Resource Sharing Committee: Summer 2014 Mtg--UALR

The Resource Sharing Committee has been busy since the spring ARKLink meeting. 

We have two new committee members, Whitney Hammes, from Harding, and Matt Simpson, from UALR. Whitney stepped in for Jean Waldrop, and Matt took Jeff Woodmansee's position on the committee. Both Whitney and Matt joined shortly after the spring ARKLink meeting. 

ALL of the ARKLink card policies, procedures, agreement, and fax verification documents have been updated and re-loaded to the ARKLink website. These documents, in pdf format, are there for your use. (Thank you to Beth Juhl for uploading everything for us, and thank you to Jason Phillips and his subcommittee members for working so hard on these document updates.) If you have questions, please feel free to ask any of Resource Sharing Committee members. We are more than happy to answer your questions, concerns, and be of service to you. Please make a note: if you need the ARKLink card template, any of our committee members can supply it you. We have not made it publicly accessible for security reasons, but it is only an email away.

At the spring meeting, during our committee's discussion of libguides' usage among academic libraries in Arkansas, there was a general consensus that we needed more information about how all of us are using libguides within our institutions--are we using libguides to teach, as ready reference, etc. Please be on the lookout for a "survey that we will be sending out to those libraries that use LibGuides by the start of the fall semester.  The purpose of the survey will be to obtain metrics on LibGuide use and to develop a general sense of how each library uses/approaches LibGuides.  The goal of this survey is to present a "Best Of..." or perhaps offer various models for other libraries to borrow from or emulate." (Jason Phillips, email, 21 July 2014)

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent "annual ARKLink card survey." We had a tremendous response, and we feel that your participation bodes well for the future of this annual survey. Matt Simpson will present the findings of this year's survey. 

Elizabeth DiPrince will talk about our committee's efforts to study and assess the effectiveness of the TAE Courier Service for ARKLink member libraries. 

The purchase of libguides for ARKLink has been made, and we now have operational libguides. To access, please visit arklinklibraries.org. This report is being delivered to you from the Resource Sharing Committee's guide. Committee chairs, if you have not set up your libguides accounts and/or need assistance, please let Crystal Long know. Her email address is clong@cbc.edu.

If anyone has suggestions or ideas for our committee to work on in the future, please let us know. Thank you!