UX Office update: Survey of All Students, Ambassadors, and UX Question of the Week

Posted on by 0

After a slow start due to Harvey, the UX Office is up to speed this Fall.

Survey of All Students:

The Survey of All Students is the primary (and in some cases only) survey that captures Rice students’ feedback each year, with close to a 100% response rate. More information on the survey can be found here: https://registrar.rice.edu/students/sas

For the past three years (2015-17), the UX Office has worked with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) on Fondren Library’s section of this survey. In the interest of transparency, we have uploaded this year’s report to the Wiki (login required): https://wiki.rice.edu/confluence/display/FONDREN/Reports+-+Library-wide

We hope that you will read the report, and contact us if you would like clarification or more information on any of the topics.

In the coming weeks, we will be working with selected stakeholders to address some 2017 survey comments. Our goal is to crowdsource ideas and feedback on these subjects. We plan to report back with any changes made as a result of the survey by the end of the semester.

Fondren Library Student Ambassadors: 

The Fondren Library Ambassadors have their first lunch meeting this Friday, October 6th. We are welcoming new ambassadors from Weiss and Duncan Colleges and we have five ambassadors that were with us last year. We are still looking for a graduate student representative, and representatives for Baker, Hanszen, Martel, McMurtry. If you know of a student that might be interested, please encourage them to fill out the form: http://library.rice.edu/~fondren/news/we-are-looking-fondren-library-student-ambassadors 

The first ambassador meeting will include discussion about library wifi, color printing, and collect feedback on how students perceive library social media. Future meetings for the year include: continuing renovation discussions for the area outside of Room 156 and the 4th floor alcoves, e-books access and usage, a tour of the Digital Curation lab, a look at archives recovery help during hurricane Harvey, a field trip to the Library Service center, and the Research Awards and Fondren Fellows. If you have a topic or issue you would like brought up with the Ambassadors, please contact: Debra Kolah (dkolah@rice.edu), Norie Guthrie (slg4@rice.edu) or Amanda Thomas (althomas@rice.edu).

Some initiatives driven by the ambassadors were featured in the the September 20th issue of the Thresher: http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2017/09/new-fondren-equipment-revamps-experience

Many thanks to the Access Services team who helped put together supplies, and rolled out to the new supplies area located by the first floor area printers!

 

New supply area! (Veronica Huitrado)

whiteboards

New Whiteboards! (Mauricio Prado and Andrew Vieira)

New markers and eraser kit for the study rooms! (Michael Chiles)

Modern paper cutters, hole punch and more supplies!

New supplies signage. (Michael Chiles)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UX Question of the Week

The UX Question of the Week will start back up this week-this is always fun to watch as the students fill up the whiteboard with their thoughts and suggestions. If you would like to contribute a question, please contact Amanda Thomas (althomas@rice.edu).

 

 

Collection Management & Development Council, September 2017

Posted on by 0

10am – Fondren 410

Agenda:

  • Update on Hurricane Harvey-related library damages
  • Discussion of need to document requests for digital-only library copyrighted content (for framing a future discussion re need to support developing content area)
  • ILL data & probable developments
  • Knowledge Unlatched 2017 open access proposal (Goetz)

Please contact a member of CMDC if you have questions or want further details.

Fondren Fellow exhibit: The Life and Legacy of Jesse H. Jones

Posted on by 0

We are happy to announce that our new exhibit, The Life and Legacy of Jesse H. Jones, is now available online! The following is a report from our Fondren Fellow Corinne Wilkinson, who created this exhibit:

The exhibit explores the impact of Jesse H. Jones on the city of Houston and the United States as a whole through Jones’s lifelong work as an entrepreneur, politician, and philanthropist. Jones rose from humble beginnings to build a significant portion of downtown Houston in the first half of the twentieth century, then took his talents to Washington, D.C. to help rescue the nation’s finances. In his role as chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Jones became known as the second most powerful man in Washington (after President Roosevelt himself) and was responsible for stabilizing the nation’s banks and mobilizing the country for World War II.

The exhibit highlights items from several of the Woodson’s collections, including the Jesse H. Jones Family & Personal Papers, the Jesse H. Jones Corporate and Property Records, and the J. Russell Wait Port of Houston papers.  Jones was responsible for building a large portion of downtown Houston in the mid-twentieth century; many of his buildings are still standing today. This exhibit includes an interactive map showing the location of 25 of Jones’s buildings downtown. Clicking on a point on the map reveals a photograph and more information about each building, including the date it was built and demolished.

While Jones had a significant impact in Washington with his role in reconstruction finance, his story is particularly pertinent to Houstonians, as his name and legacy is prevalent throughout the city. Together with his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones, he established the Houston Endowment, dedicated at its inception to supporting educational opportunities for minorities.

Jesse Jones is a fascinating man to research, and his collections in the Woodson Research Center hold a wealth of documents and photographs that truly showcase his character and dedication to his greater community.

We want to thank Corinne again for all of her hard work over the summer!

Executive Committee Summary for July 27, 2017

Posted on by 0
  1. The Executive Committee met with Kathy Weimer and David Bynog to discuss how the library will approach the recommendations of the Staff Communications Task Force. The Task Force will present its work at a town hall meeting scheduled for August 25 at 10 a.m. Following the town hall, the report will be shared with library staff.
  2. The Executive Committee discussed next steps for Fondren’s strategic plan. Lisa Spiro and Melinda Reagor Flannery will confer with the strategic planning team to determine how best to solicit input from Fondren staff. In early fall, we plan to begin sharing the plan with the rest of the campus and inviting feedback.
  3. Mary Lowery announced upcoming events sponsored by the Friends of Fondren:
    1. the Friends of Fondren Annual Meeting and Membership Dinner will occur on September 6 and will feature a presentation by Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda.
    2. Meet the Author: Featuring John Boles (co-sponsored by the Association of Rice Alumni and the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies) will take place on September 14 from 6:00-08:00 p.m.
    3. the Houston Folk Music Archive Celebration (co-sponsored by the Woodson Research Center) will take place on November 9, during Rice Homecoming.
    4. The library tours previously held during Homecoming and Families Weekend will not occur this year.

Executive Committee Meeting Summaries for June 29 and July 13, 2017

Posted on by 0

June 29, 2017

1) The Exec Committee discussed the status of the Careers at Rice program.

2) Lowman invited input on goals that the library should report on for the Rice Outcome Assessment Report (ROAR). Library staff will be asked to write brief assessment reports on research data, library ambassadors, Fondren 101, and collection assessment. Lowman also requested suggestions for projected ROAR goals for FY 2017.

3) The committee explored how to approach the recommendations of the Communications Task Force. At the next Exec meeting, the group will review committees and their charges. Denis is working on a charge on technology tools and communications. Communications will be discussed at a Town Meeting to be held in August.

July 13, 2017

1) Lowman solicited suggestions for topics for the August Town Meeting. Suggested topics include:

  • Discuss the report of the Communications Task Force
  • Share the Library Service Platform committee’s recommendations
  • Provide an update on the strategic plan

2) The Executive Committee discussed a GWLA recommendation to adopt a new ILL system. Fondren decided to delay this move until staff members have more time to implement it.

3) The Executive Committee discussed how to handle the Communications Task Force’s recommendations that committees be examined to ensure that staff time is spent most efficiently. Lowman will ask staff chairs for their input. After receiving this input, Exec will explore how to ensure that committees are most effective.

4) Lowman announced that the Faculty Senate is interested in having Fondren staff present the draft strategic plan. The next Exec meeting will focus on strategic planning.

Social Media Group updates

Posted on by 0

The Social Media team has been hard at work engaging our users via Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Youtube.

A huge thank you to all of the team that makes our social media continue to grow, and be a vibrant community. The social media team promotes events that live on the Fondren Event calendar: http://library.rice.edu/calendar, as well as, other content that is of interest to our users.

Jeanette Sewell has joined the social media group. Jeanette will be working on a twitter bot with Ted the bookworm as the mascot. The bot will tweet general things such as search tips and links to LibGuides.

Norie Guthrie has taken on an expanded role for Twitter, monitoring any questions that need answered, and adding content as needed, Monday through Friday.

DeAndrea Smither has developed several themes for different days of the week for Snapchat. Our followers have really grown in this communication channel, enjoying the content provided.

Fondren Library snapchat

DeAndrea displays her Snapchat schedule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additionally, we have new emergency social media communications procedures developed in collaboration with Kerry Keck. In the event of an emergency,  such as a hurricane or tropical storm, Kerry Keck will be the primary contact person on Twitter and Facebook. She will post content from the university regarding the emergency. All previously scheduled posts will be put on pause, and will resume after the emergency has passed. We hope this will provide a clear source of information to our users about Fondren Library. We had a trial run this past week, and all seemed to work well!

Twitter (972 Followers) https://twitter.com/fondrenlibrary:

  • Monday: Shannon Kipphut-Smith
  • Tuesday: Debra Kolah
  • Wednesday: Kathy Weimer
  • Thursday: Scott Carlson
  • Friday: Norie Guthrie

Facebook (1,235 Followers) https://www.facebook.com/ricefondren/:

  • Monday: UX Monday (Amanda Thomas)
  • Tuesday: Information Literacy/Reference Events (Joe Goetz)
  • Wednesday: Summer posts: Light library information  Fall: News from Fondren highlight (Melinda Flannery)
  • Thursday: Archives/#TBT item from the Woodson Archive
  • Friday: Rotates with focus on library humor/light reading (Jeanette Sewell)

Instagram (511 Followers): (Michael Chiles/DaVian Smith/Norie Guthrie) (3 x week) https://www.instagram.com/fondrenlibrary/

Snapchat: (DeAndrea Smither)

We have room on the Social Media group for you! If you would like to participate in Fondren Library’s social media efforts, email Debra Kolah (dkolah@rice.edu) and we will get you signed up!

Executive Committee Meeting Summaries April 13-June 8, 2017

Posted on by 0

April 13, 2017

The group discussed the Library Service Platform working group report.

April 20, 2017

No meeting.

April 27, 2017

1) Sara reported that President Leebron and Provost Miranda have responded very positively to the library’s “pitches” about future big ideas for the library. Mary offered to visit Seattle libraries to take pictures on an upcoming trip.

2) Sara clarified that the Fondren planning process can gear back up later in the summer, to sync with the university’s planning schedule.

3) The group reviewed the library’s current memberships in collaborative organizations and considered both cuts and new membership opportunities.

4) Kerry shared the need for tightening access policy for LSC items in certain restricted categories.

5) Sara shared recent discussions on the need for signed agreements from users who make use of Fondren’s new lockers.

6) Mary asked about protecting the painting across from Access Services by anchoring any nearby seating or adding a protective railing in front of the artwork. She shared that a member of the Friends of Fondren is interested in doing an online general or art-focused tour to encourage Friends to become more familiar with Fondren. Other members offered to share what has been done in the way of online tours and invited the individual to make use of those building blocks. Mary also shared that the Friends’ Homecoming event will spotlight local music archives in the Woodson Research Center (WRC).

May 4, 2017

No meeting

May 11, 2017

No meeting

May 18, 2017

1) a) Sara shared that Norie and Debra Kolah have been working with Fondren Ambassadors to plan spending $100,000 in money available to the library from the KTRU endowment. The seating areas outside Rm. 156 and in front of Access Services are targeted for improvements. Room 412, to the L of the Studies in English Literature offices, has been assigned as a gathering place to a new association of retired faculty under the sponsorship of the provost.
b) This summer, five Rice Design Alliance staff members will be officing temporarily in Fondren, during the renovation of their offices. The architecture school has made a donation to Fondren in response.
c) Sara shared what she is learning about the university-level planning process. So far, the Fondren process is tracking well with the university process, in terms of elements, level of detail, etc.
d) Sara reported that the Rice Board of Trustees approved the budget and that salary letters should go out before the end of June. The library received an additional $500,000 for collections for FY18 to slow the impact of inflation on our purchasing power.

2) The group discussed the draft of the strategic planning document, making revisions and inviting Lee to provide language to represent WRC strategic directions where appropriate in the document. The strategic planning group will host additional staff meetings to discuss the new version of the plan, and will also be sharing a draft with some university departments in the fall.

3. The group discussed the request of the Horizon Group for a clarification of its charge following the valuable advice shared on the planning process. Currently, members do not have a new research need.

4. Updates: There will be a Town Hall meeting May 24 to share the “pitches” to President Leebron. The Kyle Morrow Room will be out of commission for tech upgrades for the month of June. Scott Vieira will co-chair the Web Team. The report of the Library Service Platform (LSP) group is being reviewed. The Friends gala net profits are not yet final but seem to be approaching $185,000. The 2018 gala will be held March 23 at the River Oaks Country Club and will honor the Crownovers. Catherine and Brian James will co-chair the event; student workers will be needed. Other events are being slotted into the Friends calendar for the upcoming year.

May 25, 2017

No meeting.

June 1, 2017

The group discussed the report of the Communications Task Force. This report will be made public with plans for action once Executive Committee discussion is completed. Main recommendations include increased visibility of administration, a review and simplification of committee structures and improved tools for staff communication.

June 8, 2017

The group continued discussion of the communications report and began to propose plans of action to address recommendations. Additional issues raised in the report include adding a communications officer, improving staff orientation, improving staff knowledge of the work of departments other than their own, more training in the areas of communication and running meetings, and better communication among managers.

At the next meeting, the group will review Fondren’s current committee structures. Sara has asked Denis to draft a proposal for improving online staff information tools; this proposal will also be discussed at an upcoming meeting.

Promoting Upcoming Events

Posted on by 0

If you have an upcoming event and need to promote it, C-MACS can help with the promotion of an event while you create, manage, and operate it. Before we can do anything, though, we need some information about the event.

The questions on this form (also seen below) can help you plan your event, and will give us some background information so we can help promote it.

  1. Who is your audience?
  2. What date have you chosen? Does this conflict with other major events on campus or holidays?
  3. What specific activities are you planning?
  4. What kinds of advertisement do you want? Flyers, website graphics, table toppers? Based on your answers to the questions above, you should be able to formulate some visual ideas. You should now contact Jeff Koffler and communicate your ideas to him. He can create a unique image that can be used for your posters, flyers, website promotion, emails, etc.
  5. After getting your image, you can now communicate it to your intended audience, which you defined above.
    1. For reaching students, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and (coming soon) Snapchat are all great communication pathways. You can also send an email to ustudents-l@mailman.rice.edu, put up posters near the entrance, and contact Jeff about placing the image on the website calendar and website scroll.
    2. For university employees, use ALLDEPTS, our social media channels, put up posters near the entrance, and contact Jeff about placing the image on the website calendar and website scroll.
    3. For the outside community, use our social media channels, put up posters near the entrance, and contact Jeff about placing the image on the website calendar and website scroll.
    4. For grad students, use our social media channels and submit info to their weekly newsletter. You can also put up posters near the entrance and contact Jeff about placing the image on the website calendar and website scroll.
  6. If you need to post to our social media channels, please submit a request via the library’s website and select “Suggest a News Item or Feature for Fondren’s Homepage.” Please be sure to tell us which social media you want us to post to and follow standard rules for posting to social media sites (for example Twitter character limits).

Much of this information is on the C-MACS Wiki, as well. Feel free to browse it.

After following the steps above, if you need to meet with C-MACS about additional planning ideas, please feel free to contact the co-chairs, Michael Chiles and Norie Guthrie.

Originally published September 29, 2016 @ 14:19

It’s a Wrap! Fondren Library Ambassadors update

Posted on by 0

The Fondren Library Ambassadors wrapped up the year with a final meeting in April. Several student ambassadors will be continuing for 2017-2018:

*Meghana Gaur (Lovett), Rakesh Vijayakumar (Brown), Kseniya Anishchenko (Sid Rich), Reagan Hahn (Will Rice), and Anirudh Kunaparaju (Jones). The Fondren Library Ambassador facilitators, Debra Kolah, Norie Guthrie and Amanda Thomas, are actively recruiting for students that can represent the remaining colleges: Weiss, Martell, Duncan, McMurtry, Hanzen, and the Graduate Student Association.

This past year the students helped to market and promote multiple events, including study breaks, pet therapy, the research awards, and Fondren 101. One big project for the year involved compiling a photo diary–students were given 20 prompts, and asked to photograph areas in the library that answered the prompt. (Your favorite place to study in Fondren Library. A place in the library where you feel lost. Where you go in the library to ask questions?) The UX Office will present the photo diaries for interested library staff in mid-June in the Collaboration space.

Another important Ambassador project was getting student input into how some of the KRTU funds could be spent. When KTRU was sold, an endowment was set up for the following purpose “To support student-centered improvements in Fondren Library as determined by the University Librarian.”   In the past,  the fund was used to supplement technology in the study rooms, purchase the portable charging stations, and purchase lounge furniture on the 4th floor. The students had a spreadsheet that they contributed ideas to all year, and they solicited feedback from students across campus. They were encouraged to identify needs which included: collections support, furniture, or technology.

A report was prepared and presented to Sara in April, and after discussions of feasibility, the following improvements will be made over the summer:

The area outside of Room 156 will be made into a casual, beverage allowed area, with improved lighting and innovative seating/furniture that includes standing tables.

(First floor area outside of Room 156 will be improved this summer, with new seating, lamps, and standing desks.)

 

4th floor cubicle areas will be repainted and improved with new seating and cafe-style tables.

 

Attention will be given to the 4th floor study cubicles along the West side of the building, especially paint, electrical improvements, new chairs, and cafe style seating.

Improved access and more office supplies near printers on the first floor, in the basement, and at the Access Services desk, including: staplers, paper cutters, paper.

More rolling white boards will be purchased.

Ambassadors suggested a few different variations on the theme of standing/active desks. It is clear that Rice students are interested in staying active and healthy while they study, and would like their furniture in the library to reflect that need. Specific items requested include: standing desks, stationary bike desks, cycling chairs, and treadmill desks.

We will experiment with having a few computer monitors that allow for a laptop to be plugged in directly.

A subscription to the New York Times online will be acquired.  

A full-length white board wall will be provided  in several study rooms.

Additionally, we are exploring ways to accommodate longer borrowing times for lockers;  increased signage (inside and outside the library);  providing color printing in the library; new window film/coverings for the study carrels, increased access to several computer programs, including MATLAB; and better options in the vending machine.

A special thank you to Sara Lowman for her support of the Library Ambassadors, and to Jeff Koffler for the design work that will improve the spaces identified by the students.

 

New exhibits on World War I, Sammy the Owl, and Brazilian chapbooks

Posted on by 0

Red Cross exhibit

 

Woodson Research Center has several new exhibits now on display in Fondren and in the RMC.

2017 is the centennial year of the U.S. involvement in World War I (1914-19). In collaboration with Rice University’s Anthropology Department, an exhibit in the cases near the east entrance of the library focuses on Camp Logan, a World War I training camp once situated in what is today Memorial Park in northwest Houston.

Location of Camp Logan in today’s Memorial Park

 

“Camp Logan in Memorial Park: Houston’s Hidden History” was co-curated by Rice undergraduate student Dylan Dickens (Martel ’18), Dr. Jeffrey Fleisher, and Rebecca Russell. Although the centennial is the inspiration for the exhibit, Rice University faculty, staff, and students have been involved in researching and preserving Camp Logan’s history for some time; the Woodson Research Center has a collection of papers related to a soldier’s time at the camp, and the Anthropology Department have been investigating Camp Logan archaeologically since 2015. These collections and the results of this research form part of the exhibit.

In the 1st floor hallway, “Camp Logan Centennial postcards” features selections of historic postcards depicting images of soldiers training at Camp Logan. The postcards are on loan from the Robbie Morin Camp Logan Collection.

Inside the Woodson Research Center, “Do Your Bit: the American Red Cross during World War I” features selections from Woodson Research Center collections about the American Red Cross during World War I and local efforts at Rice Institute and Houston to support the war effort.

Rice female Red Cross members

Rice Auxiliary Red Cross members

 

In the flat cases outside of the Woodson Research Center, a small exhibit features selections from the Richard and Sandra Lauderdale Graham Brazilian Chapbook Collection. The inexpensively printed booklets or pamphlets known as cordel literature (from the Portuguese term literatura de cordel, literally “string literature”) originated in rural northeastern Brazil as humble poets and artists used this means to reach a popular audience. Containing folk novels, poems, and songs illustrated initially with woodblock prints and later with photo images, these booklets were sold at fairs and by street vendors. Production of the booklets reached a peak in the 1920’s and 1930’s, but the present collection makes clear that they were still being created in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Brazilian Chapbooks

 

In the Rice Memorial Center trophy case, an exhibit in conjunction with Rice Athletics’ new branding initiative, highlights the evolution of the Rice Athletics mascot Sammy the Owl through University Archives’ photographs, memorabilia, and ephemera.

Sammy the Owl