Tag Archives: service changes

New Delivery Options for NExpress and ILL: Armstrong Library Pick up.

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We have made the Armstrong Science library an official pick up location for ILL and NExpress materials.  If you select Armstrong delivery, your requested materials will be automatically sent to the Armstrong Science Library for pick up when they arrive at Middlebury.

This is now possible for both NExpress and interlibrary loan materials.  However, selecting this option is done very differently in each system.

  • For NExpress the choice is made each time an item is ordered, through a drop-down menu.  Select Armstrong Science library from the list of available pick up locations.  go/NExpress
  • For ILLiad, the choice is made at registration.  In order for a current ILLiad user to change their preferred delivery location in ILLiad, you will need to update your contact Information in the Tools menu in ILLiad.  Click on “Edit My Contact Information” and select Armstrong Science Library as your “Delivery Site” to take advantage of this new service.  You can return to regular pick up at the Davis Family Library at any time by returning to ILLiad and changing your selected delivery site back to Davis Family Library.   go/ill

Please contact mdyill@middlebury.edu with any questions.

A Circ Change

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A colleague shared this picture with me the other day – and though I am not inclined to post pictures of myself on the web, it seemed like the perfect image to inform you about an upcoming change in Circulation Services.
My last day at Midd will be June 30. I am moving to southern Vermont, and I am looking forward to a new adventure traveling and working in the company of stone.
It has been a joy and a privilege to have worked with the talented community of students, staff and faculty at Midd and I have been given the gift of friendships from across campus and the world, and the opportunity to learn something new every day. Thank you. I will treasure my time at Midd, and I will miss you all.
On July 1st, Dan Frostman will assume the position of Circulation Services Manager. Please be in touch with him about any circulation and borrowing questions or concerns – you will be in very good hands.

Library Ending CD Borrowing through ILL

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Due to staffing and budget reductions in LIS, we are no longer able to continue traditional ILL services for CD requests.  As of Feb. 1st we will no longer be borrowing or lending CDs through ILL.

The average cost to borrow an item through ILL is about $30.00.  When we include the costs of Mailing and ILL fees, requesting a CD through ILL was at times costing more than purchasing the CDs. Other options for acquiring CDs still include:

Borrow from NExpress: Middlebury will continue to both borrow and lend CDs via NExpress.  There are negligible shipping costs for CD borrowing and lending for NExpress requests because all NExpress items are shipped together.  Middlebury patrons may search the NExpress Catalog at http://go/nexpress.  You can specifically search for CDs and other sound recordings by selecting “Sound Recordings” from the “View Entire Collection” drop down box on the NExpress search page.

Request a purchase: If a CD is not available via NExpress, the CD title can be submitted for purchase to the Music Library, by using the on-line form:   http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/lib/libcollections/libraries/musiclib/suggestapurchase/node/39001

While the Music Library is unable to purchase everything, it is our hope to be able to increase patron driven purchasing as a way to help ease this reduction in ILL services.

Any requests for CDs submitted to ILL after February 1st will be forwarded to Music for purchase consideration and the ILL request will be cancelled.

For questions contact mdyill@middlebury.edu

Notice to students about new printing system

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Here’s what I just sent out today to all Middlebury students.

To Middlebury Students,

I’m writing with news about changes in student printing services that LIS offers. As reported in a recent CAMPUS article, starting in February of 2010, LIS will institute a new printing policy. This new policy provides students with an allotment of free prints. Once that allotment is exceeded, students will be charged for their prints. Based on our analysis of student printing habits, we are providing students with $25/semester, which will allow them to print 500 black and white pages, single-sided. Seniors will get $50/semester. Once their quota is exceeded, single-sided black and white prints will be
five cents per page, double-sided black and white prints will be four cents per side of page, color prints will be 25 cents per page, and posters (large format prints on our plotters) will be $1.50 per linear foot. We estimate, based on this fall semester’s usage data, that this new program will cost on average $15/semester for each student,
assuming that students continue to print at the rates that they did when printing was free. The money that we collect will be used to defray the material costs (paper, toner) of our printing program. These changes are being put in place both in reaction to the College’s new fiscal reality but also to reduce the amount of printing on campus for environmental reasons. Details about this program, including how you can add money to your account with a credit card, can be found at
https://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/wiki/LIS/Student_Printing_and_Quotas.

In addition to this new program, you will now be able to print from your own computer to a library or lab printer. If the document you need to print is in Word, Excel, or PDF format, you can upload it from your laptop or desktop to a print queue via a web interface and then release it from the release stations, eliminating the step of having
to print it from a library or lab computer.

During the course of the spring semester, we plan to replace our existing printers with more reliable printers and to expand the options for color printing on campus.

Our Faculty Advisory Committee is working with faculty to explain to them the way this new program works and to encourage faculty to be aware of the printing demands of their courses.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to write to me or contact a member of the Student LIS Advisory Committee, whose members are listed at https://sites.middlebury.edu/lisadvisors/student-lis-advisory-group/ and who were essential in our efforts to shape a policy that was as fair as possible to students.

Sincerely,

Michael Roy

Announcement of change in LIS Screening Policy

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Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing to let you know of a change in LIS support for film and video screenings that will go into effect for the Spring 2010 semester. Due to staffing and budget reductions in LIS, we are no longer able to provide projectionist assistance for screening videos in DVD, VHS and Laserdisc formats.

Nothing will change for regularly scheduled screenings in Dana, Twilight Aud., and AXN 232. LIS will continue to hire student projectionists to support screenings in these rooms, and you should continue to send your screening schedules to LibReserves, and the Helpdesk as early as possible before the start of the semester to schedule screenings and place DVDs on reserve. This also means that any 16mm and 35mm screenings will run through LIS. The new LIS website, when it launches, will provide an on line request form which will streamline your process for making these requests.

LIS will not support “impromptu screenings” with less than 1 week’s notice. We will need at least a week’s lead time to support any screenings that have not been scheduled at the beginning of the semester.

For all screenings in rooms besides Dana, Twilight, and AXN 232, it will now be faculty’s responsibility to run the screening or arrange for a student screener. You should still place your DVD titles on reserve via the LibRes email box – include the date/time of each DVD title to be screened so that LIS can “book” the title for your screening, effectively blocking others from checking them out prior to your screening. You should contact Stewart Lane (wlane@middlebury.edu) if you need to be trained on the projection equipment in a given room.

Faculty who cannot attend their screening should plan to hire a student in the class to serve as projectionist.  This will be run through the department, as with other student workers. LIS Staff members will not be available to run screenings, except for exceptional circumstances. If you will have a designated student screener, you can email Stewart Lane (wlane@middlebury.edu) if you would like them to be trained. You should also email the name(s) of your designated student screeners to Circulation Services library_circulation@middlebury.edu, so that the student screeners can be granted the appropriate loaning privileges.

While we understand that this is an inconvenience for faculty, the reality is that at our present staffing levels Media Services simply cannot dedicate the time to scheduling and training students at the level they have been. LIS is committed to hiring and training student assistants to staff the Helpdesk during the day and in the evenings so that in the case of difficulties with equipment, there is always someone available to come to the screening location to assist.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this issue, and if you have any suggestions for how we can improve this process.

Sincerely,

— mike

Michael Roy

Dean of Library and Information Services

The Not to Do List Process

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In response to our shrinking staff and shrinking budget, we’ve had to take a hard look at the services we offer, and in many cases either eliminate, reduce, or radically change those services. We thought it would be useful to document the process we’re using to make these decisions, both to encourage us to continue to do this hard work of looking critically at our services, and to make sure that the proper amount of consultation and vetting is taking place as we change our services to match our available resources. Here are the steps we’ve been taking:

1. We’ve challenged all of LIS to come up with ideas for things we can do less of or stop doing or do differently. That idea gets written up, documenting what the present service level is, what the new proposed service level would be, the savings in time or money, and who would be affected by the change.

2. The idea is discussed within the workgroup and/or area as a first step. Conversations across workgroups, areas, and with groups affected by this proposed change are encouraged.

3. If the idea seems worth pursuing, the idea is added to the central list of ideas we are vetting.

4. The ADs will provide the first level of vetting.

5. The managers group will provide a second level of vetting, to try to capture any unintended consequences. This happens on two tracks. The idea is sent out via email, and if there are no objections, we move it forward to the next step. If there are objections, we pause to discuss further.

6. Once it has been internally vetted, as appropriate, we share the idea with any or all of the groups listed below, using the same fast track/slow track method of gathering feedback:(More information about some of these groups can be found at https://sites.middlebury.edu/lisadvisors/ )
1. Faculty LIS Advisory Group and/or divisional advisory groups
2. Student LIS Advisory Group
3. Academic Affairs
4. President’s Staff
5. Banner LEADS
6. Academic Dept Chairs

7. Once fully vettted, we’ll implement the change and communicate the change to the affected members of the community.

While this process seems complicated, we think any given idea should be able to be vetted in a month or less, depending on various meeting schedules and agendas, and depending on whether or not the idea moves on the fast track or slow track.

We will shortly publish on the web both the list of reduced services and also the list of service reductions under consideration.