CHANGING FORTUNES of the LIBRARY the Library Once Had A
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Issue 15 NaturalSelections May 2005 A NEWSLETTER OF THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY CHANGING FORTUNES OF THE LIBRARY Interview with Jerry Latter, Associate Vice President and CIO VASANT MURALIDHARAN The library is one of the most central areas in library in the last academic year according to Why is that being built in the library? any university. It not only acts as a repository the card-reader system. That number only in- What you are referring to is the IT help for books, but also as an environment that cludes people who swiped themselves in. If desk. The idea was to turn the first floor of encourages research and study. The library you consider those who’ve been buzzed in by the library into one centralized point of help. world is currently trying to adapt to the infor- a security guard, or when groups of people Pat was very enthusiastic about the idea. The mation age. The Rockefeller Library has had a walk in right behind each other before the reference librarian is on that floor and we long and fine tradition of more than 73 years. door closes, the library patronage is actually thought it would be a good idea to locate the It currently houses almost 54,000 books and higher than that. We also have the self check help desk centrally to the campus as well. 51,000 bound journals. The mission state- -out system. In fact, this is the first university We’ve got so many researchers in the south ment of the library states: “Drawing on its in the country to have that system. We also end of campus. Right now the help desk is at own extensive collection in the life sciences, try to keep statistics on resource usage and the north end of campus in Smith Hall. It is which supports the research interests of the kind of an experiment. In addition to making university, and a wide array of information The library research and technical support more accessi- resources beyond the university, the library ble, we hope to increase usage of the building is able to link faculty, students and staff with once had a staff of and get more information to the campus. We the information they need to advance their also put up a computer training room in the research goals.” “ library. Right now there’s no place on campus 25 people and it Our library is undergoing some major where someone can give a video-conferenc- changes. The University Librarian Patricia E. now has 12...before ing lecture or where IT—or anyone—can Mackey recently retired after 23 years of ser- easily provide computer-based training. vice. Jerry Latter, Associate Vice President for my time, there were So we felt we needed a full-time computer Information Technology and Chief Informa- training room with audio/visual capabilities, tion Officer (CIO), is currently overseeing the two full-time people including videoconferencing. That was all library operations in the interim, while the possible through funding that came through search is going on for a new librarian. Natu- just dusting the the Sakmar administration with support ral Selections recently sat down with Jerry to from the IT advisory committee. Planning have a conversation about the library and the collection. and Construction and Plant Operations did changes that are currently happening. a great job on the room. There’s a computer Patricia E. Mackey recently retired and you training room on many campuses now and are looking for a new librarian. How is the that’s done through re-shelving. That’s why they are becoming more integrated with the search coming along? we ask people not to re-shelve” the books. library. We’ve already begun using the room We started the search about eight or nine Have you seen any kind of decline or any on a trial basis to test our setup. We expect to months before Pat retired. The search has changes in the usage? go live in July. been tough—as we knew it would be. Rock- That would require a detailed analysis. How has the Monday Lecture Series af- efeller is a very unique institution, and the li- People come into the library for different rea- fected the functioning of the library? We brary is no different. It’s not like other librar- sons so there may be changes in usage over have heard complaints about the furniture ies—even other research libraries. We have time. My sense is that there’s not been any- not being moved after the lectures, the ref- special research needs here. And on top of thing dramatic either way, although we’ve erence section being blocked by stacked up that, the library world (or the world of infor- seen people taking advantage of the wireless chairs. mation science) has started to overlap with access since it was deployed two years ago. I think it has gotten a lot better now that the world of information technology and so Are there any changes being planned for we’ve been able to establish a bit of a rhythm. many people in the library field have moved the library in the future? It’s been a very long time since the library has to the technology side of information science. So as you know, we have a new president been used in this way—as a common gather- Although we’ve had a couple of strong can- and we have to see where he wants to take ing place for information exchange between didates, we haven’t quite found a suitable re- it. You can see the text of the first town hall researchers. In a way, Paul Nurse is expand- placement. But I’m optimistic right now. meeting. He did mention it a few times. So ing (or you could say restoring) the function Does the university collect any data on the we’ll see. Paul also mentions Welch Hall and of the library. We met with Alex Kogan (As- usage of the library? the library in the publicly available draft of sociate Vice President, Plant Operations) and Yes, we do. Basically, we have the card- the strategic plan. He has expressed some in- are working with Plant Operations to iron reader system and using that we maintain terest in renovations. out the remaining kinks. For instance, they counts of the people going in and out of the There has been a new call center for IT built plan on only using the Southeast alcove to library. There were around 21,000 visits to the in the library, is that a temporary measure? continued on page 2 ‘Interview with Jerry Latter’ from previous page store chairs. Th ere are books there, but we basement levels are so dirty and dusty. NaturalSelections hope to shift the books out of that area. Th e Th e windows facing the desks are almost Editorial Board situation has improved. black. And sometimes when the library gets Th ey have been good about clearing the crowded on the upper levels, all that space Mary Abraham central area. However, there are still chairs in the basement goes to waste because no Anna Belkina stacked in the reference section blocking one wants to use the desks there. Is there access. Is there any particular reason the any possibility of getting Plant Operations Ian Berke Monday lectures are being held there? or someone to clean those areas once a week Allan Coop Let me just tell you that Paul Nurse decid- or so? ed to do that. I think it’s a wonderful thing. It Basically, these are tough economic times Alexandra Deaconescu has brought the library back to life. I went to right now and there have been tough times Paula Duque the fi rst one to see how it would come off and for the library for a long time. As things the turnout was amazing. It is bringing the stand right now, even something as seem- Muriel Lainé building back to life. I think that in the long- ingly simple as deciding to dust books once Martin Ligr term it is going to bode well and I’m optimis- a week could in the long term mean sacrifi c- tic. It has really brought people back to the ing journal subscriptions (we will look into Aileen Marshall library and I think that’s a really great thing. having the tables wiped down on a weekly Vasant Muralidharan I think it’s the right place for those lectures, basis). I ran into a grad student in the library even though some issues need to be worked who showed me a dusty book. Sometimes it’s Maurizio Pellegrino out in regards to the collection. not clear how much it’s really used by the stu- Sriram Is that being worked out? Or is it because dents. Would you say 50% of grad students the lecture series is new? use the library, while the other 50% say: “It’s Tari Suprapto It is new and it is not clear yet what’s go- all online, why do I need to go over there?” Esther Wu ing to happen long-term. Th e draft of Paul You always get a mix, you have students Nurse’s strategic plan which is publicly avail- who go the library when there’s an abso- able does mention this. [“To promote better lute need, like when there’s a reference not communication there is a need for an in- available online. But some go to the library and getting a fast turnaround service con- termediate-sized lecture room and meeting to write their grant proposals/papers/thesis tract.