2016 OPAL Annual Conference: Friday Schedule

Tour of Muskingum's Roberta A. Smith University Library
Muskingum University Library Staff
Take a tour of the new Roberta A. Smith University Library. Don't forget to play with our collaboration stations!

We Have Digital Copies, But Can Patrons Find Them?     
Melissa Runkle - Urbana University

During the course of this presentation we will explore what catalogers can do with items that are being digitized in-house and with items that others have already taken the time to digitize and put online (Hathi Trust, Google Books, and Internet Archive) with our end goal being to not only make these items more discoverable, but additionally to put the items where the patrons are. At Urbana, we recently jumped aboard the digitization train and it has been full steam ahead! Not only have we completed our first digitization project, our yearbooks, but we are also starting to check online for free, full text, digital copies of some of our some of our older items, ones that we might be reluctant to let circulate. While completing this project, it has become clear that we need a new way for patrons to discover these digital copies. So, “All aboard!” to learn what catalogers can do to transform this data and make it more accessible to patrons!

Making Room for the Future: A Multi-year Project to Create Space in the Library and Plan for Change    
LuAnn Boris - Franciscan University

In the spring of 2016 the John Paul II Library began a multi-year project to create room for collaborative spaces and additional quiet study areas in the building. As part of this project, 20%-30% of the print collection is slated to be removed. A comprehensive review of the entire collection, print and electronic, will be undertaken to insure that the remaining resources align well with course offerings. Policies for selection, deselection and retention will be developed and posted on the web site.   This session will focus on collection management, but all aspects of the project, including staffing, marketing, stakeholder participation and patron surveys will be discussed.

Communication and Customer Service
Alyse McConnell

Providing great customer service can be one of the most satisfying aspects of any job.  The conversation and tools provided in this session will make providing service easier and create happy patrons.
 

Mindful Transition: A Step by Step Collaboration with our Users
Elizabeth Zeitz, and Rebecca Gale, Otterbein University

In 2013 Otterbein University offered us the opportunity to address the needs expressed by our patrons resulting in the creation of a first floor learning commons. We were also able to create a much needed instructional computer lab and collaborate with our Center for Teaching and Learning in the creation of a “Sandbox” classroom. By capitalizing on our existing open floor plan and incorporating many collaborative design elements we were able to not only visibly increase our usage but also connect more directly with our community groups. The redesigned spaces have offered us room to be more creative in our partnerships with students, faculty, and alumni. We hope to continue this momentum with a 2nd renovation addressing needs elsewhere in the building. To that end, we have actively been soliciting feedback from our students and alumni in order to ensure our space prioritization aligns with our community’s needs.

New Spaces: Opportunities & Challenges
Linda Hatfield - Muskingum University

A new library not only gives students new places to study, but also provides librarians with new avenues to reach out in exciting ways. It also presents issues and challenges that force us to think differently about how we provide services, and even what services we provide. We will discuss some of the changes that the Muskingum University Library has faced since opening our new building in January 2016 and will share several of the tools that we used to navigate these challenges and opportunities.

Does Embedded Librarianship Work? A Case Study of Embedding a Librarian in an Online and FTF Health Policy Course.
Kristin Cole  - Muskingum University

Online students' interactions with the library are limited because of physical distance from the library and a lack of understanding of what the library provides. Students in a 300-level Health Policy course were struggling with finding and evaluating appropriate sources for their final project. These students tended to rely on the first few results they found in Google. Muskingum University librarian Kristin Cole was invited by the professor of the course, Dr. Hallie Baker, to work extensively with these students to improve their search and evaluation skills. Cole was embedded in the course during Fall 2014 and helped critique references, coach students, and respond to discussion board posts. To measure the success of the project, the pair examined the final references used by the class in the fall term versus the previous two years looking for quantitative and qualitative differences. The session will focus on the challenges of embedded librarianship and provide suggestions on creating a successful embedded librarian program.

Phone & Frontline Contact with Patrons
Alyse McConnell

Learn how to effectively and easily provide great phone service. This session is filled with tips and techniques to create happy patrons and happy service providers.

Mount Union KHIC Starts its Learning Commons
Alan Zahorsky and Robert Garland - University of Mount Union

Over the past two years the University of Mount Union Library has transformed its entire first floor from a traditional Reference Room and Periodical Room arrangement into the KHIC Start Learning Commons. Done in collaboration with the IT Department, the Student Success Center, campus food service, and the staff of a newly formed Digital, Written, and Oral Communication Studio, the new Commons features several group work spaces and collaborative technologies, a copy center, a new IT help desk, a redesigned circulation and reference desk, a writing lab and multi-media lab, a café, and space for tutoring and student support. These changes were undertaken to support a new Integrative Core curriculum. In order to make these renovations possible, library staff rearranged several collections, which involved creating both off-site and on-site storage facilities, weeding and shifting numerous collections, and reevaluating the way in which these collections are used. Library staff have worked closely with other campus services through the Learning Commons Subcommittee to design this space and to study its usage to guide our future plans.

Transforming Reference Service: Transitioning to a Tiered-Reference Model with Student Workers
Laurie Willis and Charles Vesei - Baldwin Wallace University

With a change in the library’s leadership at Baldwin Wallace University, a new service model was implemented to address declining reference desk usage, to better target the information needs of students and faculty, and to make better use of technological tools in the transformation of reference and outreach. As part of the service-model transformation, trained student workers, targeted one-on-one research appointments, improved faculty outreach, a reduction of Reference Desk hours coupled with the expansion of the library hours as a whole, and the integration of the University’s IT Help Desk with the Reference Desk has been achieved with positive results. Overall students, faculty, and the library staff have benefited from more efficient and better targeted service. In this session you will learn about the steps and strategies that were taken to bring about this transformation. The focus will primarily be on sharing information about the lessons learned along the way as well as identifying some of the best practices that emerged from the whole process concluding with planned future steps in our service model involving the ‘Personal Librarian’ approach.

Transforming OPAL: What Could Deep Collaboration Mean for Us?
Julie McDaniel, Michelle Blank, Stephen Shaw, LuAnn Boris, Tiffany Lipstreu, Matt Polcyn and Gina Maida

Share your ideas about deep collaboration among OPAL libraries. What is working well in your library that could be shared with other OPAL libraries? What do you wish you could change in your library that might be something for which other OPAL libraries also need help or have expertise? Can we work smarter as an organization rather than harder as individual libraries? Join current OPAL Executive Committee members and share your ideas about transforming OPAL. This will be a session focused on audience participation. Audience members are asked to read “Going ‘All-in’ for Deep Collaboration” by Valerie Horton, Collaborative Librarianship, 5 (2) 65 – 69 (2013) in preparation for the session. Presenters will be listening as audience members identify areas for OPAL’s future transformation. We could be a diamond in the rough! Help us transform OPAL.

Handling Challenges
Alyse McConnell

Few things make a day go wrong than experiencing a challenge with a patron or co-worker. As humans we have natural responses to conflict or challenges and sometimes those reactions actually make the situations worse. In this session, gain awareness of what your most likely reaction, gauge its effectiveness, and learn tools to successfully handle challenges at work.

Exploring Information Literacy Needs Abroad: Librarians and International Service-Learning

Jessica Crossfield McIntosh, Otterbein University

As education spreads and globalization diminishes the distance between us, librarians play a vital role in the continued growth of information access. This access is touched upon when students travel abroad and explore the world through the eyes of others. During this poster session, I plan to visually represent the process for developing a librarian partnership with a general education service-learning course. This poster will include graphics, models, and concrete ideas for implementation at participating libraries. This session will be relevant to those who are interested in expanding their liaison duties into international or travel courses.

Late Nights, Legos & Lemonade: Supporting Students Studying for Finals @ Shafer Library

Jenny Denen, University of Findlay

The poster will highlight the variety of events and services implemented in the last weeks of the semester to help students prepare for and deal with the stress of finals. Activities included late night writing and research support, a Long Night Against Procrastination event planned with the Writing Center, a candy buffet, therapy dogs and more. The poster will describe the events and their reception by students and faculty.

No, We Don’t Just Read Books All Day: Developing Statistical Narratives/Infographics for Technical Services

Amy Parsons, Otterbein University

This poster will be an example of the work I have created using cataloging statistics from Sierra, Google Sheets, and Excel. The graphs illustrate the number of books I have cataloged and discarded throughout the years.  The graphs tell a story called statistical narratives.  These stories can be created by any library department and  ultimately allow outsiders to see the value of the academic library.

Revitalizing Research Guides

Catie Carlson, Tiffin University

Over the last year Tiffin University has worked to improve its LibGuides system. The transformation of our LibGuides included updating from version 1 to version 2, increasing in content and usage, and developing global navigation with custom code. Through screenshots and graphs, this poster hopes to depict how robust LibGuides can become with a few updates, creative thinking, and a little code.

Special Collections Build Community Connections

Claire Ballinger and Connie Song, The Athenaeum of Ohio

The Athenaeum of Ohio is a small Catholic seminary and graduate school in Cincinnati.  In recent years, the institution has been working to build a welcoming presence in our greater community.  To participate in this effort, Maly Library provides tours of its Special Collection to groups of all ages, backgrounds, and philosophies.  These tours not only raise awareness of our library’s treasures, but engage our institution in the community with a sense of good will and hospitality.  Our tours often create return visitors, new outreach opportunities, and increased interest in our institution.

Urbana University’s Transformed Lobby

Jennifer Midgley, Urbana University

In Summer 2015, the lobby at Urbana University’s Swedenborg Memorial Library was remodeled as a result of a $70,000 donation.  New flooring, lights, and paint brightened the area.  A new front desk for staff, and a computer kiosk and benches for students updated the look.  During the construction process, incoming students were allowed to sign their names on the old floor.  Students still visit and say “where did you sign?”