The upgrade to the PALCI/E-Z Borrow system have been completed and ready for use.
Category: News
Notice of PALCI/E-Z Borrow downtime.
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, the PALCI/E-Z Borrow system will be unavailable from 6:00am to 11:00am due to an upgrade.
Job Opportunity: Library Services Department Coordinator (full-time professional staff, 12-month)
The University of Scranton invites applications for a full-time, 12-month, professional staff position. All applicants must apply through universityofscrantonjobs.com. The application closing date is anticipated to be January 10, 2025.
Job Purpose
The Library Services Department Coordinator supervises all activities of the Library Services Department, including ensuring the operational success of the Library Services Desk, which is open 7 days a week when classes are in session. The Library Services Department, operating out of the Library Services Desk, is the first point of contact for all library users, ensuring that all users’ requests are answered directly or referred to the appropriate library department. The Library Services Department is responsible for opening and closing the building, supporting public safety in the library, patron record confidentiality, billing, the loaning of materials and computing equipment, maintenance of user records, stack maintenance, physical and electronic reserves, coordinating library lobby displays and curated collections, and student-worker hiring, training, and supervision.
Essential Duties
– Supervises two full-time clerical, three part-time clerical, and two part-time professional staff, and coordinates with the Research & Scholarly Services Coordinator regarding joint department activities at the Library Services Desk which includes taking the lead on staff hiring, staff scheduling and training, evaluating staff work performance
– Assures compliance with Library security policies and procedures, including opening and closing the building, scheduling, and acting as liaison with University Police, Facilities, and Library Administration to address issues
– Assures smooth operation of the Library Services Desk and serves as the point person for any special requests or complaints; provides patron assistance at the Library Services Desk
– Hires and coordinates the scheduling, training, and supervision of 15-20 work-study students at the Library Services Desk
– Supervises library stack maintenance functions for the Education Laboratory, Heritage Room, Media Resources, Microfilm, Periodicals, Circulating, and Reference collections; communicates with staff on reshelving, shelf reading, mis-shelved and damaged materials, and needed stack shifts
– Analyzes Library Services activities which includes preparing and analyzing data reports, including circulation statistics; makes policy and procedure recommendations to Library Administration; oversees Library Service Desk assessment activities
– Supervises administration of PALCI E-Z Borrow, which includes communicating with department staff on recalled or overdue books and problems with borrowing and lending accounts; compiles annual statistics and creates invoices for lost books as needed; stays abreast of service changes
– Monitors notices for overdue, recalled, on hold, or billed library materials; communicates with patrons and other libraries about their accounts; places Banner holds and reports delinquent borrowers to our collection agency; ensures the confidentiality of patron records
– Responsible for balancing the library cash register and making deposits as necessary
Additional Skills Required
– Ability to communicate effectively with library patrons, and handle communications tactfully, courteously, and with appropriate discretion
– Ability to instruct/direct the work of other staff and student workers
– Excellent organizational/record-keeping skills
– Must be able to lift and move heavy cartons of books, weighing up to 40 lbs.
– Must be able to support the University’s commitment to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture
– Must be able to respect, support and contribute to the University’s Catholic and Jesuit mission
Minimum Education Requirements
– Bachelor’s degree is required
Preferred Education
– Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited program is preferred
Minimum Job Experience Requirements
– Two (2) years of recent library experience with circulation or public services responsibility.
– Six (6) months of management and supervisory experience required
– Six (6) months of management and supervisory experience required
Preferred Qualifications
– Experience troubleshooting library circulation software is preferred
Schedule/Work Hours
– Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (35 hours per week). Additional hours as required.
More Library Study Space Available
The Library’s Collaborative Teaching Room (Rm.202) and an additional Group Study Room on the 4th Floor (Rm.419) are now available for student use. Please note the guidelines posted at each room, and good luck preparing for your exams!
One Week Left! – Application Deadline for Library Research Prize is Monday, December 9, 2024
There is one week left to apply for the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize! Project submissions from Summer and Fall 2024 courses are due Monday, December 9, 2024 by 4:00 pm.
Are you working on a research project in a course this semester? Did you use the library’s resources, services, collections, or spaces in order to complete your research? Then the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize is for you!
The Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize recognizes excellence in research projects that show evidence of significant knowledge in the methods of research and the information gathering process and use of library resources, tools, and services.
Three prizes of $500.00 each will be awarded to the winning individual student or group in the following categories: Undergraduate Foundational (100-level courses), Undergraduate Upper-level (200- to 400-level courses), and Graduate. If won by a group, the award will be split equally among the group members. All you need to do is write a 500- to 700-word essay describing your research process and how you used the Library in completing the project. Check out our Tips web page for advice on how to craft the best 500- to 700-word essay you can about your research.
A statement of faculty support from the instructor who assigned the research project is also required for each submission.
Winners will be announced in May after the deadline for Intersession and Spring projects. Although there are two different dates to submit an application, only one judging will take place.
For additional information on how to apply, what to include in a completed application, and to access the application, visit the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize page: www.scranton.edu/libraryresearchprize
Apply Now for the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize
Are you working on a research project in a course this semester? Did you use the library’s resources, services, collections, or spaces in order to complete your research? Then the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize is for you!
The Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize recognizes excellence in research projects that show evidence of significant knowledge in the methods of research and the information gathering process and use of library resources, tools, and services.
Three prizes of $500.00 each will be awarded to the winning individual student or group in the following categories: Undergraduate Foundational (100-level courses), Undergraduate Upper-level (200- to 400-level courses), and Graduate. If won by a group, the award will be split equally among the group members. All you need to do is write a 500- to 700-word essay describing your research process and how you used the Library in completing the project. Check out our Tips web page for advice on how to craft the best 500- to 700-word essay you can about your research.
The application deadline for projects completed in Summer or Fall 2024 courses is Monday, December 9, 2024 at 4:00 pm.
A statement of faculty support from the instructor who assigned the research project is also required for each submission.
Winners will be announced in May after the deadline for Intersession and Spring projects. Although there are two different dates to submit an application, only one judging will take place.
For additional information on how to apply, what to include in a completed application, and to access the application, visit the Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prize page: www.scranton.edu/libraryresearchprize
Bike Lackawanna 2024 has ended
The 2024 Bike Lackawanna Season has ended today. We were happy to be participants in this green initiative again this year. Plan to join us again next April!
New “My Account” feature in PALCI/EZBorrow
A new “My Account” feature has been added to the EZBorrow search platform (https://ezborrow.reshare.indexdata.com).
This feature allows you to view current and past requests and authenticate before initiating a search. You’ll also have the option to save searches, save items, and create lists of saved items.
To access the new features, please follow this quick guide.
Celebrating Open Access Publishing and New OA Publishing Opportunities
This week (October 21-27), we celebrate International Open Access Week!
International Open Access Week is a global initiative sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resource Coalition (SPARC) that aims to engage communities in discussion about the importance and benefits of open access.
The ability to share and access research and scholarly information is important to us here at the Weinberg Memorial Library, and we know that it is equally important to our faculty here at the University of Scranton. Did you know that in 2023, nearly 50% of works that were published by University of Scranton authors and indexed in OpenAlex were published under some form of open access?
We think that’s amazing and would love to hear more! If you’ve recently published open access and would like to share your experience and what open scholarship means to you, please message us at affordablelearning@scranton.edu. We’d love to highlight some of your stories as we continue to celebrate Open Access Week.
If you’ve always wondered about publishing open access but were worried about cost prohibitive article processing charges (APCs), fear not! The Library is excited to announce partnerships with some of our publishers to provide Read and Publish opportunities which will cover APCs in select journals for authors affiliated with the University of Scranton.
Our current agreements cover publishing opportunities with the Association for Computing Machinery, Cambridge University Press, the American Chemical Society, and Springer Nature. You can learn more about these opportunities by visiting our Open Access Publishing Research Guide or reaching out to the OER Committee at affordablelearning@scranton.edu.
We hope you’ll take advantage of these exciting offers, and we look forward to providing more opportunities in the future.
Weinberg Memorial Library Honored as 2024 Library of the Year by the Pennsylvania Library Association
The Pennsylvania Library Association has named the Weinberg Memorial Library as the 2024 Library of the Year!
Each year, the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) honors the service of their members, as well as those community volunteers, who go above and beyond the call of duty to support the work of libraries throughout the commonwealth.
The Weinberg Memorial Library’s vision is to promote “an accessible, inclusive, supportive, and welcoming environment where everyone can learn and grow creatively, intellectually, and spiritually.” The library staff embodies this vision in their day-to-day operations, and prides themselves on service to the community, professional development, and service to the Pennsylvania Library Association.
Over the past year and a half, the Weinberg Memorial Library has accomplished much in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. They collaborated with campus groups, offices, and faculty to host a series of films to celebrate Black History, Arab American Heritage, and Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander months for both students and the Scranton community at large. Library staff created new research guides for gender and sexuality and accessibility, and a Statement on Harmful Language to address systemic problems in the Library of Congress subject headings. They also created an Accessibility/Sensory Map to highlight the library’s spaces and features with general accessibility, types of lighting, and noise level. The guide is helpful to all, but particularly valuable to neurodiverse students. From library support for open educational resources to a collection diversity audit focused on children’s books to support the greater Scranton community, and to hiring an outside consultant to review DEI efforts, the Library has demonstrated their ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Deserving of recognition is the Library’s focus on professional development. The Weinberg Memorial Library has been a long-time institutional member of the Pennsylvania Library Association as well as supporting their staff both financially and with time as personal members of the Association. They not only support their own staff, but were a 2023 conference sponsor so that all librarians could have an enhanced experience through coffee and conversation.
Many staff attend, volunteer, and lead within the Association. Sylvia Orner served as conference chair in 2020 and is currently President. Kate Cummings was previously Treasurer on the statewide board of directors and is now serving as Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair. Rebecca Dzikowski is the current Mentorship Subcommittee Chair. Ian O’Hara serves as the College and Research Division grant funds manager and is on the EDI Committee. Sheli Pratt-McHugh was 3rd Vice-President, Membership Committee Chair, and served on the conference committee and EDI committee. Marleen Cloutier was the 2023 Conference Chair for Technical Arrangements and is now the vice-chair elect for the Technical Services Round Table. Melissa Gallo is the treasurer for the Northeast Chapter. As the nominator indicated, “We all individually have gained so much from our time and efforts within and for the Association, and it has collectively contributed to the Weinberg Memorial Library’s ability to serve its community in impactful ways.”