Joel Glogowski, Economics, Public Management and Policy, and Business Librarian at Georgia State University Library, will receive the BRASS/Business Expert Press Award for Academic Business Librarians Award, which we'll be delivering at the RUSA Award Ceremony at ALA on June 24.
Talk a bit about what drew you into librarianship in general, and to business librarianship in particular.
As an undergraduate history major at Union College I had to write a senior thesis. That was my first introduction to scholarly research. I enjoyed the process of digging through databases and catalogs, generating search terms and thinking about how to approach my topic from various angles. After I graduated from college I served for a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer working on a series of entrepreneurship classes for single parents and minorities in rural South Dakota. I felt in many ways my role was similar to that of a librarian in that I worked to provide resources to people with specific information needs. When I first started at Georgia State University my job responsibilities focused on undergraduate research. I didn’t have a subject specialty and I never thought I would end up as a business librarian. It wasn’t until a departmental reorganization in 2009 that I became a subject librarian. There was an opportunity to fill an open business librarian position. I thought it would be a great opportunity to develop a different set of skills so I gladly took on the new responsibilities. I’ve really enjoyed working with the business students and faculty.
What are the most frequently-asked questions you get from your students about business issues? What's topmost on their minds?
Lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about globalization. The entire university is working on globalization initiatives and the Robinson College of Business is driving a lot of that. Of course there are concerns about what’s going on in Europe and the impact that will have on the global economy. But students are always looking for opportunities and potential new markets all over the world.
What role is electronic content, and in particular electronic books, playing at GSU? How are students (and faculty) using them, and what are the key features they're seeking -- are bells and whistles important, or is a simple interface and a PDF for downloading sufficient?
Students are really drawn to electronic articles. The transition to ebooks has been a little slower. Although, as mobile devices, tablets etc. are becoming more popular I see more students becoming comfortable with ebooks. Georgia State University is largely a commuter school and many of the students commute a long way. For those students the ebooks are really great. We have recently added a couple of ebook collections to the library. We haven’t done a formal assessment of student and faculty attitudes towards ebooks, but from talking to students and faculty in class it seems like they want the ability to download and to highlight and comment on the text. DRM limits some of the flexibility students have with ebooks which is why, I think, they haven’t been more popular. I understand the Business Expert Press ebooks are DRM free, which makes them a really attractive option for places like GSU.
Any exciting initiatives underway at the library? Whether technological (new web interface or discovery tools?) or policy-oriented (how you work with faculty/students), what's changing at GSU?
Last fall we rolled out EBSCO’s EDS and made it the default search box on our library’s homepage. Students really like the efficiency it offers. We also developed a mobile website last fall that’s generating a lot of interest. According to our stats over 13,900 different people visited the site through April 16th. This summer we’re planning to offer games via social media that aim to increase student awareness of library services and promote library skills.
