Student perspectives on the challenges of an online orientation at a large South African university during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in March 2020 gave rise to a number of challenges for first-year experience activities at universities globally. One of the key challenges was the process of onboarding first-year students through an orientation programme that could not take place face-to-face as per the norm. In 2021, the first-year orientation at a large South African university in this study moved to an online platform, becoming a week-long programme conducted on Microsoft Teams and comprising a variety of live and pre-recorded videos. The programme included seven core learning sessions designed to introduce the students to key services available at the university and to lay the foundation for student success. Using data from the university's 2021 Orientation Week (O-Week) Survey, this paper seeks to explore - from the perspective of the students - the core challenges associated with an online orientation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employs descriptive statistics to decipher the profile of the survey respondents as well as participants' experience of various learning sessions. A thematic approach was used to analyse the open-ended questions to provide the contextual perspectives on the challenges that students experienced with online orientation. The study identified five categories of challenges, which had a negative impact on their process of transitioning into the university environment. The study's findings will help universities to understand the drawbacks of online orientation as well as provide empirical guidance for them as to how they could leverage online orientation for student success in shaping the remote, blended, and hybrid learning discourse. The particular university under discussion subsequently used these findings as guidelines to conceptualise a new three-week blended orientation programme, Gateway to Success, which was introduced at the beginning of 2022.

Collaborative research services: a peer-led cohort approach

PurposePrior to 2020, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Library's research services spanned multiple service points. Multiple locations were staffed by Library Student Research Assistants (LSRAs) and each location was supervised independently. While efforts to increase collaboration had been underway, much of the work and services remained siloed and often duplicated training and service hours.Design/methodology/approachWith the onset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), UCLA Library rapidly transitioned from entirely in-person to entirely online services. With multiple service points pivoting, UCLA was redundant to have multiple online desks providing Zoom appointments and that quickly became apparent. Moreover, transitioning in-person student work to remote work was paramount to providing both normal services to users and allowing LSRAs to keep jobs during a time of uncertainty and insecurity.FindingsWhile the authors' original consolidation of services and implementation of shared supervision was a result of the pandemic and primarily involved online services, the authors have maintained this shared approach and collaborative vision in returning to in-person services. For the past year, the authors have offered shared in-person (at two library locations) and online services. As subject-specific library locations begin to reopen their desks, the authors continue to identify ways to leverage shared supervision and a robust referral model for those on-site services while negotiating student staffing and the need for both general and subject-specific services.Originality/valueThe authors present a novel approach to peer-to-peer teaching and learning and research services and shared student worker supervision with services coordinated across multiple locations and disciplines within a large academic library serving a large student population.

Science video usage in a pandemic

During the pandemic, instruction moved online, and physical formats of media were unable to be used. This presented the opportunity to undertake a quantitative study on the use of streaming videos, particularly in the sciences, at Colorado College. The authors used vendor statistics for the last 5 years (2016–2017 to 2020–2021) and reviewed the time period of March–February, which is what the authors refer to as the covid year. By 2021, streaming videos were being used 25 times more than in 2016, and science videos were being streamed 26 times as much.

Guest editorial: The peer-led library

In an autoethnographic-inspired approach to their Library Student Ambassador Program, Pham and Muralles explore in their case study "Reimagining Peer Support and Engagement,” the growth and development of their program at California State University, East Bay and share recommendations and reflections from their ambassadors. Scripa and Spencer discuss the challenges and successes the team at the Pellissippi State Community College Libraries have had in launching their Pellissippi Ambassadors for Library Success program in "Introducing peer-to-peer reference services in a community college library.” Peer learning as a high impact practice As I and the authors within this issue agree, peer-led programs demonstrate key connecting points to high impact teaching and learning practices, allow opportunities for student employees to engage in career and professional formation activity, enhance a library's ability to engage with and provide outreach to underserved or underrepresented communities and break down traditional power structures, or barriers, that can be created by our traditional service models. In their article, "Shifting to a High Impact Practice-centered Student worker staffed Research Desk: a Hispanic Serving Institution Perspective,” Elizabeth DeZouche and Denise Santos discuss how their changes to the traditional desk model not only provided student consultants with a meaningful role but also helped them bridge the gap to their campus's mostly Hispanic, first-generation population.

Shifting to a high impact practice-centered student worker staffed research desk: a Hispanic serving institution perspective

Purpose: The authors seek to demonstrate, from a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) perspective, the importance of utilizing High Impact Practices (HIPs) for not only more meaningful student employment initiatives, but to benefit the campus community and prepare Hispanic students for success post-graduation. Design/methodology/approach: Evaluation of current practices in academic libraries aided the design of the new staffing model, location and name. A survey of research desk student assistants was designed and implemented approximately one academic year after changes were executed. Survey data combined with follow-up interviews summarized the qualitative-focused assessment of the research desk's evolution and verified the validity of maintaining HIPs in libraries for Hispanic student success. Findings: The transition of the reference desk to a student-staffed research desk was successful in that librarians were able to dedicate more time to other endeavors, such as campus outreach and collection development. The High Impact Practice (HIP)-focused desk model, along with new, customized onboarding and training materials, fulfilled their goals of giving student assistants meaningful employment on campus while also bridging the gap between the library and the mostly Hispanic, first-generation student population. An assessment from the student assistants' point of view helped them further analyze the new research desk model. They found that student assistants noticed the ease with which their peers approached the desk and how their skills learned on the research desk transferred to their classes and future careers. Research limitations/implications: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restructuring of library personnel the authors were unable to implement library patron surveys to evaluate the new desk model. Originality/value: Many academic libraries and partners have made the transition to student-staffed help desks or offer peer-to-peer tutoring or mentoring services. HIPs positively impact marginalized student populations scholastically, but no current studies discuss the effect on the Hispanic student population from an HSI perspective. This study illuminates the wholistic influence HIPs have on Hispanic student assistants, not only their work and peers, but the affect on their academic and personal lives. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Time, Tasks, and Toll: Changes in Library Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article analyzes survey data from 900-plus U.S. respondents to identify and explain COVID-19 pandemic-induced changes in different work tasks for library workers. Results show negligible change in overall hours for academic library workers and an almost two-hour decrease in overall hours for public library workers. Analysis by task type shows decreased work hours for most tasks, although professional development and administration/management showed increased hours across library types. In contrast, qualitative responses reveal that workers feel they are working more hours because the pandemic has broken down boundaries between work and non-work tasks, surfacing ongoing issues of labor. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Library Administration is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Cultivating social well-being: (Re)discovering the impact of positive relationships

[...]the social dimension of well-being, which includes our experiences of positive relationships and positive interactions, is the strongest predictor of our overall perception of wellbeing (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Virtual collaborations have also added new opportunities for creativity and information sharing in that Zoom allows us to work with colleagues to add ideas to a shared whiteboard or to synchronously annotate a text, for example, during interactive workshops and breakout group sessions at online/hybrid conferences. Another example is one of the author's participation in a new collaborative project with a European research group on the representation of hunting in German literature and art. Other instructional practices we have implemented to foreground social connectedness and students' sense of belonging include frequent check-ins (Stanton et al., 2016;Simon Fraser University, 2023) with students, for example, by using memes such as "Welche Katze bist du heute?," explicit conversations about resources and sense of belonging (a module with local resources added to our Learning Management System [Canvas]), and more intentional focus on integrating students' lived experiences and self-reflections into assignments.

Special Libraries in the Time of COVID-19: A Time for Refining, Redefining and Rethinking Missions

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on all sectors of the world, one area where its impact provided the opportunity for reevaluation and change was in libraries, specifically special collections libraries. Faced with the closing of library buildings beginning in March 2020, special collections libraries faced the task of figuring out how to translate the materiality of their rare and unique materials in the virtual world. Defining and then moving essential operations into the virtual world proved to be a challenging but transforming opportunity. Recognizing that across the board different types of libraries struggled with their own challenges with shutting down;this chapter will not address those issues directly. Rather it will look at how one library's special collections held at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) in the Division of Distinctive Collections, responded to the opportunity for reevaluation and change when the COVID-19 pandemic closed its doors in March 2020. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Investigating Awareness and Usage of Electronic Information Resources by the Engineering Students of NMIMS (Deemed to be University), Mumbai

During Covid-19 restrictions, electronic information resources have become a prominent source in the library. Most of the university academic activities heavily depend on electronic resources because they are easy to share, refer and communicate to the audience. This study investigates the awareness and usage of electronic information resources subscribed to by the university library. The well-designed online questionnaire helps to collect data from Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Integrated engineering programs. A total of 232 filled questionnaires were received for the study. The data analysis shows that 91.38 % of the respondents know that electronic resources are available in the library, and the internet speed (56.90 %) is a significant hindrance in using resources. The detailed analysis of this study was discussed, and suggestions were also given to improve the awareness and usage of electronic information resources.

Status of Blended Library Services at the University of Baguio

Blended library services are reinforced by academic librarians to deal with the challenges that come from the changes caused by the pandemic. Transformation is reflected through information and communication technologies that are in constant development and available to users remotely. This study discusses the extent of usage and effectiveness of blended library services at the University of Baguio library by the students, faculty, nonteaching, and other library users. Blended library services covered online platforms, online resources, online circulation, online reference service, online information literacy (IL), and online want list form. This study used a descriptive research design to gather the information that will systematically describe the current status of the UB library online services. A survey questionnaire formatted in google form was employed to gather the needed information. The findings of the study reveal that the blended library services of the university have been utilized - much utilized by the users, specifically canvas LMS resources of online resources, online document delivery of online circulation and the library e-mail: library@e.ubaguio.edu of online reference service, other feature of blended library services have not been used to their full advantage. Furthermore, the blended library services are highly effective as assessed by the faculty, non-teaching staff, and other library users. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the Library strongly endorses additional databases and integration of these databases, library guides, and library services in the canvas LMS;regular posting of the blended services in the UB library social media account and platform for easier accessibility on the part library users;lastly, re-evaluate the way the development, manage and deliver marketing strategies of the blended services.

The Value of Belonging: A Comparison of Professional Organizations' Membership Benefits

The abundance of library associations provides many choices to academic librarians about where and how to belong. This exploratory article identifies and compares benefits of library professional organizations through content analysis of the groups' websites. Examination of the benefits described on the websites of 76 organizations indicates that they have a high degree of overlap. Many benefits are also achievable by participating in other external professional activities. While data were collected just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, thematic analysis of these benefits provides a framework for comparing the value of participation in formal and informal professional communities.

When the Big Deal Gets Smaller: Use of ScienceDirect after Cancellations

This study investigates how article downloads from ScienceDirect changed after Temple University Libraries downsized its all-inclusive Elsevier big deal bundle to a selective custom package. After the libraries lost current-year access to nearly half of Elsevier's active journals, the total downloads from Elsevier journals declined by 16.2 percent over three years. Combined use of still-subscribed and open access journals fell 10.6 percent in the same three years, suggesting that the drop in total use is due not only to the loss of journals but also to factors that would affect the remaining journals, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and a slight decrease in enrollment. Patrons may have substituted articles from still-subscribed and open access journals for those that were canceled, though the data are not conclusive. Reliance on open access appears to have increased.

Future Proofing Streaming Video Acquisitions: A Medium Sized Academic Library Adapts

The pedagogical appeal of using film in higher education, while not new, has undeniably grown since the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated remote teaching for health and safety reasons. This dramatic rise in streaming video requests is challenging for academic libraries of all sizes. Yet, smaller- and medium-sized institutions have personnel who already juggle multiple roles and responsibilities, resulting in chaos and the need for new workflows. This article will reflect on the past 24 months of managing streaming video at the University of San Diego's Copley Library, comparing the remote instruction period to the hybrid teaching that followed.

Introduction

[...]shifting ideologies surrounding "the family” inform and carry implications for economic, political, cultural, and social practices and activities. [...]of this dominance and influence of the family, this special issue centers on family-focused library and information science (LIS) research and is borne from conversations and reflections posed at a 2019 iConference Session for Interaction and Engagement of the same name. [...]in "Students and Parents: How Academic Libraries Serve a Growing Population,” Marta Bladek employs multiple sources of data to draw attention to the challenges and barriers postsecondary students who are also parents must contend with as they attempt to access academic library services and supports. [...]the articles in this issue also highlight the diverse areas within LIS that may be enriched by a consideration of the family context, including the study of information practices (Han;McKenzie;Ortiz-Myers and Costello), archival practices and personal information management (Krtalić, Dinneen, Liew, and Goulding), consumer health information (Charbonneau and Akers), reader response theory (Velez), early literacy (Prendergast and Sharkey), and library service provision (Bladek).

Academic libraries' social media posts related to disabilities: A review of libraries' tweets in terms of their content and accessibility

Many academic libraries have active social media accounts, using them to promote content and provide timely information to their users. Social media can, however, present both potential opportunities and challenges for users with disabilities, both in terms of learning about a library's offerings, and being able to successfully access the full content of these posts. As such, this study focused on identifying and analyzing Twitter posts from academic libraries pertaining to disabilities over a five-year period (2017–2021). This analysis looked at basic descriptive information about these tweets as a whole, as well as more detailed examination of their content, including text, images, and accessibility considerations. Within the identified set of tweets, we found a wide variety of content promoted by libraries, and a seemingly strong impact of the pandemic on the tweets' contents. In terms of accessibility, we found a notable increase in use of alt text over the five-year period, but also important omissions within the provided alt text, and also areas for additional investigation in terms of language and images used in these posts. This work reveals insights into academic libraries' use of social media, and considerations for how academic libraries can approach social media posts moving forward, particularly for content pertaining to disabilities. • 982 tweets located pertaining to disabilities from academic libraries for 2017–21 • Tweets included a wide variety of content, with a notable impact by the pandemic. • Usage of alt text increased over time, but still sometimes omitted important details. • Additional research needed to learn about end-user preferences for this content [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Academic Librarianship is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Postgraduate Students' Utilization of Web-based Library and Information Services during Covid-19 Pandemic

This study examined the status and factors of postgraduate students' utilization of Web-based library and information services on output and outcome dimensions. During COVID-19, an online survey was conducted using stratified sampling, collecting 527 respondents from 20 Malaysian public universities. Library technology, support, and environment were the factors affecting WBLIS utilization. Each factor scored highly on usefulness, research support, and virtual space dimensions. Electronic databases were utilized heavily, and digital reference services were used the least. Most respondents' results, research skills and strategies improved with WBLIS utilization. Overall, the paper presents the descriptive findings to benefit academic libraries and universities.

Transforming Collection Development through Three Rounds of Emergency Funding

This case study reports on critical aspects of utilizing over one million dollars in emergency funding during a two-year library closure. It also discusses the impact of federal emergency funding on the operations of an academic library during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for including financial priorities in disaster preparedness plans. Little research exists regarding libraries' response to emergency funding. One of the advantages of examining the impact of the pandemic on library responses is the ability to create a plan for future disasters and emergency funding for collection development.

Bulletin Report – GIS Days 2022 The culmination of 3 years of virtual, collaborative, GIS Days

GIS Day was a small, local offering dependent on individual institutions, until the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a wealth of online events. After 3 years of successive development, 2022 saw this event span multiple days and reach beyond Western University to institutions across Canada. The planning process, events, and outcome are here described as inspiration for future events by interested parties, and to acknowledge the work of those involved while simultaneously promoting the current work in GIS being undertaken and potential future directions for event organizers. © 2023 Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives. All rights reserved.

Operation management of academic libraries in Hong Kong under COVID-19

PurposeThis research studies the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operation management of Hong Kong academic libraries for understanding the difficulties and challenges for librarians to adapt to the special arrangements during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachQualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with librarians in major universities and higher education institutions of Hong Kong. Participants were interviewed either in the face-to-face format or text-based format.FindingsParticipants provided a broad scope about the actual library management and operation changes during the COVID-19. According to the respondents, the most challenging problem for librarians during COVID-19 was to strike a balance between concerns of library staff and users. While they described how these arrangements and changes affected the service quality of academic libraries from different perspectives, the pandemic situation also brought some opportunities, such as pushing the digitalization of all collections and using online resources for future development. A hybrid model for library service would be more common in the future with more demands toward online resources and digital collection, in which academic libraries should be prepared after the pandemic.Originality/valueThis paper provided broad insights into library management and the future development of academic libraries for the post-COVID-19 period. There are scant studies of this topic, especially in an Asian metropolis context with dense population, small campus and limited library physical spaces.

Resilience, retention, and return of staff: the case of Stellenbosch University Library

This chapter reflects on some of the strategies used by the Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service to successfully navigate major issues regarding staff retention, the resilience, and return to work of staff, and how the lessons learned can be applied going into the future. Although circumstances differ by country and context, the authors are of the view that the practice at Stellenbosch University can serve as an important benchmark for academic libraries dealing with crises in the future. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.