UNOLIBRARIESHIGHLIGHTS 1
2020 2021
AMESSAGEFROMDAVERICHARDS DEANOFLIBRARYSERVICES As our campus communit y adjusted this past year, so did the facult y, staff, and student assistant s at the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Librar y. With our primar y mission focused on ser ving and providing resources and spaces for UNO student s, facult y, and staff, all our effor t s were aimed toward meeting the remote, online, and unique needs of our patrons. Our team embraced the challenge of providing the resources and ser vices, including a surge of streaming media request s, requested by instructors who had to adapt to teaching more online sections. The librar y remained open with safet y protocols in place and to provide a safe space for study and quiet reflection during a stressful and ever-changing pandemic environment. As you?ll discover in the following pages, the UNO Libraries team had an incredible year. Archives & Special Collections continued to preser ve and provide access to Omaha?s collective memor y by chronicling the impact of Covid-19 and acquiring impor tant research materials. Patron Ser vices, often considered our frontline team, kept the librar y operating by staffing the desk, fulfilling inter-librar y loan request s, monitoring online chat questions, and assisting student s and facult y. The Building Ser vices team worked on impor tant maintenance and painting project s during periods when the librar y was lightly occupied, and also joined UNO?s environmental ser vices in keeping the librar y a safe and sanitar y location for our student s. The Creative Production Lab assisted with creating face shields for the medical communit y while also per forming traditional duties for student s and facult y needing to utilize the 3D printers, greenscreen, and other ser vices including conver ting analog format s to streaming media. The Research and Instruction team switched to synchronous Zoom instruction, kept the Open Educational Resources incentive program running, and maintained impor tant outreach activities such De-Stress Fest. The above was accomplished while also caring for each other, our friends, our pet s, our families, and our own mental health. Throughout the pandemic, student s knew the librar y was still an open, welcoming, and vital par t of their academic experience. In some cases, the librar y was the steady, calm island amongst a stormy, ever-changing Covid-19 landscape. I couldn?t be more proud of the work our facult y, staff, and student s accomplished this past year. They accomplished the Herculean task of insuring that Criss Librar y?s resources, ser vices, and spaces were available to you. As always, welcome to your librar y! 2
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Student ROI ROI for Librar y Fee: $6.25 / credit hour Librar y Fee Purchases (Annual) Annual Librar y Fee Income = $2, 330, 920.00 (FY '20-'21)
Annual Cost
% of Fee
Amount Spent per $6.25
UNCL Consor tia Online Database Purchases
$1,540,000.00
66%
$4.13
Other Databases
$229,504.00
9.8%
$0.62
Student Worker Wages
$160,000.00
6.9%
$0.43
Furniture
$136,167.00
5.8%
$0.37
Monographs
$70,709.00
3.0%
$0.19
Serials (Print & Electronic)
$54,377.00
2.3%
$0.15
E-Books
$49,367.00
2.1%
$0.13
Tech Assistant salar y
$33,000.00
1.4%
$0.09
Open Educational Resources (OER)
$21,000.00
.90%
$0.06
Group Study Rooms & Instruction Labs
$17,084.00
.73%
$0.05
Creative Production Lab Supplies
$6,296.00
.27%
$0.02
Facilit y Project s (paint )
$5,100.00
.21%
$0.01
Cox T.V./ Phones
$3,221.00
.14%
$0.01
Videos/ CDs
$2,962.00
.12%
$0.01
Purchase
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A Look Back At 2020-2021 In the Fall of 2020, UNO Libraries had adapted to the switch to a heavily vir tual environment. With employees able to work in the physical librar y, in addition to working from home, the UNO communit y once again had their librar y, and study space back. Student s, facult y and staff had access to the librar y via MavCard, while still having a plethora of online resources. Depar tment s that had previously been closed, such as the Archives and Special Collections and Creative Production Lab, were opened again on an appointment only basis. Through the tumultuous year, there were many high notes and accomplishment s made by librar y facult y and staff. Although that meant pivoting, or re-imagining previous ideas, UNO Libraries remained focused on student s, and the UNO communit y as a whole.
5 UNO Libraries employees relied on Zoom to hold library employee meetings, and any collaborative projects during the summer, fall, and spring of 2020 into 2021.
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ARCHIVES& SPECIALCOLLECTIONS
Text Compiled by Amy Schindler and Claire Du Laney, edited by Claire Staub.
Documenting a Pandemic What began as a project aimed at student workers soon expanded and developed a new goal of gathering a wide variet y of materials from the Omaha communit y that chronicles the COVID-19 experiences. Historically, the remembrances of ever yday people have not always been gathered carefully during times of crisis. UNO's archivist s wanted to avoid losing the diverse voices of our communit y, especially voices that have previously been ignored. Journal entries, reflections, inter views, photo essays, drawings, plays, and other creative forms of documenting this moment will be extremely impor tant for future researchers in understanding how Nebraskans reacted to this pandemic and what we experienced. Click the photo to see the full record, or the black but ton below to see the entiret y of the collection.
View the entirety of " Documenting COVID-19 In Omaha" collection.
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A Magical Acquisition The UNO Libraries welcomed the Omaha Magical Societ y's librar y to Archives and Special Collections where it joins the universit y's unique and specialized research collections. The Omaha Magial Societ y members have built a collection that contains books, and other materials which date back to the 19th centur y. Sleight of hand techniques, magicians, and the histor y of magic are just a few of the many topics coverd in the collection. The donation from the Omaha Magical Societ y was not conjured out of thin air. The club's leaders have been discussing the potential donation with UNO Libraries since 2019. According to David Arch, President of Omaha Magical Societ y, "By housing the librar y at UNO, the Omaha Magical Societ y hopes that many others will now be able to also access this resource." The Omaha Magical Societ y's donation joins the book collections of diverse organizations and individuals already in the Archives and Special Collections including the 19th centur y Icarian utopian communit y, Dr. Meredith Bacon, the Rainbow GLBT Outreach Center, the Ar thur Paul Afghanistan Collection, and others..
Materials from the Omaha Magical Society library donation.
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ARCHIVES& SPECIALCOLLECTIONS Text Compiled by Amy Schindler and Claire Du Laney, edited by Claire Staub.
Char ting Our Path Char ting Our Path: Celebrating 50 Years of Black Studies is a cooperative project of the Depar tment of Black Studies and UNO Libraries. The project will honor the 50th anniversar y of the Depar tment of Black Studies in 2021-2022 through campus and communit y speakers, exhibit s, and event s as well as suppor ting expanding research, creative activit y, and open access instructional resources. Suppor t is provided by UNO's Strategic Investement in Social Justice, Inequalit y, Race, and Class initiative. Char ting our Path is one of the 'Telling Our Stor y' proposals and was funded for 2021-2023. The project leads are Dr. Cynthia Robinson, Depar tment Chair and Associate Professor in the Black Studies Depar tment, Amy C. Schindler, Director of Archives and Special Collections, and Claire Du Laney, Outreach Archvist. In November 1969, the activism and personal sacfrices of the Omaha 54 student s played a pivitol role in the creation of the Depar tment of Black Studies at UNO. 'Char ting our Path' will focus on the Omaha 54, and other root s of the Black Studies Depar tment.
University of Nebraska at Omaha Black Studies Department.Black Studies Report, Vol. 2, no. 1, Fall, 1980.
View the Depar tment of Black Studies Digital Collection 8
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View the Student Unrest Collection
Remote Instruction Claire Du Laney, Outreach Archivist, had to make many pivot s during the Spring 2021 semester when it came to instruction sessions. These sessions consist of sharing collection materials and primar y sources with student s, which proved to be difficult in a remote set ting. Du Laney first prepared to teach from her office on campus. She shared with instructors list s of materials accessible online through the finding aids and digital collections, and utilized the Reading Room in the Archives and Special Collections to mimic in-person class sessions. When this method proved difficult to engage with student s and give them space to examine materials, she knew she needed to make a change.
Classes that allowed for matierals to be scanned, such as SOC 3700, provided an incredible example of how vir tual engagement can be power ful. Scans and audio clips were shared with student s so that they would have access during the instruction sessions. Du Laney also used Padlet, an online education site that allows student s and instructors to share thought s on one common page, which provided immediate feedback. The immediate feedback, in turn, helped her shape the class. There were many lessons to be learned from shifting to remote teaching: flexibilit y is key, don't tr y to cram too much into a 50-minute session, and instant feedback forms are helpful in any set ting.
When the cold weather hit in Januar y, she packed up her teaching materials and brought them into her home to teach two ART classes remotely. Du Laney's kitchen table became par t of a bookbinding display, but it was still difficult to capture the same qualities when teaching in person.
9 Du Laney's kitchen table bookbinding display. 9
PATRONSERVICES
Text Compiled by Joyce Neujahr, Kris Tuel, and Charles Fisher, edited by Claire Staub.
In With the New... When a person searches for a new job and considers all the factors they will need to deal with, a pandemic is surely not on their list. Lacey Rogers found herself in just this position, when at the end of March 2020 she was hired the Access Ser vices Librarian. Her first day in the librar y, April 1, 2020, turned out to also be her last day due to the necessit y of ever yone going remote. Lacey had to vir tually meet her new colleagues and super visees through Zoom. It wasn?t until the librar y opened the doors June 1, 2020, with limited seating, spaces, and ser vices, that she actually met some colleagues in person.
Lacey Ragers, Access Services Librarian.
Signs on the Creative Production Lab doors during the COVID-19 shutdown, and campus de-densification.
Ver y quickly, the Patron Ser vices depar tment had to figure out how to continue ser vices remotely. Student assistant s left the desk at Criss Librar y but maintained chat sessions from home. The Creative Production Lab essentially packed up the 3D printers, went home, and joined other maker space exper t s to create desperately needed masks and face shields for local medical facilities. Chat reference scheduling was implemented, as well as an answering machine schedule. Even though the doors were locked, people were still returning books. Staff had to devise a new procedure for checking in materials which took into consideration safet y precautions due to the virus. 10 10
When the librar y opened again on June 1, 2020 new policies and procedures were put in place to keep employees and patrons safe. Ever y practice taken for granted in the past had to be re-thought and developed in a new way. Among others these included only MavCard access to enter the building, masks and distancing requirement s necessitating the moving of nearly ever y piece of furniture to accommodate 6 foot distancing, sanitation stations with wipes, and hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the librar y. Only the 2nd (main) floor was opened and group study rooms remained closed. Ser vices were limited, check out of books needed to be paged at the ser vice desk and technology items were available only after being sanitized. Interlibrar y Loan was delayed due to the possibilit y of materials being infected with the virus, and other libraries across the nation we borrowed from were also shut down.
Screenshot of LibChat box, used by student employees during COVID-19.
Patron Services' Rob Smith helping out masked students.
All of these new changes occurred relatively quickly and often on a daily basis. This kept the Communications Specialist ver y busy, frantically creating new signage for patrons to stay updated and informed. This included not only communication on paper to at tach to doors and tables, but also digital information needed to be updated with the latest news. Social media, the librar y website, and digital signage throughout the building kept this depar tment ver y busy. 11 11
PATRONSERVICES
Text Compiled by Joyce Neujahr, Kris Tuel, and Charles Fisheer, edited by Claire Staub.
New Librar y Management System One of the major changes that happened during the past year was the upgrade to a new Librar y Management System (LMS). In the summer of 2017, UNO, UNK, UNL, and UNMC began the investigative process for the possibilit y of all campuses moving to the same LMS. The reasons were multi-pronged; in the interest of financial and collaborative efficiency and providing a bet ter experience for librar y users. After nearly 18 months of research, proposals, demonstrations, and meetings, the decision was made to go for ward with Ex Libris' Alma and Primo for managing librar y ser vices for all Universit y of Nebraska campuses. Campuses began a shutdown period in mid-March 2020, and the groups working on the project dove into the world of vir tual collaboration. It became necessar y to embrace the fact the project would need to be completed in a vir tual environment, with no on-campus or in-person meetings available. However, these challenges proved to be no match for the dedicated librarians and suppor t staff, and their willingness to put in an enormous amount of effor t to complete this project on time. We now have a bet ter working relationship between all campuses and are resolute in our conviction to foster a more collaborative environment which produces bet ter librar y ser vices for the Universit y of Nebraska system.
Some of the new features include: -
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Single sign-on login. (Pictured to the right ) Vir tually browse books on the shelf around materials in your search result s. Save records, searches and search histor y. Create permanent links to records. 12 Single sign-on screen
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The Creative Production Lab Initially the Creative Poduction Lab (CPL) was kept ver y busy making face shields. Our CPL got in touch with UNL's Innovation Campus for a collective effor t to produce a UNMC vet ted face shield designed for use by UNMC and Br yan Medical.
Protoype of face shield.
Criss CPL staff delivered over 40 complete shields to UNMC and made another 150-200 for standby purposes either for UNMC deliver y or use by other groups in Omaha. Recipient s were charged nothing, and UNO libraries donated all supplies and time to the production, including personal materials of student workers and hobbyist s dropping off completed print s daily.
During the de-densification and the campus shutdown, the CPL employees missed talking with each other as a team ever y day face to face, and missed interacting with patrons even more. A favorite par t of working in the CPL is talking about the many ways patrons can explore their creative interest s with in-person help available. CPL staff, determined to continue as best they could, brought it s special brand of tech assistance and ar tistic background of the staff to the forefront with an aptly named podcast ?The Creative Production Lab?. This unique creation continues to be produced and is available wherever you get your podcast s. Each episode is paired with document s and videos through the CPL website to keep you informed on the specifics, and linking you to additional resources and guidance.
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Click the logo above to listen to The Creative Producation Lab Podcast. 13
RESEARCHANDINSTRUCTION
Text compiled by Katie Bishop, Tonya Ferrell, and Tammi Owens, edited by Claire Staub.
Remote Instruction and Research Help Members of the Research and Instruction depar tment had to adjust from the norm when it came to all instruction sessions. Librarians worked with teaching facult y to develop both asynchronous and synchronous remote instruction. Asynchronous curriculum included tutorials, videos, and Canvas modules for both undergraduate and graduate courses. Developing engaging asynchronous lessons was a challenge, but the content could often be repurposed for different courses within the same discipline. Synchronous Zoom instruction sessions had their own challenges and oppor tunities. The lessons generally took longer than the same t ypes of activities taught in person, so par tnering with teaching facult y to determine student learning outcomes for the online session was especially impor tant. Many of the librarians and reference associates completely reworked classroom activities to best meet student needs in an online set ting. In addition, librarians offered optional drop-in Zoom sessions for specific courses to help student s with in-depth research questions. With research help transitioned to a fully remote platform, student s used the chat ser vice, filled out the online Ask-a-Librarian form, emailed librar y staff, and booked synchronous appointment s via Zoom. Librarians assisted student s with their research needs from questions about citations, to finding sources for a paper, to navigating in-depth data analysis. In addition librar y staff answered questions about technical issues, how to use Canvas, and where to locate required materials for classes. The Zoom environment has been a transition, but the overall positive energy in the classes has been encouraging.
Reference Associate Karen Jabens seen teaching a virtual library instruction session.
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Open Educational Resources I n par tnership with the Office of General Education and Dual Enrollment, the
librar y was for tunate to be able to continue awarding grant s and added two more cohor t s with eleven courses beginning their conversion to OER materials. Six of the eleven courses were par t of UNO?s general education curriculum. The full list of recipient s can be found on the OER Research Guide. As of Spring 2021, nearly 5,000 student s have taken a course that has transitioned to OER through our grant s, with a total savings of $430,000 for those student s. Transitioned courses span all 6 colleges. As a result of the pandemic safet y measures, grant training materials successfully transitioned from an in-person workshop to a Canvas video module format with a follow up one-on-one meeting. Though the process is time intensive for facult y members, both facult y and student s continue to find value in the transition from traditional materials to OER and other affordable content. A facult y member from the Grace Abbot School of Social Work repor ted the following: ?Student s appreciated that the readings tended to be shor ter and more focused. Student s also appreciated that many of them were writ ten by and for practitioners, not just researchers. Student s also appreciated that they were exposed to qualit y sources of content, not just the content it self. Several student s noted the sources of content in their case study assignment s, identifying them as places they would return to in order to gain more information once they were in practice.? While we know that OER and affordable content are effective due to research across the countr y, it is exciting to be beginning the formal assessment piece of these grant s. Assessing the data on our own campus will ensure the librar y can continue to best ser ve the UNO communit y.
15 View the full list of grant recipients within the OER LibGuide by clicking on the OER logo.
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RESEARCHANDINSTRUCTION Text compiled by Katie Bishop, Tonya Ferrell, and Tammi Owens, edited by Claire Staub.
Outreach The de-densified campus led to creative thinking for outreach to the UNO Communit y while maintaining safet y. Fall semester included a Voting 101 Zoom presentation along with a voter registration tabling event where visitors to the librar y could pick up swag and information while maintaining social distancing. The "Take and Make" Criss Craft series held both fall and spring provided a welcome crafting break for student s, facult y and staff. Par ticpant s expressed how much fun they had assembling their individually packaged crafting kit s.
FALL2020OUTREACH -
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Laser-stitch take and make kit Voting 101, Zoom presentation,on frequently asked questions about voting National Voter Registration Day table
Laser Stitch Take and Make kit
Voting 101, Zoom presentation promotional flier
16 Voter Registration table
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SPRING2021DE-STRESSFEST -
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65 make-your-own cardboard friends, with - 1 awesome build video featuring Omer Farooq 73 mini roller bot tles of lavender and eucalyptus essential oil 85 terrariums, which included, among other things: - 190 miniature ornament s - 3 pounds of Spanish moss - 4 or 5 pounds of white rocks - 2 pounds of color ful fish tank rocks - 85 ar tificial succulent s 80 Spring 2021 De-Stress Fest librar y coloring books, with crayons and colored pencils 211 snack packs (trail mix, granola bars, goldfish)
17 Take and Make terreriuams
Make Your Own Cardboard Friend
Mini roller bottles of lavender and eucalyptus essential oils 17
UNOLIBRARIES Criss Library library.unomaha.edu
6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE68182
402.554.3206
unocrisslibrary@unomaha.edu
The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/ or political affiliation in its programs, activities, or employment. UCTEMP2020
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