September 2011 Update

International Initiatives
Earlier this week, 2 librarians from Linneaus University in Sweden visited with many of us about potential Student Internships and Employee Exchanges. Next steps will include Mary Somerville working with the director of UCD’s Office of International Affairs on a memorandum of understanding. For more information about our 2 days of meetings, you may visit the International Initiatives section on the wiki.

Position Searches
*Head of Research and Instruction - this position has been approved. Marical will chair the yet-to-be selected search committee.

*Security Guard - AHEC Police continue to search for a replacement guard for the Library. Interviews will likely be the first of October and Marical will sit in on those interviews.


Renovation
I have been asked for information from a UCD Advocate reporter about our renovation. I am sharing the content of my initial email to him below. He may do a follow-up interview with me and notes that he expects the article to run in the Sept 21 Advocate. As always, if you are contacted for information by a reporter, you will want to send the reporter to Catherine Ostrander. In this specific case, I took the reporter’s inquiry.

Here is the email exchange with the reporter about the Library renovation, including some remarks that you might find informative:

From: Daniel Alvarez
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 3:52 PM
To: Hashert, Cynthia
Subject: Re: Library Renovations

Thank you!

I think that would be a great idea. We could run pieces periodically with updates and such, since I'm sure things are bound to come up and decisions might have to be made as to how to improve on the current designs and so forth

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 3:48 PM, Hashert, Cynthia wrote:

Since we are thinking of the renovations in phases [Daniel had asked about when the renovations will be finished], I don’t have that kind of timeline. However, this “first phase” is supposed to be completed sometime at the beginning of the Spring Semester. Does that help? Perhaps since this project is in phases, you and I can continue to touch base over time and we can update this ongoing story…we think of it as a journey to creating the library of the 21st Century, so you can come on the journey with us!
Thanks,
Cindy

On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 7:37 PM, Hashert, Cynthia wrote:

The Library Director, Mary Somerville, has been collaborating over the last several months with personnel across the 4 institutions on the Auraria campus, including planners, administrators, students, and faculty, to determine how the Library facility can best meet the needs of the campus. The overall vision of this process is to create enhanced learning spaces for the students of this campus.

When Auraria Library was built 35 years ago, it was intended to serve a maximum of 15,000 students. Today, nearly 50,000 students, faculty, and staff from the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver, utilize the Library’s digital and physical resources, enabling them to “engage their minds and enrich their futures (that is our tagline).

Approximately 25,000 visitors enter the building weekly, and that does not count the thousands that visit our online Library. Building upon the Library building’s distinctive urban architecture, natural lighting, open concept, and sunny courtyards, we envision improved spaces for students to do collaborative/group study, use a myriad of print and online resources, seek research help from subject-specialist librarians, tap into improved wireless capacity, use technology-enriched group study rooms, reflect and read in quiet areas on the 2nd floor, and more.

Several months ago, we performed a student survey asking students what they would like to see in the Library. Two of the top votes were for additional seating and additional electrical capacity (for laptops and other mobile devices). For more information on the survey, I can put you in touch with Meg Brown-Sica who spear-headed that initiative.I am happy to say that we have addressed those top picks and added many new tables and chairs to the first floor of the building, plus, we added about 76 electrical outlet throughout 1st and 2nd floors.

As you might imagine…all of this requires considerable planning with a number of constituents and costs money including donor dollars, so we are approaching these renovations in phases. The current phase involves relocating some of the staff offices towards the back of the Library on the 1st floor. This move will allow us to open up spaces in the front of the Library for student learning spaces and activities. It will also improve the sight-lines and therefore the way-finding for students as they enter the building (the building can be a little confusing to navigate).

Soon a construction wall will be built in the back of the 1st floor of the building and that area will be renovated to house Library staff. When that project is completed, much of the staff office space that occupies the “front” of the 1st floor will be opened up. This “first step” will allow the future phases that will include group study rooms, renovated restroom facilities, improved food options, and more, to progress as we envision the Library that meets the needs of 21st Century students, faculty, and staff.

Oh my, I have gone on and on. You might be able to tell this is exciting stuff and I would love to chat with you. Shall we look for a time on Wednesday?

Thanks for taking an interest in the Library!
Cindy


Information Delivery Services
Welcome to Mohamed to the Ask Us Desk where he has been cross-training for a few weeks now.

Welcome Mary S to the IDS office/processing area. Moving into the IDS area until room 118 is remodeled, Mary will office in the area beside Cindy M. Her office on 2nd floor will be used as a meeting room (258F) that can be booked online just like the Friends Conference room.


ERI Student Employees

Research Help/Instruction Student Employees
New
• Tiffany Curtin (MLIS, DU)
Tiffany will be doing research help (Desk, IM and AskAcademic) , teaching library instruction session and working on projects as assigned.

• Ian Burke (Ph.D, DU)
Ian will be doing research help (Desk, IM and AskAcademic) , teaching library instruction session and working on projects as assigned.

Returning
• Dina Hornriech (MLIS, DU)
Research Help, teaching and projects as assigned.

• Tina Howell (MLIS, DU)
Research Help, teaching and projects as assigned.

• Megan Welsh (MLIS, DU)
Research Help, teaching and projects as assigned.

Fall 2011 - What's New

Third day into Fall 2011 and all is going well :-). Hooray!

Thanks to everyone for greeting our 6500+ daily Library users with a friendly smile and a helpful attitude. Of course, our work continues through the Summer, but there is no denying the distinct "buzz" of the Fall semester...the service desks, virtual reference (text, IM, email), reserves, research consultations, faculty collaborations, ILL, materials selection/analysis/management, instruction requests, Skyline patron database and circulation module updates, Prospector borrowing and lending, video bookings, etc are all going into high gear.

Our Getting Ready for Fall Punchlist served us well. We were able to spiff up the Library in a couple of areas. Carpet was cleaned or tiles replaced; furniture replaced and repositioned on both floors; I think at least some of the windows cleaned; Hannah and other Gov Pub/Ref Collection students tidied the courtyards and cleared out the ERIC microfiche collection; Ask Us refresher training completed; signage updated; maps created; orientations planned and executed; new Open Lab tutoring hours posted; Fall bookmarks designed and delivered, other marketing materials and handouts updated...
http://intranet.auraria.edu/wiki/index.php/Fall_2011_Punchlist

The What's New poster and flyers created by Amy and Mary D. with QR codes contributed by Gayle and photos from Jeffrey and others, point out some changes from last semester. For example, we remind folks (as we do on Library FYI) that the Library is undergoing the first phase of remodeling and ask that they "pardon our dust".

Joseph Sanchez, our instructional designer hired in July, has created a TEXTBOOK video. This video is available on Library FYI and is looping on a monitor next to Research Help. The video plus the Textbook resource guide created by Bill will help to effectively and creatively answer the most frequently asked question of the first 3 weeks of the semester:
"Does the Library have my textbook?"

Video link http://library.auraria.edu/does-the-library-have-textbooks
Guide link http://guides.auraria.edu/content.php?pid=59042&search_terms=textbook

If you see anything that needs my attention, don't hesitate to let me know.

P.S. Last year, I made an attempt to improve communication with and in ERI Services using our newsletter/blog. I am renewing that commitment. Therefore, you will see the information in this email on the blog where it will be retained if you need it for future reference. ERI News is on the wiki under our departmental name and at this link http://aurariaerinews.blogspot.com/

Many thanks to you all, Cindy H

ERI October Update

Moving Collections
As you have observed by now, PSI has completed the move of the Periodicals collection to the area formerly occupied by Government Publications (now on 2nd floor). The responsibility for the shelving of the Periodicals and microforms has reverted to Technical Services. Since Technical Services is responsible for placing the materials into these collections, for pulling for bindery, for pulling for microform replacements, for pulling for the electronic equivalents project, it makes sense for that group to be responsible for the shelving as well.

The move of the Periodicals opened up significant collaborative study space on the south side of the 1st floor. Also, a popular study space on the 1st floor was expanded when we were able to remove 2 ranges at the end of the new Periodicals space. That area outside of rm 118 and the Access Center has long been a favorite group study space. Many thanks to Jerry, Jim, Becky and others for relocating furniture into these areas.

Job well done to all the folks involved in the moving of collections and furniture over the last several weeks.

Shared Leadership Team
Last month, ERI was looking for a new rotation of members onto the Shared Leadership Team. For this year, our representatives will be Tom, Karen, and Judith.

Research Help Kiosk
A Research Help kiosk has been set up on one of the two PCs beside the Research Help Desk (the other PC will remain a Quick Look point for now). We created this beta version of a Research Help kiosk with 2 things in mind, when the Research Help desk is not staffed or when it is very busy, the kiosk will:

* provide an easy way for students to set up Research Help appointments; to get to IM/AskAcademic; to find additional Research Help contact information

* give a few quick answers to frequently asked questions without waiting in line

The webpage that this PC has as its homepage is http://library.auraria.edu/kiosk. Check it out and don’t be shy about giving us feedback or suggestions on the service. (Cindy, Karen, Brittany and Gayle)

ADI Update from Gayle
Thanks to the work of everyone on the subject teams the subject headings of the ADI are almost reconstituted. There will always be updates and changes but what we have now is very useful.

Informed Learning Blueprint Working Group
This Working Group has been formed to develop an instructional program for campus intro-level courses that is also applicable to international students, English language learners, and to U.S. learners from multi-cultural backgrounds. The Group members are Eric (Social Sciences Team), Tom (Professional Studies Team), Nikki (AHA Team), Karen (Academic Support Team), Mary D (Academic Support Team), Lorrie (Social Sciences Team), Ignacio (Sciences Team), myself and Hilary Hughes. As the UCD Fulbright Scholar in Residence, Hilary brings expertise in informed learning concepts and in working with international students. Interested in learning more? Go to the wiki at IL Blueprint Working Group

IDS Update
The Information Delivery Services group is finally together! This will facilitate the cross-training needed in the vital services for which they are responsible (Ask Us, ILL, Reserves, media, etc). While the IDS staffing situation was in a state of change for the last few months, the transfer of staff from other areas into IDS, the merger of the department, and the cross-training plans will result in a strong, well organized group able to meet the varied needs of our library users.

ERI Staff Directory Pages
We win! Look at our pages in the Library staff directory. What a great turn out for getting our pictures taken and up on the web...another demonstration of our commitment to good customer service.
ERI staff pages

Learning Commons
Open Lab Tutoring Pilot - The times and tutoring subject areas have become more stable. The location for this Pilot continues to be outside of the new Faculty Room.

Media Viewing Stations -- Two all-region dvd players/monitors have been added to the area. IT is looking at upgrading some of the computers on the first floor to play all region dvds as well.

Metro State Student Government Calculators Program Pilot -- Last time we looked, the calculators had been checked out about 16 times. No advertising of this Pilot has occurred yet.

Another Retirement :-(
Most of you have heard by now that Louise has announced her retirement effective at the end of January 2011...a huge loss for the Library, for the campus, and for the profession (and it really made me want to hop in an RV and head for Mexico). More news about her retirement party will be forthcoming.

September Update

Shared Leadership Team Membership

As a way of "sharing" and making for a more inclusive process in the Shared Leadership Team, we periodically have agreed to rotating new members onto the Team and giving previous members a break. Last academic year, ERI rotated Cindy Martinez onto the Library's Shared Leadership Team. This year, after serving the Library well for the last couple of years, Louise, Ellen M, and Lorrie will rotate off of SLT. Thanks to all 3 of you VERY MUCH for this service. That means that I will be looking for interested candidates to rotate onto SLT for this academic year (now through end of August 2011). SLT meets twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays from 9am-11am (sometimes adjourn earlier than 11am).

As a reminder the SLT charge: Aims to design inclusive processes for moving the organization forward. Members will work on achieving the goals of the strategic plan, oversee the budget, act on recommendations from library committees and set policy for the library.

Please contact me by Sept 16 if you are interested in serving or if you have questions.

MOVING COLLECTIONS

As you have probably "heard" PSI is moving the Periodicals. AHEC has changed many of our signs (such as the Periodicals signs), but not all. For example, we are still waiting for the SELF CHECK OUT signs.

NOTE: The Denver Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal have been moved this afternoon. These "popular newspapers" that were in the cubby-type shelving in Periodicals are now on the first 2 sections at the beginning of the Current Periodicals. The newspaper rods have been moved to this area as well. The rest of the newspapers will continue to be in the Current Oversized section which will eventually be in the stationary shelving adjacent to the Compact Shelving in the new area.

Government Publications have been relocated to the 2nd floor, except for Gov Pubs microforms and cd roms which are in cabinets and will eventually all be outside of rm 118 (by north door). We will be moving some study tables into that area on 2nd floor since the Government Publications "footprint" was smaller than the Q-R collections...we gained a bit of space for quiet study.

IDS Update
Maybe there is a light at the end of the Reserves tunnel...
The last several weeks have been very busy for IDS as evidenced by these stats and by the very active Ask Us desk:

Reserves - Created and linked 310 reserve course pages. Scanned and/or linked a total of 1538 documents, 437 of which were newly scanned and created documents.

ILL - Processed 616 borrowing requests. Processed 514 lending requests.

Self-Check is working well for Metro and returning UCD students, and progress is being made on making it work for our entire student body...for CCD students and our new UCD students (the data load to add these new UCD students to our system is close at hand).

Subject Teams
Members of the Subject Teams have been hard at work in a number of areas, including heavy instruction requests, busy Research Help activity in all its formats, numerous faculty and student consultations, e-resources trials, recommendations/negotiations for a new set of EXCITING electronic resources for our collection, ...plus a suite of goals for this year and next focusing on collaborating with the campus faculty...are keeping us in high gear.

Work to turn the old CAR room into a Student Appointment/Consultation area is proceeding. We have purchased a combined copier, fax, printer, scanner to replace the separate machines that take up most of the space in the CAR room now and it will be delivered soon. IT (Doug) is working setting up 2 dual monitor stations in the room. Therefore, when students make appointments and need a longer consultation than can be effectively provided in IM or at the Research Help desk, we will be able to use this room for these student consultations (in addition to doing consultations in private offices etc). Of course, faculty consultations can be held in the new Faculty Room (door code 2323). Only campus faculty and library staff are allowed in the Faculty Room.

July 2010 Update

Moving Collections Project
The Moving Collections project has reached the end of Phase 1. That is, the Q – R books on the 2nd floor have been relocated to the northwest corner of the floor (in the former red-carrel area). Now, the classification sequence is Q – Z in that area. Hooray!

Phase 2 has begun which means that the government publications are being moved to 2nd floor, in the former Q – R area. In other words, the government publications will be located outside of Archives. Once gov pubs are moved, the current and bound journals will be moved into the former gov pubs area on 1st floor, next to the Computer Commons.

Thanks to all who have worked hard to make these moves possible - Special Projects, Shelving, Becky, Collection Development, Technical Services, and others). The result will be a vibrant collection surrounded by increased quiet study areas. Library maps are in the process of being updated.

When these phases of the Moving Collections project are complete, we will have a Party!


Subject Teams - Planning for Fall Goals

Members of the Subject Teams (Arts, Humanities & Architecture; Professional Studies; Socials Sciences; and Sciences) are updating individual professional plans and focusing on creating Team plans. We have also created a new Academic Support Team (to focus on non-disciplinary based campus collaborations). Meeting several newly defined goals will necessitate changes in Research Help and IM scheduling, in approach to the instruction strategic goals, and in how the Reference and Instruction departments are organized. To help us accomplish these goals, beginning August 1, the Reference and Instruction Librarians*, Bill Tietjen, and Tobey Stein will begin reporting directly to Cindy Hashert. The bibliographers*, Mary Dodge, Gayle Bradbeer, and Judith Valdez will continue to report directly to Cindy.

For more information on this topic, you are welcome to take a look at the intranet under the ERI/Subject Teams headings.

*see next entry for how these job titles are changing.

Librarian Title Changes

To more effectively communicate the scope of our jobs to the campus faculty and students, we have made a few changes in librarian job titles.

The Reference and Instruction Librarian title has changed to Research and Instruction Librarian.In some circumstances, the librarian will add their subject areas to their title.

The Bibliographer title has changed to Collection Development Librarian. If the Collection Development Librarian has a minor, that description may be added to their title. For example, Ellen Metter's title is Collection Development and Research Librarian. In some circumstances, the Collection Development Librarians will add their subject areas to their titles.

Collections Moving

As reported on May 18, collections in the Library are on the move!

Mohamed and the Shelving unit have been busy shifting the G's and H's to make room for a new student study area on the south side of the 2nd floor. The Shelving unit has completed a shift of the J-K's to make room for the repatriation of scores currently housed in PASCAL. This extra room will also allow us to stop using the very top and bottom shelves for the scores, thus making them easier to access for our student (not to mention, easier for us to shelve).

Shifting of the S-Z's has begun as well. After our contractor, PSI, moves some of the emptied H shelving to the front of the S's, they will begin moving the Q-R's in front of the S's...therefore, the "red" carrels will be displaced by the Q-R books.

ERI SERVICES UPDATE. May 18, 2010

Move of Collections
User Conduct Policy and Next Steps
Stairwells
IDS Staffing/Work Area
Signage

Move of Collections

We have a number of Summer projects on tap, one of which involves the carrying capacity project and the Learning Commons. For many months folks in Government Publications, in Special Projects, in Collection Development, and in Technical Services have been involved in the carrying capacity projects. We have been analyzing collections, identifying materials duplicated by electronic resources, and looking for zero-use or little-used resources. The results of this process includes creating sharper in-house collections, sending little-used materials to PASCAL, and opening up learning spaces for both quiet and collaborative study and research on 1st and 2nd floors.

Becky and Cindy H met with AHEC and PSI today to discuss how PSI will help move some of our collections in July. We have written a phased plan for the moves and will use this to get a quote from PSI. Basically, as we have discussed in previous ERI meetings, we will move Gov Pubs to the 2nd floor in the Q-R area; move the Q-R's to the beginning of the S's; potentially move the current and bound journals to the former Gov Pubs area. We are attempting to do this while preserving quiet study on 2nd floor and creating additional collaborative spaces on the south side of the 1st floor. More information to follow.


User Conduct Policy and Next Steps

We reviewed the User Conduct Policy at an ERI Services meeting on May 18, 2010. The revised policy is on the intranet at http://intranet.auraria.edu/wiki/index.php/User_Conduct_Policy_Draft_May_18%2C_2010

The policy will next go to Shared Leadership and then will be reviewed by UCD legal counsel. There is an ERI commitment to enforcing the rules of the policy on a consistent basis and with the involvement of everyone in the Library. Further, there is a commitment to reporting problems by writing incident reports that needs to be a Library-wide commitment as well.

Next steps for vetting and enforcing our User Conduct Policy:

1. Need assurance that UCD legal counsel, the AHEC Police, and our Administration will back us up in the enforcement of these rules.

2. Need to have everyone in the Library participate in this enforcement.

3. Need to create "scripts"; that is, language that might be useful in speaking with violators.

4. Need to establish a system in which all of our Library employees feel safe in approaching people who are infringing on the rules. It is our belief, that after a period of concerted enforcement, some behaviors will be modified and infractions will become less frequent. Therefore, we want to

- Establish a "schedule" in which employees, accompanied by a security guard, will walk through the building looking for violations, inform the individual(s) when their conduct violates our policy,give them a copy of the policy, tell them they must cease the conduct or leave. Non-compliance on the part of the individual will result in the employee filling out an incident report and the security guard handling the removal of the individual. This enforcement activity will apply to all Library employees. For some period of time (2 months?), the security guard will need to work sufficient day-time hours to ensure that this is a Library-wide enforcement effort. After this time, the security guard's hours would be primarily nights and weekends.

and/or

- Establish a "schedule" in which a team of employees (2 people?) will walk through the building looking for violations, inform the individual(s) when their conduct violates our policy,give them a copy of the policy, tell them they must cease the conduct or leave. Non-compliance on the part of the individual will result in the employee calling the AHEC Police and filling out an incident report. This will apply to all Library employees (and Diane cannot be on every team :-)

5. Need to determine best means for advertising this policy and perhaps our intention to renew enforcement efforts:

1) We will remove the old policy and potentially replace with the highlights of this policy when approved.

2) Suggestion to make 4 big, poster size signs and put at the front door, by the back 2 stairwells, in the Shelving area on 2nd floor.

3) Suggestion to create a "static" digital sign at the front door. This could be a large size LCD screen that flips through 5 announcements: welcome message; user conduct policy; library map; hours; and desk services (or "what's new" or whatever). The LCD screen could be one side of a "kiosk", the other side of which is the Self Check machine.

4) Suggestion to pick "infraction spots", such as the restrooms and under the stairs, to mount the rules.

Stairwells

We are seeking a quote on the cost of "enclosing" the area under the stairwells.

IDS Staffing/Work Area

The plans for improving the Library have really gained traction. Creating the Ask Us, Tech Help, and Research Help, the painting, the signage, the Architecture class projects, Mary S's advocacy, etc. have caught the attention of the campus administrators and campus planners. Great news for our future building improvements. It does mean that the plans we had for the creation of the IDS Staffing/Work area will be delayed while the planning and the fund raising progresses. Therefore, the "circ" staff currently living in room 129 will be moving over to the IDS (old Reserves/Media area) without the benefit of the beautiful modular walls that we had picked out...we have to wait a while for that...but just think of those beautiful windows you will have!


Signage

We are still expecting the brushed aluminum signs and the plexiglass signs for the service areas on the 1st floor...Becky continues to work with AHEC on this.

We have removed the New Auraria Library poster/exhibit in the front of the Library and the Communications Committee, Amy, Mary D, and others are working on a replacement describing what will be new for Fall 2010.