Nominated for a new award, the Academic Library Innovators Award, were John Heintz, Carolyn DeLuca, and Ben Durrant.   Unfortunately they were not ultimately chosen for this year’s award, but the nomination is here for you to review and you will understand the high amount of respect earned by these staff members and their work.   At end of this article please read about this year’s winner.

Nomination for MN Library Innovator’s Award, 2011:

Our three person Digital Initiatives staff has worked for the last two years with a very clear focus on increasing the productivity of both our users and our staff by making the libraries and our electronic resources easier to find, easier to use and more compatible with current expectations and technologies, and by utilizing new technologies to improve workflow, communication and assessment within the libraries. 

 As a result, we’ve been able to capitalize on our investment in electronic content and technology and are increasingly sure that they are supporting and enhancing teaching and learning.  Internally, communication and decision making have become more effective.   

 Their accomplishments include: 

–    Enhancements to the libraries’ web page (http://www.stthomas.edu/libraries/) which use technologies such as Dapper to highlight new books and Meebo and Olark to create opportunities for connection with librarians as easily as possible.  The chat tools and the widgets that the team has designed are now present on most library pages, including the subject guides and are especially prominent on those pages where users might be having problems.  IM reference transactions have increased from 386 in 2008 to 1874 in 2010. 

–    Early adoption and configuration of Serials Solutions Summon search engine.  Searches on Summon have totaled nearly 170,000 since July of 2010.  –    Implementation of a program which automatically integrates data from Serials Solution, our e-resources management system and LibGuides, making it possible for us to eliminate a tool, and which has increased the accuracy of all the systems.

 –     The creation of centrally maintained, reusable content for LibGuides pages, including search and ILL login boxes, ads and feeds that librarians can use easily – and helping to standardize the user experience. 

–    Designs on the library page that improve findabilty in the libraries – including the location of open computers and other resources  http://www.stthomas.edu/libraries/research/osfMaterialLocationLookup.html 

–    The design of mobile applications which make it possible for valuable library information (hours, locations, maps, phone numbers and content searching) to be accessed from smart phones. 

–    The use of QR codes inside the library to connect users to key information.

–    The optimization of the Google enterprise search engine to make it easier for users to find library databases by name.  Because of their work in this area, the DI team was given the “keys” to the institutional pages search engine. 

–    Very creative use of the MS Sharepoint collaborative application to create a reference question tracking system that yields outcomes and assessment data as well as build an increasingly useful knowledge base.  The team has also used Sharepoint to create shared calendars and a professional development request/approval and reporting system.  The libraries are one of the most active users of Sharepoint on campus.  

The team regularly uses analytics from Google, Webtrends, the Sharepoint reference tracking system and ILLIAD to gain intelligence on where users are having trouble, and then making improvements in response.  The material location tool was developed to address the many simple directional questions we were getting; analyzing Interlibrary loan data lead to the development of an enhancement of the ILLIAD page which allows users to easily check Summon before they place a request for material we may already own. 

The Digital Initiatives team is a stellar example of the kind of new organization that will be essential in the 21st century academic library. They have made the last two years among the most productive ever for the UST Libraries.  I proudly nominate the team for the Minnesota Academic Innovators Award for 2011.

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ARLD chooses first ‘Innovator’

Lisa R. Johnston, a research services librarian at the University of Minnesota, has been named the recipient of the first annual Academic Innovators Award, given by the Academic and Research Libraries Division (ARLD) of the Minnesota Library Association.

The award recognizes outstanding recent contributions to advance the mission of an academic library in Minnesota through an innovative project, program, or service. Johnston accepts her award, which includes a $300 prize, at the 2011 ARLD Day conference, held April 29 in Chanhassen.

The ARLD chose Johnston from a field of strong candidates. Her project, a campus-wide data management program that grew out of her work with the Minnesota Geological Survey and the Universal Digital Conservancy, has become a model for other universities around the country. The workshops and consulting services developed by Johnston and her colleagues help researchers from a wide range of disciplines meet the National Science Foundation’s recent requirement that all grant proposals include a data-management plan.

Johnston’s data-management program for the University of Minnesota can be explored on its website, www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement. To learn more about ARLD Day, see www.mnlibraryassociation.org/event11_0429/.