Category: Projects

Post conference report for ELUNA 2018

Ex Libris User group North America (ELUNA) 2018 conference was held at Spokane, WA during May 1st to May 5th, 2018.  here are some takeaways from me.

General Impression: 

The conference was well organized,  in addition to a nice conference program booklet, all presentation slides are made available to attendee in Sched; it was well attended, this is the first time more than 1000+ people attended the conference.  It is a friendly and enthusiastic community, no matter whom you met, whether they are in the process of migration, a newly migrated customers, or an experienced users, everyone is willing to help, to share tips and tricks, to provide suggestions, and to voice concerns.

Useful and amazing sessions I attended during the conferences: 

Exlibris product updates:

  • Primo VE: see the benefits of streamlining Primo and Alma
  • Extending your library with the Alma Open Platform:  Developer API

How things are done at other libraries:

  • New Book Showcases via Primo / University of Manitoba
  • Implementing new books location and a new items list / Univ. of Minnesota Duluth
  • Alma integration: connecting other systems / Williams College
  • SpringShare suite integration

Technical tips and tricks:

  • Alma Fulfillment configurations
  • Target messages using Alma letters and notifications / Oregon State University
  • Intermediate analytics and reports functions and examples

Networking:

  • Julie, Calida, Erin and I met Travis from ETSU, to learn about how ETSU manages digital databases and E- resources in Alma, and generate and maintain libguides database A-Z list using Alma records.
  • Our Alma implementation team met with Rice Alma implementation team, exchange ideas on migrating to Alma from SirsiDynix Symphony
  • Bluegrass user group and Tennessee Alma users met at Eluna

Links to conference documents: 

Presentation slides for customer presentations will be posted to the ELUNA Document Repository as soon as is possible. Likewise, Ex Libris will be posting slidedecks from its staff presentations to the Knowledge Center soon.

What are they talking about?

Are you hearing discussions about Alma and Primo and think that people are speaking a completely new language? Well, they are! But help in understanding it is just a click away.

ExLibris has an excellent glossary on their Knowledge Center site here:

Alma Glossary

You can go to a particular term and see a definition and then click on links at the end to see more detailed information.

Give it a try! Look up “Fulfillment”, “Community Zone” or “Metadata editor”. Or get really crazy and look up “Selective package”!

Bookmark the link to the glossary and have fun learning the new language!

2017 Library Checkouts Overview

In Year 2017, the library checked out 124,570 items to faculty, graduate students, undergrads, and Vanderbilt community, that’s 341 items a day!

Most checked out titles 

The most checked-out individual titles in 2017 are:

  • HD30.22 .F76 2016, in Management Library, Managerial economics : a problem solving approach,  checked out 151 times during the year.
  • Come really close is ‘QD415 .V65 2016’ in science library, Fundamentals of biochemistry : life at the molecular level  checked out 148 times;
  • Third one is ‘QD253.2 .K55 2015’, also in science library, Organic chemistry, checked out 111 times during the year.
  • Fourth one: HD58.6 .N45 2015′, in management library, Negotiation : readings, exercises and cases, checked out 55 times

Did you know juvenile fictions (LC classification of PZ7)  and early childhood education books are popular collections to be checked out among students and faculty?

In juvenile fiction category, the top popular titles are:

  • PZ7 .P448558 Ral 1995:  Rainbow Fish to the rescue!
  • PZ7 .R1814 Bal 2011: A ball for Daisy
  • PZ7 .K28132 Far 2002: Farfallina & Marcel
  • PZ7 .L32073 My 2016: My sister Rosa
  • PZ7 .W65535 Th 2007: There is a bird on your head!
  • PZ7 .R3476235 Tow 2016: Towers falling

DVDs from Blair School of Music recital recordings are most checked-out DVDs. Besides the musical DVDs, the top popular video DVDs are:

  • DVD 7049: Dangerous living : coming out in the developing world
  • DVD 6527: Star Wars, episode VII, the force awakens (Motion picture)
  • DVD 6644: God’s not dead (Motion picture)
  • DVD 6809: Au revoir les enfants (Motion picture)
  • DVD 3116: Memento [videorecording]

Here is a list of popular topics for students from each school:

  • For Divinity students, they enjoyed reading titles on Art and Religion(BR115) and Asian American Religion (BR563). 
  • For Music students, they checked out lots of scores for Songs with Piano (M1620). 
  • Peabody students read and checked out titles in Early childhood education (LB1139.5).
  • For Management students, Managerial economy (HD30.22) is the major topic of their checked out items.
  • Students walked into Central library are most likely to checkout DVDs, or titles on African American history (E185.615).
  • Students use Science library the most, will check out periodicals and titles on Biochemistry.

Did you know in year 2017, our library users are most likely to check out books published in between 2013 and 2016?

The pattern is specially true for Science library users and Management library users:

But for music library users tends to checkout scores either quite new (2017) or published at the beginning of 21st century.

When checkouts happened?

For most libraries,  more students came to library in between 2pm to 5pm to checkout items; but law students and faculty use the library more often in the morning than in the afternoon, the peak checkout hour for law library was 10am.

Checked out hours for Law library users:

Did you know the most popular checkout day of the week is Tuesday? This is true to all libraries.

Did you know 1/9 and 1/10 are the busiest checkout day of 2017 for Central Library? Total 375 and 338 items were checked out respectively from Central library.   The most busy day for each library are listed here:

  • 2/23: Peabody
  • 8/4: Law
  • 8/13: Management
  • 8/30: Science
  • 11/16: Music library
  • 12/5: Divinity

The system wide busiest checkout dates were:   01/09,  01/10, 11/6, 11/28,  3/13, 1/11, 10/17, 10/30,10/24, 3/21, 3/27. On each of those dates, above 500 items were checked out throughout the library system.

Want to find out more on library usage patterns, interesting facts and numbers?  Submit an inform, we at LTDS will find out an answer for you.

Project Update: Web Refresh, with Staff Directory Bonus

The library website is getting a new look! The Web Refresh Team, including Jodie and Matt from LTDS, is working with Vanderbilt’s Digital Strategy and Development (formerly Web Communications) to integrate the current standard Vanderbilt web templates into the library website. To get a taste of what those templates look like, check out the HR, Registrar, or Police Department sites. The refresh will roll out in conjunction with the new ILS this summer.

a sketch of a library website

The Web Refresh Team has been hard at work since November. We have viewed and analyzed many peer library websites, analyzed past feedback on our website, and even had some fun sketching out our own visions of a library website! We are currently gathering more feedback via an online survey and focus groups. We are also preparing to make a copy the current website so we can start working on the new site without interrupting service to the current site.

Bonus: The Staff Directory is also getting some TLC! Some of the improvements will be implemented ahead of the refresh, such as improving parts of the search and browse. Others will roll out with the refreshed website, such as more useful lists of branches/departments with improved layouts, and enhanced pages for individual staff members. Stay tuned for more information on this sub-project.

If you have any questions about these projects, please comment below or talk to any member of the Web Refresh Team.