A diversity of student populations is a significant feature differentiating ANAC members from classical liberal arts colleges. Nontraditional age students are one such population. Although their enrollment size and the range of programs vary on ANAC member campuses, some members offer undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs to nontraditional students on a large scale. Mercer University is one such example where 1,650 (36 percent) of Mercer undergraduates are nontraditional, enrolled primarily on four Mercer satellite campuses. In a recent email, Thomas E. Kail, dean of the College of Continuing and Professional Studies, summarized succinctly the ANAC mission to serve nontraditional students:
“Because one of the hallmarks of ANAC institutions is their innovative and entrepreneurial history and culture, the challenges of meeting the educational needs of nontraditional students are ones that we are in a position to address. We’re not the only answer to the problem of access to and need for more education, but what we know about making connections between liberal learning and professional education, theory and practice, and knowledge and experience can contribute to making lives and communities better places.
I believe Mercer is doing that in the communities it serves. If we are going to foster and promote democracy, it can’t be only to an elite who have high SAT scores (and, incidentally, wealth) and want the traditional residential experience, we also have to serve those who were never encouraged to think about the possibilities of a fuller life. It’s hard work, but worth doing.”
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New technologies are revolutionizing access to research information, enhancing uses of college and university libraries and impacting dramatically research at the undergraduate level. The new award-winning Christopher Center for Library and Information Resources at Valparaiso University was profiled in a past issue of the Bulletin. In this issue, Krystel Baggerly, a student archivist in Giovale Library at Westminster College, describes the impact that Griffin Search, a federated search engine, has had in facilitating library research at Westminster:
Westminster College is finding that its library, Giovale, is progressing with topnotch research aids for its patrons. On Giovale’s webpage, approximately 100 databases for journals and other publications can be accessed. With so many resources, it soon became apparent that an organization to make navigating the databases more user-friendly was needed. Thus, Giovale’s latest project, Griffin Search, was launched Sept. 30, 2005, to make the lives of students and faculty a little easier.
Jennifer Foy, systems librarian and administer of Griffin Search, says that Griffin Search is, technically, a federated search engine. “What that means is that formerly, when people did research for a paper, they had to search each database individually; with Griffin Search, they are able to search up to 8, 10 or all of our databases at the same time,” she says.
Despite the large number of databases included in each search, Griffin Search is very efficient. It allows users to choose what subject categories and/or individual resources to use when entering a search, including other features such as what date range the desired publications should be. Having subject categories is useful because they help take the guess work out of having to know which individual resource to use, which was a bit of an issue in the past, according to Foy, “the names [of the resources] aren’t always intuitive.” With Griffin Search, once a search is entered not only are the results neatly categorized, but a list of the chosen databases appears above with how many hits each database has.
WebFeat, a leader in federated search engines for libraries, built the search engine. “Any library can get it, and then they customize it for their library,” says Foy. Giovale worked closely with WebFeat to adapt it for the webpage and school, including what categories the library wanted and how to design it.
The plans and work put into the search were very particular. This also included the name for the search and the logo it would be associated with. Foy says, “We came up with a name that would be easily recognized by Westminster students,” and the mascot fit perfectly. In designing the griffin graphic for the logo, the work was turned over to Amelia Davis, a junior at Westminster College.
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