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September 19, 2001
Ross said that LMT is currently in the process of reviewing the Digital Futures Plan, to ensure that the objectives will be completed by the end of the FY. Parallel to this work on the completion of the DFP, the Library will also be putting in place the five-year Master Plan, which will go into effect when the DFP is completed on 1 July.
David Corson said that Olin and Uris are undergoing a number of changes to make their space not only more functional but also more vibrant and inviting.
John Hoffmann reviewed the history of these renovations, which began initially in Spring 1999 with funding from FABIT for workstations in Uris. The Austen Room, John reported, has now been refurbished and rewired; the Gallery has been rewired for Internet Express use; three new group study rooms have been created in the cocktail lounge; and an integrated reference service (i.e., providing the ability to use paper and electronic reference sources in tandem) has been created in the Dean Room. All of this work in Uris has now been completed--except for the new furniture for the Dean Room, which is expected in the next two weeks. Finally, John noted, concepts are also now being developed to refurbish the Kinkeldey Room.
Olin will make some changes to extend the open and inviting atmosphere of the LibCafe into the areas to the south and east of it, where there will be carpets and more comfortable seating. The fourteen-day bookshelves will be removed, opening up the space behind them, so that the line of sight will be much more open--across the reference room to the Arts Quad. The fourteen-day service will be retained, but possibly on lower shelves in front of the café. The card catalog will be moved to the basement. Approximately one-third of the books in the Olin Reference Room will be transferred to the stacks. The height of the shelving in the reference room will be reduced, so that the windows will be more visible, and some of the reference materials will move to the south side of Tiger Alley, outside CTS. 80% of the funding for these renovations, John said, will be for furniture. In general, the space is being divided into “living room” space (large, comfortable chairs) and “dining room” space (tables and chairs).
Oya Rieger presented a prototype Web site which will form the basis for an alumni access pilot project in the spring. Oya showed each of the components currently being considered: Welcome, Library News, Information Resources, CUL Web Exhibition, Ask a Librarian, Web Survival Skills, Current Awareness, and Cornell Authors. There are too many components, Oya explained, for the pilot project. She provided the Council with a list of these components, and asked that Council members advise her on which components should have priority for the pilot. (For further information on this and related issues, see the CUL Distributed Learning Web site at: http://www.library.cornell.edu/DL/.) Oya showed two examples of alumni access sites at other institutions: the site at the University of Pennsylvania is free, and offers the use and printing of electronic materials from the e-vendor Northern Lights; the Harvard Business School site for alumni charges $299 per year, and offers some specialized reference services. Oya provided estimates for a budget, based upon the alumni survey done by the Alumni Services Task Force chaired by Scott Wicks. The budget assumes 1,000 subscribers in the second year, and 2,000 subscribers in the third. There were some questions about the potential cost of such a service, especially in the area of online reference. The Council also stressed that, before such a service can be put in place, it will be necessary to look into coordinating it with specialized services (e.g., in Hotel and Vet) already in place. We will also have to consider how we respond to remote reference questions in future. At the present time, we receive and respond to many of these: when we have alumni access established, will we refuse to answer such remote reference questions, except for alumni who have subscribed? Oya said we must also bear in mind that one of the main values of an Alumni Access capability will be to increase the visibility of the Library among alumni--to let alumni know what services the Library provides, and to invite greater alumni support.
The Council recommended that the pilot service include a service charge to any subscribers--otherwise the levels of use in the pilot will not reflect what we can expect when the service goes live.
The next step will be to create a small task force, to work with Oya on planning the pilot project. There is considerable experience now throughout the CUL system in providing specialized reference services to remote users, and we will want to draw upon that experience for our planning. Ross will be contacting unit heads for help in forming this task force.
Submitted by:
Ross Atkinson
Deputy University Librarian
201 Olin Library
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09/24/01 vwb