James White Library
| New Series, No. 12 | Newsletter of James White Library | May 1995 |
New Plan for JWL Launched
Seven Goals
Future Space Needs
Korean Exhibit on Campus
Changes You Should Know About
Order Processing
Reporting
Standing Orders
Periodicals
Electronic Services
The Future
Library is Host Site for Teleconference
Series
ARC Displays at Boston
New Plan for JWL Launched
"Beyond Walls" is the theme and title of James White Library's just-published
strategic plan, intended as its launching pad for the 21st
century. The 77-page hard-cover landscape document, professionally
designed by an Andrews graduating senior in Graphics Design, is the fruit
of a year-long project of the JWL Strategic Planning Committee chaired
by library director, Keith Clouten.
According to the document, academic libraries in the United States are just now caught in a period of awkward transition from a print-oriented society to the world of the "electronic global village" where recorded information is universally accessible. It is an exciting future of "virtual reality", of "libraries without walls". But, says the report, print resources--books and periodicals--will be with us, and needed, for a long time.
The publication's title, "Beyond Walls" is meant to convey the reality that our campus library will continue to be dependent on walls and space to house its growing collections and services. Yet at the same time it is called upon to break away from the "walls" mentality and forge a variety of powerful links to the electronic superhighway. The library's JeWeL system and its Internet connection is a major advance in this direction.
Seven Goals
Central to the strategic plan are seven goal statements, providing direction
for James White Library in the years ahead. The goals reflect unique
features of Andrews University--its Christian orientation, its Seventh-day
Adventist heritage, its ethnic diversity, its global role and influence.
Each of these features has significant implications for the library's
resources development and services.
The seven goals appear under these headings:
The concluding section of the plan shows a time-line for library development between 1995 and 2000. It requires an enlarged library facility by 2000, incorporating a different mix of spaces and services from those in the existing configuration.
Korean Exhibit on Campus
A colorful exhibit of Korean photographic prints is currently on display
in the Sky Room at The Media Center and adjacent hallways on the upper
floor of James White Library. The collection of award-winning
photographs has been brought here under the auspices of the Korean
Association of Michiana.
The library expends 10% of each book fund during each of the first 10
months of the year. If there are more orders than funds available for
that month, the record is put in the "queue" and JeWeL says that the item
is "under consideration" by the library. These items are ordered as funds
become available. The library will accept orders during a fiscal year to
a maximumequal to the remaining funds available for that year. Orders in
excess of that will be returned to the department. The library is
currently implementing sending orders electronically to its book vendors.
Reporting
The library has initiated a number of new reports this year in the hope
of enhancing communication with the faculty in the joint effort of
developing library resources in the most appropriate way possible. Each
month the library sends to the department chairs the fund reports. In
addition, starting next month the library will also send department
chairs a report on the estimated cost of items in the "queue" (items for
which orders have been submitted but for which there was inadequate funds
for that month).
The library this year initiated keeping a record of the name of the requestor of each item. Using that data, each month the library also sends to these requestors a report on items in the queue/ordered/received-but-in-process, and a report on items received and cataloged. We hope that faculty have found these reports useful. Any questions should be directed to Harvey Brenneise at 6264. The only "stupid" question in a library is the one not asked.
Unfortunately, due to budget constraints there will be no increase in
book funds for next year.
Standing Orders
The library has also initiated a thorough evaluation of book standing orders
(annuals and other irregular serials that are not classed as
periodicals). Usage statistics available in JeWeL allow us to do
cost/benefit analyses. The expected outcome is cancellation of some of
these, which will allow this funding to be used in more productive ways
in delivering information to our users.
Periodicals
The library has also not received any increased funding for periodicals,
which again are projected to rise somewhere between 10 and 15% next year (a
particularly acute problem in the sciences). Again, using data newly
available through JeWeL, it is likely that the library will have to
evaluate yet again its periodical collection, with an expected outcome of
periodical cancellations sometime this summer/fall. The problem of large
price increases for library materials and lack of increased funding is an
acute one for the library, and needs serious administrative attention.
Electronic Services
Change has remained the byword in library electronic services. Release
9.0 of the JeWeL software should be loaded in the next few months, with a
number of anticipated enhancements for staff and public. This year, the
library has also generated statistics of library circulation by the
departmental major of the student. Future possibilities in JeWeL
enhancements include use of e-mail for patron notices, a Windows
client/server, aWorld Wide Web server (allowing integration of JeWeL into
the Web), interlibrary loan enhancements, and access to external
databases using JeWeL software with the ANSI Z39.50 protocol). The
library has also implemented a gateway to Notre Dame this year (type stop
to get out!), as well as access to the Avery Index of Architectural
Periodicals.
During the next few months, the library plans to finish
implementation of the complete American Theological Library Association
(Religion Indexes One and Two) database. The loading of the Seventh-day
Adventist Periodical Index database is nearly complete (with some
obituary references yet to finish loading), and is available to all on
the Internet. Library users in the library building and around campus
have found access to a large number of bibliographic databases through
OCLC FirstSearch to be useful. Additional databases are likely to be
added in the future.
The Future
Future plans include making more bibliographic databases available on the
campus network (possibly in consortium with other SDA libraries),
evaluation of electronic full text delivery, and working toward greater
library integration into the World Wide Web following installation of the
T1 line to campus.
Change may be the byword in library services these days as the methods of most efficiently delivering information to our community of users changes. One thing, however, does not change: the library's commitment to excellent information services to you, our users.
Library is Host Site for Teleconference Series
"Soaring to Excellence" is the title of a ten-part teleconference series now
showing at James White Library to library assistants and
paraprofessionals. The library is one of nearly 300 sites across
America where each satellite teleconference is downlinked to an
audience of library personnel.
The ten-part series is broadcast in five three-hour sessions, presented one day in each month from February through June 1995. Library assistants from several Berrien County libraries come to the Sky Room of James White Library each month to view the series in company with personnel from our own staff.
Produced at the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, the teleconference series is the first extensive use of this medium to train library assistants. Topics covered include attitudes toward service, use of technology, reference assistance, effective communication techniques, and the various roles of library paraprofessionals.
ARC DISPLAYS AT BOSTON
For the eighth consecutive year, the Architecture Resource Center has
organized and presented a major book display at the annual conference of the
Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA).
This year's EDRA Conference was held at the Omni-Parker House Hotel in the historical district of Boston, March 1-5. Theme of the conference was "No Design Without Research." The annual event brings professionals and researchers from all over the world to study and discuss how the built and natural environments affect the welfare of humans around the globe. Topics range from health care facilities to shopping malls and beyond.
A highlight of each conference is the EDRA Book Display, prepared and staffed by the Architecture Resource Center at Andrews. This year's display was housed in the famous Press Room where John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for President of the United States. As usual, the display was popular, and the room was filled with people from the moment it opened in the mornings until closing time in the evenings.
Each year the ARC solicits from publishers all over the world one copy of each new book or other item within the broad field of environmental design and research. The donated items are collected during the course of the year and taken to the spring EDRA Conference for display. On return to Andrews, the items become part of our library collection, most being housed in the Architecture Resource Center.
This year's EDRA display comprised 525 books, 13 audio-visual items, 38 sample journals, and 17 technical papers. To display this extensive collection of materials, including brochures sent by publishers, required a 1,900 square foot room and 40 tables. A total of nearly 4,000 published items have been acquired through the EDRA program since ARC organized the first annual display in 1988.
Contributors to this issue of UNCLASSIFIED
are Harvey Brenneise, Keith Clouten, and Kathy Demsky
Editor: April Grabast
UNCLASSIFIED is edited and produced by the James
White Library Director's Office. It is published in January, February,
April, May, September, October, and November. Items for inclusion should
reach the Director's Office by the first working day of the month of
publication.
Revised December 11, 1995