Delivering Library Services with Vubis Smart in Educational Environments
For institutions of higher education information management requires a different focus; unlike public libraries, academic and college libraries must accommodate specific needs of students, who need easy and quick access to a wide array of specialized information resources. At the same time, library staff must have the tools at hand to organize information and manage workflows in the most convenient and efficient manner.
Developed in partnership with two European universities, Vubis Smart - Infor's integrated library system - provides libraries in educational environments with extensive functions that address both staff workflow and student requirements. Through a rich search environment, digital repository support and integration with Virtual Leaning Environments (VLEs), academic libraries offer their users seamless access to information regardless of format or source. Moreover, robust reporting facilities enable libraries to gain essential insight into trends and deliver improved services to users.
An example of a Vubis Smart implementation in an academic environment is Croydon College Library in the UK. Croydon College, located in Greater London, UK, has approximately 25,000 students. The student body ranges from 14-16 year olds, who come to the college to study vocational courses that their schools cannot offer, through general 16-19 "Further" education students, to those studying on Degree and Post-Graduate courses.The college library is tasked with ensuring delivery of a high quality, and personalized, service to this diverse range of learners.
An important aspect of the Vubis Smart implementation at Croydon College is the ability to improve student
services through an in-depth understanding of usage trends. Says Thomas Butler, Library Operations Manager at Croydon College Library: "In addition to the scalable nature of Vubis Smart, the system has also provided us significant reporting capabilities. One of the strongest features of the Vubis Smart system is the integrated reporting module called SSP. The ability to build custom reports that can take data from any part of the system has enabled us to produce, quickly and easily, detailed statistics that previously wouldn't have been available. We can now produce quarterly audits of our holdings, which have proved to be useful not only with auditors but also with inspectors from the various funding bodies. The system can automate the reports to run overnight and consequently when I log onto my PC in the morning I have a full report on the previous day's transactions, number of loans, number of reservations, online transactions, times of transactions etc. This has enabled us to demonstrate continued and significant improvements to the service."
Information discovery is, of course, another critical component of an academic implementation. In November 2006, INHOLLAND, a leading institution of higher education in the Netherlands, went live with Vubis Smart. INHOLLAND was founded in 2001, following a merger between various schools. The current organization offers classes in numerous locations, including Alkmaar, Delft, Den Haag, Amsterdam/Diemen, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Hoofddorp/Oegstgeest, Utrecht and Zaanstad. Each location, with the exception of Utrecht, has its own library. All libraries were ultimately integrated in one Vubis Smart catalog, which includes 150,000 titles and 180,000 items. With the Vubis Smart Web OPAC at INHOLLAND, students and faculty can now search the catalogs of all participating libraries at once. Users can also place reservations, renew loans and requests books from the various INHOLLAND locations.
From a staff workflow perspective, the details often matter most. Says Thomas Butler, Library Operations Manager at Croydon College Library: "One of the most useful functions is the ability to change user in the middle of a transaction. A number of the higher level functions on the system are not available to staff working on the issue desk, and at times it is necessary for a senior member of staff to step in to be able to complete a transaction, or to authorize an exception on the account. For that person to be able to log straight in without having to backtrack out of an account, log in and then get back into the account is critical. In addition, the ability to assign access rights on a person by person basis has ensured full accountability of team members' actions ensuring that mistakes aren't made by someone accessing a part of the system they shouldn't be."
The ability to cultivate usage data, improve staff workflow and specifically address student needs, are fundamental components of a Vubis Smart implementation in academic libraries. Through a process of ongoing development and user input at our partner libraries, Vubis Smart remains a distinctively powerful application for educational institutions. To learn more, visit www.vubis-smart.com or contact us at: info@vubis-smart.com
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