At Boise State University, Michelle Armstrong, Scholarly Communications and Data Management Librarian, is using the new SelectedWorks to engage faculty through their concern about their online presence. This is turning out to be a strategic and successful way to learn more about their work and to see how the library can serve their publication needs—which underpins the University’s larger mission to support faculty. Library management of faculty profiles demonstrates one of the range of expert services available to faculty through the library.
The Boise State Strategic Plan for 2016 includes fostering faculty development and recruiting high quality staff. Michelle’s strategic use of scholarly profiles fits the bill perfectly. Michelle explains her overall philosophy about SelectedWorks and engaging faculty, which underscores the importance of library services:
“We are part adviser, part concierge, and part press agent. We have to make them look good, we have to save their time, and we have to fulfill our mission as librarians. This means we’ll do the work for them, taking into consideration their personal and professional needs while using our information expertise to get great metadata and content.”
How do they structure their workflow? “It’s challenging to get a professor’s attention,” Michelle cautions, “so timing is important.” The library receives names and CVs of new faculty from the Provost’s Office, and Library Assistant Kimberly Holling creates SelectedWorks pages for them in time for the New Faculty Orientation in mid-August. During the orientation, Michelle gives a brief presentation about the IR and announces that the library has started SelectedWorks pages for them. She follows up in the next day or two with a direct link to their page and to the new faculty gallery.
Michelle explains that the university used to create a printed booklet with every new faculty member’s photo and bio, which is now replaced with SelectedWorks profiles, saving time and money. The Provost’s office supported this move, which is now a standard part of welcoming new faculty. Michelle reports that “we have built updating the SelectedWorks sites into our workflow, so having all faculty in the SelectedWorks system works really well for us in the long run.”
The library is also using the new SelectedWorks to introduce faculty to Boise State’s IR, ScholarWorks, and by extension the support services the library can provide. Michelle says she is looking forward to being able to showcase non-textual faculty work which allows her to support faculty of all disciplines who use all types of content. Check out her compelling webinar on the new SelectedWorks “Librarian as Advisor, Concierge, Press Agent: A Case Study on Faculty Profile Services” on March 3rd.
