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University Library Project Highlights

Library team members lead impactful projects throughout the year. Our Project Highlights page showcases work that has made a difference for our campus community and can serve as a resource for other libraries.

2024 Project Summaries

Dual Credit Support

Librarians partnered with nine dual credit instructors to create or adapt an assignment that connected their students with library resources and aligned with information literacy best practices.

Instructors Laura Decker, Holly Martin, and Vu Duong hold certificates honoring their completion of the 2024 No-Cost Textbook Program

No-Cost Textbooks 2024

Library faculty partnered with three instructors to convert 66 course sections to no-cost textbooks, resulting in an estimated student savings of $13,986 per academic year.

Still image from the "Introduction to Research" video tutorial, showing the video title and a laptop displaying the library website home page

Asynchronous Research Videos

Librarians created video tutorials designed to help online students navigate library resources effectively. The videos focused on using the Library Search and locating peer-reviewed articles.

Evidence-Based Email 2024

In the second phase of this project, all currently utilized, student-facing automatic emails were updated to reflect best practices as outlined in the Email Content Guide.

Collection Assessment 2024

The project developed a collection assessment plan to evaluate the currency, depth, and breadth of the library's holdings, aligning them with institutional goals through data analysis and faculty feedback, leading to the addition of valuable resources.

Screenshot showing the library website home page

Website 2.0

The project team made comprehensive changes to the library website. This process included administering a website audit to assess needed changes, creating new pages, updating images, and conducting usability testing with students and faculty.

2023 Project Summaries

Book covers promoting Latinx Heritage month

Showcasing Diverse Collections

Increased awareness of the Library’s diverse collections via promotion across library and campus communication channels and book displays in The Collective space, resulting in the creation of seven curated OverDrive collections and 379 Bitly engagements.

Librarian Yvonne Tran teaching

Liaison Librarian Visibility 2023

Liaison librarians increased face-to-face time with students via class visits and community events, conducting extensive faculty outreach that resulted in 20 class visits to promote research consultation services and 23 Meet with a Librarian appointments.

Heat Map of Library

Enhancing Library Space

Library team members made subtle yet impactful changes to the library space, carefully measuring the resulting data. The insights gained, such as identifying underutilized spaces, will play a crucial role in shaping upcoming modifications.

No-Cost Textbook Program Participants

No-Cost Textbooks 2023

The Library partnered with three instructors to convert nine course sections being taught in the Fall 23 – Spring 24 academic year to no-cost textbooks, saving students an estimated $34,687 per academic year.

Library survey image

Evidence-Based Email

Project team members conducted a campuswide student survey and two rounds of interviews to create an evidence-based Email Content Guide for Library communications.

Image of powerpoint title slide for Library Customer Service Training module

Library Service Excellence

The Library Service Excellence project developed and administered a series of customer service, reference, and marketing trainings for Library Service Desk staff.

2022 Project Summaries

Library staff member assisting a student with online searching for textbooks. A “Textbook Justice League” sign and chocolate bar giveaways are displayed on the table.

$1 Million Milestone

In 2022, the Library hosted a campuswide celebration honoring the over $1 million in student savings generated by Library No-Cost Textbook initiatives. The project was also recognized as a finalist for the 2023 IFLA PressReader International Library Marketing Award.

Instructor Kimberly Corsaro smiling in front of a backdrop of dollar bills symbolizing student savings on textbook costs

No-Cost Textbooks 2022

Library faculty partnered with six instructors to convert 19 course sections to no-cost textbooks during Summer 2022, resulting in estimated student savings of approximately $96K per academic year. 

Trophy recognizing the Academic Affairs Division as a finalist for the Cashman Good Government Award

Good Government Award

The Library led a submission of the Cashman Good Government Award through Academic Affairs at Nevada State. The award honors government entities who put together workplace experiences with ingenuity. The Academic Affairs Division was named a finalist for the Award.

A screenshot of the university's data dashboard, displaying library usage data

Library Data Initiatives

Library faculty developed new procedures for collecting and reporting library usage data, and analyzed available research consultation data to better inform subject liaison assignments and outreach decisions. 

Logo for Tipasa, a "cloud based interlibrary loan management platform"

ILL Improvements

Library team members worked to optimize the library’s new Interlibrary Loan system in order to reduce turnaround time for requests and to improve patron satisfaction. The project saw significant gains in patron satisfaction, and some improvement of turnaround time. 

Four librarians standing outside the Rogers Student Center, smiling in front of the building’s entrance

Liaison Librarian Visibility 2022

Library faculty designed new ways for course instructors to connect students with liaison librarians for research help, increasing librarian face-to-face time with students via class visits and library events. 

2020-2021 Project Summaries

Student using a library laptop

LibTech

In response to student feedback, the Library upgraded laptop lending services. Improvements included adding new laptops, updating software, revising library policies to extended checkout periods and remove daily late fees, and acquiring new laptop accessories.

Library Assessment Plan

In 2020, we developed a library assessment plan that focuses on “closing the loop” and meeting accreditation requirements. We then began applying this plan to all library assessments including the 2021 Ithaka survey and student artifact assessment.

Library Search Usability

This project focused on improving access to library resources by reducing usability issues with the library’s search interface. Several usability issues were identified and resolved, and a resource linking audit was performed to address linking issues to full-text articles. 

Screenshot of "Library Updates" newsletter for Fall 2020

Faculty Outreach

Liaison librarians conducted 1-on-1 outreach meetings with 72% of full-time faculty, resulting in a significant increase in library instruction requests, improved awareness of library services, and stronger librarian-faculty relationships. 

Student worker smiling while assisting a student at the Library Service Desk

Brand Ambassadors

Student workers completed training on the Library's brand identity and values to enhance their customer service skills in person at the Service Desk and online via the live chat service.

Still image from a library orientation video, showing the library entrance

New Student Support

We enhanced library support for first-year students during the pandemic by embedding library videos and information in the New Student Orientation and College Success Canvas shells.