ANNUAL REPORT FY09
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OVERALL STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
In an era of tension and transformation in higher education, the need for libraries that provide access to
collections, content, and expert assistance in the location, evaluation, and use of information remains constant.
In fact, recent research (as well as local experience) demonstrates that the need is increasing for access to highquality information and for education in the intellectual tools to evaluate, synthesize, manage, and present it.
To meet those needs, we build and manage preeminent collections, steward materials responsibly so they will
remain accessible to future generations of faculty and students, provide exceptional services to students and
scholars, and develop and apply new technologies to meet our users' evolving expectations. Our libraries serve
as an arena in which learning is pursued outside the classroom, as well as a physical and virtual destination for
those seeking intellectual engagement. Serving the core University missions of teaching, research and service
across all disciplines, the University Library is committed to making the most effective use of its resources.
Our challenges are many, however, and our resources increasingly stretched to their limits.
Over the past decade, the Library has engaged both in formal strategic planning and in a variety of assessment
activities designed to help us design and deliver Library collections, services, and facilities appropriate to the
21st century. Guided by those activities, we have reallocated resources to strategic initiatives and embraced
new approaches to delivering content and services to the academic community. While significant progress has
been made, we have not moved as aggressively as needed to ensure that we will continue to meet the
challenges posed by changes in our users’ information needs, by new priorities identified in the University’s
strategic plan, by changes to the technological landscape, and by increasing pressures on the Library’s and the
University's financial resources. Inflationary pressure on our collections budget, in particular, is unremitting
and remains a key challenge to our ability to provide appropriate support to the campus. Likewise, resource
scarcity has left us under-invested in information technology even as we recognize that enhanced computing
capacity is essential to our meeting expectations for access to collections and services, for support in
developing collaborative teaching and learning environments, and for support of e-science initiatives. As part
of these planning and assessment activities, our users have told us that increasing our hours, providing more
and better technology, continuing to develop our rich collections, and providing digital access to collections
and services are key concerns. We strive to keep our strategic goals and our reallocation efforts in line with
this feedback.
For example, user surveys conducted annually between 2004 and 2006 demonstrated increasing demand for
digital resources, and frustration with multiple (and often confusing) service points across departmental
libraries. In response to this feedback, we made strategic investments in enhancing access to scholarly digital
content and in designing software solutions to the problem of resource discovery. Likewise, we re-allocated
human resources to establish a more robust electronic resource management team that ensures rapid response
to user concerns about digital access to Library resources. We also developed a multifaceted approach to the
delivery of information and instructional services through IM applications, social networking tools, and online
learning environments. Most recently, we began a proactive, campus-wide process aimed at identifying
opportunities to develop new models of service (physical and virtual) that will allow us to transcend the
departmental library service model established at Illinois a century ago.
Although this “New Service Model” process will not be completed prior to submission of this report, several
notable initiatives are already underway. For example, we collaborated with the faculty of the Institute of
Labor and Industrial Relations to close the Labor and Industrial Relations (LIR) Library while establishing a
new model by which a subject specialist will remain embedded within the ILIR community. The LIR Librarian
will provide support to faculty and students through a combination of face-to-face and virtual services,
including a robust Web portal that will serve as the nexus for these services. Likewise, we are collaborating
with faculty in the College of ACES and the College of Fine and Applied Arts to establish a new model for
providing service to faculty and students in the design disciplines following the planned closure of the City
Planning & Landscape Architecture (CPLA) Library. The New Service Model process is founded on our
commitment to collaborating with colleagues to identify core Library resources and services that represent the
hallmark of the 21st-century academic library, while also taking the opportunity to consolidate collections and
service points in such a way as to increase access to Library materials and make more effective use of our
financial and human resources. Through this process, we seek to explore new service models, engage faculty
and students in discussions of the future of the University Library, and establish models for Library service
that enhance user access to collections and expertise. In addition, we seek to increase our flexibility in the
allocation of budgets and human resources required both to provide core services and to pursue strategic
initiatives. Many of these strategic initiatives are also being considered as part of the New Service Model
process, including the establishment of a “Scholarly Commons” approach to meeting the needs of graduate
students and faculty, and the establishment of programs required for support of e-science and e-scholarship at
the University. With the support of our colleagues and the assistance of the Office of the Provost, we plan to
continue the New Service Model process in FY09 and make further enhancements to our service programs,
scholarly resources, and physical facilities.
The New Service Model process has brought to the surface several discrete proposals that dovetail with the
Main Library/Undergraduate Feasibility Study – a study that will result in a long-term plan for the renovation
and renewal of core Library spaces. Before significant improvements can be made to interior spaces, however,
long-deferred repairs to the exterior and infrastructure of both facilities must be undertaken. We are very
appreciative of the Provost's support in developing a financial model that will enable the University to make
many of these repairs during the next few years. Of greatest importance is sealing the building's envelope
(downspouts and gutters, windows and flashing, mortar, roof) and replacing the HVAC equipment that
services the vault in which the collections of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library are housed. The
environmental conditions in the Bookstacks are also in urgent need of remediation, both for the preservation of
our collections and for the benefit of our users. Once these projects have been completed, we may consider
interior improvements and other ideas for future uses of Library space identified both through the New Service
Model process and the Feasibility Study.
The Library reflects the vibrant intellectual curiosity and educational engagement of our faculty, students, and
researchers. In 2006-07, our Library Web site was visited 57 million times and our users downloaded over 5
million full-text articles and papers licensed from publishers. Library users retrieved an estimated 194 million
citations to articles from the Library’s collection of journal indexing databases and used our custom electronic
resource access tools to link to licensed electronic journals more than 6 million times. Items from our print
collections circulated some 700,000 times, and items available through our electronic reserves system were
accessed more than 616,000 times. In addition, the Library responded to over 225,000 requests for information
or assistance in a variety of media, including more than 13,000 requests received through digital means, and
provided direct instruction to over 20,000 faculty, staff, and students through our information literacy and
scholarly communications education programs. A 2007 study of the return on investment (ROI) to the
University from its support of Library resources demonstrated the impact that providing digital access to
content has on the scholarly work of our faculty; the data presented above demonstrate the broader impact that
University investment in Library resources, services, and facilities has on every facet of the campus mission of
teaching, research and service.
STATUS OF STRATEGIC GOALS
As part of College and campus level strategic planning, the University Library identified five strategic goals
and five strategic initiatives. Progress toward each has been significant in FY08 and is described below.
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Goal
Build Collections,
Increase Access to
Collections,
Increase
Preservation of
Collections
Offer New Services
to Meet User
Needs, Build
Collaborative
Opportunities
Representative
Metrics
Records added to
catalog
FY07
Δ
Actions Undertaken
433,973
+8.25%
Added 20,000 records
for rare book and
manuscript materials
Items added to
collection
182,233
+14.7%
Items preserved
79,694
-22.3%1
Electronic serials
available
72,614
+3%
Electronic books
available
292,002
+3.7%
Digitized items added
Reference transactions
10,259
229,293
+160%
-16.2%2
Courses using ereserves
1,284
-1%
Visits to Library Web
Site
57,257,911
+12.3%
IDEALS communities
44
+2,100%
Allocated funds to
purchase vendor
records, decrease time
from receipt to shelf
Licensed Springer ebook package
Established “Librarian
Office Hours” in the
Undergraduate Library
Developed “UIUC
Library Search”
Facebook application
Allocated additional
resources to e-reserves
program to meet
expanded demand
Implemented “Easy
Search” application on
Gateway and licensed
LibGuides application
for design of
instructional materials
Strengthen and
Diversify Research
Activity
Successful grant
applications
59%
+3.5%
Principal Investigators
29
-6.5%
Collaborated with
Cultural Houses,
Housing, and General
Studies to enhance
Library services
Awarded IMLS grant
for DLF Aquifer
development
($287,225)
Awarded NSF grant
for metasearch
technology ($463,826)
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Provide Facilities
to Meet the Needs
of Library Users
Gate count
2,636,272
+7.6%
Main
Library/Undergraduate
Library Feasibility
study begun
Established 24/5
service hours in
Undergraduate and
Engineering libraries
Recruit and Retain
Librarians and APs
Open positions filled
83%
N/A
Faculty FTE in tenure
system
91.1%
-.2%
Collaborated with
ILIR and College of
FAA to design new
service models for
LIR and CPLA
libraries
Completed 3
successful TOP
recruitments
Retained 3 faculty
recruited elsewhere
1
Decrease in items preserved is the result of the successful conclusion of three grant projects in FY07.
2
While the absolute number of reference transactions has declined (consistent with national trends), there was
a significant increase (+13%) in the use of digital reference services as part of the overall reference service
profile. Increasing use of digital reference services through e-mail, IM, chat software, and social computing
sites demonstrates that the Library is successfully adapting its traditional service programs to the needs of
users engaged with contemporary teaching and research environments.
Strategic Initiatives
IDEALS – the Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship
<http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/> continued to grow during FY08 with over 30 new communities established.
Almost 3,000 items were added during this time, with significant UIUC collections including the Allerton Park
Institute Proceedings <http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/handle/2142/420>, and University of Illinois Extension
publications <http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/handle/2142/691>. Since January 2007, over 90,000 downloads have
been completed from IDEALS. IDEALS provides a venue for experimenting with new forms of scholarly
communication – with pilot projects including the Center for Global Studies Occasional Paper series
<http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/handle/2142/807> and the Newmark Structural Laboratory Report series
<http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/handle/2142/3520> – and as a means of supporting undergraduate research
programs such as the Ethnography of the University Initiative <http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/handle/2142/755>.
Illinois Digital Library – with the establishment of our Open Content Alliance (OCA) digitization program in
FY07, the launch of the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection <http://www.library.uiuc.edu/idnc/>, and the
creation of the Illinois Harvest Web portal <http://illinoisharvest.grainger.uiuc.edu/>, our work in this area has
had incomparable impact on access to Illinois collections, and serves as the foundation for Illinois faculty and
students seeking to make use of digital content for teaching and research. Over 3,000 items are now available
through Illinois Harvest, including digital representations of 36 items from the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library unique in the world (Project Unica). An item such as Anarchy and Anarchists (1889), which had
circulated (in a later edition) only five times since 2002, has been downloaded from the OCA site 150 times
during the past year. The volumes of the Proceedings of the American Library Association (1889-1922), which
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circulated only 13 times since 2002, were downloaded 1,501 times during the year. In addition to enhancing
access to our collections, our approach to identifying materials representative of the unique strengths of the
Illinois collection, or selected specifically to support faculty teaching and research, has allowed us to build
digital library collections truly representative of teaching and research focused on the Illinois experience, and
to establish strategic partnerships with organizations such as the Field Museum.
Illinois Informatics Initiative – Paula Kaufman serves as a member of the I3 leadership team, and the Library
continues to provide support for students in this campus-wide program, and for faculty engaged in developing
informatics-related teaching and research programs. Library faculty contributed to a National Science
Foundation (NSF) DataNet grant proposal, and are participating in the development of research proposals
related to e-science, digital data curation, and land informatics. In addition, the Library initiated a data services
pilot program in Spring 2008 in collaboration with ATLAS
<http://www.library.uiuc.edu/learn/research/dataservices.html>; a model that may inform future collaborations
aimed at providing services that enhance capacity for informatics-related teaching and research.
Gaming for the Ages – core collections and service programs related to the Gaming Initiative continued in
FY08 with highlights including a “Gaming Night” that featured campus gaming researchers, local industry
leaders, and faculty speaking on the theme of “Music in Gaming.” We provided direct support to faculty use of
games through a successful pilot program to place games on reserve and to experiment with developing a
gaming lab environment in the Library in support of classroom use. Finally, we received recognition for our
pioneering approach to the collection and use of gaming materials from scholars and librarians around the
world who have made site visits and other inquiries, through national presentations, and through participation
in a successful NDIPP grant proposal focused on digital preservation of video games and virtual environments.
Center for Health Information Support – Library faculty from across campus collaborated on the design
and of a Health Information Web Portal <http://www.library.uiuc.edu/health/>. The portal demonstrates not
only the Library’s ongoing support for health and wellness initiatives and health science teaching and research
on the Urbana campus, but also the potential for Library involvement in public engagement activities related to
consumer health information and health information for under-served populations.
Diversity Goals
In addition to our strategic goals and initiatives, the University Library is committed to making progress
toward its Diversity Goals. FY08 saw the establishment of the Library’s “Diversity Goals 2012” plan, as well
as the creation of its Diversity and Multicultural Information Web site
<http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ugl/diversity/>. Originally designed to showcase multicultural outreach services
and diversity research assistance, the site was later integrated into campus programs such as Inclusive Illinois.
In late 2007, the Library collaborated with the Office of the Provost to establish metrics aimed at demonstrated
progress toward campus and unit-level diversity goals. The following baseline measures are provided as a
foundation for future discussion of Library progress toward its diversity goals.
Metric
Female Faculty (All Ranks)
Female Faculty
(Professor)
Female Faculty
(Associate Professor)
Female Faculty
(Assistant Professor)
Faculty from Underrepresented Populations
(All Ranks)
FY08
68%
68%
Δ
+2%
-2%
Peer Group
68.6%
N/A
65%
+5%
N/A
75%
+5%
N/A
12.5%
+2.7%
18%
5
Faculty from Underrepresented Populations
(Professor)
Faculty from Underrepresented Populations
(Associate Professor)
Faculty from Underrepresented Populations
(Asst. Professor)
GAs from Under-represented
Populations
Undergraduate Student
Employees from Underrepresented Populations
5.3%
+.3%
N/A
7%
0
N/A
29.2%
+13%
N/A
16.1%1
N/A
N/A
40%2
N/A
32.5%
Note: The initial peer group identified for comparison was drawn from the University Library Strategic Plan
(2006): University of California – Berkeley, University of California – Los Angeles, University of Michigan,
and University of Texas. Data has been received only from UCLA and Texas. None of the librarians at peer
institutions hold faculty rank. For comparison purposes, Library faculty rank was mapped to professional
librarian ranks at peer institutions, if comparable ranks (e.g., Librarian I, Librarian II) were recognized.
1
No peer institution reporting data has a Graduate Assistant population comparable to ours. In the future, we
will attempt to gather broader data on all graduate student employees in order to develop comparable metrics.
2
Only the University of California – Los Angeles provided data on diversity of student employees. No other
peer institution has compiled this data.
CRITICAL ISSUES NOT ADDRESSED IN THE STRATEGIC PLAN
Increasing Demands and Pressures on the Library Collections Budget
The Library annually faces three key challenges to its ability to provide the excellent collections and resources
for which it has long been known: 1) ongoing inflation in the cost of Library materials; 2) ongoing demands
for access to digital content; and 3) demands for new resources keyed to the needs of academic programs and
campus initiatives. While the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign retains its rank as the largest public
academic library collection in the United States, its current investment in collections and resources pales when
compared with peer institutions in the CIC and the Association of Research Libraries. Among CIC institutions,
our FY08 increase to the collection budget ranked below those of Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State,
Northwestern, Purdue, and Minnesota. Among the Top 10 ARL libraries, Illinois has reported the lowest
annual expenditure on Library materials in eight of the past ten years. Our inability to fully meet inflationary
demands on the collections budget, combined with the declining value of the U.S. dollar, means that our
institutional commitment to maintaining a rich and deep collection of scholarly materials from around the
world is in jeopardy. The Library has engaged in a number of initiatives to make more effective use of
collections budgets, e.g., consortial purchases of electronic resources, but these savings will not address the
array of pressures on our budget. More importantly, our chief means of avoiding collections reductions in
recent years – the cancellation of print subscriptions in favor of digital access – has run its course in the
physical and life sciences, and future years will see routine reductions in access to content without more robust
support for inflationary increases to our collections budget. A projection of the ongoing financial resources
needed to address critical collections issues is provided in Appendix 2 of this report.
Increasing Demands and Pressures on Library Human Resources
As one of the largest campus employers of undergraduate and graduate students, the Library is especially
challenged to meet increased needs in our hourly wage budgets following increases to the minimum wage or
the minimum salary expected of graduate student employees and Graduate Assistants. In FY08, the Library
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received one-time support to address the minimum wage increase, but significant reductions to undergraduate
and graduate student employment will be required without similar support in FY09. The Library has engaged
in a thorough review of its Graduate Assistant allocation process in FY08 and has successfully reduced its GA
budget for FY09 by 10%. Likewise, we have engaged in the New Service Model process which, depending on
the proposals selected for implementation, may allow us to make more effective use of student wages through
the consolidation of service points. The latter process, however, will yield only marginal flexibility in wage
budgets in FY09. The Library requires $250,000 in funding for student wages in FY09 to maintain appropriate
service levels while we continue to identify opportunities for resource reduction and/or re-allocation in support
of user services and strategic initiatives through the New Service Model process.
Building Capacity for Scholarly Communications Service and Support
The Library has established the infrastructure required to provide support for students and scholars exploring
their opportunities for publication and the use of copyrighted materials in the classroom. Several experiments
have been supported using the IDEALS repository, but it is requires expansion to meet faculty needs for open
access journal publishing and digital data archiving and curation. We have also struggled to meet increasing
demand for copyright education programs and for consultation services focused on intellectual property issues
in teaching and research. We renew our request for campus support for the recruitment of a Copyright Officer
who would help us to develop and implement Library resources and services related to intellectual property
and copyright management, and whose appointment would be shared across the three UI campuses.
Providing Support for E-Science and E-Scholarship
E-Science refers to research methods in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities that take advantage of
increases in computing power, storage capacity, and measurement techniques to ask new questions, as well as
to new information and communication technologies that link data, people, and computational services
together in virtual organizations. E-Science encompasses computationally-intensive inquiry carried out in
distributed environments, science that uses large data sets requiring grid computing, as well as inquiry in the
social sciences and humanities that requires the manipulation of quantitative data and the systematic mining of
textual data. Along with IDEALS, the Library has committed to a long-term program of digitization of text,
images, and multi-media formats that could serve as a seedbed for e-science and e-scholarship in a wide
variety of disciplines, as well as support for interdisciplinary teaching and research in areas such as
biotechnology and informatics. We require support for the design and development of a robust technical
infrastructure for e-science support, including data services programs, digital data archiving and curation.
New Service Models
In response to the charge given to the Library in its FY08 Budget Letter, we have engaged in a year-long
assessment of opportunities to develop New Service Models that are better suited to the needs of Library users
in the 21st century. This process has included extensive consultation with faculty, staff, and students, both
within the Library and across campus, and has already resulted in the closure of the Labor and Industrial
Relations Library and a plan to close the City Planning and Landscape Architecture Library. In both cases,
Library faculty are engaged with departmental faculty to identify the core Library service needs of constituent
groups and to design new physical and virtual service models designed to meet their needs. Our process of
consultation and planning promises to identify a variety of similar opportunities in the coming year, but
realizing that promise will require substantial campus support. The establishment of New Service Models
requires enhancement of physical facilities, design and establishment of digital service environments, and, in
certain areas of strategic importance, the opportunity to recruit new Library professionals to Illinois.
SALARY REQUIREMENTS
The University Library shares the high standards of the Urbana campus for hiring and retaining excellent
faculty and academic professionals. Our recent Town Hall meetings, held across campus to discuss the future
of Library services, demonstrate broad recognition among Illinois faculty and students that excellent Library
services begin with excellent Library faculty and professional staff. The Library faces a number of challenges
in building a professional staff that will allow us to meet our operational and strategic goals.
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For example, unlike disciplines in which there continues to be a surplus of qualified faculty candidates, reliable
data confirm a developing crisis in academic library human resources characterized by a growing gap between
the number of academic librarians required in the next decade and the number of librarians available.
Moreover, excellent faculty attract national attention, and the University Library regularly must direct
resources to the retention of faculty, e.g., our successful retention in FY07 of a faculty member offered a
named chair at the University of Oklahoma. In FY08, we successfully retained faculty members who had been
recruited for positions at institutions such as Cornell University and the University of Florida.
Likewise, the Library has established a growing pool of Academic Professional staff who provide us with the
skills complementary to librarianship that have enabled us to make significant progress in addressing strategic
goals in enhancing access to collections, providing technology-enhanced facilities and services, fostering
advancement opportunities, and managing and preserving Library collections. We face increased competition
for these staff, even on campus, and must enhance our salary structure for AP staff if we are to retain
functional and technical specialists responsible for key Library systems and infrastructure.
Finally, we continue to work on addressing salary issues that have built up over a number of years. Without
sufficient funds to attract and retain the very best Library faculty and academic professionals, the Library
cannot fulfill the role the University’s faculty and students expect and require of us. Like many other units on
campus, Library salaries lag well behind peer norms. In comparison with ARL member libraries, we rank
fourth in size of collections, but 23rd in beginning salaries (a drop of 7 places from last year), and 54th in
average faculty salary (a drop of 12 places from last year). Among CIC institutions, we rank 5th in average
faculty salary. Our median salary, at $56,091, ranks 71st among ARL institutions and 8th in the CIC.
Moreover, we continue to experience severe compression problems that affect the majority of our faculty.
Fully one-half of our faculty salaries are compressed between $43,000 and $56,091 – a range of only $13,000.
There is also a problem with faculty whose salaries fall into the second upper quartile. Most of them are
tenured, serve as unit heads and other middle managers, and have been here at least 8-10 years. Loyal and
highly-skilled professionals start to see that their salaries are considerably below new hires, become
discouraged, and, in many cases, seek positions elsewhere. When one of these faculty members leave, the
salary required for a new hire often well exceeds the amount that we were paying the person who left.
We require $150,000 to raise the level of faculty salaries to peer averages and to address the most severely
compressed salaries. Recognizing that this will not be possible in the current economic climate, the Library
proposes to decompress salaries over a period of three years, at a cost of $50,000 per year. For FY07, campus
equity contributions equaled approximately $41,000 and was supplemented from the Library’s operating
budget. For FY08, an additional $40,000 was provided, and again accompanied by additional funds from the
Library’s recurring budget. While grateful for the help received, the Library’s budget itself will not support
this level of expenditure in the future without additional funds.
PLANS FOR ADDRESSING COMMON COSTS
While the Library has typically been exempt from campus-wide “Unavoidables” assessments and has benefited
from the exclusion of the Collections budget from “Utilities” assessments, the challenge of addressing
common costs is still not insignificant. The impact of continued inflation on the cost of Library materials, for
example, has already been noted, as has the impact for the foreseeable future of the reduced purchasing power
of the U.S. dollar for materials published abroad. Given these factors, our strategy for covering the Library
portion of the Common Costs would be based on pursuing one or more of the following steps:
•
Freezing all open positions. We currently have as many as 6 searches for faculty or AP positions on
hold while we await resolution of FY08 budget issues and announcement of our FY09 budget. Taking
this step would yield $311,500 that could be applied to Common Costs.
•
Postponing the Library’s loan payments for the Chemistry Library renovation and Oak Street Library
Facility construction. While taking this step would yield $300,000 that could be applied to Common
8
Costs, it would only postpone the resolution of an ongoing drain on our budget that we are serious
about eliminating as soon as possible. These loans are scheduled to be paid in full in FY09, and their
payment would allow us to re-allocate up to $300,000 per year beginning in FY10 to strategic needs.
•
Canceling all plant allocations above the FY06 base budget in FY09. Taking this step would yield
$150,000 that could be applied to Common Costs.
INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES
By its very nature, the Library contributes to interdisciplinary teaching and research efforts across campus.
Among the projects already noted relevant to this issue are the establishment of the Health Information Web
Portal and the progress made on the Illinois Digital Library and IDEALS initiatives. Each of the strategic
initiatives is relevant to multiple disciplines, and digital library initiatives and scholarly communications
initiatives are relevant both to individual disciplines, as well as to interdisciplinary programs.
The greatest challenges and opportunities for enhancing interdisciplinary activities within the Library,
however, have been closely tied to the New Service Models process. The movement toward increasingly
interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to teaching, research, and scholarly publishing were among
the key arguments in favor of identifying new models of Library service in which Library programs are no
longer tied to discrete disciplines. Several of the proposals currently under consideration point toward the
establishment of multi-disciplinary “hubs” for face-to-face service, as well as to increased emphasis on digital
environments in which Library resources and services currently housed in one or more departmental libraries
may be promoted more effectively to scholars and students pursuing interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary
research. Our commitment to incorporating the best of the service programs and traditions found in our
departmental libraries into a network of physical and virtual service points that transcend that model can be
found not only in our work related to the LIR and CPLA libraries in FY08, but also in recent discussions of
how best to offer Library resources and services to virtual organizations (I3), interdisciplinary academic
programs (Professional Science Masters), and audiences beyond the confines of the campus (Cooperative
Extension). While we have been able to pursue these ideas to some extent within existing resources, and to
commit resources to the ongoing collection of Library resources that support interdisciplinary inquiry, our
ability to fully engage the New Service Model process, to acquire resources, and to recruit and retain Library
professionals suited to close collaboration with interdisciplinary teaching and research programs across
campus, will require additional (and, in some cases, ongoing) support.
REQUESTS FOR NON-RECURRING FUNDING
Digital Backfiles
There are increasing demands for digital access to scholarly “backfiles” in a variety of fields. We have the
opportunity to acquire a significant collection of content from Elsevier, which would provide direct support to
areas of strategic importance to the campus, including Computer Sciences, Energy, Life Sciences, and Health
Sciences. Current funding levels do not provide the Library with the flexibility to allocate an appropriate
budget to the one-time costs associated with comprehensive backfile purchases. User feedback suggests that
strategic investment in digital content has a significant impact on teaching and research across campus and
facilitates discovery of content that supports interdisciplinary inquiry in a way impossible in the print
environment. We request $250,000 over each of the next two years to acquire Elsevier backfiles ($500,000
total).
New Service Models – Ongoing
As noted above, the Library has identified a small number of New Service Model projects on which to begin
work in FY09. These include the creation of a Retrospective Reference Collection and user service space in the
first addition of the Main Bookstacks, the integration of CPLA Library collections and services into the Funk
ACES Library, and the establishment of a Scholarly Commons service program in 200 Library. Each of these
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projects requires investment of resources for facilities enhancements, technology, collection management, and
human resources. We request $200,000 to support the above projects.
New Service Models – Proposed
As we prepare this report, there are a number of New Service Model proposals under consideration that, if
pursued over the next 1-3 years, will result in enhanced services to Library users and greater opportunities for
flexibility in the allocation of Library budget to strategic initiatives, including support for scholarly
communications services and services in support of campus initiatives in e-science and e-scholarship. Each
project selected for implementation will require, as above, investment in facilities enhancements, technology,
collections, and human resources. We request $150,000 over each of the next three years to provide a resource
pool to support the successful transition to New Service Models that will enhance services to Library users and
promote better stewardship of Library collections ($450,000 total).
Large-Scale Digitization
The Library appreciates the support of the Office of the Provost for the CIC-Google digitization project and the
CIC Shared Digital Repository, but there are a number of like projects that do not fall under the umbrella of
CIC-Google, including much of the valuable work we have conducted in collaboration with faculty to identify
digitization projects that provide direct support to specific teaching and learning programs. We request
$250,000 to support ongoing digitization efforts outside the framework of the CIC-Google project in FY09,
including ongoing work with the Open Content Alliance.
Enterprise and Public Computing
As part of its Learning Commons and Scholarly Commons initiatives, the Library committed to the provision
of a technology-enhanced environment designed to support teaching, learning, and scholarship in the digital
age. The Scholarly Commons, in particular, is envisioned as a site providing service and support related to escience and e-scholarship programs, including data services, text mining, and GIS. Current funding levels do
not provide the Library with the resources needed to establish, maintain, and renew the suite of hardware and
software applications necessary to fully meet its strategic goals in support of innovative services to students
and scholars. We request $200,000 over each of the next three years to enhance enterprise and public
computing capacity in the Library ($600,000 total).
Gaming Initiative
The Gaming Initiative addresses the teaching, research, and service needs of students and scholars engaged in
the interdisciplinary study of gaming, and serves as a basis for research into best practices for collecting,
preserving, and providing interactive user services for this new area of inquiry. We request $100,000 over each
of the next three years to support the recruitment of a Visiting Gaming Librarian, the acquisition of core
collection materials, and the provision of appropriate staff and technology support ($300,000 total).
Next-Generation Resource Discovery Systems
The Library’s information access and management systems are obsolete, and we lag behind our peers in
supporting the research and learning needs of 21st-century library users, who demand convenient and powerful
search tools that integrate multiple information resources including the Web and Library resources. Further,
the Library is stretched to its limit to support commitments to sustainable access to significant research
content, including faculty research, data sets, and digital collections. We are currently piloting the OCLC
WorldCat Local system; it is our intention to identify and implement a new system to provide integrated access
to a variety of information resources, including the catalog, local and remote digital collections, and article
databases. This next-generation system, which many of our peers have installed, will feature advanced retrieval
capabilities and social networking functions, and may be implemented in conjunction with other UI campuses
or with the statewide CARLI network. The Library would use remaining funds to develop the functional
specifications for robust digital content management system(s) and pilot them in collaboration with other
programs such as I3, NCSA, and IACAT. We request $750,000 to acquire and implement a resource discovery
and a content management system appropriate to the needs of today’s library users.
10
Appendix 1: New Faculty Biographies
Kirstin Dougan came to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on August 20, 2007, as Music User
Services Coordinator (Music Library), and Assistant Professor of Library Administration. She earned her M.A.
in Library Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, her Masters of Music in Viola Performance
from Ball State University, and her Bachelors of Music in Viola Performance from Lawrence University (WI).
Prior to joining the Library faculty she served as Interim Head (2005-07) and Public Services Librarian (200407) at Duke University's Music Library, and as Digital Projects Librarian (2001-03) at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Jenny Emanuel came to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on February 1, 2008, as Digital
Resources and Reference Services Librarian (Central Reference Services), and Assistant Professor of Library
Administration. She received her M.S. in Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, and her B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the Library faculty,
Jenny served as Electronic Services Librarian and Assistant Professor at Central Missouri State University
(2004-07).
Camilla Fulton joined the University Library faculty on August 6, 2007, as Assistant Digitization and Web
Content Librarian, and Assistant Professor of Library Administration. She received her M.S. in Library &
Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her B.A. in Architecture and
Cultural Anthropology from Washington University. Prior to joining the faculty, Camilla served as a Graduate
Assistant in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the Government Documents Library.
James Hahn joined the University Library faculty on July 16, 2007, as Orientation Services Librarian
(Undergraduate Library), and Assistant Professor of Library Administration. He earned his A.B. in History and
his M.S. in Library & Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to
joining the faculty, Jim served as a Graduate Assistant in the Undergraduate Library.
Myung-Ja (M.J.) Han will join the University Library faculty on March 16, 2008 (pending approval), as
Metadata Librarian, and Assistant Professor of Library Administration. She received her M.S. in Library &
Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her B.A. in Korean Literature
and Linguistics from Sook-Myung Women's University in Seoul, Korea. She has served as Visiting Metadata
Librarian for the Illinois Harvest Project and Visiting Assistant Professor of Library Administration since
September 1, 2006. Prior to coming to Illinois, M.J. worked in Public Relations and Planning Department of
Samsung Electronics Co. in Seoul, and at the Korean Central News Paper (Joong-Ang Ilbo) in New York City.
Mark A. Puente came to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on October 16, 2007, as Coordinator
of Music Digital Projects and Special/Gift Collections (Music Library), and Assistant Professor of Library
Administration. Mark earned his M.A. in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of
Arizona, his M.A. in Vocal Performance from Stephen F. Austin State University (TX), and his B.A. in Music
from St. Mary’s University (TX). Prior to joining the Library faculty, he served as Research Assistant
Professor in the Academic Library Residency Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2005-07).
Robert Slater came to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in January 2, 2008, as Web
Technologies and Content Coordinator, and Assistant Professor of Library Administration. Robert earned his
M.S. in Library & Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his B.A. in
English from Bradley University. Prior to joining the Library faculty, he served as Digital Information
Services Librarian and Assistant Professor at Oakland University (MI) (2002-07).
11
Item Base Funding Needs Appendix 2: Collection Funding Needs, FY09‐FY13 (adjusted for inflation)
Description FY09
FY10
FY11
Periodical Inflation (100%) ‐ Based upon five‐year rolling averages, the $468,950 $499,909
$532,913
inflation of serial literature in all disciplines is 6.6% annually based off of our average calculated for FY08. FY12
FY13
Total $568,095
$605,600
$2,675,467 Dollar Devaluation (100%) ‐ Based upon a five‐year rolling average of devaluation of the dollar against the Euro and British Pound. Approval Plan ‐ Deficit‐funded by $250,000 prior to FY08, the Library seeks to add a portion of new resources annually to make up the rather substantial funding gap. A sum of $50,000 was added to the base funding in FY08. $18,416 $19,183
$19,982
$20,814
$21,682
$100,077 $50,000 $50,000
$50,000
$50,000
$0
$200,000 Collection Reserve ‐ The collections reserve equals only 1% of the total budget. At minimum, this should equal 2.0%, requiring an increase of $67,500 in FY09 and proportional increases from that point on. I believe this can be slowly built up at $30,000 annually. $30,000 $30,000
$30,000
$30,000
$30,000
$150,000 E‐Resources Base (er14) ‐ A general electronic resources fund that supports access fees, etc.... Increases are calculated at 5% on the base. $75,000 $75,500
$76,000
$76,500
$77,000
$380,000 $642,366 $708,895
$745,409
$734,282
$3,505,544 $50,000 $674,592
$50,000
$50,000
$50,000
$50,000
$250,000 $5,000
$2,500
$0
$0
$0
$7,500 $0
$7,500
$7,500
$5,000
$5,000
$25,000 $10,000 $10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$50,000 $20,000 $20,000
$20,000
$20,000
$20,000
$100,000 $85,000 $90,000
$0
$0
$15,000
$87,500
$85,000
$85,000
$432,500 $0
$0
$15,000
$0
$0
$15,000
$0
$0
$15,000
$7,500 $10,000 $60,000 $15,000
$15,000
$15,000
$77,500 $1,622,790
$1,690,818
$1,668,564
$8,031,088 Base Funding Subtotal Strategic Health Information ‐ The Library's Strategic Plan identifies a $250,000 deficit Investments in health information funding. As the University is currently trying to serve both translational research and applied health needs, allocations should be split 60/40 between Basic Life Sciences and the Health Information fund. Gaming for the Ages ‐ The Strategic Plan identifies the development of gaming collections as a high priority. New resources totaling $7,500 are required in this area. Enhancing Access ‐ The Library's Strategic Plan identifies enhancing access to be a high priority. With a decline in personnel supporting access, the need for resources to purchase commercially available records grows. $25,000 allocated in FY08. Digitization ‐ Identified as a priority of the UL, this funding can be built over several years. CIC Cooperative Purchase Pool ‐ In order to maximize the CIC's growing desire to leverage purchasing power, funds must be allocated to prepare for what will be a series of annual requests. This is a developing CIC initiative that we must allocate resources toward if we wish to participate. Strategic Investments Subtotal New Service ICPSR Models CLPA Library (NSM) Subsequent years NSM Subtotal Annual Totals $7,500
$10,000 $0
$17,500 $1,489,732 $15,000
$1,559,184