Annual Report 2007-2008
Accomplishments:
[insert items from minutes here in bulleted form]
May 2007
- Assistance with the development of "scholarly vs. popular" tutorial (http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/tutorials/scholarlyfinal/)
- Cindy reported successful implementation of e-portfolio on the Peabody campus
August 2007:
- Sue Erickson assumed responsibility for chairing this committee as part of her new duties as Director of System-wide Public Services
- RSC received updates on the library's marketing campaign (Celia Walker), Vanderbilt Visions and the Committee on Undergraduate Information Literacy (Melinda) and Primo (Jody Combs)
- We established a new day and time for meetings (2nd Mondays at 2:00)
September 2007:
- Developed a plan to group the Libraries' databases into quicksets for the Primo implementation.(
- Proposed changes to the ACORN timeout page.
December 2007:
- Reviewed AlphaSearch (DiscoverLibrary): possibility for the display of our database list and options for an embedded search box. [Options for the database list are being explored by the Library Guides Project Team. -July 2008]
- Chris conducted a survey of Divinity students, faculty and staff to see what bibliographic management packages they are using. Endnote emerged as the most highly used package, with Zotero coming in second. Chris also developed a very informational Web page on bibliographic management software. The URL is: http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/bibmanager.html
- Exploration of bibliographic management software - training for EndNote Web, trial for RefWorks, handout on Zotero (Peabody). [LDC has decided that there will be no trials or changes until after a new University Librarian has been appointed. - June 2008]
- A RSC subgroup decided that future Reference and Instruction Forum sessions would be grouped into themes. A survey on possible themes is to be conducted.
- Approved the addition of a second clock in the e-Classroom at the request of a staff member.
- Collaboration meeting with the Writing Studio.
February 2008
- Discussion of DiscoverLibrary including items to cover in training for front lines staff; QuickSets to be included; and plans for a Reference and Instruction Forum session centered around DiscoverLibrary.
- Update on the Commons Service Evaluation Team.
- Revision of committee charge and the role of committee members, removing positions currently unfilled and adding new positions. Submitted to Library Directors Council for approval. [Approved February 13, 2008]
- Reminder to disseminate information from the committee to staff in members' respective libraries so that all library staff are kept informed about developments.
14 April 2008
- Brainstormed about possible ways of displaying information about databases to our users. Generated a list of desired features and priorities.
A project team was later formed - see Library Guides Project Team.
May 2008
- Content changes were made to the Guide to Libraries. A formal review group will be formed in January which can make a more in-depth study of needed changes to the Guide.
- It was decided to add the DiscoverLibrary search box to the Heard Library home page in addition to the Acorn search box.
- The Charge for the Library Guides Project Team was reviewed and approved by the group. See Library Guides Project Team.
- Sara Manus will be the new convener for the Reference and Instruction Forum.
June 2008
- Initial discussion on how to update Guide to Libraries.
- Discovery Library Project Team begins work with one subgroup doing usability testing and a second analyzing statistics to determine current use patterns.
- Report made to Library Directors Council on reference management packages. LDC tabled question until arrival of new University Librarian.
Reference & Instruction Forum topics covered:
The Reference and Instruction Forum hosted several sessions during 2007-08. A "show and tell" was hosted on July 18, 2007 where library staff were encouraged to demonstrate and share research tools and techniques with one another. On August 8, 2007, the group held a discussion about the database subject groupings on the Library's public web page. On November 1, 2008, Chris Benda led a session on the various types of bibliographic management software available.
Topics were chosen by the planning group for the forum: Sue Erickson (convenor), Melinda Brown, Kitty Porter, Sara Byrd, and Sara Manus. In May 2008, Sara Manus agreed to take over as convenor of the planning group. New members for the group will be sought before the beginning of the fall semester.
Library Guides Project Team: The Library Guide Project Team was created to address the system-wide need for a way to improve the way the creation and management of library guides (including subject and course pages guides.) See http://wiki.library.vanderbilt.edu/committees/pmwiki.php/RSC/LibraryGuidesProjectTeam
Goals: (to be set at the July meeting, but feel free to add notes here for discussion)
Potential Goals for 2008/09:
- Settle on a way to create library subject and course guides and lists of databases -- project team is in progress (sje).
- Create a DiscoverLibrary tutorial
- Hold a Reference & Instruction Forum discussion about incorporating DiscoverLibrary into reference & instruction
- Enhance the Vanderbilt Visions webpage for first-year students: http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/vv/
- Establish a project team to collect instructional materials (handouts, online guides, tutorials) and create a virtual space on the Heard website to house them
- Establish an online "sandbox" for instructional materials that are in-progress so that feedback can be obtained from staff, faculty, and students, and collaboration among library staff fostered
- Work with the Staff Development Committee to identify and coordinate training for reference and instruction staff
- Work with SDC to identify opportunities (training, coaching) to address the issue of current balancing job responsibilities with new demands
- Establish and document core reference values and service expectations
Notes
- Continue to integrate DiscoverLibrary into our web environment (embedded search boxes, prominent links, etc.)
There is a project team under the Digital Library Steering Committee that is in charge of this, so integrating DL within the web environment is not really in our purview. What we need to discuss is how to integrate DL into reference and instruction. Should we set up a project team to create a tutorial? Other ideas? (sje)
- Any resolution with toolbars? S&E developed one, but further development by other libraries was put on hold to see what Primo could do.
Not sure what the context for this question is, but we do have a VU LibX toolbar for Firefox. I'm working on getting it updated to the latest version (currently it doesn't work for FF3); near-future versions will also work with IE. -jmg
- Does RSC take credit for the presentations to all first year students in September 2007?
No, this was a project that came out of the Committee on Undergraduate Information Literacy (sje)
- Any decision on OAK anti-plagiarism software?
- Did the new clock get installed in the e-classroom? [Dec 2007 meeting] -- still working on this due to defective equipment
- Did a Writing Studio representative ever visit one of our Reference and Instruction Forum sessions? [Dec 2007 meeting]
No, but we held few discussion during the past year. As new convener, Sara should keep the Writing Studio and Center for Teaching in mind as potential guests as seems appropriate to the topics for discussion.
- What were the results of the survey conducted by the Reference & Instruction Forum to solicit ideas for future sessions? [Dec 2007 meeting]
This survey was never distributed. The person who was working on this is no longer here. The Reference & Instruction Forum planning group will need to decide whether to proceed with this. Sue can give background info. (sje)