Library A Week

Lake Land College Library

2011 no. 8

Library Profile

Library Name: Lake Land College Library         Location: 5001 Lake Land Bvld. Mattoon, IL 61938 Type: Academic Mission: Lake Land College creates and continuously improves an affordable, accessible, and effective learning environment for the lifelong educational needs of the diverse communities we serve. Website: http://www.lakeland.cc.il.us/library LTLS Directory Page: http://www.lincolntrail.info/zln Member Since: 1973 An interview with Scott Drone-Silvers.

What is unique about your library?

The library is housed in a round(ish) building in the center of the main cluster of campus buildings, and was originally designed as a student center with the library on the second floor. The current configuration has the library on the building’s main floor, with 5 entrances/exits.

What are the primary goals and objectives of your library?

Our primary goal is to support the curriculum of the College. With the growth of online classes and the increasing importance of distance learning opportunities, we are transforming our resources to make as many of them available online 24/7/365 as possible.

What cooperative efforts are you currently doing?

In addition to our membership in Lincoln Trail, we belong to NILRC (Network of Learning Resources in Illinois Community Colleges), CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois), and the ECIC (East Central Illinois Consortium, a group of health sciences libraries). These memberships allow us to expand our purchasing power, network with other similar institutions with similar interests, and to participate in larger projects and activities than our library would be able to pursue on its own.

Tell us a story about your library.

We work with a wide range of patrons, from new HS graduates to returning adult students who have not been in the classroom in a decade or more. It is a very interesting and satisfying experience to see how they interact with the library and its resources from the time they begin until they graduate and/or finish their education goals. It is always gratifying to have students who have transferred on to 4-year institutions with far larger research collections come back to see us and tell us how much they enjoyed using our library and its resources, or how using our resources helped give them a leg up on their work after transferring.

If money were no object, what services would you add?

I’d add a dedicated T-1 line to provide faster access to our resources and to begin to purchase streaming video for our collection that could be used by our students and faculty whenever and wherever. I’d also add about a dozen new online products that we can’t afford right now.

What is popular in your library?

Our online resources are the most heavily used segment of our collection. We have over 30 online databases that provide access to a large amount of Reference material, as well as over 25,000 full-text journal titles. Our media collection, especially our DVD collection, also gets fairly heavy use. We have a number of items that other libraries in the system don’t own, and so some of our titles very rarely see our shelves.

How does your library use online tools to connect to your users?

At this time, our web presence is our primary connection point. With the large amount of online resources we offer, this is especially true for our distance-learning students. We are looking at the possibilities offered by some social media services, as well as adding some support for mobile interface support from some of out vendors who are beginning to design interfaces especially for smartphones, Ipods, Ipads, etc.

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