The Social Sciences
& Humanities Library
Annual Report for Academic Year 2002-2003
Tammy Nickelson Dearie
October 1, 2003
1. Introduction
2.1 Services2.2 Collections
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… no, the Social Sciences & Humanities Library (SSHL) did not participate in a revolution, but we did experience highs and lows. To begin...for three days, early December 2002, SSHL was fully staffed. For the remainder of the year SSHL had at least two, with a high of nine, open positions at any given moment. A total of 17 positions were vacated (including the creation of three part time librarian positions) and 11 positions were filled with three recruitments still underway. Among the lows was the stymieing of progress for new projects related to information technology. While some progress was eventually made on many of the projects, it was often too slow to serve our patrons effectively and too time consuming for both SSHL staff and Information Technology Department (ITD) staff. Somewhere in the middle of the recruitment woes and the ITD support issues, SSHL continued to strive for success. Our accomplishments focused on the goals of the strategic plan: managing the evolution of the libraries’ information resources to match the needs and behaviors of users, expanding and refining the libraries’ educational goals, and providing a welcoming, comfortable, safe and technologically enabled environment. Throughout it all, the theme of balance, either searching for it or finding it, remained a constant.
Services continued to be a major focus for SSHL, ranging from keeping the building open (with a reduced work force much of the year), to maintaining patron and collection safety, to providing services 96 hours per week throughout the academic year. In addition to our more traditional services offered at the circulation, CPNM, Information and Reference desks, SSHL expanded them to include new or more formalized services. New installations of the “Superstation” and the “Datacruncher” machines provided students with robust options for accessing and manipulating resources owned locally and via the Internet. The site license for ArcView, negotiated by Dan Henderson for all campus users, offered students superior computing access to GIS data and services. While there were many more advancements that the library participated in, led or developed, I will focus on several key accomplishments.
Technology was put to good use in making the library an easier system to use. The programming of bridge software between III and the campus interface allowed circulation staff to quickly and efficiently register students. Remote registration, set up outside the entrance to the library and at the conclusion of Welcome Week orientation sessions, was implemented during the first week of the Fall quarter 2002. Over 1,800 students were registered, which reduced lines later in the year. Network printing was also installed in the Information Desk area. Networked printing, running from a server, was easier for students to use and also allowed for the printing of larger PDF documents (critical for ERES) than the old, stand alone printer system. Finally, ERES, a budding service the previous year, took off at a run. SSHL started Fall 2002 with 57 classes using ERES, and ended with 208 classes by June 2003. The increase was accomplished despite the lack of any formal publicity.
Collection issues focused on the need for balance: identifying, creating and living with it. The move of government documents into compact shelving, the weeding in the annex, in the Tower, and in the Map collection, all created tensions for staff and users alike. Acknowledgement that weeding is a necessary process on a growing campus, especially one strapped for building space, continued to compel subject specialists to make decisions on what to borrow, what to weed, what to keep, and where to house the collections. The overriding question about our role as a library and what makes us unique as a library frequently comes up in our discussions. To that end, many bibliographers focused on creating unique collections, both in print and electronically. A few examples of those efforts are listed below.
2.3 Staff and Organization Development
SSHL staff focused on many issues this year, highest among them was recruiting and retaining their fellow workers. New staff in key positions, or the lack of staff in key positions, created the need for minor reorganizations in both Access and Research Services. The resulting organization is more balanced and has allowed staff to focus on strengths and new opportunities. All groups in SSHL also participated in a committee review process to identify and reorganize the internal committee structure. Several committees decided to reduce the meeting schedule, one committee rewrote their charge to create a more focused team with decision making as a prime role, and one committee reduced the number of members in an effort to reduce staff time spent in meetings. On a more personal scale, staff participated in many activities to further their skills and education, fulfill departmental goals, and further their professional activities. To list all the accomplishments would exceed the three page limit, so I offer a few examples that exemplify our staff accomplishments this year.
While not quite a revolution, the year did come with challenges and concerns. Many of the challenges and concerns will continue, or intensify, this coming year. At the top of the list is balancing a bleak budget against the increase in student enrollment and a static infrastructure support system, specifically technology driven. In regard to the budget, while this year may not be as austere for UCSD as some of our sister campuses, the future does not hold the promise it once did. Retreating and entrenching, a natural reaction to the budget concerns, changes the focus and intensity of projects and staff. Recovery when the budget tide does change is slow. Recruitment, both for librarians and staff positions, remains difficult and the budget will only make recruitment and retention worse. Attracting and retaining librarians and staff is already difficult with many taking on second jobs to make ends meet. The attraction of local institutions, most paying more than UC, makes retention even more complex.
The challenges presented by the growing student population are also a concern. As the largest library on campus, most undergraduates see us as their library. They come to us to check their email, find a place to study, meet with classmates, use the group study rooms, read reserve materials, and use library resources. Serving this diverse population is difficult and a continuing subject of discussion among the staff about our role and the impact of being seen as the “undergraduate” library.
The infrastructure, especially related to technology, continues to be a major concern. The reorganization of the Information Technology Department (ITD) and the corresponding staffing issues offer some hope. However, we live and die by technology at our service desks and at our own desks. The addition of 1,000 new students every year only intensifies the demand. The lines at the Infostations continue to grow. The needs and desires of the students continue to grow. The demands of the students, for more, better, faster technology needs to be balanced with staff expectations and support issues. Again, the issue of balance will play a role in what we move forward with in terms of services.
SSHL will continue to forge ahead, keeping the challenges and concerns in our consciousness, if not at the forefront, of our thoughts. As with last year, our goals will complement the Library goals of managing the evolution of the libraries’ information resources, expanding and refining the libraries’ educational goals, and the providing of a welcoming, comfortable, safe and technologically enabled environment.
SSHL has three major goals this year.