Annual Report FY2008

Web Services

Connecting with Users

The office of the Web Services Librarian is directly behind the Reference Desk in the VC/UHV Library, and this past fiscal year the path from the office to the desk has become well-worn. This is fortunate, because the primary purpose of Web Services is to connect with library users –

• to provide content for and updates to web pages
• to input the electronic records that bring users material over the Internet
• to broadcast news about library materials and events
• to help strengthen the Library’s connection with the campus, at both the University of Houston-Victoria and Victoria College

The Library’s primary connection to users is its web pages. The return of the Media Center to the Library’s second floor prompted a radical re-design of the Center’s web pages. New mediagraphies have been placed on the pages. These subject-based lists of video recordings are generated from a database that is constantly updated to include new purchases and to reflect deletions of outdated material. Other new content on the pages is a monthly featured video, music CD and audio book. These featured media items have RSS feeds, so that users can subscribe and be notified when the content is updated.

Other pages on the Library’s website also contain RSS subscription capability. Those pages are the “What’s New,” “Library Study Guides and Tutorials,” and the list of “Audio Books on CD.” The list of “Audio Books on CD,” like the video recordings mediagraphies, comes from a constantly-updated database, and the user can generate the list sorted by the author’s last name or by the title – depending on preference.

Further access to media content was provided with a feature films on DVD page and a feature films on VHS page. All of the mediagraphies and list of media items link back to the Library’s catalog to show the item’s status. Status tells the user whether the material is checked in and waiting on the shelf.

Besides the Media Center, Web Services made connections and delivered web page content from the Weisiger Personal Notes files and the Teacher’s Daily Registers from 1888-1976 for the Victoria Regional History Center.

As well as the before-mentioned projects, Web Services has generated the following connections for users in the past fiscal year:

• 241 Ask a Librarian email questions answered – 38 of those came from EBSCOhost database links to Ask a Librarian
• 38 chat sessions participated in by various reference librarians
• The Library now has 66 friends on its Facebook page
• Library has 18 friends on its MySpace page
• The Library maintains a presence on UHV Connect and Flickr

An additional responsibility of Web Services is to provide cataloging for electronic materials and web resources, select for government documents and the Library's Literature Committee. In that capacity, the following activity is reported:

• 498 electronic records added to the catalog – these include electronic books, electronic reference resources, new databases, and web resources
• 1172 electronic documents selected to add to the library’s catalog
• Collection development selections for the Literature Committee

Submitted by Paula Packard, Web Services Librarian