Robeson Library Shows Generosity in Holiday Toy Drive

Continuing a commendable annual tradition, last month Robeson Library personnel thought beyond themselves and shared some holiday cheer with those in need.

Organized by Vibiana Bowman, library faculty and staff contributed dozens of toys, large and small, to the Camden Rescue Mission's drive to collect gifts for disadvantaged children in the Camden area. With help from Rutgers-Camden Facilities' Senior Maintenance Mechanic Rich Hufner, the toys arrived at the Rescue Mission in plenty of time to raise smiles and spirits for the Christmas holiday.

	Vibiana Bowman, center, stands with Camden Rescue Mission Administrative Assistant Lily Solano (left) and Rich Hufner after delivering the toys.

To view a web album of the toy drive, created by Robeson Instructional Technology Specialist John Gibson, please see: http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/holidays/

We commend our Robeson colleagues for their generosity.

Three New Books, And Three Presentations, By Three Librarians

During the second half of 2004, Rutgers librarians Marty Kesselman, Vibiana Bowman, and Patricia O'Brien Libutti each edited a book that addresses pressing concerns in the library field. Each of the three publications inspired presentations at national and state professional conferences.

Marty Kesselman, Martin Alan, & Irwin Weintraub. (Eds.) Global Librarianship: Books in Library and Information Science. New York, 2004: Marcel Dekker.
The authors in Global Librarianship focus on the changes in the organization, management, and dissemination of information so anyone can gain easy access to information at just about any location in the world. Rutgers librarians contributed several chapters to this work: Tom Glynn ("Historical Perspectives on Global Librarianship"), Thelma Tate ("The Role of Libraries in Rural Development," with Daniel Ruheni), Patricia O'Brien Libutti ("Global Education Information in the Digital Environment"), and James Niessen ("Globalization in the Lives of the Selectors of Foreign Materials and Their Collections").

Marty drew on his contributions to the book in a presentation on global librarianship, sponsored by the International Round Table, at the American Library Association Annual Conference on June 28, 2004.

Bowman, Vibiana. (Ed.) The Plagiarism Plague: A Resource Guide and CD ROM Tutorial for Educators and Librarians. New York, 2004: Neal-Schuman.
Various experts on aspects of plagiarism contributed to this volume. Contributing authors include Rutgers University librarians Vibiana Bowman ("Teaching Intellectual Honesty in a Tragically Hip World; A Pop-Culture Perspective", "Intellectual Honesty: Selling It!", "Cite it Right! A Tutorial," with John Gibson); Eileen Stec, with Dr. Mallika Henry ("Plagiarism Busters: Free (and Not-So-Free) Web Resources for Plagiarism Detection", and her plagiarism tutorial on the accompanying CD-ROM); and Laura Spencer ("The Onus of Originality: Innovation, Imitation, and Other problems of Writing").

This book was one of two whose topics were explored at the VALE Users' Group Conference, January 6, 2005.

Libutti, Patricia O'Brien. (Ed.) Digital Resources and Librarians: Case Studies in Innovation, Invention and Implementation. Chicago, 2004: ALA/ACRL.
The volume looks at the effect of the Internet on the work processes of librarians. Case studies illustrate librarians' reorganization of products that used the Internet to communicate and teach. The volume is accompanied by an ACRL site that contains URLs of digital resources for cut and paste exploration on the Web, updated periodically. Rutgers librarians who contributed include Roberta Tipton ("The Importance of the Reference Interview in a Digital Information Environment", with Libutti), Eileen Stec ("Occasions of Sin: Designing an Online Plagiarism Lesson"), Stephanie Tama-Bartels ("Digital resources and the Law: Web Sites for Librarians and Educators", with Libutti), and Libutti's "Web Sites on Education from around World" (with Sheila Kirven). Rutgers librarians who acted as peer reviewers included Mary Fetzer, Linda Langscheid, and Lourdes Vazquez.

Authors of chapters will present their work at the Special Library Association Conference in Toronto, CA in June 2005.

	Sandra Troy, right, speaks at the Ceremony of Remembrance as Connie Wu looks on.

Libraries Diversity Committee Forges Bonds Through Tragedy

In March 1998, the Rutgers University Libraries Diversity Committee joined with the university's Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes and the Chinese Community to host a Dialogue with Iris Chang, noted writer and author of the Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. In December 2004, after her sudden death, another sadder meeting was held at Rutgers, A Ceremony of Remembrance for Iris Chang. Connie Wu, Rutgers' librarian and president of the Huaguang Cultural Association, organized the program and Sandra Troy, Libraries' human resources manager, represented the Diversity Committee as a speaker. Sandra commented in her speech that the beautiful and brilliant Iris, whose life ended too soon, would live on in her literary work.

The Libraries Diversity Committee was complimented to learn that a photo of Ms. Chang with members of the Committee, taken at the March 1998 event, was featured in a memorial book published by friends of Ms. Chang in time for the Ceremony of Remembrance. The same photo was also featured in a story on the ceremony printed in Duowei, a New Jersey-based Chinese language newspaper.

	December 12, 2004 November 28, 2004 The Agenda Archive

Contributors for this issue were John Gibson, Patricia Libutti, and Sandra Troy. Contributions for future issues of The Agenda should be sent to Harry Glazer, editor, at hglazer@rci.rutgers.edu.