When I walk into a library, I see its potential. I see all the great things that they are doing, and I see where I might fill a need. What does your library need? Where will it be in five years?
I am very data driven, so what I would eventually do for your library might include some of these ideas, depending on what needs your library might have. It's also true that patrons are won over, one event, one session, one reference interview at a time. We build the community by collaborating with various departments and groups, each leading to a larger and larger network of library lovers.
In my current position as Director of Libraries for Iowa Lakes Community College, I oversee two libraries. On one campus, we are positioned next to the Success Center, and on the other campus we are joined with a public library. I have 6-7 staff members and we have done over 1200 tests in these two locations. I invite my staff to work together to solve problems, such as noise in the library or testing in the library. You can read more of this experience on my Director of Libraries page.
From my years of experience working on and being the Operational Manager of my family's dairy farm in Northwestern Pennsylvania, I have a keen sense of budgeting, finances, the organization necessary to manage all the crucial parts of a business. This sense was further developed while I was solely responsible for the budgeting and Collection Development of the Children and Young Adult collections at the Franklin Public Library, as well as when I was responsible for inventory at the Haskell Library (part of the University of Pittsburgh Library System). From these experiences, I understand that it is crucial to be detail oriented, organized, and forward thinking.
In order to meet the needs of my library, I have always created detailed, and color-coded, plans and spreadsheets to be sure that all materials arrive at the most opportune times, all staff hours are accounted for, and all resources are adequately tracked and maintained.
From the public side of the library, I can tackle many tasks that will lead the library into the future. The following are some basic ideas for bringing more patrons into the library, serving more needs, and ultimately growing the network necessary to create an awesome library. 1. Embedded Librarian I could teach library usage, research, information literacy, career resources, and so much more. This isn't just a one time session. No, this is something more intense and meaningful. Do your students have critical thinking skills? Do they know fake news from the real stuff? Can they find the resources that they need for a project, a paper, or to be informed citizens? I can teach that.
2. Fake News Sleuths I could create a campus group, collaborating with your Criminal Justice or English faculty. I would demonstrate how to know the real deal, and then they could take it over and find out sources for themselves. We could hold meetings and show the public or other students what they learned. Now our students are the teachers and our community is all the better for it. We could build an interactive website that allows users to view and digest what the group has learned, archiving each search. We could connect this to campus events, the library blog and newsletter, the local paper, and class projects.
3. Storytime Your faculty and staff probably have children. So do some of your students. What better way to get them into the library than to come for something fun and family-oriented? They come for the story time and leave with a book. I collaborate with the faculty from the Education department, and their students from the Education club or class read the stories and create the craft projects. Our students gain powerful experience with leading storytime, and maybe even class credit. And our community grows all the stronger.
4. Group Meeting Room Most libraries have a meeting room, and often it's underutilized. I would make contact with groups around campus and offer our space. For example, your campus might have a strong veteran population. I connect with them, maybe the ROTC group, and maybe some faculty that have a special interest in giving back to veterans. And the veterans probably have a strong desire to give back as well. During their meetings, which I would help facilitate, they might decide to build a ramp for an injured vet in town. The event makes the local news (probably because I alerted the newspaper to our day) and local business owners decide they want to help too. The circle continues and our network grows. If the campus has no yoga classes, the library can be an awesome location. The classes could be taught by a paid professional, or someone trying to acquire enough hours for their own professional certificate or other. The classes could be at a range of times, or once a week during off-library hours. We could connect with faculty in health and sciences, allowing students working toward their degrees assist with the planning and implementation of the classes. This is true for a wealth of events and topics. What is your campus most in need of or desiring to pursue? What clubs or groups can assist? Which faculty would be most inclined to participate?
5. Weekly Information Literacy Column I connect with the local paper and arrange for a weekly column mainly focused on information literacy. I educate the community on a source's authority, relevancy, and currency. I bring guest writer, experts in some field or another, that can give insight into something new each week. I write about campus happenings that are related to the column.
6. Library Blogs and Newsletters The library can have a weekly blog that tells about new or exciting resources and events. I connect to our social media sites (which ones are data driven). And it culminates into a monthly newsletter that has sections for students, faculty, and the community. It lists our new resources and gives tips on better research and information literacy skills. And it ties into the weekly column, each pointing back to the others. The newsletter can have fun or entertaining games or contests, present a sillier side to the library, and give in-depth looks at staff and patrons.
7. Campus Resource Center Knowing what resources are missing from the campus can be crucial. For example, if there is no coffee shop on campus, this may be a great opportunity for the library. They could bring in a cart with snacks, coffee, and teas that is run by campus student groups. The groups earn needed money for their endeavors, and the cart brings people into or close to the library. It requires an initial purchase (or contact with a student group that needs a project) of the cart of supplies. But once it is going, supplies will be purchased with the percentage of profit that the library retains. And if the campus needs a print shop, the library can also fulfill this role. Some campuses have no where for students to print color copies, necessary for projects. The library can provide such a service. By carefully keeping track of the cost of color pages and supplying the necessary materials, the library can have a print station that earns a little income (or none, if desired), while providing a necessary service to the students. What resources does your campus need? Maybe the library can provide it.
8. Lending Library Whether it's a shelf at the entrance of the main library, or a small box at the front of another campus, a lending library allows patrons to donate and read books that do not meet the collection development standards of the library. It can provide the latest best seller, or classic fiction, pop non-fiction, or whatever is available. Patrons and community members need a place to leave their disgarded reading materials and they want to help the library. Once or twice a year, extra books can be sold off for profit to be used to upgrade library equipment, purchase new books, or sponsor a month of supplies for the campus resource center. Donated materials appropriate for the collection development policy can be added to the collection.
9. Mobile Librarian A mobile librarian is simply someone that goes to where the students are in order to bring resources and library skills. This can be at campuses without a library, in the lobby, in the cafeteria, or other busy places for students around the campus. Students are given handouts or instruction on using library resources. The librarian approaches students to ask basic questions such as, "How are you doing?", "Do you have any research projects that you might need help with?", and "Did you know that the library has thousands of eBooks that are available 24/7 for free?" These basic conversations grow the relationship between the students and the librarian and open the door for additional interactions between library staff and the student that interacts, their social circle, and those that witness these interactions.
Be Data Driven
How can you properly address campus needs unless you first know what they are? Surveying can be tiresome for users, so tread carefully. But the well timed survey is crucial to knowing what resources to develop or weed and what events or sessions will be most needed. LibGuides provides great analytical tools for assessing student and faculty needs. Create surveys, request portals, and an array of other data driving interactives.
For example, to develop the collection to meet the needs of our students, asking faculty which books in their sections are most useful to them and their students, or which ones feel outdated can give the faculty a sense that their views matter and an ability to address and grow the collection in ways that they need and want, and that the librarian might not have considered.
Ask departments for ways that the library can better serve their needs. A quick survey sent to the department head can result in tons of information. They can address the questions in a manner that fits their schedules, without the librarian simply inundating masses of faculty members with numerous questionnaires. The department heads know which faculty members are teaching the pertinent classes and who will be most responsive.
Allow all users to give feedback.
Assess the usability of the website regularly (or as changes are enacted).
You can view some of my previous analytic endeavors here.
Instruction
Great Instruction requires a minimum of 7 steps. 1. Be data driven (see above)
2. Develop great relationships with faculty (see below)
3. Create Tutorials and Guides (see below)
4. Assess Prior Knowledge Simple, short surveys prior to the session are key to providing exactly what the students need. This allows the instructor to avoid boring students with information they already know, and also being sure that nothing is missed. It's a great way to learn about your students before you meet.
5. Library Instruction: Be visual, interactive, and use storytelling Classes should be highly visual. A large screen with the instructor modeling the research strategies and then interactive time, with the students following along. Students should be given plenty of time to practice what they have learned. And finally, research tells us that storytelling is an awesome method for helping our students to remember what is being taught. A great way of providing this visual instruction can be at the entrance to the library or learning lab. You can view some of my Educational Displays. You can also provide interactive materials, such as related handouts. You can also view my Educational Materials.
6. Access Student Learning/Outcomes Again, a simple, short questionnaire can let the instructor be sure that the students learned what was supposed to be taught. The survey results can also be tracked to assess the overall campus learning outcomes.
7. Be where your students are Be at the cafeteria during busy times to allow students easy access to library expertise. Use social media sites (survey to find the ones most utilized by this year's students) to address promotional materials for library resources and events.
You can access a PowerPoint presentation I gave on envisioning research and instructional services in a distributed campus here.
Online Presence Library users are already online. Their first stop at the library will most certainly be through the website.
1. Provide a clean interface Pages that are too busy are confusing, and users may not scroll down. They may be on their mobile devices as well and this should be addressed. Avoid too many options, and be clear as to where they can go for what they need. 2. Provide images of the library's spaces You want to entice users to the brick and mortar spaces. Bright, cheerful images of both cozy and also open spaces that user can imagine themselves using may entice them inside. 3. Provide tutorials How-to guides for using the library's webpage and resources are must-haves. Connecting to established institutional materials is great as well. These can be created by myself, or from another expert. Downloadable PDFs with hyperlinks explaining how to accomplish some goal, such as researching, are great as well and can be used by students or faculty.
Another great way of interacting with students is to create online interactive tutorials. You can use self-quizzing software to lead students through a step-by-step learning process that can cater to what they already know and where they need to go next.
Guides and Tutorials
As I explain above, tutorials are excellent ways of reaching students. They can be physical documents or ones accessed online only.
I regularly create: 1. Video tutorials (animated or modeled tasks). You can view some video tutorials I created while at the University of Pittsburgh here. 2. Handouts (physical or online--often with hyperlinks to additional resources). My latest creations are here. You can view more of my creations here and here. 3. Subject Guides. Some of my past Subject Guides are viewable here. Current Guides are here. 4. Presentations You can view some examples here.
Faculty Relations Working with faculty can be very rewarding for all involved. I regularly attend faculty meetings, campus events, and related activities where I know I will meet with faculty and share ideas. I bring along whatever technology is appropriate. That may be the iPad, a laptop with a dual monitor, a large screen television with hard drive, or even my iPhone.
I offer to teach sessions in their classes on research, library usage, and related topics. I also suggest that they can have an impact on the collection development of the library, in order to better meet the needs of their programs and students. They can suggest purchases, or items to discard. We can work together to ensure that our collection has the items that enhance their teaching, whether those are DVDs they can show in class, eBooks that several students can use simultaneously, or sets of books that can be accessed onsite. I also suggest my creating a Subject Guide for their class or subject area. These things activities meld well together. I may create the Subject Guide in preparation for the library instruction session, that is then embedded into their online class. And they make suggestions that enhance the collection development of the library.
And better yet, they tell their co-workers and friends and I gain new collaborators that enhance the library even further. Ideally, I gain the trust of the department head and then I have the ears and eyes of the entire department.
The best part is that with the support of one faculty member, I now have gained access to all of their students. I am instructing their students, creating handouts and Subject Guides, and I have a steady stream of students going to the library in order to complete research or simply find a friendly face willing to assist with their assignments.
While at ILCC I have been on several committees: ARC (Assessment), CORE Book (Head), Convocation. Some of my faculty are strong supporters of the library and use the library for office hours, one-on-one faculty to student work, and for research projects. These faculty are really dedicated. And many of them are also my most reliable faculty when it comes to asking for materials. I almost always say yes to their requests, after all, they know what their students need the most.
While at DACC/NMSU I was on three committees: The Assessment Committee, The Teaching and Learning Committee (TALC), and the Orientation Committee. I was the secretary for TALC from its inception until I left the institution. For this I create a TALC Guide (using LibGuides) to collect meeting notes, resources I found for some research topics they were using to increase faculty knowledge of teaching practices, and so much more.
While at DACC, I presented at two campus events for faculty. Our aim was to increase faculty knowledge of library offerings.
PRESENTATIONS:
Motter, S. “Facilitating Successful Learning Environments: Best Practices to Guide Your Students in Research.” New Mexico State University and Doña Ana Community College Professional Development Evening: “Sharing the Wealth of Knowledge”. February 5, 2015.
Motter, S, Y Li. “What the Library Can Do For You: Brainfuse Free Online Tutoring, Classroom Research Instruction, and Subject Guides.” New Mexico State University and Doña Ana Community College:.Celebrating Achievement: Best Practices at Doña Ana Community College Annual Professional Development Day September 25, 2015.
Collection Development Policy The collection develop policy is crucial for the function of the library. The collection development assists in a number of endeavors that may not be obvious at first. I list some below.
1. Angry Patrons We have all dealt with angry patrons. Public libraries provide a great example: a mother that believes a book to be inappropriate for library shelves, or she wants library staff to monitor or restrict her daughter's ability check out books that she finds offensive. This is a tricky situation for any library. But if the Collection Development Policy clearly address such a situation, then the librarian can more easily respond to this angry patron. A strong Collection Development Policy is essential to dealing with patrons that disagree with materials in the library or that want some other change made. This is true of faculty members, administrators, or students. 2. Donated Materials Community members often wish to donate materials to the library. This can be a wonderful way of finding the resources that the library needs. And for this reason, the Collection Development Policy needs to address donated materials. However, it is obviously impossible for the library to accept every donated item. So often they are in poor conditions, not appropriate for the library, or do not meet the needs of library patrons. The Collection Development Policy can easily address which materials will be accepted and what will happen to those materials that are not added to the collection. This allows the library staff to quickly address issues surrounding donations. Particularly for Academic Libraries, a small Lending Library can be an exquisite addition. The Lending Library can offer donated materials to patrons. These are the materials that did not meet the Collection Development Policy and are freely available with no checkout necessary. 3. Faculty and Campus Needs Faculty members will certainly need materials and the Collection Development Policy should address this need. Community members will also request materials for purchase. Obviously, not all requested materials can be purchased due to budgetary restraints. But the Collection Development Policy can address how decisions will be made and why. This will allow library staff to quickly answer questions in this regard, and allow the library to justify purchases when they are questioned. 4. Budget Again, many wants and needs must be balanced with the financial ability to provide for them. The Collection Development Policy can be used to explain the direction of purchases in relation to the overall budget of the library.
You can view my current Collection Development Policy (written my first year at my institution) here.
More Information
Want more ideas? If you're interested in Academic Libraries, you may also like Educational Materials or Library Instruction or Library Instruction, where I link to handouts and guides I have created, and discuss my seven requirements for great library instruction.
Librarians may also enjoy my thoughts on a basic Strategic Plan for an academic library. I give ideas for what steps to take in order to bring more patrons to the library with different types of programming and welcoming faculty and staff into the library community by including them in library tasks such as Collection Development, educational programming, and related endeavors. Organization Matters are important. You can view some of my methods for addressing staff schedules, daily library issues and so forth here.
And check out my Public Library page below. Ideas from it can be applied to the Academic Library in many cases.