Seamless user experiences in a brand new library

In order to provide seamless user experiences, the brand new libraries are far better positioned. They do not have to manage much in print, at least for the journal section, but huge electronic collection accessible via Internet. They do not worry about migrating to new systems or technology; they just start with whatever the latest available in the market, whether it is new generation ILMS, discovery tools, content management systems, mobile technologies, cloud computing etc. Patrons’ expectations for seamless experience are met - regardless of their location, device and service they opted for. The story of the two and half years old, Saudi Arabia’s brand new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s Library is not different. Huge amount of electronic resources also provide ever increasing challenges to the new generation libraries in collecting, organizing and delivering the right information, to the right person at the right time. Implementation of a good ILMS supported with better electronic resource management features will help in setting the house right. Well-designed user interfaces, supported with the web scale discovery tools will help the users to have a better search experience. Availability of library collection through the campus mobile applications, latest proxy technologies for out-campus access and integrating the resources to the campus e-learning platform are the main features of the library’s seamless experiences. Libguide platform is used for the first time in Saudi Arabia, to create online research guides by subject librarians. An institutional repository, based on D-Space platform is about to release. Ninety percent of our collection is online; they are purchased, organized and accessed online, like any other brand new academic research libraries. Analysis of usage statistics of different resources show that they are highly used and usage is increased over two years, as the technology improved and implemented.