Innovation Grant Enhances Instructional Resources at NFC
MADISON, FL (May 15, 2024) – The North Florida College Marshall W. Hamilton Library (Library) was awarded a new Innovation Grant for over $5,200 from the Northeast Florida Library Information Network (NEFLIN) to secure multi-year funding for Niche Academy; a tutorial platform where the Library will expand and enhance instructional and supplemental information for students, faculty, and staff alike.
Prior to Niche Academy, NFC tutorials were either located separately from student lessons or lengthy in presentation. The new platform provided by the grant creates lessons and learning aids in a more concise and direct manner. The tutorials can now be embedded in courses and in key places on the NFC website, allowing students to locate information when and where they need it. The Library anticipates the seamless platform being more efficient in its delivery of content to students.
"We've only had access to the platform for a short time," said Jamen Brock, Coordinator of Library Services, "but we already see the potential to use it beyond the Library’s scope to provide students and employees with library-specific tutorials. We can also offer tutorials relating to other NFC resources and departments, technology, and more. It's very exciting and I'm enjoying spearheading the project."
The NEFLIN Innovation Grant is the second awarded to NFC. In 2023, the Library received over $7,000 to assist the purchase of sixty additional TI-84 calculators for students to borrow.
Brock will present the project's implementation and success at the NEFLIN Annual Meeting in Jacksonville in September.
NEFLIN is a non-profit, multitype library cooperative. Established in 1992, NEFLIN's members employ over 2,500 staff at 550 public, academic, school, and special libraries that serve over 4 million people across two dozen counties.
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