The LRC FY2020 Factsheet is now available on our webpage.
FY2020 was marked by two significant, disruptive events: the LRC website outage and the global COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the FY2020 LRC Factsheet will deviate dramatically in format and substance from those delivered over the past decade. Whenever possible, this Factsheet will provide more granular data, showing the impact of these events on usage, in addition to an annual summation. Due to the nature of one of these events, the LRC has developed new reporting protocols mid-year as the library transitioned abruptly to a new service platform. As a result, readers should hesitate to draw direct comparisons between values reported in years prior to FY20 to those reported after.
First, the LRC experienced a catastrophic website security breach on 4 December, 2019. As a result, direct access to the LRC’s electronic resources were unavailable to off-campus users without a VPN until 17 April, 2020. It rapidly became clear that the LRC’s legacy website, “ER,” could not be patched to come into compliance with USU and DoD network security guidelines. Without a dedicated programmer, the LRC examined off-the-shelf tools for hosting the library’s web content. Three major components were identified in order to fully restore operations. The first, a content platform called LibGuides was already in use to host the library’s instruction and research guides. By supplementing the LRC’s existing LibGuide CM tool with a suite of related products produced by LibGuides’ producer, Springshare, the LRC was able to replace our scheduling, chat, and reference transaction tools. The other two tools however - a proxy server and a replacement for the library’s aging catalog - had to be vetted by the University’s IT team, then funded and acquired through a lengthy contracting process.
To minimize patron disruption using the tools on hand, on 13 December, the LRC launched a “Bridge” website using a collection of Google Suite tools that allowed the LRC’s staff to hand-process patron requests and deliver results generally through direct emails. The Bridge website allowed patrons to submit citations that were required. LRC staff would directly supply articles when licensed by the University, borrow them through interlibrary loan, or purchase them as needed. In addition, LRC staff worked closely with our largest vendors to find work-around solutions for LRC patrons to access content on dispersed publisher and vendor platforms.
While most LRC services were restored by the end of FY2020, a few systems remain offline in part or in whole. The Faculty Publications database could not be replicated by off the shelf services. Likewise, the LRC’s patron management system relies upon nightly manual updates and file transfers to compensate for automated systems that no longer operate.
The LRC’s main website was launched on the LibGuides platform on 17 April, 2020. Over the following weeks, the website resumed most patron-facing services. A complete conversion, mainly serving LRC staff for patron and content management will not be realized until FY2021.
The second major event was one shared globally. The Coronavirus epidemic closed the LRC’s physical doors from 1 April - 21 June. The LRC re-opened with a limited capacity of 50 users served by a skeletal staff. Seating was carefully measured and labeled, and reserved using an online reservation system provided by Springshare. On 13 July the LRC increased seating to 100 guests. Throughout, the LRC worked closely with USU’s Occupational Health & Safety team to ensure seating was sufficiently spaced, cleaning supplies were provided, and library rules conformed with safety guidelines. Through the conclusion of FY2020, most LRC services are delivered by a teleworking staff. These services include instruction, reference, online archives management, interlibrary loan, and most budgetary and administrative services.
In addition to launching a new website, the LRC also introduced other new services and products during FY2020. The LRC introduced a new wellness initiative, WELLrc, in partnership with the Office of Student Affairs. The WELLrc program hosted a variety of events in the LRC and also remotely once the pandemic began. These wellness events included meetings with military therapy dogs, demonstrations of hobbies such as soapmaking, beekeeping, paper marbling, book clubs, and children’s lunchtime story hours. The LRC’s Covidence class became a regularly scheduled, recurring event. Four study rooms were released to circulation. And the LRC introduced VisualDx, a clinical decision making tool; the BRS (Board Review Series) collection of ebooks; IMAIOS, an anatomy tool; and the Swank video streaming platform to support videos used in USU’s curriculum.
While FY20 can not be consistently compared to previous years due to disruptions in our underlaying software, there are a few trends in metrics that are telling, even with the understanding that collection methods are imperfect. The number of questions received electronically more than tripled. It's difficult to tease apart the causes of this, be they the shift of patron activities online, increased patron engagement with the LRC staff, or improved compliance in recording transactions enabled by the new LibAnswers system.
A few notable observations come from our ILL activities. First, the shift to an almost entirely remote work environment for our ILL team did not have a devastating impact on the delivery of ILLs to our lending partners. This suggests the LRC may be able to support majority tele-work work schedules for the majority of our ILL team after the pandemic ends. Second, the LRC did not experience a surge in the number of ILL requests from our patrons, as we had anticipated.
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