NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 24 number 2 - Winter 2004
Karl F. Bowman Receives 2003 NCSU Libraries Faculty Award
By Tripp Reade, Access and Delivery Services
Karl F. Bowman, associate professor of equine surgery in the Department of
Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, is the recipient of the
2003 NCSU Libraries Faculty Award. This award is presented annually to an NC
State faculty member in recognition of outstanding contributions that support
the Libraries' mission and its role within the university. The NCSU Libraries
presented its fifteenth annual Faculty Award to Bowman at the Friends of the
Library Fall Luncheon on November 12, 2003.
Bowman's work on the University Library Committee (ULC) for six years, which
included serving as chair for four years, proved highly instrumental in furthering
the Libraries' mission. While chair, from July 1999 to June 2003, he established
two ULC ad hoc committees--the Committee on Library Fundraising and Nexus Committee
on Library Space Planning--and served as chair of each. These committees addressed
critical issues facing the NCSU Libraries.
Under his direction, the Committee on Library Fundraising together with the
ULC initiated a Faculty and Staff Campaign for the NCSU Libraries in fiscal
year 2000-01 and continued the appeal in 2002-03. The campaign generated fifty-five
new Friends of the Library memberships and brought the Libraries nearly $50,000
in donations.
After a 1999 report for the University of North Carolina system indicated
that the NCSU Libraries needed 43 percent more space for its users and operations
to meet UNC systemwide library standards, Bowman established the Nexus Committee
on Library Space Planning. As the space problem continued to worsen, with the
Libraries becoming more than 50 percent over capacity, the committee assessed
the relative merits of renovation versus new construction. It approved the
Libraries' master-planning process for facilities after obtaining significant
input from faculty, staff, students, and administrators concerning their vision
for a library of the future. Once the Libraries' "Master Plan" document
was completed in spring 2003, the ULC gave the plan its full support.
The ULC Scholarly Communication Subcommittee also received invaluable support
from Bowman when he helped to publicize the Tempe Principles (Principles for
Emerging Systems of Scholarly Publishing). Bowman was well positioned to understand
that the Libraries' budget could not keep pace with double-digit inflation
and steep price increases. At a 2001 meeting of the Faculty Senate, he presented
an analysis of the effect of expensive and overpriced subscriptions on the
Libraries' budget and on teaching and research at NC State. The Faculty Senate
then supported dissemination of this information to all NC State faculty members.
Bowman's invaluable contributions to the NCSU Libraries make him an outstanding
recipient of the NCSU Libraries Faculty Award.
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