AdventHealth University in Orlando, FL, is a Films On Demand subscriber. We recently talked with Becky Fisher—collection, liaison, and instruction librarian at AHU’s R. A. Williams Library—about how her library handles technophobes and encourages usage among researchers.
Tell us one way you’re helping users who may be hesitant to embrace technology to take advantage of your library’s online resources.
We try to engage our hesitant users by reaching out in many ways. We start right away in orientations. Librarians do instructions in class, in workshops, and by appointment one-on-one. We also try to make ourselves available for walk-in users, keeping an open-door policy. Our strategy is to be available and develop relationships with our students so that they will be comfortable asking questions.
What is your favorite part of being a librarian?
AdventHealth University is a health sciences institution. So, it is appropriate for me to say that my favorite part of being a librarian is being able to act as a “ligament.” As a ligament connects two bones, I get to connect students, faculty, and staff with the resources they need. I also bring together people who are working on similar projects, which may go beyond traditional academics to committees also, and foster the sharing of information. My “ligament” relational role is my favorite part of being a librarian.
What do you think is the library’s most important responsibility at your institution?
In the R. A. Williams Library, we strive to have excellent resources to foster our student’s professional and spiritual development. Our most important responsibility is to support the mission of our institution with excellence in resources and instruction.
What have you done that has most impacted usage at your college?
Developing relationships with our academic departments through our library liaison program has impacted usage of our online resources. When professors are the ones recommending resources, students use them.
How do you alert faculty to the new resources your library acquires?
We have a marketing team that creates artful emails highlighting new resources for general education and for our individual health sciences programs. This team also creates videos to promote new resources.
Advice:
Relationships are key. Knowing what our faculty teach, and when they teach it, helps us to find the resources that will facilitate their teaching “on demand.” Just the other day, I was showing a nursing faculty member the Films On Demand Nursing Video Collection. After a little searching, we found “just what she needed” to illustrate her lesson on antepartum care. Staying connected is also key!
