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Library News for the Faculty |
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Fall 2003
In This Issue
Vendor Selected for Online CatalogThe formal procurement process to select a new online information system has concluded with Endeavor Information Systems being awarded the contract to replace ORION2, the UCLA Library's current system. Voyager, Endeavor's integrated information management system, features a Web-based public access catalog, cataloging functions, acquisitions and serials management, circulation services, and course reserves. Other major academic and research libraries using Voyager include Columbia University, Cornell University, the Getty Research Institute, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, Princeton University, University of Illinois, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Wisconsin system, and Yale University. User input was an essential element of the evaluation process that led to the selection of Voyager. Responses to a survey and focus groups during Spring 2002 helped identify key points of functionality users felt were essential in the new system; these were incorporated into the Request for Proposal that was issued in Fall 2002. The three systems that submitted proposals were then evaluated by UCLA students, faculty, and staff, who offered feedback after formal demonstrations and individual "test drives" during February and March 2003. The implementation of the Voyager system will begin immediately, with the goal of launching it to users in Fall 2004. Go to the Web site at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/new-orion> to track the progress of the implementation. Throughout this process, user input will be needed in deciding on the functionality and graphic design elements of the public access catalog; if you would like to participate in that process, please send an email to <new-orion@library.ucla.edu>. From University Librarian Gary E. StrongIt is my very great pleasure to greet you as UCLA's newest university librarian. I'm delighted to be joining the UCLA family, and I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and highlight several areas I hope to focus on in the coming months. Although I am new to UCLA, I am extremely familiar with California libraries at all levels from my tenure as California State Librarian during 1980-94. One of my proudest accomplishments while in that position was the creation of the California Research Bureau, one of the state's finest non-partisan public policy research organizations. More recently, for the past nine years, I was director of the Queens Borough Public Library, the busiest public library in the United States. In fact, my 30-year career has encompassed positions in a variety of public, private, and academic libraries, giving me broad familiarity with the unique issues confronting libraries in the 21st century. Although I'm well aware of the challenges the campus and the Library are currently facing, I'm energized by the opportunities I see here. The Library's remarkable collections justly draw praise from local, national, and international scholars. My goal is not only to continue to build our collections to support UCLA teaching and research but also to explore and utilize new dimensions of technology that provide alternate mechanisms of access to library materials. It is gratifying to know that so many faculty have themselves been generous to the Library with both materials and funds, and I look to intensify our fundraising efforts to enhance and secure collections and support other Library needs. Over the past several years the Library has expanded its services in areas such as online reference and information literacy, and its recent participation in the national LibQUAL+ project (see separate story) marks a new phase in gathering user input on library services. I plan to build on these successful efforts and will work closely with users to continue to enhance our services to meet your needs and expectations. And speaking of your needs and expectations, I also plan to improve our communications with faculty. We need and value your input, and we will be focusing on more proactively and systematically seeking your opinions and ideas. Although not yet close to one hundred years old, the UCLA Library is ranked in the company of such esteemed institutions as the libraries of Harvard and Yale. I plan to build on that well-deserved reputation by raising the Library's profile nationally and internationally, because I know that our deeper involvement in international programs and initiatives will benefit both this campus and the broader library world. The UCLA Library may be one of the finest in the country, but our collections, services, and staff are only valuable when they meet your research and instructional needs. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the coming months, and I encourage you to let me know whenever you have questions, suggestions, or criticisms. You can reach me by email at <gstrong@library.ucla.edu> or by phone at extension 51201. -- Gary E. Strong Library Reduces 2003-04 BudgetThe Library began planning its 2003-04 budget in February of this year, incorporating a 2% 2002-03 mid-year cut and a further 5% cut projected by UCLA campus administrators. When the state budget was signed in early August and UC funding was finalized, those projections were nearly on-target; the Library's 2003-04 budget was cut 6%, or $2.1 million: $700,000 from collections and $1.4 million from operations. A set of guiding principles shaped the decision-making to implement the cuts: to minimize the impact on users; to think strategically and systematically to position the organization for the long term, given future budget cuts; and to avoid layoffs if at all possible. With those principles in mind, the Library has taken the following actions. Reductions in the collections budget are being implemented by managers at each library, who have decided to what extent to cancel journals and to reduce spending on monographs in order to meet their reduction goals. Three specific strategies guided their decision-making: to eliminate duplication of format (i.e., cancel print subscriptions for journals to which we have a license for electronic access), eliminate duplicate journal subscriptions across campus libraries, and eliminate duplicate purchases of monograph titles, except when needed for course reserves. Faculty members were contacted and invited to offer feedback on the proposed list of journal cancellations prior to final decisions being made. The chancellor has committed $800,000 in permanent funding beginning in the 2003-04 fiscal year to ease the problem of continuing inflation in the cost of library materials. Collection managers are also implementing both local solutions and cooperative, longer-term strategies to reduce costs and maintain access to required information in support of faculty and student needs. Several internal organizational changes have eliminated 25.5 open positions, resulting in substantial permanent salary savings without layoffs. Interlibrary loan operations for south campus libraries have been consolidated at the Biomedical Library; acquisitions operations for the Arts, College, and Research libraries and for the Biomedical and Science and Engineering libraries have been combined; and three cataloging centers have been consolidated. Library hours have been cut by a minimal amount. During academic sessions the libraries with the highest usage (Biomedical, College, and Research) will maintain hours that are the same as last year. Smaller subject libraries may have some reduction in hours during academic sessions, but every effort has been made to keep changes minimal. Most libraries will have greater reductions in hours during intersessions, although the Biomedical and Research libraries will maintain weekday intersession hours that are the same as in the past few years. The chancellor has committed $1.1 million in temporary funding for 2003-04 to help pay for the Library's new catalog (see separate story). This has eased the pressure to identify additional cuts in library operations to pay for this new information system. These actions will enable the Library to achieve its budget-reduction goal for this fiscal year, although there are circumstances that may necessitate further cuts. Along with other campus units, the Library has also received its preliminary budget target for 2004-05, which will require further budget savings planning, following the guiding principles outlined previously. What's New with the California Digital LibraryNew Melvyl Catalog Launched New Resources Available These and all other CDL-licensed collections can be accessed through the Web site at <http://www.cdlib.org/directory>. Update on UCLA Response to Library Service Quality SurveyLast April the UCLA Library was one of more than 300 academic and research libraries across the country to participate in LibQUAL+, a national project to measure service quality in libraries. The Library's goal in participating is to identify areas in which users feel that services need improvement to better meet their research and instructional objectives. A random sample of 3,957 UCLA users (1,438 faculty; 1,190 graduate students; and 1,329 undergraduate students) was selected to take the 25-question survey. Nearly 600 responded, for an overall response rate was just over 15%, which compares favorably with response rates at other institutions. The Library has received a detailed analysis of UCLA responses from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), which co-sponsors the LibQUAL+ project. ARL has also given the Library the raw survey data and open-ended comments provided by 233 respondents. Library staff members are in the process of reviewing the complete results. Next steps will include drafting a plan to improve our services to meet users' needs and expectations. Updates will be posted on the LibQUAL+ Web site at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/libqual>. UCLA Library Staff News2003 Librarian of the Year. Valerie Bross, serials cataloger and digital resources cataloging coordinator at the Charles E. Young Research Library, was named the 2003 Librarian of the Year by the Librarians Association of the University of California, Los Angeles (LAUC). The award recognizes Bross's many accomplishments, including her efforts to move the Library's online information system into the digital age by ensuring that users have seamless access to both digital and print resources through the ORION2 catalog. LAUC is the University of California's primary organization for professional librarian and governance affairs. Robert Bellanti Honored by SLA. Robert Bellanti, interim associate university librarian for public services, received the Factiva Leadership Award at the Special Libraries Association (SLA) annual conference in New York in June. This annual award honors an SLA member who exemplifies leadership through excellence in personal and professional competencies. Bellanti began his UCLA career in the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library and, prior to becoming interim associate university librarian, was director of the Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Management Library and associate director of Anderson Computing and Information Services. Information Literacy Instruction in ActionFaculty and Library Focus on Students' Research Skills How much do UCLA undergraduate students know about the scholarly research process and how to use library resources to gather information for papers, projects, and assignments? Twenty-seven faculty members from across campus accepted an invitation from the UCLA Library's Information Literacy Initiative to participate in focus groups to discuss their views about students' level of expertise in this area. Four focus groups took place during May 2003. Faculty from the arts and humanities (art history, classics, French and Francophone studies, world arts and cultures, writing program), social sciences (political science, sociology), and sciences (chemistry and biochemistry; geophysics and planetary physics; organismic biology, ecology, and evolution; psychology; statistics) met in three separate groups to discuss issues and concerns relating to students in their areas. Faculty from the GE clusters met in a fourth group to discuss the special concerns of students in these areas. The sessions proved to be both lively and informative. Preliminary findings indicate that faculty in all departments are concerned about their students' lack of understanding concerning the scholarly research process. Students do not know how to locate and select appropriate material for assignments, nor are they skilled at evaluating the quality and appropriateness of the material they do locate. Furthermore, they seem to be ignorant of the issues surrounding intellectual property and as a consequence often commit what was referred to as "unintentional" plagiarism. The consensus was that improving students' scholarly research skills is an important issue that urgently needs to be addressed, and participants suggested a number of ways in which Library staff and faculty could work together to develop more opportunities for students to improve their skills in this area. Among them were expanding work with the GE clusters and the writing program and working with various curriculum development committees across campus as well as with committees and task groups which focus on improving students' educational experiences at UCLA. An extensive analysis of the data collected at the focus groups is nearly complete, and a final report will be distributed to faculty participants for comment during in Fall 2003. The report will also be mounted on the Information Literacy Initiative Web page at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/infolit>, and excerpts will appear in upcoming issues of Library News for the Faculty. Meet Frankenstein at the LibraryA pair of exhibits focusing on Mary Shelley's remarkable creation visit UCLA this fall. "Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature," a traveling exhibit organized by the National Library of Medicine and the American Library Association, will visit the Powell Library Rotunda from November 12, 2003, through January 9, 2004. In six sections the exhibition examines the birth of the novel and its precocious creator; early 19th-century science as reflected in the novel; political, social, and cultural themes explored in the novel; the transformation of the monster on stage and on film; the story's continuing popularity in the United States; and questions raised by the novel that apply to emerging biomedical innovations. "'Was I then a monster ...': Frankenstein's Remarkable Birth and Enduring Life," a companion exhibit in the Charles E. Young Research Library lobby, will present related materials in library collections. In addition to the original 1818 and subsequent rare editions of the novel, this exhibit will feature early editions of other works by Mary Shelley, her husband, her parents, and her friends as well as source materials she may have drawn on in science, philosophy, and history. It will also include scholarly works about the author and the novel and about the novel's theatrical and film descendants. A number of public programs are being planned to explore and celebrate the novel and its legacy. Visit the Web site at <http://www.library.ucla.edu/frankenstein> for a complete schedule. |
