Library Faculty/Staff Scholarship and Research
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/11
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Item Ten Methods of Improving Quality Service to University of Maryland Graduate Students via “Assertive” Marketing(2009-02-13) Kackley, Bob; Zdravkovska, Nevenka; Cech, MaureenIn 2000 a faculty member of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department (ENCH) at the University of Maryland (UM), made an unusual request to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library (EPSL) librarians. She requested a bibliographic instruction session for her students in ENCH 609, the department’s introductory graduate seminar. As surprised as we were, figuring erroneously that graduate students already knew our UM Library resources quite well, the truth has become clear that they obviously do not. Over the past eight years, we have made an assertive, at times even aggressive effort, to introduce the need for vital bibliographic instruction sessions to the fourteen departments EPSL serves, most often at orientations held at the beginning of fall semester. What is covered during these sessions varies, of course, by department, subject area, enrollment, time allotted, and location, among other things. The general breakdown of a typical session caters to the needs of engineering and the physical sciences, with special considerations given to mathematics and computer science. The unique part of this paper traces not only the progress of obtaining the success rate of 13 of 14 departments during the past two years, but also several of the marketing strategies utilized. For most librarians for whom marketing is a distasteful endeavor (we refer to it as the “M” word), we offer as a bonus, a “Top Ten” list to help to alleviate some of the associated stress that can be involved in selling the library. The list ranges from major points like dealing with rejection to minor ones, like having a little fun using a professor’s name for Web of Science’s Cited Reference Search. There is no doubt that for information services we are in an era dominated by Web 2.0 and its enhancements. Still, we have found that both our subject faculty and our graduate students the preferred method of instruction is the in-person interaction, be it in a group or one-on-one. Finally, what we believe has been so instrumental to this success story, coordinating this uniform approach in providing quality service to UM’s new graduate student population, is the more than willing attitude of the excellent EPSL librarians and EPSL graduate assistant.Item Ten Methods of Improving Quality Service to University of Maryland Graduate Students via “Assertive” Marketing(2009-06-04) Kackley, Bob; Zdravkovska, Nevenka; Cech, MaureenIn 2000 a faculty member of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department (ENCH) at the University of Maryland (UM), made an unusual request to the Engineering & Physical Science Library (EPSL) Librarians. She asked for an Instruction Session for her graduate students in ENCH 609. As surprised as we were, figuring erroneously that grad students already knew our UM Library Resources quite well; the truth has evolved that they obviously don’t! So, in the past eight years, we have made an assertive, maybe even an aggressive effort, to introduce these vital sessions, mostly at Orientations at the beginning of Fall Semester, to the fourteen departments we serve. What is covered during these sessions varies, of course, by department, subject areas, number of students there are, how long of a session they allow us, where it takes place, etc. But the general breakdown with which we will present sample searching, will be along the lines of engineering OR the physical sciences (with special considerations given to Math and Computer Science). The unique part of this presentation will follow not only the progress bringing a success rate of 13 of 14 departments in the past two years, but the marketing strategies and ploys utilized. For most librarians whom marketing is a distasteful endeavor (we refer to it as the “M” word), there is included as a bonus, a Top Ten List helping to alleviate this stress. This will range from major points like learning how to shrug off “rejection” to minor points like using the prof’s name in that room when searching Web of Science’s CITED REFERENCE SEARCH. So, there’s no doubt that for Information Services this is the era dominated by Web 2.0 and its enhancements. Still, a preferred method of instruction, seemingly, that we and subject faculty have found to be true for graduate students, is the in-person interaction, be it group or one-on-one. Finally, what has been so instrumental in this success story, coordinating this uniform approach in providing quality service to our new graduate student population, is the more than willing attitude displayed by the excellent EPSL Librarians and EPSL Graduate Assistant.