Contents

Une Libraries 2002
E-Resources News
Focus Groups at Dixson Library
Performance Indicators for Document Services
Dixson Library Survey Results
What's New in the Arts and Humanities
Project Self-Help
What's New - Sciences
What's New - EHPS
Earlier Issues
Your Contacts at Dixson Library

UNE Libraries 2002

Strategic Directions

As my first year at UNE draws rapidly to a close it is worthwhile taking time to consider some of the issues which we have focussed on throughout the year. This issue of Shelf Life reflects the focus on measuring performance and planning for change and highlights the projects currently underway. The key points below reflect the Library's progress against the University's Strategic Plan and the change in direction of the Library throughout the year.

The Vice Chancellor's Committee approved a change in strategic direction for the University Library which will result in an increased emphasis on electronic information resources. This is a significant change as the result will be beneficial to all students and staff who will have access at the desktop to a range of information resources. At a time when the library budget cannot hope to meet the increase in cost of print serials, with the result that cancellations are an annual requirement, electronic serials are a viable option as they provide a broader range of titles at a lower per title cost. The impact for the Library will be a change in the allocation of library material funds effective for 2002, a shift in collection development philosophy and changes to facilities in the Library to enable access.

Quality Improvement Agenda

The Library is using a variety of methods to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of both internal library processes and the provision of services. This has involved the review of internal processes by external experts and the use of performance indicators to survey users regarding the level of satisfaction with current services and identify areas requiring improvement.

(i) External reviews of two areas of the Library have been completed.

The report of the review of Document Delivery has been received and many of the recommendations are being actioned.

Process and procedural improvements are underway with the aim of providing improvements in service delivery such as maximising the use of technology and reducing the response time for requests.

The review of Technical and Collection Services has been completed and we are awaiting the report which is expected early in the new year. Changes and improvements which will impact on the implementation of the library system upgrade are already underway, including streamlining of ordering procedures and maximising the use of technology for ordering, obtaining catalogue records and providing access to information.

The results of these reviews will be used to inform changes in structure, improvements in processes and service delivery.

(ii) CAUL Performance Indicators.

The CAUL Client Satisfaction indicator was applied in August. Results of the survey were mixed and processes are in place to make the required improvements.

The CAUL Document Delivery indicator was run in second semester and the results will be evaluated and improvements made to service delivery as a result.

Library Management System

The Library has operated with the same library management system for many years and while the functionality is reasonable it is very old-fashioned with a text interface. The Library is currently undertaking a major upgrade which will improve the functionality of the entire system. Benefits will be a fully operational web-interface with links to on-line journals, an integrated acquisitions system and improved functionality for users so they can check their loan records and renew and request items on line. It is planned to have Virtua operational for first semester 2002.

Facilities

In 2001 a bank of 16 computers linked to a print station were added to the Ground Floor area of the Library to improve access for students to all library databases, the library OPAC, the Internet and e-mail. Students have flocked to the computers and this was one of the areas which scored highly on the Client Satisfaction survey. Further changes are planned for 2002 based on the idea of the 'information commons' which has been highly successful in Canada. The area will be "designed with the student in mind". In order to make space available a major review of the reference collection is underway to up-date and refine the material contained in it.

Law Library

In 2001 the Law Library, which had previously been operated by the Law School, became a branch of the University Library. This change has enabled the trialing of extended opening hours in second semester which will be used to decide on opening hours for the future, increased staffing levels to provide assistance on a continued basis and more particularly at peak times, and also resulted in some changes to the organisation of the collection to better reflect law practice.

Information Literacy

The Library takes seriously its role in contributing to the attributes of UNE graduates through the provision of information literacy programmes. In 2001 UNE has partnered with a group of Universities including UCQ, QUT, Uni of SA, Melbourne and RMIT to investigate the impact of including information literacy as part of the curriculum in specific disciplines. The project is jointly funded by CAUL and the Australian Information Literacy Committee under the guidance of Dr Ralph Catts at UNE.

The work undertaken in 2001 will be used to inform changes in 2002 and build on the Library's commitment to improving services for all users.

EVE WOODBERRY
University Librarian

E-Resources News

Access to a number of databases, previously hosted on the ERL server on campus, is now provided by two suppliers via the Internet. These are SilverPlatter and (RMIT) Informit Online. Informit Online hosts the Australian databases and SilverPlatter the rest. This move is cost effective and will provide quicker access to interface updates.

Biological Abstracts is now available again via the SilverPlatter link.

In 2002, three new options will be added to Informit Online. Two are versions of indexes to which we currently subscribe, but with a valuable full-text component and one is a completely new subscription.

Australian Public Affairs - full-Text is an online collection of scanned images of the top 200 Australian journals indexed in APAIS plus the APAIS index

AGIS Plus Text features full-text for very recent issues of legal journals from Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. As at 22/8/01, 119 were copyright cleared for inclusion and the aim is 400.

Meditext - full-text of 100+ Australasian medical and health journals plus AMI, the Australasian Medical Index - see article on Meditext in this issue).

LexisNexis will be a popular addition to our databases in 2002. LexisNexis includes full-text materials of interest to all UNE staff and students. It is a very large service with a diverse range of products and a large percentage is full-text. The Lexis component is aimed at Law staff and students who will use the Lexis.com interface which allows limiting searches by fields such as jurisdiction. A customised simpler interface has been designed for Nexis to allow easy access to newspapers and a large number of full-text journals including Harvard Business Review. Sizeable backsets of national and regional Australian newspapers will be a valuable feature. ABIX is included in LexisNexis and will be cancelled as a separate subscription.

PsycARTICLES will also be available from January 2002. PsycARTICLES contains more than 25,000 searchable full-text articles from 42 journals published by the American Psychological Association and allied organizations from 1988 to the present, with earlier years in production.

BioOne, a suite of more than 40 full-text journals that cover ecology, biology and the environment, will be available from January 2002. See article on BioOne in this issue.

Focus Groups at Dixson Library

In November 2001 a staff member from Research Support at the National Library of Australia visited UNE to conduct focus groups with academics and postgraduate students. The National Library sought input on researchers' attitudes to electronic library resources: how researchers use electronic resources; what proportion of their work involves electronic resources; how the increasingly electronic library environment has affected their work practices.

Input from UNE is useful because it is a regional university, and the regional university researcher may work differently from one located in an urban centre. The National Library particularly sought input from researchers in the social sciences and humanities so the two sessions, each consisting of 7 researchers, drew from the School of Education and the Arts Faculty. The data collected will be used by the National Library, and has been reported back to UNE and focus group participants. The Faculty Librarians for Arts and Education, Health and Professional Studies observed the discussions, and found the information shared by the participants useful and informative. Information on this work, and access to the meeting papers, is available from the National Library of Australia's website at http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/alctf and http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/alctf/meeting6/item10.html. Reports of our input will appear under the Meetings URL in 2002.

Performance Indicators for Document Services

In June 2001 there was an external review of the Document Services Unit in Dixson, specifically in regard to its Inter Library Loan/Document Delivery services. One of the recommendations to come out of the review was:

That the use of the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) Performance Indicator program kit for document delivery be implemented immediately, and run at least once per semester to inform managers of performance levels, and to ensure that consistently high performance levels are maintained. Document Services staff ran the Performance Indicators over document requests received from UNE patrons in October to provide them with a benchmark against which to measure future performance. The results obtained indicated that 59% of all loan requests were turned around within 7 days and 98% within 14 days. 83% of photocopy requests were turned around within 7 days and 97% within 14 days.

The Performance Indicators also showed that internal processing time (the amount of time taken by Document Services staff to submit requests to other libraries and to process the material received) was one day. The Document Services staff, while pleased with the results, can see areas for improvement and will continue to monitor their performance on a monthly basis.

The Document Services Unit also provides library services to UNE's external students. In 2001 the Unit received 36,320 requests for loans, copies and subject searches. Requests are received in a variety of ways with the telephone request service (33%) and web/email (44%) being the most popular requesting methods. The Document Services Unit also noted that the trend in requests was towards books rather than photocopies with a 10% increase in loan requests compared to the requests received in 2000.

Dixson Library Survey Results

The CAUL Performance Indicator designed to measure client satisfaction was conducted over a two week period in August 2001. The aim of the survey was to gain a snapshot of who our main users are, what services and facilities are most used, and the overall level of satisfaction with the Dixson Library. Such a measure of performance was long overdue.

The survey was an exit survey, where users were approached on leaving the Library and asked to fill in a questionnaire of seven questions. Questions 1-3 gathered data on type of user and purpose of visit, questions 4-5 focused on activities undertaken and facilities used, question 6 assessed satisfaction with staff and question 7 asked for a rating on overall satisfaction.

It was decided to limit the survey to the Dixson Library, and survey the Curriculum Centre and the Law Library in the near future. A total of 433 surveys were completed over the full range of Dixson's opening hours.

Results show the majority of on-site library users are undergraduate students of UNE using the library to support their coursework. Activities undertaken most frequently are:

• Use library catalogue
• Search for known books or periodicals
• Use Internet computers
• Borrow material
• Use online indexes and databases
• Use library as a place to study

Satisfaction with services focused on activities undertaken by library users. Results were varied, ranging from a low of 2.2 for payment of library fine, and used audiovisual equipment, and a high of 4.3 for borrowed material, and used the library as a place to study. Eighteen of the twenty-six categories showed a user satisfaction level of 3 or greater. Satisfaction with facilities focused on collections and operations of the library. Results were above average, ranging from 3.2 for periodicals collection, to 4.2 for Circulation/Loans desk.

The data gathered on services and facilities also shows interesting figures with regard to use. Some of the areas with below average level of satisfaction also indicate low level usage. Improvements in areas such as audiovisual equipment or the reference collection may result in higher usage and higher satisfaction.

Comments from respondents were optional and could be classed in a number of categories. These are: general, staff, collections, services, equipment and environment. Some of these were very encouraging, some expected and some surprising. A sampling is included here.

Dixson library is in general excellent in comparison with other academic libraries (and I have seen many). Thank you! Too many journals have been cut. We need more journals and books please! I think the library staff do a wonderful job. Staff are always polite, helpful, and friendly. More computers would be useful. Photocopiers are awful. Hot and stuffy. Lighting is inadequate.

Overall the survey shows a positive response towards staff and general support for the Dixson Library while pointing out the shortcomings of some of the collections, services and building. The findings are valuable in providing data to assist with future developments and directions to produce positive outcomes for all library users. Photo Caption: A staff member explaining the survey to a library users.

Project Self-Help

Project Self Help was an information literacy skills programme that operated during the second semester of 2001. It involved staff from the Access Services Department of the UNE Libraries and used simple email technology to convey information literacy skills to UNE students enrolled externally. A series of 8 emails were sent to all students who submitted subject requests electronically. The emails addressed using the online catalogue; registering for computer access; changing browser proxies for access to computer resources; choosing the right database/index; using your chosen database/index; and using the World Wide Web for academic purposes. These topics were based on eSKILLS UNE which, in turn, was designed with the CAUL Information Literacy Standards in mind.

Project Self Help was a conscious attempt to reach external students who may be unaware of library resources and provide them with assistance in digestible lumps. By the end of the project, 135 students had received the series of emails. This number represents 31% of the total requests received, or 442 subject requests. 197 of these, including 62 requests from students requesting more than once, were received via our web-based subject request form, our email subject request form, or a query to our 'Ask a librarian' web form. Response from students at the conclusion of the project was positive, and we intend to continue with the project in a simplified form in 2002.

YOUR CONTACTS AT DIXSON LIBRARY

General

Information Desk ............... +61 -(02)-6773-2458
Telephone Renewals .......... +61 -(02)-6773-2167
Document Delivery ............. +61 -(02)-6773-2184
Technical Services .............. +61 -(02)-6773-2030
Photocopying ..................... +61 -(02)-6773-2785

Faculty Librarians

Arts - Berenice Scott.................+61 -(02)-6773-3111 ...... Email: bscott3@une.edu.au
EBL - Kim Harris .................... +61 -(02)-6773-2209 ...... Email: kharris@une.edu.au
EHPS - Sylvia Ransom ............ +61 -(02)-6773-3774 ...... Email: sransom@une.edu.au
Sciences - Greg Kelleher .......... +61 -(02)-6773-3038 ...... Email: gkellehe@une.edu.au

Shelf Life Editorial Staff:

Sandra Rothwell ............. Editor
Lisa Russell .................... Editorial Assistant and design
Tracy Cooper ................. Web version
Peggy McCleneghan ....... Photography

Compiled by Tracy Cooper. Last revised 23 April 2002
Email:tcooper@une.edu.au
© 2002 University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351
This URL is: http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~tcooper/shelf/shelfd1.htm