Research Library Implements Physical and Organizational Changes
Several physical and organizational changes designed to enhance faculty and student services have taken place in the Charles E. Young Research Library over the past several months.
The major organizational change has been the consolidation of the collection management and reference and instructional services departments into Collections, Research, and Instructional Services. Librarians and library staff in the humanities and social sciences now offer multiple services including reference desk assistance, one-on-one consultations with faculty and students, instructional and information literacy services, and collection development. Ellen Broidy is head of the new integrated department, which follows the model used at other libraries on campus and at other universities.
In keeping with this organizational change, a physical restructuring has brought the bibliographers, whose offices were formerly located on the Research Library's lower level, onto the main lobby level, where they will be more accessible to users. A comfortable consultation space is also being created near their offices, along with a new conference room with enhanced multimedia capabilities.
Additional shelving for materials owned by the Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library has been constructed on the south side of the second floor. This will alleviate overcrowding on the existing shelving and enable users to browse the shelves and find items more easily.
Longer term changes to the building include the addition of two group study rooms at the west end of the first floor. The rooms have already been constructed but are currently being used as staging spaces for staff displaced as other offices in acquisitions and technical services are shifted.
