Category: Communications with faculty

Email: Streaming Media Reminder to Faculty

November 18, 2021 By Carol Ann Davis

Message sent on behalf of Carol Ann Davis, Associate Dean, to USF Libraries staff, USF department heads, and faculty identified as using streaming media.

This is a reminder email to faculty using streaming media in their courses for the spring 2022 semester and beyond. The USF Libraries will discontinue leasing titles on the Kanopy and Swank streaming platforms at the end of December 2021. Titles that are active at that time will continue until they expire; most titles are leased for 12 months at a time.

We continue to explore alternate options for providing streaming media in a sustainable way with predictable costs. This includes a subscription to AVON: Academic Video Online through ProQuest and Alexander Street Press. This will add around 70,000 streaming media titles to our collection as part of a database subscription, with the ability to add perpetual content each year that we subscribe (see attached brochure). This resource is still in process, so stay tuned for more information!

The USF Libraries continue to subscribe to database platforms that include streaming media; these titles are not included in the separate list of titles, so please take these resources into account when preparing your courses. These titles are also listed in the USF Libraries catalog. For other platforms with individual titles, we have a list of titles with expiration dates available and regularly updated. Content that is perpetually available will continue, and the USF Libraries is purchasing selected Kanopy content to keep some of the content available to the USF community in perpetuity. Unfortunately, not all titles are available for purchase.

Please also consult our curated a selection of freely accessible video and other media content on the Digital Learning Objects & Media Tools to Supplement Instruction guide.

Through December 2021, please continue to submit all streaming video requests through the Course Reserves function in Canvas. Instructions are available at https://lib.usf.edu/course-reserves/make-request/. If you encounter any issues in submitting through Canvas, please email LIBReserves@usf.edu. The maximum number of videos per course will continue to be limited to five (5) units.

Visit our USF Libraries Media Guide:

  • To search for movies and documentaries in the USF Libraries’ extensive DVD movie collection and online databases
  • To search by title to determine if the USF Libraries has perpetual ownership or expiring access to currently available streaming movies
  • To identify open access media alternatives
  • To consult our Frequently Asked Questions information

If you would like additional help finding alternate material, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

Best wishes,

Carol Ann

Academic Video Online Brochure

Email: Streaming Media Reminder to Faculty

October 18, 2021 By Carol Ann Davis

Message sent on behalf of Carol Ann Davis, Associate Dean, to USF Libraries staff, USF department heads, and faculty identified as using streaming media.

This is a reminder to faculty using streaming media in their courses for the spring 2022 semester and beyond. The USF Libraries will discontinue leasing titles on the Kanopy and Swank streaming platforms at the end of December 2021. Titles that are active at that time will continue until they expire; most titles are leased for 12 months at a time.

A full list of titles with expiration dates is available and will be updated regularly. Content that is perpetually available will continue, and the USF Libraries is purchasing selected Kanopy content to keep some of the content available to the USF community in perpetuity. Unfortunately, not all titles are available for purchase.

The USF Libraries continue to subscribe to database platforms that include streaming media; these titles are not included in the separate list of titles, so please take these resources into account when preparing your courses. We continue to explore alternate options for providing streaming media in a sustainable way with predictable costs. In the meantime, as a supplemental resource, we have curated a selection of freely accessible video and other media content on the Digital Learning Objects & Media Tools to Supplement Instruction guide.

Through the fall 2021 semester, please continue to submit all streaming video requests through the Course Reserves function in Canvas. Instructions are available at https://lib.usf.edu/course-reserves/make-request/. If you encounter any issues in submitting through Canvas, please email LIBReserves@usf.edu. The maximum number of videos per course will continue to be limited to five (5) units.

Visit our USF Libraries Media Guide:

  • To search by title to determine if the USF Libraries has perpetual ownership or expiring access to currently available streaming movies
  • To search for movies and documentaries in the USF Libraries’ extensive DVD movie collection
  • To identify open access media alternatives
  • To consult our Frequently Asked Questions information

If you would like additional help finding alternate material, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

Best wishes,

Carol Ann

Email: Streaming media on Kanopy and Swank platforms

September 15, 2021 By Carol Ann Davis

Message sent on behalf of Carol Ann Davis, Associate Dean, to specific USF faculty and shared with the USF Libraries staff.

Good afternoon!

You are receiving this information because you have been identified as a faculty member that requested streaming media via Course Reserves at some point in the past several semesters.

The USF Libraries have struggled with funding streaming media on the Kanopy and Swank platforms for the past few years in light of escalating costs and title requests. Due to the unsustainability of the streaming media models on these platforms and the cost to lease individual titles for 12 months at a time, the USF Libraries have made the difficult decision to discontinue leasing content on these two platforms at the end of the 2021 calendar year.

Content that is perpetually available will continue, and the USF Libraries are analyzing usage patterns of Kanopy content to determine which titles we can purchase-to-own to keep them available to the USF community in perpetuity. Other titles will expire individually during the 2022 calendar year. A full list of titles with expiration dates is available and will be updated regularly. As titles are purchased in a perpetual access/ownership model, those will be indicated on that page. Kanopy titles will be purchased (if available for purchase) as they near their current expiration date.

Titles on the Swank platform are more expensive, but we do have a limited number of slots that we purchased for this year. Once those slots are used, we will not be renewing the Swank contract. The Swank platform hosts a number of feature films, but with the proliferation of streaming media platforms for individual use, we are finding that some of our most popular selections are being removed from the Swank platform. The USF Libraries, as an institutional subscriber, are not able to lease content hosted on platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, or Disney Plus.

The USF Libraries continue to subscribe to database platforms that include streaming media. We have also curated a selection of freely accessible video and other media content on the Digital Learning Objects & Media Tools to Supplement Instruction guide.

For the fall 2021 semester, please continue to submit all streaming video requests through the Course Reserves function in Canvas. Instructions are available at https://lib.usf.edu/course-reserves/make-request/. If you encounter any issues in submitting through Canvas, please email LIBReserves@usf.edu. The maximum number of videos per course will continue to be limited to five (5) units. Visit our USF Libraries Media Guide:

  • To search by title to determine if the USF Libraries has perpetual ownership or expiring access to currently available streaming movies
  • To search for movies and documentaries in the USF Libraries’ extensive DVD movie collection
  • To identify open access media alternatives
  • To consult our Frequently Asked Questions information

If you would like additional help finding alternate material, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

Best wishes,

Carol Ann

Email: Streaming media on Kanopy and Swank platforms

August 23, 2021 By Carol Ann Davis

Message sent on behalf of Carol Ann Davis, Associate Dean, to all USF department chairs and shared with the USF Libraries staff.

Good morning, and welcome back for fall semester! I am copying department heads in this email; if you have faculty that use the Kanopy and Swank platforms, please share this information with them.

The USF Libraries has struggled with funding streaming media on the Kanopy and Swank platforms for the past few years in light of escalating costs and title requests. Due to the unsustainability of the streaming media models on these platforms and the cost to lease individual titles for 12 months at a time, the USF Libraries has made the difficult decision to discontinue leasing titles through Kanopy and Swank at the end of the 2021 calendar year.

Content that is perpetually available will continue, and the USF Libraries is analyzing usage patterns of Kanopy content to determine if we can purchase-to-own selected titles to keep them available to the USF community in perpetuity. Other titles will expire individually during the 2022 calendar year. A full list of titles with expiration dates is available and will be updated regularly.

Titles on the Swank platform are more expensive, but we do have a limited number of slots that we purchased for this year. Once those slots are used, we will not be renewing the Swank contract. The Swank platform hosts a number of feature films, but with the proliferation of streaming media platforms for individual use, we are finding that some of our most popular selections are being removed from the Swank platform. The USF Libraries, as an institutional subscriber, is not able to lease content hosted on platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, or Disney Plus.

The USF Libraries continues to subscribe to database platforms that include streaming media. We have also curated a selection of freely accessible video and other media content on the Digital Learning Objects & Media Tools to Supplement Instruction guide.

For the fall 2021 semester, please continue to submit all streaming video requests through the Course Reserves function in Canvas. Instructions are available at https://lib.usf.edu/course-reserves/make-request/. If you encounter any issues in submitting through Canvas, please email LIBReserves@usf.edu. The maximum number of videos per course will continue to be limited to five (5) units. Visit our USF Libraries Media Guide:

  • To search by title to determine if the USF Libraries has perpetual ownership or expiring access to currently available streaming movies
  • To search for movies and documentaries in the USF Libraries’ extensive DVD movie collection
  • To identify open access media alternatives

If you would like additional help finding alternate material, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

Best wishes,
Carol Ann

For more information, please see our Streaming Media FAQ.

Email: A New Library Catalog is Coming!

April 21, 2021 By Todd Chavez

Message sent on behalf of Todd Chavez, Dean of the USF Libraries, to all USF faculty.

Dear USF Colleagues,

Due to a recent legislative mandate, all Florida public college and university libraries are migrating to a new integrated, shared library catalog/discovery tool in July 2021. The “look and feel” of the USF Libraries website, catalog, and discovery search interface will not drastically change, but the underlying platform will improve access to and management of academic library collections.

Specifically, this new shared catalog will provide:

  • A shared catalog of library holdings enabling users to search materials owned by any public college or university in Florida.
  • Ability to search a statewide collection of over 400,000 online journals, e-books, and other valuable resources (access is tied to institutional ownership).
  • Access to more than 150,000 unique digital archive items and increased capacity to search and access local digital collections.
  • A statewide open educational community to promote and support textbook affordability and Open Educational Resources (OER’s).

As USF Libraries transitions to the new system, some changes will occur in the coming weeks:

  • As of May 1, U-borrow will be temporarily suspended, BUT book requests will automatically be redirected to ILLIAD, the USF interlibrary loan system, until the new catalog is in place.
  • As of May 27, no new items will be added to the library catalog until the transition to the new catalog is completed.
  • By mid-July the changeover to the new system will take place.

Please check https://lib.usf.edu/collections-and-discovery/new-catalog-and-discovery-migration/ for updates and changes as the USF Libraries transition to the new system. We hope to address any of your questions or concerns through a “Comments” form on the site. Thank you for your patience as we make this change as seamless for you as possible.

Email: USF Libraries Survey: E-Journal Prioritization (Arts & Humanities)

April 16, 2021 By Todd Chavez

Message was sent from Todd Chavez, Dean of USF Libraries, to Arts & Humanities department chairs and school directors.

Dear Department Chair/School Director,

You are receiving the survey concerning Arts & Humanities titles that were not renewed as part of the Strategic Budget Realignment process. Please distribute this link to the faculty in your department/school.

https://usf.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3dX1OBVpFXy5Bxs

We have artificially subdivided the title list into smaller lists by college and department (e.g. CAS: English, CAS: History, etc.) to make the process more manageable. However, we recognize that the interdisciplinary nature of research may mean that faculty in one department would have strong opinions about titles listed in another. Faculty are invited to register their preferences for titles in their specific discipline or for all of the titles listed in this survey. We have provided a “No Opinion” response option where there is truly no intersection with a respondent’s research needs.

Links to data and other helpful information concerning this survey are available here and in the introduction to the survey. Details regarding the USF Libraries’ Revisioning Collection Management process are available as well.

The survey is now open for responses. It will close on April 28 at 5:00PM to allow time to review and analyze results before faculty leave for the summer. Results (including raw data) will be placed on the Faculty Survey Data website once we have completed our work.

Todd

Please note that Dean Chavez also sent the above information to all USF Libraries’ faculty.

picture_as_pdf Email sent from Dean Chavez to Arts & Humanities department chairs and school directors, 4/16/2021

Email: USF Libraries Survey: E-Journal Prioritization (STEM)

April 16, 2021 By Todd Chavez

Message was sent from Todd Chavez, Dean of USF Libraries, to the STEM department chairs and school directors.

Dear Department Chair/School Director,

You are receiving the survey concerning STEM titles that were not renewed as part of the Strategic Budget Realignment process. Please distribute this link to the faculty in your department/school.

https://usf.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d5VIdagrRb8vCiG

We have artificially subdivided the title list into smaller lists by college and department (e.g. CAS: Chemistry, CAS: Geosciences, etc.) to make the process more manageable. However, we recognize that the interdisciplinary nature of research may mean that faculty in one department would have strong opinions about titles listed in another. Faculty are invited to register their preferences for titles in their specific discipline or for all of the titles listed in this survey. We have provided a “No Opinion” response option where there is truly no intersection with a respondent’s research needs.

Links to data and other helpful information concerning this survey are available here and in the introduction to the survey. Details regarding the USF Libraries’ Revisioning Collection Management process are available as well.

The survey is now open for responses. It will close on April 28 at 5:00PM to allow time to review and analyze results before faculty leave for the summer. Results (including raw data) will be placed on the Faculty Survey Data website once we have completed our work.

Todd

Please note that Dean Chavez also sent the above information to all USF Libraries’ faculty.

picture_as_pdf Email sent from Dean Chavez to STEM department chairs and school directors, 4/16/2021

Email: USF Libraries Survey, E-Journal Prioritization (Social Sciences)

April 16, 2021 By Todd Chavez

Message was sent from Todd Chavez, Dean of USF Libraries, to the Social Sciences department chairs and school directors.

Dear Department Chair/School Director,

You are receiving the survey concerning Social Sciences titles that were not renewed as part of the Strategic Budget Realignment process. Please distribute this link to the faculty in your department/school.

https://usf.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cT3XGA1CelYjDme

We have artificially subdivided the title list into smaller lists by college and department (e.g. CAS: Anthropology, CAS: Economics, etc.) to make the process more manageable. However, we recognize that the interdisciplinary nature of research may mean that faculty in one department would have strong opinions about titles listed in another. Faculty are invited to register their preferences for titles in their specific discipline or for all of the titles listed in this survey. We have provided a “No Opinion” response option where there is truly no intersection with a respondent’s research needs.

Links to data and other helpful information concerning this survey are available here and in the introduction to the survey. Details regarding the USF Libraries’ Revisioning Collection Management process are available as well.

The survey is now open for responses. It will close on April 28 at 5:00PM to allow time to review and analyze results before faculty leave for the summer. Results (including raw data) will be placed on the Faculty Survey Data website once we have completed our work.

Todd

Please note that Dean Chavez also sent the above information to all USF Libraries’ faculty.

picture_as_pdf Email sent from Dean Chavez to Social Sciences department chairs and school directors, 4/16/2021

Email: Revisioning Collection Management Updates

April 8, 2021 By Todd Chavez

Message was sent from Todd Chavez, Dean of USF Libraries, to the deans and Provost.

Colleagues,

This morning, this email was sent to Dwayne Smith so that he can forward it to his distribution list to begin the final review/revise phase of this year’s strategic budget realignment process. Surveys will go to the chairs/directors next Tuesday.

When the survey links are available, I will share them with you so that you can see what the faculty are seeing. In the meantime, you can review the full list of 671 titles impacted by the realignment process and supplemental data on the Faculty Survey Data website.

We plan to have all of this phase completed before the faculty leave for the summer.

Todd

Email: USF Libraries Survey, E-Journal Prioritization

April 8, 2021 By Todd Chavez

Message was sent from Todd Chavez, Dean of USF Libraries, to all deans and chairs from the Provost Office.

Dear Department Chair/School Director,

In October 2020, the USF Libraries began Revisioning Collection Management as a response to the 2020–2022 strategic budget realignment process and a decade-long pattern of unsustainable annual cost increases. Due to time constraints, we had to make difficult decisions based on analyses of a series of well-established variables. During the analysis phase we invited – and received – considerable faculty input, but are now entering a formal review/revise phase designed to solicit specific faculty feedback regarding library resources that were not renewed.

This is where we need your help.

On Tuesday, April 13, the USF Libraries will send you a Qualtrics survey concerning these non-renewed titles. We ask you to forward this information to your faculty; please feel free to send the information to graduate students in your departments if you wish to do so. Survey responses will help the library prioritize reacquisition of important resources using the remaining funds available following the strategic realignment process. To make the process more manageable for you and your faculty, lists of non-renewed titles are divided into three broad interdisciplinary clusters – arts and humanities, social sciences, and STEM – with each department receiving the category list most aligned with their content area. Links to data and other helpful information will accompany the survey.

All pertinent information concerning our process is available at lib.usf.edu/collections-and-discovery/revisioning/. If you are interested in information concerning specific titles, please consult the resources under review and/or retained resources links on this website. If you have follow-up questions, please contact your library liaison.

Thank you, and Go Bulls!

Discussion: Collections Management Revisioning, Q&A

March 11, 2021 By Todd Chavez

The USF Libraries Collection Advisory Group led a discussion with interested USF faculty members, offering a space for open conversation regarding the collections management revisioning process.

Afternoon Session.