Our Organization

During these “unprecedented” times Cline Library has been there for Lumberjacks – and we keep moving forward.  Cline Library has been serving students and faculty at a distance since 1986, so while the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging on many fronts, we were lucky to be among those libraries well positioned to provide resources and services to our users, whether they were in the building or online.  At the same time, we have had many new opportunities to review, reflect and reimagine how we can best serve our users as they continue their learning, research and teaching journeys in a very different world.

One positive outcome is that like many organizations, we are finding that some of our unanticipated improvements and adaptations are working so well that we plan to continue them. For example, those who want to see how busy the library is before visiting can check the Cline-O-Meter, which is available on the library homepage (select the “How busy is the library right now?” button) and via the library module on the NAUgo app (select “Check Occupancy”). This tool is just one example of the resiliency, creativity, and commitment to delivering outstanding library services, resources, and programs that library staff have brought to their work during the pandemic.

Here are a few other ways that Cline Library is making a difference:

• Cline Library collaborated with ASNAU (NAU’s student government), faculty, academic departments, the NAU Bookstore and the Office of the Provost to make textbooks and other learning materials more affordable for NAU students through the adoption of free Open Educational Resources and the deployment of library e-books.  Thanks to the generosity of donors who responded to the library’s Textbook Affordability Challenge, a growing number of NAU students have fewer textbooks to purchase. By investing $5,500 of the $7,500 raised in online textbooks, Cline Library saved NAU students in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Health and Human Services a total of $146,000.  This is just a start.
• A partnership with Cline Library, Information Technology Services, and the Office of Student Affairs, makes laptops available to qualified students for an entire academic year. Applications for the program are reviewed and approved through the Office of Student Affairs and selected based on individual circumstance and/or financial need.  This program began on the Mountain Campus, was expanded to students in the greater Phoenix area at NAU’s I-17 North Valley location in 2021 and is launching at NAU-Yuma in early 2022.
• Throughout the course of the pandemic, many faculty made use of the library’s One Button Studio to create engaging course content for the BbLearn course shells.  The room (part of the library’s suite of Creation Spaces) is a simplified video recording space which allows users to create high-quality video projects without having to know anything about lights or cameras.
• A $70,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the Arizona State Library allowed Cline Library staff to partner with faculty in NAU’s College of Education to integrate extended reality into the college’s Educational Technology coursework.  The library has developed a circulating pool of extended reality equipment for NAU students and regional K-12 teachers to use in the classroom, while simultaneously providing training, consultations, and a content creation studio.
• NAU and six other universities from across the U.S. known as leaders in accessibility have received more than $2 million in grant funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund Federating Repositories of Accessible Materials for Higher Education, a project aimed at streamlining the process of providing resources for students with print disabilities.  Cline Library in partnership with NAU’s Disability Resources Office is participating in the development of a shared repository for accessible course resources.
• Cline Library’s Special Collections and Archives was awarded a $349,526 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the digitization of rare and unique moving images documenting the human and natural history of the Colorado Plateau. The 400 moving images in question are held by SCA and three regional cultural heritage partners: the Hopi Tribe, the Hualapai Tribe, and Diné College on the Navajo Nation. All together these moving images offer a glimpse into the collective, complex, and nuanced history of the American Southwest as recorded on film.
• Special Collections and Archives also received an $18,000 grant from the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona for “The Shades of Route 66: Celebrating Diversity Along Historic Route 66 in the State of Arizona.”  Two paid interns are collaborating with NAU archivists and faculty to research and collect under-documented stories and develop an online StoryMap exhibit.  The project will provide a fresh, unique and contrary perspective of the human and built environment along the “Mother Road” in Arizona.
• Architecture firm Sasaki worked with the Library and NAU Facility Services to conduct a master plan for the library building. This planning process was informed by a campus-wide survey, a steering committee of NAU stakeholders from across campus, a library planning team, and more.  We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to imagine the future of not only our library building but also of the services and connections we hope to make in the future with our community.