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| Illinois Fire Service Institute Library |
2009 no. 13
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| Library Profile |
| Library Name: Illinois Fire Service Institute Library Location: 11 Gerty Drive Champaign, IL 61820 Type: Special Mission: The IFSI Library provides fire and emergency library and information assistance to IFSI instructional staff, students, Illinois fire departments and firefighters, and other fire/emergency-related users in the success and effective performance of their jobs. Website: http://www.fsi.illinois.edu/content/library/ LTLS Directory Page: http://www.lincolntrail.info/qfn.html LTLS Member Since: 1998 |
An interview with Librarian, Lian Ruan.
| What is unique about your library?
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| There are only a few fire and emergency response libraries in the nation. The Illinois Fire Service Institute Library is very well known throughout the state and the nation. The patrons of the IFSI Library come from a very practical, subject oriented approach. |
| What are the primary goals and objectives of your library? |
| The Library’s main goal is to serve the primary patrons. In the state of IL there are 42,000 firefighters, 70% are volunteers. It is important for us to continually do training and outreach because the volunteer population is always changing. We also support officers’ training. The institute has 10 fulltime directors who request training information. The library supports and works with Homeland Security. Though we focus on firefighters, officers and emergency workers our doors are open to the public, students, professors, and high school students. |
| What cooperative efforts are you currently doing? |
| The library is a member of inFIRE (the international network for Fire Information and Research Exchange). inFire is a worldwide consortium of fire and emergency libraries. We are a member of LTLS, which allows us to connect to multi-type libraries including local public libraries and community college libraries. We participate in training, interlibrary loan, and receive community support through LTLS. As part of the University of Illinois we have access to their resources and share mutual benefits. Last, but not least, we work with fire departments all over the state. |
| Tell us a story about your library. |
| I once received a phone call from a student who was in a fire/emergency program at a community college. He was writing a term paper and had requested several articles. This was before PDFs and emailing so we printed the articles for him and mailed them to his house. He got an A on his paper and was so excited and grateful for the help that he sent me a check for $50. I definitely didn’t expect it, but what it showed me was that I was appreciated. Diane, the reference and training librarian, worked with an older man who came in to learn how to search online. It was a new resource that he really wanted to use, but didn’t have the technological knowledge. It was great to see someone embracing new technology and excited to learn. He was grateful and she was glad that she could help him learn how to find the information he wanted. |
| If money were no object, what services would you add? |
The library is moving into a new building next year. It was originally supposed to be 10,000 square feet, but has been cut back drastically. It would be nice to have the space back to allow our collection to all be in one place. It would be nice to hire more staff for the library. Another priority would be to do more outreach to fire stations and departments around the state. It would also be great to buy more DVDs and have multiple copies in our library. |
| What is popular in your library? |
| Videos and DVDs are very popular. Many instructors tell us that sometimes a video can make a point that their lecture can’t. The IFSI manuals are used as training materials for tests and are also requested often. |
| How does your library use online tools to connect to your users? |
| The library has a website which often helps people to find us. On our website users can access our online catalog, make a web request, and access e-resources. There is also a tool called FireTalk on the website. FireTalk is a search aid that displays the terms we use to describe all the Fire Science subjects in IFSI Library catalog and related databases. |
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Request a visit to your library If you would like to set up a special date for us to visit your library contact LTLS Consultant Michelle Ralston Library of the Week is published by Lincoln Trail Libraries System, 1704 W. Interstate Dr., Champaign, IL 61822 217-352-0047 - ltls@lincolntrail.info Executive Director: Jan Ison, Editorial and Design Team: Michelle Ralston and David Lottes |
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