Collections for the Move to Online

The Collection Management Department in the SU Libraries handles acquiring, processing and making accessible books, journals, databases, films and other materials. It is a “behind-the-scenes" department whose work undergirds much of what the Libraries do.

Collection Management staff members – Martha Zimmerman, Bev Dennis, Nicole Kulp, Jennifer Martin, Cynthia Nyirenda and Audrey Schadt, with help from administrative assistant Cindy Causey – are playing a key role in facilitating the transition to online learning for SU’s faculty and students. Many of our collections already were electronic and accessible from anywhere, but we have quickly expanded our online resources. We have added 17 trial databases to give faculty more tools to use to craft online courses. Their content includes sociology, drama, business, psychology, health sciences, humanities and research methodology. These extra resources are being provided at no cost from our vendors to aid universities during this difficult period.

Faculty in many disciplines are making use of streaming video resources. Collection Management staff can request videos from two major suppliers: Kanopy and SWANK Motion Pictures. Videos from these sources are licensed appropriately for educational use. Requests for access are received and fulfilled daily, with a 24-hour turn-around time in most cases.

For the time being, we are not buying print books. We are buying e-books as faculty “discover” them on library platforms and request them through their librarian liaisons. While some e-books only allow a single user at a time to view them, many are licensed for unlimited users. Many publishers are making their single user e-books available to unlimited users at least until the end of the semester.

The SU Libraries have just purchased a new tool for faculty that is proving very useful in finding resources for online learning. Faculty Select is a portal that faculty can use to discover Open Educational Resources (OERs), that is, online textbooks that are available at no cost. These OERs can be incorporated into online teaching platforms and used by unlimited numbers of students at the same time. In addition, there is no cost to the student, e.g. no expensive textbook to purchase. As more and more publishers make OERs available, more content will be added to Faculty Select.

Library staff can review, request, implement and pay for the resources mentioned above while working from their homes, staying safe and supporting our university’s educational mission.