An academic library in the U.S. in a digital age: A student’s perspective By Brooke Shannon PhD Student Information Science and Learning Technologies

1. An academic
library in the U.S.
in a digital age:
A student’s perspective
Brooke Shannon
PhD Student
Information Science and Learning Technologies

2. Part I: Overview
• About MU
• About MU Libraries
• MU Library Services

3. About MU
• Located in Columbia, Missouri
– Population: 95,000+

4. About MU
• Student Population:
• Total: 31,314
• Minority: 3,530
• International: 1, 615
• Faculty: 1,991
• Degrees: 285

5. About MU Libraries
• Ellis Library (Main)
• Plus 6 branches:
– Health Sciences
– Veterinary Medicine
– Geology
– Engineering
– Math
– Journalism
• 2 off‐site storage facilities
• University Archives (historical and admin records)
3.5 Million Volumes
+
7 Million Microforms
170 Full-Time Employees (48 librarian/archivists)

6. About MU Libraries
• Ellis Library
– Current Periodicals
• 33,000 titles
– Recorded Sound
– Microforms
– New Books
– Reference
– Special Collections

7. MU Library Services
Digital Resources
• Core Resources
– Databases
• Dissertations/Theses,
Newspapers, Patents
– Electronic Books
– Electronic Journals
• Digital Collections
– Special Collections
– University Archives
– University of Missouri
Digital Library
– Missouri Digital Heritage
Initiative
• Reference Shelf
• Almanacs
• Atlases & Maps
• Biographies
• Catalogs, Bibliography
• Conversions & Calculators
• Dictionaries & Thesauri
• Encyclopedias
• Quotations
• Statistics, data sets, survey

8. MU Library Services
University of Missouri Digital Library
• Free storage for digital objects for any library,
museum, or historical society in Missouri
• Collections from 15 Missouri libraries
– Missouri historic newspapers
– Civil War in MO
Images
– Postcards from St Louis World Fair (1904)
– World War I/II Sheet Music

9. MU Library Services
• Borrow & Check out Materials
– Interlibrary Loan
• 43,302 borrowed
• 57,609 lent
– No self-checkout
• Perks of self-checkout:
– Frees up personnel
– Speeds up service
• Problems:
– Less friendly
– Someone has to answer questions about technology

10. • Equipment
– For use in library:
• Computers, laptops
iPads, mice
– To check-out:
• Laptop , Kindle, video camera,
audio/video recorder, Tripod, iPod
MU Library
Services

11. MU Library
Services
iPod and iPad
$199
$499

12. MU Library Services
• Stores up to 1,500 books
• 630,000 available to
download
• About $10/each
• Out-of-copyright books
are free
Kindle:
• Digital book reader
• Amazon $189

13. MU Library Services
• Information Commons
– 103 Computer Stations
– 7 Meeting Rooms
– Individual Study
“a physical library or online
community, that exists to
produce, conserve, and
preserve information for
current and future
generations”

14. MU Library Services
Reading Room
(no group study!)
Study Carrels
($50/semester)

15. MU Library Services
• Bookmark Café
• Photocopying: DITY and service (for fee)
– Digiprint Center
• Scanning
• Printing
• Lockers
• Exhibits (digital
and physical)

16. MU Library Services

17. MU Library Services
• Libraries and Collections:

18. MU Library Services
Institutional Repository: MOspace
• Online repository for scholarly work and
resources created by faculty, staff and
students at MU.
• Makes created knowledge and research
products available to the wider community of
researchers and students and assures
preservation of these materials for the future.

19. MU Library Services
• Institutional Repository: MOspace

20. MU Library Services
Search: John Budd…

21. MU Library Services
• Homework and Research Guides

22. MU Library Services
• Course Reserves (Print/ERes)
Search by Instructor: Bossaller…

23. MU Library Services
• Course Reserves (Print/ERes)
Click here…

24. MU Library Services
• Homework and Research Guides: Tutorials &
Video:

25. • Show Me How To:

26. MU Library Services
• Show Me How To: Find a Book…

27. MU Library Services
Information literacy
“the skills and knowledge to expertly identify,
find, and evaluate information”

28. MU Library Services
A person who is information literate is able to:
• Identify the ways in which knowledge is disseminated,
organized and acquired
• Access the wide spectrum of information resources
made available to the campus community
• Locate needed information through effective search
strategies
• Evaluate retrieved information and information sources
in all formats
• Use information ethically and legally

29. MU Library Services
Information Literacy instruction:
• Course-integrated instruction sessions for English 1000 courses
• Research instruction sessions to targeted courses across the
campus curriculum
• Credit course taught in collaboration with the School of
Information Science and Learning Technologies
• Research workshops for faculty and graduate students
• Research instruction for high school classes and visiting scholars
736 Classes
9,925 Participants

30. MU Library Services
Information Literacy instruction:
• Collaboration with faculty to create effective
research assignments and exercises to teach
information literacy concepts (e.g., the difference
between scholarly, trade, and popular publications)
• Course packs for specific assignments
• Librarian involvement in online courses

31. MU Library Services
• Cite Sources (Document)
• Avoid Plagiarism (Video)
• Evaluating Web Pages
(Document)
• Boolean Operators
(YouTube video)
• Individual database help
(video)
• Locate articles (video)
(Acadia University)

33. Part II: Social Media and the Library
“10 Technology Ideas
Your Library Can
Implement Next Week”
American Libraries Magazine
March 2010

34. IDEA #1
Create a library video tour to welcome
people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
from any location

35. Idea # 1 (at MU)

36. IDEA # 1: Perks and Problems
• Perks:
– Attract nonusers
– Relatively inexpensive ($100 USD)
• Problems:
– Budget

37. IDEA #2
Use SMS to send patron alerts and
notifications

38. IDEA #2 at MU
• No DIRECT SMS alert
• Can get SMS alerts via
Twitter
• Can sign up for email
alerts
• Does have reference
desk features via SMS

39. IDEA #2: Perks and Problems
• Perks
– Popular
– Convenient
• Problems
– 160 character limit
– Costs patrons money
– May not have a system in place that can directly
send notices as SMS

40. IDEA # 3
Feed your library’s blog posts
into Twitter without doing any
more work

41. IDEA #3 at MU
• Uploads blog/RSS feed to Twitter
• Has 193 “followers”
• “Follows” 10 related organizations:
– MU Bookstore
– University of Kansas
– Daniel Boone Regional Library
– New York Public Library
– Graduate Professional Council

42. IDEA #3: Perks and Problems
• Perks:
– Popular
– Convenient
• Problems:
– ?

43. IDEA #4
Improve customer service by
developing a technology skills list for
your staff

44. IDEA #4 at MU
To apply for Library Information Assistant (support staff)
• Duties: Circulation/Reserves desk and shelving
• Required Qualifications:
-HS or equivalent diploma; Six months of responsible
office experience and/or related training necessary;
Ability to type may be necessary depending upon the
position available.
• Preferred Qualifications:
Supervisory experience; Knowledge of Library of
Congress classification system; Experience with
MERLIN, word processing, and Internet desirable.

45. IDEA #4 at MU
To apply for (Health Services) Information Services
Librarian(Librarian 1 – entry level)
• Duties: Reference services, literature searches, user
education, personal file management consultation
• Required Qualifications:
-Masters' degree from an ALA accredited program;
customer service; strong communication/interpersonal
skills
• Preferred Qualifications:
Supervisory experience, teaching experience, experience in
searching Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus;
experience with EndNote &/or other personal file
management programs…

46. IDEA #4: Perks and Problems
• Perks:
– Make sure everyone is on the “same page”
• Problems:
– Do “preferred qualifications” become required, or
implied?

47. IDEA #5
Create a special event wiki
“A wiki is a website that allows the easy
creation and editing of any number of interlinked
web pages via a web browser”
A WIKI IS ABOUT COLLABORATION

48. IDEA #5 at MU
• Wikispaces
• Example:

49. IDEA #5: Perks and Problems
• Perks
– Easy to manage
– Shares the “burden”
• Problems:
– Anyone can edit public wikis

50. IDEA #6
Help your catalog evolve with
personalization

51. IDEA #6 at MU
Online Library Account
• Renew Books
• Interlibrary Loan Requests
• Reading History
• Request email alerts
• Accessible from off-campus

52. IDEA #6: Perks and Problems
• Perks
– Fast and easy to request and renew books
– Searches saved in one place
• Problems
– Reading history requires release of private
information

53. IDEA #7
Put together a Guitar Hero
tournament that will attract a wide
range of nonusers to your library for
the very first time

54. IDEA #7 at MU?
• A music video game
• Has not been done at MU

55. IDEA #7: Perks and Problems
• Perks:
– Potentially attract non-users
– Updated view of the library
• Problems:
– Useful if no video games for rent?

56. IDEA #8
Use Facebook for chat reference

57. IDEA #8 at MU
• MU Libraries and Special Collections and Rare
Books have Facebook pages
• Neither has option to “Friend”, only the option
to “Like”
• Publish feeds in their “Notes” section
• Chat feature on website

58. IDEA #8: Perks and Problems
• Perks:
– Users are already “logged in” to FB
– FB is a social environment – “Friend”
• Problems:
– Friends can post on your wall…

59. IDEA #9
Collaborate and communicate with
internal blogs

60. IDEA #9 at MU
• External Blog: Announcements
Article suggests:
• Weeding blog
• Training blog
• Acquisitions blog
• Professional development blog

61. IDEA #9: Perks and Problems
• Perks
– Sort them by date, title, author
– Keep informed about what everyone is doing
• Problems
– Someone has to blog

62. IDEA #10
Hold a themed unconference to tackle
important issues

63. IDEA #10 at MU
What is an unconference?
• Similar to a workshop, themed
• Facilitated but participant-driven
• Conversational setting
“Knowledge
Café”

64. IDEA #10: Perks and Problems
• Perks
– FREE open forum
– No “agenda” – no sponsors
– Everyone has opportunity to talk and share ideas
• Problems
– Plethora of meetings