Annual Report 2005
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Annual Report, 2005 Authors University of Arizona Library; Stoffle, Carla J. Publisher University of Arizona Library (Tucson, AZ) Download date 24/09/2021 10:05:29 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/124877 The University of Arizona Libraries ANNUAL REPORT 2005 Dean Carla J. Stoffle 1510 East University Boulevard Tucson, Arizona 85721 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction 3 II. Accomplishments 7 III. Current Profile 31 IV. Goals for 2006 38 V. Conclusion 50 APPENDICES A. Staff Accomplishments 52 B. Outreach and Development 67 C. Historical Review of Statistics 75 D. Center for Creative Photography 78 E. North Campus Library 86 F. Committee on Maintaining 89 Excellence in Our University Libraries G. Library 3‐5 Year Strategic 92 Quality Standards INTRODUCTION The University of Arizona Libraries begin our strategic planning process each year by reviewing the campus strategic plan to determine first what the university needs. With this starting point in mind, we proceed into an elaborate process that includes campus as well as broad library input. To ensure that our decisions are made to best reflect the feedback of our campus community, we collect data about our customers through an annual survey called LibQUAL+, by informally surveying users, and by reviewing responses to our “Library Report Card.” The planning team, composed of library faculty and staff, then looks at our resources and plans the budget accordingly. It is our approach to plan our budget to meet our strategic goals, rather than the other way around. When budgeting, we reallocate funds and resources as needed to achieve our goals and meet the needs of our community. We evaluate our success in achieving goals by holding ourselves to strict quality standards (see Appendix G). One of the Libraries’ greatest changes in the past year was a restructuring of our planning process, creating standing cross‐functional teams in strategic areas for the libraries. These changes are based on the recognition of uncertainty and profound change within libraries, higher education and the information marketplace. Although we can recognize important trends in the environment (e.g., less money, changing customers, different customer expectations, technological advances), exactly what the library of the future will look like is not clear. What is clear is that we will need to be able to recognize customer needs and quickly plan, make decisions and provide services. As a result the Libraries created new cross‐functional teams to assess environmental and internal activities and effects, and new means of decision‐making to allow the Libraries to respond in a more agile and flexible manner to external changes (for more information about the restructuring, see the section of the report entitled “Current Profile”). Another important trend that emerged in our 2005 activities was an increase in the Libraries’ efforts to diversify funding sources. In spring 2005 we hired a Grants and Revenue Coordinator, who has since taken responsibility for educating our staff on grantwriting and revenue generation topics. In part as a result of these efforts, the Libraries and Center for Creative Photography received nearly half a million dollars in grant awards. Meanwhile, the Libraries have pursued the creation of a group called the Committee on Maintaining Excellence in Our University Libraries, which will be charged with identifying and securing more sustainable, recurring, alternative sources of funding to increase the Libraries’ base budget. As part of this effort the Libraries have been actively seeking the institution of a student library fee to fund improvements in resources and collections at the libraries. The Friends of the Libraries were restructured with the creation of new UA Libraries • Annual Report 2005 • Page 3 membership categories and expanded fundraising capabilities. In 2005 the Libraries received gifts of just under $1.3 million. The Libraries have continued to aggressively leverage our funding to secure even more savings this year than previous years at nearly $3.6 million. Despite our best efforts, the national ranking of the Libraries according to the Association for Research Libraries dropped in 2005 from 27th to 30th, and we anticipate further drops in future years unless new funding is obtained for the Libraries. The aggregate rankings are based on operating expenditures, number of holdings, and number of staff. No matter how wisely we spend our dollars, our numbers in these three areas continue to decline without new resources. Despite the budgetary limitations, the Libraries are proud to have resolved our equity and market issues related to staff salaries during 2005. Our compensation principles were revised in 2005 and an adjusted compensation framework approved for library faculty and staff. We have increased salaries for all of our employees who were below market, and are proud to say that our entire staff is now earning at least 95% of peer market salaries. In addition, due to changes rapid changes in our work resulting from shifts in our environment, we are in the process of reclassifying approximately fifty Library Specialists who have been working at a higher level than their classification would reflect. We will make the final reclassification in 2006. Meanwhile, the Libraries have continued to offer the standard services and collections for which we are so highly valued on campus. The Libraries own 4,794,126 print volumes, subscribe to 23,135 serials, and provide access to over 28,000 full‐text electronic journals and 167,833 electronic books. The Libraries have added express checkout to allow customers to avoid a wait in line, and will institute express check‐in in 2006. In addition, the Main Library now offers open reserves to allow customers to serve themselves. We have instituted 24‐ hour chat reference, in addition to e‐mail and in‐person reference services, as well as e‐mail reminder notices for overdue books and audio streaming for reserves. The Libraries’ web pages were visited a total of 5,622,312 times in 04/05. Of the databases made available to users, the most frequently accessed were Academic Search Premier, PsychInfo, Academic Universe, Web of Science, JSTOR, Science Citation Index, EBSCOhost, Encyclopedia Britannica, ERIC. The total number of visits for a sample of our most popular databases was 1,454,380. The Information Commons remains one of the most highly respected learning environments among libraries in the nation. The Libraries have maintained computers at the highest level of cutting‐edge technology and software. Customer sampling indicates that at any one point in time during peak use hours (between 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.), the Commons is home to 300‐500 individuals. In addition, the Libraries are following a phased approach to expansion in the Science‐Engineering Library Information Commons, where more group study rooms, computers, multimedia workstations, and a group presentation room are being added in UA Libraries • Annual Report 2005 • Page 4 2005. This project is moving forward thanks to gift money from the Friends of the Libraries and the Parents Association. The Center for Creative Photography reconstructed its Board of Fellows in 2005 to improve fundraising efforts, and are already seeing the benefits of this change. Several important individuals were added to the Board. In addition the Center began the digitization of the collection and selected a new collection management and inventory system that will be implemented in 2006. This new effort will make a great mass of the Center’s archives available for viewing by anyone in the world, greatly expanding the Center’s reach and importance among national and international scholars. The Center added several million dollars’ worth in images in 2005, due to the resolution of issues with a previous donation. We additionally continue to pursue negotiations with other important artists. At present the Center is at the cusp of receiving two new major archives. As part of Focused Excellence, the Libraries continue to shield the Center from budget cuts. Also as a part of Focused Excellence, Special Collections began work to sharpen their focus as an area in itself and one which has major collections that support research on campus. Special Collections boasts particularly important and unique collections in borderlands and gender studies. Planning for the North Campus Library continues, as a community‐based building that will reflect campus goals to advance interdisciplinary studies and a sense of community. This unique library is based upon an interdisciplinary approach to learning, creativity, and research in a student‐centered environment designed for collaboration. Conceived as a place where learning, experimentation, and original vision are promoted and technologically enabled, the Library will bring together the collections in Fine Arts, Music, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and the Center for Creative Photography. The facility will provide a technology‐rich information commons and group study spaces to support faculty and students from the Colleges of Fine Arts, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Engineering and Mines, Management, and Social and Behavioral Science. Through an emphasis on collaboration, interdisciplinary studies, technology, and library resources and expertise, the facility will provide an environment that enables students and faculty to work at the top of their disciplines and maximize the strength of these campus centers of excellence. This facility will be critical in attracting high‐quality students and faculty to the programs offered on the north side of campus, where it will be located. All in all, the University of Arizona Libraries are a vibrant and active resource at the university. We have taken seriously the charge to help the University of Arizona campus meet its learning and research goals, and have an ongoing palette of projects underway to continuously improve our contributions to faculty and student learning. Outside the university, our creative, innovative approaches to difficult budgetary and environmental issues are admired and modeled by many of our peers.