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2006/2007 Annual Report

 

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Peabody Library Annual Report 2006/2007

Summary

The library staff showed innovation and creativity in the past year, searching for new and better ways to provide outstanding service and resources to our users. Our experiments with online tutorials and embedded librarians drew interest from our peers across the nation and our first academic library leadership institute brought glowing reviews from attendees.

The staff took advantage of numerous technological resources to make our materials easier to use. Eight new online tutorials created with Camtasia software focused on questions frequently asked at the service desk. We undertook our first video in conjunction with the CUIL (Committee on Undergraduate Information Literacy) group. We imported over 2,200 articles to OAK. The Web page was accessed almost 130,000 times.

Our statistics show that users continue to look to the library for personalized, one-on-one help with complex research and instructional support. While our gate numbers have remained steady over the past year, the demand for research services has increased dramatically. Users are asking for 40% more research consultations and 46% more interlibrary loans. Room reservations have increased by 46%.

The year end brought with it the departure of three valuable staff members: Sharon Weiner, Chris Benda, and Bryan Campbell. We wish them the best in their new endeavors and thank them for their service to Peabody Library.

Comments

From students:

“The Peabody Library has quiet rooms, lots of windows, tables, comfortable chairs and doesn't really smell like anything — good or bad. The Iris Cafe is open on the weekdays, but you can bring coffee and drinks into the library anytime. When the weather is nice, there are plenty of places to study outside, and there are outlets everywhere.” –Student, Vanderbilt University

“Attending the APA library session helped me because I was able to take the individual sources I had researched and go over how to put them into the correct format for each one. The overview was beneficial because we were given examples of all different kinds of citations with handouts that I kept and was able to use when writing other papers. We were able to ask questions and received individual help, so I would definitely recommend other people attend the session.” --Sophomore, Peabody College

“Please know that Bryan in particular has been extremely gracious, kind, and patient with me as I learn my way around the research world. And it is usually early in the morning when I see him! He welcomes me with a smile and is a wonderful teacher!” -- Graduate Student, Divinity

“I received an email today letting me know about the DVD series that I asked you about. It arrived! Thank you so much! I am so impressed, as always, with the service of the Peabody Library.” –Graduate Student, Peabody College

“I have truly enjoyed working at the library this year--- it's the best job on campus!” --Student Assistant, Peabody Library

“ Peabody library is the BEST.” – Sophomore, Vanderbilt University

“The Peabody library is the best...you can even eat in there!” –Graduate Student, Vanderbilt University

“The teacher resource room in Peabody library is really useful (and fun) -even for non teaching majors.” –Senior, Vanderbilt University

Faculty

“I love how you are proactive.” --Faculty, Peabody College

“You presented in a very easy to understand fashion, the resources available. Thanks again for your time and all you do to make our students' lives richer and my life easier.” --Lecturer, Peabody College

Researchers and Administrators

“I mentioned you to a fellow PhD student as an example of how librarians have the power to make things easy for you as a researcher.” -- Academic Researcher

“I like this. Straightforward, easy to navigate and a treasure trove of reflections from a variety of people involved with and affected by the merger.” –Administrator, Peabody College , regarding Voices of Peabody

Statistics

202,739 patrons entered the library (1% decrease over 2005/2006)
16, 895 average number of patrons who entered the library each month

129,983 Web site hits
17,405 items charged out (9% increase over 2005/2006)

1,064 interlibrary loans were picked up at Peabody service desk
66 loans were delivered to Peabody faculty (by Peabody Library)
31 loans were picked up at another location
1,473 ILL articles (copies, non-returnable) filled for Peabody users
2,634 total interlibrary loans filled for Peabody (46% increase over 2005/2006)

1300 room reservations made (47% increase over 2005/2006)

5,786 questions answered (27% decrease over 2005/2006)
1,737 reference questions answered (29% decrease over 2005/2006)
174 funding announcements distributed (16% decrease over 2005/2006)
119 research consultations (40% increase over 2005/2006)

63 library instruction sessions for 955 people (47% increase in number of sessions but 31% fewer attendees)
13 tours for 63 people (38% fewer tours but 47% more attendees)

11,397 electronic reserve pages scanned (13% decrease over 2005/2006)
2,252 articles imported and 400 articles linked to OAK

Promotion and Outreach

Peabody Library co-sponsored the "Meet the Professors" picnic with the Peabody Student Council on October 4. This annual event is for Peabody first-year students. We co-sponsored the event again on April 3

Several staff attended the Peabody welcome back picnic. The librarians participated in the Peabody Graduate Student Orientation and the Department of Teaching & Learning Graduate Student Orientation .

Our Library Research Clinic for Peabody Graduate Students 2006 attracted 65 students. All five academic departments at Peabody were represented.

The Library was a central location for Peabody Homecoming festivities on October 20. Registration was on the Terrace. To start the day, library science alumni speaker Connie Vinita Dowell ('79), Dean of the Library at San Diego State University, gave an inspiring presentation about "Libraries: Rapid Change, Enduring Values." The Pioneer's Lunch was held in the Fireside Room. People who graduated from Peabody more than 50 years ago enjoyed a delicious lunch and reminisced. The Grand Reading Room was the location for the Faculty Book Author Party. More than 40 books had been published in the three years since the last book party.

The "Voices from Peabody " project was completed. It documents oral histories of those involved with the 1979 merger of Peabody and Vanderbilt. [http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/vop/]

Leslie Foutch began her new role as an "embedded librarian". She attended HOD 1000 classes each Tuesday so that she could be more visible to the students and help them with their research papers at point-of-need.

The first Peabody Academic Library Leadership Institute was held from July 9-13 in the Wyatt Center . Sharon Weiner and Patricia Breivik were Co-Chairs. Eighteen Fellows attended from ten different states. They represented the University of South Florida, Colorado School of Mines, University of Memphis, University of Saint Thomas, Stanford, Emory, Wheelock, University of South Carolina, San Diego State University, Lynchburg College, Berry, Alcorn State, Augusta State, Delta State, Vanderbilt, and St. Leo. Chancellor Gee gave a welcome at the opening reception and autographed copies of his new book with Dr. Breivik.

The Institute focused on the higher education environment in which academic libraries exist. The Institute Fellows heard Alan Guskin (President Emeritus, Antioch College ), Ralph Wolff (Executive Director, Western Association of Schools and Colleges), Sheila Creth ( University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Camilla Benbow (Dean, Peabody College ), Timothy Caboni (Assistant Dean, Peabody College ), James Hearn ( University of Georgia ), and Sharon Weiner (Peabody Library). Panel discussants reflected the many different dimensions of higher education.

The Library is in the beginning stages of organizing a Children's Literature Institute in collaboration with the Peabody Professional Institutes to be held in spring 2008.

Lara Beth Lehman led the planning to host a lecture by children's literature author Rich Michelson on April 5. The lecture was advertised on Facebook and drew a capacity crowd of approximately 100 people to the Fireside Reading Room. Michelson is a prize-winning poet and book author. Michelson's books for children received New Yorker "Best Book," Children's Book Committee "Book of the Year", and "Jewish Book Council Book of the Month" awards. The event was a great success. Michelson's lecture, "Writing across Race Lines," was witty, thoughtful, and enlightening. He graciously autographed books for the guests. His visit to Nashville was co-sponsored by Peabody Library, Vanderbilt Hillel, and Pi Beta Phi Sorority. We also arranged for him to spend the morning at the University School of Nashville with 3rd and 4th graders.

Peabody Library donated books to the Murfreesboro chapter of Omicron Sigma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, for their New Orleans Book Drive at the request of Prof. Rich Milner, to Belmont University Library, and Belmont's Curriculum Center.

Peabody Library was listed as one of the six best places to study in the 2006 Vanderbilt Hustler Survival Guide !

Eli Moody placed the Scholarly and Popular periodicals video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmijPq6-KU0 . To date, it has been viewed 1,126 times.

There was a posting on " Peabloggy " that was complimentary toward the library.

Stacy Owens was featured in the Vanderbilt Register's " Last Word".

Photos of Karen Swoopes and Peabody Library were included in the rotation of photos on the Vanderbilt home page.

The Tech Team investigated and implemented a Facebook presence for the library.

The library was the location for the annual George Peabody Birthday Party on February 22.

Curriculum Support and Assessment

We coordinated the administration of the ETS ICT assessment to HOD 1000 students during the week of March 26. In April we submitted individualized letters with improvement plans to Prof. Bob Innes to distribute to students who scored below the 50th percentile on the ETS ICT assessment, now called "iSkills."

The Library's Tech Team (Chris Benda, Leslie Foutch, Eli Moody, and Karen Swoopes) created eight online tutorials using Camtasia software. The tutorials are available at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/tutorials/ . Topics are:

Eli Moody worked with Patricia Armstrong and Melinda Brown on a CUIL (Committee on Undergraduate Information Literacy) video

Lara Beth Lehman added notes to the records of 762 ACORN records to indicate that those children's books had won awards .

Classes We Taught:

to Peabody Library staff

to those outside of Vanderbilt

Topics for the third floor book displays were: Hispanic Heritage, Intergenerational Books for Youth, Children's Halloween books, child development, science education, arts, Native heritage, science fiction, fantasy, higher education, celebration, middle readers, biographies, autobiographies, maps and atlases, social studies, African American heritage, Rich Michelson books, historical fiction, women's history, school teachers, nursery rhymes, language arts, poetry, and summer reading.

Collections and Electronic Resources

Facility

Technology

Interior Design and Furniture

  • The carpet was cleaned and the marble floors were cleaned and waxed.
  • We added 8 new chairs to Grand Reading Room, increasing the seating capacity
  • We changed the signage in Bound Journal Stacks
  • We installed an electric fireplace in the Fireside Room
  • Two photos of the classes of 1898 and 1900 were framed and hung in the first floor hallway. They were donated by an alumna.

    • Library Advisory Committee

    The members of the Library Advisory Committee were:

    Prof. Ann Neely (T&L, Committee Chair)

    Prof. Joseph Cunningham (HOD)
    Ralph Knapp ( Peabody College Assistant Director of Information Technology)
    Prof. Georgine Pion (P&HD)
    Prof. Debbie Rowe (T&L)
    Prof. Claire Smrekar (LPO)
    Sharon Weiner (Library Director)
    Prof. Mark Wolery (SPED)
    Jackie Wood (Development and Alumni Relations)

    Student Representatives:

    Jim Furman
    Stacy Tolos

    Library Staff

    We celebrated staff milestones and achievements:

    Stacy Owens was recognized for twenty years of service at the Vanderbilt Service Awards ceremony. Stacy was also recognized during the Heard Library Staff Awards ceremony.

    Lara Beth Lehman won the Heard Library Innovation and Creativity award. The purpose of this award is to reward staff innovation and creativity which results in improved library service for patrons and/or more efficient methods of performing internal library tasks. Lehman was elected Secretary of the Tennessee Library Association Reference Roundtable. She appeared in a student video project on the Curriculum Materials Center .

    Leslie Foutch was listed in the 2006/2007 Cambridge Who's Who Registry for Executives and Professionals: Library Science .

    Sharon Weiner successfully defended her dissertation an earned her EdD. She was also accepted into the Oxford Higher Education Seminar, which will be held in August. She was re-certified for five years as a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals.

    Bryan Campbell attended the Tennessean 's banquet for contributors of Three-Star Letters to the Editor . He wrote a letter urging the MTA and the transit union to settle their differences to avert a strike back in 2006. It appeared in the October 8, 2006 issue.

    Melinda Hill, a graduate student assistant, had a baby daughter on March 26.

    Staff changes:

    Brian Christens, Director of the Census Information Center and for Isaac and Ora Prilleltensky (HOD) left the library. The new GIS Coordinator for Vanderbilt, Jacob Thornton, started work on October 31. His office is on the third floor of Peabody Library.

    Chris Benda, Library Associate, resigned his position at Peabody Library to become a Theological Librarian in the Heard Divinity Library.

    In June, we hired a new graduate student, Mike Gabrys. He will be working for us this summer and the next school year. His training will last through the summer.

    This is a list of the Peabody Library staff and student assistants:

    Eileen Bouldin
    Nathan Cearley
    Anne Childress
    Grafton Day
    Lilia Drovnikova
    Mike Gabrys
    Katie Harris
    Chris Hayes
    Ereni Kouladis
    Melinda Hill
    Joel Jones
    Adrian Reif
    Emily Skelton
    Leon Solimani
    Kendra Warden
    Joanne White
    Christine Williams
    Julia Woodward

    Professional Activities

    Staff served on the following committees, teams, clubs and forums:

    Heard Library Circulation and Access Committee
    Heard Library Collections Committee
    Heard Library CUIL Information Literacy Initiatives Project Team
    Heard Library Directors Council
    Heard Library Faculty Delivery Project Team
    Heard Library GIS Coordinator Search Team
    Heard Library Journal Club
    Heard Library Meeting Management Project Team
    Heard Library OAK Reserves Project Team
    Heard Library Primo Normalization Project Team
    Heard Library Reference/Instruction Forum
    Heard Library Research Services Committee
    Heard Library Seating Sweep Study Project Team
    Heard Library Space Planning Committee
    Heard Library Staff Development Committee
    Heard Library Tech Support Coordinators
    Heard Library Web Update Project Team
    National Forum on Information Literacy Steering Committee
    Peabody College Curriculum Committee (ex officio)
    Peabody College Committee on Research
    Peabody College Committee on Teaching (ex officio)
    Peabody College ETS ICT Task Force
    Peabody College HOD Coordinating Committee
    Peabody College Library Advisory Committee
    Peabody College Professional Institutes planning

    Professional Development

    Conferences Attended:

    Publications

    Weiner, Sharon A. "Book Review: Quality and Performance Excellence in Higher Education: Baldrige on Campus," International Journal of Educational Advancement, 6(1):80-2, 2005

    Foutch, Leslie, Lee Ann Lannom, Prof. Brian Griffith, Deb Sommer, and Sharon Weiner. "How to Embed a Librarian" LOEX 2008 conference proceedings.

    For more detailed information, see the Library's monthly reports.

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    Last updated August 8, 2007