Promote Academic Engagement
Develop innovative communication methods and marketing strategies to reach clients in labs and hospital departments.
- Attend meetings of departments and labs to talk about library services.
- Health Sciences librarians have attended multiple departmental meetings to promote library services and new resources, including SHTM, LISVH, Clinical Depts. SOM, Cancer Center, Research Depts
- Continue table outside cafeteria during lunch hour.
- Continued weekly tabling in fall semester, monthly tabling in spring semester
- Develop a brochure for HSL.
- Created one page flyer with contact information and liaison areas
- Semester updates and resource announcement posters
- Continually update electronic displays in library
Implement training for all HSL staff in the unique needs of our faculty, students, researchers and clinicians as well in using our unique resources.
- Work with access services to offer training for student workers.
- Worked with HSL day/evening managers to assess student needs and provide appropriate training on HSL resources.
- Invite other units to vendor training sessions.
- UptoDate hosts training sessions for hospital staff.
- Planning is underway for vendor demo day hosted at Health Sciences Library.
Create a virtual tour to enhance the physical tours offered by the SOM and others.
- Create a virtual tour using maps with library photos.
- Revisit this goal with SOM and new Head of Health Sciences Library.
- Indicate quiet study areas and group study areas prominently..
- Installed glass doors to minimize noise and create dedicated quiet study area.
- Links to the tour should be sent to all schools for inclusion on their websites.
- Revisit this goal with SOM and new Head of Health Sciences Library.
Re-evaluate the HS reference desk model to make sure reference questions are being referred to librarians when needed.
- Relocate all librarians near the information desk.
- All Health Sciences Librarians now sit adjacent to the reference desk.
- Front desk staff has been trained to triage directional reference questions and refer all others to librarians.
- Assess questions being asked through LibAnalytics.
- Planning to work with statistics librarian to capture relevant data.
Evaluate all HSL Libguides and tutorials over the summer 2015 to make access to information about resources and services more accessible.
- Combine or remove unused guides.
- Changed ownership of pre-existing guides and updated, revised or merged. This is a work in progress, still assessing the usefulness of individual guides.
- Provide clear pathways for getting help.
- Redesigned the front page of the HSL website to make contact information more prominent and streamlined across all resources.
- Created YouTube videos and tutorials for navigating the Health Sciences Library resources.
- Provide clear message about our services and who to contact.
- Ensured continuity of contact information and promotion of access points across multiple mediums, including the updated website, Libguides, brochures, handouts, digital signage and presentations.
Build, Preserve and Provide Access to Rich and Diverse Collections
Update the HSL collection and make it more accessible.
- Evaluate the HS collection and update materials to reflect equal coverage for all clients and include new areas of research.
- Selectors have worked collaboratively to manage the collection in the areas of translation science and to ensure acquired resources are accessible to faculty on both east and west campuses.
- Established veteran's health collection from new and existing materials.
- Promoted contact information for new collections librarian as point of access for faculty and student requests.
- Conducting outreach and responding to expressed needs of faculty developing curricula for new programs.
- Worked collaboratively with ERMS to increase discoverability of our ebooks in the new publication finder.
- Move lower use materials to basement storage.
- Evaluate usage statistics in larger collection assessment project Summer/Fall 2016.
- Move frequently accessed materials from basement storage to the stacks for easier access.
- Evaluate usage statistics in larger collection assessment project Summer/Fall 2016.
- Update the reference collection and move older materials to storage.
- Weeded print reference collection and moved items that were out of date and out of collection scope to basement storage.
- Move Index Medicus to the reference area.
- The Index Medicus collection is now prominently displayed in the reference area.
- Create non-fiction reading area with new books located in the reference section.
- Established popular non-fiction reading collection that has exceeded circulation expectations.
- Update collection development procedures and policies.
- Evaluated current subscription formats to meet mobile access, application needs and point of care resources for Health Sciences programs.
- In the process of reviewing collection development policy to include approval for duplicate copies and superseded editions to be removed from shelves.
- Create an online form for suggesting new resources and materials.
- Tested an online submission system on Long Island State Veteran's Home Libguide.
- Promoted new collections librarian contact information for special requests.
- Development of library-wide request form is under consideration.
Develop Responsive Library Spaces for Diverse Communities
Optimize study space in the Health Sciences Library, which is heavily used by students.
- Create a plan to optimize study space to preserve quiet space while keeping sufficient space for group study.
- Discussions in Health Sciences Library Operations meeting having taken place to address areas of concern and considerations for potential improvement have been identified.
- Glass door was added to reduce noise level and create a designated quiet study area in the periodical section and allow group discussions to continue in the main space of the library.
- Evaluate the space for the possibility of adding quiet study rooms.
- Potential areas for quiet study rooms have been identified. Reduction in print collection will be required to obtain additional square footage (summer/fall 2016).
- Develop a plan for better, more reliable evening and weekend coverage and for extended hours so that student assistants have access to library staff in case of problems.
- Addition of an evening/weekend manager to the HSL staff has addressed this issue.
- Create an ongoing plan for budget and staffing to continue the 24 X 7 service during finals.
- Successfully carried out two semesters of 24x7 access during finals.
- Library IT will be installing card swipe to facilitate focused user access to the HSL after hours.
- Evaluate existing furniture needs and plan to replace broken chairs and add additional seating.
- Reallocated computer lab seating to main Health Science Library study space.
Foster an Innovative Culture of Learning and Assessment
Professional Development
- Provide increased professional development programs for staff.
- All Health Sciences Librarians have presented their research interests at SBU Library Colloquium. Scheduling for session to be held at Health Sciences Center in Fall 2016.
- All Health Sciences Librarians have attended regional, national and international professional conferences.
- Health Sciences Librarians have secured professional development awards to attend courses and conferences.
- Hosted webinars and training sessions with vendors for all Health Sciences librarians.
- Exploring the possibility of a professional retreat for Health Sciences Librarians either through an invited speaker or visit to another medical library.
Staffing
- Evaluate staffing and create recommendations/justification for adding additional librarians and/or staff.
- In the process of identifying a new Head of the Health Sciences Library who will advocate for additional librarians to cover present and future needs and new programs and schools.
- Provide cross-training for staff.
- Work collaboratively to address needs of all patrons across disciplines and programs and triage to subject specialist when appropriate.
Communication and Workflow
- Develop a channel for communication of policies and procedures between East and West campus.
- Health Sciences Librarians are participating in working groups.
- Attend regular cross-campus meetings such as All Liaisons meeting, training sessions and other all staff events.
- Optimize workflows between libraries.
- Working with new Associate Dean of Collection Strategy and Management to streamline workflow for centralized collection processing.
- STEM librarians collaborating on collections and outreach initiatives
