I would like to welcome everyone to a brand-new year and the Spring 2021 semester! Every spring semester, pandemic or not, the Library is busy gathering and reporting data, which makes it a perfect time for reflection. The Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) portion of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) are both due in the first quarter of the calendar year. In addition, various reports documenting library progress are often due this time of year and our campus assessment report has just been submitted in the fall. With so much information gathered and documented, the Library has been working to share this information more broadly with our constituencies, through efforts that include a new Library Facts web page. In that same vein, I would like to share with you some of the more interesting data points from this past year. In Fiscal Year 2019-20, Bell Library…
- Added over 80,000 e-books to our collection, through ProQuest University Press (~30,600 e-books) and O’Reilly Higher Education (~49,500 e-books), in support of remote learning.
- Saw a 2020 calendar year spike in e-books acquired through Demand-Driven Acquisitions (DDA), a purchasing model whereby thousands of books are added to our holdings but only purchased if they are actually used. Not surprisingly, the spike coincided with the pandemic and a move to increased online learning.
- Added 130 new accessions to our Special Collections from generous donors around the campus and the Coastal Bend.
- Processed 53 unique collections, equaling 237 linear feet of archival material.
- Added 1,203 digital objects to the TAMU-CC Institutional Repository from our unique Special Collections, along with another 119 digital objects related to faculty and student publications.
- Loaned 3,822 items to other libraries.
- Borrowed 2,066 items from other libraries.
- Circulated 11,138 physical books, down from 17,240 in the prior year due to the pandemic and remote learning.
- Facilitated offsetting $27,000 in APCs (article processing charges) to fund 15 articles from 55 TAMU-CC faculty, staff, and graduate students publishing in open access journals.
- Administered 265 videos in Mediasite for 39 faculty, allowing students access to course required media without physical constraints.
- Answered 1,2045 research reference questions and provided another 83 in-depth research consultations.
- Saw a 78% decrease in in-person AskUs questions but a 78% increase in e-mail AskUs questions, no doubt due to the pandemic.
- Taught a total of 273 library instruction sessions, an increase of 14 over the prior year, despite the pandemic.
- Reached a total of 8,424 students through library instruction in AY20, a whooping 2,458 more students than in AY19.
- Created 21 new digital learning objects, primarily video tutorials, to assist with remote learning and a temporary campus closure.
- Hosted 17 events and scheduled 20 art exhibits, some of which were unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic.
- Created over 1,500 social media posts (on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), earning 18,300 likes and 225,000+ engagements.
- Added 45 new videos to our YouTube channel, bring a 92.3% increase in views and a watch time increase of 94%.
As you can see, we had a very busy 2019-2020, and a good bit of our work was influenced by the pandemic and remote learning priorities. I couldn’t be prouder of the Bell Library Team for their strong response and unwavering commitment to our students. Bell Library will always be here for you, whether in-person or online, and hopefully both!
