Week 8

The renovation project had caused some interesting rumors to circulate among the student body at Millersville.  One of the most frequently overheard statements is that Millersville doesn't have a library right now, which is patently untrue, not to mention potentially disastrous, particularly when prospective students are told this on campus tours.  Some rumors are more amusing - did you know that a dormitory is being put on the top floors of the new library?  I must admit, I always dreamed of being able to live in the campus library, so I had to chuckle at this one, but as obviously untrue and ridiculous as it is, rumors like this one are potentially harmful because they undermine students' opinion of the library at this difficult time.  With wild rumors like these running amok, someone must address them immediately, which is where Professor Erin Dorney, the outreach librarian, comes in.  Erin has addressed many rumors, complaints and concerns raised by students throughout the library renovation, seeking to remind students that yes, the library has remained open throughout the renovation, that many of the library's materials are available in the temporary library in Gerhart, that the library is working hard to help students obtain the materials they need through ILL, and that the full library staff is ready and willing to assist students in any way they can from their temporary offices across campus.  Erin reaches out to the Millersville community in a number of ways:  through the library's website and Facebook page, the library's blog about the renovation project, the faculty newsletter, and the campus newspaper.  In addition to addressing students' concerns about the renovation, Erin has also gathered ideas from students about what they would like to see in the new library from regular conversations with the Library Student Advisory Board.

One of the biggest challenges that Erin faces in communicating with the Millersville community is juggling all the different avenues of communication.  Every student and faculty member prefers a different method of communication, so it's important to get library news out to the campus on every available format, and in today's world, that's a lot of different formats.  Nonetheless, it's important to communicate with each community member in their preferred format so that important news reaches everyone.  The library routinely needs to get the word out about upcoming events, new resources and policy changes, so keeping community members informed is a constant and ongoing task.

Professor Greg Szczyrbak, the learning technologies librarian, also talked with me about how the library connects with the Millersville community through technology.  The campus uses the Desire2Learn learning management system, which allows faculty to create and manage online course content.  One of the best features of D2L is that it allows librarians and faculty to store the learning objects they create and share them with other instructors on campus, or even around the world.  For example, if a faculty member creates a diagram, model, graph, tutorial or other type of learning object for a lesson, they can save the object in D2L's learning repository, where it can be discovered and used by other instructors in their department or field.  I find this feature of D2L interesting and exciting because, as scholarly content increasingly becomes open source and open access, this will be an important resource for librarians and faculty alike.  Librarians can create learning objects as well, which faculty can easily include in their course sites, instantly incorporating a subject librarian's contact information and subject guide into the course website.

Another important set of resources for students on the library’s website are the online tutorials available through the “How Do I …?” link.  Librarians can create online knowledge bases on any topic, ranging from general information about the library’s resources to very specialized information on doing research in a specific field.  The “How Do I …?” knowledge bases are created using LibAnswers, a Springshare product similar to LibGuides, which is used to create subject guides.  Having used LibGuides myself to create a subject guide for a class project, which was a fairly simple and intuitive process, I can imagine that LibAnswers make it equally easy for librarians to create online knowledge bases tailored to the unique needs of their community.

Greg also gave me a brief overview of how the library creates and maintains content for the library website using Drupal Gardens.  I have not used Drupal myself yet, but as Greg showed me how he is able to create and edit content with Drupal, I found that it is a surprisingly easy and intuitive tool to use, and very similar to Wix, a freely available online tool for creating and maintaining websites.

Greg and I also discussed some of the new teaching techniques and technology that will be used in the new library.  Next week I'll be attending the SSHELCO conference in Harrisburg, PA, where Greg and his colleague Professor Jessica George, the education librarian, will conduct a presentation on these topics.  Stay tuned for my next post where I'll discuss these topics in more detail!

Week 7

As construction on the new McNairy Library nears completion, efforts to plan how the collection will move back into the renovated building are heating up.  This week I wrapped up initial calculations of how much material will be moved back into the library on the first floor, where the DVD and reference sections will be housed, and the third and fourth floors, where the juvenile and curriculum collections will be housed.  I also completed initial calculations of how much shelving space will available for these collections, and how full these sections can be filled based on the amount of material going back into the library and the amount of space available.  The purpose of these calculations is to help the librarians make decisions about how much space will be required for each part of the collection, how much room will be available for growth of the collection, and to map out where the collection will fall on the new shelving, which will in turn help the move go as smoothly as possible.  I also received an update on the key events and milestones that will occur throughout the moving process, which helped me to better understand all the things that need to come together over the course of this project.

Working with various library faculty and staff on the planning process helps me to understand how the library operates within the greater context of the university community.  Thus far I've learned about the different functions that librarians perform within the library, and how their work contributes to the overall operation of the library.  I've seen how library faculty help shape and support university curriculum through their efforts to educate students and other faculty about information literacy, and by making critical decisions about collection development.  I've also talked with various faculty members about new initiatives, such as developing a digital repository and implementing a pilot patron driven acquisitions program, which position the library to start serving future needs today.  By participating in meetings about the move and listening to the issues raised not only by library faculty, but also by the university's administrators,  I'm gaining a better understanding of the kinds of administrative issues that must be considered during a large project such as this one, including budgetary, equipment, supply, personnel, facilities, technology and safety issues.  More importantly, however, I'm learning how the library is poised to become part of the next generation of academic libraries, which will not only provide information resources to support the educational and research goals of the university, but will also serve as a learning commons where members of the community can gather for a wide variety of events such as technology training, group meetings, seminars and workshops.  The library seeks to become a public space seen by the university community as the go-to place for campus gatherings and activities of all types, in addition to taking the more traditional role of providing study and work spaces for students and faculty.

Week 6

In Week 3 I spent some time with the librarians in access services observing the day-to-day operations of the circulation desk, shelf maintenance, inter-library loan, and document delivery.  This week I was able to talk to Professor Krista Higham, the access services librarian who supervises and manages the access services department.  She explained the work that she does as the access librarian, which ranges from managerial tasks related to supervising access services staff, including creating policies that govern the work done in access services; to evaluating new products that the library is considering purchasing; working with the information systems librarian, Professor Scott Anderson, to ensure that the library's products (such as electronic databases) work seamlessly and flawlessly for students and faculty; serving on the collection development committee; answering questions through the library's virtual reference service; and serving as an academic adviser for undeclared undergraduate students.  Krista's role as the access services librarian extends beyond simply making sure that students and faculty can get their hands on the materials they need to complete assignments and research projects - it also encompasses helping to make broader, long-term decisions about the resources available to the community to meet the demands of the university's curriculum.  The work that Krista does, as with all library faculty, ultimately supports the mission of the university:  to educate the future professionals and leaders of the world, to help them build information literacy skills they will use in both their careers and personal lives, and to support the research and teaching goals of faculty.

After taking some time to consider Krista's role as the access services librarian and why she often works closely with Scott, the composition of the collection development committee became much clearer to me.  The collection development committee is comprised of Dr. Marjorie Warmkessel, who contributes her experience as a department liaison and selector, considerations of the technical services department, and the goals of special projects, such as the patron driven acquisitions program; Scott Anderson, who can address the technological considerations of the library's information systems and draw on his experience as a selector and department liaison; Krista, who can address the concerns of the access services department, which is responsible for assisting the university community in using the collection, and who can also draw on her experience as a selector and department liaison; and Professor Melissa Gold, the science librarian, who, as a selector and department liaison for very specialized fields, can speak to the specific needs of those specialized fields.

I also attended Krista's presentation to university faculty on copyright issues surrounding course reserves.  I wanted to attend this presentation to better understand the library's policies and recommendations on fair use and course reserves.  One of my projects for a legal issues in information management course was to study the fair use policies of several colleges and universities with respect to course reserves.  After the recent George State University case, many colleges and universities have re-evaluated their copyright and fair use policies and made efforts to ensure that faculty understand what does and does not constitute fair use in an educational setting.  Attending Krista's presentation allowed me to see how Millersville University approaches their fair use policy, and how they guide faculty through the complex and difficult interpretation of fair use.  Since the library makes decisions on a regular basis about fair use and course reserves as they make content available to student through the course management system, it is poised to offer sound advice to faculty trying to navigate fair use.

I also continued to work on calculating the amount of compact shelving that will be available for the general collection on lower level 1 of the new library, and preparing a spreadsheet for calculating the amount of shelving space needed for different parts of the collection.  I also began to look at how full the shelves will need to be filled to accommodate the reference, DVD, juvenile and curriculum collections.  I also perused most of Steve Fortriede's Moving Your Library to understand various techniques and best practices for moving library collections.