Ohio Wesleyan University Libraries Intranet

MEMORANDUM

TO: William Louthan, Provost
FROM: Theresa Byrd, Director of Libraries
DATE: September 13, 1999
SUBJECT: REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES FOR SEPTEMBER 1999

NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY

The Library home page was completely revised over the summer. As a result of the focus group sessions held spring semester, the revised home page features a new color scheme and graphics and was reorganized for faster navigating. Web Manager Joy He led a work team composed of Paul Burnam, Chuck Della Lana, Tom Green, and Chris Yates.

Danielle Clarke, Public Services Librarian, and Paul Kostyu, Associate Professor of Journalism, are team-teaching the honors course, "Information Literacy: The News and the Net." An Objective of this course is to instruct students how to evaluate critically and challenge the credibility of the information they find on the Internet. The Clarke and Kostyu team-teaching initiative is at the forefront of the information literacy movement underway in libraries. Their work together seeks to demonstrate that an OWU librarian and faculty member can collaborate to teach students information literacy skills.

Starting September 15, the reference librarians will be offering a series of workshops to assist both the novice and advanced student searcher in developing effective research strategies for print and web resources. The list of workshops that the librarians will be offering is as follows: "Introduction to Research in the OWU Libraries," "Advanced Research Techniques," "Power Searching on the Web," "Getting the Most From Fulltext Databases," and "How to Cite Electronic Sources Correctly." In addition to the student workshops, librarian liaisons are also scheduling workshops for individual faculty members and departments.

The Education department's Curriculum Resource Center (CRC) book purchases were integrated into Beeghly’s acquisitions process and added to CONSORT for local use only. The records of existing books in the CRC are now being converted to electronic format for addition to CONSORT.

The Fine Arts Department and the Director of Libraries reached an agreement about the construction of a permanent exhibition facility in the Beeghly Library. This summer Jonathan Quick, Fine Arts, and Chris Yates, Assistant Chief of Circulation, built an art exhibition area in the entryway to the Bashford Lounge. The exhibition area will not only provide the Fine Arts Department with a place to display student work for the college community, but it also will be a nice addition to the Library.

In June, library staff members received training from David Swords, Yankee Book Peddler (YBP) on how to access their GOBI (Global Online Bibliographic Information). This online database of almost two million titles is a sophisticated acquisitions and collection management support system. With leadership from Paul Burnam, we drafted a profile in preparation for implementing the YBP slip approval plan, a promising way to purchase books faster and with excellent discounts.

Using 15 sections of new shelving, Circulation staff members shifted books on the third floor to relieve congestion of literature areas. Circulation staff completed their customary shelf reading of the Beeghly book and periodical collection. They also cleaned up 157 items listed as on-search, missing, billed, claimed returned, lost and paid, repair, or on display.

Bonnie Mahle, Administrative Office Manager and Student Personnel Coordinator, organized the New Library Student Orientation program that was held on August 31. The orientation session provided students with an opportunity to tour the library, to meet the library staffs, and to learn information about the libraries that will be useful to them in their jobs as student assistants. This fall a total of 93 student assistants will be working in the OWU libraries.

During Fall and Spring Semester of 1999-2000, Serials Manager, Carol Holliger, will be conducting a study of in-house use of periodicals at Beeghly Library and the branch libraries—Science, Biology, and Music. This study will document actual use of individual periodical titles and provide the librarians with data to make decisions should we need to cancel journals in the future. The data from the Periodicals Usage Study will be just one of several factors taken into account if journal cancellations must be made.

David Puller, a library science student and former Beeghly Library workstudy student, worked as an intern in the Government Publications Department this past summer. During his internship, he helped with different aspects of our depository operation, including processing and shelving. He coordinated the summer government publications weeding project and made materials available for librarians to review. He also helped with the revision of the governmental information page on the OWU Libraries’ home page.

The Library received two memorial gifts: the Leah Gentle Staples fund, Class of 1936, was established at $1625 and the Maryanne Wright Stewart Fund, Class of 1949, was set up at $1,700. Both of these gifts are restricted to the purchase of books. Paul Kostyu also gave the Library a complete set of National Geographic Magazine on CD-ROM, which covers 109 years.

"Celebrating OWU Alumni," organized by Kay Schlichting, was the featured display in the Friends Display Case during the summer.

A fire alarm system was installed in Beeghly Library. Staff members were trained in how to interpret the control modules and what steps to take to evacuate the building.

CONSORT/OHIOLINK

In a joint meeting of the Five Colleges' Circulation/ILL and AV Media Services Committees, it was decided to experiment with the circulation of media to CONSORT faculty members during the 1999/2000 academic year. At the state level, some OhioLINK libraries are circulating media to all OhioLINK users.

Theresa Byrd attended the Five Colleges’ Directors’ Meetings.
Theresa Byrd, Chuck Della Lana, and Bernard Derr attended a joint meeting of the Five Colleges’ Circulation and Audiovisual personnel to discuss the sharing of media.
Paul Burnam attended the Five Colleges’ Collection Development Committee meetings.
Danielle Clarke attended one and hosted another Five Colleges’ Information Literacy Committee meetings. This Committee is developing an online tutorial.
Joy He and Judy Orahood attend the Five Colleges’ Government Documents Committee Meetings.
Judy Orahood was a member of the planning team that sponsored the Academic Library Association of Ohio’s regional workshop "Rekindle the Flame – Fire Up for the New Millennium," which was held at Ohio Wesleyan University for the central region.
Judy Orahood attended the Five Colleges’ Cataloging and Local Systems Committee meeting.
Paul Burnam attended an OhioLINK Lead Implementors’ meeting.
Marsha Zavar attended OhioLINK’s Inter-Campus Services Committee meetings.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

On August 17, the library staff participated in an all day retreat at the Delaware Township Hall. The retreat facilitator was Christopher Washington, Franklin University faculty member and independent management consultant. Mr. Washington specializes in hands-on interactive approaches to group learning and many of his clients are libraries. The theme for the retreat was "Riding the Library Tiger: Approaches to Coping with Change and Transition." The aim of the retreat was to strengthen group cohesiveness while engaging in collective dialogue on the approaches that can be taken by staff group members to heighten their level of readiness and preparedness for organizational change.

The following summer in-service training sessions were held:

Kyle Hanser introduced Adobe PhotoShop and PowerPoint in separate sessions;
Joy He gave us a GPO update;
Paul Burnam introduced the new FirstSearch interface and DIALOG windows software;
Marsha Zavar led a discussion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; and
David Cozzens discussed "The OWU Student."

Professional meetings and workshops included:

Paul Burnam attended an Ohionet workshop on "Introducing the New OCLC FirstSearch."
Paul Burnam attended an OhioLINK teleconference on "Disclosure Global Access."
Theresa Byrd and Deb Carter Peoples attended the Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) workshop entitled "Between Chaos and Clockwork: Organizing Academic Libraries for Collection Development."
Theresa Byrd attended the American Library Association's Annual Conference in New Orleans.
Deb Carter Peoples and Marsha Zavar attended the Columbus Area Library and Information Council of Ohio (CALICO) Ohio Reference Excellence Initiative Workshop.
Tom Green attended the "Symposium on Teaching with Technology" sponsored by The Andrew W. Mellon and The Charles E. Culpeper Foundations at Reed College and participated in the CLAC (Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges) '99 Annual Conference.
Joy He attended a week-long workshop in Washington, D.C. for new depository librarians.
Susan Cohen attended the seminar "Be Prepared: Managing a Mold Outbreak" at the Cleveland Public Library.
Carol Holliger attended the annual North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) Conference at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

The Library staff held its first staff and family picnic on August 21 at Highbanks Metro Park and all attendees had a great time.

UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES

Theresa Byrd is a member of the selection committee for the Director of Physcial Plant position.

Tom Green moderated a brown bag session during Web Camp on "DISCUS and Using OnlineForums."

Also, Tom Green and Bonnie Mahle are members of the Classified Staff Reclassification Committee.