Sunday, August 3, 2008

Library Clarification

So, I realized that I need two posts for this assignment, and didn't have too much to add, since I put so much into the first post. For some reason, however, it seems people thought I worked at Temple. I actually work at BYU and was comparing the two a little. BYU has one library in the heart of campus, although we do have a small annex in the nursing building. Temple now has one library also and is making many changes that focus on the user.
I'm glad that libraries are becoming more user-centered. I think that in a service economy, that is very important. After all, we are here to help the patrons and if we don't address their needs, why be there? Science is becoming so inter-disciplinary that it only makes sense to house the subjects together. Especially since many schools are in different colleges, but have very fuzzy lines between them. I've tried to do the new book lists and to decide if a book is Nursing or PDBio or Sports Medicine is a fairly impossible task (some just go onto multiple yearlists).
So, that is where we're headed at BYU. I just need to figure out the best way to do the subject pages/blogs. Then I can think of how to better help students use our resources. We have a lot of information that can help them. I think that's the problem though. We have too much information for their needs and they don't know how to sift through it. At least I didn't when I started my undergrad 7 years ago.