Library News Blog

Jeffrey Kroessler

Few things frustrate a librarian at the reference desk more than facing yet another student asking, “Do you have this book?” This is not to say we do not want to help students find volumes required for their classes, but when the eighth student arrives asking for the same book, well, you can imagine. 

Sometimes we have the book. Sometimes we do not. Or we may have the 5th edition and the professor is using the 6th edition. We are left to wonder why students are not equipped with this information before they set foot into the Library. 

One simple addition to the syllabus will ease everyone’s pain.

Does the Library have the required textbook? If so, add the call number on the syllabus. The syllabus is required to include the isbn, but that is so students can purchase the correct edition (and that does not necessarily help us find what they seek). What they need in the library is the call number.  

Is the book on reserve, meaning the students can use it for three hours in the Library? Note that fact on the syllabus. With the call number. 

Do we have one copy of the required reading in our circulating collection? Please put it on reserve so it is available to many students throughout the semester, and not just the first student who races to the Library from class to check it out and take it home. 

Is the book available as an ebook? If so, let students know that they can access it at any time from any computer. 

Textbooks are ever more expensive, and it is frustrating for a student to hear that we have the 5th edition but not the 6th. Does it matter? That is, has the content in a Sociology 101 text changed so much that the earlier edition is obsolete? Of course not. The Library does not purchase textbooks for every course, every year. We may have a half dozen copies of that 5th edition available on reserve, but not the 6th edition required for the class. 

What might change in textbooks in each successive edition will be the pagination, charts and illustrations, and the questions at the end of a chapter. Faculty would serve their students well by comparing editions to determine whether a previous edition would serve just as well as the current edition. For example, rather than assign readings by pages (e.g. 144–165), assign by chapter. 

Finally, before assigning that hefty and expensive tome, check the availability of our Open Educational Resources (OER) and Alternative Educational Resources (AER). What we have available digitally could fill just about any syllabus.

Related:

• How to find a call number (video)
• How to find a call number (guide)

More from the Spring 2018 newsletter »

Robin Davis

The Lloyd Sealy Library set up shop as a Pop-Up Library in a temporary satellite location: the Kroll Atrium, one of the busiest spots on campus during Community Hour. For one week in March, librarians met with passing students at two tables, drawing them in with the offer of free books and snacks and talking with them about how they view the library.

The “Ask a Librarian!” table

As librarians, we encounter students most frequently at the reference desk and in the classroom—both situations in which students come to the library. But what if the library came to them? At the “Ask a Librarian!” table, we were available to answer students’ questions about anything study-related. To encourage interactions, we set up signs with suggested queries: 

• Where’s the quietest space on campus?
• How do you cite an article with 5,154 authors?
• Does a presidential tweet count as a “credible source”?

Over 370 students stopped to chat with librarians, many of them drawn to our free books cart, which was loaded with donated books that the Library cannot accept into its collections. Students were also attracted to the free digital subscriptions to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, both of which had provided John Jay with “swag” (card holders that stick on smartphones, sticky note packs, and pens). Curious passersby were also treated to a plethora of handouts, from “A Quick Guide to APA Style” to “How to find a case by citation.”

The “Tell a Librarian!” table

Every three years, we run an “In-Library Use Survey,” which has been led for many years by Bonnie Nelson (now happily retired). These surveys tell us a lot about how students use the Library and what they expect of it. (See this newsletter’s Spring 2017 issue for the latest results.) But the population sampled only includes students already inside the physical library. What about those who only use the Library online? What about those who don’t know about the library resources available to them? To attempt (informally) to ask a representative slice of the John Jay student population such questions, we set up a “Tell a Librarian!” table, which was covered in various surveys that librarians collaboratively created, from “How would you describe your ideal library building?” (top terms: calming, comfy couches, fast wifi) to “Have you ever used a library ebook?” (21 of 32 had) to “How much did you spend on textbooks this semester?” (see pp. 8-9 for textbook & OER survey results). Students had a lot to say! All survey completions were rewarded with candy and fruit snacks. 

Survey results, in summary

• Students appreciate the library’s quiet atmosphere and wish there were more solo study spots. 
• Visually, students prefer a library that is full of books and seating over one that is full of computers or lab tables. 
• Students feel more confident about finding articles and using databases than finding textbooks or books on a library shelf. 
• Most students surveyed have:
  • used an ebook from the library at least once.
  • had a library instruction session at least once.
  • never watched a streaming video through the library.
  • never checked out a library book to take home. 
• Students have high expectations for the level of service they receive at the library, whether it’s at the Reference, Circulation or Reserve Desks. 
• 44% of 119 students surveyed spent more than $200 on textbooks this semester. 

Selected survey results, in detail

How would you describe your ideal John Jay Library building? Words that 8+ people circled out of the 40 words given:

1. Fast wifi
2. Comfy couches
3. Lots of books
4. Outlets everywhere
5. Quiet
6. Calming
7. Absolute quiet room
8. Distraction-free room
9. Lots of printers

Which of these library workshops would you attend? Top choices out of 19 workshop titles given:

1. APA/MLA citation tools (we already offer this!)
2. How to save money on textbooks
3. Get started with your research (we already offer this!)
4. Find sources for your paper
5. Research tips & tricks (we already offer this!)

***

The Pop-Up Library was made possible by Faculty-Student Engagement funding through the Division of Student Affairs.

More from the Spring 2018 newsletter »

Kathleen Collins

Two new faculty members joined the Lloyd Sealy Library in Spring 2018: Matthew Murphy and Joy Dunkley.

The Library welcomed Matthew Murphy as Cataloging and Metadata Librarian and Assistant Professor. Matt comes to the library after 12 years at the New-York Historical Society, where he was the head of cataloging and metadata since 2011, previously serving as a reference assistant in the Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, and working on an NEH-funded cataloging project. Over the last several years, he also worked part-time at Berkeley College and Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. He brings valuable experience in the creation of documentation, managing cataloging workflows and large-scale cataloging projects, and training employees in cataloging rare books, manuscripts and other special collections materials. Matt received his B.A. in history and metropolitan studies from NYU, his Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Long Island University’s Palmer School of Library & Information Science (with an Advanced Certificate in Archives and Records Management), and recently received a certificate from the Rare Book School, a program based in Charlottesville, VA, that supports the study of the history of books and printing. 

At the Lloyd Sealy Library, Matt has his sights set on working with Special Collections librarian, Ellen Belcher, and other faculty and staff to provide more access to the library’s rich collections. “I’m very excited to be serving the students, staff and faculty at John Jay and doing everything I can to provide the best service,” he says.

As a faculty member, Matt has already indicated a research interest that draws on his history background and potentially the Library’s special collections as well. His extracurricular interests include bookbinding and antiquarian photography. Mixing math and chemistry in with the history, he is in the process of building a calotype (box) camera that uses a 19th-century post-daguerreotype photographic process where a negative is produced, allowing paper copies to be made. 

The Library also welcomes Joy Dunkley as a substitute Reference and Instruction Librarian this Spring. She has performed reference, instruction, and collection development duties at several CUNY libraries, including Bronx Community College, York College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and Queensborough Community College. With a Master’s in Public Health from Hunter, in addition to her Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute, she worked closely with the faculty and students in the nursing and allied health program at Bronx Community College. 

Joy has substantial teaching experience in the form of library research instruction sessions. She has also taught semester-long, credit bearing information literacy classes, including a required class in research methods for first-year students at ASA College and an information literacy class for first-year medical students at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. To keep up with trends in the field, she is currently pursuing a professional development certificate course in library instruction at Library Juice Academy. In addition to her interest in public health, Joy is working on a paper with the working title “Assessing credit bearing information literacy sessions at a community college,” as well as a research project involving the map collection at the National Library of Jamaica.

More from the Spring 2018 newsletter »

The Wall Street Journal — complimentary access!

Thanks to the efforts of the CUNY libraries, complimentary access to the Wall Street Journal digital edition is now available to anyone with a valid cuny.edu email address. This includes access to wsj.com along with WSJ apps for tablets and mobile devices. See lib.jjay.cuny.edu/wsj for details and to sign up for your account. MR

Printing-palooza

In Fall 2017, the Library accounted for 49.9% of all student printing done on campus. The total number of pages printed through the campus student print system was 1,387,064 pages, of which 693,209 were done through Library printers alone. This was an increase of 5% in comparison to Fall 2016 and an increase of 13% in comparison to Fall 2015. GL

24-hour Library Lounge & Lab

This Spring, from May 7 to 24, the Library will once again be partnering with Student Government and the Department of Public Safety to run the 24-hour Library Lounge & Lab, a period during which the lower level of the Library remains open 24/7. The 24/7 Library Lounge & Lab coincides with the final exams period each term. Very popular with students, the initiative allows for concentrated study time in a quiet environment. The data from the most recent 24hr Library Lounge & Lab in the Fall of 2017 show that on the busiest night, there were as many as 60 students preparing for exams by studying in the Library at midnight. MB

Courtroom art exhibition

“Rogues Gallery: Forty Year Retrospective of Courtroom Art from Son of Sam to El Chapo, 1977-2017” was on display this winter in John Jay’s Shiva Gallery. The exhibition’s opening night drew a crowd of John Jay faculty, staff, and students, along with artists and others in the courtroom art community. RD

More from the Spring 2018 newsletter »

Larry Sullivan was the lead curator for the exhibition “Rogues Gallery: Forty Year Retrospective of Courtroom Art from Son of Sam to El Chapo, 1977-2017,” in the Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery from November 29, 2017 to February 2, 2018.  The display featured 78 courtroom sketches by co-curators Aggie Kenny and Elizabeth Williams, as well as many by the late Richard Tomlinson. A significant number of these sketches are in the permanent collections of the Sealy Library. Dr. Sullivan’s articles “Les Nonnes de Ripoli,” “Hildelith Cumming,” and “ Victoria Woodhull” were recently published in the digital edition of Le Dictionnaire universel des créatrices (Paris: Editions des femmes, 2017).

Marta Bladek reviewed Nina Fischer’s Memory Work: The Second Generation for the peer-reviewed journal Life Writing. 

Maureen Richards, Marta Bladek, and Karen Okamoto published “Interactive Whiteboards in Library Instruction: Facilitating Student Engagement and Student Learning” in Practical Academic Librarianship 8(1).

Maureen Richards also participated in the NYPL panel: “NYPL Collections in the CUNY Classroom,” at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building  on March 28, 2018.

Maria Kiriakova published “American Experience of Organized Crime Combating: State, Tendencies and Prospects” with A.N. Sukharenko in Public International and Private International Law: Science-Practice and Information Journal, 100 (1), 36-43.

Robin Davis presented “Build Your Own Twitter Bot: A Gentle and Fun Introduction to Python” with Mark Eaton (KBCC) at the Code4Lib pre-conference in Washington, DC, in February 2018. She also presented “Making ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’–style Tutorials with Twine” and “‘Escape the Library!’ Information Literacy and Collaborative Learning” at the CUNY Games Conference in January 2018.

Jeffrey Kroessler prepared the text for the exhibit and accompanying catalog for “Rogues Gallery,” the display of courtroom art in the Shiva Gallery in November 2017. He was the keynote speaker at the annual preservation conference of the Historic Districts Council in March, and prepared a report for the City Club of New York, “Losing Its Way: The Landmarks Preservation Commission in Eclipse.” He also prepared the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the 1856 Ridgewood Reservoir.

Ellen Belcher was promoted to Associate Professor. With Karina Croucher, she published the chapter “Prehistoric Figurines in Anatolia” in The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Figurines (2017), edited by Timothy Insoll.

More from the Spring 2018 newsletter »

From the Desk of the Chief Librarian, Larry E. Sullivan

On Easter Monday, April 21, 1930, the most famous fire in American prison history occurred. Flames raged through a locked cell block in the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus and burned inmates to death in their cells. Did the guards refuse to open the cells when the fire broke out, as reported by many caught in the blaze? We’ll probably never know for sure, but when the prisoners did get free of their deadly cages, order vanished and a riot broke out. The warden called in the National Guard to calm the penitentiary and over 500 guardsmen surrounded the prison. By the time the fire was extinguished, this legendary, calamitous fire killed 322 convicts and put an additional 230 in the hospital.  

Doing time at the penitentiary during the fire was the noted African American novelist Chester Himes. Himes, best known as the author of the Harlem detective novels (Cotton Comes to Harlem, A Rage in Harlem, and others, many of which were made into films) with the characters Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones, also wrote the prison novel, Cast the First Stone, which describes the fire, as does one of his first short stories, “To  What Red Hell,” published in Esquire. 

Contemporaneous with Himes in that really “big house” in Columbus was Joseph “Specs” Russell, Cleveland’s “smoked-glassed bandit” in the late 1920s, himself a published author during his prison years. Specs was doing a 55-year sentence for committing at least 52 low-yield stick-ups while wearing sunglasses, hence the sobriquet. The Sealy Library recently acquired a significant gathering of Russell’s correspondence and unpublished manuscripts.  

Russell (b. 1908 – d. 19—?) started writing fiction and magazine articles early in his prison career as a plan to get early parole. His idea was to get paid for the articles and establish a fund at the penitentiary to pay back his victims. The Pathfinder (1932) wrote that “On hearing of this, a former store clerk wrote him [Specs] a letter asking that he be given ‘preferred creditor’ status in being reimbursed the $8 that he was relieved of in 1927.” He was a prolific writer and had some publication success, at least enough to catch the attention of a number of well-known journalists and others. He wrote such pieces as “Facing Fifty-Five Years,” which appeared in a 1931 issue of The American Magazine and numerous pieces in the magazine of the Ohio Penitentiary. This contemporary literary fame and his bravery during the 1930 fire were rewarded with a parole in January 1941 after 13 years in stir. A number of distinguished writers, such as H.L. Mencken (the “Bard of Baltimore,” known for publishing ex-convict writing in The American Mercury), and such politicians and statesmen as Newton D. Baker (former mayor of Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of War), wrote in support of Specs. We do not know if Russell and Himes were acquainted, but the Ohio Penitentiary had a reputation for published authors.  The most famous graduate of this institution was O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), who wrote 14 of his short stories while serving time there for bank fraud. 

This acquisition points once more to the depth and breadth of Sealy Library’s criminal justice resources. 

More from the Spring 2018 newsletter »

If all of New York City could read one book together, which book should be chosen? You decide!

The One Book, One New York initiative is on! Voting is open until April 30, 2018. The five books below are the #OneBookNY contenders. Check them out and cast your vote!

The winning book, along with city-wide readings and events, will be announced in early May. 

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Available through several CUNY libraries (how to request)

Publisher's description: Like the blues—sweet, sad, and full of truth—this masterful work of fiction rocks us with powerful emotions. In it are anger and pain, but above all, love--the affirmative love of a woman for her man, the sustaining love of the black family. Fonny, a talented young artist, finds himself unjustly arrested and locked in New York's infamous Tombs. But his girlfriend, Tish, is determined to free him, and to have his baby, in this starkly realistic tale ... a powerful indictment of American concepts of justice and punishment in our time.

 

When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago

Available through several CUNY libraries (how to request)

Books in Print description: [The author's] story begins in rural Puerto Rico, where her warring parents and seven siblings led a life of uproar, but one full of love and tenderness as well. Growing up, Esmeralda learned the proper way to eat a guava, the sound of the tree frogs in the mango groves at night, the taste of the delectable sausage called morcilla, and the formula for ushering a dead baby's soul to heaven. But just when Esmeralda seemed to have learned everything, she was taken to New York City, where the rules - and the language - were bewilderingly different. How Esmeralda overcame adversity, won acceptance to New York City's High School of Performing Arts, and then went on to Harvard, where she graduated with highest honors, is a record of a tremendous journey by a truly remarkable woman.

The Pop-Up Library was in the Kroll Atrium March 19-22 and 28, 2018, from 1pm-3pm each day.

Our Ask a Librarian table featured handouts and barcode activations, along with a Reference Librarian who was happy to answer questions. How do you cite an online news article? How can I save money on textbooks? Ask a librarian!

Plus — we had a cart full of free books! (Students took home dozens of these free books!) 

Our Tell a Librarian table featured survey sheets, hands-on feedback activities, and candy & healthy snacks for participants. What's your ideal John Jay Library like? What do you usually spend on textbooks? Tell a librarian!

The Pop-Up Library was a big success, with over 370 students stopping by our tables to fill out surveys. See survey results »

Made possible by Faculty-Student Engagement funding from the Division of Student Affairs.

Graduate student online workshops are available this Spring!

Using Library Databases for Research: Learn about specific databases for different research topics and discover general search techniques to facilitate your research process.

How to Write a Literature Review: Discover how to choose the most relevant material, write the literature review and compile references, while exploring answers and solutions to common writing challenges.

There are four more sessions still to come:

Session 1: Closed

Session 2: Closed

Session 3: Closed

Session 4: 4/16/18 - 4/23/18

Session 5: 5/7/18 - 5/14/18

Register now!

The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the Department of Africana Studies, in partnership with the Lloyd George Sealy Library, present:

Moving Toward Community Justice in the 21st Century

The 27th Annual Lloyd George Sealy Lecture

Speaker: Kenton Buckner, Chief of Police, Little Rock Police Department

Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 6:00pm

Moot Court, Room 6.68 NB

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 524 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019 

For more information, please contact Rulisa Galloway-Perry, Africana Studies Department, 212-237-8701.

Related: About Lloyd George Sealy