1
--- DRAFT 2 --For Discussion:
A Virtual Library for Library & Information Science
Sue Searing
September 4, 2008
Proposal
One of the most useful concepts to emerge from current discussions of the future of academic
libraries is the notion that libraries must be positioned “in the flow” of their users’ information
seeking and use. Building on that concept, I envision closing the current LIS Library and
replacing it with a robust and user-responsive virtual library. The Virtual LIS Library will bring
together digital content, enhanced online discovery tools for non-digital content, and increased
face-to-face and virtual presence for subject specialist library faculty and staff in the spaces
where the users work and study. Print resources will continue to be collected and preserved,
reflecting the hybrid nature of scholarly communication in LIS, but will no longer be aggregated
in one location.
Background
Several factors converge to make the LIS Library a prime candidate for a new service model.
First, the on-site use of the LIS Library in 306 Main Library has declined significantly over the
past decade. We must question the cost-effectiveness of a physical departmental library in
these times of constrained resources. The Library administration cited usage statistics to justify
deep cuts in the LIS Library’s staff in FY09. The LIS Library lost its quarter-time graduate
assistant, a half-time Library Technical Specialist, and 20% of its student hourly wages.
Although we received a slight boost from set-aside New Service Models funds to maintain our
usual hours this fall, our spring semester hours will be significantly shorter. So short, in fact,
that we cannot in good conscience retain a hard copy course reserve collection, since access to
it on evenings and weekends will be severely limited. We are making plans now to migrate our
reserves service to another library. Although the Library administration has stated that recent
staff cuts were driven solely by usage data and fiscal needs, and not by any preconceived ideas
about a new service model for LIS, the fact remains that we are being forced to re-organize
some services in short order as a result of staff shortages.
Second, the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of LIS, as evidenced by recent faculty hires and
PhD dissertation subjects at GSLIS, makes it less and less feasible to represent the breadth and
depth of the field in a single departmental library. While the LIS Library holds a core of
materials in traditional aspects of library science that are not duplicated elsewhere on campus,
its holdings in specialized fields such as book history, web interface design, and social
2
implications of information systems--to name just three salient interdisciplinary foci of the
GSLIS curriculum and research agenda--are necessarily complemented by the holdings of
numerous other departmental libraries.
Third, the transition from a mostly-print to a mostly-digital information environment is well
underway in LIS. Informal self-reports of information-seeking habits reveal that most LIS
Library users access our services and collections predominantly through online channels. The
journal and report literature in the field has almost totally migrated to web-based
dissemination, and, in order to serve the LEEP community well, the LIS Library has been
aggressive in acquiring online access whenever possible. Reference books and monographs are
migrating more slowly, but we are building sizeable digital collections of these publication types
too through purchase, licensing, and local digitization efforts. We deliver services like course
reserves, reference, and information literacy instruction both face-to-face and via the web.
Fourth, the LIS Library has already taken some small steps to break out of the traditional mold.
On the service front, I instituted regular office hours at GSLIS more than two years ago. Office
hours have proved quite successful as a way to deliver reference and instructional services to
faculty and students – so successful that Dean Unsworth moved me from a room shared with
emeritus faculty, adjunct faculty and visiting scholars, to an office of my own in a high-traffic
area. GSLIS has clearly demonstrated its support for an “embedded” librarian. On the
collections front, in collaboration with Nancy O’Brien, I am permanently transferring all books
and serials related to children’s and young adult literature, along with the funds to support
ongoing acquisitions in this sub-field, from the LIS Library to the Education & Social Science
Library. This consolidation benefits students and researchers in several departments.
(Materials related to youth services in libraries continue to be the responsibility of the LIS
Library.)
As part of the New Service Models initiative, two proposals have been advanced for combining
the LIS Library with other departmental libraries. The interim report recommended a
consolidation with the Education and Social Science Library, while the final report
recommended a merger with the Communications Library to create a “Media & Information
Studies Library.” Either proposal would necessitate downsizing the existing LIS Library
collection, as well as the collection of the receiving library, in order to fit into their pre-existing
space. Additional staff and readers would create more stress on already crowded facilities. In
my opinion, consolidation without space expansion will only degrade services for all
constituencies of the affected libraries.
The time has come to ask whether a focused print collection, either independent or integrated
with other disciplines, is really the best approach to serving LIS students and researchers.
There are risks in abandoning the old model and embracing a new one, but having considered
the alternatives proposed, I believe that a bold and progressive approach to change is better
than a slow absorption and decline.
3
Potential positive outcomes








A content-rich and feature-rich portal to LIS information, accessible from anywhere, that
exceeds the offerings of the current LIS Library website. Models for such a portal
include the “virtual library” websites for gender studies, biotechnology, labor and
employee relations, and global studies.
Greater ability for users to customize their view of LIS information through RSS feeds
and other technologies.
Improved access to relevant LIS content by information seekers outside the Library and
GSLIS.
More opportunities for members of the GSLIS community to have direct contact with
the specialist librarian and library staff in their own surroundings (LIS Building).
Better service to online learners, especially in the LEEP program.
Ability of the University Library to reassign rooms 306-312 Main Library.
Increased flexibility in staff allocations within the University Library.
A test bed for piloting new forms of information access that might later be expanded to
the entire University Library.
Potential negative outcomes








Loss of intermediaries who can quickly resolve library users’ problems with, for example,
course reserves or overdues. (GSLIS faculty, in particular, have expressed this fear.)
Diminished support for research and evidence-based professional practice within the
University Library. (Library faculty, in particular, have expressed this fear.)
Gradual reduction in the quality of the print collection, and in funding for it, if it is no
longer developed and maintained as a unique library. (Both Library and GSLIS faculty
have expressed this fear.)
Loss of individual and group study space in which GSLIS students feel particularly
welcomed.
Loss of a “home base” for some LEEP students during their on-campus sessions.
Loss of familiarity with print resources on the part of the librarian and staff members;
such knowledge comes naturally from examining new books and journals as they arrive
in the departmental library.
Inability to respond quickly to reference queries most easily answered by recourse to
print sources.
Loss of the physical library’s iconic value to the University. The existence of a worldclass special collection legitimates the field and reflects UI’s proud tradition of LIS
scholarship.
4
Baseline requirements to maintain a virtual LIS Library






Full-time subject specialist librarian.
Full-time staff member with knowledge of the discipline and the user community.
Graduate assistant or graduate hourly with advanced web and database skills, OR
dedicated support from Library and/or GSLIS IT staff.
Increase to current collection development budget (permanently recurring funds) to
enable more online acquisitions and content licensing.
Continued commitment to a research-level collection in LIS in all formats and media.
Physical space for personnel, suitable for consultation with LIS information seekers, in
the places where those users cluster (i.e., GSLIS and the Main Library).
Special considerations
Inevitably hurdles will arise during the transition from a traditional to a virtual library. Among
those I can foresee now are:
 While a portion of the current collection will find natural homes in other departmental
libraries, the core of materials on library science will likely be housed in the Main Library
stacks. At present, the location of the 020-028 call numbers on Desk 2 East is
inhospitable (low ceilings, poor lighting, inadequate reader spaces). These call numbers
must be shifted to a better area of the stacks before current LIS materials are placed
there. Under the current shifting schedule, I have been told, it will be several years
before this is accomplished.
 Non-circulating reference books currently housed in the LIS Library must find homes in
other reference collections.
 The Cataloging Table brings together print tools and reference works that must be
consulted in advanced cataloging assignments. This “lab” environment must be
preserved, perhaps at GSLIS rather than the library.
 To provide service to Library faculty and staff, Sandy Wolf and I will need to maintain an
office in the Main Library. This space should also accommodate the storage and
processing of gift collections.
 The LIS Library Virtual New Books Shelf is a unique service that our users value highly
and prefer to the customized new book lists generated via Voyager. The workflow to
maintain the Virtual New Books Shelf is dependent on the receipt of new books for our
physical collection. If this much-loved service is to continue, a different workflow must
be set up.
 We have an implied consortial responsibility as a provider of LIS materials within Illinois.
While licensing agreements for electronic journals increasingly allow for resource
sharing, such sharing of e-books is not generally feasible at present, nor are the longterm preservation issues for commercial or open access e-books being addressed as
vigorously as for e-journals. In the short term it is desirable to duplicate print and
online book content when possible and affordable.