bulletin - Business & Finance Division - Special Libraries Association

Fall 2003 • page 16
CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
FOR SERVICE:
The Kresge Business Administration Library
the Reference staff as a regular reference
question. A question that takes up to 20 hours
to answer is handled by our Faculty Research
Service. If a question looks like it will take over
20 hours, we suggest strategies and advise the
faculty member to get a research assistant.
Faculty now get more personalized service. This
repackaging of obvious library services also
makes our librarians and the skills they can
offer more visible to our community. It keeps
librarians in touch with faculty research projects
which assists us in collection development.
I paid a lot of money to attend Michigan.
Now that I’ve graduated why can’t I access the
same great resources that I could as a student?
The Michigan Business School places major
importance on life–long learning. Alumni
continue to have a strong relationship with
the school long after they graduate. The
school has turned to the library to assist with
the content of learning. Kresge assists in
this initiative by negotiating with vendors
for alumni access to subscription databases.
With our secure Oracle database we are able
to offer security measures that satisfy vendors
and remote access to satisfy alumni. We are
able to set the stage for other libraries’
contracts as we are often the first to request
such access. Alumni can reach these databases
and find other information on our
alumni services at http://eres.bus.umich.edu/
web/alumni2.html . We also use this security
to offer databases which may not otherwise
be accessible remotely to current faculty
and students.
These are some of the services we offer our
constituents that have made a real difference.
Before implementing new services we take a
holistic view of the school and its programs
to see how we can best assist. An example of
this was creating the position of Advanced
Technologies Librarian. This position allows
the library to truly offer one–stop shopping
for faculty’s teaching technology and course
material needs. This librarian frequently meets
with faculty and secretaries to discuss teaching
technology and can interweave library
resources and services into the conversation.
The pace of change at the business school is
rapid and there is often confusion about who to
ask for what. The Advanced Technologies
Librarian position lessens this confusion for
Business & Finance Division Bulletin • number 124
faculty by keeping abreast of all the technological
changes and possible political issues that occur
in any academic setting.
We can see that our strategies are working.
Recent surveys show us that our constituents
are happy and have given us new ideas to
continue to improve our services. Our resources
and services are being used more often and
people within the school are seeing the library
as a value–added resource to the Michigan
Business School. We are more visible as we break
away from traditional library services and offer
what our constituents really need. Most of all,
our staff are happy that they can make
a difference.