We presented a session at ER&L Conference 2024 with University of Phoenix, Springshare and Sage Campus on how academic libraries can ensure that students receive the correct guidance at the point of need. As technology continues to advance, AI is making its way into various aspects of our lives, including Higher Education, with students navigating Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT themselves.
The University of Phoenix shared their experience of combining Lean Library‘s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support and guidance on AI directly into patron workflows.
Read on to discover 8 insights about how libraries can provide students with the AI guidance they need:
A study from University of Northampton regarding an AI Special Interest Group found that students have ethical concerns regarding the use of Generative AI and are worried about implications relating to bias and accuracy. Most notably, they felt like they didn’t have the skills to use AI effectively for their studies. Talia from Springshare explained that when students need ‘live’ help with AI, they don’t want to chat with AI – they want to talk to a person! This positions the library in a unique spot where they can come in and provide contextual point of need help in the form of LibGuides, LibChat and Sage Campus.
This research is from our latest Librarian Futures report, The Librarian Skills Landscape, which consists of global perspectives from over 2,000 academic library professionals regarding the emerging skills required to fulfil a library’s mission. This shows that librarians have an important role to play in expansion of their own knowledge of AI in academia, and ensuring students are aware of the challenges, risks and concerns around AI. How do librarians increase their knowledge of AI?
PJ Purchase at University of Phoenix emphasized establishing a cross-functional team with key stakeholders was key in setting up an AI Hub as there were varying degrees of knowledge within the library. The AI Hub is an open center which enables any member of staff within the university to up-skill. There’s training materials, documents and articles from top industry leaders which enables staff to learn more about Generative AI. Additionally, University of Phoenix decided they were going to embrace Generative AI for themselves and their students, and they needed to decide some parameters around how they thought it was going to be used.
PJ Purchase explained University of Phoenix library is collating these content pieces in phases. Phase one involved writing the guidance materials, whereas phase two is to create a Learning Center through which to teach the ethical use of AI. The Learning Centre focuses on learning objectives which are woven into coursework, for example, to measure AI skills or on-demand training for upskilling. This training could lead to badging opportunities in the future. What tools can libraries use to surface their guidance in patron workflows?
Research from student data within our first Librarian Futures report (2021) found that 59% students would prefer to hear from the library via their homepage, and 55% said only where and when they need it. This raises questions as to what extent the library homepage is an efficient channel when most students begin their research outside of the library on sites such as Google and Google Scholar.
The phrase “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t really work in libraries with students not easily discovering library guidance at the point of need. How can librarians make sure they meet students where they are in their workflow? University of Phoenix utilize their library tools to combine Lean Library’s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support directly into patron workflows. This means when students are searching for research on the web, the Lean Library browser extension will lead students back to content, such as LibGuides, within the library’s collection with one click. Another use for this integration could be that when a student lands on Open.ai or ChatGPT, they’ll see a LibGuide from their library with tips for using ChatGPT ethically and generating the best research outcomes.
Springshare’s LibChat integration enables librarians to create their own chatbot “flows” to guide end-users towards the answers and resources they’re looking for, before they talk to a librarian, prompting students to choose the type of help they’re looking for.
The newly launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration surfaces their new short online course, The Art of ChatGPT Interactions, to students and researchers when they are in locations within the OpenAI.com domain. The course was designed by AI expert Dr Leo. S Lo, Dean of the College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico. This means students can learn about using AI effectively, improve their prompt engineering and achieve outcomes for their studies and research, without their workflow being interrupted.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning the different ways that university libraries can use tools to help students navigate the ‘academic wilderness’. If you’d like to find out more about the recently launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration, catch up on the webinar recording below:
Want to see Lean Library in action? Request a demo now!
We presented a session at ER&L Conference 2024 with University of Phoenix, Springshare and Sage Campus on how academic libraries can ensure that students receive the correct guidance at the point of need. As technology continues to advance, AI is making its way into various aspects of our lives, including Higher Education, with students navigating Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT themselves.
The University of Phoenix shared their experience of combining Lean Library‘s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support and guidance on AI directly into patron workflows.
Read on to discover 8 insights about how libraries can provide students with the AI guidance they need:
A study from University of Northampton regarding an AI Special Interest Group found that students have ethical concerns regarding the use of Generative AI and are worried about implications relating to bias and accuracy. Most notably, they felt like they didn’t have the skills to use AI effectively for their studies. Talia from Springshare explained that when students need ‘live’ help with AI, they don’t want to chat with AI – they want to talk to a person! This positions the library in a unique spot where they can come in and provide contextual point of need help in the form of LibGuides, LibChat and Sage Campus.
This research is from our latest Librarian Futures report, The Librarian Skills Landscape, which consists of global perspectives from over 2,000 academic library professionals regarding the emerging skills required to fulfil a library’s mission. This shows that librarians have an important role to play in expansion of their own knowledge of AI in academia, and ensuring students are aware of the challenges, risks and concerns around AI. How do librarians increase their knowledge of AI?
PJ Purchase at University of Phoenix emphasized establishing a cross-functional team with key stakeholders was key in setting up an AI Hub as there were varying degrees of knowledge within the library. The AI Hub is an open center which enables any member of staff within the university to up-skill. There’s training materials, documents and articles from top industry leaders which enables staff to learn more about Generative AI. Additionally, University of Phoenix decided they were going to embrace Generative AI for themselves and their students, and they needed to decide some parameters around how they thought it was going to be used.
PJ Purchase explained University of Phoenix library is collating these content pieces in phases. Phase one involved writing the guidance materials, whereas phase two is to create a Learning Center through which to teach the ethical use of AI. The Learning Centre focuses on learning objectives which are woven into coursework, for example, to measure AI skills or on-demand training for upskilling. This training could lead to badging opportunities in the future. What tools can libraries use to surface their guidance in patron workflows?
Research from student data within our first Librarian Futures report (2021) found that 59% students would prefer to hear from the library via their homepage, and 55% said only where and when they need it. This raises questions as to what extent the library homepage is an efficient channel when most students begin their research outside of the library on sites such as Google and Google Scholar.
The phrase “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t really work in libraries with students not easily discovering library guidance at the point of need. How can librarians make sure they meet students where they are in their workflow? University of Phoenix utilize their library tools to combine Lean Library’s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support directly into patron workflows. This means when students are searching for research on the web, the Lean Library browser extension will lead students back to content, such as LibGuides, within the library’s collection with one click. Another use for this integration could be that when a student lands on Open.ai or ChatGPT, they’ll see a LibGuide from their library with tips for using ChatGPT ethically and generating the best research outcomes.
Springshare’s LibChat integration enables librarians to create their own chatbot “flows” to guide end-users towards the answers and resources they’re looking for, before they talk to a librarian, prompting students to choose the type of help they’re looking for.
The newly launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration surfaces their new short online course, The Art of ChatGPT Interactions, to students and researchers when they are in locations within the OpenAI.com domain. The course was designed by AI expert Dr Leo. S Lo, Dean of the College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico. This means students can learn about using AI effectively, improve their prompt engineering and achieve outcomes for their studies and research, without their workflow being interrupted.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning the different ways that university libraries can use tools to help students navigate the ‘academic wilderness’. If you’d like to find out more about the recently launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration, catch up on the webinar recording below:
Want to see Lean Library in action? Request a demo now!
Lean Library Cite initially launched in February and has now been updated with improved functionality and new capabilities, which helps streamline your patron’s citation process further. Cite enables students and researchers to easily generate and copy references of articles they access online, via the Lean Library browser extension, to use for writing or with their reference manager of choice – whether Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, Sciwheel or more.
Lean Library puts your library on your patrons’ shoulders via an easy-to-use extension on their browser. It simplifies online access to library content and open access alternatives and embeds library collections and services into the patrons’ workflow – whether they start on Google Scholar, PubMed, or beyond.
This new feature builds upon the existing product loved by librarians and their patrons worldwide, now guiding students and researchers from the discovery stage of their workflow to the citation stage ready for authoring their work.
Lean Library Cite simplifies the citation process by generating accurate citations for journal articles and eBooks that patrons are reading, from within the Lean Library pop-up. Patrons can now effortlessly obtain and copy citations for materials as they read with an easy “Get Citation” button.
Once clicked, the citation will be copied to their clipboard, allowing your patrons to easily paste it when writing or into their reference manager of choice.
Cite also allows libraries to select the library’s preferred citation style, which will then prominently appear at the top of the citation style drop-down menu for patrons. This feature enables librarians to easily guide patrons towards the citation styles commonly used within their institution.
And that is not all! Cite also alerts patrons when metadata is missing from fields, such as the title or author. This functionality allows patrons to then enter the correct data to accurately complete the citation.
Citation can be time-consuming and daunting, particularly for lower-level undergraduate students with no prior experience in the world of citation, academic writing, or using reference management tools. Simultaneously, the increasing popularity of integrating Generative AI, such as ChatGPT into their research workflow, underscores the increasing importance of accurate citation for both students and researchers.
Lean Library guides patrons seamlessly from the discovery stage into the accurate authoring stage of their workflow by making citation simple with an easy-to-use solution that:
Lean Library Cite integrates with the Citation Style Language to provide all major citation styles that your library may use.
Lean Library will soon be extending Cite to further content types including Websites, and much more!
Want to see Lean Library Cite in action? Get a demo now!
Case Study: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam February 21, 2024In this case study, we look at how Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is planning to introduce Talis Aspire, to use in conjunction with Lean Library, to increase the use of open educational resources, decrease possible copyright infringements of educational materials and reduce the library’s annual spending on academic content.
Complete the form at the bottom of this article to download this case study in Dutch.
De Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) is a large university with 9 faculties, more than 150 bachelor’s programs, pre-master and master programs with 31,761 students, of which 19,736 are Bachelor students and 12,025 are Master students. The university’s motto is: Don’t just become something, become someone. Since its founding in 1880, VU has stood for scientific and values-driven education, research and valorisation. VU members are free thinkers with expert knowledge and a Broader Mind. This way, VU works together to create a better world for people and the planet. VU focuses on a connected world; governance for society; human health and life sciences and science for sustainability. VU is diverse, sustainable and enterprising. 4671 people work at VU. The university library is an inspiring place for people and knowledge. Where learning material is found, and information is available for impact in science and society. The university library unburdens, connects and innovates.
For years both the university library management as well as the Educational Management were looking for a way to determine which content from their collection should be kept and made available. Additionally, lecturers used various methods to create and share their reading lists, resulting in confusion and possible infringements of copyrighted educational material.
The university library contributed to the development of innovations in collaboration with the VU Center for Teaching and Learning, conducting research into supporting resources that could improve the design of education. The university library, together with SURF and 4 other academic institutions, began the development of their SURF CopyrightCheck service, in addition to the promotion of Open Educational Resources (OER). This raised the following question: How does VU provide a clear overview of the learning materials available within their electronic learning environment?
After much thought and research, many possible solutions arose. The library educational support team was familiar with Talis Aspire, and was initially attracted to it for its management of the correct use of learning materials in education under copyright law. In the Netherlands, the Easy Access regulation is in use: an agreement between publishers and academic institutions over how to jointly reduce copyright infringements.
The Educational Support Department devised a plan in which various objectives and principles could come together, starting with encouraging the use and creation of open educational learning materials:
This design required supporting resources, benefitting both library and educational management. We strive for a change from a non-binding to a conscious use of learning materials.
From the task of organising the provision of learning materials to students more logically, the university library wondered what (innovative) tools were available. It took the VU two years of thinking, using already existing resources, to come up with a landscape (fig. 2).
The ideal workflow consisted of a lecturer finding content and providing this content to students, whilst ensuring that there are no possible issues around copyright.
How is this achieved? As described on the graphic above (fig. 2), VU begins by ensuring their provision has the correct tools for the job and that their systems are organized logically and in a structured manner to encourage the goal of stimulating the use of open educational resources.
This landscape has impacted the way lecturers are designing their course. The recommended workflow would begin with lecturers having Lean Library already installed on their browser and when they search for content online, it guides them to content that is already available in the library through WMS/OCLC. This creates a clear overview of actual available content, forming the core content of reading lists, provided to students via the VLE.
It is essential that the educators are involved in the collective responsibility for the proper use of learning materials. To effectively make this happen, one component in fig. 2 still needs to be developed: the AscMe – component. With this, educational management enters the required literature into the study guide, from which a reading list can then also easily be created. If this part can be implemented in the existing landscape, it will fully support the conscious use of learning materials.
During teaching periods, lecturers add more literature and additional information to courses in the VLE. To ensure all content is copyright cleared, it goes through SURF CopyrightCheck and then added to the VLE. Once in the VLE, educational management receive periodic reports of the usage that those materials have, giving a clear overview of available content, opening the opportunity to discuss how and what materials lecturers and educational management are using. This even presents an opportunity to recreate certain materials and making them open available (OER). VU’s ultimate goal is to encourage the use of open educational resources and open repositories, including adding new content to the Dutch service: edusources, where higher education – institutions work together to create, share and use content to enrich education.
In discussions with the educational staff, this landscape is the starting point to encourage the awareness process regarding the appropriate use of learning materials, without infringing copyrighted materials.
When this is implemented correctly, it has obvious benefits for education:
Essential in this process is supporting the conscious use of learning materials. VU has a very structured system to support the logistics of administrative and organizational support for education. The logistics of an educational program. This starts with collecting information about courses, people involved, schedules, study guides and the content within each course, indicating required reading for students and content they need to purchase in order to take the courses appropriately.
This process of gathering the necessary information makes up their educational program, VU refers to as the Academic Structure & Content Modelling Environment (AscMe). Together with the supplier (TimeEdit) the VU is working to expand opportunities of AscMe on providing literature-information. With the goal being that when a program director adds literature to AscMe, it will be -via Talis Aspire- directly integrated with VU’s LMS. This will mean that lecturers and students will always have the right information available on reading lists. With this landscape in place, VU will get greater usage insights and a nice overview of the required literature being used in education. This bridges the gap between lecturers and students when it comes to considering the right content, together with reducing copyright infringements.
From a technical perspective, everything was fairly easy to set up:
In summary, Talis Aspire provided a solution that would not only make reading lists easily available in education, but it contributed to the vision the VU has around the use of open educational resources. This included reducing copyright infringements and having learning materials easily available in the learning environment of students, in addition to a better and more efficient management of learning materials.
Adopting Talis Aspire had been a possibility for a while, but the institution was initially not ready until the creation of the educational support department of the university library. Insights were uncovered during the exploration stage, however Covid put the process on hold, with the final decision to adopt Talis Aspire made in the spring of 2022.
The use of Talis Aspire will be a gradual process, with information specialists and lecturers being informed about the implementation and inclusion during the set-up period. VU’s goal is to have Talis Aspire fully operational by the start of the 2024-2025 academic year. With the knowledge and experience that will be gathered from using Talis Aspire and CopyrightCheck, VU wants to convert non-binding into conscious use, in order to have the landscape fully integrated by 2025-2026. With the inclusion of Talis Aspire, VU want to make education ready for exciting new possibilities, matching the university’s vision of unburdening, connecting and innovating.
Collaboration with the Talis Aspire team has been a very smooth process, with a clear interest in each other’s wishes and respect for all (im)possibilities.
Cees van Gent, Head of Educational Support of the University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
VU still are in the exploratory phase, so there is currently no hard data, however lecturers have been very enthusiastic over the possibilities offered by Talis Aspire and the library team are looking forward to gathering previously unavailable data. There has even been student feedback positively commenting on the initial VU reading lists, and the VU rector will soon share his favourite reading list to the entire academic community.
The communication strategy was not only aimed at users, but (especially) higher management was also approached and convinced. The Directors of Operations and the Vice Deans of Education of all faculties were informed in sessions about the possibilities of Talis Aspire (and SURF CopyrightCheck). The focus was on cost reduction and didactic possibilities. This has led them to advise making these resources available for education. They are now participating in the strategy to get the process accepted at VU.
VU’s goal is to have Talis Aspire fully operational in all education for the academic year 2024 – 2025. The experience gained with Talis Aspire (and CopyrightCheck) enable VU to change the optional, non-binding use into a conscious one, and thus to achieve the fully-integrated landscape in 2025 – 2026.
For the first time I have an overview what is really happening in education regarding the use of learning materials. Especially around the required literature we need to have available for students to prepare for their exams.
Cees van Gent, Head of Educational Support of the University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Watch back our webinar with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where we went over the core functionality of Talis Aspire, and Cees took us through:
If you’d like to hear more or receive a product demo, get in touch.
Lean Library in 2023: Innovations, Milestones and Events December 18, 2023
As we near the end of 2023, it’s time to take a trip down memory lane and reflect on what has been a fantastic year for Lean Library: A resource access and workflow services tool for libraries.
Lean Library has undergone growth and major development this year, thanks to our customer loyalty, feedback, and new university partners. Here’s what happened in 2023…
Libraries work diligently to curate the best collections, resources and services to support their patrons. However, librarians are often the unsung heroes on and off campus, with students and researchers not properly utilizing (or even being aware of!) the extent of library services and resources.
Every day of 2023, Lean Library promoted and increased awareness of libraries by seamlessly bringing library content and services into patrons’ online workflows via the Lean Library browser extension (whether they were on Google, PudMed or beyond). This made patrons’ lives easier, improving their productivity and saving them time and money. And with over half a million downloads of the browser extension, Lean Library made a big impact around the world, as demonstrated in the infographic below:
In 2023, we completely redesigned Lean Library and improved the browser extension to launch on all major web browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari. This launch marked a significant step in Lean Library’s journey as the most comprehensive access broker and workflow tool with a goal to make learning and research workflows smoother than ever before.
The redesign was driven by invaluable feedback from librarians, students, and researchers. We completely revamped the browser extension to be quicker, sleeker, and better than before, with:
Useful stats and insights are key to any library in demonstrating the value of a technology they implement. That’s why Lean Library launched a new Stats Insight Dashboard that provides insights on Lean Library’s stats on real-benefit factors including:
This takes Lean Library beyond raw statistics to unveil the real value that Lean Library brings to institutions, making it simpler for librarians to demonstrate its value as a must-have tool. The impactful insights enable libraries to build a story around their patron’s usage and visualize the positive impact of Lean Library in transforming the library’s visibility and usage.
The Alternatives feature is a core Lean Library feature that helps patrons access digital resources easily in alternative ways. In 2023, a series of improvements were released to Lean Library, dubbed ‘Alternatives 2.0’, to better support the library in uniting their diverse range of collections in the open web, from print to digital. We strive to be the solution that brings together these rich, library-held collections to users, when they would not typically go to the library environments to find them. The Alternatives 2.0 improvements are as follows:
Zurich University of the Arts implemented Lean Library to enhance their user-centered library strategy and make patrons aware of the many great resources they have access to – thanks to their library. They utilized Lean Library’s enhanced content integration feature to surface the library’s ‘Very Short Introductions‘ collection, which offers a concise and original introduction to a wide range of subjects. By surfacing this collection on Wikipedia and other sites, it promotes it to patrons at point of need.
Often Wikipedia is the starting point for basic research. By linking to the Very Short Introductions collection, we can inform our students and other members of the university of additional valuable information the library licences, and which patrons might not be aware of.”
Simone Welti, Library Information Specialist, Zurich University of the Arts
In July 2023, Kennesaw State University Library implemented Lean Library to promote and drive usage of its digital collections. The library saw an drastic increase in library collected usage after implementing Lean Library, growing from 88 to 3,355 library resources accessed in just 4 months. That’s a whopping 3,712% increase, clearly highlighting the valuable Lean Library unlocks for both the library and patrons.
Lean Library has been instrumental in helping students and faculty become aware of the breadth of resources they can access through our subscriptions, particularly those provided through academic publishers.
Karen Doster-Greenleaf, Director of Research & Instructional Services/Librarian Associate Professor at Kennesaw State University
The service makes my work in research and document finding that much easier for me. Thank you!”
Student, Kennesaw State University
I started using Lean Library when I started researching my dissertation and realized I couldn’t possibly go through 20 different pages of Google Scholar, figuring out if I had access to them. It’s saved me a lot of time.”
BA Student, University of Lincoln
Lean Library is a very useful tool, especially for students, who often forget about the search tools offered by the library… One of the best things is its human team… we are taken very good care of.”
Librarian, University of Extremadura
2023 has been a year full of many Lean Library webinars, conferences, and events that gathered librarians from all corners of the world – from the United States to Europe to Australia. We’ve been delighted to grow our connections and relationships with libraries across the globe and it has been a memorable journey for all of us at Lean Library.
Lean Library’s user community came together in-person at the inaugural Tech from Sage Insight in Birmingham, UK. The event connected users to learn best practice, network, and workshop hot topics like AI in academia or the knowledge gap between librarians and students. Attendees gained insights from experts, learned about evolving needs of patrons, and explored ways to enhance their library through technology. It was a librarian’s dream event, but don’t worry if you missed out as the talks are still available here.
It was an honor to host an engaging in-person event at University of Salford, diving into the massive role academic libraries play in supporting student success and the challenges they face. University of Salford library presented on how they’ve used Lean Library to ensure students can seamlessly access vital study materials and bridge the knowledge gap between the library and students.
Lean Library had a blast presenting at various conferences throughout the year, including these sessions at ER&L in Texas and ACRL in Pittsburgh:
The team at Lean Library thank our university partners for a great year and look forward to connecting more libraries with their patrons in 2024. If your library is contemplating an access broker, looking to streamline access and drive usage of library holdings, or wants support moving toward a patron-centric approach, get in touch below to arrange a demo of Lean Library today.
As many of you may know, we have a furry mascot for our Lean Library browser extension – isn’t he cute? The Lean Library Llama joins us at events and conferences, listening in as we talk to academic librarians from all over the world about Lean Library, the easy-to-use browser extension which simplifies online access to library content. We’ve named our Lean Library Llama Larry, but we’ve heard librarians and students name their llama all different names: from Allama Morisette to Louisa.
Do you want to find out where Larry the Llama has been this year and what he’s been up to? Read on to discover the travels of our four-legged friend…
Larry was lucky enough to travel to Austin, Texas for Electronic Resources and Libraries Conference (ER&L) 2023 back in March and had a great time on the stand chatting to librarians about their library.
We were delighted to have three sessions at ER&L Conference 2023, ranging from future-proofing access to patron reference management.
Find out more about our sessions below:
In April, Larry and his friends joined us at our inaugural Tech from Sage Insight Conference in Birmingham at The REP Theatre. It was a jam-packed two days for academic librarians with workshops and presentations on Higher Education topics, ranging from the risks and opportunities of AI to rethinking the library of the future.
We ran a giveaway during the two-day conference for six librarians to win their own llama to take home. All they had to do was tweet about the conference using #TechfromSage. The lucky winners were Lowri, Jackie, Haylee, Hazel, Fiona and Chantal. We loved seeing the photos of the llamas from the winners:
In May, Larry the Llama joined the Technology from Sage team at REBIUN Asamblea Conference in Alicante, Spain – a wonderful city for an academic conference and we loved meeting so many librarians from Spanish institutions.
Congratulations to Juana from Universisidad de Alicante who won a llama at the stand – we’re sure that this llama has gone to a fantastic home.
In September, Larry and his friends flew to Kennesaw in the United States (they’re becoming very well-travelled llamas) to promote the Lean Library browser extension at a usage driving event for students, run by Kennesaw State University Library.
We absolutely loved seeing the fantastic photos of the llamas enjoying a cold beverage and hanging out in the Lean Library branded paper bags. We felt it was a fantastic way for Kennesaw State University Library to celebrate that students now had access to Lean Library for their research.
Discover more about how Kennesaw State University Library have used Lean Library to increase their patron usage of digital collections in our case study.
In November, Larry the Llama visited a couple of institutions within the United Kingdom. First stop, was University of Derby Library where three llamas were part of a competition for students to install the Lean Library browser extension and a gain a new study buddy at the same time. We absolutely loved that the three llamas who had found new homes were named Allama Morisette, Banana- Llama and Bubble.
Larry and his friends travelled further up north to Lancaster, United Kingdom to visit University of Lancaster Library and meet some students. The llamas became part of the Lean Library Llama Digital and Usability Outreach Team and we’ve heard reports that they’ve been patrolling University of Lancaster Library to tell students about how Lean Library makes their research process even easier.
We loved the Lean Library tags on the llamas that the University of Lancaster librarians created!
Larry the Llama visited Barbie Land in the summer to be Barbie’s loyal travel companion as she went to the Real World. This may have happened in Larry’s imagination, but we’ll leave that up to you to decide!
We hope 2024 brings even more travels for Larry the Lean Library Llama! Stay tuned for more adventures around conferences and institutions around the world.
Read our blog post to find out more about what Lean Library has been up to in 2023!
Unlocking success: Start your new academic year with Lean Library October 6, 2023
Throughout September we ran our Lean Library ‘Back to school’ webinar series, which consisted of three webinars, revisiting Lean Library’s key functionalities to ensure that our customers provide the best possible support to their patrons, and present our product roadmap for the year ahead. Let’s dive into the details of each webinar:
In our first webinar session, Senior Customer Success Consultant, Clare Chan, went over the key features of the Lean Library dashboard, providing the necessary tools for institutions to get the most out of this academic year. This session included:
In our second webinar session, Senior Customer Success Consultant, Clare Chan, was joined by Beatriu Piera Moreno, a Project Manager from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), who presented the results of AUB’s introduction of Lean Library, their strategy, and next steps, including:
In our third and last webinar session, Customer Success Consultant, Mariette Asem, was joined by Lean Library’s Senior Product Manager, Becca Richards, who looked back at Lean Library’s recent releases, upcoming updates to the product and what is being planned for Lean Library in 2024.
Read our latest case study from Kennesaw State University, who increased their collection usage by 3712% in just 4 months!
Kennesaw State University Case Study August 31, 2023
In this case study, we look at how Kennesaw State University Library used Lean Library to increase patron usage of its digital collections.
Lean Library has been instrumental in helping students and faculty become aware of the breadth of resources they can access through our subscriptions, particularly those provided through academic publishers.
Karen Doster-Greenleaf, Director of Research & Instructional Services/Librarian Associate Professor
Kennesaw State University librarians tried on multiple occasions to promote their digital collection offering through social media outlets without much success due to a lack of awareness of their digital collection holdings and how to access this content by students and faculty. This led the team to research and find a solution that simplified the search process and saved access and research time for faculty and students.
We analyzed our digital collection data and found only a 24% usage level from November 2021 to November 2022… We asked ourselves how we could maximize the exposure of our resources and increase usage.
Li Chen and Karen Doster-Greenleaf, Kennesaw State University (KSU)
Kennesaw State University introduced Lean Library Access in July 2022, promoting the tool through a mixture of passive and active promotion, including website banners, campus announcements and FAQs on how to use Lean Library.
Since we adopted Lean Library, we have received positive feedback from both faculty and students. The usage of our library collection through Lean Library has steadily increased as well.
Li Chen and Karen Doster- Greenleaf, Kennesaw State University (KSU)
When patrons accessed a website Kennesaw State University is subscribed to, they would receive a pop-up assist message
To promote the availability of Lean Library to patrons, promotional collateral was created and shared throughout the campus
The introduction of Lean Library created a sharp increase in the number of library resources accessed, growing from 88 to 3,355 (3712%) in just 4 months.
The number of Link Resolver requests also increased after the introduction of Lean Library.
If you’d like to hear more or receive a product demo, get in touch.
Lean Library launches redesigned extension on major web stores August 22, 2023We’re thrilled to announce that Lean Library, a Technology from Sage product, is launching a redesigned and improved browser extension on all major stores. This is the same access broker and workflow tool loved by librarians and their patrons – only quicker, sleeker, and better than before.
Lean Library puts your library on your patrons’ shoulder via one easy-to-use extension on their browser. Lean Library simplifies online access to library content and open access alternatives, and embeds library collections and services into the patrons’ workflow – whether they start on Google Scholar, PubMed or beyond.
The improved extension first launched on the Google Chrome store in June, and is being made available on Microsoft Edge, Opera and Mozilla Firefox stores this August-September. The final web store it will be made available on is Safari later this year. The extension automatically updates for users of Lean Library, along with their regular app updates, so existing users don’t need to download anything new to get the new experience.
Founded in late 2016, Lean Library provides an award-winning library service, bringing library resources and support directly into the patron’s workflow. This redesign marks a significant milestone in our journey to facilitate seamless learning and research workflows. It is the culmination of an extensive period of development, driven by invaluable feedback from librarians, students, and researchers.
There were three main goals for the redesign:
Our new UI design is sleek, modern, and thoughtfully crafted to emphasize content and minimize distractions. This will allow library patrons to focus on what truly matters – accessing your library-licensed content as soon as they need it.
Time is precious for students and researchers, and we want to make their tasks effortless. We have carefully restructured the navigation in one side tray, bringing together multiple notifications and features across all subscription packages. With just a few clicks, users can effortlessly customize preferences and discover new tools and content that enriches your library’s digital presence.
The redesign delivers significant performance and speed enhancements. We’ve fine-tuned the inner workings of the extension, optimizing it to provide libraries and their patrons with a swifter browsing experience. Say goodbye to longer pop-up loading times and hello to instant access to patrons’ favorite library resources.
Whether patrons are searching for scholarly articles, exploring databases, or accessing e-books, they’ll experience accelerated browsing with the new Lean Library extension!
‘Keyword Enhancements’ is a functionality of the Lean Library Futures package that highlights library-licensed publisher or special collections content to users in their workflow. One optimization within the new extension is the ‘Always On’ feature for Keyword Enhancements. Relevant taxonomy terms will now appear automatically to your users on sites such as Google and Wikipedia.
If users did want to turn off one or all packages, however, they can do so easily by using the toggles or the ‘enable/disable’ button.
The best way to get to know the new Lean Library experience is by getting a demo from one of our experts. Request a demo today.
A Day in the Life, with our Customer Success Consultant, Julia Dougherty July 6, 2023At Technology from Sage our purpose is to support libraries in advancing teaching, learning and research. We can’t achieve this mission without the work of the talented team at Technology from Sage, so we’ve launched a series of posts for you to find out more about the team.
In this A Day in the Life post, we’re joined by our new Customer Success Consultant, Julia Dougherty at Technology from Sage. Read on to find out more about Julia – including what it’s like starting a new role remotely, her librarian background and love of thrifting!
Hi everyone! I am the newest Customer Success Consultant on the Technology from Sage team based in Houston, Texas.
Right now I’m onboarding, but I’m looking forward to working with and supporting current Technology from Sage clients daily via support, regular calls, and catch-ups.
I’m most excited to combine my librarian experience with my sales and customer support experience in this role. I look forward to speaking to people in the academic library space every day!
I am pretty new to both Talis and Technology from Sage, so that’s yet to be seen! I can definitely say I appreciate the open communication channels we have between teams.
I am directly involved with the Operations team. Although it can be complicated to connect as a team that all live in different countries from yourself, it seems there are regular efforts to chat and catch up.
It can be a bit daunting to start a role on the other side of the Atlantic from the rest of your team and in different time zones from yourself. However, I enjoy getting to know people from around the world, and my team has been very supportive thus far.
I’m a lover of music and have played piano for over 10 years. I also love traveling, dogs, and thrifting.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Julia.dougherty@technologyfromsage.com. Cheers!
Unlocking the Power of Teaching & Learning Technologies: Honest Insights from Asking the Students June 26, 2023
At our inaugural Tech from Sage Insight event in April, we had our breakout session “Ask the Students: Honest insights from students using teaching & learning technologies”. This was an interactive session, with a panel of students discussing their university experience, pedagogy, and the features of different digital tools including: Talis Elevate, Lean Library and Sciwheel.
Check out the recordings from our studio sessions at Tech from Sage insight below.
The panel was facilitated by our Development Manager (International), Christopher Lewis, and the students on the panel were:
In this blog post, we’ll explore the challenges students face in their undergraduate university journey and provide the key takeaways and insights from the students which resonate with their experiences of using digital tools.
University life presents its fair share of challenges, but the integration of digital tools has played a pivotal role in overcoming these hurdles. Students shared their experiences and highlighted how digital tools have addressed common issues faced in their academic journey, including not owning a laptop, or as Stefan says below, being able to ask librarians for support:
“When I think of going into the university library it’s always quite hectic, or at least in the foyer of people coming in and out … Rather than doing that, [wouldn’t it] be good to have somewhere I can go and ask questions about how I can do research?”
Stefan
The integration of digital tools has also had a positive impact on their students’ learning journeys, making learning resources easily accessible and eliminating the need for students to navigate through multiple platforms or physical materials. With everything in one place, students can save time and focus more on their studies. Here are some key points that arose from the session:
Digital tools, like Lean Library, have eliminated paywall barriers, enabling students to access a vast array of scholarly articles and research papers effortlessly. This accessibility has expanded students’ knowledge and enriched their research projects.
I started using it this year. When I started researching my dissertation, and I realized I couldn’t possibly go through 20 different pages of Google Scholar, figuring out if I had access to them. It’s saved me a lot of time.
Sam
We asked the students where they begin their research journey, with many of them beginning their journey with Google rather than the library:
“I tend to just go straight to … the source of a public street to JSTOR, Cambridge, or something like that, rather than navigate the site itself?”
Cameron
Collaborative work has been greatly enhanced through tools like Talis Elevate, giving students the option to participate in discussion anonymously online, giving the silent majority a platform to participate in the conversation. Chris asked the students how they found their experience of using Talis Elevate for their modules:
If you have to look at the content again, for the seminar, you then come with a bit of understanding of where you can be talking about issues you can already see maybe the key themes that are going to be coming up, everyone’s asked along similar lines.
Stefan
Being able to read other people’s comments was like, maybe this means XYZ, it helps me go to the seminar more prepared and get a better understanding of the content.
Sam
Chris asked the students how they felt about referencing regarding their university work:
We have a proprietary referencing system based on MHRA. The university provide us with style guides. Enjoyable is not a word which would apply to referencing in most cases. I personally struggled quite a lot with referencing. It was only in my third year that I discovered reference management softwares, and I used Zotero. I enjoyed it but most reference management software doesn’t adapt to the style guide you’re using.
Annabelle
Annabelle revealed she got signposted to reference management software in her third year of university, in a dissertation skills preparation module, and that it was up to the students to decide which reference management tool to go with and teaching yourself.
After the students played around with Sciwheel, here is what they had to say:
One of the best benefits of Sciwheel is the personalised referencing. Sciwheel responded to customer feedback and got this issue fixed right away. Now that’s resolved, I wish I had a time machine to use Sciwheel for my projects.
Sam
Annabelle and Stefan made the points that they like making references by hand, as they can see where they are in their work, but they can see how reference management tools can be useful for group research projects.
Digital tools have made learning more flexible and convenient. Students can access resources anytime, anywhere, allowing them to tailor their study schedules to their individual needs. This flexibility promotes a better work-life balance and empowers students to take control of their education. We asked students how librarians can encourage student uptake of these tools:
It’s easier to get a different perspective on things via word of mouth. I don’t know if all universities have a network of Student Reps. I’m a Student Rep for my year, so I can signpost students to digital tools or problems in terms of formatting or how to improve library workshops.
Sam
Participating in the workshop and reflecting on how during my studies I was taught using various digital tools reaffirmed to me the importance of intertwining university libraries, teaching, and technology. Universities are continuing to expand, with lecturers’ time further limited and accessing physical resources becoming ever-increasingly difficult. Being able to … use Talis Elevate to unpick say, a 14th century legal document – and see classmates’ comments – accelerated my understanding of topics and made my studying more efficient. Using these sorts of technologies isn’t spoon-feeding students, rather ensuring in the digital age they have possibility to not only learn but learn well.
Stefan
Providing the tools for students to succeed, such as through showing them how to use certain software and digital tools, is conducive to fostering independence within these students, and enhancing their skills development. Students are not experts at studying and researching, and as such, need more guidance to develop these skills.
Sam
The insights shared by students highlight the transformative power of digital tools in higher education. From organisation and accessibility to collaboration and flexibility, these tools have revolutionised the university experience for students. There are still lots of elements to consider for universities and academic libraries, including providing guidance for students on developing these digital skills and encouraging uptake of these tools within the student community.
At Technology from Sage, we are committed to continuously improving our solutions to meet the evolving needs of students. Their honest feedback and experiences are invaluable in shaping the future of teaching and learning tools.
