Archive for Talia

| August 15, 2019
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Ideas for Re-enaging Patrons in LibAnswers

If you’ve been using LibAnswers for awhile, you might be looking for fun and new ways to reinvigorate and boost usage of your various LibAnswers services.It happens to all of us, we get into a groove and then coast along.

But, if you’re noticing your stats are staying consistently steady, or flatter than Wile E. Coyote after using a catapult (this pun brought to you by Springy Greg! 🙂 ), it might be time to consider implementing some of these tips to turn that plateaued bar chart into a steep spike!

Reimagining LibAnswers FAQs

In case you missed it, SpringyCamp – Springshare’s virtual user conference, occurred on July 31, 2019. Among the amazing lineup of presenters (all of which you can watch here), was a presentation by Mikki Smith from the Corning Museum of Glass on Reimagining LibAnswers FAQs.

Bit of Background

The Corning Museum of Glass has been using LibAnswers since 2014 and created most of their public FAQs from an old database of FAQs from a previous system. Many of the FAQs included attached .doc bibliographics.

Around 2016, they became a bit more selective about which questions should turn into public FAQs, but did not retroactively apply that criteria to existing FAQs.

In 2017, they began to add images to existing FAQs and to use FAQs to highlight exhibitions.

Then, in 2018, looking at data from Google Analytics, they decided to reimagine FAQs as a mobile-friendly experience. Why? Because they noticed that a large percentage of their visitors were from mobile-devices. Thankfully, LibAnswers comes mobile-first right out of the box. But with some small tweaks to their FAQ content, they were able to make their FAQs more user-friendly, more mobile-friendly, and saw their usage stats increase.

Corning Museum of Glass FAQ – On Desktop

Starting with 1,300 FAQs to revise, it was a big project to undertake. Here’s some of the tips from Mikki’s presentation on reimagining their FAQs as an up-to-date visually appealing set of questions:

Same FAQ – On Mobile

  • Visuals – The Corning Museum of Glass has gorgeous objects on display. They make full use of that by embedding images into their FAQs to enrich the user-experience.
  • Improving the Metadata – Improving the FAQ metadata (FAQ title, answer, keywords, topics) helps to improve the SEO and findability of their FAQs. From their Google Analytics data, they found that 80% of their FAQ-traffic came as the result of a Google Search. Meaning that most users weren’t starting at the Library website. They started at Google and then found one of the FAQs because of a Google search on their topic of interest.
  • Actively Linking to Content – The Library and Museum have a ton of content to share with users. Don’t reinvent that content in your FAQs. Link to it in your FAQs to improve SEO and reduce duplication of content and efforts. Mikki and the team try and have at least one link out to existing Library and Museum content on each FAQ so it’s more of an experience and an opportunity to explore.
  • Rich Digital Content – The Library & Museum have videos on their YouTube page. By embedding them in their FAQs, they’re actively promoting their digital content and improving the experience for the patron.
  • Establish a Workflow – Create a workflow to ensure FAQs are updated. Mikki’s team divided the FAQs so each librarian has a dedicated number to review each month.
  • Promote on Social – Proactively promote your FAQs on social media to improve findability and increase your digital outreach.
  • Highlight Exhibitions – Whether or not your library has exhibitions, you might do custom displays for books (i.e. Poetry Month) or a promotion of archives, or an event. Consider creating a LibGuide on that exhibition, event, or display and then embed FAQs right onto it. Corning Museum of Glass did this with their New Glass Now Exhibition LibGuide and then added a tab to their LibAnswers homepage to highlight those FAQs there too.

Highlighting Exhibition, Display, or Event FAQs right on your LibAnswers Homepage

 

Launching Proactive LibChat

If you’ve been offering virtual chat reference services for awhile now, your users might be accustomed to the service and your usage stats are steady, but not increasing.

If you’re looking for a way to increase usage stats of your LibChat reference service, without launching a whole new advertising campaign, consider implementing Proactive LibChat. Proactive LibChat simply turns your LibChat widget into a proactive one – popping out after a customizable period of time asking the user if they need help.

So, instead of waiting for them to ask for help, you can offer help first. Enabling Proactive LibChat is as easy clicking a check-box on your LibChat Widget Builder. We outline how to setup Proactive chat on this blog post.

Institutions that have enabled proactive LibChat saw varying increases in usage from 230% (CSU – Dominguez Hills) to 600% (University of San Diego’s Copley Library). While we can’t promise how your specific demographic will respond, recent research articles written by Michael Epstein from the University of San Diego’s Copley Library and another from Lydia Pyburn from The University of Texas at Arlington Library indicate that the answer is yes!

Upcoming Webinars – Guest Speakers

If you’d like to learn more about LibAnswers Proactive Chat, we have two upcoming guest speaker sessions from real libraries using Proactive LibChat. Sign-up below:

Optimized Session

If you’re in the European Union and you’d like to learn more about LibAnswers and proactive LibChat, we have an optimized time for you!

Category: Client Stories, Customer Service, LibAnswers, LibChat |
| August 8, 2019
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Letters From SpringyCamp – Recordings Available!

‘Camp might be over, but the memories (like the smell of s’mores) live on!

In case you missed it, our annual SpringyCamp virtual conference took place on July 31, 2019. SpringyCamp is Springshare’s virtual user conference giving you, our Springy rawkstars, a platform to showcase all the amazing stuff you’re doing with Springshare tools.

Since its inception in 2012, SpringyCamp is our most fun – and dare we say – exciting events. In fact, we look forward to it all year long down at Springy HQ. Why? Because we get to watch you! We get to learn from…you. The change agents, the harbingers of innovation, the cutting-edge pioneers… you teach not only other Springy users, but you teach us as well. And at the end of every SpringyCamp, all you hear down at our virtual water-cooler is – “well that was amazing!”, “did you see how they did that thing?”, “oh wow, I had no idea you could that with LibGuides!”. We’re as giddy as a kitten in front of a fresh scratching post.

If you didn’t get to experience SpringyCamp live, and you want to join us in the giddy-circle… well you’re in luck! All SpringyCamp recordings, along with presenter notes/slides are available. So if have 20minutes or a couple of hours – pull up your bag of marshmallows and get your sticks ready, cause you’re about to have a sm’roaring good-time!

One last thing, during ‘Camp, we asked guest speakers and SpringyCamp counselors to share the books and shows they’re binging on. So check-out the Books and Movies to Write Home About and if all this talk of s’mores has you craving some gooeyness, we have a S’mores recipe with your name on it!

SpringyCamp Presentations

Tessa Withorn California State University Dominquez HillsTessa Withorn, California State University Dominguez Hills Library

You Shall Pass: Designing Engaging, Student-Center LibWizard Tutorials

Learn how one librarian designed and pitched a course-integrated tutorial for a fully online undergraduate nursing course to introduce evidence-based practice. Tessa will discuss her process of integrating open education resources, animated videos, infographics, and hands on searching to engage students in a discipline-specific research process.


Ellen Filgo, Baylor UniversityEllen Filgo, Baylor University Library

Assessing Research Consultations: Surveying a ‘Captive’ Audience

When the Baylor University Research and Engagement Librarians moved off the reference desk in 2013, they ramped up their research consultation program, using LibCal’s appointment scheduler as a convenient way for students to book appointments with the librarians. In 2017, they came to the realization that there was an untapped opportunity for assessing their program, through LibCal’s automatic email system, which sends a follow-up email to each person making an appointment.

Evan Barber, University of Illinois SpringfieldEvan Barber, University of Illinois Springfield Library

Oh, the Things You’ll Curate: Using LibGuides and LibWizard to Promote Collections and Track Success

Spreading the word about a new collection can be hard and tracking the success of social media posts and events can be even harder. This session will cover how to use LibGuides as a collection curation platform, leverage LibWizard to keep track of suggestions and checkout agreements, and using the reports built into those products to identify if events and social media posts are successful.

Catie Carlson & Luann Edwards, Tiffin UniversityCatie Carlson & Luann Edwards, Tiffin University Library

Using LibCal to Create Consistent Instruction

With nearly half their student population online, it made sense to have a librarian dedicated to online services. They created a touchpoint for online students and a contact in online course development similar to the campus processes. This presentation will walk through how Catie Carlson and Luann Edwards leveraged LibCal to offer similar library learning opportunities and interactions to the entire whole university.

Mikki Smith, Corning Museum of GlassMikki Smith, Corning Museum of Glass

From Answer to Experience: LibAnswers FAQs Transformed

In 2018, the Library’s Public Services Team formalized a plan to re-imagine the pool of several hundred static, redundant, and sometimes out-of-date published FAQs to function as a mobile-friendly, visually appealing introduction to Library and Museum resources. The project has so far raised the profile of the library within the organization and allowed them to strengthen collaborative relationships with other departments as they update the information they provide and the ways in which they provide it.

Bonnie Lafazan & Jessica Kiebler, Berkeley College LibraryBonnie Lafazan & Jessica Kiebler, Berkeley College Library

Using LibInsight to Reshape How We Assess our Marketing & Outreach Efforts

In order to measure the library’s positive impact on the college community, Berkeley College Library’s Outreach & Marketing Committee designed an assessment workflow using a LibInsight form, which allowed them to effectively assess and analyze programming ad outreach efforts, which are aligned to the institutional goals and the library’s operational goals.

Zoe Rath, Berklee College of MusicZoë Rath, Berklee College of Music Library

Moving Beyond Subject-Focused LibGuides

ZoĂ« showcases the unique ways that they used LibGuides to promote library displays, library and campus events, faculty class guides, and even a conference. They partnered with the archives department and created a portal back-in-time to showcase historic black & white photographs celebrating Woodstock’s 50th anniversary using the LibGuides blog functionality.

Congratulations to our Survey Winners

This year, we gave away a free pair of ‘Camp socks and our limited edition Springy tote-bag to three lucky Campers… who completed the feedback survey!
Congratulations to Laura Dumuhosky, Jeanette Hatcher, and Jennifer Walz! Enjoy your ‘Camp socks!

Category: LibAnswers, LibCal, LibGuides, LibGuides CMS, LibInsight, LibWizard, SpringyCamp |
| July 24, 2019
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Feature Spotlight: LibCal Spaces Parent/Child Relationship

LibCal Parent/Child Spaces Tool

Today’s blog post is all about highlighting an awesomely powerful little feature in LibCal – the Parent/Child relationship in Spaces.

Let’s break it down.

Let’s say that you have a large room that patrons are allowed to reserve… let’s call it Room 110. That room can also be divided into smaller spaces, for example, Room 110A, Room 110B, and Room 110C. You want to allow patrons the ability to reserve the entire room 110, or one or more of those smaller spaces… for example just 110A and 110B, but not 110C. If someone reserves just 110A and 110B, they can no longer reserve the entire room 110… only 110C is available to them.

Cue the LibCal Spaces Parent/Child feature that allows you set a large space (Parent) and then each individual sub-space (Child). With this feature, patrons are able to book one of the divided spaces, two of the divided spaces, three (or more of the divided spaces, depending on your setup), or the entire large space.

This smart feature takes away accidental double-bookings. If a patron reserves the entire space, all the sub-spaces automagically become unavailable. On the flip-side, if a patron reserves a sub-space, the ‘entire space’ is subsequently unavailable for booking.

But wait, I don’t have a large space – can I still use this feature?

Yes – this feature isn’t just for large rooms! It can be used to divide up any sized room or space.

Let’s say you have a normal-sized space with two tables inside. Create the Parent Space, the entire room, and create two child spaces for each of the two tables. This way, patrons can reserve Table A, or Table B, or the entire Room… Tables A + Table B.

Let’s see it in action!

First, create your Location, and the Spaces Category.

Tip: for spaces that can be divided up, it’s recommended they get their own category. For example, “Connected Spaces”.

Then:

  • Add Your ‘Parent Space’.
  • Tip: If you want your parent space to appear at the top of the alpha-ordered listing of rooms, add an * to the front of the space title to jump it to the top of the list of rooms.
  • Next add your child spaces and be sure to select, “Is Child/Partial Space of Parent Space”.
  • … and you’re done!

On the patron’s side…

If they book the entire/parent space, it automagically marks the subspaces as unavailable.

Reserving the *Entire Space (parent) removes the child/sub-spaces from the availability calendar.

 

If they book a child space, it removes the Entire Space from booking, but still leaves the other child/sub-space available for reservation.

Booking the child/sub-space removes the entire parent space from the availability schedule.

 

Think of all the ways you can use it!

The flexibility of this feature allows you to rethink all the different ways that patrons can reserve spaces in the library.

  • Reserve an entire room… or just specific tables within that room, great for class projects;
  • Reserve a single seat… or an entire table of seats, ideal for a study group;
  • Reserve a library computer… or a table of library computers;
  • … the possibilities are endless!
Category: LibCal |
| June 17, 2019
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Springshare’s Heading to ALA – Dash to the Flash!

booth 3136. We're exhibiting at ALA Annual Conference 2019

If you’re heading to the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C and you thought all the amazing guest speakers were outside the exhibit hall, think again! Be sure to stop by Springy Booth #3136 to attend one of our amazing 10-15minute flash presentations! We’ll have guest speakers showcasing how they’re using Springshare Tools in their Library plus Springy-led sessions showing quick overviews of LibGuides, LibAnswers, LibCal, and more.  And if you’re not heading to ALA, #alaleftbehind, we’ve got you covered… we’re streaming select presentations LIVE on our Facebook Page. If you can’t watch the sessions live, we’ve got you covered as well – selected streaming live sessions will be archived on our Facebook Video Page… so you can watch them live, or anytime afterwards.

*Please note, you do not need to have a Facebook account to view the videos… simply ignore the login/sign-up information and proceed.

And hey, while you’re looking at this videos on our Facebook page 
why not take a minute and LIKE our page? This way, the next time we stream amazing guest speakers, you won’t miss out on seeing them. And remember, if you want to receive notifications in your Facebook Feed, you’ll also need to adjust your Springshare Facebook notifications to ON. This way, you won’t miss out on product updates, video presentations, Facebook Live streaming, and more.

Guest Speakers – Streaming Live on Facebook

All times listed in U.S. Eastern Time. 

Student-created LibGuides: New Avenues for Faculty-librarian Collaboration

Presenter: Hedda Monaghan, Framingham State University

Date/Time: Fri, June 21: 6:30pm – 6:50pm

Description:
Join us as Hedda Monaghan discusses their triumph of faculty-librarian collaboration engaging students in a research-based learning and knowledge-making project. After a chance meeting at new faculty orientation, a member of the English department and the digital services librarian developed the grammar guide project. Students worked in groups to collect resources and develop examples on a grammar topic and worked with the librarian to create the research guide.

 

Using LibAnswers to Manage eResource Tickets

Presenter: Kelly Smith, Eastern Kentucky University (@kelly_smith72)

Date/Time: Sat, June 22: 10am – 10:20am

Description:
At Eastern Kentucky University, LibAnswers is used not just as a valuable chat reference tool, but it is also used to help manage electronic resources. Learn how to use tickets to track renewals, troubleshoot problems, communicate across library departments, and more. Find out how this approach can also help with training new employees and analyzing collection and service needs.

 

LibGuides Inheritance

Presenter: Kim Westbrooks, Jacksonville State University

Date/Time: Sat, June 22: 12:00pm – 12:20pm

Description:
Starting a new job can be intimidating, but navigable information sources can ease the transition. A retiring librarian at a medium-sized academic institution, Jacksonville State University, created and updated 21 LibGuides that eased the transition for the librarian entering his position. This presentation briefly covers how one librarian began an educational transformation into academic librarianship by using the inherited wealth of information stored in LibGuides by the previous librarian.

 

Using LibInsight to Reshape How We Assess Our Marketing & Outreach Efforts

Presenter: Jessica Kiebler, Berkeley College

Date/Time: Sun, June 23: 12pm – 12:20pm

Description:
In order to measure our positive impact on the college community, we designed an assessment workflow using a LibInsight form, which allows us to effectively assess and analyze programming and outreach efforts, which are aligned to our institutional goals and the library’s operational goals. Participants will learn about our library’s strategic method of reshaping our assessment processes and how we created an effective data collection form with LibInsight, all which work well for a multi-campus institution.

Product Overview/Quick Flashes

All times listed in U.S. Eastern Time.

LibAnswers Flashes:

LibCal Flashes:

  • Calendars + Spaces + Equipment… Oh My! – This flash will cover how all the components of LibCal work together including a quick overview of the Billing, Payments, and Discount Codes functionality.
    Dates/Times:

  • Appointment Scheduler: Meeting Your Users – This flash covers LibCal’s Appointment Scheduler for setting up one-on-one consultation appointments with patrons.
    Dates/Times:

LibGuides Flashes:

LibCRM Flashes:

LibWizard Flashes:

LibStaffer Flashes:

  • Staffing Workers, Volunteers, & Pages – Explore how you can use LibStaffer to schedule multiple service points all whilst juggling staffing availability and duties.

LibInsight Flashes:

  • LibInsight COUNTER 5 – Did you know that LibInsight is fully COUNTER 5 compliant? Explore our newest COUNTER 5 features and how it works in LibInsight to get you actionable data.
Category: Conference |
| May 20, 2019
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Hear How Two Public Libraries Are Using LibStaffer

Live Speaker Webinar Series May 22 and June 6

Learning By Example

Sometimes, the best way to understand how a tool can be used in your library is to see how someone else is using it in theirs.

To that end, we have two amazing speakers from the Arlington Public Library and the Marion County Public Library System each presenting on how they’re using LibStaffer at their libraries.

Join us for two opportunities to learn how other libraries are using Springy Tools, why they switched, and ways they’re using its unique features.

What’s LibStaffer?

LibStaffer is staff and service point scheduling tool designed to take the hard work out of scheduling so you have time to focus on more important projects. Organizing the reference desk schedule for next week, or covering John’s summer vacation, rotating early AM shifts so poor Mary isn’t stuck with the 8am’s every single day – is hard work, and it never ever ends.

LibStaffer’s powerful auto-scheduling tool understands staff preferences and their availability limitations so accurate schedules are created quickly and easily. Easily:

  • Outline who can work on which schedule and define staff availability including time-off;
  • Integrate with LibCal’s Appointment Scheduler so one-on-one consultations aren’t booked at the same time as a reference desk shift;
  • Enable Clocking In/Out with the LibStaffer Timeclock with IP & Geolocation functionality;
  • Create Workflow Forms that facilitate the entire life-cycle of a workflow process (like an employment application!);
  • …. and so much more!

These speakers will cover:

  • How they’re using LibStaffer across multiple branches and service desks;
  • What they were using originally (Excel Spreadsheets!) and why they moved to LibStaffer;
  • Their favorite LibStaffer time-saving features like the drag & drop tool and the auto-scheduler.

Register Today – Webinars Are 30min and Free!

Timing doesn’t work and can’t attend? Register anyway to receive the recording! Just choose, ‘Receive Recording’ from the sign-up form.

How Arlington Public Library Uses LibStaffer

When: Wednesday, May 22

Time: 1:30pm – 2:00pm U.S. ET

Register Today: https://calendar.springshare.com/calendar/training/arlington-public-library-uses-libstaffer.

Note: We’re using the awesome new Friendly URL feature for Calendar Events!


How Marion County Public Library System Uses LibStaffer

When: Thursday, June 6

Time: 1:00pm – 1:30pm U.S. ET

Register Today:

https://calendar.springshare.com/calendar/training/marion-county-public-library-system-uses-libstaffer.

We hope to see you during this special guest presenter’s webinar series! If not, be sure to visit this blog again as we’ll be posting a post-event recap with links to the video recordings.

Category: Client Stories, Community, LibStaffer, Tips and Tricks |
| April 22, 2019
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Guest Presentations from ACRL 2019 are Available!

In case you missed our awesome line-up of guest speakers at the ACRL Conference in Cleveland, we have the recordings available for you!

Watch all guest presentations and download presenter materials on our ACRL 2019 Guest Presentations Buzz Guide. Huzzah!

While you’re there, you might notice that all videos are hosted on our Facebook Page*. That’s because we use Facebook Live to stream these guest presentations
 100% live. So please bear with us if they’re not 100% polished and sparkling, the beauty of live video streaming is that we’re all on this journey together – and the hiccups are what make it interesting.

And hey, while you’re looking at this videos on our Facebook page 
why not take a minute and LIKE our page? This way, the next time we stream amazing guest speakers, you won’t miss out on seeing them. And remember, if you want to receive notifications in your Facebook Feed, you’ll also need to adjust your notifications to ON. This way, you won’t miss out on product updates, video presentations, Facebook Live streaming, and more.

These 15-min guest presentations by Springshare users will get you thinking about all the new and interesting ways you can use your Springshare tools.

Perhaps you’ll want to setup LibCal Spaces for reserving Bloomberg Terminals like CUNY – Lehman College or  use LibWizard Tutorials for Training Student Workers like the University of Guelph-Humber Library. Or if you’re looking for LibGuides usability practices then take a page from James Madison University’s Usability Study or Kennesaw State University Library’s Student-Centered LibGuides Design.

So take a minute (or two or three) and learn from your fellow colleagues on the endless possibilities of Springy tools.

With 13 presentations – it’s time to get #springyinspired!

Guest Presentations

(times vary between 17min – 12min in length)

Ellen Filgo: Baylor UniversityBaylor University Library: Assessing Research Consultations – Survey a ‘Captive’ Audience

Baylor Librarians ramped up their research consultation program, using LibCal’s appointment scheduler as a convenient way for students to book appointments with the librarians. In 2017, they realized that we had an untapped opportunity for assessing the program, through LibCal’s automatic email system. They inserted a link to a LibWizard survey in that follow-up email with questions about the research consultation. This process was a very easy and low-maintenance way to perform assessment with what is virtually a captive audience.

 

Michelle Ehrenpreis: Lehman College CUNYCUNY – Lehman: Bloomberg & LibCal – A Match Made in Collaboration Heaven

Learn how LibCal was used to implement booking the newly installed Bloomberg Terminal in the Leonard Lief Library at Lehman College. Particulars include collaborating with business faculty to understand departmental needs, working with multiple departments to set up protocol, how the setup influences the student as user, harvesting relevant statistics, and future implications for implementation.

 

 

Heidi Blackburn: University of Nebraska at OmahaUniv. Nebraska, Omaha: Women in STEM in Higher Education – An ALA Carnegie-Whitney Grant Project

Imagine patrons trying to find sources on STEM-related topics such as biases women face, classroom experiences, learning communities, mentoring or work-life balance for assessment, best practices, or accreditation purposes. This information was not readily available in one location for easy access. With the help of a student research assistant, they created a LibGuide documenting and organizing over 1,100 citations regarding the status of women in STEM in higher education.

 

Mikki Smith: Corning Museum of GlassThe Corning Museum of Glass: From Answer to Experience – LibAnswers FAQs Transformed

In 2018, the Library’s Public Services Team formalized a plan to re-imagine the pool of several hundred static, redundant, and sometimes out-of-date published FAQs to function as a mobile-friendly, visually appealing introduction to Library and Museum resources. Revised FAQs highlight relevant digital content from across the organization where possible, including blog posts, images, digitized library resources, and videos from our YouTube channel, as well as a small number of print and archival resources in our collections that might be of interest.

 

Hillary Ostermiller: James Madison UniversityJames Madison Univ. Library: The Gap Between Student and Subject Guide – Findings from a Usability Study

Four liaison librarians from very different disciplines (including Biology, Business, Media Studies, Social Work, and Writing) conducted a series of usability tests in Spring 2018. They asked participants to complete a series of tasks using James Madison University subject guides, and all screen activity and voices were captured using Morae Recorder. The results were fascinating, enlightening, and immediately useful. The research team is currently sharing practical implications from our findings with colleagues via a “Tip of the Week” email.

 

Bernadette Mirro: Marymount UniversityMarymount Univ. Library: A Tale of Data – How our Stats Have Improved Two Years After Integrating LibGuides into our LMS

An overview of two years’ worth of data that demonstrates the impact of integrating LibGuides into Canvas, a learning management system, that put the library’s resources at our students’ point of need. The statistics will reflect the impact of LTI integration on LibGuide visits, online reference chat service, streaming media usage, eBook usage and faculty awareness of resources. Learn how changing the way students access your resources can positively impact your library services.

 

Mary Aagard & Jamie Addy: Boise State University and Georgia CollegeBoise State Univ. & Georgia College Libraries: Common Reader Remix – Librarians Leading Innovation

This presentation describes the evolution of two campuses’ common reading programs from single item, book-based reads, to curated lists of essays. The essay selections are accessed via LibGuides and leverage library collections and open resource selections. LibGuides are used to track usage and organize materials that accompany the reading programs.

 

 

Melissa Clapp: Wofford College

Wofford College Library: Library Memory is for Exhibits, Too

Library exhibits too frequently exist only ephemerally. Librarians can use Guides to give exhibits digital, interactive life, and a place in the library’s permanent memory. This presentation shows you how to maximize the effort put into exhibits by complementing the physical with digital space.

 

 

 

Sue Hunter: University of Guelph-HumberUniv. of Guelph-Hunter Library: LibWizard Tutorials for Training Student Workers

At the University of Guelph-Humber student workers, known as Research Support Peers, staff a service desk to assist their peers in the research process. LibWizard tutorials were developed for training aids for these student workers. The tutorials include techniques for searching databases based on specific assignments and information on citation styles.

 

 

Amy Gratz Barker and Ashley Hoffman: Kennesaw State UniversityKennesaw State Univ. Library: Student-Centered Design – Creating LibGuides Students Actually Use

Having trouble creating and maintaining research guides that students actually use? We were! Learn how we addressed several years of low usage statistics and general dissatisfaction with our guides by creating a new blueprint based on student feedback. We shared the results of our study, highlighting what students are really looking for, as well as tips for using these design research methods yourself!

 

Emily Underwood: Hobart & William Smith CollegesHobart & William Smith College Libraries: Maintaining a Library Website Isn’t Only for the Coder at Heart

What do you do when your institution’s systems librarian leaves and you inherit the responsibility for maintaining your library’s website and LibApps products? Run and hide? No! Despite a lack of coding knowledge, not only can you keep the website functioning, but you can also improve it. You, too, can use LibGuides CMS to power your website all while learning to code on the fly!

 

Cleveland State UniversityCleveland State Univ. Libraries: Recasting Research Guidance – Using a Comprehensive Literature Review to Establish Best Practices for Developing LibGuides

As online tools, research guides should follow best practices for user experience, while also serving the needs of researchers on our campuses. Much has been published about LibGuide design in the last decade, and it can be hard to wade through the variety of literature, much of it gray literature. In keeping with evidence-based library and information practice, the researchers conducted an in-depth literature review, developed a set of literature-informed best practices for LibGuide design, and applied them to their own guides.

 

Loring Prest: California University of Pennsylvania California Univ. of Pennsylvania Library: Saving Time with Hidden Boxes and Reusable Content

Learn how I use hidden boxes and reusable links to save time and standardize content on our LibGuides-based library website. These elements help manage the announcements that appear on the home page, display special messages in a top banner box that is enabled when needed, and provide standardized content for reuse by other LibGuide editors.

Category: Client Stories, Conference |
| March 22, 2019
No comments

LibCRM Goals at UCSD Include Improved Patron Communication

Springshare had the pleasure of working with the awesome librarians at the University of California, San Diego, as beta-testing partners, of our newly released LibCRM Tool. In just a few short months, they’ve launched LibCRM with over 30,000 profiles imported. (wow!)

One of the best ways to learn about a tool is to see how other libraries are using it. To that end, we’ve interviewed Adele Barsh and Karen Heskett from UCSD to learn about their plans for LibCRM and what they hope to accomplish with it.

Adele Barsh

Karen Heskett

LibCRM to Improve Communication and Shared Information Between Librarians

By: Adele Barsh & Karen Heskett

We began wanting a CRM application as our library was going through a reorganization. We thought an application like LibCRM would improve our cross-team communications and allow us to take advantage of new report features that would help us evaluate and report out about our outreach programs and allow individual librarians to create meaningful activity reports on-demand.

We see a very obvious need for improving communications and shared information between our subject liaison librarians and others within the library who also are working with those very same faculty, staff, and students. For example, subject librarians will be able to see when format specialists worked with one of our faculty members (e.g., on data curation, digital collections, scholarly communication, or with our Data Librarian or our GIS Librarian), or interactions between other specialists at other service points, such as our Digital Media Lab and Special Collections.

Our first objective is to improve patron quality-of-service by communicating well with each other internally about specific patron needs; secondarily, we want to capture more statistics about what we do. We are excited about the potential for  LibCRM to let us run reports showing data about how thoroughly we are reaching our end users across many disciplines, for example, instead of relying solely on our anecdotal knowledge and bare bones statistics.

We’ve been a beta tester of LibCRM, and still are fine-tuning our set up. We plan for a roll out to our subject specialist librarians, format specialists and selected service point professional staff, followed by checking in with other librarians and staff members who are more peripherally-engaged in public services, to see their level of interest or if they come up with new ideas on how LibCRM could help them meet their service goals.

Karen adds (and Adele agrees!): One specific thing I am looking forward to using is the LibCRM BCC email option. As someone who does a significant amount of work via email, having an easy way to capture that as a data point is very attractive for me. Additionally, in keeping with our desire for better internal communication and as my activities become increasingly interdisciplinary, this allows me to keep others informed about these cross-disciplinary communications.

Adding the LibCRM System Email auto-routes the email interaction directly into LibCRM Customer Profiles

LibCRM to Aid in Pattern-Recognition and Metrics

We want to gather more statistics about individual transactions than we presently do, and we’re hoping there are enough useful features to the end-user librarian to entice them into becoming regular users.

We also want to see if there are larger patterns within the interaction that we haven’t noticed before, such as gaps of outreach to specific disciplines, or testing targeted outreach for what effect that has on subsequent engagement with a broader range of library services.

LibCRM Reporting Area in UCSD System. Run Reports on Graduate Students asking questions via email that are tagged ‘Digital Scholarship’ and ‘New Book/Journal Request’. Reporting area returns matching customer profiles so you can identify who is, and isn’t, interacting with the library.

Projects & Task Management Area Considered Experimental… For Now. 😉

We’re feeling experimental so far about the projects and tasks areas. We think they might be great for tagging follow up needs (e.g., a subject librarian uncovers a scholarly communications or data curation need, or vice versa, and wants to alert the other librarian).

We’re initiating small group testing with a goal of introducing the features, and then seeing what ideas our librarians and professional staff come up with. We love “process” here, so we think some exciting applications can emerge.

Category: Client Stories, Community, Customer Service, LibCRM |
| March 13, 2019
9 comments

LibInsight with COUNTER r5: Ahead of the E-Data Curve

Our previous blog post outlined all the amazing new features coming to your Springshare tools. But one of these features is so big and important that it needs its own post – support for COUNTER 5 reports in LibInsight.

E-Mazing, riiiggght? 🙂

Before we dive into this awesome functionality, let’s start with the basics.

 

What is COUNTER r5 and what’s the difference between r4 and r5?

R5 of the COUNTER Code of Practice represents the 5th release of COUNTER – the standard for counting the use of electronic resources. COUNTER r5 requires content providers to deliver reports in Release 5 formats starting with January 2019 usage.

COUNTER Release 5 contains several metric types, different than the metric types available in Release 4.

  • Usage Metrics:
    • Investigations – Measure an expression of interest in a content item or title.
      • I.e. a patron viewing an article abstract would count as an investigation.
    • Request – Measure access to a content item or title.
      • I.e., a patron downloading an e-journal article or e-book chapter.
  • Searches Metrics:
    • Contains four different types of search metrics from searches_regular to searches_platform.
  • Access Denials Metrics:
    • This new metric has two different types to account for user denial — lack of institutional access and simultaneous users maximum has been reached.

These new metric types provide several new measurement tools of your e-resource usage.

LibInsight is Ahead of the E-Data Curve

We’re a small crew but we live and breathe library software so we took it upon ourselves to make LibInsight one of the first software platforms to support Counter r5 analysis.

If our libraries need it, we’ll have it – that’s our motto.

What does this mean for you?

New E-Resources / COUNTER 5 Dataset is Available in LibInsight!

Navigate to your LibInsight system > create new dataset > select E-Resources / COUNTER 5 to create your new r5 dataset.

Because the new r5 reports are material-type agnostic, you can combine reports from e-journals, databases, and even e-book usage in one place.

New LibInsight Reporting Metrics

Additionally, you’ll notice a few changes to the display in reports, to better match the data provided by COUNTER r5.

Specifically, the new LibInsight dataset will no longer show data by searches, sessions, and downloads. Per the above new metrics, data will be reported about investigations, requests, searches, and access denied. The table also shows you the number of databases, eBooks and journals in your e-resources. Toggle  these columns to manipulate the table display however you’d like!

LibInsight automagically calculates the cost-per-usage saving your e-resources librarian loads of time…. all in easy to download csv or pdf reports.

You Asked For It… Access Denied Reporting!

With the new r5 dataset, we’re happy to announce new Access Denied reporting! This way, you can view patron requests to data where access was denied due to lack of institutional access or simultaneous licenses maximum was exceeded. This is extremely valuable data when deciding to purchase a new resource or expand the licensing for current resources.

Which r5 Reports Does LibInsight Support?

Right out of the gate, LibInsight supports the Platform (PR) Master Report, the Database (DR) Master Report, and the Titles (TR) Master Report.

Because we’re supporting all the Master-level reports, you don’t have to worry about which ‘view’, for example Title Report view 1 or Database Report view 1, you might need. We’re taking all the guesswork out of the equation by gathering all of the data via the Master Reports. By supporting the Master-level reports, we are, by default, supporting just about everything that has to do with COUNTER r5 reporting. Talk about efficiency for the win!

Importing Reports Just Got a Whole Lot Easier!

To make things even easier for librarians, the new LibInsight Dataset now has several automated features to make it even easier for you to get started.

1. Importing Platforms from another dataset.

Most likely, you’re already using the the current E-Resources/Databases (r4) dataset in LibInsight and you’ve spent time creating all your platforms in there. Rather than recreating those platforms, we provide an easy import option to import the platform names/titles into the new r5 dataset.

 

2. Importing Reports Via Required SUSHI Fetching

We totally get how you can get spreadsheet-fatigue. You’re dealing with hundreds of spreadsheets across tons of vendors for different date ranges. It can be exhausting. To make things easier, the COUNTER r5 builds in automation from the start, with SUSHI. LibInsight supports fetching a single file at a time, or you can schedule harvesting monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. This way, you can set it up, schedule the harvesting, and forget about it…. until you need to analyze your data, of course. 😉

And, we added notification features – so when scheduling future SUSHI harvesting, you can choose up to three users to be notified via email when the fetch is complete and the data has been added to your dataset.

Test Your SUSHI Harvesting… Before You Harvest.

We’re always so grateful to our community for the incredible feedback they provide us, and this specific piece of feedback deserves virtual cookies to all that sent it in… calorie-free, of course.

When setting up an e-resource for SUSHI Harvesting, we now offer the ability to test the harvest first. This way, if you’ve entered the wrong API key or the requestor ID is not formatted correctly, you’ll know right away instead of 3-months from now when you try and run your first scheduled fetch.

Plus, if something isn’t formatted correctly – we’ll provide on-screen instructions to help you correct it.

We’re Looking for Your Feedback… Always.

Because r5 is so new and LibInsight is one of the first data-analysis tools to offer r5 support, we need to hear from you on how you need the new E-Resources / COUNTER 5 dataset to function.

Please send along your feedback, thoughts, comments, and ideas (and virtual cookies too, Springy Carrie is always hungry) and we’ll work on incorporating your feedback into future updates.

Category: LibInsight, New Features |
| February 15, 2019
No comments

Using LibGuides CMS Discussion Boards for Team-Building

At the Linscheid Library at East Central University, it all started with a mentoring program. In 2017, during a mentoring relationship with a new technical services librarian, Patrick Baumann and his mentee discussed the different personality types of their librarians and how, if different personalities joined together, it could really enhance the Library’s team.

“If we fit different personalities together, it could work better as a team. We could develop our team of librarians by figuring out what our personalities are and using that to work with each other and to discover things about ourself and the people we work with. This would help us to figure out who would fit best together for projects.”

Patrick teamed up with librarian Marla Lobley to take this idea to the next level. By the beginning of 2018, Marla and Patrick started their StrengthsFinder Project. Using Tom Rath’s 2007 StrengthsFinder 2.0 book as the basis for their project, Marla and Patrick went beyond the typical personality tests to actually uncover each individual’s top strengths. StrengthsFinder starts with 16 personalities and then gives you exercises for your top strengths as well as exercises for team-building.

Lastly, it focuses on the positive. You’re talking about your strengths and not your weaknesses. Because we all think about our weaknesses and what you’re not good at. This focuses on your strengths and positive things.

Once they had the project in place, they needed a tool to carry it out. Rather than relying on email, Marla remembered that their LibGuides CMS tool has internal Discussion Board functionality. So librarians could log in to a tool they’re already familiar and comfortable with, and know that this internal project would remain just that… internal and not visible to the public.

Their first LibGuides CMS Discussion Board thread was a calendar, a method for librarians to keep on track of the project.

 

Each librarian performed a strengths assessment, reported on their strengths, and then focused on their top-five strengths. Each librarian then created an action plan to focus/enhance those strengths and share their strengths with everyone else.

For sharing their strengths, and to get feedback, each librarian created a Discussion Post highlighting their top five strengths. Colleagues would then reply to each librarian’s thread with their personal feedback.

Our colleagues would reply to each thread and say, “I can see this strength in you such  and such project. You use that strength, and I’ve seen it.” That gave us some positive feedback.

 

Having this as discussion board threads, it was easy to manage and navigate….especially when you have 23+ replies.

Additionally, the team made use of a neat Discussion Boards feature:

With each thread reply, you can mark things as helpful which is almost like ‘Liking’ in Facebook. Which is kinda cool. If someone replied with a comment that you liked, you can mark it as helpful. It made it fun in addition to useful.

Overall, Patrick and Marla consider the project a success. It focused on the positive, each librarian’s strengths, and it helped each person to better understand their coworkers. Plus, their library director found it helpful to learn about each of the librarians and how best to work with them.

In terms of using the LibGuides CMS Discussion Boards for this project, it went really smoothly. It’s pretty straight-forward. And it’s about how you can be creative in using a tool through Springshare. It was a worthwhile project, and I’m glad we did it. And the [LibGuides CMS] Discussion Boards really helped us to carry it through.

If you’re planning on doing a similar project, Patrick and Marla have some helpful suggestions from their lessons learned.

  • If you’re planning on using a book as the basis for your project, be sure to get everyone copies of the book.
  • Make a plan/calendar and keep on task.
  • Remember, people go at their own pace, so remain flexible to give people time to process and schedule time for open discussions.
  • Be prepared to give and receive honest feedback.
  • Be up front with what you’re doing.
  • And if you’re using LibGuides CMS Discussion Boards, remember to set notifications for each thread.
    • Note: If you’re not getting notifications, check with your IT department about whitelisting LibGuides CMS emails.

Navigate to our Facebook Page to view Patrick’s 15 minute presentation from ALA-Midwinter 2019. You don’t need a Facebook account to access the video, but if you do – take a minute and Like our Facebook Page so you won’t miss cool content like this in the future (be sure to set your notifications for @springshare to ‘On’ so our posts show in your Facebook activity stream). Download Patrick’s slides from our ALA-Midwinter Recap Guide, and check out some of the other presenters to boot!

Category: Client Stories, Community, LibGuides CMS |
| February 8, 2019
No comments

ALA Midwinter 2019 Guest Presentations Now Available Online

If you missed the 2019 ALA Midwinter in Seattle, you not only missed beautiful weather (it was actually sunny, no rain, every single day!) but also our amazing line-up of guest speakers. But have no fear and put away that sad trombone music, because we have something great in store for you!

Watch all guest presentations and download presenter materials on our ALA Midwinter 2019 Guest Presentations Buzz Guide. Huzzah! Cue happy trombone music!

But, that’s not all. We also have recordings of three Springy Trainer-led sessions that we did at ALA Midwinter as well! From Springy Carrie presenting on the brand-new Screensharing functionality in LibAnswers to Springy Michelle highlighting the new LibStaffer Workflow forms, these are awesome (and short!) videos to consume.

While you’re there, you might notice that all videos are hosted on our Facebook Page*. That’s because we use Facebook Live to stream these guest presentations… 100% live. So please bear with us if they’re not 100% polished and sparkling, the beauty of live video streaming is that we’re all on this journey together – and the hiccups are what make it interesting. And hey, while you’re looking at this videos on our Facebook page 
why not take a minute and LIKE our page? This way, the next time we stream amazing guest speakers, you won’t miss out on seeing them. And remember, if you want to receive notifications in your Facebook Feed, you’ll also need to adjust your notifications to ON. This way, you won’t miss out on product updates, video presentations, Facebook Live streaming, and more.

These 15-minute guest presentations by Springshare users will get you thinking about the new and interesting ways you can use your Springshare tools.

Guest Presentations

(times vary between 17min – 12min in length)

Fort Vancouver Regional Library: LibAnswers Queues and FAQs in a Public Library Setting

While LibAnswers can be used to answer patron questions, the sky is really the limit in how you use it to manage patron communication. Learn how Fort Vancouver Regional Library customized queues for Reading Suggestions, Proctoring, and Technology Assistance services, and see how they use FAQs to proactively address trends in patron questions.

East Central University: Strength-Share: How the Linscheid Library Used Springshare’s Discussion Board for Librarian Team-Building

The librarians at East Central University underwent a project in 2018 to improve employee communication and relationships. Watch Patrick Baumann present on the project origins and more. Learn creative ways to use Springshare products to improve their work environment.

Troy University – The Library Has That?: Using LibGuides to Promote Library Services.

The Troy University Librarians provide services to students, staff, and faculty at four Alabama campuses and around the world. LibGuides were used to provide a centralized point of reference to answer recurring questions. Watch librarians Kelly Wilson and Rachel Hooper as they discuss these guides and how they have impacted their librarians and services to their patrons.

Texas Tech University: Using LibGuides Across Subjects: A Science Librarian Perspective

Science Librarian Jessica Simpson discusses how she’s customized guides to meet the needs of students across disciplines. Watch and take away great tips for making your guides more useful.

Springshare Trainer-Led Sessions

(sessions are no longer than 10min in duration)

*Note: You do not need a Facebook account to watch our videos, simply ignore the login/sign-up information and proceed.
Category: Client Stories, Community, Conference, Customer Service |
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