University Libraries
University of Georgia
Annual Report
March 31, 2009
Highlighted Achievements
Journal Cancellation Project – Due to the budget reduction and several years of unmet
inflationary increases in journal prices, the Libraries were compelled to
significantly reduce expenditures for journal subscriptions. A list of 1,600
journals to be considered for cancellation was made available on a web site and
comments were invited from faculty, students, and staff. Based on these
comments, a prioritized list was developed. In the end, expenditures for journals
and other serials were reduced from $8.2M to $7M, a reduction of about 14%.
One-time funding from the University Administration and other sources along
with some consolidation of purchases resulted in the loss of titles being restricted
to just under 600 titles, around 7% of the total number of journal subscriptions.
While many of these titles are important to research efforts, the situation could
have been worse.
The system we used to gather reactions to these journal cancellations allowed
broad participation from the University community. This participation, along
with the support of the administration and the hard work of our librarians, allowed
us to contain the damage to a greater degree than first thought possible. Looking
to the coming year, however, we expect that inflation will continue and that the
budget will be reduced further. Therefore, it is quite probable that we will
undertake further journal cancellations, in which case the experience of this past
year will be very valuable. It should be noted that the system we developed for
this cancellation project has become the model for other libraries, notably Georgia
State and Georgia Tech.
Miller Learning Center – This year, the Student Learning Center was renamed the Zell B.
Miller Learning Center, in honor of the former Governor and Senator who was
instrumental in securing funding for this building.
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Use of this building continues to increase with over 2,250,000 recorded
entries into the library portion of the building during 2008.
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A complete replacement of the student computers in the building along
with a new lab focusing on digital media, further enhanced the building
this past year.
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The expansion of the Tate Center with a bridge to the Miller Learning
Center and a new quad between the two buildings promises an even
greater future for both buildings and for the undergraduate experience at
UGA.
Civil Rights Digital Library – Based at UGA and funded by a $750,000 federal grant
from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) this project promotes
an enhanced understanding of the civil rights movement by helping users discover
primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives,
museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale.
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The CRDL features a collection of unedited news film from the WSB
(Atlanta) and WALB (Albany, Ga.) television archives held by the Walter
J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the UGA
Libraries.
The CRDL provides educator resources and contextual materials,
including Freedom on Film, relating instructive stories and discussion
questions from the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia, and the New
Georgia Encyclopedia.
This project was the basis of a documentary by Andrew Young.
The CRDL also won an award from the Georgia Historical Records
Advisory Board.
This project received considerable media attention.
The wed site for the CRDL is http://crdl.usg.edu
Special Collections Libraries Building – The Regents and the Governor requested, and
the Legislature approved, design funds for this new building.
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Planning was already well advanced and this funding has allowed us to
finalize the design.
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The total cost of the 115,000 square foot project will be around $45M,
with one-third coming from private funds and the remainder from the
state.
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To date, over $13M has been raised privately toward construction of the
building with strong prospects for the remaining $2M.
o In 2008, over $2.5M was raised.
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In addition to construction and equipment, $7.5M has been raised for
endowments that will support the building, all contingent upon actual
construction.
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The Governor has requested construction funding for this building in
FY2010. It is expected that funding will be provided and construction will
start in the fall of 2009.
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Study – The Russell Library had an
exceptional year in providing programs and outreach to the community.
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Received $18,000 to support programming
Contracted with the Kettering Foundation to establish a major program, Russell
Forum for Civic Life in Georgia. Focused on civic engagement, the Forum will
allow the Russell Library to find new partners on campus and reach out to
statewide constituencies.
Signed a collaborative agreement with Kettering to serve as the coordinating
organization in Georgia for a nationwide deliberative forum series in Fall 2008.
The Russell Library partnered with the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, the
National Issues Forums, other UGA departments, the Center for Public
Deliberation at Albany State University, Georgia Future Problem Solving
Program, and Tifton GA community leaders to host 10 forums in 4 cities.
Joined with UGA faculty to develop a major exhibit and 6 programs for Fall
2008 relating to the 75th anniversary of the Highlander Center in Tennessee.
Russell received a grant from Georgia Humanities Council and obtained
additional funding from the UGA Alumni Association, the Willson Center and
other departments at UGA.
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Expanded its oral history program. The Russell Library houses over 500 oral
histories in its collections. In the last two years, the Russell Library moved to an
active oral history program, in which it produces its own interviews on video.
Collaborating with Young Harris College and political adviser Bob Short, the
Russell extended this program by taping over fifty interviews with current and
former state leaders and public servants. Some of these interviews may be
viewed via podcasts on their web site.
Strategic Plan Changes
There have been no changes to the Strategic Plan or to the Five-Year Program Plan.
The current Strategic Plan can be found on the Libraries Web Site at:
http://www.libs.uga.edu/staff/strategic.html
The Five-Year Program Plan is available at
http://dataserv.libs.uga.edu/assessment/fiveyearplan.html
Progress in Program Priorities
Progress under each of the four goals in the Five-Year Program Plan are listed below:
Goal 1: The Evolving Collection: Blending Access, Ownership, and Preservation
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The overriding objective here is to provide the best possible collection of print,
electronic and other resources to meet the needs of our faculty and students.
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Progress in this goal has been hampered by tight budgets and the rapidly
increasing prices of journals. We are able to provide less access every year, as
evidenced by the journal cancellation project described above.
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However, use of the resources we do provide continue to grow.
Goal 2: The Teaching Library: Building Partnerships
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Collaborative efforts with faculty and students continue to mature.
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The Undergraduate Research Awards, sponsored by the Libraries and CURO,
attract a larger number of students each year.
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Instructional sessions in the use of library resources continue to grow in number
and in scope.
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We are working with faculty learning communities and the study abroad program.
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The highly successful Civil Rights Digital Library was a collaborative effort with
faculty and graduate students.
Goal 3: The Strengthened Heart of the University: Library Buildings
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The greatest progress in this area has been with the Special Collections Libraries
building. Funds to complete the design of this building were approved by the
state and the Governor has proposed construction funding for FY2010.
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Funds have been requested to remodel the core floors of the Main and Science
Libraries.
Goal 4: The Empowered Staff: Investing in the Staff and Faculty of the Libraries
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Training, travel, and compensation have all suffered during the past year because
of the budget cuts.
We have focused on using the bank of knowledge that exists within our faculty
and staff to teach and train others as well as relying increasingly upon webinars
and webcasts to compensate for the inability to travel.
Our staff recognition program continues to provide well deserved highlights of
staff accomplishments.
Many staff take advantage of the tuition assistance program.
Retirements are offering opportunities for growth for junior faculty.
Our salaries continue to rank near the bottom of the 113 members of the
Association of Research Libraries.
Assessing Effectiveness
Seven Year Program Review
The report of the review committee continues to be a source of guidance as we
consider how best to support our core services.
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Specifically, this review led us to evaluate and change the way in which
databases are presented on the Libraries' web site, making these resources
easier to find and use.
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The report also stressed the need for increased funding for library materials
and for salaries, but that is not possible in the current environment.
LibQUAL
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The Libraries participate in LibQUAL every third year and 2008 was an inactive
year.
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The results from the 2006 survey, that attempts to measure service and collection
quality in a broad context, continues to be used. Specifically, LibQUAL results
led us to evaluate space utilization and the presentation of electronic resources.
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We will participate in another round of LibQUAL within the next year.
Other surveys
In addition to LibQUAL, the Libraries conduct other surveys and assessments.
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These studies can be accessed at the Libraries' Assessment Steering
Committee's web site at www.libs.uga.edu/assessment.
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A major survey of students and faculty regarding their use of the Main Library
was conducted and proved valuable.
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The most important changes this year resulted from the comments and
suggestions we received from faculty and students during the journal
cancellation project. The survey used in this project provided information on
the relative importance of many journals that proved very useful.
Use Data
Libraries have always tracked use of their resources. The more traditional
measures are circulation and gate counts. In both these categories, use is fairly
steady.
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Circulation of library materials was roughly what it was two years ago at
around 500,000.
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Exit counts are up slightly for the Main and Science Libraries at around
970,000.
Use of the Miller Learning Center is much greater, around 2.2M, and this
number appears to be leveling off after many years of growth.
Another traditional measure is interlibrary loan.
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We continue to be a net lender of material, providing about 56,000 items to
other libraries while our students and faculty request about 10,000.
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This high ratio of lending to borrowing suggests that our collections can
satisfy most needs.
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Also, with interlibrary loan, we manage to satisfy loan requests in 1.6 days on
average. This measure has shown continual improvement over the years.
More recent measures of use involve electronic journals and other online
resources.
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The systems that provide these resources can track their use. In 2008, we
provided 2,150,000 full text journal articles to UGA faculty and students. This
is an increase over previous year.
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While increases appear to be leveling off, use of journals has increased as
more and more of them become available online.
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Data on journal use proved extremely useful during the journal cancellation
project and will continue to be useful if further reductions are required.
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