On July 13, The Health Sciences Library Network of Kansas City (HSLNKC) presented awards to Kansas City area libraries for outstanding service to their institutions in 2020-21. The CUKC Ruth R. Cleveland Memorial Library received a 2021 Award for Outstanding Advances in Technology and Service.
Accepting the HSLN award for the University at the HSLNKC event were Simone Briand, M.S., MLS, library director; Melanie Church, library services specialist, and Andi Wall, serials manager.
The award’s description noted the move to remote course delivery by Cleveland University-Kansas City due to COVID-19 “tasked the library with maintaining services while also providing a safe physical space. The library rose to the challenge by enforcing safety protocols and implementing a pick-up service while adding online resources such as free scholarly content and a chat and text service. The efforts to better connect with users spurred initiatives in 2021 that led the library to adopt new technologies in service to their patrons.”
The CUKC library team explored options for migrating to a new system and selected Koha, an open-source system with support from Bywater Solutions that was implemented in spring 2022.
“As a result, the library now offers its users an updated interface, enhanced search features, a mobile functionality that had been lacking, and an improved work experience for staff,” Briand said. “The open-source system will also reverse the yearly rise in software costs and will instead reduce the operating costs by 37% and 58% over the next few years.”
The 16th HSLNKC Awards and Recognition Ceremony was held in person and by Zoom at Kansas City’s Linda Hall Library of Science and Technology and hosted by Kim Carter.
