The Time Has Come... To Move Many Things: Inventorying and Preparing a Collection for Offsite Storage

In the spring of 2019, the Montana State University (MSU) Library embarked on a large-scale inventory project that involved weeding and moving portions of their collection to an offsite storage facility within six months in order to create more student study space in the Library. The department primarily responsible for leading the project, Collections Access & Technical Services, the result of two departments merging, was also simultaneously navigating their new structure and a remodel of their workspace thus adding further challenges to the project. This poster session demonstrated how MSU Library approached and completed this project by advocating to their Library Administration for additional resources, including hiring a project manager and third-party companies to assist with the inventory and moving of the collection. It also discussed the types of work groups formed to identify new workflows (i.e., retrieval of offsite items) and modify existing ones, involving student employees in the project, and internal and external collaborations that took place. Additionally, presenters shared strategies used to communicate to their campus community, and the impact this project has had on our patrons. They also included statistics that were gathered during the project including deselection figures, the number of materials that did not have barcodes and were not accounted for in the Library’s catalog and discovery layer (Ex Libris’ Alma and Primo), and what subject areas currently remain in the main library building

Resource Discovery in a Changing Content World

Discovery services have evolved to include not just books and articles, but databases, website content, research guides, digital and audiovisual collections, and unique local collections that are all important for their users to be able to find. Search and ranking remain at the core of discovery, but advanced tools such as recommendation, virtual browse, ‘look inside‘, and the use of artificial intelligence are also becoming more prevalent. This group of panelists discussed how content in their discovery systems can change based on the context of the user, using as examples Primo and Blacklight, and how content is populated, discovered and requested by users through differing customizations and workflows. The session also explored what tools are available today or may become available in the coming years that may be used to highlight different collections and material types in a library discovery system. As this topic impacts many stakeholders—libraries who need to make content discoverable and satisfy the needs of their users, content providers who want to make sure that their content is visible and used, and discovery providers who need to develop their systems to support the changing needs—the panelists posed questions to the audience to encourage conversation around the challenges they face with making their unique content collections discoverable and to share solutions

Effect of learning resources on Mendeley user adoption and productivity

Poster PresentationThis study was done to understand the user adoption pattern of a reference management tool such as Mendeley. Libraries can improve usage of reference management tools if they adopt a mix of learning support services. The study also found that structured support is more effective than ‘just-in-time’ support. Finally, support for early career researchers is more effective than for seasoned researchers. The results obtained from different Schools across North America were presented as a poster at the Special Libraries Association's Annual Library Conference in Boston in 2015.Special Libraries Association Annual Conference 201

Sheep Wagons & Wheels: How the Ivan Doig Archive Brought Digital Inclusivity to the Big Sky Country State Fair

According to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), digital equity is defined as “a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy and economy” (2017). NDIA further explains that digital equi-ty is “necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to es-sential services” (2017). Article X, Section 1 of the Montana Constitution states, “it is the goal of the people to establish a system of education which will develop the full educational potential of each per-son. Equality of educational opportunity is guaranteed to each person of the state” (Montana Legisla-tive Services, 2017), while Title 22, Part. 4 states that the purpose of libraries is “to provide the bene-fits of quality public library service to all residents of Montana”, which includes “building digitally inclusive communities” (American Library Association, 2015). In the summer of 2017, two Montana libraries, one public and one academic, teamed up to achieve this purpose by bringing quality library service to an unlikely crowd by collaborating with their local county fair

Digital Equity & Inclusion Strategies for Libraries: Promoting Student Success for All Learners

Student success in higher education depends on access to digital resources and services, and today's students rely heavily on the library to help facilitate that access. Reliance on digital library resources and services surged in March 2020, when many US higher education institutions moved to remote learning in response to the global pandemic. This move highlighted a lack of awareness about the ongoing digital divide in higher education, and the underestimation of how student success would be affected in an online learning environment. Many students do not have a computer or device with internet access, access to reliable, high-speed internet, and/or can’t afford high-speed internet. These barriers inhibit students from experiencing digital equity and inclusion in the realm of remote learning. This article discusses how librarians working at a mid-sized academic library in Montana are working to advance digital equity and inclusion in their state, and the impact of this on students, and our work. It demonstrates how access to, or lack of access to resources impacts digital inclusion and digital equity in Montana, including personal device ownership, access to internet or cell service, the ability of libraries to implement remote authentication methods, and digital accessibility. The article shares perspectives and strategies from librarians working in public services and instruction, acquisitions, and electronic resources management, and how they are working together to promote digital equity and inclusion and increase the accessibility of library resources

Open Range Information Literacy: Redefining Library Spaces

How can libraries and information literacy instructors remove barriers and create new opportunities for teaching and learning information literacy? Join a group of Montana State University librarians as they share recent innovations to spaces – both physical and online – that have re-energized their instruction program. These innovations include the design, construction and implementation of a technology-enriched active learning classroom and the dynamic use of online activities such as web conferencing and virtual research services. The technology-enriched active learning classroom has enabled new partnerships and expanded existing relationships with faculty across campus, in addition to creating new opportunities for embedding information literacy and active learning strategies into course design. Similarly in online spaces we have developed activities to reach new learners and offer an expanded repertoire of research and information literacy support and instruction. These efforts have enabled these librarians to extend their reach, work with new courses and broaden horizons to redefine information literacy to include technology and media literacies as well as critical thinking