University Library Project Highlights

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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 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.

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.