. Dr. Chelton also holds two degrees from SCILS and its predecessor school.

Previous posts on this issue:

• NJLA Formally Opposes SCILS Name Change
• Rutgers Student Newspaper Reports on SCILS Name Change
• Rutgers SCILS Faculty Agrees to Drop 'Library Studies' from School's Name

New Roles for Librarians: Symposium Day at Rutgers — Friday, April 3 in New Brunswick

The Library and Information Science Department at Rutgers is sponsoring a "Symposium Day" on Friday, April 3, and the public is invited. The event will be held at SCILS, 4 Huntington St., New Brunswick, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Room 323). It's free and even includes a light lunch. The theme of the event is "New Roles of Librarians — Instructors and Knowledge Managers." We'll have two guest speakers — Prof. Heidi Julien from Alberta, Canada, and Karolien Selhorst, a librarian from the Netherlands.

A Presentation by Dr. Heidi Julien: Librarians’ Experiences of the Teaching Role

In post-industrial societies, information literacy skills are central to “literacy” and to quality of life in general. Since librarians play a key role in information literacy instruction, the study which is the focus of this talk examines “readiness” of library staff to deliver successful instruction; it is based on a context in which there is a paucity of training opportunities for librarians during their professional preparation, ambivalent attitudes by library managers about the value of such training, and ambiguous attitudes on the part of instructional librarians about their teaching role. This multi-phase national study has explored librarians’ experiences of their teaching role. The study results are expected to contribute to improvements in instructional work, with a view to improving outcomes of information literacy instruction. For further information on this lecture, please contact Ya-Ling Lu (yalinglu “at” rci.rutgers.edu).

A Presentation by Karolien Selhorst: Knowledge management in libraries: Case study: Knowledge management in the public library of Vlissingen (The Netherlands)

“Libraries excel in managing information and knowledge captured in books and documents, but they fail in locating and managing the knowledge potential in the heads of their own people.”

The public library of Vlissingen is very ambitious in providing the best possible service to its users. In order to successfully realise this goal, the library wants to make maximum use of the hidden knowledge in the heads of library workers. In the past, however, the library had been experiencing several problems related to the exchange of knowledge between library staff members and between library workers and library customer. The solution was found in the field of knowledge management, still a fairly new discipline in the Dutch public library sector.

For further information on this lecture, please contact Connie Pascal (connie_pascal "at" yahoo.com).

Directions to SCILS: For directions to SCILS, please visit the SCILS website. Parking is often available at meters on the street on Fridays. Rutgers University buses are free. Parking anywhere downtown New Brunswick is an option — take the RU bus to College Ave. and exit the bus near the SCILS building on George St. or in front of the student center on College Ave. 

Speaker Biographies

Dr. Heidi Julien is Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta. Heidi has a Bachelor of Education and Master of Library and Information Studies from the University of Alberta, and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario. Previously, she held academic appointments at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research interests include human information behavior, information literacy, and information policy; this work is funded primarily by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Heidi has served as President of the Canadian Association for Information Science, and as Director (External Relations) for ALISE. She serves currently on the Conference Committee for the 2009 Annual ASIS&T Conference, and is Editor of the Canadian Journal for Information and Library Science.

Karolien Selhorst holds a Master’s degree in Translation (English-Spanish) and a Master’s degree in Information and Library Sciences (University of Antwerp) and currently works as digital library manager/knowledge manager in the public library of Vlissingen (Holland). As an independent consultant, Karolien advises organisations on knowledge management, change management and web 2.0-tools and provides trainings for information professionals and librarians. She is also chief editor of her own magazine Digitale Bibliotheek and a freelance journalist for Intellectueel Kapitaal, a knowledge management magazine.

See this event on the NJSLA Calendar and add it to Outlook.

Reminder: Managing Change & Finding Partners in Your Organization - Wednesday, March 25 in Somerville

It's not too late to sign up for NJSLA's first Click University Webinar, this coming Wednesday evening, March 25, in Somerville. Now that SLA has made the Webinars (live and replays) free to members, we hope to share them with members regularly as part of our networking series of events. Of course, our meeting event is free, too.

We will watch the SLA Webinar “Moving to Knowledge Services: Managing the Change and Identifying Advocates and Champions” presented by Guy St. Clair as part of the Click U Live! Seminar series. The focus is mission-critical knowledge services delivery, managing change as the organization moves to knowledge services, and the role of advocates and champions in ensuring the success of the effort.

For complete details, including exact time, date and place, and how to RSVP, please see the original blog post. RSVPs are appreciated, but you can still come even if you find yourself available at the last minute.

See this event on the NJSLA Calendar and add it to Outlook.

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