Since using TLC, I have to say I'm hugely impressed with the usability and the interest my students have had in using the catalog. In the past, students were NOT very receptive to searching within ALEPH for items ... perhaps because it was lacking visual aides. I believe that TLC is already proving it's value at my campus (and most likely at other campuses) because I'm noticing a HUGE uptick in the number of items borrowed and loaned by my campus. What about at your campuses? Also, is there a way to track how many requests are being placed directly by the students, as opposed to being mediated by library staff? I think that would be an interesting figure to track. I know that many of my students were delighted that they could now, seamlessly, request books on their own.
On a side note... Have we included the additional cost of postage and bubble mailers into our budget for 2009-2010? Seriously, we may need to! :)
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I'm with you on the postage. I keep reusing the mailers, but they only last so long. I know that if I need to send something to Aurora, I can do it through the Illinois Library Delivery System and it doesn't cost. I just have to send it to Mary's library system and she will get it. Does Minnesota have something similar so that the MN campuses can send things to each other without paying postage?
I have noticed that the students are absolutely thrilled about the e-books now coming up with print books. They love being able to compare print and e-book choices on one screen. It will also be interesting to see if the readership of e-books dramatically increases!
A note about students requesting books on their own. I had a student put a hold on a book that we had in my campus library while she was sitting in the library. Luckily I saw the message while she was still here and gave her the book. However, the following week I received three books from another campus for her and we had two of the books in our library. So, I will mention to her to search our campus first. In workshops I will be sure to tell students to check our campus holdings first before requesting books from other campuses.
Good point, Cynthia. I've noticed that here and there as well. I think another related problem is the fact that we have multiple listings for each book. So, in some cases it's the exact same book, but it has 3 different item records on the PAC - probably very confusing for students. Hopefully there's a way we can start cleaning that up... I'd be willing to focus some of my energy on that if necessary...
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