On January 2, 2008 the Health Science and Human Services Library started renovation on its first, second and third floor. One of the goals of the construction is to include the Offices of Records and Registration and Student Accounting. These offices will be located in library which is adjacent to the Campus Center which is also under construction. The second goal is to have the library accessible 24 hours by the end of the Campus Center completion.
The library asked suggestions from their student patrons as to what they thought needed to be improved. From the suggestions the Reference Desk will be moved to the front of the building, a Quick Help button has been added to the library's computer to allow students to seek a librarian's help from their computer, computers be moved closer to the entrance of the building and that computers for visitors be in a designated area.
According to Alexa Mayo, the associate Director of services at HSHSL, by doing away with indexes the library reduced index shelving by 75% and reduced reference shelving by 50%.
Renovations allowed 30 new computers on the first floor and 21 on the second floor. Computers can be found through out the library on all five floors. The library kept the 45 study rooms that it originally had but renovated them a chair, a table, a white board, an electric outlet and a wireless and plug-in internet connection. There is a new conference room on the firth floor with a retractable screen and data connection.
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In this example I liked the Quick Help button on each computer which magically calls a librarian for you. Also another thing that I liked is the fact that by moving the ref desk up front index shelving was reduced by 75% and reference shelving by 50%.
ReplyDeletegreat job!
Nice post. The improvements are definitely showing the shift to online reference sources. I love the call-the -librarian feature, although I would surely be wearing tennis shoes if I was the librarian. No more sitting behind a desk.
ReplyDelete24 hour access to the library sounds great from a student perspective, but I imagine that it can provide staffing and budgeting problems from a librarian’s perspective. Security might also be an issue here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all three of the previous posts. I like the Reference summons idea, placing reference material online, and the 24 hr. library. I am sure access to certain parts of the library could not be 24hr, but so much information and service is now electronic.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I read fits this trend—“mini” libraries in dorms. Since so much is now electronic, why does the “library” have to be a central location? Some campus dorms (and collections of dorms) house thousands of students. Why not take the library TO them? I know Az. State has classrooms in dorms. Attendance at 8am classes certainly improved.
---Robin Robinson
I like the way their website set up. I feel it's easy to use and organized. It's great that they're also on Facebook, they have pictures of the renovation on Flick, and they even have tutorials on Itunes! Students at the University of Baltimore have great access and resources with the new improvements.
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