2003-2004 Academic Year
The Year in Review / Progress Report / Planning Goals
Appendices: Selected Staff Activities / Statistical Report / Budget Report
The year began with a bang as the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library welcomed nearly two hundred attendees to the “2003 Branch Out Conference.” Kathie Martin served as planning chair and host of this major conference for support staff from Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Iowa. Several other members of the library staff, including Ginny Bakke, Sandee Brekke Georgacarakos, Barbara Fister, Sylvia Straub, Michelle Twait, and student employee Aaron Flohrs, who either presented or helped with the conference arrangements, were also instrumental in making the event a great success. Other speakers from both the campus community and the library support staff field presented on a number of timely topics.
Planning and organizational skills were again demonstrated by the entire staff at the beginning of the school year, when we decided to change, or migrate, our Integrated Library System (ILS) from PALS to Aleph, provided by the Ex Libris company. The ILS is more than a catalog of our collection holdings and can be used for acquisitions, maintaining patron and circulation records, interlibrary loan and booking of rooms and services in addition to the traditional cataloging uses. The decision to migrate was actually the culmination of a process begun several years ago when the State of Minnesota passed legislation requiring the publicly funded colleges and universities to consolidate their library systems. Gustavus, long a subscriber to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) developed PALS product, therefore also had to change.
It was with somewhat mixed emotions that we decided to make the move because PALS had been a successful product for us. However, with the handwriting on the wall from the legislature, and PALS no longer developing new features or enhancements to existing systems, we decided to make the change as early as possible and joined the Gamma group in the migration line up. Michelle Twait and Dan Mollner served as project coordinators, and Anna Hulseberg and Sandee Brekke Georgacarakos served as PALS Systems Librarians, all working closely with the technical staff in Mankato.
Since the work of each member of the FBML staff was affected by the migration process, we held weekly update meetings to keep all informed of progress. Our meetings allowed those who were directly involved with specific training or a particular task to share their knowledge and to ask for input or assistance. These meetings were followed by the equally important morale lifting “Friday Treat,” a chance to laugh a little and reinvigorate our collegial structure.
Building upon the years of fine work by the cataloging department in the creation and maintenance of an exceptionally “clean” database, and thanks to the efforts of the entire library staff we were able to go live with the new system on March 2, 2004. However, the migration work is not finished: we await other subsystems and features of the ILS, and we continue with our promised contribution of advice and example to other libraries in the consortium as they migrate. Our weekly work logs, our ongoing notes, and in particular the procedures each staff member develops on her own as she learns the new system have all been and will continue to be offered to our colleagues at other Minnesota institutions.
The only cloud in the migration picture is the fact that we are completely under whelmed by the new system and are still waiting for several key features, such as interlibrary loan, that we were lead to believe would be available already. We will need to continue monitoring contracts and feature developments to confirm our decision to cast our lot with the state system and with the PALS technical support team.
In addition to the migration to Aleph, the library fully introduced a new electronic course reserves system. Sandee Brekke Georgacarakos, and former student employees Ben Follis, Scott Doerrie and Paul Landahl planned and developed the system on their own, then implemented the service on a limited trial basis last academic year. Creating such a system in-house is a major savings to the College. They have enabled the library to provide a service that is frequently used and greatly appreciated by a large number of faculty and students. The library faculty and staff are also very appreciative of their work.
In November the Gustavus Library Associates—the GLA, hosted A Royal Affair: Pa rum pum pum pum! at the Sheraton in Bloomington. The event was a huge success for the GLA and the library with many GLA members, other friends, campus employees and Gustavus students working long hours to carry it off. From the library, Ginny Bakke, who is also GLA board member, and Dan Mollner were active in the year long preparations for the gala and the work of the night. Through many occasions and contributions, but particularly by the biennial A Royal Affair—this being the 14th, the GLA members make a huge contribution to the acquisitions endowment of the library and we are very grateful for all that they do.
There were three notable staffing actions this year. Two positive notes are the successful hiring of Anna Hulseberg in a tenure-track capacity to the position of Academic Librarian, with responsibility of systems, and the appointment to a temporary position of Kathleen Baril. Both of these individuals made considerable contributions to the migration work, in addition to reference and instruction. Kathleen was subsequently appointed for the 2004-2005 academic year as a replacement for Anna’s former electronic resources position while a search is conducted for a tenure-track replacement.
The negative staffing event was the reduction by two-weeks of the salaries of all administrative and support staff with appointments of greater than ten months. This came as a sad blow to a library that already has a comparatively small staff, but more importantly was also a blow to the individuals who have been so dedicated in their work for the College, particularly as we embarked on a huge migration project. It was originally understood that similar cuts were to take place campus-wide, but in actuality the burden fell unequally and with heavy cuts in the library. We can only assume that this happened in response to a misapprehension that the work of the library stops during the summer months, when school is not in session. We hope the work done all year long in the library will be recognized and valued by the College Administration in the future and will work to clarify ambiguity on the subject.
In summary, we had a busy year filled with major challenges. While maintaining high levels of public service to our students and faculty clientele with the support of our technical areas, we were able to accomplish a complex software implementation affecting every area of the library. We did so with minimal interruption. In addition, we added a significant new service with the introduction of electronic course reserves.
Collections:
With stagnant budgets, rising costs and necessarily increased spending on electronic resources, acquisitions have fallen off seriously. In 2003-2004 we added 4,272 books, and audio-visual items. This is a decrease of 44% from the 2001-2002 academic year.
Our book budgets are not adequate to meet the ambitions of the College and we continue to rely on interlibrary loan to supply many books (nearly 4,000 ILL book requests from other institutions). Additional acquisitions statistics, including those for government documents, audio-visual materials, and interlibrary loan statistics are found in the statistical supplement at the end of this report.
Noteworthy acquisitions include Literary Cultures of Latin America, the Encyclopedia of World Environmental History, American Decades Primary Documents, Religions of the World, the Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Current Protocols in Cell Biology and Current Protocols in Protein Science, the Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, the Pegasus Shakespeare Bibliographies, and Samlade Verk.
The library received a major gift of more than 400 music CDs from the estate of Mr. Maurice Lamb.
Our electronic resources costs continued to grow, a reflection that the impact of technology on scholarly research is not necessarily a budget savings. Unfortunately, the title list did not grow significantly this year in relation to the cost increases experienced. Nearly every title held increased in price, and one title, American Chemical Society (ACS) Web Editions, which was previously provide free of charge to Gustavus by MINITEX carried a 2003-2004 subscription price greater than $17,000. (The State of Minnesota through MINITEX is still subsidizing $3,500 of this subscription.) Because of such cost increases, several electronic subscriptions were dropped, including Ethnic Newswatch, Bibliography of the History of Art, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Women Writers. Obviously, difficult decisions must regularly be made concerning our ability to support student and faculty research at levels comparable to our peer colleges.
Noteworthy additions of electronic resources include, RefWorks, Women and Social Movements of the United States, World Shakespeare Bibliography, and the ACS Web Editions.
Services:
Our formal library instruction program has been holding close to steady for the past few years. This academic year we held slightly fewer class sessions, but met with more students than last year (124 sessions and 1,995 students vs. 118 sessions and 2,130 students). We held sessions for all but four of the 37 First Term Seminars and believe this number will also hold steady unless a change occurs in the FTS requirements.
Coupled with the instruction program is the individualized service provided at the Reference Desk. For the third year in a row, our average weekly number of reference questions increased—this year to 120. The trend flies in the face of conventional wisdom and even our anecdotal sense of reference traffic. We do not have a true understanding of changes in the type of reference transactions.
Other service statistics worth noting include the fact that interlibrary loan of AV materials has more than doubled from 150 to over three hundred (a service which has impact for both AV and ILL); Interlibrary Loan has maintained high traffic with more than 12,000 transactions processed (both in and out included), and use of the AV rooms has also been high with 1,041 sessions held (including 67 non-academic campus events) and nearly 700 reservations of the preview rooms.
The focus of library-wide planning will be on further training for all regular employees and for student employees in the new Aleph system. This will include the writing of documentation and procedures manuals. We hope to initiate acquisitions, interlibrary loan and Marcive government documents cataloging on the new system as well.
After our last assessment retreat the library faculty decided to focus on several things in the coming year, particularly faculty outreach, peer mentoring for bibliographic instruction and paying additional attention to more active learning both in the classroom and at the Reference Desk. We also decided to use a few minutes of each of our regular librarians’ meetings to teach each other about new reference resources during a “Ref-10.”
We have also proposed a new J-term course for graduate-school bound students. We do so with the knowledge that even though it will be a contribution to the J-term offerings and fun for us, it will require significant planning at our staffing levels.
Our assessment goals include initiating our next round of student focus groups. This year we will again convene first year students. We are concerned that the training for FTS instructors does not include anything about the library, so we will be paying attention to how FTS faculty treat that part of their course and will try to encourage multiple options to get students actively involved in using the library at a basic level.
Appendix
A: Selected Staff Activities
Ginny Bakke continued as a board member of the Gustavus Library Associates, serving on the Executive Committee, as co-chair of the GLA Membership Committee, on the Author Day Committee and as co-chair of the Festival of St. Lucia. Ginny was also a board member of the Gustavus Center for Vocational Reflection. She attended the PALS User Group Meetings, and several Aleph training sessions.
Barbara Fister made several presentations during the year: one for the St. Peter Community and Family Education Continuing Education series, another for the Minnesota Oberlin Group Libraries Reference/Instruction Group, a third for the Annual Retreat of the Cooperating Libraries in Consortium and at the Branch Out 2003 Conference. Barbara was also a respondent on the “Techne/Cultus” panel at the Inaugural Symposium of President James Peterson. Barbara submitted several articles for publication in the coming year, and she began two blogs of library related subjects found in the news section of the library Web page. Barbara served on the Writing Program Advisory Committee, the Web Advisory Committee and the Inaugural Symposium planning group.
Mike Haeuser again offered a First Term Seminar and continued as an advisor for first and second year students. He served as faculty advisor to ROTC cadets and as faculty representative on the Judicial Board, the Honor Board and the Guild of St. Ansgar selection committee. Mike attended the American Library Association Midwinter meeting in San Diego, and remains a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Council on Library & Information Resources (CLIR). In addition to his role as College Archivist, Mike again served as acting Lutheran Church Archivist.
Anna Hulseberg was a member of the Women’s Studies Committee, the Guild of St. Ansgar selection committee and the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award Committee. She served as Communications Officer for the Minnesota Library Association Academic and Research Libraries Division (MLA-ARLD) and on the MnPALS Access Task Force. Anna contributed to three panels: a Gustavus “Teachers Talking” presentation, for the MLA-ARLD Day session on collaboration and collection development in April, and at the PALS User Group Meeting in St. Cloud. Anna attended numerous training sessions in preparation for implementation of Aleph.
Kathie Martin served as conference chair of the Branch Out 2003 Conference held August 13-14 at Gustavus. She attended the PALS User Group meetings and the MINITEX Interlibrary Loan Conference, and participated in several teleconferences. She served as an ACES mentor on campus and as a member of the Gustavus Library Associates newsletter editorial committee.
Dan Mollner served a special appointment on the Faculty Personnel Committee for the spring semester. He also served as ex officio member of the Curriculum Committee, the Academic Operations Committee, and the Instructional Infrastructure Advisory Committee, and served as a member of the Executive Committee of the MnPALS Deans and Directors Committee. Dan was a diversity representative on two search committees for piano faculty in the Music Department. He attended the Oberlin Conference in Indiana, and presented to the College of St. Scholastica library faculty and members of the Faculty Senate on the collegial management of libraries. Dan taught the Curriculum II Senior Seminar, by arrangement, for three students during spring semester. He served his second year as Library Chair.
Jay Nordstrom attended the PALS User Group meetings and several Aleph training sessions. She also served as an ACES mentor.
Sylvia Straub was a panelist at the Branch Out 2003 Conference. She attended the Employee Enhancement Days, a CPR Class and a Stress Management Seminar for Women. Sylvia continued as co-coordinator for the Gustavus Cancer Support Group.
Michelle Twait joined a Minnesota Oberlin Group committee that planned and presented a workshop on marketing library services during the summer. She also presented at the Branch Out 2003 Conference, and helped lead a Gustavus “Teachers Talking” discussion. Michelle had two articles published: “Making Collaborative Marketing Plans,” in the March/April issue of Marketing Library Services, and “Back to School,” published in the May issue of Info Career Trends. She served as Secretary/Treasurer for the Gustavus chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, as chair of the Faculty Committee on Student Life, as a member of the campus taskforce on student employment issues, as a member of the Course Approval Subcommittee of the Curriculum Committee, and as faculty advisor for the MacArthur Scholars Fellowship program. Michelle served as Secretary on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Library Association and on the MINITEX Electronic Information Resources (MEIR) taskforce.
Appendix B: Statistical Report
|
2002-2003 |
2003-2004 |
COLLECTION STATISTICS
|
|
|
Books, scores, cd-roms continuations
|
|
|
Volumes added |
8,129 |
4,794 |
Volumes withdrawn |
2,647 |
3,352 |
Volumes total |
287,243 |
288,685 |
|
|
|
Microtext
|
|
|
Microfilm added |
112 |
125 |
Microfilm total |
11,244 |
11,369 |
Microfiche added |
639 |
18 |
Microfiche total |
24,553 |
24,571 |
|
|
|
Audio-Visual
|
|
|
Audio-visual added |
371 |
276 |
Audio-visual withdrawn |
0 |
19 |
Audio-visual total |
16,375 |
16,632 |
Videos and DVDs purchased |
279 |
254 |
|
|
|
Government Documents
|
|
|
Paper added |
1,526 |
1,323 |
Maps added |
1,436 |
880 |
Microfiche added |
5,912 |
4,591 |
Electronic added |
91 |
92 |
Paper withdrawn |
3,434 |
3,881 |
Microfiche withdrawn |
4,205 |
5,051 |
Electronic withdrawn |
1 |
20 |
Paper total |
104,299 |
101,741 |
Maps total |
80,190 |
81,070 |
Microfiche total |
174,973 |
174,513 |
Electronic total |
1,169 |
1,241 |
|
|
|
Periodicals
|
|
|
Periodicals—current paper subscriptions |
999 |
996 |
Periodicals—total titles cataloged |
1,990 |
2,017 |
Periodicals—electronic titles |
24,750 |
19,675 |
|
|
|
SERVICE STATISTICS
|
|
|
Library instruction
|
|
|
Course related sessions—students attending |
1,955 |
2,130 |
Course related sessions—number of sessions |
124 |
118 |
Other tours and workshops—people attending |
66 |
50 |
Reference questions answered in a typical
week |
114 |
120 |
|
|
|
Circulation Services
|
|
|
Circulation—general collection |
28,757 |
n.a *. |
Circulation—browsing collection |
1,123 |
n.a. |
Circulation—reserves |
10,428 |
n.a. |
Circulation—electronic reserves |
3,873 |
n.a. |
Circulation—government documents |
82 |
n.a. |
Circulation—audio-visual materials |
2,912 |
n.a. |
Circulation—Gustavus circulation |
55,478 |
n.a. |
Circulation—external circulation |
4,075 |
n.a. |
Discharges |
48,737 |
n.a. |
Circulation—total |
63,006 |
n.a. |
Entrance/Exit gate count |
278,063 |
257,938 |
|
|
|
Interlibrary Loan
|
|
|
From MINITEX and PALS—books |
5,082 |
3,807 |
From MINITEX and PALS—articles |
3,723 |
4,156 |
Videos/DVDs borrowed |
150 |
121 |
Subtotal—requests made by Gustavus |
8,873 |
8,084 |
From Gustavus to MINITEX and PALS—books |
3,816 |
3,681 |
From Gustavus to MINITEX and PALS—articles |
210 |
152 |
Videos/DVDs lent |
115 |
318 |
Subtotal—requests filled by Gustavus |
4,032 |
4,176 |
Total Interlibrary Loan Activity |
13,403 |
12,621 |
|
|
|
*Circulation statistics were unavailable because of the change in systems.
Appendix C: Budget
Statistics 2003-2004
|
Budget 2002-2003 |
2003-2004 Budgeted |
2003-2004 Actual Spent |
2003-2004 (over)/under |
|
|
|
|
|
Salaries, Wages,
Benefits
|
|
|
|
|
Faculty salaries |
$
295,743.00 |
$
331,562.00 |
$
331,562.00 |
$
-- |
Support staff wages |
265,037.60 |
261,640.26 |
261,396.00 |
244.26 |
Student assistant wages |
104,742.13 |
136,637.78 |
136,637.78 |
-- |
Student assistants Summer/holiday |
31,023.00 |
24,812.76 |
22,578.13 |
2,234.63 |
Academic assistant stipends |
550.00 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
Allocated benefits |
216,254.95 |
231,348.89 |
231,253.62 |
95.27 |
Total salaries, wages,
benefits
|
$
913,350.68 |
$
986,001.69 |
$ 983,427.53 |
$
2,574.16 |
|
|
|
|
|
Unrestricted Budget: |
|
|
|
|
Acquistions budget
|
|
|
|
|
Acquisitions—books |
$
44.00 |
$
0 |
$
91.77 |
$
(91.77) |
Acquisitions—films |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
Acquisitions—government documents |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
Acquisitions—microforms |
21,582.00 |
21,582.00 |
15,497.31 |
6,084.69 |
Acquisitions—recordings |
3,434.00 |
3,435.00 |
612.79 |
2,822.21 |
Acquisitions—periodicals |
106,130.00 |
116,743.00 |
218,681.63 |
(101,938.63) |
Acquisitions—standing orders |
29,136.00 |
29,150.00 |
36,701.87 |
(7,551.87) |
Acquisitions—electronic |
70,142.00 |
70,142.00 |
133,176.88 |
(63,034.88) |
Subtotal unrestricted
acquisitions
|
$
230,468.00 |
$
241,052.00 |
$ 404,762.25 |
$ (163,710.25) |
|
|
|
|
|
Operations budget: |
|
|
|
|
Archives office supplies |
$
1,400.00 |
$
1,400.00 |
$318.92 |
$1,081.08 |
Archives meetings and workshops |
500.00 |
500.00 |
586.86 |
(86.86) |
Lutheran Church Collection supplies (Archives) |
500.00 |
500.00 |
0 |
500.00 |
Media services |
245.00 |
295.00 |
0 |
295.00 |
Audio-visual film rental |
147.00 |
145.00 |
-24.21 |
169.21 |
Bibliographic services |
24,525.00 |
30,000.00 |
22,234.29 |
7,765.71 |
Book and periodical binding |
6,573.00 |
6,500.00 |
1,467.31 |
5,032.69 |
Computer equipment |
24,285.00 |
28,680.00 |
25,590.10 |
3,089.90 |
Computer supplies |
981.00 |
980.00 |
1,042.61 |
(62.61) |
Computer software |
5,812.00 |
5,000.00 |
510.23 |
4,489.77 |
Consultants and honoraria |
49.00 |
50.00 |
0 |
50.00 |
Copying equipment |
12,263.00 |
12,263.00 |
1,167.39 |
11,095.61 |
Department chair fund |
2,600.00 |
2,600.00 |
2,600.00 |
-- |
Dues and memberships |
834.00 |
830.00 |
760.00 |
70.00 |
Entertainment |
499.00 |
500.00 |
66.78 |
433.22 |
Equipment repair |
1,472.00 |
1,470.00 |
971.91 |
498.09 |
Library equipment |
5,732.00 |
6,000.00 |
1,213.00 |
4,787.00 |
Library supplies |
6,867.00 |
6,800.00 |
4,235.23 |
2,564.77 |
Meetings and workshops |
2,649.00 |
2,650.00 |
942.75 |
1,707.25 |
Office supplies |
2,453.00 |
2,000.00 |
1,649.87 |
350.13 |
PALS |
41,609.00 |
40,000.00 |
37,313.00 |
2,687.00 |
Postage |
913.00 |
900.00 |
607.81 |
292.19 |
Printing and reproduction |
3,924.00 |
3,900.00 |
3,187.49 |
712.51 |
Telephone |
4,672.00 |
6,288.00 |
5,232.14 |
1,055.86 |
Travel |
2,943.00 |
2,940.00 |
1,481.58 |
1,458.42 |
Subtotal unrestricted
operations budget
|
$
154,447.00 |
$ 163,191.00 |
$ 113,155.06 |
$ 50,035.94 |
Total unrestricted budget |
$
384,915.00 |
$ 404,243.00 |
$ 517,917.31 |
$ (113,674.31) |
|
|
|
|
|
Restricted Budget: |
|
|
|
|
Adolphson, George |
$ 3,663.41 |
$ 3, 846.86 |
$
3,463.67 |
$
383.19 |
Alexis Library Fund |
1,060.32 |
911.81 |
942.07 |
(30.26) |
Almen-Vickner Fund |
3,325.25 |
14.28 |
245.23 |
(230.95) |
Bush Library Endowment |
32,995.82 |
26,799.07 |
16,042.78 |
10,756.29 |
Carlson, E.M. |
4,445.44 |
5,156.35 |
623.35 |
4,533.00 |
Drache History Fund |
0 |
4,665.00 |
4,036.01 |
628.99 |
Ebba Carlson Biology Fund |
553.97 |
583.15 |
795.00 |
(211.85) |
Florence Frederickson Fund |
3,064.61 |
2,244.25 |
185.00 |
2,059.25 |
Gustavus Library Associates |
124,017.08 |
107,207.00 |
43,901.67 |
63,305.33 |
GLA Diversity Fund |
5,290.54 |
5,000.00 |
3,125.16 |
1,874.84 |
General Endowment |
3,296.89 |
3,872.89 |
395.66 |
3,477.23 |
Lundholm/Hasselquist Fund |
25,604.00 |
6,665.24 |
4,750.81 |
1,914.43 |
Maria Sigurdson Fund |
851.84 |
703.30 |
24.76 |
678.54 |
Misfeldt Library Fund |
296.84 |
120.84 |
0 |
120.84 |
Moe Endowment for Minnesota Statutes |
4,870.74 |
5,538.66 |
2,629.38 |
2,909.28 |
NEH Challenge—Curriculum |
67,693.05 |
59,072.62 |
35,186.21 |
23,886.41 |
NEH—Women’s Studies |
7,102.92 |
6,500.00 |
6,117.82 |
382.18 |
Lolita Paulson Fund |
26,809.49 |
22,045.36 |
9,003.94 |
13,041.42 |
Scandinavian Studies |
26,746.87 |
26,509.91 |
12,432.00 |
14,077.91 |
Beilgard International Business |
77.17 |
77.17 |
32.50 |
44.67 |
Special Library Acquisitions |
7,320.00 |
775.63 |
-357.00 |
1,132.63 |
C&M Johnson Heritage Fund (Archives) |
602.07 |
1,019.07 |
0 |
1,019.07 |
Johnson Acquisition (Archives) |
200.00 |
200.00 |
0 |
200.00 |
Emeroy Johnson Fund (Archives) |
9,737.02 |
10,905.02 |
0 |
10,905.02 |
Ford, Reuben and Edith Fund (Archives) |
2,344.00 |
5,195.00 |
3,300.00 |
1,895.00 |
Subtotal restricted
Archives budget
|
$
12,883.09 |
$
17,319.09 |
$
3,300.00 |
$
14,019.09 |
Subtotal restricted acquisitions
budget
|
$
361,969.34 |
$
288,309.39 |
$
143,576.02 |
$ 144,733.37 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total salaries and
benefits
|
$
913,350.68 |
$
986,001.69 |
$
983,427.53 |
$
2,574.16 |
Total operations
|
$
154,447.00 |
$
163,191.00 |
$
113,155.06 |
$
50,035.94 |
Total acquisitions
(including Archives)
|
$
592,437.34 |
$ 546,680.48 |
$
551,638.27 |
$
(4,957.79) |
Total operations, acquisitions |
$
746,884.34 |
$ 709,871.48 |
$
664,793.33 |
$
45,078.15 |
Total acquisitions, operations, salaries benefits |
$ 1,660,235.02 |
$ 1,695,873.17 |
$1,648,220.86 |
$
47,652.31 |
DM 5/2005