The New York State Library (NYSL) provided an electronic collection of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, and other databases licensed on a statewide basis for free public access through local libraries and remote locations such as home, school, and office.  The New York State Library NOVELny Help Desk registers libraries, assists with some questions, and refers libraries to the individual vendors for technical problems and individual library statistics.  Libraries can retrieve their own customized URLs (geolinks) for each of the NOVELny databases through a single website.  Help Desk questions are received and answered via both email and phone.  Over 5,900 libraries are registered for NOVELny. During this reporting period, the NOVELny Help Desk answered 64 telephone and email inquiries.  Help Desk operations ensure that all NOVELny users have equal access to library resources regardless of technical or other issues and help improve the user's ability to obtain and use information.

An external evaluator, Brockport Research Institute, was retained to assess the value, impact, and effectiveness of NOVELny resources in the context of the goals of the New York State’s Library Services and Technology ACT (LSTA) Five-Year Plan.  

The evaluation used as data sources a statewide survey conducted in October 2020 (890 complete responses out of 2,675 individuals who were sent the survey link, response rate = 33.2%) and 20 interviews conducted in February and March 2021. Survey and interview respondents included directors/managers and library staff at a variety of library organization types, including school libraries and school library systems, public libraries and public library systems, academic libraries, special libraries, and reference and research library resources councils representing rural, urban, and suburban communities from all counties in New York State.

Survey and interview respondents indicated they value NOVELny as a source of high quality, comprehensive, and trusted information provided at no cost to individual libraries. Respondents indicated that the internet accessibility of NOVELny resources, the ease of log-in/signing in, and the availability of NOVELny in non-English languages improve accessibility to all residents of New York. Lack of high-speed internet access, particularly in rural communities, was raised as a barrier to accessibility.

The evaluation identified areas that reduce the effectiveness and impact of NOVELny. Public library staff use NOVELny databases and recommend databases to library patrons at a lower frequency compared to other library organizations. By contrast, school library and school library systems directors and librarians use NOVELny databases regularly for instruction and other uses, and they feel the NOVELny databases fill their users’ informational needs. Directors and librarians from academic libraries, special libraries, and reference and research library resources councils indicated the scholarly research needs of their small libraries or library users are not met by NOVELny databases.

Recommendations to improve the value and effectiveness of NOVELny as an informational resource include:(1) Expand the number of high-quality databases to meet current informational needs of adult library users; (2) Improve non-database resources available through the NOVELny website to support adult users’ informational needs; (3) Improve public awareness and use of NOVELny resources through creative marketing and advertising; (4) Improve public library systems’ NOVELny training for their public library members. NOVELny resources that meet the information needs of all New Yorkers will be a valued resource toward achieving all LSTA Five-Year goals.

The results of the NOVELny external evaluation will be used by the New York State Library to guide future decisions about NOVELny database purchases  and improving the value and effectiveness of NOVELny databases.