Author: nancyfalcianiwhite@rmc.edu

It has been a busy summer at the McGraw-Page Library, though much of the work has been behind-the-scenes.

We are pleased to announce a new catalog system: WorldCat Discovery. The new system allows you to search local R-MC collections as well as libraries worldwide with the click of a button. In addition, it is possible to search only for books or only for articles using the same system. This provides a smoother experience, as you only have to learn a single system to access many of our materials. A switch like this takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work, and Library staff, especially Lynda Wright, Kelli Salmon, Laurie Preston, and Judee Showalter, deserve a lot of credit for the smoothness of the transition.

WorldCat Discovery does not include all of our databases and collections, but focuses on those that are most broadly useful to users: the Library’s print and electronic book catalog,  Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, and other general subject databases. For in-depth, discipline-specific research, specific subject databases such as PsycINFO are still the best tools to use, and they can still be accessed through the Databases tab on the library homepage.

The Research Guides have been revised to point to our new WorldCat Discovery system, as well as to provide a “Start Here” tab, which provides quick access to the most useful resources, especially selected to support someone who is new to researching in a subject.

We also celebrate a new roof on the building, a project that took all of June and about half of July to complete. A huge shout-out goes to the R-MC Physical Plant for their work coordinating these efforts.

The Library is ready for new and returning students, and we look forward to supporting students, faculty, and staff through the 2019-2020 academic year!

The McGraw-Page Library will be taking a break from blog posts over the summer. Look for more news and resources in the Fall! We are concentrating our energy this summer on two major projects:

Launching our new Library and Discovery System, WMS and WorldCat Discovery.

WMS and WorldCat Discovery will replace our MaconCat Library Catalog that we have been using since the mid-1990s, as well as our EBSCO Discovery Service. These new systems integrate some of our existing services, such as Discovery Searching, WorldCat, and interlibrary loan for a more streamlined searching experience. The services are cloud-based, and so bring some efficiencies for staff behind the scenes as well.

We plan to go live with these systems on July 8, 2019, but you can explore the WorldCat Discovery beta search at https://rmc.on.worldcat.org now!

Re-imagining our Subject Guides

The Library has provided subject guides for several years. The purpose of these guides is to provide an introduction to the resources someone might want to use to begin research in a discipline, as well as a connection to the subject librarian who would be available to provide research support. The guides have been linked in Canvas courses since Summer 2017. After some conversations with students, we believe these can more effectively serve as a starting point for student research, so the Librarians, in partnership with Instructional Designer Lily Zhang, will explore new ways to organize and present information to meet researchers’ needs. You can see our existing guides at https://library.rmc.edu/subject-guides.

Did you know that when many people walk into a library they feel intimidated and anxious? Library anxiety is real, and has been well-documented by the library field. What is library anxiety? It is the sense that one should know all about libraries, know how to do research, know how to find both physical and electronic resources, and that not knowing how to do these thing is shameful and should be hidden. Grand reading rooms like the one below, and the idea that a student is surrounded by centuries of knowledge, can often be intimidating rather than inspirational.

Now there is research that suggests another phenomena prevalent among first-year students: overconfidence that they understand the library and how things work, and so library instruction or help is unnecessary. It is thought that this overconfidence comes stems from the use of Google and other search engines for any kind of information need. Students know how to search in a general search engine, and assume that those skills translate 1:1 into the research world. The truth is that they do, but those search abilities are only one piece of what is needed. There’s a lot more to research than just picking out good search terms or knowing how to use quotes around a search phrase.

You can learn more about library anxiety in this article from JSTOR Daily.

Libraries can be a little intimidating at first, but they are friendly, welcoming places, and R-MC Librarians are excited to help you learn your way around. In fact for many of us, working with students remains our favorite part of this job. Being asked to help a student with a project is never a bother!

If you have a final paper or project coming up and you aren’t sure about your topic, research question, or your sources, schedule an appointment with a research librarian at https://rmc.libcal.com/appointments.

Or, join us for our LNAP event (Long Night Against Procrastination) on May 7, 7-11pm! Bring your topic, project, idea, or paper with with you, no appointment needed, and Prof. Treneman and I will be there to help.

Library anxiety may be a thing, but it doesn’t have to hold you back!

My last two posts have detailed the new mission and vision of the McGraw-Page Library, as well as the values and priorities that guide our decision-making. This month’s post will outline Strategic Areas 1 and 2. Next month will wrap up this series with a focus on Strategic Areas 3-5. 

Library staff have met to discuss the timeline of when we want to accomplish these tasks over the next five years, and have also assigned an individual who is responsible for ensuring that progress is being made on these goals. The Library is working to develop an assessment plan, which, when done, will work with our strategic plan to ensure we are making appropriate progress. 

As with any strategic plan, these goals are based on our understanding of our current environment. The specific objectives or goals may change if conditions (e.g., staffing, building, budget) change significantly. 

Our Strategic Areas, Goals, and Objectives

I. Improve the user’s experience of the library.

1. Align library resources to the current needs of the curriculum and the student body
   1. Complete weeding of the library’s collections
2. Improve the findability of library resources
   1. Review signage for accuracy and update as necessary
   2. Ensure resources can be found where expected (e.g., Subject Guides, Discovery)
   3. Review the library website and update or redesign as necessary 
3. Improve the look and functionality of the library’s physical and virtual space
   1. Work toward and advocate for significant renovation of the library space 
   2. Review and replace worn furniture 
   3. Review physical space and identify immediate needs 
   4. Develop a style guide for print and electronic library-produced materials 
4. Assess the user’s experience
   1. Develop and adopt a tool evaluating space usage
   2. Identify students’ space needs

II. Enhance information and technological literacy across campus.

1. Map current instructional efforts 
2. Develop and promote an information literacy plan for R-MC
   1. Identify courses where information literacy instruction would be advantageous (e.g., One essential, required course per major?)
   2. Develop strategic relationships with faculty with the goal of being invited to teach in those classes
   3. Assess research skills of students 
3. Develop and implement a technological/digital literacy plan for R-MC 
4. Participate in curriculum review conversations 

My last post detailed the new mission and vision of the McGraw-Page Library. This month’s post will explore the values and priorities that the Library uses to guide its decisions. Much of what is mentioned below is fairly self-explanatory, but if anyone would like to engage in a conversation about why the Library considers these values to be worth explicitly stating, I would love to hear from you.

Our Values

The McGraw-Page Library is committed to:

• Liberal arts teaching, research, and scholarship
• Ease of access
• Innovation
• Life-long learning
• Preservation of knowledge
• Continual improvement of collections
• Intellectual and academic freedom
• Collaboration with the campus community
• Mutual respect and civility
• Responsible stewardship

Our Priorities

1. Randolph-Macon College Students
2. Current & Emeriti Faculty
3. Staff & Administrators
4. Alumni
5. Community Members

We felt it was beneficial to state these priorities in our strategic plan because we do weight the needs of these groups differently when we make decisions. Ideally, we would love to support all of these groups equally, but because both space and budgets are tight, choices sometimes need to be made. This list helps to guide those choices, especially when they are difficult.

In May 2018, staff of the McGraw-Page Library finalized the Library’s new strategic plan. Intended to set the strategic direction for the next five years, the strategic plan includes new mission and vision statements, and outlines the Library’s top priorities. My posts over the next few months will introduce the strategic plan. 

McGraw-Page Library Mission

The McGraw-Page Library supports the mission of the College by providing quality resources and innovative services that foster lifelong learning through exploration, discovery, and creativity.  

The Library is an integral part of Randolph-Macon College academic success. We provide resources that support student projects and, to a somewhat lesser extent, faculty research, and those resources are vetted according to our professional standards. That means that we don’t just add the latest bestseller on a topic, but we evaluate publishers, authors, and platforms and read reviews to ensure that high-quality resources are available. Similarly, we look at our services, and at ideas for new services, in light of campus need and the value that a service can provide the library and the College.

The goal to foster lifelong learning is found on many college campuses, and in many library mission statements, because the value of a college education cannot be truly experienced until after graduation. If learning only happens for the four years a student attends classes, its ability to impact the rest of their life is severely limited. But if a student can continue to learn, and thus adapt to the changes that life brings, their potential for success is higher. So the mission of the library is not to serve up ready-made, easily-digested packets of information, but to provide the tools needed for students to find what they need, explore what they’re interested in, and broaden their horizons. This puts students in control of the process and prepares them for the complex information environment that exists in the “real world.”

McGraw-Page Library Vision

The McGraw-Page Library strives to be the intellectual center of Randolph-Macon College. We encourage multi- and inter-disciplinarity through active participation in the academic and creative life of the College. We create vibrant, welcoming physical and virtual environments that support teaching, learning, research, and discovery. We collect, preserve, promote, and facilitate access to the best scholarly and educational resources in a variety of formats, and excel at innovative and responsive services. We educate members of the campus community in the use of academic and technological resources in order to prepare them for a complex information environment. We foster a culture of inclusiveness that reflects and respects the diversities of our community.

As the intellectual center of the R-MC campus, the Library would like to be a neutral space in which members of different disciplines, both students and faculty, can meet to share ideas and projects. It is easy to focus on one’s own major or area of interest and to simply be unaware of the research or conversations happening elsewhere. The library would like to be a place where interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity can thrive, where projects can be showcased, where students can learn from one another’s work.

We have a vision that our physical space will be intellectually and creatively inspiring to those who use it, as well as easy to navigate and use.  We plan to continue investing in our physical and digital collections so that they support the College’s evolving curriculum, as well as faculty research, and so that they reflect the diversity of the campus community. We view the library not as a passive repository for resources that are available on-demand, but as a proactive organization that is reaching out to users, engaging with them, and educating them about the tools, resources, and processes that can help them succeed both academically and beyond.

Next month’s post will explore the McGraw-Page Library’s values and priorities, and in March and April, our five strategic goals will be introduced.