Mindy Cooper

Reference Coordinator
Team: Access Services
Office: 2116
Phone: (317) 274-0483
Email: mmcooper@iu.edu
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Mindy Cooper Photo

My job can be summed up in 7 words: reference service, usage statistics, and 2nd floor collections.

Since I started working at University Library as a student employee in 1992, I have worked with a lot of collections (periodicals, government documents, microforms, Pop Shop, reference and course reserves) and helped thousands of patrons at the old circulation and reference desks, and now the combined desk we call the Service and Information Desk.

While I still work with nearly all of those same collections, my main focus is reference.  As Reference Coordinator, I am charged with ensuring that our staff at the S&I Desk is trained in how to use library resources in order for them to share their knowledge (in person, on the phone, by email and chat) with our patrons and answer patrons' information needs.  Reference work is great because of the variety of questions that you get to answer and for the reward of helping people learn how to use the library and our resources.  And I have always enjoyed the thrill of the hunt!

Another big part of my job is to collect usage statistics.  I have gathered decades' worth of usage stats for our print journal collection, and have been compiling usage stats for our large number of electronic resources for several years.  This work has led to peer-reviewed articles in library journals and conference presentations.

To serve Access Services and University Library, and to add more variety to my everyday work, I like to volunteer for library and campus committees.  In the library, I am a member of the Campus Outreach Group, the Assessment Committee, and the Collections Working Group.  And I am proud to represent University Library on the IUPUI Staff Council.