At the start of a new semester, changes flood Taylor’s campus, including the Zondervan Library website. This change provides a modernized, streamlined interface to all users.
Over the summer, Anissa Martin, Taylor’s student success librarian, worked with student research assistants and library faculty to develop an entirely new and efficient website.
“The overhaul is all about getting our patrons to the sources that they need quickly,” Martin says, “We want them to be efficient, but the goal isn’t just efficiency; it’s also academic content. So getting them to good academic content in an efficient manner.”
With Taylor’s student body steadily growing each year, Zondervan aims to continue serving Taylor students well. Martin wants to meet the new generation of students with a style of research they are used to. Keeping up to date with technological advancements, Zondervan gives students the best quality of resources.
As a member of Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI), Zondervan has always given its students access to a catalog of books outside of Taylor’s physical library. Recently, the consortial libraries pooled their catalogs into one system.
The update to the website reflects this change.
With one search, Taylor students can now access, borrow and place holds on books from 23 libraries. Shannon Eaves, director of Zondervan library confirmed that the old interlibrary loan request system has been replaced by a simple hold button that works for the entire pooled catalog.
If no library in Indiana owns a specific book, the library now has the resources to find it, Eaves said.
“We look for it in … the rest of the country, and we’ll find it and we’ll get it,” she said.
Thanks to these shifts, Zondervan’s website tools are on display, functions are more user friendly and students have greater customization over a larger search database, Elise Coleman, an English creative writing junior and checkout desk assistant at Zondervan, said
However, if students have questions about navigating and using the website, they shouldn’t be afraid to ask, she said.
“RAs (Research Assistants) are especially equipped to help people with things like that,” Coleman said. “But CDAs (checkout desk assistants), since we know the basics, we can help with things like that too.”
Student research assistants like Coleman are dedicated to aiding students find the resources they need, Martin said.
“The Ask Desk is staffed by them, and they also run the little chat box on the website,” Martin said, “You come in with a research project at 8 o’clock at night. They’re there. They’re going to help you.”
Taylor students should make suggestions and alert librarians to confusing aspects of the website, Martin said.
They should expect more exciting website developments in coming semesters, she said.
For more information on this new website, students can visit Zondervan Library.
