In order to help the newcomers, Year 1 students of the school, to be able to make better uses of library resources, XJTLU Library recently has organized a guided Library Tour. This particular activity was carried out on the 28th – 29th August, and 1st – 4th September 2014. During the event, a group of XJTLU Year 1 new students were led by the library staff. The library staff brought the group around each part of the library while explaining the content layout of the library, various library services provided, the numerous academic books that the library had, and the OPAC retrieval system.

This particular Library Tour was organized by the XJTLU Library Customer Service Department. To ensure that the activity would go smoothly, the library staffs were fully prepared and ready. To reserve a place at the Library Tour, the new students could make an appointment and choose the tour time at the third floor of the library building. The library staffs also had placed work-related posters, as well as the Library Tour series of posters at various prominent places in the library. They also prepared various explanations bilingually in both English and Chinese so that they were able to deliver the information to students of different nationalities. Even more, XJTLU Library also prepared a bilingual classroom training presentations, as well as bilingual OPAC book retrieval system.

28th of August, at 09:00 am, the first session of the Library Tour started. The XJTLU Library Customer Service Department met the “tourists” on the first floor. Before the “journey” started, the library staff distributed to the new students the library brochure, surveys and the special XJTLU Library bookmark pen. The starting point of the Library Tour was the 24-hour Self-Returning Book machine: the library staff then explained in detail the use of the machine to the students. Afterwards, under the guidance of the library staff, the students swiped their cards to finally enter the library hall. After successfully entering the hall, the first stop is the Self-Circulation machine: the staff also explained carefully how to use the machine for both returning and borrowing books from the library. In addition, the library staff also explained the use of the review machine and the retrieving station. The colourful posters placed in the first floor of the library had also attracted the attention of the students, thus the staff made use of the posters to introduce to the students about the library’s home page, microblogging and all other public platforms that the library uses. The library staff also recommended training sessions offered by the library soon and encouraged the students to also join the Reader’s Love Reading Association.

Under the guidance of the library staff, the group moved towards the second stop of the Library Tour: the third floor of the Library building. Another library staff who had already been waiting for the students on the third floor then greeted them with enthusiasm and led them around the third floor, including the third floor information desk, the new arrival books, short-term loan, DVD and multimedia area, Lost and Found, self-printing area, electronic storage cabinets, and many other areas while describing each area in detail. Following the footsteps of the library staff, the students walk through the ramp to the fourth floor of the library. On this floor, the students were introduced to the computer room, newspapers and magazines district, IT service centers, group discussion rooms, and many more. The students also took the initiative to ask various questions, and the library staff readily and patiently answered each of them. As such, the students’ understanding of the library had indeed continued to deepen.

The last stop of the Library Tour was on the fifth floor of the library: room 516 and room 529. The staff assigned to each room guided the students on how to use the library OPAC Retrieval System, including how to use the book title (or the call number, author, etc) to find the information of various books, how to access My Library records, conduct renewal, and how to use the OPAC appointment and reservation books. After the explanation and demonstration, the library staff not only encouraged the students to try to sue the OPAC search books, but also helped any of the students who encountered difficulties. The students also took this session seriously and actively interacted with the staff. Finally, the staff introduced to the students an online quiz about the XJTLU Library Tour. The students would be able to visit the specified URL to answer the questions; should they get all the correct answers, they would get a small beautiful gift. And thus, the Library Tour had come to an end.

Under the careful guidance of the library staff, the group of students were led back to the first floor to fill out the questionnaire. If we looked closely, the ingenuity of the library was also seen on the table provided for the students to fill out the questionnaire: there were numerous special XJTLU Library bookmark pen – specifically arranged to form the word “LIBRARY”.  And thus, the half-an-hour Library Tour had been successfully concluded. The library staffs were once again in their assigned places, full of spirit and excitement to welcome the next batch of the “tourists”.

The Library Tour has not only provided an opportunity for the new students to learn more about XJTLU Library, but also improved the effective utilization of the library resources. Meanwhile, the XJTLU Library staffs believe that this is indeed a valuable work experience and they will help the library to continuously improve the service level and quality.

(Reporter: Wensi Dai  Editor: Felicia Lim, Linlin Lu)