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« on: September 25, 2015, 10:10:45 AM »
Morrisville State College
Adam Saunders
Library Space
The space at the Morrisville library has been changing as we make improvements and additions to our front entrance and study areas. The front entrance of the library has always been a point of contention among students and faculty, as it did not allow for easy traffic flow through the space. The main issue was that we had a single gate counter which was set up as an exit, which meant traffic had to be funneled through two points in order to get accurate counts. Removal of the gate allowed for traffic to flow with ease while entering or exiting the library. Our people counter was replaced by two ceiling mounted sensors operating through a cloud based system. The response to these changes has been overwhelmingly positive from students and faculty. One concern we had with removing our gate was that it also acted as a security system. Now with the front entrance open there is little we can do to stop materials from walking out. Therefor during the course of the fall semester we will be conducting a study to assess the walking rate of materials. We will be using our Sheila Johnson collection on the first floor as these are some of the higher circulated materials.
In addition to this we shifted some of our back periodicals and removed 700 linear feet of shelving from the first floor to make room for a new group study and computer space. On the second floor in our quiet study zone we have ordered several new Agati POD workstations that will occupy one of our more sun soaked corners of the library and give our students a new option for single study.
Circulation Services
The circulation desk under the guidance of our new Circulation Coordinator Elizabeth Marcella has added charging cables to the list of lending materials. We now provide cables to cover most requested devices including student issued Lenovo YOGA and T430 laptops, Apple devices with Lightning and 30 pin connections, and a mini USB charger for Android phones and other devices. We have also updated the lending policy for our very successful iPad lending program. iPads for this program having been lending as overnight loans, due to the frequency of loans we decided it would be in our best interest to increase the loan period to 1 week.
Library Art Exhibit
The Morrisville library usually always has an art exhibit on display, and the start of the fall semester was no different. Between August 1st and September 20th the library hosted the works of Gerard H. Gaskin's photography. The exhibit titles “Legendary” features striking portraits of African American and Latino members of urban house and ballroom communities. Cast out by their biological parents, these "children" form support networks of makeshift families to redefine their sense of self-worth and their own systems of social rewards. On Thursday, September 10th Mr. Gaskin attended a reception at the library showcasing his works.
Library Marketing
We have been pushing for new methods of marketing library resources in order to reach a greater percentage of the student body. Working with Kelly Gardner Williamson in public relations we have turned to social media and will be posting major library events on the campus Facebook account and have set up a library Instagram account which all librarians have access to. Through the Instagram account we will be posting images of library gallery exhibits, displays, new materials, and random daily and weekly highlights. There have also been new and creative methods of marketing that developed over the summer. Olivia Cronn, our library secretary, has offered to publish a monthly library newsletter to be posted in bathrooms. This fun newsletter contains highlights on library events, new resources, helpful tips and fun facts.
The librarians and library staff also had a bit of fun at the end of the summer during Welcome Weekend as students moved into the dorms. A lemonade stand was set up just outside the library entrance, run by our librarians and staff Angela Rhodes, Laura Ryan, Adam Saunders, Olivia Cronn, and Marilyn Cook. This extremely well received event allowed us to interact with incoming students in a less formal setting while still providing them with information on what the library offers in terms of services and resources. We also provided a large map of the campus for direction questions, samples from our new book shelves, copies of Welcome Weekend schedules, library contact information, and some fruits and cookies provided by public relations.
Blackboard Integration
This summer also consisted of a push for more library integration onto the Blackboard Course Management System. The inclusion of Curriculum Builder, a system adopted across SUNY, while be a means to not only give faculty a simple option of adding articles to their course pages from our databases, but will also play a role in the beginnings of phasing out our current electronic reserve system in favor of Blackboard. Over the course of the summer we also developed a top level library tab on Blackboard, giving students direct access to online library resources on the course management system. There were several modules created for this tab: a general library information module with contact information and hours, an EDS search module with links to an advanced search page and course reserves, a Libguide module with a dropdown menu for all our subject and course guides, an online library chat module, and several other search boxes for Google, a dictionary, and thesaurus. We have also advocated that faculty can take any of the modules and to add them to their own course pages, granting even easier access to library resources.
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