Operations and Web Services: Spring 2025 Report

This Spring Semester for the Operations and Web Services Team mostly continued to be about researching and planning future adoptions, some of which are reflected on below. As we found, much of our research and planning is tied into system configurations which require nearly perpetual tweaking, modification, and reassessment.

Average Daily Visitors: 587

Self-Bookable Room Bookings: 3498

Large Room Bookings: 86

Seat Bookings: 480

eBook Investigations: 886144

eBook Downloads: 786742

LibAnswers Adoption

In the Spring, after several consecutive semesters of push and pull, the Team finally got the rest of the library onboard with a gradual transition from FreshDesk to LibAnswers.

It began as a modest proposal to overhaul the well-known FreshDesk “Ask a Librarian” interface, which would have primarily involved aesthetic revisions. After realizing that the stock interface didn’t lend itself easily to revisions, we acknowledged the possibility of replacing the page with another type of interface, such as a Google Form. Because the team had experience with the technology and it had been part of the conversation at various times, we also borrowed a LibAnswers sandbox from Springshare to design a version of the form there, as well. 

Recognizing the easy embeddability of both the question form and other widgets for frequently asked questions, we proceeded to configure other areas of our LibAnswers sandbox to fully visualize the backend experience of their system. Eventually, we had a fully configured system that could easily replace FreshDesk in the event of a serious outage.

By the end of May, after we had already extended our usage of the temporary sandbox for several months, we approached the possibility of receiving another demonstration of the product from the Springshare Sales team. They encouraged us to procure a trial version of the site from them, which would serve as our fully configured LibAnswers instance in the event of our full commitment, which we agreed upon by the end of the semester. More robust configuration work – including establishment of workflows for ticket handling, chat services, and FAQ curation; as well as the simple question of migrating assets from FreshDesk – continues into the present.

ArchivesSpace Adoption

LibAnswers wasn’t the only new product under consideration for the Library’s digital suite in the Spring semester. The Operations and Web Services team also collaborated with the Special and Digital Collections staff to review ArchivesSpace as an option for hosting finding aids. The Team’s role in this project was to review the technical dimensions of such an adoption with the intent of hosting the Library’s content locally. 

Over several weeks in the Spring, we modeled a variety of solutions to the storage and access issues related to a local repository for the finding aids. Work continues on this project into the present, and more recent questions have emerged about the possibility of collaborating with a third party to host the content, as is common practice for various other institutions.

Resource Sharing through Alma

Another site of collaboration was with the Technical Services Team on the proposal to adopt and configure the resource sharing components of Alma, our Library Services Platform. Part of this schema would also necessarily involve integrating the library’s resources with WorldCat, the driving mechanism behind most resource sharing worldwide. Such a solution, if embraced in our Library, could potentially expand our borrowing and lending capacities by exposing our collections to a broader community of libraries. Our role in this was to assess the privacy implications of sharing patron data through an API with an outside organization, and determining how – if at all – we would be able to reduce the exposure of our patrons as part of the process. 

Ultimately, we landed on a “two birds with one stone”-type solution: purge contact information from our database, which additionally protects patron privacy in a broader sense, while also meeting in-house demands for enabling the data transfer to OCLC – the organization behind WorldCat. This purge involved a small rewrite of one of Alma’s critical routine jobs: the patron data load from the College’s student information system. With the help of IT, we were able to replace those fields with null values, effectively hiding that information from the library while preserving it in the originating system.

It was through this that the Team learned a great deal about Alma’s relationship with the College’s student information system, Banner. Alma runs an automated job four times a day in which it takes information from student, faculty, and staff records and copies it to their system records. Certain anomalies occur, however, when a patron’s status changes from one patron type to another. Indeed, a number of former students at the College who became staff members did not have patron records because the incoming feeds from Banner recognized those individuals as alums because their old student records had expired after they graduated. After determining this error, we had the tools and methods to unclog the machinery of the system.

Web Accessibility Task Force

Members of the Team also joined the College’s Digital Accessibility Task Force on behalf of the Library in the Spring. The Task Force’s ultimate goal is to make the College’s web presence fully accessible to all users by April 2026, and the Library has a sizable stake in that as a uniquely internally focused body. Work on the committee so far has mainly focused on finding a consultant who could effectively shepherd the Task Force’s interests into a cohesive project timeline, after which a proper RFP can be crafted and a remediation firm can be hired.

Facilities Updates

• Treadmills

• The Library purchased two new treadmills for the first floor, but newly manufactured dashboard/console issues were ongoing, so they were regularly out of service. We alleviated with maintenance calls and replacement parts.

• PrinterLogic

• TC discontinued GoPrint and implemented PrinterLogic late in Fall 2024, and the Library has since experienced patron issues with connectivity/job retrieval. We are still working to alleviate with TCIT via incident tickets and continued communication with leadership, as well as inquiring about CU PawPrint expansion.

• Eboards

• The Library purchased individual keyboards to more easily troubleshoot eboards display issues, eliminating the need for TCIT only dependency, thus information is more timely reflected.

• Myers Award

• The Library’s Myers committee reviewed Spring 2025 applicants for upcoming Fall 2025 awardees, whose work is displayed in Offit Gallery during the term. During interviews, we discussed budget breakdowns, completed contract review with OGC, and will begin purchasing supplies for artists’ work commencement in Summer 2025 for Fall 2025 exhibitions.

• Third floor upgrades

• The Library received capital project funding for the third floor carpet replacement, which was under construction during Spring Break, when campus is not as busy with space usage.
• It was addressed in TC Student Senate meetings that loud sounds from the collaborative second floor often travels up to the third floor quiet space. To alleviate, the Library installed sound panels along second floor columns, facing toward congregation areas where noise would most often be absorbed.
• Additionally, per TC Student Senate, the Library coordinated with Facilities electricians to check all floor outlets on second floor to ensure functionality.