This was presented by librarians from Berea College at the Kentucky Library Association's 2015 Joint Spring Conference @ Jenny Wiley State Resort Park. Presenters were: Sona Apbasova, Amanda Peach, Ed Poston, and Angel Rivera

1. Walking the Walk:
Creating a More Student-Centered Library
Sona Apbasova, Amanda Peach, Ed Poston, and Angel Rivera

2. • Last year we undertook a number of changes in
order to better serve our students
• Why?
• We already have 100% buy-in for freshman
composition students, but we wanted to move
from students being obligated to being here twice
a year to library being THE destination on campus
• Carpet meant to look like an EKG readout,
symbolizing that the library is the academic heart
of campus
• Our presentation today will look at specific
changes we implemented, what we learned from
those changes, and how our patrons responded to
them.

3. Library Redesign
4 years ago, Campus Administration planning dramatic
renovation of the library:
• Library would house the Office of Internships, Peer Tutoring, the
Writing Center, and the IS&S Helpdesk
• Greening of Library: new HVAC, new windows, etc.
• Serious consideration given to moving to shared service points

4. Preparing for Chaos
• Library would lose almost entire main floor
• Dramatic weeding project began – eventual goal 40% of collection
• Never weeded before, never needed to
• Removed: - 3,469 reference volumes
- 2,461 VHS titles
• Moved remaining reference collection down stairs - 7,798 volumes
• Condensed bound journals (selected 1,046 feet for removal)

5. Plans Change…
• Initial Call for Proposals Plans came back 12 million over budget
• Back to drawing board
• CTL found new home and then IS&S backed out
• Science Building was deemed more needy
• Renovation cancelled

6. The “Refresh”
• Director and Dean agreed – student
experience still a priority
• Library was dated and in need of a
“refresh”
• We would receive new furniture,
carpet, etc.

7. Lessons learned
• Should have paid someone to jack
the shelves when laying carpet
• Spent all of our $$ on beautifying
the place = couldn’t afford to pay
for movers
• Met faculty resistance when
weeding
• Surprisingly, more pushback over
VHS tapes than Reference books

8. “Refresh” Highlights…
• Moved to flexible space that could easily be reconfigured
• Divided the Main Floor into 3 Sections:
- Left: Large group study area/ presentation/ class space
- Middle: Educational Technology
- Right: Reference area/ small group & individual study
• Added stand-alone Graphic Novel collection & Zine Collection per student
requests
• Added vending machines and café seating – allowing SOME food & drink

9. Zine Collection
• Zines donated by former student
• Not catalogued because zines are
meant to be taken
• Collaboration between instruction
and a Graphic design course in which
students made new zines to be
added to the collection

10. Atrium Before…
• First thing you see when you enter building
• Prime real estate wasted on printers and dummy
OPAC terminals

11. Atrium After…

12. Cool place to hang out

13. Before…
• Wooden furniture too heavy to move

14. Atrium After…
• Added a high-tech Educational Technology Open Lab, replacing the
previously closed lab that only select were allowed to use
• High-end Macs and touch-screen PCs
• Expensive productivity and editing software.
• Staffed by students trained w/ the equipment DURING busy hours !!!

15. • Lots of whiteboards,
mobile and otherwise

16. Reference Before
• Heavy wooden tables that were too small for the
student’s stuff
• Chairs were breaking & being repaired constantly

17. Reference After
• Soft café seating
• Wired booths with high backs
for privacy

18. Reference Before…

19. Reference After…
Even more options…
• Small booths for 1, with privacy screens
• Large group tables with puck system for screen sharing

20. Periodicals After
Periodicals After…aka “The Cafeteria”
• Tables can be reconfigured into any shape or direction, or folded up and stored
• Space used for Fall Faculty Conference, Convocation overflow, for presentations by visiting
scholars and students, and for group study space

21. They like it!
10:30 am 2:30 pm 5:30 pm 8:30 pm 11:30 pm
Fall 2013 17 27 18 78 29
Fall 2014 20 35 35 112 34
Increase 17.6 % 29.6 % 92.3 % 44.0 % 16.4 %
Headcount Stats
First 5 weeks
2013 vs. 2014

22. Lessons Learned
• Students appreciate flexible spaces & group spaces
• Increased use of space = increased noise & complaints about noise
• Abuse of the “some foods” allowance. Chips are ok, but pizza is not
(and this distinction seem arbitrary to students)
• We, as library staff, need to have conversations about policies

23. Webpage Redesign
• In need of a new look to complement new main floor
• Built entirely in LibGuides so we would have control, not have to rely on
IS&S for updates/changes
• Added a search box after holding out forever
• Added Reference Consultation Scheduler
• http://libraryguides.berea.edu/

24. An improved website to match our improved physical space
Focus on high-yield
reference consults to
supplement the
mandatory one-shot

25. Student View

26. • Student in control & chooses time best for them
• Reduces the number of emails negotiating
meeting times

27. …My view…

28. Alerts you via email when appointments are scheduled

29. LibCalendar Stats
• 175 scheduled via LibCalendar
• 55 scheduled in-person or via email
• 230 total as of Thursday 4/23/2015
• That is a 105% increase over last
year’s numbers!!
• And still more scheduled for this
semester

30. Lessons Learned…
• Easy to become overwhelmed/
overscheduled; can’t say no
• Time spent preparing ahead is wasted if
student is a no-show
• No-shows are much rarer for those
appointments scheduled via LibCalendar
than those scheduled in-person or via
email
• Faculty made it a requirement of students
without checking with us first – suddenly
we were flooded!
• One more place to update when you’re out
of the office

31. Student Reference Consultant
• Pilot project began in Spring 2015
• Director had wanted to implement this for 5
years or more, but met resistance from former
library faculty
• Logistically impossible until LibCalendar
• Chose Sona because she’s a proven researcher
• Experience writing Bereapedia articles, winner
of KATH award for World History Research
paper

32. Benefit of Students
Providing Reference Consultations
• Less removed from the assignment,
having completed it herself recently
• Meet students on their own turf –
dorms, student union
• Less intimidating than meeting with
a librarian
• Availability outside of normal
library hours

33. Logistics
• Students scheduled appointments:
- through LibCalendar
- through email
- in-person in the dorm, in food service
• Using flexible schedule; some portion of weekly work hours are
scheduled off-the-desk, as needed, to accommodate appointments

34. Success !!
• Initial fears that no one would meet with a peer were unfounded
• 17 appointments scheduled via LibCalendar
• 9 appointments scheduled in-person
• 12% of all Reference Consultations conducted by Sona!

35. What Sona took away…
• Improve listening and problem
solving skills with each
consultation
• Pleasant memories of personal
and professional interaction
• Enjoyed helping students not to
panic/ share their research
project in a calm/not rushed
fashion

36. Lessons learned…
• Promote service on social media
(personal & library acct)
• 30 minutes is not really enough
• Some students want their work done
for them
• Became so invested in helping others
with their own research, neglected
her own

37. Thank you
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Questions?
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