A Celebration of Us!: A Telling of a Libraries’ Value During COVID-19 Through Stories and Data
Presented by
- Deborah Tenofsky (University of Cincinnati)
- Ted Baldwin (University of Cincinnati)
- Catie Carlson (University of Cincinnati)
- Katie Foran-Mulcahy (University of Cincinnati)
Description
The university libraries accomplished many new and innovative services and projects through the pandemic with an extremely limited staff and decreasing budgets. Think about what the libraries could do if more investments were made to advance our excellent services, resources, and personnel. This past year and a half have been like no other, and the large, urban library went above and beyond to serve the its community during this time. A library COVID Data Group was charged to gather data regarding services that demonstrated its value to the university’s mission. The timeframe for the data was March 13, 2020 to April 2021. The Group emailed key staff to gather quantitative data and sent out a survey to all staff to collect qualitative data. The Group analyzed that data and wrote a report. The report included data and stories that celebrated all of the new services and hard work that the staff performed over the time of the pandemic. in the areas of student/faculty success, teaching/learning, innovative solutions, online collections, and scholarly content. The findings proved to be an excellent marketing tool and benefitted the library by enabling the Deans and librarians to engage high-level audiences in meaningful conversations.
About
Deborah Tenofsky is the Head of the Research, Teaching, and Services Department and the Accessibility Librarian at the University of Cincinnati Libraries. Her research interests include management, leadership, student success, and public services. She has an MILS from the University of Michigan.
Ted Baldwin is Director of the Science and Engineering Libraries at the University of Cincinnati. He is liaison librarian for chemistry, biology and engineering (chemical, biomedical, environmental) and manages operations for three STEM library locations. He has an MLS from Indiana University.
Catie Carlson is an Associate Librarian at the University of Cincinnati. She has a MLIS from Kent State University and an MEd from Tiffin University. Currently, she is a PhD student at Kansas State University in Adult Learning & Leadership.
Katie Foran-Mulcahy Head of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Library at the University of Cincinnati, where she also serves as Education Librarian. Her interests include instruction, children’s literature, and user-centered facilities planning. She has an MSLS from the University of Kentucky.
