FY 19-20
- Our evening librarian, Nick Perilli, resigned his evening part time position to begin his career at the Ginsburg Library. We were sorry to lose him, but pleased we had "trained" him to move on in our own TULUP system! The full-time staff volunteered to change their schedules, and each staff member worked one evening to maintain the same level of service our patrons expected at our combined desk after he left In an effort to be part of the team preparing for the move of physical items to Charles, I assisted in different areas: the barcoding project, resolution of duplicate copies, disposition of uncataloged items in my subject area, and any other help access services or cataloging might need
- Packed up the areas that Andrea and I used at Paley, for the move of desk and workstations to Charles After speaking to Dave Lacy we received various technical upgrades at Ambler due to the move from Paley to Charles, and the fact that there would be no desktop computing at Charles was a perfect time to gain some technology
- Roamed Paley Library for furniture and other items needed at Ambler to replace old or mismatched furniture and asked that they be transferred to Ambler. Oversaw the removal of the old furniture and the placement of the new. We also needed major electrical work for this change to happen in the library proper. I worked with the head of facilities and the electrician to change the electrical setup for our computer tables.
- Worked with Charles LTS to update, troubleshoot and determine the options for older equipment and disposition through the CRC. During the Grand Opening of Charles on 9/19/19, the Ambler Library staffed a table highlighting the Ambler Library and the work we do. The theme of our table was "Green Roofs". We had an actual sample of a green roof, constructed by our Ambler colleague Ben Snyder, Manager of Greenhouse Education and Research Complex, with all the the different layers labeled and explaining their use on and for a green roof. Of course, we had a selection of books on green roofs (one of our popular "Pop Up Libraries"), articles written by a number of our professors, and our highlight: a set of VR goggles with the 360 degree version of the first green roof at Temple University, the green roof on our athletic building.
- Emergency work on numerous monographs removed from the general stacks due to roof and pipe leaks in several areas of the library. Most of the items had to be withdrawn, but some were rebound and others needed to have replacement copies purchased. These items were also handled in Alma by Ambler staff. Unfortunately, these deleterious leaks happened more than once, and numerous materials were lost by the Ambler Library, and much work was needed to handle the withdrawals, the Alma work, any rebinding and repurchasing. The Ambler Library is to receive a new roof sometime this summer, but I have been told it's been delayed due to COVID.
- Prepared "pop up libraries" for numerous activities on campus including the Science of Scary, the grand opening of the Hydroponics Laboratory, the live streaming of "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss in our greenhouse, and a bibliography for our "Earthfest presents newsletter". The challenge of a print collection is always space (unless you have a BookBot of course), and we were reaching some pretty tight areas within our library.
- The biggest accomplishment at the Ambler Library and for the Ambler patrons was the reconfiguration of collections in our space. As our serials space was becoming more open due to electronic titles, other areas were becoming tighter in our location. The fact that all the shelving in the library except the "Current Periodicals" shelving, is on moveable tracks 20 years old, limits us in certain ways as far as relocating materials and reshelving. Our in-house innovator, Darryl Sanford, came up with an idea that made perfect sense, eased our situation, fostered change in the library proper and opened up our minds to new ideas. Since current periodicals and newspapers needed to be "correct sized", and our Instructional Materials Center (IMC) needed to be enlarged and more easily accessible, Darryl presented the idea of moving into the library a waist high double sided shelving unit we had received from the Paley to Charles move, and making that the newspaper collection. The space that housed the newspapers would now house the current periodicals. And, now the IMC was housed on what had been the current periodicals shelves. Winner! Reshuffling ensued, and that area of the library is now switched and rotated and better than ever. Everything has appropriate space and there is room for the IMC to grow. The Leisure Reading Collection sits in front of the IMC, so it is a great place to browse (or will be) and find something that the patron might never have found before!
FY18-19
Our year began in late August with the sudden resignation due to health problems of our 15 year veteran Don Baldino, the Ambler part time evening librarian, leaving a void for our evening patrons
• As usual the Ambler team pulled together and immediately volunteered to work an evening shift so that our patrons would not be disrupted in their research or studies
o Every staff member worked one evening a week with the exception of our early morning person who opens the library
o Outcome was a success for our patrons, but the difficulty came with other scheduling for our staff with committee and other responsibilities due to a short staffing situation. Use of WebEx, Hangouts and Zoom helped with these situations, but there is a definite communication difference in attending meetings long distance and in person
o Our student assistants also rose to the occasion and were very responsible about getting replacements for their shifts when the need occurred
• After revising the job description, Andrea and I comprised the search committee for our new evening librarian and had a number of viable candidates o We were able to keep the number of candidates to nine and we conducted 6 telephone interviews o Two candidates were brought in for in person interviews, and we had one interview via Google hangouts o Our semester long search resulted in the successful hire of Nick Perilli, who joined our team on January 8, 2019. The week of January 14, when the spring semester began he shadowed us in the evening, and began working “alone” on the 22nd. o He immediately made a difference in our social media outreach, and received positive comments from both the libraries and the campus for these communications o He also has provided some interesting and thought provoking exhibits in our display cases. His impact has brought a new vibrancy to the library and the campus
• Major departmental and space moves happened on the campus bringing the administrative and student facing offices to this end of campus o This move brought the library any number of “gift” books as people emptied their offices and areas in their spaces, which we have waiting to process
o More importantly this easier access to the library has brought new activity and partnerships with us.
o We have prepared many more “pop up” libraries this year due to the activity of the Arboretum, the campus, the Hydroponics Lab and student life
• Our activity in Lab 1, now pretty much known as the Conference room has gained popularity and we now have to schedule the usage of that room, whether it’s for a meeting, for single study or group study. Groups that have scheduled that room include Ambler Program Board, Student Government, faculty meeting with research partners and students, the Society for Human Resource Management, Lifelong Learning, the Vice Provost for University College, and others. In between there are also slots for patron use and study groups. Student use is always given priority .
o With the physical office moves on campus completed, other venues for group meetings were created, so there will be an impact on the usage of our space • Major partnership with the Director of Academic Advising who has held all the student orientation sessions within the library itself. The furniture is moved to accommodate 4 simultaneous sessions and the students move to a different session every 15 minutes (the students have responded positively to this active approach).
o Everyone then moves to Lab 2 and students watch and learn how to find registration and student information and registration procedures • New Assistant Director for Student and Campus Life used library space for the Campus Coffee mornings, a Pizza and Puzzle lunch activity where the students worked on a jigsaw puzzle in our “Creativity Corner”, and a pop up Quizzo event
• Initiated two new Alma locations for Ambler in order that we have a higher success rate in finding materials more quickly. We have had the two physical locations of new books and leisure reading, but had no Alma location so these materials just read stacks. It would be up to the staff member to remember to check these locations, but with the addition of the Alma locations we know where they should be. New workflows and processes resulted from these changes
• Prepared documentation for the Master’s Degree Program in Ecological Restoration re-accreditation in Landscape Architecture. Met individually and with other campus support staff with the accreditation team. The program was successfully re-accredited
• Fox School of Business opened a location of the Small Business Development Center in the Library Building. One staff member is here daily, another staff office is available when a second staff member is here and there will be a Collaboration Space and an Incubator Space in the building. Their choice of this building allowed the library to negotiate for some small updates and upgrades and I was able to make some small positive changes for the entry space
• With the closing of Paley Library, I inquired if it was possible to move some of the furniture and equipment that was not being sent to Charles, to Ambler. This would continue to improve the physical space at the Ambler Library, especially with the small improvements made by the addition of the SBDC. These changes would result in creating a new atmosphere and environment for our patrons. I was able to make this happen and with the assistance of numerous staff at Paley, much equipment and furniture has been delivered and placed at Ambler. Some equipment is still waiting for installation, but we are confident that will happen
• As usual, Ambler Library worked in concert with the two instructors for the Design/Build class that designs, builds, and presents the Temple Ambler entry for the Philadelphia Flower Show to find and prepare resource material for them to develop the theme, concept and title for the show: this year it was “Hip Haven: Hangin’ Loose at a Home Refuge” to fit in with the overall show theme, “Flower Power”. We then began gathering material for the students as they began looking for images and ideas for all the separate pieces they would use as they put together their first concept and then build on that as a base and refine their particular areas of the exhibit. This exhibit put together by only a small number of students garnered 5 major awards at the show.
FY 17-18
Staff technology knowledge improvement and workflow changes with implementation of Confluence
- chosen by Jasmine Clark, Resident Librarian, during her rotation at the Ambler Library as a new tool for better control of staff procedures and policies
- buy in from all staff as a more useful means to provide each other with written procedures to ensure patron satisfaction. With a small staff we had already trained at least one other staff member to serve as a "fill in" when needed, but we had no written procedures to serve as a resource for our cross training so that patron services would not suffer
- successful training and staff authorship of sections has improved efficiency and collaboration among the staff
Successful transition to ALMA as our library automation provider and Primo as our Discovery tool
- Ambler staff served as members on a number of migration groups and committees
- Ambler staff attended training and watched (and re-watched) tutorial videos and assisted in testing various components of the system
- Ambler staff provided feedback on Primo as we tested different search strategies and results to prepare for assisting patrons with both searching and using the request capability
Continued collaboration with Professors leading the Design/Build Studio which results in the award winning exhibit prepared for the Philadelphia Flower Show
- began first by providing materials for the instructors who are planning the the title and breadth of the content emerging from the show theme determined by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, this year being "The Wonder of Water"
- true to our history and concept of providing an educational experience the instructors developed the exhibit subject as: “Within Reach: Unlocking the Legacy of our Hidden River". In it the history of the Schuylkill River, the changing of tides on a river, and the effect of the river on the surrounding environment and economy was showcased.
- the students were regular patrons of the library as they worked on their piece of the overall exhibit, utilizing materials and resources from all different subjects in the library: searching for information on wall construction, tidal changes, building of water wheels with a motor on a small scale, lighting, pathway construction, appropriate native species plantings, depiction of debris from flooding and other areas used in the exhibit
- as usual, Library staff volunteered to work the Flower Show floor and to serve as ambassadors for the program, the campus and the university Ambler Library continued its programming with our Financial Literacy Program
- presented by a staff member for the bursar's office downtown and a representative of Ambler's Student Financial Services
Initiated partnership with the recently hired Director of the Arboretum at Ambler Campus
- she eagerly joined the staff and immediately began new programming and with the assistance of a few Ambler staff members used our long standing EarthFest celebration as a branding element to provide new efforts for an environmental learning opportunity year round
- one of the first attempts was a successful "Ambler Arboretum BioBlitz". BioBlitz was introduced by the National Park Service as a way to study the biodiversity of a specific and defined area
- to support this effort which included students, staff, scientists, community members and other interested people the library provided resources to aid in the identification, description and field guides to use as the participants filled in their Species Recording Sheet to begin collecting their findings
- data was recorded at this first attempt to study a 25 acre area on campus and 236 unique species were observed, tallied and listed by the participants.
- 120 observers were on campus of which 81 were from the Temple Community, and 39 from other neighboring areas
Invited to participate in a special May Day event presented on the same day as the Temple University Board of Trustees and the University President were on campus for their regular May Board of Trustees Meeting
- a few Campus units were invited to prepare an "exhibit" of interesting efforts, materials, student interest engagement, new technology and any results from classroom use of technologies or research - the Library provided an exhibit of "A Celebration of Spring" showcasing the May Day events popular and important to the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women, spring activity in the life of a plant and its surrounding environment, and spring flowers and their resulting use in arrangements and floral displays
Collection Development efforts at Ambler
- due to the programs offered on campus, the purchases we made provide resources for all topics within Landscape Architecture and Horticulture - these areas include a wider base of titles that might not be considered "scholarly" in the research definition of the word, but are definitely appropriate for our patrons: i.e., titles concerning building outdoor furniture and gardens, flower arranging, homesteading, horticultural therapy, etc.
- purchasing titles to satisfy needs in the community development area and also pursuing titles in areas like food deserts, food insecurity, housing and designing for the elderly, transportation concerns and parking, etc. - enlarging our collections for children and young adults, building from the material that had been in our Instructional Materials Collection. We have made a special effort to support classroom and learning opportunities for nature studies and stories - the ability to access these materials on-site has contributed to fulfilling the needs of the students and provided for their academic success as they author papers, prepare projects, build exhibits and prepare 3D fly overs for their senior design studios