University Libraries Utilize Facebook: Promoting Programs, Collections, and Services

The University Libraries have recently revised their strategy for utilizing Facebook. Previously, Libraries staff updated the account periodically with photos and selected articles from the Library Insider, which were posted as photos. Beginning in December 2009, the Libraries began to keep the account more current and stepped up active promotion of the account in order to reach students, faculty, and other University Libraries fans.

The Ball State University Libraries’ Facebook account is ballstatelibraries. Anyone interested in following the Libraries can go to www.facebook.com/ballstatelibraries instead of having to search within Facebook.

Katie M. Bohnert, Marketing and Communications Manager, took on the task of regularly posting fresh and timely content to the Libraries’ Facebook account. New items and services, current and upcoming exhibits, workshops and instructional sessions have all been highlighted on the Libraries’ Facebook account. There are also reminders and links to timely services, such as reserving study rooms, checking print balances online, and employing wireless printing services. Katie also began posting selected Library Insider newsletter articles as notes instead of images, which makes the text searchable and more likely to be indexed by search engines such as Google.

Facebook also proved to be a valuable tool for communicating with students and faculty in December 2009, when the University’s Web site experienced a brief campus-wide interruption. The Libraries were able to share with our Facebook fans the direct links to unaffected resources, such as CardCat, Articles and Databases, E-Journals, and the Digital Media Repository. When service was restored, another posting alerted fans that the problem had been resolved and thanked them for their patience.

Future possibilities for the ballstatelibraries Facebook account include promotion of musical and theatrical previews in Bracken Library, taking advantage of the photo and video sharing capabilities native to Facebook, and using the Facebook Markup Language (FBML) to provide a way to search the online catalog, CardCat, as well as Articles and Databases from within Facebook, which would be especially helpful for those using mobile devices.

If you are a Facebook user and would like to be a fan of the University Libraries, join us at www.facebook.com/ballstatelibraries.

Dean of Libraries Expresses Appreciation to the University Libraries’ Personnel for their Work and Service during Fiscal Year 2006-2007

I want to express my thanks and appreciation to everyone who works in the University Libraries providing library and information services — professional and paraprofessional personnel, graduate assistants, and student assistants. Each of you, individually and collectively, has provided another year of thoughtful, caring, and creative service for the Ball State University Community.

Over the course of fiscal year 2006-2007, our turnstiles counted 1,301,390 visits to the University Libraries. This is an increase of 2.5% over the previous fiscal year. Thousands of students take advantage of the programs, services, and collections that our personnel manage and provide for research, learning, and classroom instruction.

Over the past 12 months, many times your specific work made a difference in the lives of our customers. Through using the University Libraries, our customers receive many benefits:
• Librarians and other specialists to help them with their research and papers
• Access to rich content for knowledge building and creation
• Physical and digital space for pursuing research and learning projects
• Computers, software, and other technology for their creative use
• Individual and collaborative spaces for group learning, study, and classroom enhancement

We are now in the first few weeks of the new fiscal year. Each of us is busy implementing various plans for excelling again during the academic year to further delight and serve our students and faculty through library and information services. Our objective is to increase the role of the Libraries in the academic life of Ball State University.

As Dean of University Libraries, each day I am grateful for the privilege to serve our students and faculty, and I hope you are, too. Our work — yours and mine — is an opportunity for us to be part of a great university like Ball State and to help others to pursue academic success and achieve their dreams.

As we move into the new fiscal year 2007-2008, I look forward to all of the spectacular happenings that are ahead as we develop and promote the University Libraries for the benefit of our students and faculty.

Health Psychology Outreach Team Comes to Bracken Library to Connect with Students

The Health Psychology Outreach Team of the Department of Counseling and Health Services set up a table at Bracken Library during a very important, yet stressful, time in the lives of Ball State students: the last two weeks of the academic year.

“We thought Bracken Library would be a convenient location to reach students because of the high foot traffic there,” said Lisa K. Thomason, Health Educator at Ball State University. “We wanted to help students study effectively for their final exams without sacrificing their physical, mental, or emotional health in the process.”

The topics were timely and relevant to students who were stressed and perhaps out of their normal routines prior to and during Finals Week. The team shared information on a few topics, such as:
· Time and stress management
· Improving sleep
· Coping with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
· Caffeine use

The objective of the outreach team was to provide support to students by providing them with information to plan adequate time to study, to identify strategies to make their study sessions more effective, and to emphasize the importance of sleep so students’ minds and bodies are well-rested for exams and their other daily activities.

The Health Psychology Outreach Team is supervised by Gina Zanardelli, Ellen Lucas, and Lisa Thomason of Counseling and Health Services. Team members — Kayte Kaminski, Eric Lester, Chip Link, and John Meteer — believe the University Libraries are a great partner in their outreach efforts, and the plan to set up in Bracken Library again in the future.

For more information, contact Susan G. Akers, Ball State University Libraries’ Marketing Communications Manager, SAkers@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5031.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(5): 8; May 2007.

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

Monday, April 16, 2007, was a day that was tragic, incomprehensible, and sad for America.

We cry and share the grief for the loss of so many innocent students and educators who were massacred and injured while pursuing their dreams for academic success and classroom excellence. This was truly senseless, something completely unthinkable that has touched and changed the lives of so many both at Virginia Tech and in academe. We express our deepest condolences and profound sympathy to all who mourn.

On Wednesday evening, Ball State students, faculty, and staff lined the sidewalk and grassy area near Bracken Library’s north door by the Frog Baby Fountain for a vigil to remember the massacred and the evil that happened at Virginia Tech. Victims’ names were read while about 200 students lit candles in their memory.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(4): 1; April 2007.

Bracken Library's Lobby Provides Space for Students, Organizations to Meet

Personnel from the Ball State University Career Center set up an outreach table to connect with students who were visiting Bracken Library from February 20 through 23, 2007. They met with 141 students to critique their resumes, and they discussed careers and tips for interviewing and job hunting with an additional 74 students. Bracken Library was chosen as the sole location for Resumania outreach this year due to its high volume of visitors.

“Bracken Library remains a great location for outreach activities such as Resumania,” said Dr. Joseph P. Goodwin, Ball State University Career Center. “Students expressed their appreciation for the convenience of having their resumes reviewed there. We continue to appreciate the library’s support of our efforts.”

Libraries reinforce the spirit of learning and support knowledge-interaction whether the resource is a book, a journal, audiovisual media, or a discussion with one's study group. More than 4,600 students visit Bracken Library at Ball State University daily, making it a favorable location for outreach efforts by campus service offices.

For information on reserving space at Bracken Library, contact Denise W. Kinney, Secretary to Library Assistant Deans, DKinney@bsu.edu, (765) 285-1307.

This article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(3): 7; March 2007.