Author Archives: Nancy Turner

Steering Straight: Continuous Improvement and the SSTs

It’s been almost four years since we established the first Strategic Steering Teams at Temple University Libraries/Press. Those first two groups, Research Data Services and Scholarly Communication, are now part of a group of six including: Outreach and Communications, Learning … Continue reading

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The Future on Pause: Reflections on the “How We’re Working at Charles” Project

Last week the Assessment Community of Practice gathered virtually to hear more about the Envisioning our Future project. The session was hosted by research team members Karen Kohn, Rebecca Lloyd, Caitlin Shanley, and myself.  The project was conducted as part … Continue reading

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What Counts as Reference?

Last month I completed six years of service on the editorial board of ACRL’s Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey. Our meetings involved much discussion on how best to provide clear instructions to survey participants, debates over wording of trends … Continue reading

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Supporting Online Learning and Research: Assessing our Virtual Reference Activities

Today’s post is contributed by Olivia Given Castello, Tom Ipri, Kristina De Voe and Jackie Sipes. Thank you! The sudden move to all-online learning at Temple University presented a unique challenge to the Libraries and provided a great opportunity to … Continue reading

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We All Make Mistakes

Last week I learned a lesson about making mistakes, and it was both humbling and helpful. Just one day before the deadline for locking the University’s numbers into the IPEDS system (Statistics for the U.S. Dept of Education) for FY18-19, … Continue reading

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Using Social Media to Engage Library Users

Today’s very special post is authored by Kaitlyn Semborski and Geneva Heffernan, from Library Outreach and Communications at Temple Libraries.  At Temple Libraries, we use social media to build and maintain relationships with library stakeholders. Daily, our Instagram, Twitter, and … Continue reading

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A New Day for Assessment Practice?

It is difficult to believe that in early March we convened the Assessment Community of Practice, joining Margery Sly and Matt Shoemaker to talk about changing needs for assessment measures as we develop new library services. The new Charles Library … Continue reading

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When a Marker is More than a Marker 

User experience is all around us. In libraries, we often think the assessment of user experience relates to web interfaces, or building way finding and navigation. We might, ask, “Is the language that we use on the website clear to … Continue reading

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Are There Any Meetings on Library Assessment?

Assessment is a growing topic of interest at American Library Association meetings and last weekend I had the privilege of participating in several meetings to discuss trends and challenges.  Look at How Far We’ve Come: Successes Assessment practice is evolving … Continue reading

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We Don’t Want to Work with Mummies

At Charles Library we are experiencing a more open office environment. I saw an  extreme version at the Penn Museum this weekend ; the conservator’s workspace is actually in the gallery, on view several hours a day. But the office … Continue reading

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