From the Dean Bonnie Macewan

FALL ISSUE 2008 FALL ISSUE 2008 From the Dean Bonnie MacEwan Last year was a busy one for We’ve undertaken many efforts to move our goals forward. the libraries and you may notice Some are changes to the building including a major expansion of we haven’t slowed down since the Digital Resources Lab with generous funding from Provost the summer. As we prepare for John Heilman and Executive Vice President Don Large. The the future, we can step back and DRL now includes Movies, Music and More bringing our non- assess all we’ve accomplished print media resources together with our digital capabilities and and take stock of the next providing both production and viewing spaces. On the third projects we hope to tackle. floor, we’ve designated space for graduate student and faculty After a broad-ranging individual study. With funding from the Concessions Board and series of assessment activities input from the Graduate Student Council, we will be furnishing with students, faculty and the area for comfortable and productive research. You may notice community members, we our new color scheme selected in collaboration with the Student developed a strategic plan for Advisory Council. Watch for new carpeting to be installed on the next five years. It is available the first and second floors during the winter break. Two of at www.lib.auburn.edu/summit. our instruction labs have been renovated to allow for laptop I’d encourage you to take a look and let us know what you think. computer use or reading when classes are not in session. You’ll The plan is guided by strategic indicators that: find one lab just inside the Mell Street entrance. • Develop, implement and maintain user-driven services that Not all of our changes are to the facilities. We continue to add are responsive, highly collaborative and broad-based to meet to the collection of digital resources we create in the libraries, diverse user needs; which can be found at www.diglib.auburn.edu, and we work • Build and maintain a robust technological infrastructure that diligently for funding to continue the rich array of licensed is responsive to the changing needs of the libraries’ users and resources available from commercial sources. More than 10 employees and that will support increased flexibility in the million users access these resources a year so it is clear we must delivery of resources; continue to build and maintain both the locally developed and • Build and sustain collections that support the university commercially licensed electronic collections. In partnership mission and provide convenient, seamless access to information with the Graduate School, we are working to provide access resources in optimal formats; to the electronic dissertations written by Auburn students and • Redesign the libraries’ space to provide a dynamic, comfortable providing national leadership for the development of a strategy learning environment that is conducive to productivity, yet to archive digital materials so they will be available for future flexible enough to meet the varied needs of our staff and users; generations. • Recruit and retain well-trained, diverse and talented staff who A library is only useful if it is used, so we are working hard are dedicated to the mission of Auburn University and Auburn to try to understand the services our users need and want. Our University Libraries and to the service of the libraries’ users. continues … From the Associate Dean for Collections Glenn Anderson from the dean … Student Advisory Council includes graduate and undergraduate For a large academic library students, and we meet with the Graduate Student Council at like Auburn’s, descriptions of the least once a year to augment the information we get from the books, journals and databases members of the SAC. With their help, we’ve improved security, purchased tend to be something requesting an escort service available during evening hours. We’ve like this: in 2007/08, we added expanded hours to be open 24 hours a day five days a week, and 34,484 volumes and now hold we’ve worked with Chartwell’s to improve food services. The a total of 3,016,986 volumes, council requested a vending machine for school supplies located 36,635 journal titles, and 260 near the circulation desk. The Library Committee of the Senate databases. Such statistics-based continues to urge us to maintain and strengthen the collections summaries have little meaning to and subject expertise of the librarians. With their help we have most of us. Instead of taking that worked to make a strong case for the materials budget even in approach, this brief article will try these difficult budget times and have filled key librarian positions to show how the Auburn University Libraries spends the budget including Amia Baker, our new business librarian; Melanie allotted for books, journals, databases and other library materials. Brooks, our new reference/instruction librarian; Marliese Let’s imagine that the Auburn University Libraries has one Thomas, our new database enhancement librarian; and Suzy dollar to spend for materials. From that dollar, we spend 67 cents Westenkirchner as the art and education librarian. for journal subscriptions, 18 cents for electronic databases, 14 It’s our goal to tell everyone what we have to offer and to cents for books, less than 1 cent to bind the journals we receive urge them to use our services. We’ve reached out to the Osher and maintain the bindings on the books we have and less than Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) to include community one half cent to borrow journal articles and books from other members and make them aware of the services they can use. libraries for faculty and students. We’ve briefed the parents of incoming students through Snacks Because we spend two-thirds of our budget on journal in the Stacks during Camp War Eagle. We tell them we were subscriptions, that category deserves further analysis. Of the 67 surprised to learn that many students call their parents when they cents we spend for journal subscriptions, 38 cents pays for large get a writing or research assignment. Based on that information, packages of electronic journals from a handful of publishers. The we worked with the CWE staff to make sure the parents knew largest packages are from ScienceDirect, SpringerLink and Wiley we were here when they got that phone call. We offer “Library Interscience: costs for these packages total 34 cents. We spend Oasis” to new students on the first few days of classes to let only 7.5 cents for subscriptions to paper journals. them know what we have to offer and urge them to visit the We pay 18 cents for the 200 or so electronic databases licensed libraries. It is our honor to join the provost in recognizing our by the libraries. Twelve of those cents pays for databases in newly tenured and promoted colleagues each fall with a book science, technology and medicine. (Three databases--Web of recognition and reception. Our annual open house, Tailgate @ Science, IEEE Xplore and SciFinder Scholar--account for six of the Libraries, was held August 29. It was fun for everyone and those 12 cents.) Databases in the social sciences and humanities an opportunity to meet us and learn what we have to offer. One account for the remaining six cents. student told me she came for a free hotdog but learned about our Of the 14 cents we pay for books, almost six cents buy the Special Collections, returning later in the year to use the archives university press monographs and other books we receive from for a research project. our blanket order plans with Blackwell’s and other vendors. We hope you visit us often to use the collections, consult with The remaining eight cents is used to purchase books and other a librarian, attend a lecture or find a cup of coffee in Stacks Café. materials requested by Auburn faculty and students. Because It’s our goal to continue to make the libraries responsive to the some of these requests are for journals and databases rather needs of our many and diverse users. We want to hear from you than for books, one cent is used to buy requested journals and so let us know what you think. databases. So the actual expenditure for books is 13 cents. When I came to work at Auburn 30 years ago, the libraries had a budget goal to spend 60 cents of every dollar on journals and 40 cents on books. All of the journals were paper subscriptions. In 2007, we spent 20.5 cents of every dollar on paper subscriptions and books. So when people say things like “today’s library is not the same library your parents used,” they’re not exaggerating. FALL ISSUE 2008 From the Associate Dean for Public Services Marcia Boosinger In the past year or so the Input from all user groups emphasized the desire for a library Auburn University Libraries staff that is welcoming and comfortable. Students mentioned the has begun a series of significant availability of food and drink in their description of an ideal changes to the Ralph Brown library space more often than any other requirement. Working Draughon Library designed with University Dining Services, we have planned for a full- to provide a better physical service Caribou Coffee in the second-floor lobby space to include environment for productive an expanded seating area that will be adjacent to the new books learning, collaborative work and and current periodicals collections. Materials formerly shelved research. The staff has collected in the large area just inside the Mell Street entrance have been input from a diverse group of relocated on the second floor or moved to closed-stacks storage, library stakeholders including the providing users easy access to that area as an attractive place to Library Student Advisory Council, browse the most recent acquisitions.

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