Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    Nudging the envelope : the hard road to mainstreaming UCD Library e-book provision
    Results of a local survey in late 2008 show that e-books have not yet reached a tipping point at University College Dublin (UCD) Library, with only about a quarter of those surveyed saying that they have used any. There is therefore everything to play for in this developing area. We describe briefly the stages of e-book development at UCD Library, and then focus upon the main themes that have emerged and our experience in each case. These themes are: collection development and acquisition; resource discovery; statistics and promotion; then future challenges and plans. There is discussion of the real challenges that we have seen over the three years that we have had a specific focus on e-books, in terms of the inter-team nature of the enterprise, the rapid transition to new working methods, and the threat presented to future e-book developments by the current financial situation.
    Scopus© Citations 7  665
  • Publication
    Snakes or Ladders? Evaluating a LibGuides pilot at University College Dublin Library
    Online subject guides are commonly used by libraries to provide information support to students. LibGuides (a cloud-based commercial product launched in 2007) represent one of the latest incarnations of the traditional subject guide or portal, and are widely used across American academic libraries. In Ireland however, library subject guides of entirely local design and hosted on a local web server still dominate. This paper outlines the project management process involved in implementing a LibGuides pilot at University College Dublin Library, including the planning, design and implementation of a new range of subject-related guides. The pilot nature of the project necessitated a strong focus on evaluation, particularly in assessing the effectiveness and suitability of LibGuides as a platform for delivering information literacy support, both from an administrative and end-user perspective. A two-stranded approach was used in this review process, incorporating quantitative web statistics and analytics alongside qualitative feedback from students, academic staff and Library staff.  Feedback that was gathered suggested that the LibGuides subject guides were generally viewed very positively by both staff and students. Notwithstanding this, awareness (as indicated through usage statistics) remained moderate during the pilot, pointing to the importance of the visibility, positioning and promotion of guides. 
    Scopus© Citations 26  704
  • Publication
    Delivering a structured pre-course intern programme at University College Dublin Library
    (Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), 2016) ;
    This article outlines a structured six week interns' programme to provide work experience for those going on to courses in the School of Information and Communication Studies at UCD, or the relevant courses at Dublin Business School. The history of the programme, its re-launch, the content and our experiences in running it are briefly outlined.
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