NBL Librarian Toolkit

Demographic Data

LibCal events managers are encouraged to use a custom registration form called “NBL Workshops & Events” that facilitates the collection of basic statistics about registrants to our events, including department/school, affiliation, and status (Fig. 1). These demographic data are important for reporting purposes and may suggest pathways for deeper programmatic support.

Creating Events

In the LibCal admin dashboard, select the Events tab and click on New Brunswick Libraries Workshops under “Modify/View Calendar.” Press +Add New Event. In the dialog box that appears, select "NBL Workshops template." It has a number of presets that you may find helpful, including the custom registration form. Alternatively, if you have previous events with settings you would like to reuse, select “Create From Scratch” and press Continue. At this point, use the “Find an event to copy” feature above Event Date/Time and select the event you wish to copy.

The required fields are:

1. Date
2. Start Time
3. End Time
4. Event Title
5. Division i.e.: New Brunswick.
6. Event Types
7. Category
8. Color Default selection is fine *shrugs*
9. Maximum Online Registrations
10. Registration Form
11. Registrations Open/Close

Content Guidelines

Read on for content guidelines for the following optional and required fields:

1. Event description. Use this field to link to supplemental materials so that potential attendees can see information before registering. Include information about who the instructor is, particularly if the event or workshop will be led by a graduate student worker. While the LibCal dashboard has a field for Presenter, which is used in program assessments, this field does not appear in the public version of the calendar.
2. More Information. Optional. Use this field if you are concerned about an over-long text in the event description field pushing down the "Begin Registration" button that the user sees on the public side of the calendar. Text in this field will appear underneath the "Begin Registration" button.
3. Featured image. Optional. This image appears next to your event in the public list view of the calendar. Once you have uploaded an image, you can reuse the Amazon S3 link to its location by copying and pasting it from another event. E.g. the default digital humanities image is hosted at https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/60931/images/rudh_twitter_icon400x400.png.
4. Presenter. Optional. Use this field for the presenter, instructor, or facilitator of the event. For supervisors of student workers who teach/facilitate events, please put the name of the student(s) here, since colleagues may be called upon to pull data for various student worker programs and will use this field to collect relevant data.
5. Category. Categories facilitate information retrieval on the public end. Users can filter by topic (category) or the organizer can circulate a custom URL to all calendar events corresponding to a given category. For example, Python workshops are available at https://libcal.rutgers.edu/calendar/nblworkshops?ct=48562 (where 48562 is the id the system is using to identify the Python tag). Let Ryan know if you need to add new categories to the existing ones. Tag creation is a function that is restricted to administrator level LibCal accounts.
6. In-Person Location/Space. If you are planning an in-person or hybrid event, use the dropdown menu to select the space. Note that LibCal checks availability only within LibCal (use the standard Outlook procedure to book the space). When the LibCal event gets copied to the RUL Events calendar, LibCal will indicate that there is a clash (i.e. two events booked in the same space at the same time), but this message can be safely ignored (Fig. 2).

5. Online Event and Event URL. Using this option and providing a Zoom link in the Event URL field appears to be the best way to get links to registrants. The URL will automatically be masked and only provided to those who register for the event, whereas listing a URL elsewhere may expose one to Zoom-bombing.
6. Maximum Registrations. Set this number to something realistic. You can always expand registration later if people are going onto the waiting list (while you’re at it, skip ahead to #10 and check the box next to Allow a waiting list when fully booked). But seeing a lot of open space remaining for a workshop may make the workshop seem less in demand and provide a disincentive to register.
7. Registration Form. Please use the “NBL Workshops & Events” form (Fig. 3) to facilitate better data collection about our audiences. This is our best chance to collect demographic information since the post-workshop survey has a low response rate.

8. Authentication. Unless you have a reason to run an event closed to non-Rutgers folk, do not use authentication.
9. Registrations Close. You can leave registration open until the event start time, but be aware that you may have to manually send information to last-minute registrants if they register after the reminder window you set.
10. Waiting List. There’s no downside to enabling this. One of LibCal’s best features is how it can very easily convert those on a waiting list to registrants, if you choose to do so. It will also automatically notify those on the waiting list if space frees up from a cancellation. If you can’t accommodate those on the waiting list, at least you’ve collected their e-mails to let them know about other opportunities.
11. BCC Confirmation Email. You may opt to use this to keep track of how well (or poorly) event registrations are proceeding. If you supervise events led by graduate students, consider asking them if they would like to receive a BCC on registrations.
12. Send Email Reminder. I use 1 day before reminders, but some feel the reminder should go out just a few hours before the event. This depends on your preference and audience.
13. Reminder Email Subject and Body. This field autopopulates with the template language that pulls directly from the event fields you’ve already entered. Be sure you preserve the number of curly braces when using this templating language, since LibCal won’t warn you if something is broken. Press Template instructions to see the available options. In general, it is recommended to register for your own events so that you can directly monitor if something breaks or behaves unexpectedly. I myself use the following:

Reminder Email Subject: Reminder: {{{EVENT_TITLE}}}

Reminder Email Body:

Hi {{FIRST_NAME}}, 

This is a friendly reminder that {{EVENT_TITLE}} starts at {{START_TIME}}, {{DATE}} (Time Zone: {{TIMEZONE}}) at {{LOCATION}}.

{{#ONLINE_JOIN_URL}}
This event is to be held online. To join the event visit: <a href="{{{ONLINE_JOIN_URL}}}">{{{ONLINE_JOIN_URL}}}</a>{{#ONLINE_JOIN_PASSWORD}} (password: {{ONLINE_JOIN_PASSWORD}}){{/ONLINE_JOIN_PASSWORD}}
{{/ONLINE_JOIN_URL}}

To cancel this registration visit: <a href="{{{CANCEL_URL}}}">{{{CANCEL_URL}}}</a>.

14. Send Follow Up Email/Survey. Please use the Graduate Specialist Feedback form for any workshops taught by graduate specialists. Librarians may use it as well. Notify Francesca if it needs to be modified with new presenter and workshop information. For the follow-up email, feel free to adapt this text:

Follow Up Email Subject: Thank you for attending {{{EVENT_TITLE}}}

Follow Up Email Body:

Hi {{FIRST_NAME}},

Thank you for attending {{{EVENT_TITLE}}}. We welcome your feedback. Please complete this short survey at <a href="https://rutgers.libwizard.com/f/graduate_specialist_feedback">https://rutgers.libwizard.com/f/graduate_specialist_feedback</a>.

If you have any further questions about this event, please contact {{OWNER_NAME}} via {{{OWNER_EMAIL}}}.

When you are satisfied with what you have entered, press “Submit: Add New Event!” and admire your work.

The coordinator of the Graduate Specialist Program will copy events added to the New Brunswick Libraries Workshops calendar to the systemwide RUL Events calendar so that they display on the website but link to the correct registration page of the NBL calendar.

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*These guidelines adapt previously written guidance by R. Womack. Updated 2024-12-10 by F. Giannetti.

 

Create a Table of Events for Distribution

For communicating with various audiences, it may be of use to send a customized table of workshops and events. Follow these instructions to prepare a table of events that can be pasted into emails or other electronic communications.

Note: If you are off-campus, you must be connected via VPN (Cisco AnyConnect) in order to import LibCal RSS data into OpenRefine.

1. In LibCal, click on the Events tab. Select New Brunswick Libraries Workshops > Embed / Export.
2. Copy the link address for the desired RSS Feed (e.g. Events in the next 14 days). Note that you can filter by event type and tag.
3. In OpenRefine, start from the Create project page. Select the Web Addresses option option to import data via URL. Enter the RSS feed and click Next.
4. Parse data as > XML files.
5. Click on the first element corresponding to the first record to load. It is <item>.
6. Press Create Project.
7. Do a "facet by blank" operation on the item - link field (Facet > Customized facets > Facet by blank) to return only those rows for which there is a registration link. Include the rows for which blank == FALSE.
8. Delete extraneous columns. Move the date column to the beginning to emphasize a chronological arrangement.
9. Export as an HTML table. The registration links will be clickable in the resulting table.

 

Exporting LibCal Data for Analysis

 

Instructions on where to download LibCal data for analysis in the tool of your choice.

1. In the LibCal upper navigation bar, go to "Events" and select "New Brunswick Libraries Workshops" under "Modify/View..."
2. In the tabbed navigation, go to "Event Explorer"
3. Update the From/To dates for the desired time period
4. If specific demographic data are sought on campus affiliation, etc., and event managers have used the custom registration form called "NBL Workshops & Events," use the dropdown menu for Booking Form == NBL Workshops & Events. Otherwise, leave set to all forms.
5. Press "Submit" and "Export Data."