GOAL V: Provide expert assistance, instruction, and an innovative suite of user services.
1. Continue to build a distributed learning program supporting technology-based education.
STATUS:
The Preservation Department was awarded a special grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create an Arabic version of its online tutorial on preservation and conservation as part of a special initiative to rebuild Iraq’s cultural heritage institutions. The Preservation Department’s online tutorial “Digital Preservation Management: Implementing Short-term Strategies for Long-term Problems,” created with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, won the 2004 Society of American Archivists award for the best preservation publication of the year.
In its second year of production, the Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS) is providing consultancy and production services to support both CUL staff and faculty projects to enhance learning and teaching.
Alumni & Friends Access <http://alumni.library.cornell.edu/index.cfm>, which was first demonstrated during the 2003 Alumni weekend, provides Cornell alumni and friends with improved access to information through a portal to CUL's collections and services .
Mann librarians partnered with staff at the Food and Agriculture Organization to create modules for the Information Management Resource Kit. These components included sections on metadata and knowledge assessment.
The Office of Distributed Learning developed the Distributed Learning Support website <http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/services/odl/odl.html> to present and promote CUL's distributed learning services to faculty.
2. Expand document delivery capabilities, e.g., e-reserve, interlibrary loan and "borrow direct".
STATUS:
CUL continues to enhance fast and cost-effective document delivery services that save faculty and students time.In January 2004, CUL offered library-to-library book delivery whereby patrons may request books from any of the 20 libraries on campus be delivered to the circulation desk of their choice. During the 2004 spring semester, the total number of patron requests was 3,424. This service will be extended to include library-to-department book delivery during the 2004-05 academic year. Following a pilot implementation of Electronic Document Delivery in the Mann and Vet libraries, CUL will begin in the fall to offer system-wide electronic document delivery for materials owned by Cornell (MyDocumentDelivery) and even faster service for interlibrary loan copies through RAPID, a speedy cost effective system for the interlibrary delivery of copies of serial articles. These services complement the popular electronic reserves program (usage is up 22% in two years) and the Borrow Direct book request and delivery service. Implemented at the beginning of the Fall 2002 semester, Borrow Direct enables Cornell faculty and students to search the combined library catalogs of Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale, a collection of over 40 million volumes, and to directly request expedited delivery of circulating items. The Engineering, Math and Physical Sciences Libraries’ Scan and Deliver Electronic Document Delivery service will be incorporated into the system-wide MyDocumentDelivery service.
With the aid of internal grant funds, Mann Library and Uris Library purchased software and equipment to expand the electronic reserve program with the addition of audio streaming of course lectures.
3. Emphasize the role of librarians/information professionals/archivists as consultants and participants in the instructional and research programs of the University.
STATUS:
CUL has been collaborating with the Office of Information Technologies and the Office of University Counsel to offer a series of workshops for instructional staff entitled "Unfolding the Mysteries of Copyright." The workshops are led by Peter Hirtle, Director of Instruction, IRIS; Patricia McClary, Associate University Counsel; and Tracy Mitrano, Director of Information Technology Policy and Computer Policy and Law Program, Office of the Vice President for Information Technologies.
Design and construction documents have been completed, and construction begun on the Cornell Library Cooperative Learning Computer Laboratory, a new teaching and learning space focused on the collaborative use of high-end computing, in Uris Library. The Division of Instruction, Research and Information Services is partnering with faculty in the Computer Science Department, Cornell Information Technologies and the Faculty Advisory Board on Information Technologies to revamp the room.
In 2003-04, the Law Library increased its already extensive program of formal credit courses and informal classes taught by JD librarians to law students, undergraduates, and Ph.D. students. The program included teaching legal research classes for several university classes, e.g., Regional Planning, Science and Crime, and Psychology, and teaching a two hour class during the summer for high school students taking courses at Cornell and interested in the law.
Mann Library continued to increase the number of classes taught and the number of participants in the instruction program with the goal of providing customized instruction at the point of need in the courses they are taking. The total number of participants in 2002-03 was 3,875, an increase of 28% compared to academic year 2001-2002; participation again increased in the 03-04 academic year with 4,038 participants.
Over 3,000 students took part in instructional programs offered by librarians in Olin and Uris libraries in 2003-04. Cornell librarians and archivists taught for-credit courses in the History Department, Music Department, and the East Asian Program. In 2002-03, reference and instruction staff in the Division of Instruction, Research and Information Services (IRIS) reached 3,566 undergraduates.
In support of President Jeffrey Lehman’s goal of increasing dialogue and understanding of issues related to race and religion, the Library created a portal to resources of value to students and faculty. (see III.5)
Cornell University Library has provided space for student art shows, including hosting the fourth-year painting students’ pre-thesis exhibit in the Fine Arts Library.
In order to emphasize the role of professional staff in instruction, a separate unit for Instruction and Learning was formed within the Division of Instruction, Research and Information Services (IRIS). The Instruction and Learning unit is coordinating course-related instruction and research training for all levels of students and faculty from graduate pro-seminars to extensive support for the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines. The unit has surveyed CUL instructional activities in order to provide benchmark data on the extent of CUL participation in the instructional programs of the University.
CUL has played a leading role on the Unified Services Working Group (USWG). The USWG has put on Learning and Teaching with Technology Expos to introduce faculty to the services available to them for incorporating technology into their teaching and research. The Library has conducted presentations and staffed booths at the Expos about its role in support of instruction and research.
4. Expand services in support of multimedia collections and production.
STATUS:
In Fall 2003 the audio and video collections of Uris, Olin, and Kroch Asia was consolidated and relocated to Olin Library, making the collections more accessible to all users, including disabled patrons. This also provided some much needed room for collection growth, and ensured greater staff coverage to assist readers using machine-dependent collections. In addition, the video collections will become browsable and the playback equipment will be improved. The Africana video collection was also made browsable
The Media Assessment Task Force has recommended investigating the digital reformatting of audio and video collections based on use, copyright implications, special collections materials and materials that fall into the academic priorities of the university.
The CUL Intellectual Property Officer has advised library units on how to address copyright issues that might otherwise limit student use of multimedia collections.
5. Implement a system-wide chat reference service.
STATUS:
As planned in the spring of 2003, the CUL chat reference service is now supported and shared among staff from all four library "clusters, IRIS (Olin/Uris), Life Sciences (Mann), the professional schools (Hotel), and EMPSL (Engineering). The staffing model now takes advantage of two operator seats to provide a more flexible, robust service that can respond better to multiple, simultaneous chat sessions. The Chat Software Review Committee has continued to stay abreast of technical developments.
An internal grant allowed a team of librarians and faculty from the Communications Department to undertake an Analysis of Chat Reference. (see III.4)
6. Expand continuing education programs.
STATUS:
With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Department of Research (IRIS) has been presenting a series of Digital Preservation Management Workshops <http://www.library.cornell.edu/iris/dpworkshop/> and has created an online tutorial on digital preservation: <http://www.library.cornell.edu/iris/dpworkshop/working/index.html>
The Department of Research (IRIS) continues to produce RLG DigiNews under contract with the Research Libraries Group and it has provided consulting services on digital preservation to OCLC and the Library of Congress.
7. Explore and develop 24/7 collaborative services.
STATUS:
During the spring of 2004, the question of whether or not to continue the collaboration with the University of Washington to provide extended hours of chat reference coverage for Washington and Cornell patrons was examined by the Cornell Chat Coordinating Committee and by the University of Washington chat reference liaison. The decision was made to retain the collaboration to continue maximizing the availability of service during evening hours. Statistical analyses reveal that patron demand does not warrant the overhead required to make chat service available beyond midnight.
We are continuing to monitor developments in the QuestionPoint service. An analysis of the KnowledgeBase and the Global Reference Network indicate that it is not yet useful for direct use by the public. However, the Chat Coordinating Committee recommended that we should retain access to stay abreast of international developments in digital reference.
Hours were extended in both Olin and Uris beginning with the spring 2004 semester. Uris Library is now open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. From 2:00am – 8:00 am on those days, study space is provided to members of the Cornell community in the Cocktail Lounge, the Austin Room, the Gallery, and the Fiske Room. The stacks and library services are available during this time, although computers throughout the building, including the CIT computer lab, are self-service. Olin added fourteen more hours per week, extending its closing until 2:00am Sunday-Thursday and opening at 10:00am on the weekends.
8. Implement software that supports push technologies so that users can get the information when and where they need it.
STATUS:
MyContents, the latest in a suite of personalized library services, delivers the table of contents of the journals that are most important to Cornell faculty and students as they become available. Table of contents are delivered via e-mail or over the web in formats the user specifies (including EndNote and Reference Manager).
CUL is actively involved in developing the ability to incorporate library resources and services directly into the Blackboard courseware management system. (See II.5.)
9. Support the creation of an online version of every major exhibition mounted in the Library, incorporating additional materials, and instruction and exposition approaches not feasible in the physical exhibition
STATUS:
Creating an online version of exhibits is now standard practice for the Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections.
Mann Library developed a Dreamweaver template for online exhibits so that student assistants could readily translate texts from an exhibit into an online form. Online exhibits feature kitchen gardens in America, the Phillips’ beekeeping collection, and the Blauscka marine specimens.
The Veterinary Library launched its first online exhibit, Cornell's Legacy of Women in Veterinary Medicine to celebrate the accomplishments of the College's early female graduates. <http://www.vet.cornell.edu/library/archives/Legacy/>