News and Events

Drexel University Libraries, W. W. Hagerty Library, is seeking a highly self-motivated student interested in gaining work experience in libraries to fill the position of Late Night Supervisor.  This individual will be responsible for the late night supervision and operation of the Circulation Desk and overall functioning of the Library in the absence of professional staff.

Duties include:

• Handling a variety of situations related to access, facilities, and library services; often as the only staff on duty
• Assisting library users in locating materials, troubleshooting problems, and interpreting policies
• Assisting Public Safety with access issues
• Supervising student employees at the Circulation Desk
• Performing general maintenance and troubleshooting on equipment
• Closing the library

Qualifications: Candidate must have strong customer service skills, be self-directed, and have acute attention to detail. Preferred skills: academic library experience, experience with library automated systems, and supervision experience. 
Hours for this position: 10PM-2AM Sunday-Thursday, [2-3 of these days, shared between two positions]
Salary: $12/hour
To apply: Send resume to Shin Amano, Access Services Specialist II, at spa25@drexel.edu.

Drexel faculty are invited to join colleagues and liaison librarians for the opening of a renovated space in W. W. Hagerty Library. Research Connections, Room 210, is a designated faculty space within the library that provides faculty a collaborative environment for researchers from across the University to gather to reflect, share, present, and/or discuss research, interdisciplinary ideas or projects of mutual interest.

The room includes armchair seating for twelve, whiteboard and glass writing surfaces, a projector and a telephone hook-up for conference calls. Personal laptops may be used or borrowed from the Libraries’ kiosk or circulation desk. To learn more about this new space, contact the Libraries Administrative Office or come meet subject liaisons during a focused coffee hour as follows:

• Wednesday, May 8, from 3 to 4:30 PM – School of Information Science & Technology, Goodwin College and School of Education with Tim Siftar, Liaison Librarian for Education and Information Science and Technology
• Thursday, May 9, from 3 to 4:30 PM – Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and School of Biomedical Engineering with Tom Ipri, Liaison Librarian for Media Arts and Design, and Jay Bhatt, Liaison Librarian for Engineering
• Monday, May 13, from 3 to 4:30 PM – School of Public Health, College of Nursing & Health Professions and Earle Mack School of Law with Kathleen Turner, Librarian for Health Sciences, and Gary Childs, Librarian for Health Sciences
• Tuesday, May 14, from 3 to 4:30 PM – College of Medicine and College of Arts & Sciences with Linda Katz, Associate Director, Health Science Partnerships; Steve Bogel, Librarian for Health Sciences; Larry Milliken, Liaison Librarian for Humanities and Social Sciences; and Peggy Dominy, Liaison Librarian for Science and Math
• Wednesday, May 15, from 3 to 4:30 PM – College of Engineering and LeBow College of Business with Jay Bhatt, Liaison Librarian for Engineering, and Emily Missner, Liaison Librarian for Business

Effective May 1, the Research Connections space, located on the second floor of W. W. Hagerty Library, is available to encourage faculty to connect over shared research interests and ideas. The space is available between 8 AM – 5 PM, Monday – Friday, and can be reserved in advance by contacting Tainesha Ware at (tmw47@drexel.edu) or 215.895.2750. Coffee and tea will be available daily, between 3 – 5 PM. Please drop by or reserve the room—not as an alternative for a regular seminar or class, or for a series of administrative meetings, but to explore whether the space will foster building connections among the Drexel research community. Feedback will be very welcome.

During the past several academic terms, Liaison Librarians have stepped outside of the library to bring coaching and expertise to students and faculty members closer to the labs, classrooms and departmental spaces where they work. These added work places extend the reach of the Libraries by embedding its resources and staff knowledge within academic life on campus. This approach focuses on learners and researchers and strengthens the relationship between liaison librarians and faculty as they partner to teach students.

“With an increasing amount of our resources available online, individuals less frequently must come to the physical library to access information. They come to libraries for print materials and environments for self-directed learning but also increasingly for assistance in finding and utilizing information. These changing conditions, as well as a scarcity of seating in library spaces, have challenged us to explore ways to bring the Libraries to the campus community. The approach of embedding Liaison Librarians around campus, in environments where our community already works, is one way we aim to partner with departments to bring information guidance and expertise directly to students,” dean of libraries Danuta A. Nitecki notes.

Liaisons for math, science, engineering, health sciences, and media arts & design are experimenting with different strategies for embedding their expertise into departments where they already have strong relationships and involvement.

Liaison librarian for science and math, Peggy Dominy, was one of the first to adopt this model, providing coaching to biology and environmental science graduate and undergraduate students near their lounge in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building. “Many of my students spend a lot of their time in the lab, so I thought I would experiment with bringing library expertise to them, closer to where they spend the majority of their time. I brought my computer and let a small group of students know when I would be available. Word has spread and students seem to appreciate the convenience of having faculty, labs and library experts in one location,” Dominy said.

For health sciences librarians, this is not a new concept. “Health sciences librarians have, for many years, attended medical school departmental grand rounds, which are lectures or case conferences attended by residents, faculty, staff and students working in a program,” associate director of health science partnerships Linda M. G. Katz explained. “Further, health sciences librarians routinely participate in weekly and monthly departmental meetings of the programs they support. These are all wonderfully collaborative experiences for all, where faculty, residents, students, and staff from many areas interact and offer feedback.”

Jay Bhatt, liaison librarian for engineering, sometimes just steps out of his office to take a quick walk around Bossone, a building with predominately engineering programs, to get a little extra face time with faculty and students. During these walks he often has conversations about journal subscriptions, the new Faculty Portfolios program and other library initiatives, as well as new courses or research projects underway in the College.

“One of the best features of this strategy is that it is organic in nature. It evolves based on what works best for faculty, students and librarians, which could be drastically different for each department and program. We seek to be present to offer guidance to students where they study, to consult with faculty where they design courses and to partner with researchers to advance scholarship where they seek and organize their data. This process also extends to cyberspaces.  Through these explorations and collaborations with experts around campus the Libraries actively work to improve the Drexel’s student academic experience and to help build its nexus for innovated research,” Nitecki said.

For over fifty years, the American Library Association has sponsored observance of National Library Week during the month of April. This week celebrates the contributions of the nation’s libraries and promotes their use. This month at Drexel, we focus on library staff, including librarians, archivists, support staff and professionals with diverse expertise in such areas as technologies, communications and fiscal controls. In this issue, we invite you to learn more about the recent training, recognition and realignment of our organizational structure, all of which aim to improve experiences in finding authoritative information, connecting to scholarship and becoming better skilled and confident in navigating new information formats and managing personal data.

Libraries’ staff has engaged in several activities over the past month, building skills to manage operations and lead innovative responses to changing demands for information and guidance. A quarterly “all staff” meeting engaged staff from across the Libraries to review the campus 5-year strategic initiatives and identify individual and library contributions. In addition, staff envisioned ways the Libraries can advance campus ambitions for improving the student experience, academic quality and innovative research. Discussions among librarians and professional staff followed to help identify threats and opportunities facing the University and its libraries while envisioning initiatives to address them. Managers across the Libraries also engaged in a half-day training session to strengthen leadership skills across the organization.

Later this month, the Libraries will recognize staff accomplishments through the fourth annual Libraries Celebration Awards, an event that honors staff who demonstrate the Libraries' value through contributions beyond their daily work. The breakfast event also recognizes outstanding student employees whose commitment to service and hard work illustrate the value of Drexel students as cherished by Jane Bryan, the former director, after whom the student award is named. We also celebrate colleagues who have left or will soon leave the University and colleagues who received external awards and recognition. Read the article titled Recent Libraries Staff Accomplishments and Awards for more details.

Finally, we applaud the individuals who have worked through our recent realignment of organizational units to strengthen our capacity to efficiently and purposefully support the multitude of demands for information and expert guidance. This past term, we consolidated Interlibrary Loan Services between sites and divided responsibilities for access services [circulation, reserves and management of collections] for all Drexel faculty, staff and students, regardless of their college, school or proximity to a physical library site.

This is not an issue that boasts of our work, but rather an offer of a different perspective for our colleagues, clients and friends to understand what an academic library can do and how that is achieved through its dedicated staff.

- Danuta A. Nitecki, Ph.D., Dean of Libraries