Faculty user’s survey for the library - College of Charleston Libraries

Many apologies for not posting anything earlier. With the library renovation project and a few other projects like the iPad program and NBCLearn, I was a bit delayed in reviewing the faculty user survey. Here are a few comments and responses from that survey. More will follow in the weeks to come. As always I encourage you to contact me directly with your comments and concerns or use the library suggestion box.   And for the good of the order, I’m pleased to announce that thanks to Academic Affairs, we now have 30 more iPads for classroom use.

Name 5 things that would help your productivity?

library interface is not clean. hard to find things and do basic searches. reverting to previous versions helpful. It seems to change every year. Keep one system at the least, so we can learn how to use it. Interlibrary loan link is hard to find/buried – push it to a more prominent location

Response: We added the Ebsco Discovery Service (EDS) last summer after a yearlong campus trial. The new service is designed to help the novice researcher find something useful. The Discovery Service is also great for interdisciplinary work and serendipitous discovery as it makes associations and finds relationships users may not have considered. Please let us know what doesn’t work or doesn’t work well as we have the ability to refine the system to some extent. We definitely want it to work optimally for our users. We still have direct access to the catalog and the databases for the experienced researchers and have no intentions of taking those away. We are working on developing guides that do a better job of walking you through using our services and tools.

We agree, the ILL link at the bottom of the library homepage is not the most visible location.  Not to worry, a new library website is being designed as we type. It is our intention to make the new site easier to navigate and please let us know if it isn’t. Interlibrary Loan will be featured more prominently on the redesigned site.

An ipad training that happens during the semester and not during breaks. A writers’ group Library retreat time (a weekend? afternoons?) that is NOT during spring break or other breaks Students understanding how to use the library and do research on the internet

Response: We are planning 4 to 5 basic iPad sessions at varying times each semester to provide more opportunities for participation. Please help us by letting us know what times would be best for faculty.  Again, thanks to Academic Affairs, we now have 30 more iPads for classroom use.

The problem with a writer’s retreat that is not during the off-time is that our study rooms are designated for student use during the semesters. With 10,000+ students, we want to give them the maximum opportunity to achieve academic success during the semester.  You are welcome to use the faculty resource room 336 at your leisure, if you need a quiet space to work. We will work with Academic Affairs to explore other retreat possibilities.

We are working on developing guides that do a better job of walking users through using our services, tools and the research process. We also have librarians available to provide research consultations and instruction for students in your courses.

Continued strong support from ILI Establishing institutional repository for managing research data/results in compliance with NSF/NIH Money Time Faculty browsing room for print journals

Response: With support from Academic Affairs, the library has increased its Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services to improve deliver times for faculty.

An institutional or academic digital repository has been developed, is being tested and rolled out by targeting specific projects. Please contact Heather Gilbert in our Digital Services and Scholarship department for more details and participation information.

You are welcome to take print journals and other material into the faculty resource room 336 for browsing.

The only thing the library could help further is to consider providing faculty (even if only for the breaks) with carrels where we can leave books and other material for an extensive period of time.

Response: Currently we have some limited space in lockable cabinets in the faculty resource room 336. We will continue to explore other storage options.

The ability to access full-length articles from off-campus. When I (and my students) log in from off-campus the access becomes very limited, sometimes one or two full-length before it says we no longer have access, sometimes a few more. It basically makes working from home impossible.

Response: Unless otherwise stated, you should have access to the same databases from home as you have on campus using your myCharleston credentials. If you experience a problem accessing library databases from home, please contact us at http://answers.library.cofc.edu/.  Please let us know what database you are attempting to access, the error or other message you receive, whether you are accessing from myCharleston, the library website, Google or etc.  Also, please contact us using the link above to make sure your article links have the correct proxy information when you place them in OAKS.

A better maintained scantron room, one that is unlikely to run out of printer ink or paper. 2. Everything thing else at the library is great – honestly, I can’t think of another thing.

Response: We’ve contacted IT regarding ordering more supplies to better stock the room.

Five things the library doesn’t already do? Hmmm… in grad school we had library carrels where you could keep books and notes so you didn’t have to lug things all over campus. That would help, but probably not possible here. It would also help to have the library cafe open during breaks.

Response: Again, we have some limited space in lockable cabinets in the faculty resource room 336. We will continue to explore other storage options.

The café in the library is in the process of transitioning from Java City to Starbucks. We will ask and hopefully Auxiliary Services will extend their hours during breaks due to popularity and increased revenue generating potential.