 | | Aboriginal Gathering Place Pavilion, Capilano University. Photo by: Sunni Nishimura |
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BC Institutional Repository Network Receives Funding
Thanks to the direction, support, and advocacy of libraries around the province, BC ELN has been awarded $50,000 in funding this year from the Ministry of Advanced Education to coordinate the development of a BC Institutional Repository (IR) Network. An additional $50,000 in seed funding is anticipated in the next fiscal year as well. Seed funding will be used to 1) coordinate the creation of the BC IR Network; 2) subsidize the cost of participation for interested libraries during the first two years of the project; and 3) build a provincial portal that will access all scholarly information housed in IRs in BC. A BC IR Network -- providing anytime, anywhere access to research generated at BC's post-secondary institutions -- is foundational to the creation of a Ministry-announced provincial digital library.
BC ELN was awarded money based on the presentation of an IR Business Case to the Administrative Services Delivery (ASDT) Steering Committee - the body designated to identify and move forward on opportunities for service collaboration detailed in the 2013 Deloitte Report. BC ELN's success is in no little part attributed to the vocal advocacy of library stakeholders around BC speaking to Ministry and their ASDT representatives about the need for collaborative work on IRs and BC ELN's successful development and implementation of collaborative projects in the past. Thank you to everyone who went the extra mile! It made a difference.
Now that there is money to fund this exciting new project, what's next? First, a more formal governance structure will be established. The IR Concept Committee, which has led the project thus far, will make way for a BC IR Network Advisory Committee. Reporting to the BC ELN Steering Committee, the Advisory Committee will focus on policy and planning for the Network, as well as direct the initiative's operations. Once the governance for the project has been established, the work of software selection will begin.
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OutLook OnLine Support
Wondering how to find interlibrary loan stats in OutLook OnLine? Want to check the last time you uploaded records to OutLook? Find all this and more on the updated OutLook OnLine pages on the BC ELN website:
Questions? Contact Sunni at [email protected]. |
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AskAway: Learning More about Outcomes
In September 2013, the AskAway exit survey was redesigned to capture data about how AskAway interactions are impacting users and their learning. The new survey asks: "What has changed for you as a result of your AskAway session today?"After collecting this data for a year, we've begun analyzing the results, relating learning outcomes to patron type, satisfaction with the service, and even how patrons discovered the service. Here is a small sampling of our observations from September 2013 through August 2014. Learning where to look 46% of patrons report that AskAway taught them where to look for information. As you might expect, this number is higher among first- and second-year students (52%), but even among grad students and faculty this is among the strongest outcomes of coming to AskAway. This demonstrates a solid need for information literacy instruction at all academic levels -- something that AskAway provides. "The search in the library is overwhelming and I didn't know how or where to start! thank god you have a library assistant chat line...you saved my life! i'm thankful for library assistant on chat line...it's a calming, relaxing experience...not panic attack!" ~ College of New Caledonia Learner Serendipitous learning Even when patrons are potentially looking for a quick answer, AskAwayers find opportunities for instruction. Many patrons (43%) report receiving help finding a specific fact or document, but most of them (64%) end up also coming away with at least one other learning outcome. And patrons seem to appreciate the opportunity to learn. Our (already high) satisfaction ratings increase with learning outcomes. Reports of high satisfaction ("very satisfied" or "satisfied") rise from 94% of patrons at one learning outcome, to 97% at two outcomes, and 100% at three or more. Of the minority who experienced "no change" after their AskAway session (9%), only 38% report high satisfaction. "Thank you so much for your help once again. I really appreciate how you 'teach' us students strategies to use rather than just giving us the answer. Proves to be really effective in my learning!" ~ University of the Fraser Valley Learner Different outcomes for different patrons Patrons at different academic levels achieve somewhat different outcomes from visiting AskAway. First- and second-year students are more likely to learn basic information literacy skills - where to find information, how to find help, etc. - and are more likely to leave with more than one learning outcome (52%). Advanced researchers more often want specific information, and are more likely to leave with fewer outcomes. Without more information, we can only speculate about why this is - but we do have some ideas. Newer students are less experienced researchers, and presumably learn more from every reference interaction. Advanced researchers, being more experienced, need less basic instruction. Information literacy skills should logically increase as patrons advance academically. But we can also claim some contribution to these increased skills, since 58% of AskAway users are repeat patrons! Despite their different needs, however, patrons at all levels come away from AskAway with the information they need, and new skills that will assist them in future research. 91% of patrons leave each session with at least one outcome - and 93% are likely to come back for more.
"This is a great service that keeps the role of a librarian relevant and accessible in a day with internet and kindles! My experience was great and I would definitely use this this again and tell other people about it."
~ Simon Fraser University Graduate Student
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BC ELN Partner Library Directors Win Awards for Leadership
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Sybil Harrison has been awarded with the Silver Leadership Award of Excellence by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC). Sybil, Director of Learning Services at Camosun College, received the award for her work overseeing the renovation of Camosun's libraries, her dedication to fostering a team environment, and her contributions to the community.
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Patricia Cia, Director of Academic Innovation at Langara College was recognized for her leadership recently. Patricia was awarded Langara's Leadership Excellence Award for her "outstanding contributions in a leadership role within Library Services at Langara College".
BC ELN is very proud of its partner library directors - strong leaders in the province's post-secondary libraries!
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Partner Library Report: UBC Library 2014 Community Report
Libraries are increasingly taking on new roles as sustainability partners on university campuses. UBC Library's 2014 Community Report highlights this partnership, and shares some of the inspiring and innovative ways that it has engaged students, faculty and community members over the past year. Feature stories in the Report include contributions to Better World Books, preservation programs, digitization projects on the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, a technology training program for international students, and initiatives that support open and unfettered access to knowledge. Read more.
Do you have a report that you would like to share, or know someone whose contributions to the library community you would like to highlight? Please contact Leah Hopton at [email protected] to submit your piece to the BC ELN Connect.
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AskAway: Website Upgrade
After a spring term filled with ups and downs, the quiet summer has been a welcome relief. AskAway continues to enjoy the high levels of usage we saw last summer, while behind the scenes we've been crunching data, making plans, and gearing up for some interesting changes coming up in the fall.
The most visible change will occur quite soon. August saw the AskAway office filled with the sounds of web construction, and while the constant tap-tapping of the keyboard was often drowned out by the noise of road construction just outside, the results will hopefully be the same: stronger infrastructure, a cleaner look, and smoother, simpler navigation.
Yes, our beloved staff portal is getting an upgrade and a renovation. The look and feel will be pretty much the same, but the structure has been overhauled and rebuilt on a newer platform. To make sure that the new site is as useful as possible to service providers, local coordinators, and directors, we had a handful of AskAwayers try it out and rate how easily they found key information. With their help, we plan to launch the new site when the AskAway term begins in September.
Keep an eye out for future updates on institutional queues, software, and more.
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E-HLbc: Success Breeds Opportunities
The upcoming Fall term will be an exciting time, as e-HLbc embarks on a new affiliate member recruitment drive and renewal of the Core Suite package. e-HLbc's successes in the past year have paved the way for the opportunities ahead.
Core Suite Renewal Negotiations
The e-HLbc Administrative Centre is currently in the process of negotiating the 2016 to 2019 Core Suite package. More details about the progress of the Core Suite negotiations will be announced at the e-HLbc Fall Steering Committee Meeting.
New Boutique License
EBSCO's Discovery Service (EDS), one of the resources suggested in e-HLbc's 2013/14 New Product Selection Process, is now available as a boutique license! e-HLbc collaborated with BC ELN to license the resource, and now six of e-HLbc's health sector members are participating in the EDS license. To join the EDS license for a pro-rated price, please contact the e-HLbc Administrative Centre at [email protected]
Invoicing FAQs
Have you ever had questions about e-HLbc's invoicing process? To answer your questions about invoicing procedures, access, and pricing, the e-HLbc Administrative Centre created an online FAQs web page available at: http://ehlbc.ca/node/916
e-HLbc Year in Review 2013 Report Released
The e-HLbc Year in Review 2013 demonstrates e-HLbc's value to members and outlines its successes of the past year. The report is available at: http://ehlbc.ca/about-us/key-documents
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WriteAway: Four New Institutions Join
Drumroll please: Four new institutions will be joining WriteAway in the fall of 2014! A warm welcome to: British Columbia Institute of Technology, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Justice Institute of British Columbia, and Selkirk College. These institutions join our six current participants: Camosun College, College of the Rockies, Douglas College, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia.
We are thrilled that WriteAway is growing and that online writing support will be extending even further throughout the province. The opportunity to join this growing collaborative remains open. If you have questions or your institution would like to join WriteAway, please contact Leah Hopton at [email protected].
With goals to reduce barriers for institutions who wish to join and to expand the number of students reached, the BC eTutoring Concept Committee made several decisions this spring to restructure the service as it moves forward. Highlights include:
- The hiring of a part-time Master Tutor to support tutors, thus reducing workloads for institutional coordinators
- A reduction in the minimum number of tutoring hours required by each institution, down from 120 hours per 12-week term to 60 hours per term
- Training emphasis for tutors on providing helpful, quality feedback to student draft submissions more quickly than in previous terms
Thanks to the hard work of the WriteAway Advisory Committee and the Training Working Group over the summer, changes should roll out smoothly this fall.
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BC ELN Welcomes Visitors!
BC ELN staff love when visitors make the trek to our office. We often meet vendor sales reps dropping by to discuss their newest products. Directors and staff of partner libraries come in to take part in meetings or see the "nerve centre" of BC ELN operations. Less common but no less welcome are visitors from peer consortia across Canada and the US. The past few months have seen two such visitors, one from OCLS, the college library consortium in Ontario, and another from SCELC, a large group of academic libraries in California. Visits by consortial peers are always an exciting opportunity to hear about new initiatives and share information about BC ELN's latest doings.
In this case both visitors were interested in learning about our "template" website developed to meet the needs of library consortia. That template, built in the Drupal Content Management System (CMS), was first deployed for the e-HLbc website. Since then it has been adopted by COPPUL and more recently TAL (The Alberta Library). The main BC ELN site will be migrating in the fall, and at least two other consortia are considering it as well. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and BC ELN staff are always particularly proud when other consortia observe our innovations, pick them up, and improve on them! This fits in the library tradition of sharing, and allows BC ELN to play a leadership role in the international community of library consortia.
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 | | Sunni Nishimura |
Staff profile: Sunni Nishimura, BC ELN Coordinator
Got a question about OutLook OnLine? reSearcher? Interlibrary loans? Then Sunni is your gal. Sunni coordinates resources sharing - also known as the BC Library Collections Gateway - for BC ELN. In addition, she regularly provides support with AskAway and WriteAway coordination.
Most recently, Sunni oversaw the migration of OutLook OnLine to a new interface, which went very smoothly. She will be continuing her work supporting the ILL Fee Task Group when it reconvenes this fall. Key items on the agenda will be examining current ILL practices as they pertain to non-returnables, and gathering information to understand the dynamic between user sharing tools available and provincial ILL.
Outside her work with resource sharing and learning support services, Sunni is looking forward to supporting the BC Institutional Repository (IR) Network software evaluation. Sunni brings solid expertise to this project; she has facilitated three successful software selection processes with BC ELN, twice for AskAway and once for WriteAway. She notes that she is eager to learn more about software that could support IR, and to work with a very engaged group of people.
Sunni has been with BC ELN for eight years, and when asked what she enjoys most about working here, she says: "working with the people both inside and outside! Our job is to facilitate communication so we are regularly reaching out and engaging with different library communities. I really enjoy that. And the synergy in our office is energizing!"
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British Columbia Electronic Library Network | [email protected] |
W.A.C. Bennett Library, Room 7600
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, V5A 1S6
phone: 778.782.7003
fax: 778.782.3023
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