Annual Report, 1999-2000

North Carolina State University Libraries

I. PROGRAMS

A. Changes in scope of activities

Special Achievements
FY 99/00 was capped by the selection of the NCSU Libraries as the first winner of the Association of College and Research Libraries' Excellence in Academic Libraries Award. This national award recognizes the accomplishments of a library staff in working as a team to support the mission of their institution. Also, the NCSU Libraries moved up to 35th among the 111 North American members of the Association of Research Libraries.

Advancement of Teaching and Learning through the Digital Library
The Libraries further expanded its multifaceted approach to the digital library. MyLibrary@NCState, a customizable interface to Web resources t hat was developed by NCSU Libraries staff, is now deployed as a fully operational service. MyLibrary's open-source software was made freely available to the external community and, as of 1 May 2000, the codebase was downloaded 217 times and 5 developers outside NC State are actively working on the software. Newly implemented as components of the Learning and Research Center for the Digital Age are a Scanning Laboratory and a Usability Research Laboratory. A s part of the library's own digitization activities, staff collaborated with entomology faculty on an NSF-funded project, completing initial database construction for data entry of the author index for the renowned Metcalf entomology collection. To publicize digital library issues, the Libraries organized its first Digital Library Colloquium, a well-attended event featuring speakers Daniel Greenstein (Digital Library Federation), Clifford Lynch (Coalition for Netw orked Information), and Donald Waters (Mellon Foundation).

Campus Community
The Libraries' NC State University Authors Database creates an accessible record of publications by faculty and other authors at NC Stat e. Searchable over the Web by year, author, department/agency, and journal title, it now contains 7,000 articles, books, and patents, a 32% increase over last year's total, and represents works by 4,000 faculty, 2,000 students, and 40 staff. Coverage has been expanded to an additional 10 databases.

Expanded Collections
A collections budget of nearly $8 million drove substantial growth in size and diversity of the NCSU Libraries' colle ctions, a critical factor in our improved ARL ranking. The library purchased 62,000 monographs, including 1,300 electronic texts and 82 new print subscriptions, giving the collections a four-year increase of 189,000 monographs and 1,2 22 new print subscriptions. Also added were 13 electronic databases and 1,376 electronic journals. As part of a Triangle South Asia Consortium (TriSAC) grant from US/DE, the library is building South Asia collections cooperatively wit h TRLN partners and is making arrangements for a shared bibliographer position. The Special Collections Department acquired the papers of Vincent Ross, an internationally prominent industrial designer of wood products manufacturing, t he largest gift of materials in the NCSU Libraries' history. Special Collections also received the archives of Dallas Herring, father of the community college system in North Carolina.

Improved Access to and Deliver y of Information
Building on the foundation of round-the-clock physical and electronic access to information and professional reference support, the Libraries introduced or extended a number of innovative services this yea r. The Laptop Lending Service makes high performance laptop computers available for in-building use at D. H. Hill and the four branches. The laptops can be connected to the campus network for access to online library collections and o ther resources. Use of the Electronic Reserve Service continued to increase, reaching a high of over 5,300 files for 417 courses in the spring 2000 semester. The library is taking part in a coordinated trial extending the successful T RIPSaver model to all of the other TRLN libraries, while maintaining an average delivery time for TRLN materials of 2 days. For library users on the Centennial Campus, the Libraries developed a "Centennial Campus Library Services " Web site, linked to the Libraries' main home page.

B. Volume of activities

NCSU Libraries Statistics
1998/99, 1997/98, 1993/94, 88/89 COLLECTIONS

Year	Volumes in Library	Volumes Added (Gross)	No. of Serial Subscriptions	Microform Units	Electronic Resources Owned or Leased
98/99	2,829,312	123,652	35,882	4,852,892	15, 644
97/98	2,713,146	103,907	35,194a	4,752,758	9,633
93/94	2,398,533b	66,637	18,526	3,992,559	21
88/89	1,236,969	34,343	13,349	3,035,987	5

SERVICES

	Library Users,	Total
Year	User Visits to Library	User Connections to Library Web site	Total Circulations	Instructional sessions/ Students taught	Reference Transactions
98/99	1,685,200	23,208,467	495,689	422 / 9,426	94,422
97/98	1,587,365	11,567,269c	477,443	424 / 5,484	132,850
93/94	1,718,022	N/A	448,577	419 / 7,627	136,787
88/89	1,755,000d	N/A	396,671	353 / 6,394	131,868

SERVICES (CONT'D)                     EXPENDITURES

	Interlibrary	Lending
Year	Items Loaned	Items Borrowed	Library Materials	Total Library Expenditures	Library Expenditures as % of NCSU Expenditures
98/99	17,729	14,609	$7,666,634	$19,631,014	3.1%
97/98	18,536	14,043f	$7,081,355	$17,210,758	2.9%
93/94	23,934	7,219	$4,615,933	$11,986,206	2.5%
88/89	25,899	4,384	$2,877,876	$8,341,223	2.3%

DIGITAL LIBRARY ACTIVITY                                                   ARL RANKINGS

Year	Connections to NCSU Libraries Web Site	Connections to NC LIVE Web site	ARL Index	E-Materials Expenditures as % of Total Materials Expenditures	Total Expenditures for E-Materials
98/99	23,208,467	21,598,780	35 out of 111	U / A	U / A
97/98	11,567,269 c	2,145,422g	37 out of 111	1 out of 111	2 out of 111
93/94	N / A	N / A	90 out of 108	U / A	U / A
88/89	N / A	N / A	90 out of 105	U / A	U / A

For footnotes, see Appendix A at end.

C. Special Achievements of Significance

• reached #35 in Association of Research Libraries index of 111 top research libraries
• ranked #1 among ARL libraries in spending for electronic materials as per cent of total library materials expenditures; ranked #2 after Harvard in total electronic materials expenditures
• retired professor Donald Moreland established The Moreland Library Faculty Fellows Endowment to attract/retain key l ibrary faculty; Carolyn Argentati named as the Donald E. Moreland Associate Director for Public Services
• implemented new NCSU Libraries Web site design; introduced new Web interface to the online catalog, with improved search interfac e that includes multi-institutional search capability
• began Laptop Lending Service and began to lend electronic books (Rocket eBooks and SoftBook Readers)
• introduced University Authors Days series to feature readings or pre sentations by NC State authors
• held the first Digital Library Colloquium; cosponsored with TRLN a digital imaging conference; held the I.T. Littleton Seminar with speaker Marshall Van Alstyne (associate professor, U. of Michigan)
• awarded Lewis L. Deitz (Entomology) the 99/00 NCSU Libraries Faculty Award
• received gifts from: Ford Motor Company to fund Engineering Information Internship for a College of Engineering student; Evergreen Foundation ($15,000) to compile national resources on the greenways movement; Class of 2000 to purchase benches for the Class of 1998 Greenspace; CP&L Foundation ($10,000) for its library endowment and for materials on electrical power generation and t ransmission
• awarded University Extension grants of: $20,000 for "Building a Database of Local Government Geodata Resources" (with CFR Center for Earth Observation) and $12,000 for "Development and Distribution of a Pou ltry Health Database: Model Digital Library for Teaching and Extension" (with CVM, Poultry Science)

D. Special Program Reviews, Studies or Plans

A 6-member team visited the University of Virginia libr ary to tour its Digital Media Center and to learn about both its digital library projects and its experiences inoperating a coffee bar. Invited DeEtta Jones (Senior Program Officer for Diversity, ARL) to lead a planning and team-building retreat for the Library Diversity Committee, building on her visit last year. Invited Gordon Fretwell (Assoc. Dir. for Asessment and User Support, U. of Massachusetts), to conduct a study of the competitiveness of the NCSU Libraries' salaries. Conducted a Web survey of MyLibrary@NCState users to obtain information on their priorities for changes to the software. Held business model training for all library managers.

II. COMPACT PLAN: Major Initiatives

• Campus Community: "Four Thrusts": Focused on collection development in university's 4 intellectual thrust areas. In FY 98/99 targeted genomic science and environmental science. Analyzed strengths and weaknesses of genomics collection in consultation with genomics faculty; working on collection assessment in comparison with peers+-** and formulating collection development policy. Similar investigations into environmental science collection begun but hampered by lack of coordinating faculty group. For both areas, established baselines to measure growth of expenditures and purchased networked resources.

• Partnerships: Transformation of Scholarly Communication: Expanded copyright education efforts with 17 presentations and 119 consultations from July 1999 to May 2000. Completed Web tutorial on copyright, logging 1,437 visits from October 1999 to May 2000. Organized 2 faculty panel discussions on scholarly publishing and 2 town meetings on copyright ownership. Raised awareness of copyright issues with parents/students through participation in New Studen t Orientation. Took part in UNC-GA Intellectual Property Task Force and NC State Copyright Ownership Task Force; assisted provost and his working group on NC State's copyright ownership policy. Helped plan NINCH/TRLN's conference on copyrig ht and intellectual property. Led N.C. delegation visits to Congressional representatives on National Library Legislative Day. Sent 11 letters to Congress about impact on higher education of legislation directly related to scholarly communi cation.
• Partnerships: NC LIVE: Advanced Digital Library Technologies: The Libraries continued its partnership with public/private universities and colleges, community co lleges, and public libraries in NC LIVE, a statewide electronic resource project. Developed a unique authentication mechanism that allows any N.C. citizen to use all NC LIVE collections from any location (home, office, hotel room, etc.), as well as from the library. NC LIVE is working with the Dept. of Public Instruction to include access for the K-12 community.
• Business Model: Restoration of Inflationary Increase: In the past, automatic annual inflationary increases in the collections budgets of the UNC system libraries helped the NCSU Libraries forestall journal cancellations. For FY 99/00 and FY 00/01, the legislature did not fund the 8% inflationary increase, despite the UNC system's efforts to reinstate it. The library faces a loss of purchasing power of $576,000, placing in jeopardy the journals collection, especially costly science/technology titles. Library staff are involving faculty and s tudents in a serials review process to determine potential cancellations for the future.
• The Library as Place: The Nexus of Research, Scholarship, and Community: Excellent library space can b e a tool for recruiting and retaining students, faculty, researchers, and staff. Recent trends show no decrease in the amount of print materials published, and library spaces must accommodate both the traditional and the new for years to co me. The Eva Klein report cited the NCSU Libraries as 43% over capacity and as the most urgent academic building need on campus. The urgency of this situation is heightened by impending enrollment increases and growth of personnel on Ce ntennial Campus. To meet these additional demands for library services, a new building is the most effective long-range approach, while in the short range, the Libraries' focus is on:
  • Off-site shelving: Final de signs for off-site shelving facility in progress. Library task force established to define needs, analyze use data, draft criteria for selection of materials to be transferred to the off-site shelving facility, and draft service goals and procedural models.
  • Learning and Research Center for the Digital Age/Infrastructure replacements in the East Wing: Construction efforts in the D. H. Hill Library face complications stemming from its age, lack of flexibility, and disjointed architecture. Technical designs and specifications for infrastructure replacements in the East Wing underway but delayed considerably by changes mandated by Department of Insura nce and the Office of the University Architect. As a result, progress delayed on the Learning and Research Center for the Digital Age and Special Collections renovation.
  • Hill of Beans coffee bar: Parents and Families Association completing fundraising for Hill of Beans. Furniture purchased for seating, and coffee bar advisory committee being selected. As an immediate response to user requests, opened the Java Joint, a refurbished st aff lounge in the Erdahl-Cloyd Wing, equipped with upgraded vending machines.
  • Information Access and Delivery: Launched Laptop Lending Service and expanded it, with provost's support, with an additional 25 dual-platform laptops running both Windows and Linux. In April 2000, 1,200 laptop loans logged. TRIPSaver service--delivering items in 2 days or less from Duke, UNC-CH, and NCCU--expanded to reciprocity with the other TRL N libraries, resulting in $2,000 cost savings. Technology infrastructure strengthened for high-volume delivery for Electronic Reserve Service and capability added for processing color images.
  • Library Services for Dis tance Learners: Established Distance Learning Services Department; began Federal Express delivery to off-campus students/faculty. Established Web site and toll-free number for information services. Began offering classro om instruction at off-campus sites. E-mail reference transactions increased by approximately 75% over last year.

III. DIVERSITY: INITIATIVES AND PROGRESS

Preliminary data for combined EPA and SPA h ires in 99/00 show that 25% of appointments made were to persons from targeted ethnic backgrounds. Hired 5 librarians into NCSU Libraries Fellows program, targeted at new graduates with backgrounds in or potential for science/techno logy librarianship and/or those from under-represented groups. Updated hardware and software in Assistive Technologies Center and developed Web page publicizing library services for users with disabilities. With Office of International Sch olars and Students Services, planned program to train library staff in customer service to international students and scholars. Library staff attended library diversity conference, served on search committee for provost's Coordinato r of Diversity Program, and attended Training Institute for Early Career Librarians from Traditionally Underrepresented Groups.

IV. STAFF

A. Major New Appointments. Carolyn Argentati (formerly Acting A ssociate Director for Public Services) as Associate Director for Public Services; Susan Barnard (formerly Director of Library Access Services, Kent State U. Libraries) as Head of Access and Delivery Services; June Brotherton (former ly Assistant to the Chancellor for Government Relations and Associate Vice Chancellor for Extension) as Associate Director for Organizational Effectiveness; Kathleen Brown (formerly Acting Assistant Director for Administrative Services) as Assistant Director for Library Space Planning and Design; Nancy Gibbs (formerly Acting Head of Acquisitions) as Head of Acquisitions; Bernard McTigue (formerly Director, Division of Special Collections and U. Archives, U. of Oregon Libraries) as Head of Special Collections; Rob Rucker (formerly Librarian for Interlibrary and Document Delivery Services) as Head of Distance Learning Services.

B. Kudos, Professional Activities and Recognition. The NCSU Libraries received the Excellence in Academic Libraries award from the Association of College and Research Libraries. Kathleen Brown and Charles Pennell were selected as faculty inductees into Phi Kappa Phi honor society. Chris Filstrup was selected as a UCLA Senior Fellow for 1999.

 

V. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCERNS FOR THE FUTURE

• A new library building on the Centennial Campus continues to be the most e ffective long-term solution to the Libraries' space problems. A comprehensive study of library space needs on both the main and Centennial campuses will be undertaken in FY 00/01.
• To meet user needs in the digital age, deficienc ies in the D. H. Hill Library must be corrected immediately, including life-safety code violations (DOI-mandated need for emergency egress), HVAC replacement, electrical upgrades, asbestos removal, and ADA-mandated renovations.
• Budget shortfalls related to hurricane relief and to refunds from court cases caused the legislature to reject the annual collections inflationary increase. The library will soon be forced to revert to journal cancellations, with devastating effects over time on research and learning and on our ARL ranking.
• Per national accreditation standards and guidelines, the library has implemented an active service and outreach program for distance learn ers. As distance ed enrollment increases, demand for these services will grow and the special budgetary support provided in the past two years will still be needed.
• Recruitment/retention of information professionals continues to absorb the Libraries' staff resources, budget, and technological infrastructure, with 21% EPA and 23.8% SPA turnover rates. The ability to offer competitive salaries is still a primary strategy in attracting and keepin g critical staff, in the face of declining library science graduates and stiff competition in the Research Triangle job market.

APPENDIX A: FOOTNOTES TO NCSU LIBRARIES STATISTICS

^a Much of the increase results from the addition of titles in electronic databases.

^b 850,990 of the increase results from a change in counting in 93/94 that allowed the addition of government documents volumes and ser ials already in the collection.

^c Includes extrapolated data for June 1998.

^d Based on estimated counts. This figure also reflects the existence of an additional entrance to the main library on Hills borough Street, resulting in gate counts inflated by people who used the library as a walkway to the Brickyard.

^e Excludes benefits.

^f Changes in borrowing reflect the introduction of TRIPSaver service for expedited delivery of requested items.

^g NC LIVE was introduced in spring 1998, so figures represent activity from 4/13/98 through 6/30/98.

 

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