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Table of Contents Prepared By John P. Kondelik, Director of Libraries Michael Van Houten, Associate Director Claudia Diaz, Assistant Director Allie Moore, Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Librarian Jennifer Thomas, Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Michelle Gerry, Coordinator of Circulation Services (Submitted July 24, 2006) Director's Summary The major event for the library during 2005-06 was the Program Review. This was the first program review undertaken by the library. The review consisted of three phases. First was a self study of the library conducted by the staff. Second was participation in a LibQual+™ survey that also included several other Oberlin Group libraries. The third phase was an external review by a team of directors from GLCA libraries. Our visiting team included Damon Hickey of the College of Wooster and David Jensen of Hope College. Each of these phases produced a report. These reports are available as appendices to this annual report on the library website. The conclusions to be drawn from these reports were on the whole consistent. In general library services and staff received high marks for service and support. The library buildings, although attractive in many ways (especially Stockwell) were found to be over crowded, dark, lacking in environmental control, and needing more group study spaces and comfortable seating arrangements. The collections have outgrown the shelving available. Access to technology, online databases and full text was found to be adequate, but the book collection frequently lacked up to date titles in many areas. The self study produced no surprises to the staff and re-enforced our own observations and conclusions that (1) we need to begin planning a renovation of the library buildings to incorporate new ideas for information access and support for instruction and research (a learning commons), and provide improved storage for our paper collections and new spaces for student study; (2) we need to improve the quality of our resources including books, journals, databases, and other media; (3) we need to restructure the library staff to better position the library to manage the rapidly increasing number of electronic resources becoming available and improve the efficiency of library operations; (4) we need to improve the collaborations with other academic support units within the college; (5) we need to continue to develop our collaborations with other libraries in order to share resources and technologies. We have already begun to address a number of these recommendations and areas of concern:
1. Continuing inflation on journal subscriptions. We expect subscriptions rates to increase by 9% for 2006-07. We hope to contain costs by dropping some expensive titles and other serials. We have received requests from faculty to add new titles and hope to add some of the more important titles to support new faculty and programs while at the same time containing costs at current levels if possible. 2. Book budget concerns. We were able to purchase only 1,645 new books and videos last year. In comparison in 01-02 we purchased 3,491 titles, in 02-03 3,231 titles, and in 03-04 2,876 titles. So this last year has seen a significant decline in titles purchased and 06-07 looks to be an even more severe drop in tiles as we will be allocating only $175 per FTE faculty for the year. In addition the collection is aging in many areas particularly in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. The reference collection has become dated and we must try to update at least some of our more important reference resources. We hope to address some of the needs through electronic books where we can and where there are some good deals available.
It is well known that the library buildings are in need of renovation and we have been discussing ideas for things like a learning or information commons and improved book storage options. The most serious issues facing us now relate to power access for laptop computers, furniture replacement and repair, carpeting, etc. The most serious problem is the HVAC situation in Stockwell Library which continues to pose problems because of its age and the lack of replacement parts. We continue to do the best we can for the interim, but look forward to a planning process that will address these concerns and many others.
Our current library staff is the best resource we have available to meet the needs of our students and faculty. They continue to be dedicated in their efforts to provide a wide array of services and support. We hope that progress can continue to be made this coming year toward the development of a strong information literacy program, one that faculty will support and work with the library staff in integrating this concept into the curriculum. We have put in place the first stage of a staff restructuring that should make us more efficient and productive once it is fully implemented. In the mean time, we recognize that a vital part of staff efficiency is continuing development of their skills and keeping up with the rapid changes in technology affecting libraries today. To this end we will be encouraging staff members to be more involved with professional meetings, workshops, and conferences that provide opportunities for improving expertise, skills, and knowledge of the latest developments in library technology and services so that we can adjust our thinking and planning for the future. Even though the past few years have been very challenging and even difficult we in the library are committed to the highest possible level of service and access to information that we are able to provide and support. We recognize that the future offers an opportunity to address the concerns and problems that exist and that these too can be resolved through solid planning and collaboration towards common ends and goals.
Public Services Reference Reference is primarily defined as one-on-one assistance to anyone who contacts the library (via a visit, telephone call, or e-mail), requesting aid in locating information. It is a front line service that requires special knowledge of the library's available resources and how to use and find them. As we do each year, we have carefully reviewed all of our online database subscriptions in response to Library budget cuts and to changes in the statewide purchase program (Michigan Electronic Library). We will continue to monitor costs and usage of these resources very closely as they continue to grow in importance and as their share of the budget grows. A number of new electronic resources were added during 2005-2006, including the Ancestry Library Edition Genealogy Database, 11 titles in the Gale Virtual Reference Library, the online version of CQ Researcher, more than 1,000 full text history books through the American Council of Learned Societies History E-Book Project, more than 700 online journals through Blackwell Publishing, and a number of new full text Neuroscience reference sources through CogNet. Goals
The services included here are bibliographic instruction, research guides for bibliographic support of academic departments and courses, brown bag seminars that provide updates on resources, research strategies, and other services as requested. An ongoing concern is to find a way to reach all First Year Seminars with library instruction. Cheryl Circulation Services include the basics: Materials check out and course reserves. A Comparison of Circulation Statistics
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Document Delivery The interlibrary loan service obtains materials not owned by the Albion College Library for Albion College students, faculty and staff. This service provides photocopies of articles from journals and newspapers in a timely manner. Books, dissertations, microforms, videos and other materials are borrowed from another library and loaned to the requester for a period of time determined by the lending library. The interlibrary loan department also supplies our materials to other libraries for their patrons. Copies of materials obtained through interlibrary loan are supplied in accordance with copyright law. Goals · Continue to support and work with the statewide development of MeLCat in order to broaden access to library book collections · Research unmediated patron requests in OCLC to see if it would be feasible for our library and, if so, implement · Research fast ASAP Document Delivery: Set up procedure and implement, look at charging options if we use Document Delivery services that charge, and put links to for-pay Document Delivery services on the ILL Web page · Missing/Lost ILL book procedure: Write up policy both for our library patrons and other libraries MeLCat MeLCat is an innovative document delivery program involving a growing number of Michigan libraries that have merged their holdings into a single online database that can be searched from any of the libraries’ online catalogs. Albion College students, faculty, and staff can directly request books and other materials from the other libraries in the group without going through traditional Interlibrary Loan and have the materials delivered to the Albion College Library. At this time, journal articles cannot be requested through MeLCat. A Comparison of ILL and MeLCat Statistics
*No statistics for May/June 2006Library SystemsThe Library online system hardware was upgraded in June 2005. This has allowed us to install software updates from our vendor, thereby keeping us current with new features and system improvements. We hope to complete a redesign of the Library Online Catalog web pages by the beginning of the Fall 2006 semester. Mike Van Houten was appointed to the Michigan Electronic Library statewide Databases RFP Advisory Board, and continues to serve on the Michigan Library Consortium Reference Advisory Board. Mike continues to chair the Elkin Isaac Student Research Symposium Committee. He also serves as NCAA/MIAA Faculty Athletics Representative, is convener for the Sexual Harassment Grievance Committee, and serves on the First Year Seminar Committee, ACTAG, FURSCA Advisory Board, Campus Disability Coordinating Committee, and is chair of the Student Life Advisory Committee. Allie Moore is a member of the Sexual Harassment Grievance Committee, as well as the College Judicial Board. For additional information on Allie's activities, please go to http://www.albion.edu/library/annual_report/DALib.htm.
Technical Services
Acquisitions Knowing that Carolyn Gaswick, Periodicals and Government Documents Librarian, would be retiring June 30, 2006, considerable time was spent evaluating her responsibilities and deciding how to reassign them to existing staff. The technical services administrative functions of government documents and periodicals were assigned to the Assistant Director, with the acquisitions and management of electronic periodicals going to the Associate Director. The Periodicals Assistant was promoted to a newly created position of Serials Coordinator so she could assume more responsibility in the daily serials workflow. This unit of the library orders, receives and pays for materials that will go into the library's collections. Acquisitions also maintains records for the standing order titles the library receives, performs the initial processing of all monographic gift materials, and monitors the entire library budget. As the library was once again hit with significant budget cuts, we only processed 1645 orders for new books, videos, and electronic resources. However, we still stayed very busy as 5042 gift items were processed. The library received these gifts from a variety of sources including Myron Levine, James Curtis, Russell Rothrock, John Hart, Bruce Weaver, Jean Taffs, and James C. Stalker. We finished processing the donation of Holocaust materials from Michael Marmorstein. We also received a substantial donation of books from the Public Library that all needed to be searched for duplicates in our collection. The Albion College Student Senate purchased popular films and television series in DVD format that were added to the collection.
This unit of the library produces bibliographic and item
records for the library's online catalog. These records are produced for
all formats of materials. This unit also makes all materials in the
library's collections
ready for shelving. Significant progress was made on cataloging rare books and Methodist Archives materials. The Library Director and the Cataloging Operations Coordinator spent time every week working on these materials and were able to create cataloging records for these very complex and difficult materials. The library was able to realize substantial savings on the cataloging of these materials as we no longer need to outsource the work to OCLC's Tech Pro.
The Dewey reclass project is finally finished! This project has been ongoing since the 1970’s and its end represents a significant achievement for the cataloging staff.
Our OCLC Copy Cataloger finished cataloging the large backlog of Michigan quadrangle maps from our GPO Depository program. This project took several years to complete and is a major accomplishment.
The Ruth Ellen Marmorstein Holocaust Collection was cataloged this year. It is a significant collection of books, pamphlets, ephemera, etc. that substantially increases the size and quality of our materials in this area.
We are actively cataloging the James L. Curtis Collection. Dr. Curtis was a 1944 graduate of Albion College.
Due to the implementation of the MARC format for serial holdings in OCLC, we had to completely change our method of reporting local holdings records in OCLC. This required substantial training and effort to learn the new format and to begin to change our many thousands of local holdings records within WorldCat.
The Library of Congress decided in 2006 to add death dates to personal name entries in cataloging records. To maintain proper authority control in our database, we are now starting a large project to update most of the personal name entries in our catalog. This requires significant time on the part of the Cataloging Operations Coordinator.
As part of the effort to increase shelving space for new materials, the cataloging staff withdrew over 2,200 volumes and processed the relocation of the oversize materials.
This function involves the careful selection of library
materials that will support the mission, curriculum and co-curricular programs of the College.
Along with Kalamazoo College and Hope College, we are beginning to evaluate the contents of our libraries’ collections using the OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis software for the purpose of cooperative collection development. During the next year, we will be analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each collection to determine how we can each use our respective materials budgets for the greatest benefit to our patrons. We will also be using this same software to compare our collections to Resources for College Libraries so we can determine specific titles that are missing from each library. The U.S. Federal Documents staff is responsible for selecting depository series that provide appropriate resources for both the Albion College community and the Michigan Seventh Congressional District, for processing tangible publications as they are received from the government, and for establishing and maintaining links to federal electronic resources. The department maintains the tangible collections and follows Federal Depository Library Program guidelines and regulations. The librarian provides specialized library instruction and reference assistance. This year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary as a United States Federal Depository Library! The FDLP sent us a lovely plaque commemorating this event that is now hanging in the Current Periodicals Room.
During the past fiscal year we processed 2,235 new tangible publications. We withdrew 6,605 publications from the Depository Collection. Marcive shipping list and bibliographic records continue to be an excellent and cost effective way to catalog and manage depository receipts.
Peggy Vogt cut back her time to 32 hours per week with it all being devoted to documents work as the Secretary position was filled with a temporary employee.
The maps cataloging project has been finished as was noted in the above section. The Wallaceburg bindery provides good quality workmanship on a timely schedule and at a competitive rate. The LARS bindery software they provide for us is an industry standard. The Periodicals Department works with faculty and other librarians to select the periodical publications in print, electronic and microphotographic formats that best support learning, teaching and research at Albion College. The department is responsible for processing these serials, managing bindery procedures and maintaining the collections. The librarian is responsible for selection and ordering of materials, managing budgets and licensing agreements and establishing links for electronic periodicals. For more information on journal evaluation, please go to http://www.albion.edu/library/annual_report/journaleval.htm. Albion now has access to almost 1,500 full text electronic journals as well as a collection of 702 print journals and newspapers. Discounted consortial pricing for electronic collections continues to gain importance. Albion remains an active member of the Michigan Library Consortium Electronic Journal Group. We added the Blackwell Synergy electronic journal collection during this past year. Managing the collection of electronic periodicals takes more time every year. A significant amount of time was spent on weeding the bound periodicals collection. The Library Director and the Periodicals Librarian were able to identify numerous print titles that were being duplicated by electronic versions. These volumes were then selected for withdrawal which frees up badly needed shelf space. The Periodicals Assistant is in the process of physically removing the volumes from the shelves as time and available boxes permit. The music CD collection has been moved to the main reference area of the library and is no longer the responsibility of the Periodicals Desk. Claudia Diaz was Special Events Coordinator for the Michigan Library Association's 2005 Annual Conference; served as Member-at-Large on the Executive Board of the Academic and Research Libraries Division of the Michigan Library Association; attended the Annual Conference of the Michigan Library Association; attended OCLC Local Holdings Records training workshop at the Michigan Library Consortium; attended training for OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis software.
Pat Engelter serves on the campus Ergonomics Committee.
Beverly Brankovich attended OCLC Local Holdings Records training workshop at the Michigan Library Consortium.
Special Collections Pr
Role The College Archives serves as the institutional memory for the College. The mission of the Archives is to assist the administration of the College in determining what essential evidence is necessary in order to accurately and completely document the institution as a whole. The College Archives ensures that the College is creating and preserving such evidence and that such evidence is retained in adequate facilities and made accessible to users. The Archives also supports and encourages the teaching goals of the institution through enhancing the curriculum where appropriate and supporting the research of faculty, students, and scholars. The role of the Commission on Archives & History is defined by the mission of the General Commission on Archives & History, which is authorized by the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 2000 (¶ 1703) "...to promote and care for the historical interests of the United Methodist Church...gather, preserve, hold title to library and archival materials, and...disseminate interpretive materials on the history of the United Methodist Church...It shall maintain archives and libraries in which shall be preserved historical records and materials of every kind relating to the [UMC]...[and] provide guidance for the proper creation, maintenance, and disposition of documentary record material at all levels of the United Methodist Church."
As always, lack of space for incoming and newly processed collections has been a problem. The stacking of collection boxes 3-4 high has started to destabilize a number of the bottom-most boxes, but there is nowhere else to move them to, and it will eventually mean replacement of all lower boxes. Completing reference requests in a timely fashion has been a problem as a number of departments on campus are at work on large projects simultaneously due to anniversaries and the completion of the Science Complex and, without the support of a competent student assistant, of which I had none this past year, keeping on top of the Methodist requests that take considerable more time to complete has been difficult as well. Due to the library’s reduced budget, it has also been difficult to support the proper preservation and processing of materials, undertake workshops and create publications. Due to the budget problems and space constraints it has not been viable to include academic and additional administrative departments in the records management program. These same problems have made moving the Madelon Stockwell furniture back to Stockwell 305, as per the donor’s will, impossible this year. Due to the extreme environmental conditions in the Methodist Archives, it has been impossible to transfer audiovisual materials from that collection to that space; so they are still mixed in with the College Archives collections.
The biggest issue, however, is the loss of the college’s history. This has already begun, as there is no system in place with which to preserve electronic records on campus – this includes E-mail, Word documents, newsletters and other publications, blogs, E-portfolios, policies and procedures, etc. If we do not act soon, there will be no college records documenting the early years of the twenty-first century at Albion College. Put up Web finding aids/inventories for the Russell Babcock Collection (Series I-III), J Harlen Bretz Collection, Edwin Roscoe Sleight Correspondence Collection, Papers of Glenn Perusek, Jacqueline Maag Collection, Papers of Wesley Dick, and Robert E. Horton Papers Finish revising Historical Tour and President/Principal Web exhibits to fit College Graphic Identity System Homecoming table Finish paper on the Currier & Ives Darktown Comics Lithographs collection and try to get it published Finish rare fiction evaluation Complete Disaster Response & Recovery Manual Complete processing of UMC WMC Grand Rapids Conference Center Records Inventory Kalamazoo District Records, and Central District Records Work on reorganization of manuscripts and bound manuscripts of the UMC WMC Commission on Archives & History, West Michigan Conference, UMC
Michigan Archival Association
Michigan Area Methodist Historical Society
Midwest Archives Conference
Michigan Library Association
Society of American Archivists
Other
Assessment Prepared by Cheryl Blackwell
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Stockwell-Mudd Libraries, Albion College, 611 E.
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Albion College ◦ Albion, Michigan
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