Activity Details
Title: POWER Library: Training and Instruction
Narrative: The POWER Library has a dual user group: the general public and librarians. Librarians and teachers must be proficient in how to use POWER Library resources in order to show students and the general public how to use them.
Throughout the year training is scheduled to teach the uses for POWER Library resources, including how to use the statewide catalog and interlibrary loan system, chat reference services, online reference databases, and how to scan and use digitized resources. POWER Library training is designed to be flexible enough to address training needs all year long. Training is conducted annually using a combination of online documentation, in-person or webinar events, and with online recorded videos.
Last year, training was offered virtually in the fall, and in-person in spring. Virtual training is conducted using Zoom, GoToMeeting and/or GoToWebinar. 800 librarians attended one of 29 training sessions last year. Evaluations following training report that learning objectives were achieved 85-99% of the time. Training also helps librarians to meet their continuing education requirements.
In the fall of 2021, a live stream was offered for two fall training sessions: “Access PA and Interlibrary Loan: Putting it all together with SHAREit” and “POWER Library, Resource Accessibility, and the School Library: How POWER Library Can Help Bridge the Gap.” Concurrent viewers ranged between 30-40 participants. The live stream accommodated librarians who could not travel or could not meet our requirement to mask.
Recorded introductory training is available in the "For Librarians" section of the POWER Library for the interlibrary loan system, Chat with a Librarian, and for setup and use of digitization equipment and resources. The availability of recorded training helps to address staff turnover in between times when regular training is held.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to obtain and/or use information resources.
Activity: Instruction
Mode: Presentation/performance
Format: Combined in-person & virtual
Quantity
Presentation/performance length (minutes): 125
Number of presentations/performances administered: 29
Average number in attendance per session: 28
Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No
Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No
Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General
Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 2
Academic Libraries: 0
SLAA: 0
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 0
School Libraries: 0
Other: 10
Activity Details
Title: POWER Library: Chat with a Librarian
Narrative: Library services are not limited to physical buildings, which is the point of the POWER Library. Online services provide Pennsylvania residents with access to services regardless of time of day, or distance from a physical library building.
Pennsylvania residents have the ability to chat with a librarian online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with the POWER Library service: Chat with a Librarian. Administration of the program includes staffing, training, scheduling and monitoring the quality of chat sessions provided. Forty-three Pennsylvania public and academic libraries staffed the Chat with a Librarian service in the last year. When Pennsylvania librarians are fully occupied responding to chat sessions, or are unavailable, the service draws on librarians from an international pool of participating libraries. However, over 90% of chat sessions are picked up by POWER Library librarians, which ensures the answers are more relevant to our users. Users may ask anything, and are not prompted for any personal information, however if they wish to receive a transcript of the chat session, an email address must be provided.
HSLC continues to focus on user engagement and examines the best ways to reach audiences of different ages and types, by offering chat, texting and email as methods to connect with the service. Last year a Spanish Language queue became available, and we will expand Spanish language outreach next year. Exit survey results reveal that 96% of those surveyed rated the information they received as Good, Very Good or Insanely Helpful; 82% would definitely use the service again; 87% found the service on their library’s website or through a teacher; and 84% of users are clustered in the Philadelphia/Harrisburg/Pittsburgh areas.
Sample chat questions encompass a wide range of information needs, including general questions like: How do I renew my library card? In other cases, we are called up to help users find information that is highly personal, like: Helping a patron find research on Pancreatic Cancer. Their father was diagnosed, and they were concerned about heredity factors. Our Chat operator was able to immediately find them several good, authoritative resources for which they were grateful.
Many questions overlap with POWER Library other services, for example Does the library have any old yearbooks from the elementary schools and middle schools? These can be found in the PA Photos and Documents service. Or, Can you find me an article on the creatures of coral reefs? The answers were found in POWER Library e-resource databases.
Chat With a Librarian proves the value of having immediate access to a professional librarian on a daily basis. Often, the chat sessions are valuable simply because of the anonymity of the transaction. Questions someone is uncomfortable asking in a face-to-face reference interview can be more easily accommodated with an online session instead.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to obtain and/or use information resources.
Activity: Instruction
Mode: Consultation/drop-in/referral
Format: Virtual
Quantity
Total number of consultation/reference transactions: 29,905
Average number of consultation/reference transactions per month: 2,492
Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No
Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No
Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General
Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 579
Academic Libraries: 138
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 53
School Libraries: 2204
Other: 0
Activity Details
Title: POWER Library: Website Administration and Support
Narrative: The POWER Library portal is a one-stop location for online library services available to all residents of Pennsylvania. The URL www.powerlibrary.org connects users to Books, Movies and More (the statewide catalog), Chat with a Librarian (24/7 virtual reference), e-resource subscriptions for personal, educational and business use, and PA Photos and Documents, a digital archive of materials by, for, and about Pennsylvania. The website has 498 pages specially designed for use by adults, young adults, elementary school-age students, including 268 custom pages for librarians. The documents archive holds over 7,000 files. The POWER Library website was used by 367,865 unique visitors, who accessed 1,335,411 web site pages in 769,294 browser sessions.
In addition to the main user website, custom sites with resources appropriate to their audience levels are available for children in grades Pre K - Grade 3 at kids.powerlibrary.org and for middle and high school students at teens.powerlibrary.org. All three sites are built to be mobile-friendly, rendering well on all devices, whether PCs, tablets or phones.
The POWER Library also serves the professional librarians' community, with "For Librarians" pages, a location for professional support materials at: https://www.powerlibrary.org/librarians/. Unless restricted by contractual obligations, this content is open and available to librarians anywhere. Each POWER Library service available to the public has a corresponding location for professional support in For Librarians with documentation, training, participation information, statistics, and more. During the past fiscal year, web pages For Librarians were accessed over 96,000 times.
Within the For Librarians section of the portal, HSLC uses open-source code to further customize the website for the academic, public, K12 and Special collection libraries that participate. Examples include a customized registration process for training, a specialized form for custom training requests, and a POWER Library participation directory with library contact information, and an email system that turns support requests into Help Desk tickets. HSLC administration for the POWER Library program also includes regularly issued e-newsletters for both librarians and the public. Past issues are available in the For Librarians section. ACCESS PENNSYLVANIA News is issued twice monthly and features articles that assist librarians in using the POWER Library resources, and POWER Library News is issued monthly for the general public, highlighting e-resources, Chat and other POWER Library services. Read them here: https://powerlibrary.org/librarians/library-news/.
New efforts in the past year: POWER Library ramped up its social media presence, using Twitter (@powerlibrary), Instagram (@powerlibrarypa) and Facebook (facebook.com/powerlibrary), and posts about POWER Library services were issued on a weekly basis. In addition, a new accessibility software was added to the portal, offering users an embedded Screen reader, Contrast adjuster, Dyslexia-friendly tools, Text size and spacing adjustments. This allows visitors to use these features without external software. And finally, HSLC focused on user engagement for the POWER Library website, with user and non-user surveys conducted in the spring of 2022. Over 800 responses were received and this feedback will be incorporated into plans for a revised website that will be even more user-friendly.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to obtain and/or use information resources.
Activity: Content
Mode: Creation
Format: Digital
Quantity
Number of items digitized: 0
Number of items digitized and available to the public: 7,766
Number of physical items: 0
Number of open-source applications/software/systems: 3
Number of proprietary applications/software/systems: 2
Number of learning resources (e.g. toolkits, guides): 0
Number of plans/frameworks: 2
Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No
Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No
Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General
Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 579
Academic Libraries: 138
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 53
School Libraries: 2204
Other: 0
Question 1: I am satisfied that the resource is meeting library needs.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: Applying the resource will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Activity Details
Title: POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents
Narrative: As one of the original 13 colonies “the Keystone State,” Pennsylvania, has a rich and varied history that has been captured in photographs, documents, and artifacts of interest. PA Photos and Documents enables Pennsylvanians to search and browse the content digitized by libraries and other organizations across Pennsylvania. Digitizing aging and rare historical materials is important to preserving our collective history and cultural heritage, and to making them broadly available for research and study.
The PA Photos and Documents service supports the needs of middle school students, high school students, and adults, offering primary source materials that support reports, homework assignments and research. The archive includes over 800 collections by, for, and about Pennsylvania, with over 3 million pages of scanned content viewable by subject or contributing institution. PA Photos and Documents collections are harvested for inclusion in the Digital Public Library of America (dp.la), making them available for viewing from a national archive.
86 institutions provided 298 collections to PA Photos and Documents in the past year. They include the State Library, public libraries, public and private schools, academic institutions, and cultural institutions. The content ranges from yearbooks to cookbook collections, to local newspapers, and church and missionary history. Last year, over 1.4 million pages were viewed in PA Photos and Documents, making it the most visited service in the POWER Library.
The Pennsylvania State Archives also participates in the POWER Library, with images from over 33 state departments including Agriculture, Education, Health, and Justice and over 580 collections such as: Appointment and Commission Books for Civil Officers, 1790-2009; Cheney University Yearbooks, 1939-1988; Constitutional Convention 1776 Minute Book; Governor's Minutes, 1838-1959; Opinions of the Attorney General (PA)1874-1927; Postcards; Posters; Record of PA Medical Licenses, 1964-1971; Records of Drafted Men and Substitutes 1862; School Attendance Record (PA) 1935-1936; and Turnpike Commission Files 1938-1972.
The POWER Library digital archives uses the open-source platform Islandora and is available at: https://powerlibrary.org/collections/.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to obtain and/or use information resources.
Activity: Content
Mode: Creation
Format: Digital
Quantity
Number of items digitized: 0
Number of items digitized and available to the public: 3,522,059
Number of physical items: 0
Number of open-source applications/software/systems: 0
Number of proprietary applications/software/systems: 0
Number of learning resources (e.g. toolkits, guides): 0
Number of plans/frameworks: 0
Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No
Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No
Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General
Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 43
Academic Libraries: 21
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 14
School Libraries: 7
Other: 1
Question 1: I am satisfied that the resource is meeting library needs.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: Applying the resource will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Activity Details
Title: POWER Library: Statewide Online Catalog and Interlibrary Loan Management System
Narrative: The ACCESS PENNSYLVANIA statewide online catalog is a resource that serves the public, librarians and inmates in state corrections institutions. Known in the POWER Library as Books, Movies and More, it includes nearly 8 million titles of physical and electronic materials available for borrowing by Pennsylvania public, academic, special collection and high school libraries, saving over one million dollars in purchase costs in a typical year. The public may browse the statewide catalog collection at accesspa.powerlibrary.org to request titles not owned in local libraries. Librarians use the statewide catalog to request interlibrary loans for titles not available in local or system collections. The statewide catalog software generates a title request and begins to route it through the potential lending libraries. Lending libraries update the statewide catalog noting their intent to ship the book, DVD, etc., and then mail it to the requesting library. With nearly 40 million copies of titles, the fulfillment rate for requests is high. In this fiscal year, the average fulfillment rate for requests was between 81-85%.
This year over 94,000 titles were requested. With an average hardcover cost of $28.00 this represents a savings of nearly $2.6 million to borrow versus purchase the same material.
The ACCESS PENNSYLVANIA statewide catalog also serves state corrections institutions (SCIs). The full collection is duplicated into standalone systems for SCIs, making the collections of 1,200+ participating libraries available for borrowing. SCI systems are specially customized to operate without access to the Internet, and requests generate printed interlibrary loan request forms for SCI librarians to mail or fax to potential lending libraries.
The statewide catalog includes a custom catalog just for children in grades K – 5. This kids' catalog is available from the POWER Kids page at kids.powerlibrary.org, and serves up search results that are tailored to this audience level only. Jacket covers are especially popular, and the title records help younger children learn how to cite sources for homework and reports. The statewide catalog also serves as a large repository of cataloging records. These bibliographic descriptions of books, DVDs, videos and ebooks are available for download by participating libraries. Shared cataloging saves time and money, allowing librarians to export and modify cataloging records instead of purchasing records from vendors. Regular collection updates from libraries and their materials vendors ensure cataloging records are available for new titles.
Interlibrary loan activity dipped during the worst of the pandemic, but it has rebounded now that libraries have resumed regular operating hours.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to obtain and/or use information resources.
Activity: Content
Mode: Lending
Format: Combined physical & digital
Quantity
Total number of items circulated: 0
Average number of items circulated / month: 0
Total number of ILL transactions: 94,109
Average number of ILL transactions / month: 7,842
Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No
Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No
Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General
Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 420
Academic Libraries: 81
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 44
School Libraries: 876
Other: 0
Question 1: I am satisfied that the resource is meeting library needs.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: Applying the resource will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Activity Details
Title: POWER Library: Access to E-resources
Narrative: The POWER Library provided subscriptions to 31 online databases with thousands of full-text periodical articles, newspapers, photographs, pictures and maps to support the informational, educational, financial and personal needs of Pennsylvania citizens. These online reference databases cover topics of interest from toddlers to adults and also serve as reference resources for the Chat with a Librarian service operators. In the spring of 2022, 350 new eBook titles were added to POWER Library: some of those titles supplemented the EBSCO and Gale collections, and new titles were purchased from ProQuest. In addition, the Contemporary Authors database was updated with 2,869 new author records and 960 revised author records.
Direct access to online databases was provided from computers and devices at over 2,900 Pennsylvania public and school libraries, and remotely by home-users with a public library borrower card or e-card number at https://powerlibrary.org/e-resources. Examples of subscriptions include Academic Search Main Edition (full-text scholarly content for major college courses), Auto Repair Source (DIY auto repair manuals), Business Insights: Essentials (full-text articles and statistical data about companies and industries for business owners, marketing professionals, investors, and students), Gale One File News (full-text newspapers from more than 2,300 major U.S. regional, national, and local newspapers, plus leading titles from around the world), Health and Wellness (reliable health information through access to full-text articles of nursing and allied health journals, pamphlets, newsletters, periodicals, newspapers, encyclopedias), BookFLIX (video and books pairings for PreK - Grade 3 about Animals and Nature, Earth and Sky, People and Places, ABC’s and 1, 2, 3’s, Family and Community, Music and Rhyme), Cybersmarts (teaches children how to be safe, responsible, and smart citizens, offering eBooks that teach how to avoid predators, play games safely online, protect privacy, and use social networks), Informe Academico (supports Spanish-speaking researchers with a wide range of full-text Spanish- and Portuguese-language scholarly journals and magazines), and Science Reference Center (provides hundreds of full text science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and more than 280,000 high-quality science images).
These resources were searched by users over 32 million times, and over 7.5 million items were viewed. The subscriptions strongly support educational curriculum, and 64% of total items examined was attributed to elementary and secondary school students or their teachers. Leveraging statewide subscriptions for online database content resulted in each school having access to databases valued at over $55,000. Public libraries with access to POWER Library databases averaged savings in the equivalent of $90,000 in content for each library. Approximately 25% of K12 schools in Pennsylvania have access to POWER Library e-resources only.
Initiated at the onset of the pandemic, HSLC continued to offer a single sign-on (SSO) solution for easier access to e-resources. HSLC offered SSO to school districts and independent schools so that their students had immediate access to POWER Library e-resources once they logged on with their school email accounts. HSLC developed SSO services for schools using the Google and Clever platform, and over 169 schools and districts enrolled.
Intent: Improve users’ ability to obtain and/or use information resources.
Activity: Content
Mode: Acquisition
Format: Digital
Quantity
Number of hardware acquired: 0
Number of software acquired: 0
Number of licensed databases acquired: 31
Number of print materials (books & government documents) acquired: 0
Number of electronic materials acquired: 0
Number of audio/visual units (audio discs, talking books, other recordings) acquired: 0
Partner Information
Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No
Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No
Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General
Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types
Public Libraries: 579
Academic Libraries: 138
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 53
School Libraries: 2204
Other: 0
Question 1: I am satisfied that the resource is meeting library needs.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
Question 2: Applying the resource will help improve library services to the public.
Strongly Agree: 0
Agree: 0
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 0
Disagree: 0
Strongly Disagree: 0
Non-Response: 0
