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Alumni Profile
By Justine Yu SAS’14
In a world obsessed with what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s next, Kenneth Lew RC’01 MLIS’04 is helping Rutgers propel into the future by preserving its past.
Equipped with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Masters of Library and Information Science, Lew is a Librarian at the Franklin Lakes Public Library by day and a collector of Rutgers history by night. Through his education and experiences at Rutgers, he has been able to combine his professional and personal interests to help preserve and promote scarlet pride and Rutgers’ vast history.
A communications degree provides different career path options. What was the motivation to utilize your studies the way you did?
I will be the first to admit that I was not as college-focused as I should have been as a high school senior. I looked at and visited several colleges in NJ and as naive as it sounds I just “liked” Rutgers. The campus was nice, they had a good reputation, and it was just far enough away from home.
Communications was a popular major at the time and it put you on any number of career paths. The School of Communication, Information, and Library Science had a great reputation and offered many interesting classes. Interpersonal communication, business communication, and intercultural communication were some of my favorites.
As for graduate school, Rutgers was the obvious choice. There weren’t many places on the East coast to get a library science degree (there are even fewer now, unfortunately), so being able to go back to Rutgers was both a pleasure and a necessity.
I had worked as a page (the person who puts books away) and at the front desk of a library when I was in high school and enjoyed the work and helping people. Becoming a professional librarian seemed an obvious choice.
I’ve been working at the same library for about 18 years and I really like it. I’ve had a lot of different jobs and responsibilities over the years, but right now I’m in charge of our physical and digital media collections as well as our new Library of Things. I also work with the libraries’ computers and other technologies, and conduct technology training for the staff and the public. Learning about new technology and then being able to help others learn is the most rewarding part of my job.
Alumni stay connected to Rutgers in many ways, but your website is unique in that you provide a link to the wider community, such as the different schools and even New Brunswick. Can you give us an insight into this passion and the work behind maintaining such a treasure trove of information?
I stay involved with the Rutgers community through my website, but also by reading everything I can online. With a full-time job and small children, I don’t get to campus events very much. I belong to as many Facebook and Instagram groups as I can. I’ve never been much of a sports fan, but I keep an eye on all the various teams when they are in the news. I also like to talk to library patrons about Rutgers. If someone comes in wearing a Rutgers shirt or hat I always ask and they usually have a great time telling me about their time at Rutgers.
I also spent time at the Rutgers Radio station, WRSU, on the tech department as well as a co-host with my roommate Howard on the early morning “Toast-and-Jam show.” That took getting up pretty early but was a lot of fun.
Howard gave me the domain kenlew.com as a birthday present my senior year. He now works in the tech industry on the west coast. I learned some very basic HTML in graduate school, and used it to put together the first version of the site in about 2008. The images on the site represent objects in my personal collection. Most of them have come from online auction sites like Ebay, but some are found at flea markets, garage sales, given to me by friends and family, or from my own time at Rutgers. The site covers a wide range of memorabilia including post cards, guide books, images, sound recordings, student and alumni publications, and ephemera. The site covers not only Rutgers, but also Douglass College, Cook College, the NJ Agricultural Experiment Station, University College, Livingston College, Rutgers Camden, the School of Pharmacy, and Rutgers Prep.
A secondary focus of the site is the history of the city of New Brunswick. It’s hard to separate the 250-plus year history of Rutgers from the city it’s in. My site mainly looks at the long ago history of the city, but I’ve found that there is an active community online (mainly on Facebook), that shares memories of more recent New Brunswick history.
As a librarian and by definition, an archivist of history, how do you stay ahead of the changing technologies and what’s ahead for you?
That’s a tough one. Libraries have changed quite a bit in the two decades I’ve been at it. When I first started, you could borrow VHS tapes, now we have digital downloads and lend out iPads. If you are interested in tech and helping people, it’s for you.
Because things in libraries are changing so quickly now, there are so many things to look forward to. We are looking to expand the kind of services that we are offering to the public beyond just books. This past year, I helped create a “Library of Things” here in Franklin Lakes. The LOTs is made up of things you normally wouldn’t think of borrowing from a library. We have a coin sorter, stud finder, binoculars, all sorts of board games, even a metal detector. We want to provide things that a person might need, but not necessarily want to buy. It’s fun to see people come in and be surprised by this new collection.
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