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I am putting the final touches on the Library’s Annual Report for 2008-2009 and this message finds me in a reflective frame of mind. I was struck this year by the fact that the life of the Library was dominated by unusual highs and lows, coupled with our ever present, ongoing challenge to continually improve and enhance our services, collections, and facilities for use by students and faculty.

The year’s highs included continued development of the new campus library, including many new partnerships that will formulate in the new shared physical space. The year’s lows were brought about by campus budget cuts with the Library specifically asked to give back approximately 8% of its budget, impacting personnel, materials, hours, and other operating expenses. Dealing with the cut to the Library’s material budget was time intensive and necessitated creating a methodology for review and determining cuts, working closely with 30 academic departments, reviewing thousands of serials titles and usage data, and contacting vendors. The impact on personnel was also dramatic with more than 25% of our already small professional ranks vacant at one time.

Please take a few minutes out of your day and try to join us at the Library’s 1st Annual Open House to be held on Thursday, September 10 at 3:00 pm in Library 208.

In the meantime, below are some Library highlights from the year past and hopes for the year ahead:

The New Building
The new building program statement was completed and approved by administration at the UTC and UT-levels. An IT Infrastructure document was created to forecast IT costs. Conversations were initiated regarding future ITD and Library collaborations. A list of future staffing needs was submitted. In June the legislature debated stopping the Library project due to changes in the funding source. Much to our relief the legislature eventually agreed to continue to fund the project. Ground for the new Library should be broken in January 2010. Read The News You’ve All Been Waiting For for additional information on the new building.

Library Faculty and Staff
The campus hiring freeze made meeting routine services challenging as vacant positions were not filled immediately. At one point the Library had four vacant professional positions, in addition to 1 vacant staff position, amounting to a 20% drop in our workforce. Many, many hours were spent discussing changes to the Library’s organizational structure and position duties in order to maximize use of our limited personnel resources. Recruitments were begun in late Spring to fill two of our four professional vacancies.  Meet two new members of the library faculty at these links:  Lane Wilkinson and Caitlin Shanley.

Our Budget
The Library’s budget remained flat for 2008-2009, with a planned $100,000 reduction going into 2009-2010. $70,000 in one-time funds were provided to help cover inflation on materials. Many, many hours were spent library-wide discussing what collections, services, and operations to reduce, as well as planning for the implementation of these changes.

Services Offered
Services to students and faculty continued to evolve in the year past though our ability to focus on them was limited in the sense of time, personnel, and money. Library faculty and staff enhanced a range of existing services via the implementation of new technologies, in particular in the areas of instruction, interlibrary loan, and circulation. Read about our upcoming workshops and new equipment available for borrowing.

Our Collections
The focus on collections this year was dominated by the budget cut to journals. All library faculty were asked to review and select journals to cut and to serve as contacts for academic department faculty. Subscription costs were analyzed and organized by academic department or college with the goal being to distribute the cuts in proportion to current departmental support. On a positive note, a number of new online collections were added at the end of the year with salary savings money from “frozen” positions, including a new streaming media collection and over 10,000 electronic books. Read about the cuts to serials and some of our new resources.

The Facility
In the Fall of 2008 the Library welcomed 23 members of the English faculty to the building while the Grote renovation continues. This Fall (2009), 3 members of the Math Department will join us. In addition, the Library converted two spaces into classrooms, Room 207 and the Southern Writers Room, to meet campus needs. In the year past the Library worked with Campus Facilities on the implementation of a new security system and new overnight cleaning routines. Read about new building hours and changes to the 2nd floor layout as a result of journal cancellations.

If you would like to give us your input on current or future library operations, we would welcome hearing your thoughts.  As always, I am happy to talk one-on-one, so please don’t hesitate to contact me at 423-425-4508 or theresa-liedtka@utc.edu. Good luck with your Fall Semester!

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The Library sought student and faculty input in regards to which hours to reduce as part of the Annual Library Survey, conducted each Spring.  The input received from students indicated they wished the Library to open later in the morning and close on Saturday.  The majority of faculty suggested the Library close earlier in the evening and open later in the morning.

The Library, in an effort to balance the input and continue to serve each patron group to the best of its abilities, reduced hours a small amount at open, at close, and on Saturday.

The Library approved hours of operation for the Fall 2009 semester are listed below, along with the number of decreased hours of operation per day.

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In Spring 2009, based on recommendations from the Academic Affairs Review Committee, the Library was asked to identify $100,000 in cuts to our collections and operations budget, effective July 1, 2009.

Current Budget:
The total library budget in 2008-2009 was $2,500,000.

The Process
The Library’s goal was to work closely with students and faculty to identify the cuts, and to operate in an open and transparent manner.

To that end the Library:
•    Consulted with the Senate Library Committee
•    Consulted with the Faculty Senate.
•    Consulted with Deans
•    Worked closely with Academic Department Heads
•    Scheduled open faculty and student meeting
•    Included  budget-related questions on the Library’s Annual Spring Survey
•    Met with any department, college, or individual at their request

A Bit of Budget Background
The Library eliminated $390,388 in journal costs from 2000-2003.  The base budget had not kept pace with inflation and ongoing subscriptions were paid for with one-time money.   This accounted for about 40% of active journal subscriptions at the time.

As of 2008-2009, subscriptions account for 84% of materials spending or $981,832.  Of that:
•    Electronic subscriptions account for 78% of subscriptions spending or $767,595.
•    Print subscriptions account for 22% of our subscriptions spending or $214,237.

Use of Journal Resources:  Print versus Electronic
In 2006-2007 there were 483,608 full-text articles downloaded from our online journal resources.
In 2007-2008 there were 2,534 bound and unbound print volumes used on the 2nd floor.  The Library increased the print figure to 5,000 to take into account self-shelved items and summer usage.

Based on this data the ratio of electronic journal use to print journal use is close to 99 to 1.

In 2005-2006 in response to a Library Survey question 80.5 % of faculty and students reported they preferred accessing journals in online form.

Based on the above data, the Library recommended that the entire subscription collection be reviewed, but that print, microfilm, newspaper, standing order and other physical subscriptions is given the closest look.

The Outcome
Library faculty worked with the campus throughout the Spring term to obtain input and finalized the list of journals to be cancelled in July.    At present the Library’s Acquisition’s Department is working with journal supplies to cancel titles.

A list of journals cancelled by format is below:

A full list of the 398 cancelled titles is available on the Library’s wiki at: http://wiki.lib.utc.edu/index.php/Budget, look about ½ down the page for a link called “Final: List of Serials Cut, Summer 2009, see cancellation tab”

Our hope is that in using usage figures to determine cancelled titles, we will minimize the impact to students and faculty.  However, we know that is not going to be the case.  As always, if you find the Library does not have the journal article you need, please request it, free of charge, from our Interlibrary Loan service.

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The library will host an Open House on Thursday, September 10 from 3:00-4:30 on the first floor in the snack area.

Please join us!

•    Refreshments & Prize Drawings
•    View and discuss architectural drawings of the new library building
•    Meet the Library Dean
•    Experience our new tech gadgets (Kindles, Flip video cameras, Laptops minis)
•    Learn about new resources, hours, & policies
•    Discuss questions, concerns with library faculty & staff
•    New databases demonstrations
•    Meet new reference/instruction librarians, Caitlin Shanley and Lane Wilkinson
•    Library tours
•    See treasures from our Special Collections

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Academic Onefile has changed its interface slightly over the summer. The colors are very different and some of the search features are in different places, but overall it still works the same way that it did last year!  A few of the things that HAVE changed include:

• New limits on the left sidebar – limit your results to image, podcast and video files
• The Subject Guide has been renamed Browse Subjects (but it still works the same way!)
• The Marked items folder is now on the top right (but it still works the same way!)
• Improved Toolbox offers easier emailing and printing options
• Use the Share feature to post articles to Delicious or Facebook
• Use the Bookmark Star to save a link to an article so you can find it again later

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I’ll have a Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino, a media lab, a couple of practice presentation rooms, and a few dozen group study rooms to go, please.

Oh, and make it 5 stories.

Ok, so right now we’re just dreaming, but it’s a dream with reality in sight.   For the past 2 years, a group of UTC faculty, students, and community members have dreamed, discussed, wrangled, and hammered out a “program statement” – the full description of the proposed new University Library and Information Center.  The architectural firms of Derthick, Henley & Wilkerson/Artech is in the process of getting final approvals for plans before starting the bidding and contract award process.  Look for construction equipment to start appearing next spring.  July 2010 is the target for beginning construction and we hope to move in by Spring 2012.

The new UTC Library will be at the corner of Vine and Douglas, next to Chamberlain Field.  Plans are for Chamberlain Field itself to become a beautiful landscaped greenspace.  The new L-shaped Library will wrap around this greenspace and enjoy lovely views on that side.  There will be a main entrance in the corner, along with a separate entrance for the large Starbucks coffee shop and cafe.  A veranda outside the Starbucks will give us space to sit and enjoy that cup of Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino.

The State’s budget shortfall nearly put the kibosh on the new Library this summer.  Thanks to the hard work of some of our forward-thinking legislators on the budget committee and Governor Bredesen funding was preserved and the Library project allowed to move forward.  We appreciate everyone who wrote to their State legislators in support of the Library.  The current Lupton Library opened in 1974 for a campus of 4,574 enrolled students.  Our student population is now nearly 10,000!  In 1974, the Library owned 170,000 books; today we have 1.7 MILLION items.  In 1974, personal computers didn’t even exist, and the current building isn’t designed to support the computers and other devices that are now so important to research and scholarship.

Student services and technology are front and center in the new UTC Library.  The entire building is designed with the robust infrastructure needed to support today’s and tomorrow’s technology devices.  Students, staff and faculty can bring their own laptops or use one of the Library’s 400+ desktops and notebooks.  The digital creation and conversion center will give students a lab where they can create and edit videos or convert analog media to digital, with help from specially trained staff.  The learning and information commons will provide more than just computers and printing; Reference Librarians and Technology Specialists will be there, ready to assist, teach and troubleshoot problems with students.

The new LEED certified Library will be the first green building on campus.  (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.)  It will encompass 180,000 square feet  and have loads of windows to take maximum advantage of natural light (with the added bonus of some beautiful views of campus and Lookout Mountain.)  Each floor will have its own character and purpose.  Here are some of the highlights:

1st floor
Most of the books will be on this floor, using compact, moveable shelving.

2nd floor
Starbucks Coffee Shop and Cafe
Study space open 24/5 (Sunday through Thursday)
Digital creation and conversion center
New books browsing area
Movies and music

3rd floor
Reference/help desk and learning and information commons with 150 seats
Special practice presentation rooms where students can record and review their performances

4th floor
Most of the 40+ group study rooms will be on this floor.
Graduate student lounge with computers
Academic Student Support Center (tutoring, writing center, advising, etc.)
Quiet study lounge

5th floor
Grand Reading area
University Archives and Special Collections
Faculty lounge with computers
Walker Teaching Resource Center
Faculty and graduate student carrels

Auditorium
Independent to new building; will be built next to the new library
2 auditoriums, 150 to 200 seats each.

Read more about the new UTC Library and join the discussion at http://wiki.lib.utc.edu/index.php/Library_Building_Project.

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Caitlin Shanley comes to UTC from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she recently completed her MSLS degree in the School of Information and Library Science. While in grad school, Caitlin worked at several UNC libraries, as well as a small library at a nonprofit organization. She has experience fielding research and technology questions both in person and online, and looks forward to helping folks in the UTC community use library and web resources for learning, writing, and creating. In addition to the MSLS, Caitlin holds a BA in Literature and Women’s Studies from UNC Asheville.

Caitlin’s research interests include information literacy, social software, and the application of Web 2.0 tools in libraries. A North Carolina native, Caitlin enjoys vintage clothing and memorabilia, food photography, and regional varieties of barbecue. She welcomes any suggestions for barbecue and other Southern cuisine in and around Chattanooga.

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Lane Wilkinson joins the Lupton Library as a new Reference and Instruction Librarian. Lane comes to us from Detroit, Michigan where he worked as a reference librarian at Oakland University. Lane received his MLIS from Wayne State University in 2008. He also holds a Masters in Philosophy and has taught Ethics, Logic and Critical Thinking on an adjunct basis for several years.

Lane’s research interests include information ethics, social epistemology, the nature of truth, and the history of the book.  He is married to Khristy Wilkinson and enjoys early 20th century literature, eclectic music, debate, and playing the guitar.

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Barry Moser Self Portraits

On Thursday evening, September 17, 7:00 pm, world-renowned artist and illustrator, and 1993 UTC Distinguished Alumnus, Barry Moser, will speak in the UC Auditorium. The topic of his talk is: “The Livery of Art: Seeing, Believing, and Chalk.” Mr. Moser is speaking on the occasion of the dedication of the Barry Moser Collection, housed in the Special Collections of Lupton Library. Mr. Moser will also be visiting with select classes during his visit to UTC.

The Barry Moser Collection in the Special Collections includes over 150 books illustrated by Mr. Moser, including classics and children’s books. The collection also includes some original art, calendars, posters, and advertisements also illustrated by Mr. Moser. Following the talk there will be a reception and a book signing. There will be copies of some of Mr. Moser’s books for sale at the event. The talk is free and open to the public.

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