LIS 630 - Assignment 1

1. Academic Library Technology
Administrator Interview
Leanne Jernigan
LIS 630
Spring 2012

2. About Gramley Library:
• Serves over 1,000 students and faculty at Salem
College (a small liberal arts women’s college
located in Winston Salem)
• Small staff of 8 professional
librarians

3. The Library Offers:
• 25 Computer Workstations (both PCs and Macs)
• 2 Collaboratories
• 1 Laser Printer
• 1 Document Scanner
• 10 in-house and 5 circulating laptops
• Wireless access
• Audio-visual equipment for checkout
IT department on campus is responsible for
maintaining hardware and troubleshooting
hardware/software/network issues for the
library.

4. About the Librarian:
• Graduated from the UNCG MLIS program in
2007
• Technically the “Public Services Librarian,” but
was referred to me as the librarian with the most
responsibility for troubleshooting library
technology

5. Major Roles and Responsibilities
• 40-50% of time spent using and troubleshooting
library technology
• Manages, updates and maintains the library
website
• Manages databases and instructs users on the
use of library technology
• Creates Libguides for the library website
• Processes interlibrary loan requests
• Provides chat reference to users

6. Software used:
• ILS: SirsiDynix
• Worldcat for interlibrary loans
• Ex Libris Primo (new catalog search interface)
• LibraryHelp for chat reference
• “Plone” for website maintenance
• Zotero (instruction for users)
• ContentDM (and Flickr) for digitization projects

7. New at the library:
• 16 upgraded laptops for use in library
instruction sessions
• Implemented Ex Libris Primo to make search
interface more user friendly
• Archives are being digitized using ContentDM
• The library website is getting a new look

8. Managing the Library Website
• This takes up most of her time
• Until recently, the college had strict control over
updates to the library website—it was treated as
a department website
• She now has been granted more freedom and is
in the process of designing a more usable
interface
• She uses the college’s software—Plone (an open
source content management system) to make
updates

9. Problems with the current site:
• Too much scrolling!
• Image and college
logo take up too
much space
• Search should be the
first thing you see
• Navigation menu
should be expanded

10. Digital Projects
• The website will soon feature
the library’s first digital
collection
• Historic images of the “May
Pole Dance” at the college’s
May Day Celebration will
soon be digitized in
ContentDm
• The collection will also be
featured on Flickr for
increased visibility

11. What about Social Media?
• The library does not use social media because
the library doesn’t host many events. The college
is so small that there isn’t much interest.
• “If we do have an event, we go through the
college’s Facebook and Twitter—they generate
publicity for us.”

12. Assessing User Needs
• Faculty determine the direction of collection
development and acquisition of new e-resources
and databases
• Feedback is collected during her library
instruction sessions

13. Staying Up-To-Date
• Blogs! She follows a blogger at a neighboring
college as well as Brian Matthews (The
Ubiquitous Librarian)
• Listservs
• Conferences and workshops
• NC Lite (NC Library Instruction Technology)
recently held a meeting at Wake Forest at which
area librarians shared their experiences
implementing new technologies

14. Conclusions:
• Academic librarians need to be well-versed in a
wide range of specialized software
• Administering technology at a small academic
library is a collaborative effort
• Adaptability, openness to change, and
enthusiasm for the field are all essential to
success in this position