IRIS Photos

IRIS News and Notes, December 2004


Olin Current Reading Room
Trashcan

 

 

Food Fight! Staff contest to eradicate food in the library

Services
Course Reserve
Update on Document Delivery

Facilities
Facilities updates
Africana Library Building Project

Survey of computers and reading rooms in Olin

CUL and CIT partner to bring RefWorks to campus

Janus Conference Planning Group

Digital Preservation Policy

Preservation Website for Iraq

Staff News: Comings, Goings, and Kudos

Food Fight! Staff contest to eradicate food in the library
We know food consumption has always been a problem, but this fall we reached a crisis state in Olin. An increasing number of patrons consistently ignore the no-food signs and some resent when staff remind them of the food ban. We’ve even had deliveries of pizzas and other fast foods to Olin and Uris. In this issue of N&N, we report on an Olin survey that documents food abuse in the study rooms on the upper floors. We’ve also heard from Rocky Cunningham and Pete Terwilliger, the Uris Library custodians, that while food abuse is on the rise during the day, it has declined at night due to the presence of security guards, who approach people routinely about the food they are attempting to bring in and consume. Obviously, it would be great if we could afford full time security in all our library buildings, but the crux of the problem is finding the funds to pay for them. Barring our winning the lottery, what can we do?

Beginning in late January, we’ll be mounting a major campaign to eliminate food abuse. We need your help. We’re looking for new ways to encourage library users to curb their appetites and keep food out of the library. For the next month (until January 17) we’ll be running a staff contest to solicit creative no-food suggestions.

We’ll be giving away grand prizes for the three best suggestions:

  • First Place: Kingston Data Traveler II Plus - USB Flash Drive - 256 MB - KUSBDTII+/256
  • Second Place: a copy of The Bend in the Road, by Eamon McEneaney. On Dec. 6, Cornell Library officially published A Bend in the Road, a collection of poems by McEneaney, '77, the late Cornell Hall of Fame lacrosse player who lost his life in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center terrorist attack. The book has been selling like hotcakes: early last week it was at about #130,000 on the Amazon list; on Friday, it was at 27,000; on Monday, it was at 18,394.
  • Third Place: $10 gift certificate to the Cornell Store (considering the contest, I didn’t feel right offering gift coupons for a latte at the Libe Café!)

Send in your suggestions electronically or drop them off with Kim LaMorte in 213 Olin. Be sure to include your name and email address.

Services
Course Reserve
PSEC's Common Reserve Task Force completed its mission to deliver by November 22 a common approach for CUL reserves, including a single reserve form and web page. This would not have been possible without the programming skills of Matt Arnstein from D-LIT and research assistance from IRIS’s Linda Miller. At their last meeting task force members, Carmen Blankinship, Peter Hirtle, Jesse Koennecke, Joanne Leary, Maureen Morris, and Pat Schafer (chair) developed a list of recommended future enhancements for submission to PSEC for the Access Services Program Committee (ASPC). So far, responses have been largely positive to CUL's "new look and feel," but a full review is planned for the February meeting of the Access Services Program Committee. ~Pat Schafer

Update on Document Delivery
We’re at the end of a year in which two new delivery services were introduced, so I asked Jesse Koenecke and Joanne Leary to provide updates for us on electronic document delivery and library-to-library book delivery. Linda Miller produced the chart here and those used throughout this issue.

MyDocument Delivery
MyDocumentDelivery has been in campus-wide production for two months. As of December 13, we have received 214 requests and scanned and made available 157 articles or book chapters to 55 individual patrons. Faculty, staff, grads, and undergrads have all taken advantage of the service. In all, 63 requests were paid for, while 94 were provided for free (including 74 from the Library Annex). Apart from the Library Annex materials, most of the MyDD traffic seems to be from a wide range of patrons requesting articles in the sciences. Thank you to all of the great staff for providing this service.

In other MyDD news, we're proud to announce that it is now possible for patrons to charge their requests to departmental accounts. Instructions for doing this will be added to the MyDD Website. Thank you to Linda Westlake, Ann Crowley, and Frances Webb for making this happen. ~Jesse Koennecke

Library to Library Book Delivery
Since January 24, 2004 we've received 8,643 requests, and filled 7,861 (fill rate of 90%). October and November were our record-breaking months (no surprise there)—over a thousand requests per month. Olin and Mann still continue to dominate the business, accounting for 55% of the requests. Of the requests not filled, 54% were because the item was "Missing" or "Not Found on Shelf," and about 8% were because the item was in cataloging process (interesting that these are being picked out by patrons—even though cataloging is moving along at a very good clip).

The stats by patron group still show Grad Students to be the heaviest users at about 45%, but Faculty are creeping up and are now at 5.6%. (They were in the 3% range around mid-year.) Staff come in second at 24.5% and are neck-in-neck with Undergrads at 24%. Other groups are all under 1%.

Finally, the pickup library statistics show that the load is distributed a bit more equitably. Olin and Mann are still the favored pickup joints, but Law comes in a close third. Engineering is fourth. (An aside—I recently did a quick analysis of books discharged at Engineering, and fully 25% of the total are for other libraries. Engineering is a very popular drop-off point, and presumably a pick-up point as well.) ~Joanne Leary

Facilities Updates
Sharon Wargo provided this update on projects scheduled for substantial completion before the start of the next semester:

Handicapped Restroom—The unisex restroom on the basement level of Olin will be converted to meet handicapped accessibility codes. The existing outer wall will be demolished, a code-compliant entrance will be installed, and the interior will get a coat of paint.

Tower Room Cooling—Two fan coil units will be installed in the Tower Computer Lab in Uris. This will provide more even climate control and compensate for the heat load generated by a roomful of computers.

Facelift for four Restrooms—The restrooms on the 5th and 7th floors of Olin have already received new light fixtures and will be painted.

Government Reading Room—Improvements to this 4th floor room of Olin include new carpet, paint, upgrading of the electrical supply, new chairs, and study carrels.

Austen Room in Uris—This room will get a facelift by doing some selective patching and painting as well as cleaning and repair of the upholstered furniture.

Engineering Library Renovation—This project will create communication media offices in the basement and a complete renovation to the first floor reading room of the library, including a new combined circulation/reference desk.

Severinghaus Reading Room (Kroch Asia)—Upgrades to the lighting are complete. A digital reader/printer has been installed for use with the microform collection. An additional table, new study carrels, and wood shelving will be installed. Chairs will be reupholstered.

Africana Library building project
The renovation and addition to the Africana Center is moving along well. The project is on track to be completed January 15th, 2005. The installation of the sheetrock in the Library began the week of December 13th, 2004. The contractor has also started work on the roof of the Library. The courtyard area and the south end of the Library are now complete. The east elevation of the Library is about 90% complete. During the week of December 20th windows will be installed in the Library as well as the installation of the light fixtures in the Library and Multi Purpose room. Based on when the air handler system is delivered, installed, and tested, it is still uncertain when the Africana Library will be able to move into its new home. The earliest possible date is the week of January 17, 2005; sometime in early February 2005; or the week of March 19, 2005. ~Eric Acree

Survey of computers and reading rooms in Olin
In response to concerns expressed by faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates, staff conducted a weeklong survey (November 15-21) of the use of Olin’s first floor computers and reading rooms on floors 3, 4, and 6 at different times during the day. In terms of computer use, we wanted to gauge the demand for the 3 types of workstations available: library research-only terminals, the full productivity terminals, and the limited productivity terminals (i.e., standup computers combining library research and e-mail). We were also interested in determining the extent to which patrons “saved” computers by leaving their belongings while they went elsewhere. Our survey of reading rooms was intended to determine the level of room use, including for group study, as well as the amount of noise and food present. Nancy Skipper prepared the following informal assessment of the survey results. The charts offer a general overview of the data collected, and for a PDF of detailed stats, click here.

An Interpretation of the Survey Data, by Nancy Skipper

Olin Library First Floor Computer Area Patron Count
Data from the 47 surveys conducted the week of November 15 – 21 suggest that the functional and proportional configurations of public workstations is balanced, as well as possible, given the variety of patron needs we are attempting to support.

Library Research Only (15 workstations)
12 or more stations were in use during 12 of the surveys.

All 15 workstations were in use, or “saved,” during 3 surveys at 3 and 4pm.

The number of workstations seems about right given the priority of library resource access. We still receive occasional complaints during peak use, but overflow can be accommodated in the Electronic Text Center.

Full Productivity (22 workstations)
All 22 stations were in use or saved during 15 of the surveys.

A cumulative total of 19 patrons were identified as “hovering” during 11 surveys when no FP stations were available. The highest number of simultaneous “hoverers” was five, occurring at 6 pm on Tuesday.

More full productivity workstations would clearly be a priority for patrons if more public space ever becomes available for computing on the first floor or elsewhere in the library. However, it may be difficult to meet the need for full productivity computers regardless of how many more are added.

Library Research plus e-mail (3 stand-up workstations)
All 3 workstations were in use during 19 of the surveys.

Although the “hybrid” configuration is confusing for some patrons, they appear to be serving an important need. Additional workstations for quick catalog checks and/or e-mail access would be convenient for patrons and would reduce pressures on the LR and FP workstations.

“Saving” Phenomenon
Workstation “saving” appeared during 17 surveys, with a cumulative total of 162 saved workstations. Seventeen total hovering patrons could have used a FP workstation if they had not been saved. The highest number of simultaneous “saves” was eight at 3pm on Saturday; seven workstations were simultaneously saved at 7pm and at 10pm on Wednesday.

This situation is frustrating for patrons and may require some administrative attention. If staff is hired to patrol for food, perhaps there would be a role for them here.

Olin Library Graduate/Group Study Room Count
Data from the 21 surveys conducted of the 10 graduate/group study rooms in Olin suggest that although there are persistent problems with food and noise in the rooms, the incidence rate may not be as high as initially suspected, during the times the rooms were observed (10am, 3pm, 6pm). However, the statistical incident rate does not necessarily reflect the qualitative impact upon users.

People (324 total)
Overall numbers suggest that the seating capacity (117 chairs total for all rooms) is adequate for the number of people using the study rooms. A cumulative total of 324 people were observed using the rooms during the 21 surveys (2,457 possible “chairs”). However, each tally for each room would need to be checked individually to determine whether or not any one of the rooms was filled to capacity during any of the observations. “Personal space” needs would also have to be factored into further analysis; many patrons spread out their belongings to encompass two-three chair areas, which significantly reduces perceived seating spaces.

Food (32 incidents out of 210 observations)
During the 21 surveys only one room was recorded as never having food present (room 601-History). Room 305 (English, Speech, Drama) had the highest rate of food present: seven times out of 21, i.e., one third of the survey observations. Five of the rooms were observed with food four or more times; 16 food observations occurred on Saturday and Sunday. (Note that the survey recorded the presence of food, not the number of people eating.)

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the mid- to late-evening hours are likely to have higher numbers of people eating in the study rooms. Building rounds and patron complaints describe full meals such as pizza, Chinese food, and McDonald’s dinners. The food concern also extends through the study carrels on the upper floor perimeters and in the Asia Library carrels.

Groups (35 total, 26 incidents out of 189 observations in graduate study rooms)
16 of the total 35 group study observations were on Saturday and Sunday. Room 302, the designated group study room, had the highest number of group study occurrences (nine out of 21 observations for that room). This is an appropriate use of that room. The nine graduate study rooms each had at least one incident of group study. The range extended up to six with room 604 (Classics). Four of the graduate study rooms had three or more groups observed. It is not known how often the groups consisted of graduate students for whom the rooms were designated; anecdotes suggest that they frequently are not. (Note that the noise rate, below, does not necessarily correlate directly with the presence of groups.)

Noise (20 incidents total, 16 incidents out of 189 observations in grad studies)
(Note: The survey defined “noise” as being at a potentially disruptive level.)
Room 302, the designated group study room, was observed with four incidents of noise, although there were nine occurrences of group study. Noise generated in the designated group study room is appropriate. This leaves 16 incidents of noise in the nine graduate study rooms. Only one of the nine graduate study rooms was never observed as being noisy during the 21 observations (room 405, Government) Three of the grad study rooms were recorded as being noisy three times (401-Sociology, Anthropology, Economics; 404 Medieval Studies; and 602 Near Eastern Studies, Philosophy).

Comments
High impact: Although the group study and noise rates in the graduate study rooms may not sound high, the combined impact may be a source of frustration for the graduate students who seek quiet, individual study in a room designated specifically for their use. Given the specialized subject designation of the rooms and the relatively small population of graduate students, there is a greater likelihood that individual graduate students are encountering multiple incidents of inappropriate use of the room. Their sense of “ownership” of the space could increase the negative impact of such experiences.

This concept of high impact may also be applied to the computer use survey. Faculty and graduate students feel a strong sense of primary need and ownership when it comes to accessing library resources. Their occasional inability to have immediate access to a library research workstation registers very strongly with them. The negative impact is exacerbated by the perception that the space and the computers they need may be used for purposes that are not directly related to library resources. This produces a sense of disenfranchisement.

Weekends: Data from both the first floor computer use survey and the study room survey indicate that inappropriate behavior increases on the weekends. The rate of “saving” computers, eating, group study and noise are all proportionately higher on the weekends. These problems are not confined to the first floor or the study rooms, but extend to the upper floors generally.

Future surveys: If additional data-gathering is deemed necessary, future surveys should include evening hours for the reading rooms, and should encompass study carrels in Olin and in the Asia Library. The data on noise and group study for the designated group study room should be discounted since that is an appropriate feature of the room.

CUL and CIT partner to bring RefWorks to campus
CUL's Citation Management Working Group (formerly known as BDM) is pleased to announce that the Cornell campus will soon have a site license to Refworks.   A web-based, Endnote-like product, Refworks allows users to easily import and organize references from online database searches.  Refworks also helps patrons easily format their papers and bibliographies in seconds. 

The librarys Database Review Committee (DRC) and Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) are jointly funding this campus-wide site license, which will allow all members of the Cornell community free access to the program.

The Citation Management Working Group will be demo-ing Refworks and answering questions at the January 20th IRPC meeting at 8:30 in Olin 106. Additionally, CUL staff members interested in joining the CWMG group to help with the launching of RefWorks and other projects are asked to contact CWMG chair Virginia Cole at vac11@cornell.edu. Anyone who wants to try out Refworks on their own may contact CWMG member Susan Lacette for a trial membership at skl2@cornell.edu.

And finally, the CMWG has two new citation management webpages. There is a committee page for library staff at www.library.cornell.edu/cmwg/CMWG.htm and an informational page for patrons (soon to be updated to reflect RefWorks) under Gateway help at http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/cite_mgmt.html.

Janus Conference Planning Group
In October, Sarah Thomas appointed a group to plan a major conference on library collections, to be held here at Cornell in the fall of 2005. This event will be called the Janus Conference on Library Collections, named after the god of change and transitions. It will look back twenty-five years at the influential report produced by Cornell librarians Hendrik Edelman and Dan C. Hazen, which formed the basis of collection development thinking for over two decades, but also toward the future of collections in the age of networked information. The Delmas Foundation is providing partial support to underwrite the expenses of this conference. The Academic Assembly is co-sponsoring this event.

Members of the Janus Planning Group are: John Saylor (chair), Ross Atkinson (ex officio), David Block, Peter Hirtle, Anne Kenney (LMT Liaison), Lee Lafleur (Academic Assembly Liaison), Mary Ochs, Katherine Reagan, and Kizer Walker.

Digital Preservation Policy Framework
You may have heard at the recent all-staff meeting that the CUL Digital Preservation Policy Framework is now available for comment. This is the first of many documents, procedures, and other activities that will be needed to achieve CUL's goal to establish an OAIS-compliant digital repository (Goal 2, Objectives 1 and 6). Nancy McGovern, as Digital Preservation Officer for CUL, led the development of the framework with significant input from Marcy Rosenkrantz, Tom Hickerson, and me. To provide a means for ongoing discussion of core digital preservation topics, Marcy and Nancy have established a digital preservation listserv (instructions for subscribing to the listserv are provided below).

On Thursday, December 16, there was a brown bag in Olin Library to get feedback on the framework. If you were not able to attend or prefer to provide written comments, please them to the listserv, or directly to Nancy or Marcy by December 20. Based upon the feedback received at the brown bag and by email, a revised version of the framework will be brought to LMT and eventually to the Library Advisory Board for further review.

To subscribe to the CUL listserv for digital preservation called dig-preservation-L, send an e-mail to: listproc@cornell.edu.

Leave the subject line blank.

In the body of the message type the following: subscribe dig-preservation-L YOUR_FULL_NAME

Where YOUR_FULL_NAME is the name that appears on your "from" line in your e-mail. Example: subscribe dig-preservation-L Jane Doe.

Preservation Website for Iraq
We're delighted to announce the completion of the Library Preservation and Conservation Tutorial for Iraq and the Middle East. In many countries, it is difficult to find the model preservation programs on which librarians and archivists can build, and this tutorial offers a comprehensive overview of preservation techniques to ensure the survival of their cultural property. This tutorial is offered in English and in Arabic.

Credit for this Herculean undertaking goes to John Dean, content; Carla DeMello, illustrations and site design; Jenn Colt-Demaree, site design and development; and Ellie Buckley, content architecture. The Arabic translation was prepared by Global Listing's Arabic team lead by Ahmed Shazly.

Screen shot of Library preservation and conservation tutorial in Arabic

Staff News: Comings, Goings, and Kudos
Comings and Goings
An over-capacity crowd filled Kroch Lecture Room on Friday afternoon, December 4, to wish Susan Currie a fond goodbye. After 23 (or 24, depending on how one counts) years of service at Cornell, Susan will become the Associate Director for Public Services at the University of Binghamton in January 2005. To kick off the celebration, Susan’s three supervisors—Yoram Szekeley, Pat Schafer, and I—offered remarks on her contributions over the years, and then I read a letter from Sarah Thomas, who could not be there because of a prior commitment. Others chimed in extemporaneously, including those who had dressed up like Susan for the occasion. She will be sorely missed. Click here to see pictures from her party.

Although it was hard to say goodbye to Susan Currie, IRIS will be in good hands with the appointment of Xin Li to the post of Director of Service Innovations and Resource Planning effective in January 2005. In this role, Xin will plan for and direct the expanding operations at the Annex and will serve as a key member of the IRIS Cabinet, with a portfolio to oversee resources and planning within IRIS. Additionally, she will work with Lee Cartmill, Linda Westlake and others to develop business and marketing plans for new entrepreneurial services.

Xin Li joined CUL in 2002. As the Head of Acquisitions Services in CTS, she managed a staff of 25 who are responsible for acquiring new materials for the Library system. Most recently, Xin has been implementing the technical services integration for the Vet, ILR, and Mann libraries. Prior to coming to Cornell, Xin was the Assistant Head of Acquisitions at Yale University Sterling Memorial Library. Over the first several months of her tenure with IRIS, Xin will continue to coordinate the technical services integration project for Kroch Asia, ensuring a close collaboration between IRIS and CTS in this process.

Xian Wu has been promoted to Assistant Librarian to serve as the Electronic Resource Librarian in the Wason Collection on East Asia. In this capacity he assumes responsibility for the development, administration, maintenance, and production of digital library collections related to East Asia as well as serving as the Kroch Asia web master. Xian will also serve as a technical resource to the Asia curators and offer workshops on bibliographic instruction and electronic resources.

Staff in Interlibrary Services waved goodbye to Jim Atkinson on December 8 as he headed off for his well-deserved retirement trip out west. Jim's colleagues wished him luck, since he'll be spending some time at the tables in Las Vegas along the way. Access Services has a new Evening Supervisor filling the vacancy left by Kevin Lash in September. A 1999 graduate of Ithaca College, Judd Karlman brings a background in teaching to his new position. Another new arrival to Access Services is Landon John Spoonhower. Penny Lane Spoonhower's new son arrived on Thursday, December 2 at 10:14 pm, weighing in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. Until Penny returns to work in February, library staff will see some familiar faces. Yhi-Chaw Chang and Katey Strollo will be working part time in her absence. ~Pat Schafer

Kudos
Peter B. Hirtle has published a new article, "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States," in Information Outlook 8:11 (November, 2004): 26-33. Information Outlook is the monthly magazine of the Special Libraries Association.

I’ve been officially sworn in as a new member of the Standards Board for the Association of Image and Information Management (AIIM), serving a three-year term.

Finally a tip for the holidays—all New & Noteworthy books and videos and DVDs are now due January 24, 2005!

That’s it for this time. Oh, mark your calendar for Monday, January 10, 9:00-11:00 am. We’ll be having the second annual IRIS Welcome Back from the Holidays Coffee, which will be held in 703 Olin. In the meantime, enjoy the much-deserved break and don’t forget to submit your suggestions to the Food Fight! Staff Contest.

Anne