MIAMI DADE COLLEGE
NORTH CAMPUS LIBRARY NEWSLETTER
FALL 2006
USER SATISFACTION SURVEYS
The North Campus Library has continued to earn excellent marks in user satisfaction surveys. In the “Enrolled Student Evaluation of Miami Dade College Services” conducted in 2004-2005, for example, the North Campus Library was the highest-ranked of the services used by 50% or more of the North Campus respondents, with a satisfaction rating of 94.2%. College-wide, the MDC libraries, as a whole, were the top-rated service: 77.9% of the respondents had used an MDC library and 93.5% of the users were satisfied with the service received.
NEW LIBRARY DIRECTOR AND ASSISTANT LIBRARY DIRECTOR
Nancy Kalikow Maxwell is the new North Campus Library Director. She was the Assistant Library Director from 2001 until this summer, and her previous professional experience included being Director of the Barry University Library. Her book Sacred Stacks: The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship was published earlier this year by the American Library Association.
The position of Assistant Library Director is now occupied by Valda Adeyiga, who joined the North Campus Library in 2000 as a reference librarian. Prior to that, she served as Library Director at Trinity International University.
Dr. Celia Suarez, the former North Campus Library Director, retired last May after more than three decades of service to the Library and the College.
NORTH CAMPUS LIBRARY’S WEB PAGE
This past year the North Campus librarians re-designed the look of the North Campus Library’s home page, which can be reached at http://www.mdc.edu/north/library/. To make the page more user-friendly, the new design includes prominent and clearly labeled icons that link the page to important tools such as the catalog, the full-text databases, and the list of recommended websites. Further down there are also links to the Library Handbook, the Library Newsletter, a list of current periodical subscriptions, research guides, an information literacy tutorial, a description of the library course LIS 2004, etc. Information on the Library’s location, operating hours, services, and policies can also be found on the page.
FOUNDATION DIRECTORY DATABASE
The North Campus librarians now have access to The Foundation Directory Online Platinum. They have already assisted a number of North Campus administrators and faculty members looking for sources of funding for various academic projects. The Foundation Directory database offers over 78,000 funder profiles as well as information on approximately 500,000 grants.
HIALEAH CAMPUS LIBRARY
Miami Dade College’s Hialeah Center became a full-fledged Campus last year. The outreach library that the North Campus Library maintained there for nearly a decade is now a separate campus library. The Interim Director of the Hialeah Campus Library is Glendora Phipps, who started her career at Miami Dade College as a library school intern at the North Campus Library. The Hialeah Library has been undergoing renovations and will be expanding the size of its collection.
MDC LIBRARIES’ PORTAL
The central page of the MDC Libraries was created two years ago and has proven to be very popular and useful. It contains links to all the campus and center libraries and provides direct access to the catalog and databases. The URL is http://www.mdc.edu/libraries/. Another way to get to this portal is by clicking “Libraries” on the left-hand menu of the College’s home page.
LINCC SEARCH CATALOG
LINCC Search, the online catalog shared by Florida’s community colleges, has several new features. For example, locations and call numbers are now displayed on the initial list of results, and book cover images with links to tables of contents, summaries and annotations, reviews, and author notes have been added to many records. Additionally, keyword searching and advanced searching now have an “exact phrase” option.
ELECTRONIC DATABASES
There have also been some developments concerning the databases that are available through the North Campus Library’s Web page and the central page of the MDC Libraries. One of these developments is the addition of an instructional “tour” that explains the features that can be used when searching the databases. To reach this online tutorial, just click HELP on the menu of databases and then click “Take a Tour”. Another development is the list of database clusters that appears under “Multi-Database Search”. Users can select one of those subject clusters and simultaneously search all of the databases in that cluster.
FUNERAL SCIENCE RESOURCES
A special effort was made in 2005-2006 to increase the number of funeral science resources in the Library. The Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, the Handbook of Death and Dying, and the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying are some of the newer titles in the collection. The books are complemented by periodicals such as The American Cemetery, American Funeral Director, and Mortuary Management. Miami Dade College North Campus is the only public college in southeast United States offering a degree in mortuary science since 1964. It is also one of only 57 schools accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education, Inc.
LIBRARY STATISTICS
The following are North Campus Library statistics for the fall and spring semesters of the 2005-2006 academic year:
Questions answered at the Reference Desk: 19,603
Usage of public access computers: 43,459
Library orientation sessions taught: 129
Questions answered at the Public Service Desk: 6,206
Circulation transactions: 23,186
Inter-library and intra-campus loans: 1,013
Periodicals used: 4,254
Gate count: 342,782