Christian Brothers University Margaret Cardwell Dyersburg State Bob Lhota Freed-Hardeman Hope Shull Teresa Hanger Jackson State Scott Cohen

LeMoyne- Owen Annette Hunt-Berhe A.J. Doerner Union University Steve Baker U. of Memphis Tom Mendina

Library Reports:

Christian Brothers University

Margaret Cardwell reported that the staff including herself are all relatively new in the Plough Library. When the Electronic Resources Librarian is hired, 5 of the 8 staff members will be newly hired in the last year. The final SACS report was recently submitted. The library gained much financial support as a result of the accreditation process. A circulation assistant position was created and the budget was increased significantly to upgrade book collections for the undergraduate and graduate programs.

Bob Lhota reported that they are waiting for legislative approval to remodel and expand the library. If funded the construction will begin this coming winter. As other libraries have reported they also see an increased use in databases. They submitted a Title III Grant for an Information Skills program. The design is such that a student would receive instruction 3-4 times during their college career. They also have a program for their distance education students where each student receives a CD that has an Information Skills component. A call-in online help desk for computer center is located in the library. It is staffed by computer center.

netLibrary holdings have also been added to the Loden Daniel Library's Voyager system. This has greatly increased the use of these items. As a result of a SACS Reaccreditation visit in April, the library budget was increased and a new position was added. John Wilson, who is completing his MLS at University of Alabama will start work in August. The website is being worked on to make it more user friendly. The ATLA database was upgraded to the new ATLAS which contains some full text. Periodical holdings have been added to the catalog. A user survey was conducted in February. All usage statistics have increased this year.

A program whereby faculty can select books at Davis-Kidd Books at a 20% discount and donate them to library was discussed. Jackson State has applied for a $5,000.00 grant to bind materials in their Tennessee collection. Jennifer Gregory was awarded New Horizons in Teaching Award. She is the webmaster for the Tennessee Board of Regents Virtual Library. Marv Kaminsky will attend the workshop on Instruction in Library Use at Carleton University in Canada in May. Scott Cohen attended various meetings involving the Tennessee Board of Regents Online degree program. Laura Norris has been accepted into the UT School of Information Science online degree program. Data entry for the Tennessee Area Union List of Periodicals is complete. The library has created a list of goals relating to the Five-Year plan of the college. Various surveys have been completed by the library.

Annette Hunt-Berhe reported that they are preparing for their upcoming SACS reaccreditation visit. Dr. W. C. Holmes donated a large book collection. Annette has been to SOLINET for a three week preservation training workshop. They are working with University of Memphis to get their catalog up and running correctly. She also shared their student newspaper which has a regular column about library activities. During National Library Week the library hosted a reception for the faculty in the library.

Valerie Howell and Brandon Byrd have recently joined the staff while John Leslie leaves to attend UT library school in the fall. The new M.Ed. in school media had 5 students this year. They have created an interactive New Books list and netLibrary has been loaded to their catalog that has resulted in an increase in its use.

May 6, 2001 will host a wedding anniversary celebration for Dr. B. Hooks who has donated his books and papers. This event is a fund raiser to help defray costs of the Hooks archives. A discussion of the importance of raising funds to care for gift collections followed. U of M also has a new development director who will be associated with the library. They are gearing up for the virtual library as part of the TN Virtual University slated for this fall.

Steve Rogers sent notes via Bob Lhota. Use of the library is up with a dramatic rise in the use of fulltext databases. UT Martin is working with the dean of UT Knoxville, Barbara Dewey on ways to integrate New College funding into an expansion of databases for UTM. The faculty in Martin voted to eliminate print journals for which there is electronic access instead of an across the board 10% cut in print titles. Severe budget constraints may mean an administrative merger of the computer center and the library. Steve Rogers will likely continue as Interim Director until such time as the university can begin a search for a permanent position.

The meeting continued with a discussion of various vendors, including Questia, EBSCOhost, UMI, netLibrary, Am. Chem. Soc. and a discussion of the Dyersburg information skills concept. A brief tour of the library following lunch concluded the morning.

Respectfully submitted,
Margaret Cardwell

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