Limestone College’s AJ Eastwood Library in Gaffney, SC, has been a Films On Demand subscriber since February 2011. We talked to Christine McSwain and Janet S. Ward, MLIS, of AJ Eastwood Library to find out how they utilize usage boosters, social media, custom content, and more to encourage usage and connect with patrons, students, and 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 create various levels of tutorials to help our patrons embrace the latest technology so that all users will have a pleasant experience utilizing our online resources and more.
How do you alert faculty to the new resources your library acquires?
We send all faculty and staff new Films On Demand titles and links using our website, email, and social media networks.
How do you make sure students and faculty with disabilities or language barriers can easily access your library’s resources?
To assist users who are visually disabled, we provide oversized monitors and assist these patrons by enlarging text and full-screen capabilities.
Tell us how you are making the most out of your library budget in these uncertain economic times.
Our latest cost-saving project was to turn our reference shelving into a new laptop bar. We also want to make sure we provide our patrons with the latest visual media, keeping costs to a minimum.
What role does social media play in your relationship with your patrons?
Eastwood Library at Limestone College uses social media to connect with students in a way that likens the library to a friend rather than just a place to study. Social media allows us to appear alongside a student’s friends and family on a newsfeed, and we use that place to post visually engaging content that students will want to interact with, just as they interact with their friends and family online. Using social media lets Eastwood Library loosen up the stiff old stereotype of an academic library and to show that we exist even after the schoolwork is done. We’re absolutely here to give students the necessities to succeed academically, but we also provide ways for students to unwind after working hard on their studies. Social media is an excellent way for us to be associated with the things students use to wind down and to show students that the library is their friend.
What do you think is the library’s most important responsibility at your institution?
The most important responsibility we have is providing the same quality of resources to not only our traditional day students but also our distance education students, who are located all over the world.
Tell us about your favorite YouTube video/LibGuide, etc., your library has created to promote a resource.
Our favorite LibGuide is our Student Success @ Limestone College guide that provides direction to resources, important campus events, and easing the transition to campus for students new to our campus. This unique guide uses the latest technology (Films On Demand widgets and embedded videos) and can be used in the mobile learning environment to enable students in improving their academic skills and ability to successfully navigate many resources, whether on or off campus. As an extremely useful tool, every department on our campus can have a learning space within the success guide. From our experience in creating the Student Success @ Limestone College LibGuide, we have also found it to be a recruitment and retention method to maintain quality and imperative information to ensure our students succeed.
About Films On Demand:
Films On Demand is widely regarded as a frontrunner in the educational streaming video field. Its extensive amount of video content in a wide array of subjects comes from more than 800 of the best producers around the world.
