In this new ‘back to school’ feature article Ben Jacobs, Infobase’s Director of Licensing and Business Development, sets out some highly practical and effective methods for how teachers and librarians can increase the usage of their online resources. In doing so he explores the developing conventions of the technology-driven educational landscape in schools, colleges and in public libraries.
Why usage matters.
In the past, your students knew your library was available to them when the lights were on and a staff member was at the desk—conversely, administrators and parents knew it was being used when students were at the shelves or books were being checked out. Today, recorded searches and hits are a valuable metric of usage and proves that the resources you have selected and presented a valuable part of your institutions infrastructure. If you’ve fully educated your students and faculty on the resources you have at hand, the usage statistics can help better inform your selection process when judging how you allocate your digital budget.
It’s not about alphabetising.
When posting your online resources to your library web page, don’t leave it to the alphabet!
- List your resources under the category, or categories, students and researchers are most likely to search under!
- Listing broader resources under multiple categories will bring them to the widest possible audience.
Promote content, not databases.
Emphasize to your patrons the content in your databases, rather than their titles! List coverage subjects in your lib guides rather than resource names:
Literary Criticism – Bloom’s Literature online
European History from 1500 – Modern World History Online
Asian History from 1500 – Modern World History Online
Science Experiments – Science Online
Teach your teachers. Show the parents.
- Use in-service days to present to teachers. Show how the resources apply to real-world projects.
- In Universities, offer special training sessions for Teaching Assistants to learn the resources. They’ll often be putting together courses for the professors.
- In Public Libraries, promote ”homework help” resources to parents as well as students. They are the ones most likely to remember that these are available the night before student projects are due.
Easy sign-in and easy sign-up.
- Be sure your IP address(s) and any proxy url are properly registered with the resource provider to avoid frustrating users who may be unable to login on the first try.
- If using a username and password, try to be consistent across your resources and use a password that is easy for your patrons to remember.
- If the resource allows individual user registration, see if you can upload a spreadsheet of your faculty and distribute the logins to the faculty. They are more likely to make use of them if it is all done for them.
- Many resources send out monthly email of new content additions—these are a great way of reminding faculty of new content which may be useful to them.
Get social!
- Bookmarks, posters, flyers are great but digital resources are a natural fit for social marketing. Use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to reach students and faculty on mediums they may frequently use.
- Encourage students and faculty to follow the library on Facebook and post search tips relevant to new and upcoming projects.
- Tag content updates to popular hashtags to aid in discovery— such as tagging a Learn360 nutrition content update to #healthyeating to remind patrons of resources that can answer everyday questions.
Get your teachers invested.
- Encourage departments and staff to voice their opinions on trials and new resources.
- Forward relevant information on new content and features to instructors who can make use of it.
- Print out database update emails and post in faculty lounges or send to specific teachers and/or departments.
- Offer training sessions to Teaching Assistants early in the semester—they’re often the best promoters of digital resources.
Make the right connections …
- Take advantage of any federated search or discovery connections your resources may have to ensure that users can find the right content regardless of where they are searching.
- Enable any LTI(Learning Technology Inter-operability) for any resources that may be compatible with your school’s Learning Management systems. This will allow your faculty to easily plug content into their online courses and syllabi.
Keep your catalog current
- Import Marc Records from Vendors whenever possible so your catalog reflects your digital holdings.
- Check links whenever you renew(if not more frequently)to ensure web addresses and authentication are current. Users who are turned away don’t always notify the library of bad links.
Stay on Top of your User Statistics
- Check usage statistics monthly– If possible, sign up to have these sent to you automatically. You’ll see patterns of usage and opportunities to increase as the year progresses!
- If usage statistics are low, dig a little to find out why– A sudden drop in usage may indicate your authentication has changed and IP’s need to be updated, or that links have become out-of-date.
- Consistently low usage may indicate teachers and staff are unaware, or no longer aware, of the online resources your library has available.
