Administrative and Academic Support Units
Assessment Report Form for Year: Sep. 2011 – Dec. 2012
Name of the Unit: College at Florham Library – Monninger Center
Unit Mission Statement
The mission of the FDU Libraries is to support the goals and academic programs of the University. The Libraries will develop and maintain appropriate
collections and services. Collections will include print, media and digital resources, and will be available on campus and to distance learners through
remote access.
1.
Departmental
Objective
To increase
awareness and usage
of College at Florham
Library physical
resources.
Means of Assessment
Summary of data collected
Use of data (closing the loop)
Usage statistics are kept for
each type of physical
material we loan, including
print books and journals,
media items (DVDs, CDs
and VHS), e-Readers (iPads
and Kindles), and laptops.
Book circulation has dropped by
2% over last year, though this is
better than the prior year’s 8%
drop.
Statistics are reported
annually on the Academic
Libraries Survey (ALS)
administered by the
National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES).
Use of print periodicals
continues to decline.
We continue to evaluate and cancel print periodical
subscriptions in favor of online databases. Students and
faculty have stated a preference for online access.
Circulation of DVDs has
increased by almost 90%.
We will continue to update our DVD collection.
Replacing outdated VHS tapes and purchasing newer
and relevant titles.
Laptop circulation has increased
by 51%.
We continue to maintain and make readily available
laptops for student use.
E-readers circulation has
dropped by almost 35%.
E-Reader collection needs to be evaluated. Many
students have their own devices now. Freshman reading
book was purchased for Kindles to increase availability
of the title and increase usage of Kindles. Collection
development for Kindles needs to be reviewed.
Evaluation of circulation reports showing exactly which
books are being checked out will aid us in collection
development in the coming year.
We have updated our “Suggest a Purchase” forms to
make it easier for faculty to request materials for their
classes.
2.
To increase
awareness and usage
of College at Florham
Library electronic
resources.
Usage statistics are
generated for all our
electronic resources,
including webpage access,
e-books, database searches
and access to our digital
archive collections.
Statistics are reported
annually on the Academic
Libraries Survey (ALS)
administered by the
National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES).
3.
To increase outreach
to and involvement
with students, faculty
and the FDU
community on the
Florham campus.
Participation of library staff
in campus-wide events.
Usage of e-books varies by
collection. Ebrary usage
decreased by 10%. EBSCO usage
increased by 300% (new
collection). Credo Reference
usage increased by 17%.
We need to continue to promote our e-book and
database collections through class instruction, individual
instruction with students and faculty, media releases,
and signage.
Usage of our databases varies
among the 90+ databases. Some
have shown decreases of 5%,
while others have shown
increases of over 10%.
We have created new online subject guides (LibGuides)
which provide easy access to electronic and print
resources on specific topics. Better promotion of these
guides should lead to increased use of the actual
resources.
Usage of the Journal Locator
(search interface for full-text
online journals) has dropped by
23%.
Information literacy instruction, by both librarians and
faculty members, would help to increase usage of
databases and online journals for research purposes.
The usage of our library
webpage has leveled off,
showing no or little growth.
More effort needs to be made to make the library
webpage more updated and dynamic. An increased
presence on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter and
the library blog) serves some of this purpose but should
not take the place of an up-to-date library webpage.
Social media may be used in the future to better gauge
student and faculty perceptions of library resources and
services.
The College at Florham Library staff will continue to
participate in campus-wide events sponsored by Student
Affairs and other departments. We recognize the
importance of promoting our services and resources to
our students and their parents. We will look for
additional events in which to participate.
Library staff participated in
Green Day (week),
Homecoming, Orientation,
Admitted Students Day, LateNight Breakfast, Early
Registration and other campuswide events.
We have started encouraging faculty to request e-book
versions of their class readings rather than putting a
single print item on reserve. This will increase usage and
also improve access for multiple students.
Statistics are kept regarding
the bibliographic
instruction classes, and
reference transactions.
Weekly gate counts are
also tracked.
2012 saw a 15% decrease in our
BI classes, reference
transactions.
Gate counts saw a similar
decline.
The College at Florham Library underwent a major
construction project from May 2012 through January
2013. Much of our study space was closed off or was too
noisy for studying and research.
The re-opening of the library for the spring 2013
semester should show a significant rebound in these
numbers.
We also need to keep track of online reference
transactions (chat, email, and phone) to more accurately
reflect the efforts of the reference department.
Records are kept for
programming events cosponsored by the library
with other departments on
campus.
The library co-sponsored or
participated in 24 events within
the library building between
September 2011 and December
2012. Attendance records are
usually turned over to the
primary sponsor of the program
and not kept by the library.
We should consider keeping attendance figures for each
event. After each event we assess how the program was
received; what went right and what went wrong.
Planning and execution of future events are modified
based on this assessment, including marketing, technical
and physical logistics.
Social Media statistics
New initiative. No data yet to
report.
The College at Florham Library has placed new emphasis
on outreach through social media. This effort started
this year, and will continue next year.