Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 12:45 - 2:00pm
Sara Duff
Congratulations! You’ve survived the interview process, and emerged with a new librarian job. But where do you go from here? What steps should you take to be effective early on in your new position? How do you switch mindsets from a small community college to one of the biggest research universities in the country?
Whether you are transitioning to a new type of institution or a embarking on your first librarian position, you will find something of interest in this talk. This presentation will offer first-hand accounts of transitioning to a major university, and offer strategies for tackling workflow, navigating differences in philosophies, and learning to orient yourself to your new institution.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 3:30 - 4:10pm
Athena Hoeppner, Ying Zhang + speaker from Taylor & Francis
Libraries and publishers are keenly aware of high-quality ebooks in their collections, ripe for use as assigned textbooks. Faculty, however, rarely think to check the library when choosing textbooks, instead relying traditional selection, publishing, and distribution channels. As a result, students are burdened with skyrocketing cost, frequently exceeding $200 per book, some students do not buy required text or delay taking courses if they cannot afford the book. Lawmakers and academic administrators are aware of the extraordinary expense of textbooks and students’ predicament. In Florida, legislation and governing boards mandated that universities promote Textbook Affordability (TA).
In this context, the University of Central Florida Libraries (UCF) and Taylor and Francis (T&F) collaborated to use library-licensed ebooks to improve TA. In 2016, UCF compared the university-wide assigned textbooks list with already-owned or purchasable DRM-friendly books. For a sub-selection of courses we reviewed number of enrolled students, cost per student for the print textbook, and price paid by the library for a DRM-friendly version. The results were encouraging, showing a large potential ROI and high usage of the selected ebooks. We expanded the project in 2017, with increased outreach to inform faculty about digital options and matching additional courses with already-purchased ebooks. Simultaneously, T&F monitored textbook orders from UCF and informed individual faculty if a DRM-free version was available in the UCF Library or eligible for library purchase.
The presenters will outline the project background, methodology used for assessing the ROI and potential savings, outreach to faculty, assessment and outcomes. We will discuss the UCF and T&F collaboration and their perspectives on TA. Finally, we will address the scalability and sustainability of the effort and give advice for any libraries the want to undertake a similar effort.
Thursday, November 9, 2017, 11:35am - 12:15pm
Barbara Tierney + speaker from Florida Gulf Coast University
Two academic library Research Services managers will discuss changes and innovations they have coordinated in their respective libraries (University of Central Florida serving 60,000+ students http://library.ucf.edu/21st/ and Florida Gulf Coast University serving 15,000+ students http://library.fgcu.edu/admin/renewal.html ) due to major building renovations that their respective libraries are currently conducting.
Significantly downsizing print reference collections, relocating service points, reconfiguring public services, re-thinking staffing patterns, adjusting Subject Liaison face-to-face activities, stepping-up online services, communicating with stakeholders, and keeping students and faculty in the loop so that their voices are heard and their needs met, are just a few of the issues to be discussed with program participants.
Attendees will be encouraged to ask questions and share ideas from their own Research Services and institutional experiences and perspectives. After participating in this program, attendees will be able to develop winning strategies for meeting the challenges of renovation planning and redesigning public services in their own institution.