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For 1996-97
library statistics see NMSU Library
Fact Sheet
Tables referenced in the report
will be available soon.
The New Mexico State University Library is the primary provider of value
added information
required for high quality teaching and learning, research, and service at
New Mexico State University. The University Library has four interdependent
goals to meet the scholarly information needs of the NMSU community:
Activities in l996-l997 indicates that the University Library continues
to be a valuable member of the
NMSU academic community (Tables 1 and 2). Because of changing user behavior,
the availability of electronic access information on the internet, and the
beginnings of electronic full text information, the nature of library use
is becoming more diverse and complex. Basic library services, like seating,
circulation, and copying, are declining in use as people access information
electronically from their home or office. Staff intensive services, such
as reference and bibliographic instruction, have increased as users seek
guidance in using more complicated systems. Our ability to meet needs has
been restricted by a reduced number of staff for public services and a large
amount of faculty turnover. Service has been maintained only through significant
staff self-sacrifice. Library materials have been selected and processed
for the collection more effectively than ever before-- but only by using
one time money which will disappear in l998. The campus attitude about the
library continues to grow more positive as user oriented services, such
as electronic services and Pegasus document delivery, become widely understood
and used. There is significant concern among staff and users regarding shortages
in personnel, the temporary nature of the current acquisitions budget and
our aging online catalog.
Comparative data was collected from CHE peer institutions and the University
of New Mexico regarding 1996 library use and support (Table 3). These data
indicate that New Mexico State University continues to receive good value
for its library dollar. Services and use rank in the second or third quartile,
while support and collections rank in the third or fourth quartile. Projected
budget reductions indicate the NMSU Library will move to the fourth quartile
and sometimes to last place in terms of financial support and collection
development in 1997-98.
The University Library also completed work on a new strategic plan (Appendix
A). This plan, which was developed with active participation from most library
personnel and from many in the user community, identifies a vision, mission
and values to guide the library in coming years. It also lays out four goals
to give direction. Annual reports in subsequent years will be based on this
plan.
This annual report is divided into GOALS and Objectives. This report reflects
the library's important role in the university environment.
Assuring user success is the most fundamental component of the library's
current Five Year Plan. Users must have complete confidence that they will
find needed information through the University Library. Performance measures
found in Table 2 indicate a changing pattern of library use. Basic use,
such as attendance and circulation, are down. While some of this can be
attributed to declining enrollment, reductions of more than ten percent
represent a fundamental change in information seeking behavior. When this
is compared to the growing use of the library home page of almost 250 percent
as well the growing use of Pegasus and other delivery services, this change
suggests that a growing number of students and faculty are preferring to
access information electronically, frequently from their office, dorm room
or home. Our growing ability to insure user success is described in the
following paragraphs.
Much attention has been paid this year to assuring access to scholarly
information
by providing internet based searching tools. During the course of the year
the library acquired a general and a business database, called Pan Plus,
which provides indexing and abstracting for more than 1500 general academic
and business periodicals. The library also purchased a full text service
providing on-line access to about half of the journals in the database.
The library also acquired the First Search suite of on-line databases. First
Search includes many heavily used scholarly indexes and abstracts. Finally,
the library continued negotiations regarding Science Citation Index in an
internet-based format. Since all of this access information is leased, rather
than purchased, and since each database has a different concept of permitted
use and other licensing characteristics, University Library personnel have
spent a great deal of time negotiating the access licenses to provide the
greatest access, flexibility, and copyright compliance. This negotiation
process is consuming a great amount of staff time and will become only more
time intensive as we add more and more databases.
A significant amount of time was also spent in deselecting serials and
standing
orders to balance the budget. Library staff worked to provide an informational
database of serial titles, including use, citation, cost, increases in subscriptions
and other useful information to assist with reducing the serials list. The
Collection Management Committee Advisory Committee, selectors and liaisons
were very effective in the very difficult job of reducing the list. Due
to the provision of $250,000 one time funds, the projected 28 percent cut
was not necessary. Instead, the library cut about 15 percent of purchases
and 7 percent of the titles in the serials budget. The book and standing
order budget received similar cuts. Expenditures for electronic information
were increased.
The University expended $2,361,962 to purchase and bind materials
supporting
the instructional and current research needs at New Mexico State University.
Of this amount, 63.1 percent was for serial subscriptions and the remainder
was for books, electronic services, and other resources. The library
purchased 14,081 monographs. We maintained 7,418 serial subscriptions. The
library collection reached 1,000,784 volumes.
Electronic access to information in the University Library continued to
increase during the 1996-1997 year. A systems study was undertaken to identify
a new integrated system for the University Library. Regrettably, none of
the systems could demonstrate an ability to meet library requirements for
a "new generation system". As a consequence, the study was cancelled
and will be undertaken in the coming year. In the meantime, the performance
of the library's "legacy" system is not eroding as quickly as
predicted. We should be able to squeeze an additional year or two of substandard
performance out of the existing system.
Internet-based library services grew rapidly in popularity. Overall use
was up 249 percent for a total of 488,864 hits. The library is making considerable
progress in establishing the library home page as a gateway to reliable
and accurate information throughout the internet on topics of interest to
library users at New Mexico State University. Use of the CD-ROM LAN, the
local databases and the OLE Catalog declined during the year as internet-based
database services became more available.
The Systems Office also installed a new Innovacq server for acquisitions
and serials control, configured the new electronic classroom, and a number
of other activities to increase electronic access in the library.
The University Library continues to improve intellectual and physical
control
of the library collection. Technical services units added 22,372 volumes
representing 14,501 titles to the collection, an 18.6 percent decrease.
We processed subscriptions for 7,418 serials and purchased 14,081 monograph
volumes. Bibliographic records for currently received government documents
were added to OLE. Retrospective conversion of all holdings in LC classifications
M, PZ, K, QE,QH, T, U and V were completed. Reclassification of the special
collections was completed. Original cataloging records were created for
1,578 titles. Planning was initiated for adding the finding aids for archival
collections to the library catalog. The library also began to consider how
to add electronic resources to the catalog. A first tentative step was taken
by adding temporary records for full text journals available electronically
to library users. Larger issues, such as cataloging world wide web sources
and data files, were studied.
Volumes on the shelf must also be available and useable. This year the
library
increased its efforts to assure access to the physical collection through
preservation activities. Some 13,982 volumes were bound or some repaired.
The binding cycle was reduced to four weeks and alternative binders were
tested. A process was developed to expedite the replacement of missing books.
Finally, the new books list moved to an electronic format thus eliminating
printing and mailing costs.
The Circulation Unit is responsible for lending and receiving library
materials,
operating the reserve service, copier support, stack maintenance, and current
periodical room operations. During the l996-97 year, the library circulated
178,857 volumes, a decrease of 11.1 percent. As was stated before, this
is probably due to increased use of electronic information far exceeding
the loss in circulation. Many user communications with the Circulation Unit,
such as renewing circulated items and submitting reserve lists, can now
be done electronically. Reserve use was down as well
for reasons that are not clear. It may have been an off year for courses
requiring reserve material.
It may be that faculty are scanning and mounting their own material
which
may incur significant cost and copyright liability for the university. The
electronic reserve process was tested using non-copyrighted material and
was found to be very successful. Efforts will be made to expand this service
in the future so it can assure university copyright compliance, increase
faculty time for teaching and research, and improve user access.
Library attendance accounted for 814,479 visits to the library, a
decrease
of 14.3 percent. Once again, this appears to represent a change in behavior
towards using more direct electronic resources from the dorm room, office,
or home. Since the library goal is to assure access rather than increase
attendance, this change may indicate library success and people are finding
the material away from the library. This behavior will also be useful as
we exceed our capacity to shelve material and we will be able to remove
seats without denying access.
As the complexity of scholarship increases, the amount of scholarly
information
continues to grow and publishing media continue to proliferate, finding
the most appropriate scholarly information becomes increasingly complex.
To address this complexity, users turn to the library reference units for
interpretation and guidance. They seek additional training in using new
media and need additional assistance is selecting the most appropriate material
for accessing the collection.
Sadly, the library has lost two key faculty lines in reference areas. As
a result our ability to provide bibliographic guidance and instruction has
been significantly reduced. Further, because of high turnover, it has been
difficult to maintain current levels of service. As a result, the number
of reference questions answered has declined marginally and bibliographic
instruction increased only slightly. Both numbers reflect our limitations
rather than the market demand. Only heroic intervention by reference personnel
have kept services reasonably constant.
Library Faculty taught 371 bibliographic instruction sessions to 6,824
users. In addition, experiments were undertaken to provide a web-based
tutorial
for use by students in English 111 and by the general public. In addition,
library help sheets were digitized and placed on the library's web server
for easier access and paper saving.
An adequate amount of bibliographic guidance and instruction is
essential
in exploiting the scholarly information resources of the university. For
the library to do its job effectively, it is imperative that the two reference
positions eliminated last year be restored as soon as possible. Without
them the university will continue to be chronically undersupplied with scholarly
information to the detriment of teaching, research and service.
Library success in increasing the number of expert users-- people who
use
the library to resolve information problems, who make heavy use of staff
and automation, and whose satisfaction increases as they use more library
services-- has modestly increased in the 1996-97 year. As with service to
basic users, progress in this area is limited in large part to inadequate
funds for personnel, technology and information resources.
The reference collection continues to grow both in electronic and
printed
formats. In the current year, reference spent $300,000 for its collection
including firm orders, subscriptions, and electronic resources. Several
major publications were purchased, including : Brain Encyclopedia,
Audiologist's
Desk Reference, the MIT Encyclopedia of the Japanese Economy, the Encicopedia
de Mexico, and the World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre.
Our
electronic
information access was greatly enhanced by acquiring Pan Plus in
internet-based
version and by purchasing the First Search suite of electronic databases,
including World Cat, ERIC, Agricola and many other common academic
databases.
Efforts continued to purchase Science Citation Index in an internet
format.
Intensive negotiations have been undertaken with the Institution for Scientific
Information, the publisher.
Library Homepage use grew spectacularly with 448,864 hits, an increase
of
more than 250 percent for this two year old service. Our users seem to appreciate
our effort to organize scholarly information on the internet in areas of
interest to the university community. We look forward to continuing and
expanding this service in the future.
The current awareness service for faculty has been maintained this year
despite staff shortages. More than 100 faculty receive notices of the most
appropriate new publications in their research field each week.
The library has continued its reference-by-appointment and email
reference
service to assure that we provide as many opportunities as possible to present
complex information needs. Some 303 reference inquiries were answered on
email. While both services would grow rapidly if marketed, shortage of reference
faculty makes this inadvisable.
Bibliographic instruction remains the primary means by which the
library
increases user expertise. This year, 180 lower-division presentations were
made, many in English 111 sections. More than 100 presentations were made
to upper-division classes outlining bibliographic resources in a specific
area or discipline. More than 50 workshops were held, mostly dealing with
using new technologies. Preparation of these lecture-demonstrations and
workshops, which include both print and electronic resources, take a great
deal of faculty time in planning and preparation. If compared with workloads
in teaching departments, it represents a commitment of two or three FTE
faculty. While this is a significant investment, we find the results well
worth the effort.
The wisdom of offering Library Science 311, "Information Literacy," a general education course intended to teach information theory and applications, continues to be confirmed. Three sections were taught during the academic year and produced 75 expert users who can define an information problem, develop a strategy for locating needed information, and critically evaluate scholarly information in relation to their needs. The course is one of the more popular general education "Viewing a Wider World" courses. Since this course generates income for the university, we think it is only fair that the university share some of that income with the University Library. Funds received would be used to teach additional sections of this very popular course.
Library personnel have also been involved in training users and library
staff in various areas and technologies. One of the major advances made
in training this year was when the library joined forces with Computing
and Networking and the Dona Ana Branch Community College to offer a whole
range of training programs in the library's new electronic classroom. As
a result, library personnel have received training without direct charge
to the University Library.
Both Interlibrary Loan and Pegasus document delivery services have continued to improve services for users this year. Interlibrary Loan now receives requests for interlibrary loan electronically. Almost 43 percent of users have enthusiastically adopted this service. The Pegasus document delivery service delivered 330 books and 4,560 articles to faculty. The two services continue their close cooperation.
The library continues to maintain its relationships with other libraries in the state and region. Some 95 users took advantage of our reciprocal borrowing arrangement with the University of Texas at El Paso Library. The New Mexico Consortium of Academic Libraries reciprocal borrowing agreement was used by 19 faculty and students of New Mexico State University. In addition, interlibrary loan materials were delivered to the Dona Ana Branch Community College and the Branigan Memorial Library by the library's mailroom personnel.
The University Archives maintained its increase in activity with 1,274
users.
Users consulted 1,204 collections, 74 percent from the Rio Grande Historical
Collections, 26 percent from University Archives. Significant increases
were made in collection development with 147 accessions of non-university
materials and 5 transfers from university units. Almost 4,792 still photographs
were added, mostly by copying originals.
The Durango Project completed an additional 204 rolls of microfilm representing 140,000 pages of 18th and 19th century documents in the Historical Archives of the Archdiocese of Durango, Mexico. In addition, work began on copying the notarial archives of the State of Durango. To expedite copying of Durango material, a temporary staff member was hired. We expect continuing opportunities to develop additional microfilming programs for historical records important to the borderlands of New Mexico as a result of our efforts with the Archdiocese. Progress continues in organizing archival materials and reducing arrearages. Some 303 accessions were processed. In addition, work began on placing aids on the world wide web and cataloging them for access through the library catalog. Digital reformatting of photographs continues with three student assistants. Some 2,922 images have been scanned this year. This copying will allow original negatives and prints to be preserved in cold storage.
The University Archives undertook additional outreach activities during
this year. The RGHC friends group held two meetings. The two traveling exhibits
were displayed at 12 locations throughout New Mexico and west Texas. Archives
personnel curated three additional exhibits at the University.
Significant changes were made in archival personnel. Tim Blevins was
hired
for a faculty position in reformatting, and Marah de Muele was hired for
a faculty position in archives processing.
The big news in Special Collections was the unveiling of the electronic
index to the Las Cruces Sun News. Some 2,359 citations were printed from
the index for users. Special Collections registered 1,135 users, a 44.6
percent increase.
Major progress was also made when retrospective conversion of cataloging
was completed on all Special Collections materials. In addition, processing
for several recently received collections is well underway. Special Collections
offered programs during the year dealing with topics covered by Special
Collections materials. Attendance sometimes overflowed the facility.
To incorporate the use of digital mapping information, the library
received
a GIS workstation. Staff began working with the station to determine how
it might best be used in the University Library.
The Southwest Center for Codes and Standards was affected adversely by
the
lack of an engineering librarian and the elimination of the Codes and Standards
professional position. As a result, activity went down significantly.
The Center continued its work with the New Mexico Department of Highways
and Transportation on metric conversion. It held six regional conferences
on metric conversion for the department. Work continued to provide access
to Mexican as well as United States standards. The clerical employee was
sent to Mexico to improve her Spanish. We continue to monitor the production
of databases for Mexican standards with a view towards providing access
to these standards in the United States.
The Government Documents unit is the depository library for the Second
Congressional
District of New Mexico, selecting about 69 percent of Federal government
documents. The collection is intended to represent all areas of scholarly
interest at New Mexico State University and the general needs of the Second
Congressional District. Acquisitions for l996-97 continued to reflect the
increasing amount of government information being placed in electronic format.
The current ratio is 1/3 compact disk and 2/3 microform. Sadly, the quality
of software for using some of this electronic information is very poor,
making use of the data difficult. To increase access to this information
several electronic indexes have been purchased from commercial sources.
All current documents are being added to the OLE catalog to improve
access
for library users. This is a cooperative effort between the Government Documents
unit and Cataloging. This year some 27,309 documents were added to OLE.
Planning for retrospective conversion continues. When this is undertaken,
it will assure access to all 400,000 government documents through the OLE
catalog. The unit answered 4,517 reference questions, provided 22 bibliographic
instruction sessions for 343 people, and reshelved some 14,278 items. Government
Documents continued to be active in creating material for the homepage.
The library made progress this year in processing the previously purchased collections on Latin America and the border. New Mexico State University continues to occupy a leadership position in electronic information on the border and Latin America. The library's border and Latin American homepage was used more than 67,000 times during the last year. The Latin American homepage is regularly listed in recommended homepages.
The major effort of sharing the mission and vision has been implementing
the new University Library Strategic Plan. Following completion of the plan
at the end of the fall semester, several committees were organized to lead
implementation of the plan. The Implementation Committee made recommendations
on structure and implementation processes. A sub-committee surveyed staff
for suggestions on how to implement the plan and develop staff commitment
to it. Work on the implementation plan was completed by the end of the second
semester. Structural recommendations and implementation by unit will be
undertaken in the l997-98 fiscal year.
The second major effort has been to share information on the library's
financial
plight with the Faculty Senate Library Committee, and through that committee
with the Faculty Senate and the university administration. These efforts
were in part successful. The Faculty Senate expressed its concern in a second
memorial to the university administration regarding library materials. As
a result of efforts by the Faculty Senate Library Committee and the Collection
Management Advisory Committee, some $250,000 in one time money was given
to the library to support the materials budget.
The library was less successful in defining the library mission and
vision
in ways that garnered administrative support for personnel and library systems.
The library took the largest single reduction of any major unit in the University
from a staff that was already one of the smallest within the CHE peer group.
Internally, there was a great deal of communication on the new strategic
plan. Every library employee had an opportunity to provide input by serving
on committees or voicing their concerns at various hearings during the process.
Efforts continue to establish better communication throughout the library.
These face the additional challenge of dealing with reduced budgets and
low morale. Three issues of Citations, the library newsletter, were published
and did a great deal to improve communication within the library and between
the library and its constituent groups.
A little progess was made in assessing library outcomes during the
fiscal
year. A proposal for monthly statistics was made but it was decided to delay
implementation pending organizational restructuring based on the strategic
plan. Library units, however, made some significant progress in their own
internal statistical analysis.
The Library also participated in two self-studies relating to the
accreditation
process, one on library operations and one of library instructional programs.
Both of these studies resulted in useful information and insights that have
been incorporated into library operations.
Library units undertook a number of significant efforts to improve administrative operations. Technical Services and Systems installed and brought up a new Innovacq system for acquisitions and serials control. Electronic transfer of financial records began with a number of vendors with great savings in paper and time. Technical Services expanded its liaison activity with units like Government Documents, Archives, the Dona Ana Branch, and the Alamogordo Branch for library automation. Information Services implemented a proposal to eliminate library fines, thus creating good will and reducing paper work.
A significant amount of effort and resources have gone into maintaining
and improving electronic systems this year. We have been able to acquire
additional Pentium processors that will improve our ability to implement
a client-server library system and our flexibility in accessing the internet.
A study was undertaken to identify a new system for library automation.
After careful consideration, including visits to operational sites, no such
system was identified. However, several systems showed promise of development
within the year. As a result, the Systems study was cancelled. A new study
will be undertaken in the l997-98 year.
Needs statements for restoration of personnel have been documented and
forwarded
to the university administration. Concerns for overall funding levels for
staffing, systems and acquisitions have been made. Concerns have been expressed
regarding the temporary nature of the library materials budget.
Significant progress has been made to support personnel and skills
development
in the current year. The Systems unit concluded an agreement with the
Computing & Networking and the Dona Ana Branch Community College to use the
library's
new electronic classroom for training. As a result of this agreement, the
library has been able to send employees to these courses during the past
year without direct costs. The library continued to provide significant
support for professional development and continuing education. Ninety requests
for funding approved by the
Library Leave/Travel committee. A great deal of continuing education occurred
formally and informally as part of the strategic planning process.
Performance reviews have been carried out for all staff members --
faculty, professional and classified.
The University Library continues to meet or exceed its affirmative
action
goals. Assistant Professor Edward Erazo is serving as President of Reforma,
the national Hispanic library organization. In addition, the library
provided
four faculty members to teach continuing education courses to library staff
at the University of Chihuahua in Ciudad Chihuahua.
Efforts continued to be made to reach underserved constituencies of the
university. Bilingual publications are frequently provided and services
are always available in both Spanish and English upon request.
The Library Development Office was successful in raising more than
$300,000 this year. The most significant donation was a major endowment
contributed by Helen Gardiner, a former university mathematics professor
and an employee of the Physical Sciences Laboratory. The annual fund drive
continues to raise almost $10,000 for specific activities relating to each
participating college.
University support was extremely difficult to achieve. Library personnel
received very small salary increases. One time funds were received for library
materials. No funds were provided for additional operational costs. Indeed,
five positions were cancelled, forming the largest percentage decline of
any major unit of the University. Needs for personnel, for systems, and
for permanent support for library materials were not addressed.
The University Library continues to be frustrated in its financial
operations
by lack of an adaptable financial system that can provide useful information
in a timely manner. It is impossible to accurately track encumbrances and
payments in the Financial Records System. The accounting system in University
Advancement has collapsed. We do not receive information on donations until
months later. This makes it difficult to continue operations in a reasonable
manner. It also frustrates library personnel as they seek to carry out their
goals and objectives.
The University Library made a major improvement in its facilities by
completing
work on an electronic classroom with 25 stations. It is used for three sections
of Library Science 311, much of the advanced course related bibliographic
instruction, and for employee training.
The library has completed work on a new employee lounge located on the
first
floor of Branson Hall and a middle-level preservation laboratory located
in University Archives in Branson Hall. Additionally, conservation work
was completed on two Tom Lea murals that originally hung in the Young Hall
Library in the 1930's. HVAC problems in the Branson Hall Library continue.
While several alternatives have been proposed by PPD to improve temperature
stability, they have not been implemented. Work on temperature and humidity
control in Special Collections and Archives is desperately needed.
A Security system has been installed in Branson Hall to the great relief
of personnel responsible for Archives and Special Collections.
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Send comments and questions to:
library@lib.nmsu.edu