Annual Report

The Library as Place

Summary of Statistics

The J. W. England Library welcomed 225,451 users during the 05/06 academic year. On nights and weekends 68,857 people entered--an increase of 80% from just two years ago. An average of 325 students entered each weeknight. Since the building has only 319 seats, at peak times students sit on the floor. While daytime use has dropped slightly, it’s obvious that USP students still rely on a physical library, despite our rapid change from print to electronic resources that can be accessed anywhere.

Fortunately, thanks to funding from the administration and facilities, we were able this year to greatly improve the appearance and comfort of the first floor. When prospective new students now enter, they are greeted by someone behind a new oak circulation counter, and then turn to see an array of new computers flanked by a lounge area. The Student IT Help Desk was incorporated into the circ desk, giving students one-stop service. A far cry from. the old pieced-together furniture and a wide path of worn carpeting!

Did students appreciate it? Here are some of their comments:

“It’s amazing how by changing a little you can get such a huge difference...it feels like home.”

“It looks great! Much more library looking than before.”

“I love it!.... And I like how there are more computers so we don’t have to wait. This makes life so much easier.”

“I really like it a lot, there are more computers and just looks more spacious.”

“Looks better, but needs to go upstairs too.”

“Can the rest of the library look like the first floor?”

A plan has been developed for the second floor, and hopefully sometime in the future a new look can appear there too. Monies received through the Annual Fund last year will be applied to this project.

Further Space Needs

The decline in our daytime usage may well be a reflection of the fact that there are now more places on campus to “hang out” during the day. The new Science and Technology Center will also give students another place to sit and chat, and students seeking serious study space will not feel quite so crowded.

But it’s clear that USP’s library is smaller than it should be for our student body. To a quick query on a listserve, 30 libraries responded with their square footage. The number of square feet per FTE student ranged from 7 (USP) to 70 (Centre College), with 30 being the average and 26 the median.

Presentation Technology

Each year we add one more multimedia classroom for our instructors to use. This year 117 became the first small classroom in Woodland to be fitted out. Griffith A and C, the heavily used lecture halls, were completely upgraded. In addition we added 3 small carts to be available for classroom use.

The number of events on campus has dramatically increased. To support these events, we purchased a portable sound system and in June were able to place a fully functional multimedia presentation and entertainment system in Wilson Hall Cafeteria.

Improving Services for Our Users

Last year we installed special interlibrary loan software (ILLiad) which made it easier for our users to request articles and greatly cut down our paperwork. This year we were able to implement software that allows us to deliver articles received from other libraries over the web. Users now just click on a web link instead of coming to the library for a paper copy.

Our users can now view our new book list, just a click away from our online catalog page. When they do a PubMed search their results are immediately sorted into those we subscribe to and those we don’t.

Another new project was the installation and upkeep for classroom “clickers”--hand held remotes that allow students to answer questions in a classroom and have their responses recorded. The initial faculty users took to the new technique with enthusiasm.

Evaluating Blackboard

The library continued to administer the front end of Blackboard in conjunction with the information technology program, setting up and answering questions for 250 courses by spring semester. We also spearheaded an effort to evaluate Blackboard and with a committee made up from across campus made the decision to replace Blackboard with Angel during the 06-07 academic year.

Campus Web

The campus website received half a million more visits than last year, up to 2.3 million from 1.8 million. The library’s home page was the second most visited place, after the campus home page.

Other web projects included revamping the sites of the physical therapy and occupational therapy departments and enhancing the web profiles of students and faculty. Technically, a fully-accessible website was developed for the Office of Student Disabilities Support Services and as well as a Flash-based promotional piece for the Science and Technology Center.

As of July 1, 2006 the campus web site will report through the office of marketing and public affairs, reflecting a nationwide trend for academic websites.

Information Literacy

As the new general education requirements neared completion, their inclusion of information literacy--the ability to locate, use, and evaluate information--demonstrated its importance. Responding to student needs, we offered voluntary workshops for pharmacy seminar students that were well-attended, reflecting their own perception of need.

An information literacy assignment was built into all but one of the first-year seminar courses, forming a good foundation for USP students. The new online MBA program has built in an information literacy component, with the active participation of a librarian.

We continue to work with faculty to incorporate effective assignments into their upper-level courses.

Even More Electronic

Our statistics bear out what our observations indicate: the demand for electronic resources continues to rise. This year, on the resources that yield statistics, our users accessed or downloaded 169, 909 articles, drug monographs, or encyclopedia entries, an increase of 45% from the year before. Our most heavily used resource was Lexicomp, with almost 50,000 fulltext accesses; the most used journals were New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA, with almost a thousand accesses each.

Staff Changes

Clfford Greer took over as the new “early-start” classroom specialist in August. In October, Cynthia McClellan joined us as the Coordinator of Access Services and Jakey Greenberg became the new ILL lending assistant. Bill Horton went off to help M. Night Shyamalan make his new movie, but returned in June when filming finished. Mignon Adams announced her retirement for the summer of ’07.

Along with the rest of the campus, we mourned the loss of Michael Ermilio, longtime volunteer archivist. What Michael lacked in formal training he more than compensated for in his passion for his alma mater.

Looking Ahead to Next Year

We continue to explore ways to make our services better for our users. Next year’s goals include these:

• working to find funding to continue the refurbishment on the second floor
• continuing to evaluate and provide the electronic resources our users want
• replacing ten wireless laptops
• placing 6 small projector/laptop combinations in Glasser
• completing the redesign and overhaul of the library’s website
• forging better working relationships with adjunct faculty who make library assignments
• bringing up a new course management system
• participating in the new statewide “AskHerePa” an online reference service for Pennsylvania residents
• completing a successful search for a new library director