Polk Library News
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The staff of Polk Library is committed to providing the best possible resources to UW Oshkosh students, faculty and staff. Since 2001 we and the university community have faced great challenges and opportunities in accessing the best educational and research material available. These challenges and opportunities will continue in 2007-2008. The challenges are well known. Shrinking budgets have hindered the library's ability to purchase online and print resources. For example, Polk Library's total materials budget was $944,978 in 2001-2002 and is $888,227 for 2006-2007. Due to "information inflation," the purchasing power of our materials budget has declined approximately $330,000 from 2001! [This is based on a conservative estimate of price increases of 6% a year.] The positive challenge that the library faces is the continued high demand for a wide range of high quality educational and research material. In response to these challenges, the staff of the library continues to work with faculty on how best to allocate its funds to provide educational and research material. One part of this effort has been to cancel less-needed print journals, reference materials, online databases and microforms. Another part of this effort was to look at the same content that the library provided in multiple formats. Needless duplication of formats has been virtually eliminated in the library's collection. Working with faculty, the library has worked to minimize the impact of necessary cancellations. It established the Ingenta Table of Contents service that covers over 30,000 publications. This service allows you to get the current table of contents of important journals or trade publications e-mailed to you, often before they physically arrive in libraries. Now, journal articles from other libraries are delivered to your computer desktop in 3-5 days. If faculty, academic staff and graduate students need an article more quickly, the library will purchase it and deliver it to your desktop in less than 48 hours. In addition to Interlibrary Loan for books and videos, Universal Borrowing allows you to directly check out materials from other UW libraries. Based on preliminary budget projections for 2007-2008, the library faces a shortfall of over $100,000 in its collection budgets. This projection assumes a flat budget and an 8% - 12% increase in the cost of journals, books, databases, etc. In February 2007, Polk Library will begin working with faculty and departments regarding how best to meet the curricular and research needs of campus in light of this shortfall. The library will need to make decisions by mid-May so these decisions can be implemented for 2007-2008. Polk Library will explore many of the strategies used since 2001 to contain costs and maintain needed access to material. For instance, the library will likely increase the use of high-speed document delivery systems for articles from journals that are expensive, high quality and low-use but important for faculty and graduate research. In addition, the library will explore new strategies and opportunities such as shifting more of our journal collections from print to online. Many publishers offer an "online only" option for titles that can often save from 5% - 15%. Another option is buying "access" not "ownership" to journal collections. If done properly, this can give campus full-content access to more scholarly journal titles at similar or reduced costs. One big advantage of moving high quality research materials to the web is that students and faculty are most likely to look for information online. This trend is illustrated with just a couple of use statistics. In 1997-1998 at the introduction of large amounts of full-text online materials, periodicals in print and microform were used 72,000 times. In 2005-2006, the same types of physical materials were used 14,000 times. Yet in 2005 - 2006, there were approximately 800,000 uses of the library's online databases! [See Ron Hardy's article on the Top Twenty.] In the past ten years, the information world has changed significantly and will change even more dramatically in the next ten. The staff of the library wants to continue to work with campus to provide the best resources possible.
In the LibQual survey Polk Library conducted in Spring 2004, students were critical of the library's physical facilities. They expressed the need for more designated areas for both group study and quiet study. To address these concerns, Polk Library began by establishing a new group study room and a new quiet study room, both on 2nd floor North. From Fall 2005 to Fall 2006, the number of people using the group study room increased 150%. Polk Library's physical facilities have remained largely unchanged over the years. The last major remodeling project was in the late 1980's. Most of the library furniture in the building is from the 1960's. We are beginning to make progress in modernizing the inside of the library. The University Archives & Area Research Center was remodeled in 2005. We would like our next project to be a remodeling of the Reference Room, 1st Floor South. This is a part of the library that houses 33 computers, current magazines & newspapers, the reference collection, and many study tables. We wanted to know what students wanted to do the most in the Reference Room. We conducted a survey in print and via an online form. We were pleased to have received over 600 responses. Here are their top eight answers:
Comments from students included:
We took this information and constructed a Laboratory Modernization Grant for an Information Commons, and submitted it to the university in November 2006. There is a new movement in libraries to create areas called Information Commons. These are areas where students can study, collaborate with their fellow students, utilize library research tools, and use available technology to work on research. We believe that the Information Commons model would suit our users well. We would like to see the room remodeled to better accommodate both groups and quiet studiers. We want to increase the number of computers available to students, and provide comfortable furniture. Improving the lighting, flooring and ambience would be a great step forward. This project is a major remodeling request, but one that we feel would benefit students in all majors and disciplines.
Last year UW Oshkosh students, staff and faculty searched Polk Library's databases over 800,000 times! The library's web resources have become one of the most used library resources on campus. Polk Library provides over 100 online databases and full text journal collections, and most are accessible anywhere on- or off-campus. The Top Twenty (based on 2005-06 usage):
If you've used Desire2Learn (D2L) in your classes before, perhaps you've noticed the "Library Resources" widget that automatically appears on your course homepage, giving you and your students links directly to the library homepage, eReserves, and other library sources (see image, above). Did you know that Polk Library has its very own D2L specialist who can customize this widget just for your class? Contact Renée Büker, Outreach Services Librarian at x7331 or bukerr@uwosh.edu - she can customize the Library Resources widget for your course to:
See some examples of modified widgets below. Do you have any other ideas for making the library widget even more useful for your students? Renée would be happy to explore any other options to link your students to the information they need!
On October 19th, the University Archives and Area Research Center hosted an open house to celebrate the renovation of the area. At this open house, the Archives also received the Governor's Archives Award for Archival Achievement given by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board. Ellsworth Brown, director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, presented the award. Below are some photographs from the event.
Do you have a student assistant? Wouldn't it be great if they could pick up your library materials, including interlibrary loans, for you? They can! Are you wondering how to arrange that? One easy step: print and fill out the Proxy Patron Authorization form below (once a year) and send to Polk Circulation. If you fill out a form this year, circulation staff will send you a reminder next year. http://www.uwosh.edu/library/pdf/proxypatron.pdf This form is also found on the library home page by clicking on the "Online Forms" link in the lower right corner of the screen (below the link to Interlibrary Loan). Without this form, circulation staff cannot check your items out to your assistant. If your well-meaning assistant picks up items on his or her own Titancard, there is potential for late fees, invoices and blocked library privileges. This one step ensures that you will get email reminders when your items are due and need to be renewed. Please take advantage of this service.
On Saturday, October 14, Polk Library staff layered on their warmest colorful clothes and walked in the UW Oshkosh Homecoming Parade. This was their fifth annual entry! The Homecoming theme this year was "Color Conniption", so library staff encouraged parade watchers to "Put Some Color in Your Research at Polk Library". Each staff member wore a different color, matching the title of a book or video in the library collection. Represented were:
Reminder for the end of the semester: Polk Library materials can be renewed in two ways. You can bring them to the Circulation Desk in the library, or you can renew them online. To renew online, see the instructions below. Some restrictions may apply. If you have any questions, please contact Jeanne Foley at x7315.
Good luck with the remainder of the semester!
The holiday season doesn't seem quite right without stories and carols around the tree and remembrances of years past. It's the perfect time for stories, since it's already a time so full of magic, winter snow, and everything that reminds us that belief is still possible. Looking for a great holiday read? Warning, have your box of tissues handy. These new tales in the Browsing Room will get everybody into the holiday spirit! Enjoy!
Guide to U.S. Elections This two-volume set from Congressional Quarterly Press contains a wealth of information and statistics about American elections. Volume One begins with a history of elections in the United States, describing the development of the two main political parties in the country, the history of smaller political parties such as the Libertarian Party and the Bull Moose Party, the expansion of voting privileges to African Americans and women, and campaign finance. Volume One then continues with a rich section on presidential elections, including a chronology concisely describing the main issues in each election from George Washington's first election to George W. Bush's reelection; a history of the development of the electoral college system; and statistics from presidential primary returns, popular votes, and electoral votes, all broken down by state. Volume Two of the set provides similar historical and statistical information for congressional elections (both House and Senate) and gubernatorial elections.
Staff Highlights
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Read current issue of Polk Library News
Read past issues of Polk Library News
December 2006 issue, printer-friendly version (pdf)
Articles in this issue:
~From the Director: The Best Possible Resources
~What Do Students Think of the Reference Room?
~Polk Library's Top Twenty Databases
~Get your D2L "Library Resources" Widget Customized
~Photographs from Archives Open House and Awards Ceremony
~Let Others Check Out Items for You!
~Put Some Color in Your Research at Polk Library!