Mobile Librarian Service to the Wayne State University College of Nursing

摘要

In recent years, College of Nursing faculty and students have visited the Science and Engineering Library (which houses the Nursing Collection) less frequently to obtain reference assistance and research support. Nursing faculty and students are using online resources for their research, but these patrons still need to be able to ask questions and obtain clarification about: database search strategies, electronic journal access and full-text document delivery. To address these important resource and service issues, the Nursing Librarian Liaison has been offering reference service and research support in person, on-site in the Wayne State University College of Nursing office building. This Mobile Librarian Service began in Fall Semester, 2006 and continues today for Nursing faculty and Ph.D., M.S.N. and B.S.N. students. This service takes reference and research support to the building where Faculty offices are located, and students gather for lectures. The main idea of this remote service is to provide reference directly to users in a more convenient setting. This poster session described the experiences of offering reference and research support in a non-traditional setting over a 3 year period. Issues related to this type of remote service including office space provided, scheduling and advertising, and data regarding faculty and student contacts were also presented. Other issues that were addressed included: evaluation, benefits, challenges of the service and future plans.