OATdb Archive

2010 - 2011

Library, Newton Gresham

Goal
Professional Development
Provide opportunities for professional development and training for librarians and staff to maintain knowledge and skills in all aspects of Librarians.

Objective
Professional Development And Training
 Participate in programs that will develop and maintain skills in applying knowledge effectively to established library systems; to identify best practices and adapt them to the local environment, thus ensuring they will be able to provide quality service to the SHSU community and the Library.


Indicator
In-house Development Program
Increase the number of in-hours development programs. Last year the Library hosted one development program to improve service. This year the Library will host one development program each semester.

Criterion
In-house Training Program
Present a program related to Human Resource management in the workplace in the fall semester for all faculty and staff. Present a program to improve service at public desks in the Spring.

Finding
In-House Training, Fall 2010
Julie Campbell of the SHSU Human Resources presented a program on Sexual Harressment in September 2010. This program was attended by 34 of the 45 NGL librarians and staff. The question and answer session helped clear-up many misconceptions.

Finding
In-house Training, Spring 2011
The Spring semester program on improving service at public service desks was put on hold while staff and librarians participated in Banner training.

Indicator
Training
Participate in as many training opportunities provided by Amigos, product vendors, professional organizations, etc. as possible, either face to face or online.

Criterion
Training Opportunities
The Librarians and staff will participate in at least 3 training opportunities provided by Amigos, a provider of library services,  and various vendors of databases.

Finding
Training
The library paid for 114 workshops or courses/webinars for individual librarians and staff; 14 of the workshops were for groups and 9 librarians attended online courses this year. This professional development ranged from classes on copyright to Children' books, graphic novels, new calaloging rules, weeding,creating moble websites, digitization and preservation.  The library sponsored 7 training session on how to use databases more successfully, 3 sessions to introduce, train and clarify Banner to Librarians and staff, and 1 webinar on ebooks in general.  

Indicator
Professional Meetings
Support participation in professional meetings by librarians and staff. Professional meetings provide an excellent venue for identify best practices.

Criterion
Professional Meetings
The Library will support at least 1 professional meeting for each librarian.

Finding
Professional Meetings
The Library was able to provide support for 11 librarians to attend 25 conferences/professional meetings. The objective was to provide support to participate in professional meetings to become aware of best practices and research in the field; 65% of the librarians attended professional conferences. Most of the Librarians will participate in the American Library Association's virtual conference, a new section of the annual meeting; the virtual conference will take place over a two day period in July.


Action
In-house Development Program
The program on sexual harrassment in the workplace  was presented in the fall semester for all faculty and staff. The program provided an overview of what sexual harassement is and what it isn't. Supervisors used the program to review current policies. Although misconceptions were evident in the discussion portion of the presentation, a review of the departmental policies indicated the policies were followed those of EEOC.

The Library will support professional development activities and training. These activities help librarians maintain their skill level and develop new skills. The Library continues to benefit from the participation in these programs.  Librarians and staff are able to easily transition into the upgrades and new procedures when they participate in training classes. This makes change easier on everyone.

Goal
Services
Provide and improve the services that support the learning, teaching, and research needs of students, faculty and the University

Objective
Student Satisfaction With Library Services
Provide Library services which meet the needs of the students while supporting  research and the curriculum.

Indicator
Library Services And Resources Survey
An e-mail survey based on a national student satisfaction survey conducted by Primary Research Group to all currently enrolled students, both undergraduated and graduate; this survey is designed to provide Library faculty and staff with information about student satisfaction with Library services and resources.

Criterion
Student Satisfaction
  • The responses from SHSU students will not differ significantly from the responses in the national survey.

Finding
Resposes To 2010 SHSU Library Resources And Services Student Survey
In response to the statements:
1. "My Library helps me find the information I need for my research projects", 71.03% of the respondents agreed; more respondents in the national survey agreed with the statement, 85.46%. 

2. "I feel I am well versed in what the library has to offer and can use the various databases and collections easily or learn to use them easily", more of the respondents,77.16%, agreed they could use the databases and collections easliy.  This response rate is slightly higher than that on the national survey, 75.77%

The results of the survey indicate that:

  •  60% of the SHSU respondents  were satisfied or greatly satisfied with the variety of electronic databases provided by the library, while 64% of the national survey respondents indicate they were satisfied or greatly satisfied with the variety of databases provided.  
  • 54.8% of the respondents indicated that the library instruction they received was helpful or very helpful, while 49.8% of the national respondents indicated they found library instruction helpful or very helpful.
  • 42% of those who received library instruction got most of their information from online library resources, as opposed to 27.9% of those who had not recieved instruction.
Results that were not as expected include:

  • 82.4% of respondents reports going to the library at least once a month.
  • 79.2% of those who had received instruction in the databases reported that the instruction was helpful to some degree.
  • 92.7% belief that the library’s hours are sufficient for their needs.
  • Many fewer SHSU students believe that the University should have a required information literacy course than did respondents to the national survey.
  • The majority of students had never requested material through InterLibrary Loan.

Action
NGL Response To Survey
To make students more aware of the variety of online resources:

  • Highlight a database on the NGL webpage, provide a brief description and a quick search box for easy use. A new database is highlighted every 2 weeks.
  • Mobile access to many of the Library's database was added in the Fall and Spring.
To assist students in finding the information they need in a specific subject field NGL is expanding its use of LibGuides to connect with students, share information online, and make information more accessible. One reference librarian is working on a LibGuide for an online history course. Embedding a librarian in an online course should improve accessibility to information. A reference librarian created a LibGuide for the common reader for FY 2012; this should make a large number of incoming freshmen aware of library resources.

In the summer of 2011, the Library Director supported by reference librarians talked with parents and incoming freshmen during freshman orientation about library resources and how to contact librarians when the student  needs help identify material for a course. Hopefully these sessions will assist parents in transistioning their student from using a parent as their resource for information to contacting a librarian for help. We emphasized that the librarians and staff of NGL are here to help and are the Library's most valuable resource. 



Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement Overall the Newton Gresham Library had a successful year meeting most criterion set for the objectives. Some of the responses to the satisfaction survey were disappointing but we were pleased to find that more SHSU students reported coming to the library at least once a month than did students responding to the national survey; 82.4% of the SHSU respondents indicated they came to the Library once a month as compared to 75.8% in the national survey. The Library will look for ways to make students aware of our resources and provide more points of access to library resources. Some ideas currently under consideration to introduce students to library services and resources are: featuring electronic resources on the webpage and in Books and Bytes; embed a librarian in at least one online course in 2012, as a pilot, as well as in the University’s common reader program. The library was able to support attendance at professional conferences this year but budget constraints next year will probably reduce the level of support. The library will provide access to training and development programs; these programs help improve library services and resources for the SHSU community.