Another New Academic Year Begins

It was great to see all our new students arriving this past weekend, and it was especially energizing today to see the combination of these new students settling in and our continuing students joining them and all getting ready for first day of class on Wednesday.

Now I just worry whether we really have the Library completely ready for the new academic year. We hope so. We have spent time making some changes that we hope will make the Proctor Library a more customer friendly space as the semester begins, and one of our primary goals for the coming year is to continue improving our customer service in order to improve overall student satisfaction and the quality of the educational experience.

Returning students will notice a couple of significant physical changes we have made inside the Library. Many students who have already been here several years have often been faced with trying to locate a book in one of two very similar locations—the Dewey Collection or the LC Circulating Collection. This was necessary as we worked through a project lasting close to nine years whereby we converted nearly 100,000 book volumes from the Dewey Decimal Classification system to the Library of Congress Classification system. Well, we finally completed that long project this summer, and we have trashed the old signs for the two locations.


And we have installed new signs for the single location which is now known as the “2nd Floor General Collection.” The signs read simply “General Collection.

To support the Education program at the College we also made some adjustments this summer to two of the special collections supporting this program. First we acquired copies of those textbooks in math, science and social studies formally adopted by the St. Johns County Public Schools to support the K-5 grades. Naturally these very useful textbooks overcrowded the existing shelving holding the special “Education-Curriculum Collection” on the second floor, so this entire collection was then relocated to available shelving nearby on the side wall. This in turn allowed us to spread out the already crowded books in the “Fran Farrell Children’s Literature Collection” and make that collection more user friendly.

The actual locations of these collections can be seen on our new Second Floor Floorplan http://www.flagler.edu/library/Library_2nd_floor.jpg .


Finally, one of the changes that we believe will appreciated most by both new and returning students was really accomplished by our great friends and colleagues, the Technology Services Department—probably more widely known as the IT or Information Technology Department. Students visiting the Proctor Library this week will find some 200 brand new computers installed early this summer—about 70 new computers on the first floor and about 130 on the third floor. The Library is especially pleased because the number on the first floor were increased by 9 units over last year's number. This increase should help reduce the “cruising” we often observed last year, as students searched for an open computer. Thanks Technology Services for such great and caring support.

Summer Orientation for New Students -- We are so thrilled to have them

This year the College has invited new students for a trial of one-day summer orientation sessions, and these sessions appear to be working great. We in the Library are particularly pleased to be given the opportunity to see and meet these new students on a quiet day during the summer, instead of only during the hustle, bustle and stress of the first week of the semester.

Each of the three Summer Orientation dates scheduled this summer had a limit of 100 students, and upon arrival these students were then formed into smaller 10 person groups for the actual orientation activities during the day. The Library was very fortunate on the first date (June 19) to have one of our librarians serve as a group facilitator who interacted and guided the group all day during the students' orientation activities. It was a great opportunity to develop an early relationship with the group of students, and to bring the Library closer to them. On the second date (June 26) we again were fortunate to have another one of our librarians serve as a group facilitator, and we are hoping to add maybe a third, and maybe even a fourth librarian, as facilitator on the third date (July 10).

Of course, the rest of us working in the Library the days of the orientations had the opportunity briefly to meet the 10 groups of students as they came on a campus walking tour and we provided them a brief introduction to the Library. The students all were very pleasant and appeared quite energetic despite some very hot weather outside. We can't wait to meet up with them again when the fall semester begins. We are really looking forward to working with and helping them all.

End of Semester - Final Exams/Projects

The above photo of the “SHHH!!!” ceramic sculpture appearing in the window of our “quiet room” was very fitting as the semester came to an end, although a hint like this was not always needed. Students tended to be much quieter as they concentrated on their study and completion of final papers and projects. Actually it is interesting to note that the “SHHH!!!” sculpture is not normally displayed in the Library, but it was actually installed there only temporarily by one of our fine art majors as one of his final projects in his ceramic sculpture class. But how fitting?!

This final exam/final project period appears to have been the most successful one we have had to date, both for the students and for the Library. We had originally decided to increase our regular extended 2:00 a.m. hours from one week to two weeks, but after receiving pleas from a couple student groups seeking even longer hours, we decided to investigate even lengthening some of our hours beyond 2:00 a.m. into several full 24-hour days as a trial. After consulting with some of our colleagues at Rollins College, Elon University and Connecticut College, who are already providing 24-hour operation, we looked at our own staff resources and decided to remain open for four distinct 24-hour (overnight) periods during the final two weeks of the semester. These included two 24-hours periods in the first week when papers and projects were being completed and the other two 24-hour periods in the final week when exams were actually being administered.

The trial was extremely well received by the students. An average of some 275 students were present in the Library at some time during each of the four extended periods, and comments provided by students directly to the Library staff were very positive. Many expressions of gratitude were received. In addition a more formal online survey was sent out to all students at the end, and even though it was the last day of the semester, 315 students took the time to respond. Analysis of the survey showed that 81.9% of the respondents took advantage of the Library’s total offering of extended hours, and written comments clearly indicate the appreciation of the students and their interest in having the 24-hour periods continue during the final weeks of future semesters. Many students expressed that they did much better in their exams and final projects because they had the additional library hours available to them.

At the same time we in the Library were very pleased to be able to provide this level of service and support that was so well received by the students, and it is our intention to continue this in the future, and maybe even increase it slightly.

Proctor Library’s “Extended Hours for Finals” coincides with the celebration of National Library Week

This week the Proctor Library begins a period of two weeks of extended operating hours in order to provide students with more time and more access to library resources in preparation for final exams and for the completion of final projects. It is only fitting that this same week is also “National Library Week” a period of time for the celebration of the many contributions of libraries, librarians, and library workers in communities, schools and academic campuses nationwide. The week’s theme this year is “Worlds Connect @ Your Library.”

As in all the many different types of libraries, the Proctor Library’s mission is to serve a variety of needs of our library users. During the next two weeks, students will use the Library for both individual and group study in preparation for exams, for completion of individual and group projects, for rehearsals of oral presentations, for last minute research for papers using resources inside the Library, for accessing licensed databases remotely, and for seeking assistance from the reference librarians to help in the completion of remaining portions of their work.

Also of note this week is that Tuesday April 14, has been designated “National Library Workers Day” as a day to remember the contributions of ALL those library workers, who make all the library services possible.

In the Proctor Library these workers include not only the librarians, but also the staff library assistants, the student library assistants, the housekeepers, and the security officers. Each and every one help ensure the service and learning environment that students and other members of the Flagler College community expect and enjoy from the Proctor Library. I hope all will recognize the contribution of all of these workers on National Library Workers Day and also during the next two weeks when the library workers are dedicating extra efforts and extra hours to help students during final projects and exams.

Importance of St. Augustine residents and MLK Day

The month of January has slipped by much too quickly. Classes no sooner began when we shifted our concentration to Martin Luther King Day on Monday, January 19, followed by the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 20.

Martin Luther King Day was given special recognition by Flagler College this year. Beginning this year the College will observe Martin Luther King Day every year, not only to honor the personal work of Dr. King but equally important to honor the work of St. Augustine’s residents as part of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly during the 1960s. This new observance is the result of a resolution passed the Faculty Senate and approved by the President of Flagler College in fall 2008.

I believe it to be very important for the Flagler College community to be aware of the work of those St. Augustine residents who are being honored by the College’s observance of Martin Luther King Day. The work of the residents, particularly during the years 1963 and 1964, contributed significantly to the Civil Right Movement and ultimately to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was passed and signed by President Lyndon Johnson in the summer of 1964.

The Proctor Library's collections contain several resources that provide excellent looks at that period of time in St. Augustine history, as well as years both before and beyond.

One of the more interesting items is the documentary film Dare Not Walk Alone. This film was written, directed and produced by Flagler College alumnus Jeremy Dean, and co-produced by Dr. James Gilmore, a former faculty member in the College’s Communication Department. The Library currently has four DVD copies of this documentary. Two copies are available for normal circulation from our Audio-Visual Collection (Call Number is F319.S2 D37 2008) and two copies are available in our Permanent Reserve Collection for use inside the Library only. Any member of the Library staff can help retrieve one of these copies.

More detailed information about happenings during the historic period can be found within the following two books:

If it takes all summer : Martin Luther King, the KKK, and states’ rights in St. Augustine, 1964, by Dan Warren. Call number is F319.S2 W365 2008

Racial change and community crisis : St. Augustine, Florida, 1877-1980, by David Colburn. Call number is F319.S2 C65 1991.

All are recommended, and I hope members of the Flagler College community will take some time to review at least one of the resources.

End of the Semester Excitement

The fall semester ends this week and almost everyone with whom I speak feels this semester has just flown by. We're not exactly sure what may have caused this, but the feeling is widespread. Throughout the semester our efforts are always targeted on helping the students use library tools for research and other projects. At this point, however, only a few papers and projects remain, and it is time to make sure the students are welcomed and comfortable coming to the Library to study individually and in groups, in order to be ready for their final exams...and even to finish their last minute papers. As I check our daily gate counts and as I take my walks on the floors, I am very pleased with what I am observing. We certainly have not scared too many students away, because our gate count has jumped from a average of about 2,600 entrances a day to well over 3,000 entrances on several days the last few weeks.

Even a couple end-of-the-year mishaps that one could never predict have been dealt with. We were able to deal with a two hour website outage by shifting our access to a different server. And even an elevator breakdown on two separate days did not deter one of our education classes from meeting on both days. They simply set up camp on one end of the first floor, and this created no apparent problem.

It was also exciting for all of us when we realized that right in the midst of exam preparations our trusty gate counter was about to turn over another million. One of our frequent library users, who will graduate this spring, became the six millionth person to enter the Library since it first opened in fall 1996.

#6,000,000

At the same time study groups have been gathering throughout the Library, and it always fun for me to see how the groups settle into the various areas. Some settled into the seating groups and laptop computers appeared everywhere.

My favorite thus far has been a large group I recognized using our group study rooms for two separate nights. The rooms typically top out at about 14 students, but I'm pretty certain the group exceeded 16 and they all seemed to be dilligently working at the three tables that they had separated in the room. Again, a lot of laptops were seen there.

Now students working individually were accommodated too. Most used our standard study carrels, but some preferred the floor. For one student we even got a chance to use a chair we have been sampling. It separates into a close-to-the-floor seat and the base becomes a table that can hold a laptop.

It has been fun to observe, and I may even some additional observations in the remaining days before finals end and the semester comes to an end.

Give them only one choice…and they may take the second.

Give them only one choice…and they may take the second or maybe even the third.

Yes, I know I probably should be writing about something more academic, but I just can’t help sharing some of my observations from around the Library. I took note of two things this week that just seemed to fit together for me.

Ever since the walkway along on Sevilla Street in front of the Library was reconfigured and the new concrete poured, many students and other pedestrians making the turn from Valencia Street toward the Library have decided to take a shortcut across the grass instead of walking the extra couple yards to follow the paved walk. Now, after a year has passed and the dirt path was obviously becoming a part of the landscape, it became clear that it was time for the College to pour a new permanent concrete path there. It was completed last week, and it looks and works great. It gives the students two nice alternatives.

I also heard a very interesting theory proposed by the wife of one of our librarians. It is her theory that only grass turf--never concrete walkways--should be installed on any newly landscaped area. Then, when dirt paths start to appear in areas where people are actually walking, the concrete walkways can be installed in their proper location. I love the theory!

Also during the past week, when making my normal morning inspection walks through the Library, I became more aware of another clear example of our library users not always taking the first choice offered to them. Instead of taking the study chair immediately available to them, they recognize over time that they may actually have alternatives and they will often choose the chair most comfortable for them—especially if they are going to be spending an extended period in the Library.

There are presently about eight different chair styles on the second floor, and these are based in specific locations. The so-called “comfy”overstuffed chairs and some high back leather chair make up the lounge areas by the big windows. The study carrels and work tables have straight wooden chairs (both armless and with arms). Two of the group study rooms have task chairs (both armless and with arms), and the other two rooms have wide conference style chairs. There are even two tall stools used with the technology stations in the group study rooms.

One would expect students to use the chairs in the locations in which they are originally placed, and normally that is the case, but almost every day the different style of chairs are moved to new locations and obviously used by students (or others) who prefer a particular chair.

Most moves are obvious. The softer chair usually with arms, are the ones moved the most. Now I would have never expected that any of the straight back, hard wood chairs would be moved into spaces to replace softer chairs, but it happens quite often. And even our tall stools occasionally move. I am still trying to figure out who prefers the higher rather than the normal height chair and why.

Of course, our approach is that whatever makes a student comfortable using the Library is OK with us. In fact I was considering setting up all our chairs in front of the elevator and just letting each student take along his/her favorite chair.

Just kidding!! But it would be interesting to see.

Are things disappearing from the Proctor Library?

Are we aware that things are disappearing from the Library? Those of you who frequent the Library will notice that some very familiar items have been disappearing this semester. These include paintings from the gallery space on the first floor, microfilm reels and microfilm equipment from the Research Room, and even books from the collections. Fortunately for us all the removals of these items have been planned.

Gallery wall minus Flagler Era paintings

For example, this past week eight Flagler era paintings were removed from the gallery area on the first floor of the Library in order to provide the opportunity for the College to enhance the security environment for these historic treasures. Hopefully the paintings will either be returned soon in a much more secure mode, or else we may substitute a similar collection of quality art pieces to be exhibited in the gallery space.

Our removal of microfilm reels and microfilm equipment has been much slower. Last spring we determined that we needed some of the space then occupied by the microfilm to create a quiet study area in the Research Room. At the same time there was also a need to expand the adjacent room which houses technology equipment, so plans were initiated to convert the remaining freed up floor space to that purpose. We were able to make both of these spaces available because students have substantially reduced their use of microfilm as a result of the more efficient access to journal page images provided today via subscriptions to the electronic databases-- particularly JSTOR, Proquest, Ebscohost, and Wilson Omnifile. We were able to reduce our microfilm holdings from 17 cabinets down to only 3 cabinets, and need only 2 reader printers (of the original 6) to access the remaining microfilm. As a result, we ended up with approximately 6,000 reels (75 storage boxes) of microfilm, 14 microfilm cabinets, and 4 reader printers to be removed.

Surplus reader printers & cabinets

Finding “good homes” for the microfilm and its associated equipment has been interesting. Florida’s Bureau of Braille and Talking Books Library Services was the first to pick up 6 of our microfilm cabinets to store the master cassette recordings of their talking books. Our local St. Augustine Foundation, accepted one of our reader-printers, and now is finally able to print copies of their valuable historic microfilm at their own location. The remaining 3 reader-printers and one cabinet will soon be provided to the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library, and the Florida State Library in Tallahassee will be the recipient of the final 7 cabinets.

75 boxes of surplus reels of microfilm

Our 6,000 reels of microfilm are also disappearing, but a bit slower. Seven years worth of the New York Times and twenty-five years of the William & Mary Quarterly will help the Volusia County Public Library fill in some gaps in their coverage. Unfortunately we did have a setback recently. We had geared up to provide 31 years of the New York Times, and our holdings of 14 separate political and international affairs journals to the University of Kurdistan Hawler Library in Erbil, Iraq via a very special cooperative effort involving the Southeast Florida Library and Information Network (SEFLIN), Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Library, and the U.S. Army Civil Affairs in Iraq. However, after an initial shipment of five boxes to SEFLIN, we had to suspend subsequent shipments because the U.S. Army Civil Affairs unit has left the Erbil area. We maintain hope that a new delivery channel can soon be established, and that we will be able to continue to help the cooperative effort of SEFLIN and FAU to enhance the English language holdings in that Iraq library.

University of Kurdistan Hawler Library

Finally, as we continue to review sections of our books collection for both currency and relevancy, we identify books that we judge to no longer belong or be needed in our collection and we “weed” them out. These weeded books are disposed of in three different directions. Damaged books and those including information which is out of date are permanently disposed of. Books that still have a market value and have the potential to earn some funds that can be used to purchase new books for the Library are being set aside and will soon be shipped to a used book broker. All remaining books are moved to book carts that are periodically moved out to the lobby of the Library and made available as “give away" books for all members of the Flagler community.

Carts of "give away" books

So things really are disappearing from the Proctor Library. But at least for the items described above the removal is carefully planned and controlled.

40th Anniversary

What a memorable and fun day! Today the College has been busy celebrating our 40th Anniversary with a party on the west lawn just in front of the entrance to the Library. Most classes have been cancelled for the day, and students and others from the college community have been enjoying the food, music, games, and even the speeches that are part of the anniversary party.



Yes, our 40th Anniversary…with our beginning point being the year 1968. Naturally these past 40 years have been very important to the College, and as I reflected a bit, it suddenly occurred to me that these years have been very important for me personally as well. Just as the College was beginning its history in fall 1968, I was also beginning my career in libraries in fall 1968 serving in my first librarian position, as the assistant librarian at a high school in New Jersey. So now 40 years later the College and I are both celebrating our 40th anniversary at the same time. What a coincidence.

As we finish these 40 years I would love to be able to document the College’s history in images, but that is outside my sphere. However, the College’s library has had its own history and I thought I would briefly share some images of what I have found to be an interesting evolution of the physical library over the 40 years.

The historic Hotel Ponce de Leon, the centerpiece of the campus, was the home of the first two “editions” of the library.

The Original Library (1968) was located in the hotel’s solarium on the fourth floor.

Library users could even enjoy the solarium’s outside deck.

As the library’s collection grew, it had to be moved in 1972 to a larger space, the hotel’s Grand Parlor, which is now known as the Flagler Room.

In 1982, the Grand Parlor (Flagler Room) was able to regain its beautiful spaces, as the library was moved to neighboring Kenan Hall. The library, then known as the Louise Wise Lewis Library, consisted of three levels and its entry was on the 3rd floor of Kenan Hall. The ceiling heights had to be low to allow the library to fit its three levels between floors 2 & 3 in Kenan.

Finally, in 1996 the College completed construction of our present, free-standing library, the Proctor Library, named in honor of then President, now Chancellor, William L. Proctor.

I fortunately had the privilege of joining the College in 1996, and as a result I also have had the privilege of enjoying the legacy of the College and the evolution of the College library. Happy 40th Anniversary Flagler College.

Research Room reconfigured into "quiet space"

In my April 2008 blog I described how pleased I was about our students’ suggestions concerning the importance of carving out some quiet space in the Library, which like most academic libraries has become an active but somewhat noisy learning place. Actually back in October 2007 an individual student had emailed the Library with an especially compelling argument for more quiet in the Library, so we had already started some planning for setting aside and configuring some better quiet space, but the significant number of student suggestions received in response to the Library’s Biennial Student Survey, Spring 2008 (and from a quick follow up survey) reinforced the need for us to establish a clearly designated quiet room and prompted us to action this summer in reconfiguring Room 133, the glass enclosed O’Keefe Research Room, as a “Quiet Room.”


Room 133 had formerly been referred to by many simply as the “microfilm room” because as one looked into the room much of the floor space was taken up by 8 separate microfilm reader/printer machines and 16 very large cabinets containing microfilm reels holding our historical back file of journal issues. In addition, the perimeter of the room was filled with 16 computer workstations, so the room could easily become a crowded, and even noisy, place as well.

With the increased availability of journal back files on the online electronic databases to which the Library subscribes, and the preference of students to access the issues online rather than on microfilm, we found no need to continue to take up unnecessary floor space, so we reviewed our holdings and reader/printer use, and we were able to cut down to only 2 reader/printers and 3 cabinets in the room. We also removed and relocated 7 computer workstations to an alternate space elsewhere on the first floor of the Library in order to leave carrel and table space for those wishing to work without the distraction of a desktop computer, or with tabletop space on which to use their own laptops. 9 computer workstations were left in the room.

So Library Room 133, the O’Keefe Research Room, is now designated as a “Quiet Room” with signage and posted rules targeted at providing a good space for individuals to engage in quiet work and study. The mixture of furnishings—a reduced number of computers and microfilm equipment, uncluttered study carrels and tables, and even a few individual chair arrangements—should make the area more conducive to this quiet work and study. Quiet will be monitored by the Library staff, and the staff will respond to any infractions.

We have been pleased to be able to respond to the suggestions of the students, and we look forward to this newly configured space complementing the noisier, but very active, other learning spaces throughout the Proctor Library.

What are our hopes for our students? How will digitized collections impact?

As the College begins the new academic year, all of us in the Library are targeting once again on our stated Vision which in part is to be “a full “learning partner” closely collaborating with the students, faculty and staff of Flagler College to achieve the goal of “engaged higher learning” as a culture within the College.” This Vision looks to accomplish this goal in two forms--one is as a “virtual library” providing high quality and technologically accessible digitized content to the College community no matter where the members are located, and the other is as a “library place” providing a centralized learning facility where students gather comfortably with others to: access and explore information drawn from a variety of formats; analyze this information in group discussions; and effectively produce quality presentations and similar products that demonstrate their learning outcomes within a service-rich, comfortable learning environment.

We will continue during this academic year to pursue this Vision, but to be honest it is not easy, particularly as one has to struggle to fully understand the impact of digitized collections on the physical library as well as on learning and teaching. It is with this background that I was delighted to discover a recent talk that addressed this exact topic. The talk was titled “Scholars Perspective: Impact of Digitized Collections on Learning and Teaching.” It was just presented in June 2008 to a Research Libraries Group (RLG) Symposium, in Philadelphia. The presenter was Dr. David Harrington Watt, who is both Director of General Education and Associate Professor of History at Temple University. I highly recommend a reading of a copy of his talk which is available at http://www.oclc.org/programs/events/2008-06-04a.pdf.

Dr. Watt’s combination of responsibilities provides a wonderful perspective with which to look at our topic of interest. As Director of General Education he has responsibility for promoting the elusive concept of “information literacy” at Temple because Temple requires that there must be an “information literacy” component in every general education class, and "information literacy" includes and is tied closely to students understanding and effectively using the digitized collection. At the same time, as Associate Professor of History Dr. Watt has empathy with his fellow faculty members who really can’t fully make sense of this category called “information literacy” and he sees that the faculty are resistant to making it part of their courses. Here at Flagler, we are still in the early stages of helping students (and faculty) fully understand and effectively use the digitized collections as well as traditional resources. This is our own “information literacy” goal, so we are obviously very interested in Dr. Watt’s observations and comments.

But in Dr. Watt’s words:

“So there is the bad news: we are living in a world in which there is good
reason to believe the students really do need to work on their informational
literacy and which faculty seem resistant to helping them do so.”

However, Dr. Watt also gives some better news because he suggests that one can negotiate through this dilemma by not hitting the faculty with the concept of “information literacy” but instead start learning from the faculty what hopes they have for their students. He has seen hopes expressed by faculty in such ways as:

“I want them to be able to distinguish between relative reliable primary sources
and ones that are less reliable.”

“I want them to compare the data they get from reading physical primary sources
with that they get from reading from digital sources.”

In reality these are “information literacy” objectives but they really were not requested as such from the faculty. This is a lesson we can use here at Flagler.

Dr. Watt offered many other interesting thoughts in his talk concerning the impact of digitized collections on the physical library. For example, one challenge he mentions is the disappearance in many cases of professors running into other professors in the library, and of professors running into students. He had a good feeling about professors and students running into each other, and at the time they probably were involved in a common endeavor in research in one topic or another. Today he sees this same research going on, but the professor is in his office and the student may be in a computer lab. It ceases to be a common endeavor. He misses that interaction of students and professors within the physical library. Fortunately here at Flagler we still have several faculty working together with their students, helping them understand that all formats of information have value in research and many of these formats are only available in a physical library.

As the same time Dr. Watt also described the high value of the digital collections that are acquired today by libraries for use by students and other researchers. He presented the story of the undergraduate student from Temple who was able to write and publish an article in a scholarly journal using the digitized collection, "Early English Books Online," available to him through Temple’s library. He would probably never have been able to accomplish this in the past because of lack of timely access. While Flagler College may not be at the same level as Temple University with digitized collections--in particular collections of primary source documents--our own current digitized periodicals collections and subscriptions, including such ones as JSTOR, ATLA and PsycArticles, do provide access to thousands of digitized journal titles usable for research, as do our access to digitized collections of over 85,000 book titles.

So going back to my initial paragraph, I am pleased to say that our library is continuing to move forward toward achieving our vision, and I think Dr. Watt’s talk may give us some important thoughts to build upon as do our work. I again suggest a reading of a copy of his talk at
http://www.oclc.org/programs/events/2008-06-04a.pdf

Isn't it great that they care?

It has been a thrill over the past couple weeks for us to witness how our Flagler students have helped the Library by providing excellent feedback to us in three different surveys that we hit them with during that time. Many of these same students had just finished taking the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and/or the Student Satisfaction Survey. We waited patiently until these important College administered surveys were completed, and then we released our own library satisfaction survey (routinely administered every other year) and a short instruction assessment survey. Not only have we been pleasantly surprised by the numbers who completed our surveys, but also by the care taken in providing us with excellent written comments -- some positive, some negative but always in an honest and very constructive manner. And what's amazing is that they answered these surveys in the last weeks of the semester, when final papers were due and when they were starting to prepare for final exams.

We then further complicated their lives by hitting them with a third survey even before the other two were closed out. Early results of our satisfaction survey indicated that there could be a potentially serious noise problem within Library that we want to address before the next semester begins, if it is truly a problem. We decided to ask the students’ help first to clarify the impact of noise in the Library on each one of them, and second to offer suggestions to us on how we might improve the situation. The electronically administered survey (SurveyMonkey) consisted of only one question plus space for comments and suggestions, and we were amazed at how rapidly the responses came back to us on this particular survey. About half of the respondents provided substantial comments typically running from four to eight lines long. It is obvious in most of the comments that the students wrote them with care and concern for the success of the Library, and many students even indicated that they were pleased we asked for their help.

I only regret that I am not able to take immediate action on all the excellent suggestions offered in all three of the surveys we administered, but we will be paying close attention to all of them and many changes will be acted upon this summer before classes begin again in the fall. I will report these changes to students in this blog and in other Flagler communication channels. Equally important, the students will see many changes when they return in the fall.

Isn’t it great that they care?

National Library Week - Busy Times in Proctor Library

It is very fitting that National Library Week is taking place at this time. This week is the mid-point of three weeks that make up probably the busiest and most critical period of the year in the Proctor Library. This is a time when our "circle of knowledge" normally hits its peak, as the academic year is coming to an end, final research papers and presentations are being competed for submission, and students begin their serious study for final exams which take place next week. The Library will continue to be a major contributor to help ensure that students have full opportunity to achieve their own goals for the period.

The Library will begin extended hours on Wednesday, April 16 and these extended hours will continue through the completion of exams. The exact hours follow:

Wednesday, April 16----7:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Thursday, April 17------7:30a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Friday, April 18---------7:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 19------10:00a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 20-------11:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Monday, April21--------7:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Tuesday, April22-------7:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Wednesday, April23----7:30 a.m. -2:00 a.m


National Library Week and Proctor Library


National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

Everyday, libraries in big cities and small towns, in businesses, in schools, and in universities and colleges like Flagler College help transform our different communities, by bringing members of the community into the "circle of knowledge."

In fulfilling its vision, the Proctor Library is dedicated to collaborating with the students, faculty and staff of Flagler College to achieve the goal of effective learning and to be an essential and critical resource for active student learning as well as “lifelong learning” for the entire College community. A major element in the Library's mission is to help students and other users become information literate individuals who will be lifelong learners who can grow in their career and be productive citizens.

As the academic year is coming to an end, we in the Proctor Library are striving to continue on the right track toward achieving our mission and vision elements noted above and hope we are helping members of the Flagler College community enter the "community of knowledge." To assess our success and progress, we are currently in the process of conducting a library user survey which we do every two years. This survey is sent out to a representative sample of students and faculty, and after analyzing the results and identifying areas for improvements, we will work in the coming months toward making any adjustments necessary. We have already started receiving completed surveys from students, and they have been providing us with some excellent observations and recommendations--including some action areas that will clearly require our attention before next year. It is clear that the Flagler College community is working effectively to help the entire community grow and improve.

In the meantime, all members of the Proctor Library staff will be dedicating ourselves over the next two weeks to keeping the Library's resources and services available to help the students in their completion of papers and projects and their study for final exams.

While most students have already completed their actual research by this time and are mostly involved in the final writing of their papers and completion of their other projects, the Library's reference librarians will still receive some end of the semester reference questions. Some may even resemble those coming from the student in the following video/audio clip. But we hope they don't :-)

National Library Week: Reference Desk video clip

Getting different perspectives in the Library

My previous blog treated one of my early morning walks through the library with no one around and with only my observations and my imagination to lead me to a few guesses about what had occurred in the library the evening before.

Other walks I make through the library reveal activities one would expect, but there also are always surprises. Today was one of those days. My reference librarian Katherine came up to me and asked, with a smile on her face, if I had been up to the second floor to see what one of the art classes was doing up there. This had me a bit concerned because normally when an art class visits the oversize books in our art collection seem to escape from their organized shelves and migrate all around the second floor. As I said in my previous blog, it sometimes seems like a hurricane has hit. Katherine assured me this was not the case this time, but that there were art students working all around the second floor. I had to see for myself, and what I indeed found were students with their sketch pads all around the second floor--some sitting on the floor, some in chairs, and even some on the top of our shelving.I learned from their professor, who was accompanying them, that they were observing and sketching various spaces in the library that allowed them to understand and illustrate "perspective." Aisles between ranges of bookshelves, long expanses of floor space, and many other areas on the library's second floor gave them the opportunity to illustrate a variety of perspectives. Once again it was a casual walk for me around the second floor, but just as the art students were observing different perspectives, so was I.

Just beyond one of the artists, I observed four students using the library catalog to identify books or other material probably for a more traditional library research project. I then passed one of the corner study rooms just as a scheduled behavioral science class was finishing up. And finally I returned shortly after noontime to a busy first floor where other learning activities, and even some social ones, were going on.

The learning activities of the art students today contributed in yet another way to help the Proctor Library facilty grow as an active center of learning. I am pleased to have had them working here and that we all have been able to enhance our perspectives on the Library.

And what will I find in the morning?

I often tend to be the first member of the library staff to arrive in the morning, and on those days when I am actually awake as I turn on the lights and walk the library spaces, I look around the various areas and try to determine what it was like the night before. I can generally tell that it was a slow night when I find most of the chairs are still in place and the trash cans still have room for more trash. Other mornings all the trash cans are overflowing, and I find such things as a chalk board in one of the study rooms completely filled with written evidence that a study group had been hard at work the night before. Another room may have a couple DVDs scattered by the player, and then I take some time to check the titles and try to guess whether the group was working an assignment or just relaxing. Leftover drink containers and sometimes even a pizza box (even though consumption of food is “not allowed”) also help me imagine what actually was going on.

Other mornings I walk by our large collection of oversized art books, and the area appears like Hurricane Katrina has just passed through. It is clear the art history students have an assignment due in the morning, and several of them had a field day moving the heavy art books around on the tops of our low shelving units. The books are too heavy to transport out of or even within the Library, so most of their work is done right near the collection

Rearrangement of furniture is also intriguing. For example it was clear this morning that a class using our large instruction room broke themselves down into smaller work groups, because I found three separate circles of chairs spread out across the second floor space.


From experience I knew in an instant who had been there – the Children’s Literature class from the Education Department. This class always seems to leave clear evidence. Earlier in the semester, we found cut-out, paper gingerbread men attached to all those areas of our collection containing children’s books or information about children’s books. The instructor for this class always amazes me, because these paper figures appear but I never see her attaching them. I’m sure she can teach our military about stealth actions. However, I did find more evidence of her class this morning, including my friend here:
In other spaces our softer arm chairs have been moved into carrels or next to group study tables and have replaced the harder wood chairs. Sometimes even heavy tables have been moved to accommodate a bigger group. Blinds have been raised in some areas and lowered in others.

It is clear that the students are comfortable adjusting their environment and making themselves at home in the library. And even though I am observing this evidence in the early morning with not one of them present, it makes me happy to know we are there for them. It is a great way to start the day.

New look for the Proctor Library web pages

As the spring semester has now started up, students and faculty will notice a change in our Proctor Library web pages, beginning with the home page (http://www.flagler.edu/library ). We felt very good about our previous web pages, but as with anything there is always room for improvement. For example, we had built in some intentional duplication when the web pages were redesigned a couple years back, but we realized during several semesters of use that this duplication could sometimes be confusing and needed to be part of a change.

Reference & Instruction Librarian Blake Pridgen took on the responsibility of reviewing redesigning the pages, and he succeeded in launching the new set of pages January 7.

Blake took a hard look at our pages, undertook some investigation and study of other academic library web pages and library web page design in general, and he reworked our pages to make them even better to use. One will notice from the new design that many of the elements of the previous pages were retained, but Blake adjusted the look with the thought of making everything even easier. He added some new items as well. Now in the “Find Information” column on the home page, one can initiate a search specifically for “DVDs. CDs and VHSs” as easily as searching for books. And in the far right column one can check lists of both new book and video additions to the Library. And, of course, a link to this “Library Director’s Blog,” plus a link to Polaris, the Library’s research tutorial, also appear in that same column. Directly under the banner on the top of the home page, one will also find quick direct links to the heavily used College tools: “Flagler Home,” “Flagler Email,” “My.Flagler.Edu,” and “WebCT.”

Our set of Proctor Library web pages will always be considered a “work in progress,” and we will always be looking for improvements, so I hope any one who has ideas for improvements or adjustments to our existing pages will feel free to get in touch with the Library, or even directly with Blake. We will appreciate the help.

Seeing the Proctor Library in a Different Light

The normal bright lights in the Library were dimmed slightly following normal closing time on December 18, and the Library’s first floor was transformed from its normal role as a learning center into a venue for a wonderful holiday celebration.

The celebration was organized by the College’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness to honor those friends of the College who have supported the College and Library over the years, especially those donors who have recently made special gifts as a part of the current campaign celebrating the Proctor Library on its “Decade of Excellence.”

Attendees at the celebration were greeted upon arrival with a beautiful five foot tall flower arrangement occupying the center point on the Library’s marble entryway floor.

It also didn’t hurt that the same table supporting the arrangement also supported an inviting variety of dessert creations. We obviously suspended our normal prohibition against consumption of food in the Library…and everyone was certainly glad we did.

In addition, very creative and substantial hors d'oeuvres were prepared and served by an exceptional caterer and her team, and they were enjoyed by all. The whole affair was a wonderful way to celebrate both the holidays and the work of the Library. Many of the benefactors and other guests had their first real opportunity to visit and see the Library, and the Library staff had a chance to meet these people who care so much for Flagler College.

Library staffers Brian Nesselrode, Katherine Owens and Christine Wysocki

All of us clearly appreciate the initiative and work of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness in putting this celebration together. We also appreciate Library staffer Catherine Norwood for capturing the images of the celebration.

New Year’s Resolution met – at last

Well it is now January 7, 2008 so I am already late in meeting my New Year’s Resolution to post my blog more frequently and regularly than my postings (only 3 blogs) during the fall semester.

Actually I am still excited about how well things went in the Library during the fall semester. The Library continued to be a busy place through the semester with our gate count often recording 300 to 400 additional entries over last year’s average of about 2,464 entries per day. And a couple days (6 to be exact) the count went over the 3,100 mark.

Several days we also noted there were times when every one of the public computers on the first floor of the Library was in use, and we saw students “cruising” looking for a computer to become available. It reminded me of a shopping center parking lot during the holidays. We obviously will need to seriously consider adding some additional public computers on the first floor. Even the availability of WiFi and the increased use of laptops has not reduced the need for the public computers.

It is really wonderful to see the Library used as heavily as it has been during the fall semester, and the end of the semester completion of project and preparation for exams really made the Library a place where students felt comfortable gathering in group study and collaboration. It was another great semester.We're looking forward to a similarly great semester in the spring.