Academic Taskforce Recommendations

At the FLA User Forum at the Florida Library Association, the Ask a Librarian Academic Desk Task Force made its recommendation. In the Fall, Ask a Librarian will debut its academic desk.

The taskforce consisted of:
Pam Beegle (Nova Southeastern University)
Judy Born (Manatee Community College)
Juana Careaga (Florida Keys Community College)
Caryl Harris (Lake County Library System)
Sandy Hawes (Saint Leo University)
Rob Krull (Palm Beach Community College)
Chad Mairn (St. Petersburg College)
Jana Ronan (University of Florida)
Debora Stewart (Palm Beach Atlantic University)

Full-text of the report:

The group was asked to decide if there is a demand for an Academic Desk. If so, what hours should the Academic Desk be available, and how would the desk be staffed.

The group met and looked at many questions and concerns. Some of them included:

• Identifying the need for an Academic Desk
• Staffing of the Academic Desk
• Members were unenthusiastic regarding the answering of questions of an academic library if they are from a public library and vice versa.
• Number of students entering via an academic library or public library.

So the group decided to survey Ask A Librarian site members. Please see the attached survey for results. http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=297274714001

The survey consisted of 16 questions and we had 68 respondents. The survey leaned towards the fact that there is a need for an Academic Ask a Librarian desk.

The task force met again to discuss the results and findings of the information gathered from the survey.

The results provided the fact that there is a need from the librarian’s side but the survey was not able to determine the need from the patron’s side.

The hours should reflect all open hours. Students are using the desk during school hours as well as after school.

The organization would be that when a patron accesses Ask a Librarian, their point of entry would determine the desk – academic or collaborative desk. This will alleviate the unfamiliarity of the librarian with one another’s sources.

The task force would like to recommend that an Academic Desk should be put in place as a pilot project. In order for this to work we need the support of everyone especially from the Library Directors by providing more staff coverage.

This is a huge change for Ask a Librarian, what do you think?