Current Ames Library at Illinois Wesleyan University Strategic Plan  

Analysis and Marketing Recommendations by Alyson Krawczyk       

 About the Ames Library  The Ames Library is the academic library for Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.  The library first opened in 2002, situated at the edge of the two‐block campus.  The 5‐floor building is beautiful and impressive, built to match the older buildings on campus but with a modern element to the design, and is outfitted with state of the art facilities and technologies.  The Ames Library has 9 library faculty members and 15 staff members.  Their collection consists of 368,317 volumes and many computers for public use, as well as other technology for the students to use and check out.  Illinois Wesleyan University – Demographic Information  Illinois Wesleyan is an undergraduate liberal arts institution that was founded in 1850.  It’s campus contains 53 buildings over 80 acres in a residential area. It is situated in the Bloomington‐Normal community, which has a population of about 150,000, and is also home to Illinois State University.   Illinois Wesleyan has a current student population of about 2,500 students. Of the 587 first‐year students that enrolled in 2010, 75% were White, 6% were Hispanic/Latino, 5% were Asian, 5% were African‐American and 2% were from out of the country.  Of the US students that enrolled, 85% were from in‐state and 15% from out‐of‐state.  Demographic Research  The Ames Library has recently been a part of a study to determine how college students use the library. This was determined by studying the student research process through a project called the ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries) Project. This project was a collaboration between Illinois Wesleyan and 4 other Illinois University.  The project was described to me by Lynda Duke, the Academic Outreach Librarian at Ames Library. Through the data collected by the ERIAL Project, librarians found that the assumptions they were making about how students use the library were incorrect.  Before the ERIAL Project, marketing efforts were directed at instructing students on how to use the library. They focused on library hours, using the reference desk, and various tools. However, they found through the ERIAL Project that students did not understand why they would use the library or talk to a librarian.  This information has give academic librarians better understand of students needs and perceived needs. The Ames Library has completely adjusted their marketing strategies to comply with the findings of this study.   The 6 P’s of the Ames Library 

 Product  The library offers a comfortable and quiet atmosphere for students to study. It offers hours that accommodate for students different schedules and styles of study (7:45 am – 1:30 am on weekdays during the school year). It offers tools and technology for students to do their best work. It offers training sessions on how to use the library to its best. It offers reference and research help from student helpers, staff, and librarians. It offers librarian office hours for people seeking research help. It offers collaborative private work‐spaces equipped with tools for students to use. It offers meeting rooms and an auditorium for classes to use. It offers a virtual presence and library as well as databases and off‐site access.   Price The price of running Ames Library includes: the operating costs of the facility, employee costs, material costs (including online subscriptions).  Place The Ames Library calls their ground floor the Creative Commons which contains computer terminals and large open spaces filled with tables for meeting a studying. There are also private computer classrooms on the first floor. Throughout the rest of the 5 floors there are at least 3 or four tucked away study areas with tables and computer tables for students to use. There are private group study rooms on each floor.  There is a technology center and a historical documents center. There’s a business center on each floor for printing and assembling documents. There are librarian offices for students to visit and ask questions. The circulation and reference desks are both on the ground floor as well. The décor of the building is inviting and has a scholarly feel, using warm colors and incorporating the library logo where applicable.  There is also a white noise system throughout the library which keeps the ambient noise to a minimum.  Promotion While the library used to promote mainly through posters and give‐aways, it has shifted its focus to promote through partnerships and collaborations with university faculty, in order to bring whole classes of students into the library. This shift was a result of the findings from the ERIAL Project (described above in Demographic Research). For each area of study that the university offers, the library has a research librarian or specialist and the library puts that person’s name and contact information on the syllabus for classes in corresponding subject matter, as a resource.  The library has also begun to focus marketing efforts at parents of incoming freshman students. They’ve integrated a library introduction session into parent initiation day, which will let parents know to direct their children to the library when they need help. It is important to note that there is a budget line item for Marketing in the Ames Library’s budget.  Production 

The production of the library requires employee involvement and feedback (as well as help from work‐study student workers), the actual costs of running the library (mentioned above in “Price”), student feedback (in the form of utilization statistics and verbal and written feedback), and organization.  The library works closely with other university organizations and faculty and is an integrated part of university discussions and expectations.  Public Illinois Wesleyan University demographic information (see above).    Illinois Wesleyan University’s Mission Statement  Illinois Wesleyan University, an independent, residential, liberal arts university founded in 1850, strives to attain the ideal of a liberal education while providing unique opportunities with its distinctive curricula and programs.  Ames Library’s Mission, Vision (incorporating image goals) and Action Goals (Themes and Outcomes)  (Next three pages – Document retrieved from http://www.iwu.edu/library/information/Ames_Stragic_Bro.pdf)                      

 

 

The Ames Library provides a setting conducive to interaction, consultation,study and reflection and is dedicated to serving the scholarly needs of theIllinois Wesleyan University community. Library faculty and staff developand maintain collections that enhance the university curriculum and provideaccess to global information networks that assist research. They provideexpertise in the management of the creation, organization, and distributionof knowledge in a changing environment. Library faculty promote informa-tion literacy by teaching the use of the tools of scholarship. In keeping withthe mission of Illinois Wesleyan University, The Ames Library fosters inquiryand the pursuit of knowledge, intellectual and ethical integrity, excellence inteaching and learning, and respect for diverse points of view.

March 2004

As the intellectual heart of the campus, The Ames Library transforms indi-viduals in their quest for wisdom and knowledge and the Illinois WesleyanUniversity community in its pursuit of excellence.

• Students trust that their needs are the library's top priority.• Faculty eagerly seek the library as an ally in their teaching and research.• Individuals and groups investigating new ideas and researching new

fields turn to the library first for support, consultation and collaboration.• Members of the IWU community rely on the library and its staff as a key

resource for encouragement, innovation, and service in fulfilling thegoals and ideals of the highest quality liberal education.

• Graduates leave the university with the realization that the library wasindispensable to their academic accomplishments.

With our people, services, collections, and facilities, The Ames Library makesit easy for our users to navigate the research process and access the highestquality information resources. Motivated by our desire to understand, antici-pate, and fulfill the research and information needs of our community, wecontinually evolve in our efforts to meet those needs. Our passion and com-mitment for our work inspire a zeal for inquiry in others and is central to ourdrive to excel. We enthusiastically reach out beyond the walls of the library,initiating and joining cooperative endeavors with others and delivering ourservices to individuals where they work and live.

April 2004

 

Intensify efforts to realize diversity as an important principle in buildingour collections, creating and targeting services, and staff hiring.

• Connect with groups on campus representing diverse groups, assess-ing their academic needs and promoting the library

• Purchase materials in all formats to improve access to diverse perspectives• Purchase & implement adaptive technology for students with disabilities• Create a culture of exploration and learning about diversity in the library

Interweave information literacy into student learning and faculty development.• Collaborate with First Year Experience• Implement a research peer assistance program• Initiate a research triad program• Link services in order to assist students throughout the research and

creative process• University adopts information literacy as part of identity

Cultivate new relationships within the IWU community while continuingto expand and strengthen existing ones.

• Identify campus constituents and their research and information needs

Initiate and contribute to collaborative projects with faculty and IT tocreate seamless access to scholarly and university content.

• Work with campus groups to create and provide access to university-wide digital collections

• Serve as a Digital Institutional Repository for research projects• Explore new ways to partner with the Information Technology Depart-

ment to provide better service to our usersDeliver and distribute library services to where community members workand live, in new and innovative ways.

• Evaluate, envision, and enact changes to our reference services thattransform us to meet the needs of our audience

• Enhance the delivery,distribution,and routing of items to all constituents

 

We reflect on and share our individual and collaborative expertise andexperience, in order to ensure progression, enrich organizational knowl-edge, and strengthen community.

• Foster a sense of community among the library staff through sched-uled informal social interaction (or… “Getting to know you”)

• Develop a review plan for the improvement of library processes andservices (or… “Why we do what we do”)

We look beyond our own institution and profession, exploring otherorganizations and businesses for inspiration, solutions, and possibilities.

• Implement methods of pursuing cutting-edge ideas into our work habits We pursue and evaluate data, trends and other indicators that allow us topredict changing expectations.

• Establish criteria for the evaluation of data• Create a location for the data• Develop questions to ask ourselves as we look beyond our walls• Identify places to look for inspiration and ideas

We develop and invest in the fundamental resources of time, people, andtools to stimulate individual creativity and organizational innovation.

• Develop resources and a structure that provides a concise avenue forprofessional development within the library

• Develop and invest in a learning plan that will meet the needs of fac-ulty and staff ’s professional development

• Develop and implement a plan which enhances communication skillswithin the library

Empower staff to translate new information into immediate action.Evolve to match our users’ ever-changing reality.Invest in and develop a highly skilled and knowledgeable staff.Foster an environment in which creativity and risk-taking are valued andencouraged.Provide opportunities, resources, and a support structure to promote profes-sional growth, retention, and advancement, thus allowing Ames to take aleadership role on campus and beyond.

8/05

 SWOT Analysis of the Ames Library  Strengths 

• Campus institution • Prominent place on small campus (near to every building) • New building with state of the art facilities and technology • Small school – more personal setting, work closely with students and faculty • Small public – the community the library serves are all undergraduate students 

of a similar age • Involvement in ERIAL Project – insight into student behavior and literacy 

knowledge • Well‐staffed – student workers 

 Weaknesses 

• Not a recreational library at all – mainly for study • Relies on faculty and parent involvement to raise student awareness 

 Opportunities 

• All undergraduate student population – easier to market to • Small school – One of the most prominent buildings on a small campus • Tight knit community, owing to isolation and smallness – word of mouth 

probably very effective • ERIAL Project – opportunity to understand library users 

 Threats 

• How students use the library is changing due to the internet • Making assumptions about how students use the library • Incoming students have less knowledge of and are less prepared to learn about 

information literacy • Professors stop seeing the value in referring students to the library or refuse to 

collaborate for some reason  Analysis of the Ames Library Strategic Plan  The Ames Library strategic plan is a clear outline of the function of the library and how it relates to and upholds the goals of the university.  It also describes in detail how it enriches the university, not only in terms of helping students and faculty, but also bettering the institution through the expertise of the library.  

The mission statement uses a nice blend of ideals and strategies, to illustrate what it is the library does. The vision statement also incorporates the image goals of the library.  The Action goals, which are arranged as “Themes,” are formatted as proposed solutions to a question, relating to the vision.  The goals are reasonable and measurable, and each theme incorporates a method of evaluation.   Evaluation is where the Ames Library has really excelled. Incorporating it into each theme of their strategic plan.  Though the plan has not been updated since the dates presented on the plan (2004 and 2005), Lynda Duke did mention that it is in the process of being evaluated at this time. Also of extreme value to the evaluation process is the ERIAL Project that the library recently participated in.  This project helped the library to determine the needs of their users (the undergraduate students) and tailor their message to be received in the way they wanted it to.  According to Lynda Duke, their new marketing strategies of working closely with professors and parents have been yielding positive results with a greater utilization statistics, foot traffic and office visits to librarians.  Marketing Recommendations  Based on an analysis of the strategic plan, an interview with the Academic Outreach Librarian at Ames, Lynda Duke, a recent visit and my remembered experience as an Illinois Wesleyan University student, these are the marketing recommendations for Ames Library.  1. Run a promotion with area businesses  Illinois Wesleyan students are a studious and responsible population of young adults, and their library serves them in all the best ways possible as students.  However, the students do not use the library for anything other than studying and if the goal is to bring students into the library, my suggestion is to bring them in by running a promotion with popular area businesses. Illinois Wesleyan is an isolated campus without very much surrounding it in the way of entertainment. Students without cars do not have many options when it comes to finding fun off of campus.  Though it might be more in the realm of Student Services or the Office of Residential Life, students would definitely take advantage of an entertaining event held on the first floor or meeting room of the library, especially if it highlighted local businesses and goods in conjunction with a collection in the library.  Evaluation Evaluating the promotion with area businesses would require qualitative and quantitative data. The library could measure the foot traffic on that day and days following, as would the participating stores. It would also be important to gauge the general satisfaction of participants. 

 2. A program highlighting the Archives and Historical Collections to the History Department Students  As a history major I was unaware of the Archives and how to use them until my last year. It’s an experience I wish I had known about earlier.  Running a program highlighting the collection would provide history students with a physical learning experience and a direct way to relate to their line of study as well as the unique services the library offers.  Evaluation To measure the success of the Archives program, utilization statistics of that particular collection could be measured over a period of time.  Also a survey of exiting history majors of their experience with the archives collection in the library and how they used it.                   

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 Sources Used in Research  The Ames Library Strategic Plan http://www.iwu.edu/library/information/Ames_Stragic_Bro.pdf  Phone conversation with Lynda Duke, Academic Outreach Librarian, held on Wednesday June 22, 2011.  Illinois Wesleyan Factsheet http://www.iwu.edu/aboutiwu/facts.shtml  Illinois Wesleyan Admissions Factbook, First year characteristics http://www.iwu.edu/instres/factbook/fact10b/adm_1011b2.pdf