Library Staff Publications and Presentations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2152.5/976
This collection contains publications and presentations primarily created by current and former UT Southwestern Library staff.
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Item Strategic Planning Using an Intranet to Facilitate Participation and Communication(1997-05) Wayne, RichardThis electronic demonstration visually describes how a library's Web-based Intranet was used to involve library staff in its strategic planning process. The UT Southwestern Medical Center Library is a large academic medical library with an extensive investment in networked technologies for staff and customer use. The Library's Intranet was used for presentation, documentation, and discussion in all phases of the strategic planning process. The organic growth of the strategic planning Intranet resource is demonstrated by displaying how Web pages were used as building blocks. The related Web pages served as shared reference points for staff members from different parts of the library and different work shifts. Using the Intranet, staff members could be as involved as they wished to be with the development of the strategic plan. During a three month process, the staff contributed numerous documents and frequently accessed strategic planning Intranet resources. This demonstration highlights the fundamental components, functionality, and content that are necessary in an effective strategic planning Intranet resource.Item A Comparison of the Characteristics of the Most-Linked and Least-Linked Academic Medical Library Web Sites(1998-10) Harker, Karen R.; Hill, Judi; Harvey, SallyThere seems to be a great disparity in the number of links to the Web sites of the 125 academic medical libraries in the United States. Some, like Harvard Medical School, have over 4,000 links to their site. Others, like University of Nevada, Reno, have less than 10 links to them. The question then is, what makes people want to link to these often-used sites? This study will attempt to answer this question by ranking these sites according to the number of files pointing to them. An analysis will be done on the top and bottom 25% ranked sites. The following characteristics of each site will be categorized, counted and compared to determine if any one, or any combination of these factors affect their probability of being linked: --Number of files --Prominence in the institution's site --Compatibility wit the variety of browsers --Awards --Placement in the top search engines/directories Additionally, characteristics of the library and the institution will be analyzed, including library expenditures, the ratio of institutional to library expenditures, collection size, public/private institution, and the institution's rank in U.S. News and World Report 's list of the best medical schools. The results of this study could be helpful to library Web page designers, library outreach directors, and library administrators. [Research Special Commendation Award]Item It's a Whole New Ball Game: Pitching the Electronic Journal in the Medical Library(1998-10) Crossno, Jon; Judkins, TimothyIn the library ball park, think of the journal as a baseball. Until recently, we have pitched our best and only weapon: the fast ball, or the paper journal. We know the rules for the paper journal and can pitch it the right way every time. However, as electronic journals have become more common and are available in several formats and combinations, we can now add a few more pitches to our repertoire: the knuckle ball, or the electronic journal; the curve ball, or the paper plus the electronic journal subscriptions; and the slider, or a variety of archival options for paper and electronic subscriptions. Electronic journals bring additional benefits to the game. No longer will the game be played within the walls of the library ball park. Remote access is possible through a variety of availability options and pricing schemes. No longer will the copyright law umpire make decisions based on rules limited by the paper subscription cost. Site licenses both complement and add to the rules of the game. To continue to attract our fan clients, the library team management must recognize these enhancements and make changes in our tactics. This paper surveys the rapidly changing electronic journal environment by discussing access, pricing strategies and multiple source availability. The management changes which must be made to accommodate the electronic journal into the rules of the library ball game will be forecast.Item Email Marketing for Libraries(1998-10) Giles, Sharon; Crossno, Jon; Perkins, JeffreyThe possibilities of using electronic mail for marketing library services and products are enormous. This new venue offers an innovative, inexpensive, timely, and easy-to-distribute means of promotion. An exploration of options will include the use of mass distribution, targeted distribution, client databases, in-house library listservs, and e-newsletters. As an example, the development, implementation, and initial results of an email marketing program at UT Southwestern Library will be summarized.Item Getting the News Out: Promoting the Library with an Email Alert Service(1999-10) Giles, Sharon; Clopton, GaryEmail is a new marketing tool for libraries that offers an innovative, inexpensive, timely, and easy-to-distribute means of promotion. In 1998 the Marketing team of our library decided to explore the possibilities of email marketing and launched an alert service in the form of an email newsletter called Info-Library. Info-Library has been used to promote new library services and facilities, as well as weekly or daily features of the Library's Web pages, such as the Biomedical News pages and the Internet Site of the Week. This presentation will summarize our experience in designing, distributing, editing, promoting, and evaluating an alert service.Item Securing Your Public PCs(2000-02-04) Wayne, RichardItem Promoting the Library by E-Mail Alert Service(Information Today, Inc., 2000-04) Giles, Sharon; Crossno, JonItem Growing an Electronic Journals Collection: The Experience of One Library(2000-10) Judkins, Timothy C.; Higa-Moore, Mori Lou; Perkins, Jeffrey J.A description of the rapid growth of electronic access to journals is given for the Library of the UT Southwestern Medical Center. Growth of the collection is shown since the first order for online access to a single journal, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, to the current collection of more than 2,000 online titles. The effect of this rapid growth in electronic access on staff, the Web pages of the Library, and traditional functions of serials acquisitions and budgeting is described. The value of the electronic journal collection is presented using comments collected in the client contact database and from a series of focus groups recently completed involving faculty, staff and student users of the Library.Item Emailing the New Books List: A Promotional Success?(2000-10) Giles, Sharon; McKibbon, ShelleyIn an era of falling usage of print materials and the triumph of the digital library, UT Southwestern Medical Center Library has been experimenting with using electronic means to promote its print collection. Since October 1999, the Library has been emailing a list of new additions to its book collection every month to subscribers of the Library's email alert service, Info-Library. Beginning Summer 2000, the list will also begin appearing on the Library's home page. Because this activity places extra demand on staff time, members of the Marketing Team decided to determine if this promotional method actually works. Success or failure will be measured by evaluation of circulation records and by surveying users at checkout. [Research Award (2nd place - posters)]Item Assessment of Customer Service in Academic Health Care Libraries (ACSAHL): An Instrument for Measuring Customer Service(Medical Library Association, 2001-04) Crossno, Jon E.; Berkins, Brenda; Gotcher, Nancy; Hill, Judith L.; McConoughey, Michelle; Walters, MitchelOBJECTIVES: In a pilot study, the library had good results using SERVQUAL, a respected and often-used instrument for measuring customer satisfaction. The SERVQUAL instrument itself, however, received some serious and well-founded criticism from the respondents to our survey. The purpose of this study was to test the comparability of the results of SERVQUAL with a revised and shortened instrument modeled on SERVQUAL. The revised instrument, the Assessment of Customer Service in Academic Health Care Libraries (ACSAHL), was designed to better assess customer service in academic health care libraries. METHODS: Surveys were sent to clients who had used the document delivery services at three academic medical libraries in Texas over the previous twelve to eighteen months. ACSAHL surveys were sent exclusively to clients at University of Texas (UT) Southwestern, while the client pools at the two other institutions were randomly divided and provided either SERVQUAL or ACSAHL surveys. RESULTS: Results indicated that more respondents preferred the shorter ACSAHL instrument to the longer and more complex SERVQUAL instrument. Also, comparing the scores from both surveys indicated that ACSAHL elicited comparable results. CONCLUSIONS: ACSAHL appears to measure the same type of data in similar settings, but additional testing is recommended both to confirm the survey's results through data replication and to investigate whether the instrument applies to different service areas.Item Enhancing the Online Catalog with Electronic Journal Information(2001-05) Walters, Mitch; Reneau, Dawn; Perkins, Jeffrey; Judkins, Timothy; Hudson, Diane; Mayo, Helen; Radley, HerldinePURPOSE: Electronic journals present a number of problems for our traditional understanding both of library ownership and of access through the catalog. Our decision on whether to add electronic journal information to the catalog and how much to add should, however, be guided by the needs of our clients. This study attempts to measure the usefulness to the library's clients of information on electronic journals that was added to the online catalog. METHODOLOGY: A three-tiered schedule of possible electronic journal enhancements was formulated. Implementation of each successive tier will depend on measurable increases in journal searching in the catalog. Level one enhancements include hypertext links in the catalog to journals accessible in both paper and online formats. Level two would add linked catalog records for titles accessible only in online format. Level three would add individualized holdings statements to all the electronic journal records. A random sample of catalog searches will be analyzed both to determine whether the amount of journal searching justifies the first tier of enhancements and to give a baseline from which to measure any increase in journal searches. If the first tier of enhancements is implemented, searching will again be measured. Other factors being equal, a sizable increase in journal searching should indicate that the enahncements were useful to clients and would justify implementing the next tier. RESULTS: When we measured the amount of journal searching before any enhancements, it exceeded our expectations enough to justify the implementation of the first level of enhancements. We will measure journal searching again approximately three weeks and then six weeks after the implementation of enhancements to see if journal searching has increased. Further results will be reported at the time of the presentation. CONCLUSIONS: The study should provide evidence on whether or not the library catalog can serve as a useful tool for clients accessing an electronic journal collection. Because the study makes the implementation of each tier of the catalog enhancements dependent on measurable increases in usage, it also offers a good example of evidence-based librarianship.Item What to Do before the Webmaster Leaves(2001-05) Harker, Karen; Walters, Mitchel; Hill, Judi; Berkins, BrendaPURPOSE: As librarians' technical Web skills grow, they are incorporating more local databases, search tools, feedback mechanisms, and interactive forms into our Web sites. In our particular case, the realization that the departure of one key technical person could severly cripple our Web site sent us searching for the best way to document the custom software that she had helped us to develop. This paper will describe the software development and documentation process that resulted from our search. The process has become a part of all Web development projects in our library. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS/RESOURCES: This large, academic medical center library has a Web site receiving approximately two million hits per year. Most of the important functions of the site are generated dynamically using Cold Fusion to serve Access and SQL databases. A library unit of four FTE is responsible for maintenance of the site, but software development is distributed throughout the library by means of cross-functional project teams. DESCRIPTION: In the course of studying how professional software engineers manage projects and write documentation, we gleaned good ideas from several sources and combined them into a development process that uses careful project planning both to guide the process and to write the software documentation at the same time. We have called this the Process Improvement Initiative (PII). It leads a project team through the steps of defining the modules of their product, fully designing the modules on paper, and then building the modules. The successive leavels of ever-more-detailed designs are recorded on templates, which then become the written documentation of the finished product. RESULTS/OUTCOME: To date, PII has been successfully implemented in a half-dozen software development projects including a faculty publications database, a Web-based user survey, and a library newsletter that is dynamically generated and archived. Evaluation Method: PII allows a project team to monitor its progress through well-defined schedules and work plans. It includes frequent self-evaluation exercises by the team and a wrap-up evaluation of PII itself at the end of the project.Item Maximinzing the Usefulness of a Technology Choice(2001-10) Reneau, Dawn D.; Wilson, Cecelia B.Item Recruitment of New Medical Librarians(2001-10) Bunnett, BrianItem A Searchable Library News Archive(2001-10) Giles, Sharon; Harker, Karen; Jacobs, LynneItem A Modern Interface for Library Public PCs(2001-10) Wayne, RichardItem Using Banner Ads to Promote Library Products Available Online(2001-10) Patterson, Randy; Perkins, JeffreyItem Use of focus groups in a library's strategic plannng process(Medical Library Association, 2002-01) Higa-Moore, Mori Lou; Bunnett, Brian; Mayo, Helen G.; Olney, Cynthia A.Item A Modern Interface for Library Public PCs(2002-03-13) Wayne, RichardItem Renovating a Library for the 21st Century(2002-05) Maina, Bill; Perkins, JeffThe UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Library occupies a building completed in 1974. By the mid-1990's, many aspects of the building were obsolete. The Library was renovated between 1998 and 2001, with the goal of accommodating changes in medical education and information technology well into the 21st century. The renovation goals are listed and illustrated with post-renovation photos and plans of the Main Floor. --Relocate Information Desk adjacent to new entrance/exit and Computer Commons. --Make services and collections visible from the entrance. --Improve traffic flow at entrance. --Create spacious, quiet group study rooms for collaborative learning among students. Seventeen group studies were built. --Make power and network connections widely available. Every study carrel and many study tables now have pop-up power and network boxes. --Create an Informatics Classroom suitable for a variety of teaching situations. --For maximum flexibility in staff areas, remove permanent walls to create open offices. Use freestanding furniture-not wall or panels-to enclose staff workstations, to further flexibility. --Create "Privacy Rooms" that staff can use for informal meetings or to make phone calls in private.