Minutes for WETALC, Oct. 7, 2006
The Fall 2006 meeting was hosted by Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson. Hope Shull and her staff provided a wonderful lunch. The program was an excellent demonstration of the new Gale PowerSearch interface by Gale trainer, Sara Tarpley. Because the program was so lengthy, there was only a brief informal Director’s meeting with no minutes.
CBU Report
We have a new staff member in our Acquisitions/ Public Services position. Maya Berry has joined the staff taking on the responsibilities of Suzanne Mangrum who left us in June to relocate the Murfreesboro area. Maya most recently worked at the Memphis Public Library. She is a graduate of the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Our proposal for faculty status for the librarians at CBU is now in the Policy Committee of the Faculty Assembly. The president of the Faculty Assembly hopes to be able to vote on their recommendation at the November meeting.
At the beginning of the academic year the President of the university met with all departments. He visited the library and spent about 45 minutes talking with the whole staff about library issues. He agreed that the library could use a little bit of a face lift and asked the staff to make a plan for which a donor might be found to fund the project.
The admissions staff has worked really hard in the last year and while they did not meet their goal, enrollment is up slightly and the entering GPA is up as well.
Benjamin Head attended the weeklong Information Literacy Immersion program that was held in Texas in July.
Margaret Cardwell attended the TICUA meeting for library directors in Nashville in Sept.
The History E-Book project from ACLS has been added to our database collection. We also upgraded to Academic Search Premier.
We began the process of selecting and discarding bound journals that are duplicated in JSTOR this past summer. We also surveyed the faculty early in the fall in order to determine journal subscriptions that we might cancel since our bill from EBSCO increased more than $5000. over the previous year. Faculty response was poor so we ultimately decided to cancel subscriptions to many of those journals that are duplicated in at least two of our online sources. We have cancelled 45 subscriptions.
Taking heed of the report from Steve Rogers last spring, our circulation staff has begun removing the checkout cards from the CBU books also.
JSCC Library
The JSCC Library is in the midst of a massive withdrawal project for periodicals and books. We will have a more streamlined collection and we will have more open space.
Gloria Hester is coordinating the book withdrawal project. She is meeting with various faculty members to help her de-select items and is using circulation figures and standard bibliographies. She is doing it systematically.
Jason Fetty created a spreadsheet for us which lists our periodicals collection with holdings information.
He also measured the amount of space each periodical takes up on the shelf.. We provided him with usage statistics and full-text availability. The Faculty was then asked to rank its choices of the periodicals they wanted to keep with 5 being the highest rank.
The Library staff also ranked the periodicals.. We have assigned weights to each category and came up with an average score for each periodical.
The JSCC Library has disassembled its Current Periodicals shelves and made the area more open. Gloria Hester had suggested this. 2 beautiful periodical display racks were purchased and the area is now more inviting. The Library may purchase some new seating to complement the display racks.
The JSCC Library had 39 instructional sessions during the month of September. Among these sessions was a group of 55 Trinity Christian Academy junior English and History students who came to the Library to learn research methods. The JSCC Librarians did instruction at the Savannah and Lexington centers each week during the month also.
Jason Fetty has attended a 3 day training session for the Luminis Content Management System relating to a more decentralized approach to the JSCC web page.
The JSCC Library Staff hosted an In-Service for the Madison County High School Librarians. The High School Librarians explained how they teach library skills and what resources they have. The JSCC Library staff discussed the JSCC Library and showed what resources are available in print and electronically. The JSCC Library staff told how the high school students could obtain a library card at JSCC and invited the students at the high schools to use the JSCC Library in their research.
The JSCC Library staff will be attending vendor demonstrations from ExLibris, Innovative Innofaces, Endeavor and Sirsi in relation to the University of Memphis Integrated Library System RFP. The JSCC Library partners with the University of Memphis for its online catalog.
Paul Meek Library
University of Tennessee at Martin
Highlights for Fall, 2006
Library Budget Increase
The library received a 10% budget increase for the current 2006-07 fiscal year, with 5% coming from the central administration in the form of support for database and print periodical inflation. The remaining 5% increase is due to the Campus Technology Fund agreeing to assume the $40,000 yearly cost of our automation maintenance fee. This budget increase comes on top of a 6% jump for 2005-06 and a 15% increase for 2004-05.
Compact Shelving Project Continues in Special Collections
The compact shelving project in Special Collections is now in the second of a planned three-year project for converting crowded manuscript and Archives stacks into more space-efficient compact ranges. Funding for the project has been generated with a blending of endowment and regular operating monies.
Stack Ranges Installed at Selmer Center LRC and New Materials Delivered
During the summer, two small older stack ranges left over from the compact shelving project were transported to the Selmer Center and installed by Special Collections Librarian Richard Saunders and Library Director Steve Rogers. The shelving allowed UTM librarians to deliver a number of videos, books and children’s material that had been earmarked for the Selmer Center LRC by Collection Development Librarian Earlene Moore and processed by Non-Print Catalog Librarian Sandy Orr, Catalog Librarian Georgia Baskett and Senior Library Assistant Cindy Gaylord.
Library Subscribes to Standard Collection of Project MUSE
In September of 2006, the library faculty elected to begin a subscription to Project MUSE, a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers providing 100% full-text access to over 300 humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from 60 scholarly publishers.
New Free Fax Service for Students
The librarians recently recommended that we establish a free fax service for UTM students since there were no other places on campus which provided this. The Media Services Department volunteered to coordinate the installation effort and administer the new service.
New Comprehensive Electronic Database List
This Systems and Reference project combined our catalog’s “full text” list and the more detailed “electronic database” list to provide a clearer and more streamlined approach for helping students select the ideal resource(s) for locating needed research material. The new list also has an improved subject-access approach that reflects the various disciplines offered by the university. The new, comprehensive list was made available to the campus community just prior to the Summer, 2006 semester.
Canadian Studies Collection Development Project
Collection Development Librarian Earlene Moore coordinated the library’s recent purchasing initiative in support of UT Martin’s new Canadian Studies minor. Ms. Moore obtained input from librarians, Faculty Senate Library Committee members, the Director of Global Studies and interested faculty from around the campus in developing a cumulative order list for Canadian-related titles in Reference, non-fiction and literature.
The list was enhanced by a 50% matching grant from the Canadian Consulate. These new materials provide needed support to students and faculty involved with the Canadian Studies program.
Funding of Coffee Kiosk Anticipated for Library After-Hours Room
Though final funding has not yet been approved by Sodexho, the campus food service provider, we are eagerly anticipating the possibility of a new coffee kiosk located in the library’s After-Hours area. If funded, the new service will provide students with coffee, soda and a wide assortment of cookies and muffins. For its part, the library has agreed to provide the area with appropriate lounge furniture.
Large-Group Study Room Approved by Facilities Fund
The campus-wide Facilities Fee Committee recently approved the library’s request for the construction of a new and larger group study room on the second floor of the building. Our student surveys have consistently indicated a need for additional group study rooms for students.
Additional Multimedia Production Station Funded
In its Spring, 2006 meeting, the faculty group which administers the Campus Technology Funds agreed to provide support for a second multimedia production workstation in the Library Media Services area. Our current station allows students to develop graphics projects by integrating a variety of media sources onto DVD or other formats of their choosing.
New Photocopiers in the Library
Due in large measure to our recent funding increases during 2005-06 and 2006-07, the library has been able to replace four of five photocopiers in the building, including the heavily-used staff copier in the Reference workroom. This project was coordinated by Head Reference Librarian John Bell.
Freed-Hardeman University Report
WeTALC—Fall Meeting 2006
Inventory—The Library conducted a full-scale inventory in Summer ’06. The inventory was the first since converting the collection to LC two years ago.
Slide project & Archival conversion to e-media—Large capacity hard drive, a server, and a scanner were acquired to assist with library’s conversion of numerous art slides to electronic files. Equipment may also be used to scan and store images of FHU archival material.
Coffee bar—Initial stages of implementing the library’s first coffee/refreshment bar. The bar (to be named later) will be in the vicinity of the library’s circulation desk and will be maintained & managed by the library staff.
READ posters—The Library took advantage of the university’s Organization Fair in September. The Fair, which was held outdoors, offered the library a spot to market the library and to take photographs of students reading library material with a READ backdrop behind them. The 49 photographs of students, staff, and faculty have been printed and are currently hanging on the walls of the library. The photos have also been integrated into the library’s homepage and are quite visible to all online users of the library.
Syllabus project—Since Spring ’06, the library has been systematically acquiring “recommended” materials listed in all FHU syllabi. Over 1,000 book items have been purchased during the project. Many of the items have come from the out-of-print book market. In addition to the purchase of materials—a prominent link has been placed on the library’s homepage which allows for quick access to each professor’s “recommended” materials. This online feature provides lists of all titles with their respective call numbers.
Instruction statistics high—Library instruction this Fall has been as popular as ever, with at least half of all sessions taking place in the classroom.
Union University WeTALC Report
October 7, 2006
Pat Morris, reporting for Director Steve Baker who was unable to attend the meeting, mentioned the following items:
Luther L. Gobbel Library, Lambuth University
Reported to West Tennessee Academic Library Consortium
Fall 2006
Our library’s two areas of concentration since the last WeTALC meeting were handicap accommodation and service to the university through collaboration. With several students on campus having limited mobility, we are looking for ways to meet this special need. We have brought consultants on campus to discuss automatic door openers and chair lifts and have forwarded information to our administration concerning ways to improve the overall campus in this area. In the library, we had our maintenance crew cut down a portion of our circulation desk so that we can provide better service to our handicapped students and so that one of our student workers can expand her student worker responsibilities to include circulation work.
The library was actively involved in presenting the Lambuth Band of Brothers in April, a program that highlighted books written by two alums and by our President’s father, detailing their participation in World War II. There have also been monthly book reviews/signings by faculty, staff, and alums to demonstrate the talent of the Lambuth community. We have presented talks to the faculty on using census records through our government documents collection and avoiding plagiarism. The plagiarism talk was so effective that it is now being taught in classes throughout campus. All three library faculty teach academic courses in addition to their library duties. We have been a vital part of the One Community, One Book discussion in Jackson, with the culminating event taking place on our campus in the program by author Connie May Fowler this week. Our Lambuth-B’Nai Israel Center for Jewish Studies will host the “Living On: Portraits of Tennessee Survivors and Liberators” exhibit along with campus-wide related events including a discussion on Holocaust art, a play, two film events, panel lunch discussions, and much more during the month of November.
We have four academic classes meeting in the library this year – two freshman seminar classes, Music History, and Children’s Literature. Classrooms were rearranged and outfitted with audiovisual equipment to fit the needs of the professors. In addition, Sammy taught bibliographic instruction classes to 453 students last year, over half the enrollment of the school. Over 850 vinyl recordings were cataloged this summer and include added tables of contents to increase the resources of the music program. We have worked with faculty over the past few months to improve our journal service, cutting duplicated formats and switching our subscriptions from W.T. Cox to EBSCO. We have offered a number of trial subscriptions to our faculty, and we now allow students to check out videos including our steadily increasing leisure videos. With the continued emphasis on collaboration with our faculty, we have noticed an increase in circulation over 20%, our gate counts are already well above last year, our interlibrary loans have greatly increased both in lending and borrowing, acquisition of books and videos is up 25%, and archival requests have reached over 100 per year, with this year already surpassing the previous years.
In addition to providing service to our faculty, we have continued to gain skills by attending conferences and workshops including Tennessee Library Association, Endeavor Users Group meeting, Tennessee Voyager Users Group, and Tenn-Share. The Center for Independent Colleges has selected Lambuth to participate in its 2007 Workshop on the Transformation of the College Library which will be attended in Cleveland, OH, by our library director and our new Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Trevor Morris.
In technology, we upgraded to Voyager 5.0, replaced the library’s computer lab with ten state-of-the art computers with DVD writers, and have received approval to replace five OPACs and our library server this year. We have been wireless for a year and enjoy extensive usage of our proxy server.
We welcome Elaine Walker to our staff this year in circulation. She has been instrumental in working with student assistants to create displays that are drawing the attention of our students, including Tennessee Animal Week and Banned Books. Our mission is service, so our daily goal is to provide that service in whatever way possible.