Now on display at the Robeson Library

Robeson Library's Vibiana Bowman and Addie Fuller have put together a display featuring the library's new collection of graphic novels.

Graphic novels are books that combine text with comics-style art to create what some consider to be a third form of communication-one in which the text would make no sense without the graphics, and vice versa. The subjects are not limited to the superheroes that might come to mind when one hears the word "comics." There are true-life stories, adventure, mystery, and fantasy as well.

Graphic novels have recently been receiving more notice and appreciation thanks to several great movies, based on graphic novels of the same names. The Road to Perdition, Ghost World, and From Hell are the most notable of those movies.

Comic books and graphic novels are increasingly being studied at the academic level. Paul Robeson Library has purchased a representative set of graphic novels, including Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman, Palestine by Joe Sacco, Adolf by Osamu Tezuka, and A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner. These works support programs in computer animation, American popular culture, American history, art, and education. These graphic novels will also be useful for the Urban Campus Project, adult literacy programming, and students in ESL classes.

In addition to Robeson's new holdings, this display also features comics and graphic novels from two personal collections. These collections highlight the work of Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman, Chris Ware, creator of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, and Art Spiegleman, as editor of Raw.

The display will stand until January 31, 2004. For more information contact Vibiana Bowman at bowman@camden.rutgers.edu or Addie Fuller at jafuller@camden.rutgers.edu.

Personnel Changes

Arrivals:

Promotions:

Resignations:

Retirees:

New Tool for Libraries' Research:
Online Survey Program

With a new feature on the Libraries' Staff Resources Web pages, some of the guesswork and a lot of the waiting have been removed from designing and deploying surveys.

An online survey support application called phpESP allows Rutgers librarians and staff members to create, modify, test, and activate a survey that can accommodate up to 100 questions and respondent groups of 4,000 or more. The collected data can be read and reviewed online in a number of simple cross-analysis and cross-tabulation tables. Users seeking to perform more advanced analysis can download the data as a CSV file (Comma Separated Values) and import it into Excel or Access.

The survey support Web page advises prospective survey creators to first secure the appropriate approvals for campus-wide or system-wide surveys and then consult with the Libraries webmaster on the survey's timetable. After creating and testing a survey, the creator can activate the survey and work with the Libraries communications coordinator to publicize it.

The survey support Web page, located under Public Services/Procedures, also provides valuable tips on survey question types, survey limitations, and how to design a survey.

Thank you to Shaun Ellis, Dave Hoover, and Sam McDonald for developing this helpful new resource.

Robeson Library Collects Toys
For Needy Kids

For the past four years the Paul Robeson Library has sponsored a toy drive for the Camden Rescue Mission, an organization that serves some of Camden's most needy families. Library director Gary Golden initiated the idea of donating to this cause as part of the Paul Robeson Library end of semester/holiday break celebration. The faculty and staff of the Paul Robeson Library always respond very generously to the call for toys for the Mission.

	Participants in the toy drive at the Paul Robeson Library (from left to right): Gary Golden, Susan Beck, Debra Goldberg, Mary Anne Nesbit, James Nettleman, Adrian Butler, Jean Madden, Eva Koenig, Mary Wentzell, John Gibson, and Vib Bowman. Photo By Eric Fizur, Student Worker/Computer Technician.

Camden Rescue Mission has an annual Christmas party for these families that features a visit from Santa who gives a gift to each child who attends. The Mission's director told the Robeson Library staff that for some children this is the only holiday present that they receive. The number of families that show up for help grows annually.

This year a Robeson Library staff person took some pictures of the gifts and the beneficiaries. You can see the photos at: http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/robeson/camdentoydrive.html

	December 14, 2003 November 30, 2003 The Agenda Archive

Contributors for this issue were Vibiana Bowman, Addie Fuller, and Margaret Hodes. Contributions for future issues of The Agenda should be sent to Harry Glazer, editor of The Agenda, at hglazer@rci.rutgers.edu.