REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
POTENTIAL CONSOLIDATION OF THE GEOLOGY, MAP AND GEOGRAPHY, AND
ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES I-IBRARIES
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS at URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
prepared by Isabel A. Stirling
Associate University Librarian
University of California, Berkeley
July 17, 2005
Mission
The mission given was to assess, recommend, and advise the University Library at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, on the potential for a merger and consolidation
of the resources, collections, and staff, of the Geology Library, the Map and Geography
Library, and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences Library.
Invited as a consultant, I made an onsite visit to UlUC on June 16 and 17, 2005, and met
with the following individuals, each for approximately an hour during these two days, to
discuss the context, background, and ideas relevant to this mission:
Bob Burger, Associate University Librarian
Paula Kaufman, University Librarian
Bruce Rhoads, Chair, Department of Geography (Davenport Hall)
Jenny Johnson, Head, Map and Geography Library (Main Library)
Albert Hsui, Assoc. Chair, Department of Geology (representing Chair who was out of
town) (Natural History Building)
Lura Joseph, Head, Geology Library (Natural History Building)
Don Weubbles, Chair, Atmospheric Sciences Department (Gregory St Bldgs.)
Bill Mischo, Head, Grainger Engineering Library
I-isa Hinchcliff and Beth Woodard, Office of Services, (Main Library)
Jim Kirkpatrick, Associate Dean, Liberal Arts and Sciences (Lincoln Hall)
Jeff Schrader, Director, Library Facilities (Main Library)
To provide information and context, I was given tours of the following libraries and
building spaces:
Map and Geography Library (418 Main Library)
Geology Library (223 Natural History Building)
Department of Atmospheric Sciences Library (Gregory St. Buildings)
Grainger Engineering Library
"proposed1'space vacated by the Natural History Museum, Natural History Building,
3rdand 4thfloors
Geography, and Geology, to establish the School of Earth, Society, and Environment in
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois. (May 12, 24pp.) The
proposal includes a Rationale, a set of Bylaws, and a Strategic Plan. The Faculty of the
three departments are expected to formally vote on this proposal in September 2005.
After that vote, the hope is for the new School to be approved and formalized in the
Spring of 2006.
The Strategic Plan is of special importance to the Library as it considers the potential for
serving this new school in the most effective and efficient way with combined library
spaces, resources, collections, staff, and services.
The Strategic Plan identifies the Natural History Building to be the optimum location to
gather together the faculties of the three departments.
In the Strategic Plan section on "Establishing a Combined Facility" (p. 17) it states:
The Natural History Building, the current home of the Department of Geology,
appears to be the most logical location for the School. Initial estimates of space
requirements for the Geology, Geography and Atmospheric Sciences departments
suggest that, with modest remodeling, the square footage of NHB is suficient to house
the three departments, as well as discipline-related components of the University library.
This is the only mention of the library in the actual written materials of the Proposal and
Strategic plan.
The Departments
Programs
All three of these departments are currently members of the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences. The vision and rationale for the future combined faculties of these three
departments is in response partly to the small size and physical isolation that has
inhibited the development of courses and research that would be a natural growth from
these disciplines.
Currently there is a combined f a c ~ ~ lof
t y 37.75 FTE (Geology 14 FTE, Geography 11.75
FTE, Atmospheric Sciences 12 FTE). With the proposal for the new School the
additional hiring of faculty in the near future would bring the total faculty FTE to 49-52.
There are approximately 40 - 45 undergraduate majors in each of Geography and
Geology, making a combined total of approximately 85 majors in the two departments.
Atmospheric Sciences does not have an undergraduate major, but is in the process of
submitting a proposal for an Atmospheric Sciences undergraduate major, which with
formal approvals would probably begin in the Fall 2007. (Currently there are about
14,000 undergraduate majors in Liberal Arts and Sciences. About 4,000 of the
undergraduates are said to be in an "undeclared" status that is seen as having some
potential for this new program. For comparison in scale, the Biology major has
approximately 2,500 majors).
There is a formal proposal going through the campus administrative procedures,
independently but related to the new School, for an interdisciplinary undergraduate
major called the Undergraduate Degree (BS) in Earth Systems, Environment, and
Society within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This new undergraduate
major under its current timeline is expected to be approved and implemented in the Fall
of 2006.
The Proposal to the Senate Committee on Educational Policy for this new
Undergraduate Degree under "Budgetary and Staff Implications" (p. 4), states:
Impact on library, computer use, laboratory use, equipment, etc.: Extra
expenses are not being requested with this proposal, although additional support for
library renovation, website development and maintenance, recruiting expenses, and
other operating expenses may become necessary with a few years of implementation of
the major. ....
It will provide a comprehensive liberal arts education in Earth Systems science, and will
provide a strong component of sciences as well as social sciences. Courses will be
taught by faculty from all three departments. Initially there was some concern by faculty
in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) that there
would be overlap (and competition) with their programs for undergraduates.
These tensions have been diminished by discussions between the two colleges, and the
ESES major would focus on Earth Science orientation (with the ability for majors to also
go on to graduate work in sciences or other disciplines at UIUC), with a strong social
science component. This major would require cross-education of undergraduates in
both areas. The ACES program focuses more on land resource management, forestry,
soil sciences. etc.
There is anticipation that a merger of these departments into a new school would create
interest in some related program developments within Liberal Arts and Sciences and
other colleges at UIUC. These might include a "Center for the Study of Earth Materials"
which would partner with Materials Science; a "Program for Geobiological Applications"
which would combine interests in geomicrobiology, paleobiology, ecohydrology, and
would partner with faculty in the School of Life Sciences and the Civil and Environmental
Engineering Department; and a "Program for the Study of Past and Present Climate"
which might partner with state surveys in addition to other UIUC departments.
Strategic Plan proposal for New Faculty for the Departments & the School
GIs: The Geography Department has identified a critical need for enhancing its GIs
within the department and for the new school, particularly for its urban geography and
GlScience focus. This new faculty hire would also complement the connections with the
Center for Global Studies, the LAS Global Studies Initiative, and would strengthen the
GIs lab for the GIs needs of all faculty and students in the new school.
Atmospheric Dynamics: The Atmospheric Sciences Department has identified a critical
need for a new faculty member in atmospheric dynamics that would work with the fluid
dynamics researchers in geology as well as enhancing the core atmospheric sciences
discipline.
Paleobiology/Paleoclimate, Geodynamics, Earth Materials: The Geology Department
has a need to hire three new faculty in these areas that would provide a collaboration
with Integrative Biology, Atmospheric Sciences, Chemistry and Materials Science.
Facilities
The Atmospheric Sciences Department currently occupies the Atmospheric Sciences
Building on Gregory Street, along with annexes for overflow staff and a departmental
library collection. They have a small reading room in their main building with current
issues of key atmospheric sciences journals, and they have monographs and bound
journals in their annex building. They have outgrown their space, and one of their
interests in the new school would be to acquire additional space to house their faculty,
staff, and computing resources and equipment (their current computer demands are
already causing overheating in their facility). I will discuss their departmental library
separately.
The Geography Department currently occupies space in Davenport Hall, and they are
doing renovations as needed in a temporary manner to accommodate their space needs
for faculty and staff. The Geography Department faculty are comprised of both physical
geographers and cultural/political/human geographers. This mix of science and social
sciences has caused some concern about the possible move of this departmental faculty
into a more science focused building (with Geology and Atmospheric Sciences), and the
pros and cons of this future are still being debated within the Geography Department.
There is currently no library in the Geography Department's Davenport Building, and I
will discuss the Geography and Map Library issues separately. The departmental move
into the Natural History Building would in effect be a "trade" for the Geography faculty, as
the current NHB space is occupied by Biological Sciences and wet labs, and a proposal
has been tentatively endorsed to move the Biological Sciences program into Davenport
Hall.
The Geology Department currently occupies space in the Natural History Building, so the
merger of these departments would have somewhat less of an impact on the Geology
faculty. The Geology Library occupies space in the Natural History Building now, and I
will discuss this separately.
If there is a "yes" vote by the faculty of the three departments in September 2005,
Appendix B: Timeline (Strategic Plan p. 24) lists May 15, 2006 for the renovation of the
Natural History Building to begin. A fund of $150,000 has already been approved by the
Provost to develop a plan for moving all three departments into the Natural History
Building.
The Libraries
Atmospheric Sciences Library
The Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) Library is a departmental library that is
not currently managed through the UlUC Library. It has been shaped over the twenty
years of the department by faculty and DAS staff, and has primarily been a collection of
journals and monographs. As space constraints developed for DAS, the monographs
and bound journals were moved to the DAS Annex building, and only a few dozen
current journals remain in the DAS reading room. Most of these journals are also held in
UlUC Libraries, particularly the Grainger Engineering Library, and over time, some of the
older runs of the DAS journals have been sent to Grainger to be incorporated into their
journal collection. Many of these journals are also available online through the UlUC
Library's resource acquisitions.
The Department of Atmospheric Sciences had developed a simple searchable database
for titles in its collection, but it is not in the UlUC Library catalog. DAS wishes to turn all
of the materials over to the UlUC Library, particularly to this new emerging library that
they hope will be housed in the Natural History Building. Preliminary assessments
indicate that there are many monographs that are not currently duplicates of holdings in
the other UlUC libraries.
Department of Atmospheric Sciences faculty and graduate students are the primary
users of the DAS LibraryIReading Room. They also use other libraries on campus,
primarily the Grainger Engineering Library.
Map and Geography Library
The Map and Geography Library is currently located on the fourth floor of the Main
Library. It houses the state's largest collection of maps, and has a large and growing
collection of aerial photos. It contains a portion of the monographs and journals for
geographical sciences, and has a large collection of atlases. Current counts include
189,000 volumes in areas of geography, 14,000 of these housed in the Map and
Geography Library, the rest in the Main stacks. Other collections within this library
include 350,000 maps, 145,000 aerial photos, 2,700 atlases, and approximately 700
serials.
It has space and weight constraints from its continually growing collection of maps and
aerial photos, and there are possible existing floor load issues with the density of map
cases. This library serves a broad variety of users, including outside UlUC users such
as genealogists. Campus users include those from geology, geography, anthropology,
architecture, history, political sciences, urban planning, and others.
Acquiring, processing, and providing mediated access to maps is a very labor-intensive
operation. With current staffing levels, in order to balance these activities, the hours of
the library have been shortened, and backlogs in processing have grown.
The library has one librarian and one staff member, and several student assistants.
There are no copiers or scanners available within this library, which has been noted by
faculty as being inconvenient for using the maps and aerial photos. In olden times, a
Geography Department would be linked as the core user of a Map and Geography
Library. With the increasing digital resources for geographers, their use of the online
resources has grown, and their use of the physical library has lessened.
Faculty in Geography consider the aerial photos to be of prime importance, and the
ability to scan these for creating digital files is essential. In addition to the Main Library
(which is seen as being "distant", they consider the Geology Library and the Engineering
Library to also be very useful to their research.
The Geography Department endorses the concept of a merged library in the Natural
History Building, and values the book and journal collection to be housed there more
than having the maps located in the new space. Access to digital resources in
geospatial data and other electronically available materials will continue to become even
more important as the Geography Department enhances its spacelplace research and
teaching.
The Geology Library
The Geology Library has evolved from the original days in the early history of UlUC
sciences program as part of the Natural History Library. In 1959, the life sciences
materials were relocated, and the Geology Library was established. It currently has
approximately 104,000 volumes onsite, with about 90,000 additional low use materials
housed in the Main Library. It also contains about 77,000 geology related maps and
other cartographic items. A real strength of the Geology Library collections is in earth
science history.
There is a Geology Library faculty member (Unit Head) and two staff members serving
the collections, resources, and services in the Geology Library. The geology librarian is
an active participant in the curriculum and fieldwork of the Geology Department faculty
and students.
The collection of monographs and bound journal volumes have filled the current Geology
Library to capacity. 'There are also some critical environmental problems with the
facilities, partly due to the old building infrastructure of steam pipes, etc., and partly due
to the leaks from the biology wet labs above the library.
The Geology Department faculty now enjoy having the Geology Library in their building,
with close proximity to where the faculty and graduates are housed. With increasing
availability of journals and related geology information online, the actual use of the
physical collection has decreased considerably, including the historic geology map
material. Geology faculty and graduates also use the Grainger Engineering Library, but
the distance again is mentioned as not being too convenient. The Geography faculty
also occasionally use the Geology Library.
Other users of the Geology Library include the Illinois State Geological Survey, the
Water Survey, and the USGS, along with local geologists, and some botany and
paleobotanists.
'The Facilities
Natural History Building
The next step as the approvals are being gained for the development of the new School
of Earth, Society, and Environment in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, is to work
with campus planning architects to see how the spaces in the Natural History Building
will work in merging the Geology, Geography, and Atmospheric Sciences faculty and
labs, and the merged library, into the Natural History Building.
Associate Dean Kirkpatrick said that he expected to have things functionally
straightened out this fall. A meeting will be set up for the LAS Administration, provost,
campus architect, and the chairs of the three departments to talk about the spaces. He
agreed that it would be helpful to include University Librarian Kaufman and/or
representatives to be present to participate in the discussion that will include plans for
having this merged library as part of the space planning for the Natural History Building.
Current assumptions about what spaces might be available for the newly merged library
vary from one department to another. Partly this is because planning has not advanced
to the stage where the departments know exactly what spaces are available for their
faculty and labs, and the result of their calculations will affect the available space for a
merged library.
The Museum of Natural History, which has now vacated the Natural History Building,
has left behind the space that was designed and used for a museum. It includes on the
third floor a large room with high barrel-vaulted ceiling and small paned windows in the
roof that is considered by all those I spoke with to be a central and lovely space for the
merged library. The net assignable square footage of this third floor space is
approximately 3,500 sq. ft.
The former Natural History Museum space also included curator, exhibit and preparation
rooms on the fourth floor, which has an additional 4,500 sq. ft., separated into various
rooms, with the largest room being a 2,500 sq. ft. space.
If the space needs of the incoming departments are calculated to need some or all of the
fourth floor space, the merged library might only get the third floor space, with the 3,500
sq. ft. This is a greatly reduced allocation from the current spaces in each of the three
existing library facilities, and would require placement of a large percentage of the
currently shelved volumes in the high density UlUC library storage facility at Oak St.,
where it would be retrievable when needed. The Oak St, facility is within walking
distance of the Natural History Building.
The Natural History Building, as one of the oldest buildings on campus, will need
extensive renovation and infrastructure upgrading to become efficient and useful for its
new occupants. The budget for this project would probably have to come from the
campus, including the funding to create a new library space, and to repurpose the
current existing Geology Library space for other uses such as a proposed computer lab
(CITES).
Space and Place
In conversations with the department chairs or their representatives, and the Associate
Dean of LAS (who is a geologist with an active research lab), I gathered the following
comments that would help the UlUC Library to use as it thinks about the exciting
potential of a merged library serving these departments and the broader research
community.
The merged libraries would be heavily focused on the Earth as a theme. The book and
journal collection is more important to the geography faculty than the maps.
The Map collection is not considered to be a necessary part of the new library. (It is
uncertain whether the Aerial photographs (or some subset of them) might be desired).
There was some surprise that the Library was thinking of moving the maps (from either
the Main Library or the Geology Library) into the merged library.
Faculty in all three of these departments indicated that they get a majority of their
information needs met by online databases, full text online journals, digital data and
geospatial data, etc.
Faculty in all three departments rely on book/document delivery that is part of the LllUC
Library service. Geography faculty think of Main Library as inconvenient, and Geology
faculty think of the Grainger Engineering Library as being too far away. These distance
perceptions have more to do with the convenience of acquiring information quickly while
working on a project, research grant proposal, etc.
The newly merged library would be more of a "people space" and less of a "collections
space." They have an idea that it would look something like a small version of the
Grainger Engineering Library, and that it would include wireless access, computers,
group spaces, lovely comfortable chairs and tables, etc.
There have been no suggestions yet about what this new library might be called, but a
name reflecting the new school name might be appropriate.
for example:
Earth Sciences and Systems (ESS) Library
Geography, Atmosphere, Map, and Earth Sciences (GAMES) Library
Space and Place Library
Sciences of Atmosphere, Geography and Earth (SAGE) Library
Earth, Society and Environment (ESE) Library
There is a slight possibility that the Geography Department might not move into the
Natural History Building. Many of the Geography faculty are more social science
focused, and there is currently still some resistance to moving. If they didn't move, then
the idea would be to just have the Department of Atmospheric Sciences departmental
library and the Geology Library merge, leaving the Geography and Map Library where it
is.
Proposed Merged Library Models
The amount of assignable square feet available in the Natural History Building is a
crucial element in this planning. The UlUC campus architect is being invited in future
meetings mentioned earlier, and the UlUC Library architect and Director of Library
Facilities Jeff Schrader has already done some calculations of existing space in the
three libraries, and available space in the Natural History Building.
The question of whether the NHB floors will handle the load is an important one. It
seems likely that the floors are probably able to handle shelving for books and journals,
but perhaps not high density maps and map cases.
Model #1: 3rdfloor Atrium space from the old Natural History Museum (3500 square ft)
With just the third floor space for the library, the collections would have to be drastically
reduced before merging, with over 50% of the books and journals going into the local
high density storage facility on Oak St. It would also not include the map collection from
either the Map and Geography Library in the Main Library or the map collection in the
Geology Library, other than a very small set of reference maps and atlases.
With this square footage, the library would be more of a "people space" than a
collections space. Some faculty think that the 3rdfloor Atrium space is all that will be
available for the library, but it would not allow much flexibility for study spaces, staff
office needs, etc. It is a bare minimum and would require a very streamlined vision of
what materials were actually the core of the physical collections. It would also seriously
impact the continued growth of the collections in these disciplines, as there would be
almost nonexistent growth space.
It is also important to note that currently the east side of the 4thfloor space is being
prepared for the surge needs of the graduate students of Communications currently
occupying space in Lincoln Hall. This space tentatively will be made ready for
occupancy of the graduate students in the Spring of 2006, and will be needed by them
for about two years, according to Associate Dean Kirkpatrick.
Model #2: 3rdfloor Atrium space from NHB Museum, PLUS 4thfloor space that was
occupied by the former Museum for curators, exhibition preparation space, etc. This 4th
floor space has a total of 4,500 sq. ft. Having this additional space would mean a total of
just over 8,000 sq. fi.,which would mean less severe reductions in current collections,
but would still probably preclude having the maps collection from the Main Library.
Faculty varied on their perceptions of whether this 4thfloor space is already being
considered as faculty space for offices and labs. If used for the library, it would need an
elevator as part of the renovation.
Model #3: 3rdfloor Atrium space from NHB Museum, PLUS a portion of the 4'h floor
space. There is about 2,500 sq. ft. of space in a large room and adjoining room or two
that might still leave some of the 4thfloor space available for faculty offices and labs.
This model would provide about 6,000 sq. ft., and would be far more preferable than
Model #2.
Model #4: One person suggested the possibility of thinking about a free-standing
building being built between the Chemistry Building and the Natural History Building (a
taller narrow building to fit into that space) that would be able to house just merged
libraries. It would be adjacent to the merged faculties, would provide convenient access
to them, give them more space to spread out in the Natural History Building, and might
provide better synergies for the smaller science libraries. Unfortunately, this model,
while not without merit, was dismissed as being unfeasible for many reasons, one of
them being the historic space of the buildings right on the Quad as an obstacle to
planning any new buildings.
Depending on how the existing collections are counted, any of these models will mean
carefully deciding on the overall mission of the merged libraries and how they will move
into the future. The rapid redundancy of journals caused by the growing availability of
current and backfiles electronically will mean that more and more of these titles could be
moved to the high-density storage facility.
The map resources pose a challenge in the overall mission of this new library as well as
in the impact of the weight and density (floor load) of housing a large map collection.
Maps are used, as one person said, "globally", and particularly by a wide variety of users
in many different disciplines at the university. The existing space along with the
lesseniqg demand for frequent use of the maps indicates a need to determine where
within the LllUC Library maps might best be located. It is possible that they might
remain where they are in the Main Library, or that they might be merged with
Government Documents rather than their current affinity with Special Collections. One
person I spoke with objected to the idea of Maps being housed in a library where not
even the word "maps" would be in the name of the Library, thus making them even more
marginal than they already are.
'The changing and evolving dynamics of maps and digital geospatial information has
created a period of transition for all research libraries. Geospatial and GIs programs
within libraries and on campuses are revolutionizing the ways that maps are used, and
there are a variety of digitization programs that are underway. Instruction and service
issues relating to aeos~atialinformation is not nart of this renort h ~ lItwo~llrllike to
acknowledge that its centrality to library services for many areas means that the location
and development of the collections and resources related to maps is something that
needs careful (and enthusiastic) consideration for the future.
The maps in the Geology Library overlap some with the maps in the Main Library, but
again, the majority of these maps are becoming less used and might be best housed in
Oak St. where preservation and access on demand would make them useful when
needed. This will mean planning for good (large) reading tables in the Oak St. Reading
Room, as maps take up a lot of space for users who wish to consult them on site. It will
also mean planning for expansion and growth of map cases at Oak St. in either the
current building or the Oak St. II Building.
Acquiring and providing access to digital maps and earth sciences related geospatial
information will continue to grow as an essential part of the library's mission.
Budget and other impacts
It is obvious that such a move does have an impact on the Library, if for no other reason
than that it will require the processing of most of the volumes in the Atmospheric
Sciences collection (not currently part of the Library system) and possibly purchasing
additional monographic volumes in Atmospheric Sciences that have not been purchased
until now. In this light is curious that the Proposal to the Senate Committee on
Educational Policy (see p. 4 of this report) states that no request is being made for the
impact on the Library.
The overall funding for the renovation of the NHB space would be from campus funding,
along with the renovation of the rest of NHB for combining the departmental faculty
offices, labs, etc. There are also issues of library funding for merged collections that
would need to be addressed. Would fund lines change for geography and geology, for
example, and how would atmospheric sciences be added into the matrix?
There are also impacts to be considered for the staffing of the merged library. Who
would become the new Unit head of the library? How many staff would be needed and
available? What office spaces would be needed?
Summary and Recommendations
Even though the physical merging may take from 2-5 years to become a reality, the
Library would make a substantial contribution in its service to these departments as they
begin the process of merging. I would recommend beginning this in September 2005
after the faculty of the three departments votes on approving the proposal for the new
School.
A "virtual merging" would mean creating the administrative and service structure that
would help provide a framework for the planning, design, and process of streamlining the
existing resources and creating dynamic service for current and future needs of users. I
would recommend that one of the three librarians involved be appointed as coordinator
of this effort, working with the geography and atmospheric components to provide
services to all three departments.
Maps and geospatial data services will be an important component in the services of the
merged library, and the government documents staff in the library might be additionally
represented in providing these interdisciplinary services. Training for GIs and
geospatialldata might be needed for the library faculty in this merged library. Visits to
the current faculty who specialize in geospatial information and analysis will be critical in
determining the role that the library can begin to play. Geography Chair Rhoads would
be a good contact person to provide faculty names of GIs and geospatial specialists.
In addition to the immediate need to begin processing materials for Oak St., there also
needs to be some planning for the merged virtual library services: information literacy
and library instruction, electronic access and resource issues, reference, etc. l would
recommend that the faculty members of each of these three departments be visited in
person during the fall after the September vote, to gain perspective on their needs and to
offer services to them that they might be unaware of presently. The Information Literacy
Services and Instruction librarian might assist in these visits to suggest ways of
enhancing services to faculty in their courses that might not currently exist. For
example, the popular undergraduate Extreme Weather course offered by the
Atmospheric Sciences Department might be a place for some interactive (virtual) library
components.
Library Administration andlor representatives should be present at the upcoming
meetings that will begin discussing this space with the departmental chairs and the
dean's office and campus architects. They are currently not thinking too much about the
needs of the library, other than that they want a merged library to be there in the Natural
History Building. Library architect Schrader is already very familiar with the floor plans of
NHB, as well as the existing library spaces, and would be an important person to attend
these meetings that will include the campus architect.
Library Administration should present the best case for having the library occupy the
entire NHB museum vacated space of 8,000 sq. ft on both the 3rdand 4thfloors to
provide the optimum environment for resources, staff and collections, and library users.
(Wireless access, computers, group study areas, processing needs and offices for the
staff). Digital scanners and other large screen and special equipment for aerial photos,
GIs access and digital printing will also be needed.
'The furnishings in the Grainger Engineering Library contribute substantially to the
elegant "look and feel" of this library. While the space in the new NHB facility will be
limited, the goal should be to have both hints of the traditional library environment
combined with functionality of a progressive, increasingly electronic environment.
I recommend that a faculty advisory committee for the new library be created this fall
with a member from each of the three departments to begin discussing the vision, the
timeline, and the name for the new library. Several new faculty committees are being
created as part of the Strategic Plan for the new school, and a Library Committee would
be an excellent addition to the list.
Involve the two library faculty (and perhaps others, such as the head of the Engineering
Library or a designate) in the creation of a long range plan and timeline for the future of
these resources, collections, and services, and identify the library faculty liaison for the
atmospheric sciences.
It was a real pleasure to be invited to serve as a consultant for the UlUC Library. The
departmental and library faculty, and the campus and library administrators were
enthusiastic about past, current, and future resources and services provided by the
UlUC Library. There was high praise for the Library from the departmental faculty, and
high praise for the departmental faculty from the library faculty. These partnerships will
serve UlUC well as progress is made towards the merging of these departments and
libraries into new spaces and synergies for the future.
GEOLOGY LIBRARY, MAP AND GEOGRAPHY LIBRARY AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES LIBRARY
CONSOLIDATION
The proposed consolidation of the Geology, Map and Geography and Atmospheric Sciences libraries into space vacated by the Natural History
Museum in the Natural History Building will require approximately 8,000 square feet of space for shelving, seating, and staff space. This assumes
an overall reduction in existing net assignable square feet (NASF) of 26% for the combined libraries.
CONSOLIDATION (GEOLOGYIMAP AND GEOGRAPHYIATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES)
LIBRARY SPACE COMPARISON
This table compares the current use of space in the Geology Library, Map and Geography Library, and
Atmospheric Sciences "Library" with the proposed consolidation model.
CURRENT NASF
TYPE OF SPACE
Shelving
7,463
Seating
1,890
1,567
Staff Space
10,920
Total NASF
Percent of Reduction
PROPOSED NASF
3rd floor space only
3,584
-67%
PROPOSED NASF 3rd &
4th floor space
8,081
-26%
The reduction could be realized by transferring material to the Oak Street Library Facility and eliminating copies held by two or more of the
consolidating libraries. As a comparable example the Chemistry Library reduced their collection fiom approximately 70,000 volumes to 40,000
volumes with transfers to Oak Street Facility in preparation of the move to the newly remodeled space in Noyes Laboratory. It has been estimated
that potentially 25% of the map storage requirements could be reduced if the libraries consolidated and eliminated the duplicity of some of their
collections due to current dual collection offerings.
Large potential reductions in map shelving requirements will most likely not be realized due to the current overcrowding of the map collections.
The current lack of adequate space for additional map cabinets in the Geology and Map and Geography libraries the material stored in them has
reached or exceeded acceptable library standards. The substandard storage of these materials will have to be addressed if "new" space is being
proposed to house the material.
UNIVERSITY
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Interlibrary Borrowing Office
Business Office
Human Resources Office
Telephone Center
Development and Public Affairs
University Librarian's Office
Library Administration
Systems Office
Latin American & Caribbean Library.
Africana/Afro-American
Library
Women & Gender Resources Library
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ACES, 1101 S. Goodam
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Applied Life Snpdier, 146 Mai. Libruy
Arrhittcimm & & 298
ArchBldg.
Aniaa. 325 Main L i k s y
B i w , 101 Burrill Hall
Ceaiur for Childma's Books, 21 GtSlS
Cbsaiatry, 255 Nays, Lab
Centnl Circolltioll, 203 Main L i i q
City Plmoiw & Lmd. h h . , 1301 W.
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Clmsic, 118A Maim Libray
Cammaos, 101 Maill Libmy
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Hirt#y k Philowpity, 424 Main Libtuy
Illinois Fim S a v h s Id-, 11 Gsrty Ik.
Illinois Hirmrical Swvuy, 316 Main L i h . y
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Librsry ad Infarmaion Science, 306
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Liacda Room, 422 Mai. Libmy
Map & G q p p h y , 418 Moia Libruy
Mnlbsnllios, 2 16 Altgald Hall
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Physics & Amoaany, 204 Loctmis Lsb
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Primary Faculty of DAS, Geography, Geology: Initiate Visits to Discuss Services
Department of Atmospheric Sciences (14)
Ken Beard - Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Principle Scientist at ISWS
Donna Charlevoix - Lecturer of Atmospheric Sciences
Larry Di Giorolamo - Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Atul Jain - Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
IWar~kinlWak - Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Greg McFarquhar - Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Bob Rauber - Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Walter Robinson - Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Michael Schlesinger - Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Peter Snyder - Assistant Professor
Tracy Twine - Assistant Professor
John Walsh - Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Donald J. Wuebbles- Department Head and Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
Robert Wilhelmson - Prof of Atmosph Sciences and Senior Research Scientist at NCSA
Department of Geography (13)
Luc E. Anselin Professor and Director, Spatial Analysis Laboratory
Thomas J. Bassett Professor of Geography and Affiliate, Center for African Studies
Thomas D. Frank Assoc Prof of Geography and Director, Spatial Data Anal Lab
Bruce M. Hannon Professor of Geography and National Supercomputer Applications
Geoffrey J.D. Hewings Prof of Geography, Economics, Urban and Regional Planning
Ezekiel Kalipeni Assoc Prof Geography, Medical Geography, Population Studies.
Mu, Lan Assistant Professor Geography, GIs, Spatial Data Modelling
Sara McLafferty Prof of Geography, Geog of Health, Urban Geography, spatial anal.
Kathleen O'Reilly Assistant Professor of Geography, political geography, etc.
Bruce L. Rhoads Chair, Professor of Geography, fluvial systems and geomorphology
Murugesu Sivapalan Professor of Geography (new 2005), hydrology, water quality
Colin E. Thorn Associate Professor, geomorphology
David Wilson Associate Professor, Urban and Human geography
Department o f Geology (15)
Stephen Altaner, Associate Professor, Sedimentary Petrology, Clay Mineralogy
Jay Bass, Professor, Geophysics and Mineral Physics
Craig Bethke, Professor, Hydrogeology and Hydrogeochemistry
Chu-Yung Chen, Assoc Professor, Petrology, Trace element & Isotope Geochem
Wang-Ping Chen, Professor Seismology, geophysics, tectonics
Bruce Fouke Associate Professor, Carbonate Sed., Stratigraphy and Geochemistry
Albert Hsui, Professor, geophysics, geodynamics
Feng Sheng Hu Associate Professor Paleoecology & Climate Change
Thomas Johnson Assoc Prof Groundwater Geochemistry & lstotope hydrogeology
Susan Kieffer Professor Geological Fluid Dynamics
James Kirkpatrick Professor and Assoc. Dean LAS, Geochemistry, Mineralogy
Jie Li Assistant Professor Geochemistry, Mineral Physics
Craig Lundstrom Associate Professor, Geochemistry
Stephen Marshak, Head and Professor, Structural Geology, Tectonics
I informally visited some other UlUC Unit Libraries to get a context of the space,
collections and service areas of the Unit Libraries that are a part of the UlUC Library
System:
Chemistry Library (Noyes Lab Bldg)
Biology Library (Burrill Hall)
Physics/Astronomy Library (now administratively merged with Grainger Eqgineering
Library) (Loomis Lab Bldg)
Architecture and Art Library (Architecture Bldg)
Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES) Library
The goal is to provide some models and ideas for promoting a possible consolidation of
these libraries, identifying implications and the pros and cons of suggested models.
Introduction
University research libraries that have many unit libraries (also called branch or subject
libraries) go through historical evolution of mergers and separations based on many
factors that can include budget reductions, space constraints, personnel changes, donor
funding, and campus and library program changes.
In the current case, the motivating force for the proposed consolidation of the three
libraries is the newly proposed merger of three academic departments on campus into a
new interdisciplinary school which is tentatively to be called: School of Earth, Society,
and Environment (SESE), in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Additionally, the UlUC Library is pursuing a strategy of consolidating units and services,
both physically and virtually, to better achieve synergies, efficiencies, and budget
realities in the current and coming years.
While the proposal for the merging of these three campus departments has not been
formally approved by the campus and the departmental faculty, the three departments
are moving ahead with their discussions of moving the faculty, staff, and labs into the
Natural History Building, where a synergy of disciplines and people would create new
futures and directions for faculty and students in these disciplines.
The UlUC Library is taking an active approach in responding to this newly proposed
school to consider ways to integrate collections, resources, and services to match this
synergy for the future.
Departmental, college, and campus politics and dynamics are complex, and consume
great amounts of time and energy from the departmental chairs in these three
departments to move ahead on their vision for this new school. Consequently, the
library as a space and place have not been foremost on their minds. In my conversations
with them, they did provide ideas and suggestions about how they see the current use of
the resources and collections, and how the three libraries might enhance and strengthen
their mission to the students and faculty in these areas by merging.
Attached to this report is a copy of the Proposal to Liberal Arts and Sciences' Acting
Dean Sarah Mangelsdorf submitted by the departments of Atmospheric Sciences,