FLCupdate

Faculty Library Committee Update, Presented to the Faculty Senate 12/9/04

The FLC was provided with general information, statistics and a tour of the Library by Sue Samson. You might have noticed the various changes both to the building and the library’s website. Tours are available to any faculty member upon request. Information is available on the library’s website at the address below.

System-wide Statistics / Information & Research Services Division Statistics

http://www.lib.umt.edu/pdf/library_stats.pdf

The Collection
The Library’s collection has grown significantly. From FY 2000 to FY 2004 there was an increase from 9,706 books, media, etc, to 17,782 and 4,500 paper journals to 20,000 paper and electronic journals.

The Library now has collection development information on their website and is discussing creating a frequently asked questions and answers section

http://www.lib.umt.edu/about/collections/default.htm

The Library has a new method of acquiring materials for the collection, known as approval Plans. This involves a commercial vendor that supplies to the library books/slips describing books, according to specific subject parameters/profiles. These plans offer a quick, simple and economical method for acquiring a core of current scholarly materials in selected subject areas. This is a standard practice of academic libraries and offers several advantages, one of which is insuring that we purchase current offerings from key publishers. The library is working to make the system easier and more flexible to use.

Collaborative cost sharing has provided increased access to materials. Science Direct offers 1,800 titles and is interdisciplinary. It was the second most used electronic resource at the Library after just one month. The actual cost per article is $8.48 which is lower than MSU. There has been an 18% usage increase from FY 2003 to 2004.

Commercialization of scholarly information has resulted in steep increases, sometimes as high as 77%, in monograph and serial costs. This is quite challenging for the Library.

Budget

The FLC reviewed the budget with special attention to acquisition and the monographs formula (11/12/04 and 11/017/04 Minutes). Funding for faculty purchases has remained steady for four years. There is a growing gap between research funding and the Library budget. In 1990 there were 7.7 million research dollars and a library budget of 2 million. In 2004 there were 65.7 million research dollars and a 5 million library budget. When proposals for new programs are prepared, they always indicate that library holdings are adequate and there is no formula built into grants for library costs. The Dean has to request funds for infrastructure issues.

Government (Federal) Documents

The committee was informed that there will be future changes related to new directions coming from the new Superintendent of Documents. The University of Montana is a Federal Regional Depository. As the only regional depository in Montana, the Mansfield Library has a number of obligations that are codified by statute. The library functions as a guardian of the congressional records (currently in perpetuity) and is responsible for making them available to the people. After 9/11 there were some changes for security reasons. The Government Printing office recognizes the burden on depositories and the lack of resources for conservation and preservation.

The Public Printer (a political appointee) who oversees the operations of the Government Printing Office and the Depository System, has undertaken a review of the Depository System. One of the key questions being asked by the Public Printer is “What is the future of the Regional Depository system in the electronic age?” Changes being discussed may streamline user access to government documents, maximize resources and could have an impact on Library operations. Themes include moving documents because of space concerns and digitizing documents retroactively (pre 1976) and cataloging the materials. This would create comprehensive regional locations and search facilities.

The care and maintenance of rare government documents and maps is being addressed by the library. The library received an excellent review of Government Documents during its last inspection. Jennie Burroughs, the Government Documents Librarian, regularly attends Superintendent of Documents meetings in Washington DC for consultation. The library now provides electronic access to many government documents; nearly 96% of new Government Printing Office Documents are now available electronically. The move to digitize historical documents could be an opportunity for Montana to publish “gray literature” (Federal documents that are not part of the depository program). This will allow information to be shared that was previously geographically isolated.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Committee was also updated on the Electronic Theses and Dissertations. The Senate will have a presentation regarding this possibility soon. There was a campus-wide committee that developed the recommendations for implementation.

Research Instruction

The Library would also like to encourage faculty to expose their students to Library research instruction. In the 2003-2004 academic year, librarians provided instruction to 9798 students.

Curriculum Integrated Instruction

http://www.lib.umt.edu/about/policies/cii.htm

Communication with Faculty

There is currently an electronic suggestion box on the Library’s website, faculty can always contact departmental Library Representative, their Library liaison with questions, and the chair or chair-elect of the Faculty Library Committee may be contacted with concerns to bring to the committee.

Departmental Library Representative

http://www.lib.umt.edu/services/dept_reps.htm

Library Liaisons

http://www.lib.umt.edu/about/policies/cii.htm

Electronic Suggestions

http://www.lib.umt.edu/forms/suggest/suggestform.htm

Although the Library doesn’t want faculty to get put off by numerous requests for information, they do need input on several upcoming issues. These include: copyright difficulty, plagiarism, and the benefits of the Mansfield Library becoming a member of the Association of Research Libraries.

Current information and assistance concerning plagiarism is available at:

http://www.lib.umt.edu/services/plagiarism/index.htm#guidesf

http://www.lib.umt.edu/gen/copyright.htm

Spring Business:

In the spring the Committee will have an opportunity to review the LibQual+survey results and perhaps the in-house assessment of students’ library knowledge and information literacy skills, Project SAILS.

The committee will also be discussing the advisability of a faculty survey and copyright and plagiarism issues.

Assistance Requested from the Senate

Assist with identifying mechanisms for opening communication to the Faculty Library Committee that respect the Library faculty as the main conduit for information.
If you have suggestions or issues with the approval plan, please contact your departmental library representative or liaison librarian to obtain accurate information and to assist in developing an effective approval plan profile.
When you write grants, consider earmarking a certain percentage of each grant for the library collection, thus insuring that the library is able to support your research.
Build time into your syllabi for research instruction to be integrated into your curriculum.
Please share this information with your colleagues.