Odum Library Blog

As the Library prepares to go on Holiday Break with the rest of VSU, some of our library systems are taking a bit of a break with us.  After all, they deserve it – they did help you find all those books and government documents that you needed for your research paper, after all!   We’ve made a list of what will be down and when, and we checked it twice:

• Our online catalog system, including GIL-Find and Classic GIL, will be down on Wednesday, December 22nd for maintenance.  The downtime may last several hours.
• The GIL Express service (which allows you to order books through the GIL Universal Catalog) is down, and it will resume on January 3, 2011.
• You can put in an ILL-Odum Express (Interlibrary Loan) request over break, but the ILL office will be on break, so those requests won’t be processed until we return on January 3, 2011.

The website and GALILEO Scholar will still be available during the entire holiday break, so if you would like to get the family together, kick back by the fireplace, and have the time-honored annual reading of the latest issue of Theoretical and Applied Genetics on your laptop, you still can!

Have a great holiday break!  Also, if you’re expecting Santa Claus or need some games to play, here’s NORAD’s official Santa Tracker: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

On Thursday, December 16th, our ProQuest resources will receive an ultimate makeover.

Gone are the ugly shades of yellowish-orange in favor of a clean, blue user interface that’s so 2011. ProQuest databases are now more accessorized with a new Subject Areas field that lets you browse the site by topic. You can also filter your search results list from the right side – if you’ve used an EBSCO database, this will look familiar. The new ProQuest has a very Google-esque Article Preview also: mouse-over the article of your choice, and you’ll get more information about the article before you even make one left-click.

What am I doing describing this, anyway? There’s a demo right on the ProQuest site. Check it out: New ProQuest Platform Demo

Did you know that Odum Library is a Federal Depository Library?  Why should you care?  If you’ve ever needed to find population statistics, or the extent that H1N1 flu has spread, or even a form for filing your income taxes, you’ve used information available through the Federal Depository Library Program!

Let the U.S. government know how you feel about depository library services. Please take our 16-question online survey focusing on depository access, services, and collections:

Federal Depository Library Survey

Results of the survey will help us understand the value of FDLP membership. Thank you for your feedback!

If you’d like to know more about U.S., Georgia, and other government documents at Odum Library, visit our Government Documents homepage!

The end of the semester is near! Before you leave town, don’t forget to return any books you’ve checked out. You might also want to pick up one of our many popular titles to take home for the holidays.

You can browse our popular collection online through our Shelfari page here. Once you see a book you want, check our online catalog to find out if it’s available. If you want to stop by the library and peruse the shelves in person, you’ll want to check out the popular books collection. You’ll find it on the second floor by the copy room.

Have a safe and happy holiday, and read something fun for a change!

Over the past month, we have been collecting and analyzing data from our Fall 2010 Reference Services Satisfaction Survey.

We have changed the survey a bit, because the statement “I have a better understanding of how to evaluate information” did not apply to every question. Patrons and librarians alike were confused as to how to rate this statement when evaluation wasn’t necessary for the reference question.

The three statements on this survey are the same ones we asked in previous Reference Services Satisfaction Surveys, and Reference Services users rated us on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being “strongly disagree”, 5 being “strongly agree”).

1. I got the information I needed.
2. I have a better understanding of how to find information.
3. I am satisfied with the service I received.

The survey results showed that users were very satisfied with their Reference experience.

User comments were very positive overall, and included:

• Great and fast help.
• You guys are the best!
• Great job (smiley face)

Out of 47 users, 39 were undergraduate students, 7 were graduate, and one was “other.”

We also evaluated ourselves on our interactions at the Reference Desk:

The data shows that we are mostly satisfied with how we help you overall (statement 3), but we would like to help you learn how to find information better in the future.

Out of 47 responses, 41 were from librarians, 4 were from Peer Reference Counselors, and 2 were from our intern.

We are always looking for new ways to improve our service here at Odum Reference, and we’re also looking into improving how we evaluate our service. Please post a comment on the blog or Facebook if you have any ideas of how we could either serve you better or find out more about how we’re doing!