Library Visit Academic Library
Regis University Dayton Memorial Library
https://www.regis.edu/academics/student-success/library
Digital Access
The Dayton Memorial Library is the academic library for Regis University, a Catholic institution. This library primarily serves the students and professors at the University. There are about fifteen bibliographers that work in the library. Each has two to three subjects that they specialize in. The person I interviewed Amy Hezel works in this library. She is the bibliographer for the English department as well as serving as the Discovery and Systems Librarian. “In academic libraries outreach services might involve assigning LIS professionals to act as liaisons with various departments. These individuals confer with faculty about their needs, or they might be “embedded,” or physically located in specific departments where they work closely as partners with faculty members, supporting their research and teaching” (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, p. 98). This was exciting for me to see because I would love to work with the history department of a university. The libraries website is easy to navigate. There are numerous databases, but they only serve the students and faculty. You must login to have access to the journals, books, and other materials in the library. One can visit the library and there is an “Ask the Librarian” help feature for online inquiries. I do not see any accommodations for the visually impaired or those for which English is their second language.
The Space and Physical Access
The Dayton Memorial library is on the campus of Regis University in Denver. The library is in a large building that is somewhat church-like. However, this might be because I know the University is a Catholic one. The library is spacious with numerous places for students to study quietly. There are of course numerous shelves of books, but it is easy to navigate. There are a few different types of indoor spaces. There are meeting rooms, a multimedia laboratory, government publications room, and they also offer a student food pantry. I think the spaces feel welcoming to the students and staff.
Services and Intellectual Access/People (Patrons and Staff)
I didn’t notice any special services other than the student food cupboard and tutoring services available. I believe the library uses the Library of Congress system for organization. The library catalog is accessible however one must be a student or a faculty member. The interactions between staff and students consist mostly of students asking for help or being shown were certain books or materials are located. There is not much diversity here. Most of the students are white and so is the faculty. This may be due the demographics of Denver, the private nature of the university, and that it is a Catholic institution. The library is easy to access if you are in a wheelchair or have other mobility issues.
Collections
The collections include many databases, books, and streaming media. The library just put in place a system called Lumen Plus which makes it easier to locate materials. It seems to be an extensive search engine that can access all the universities materials. The library has many resources typical of an academic library.
https://epublications.regis.edu/carousel_gallery/2/
References
[Photograph Regis University Library]. Epublications website Regis University. https://epublications.regis.edu/carousel_gallery/2/
Rubin, R. E., and Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.
Being a library liaison for a history department at a university DOES sound like an amazing job! I think it would be fantastic to develop relationships with professors and students to help their research grow—and be able to see that growth over the years. I bet you’d get to collaborate on a lot of fascinating projects, too! I think you’re right, this does seem like a pretty typical academic library. It would be great if libraries like this were able to open up to the public just a little bit more. I know they have to pay for all of their journal subscriptions and that there are financial reasons to limit access. But I’ve seen some talk at academic conferences about providing library access to all alumni forever—that seems like a decent service for academic libraries to consider, to me!
It’s great that you were able to coincide your librarian interview with one of your visits! I think it sounds interesting to hear that different librarians specialize in different departments. I wonder how they get to pick the department they work with or if they have to wait for whatever opening becomes available. I took a peek at their website and noticed that they also give borrowing privileges to other Jesuit Catholic university faculty members. I wonder how often the librarians end up working with staff from other universities. What was the student food cupboard that you mentioned? Are students able to get a snack from there while studying? I saw another library offer something similar but with free coffee and tea. Thanks for sharing!
I’m very interested to hear about a library at a religious institution! I love the idea of a Discovery and Systems Librarian. It’s great that the library is accessible mobility-wise, and unfortunate that the website has no accommodations for visual impairment or ESL. LumenPlus sounds interesting – I just Googled it a bit and it looks like it’s based on EBSCO but searches more than EBSCO does. The building looks great in the picture!
I am curious to know what they house in their collection as this is a faith base college library. You mentioned that there was very little diversity on campus, I wonder if that flows over into the library’s circulating and non- collection as well. Out of curiosity did you see anything on campus promoting diversity and inclusion at the Catholic library?
I wasn’t able to actually visit Charlene but overall Denver has a large Hispanic population but not as many African Americans. I didn’t notice much about diversity on their website.
Pretty nice religious institution. I like they have a food pantry for the students. It’s nice when the libraries have food outreach programs. Gives people another place to get help. I like how you linked the interview with the library visit. I also did that with one of my libraries.
I find it interesting that the library has a student food pantry. The most I’ve seen when it comes to providing food in academic libraries are vending machines. I wonder how a Catholic university is run and how it influences its library. It’s nice that the library’s website has many databases, which is a big help to the students and faculty. I wish that the campus was more diverse, but like you said, it could be because of the demographics, or it being a Catholic institution.