Lisa Hinchliffe – former Tommie and O’Shaughnessy-Frey reference library student assistant

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, coordinator for information literacy services and instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is the winner of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section’s (IS) Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award. The award honors Miriam Dudley, whose efforts in the field of information literacy led to the formation of IS.The honor recognizes a librarian who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of instruction in a college or research library environment.  Hinchliffe will receive her $1,000 award, along with a plaque, at the IS program during the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco.

“The Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award was created to honor librarians who have made especially significant contributions to the advancement of instruction in a college or research library environment, and no one is more deserving of this recognition than Lisa Hinchliffe,” said award Chair Christy Stevens, head of reference and instruction at Cal Poly Pomona. “Indeed, the breadth and depth of Lisa’s contributions to instruction librarianship cannot be overstated. Lisa is a prolific contributor to library instruction and information literacy scholarship, having authored or co-authored more than 44 journal articles and 10 book chapters.

“As a member of the ACRL Immersion Program faculty since 2003, Lisa has worked with hundreds of librarians, helping them to become skilled teachers, instructional leaders, and information literacy advocates at their institutions,” continued Stevens. “She has also been an active member of ACRL and IS, serving as section chair from 2005-06, and later as ACRL president from 2010-11. During her term as president, Lisa successfully foregrounded the educational role of libraries through the Value of Academic Libraries initiative. She is an outstanding, internationally recognized leader in the profession whose scholarship, professional service, and participation in the Immersion Program have shaped the teaching and assessment philosophies and practices of countless instruction librarians around the world.”
Hinchliffe received her B.A. in Philosophy from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, and her M.L.I.S. and Ed.M. in Education Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

For more information regarding the ACRL IS Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award, or a complete list of past recipients, please visit the awards section of the ACRL website.

For Immediate Release Mon, 02/23/2015 – Chicago

The Deutsche Tanz (1823)(German dance) presented here is a fast dance in triple time, in which the couple turns in circles. It developed into the counterpart of the French menuet in the 18th c. (E. Stadler)

You are all cordially invited!

Our first noonartsound of the spring semester will be Tuesday, March 3 at noon in the O’Shaughnessy Room of the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library.

Our very creative and entertaining presenters, Shelly-Nordtorp Madson and Chris Kachian continue to transport us to another time with  noonartsound and we are especially fortunate that they will be joined by David Jenkins on the piano.   You will be treated to stories of Vienna, the clothing, the art, and manners of the time, as well as  the music of Franz Schubert.

Chris and Shelly describe their talk this way:   “Romantic Vienna, the most musical city in the western world, claims most of the great composers of the 18th and 19th centuries.  One musician and music writer of the early 19th century was Franz Schubert, the favorite of the Romantic movement and a society filled with waltzers and consumptive, over-corseted ladies carrying smelling salt containers and subsiding onto fainting couches. The setting of Vienna is sublime and the music no less so – if a bit lugubrious. Bring your silver vinaigrettes with you!”

We hope you will join us – you’ll hear guitar and piano performing the entire “Arpeggione Sonata” along with other surprises.

Dan Gjelten, Director UST Libraries

In fall 2014, the UST Libraries contracted with the Association of Research Libraries to conduct the LibQUAL survey, a well-regarded measure of the satisfaction of users of academic libraries. The findings of the survey will help the libraries as we develop strategic directions in support of university’s strategic plan.

LibQUAL is designed to assess the extent to which our library services are meeting the needs and expectations of our users. Answers to 27 questions in the areas of services, collections and library as place document our users’ perception of actual and desired level of quality.

Since 2000, more than 1,200 libraries nationwide have participated in LibQUAL; this is the second time that the UST Libraries have conducted the survey (it was previously done in 2008). Because the libraries conducted the same survey in 2008 and because comparable academic libraries around the country also have conducted the survey, we are able to measure changes in user perceptions over time and with our peers.

This year, we sent the survey to all UST students, faculty and staff, and received valid responses from 1,455 library users (including 693 undergraduate students, 446 graduate students and 172 faculty). The data we received can be analyzed by user group, discipline, library most used and other variables. In addition to the raw data we received nearly 500 comments from various users, all of which are being analyzed and classified by theme. We will continue to analyze all of our findings over the coming months.

Our initial findings show that the libraries are exceeding user expectations in a number of areas including “giving users individual attention,” providing “multimedia collections users need,” “making me aware of library resources and services” and “providing information resources reflecting diverse points of view.” Because users identified their role, we are able to look at results by user group, and learn where our constituencies have the highest expectations. For example:
◦Undergraduate students seem to place a high value on the library as place and want comfortable and inviting spaces to study.
◦Graduate students are most interested in accessing library resources from their home or office.
◦Faculty seem to be happy with library staff services and library spaces, and have the highest expectations for us in the area of electronic resources availability and a website that enables them to locate information on their own.

In terms of changes between 2008 and 2014, we learned that overall satisfaction with library services increased for all user groups during the six-year period. When we compare findings from our survey with LibQUAL results from comparable institutions (Marquette University and Santa Clara University both conducted LibQUAL in 2014) we’ve learned that the UST libraries rate higher in overall quality and library support for learning, research and teaching than either of those university libraries.

While we are happy with many of the findings from this survey, we also acknowledge that there are areas where we can improve. We’ve learned there are some frustrations with finding the best resources using the libraries’ Web page. One comment captures what we think too many of our users experience when interacting with library: “Excellent resources, but it seems more difficult than it should be to get the resources, and oftentimes the information can be overwhelming.”

In fact, the UST libraries, having been well-supported by the university for many years, do offer great treasures in electronic content to our users. Given that we live in a time of information abundance rather than information scarcity, it is a challenge for the libraries to help our users navigate and effectively use that information in their work. The libraries currently are developing strategic objectives for the coming years, and this challenge will remain a high priority for us. As the University of St. Thomas strategic plan states, it is a goal for us to “provide innovative education that develops the skills necessary for success within an increasingly complex contemporary world, where information is readily available but wise use of that information is critical for human flourishing.”

The UST Libraries take seriously our role in helping to achieve that strategic objective.

Other areas where we will look to improve the libraries include updating library furnishings and addressing space issues in the Minneapolis campus library.

UST Libraries would like to thank all of you who responded to our survey and assure you that what we’ve learned with your help will make library services even more effective in the coming years.

– Dan Gjelten

Happy Birthday to Coffee Bene in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey!

It’s been five years since the shop opened in the library and we invite you to celebrate with us on Tuesday, February 10, from 10am until 2pm. Enjoy live music, free sugar cookies, get your picture taken with Mugsy the Mascot!

A “free mug with your purchase” for the first 80 customers!    Play Plinko to win prizes and coupons!    See you at the party!