Code of Conduct: The North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) values everyone’s attendance at our events. We strive to provide a welcoming, safe, and supportive environment where participants may learn, network and share information with colleagues in an atmosphere of mutual respect. To that end, we request that attendees abide by the ALA Statement of Appropriate Conduct at our biennial conference and other association sponsored events. If you experience or witness something that you feel is in violation of this code of conduct, please contact Mike Crumpton at 919-271-6812 or Lorrie Russell at 336-307-0930. If you wish to report something anonymously, please use this form.
Imagine this… You’ve just been through 3 days of torrential rain and wind. Your power went out in the first 24 hours. Your roof is leaking, your floor is soft, and your food is spoiled. Everything is wet and it’s getting humid. You’re feeling overwhelmed and miserable. You find yourself heading to the library. Hurricane Florence caused major damage to our Eastern North Carolina communities. As our libraries opened after the storm, our value to our communities was never more apparent. We became a space of normalcy. A space with electricity, running water, and cool, comfortable seating. Patrons came in to re-charge their phones and themselves. They needed help communicating with loved ones, finding sources of food and water distribution, and getting started with disaster assistance. This poster describes what our community needed from our libraries after a natural disaster and how that experience prepares us for the future.
Hosting a Game Night during the first week of classes and using Game Night to alleviate Library Anxiety in Generation Z - this poster session will demonstrate how libraries can leverage quiet study evenings before finals to coincide with game nights. Having these two events together helps the student relax during midterms and finals and brings new students to the library where they meet library staff in a relaxed setting. Having this setting as a first or near first experience with the library helps to alleviate issues Generation Z may have in regards to library anxiety.
Collecting statistics, shelving books, and relocating library furniture require a significant amount of library employee time. But, what if we harnessed our efforts and energy more meaningfully? In our session, we will demonstrate how we have repurposed library spaces and reorganized library content based on usage statistics. By collecting detailed headcounts that note student preferences for seating, we have been able to craft student-centered placement of library furniture and renovation plans. This approach prevents libraries from continually spinning wheels on resetting furniture configurations that do not accommodate student needs. By collecting content-specific book statistics and collaborating with academic stakeholders, we have been able to offer more flexible access and labeling of our Children’s and YA literature collections. This approach has increased usage of materials, reinvigorated study spaces, and highlighted resources that were previously underused. Session attendees will take away constructive ideas that can be accomplished with little or no budget that will change and revitalize how students plug into your library.
Pam Dennis is Dean of the Library and an adjunct music faculty member at Gardner-Webb University. She previously served libraries at Ouachita Baptist University (Archivist), and Union University (Information Services Coordinator and Archivist), Lambuth University (Library Director... Read More →
Wednesday October 16, 2019 3:30pm - 4:20pm EDT
Salem 3A
We tend to think of accessibility in terms of physical disability. This is a huge part of the equation, but there’s so much more--and we sometimes impose barriers to access without realizing it. Even innocent signs like “Ask at the Desk for Help” can prevent patrons from fully accessing the library’s resources and services. In this session, we will look at library accessibility from the perspective of both public services and technical services, with takeaways that can work at any type of library. We’ll explore accessibility issues that you might not have considered, and we’ll recommend affordable fixes that anyone can implement, whether you work on the front lines, behind the scenes, or in administration.
Could your library’s signage do with a makeover? The session will look critically at many types of library signs and review positive and negative aspects of library signage. We will also address how to conduct a signage audit and the importance of library branding. Dr. Curtis Rogers is the Communications Director for the South Carolina State Library and has been working in the library and information science field for 31 years. He has worked at the Union (SC) Carnegie Library, the Charleston County Public Library and has taught courses at the USC School of Library and Information Science. He has conducted seventy-six signage audits to date in South Carolina.
How will services be delivered in a renovated & expanded library? Is the sky the limit or does our current reality ground us?
These are the key questions facing staff at Randall Library at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the Fall of 2018. To attempt to address these questions, library leadership organized cross-departmental teams to investigate potential service models for the desk and share back their findings with the entire library. At the same time, library staff engaged in a series of visioning exercises with Brightspot Strategy to further define the user experience in the library and potential service models. This presentation will explore the findings from both these efforts as well as the successes and failures along the way.
I am the Humanities Librarian at UNCW's Randall Library, liaison to Creative Writing, English, Film Studies, Philosophy & Religion, World Languages & Cultures, and Women and Gender Studies.
Panel Discussion with Library Directors who have eliminated or combined traditional circulation and reference service desks. Participants will describe the decisions leading up to the change as well as the challenges they faced in implementation. Resulting customer service impact will be explored and share.
The percentage of students on college campuses that are transfer or non-traditional is growing rapidly. While transfer students make up an increasingly significant student group, they are academically vulnerable and often face what is known as a “transfer shock” where adjustment to academic standards at the new school causes a drop in GPA and potential non-completion of a degree. Transfer students can also struggle to integrate socially. Academic libraries are in a unique position to provide specialized spaces, services, and collections for transfer students that could help ease their transition to a new academic environment and help them achieve academic and social success. This poster includes preliminary findings from a series of focus groups aimed at discovering the experiences of transfer students at their previous libraries and what they need from the library at their current institution to help them succeed academically. Findings indicated that while students feel comfortable with online resources they are challenged by the size of a larger library, locating materials and learning what library services are available.
My colleague and I plan to assess the gaming habits and preferences of student assistants working in Jackson Library. We plan to design and implement a survey for use of students working in access services, the digital media commons, and the computer lab located in Jackson Library. Survey questions will include demographic information such as: age, class rank, race, gender, socioeconomic background, as they choose to disclose. The remaining questions will center around why they play games, gaming categories, solo versus group play, frequency of use, gaming system preferences, awareness/use of library gaming collection, etc. to determine if gaming-related events in the digital media commons may be targeted to specific user groups and/or if gaming use increases engagement with other library collections.
The LibQual survey was used to assess the quality of our library services. The end results revealed a strong desire for more collaborative and study spaces. A “Taskforce Committee” was formed to address different strategies for creating more spaces. We collaborated with campus facilities and hired a company to move our books and bookshelves. Unfortunately, the company was inexperienced and demolished our books and bookshelves. Ultimately, we involved our upper Administration to reprimand the company and assist us with resolving repairs. The purpose of this poster presentation is to demonstrate how we capitalized on the survey data and renovated our library spaces. The poster presentation will cover the survey data analysis process, the formation of the “Library Space Taskforce Committee,” and the transformation of our spaces. Attendees of the presentation will learn “tips and secrets” on how to negotiate with campus facilities personnel, outside contractors, and upper Administration.
Libraries are increasingly digital spaces for patrons to access information, explore, and discover. The foundation of User Experience (UX) is understanding patron priorities, information needs, and information seeking behavior. Web analytics provide a data driven view of patron usage trends, which help inform the design and refinement of digital spaces to increase overall UX and usability. This is increasingly important as many patrons may never physically visit the library. This understanding can serve as the foundation for uncovering additional ways in which libraries can empower users to more fully utilize the available digital and physical resources of their libraries as well as identify new areas of user needs and digital inclusion including the potential use of mobile apps and other Web 3.0 interactive technologies.
Libraries, particularly at community colleges, have traditionally been stuck in a “static mode” in how libraries function as” place, a service and a resource” in relationship to student engagement. As a part of the CP Library 5-year strategic plan and in the designing of new facilities, the library established a marketing committee. The charge of the committee is to create enlightening and educational programing that illuminate library space, services and resources, and to engage with the college partners and the community. This presentation will highlight new library facilities, approaches to marketing and outreach, and share practical experiences with attendees, which can be shared with colleagues, and replicated in respective libraries
I wanted to make it easier for library patrons to have information about the technology available at my library. Using LibCal I have been able to give patrons more information about the equipment we have available and connecting them with resources. LibCal has a wide-range of applications for all different types of libraries that lets patrons make decisions and self-book resources. LibCal can simplify and improve patrons' experiences, from letting your patrons book their own study-rooms to making it easier to circulate special and unusual collections. This poster will describe how you could use LibCal to solve problems and make it easier for library patrons to use the resources you have to offer.
The goal of this poster is to highlight the subtle changes one can make in a library space by using cost effective resources. Using simplicity in design as a key motto, the ECU Music Library turned outdated signage into useful visual identifiers. A library can be a complicated experience that can overwhelm patrons looking for information. By changing the “norm” we can use less signage to identify library areas with various colors, sizes, and text. Delivering the visual cues in various forms (both digital and hard copy) can influence the ways a patron uses the library space. These small cost-effective changes can inspire a sense of “freshness” to a library space and promote user satisfaction. We are consistently experimenting with new directs that work best for our patrons and find simplicity in design, wins every time.
In 2016, a partnership between the J. Murrey Atkins Library and the College of Computing and Informatics at the University of North Carolina Charlotte launched a gaming lab to support the educational needs of computer science students in the artificial intelligence, robotics, and gaming concentration. A second-floor space, that housed shelving for videotapes, was repurposed within the library’s new Area 49 technology hub for the exploration of digital games, specifically their roles as cultural and artistic artifacts. The purpose of the gaming lab is to ensure availability of equipment and required course materials for all artificial intelligence,robotics and gaming students. Furthermore, students and other patrons not enrolled in the game design program may also use the lab for personal enjoyment of interactive media. The Gaming Lab is part of an effort to build collaborative spaces in an academic library where new ideas and technologies are accessible to all.
User experience (UX) in libraries isn’t just about websites. In a world inundated with requests to share feedback via online surveys, your library users may be more receptive to sharing their thoughts offline, at a time and place convenient for them. Lander University’s Jackson Library had a traditional suggestion box at the front service desk that had been receiving almost no input. In November 2018, a redesigned feedback station was installed in the printing station, including a bulletin board with public replies posted to all question/comment forms received, and open-ended whiteboard prompts. Since then, the library’s users have shared hundreds of question/comment forms and whiteboard responses. How to install and manage a feedback station, challenges encountered, and actions taken in response to user feedback will be discussed.
Physical spaces have huge impacts on patrons, services, and activities in libraries large and small. Projects to build, renovate, and change these spaces are often associated with high stakes: high expectations, high costs, and significant amounts of planning time and associated staff time. But what happens when these projects don’t go according to plan?
This moderated panel session will address the realities of library space projects, with a focus on successfully confronting unexpected changes and challenges. Speakers will represent a broad spectrum of experiences in different types of libraries, all with at least one thing in common: they’ve been part of library space projects that faced and overcame unexpected changes and challenges. Panelists will discuss space projects they’ve been involved in, methods to address gaps between expectations and realities in such projects, and lessons learned for successfully approaching and resolving difficult space situations. Those who are part of library space planning projects, who expect to be part of such projects, or who are interested in library spaces are encouraged to attend.
Assistant Dean for Administrative Services, NCLA President, UNC Greensboro
http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/clist.aspx?id=1946">Michael A. Crumpton, MLS, SHRM-SCP, is the Assistant Dean for Administrative Services at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Mike oversees administration of budgets, human resources and facilities; organizes and addresses... Read More →
Assistant Director for Planning & Facilities, Durham County Library
Sandra has 31 years of library experience. As Assistant Library Director she ensures that facility needs are met for the seven library locations that comprise the Durham County Library system. She works closely with facility managers to identify and resolve building concerns and needs... Read More →
As the purveyors of literacy on campus, the library may be centrally poised to be the location where students will come for help with multimodal assignments; similarly, faculty members may turn to the library to assist with digital humanities or projects using data. Libraries are coming up with innovative ways to engage patrons in this dialog and impart technology skills to their users. Some are creating creative spaces, such as data visualization labs, digital humanities labs, makerspaces, media labs, and knowledge markets. Others are hiring a librarian or technical staff to consult with users. This talk will be an overview of some of these innovative spaces, as well as an introduction of services generally offered by libraries that build media and data literacy. The presenter will draw on the case studies from her book on the topic entitled, Development of Creative Spaces in Academic Libraries: A Decisionmaker’s Guide, published in 2018.
The purpose of this presentation is to share the experience of two academic librarians’ role in designing a K-5 lab school library. Through this process we not only learned about the logistics of designing a library, but also how to effectively collaborate with stakeholders with little working knowledge of libraries. The presentation will include an overview of UNC Lab School initiative and information about UNC Charlotte’s Niner University Elementary School. The primary focus of the presentation will be to share how we worked to navigate the bureaucracy of the University while keeping the needs of the students in the forefront.
