ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries December 1996/723 Internet Rx office visits: Just w hat the Dr. ordered By N ancy F. S tim son and N ancy Schiller Offering one-on-one Internet instruction to university faculty T he Science an d Engineering Library at the State University of New York at Buffalo recently instituted a program w e call “Internet Rx Office Visits.” We view the program as an extension o f the reference service w e provide. We also see it as a highly effective form o f faculty outreach that allows us to provide in­ struction in n ew an d traditional library re ­ sources. T he Science and Engineering Library has a staff o f six full-time librarians and one part-time librarian, an d serves a total o f about 300 faculty mem bers in the schools of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Engineering and A pplied Sciences. Program rationale O ver the sum m er of 1995, the University at Buf­ falo Libraries m ade a big push to develop its World Wide Web pages. As part o f that effort, the Science and Engineering Library created its ow n hom epage, w hich w e w ere eager to share w ith faculty. We also w anted to ask faculty for feedback about the Internet resources w e had assem bled and get their ideas about other use­ ful links w e might make. For som e time w e had b e e n talking about providing faculty w ith instruction in the use of netw orked electronic information resources and tools. Initially, w e considered holding hands- on group sessions for faculty mem bers in a li­ brary classroom e q u ip p e d w ith 15 Pentium workstations loaded with Netscape. In the end, w e chose to offer a m ore personalized service. O ur idea w as to visit faculty in their offices and w ork w ith them one-on-one. We assum ed that each faculty m em ber w ould have different in­ formation needs as well as unique hardw are and software configurations. In addition, w e thought that faculty w ould feel more comfort­ able asking questions if they w ere not in the presence o f their peers. Publicity We announced the service in O ctober 1995 by sending a flyer to all faculty mem bers in the departments we serve. The flyer offered to show faculty how to search bibliographic databases from their offices, access the university’s Cam­ pus-W ide Information System and University Libraries’ W eb pages, search the World Wide W eb for information, incorporate Internet re­ sources into their teaching and research, and select and organize resources to create their ow n W eb pages. Less than a w eek later w e began receiving p h o n e calls an d e-mail m es­ sages from faculty requesting office visits. Preparing for an office visit The authors decided to w ork as a team and go on office visits together. We felt that our differ­ ent skills an d expertise com plem ented each other’s quite well: w hat one didn’t know , the other might, and this has proven to b e the case. Since w e can’t know in advance w hat a par­ ticular visit will b e like—w hat questions will com e u p or w hat technical problem s might arise—w e have decided it’s best to take a re­ laxed and o p en approach to these visits. That’s not to say w e d o n ’t prepare for them. We do. N a n c y F. Stimson, fo rm e rly the electronic resources librarian in the Science a n d Engineering Library, is now a reference librarian in the Health Sciences Library a t the State University o f New York a t Buffalo, e-mail: nstim son@ acsu.buffalo.edu; N a n c y Schiller is the engineering librarian in the Science a n d E ngineering Library a t SUNY-Buffalo; e-mail: schiller@ acsu.buffalo.edu mailto:nstimson@acsu.buffalo.edu mailto:schiller@acsu.buffalo.edu 724 / C&RL News As α result of the Internet Rx program, we are learning a lot about the faculty we serve and their needs and preferences. Before an office visit w e try to find ou t as m uch as possible ab o u t w hat the faculty m em ber w ould like us to cover and w hat specific hard­ w are an d software he or she has available. We also ask them about their teaching and research. For exam ple, for an adjunct professor teaching a course on differential equations, w e searched the W eb in advance of our visit and found a num ber o f sites, includ­ ing the Boston Univer­ sity Differential Equa­ tions Project, w ith links to articles, discussion lis ts , la b o r a t o r y projects, software pro­ gram s, a n d exercises related to the teaching o f differential equations. In addition, w e bring w ith us o n each visit a packet of informational handouts covering ev­ erything from how to search our online catalog to how to renew a boo k electronically to how to connect to OCLC’s FirstSearch service. We leave behind those handouts that relate to the topics w e cover during our visit. W e keep a log b ook in w hich w e record o ur scheduled appointm ents and w hich serves as a sum m ary o f each visit, both for statistical purposes an d so that w e can track items w e n eed to follow up on. The log records the name, departm ent, office num ber, e-mail address, tele­ p h o n e num ber, research area, and h ard w are/ software set-up of the faculty mem ber, as well as the date, time, and duration o f the visit. Typical visits A bout 10 percent of the faculty, representing m ost o f the departm ents w e serve, have re­ sp o n d ed so far. In addition to individual office visits, w e have m ade three group presentations an d have been consulted a n u m b er o f times over th e telephone. The average length o f an office visit has b e e n an h o u r an d a half. Re­ sp o n d en ts’ requests fall into several categories: exploring th e Web, getting m ore ou t o f our online catalog (primarily teaching faculty how to p e r f o r m m o re s o p h i s ti c a te d k e y w o rd searches), accessing article databases, and solv­ ing software an d hardw are problem s. O ne fac­ ulty m em ber requested that w e show her “ev­ e ry th in g ,” a n d w e h av e a rra n g e d m u ltip le follow -up visits w ith h e r for this purpose. B ased o n the requests w e have received so far, w e have developed a general outline w e follow if the person isn’t sure w hat he or she w ants us to cover. We begin by show ing them the university’s hom epage an d the faculty/staff directory, then link to their departm ental hom e­ page, if one exists. Next w e link to the Univer­ sity Libraries’ hom epage and dem onstrate som e o f the services that are available, particularly our electronic interlibrary loan, b o o k renewal, reference services, and various b o o k an d ar­ ticle catalogs an d da­ t a b a s e s . T h e n w e show case the Science a n d E n g in e e r in g L ibrary’s h o m e p a g e , highlighting th e su b ­ ject-sp e cific In te rn e t re s o u rc e s o u r lib rar­ ians have located an d linked to and, in som e cases, annotated. Finally, w e dem onstrate how to search the W eb using search engines like Alta Vista an d W ebCrawler an d subject trees such as Yahoo. O f course, any o f this is subject to change o n the sp o t to accom m odate specific informa­ tion requests. For exam ple, w e have show n faculty how to upload and dow nload informa­ tion to an d from their e-mail accounts and w e also routinely link to specialized Internet re­ sources such as patent files, g ene sequencing databases, product catalogs, an d material p ro p ­ erties databases. We have installed Netscape for several of our faculty an d sent others PPP software on disk along w ith instructions on how to load it. W hen w e encounter hardw are diffi­ culties, how ever, w e refer faculty to Academic Computing. In o n e case, a professor of geol­ ogy w as having a problem w ith highlighting in Lynx, a text-based brow ser for the Web. Al­ though there w as no problem w ith the high­ lighting feature in o th er softw are applications, such as WordPerfect, it disappeared in Lynx. We encouraged him to call Academic C om put­ ing, w hich he did. They w ere able to correct the problem but it w as o u r visit w hich con­ firm ed for him that he h ad a problem . As he told us later, “Before you guys came, I thought it w as m e.” Ideally, w e try to relate each visit to som e real information need. For exam ple, on one of o ur visits w e show ed the professor how to con­ nect to th e online catalog from the libraries’ W eb page in order to search for the p ro ceed ­ ings o f a particular conference he w as inter­ ested in. It turned out w e d id n ’t ow n the p ro ­ ceedings, so w e show ed him how from within December 1 9 9 6 / 725 o u r online catalog h e could access the online catalogs of the o th er SUNY University C enter libraries, o n e o f w hich h ad th e proceedings. Next, w e sh o w ed him h o w to access th e inter- library loan form o n th e libraries’ W eb page, fill it in, an d subm it it. For an o th er professor, o u r session consisted o f helping him form ulate a search strategy for u se in th e CARL UnCover database; th e n show ­ ing him h o w to co n n ect to CARL thro u g h the libraries’ W eb page, search th e database, an d print ou t citations to articles h e fo u n d o f inter­ est. Next w e sh o w ed him h o w to access the online catalog from th e libraries’ W eb page and search th e catalog for journals. O ne of the ar­ ticles h e retrieved from CARL w as in a journal o w n ed by th e Flealth Sciences Library located o n the o th er cam pus, so w e finished u p our session b y show ing him how to access an in­ tercam pus d o cu m en t delivery form o n the Li­ braries’ W eb p ag e an d use it to request that the article b e faxed to his office. Benefits to the library As a result o f th e Internet Rx program , w e are learning a lot ab o u t th e faculty w e serve and their need s an d preferences. For instance, not all faculty have their o w n com puters, let alone N etscape or Mosaic access. For those w h o d o n ’t have access to a graphical brow ser, w e show them h o w to use Lynx from w ithin their e-mail accounts. Many of the faculty are interested in finding o u t h o w to get N etscape set u p o n their office o r h o m e com puters an d w e provide them w ith instructions o n h o w to FTP an d install the program them selves. W e have b e e n p leased to find that the fac­ ulty, at least those w e have visited, are enthusi­ astic ab o u t accessing library resources a n d services electronically from their offices (although o n e professor, a com ­ p u ter scientist, told us h e dislikes com ­ puters, b u t ev en h e adm itted it is m ore efficient for him to d o as m uch o f his library research as possible from his of­ fice). M oreover, faculty w an t to b e able to access these resources an d services from a single “point-of-entry” using simple, consistent com m ands and sophisticated yet intuitive search interfaces. W e also are getting a b etter idea o f the types o f electronic services th at are o f greatest inter­ est to faculty. O ne o f th e m ost p o p u la r is the CARL U nCover Reveal service, w hich allows faculty to regularly receive via e-m ail th e tables o f contents o f current issues o f journals they specify. In addition to being able to scan cur­ ren t journals in a timely fashion, the faculty like th e “passive” nature o f th e service— the inform ation com es to them . They n e e d only log o n to CARL to set u p their profile. After that, th e y a u to m a tic a lly receiv e th e in fo rm atio n they’ve req u ested in their electronic m ailboxes. In turn, th e faculty have taught us a thing or two. D uring o n e visit, the professor w e w ere w orking w ith ask ed if it is possible to save as a file th e personal inform ation required o n the electronic interlibrary loan form o n the Librar­ ies’ W eb p ag e so that h e w o u ld n ’t have to re­ type it each time he m ade a request. A col­ league o f his, w h o w as visiting from H ungary at the time, offered a solution to th e problem . W e w en t b ack to the library, experim ented w ith his m ethod, an d have since w ritten it u p as a simple set o f procedures that w e regularly bring w ith us o n office visits to share w ith others. Finally, o u r visits give us an opportunity to talk to faculty ab o u t library policies a n d issues in an informal setting, an d they have provided us w ith som e very p leasant social occasions as well. After m aking a presentation to th e m ath­ em atics faculty, an invitation w as ex ten d e d to stay an d join th em for their w eekly tea! We have plans to ex p an d th e program to involve the o th er librarians in th e Science an d Engineering Library, m atching their subject sp e­ cialties w ith the faculty’s research areas, and discussion is u n d e r w ay to team u p subject li­ b rarians w ith technical experts in A cadem ic Com puting to offer a similar program across the cam pus. W e feel that th e success o f the p rogram an d the g o o d public relations it is generating are a b o o st for staff m orale. In times o f shrinking budgets, it is nice to b e able to offer a service en h an cem en t like this. Finally, th e program is allowing us to ex­ perim ent w ith developing a n d delivering user- cen te red rather th an library-centered services an d to dem onstrate to the faculty the p o w er a n d potential o f W orld W ide W eb tech n o lo ­ gies for integrating access to a variety of library an d inform ation resources an d services. ■ faculty we have visited are enthusiastic about accessing library resources and services electronically from their offices