University of Mississippi Libraries
Julia M. Rholes, Dean
2003-2004
Library Mission
The Mission of the University of Mississippi Libraries is to support the
scholarship, teaching and research programs of the University by employing
contemporary knowledge management techniques to develop collections,
provide access to information sources regardless of location, and instruct
individuals in contemporary bibliographic methodologies. The Libraries direct
their services and programs primarily to students, faculty and staff of the
academy and secondarily to citizens of the State and other educational
institutions.
This has been a challenging year for the University of Mississippi Libraries, which
are dealing with many of the same challenges facing other academic research
libraries, including spiraling journal prices, crowded facilities, and a need for new
tools to aid in accessing collections. We also saw retirements of experienced
faculty, and a need for retooling and training for not only new staff, but also for
most existing staff. Finally, with the demand for more full-text electronic
resources and increasing emphasis on digitization of unique collections, there is
also pressure to upgrade existing technology to keep pace with the needs of both
users and staff.
Collections/Resources –
Most users continue to demand and show a preference for full-text electronic
resources. Users are no longer content with simple abstracting and indexing
databases. More publishers are responding to this demand by offering more
content electronically, sometimes as an add on to print subscriptions but
increasingly as a separately priced subscription. Libraries have been wary of
questionable archiving capabilities for electronic resources and have been
reluctant to cancel their print titles. However, as the inflation for serials continues
to significantly outpace the budgets for collections, libraries are increasingly
forced to choose between print and electronic versions of journals. Libraries are
also forced, as we were this past year, to cancel titles outright. Our goal this past
year was to cut 10% of our total serial’s budget, given that this is what our serial
vendor, Harrassowitz, had predicted as an overall percent increase. As this was
the first major serial cut in quite a while, faculty reaction was not as negative as it
might have been. Some departments, in fact, used the serials review as an
opportunity to add desired full-text resources. Some departments cut more than
10% to accomplish this and, thus, the Libraries were able to add such important
electronic resources as the American Chemical Society Journal Archives,
Science Online, Beilstein Crossfire, CQ Researcher and the Hispanic American
Periodical Index. The Libraries also added an important new electronic
database, called TDNet, which provides an A-Z journal list for all print and
electronic journals held by the Library. In addition to providing access to all the
individual subscriptions, this service also continually tracks all full-text journals
available only through what are called journal aggregator databases such as
Lexis/Nexis and Ebsco. This allows easier access to these often hidden titles,
which number in the hundreds.
We also took possession of a number of large political archives collections from
the Law School, which are now housed in the basement of the Law School and in
Farley Hall. Our intent is to begin organizing these collections, starting with the
James Eastland Collection. We also hope to improve the environmental
conditions as there has been some deterioration in the condition of the
collections. We anticipate that the most heavily used items in these collections
will eventually be housed in Bryant Hall with the less heavily used collections in
Williams or the old Physical Plant. We have reassigned a staff member from
Archives and Special Collections on a temporary basis to this project, but will
need to advertise for an experienced political archivist in the coming year.
Facilities/Equipment
The Library was fortunate to receive funding from a variety of sources, such as
the TACIT program, lapsed salary monies, and the Provost’s office which have
allowed us to expand our useable shelving space in the Williams and Science
Libraries, add new public and staff computers as well as new furniture and
workstations for some public areas in Williams. We’ve also been able to add
new signage in Williams. We have made preparations for a new coffee area.
Due to the need to remove stored library collections from Farley and Bishop
Halls, we have unfortunately used up much of the space gained from the new
compact shelving. Additional storage space has been identified in the Old
Physical Plant building which will hopefully be vacated over the fall. Upon the
completion of renovation of Bryant Hall in a couple of years, we will be able to
more the Archives and Special Collections unit out of the Williams Library, thus
freeing up much needed space for collections and public use. Another more
immediate improvement for the facilities is the addition of wireless networking in
most of the public study space in Williams. This wonderful addition, also
provided by the Provost’s office, will give users and staff much more access and
flexibility.
Staffing
This year saw the retirement of two of the most experienced department heads,
JoAnn Stefani and Thomas Verich. In the case of JoAnn Stefani, I asked Gail
Herrera to assume responsibility for the technical service departments which had
reported to Ms. Stefani while retaining most of her previous duties for our
integrated library system. Ms. Herrera used this new assignment as interim
assistant dean as an opportunity to review workflow and job assignments. She
was also able to add more workflow efficiencies through the application of
technology. Jennifer Ford was appointed the interim head of Archives and
Special Collections following Verich’s retirement. Although there have been
fewer organization changes in this unit, there has been an increasing emphasis
on outreach through programs, exhibits and new websites, most notably the
major exhibit on mystery writers from Mississippi.
Other transitions this year included:
Elizabeth Stephan, Assistant Professor and Business Resource Librarian, hired
12/03
Dan Subramanian, Assistant Professor and Chemistry Librarian, hired 02/04
Christina Torbert, Assistant professor and Head of Serials, hired 07/04
Jennifer Ford was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
Feby Joy, Network Administrator, hired 09/03
Alana Pruitt, Library Assistant, Government Information/Media/Microforms, hired
09/03
Piper Martin, Temporary Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian, resigned
06/03
Meredith Futral, Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian, resigned 06/03
There was also a major reorganization of several of the public service units. The
Reference Department moved their main service point near the main entrance to
better serve users. The Media/Microforms Department and service desk merged
with the Government Information/Maps unit. Laura Harper is responsible for this
new unit, and reports directly to the dean. We are still analyzing use of services
to insure that we are offering the services that users need, and that we are using
the appropriate level of staffing at different times. We have added a new service,
virtual reference chat which will allow users to chat online in real time with a
librarian. This new service, which was funded with a grant from the Ole Miss
Parents Association, offers more hours than our current reference desk is open.
It also allows users to chat from their homes, rather than needing to come to the
Libraries. We are working with a consortium of libraries in the Southeast to offer
this service.
As new services and collection are added, we are seeing a continuing need for
staff training in technical areas and in general management. Wherever possible,
we are looking for cost effective options, such as local HR workshops, online
courses and workshops offered on nearby campuses.
Publications
Burich, Nancy J. and Julia Rholes. 2003. Developing Partnerships to Create
Electronic Reserves at the University of Kansas Libraries. Journal of Access
Services 1(4):59-70.
Choinski, Elizabeth, Amy E. Mark and Missy Murphey. 2003. Assessment with
rubrics: an efficient and objective means of assessing student outcomes in an
information resources class. Portal: Libraries and the Academy 3(4):563-575.
Cloy, John D. Muscular Mirth: Barry Pain and the New Humor. Victoria, B. C.:
English Literary Studies, University of Victoria, 2003.
Emanuel, Michelle. 2003. “A Collection Evaluation in 150 Hours.” Collection
Management Volume 27, Numbers 3/4:79-93.
Ford, Jennifer. 2003. “A Bibliography of Dissertations Relating to Mississippi 2002.” The Journal of Mississippi History LXV, No. 1:87-90.
Ford, Jennifer. 2003. “Recent Manuscript Accessions at Mississippi College and
University Libraries.” The Journal of Mississippi History LXV, No. 1:91-98.
Ford, Jennifer. 2003. “Publications Relating to Mississippi.” The Journal of
Mississippi History LXV, No. 2:169-171.
Ford, Jennifer. 2003. “Publications Relating to Mississippi.” The Journal of
Mississippi History LXV, No. 4:375-378.
Ford, Jennifer. 2004. “Recent Manuscript Accessions at Mississippi College and
University Libraries.” The Journal of Mississippi History LXVI, No. 1.
Ford, Jennifer. 2004. “A Bibliography of Dissertations Relating to Mississippi 2003.” The Journal of Mississippi History LXVI, No. 1.
Ford, Jennifer. 2004. “Publications Relating to Mississippi.” The Journal of
Mississippi History LXVI, No. 2.
Herrera, Gail. 2003. "Interlibrary Loan User Behaviors in an Academic Library" in
The Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Information Supply. Vol.
14, Number 2.
Mark, Amy E. 2004. “Internet Resources: Assessing Student Learning.” College
and Research Library News 65.5:254-256.
Mark, Amy E and Polly D. Boruff-Jones. 2003. “Information Literacy and
Student Engagement: What the National Survey of Student Engagement Reveals
about Your Campus.” College and Research Libraries 64.6:480-493.
Mark, Amy E. 2003. “Review: Political Communication Ethics: An Oxymoron?”
Journal of Government Information 29:45-47.
Selected Presentations
Aronson, Jennifer and Jennifer Ford. 2004. “The Role of the Department of
Archives and Special Collections during the ‘Open Doors’ Commemoration of the
Integration of the University of Mississippi,” 2004 National Diversity in Libraries
Conference. Atlanta, Georgia.
Boruff-Jones, Polly D. and Amy E. Mark. 2003. “Information Literacy and
Student Engagement: What the National Survey of Student Engagement Reveals
about Your Campus.” Workshop presentation at Indiana University-Purdue
University Indianapolis 2003 Assessment Institute. Indianapolis, Indiana.
Cheng, Daisy, Program Coordinator. 2003. “Cataloging and Integrating
Resources and Metadata Standards.” Mississippi Library Association. Bay St.
Louis, Mississippi.
Herrera, Gail. "MetaSearching & Product Implementation," Mississippi Libraries
Directors' Meeting 2004. Jackson, Mississippi
Herrera, Gail. "Getting the Most from MetaFind," 12th Annual Innovative Users
Group Conference 2004. Boston, Massachusetts
Herrera, Gail. "MetaFind @ The University of Mississippi," III Academic Library
Directors' Symposium 2004. Berkeley, California
Mark, Amy E. and Polly D. Boruff-Jones. 2003. ““Information Literacy and
Student Engagement: What the National Survey of Student Engagement Reveals
about Your Campus.” Workshop presentation at “Learning to Make a
Difference,” ACRL 11th National Conference. Charlotte, North Carolina.
Wall, Kay and Julia Rholes. 2003. “What do patrons think? Library surveys: old
& new approaches to assessment.” SOLINET workshop. Starkville, Mississippi.
Exhibits
Aronson, Jennifer. 2004. “Faulkner and Film.” J. D. Williams Library.
Aronson, Jennifer. 2004. “John Elon Phay: Kodachrone Color Slides.”
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/files/archives/exhibits/phay_color/
Aronson, Jennifer. 2004. “Northeast Mississippi Community College Exhibit:
James Meredith and the Integration of the University of Mississippi Photographs
from the Mississippi Highway Patrol Collection.” J. D. Williams Library.
Aronson, Jennifer and Jennifer Ford. 2004. The Oxford Depot Exhibition.
Permanently displayed in the Oxford, Mississippi depot.
Ford, Jennifer. 2003. “’We Cannot Walk Alone.’ Lafayette County, Mississippi
African American History.” Hall of Mississippi Writers, J. D. Williams Library.
Ford, Jennifer. 2003. Audubon/Strawberry Plains Finley exhibit for the official
donation of the Finley family collection.
Ford, Jennifer. 2003. “Faulkner and Ecology.” Held in conjunction with the 2003
Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. Department of Archives and Special
Collections, J. D. Williams Library.
Ford, Jennifer, Leigh McWhite and Thomas Verich. 2004. “Murder With
Southern Hospitality: An Exhibition of Mississippi Mysteries.”
Grants
Preservation Assistance Grant. National Endowment for the Humanities.
Awarded January 2004. Amount: $5,000. (Jennifer Ford)
University of Mississippi Faculty Travel Grant awarded $1,200 to conduct
research at the Bibliothèque des Littératures Policières in Paris, France.
Awarded February 2004. (Michelle Emanuel)