TAS leader becomes
nat'l newsletter editor

Congratulations to Mary Beth Weber, Head of Cataloging at Technical and Automated Services, who was chosen to be the new editor of ALCTS Newsletter Online, a publication of the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services' (ALCTS).

Comprised of nearly 5,000 members from across the United States and forty-two countries from around the globe, ALCTS is the premier resource for information specialists in collection development, preservation, and technical services. ALCTS is a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The ALCTS newsletter, published six times a year, reports on news and activities in ALCTS to its membership.

Mary Beth was selected as newsletter editor following a national search, during the ALA annual meeting in June. She will serve as editor for a three-year term.

To read the latest issue of the newsletter, please see:
http://www.ala.org/ala/alcts/alctspubs/alctsnewsletter/alctsnewsletter.htm

Retirees' luncheon reunites old friends,
highlights new Libraries activities

Apparently you can come home again.

Over thirty Libraries faculty and staff members, now officially 'at leisure,' came to Alexander Library on July 21^st for the annual Retirees Luncheon.

	Gathered together at the Retirees Luncheon were, left to right: Standing - Mary Gadek, Stella Evanowski, Libby Herman. Seated - Terry Appignani, Raminder Kaur Sandhu, Rose Marie La Torre, and Sothy Padmanathan.

Luncheon participants enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Rutgers Catering and caught up with friends, former colleagues, and current Libraries administrators. They also heard presentations on two notable Libraries accomplishments from the past semester. Instruction Coordinator Jeris Cassel spoke about the development of Searchpath, the Libraries online information literacy tutorial, and Webmaster Sam McDonald narrated the creation and applications of BookRoom, the Libraries internal room and technology reservation system.

The Libraries are pleased to host this annual get together for one of our most valued constituencies - colleagues that completed their careers in the Rutgers University Libraries. Congratulations to Janie Fultz for all her efforts to coordinate this event.

Overview of a gem: East Asian Library

On a recent "Libraries personnel only" tour, temporary librarian Ying Zhang provided an informative introduction to the history, strengths, and special features of the East Asian Library.

She related that the Libraries established the East Asian Library in 1970, to support the newly formed East Asian Languages and Culture department. The Library currently contains approximately 131,000 volumes, which encompass monographs and serials published in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. The primary collection areas of the East Asian Library are in language, literature, history, philosophy, and religion of these three geographic areas.

The library is particularly noted for its strength in publications from Taiwan. The library also contains some lesser known special collections holdings, with features such as unique Chinese medical journals, three sections of 17^th century Tibetan Buddhist prayer scrolls, and a strong photograph collection that includes the official Chinese government photos of President Nixon's visit to China in 1970.

	July 10, 2005 June 5, 2005 The Agenda Archive

Contributors for this issue were Mary Beth Weber. Contributions for future issues of The Agenda should be sent to Harry Glazer, editor, at hglazer@rci.rutgers.edu.