The LIBRARY MEMO

To All Library Staff,

The UMD Library Strategic Directions document may be found at the following link:

H:\Lib\Common\Strategic Direction\final_strategic_doc_Fall_2008.pdf

You will also be receiving a hard copy in your mailbox. On behalf of the LMT, I would like to share some thoughts about this document. First of all, this is a work in progress. While we expect our mission,vision and core values to be constant, we fully expect that our strategic directions will change as we complete projects and our environment changes. Please be aware that the strategic directions are to guide us through 2013. The list of projects in the document is not complete. We expect to add more projects, delete some projects and decide a timetable for project completion. One project that is moving forward is our local implementation of LibQ
UAL+. LMT wanted to do the survey this fall semester so we could get a better sense of which projects to do first. Shixing Wen will be forwarding more definitive information on LibQUALS+. I want to thank current and past members of LMT for their work on this document and to all staff who forwarded comments on this document.

Submitted by Bill

Posted by Sue Trettel at 12:54 PM | Permalink

In the fall of 2005, the UMD Student Association Vice-President of Academic Affairs Lissa Bell requested the Library be open 24 hours a day during finals. Bill and Liz did not agree to keep the library open for 24 hour study during finals based on our experience with the 1995 trial implementation of all-night study in the Health Science Library (now the Library Annex). Although we remembered the HSL being empty between 2:30 a.m. - 6:30 a.m. we were unable to find any statistics to support our claims.

Bill and Liz agreed to do an online survey of students to determine if they wanted the library to be open additional hours during fall finals week, if so, when additional hours should be added, and if there were specific services that students would need.

The survey asked two questions:
1. During finals, I would benefit the most if the library...

*Opened earlier in the morning.
*Stayed open later in the evening.
*Opened earlier in the morning and stayed open later in the evening.
*The currently scheduled finals hours are fine.

2. During finals, I anticipate that I will need access to... (Students could choose more than one).

*A quiet place to study.
*A Group Study Room.
*Computers with work processing, e-mail and internet access.
*Computers with specialized software.
*Reserve materials.
*A computer consultant.
*Library materials on the 2nd, 3rd and/or 4th floors.

1933 students received an e-mail with the link to the survey and 262 students completed it. Here are the results:
1. During finals, I would benefit the most if the library...

44% Stayed open later in the evening.
34% Opened earlier in the morning and stayed open later in the evening.
20% The currently scheduled finals hours are fine.
2% Opened earlier in the morning.

2. During finals, I anticipate that I will need access to... (Students could choose more than one).

95% A quiet place to study.
47% A Group Study Room.
40% Computers with work processing, e-mail and internet access.
21% Library materials on the 2nd, 3rd and/or 4th floors.
17% Computers with specialized software.
13% Reserve materials.
6% A computer consultant.

The Library agreed to pilot a program to keep the first floor of the Library open for extended hours (midnight to 2:00 a.m.) during finals week. The program, dubbed Late Night in the Library, has been repeated for three semesters.

View these excel charts for data about each semester as well as comparisons between semesters.

Posted by Liz Benson Johnson at 4:20 PM | Permalink