Library Goals, 2009/10

1. WorldCat Local [WCL] (Jo-Ann, Walter, Alison, and EPIC)

  • Complete staff testing of WorldCat Local and Navigator Request Engine [NRE] software
  • Prepare for a July 27 "soft" public rollout of WCL
  • Examine and revise Access Services and ILL work flows as experience is gained with WCL and NRE
  • Determine how to integrate and give a public presence for WCL and NRE. (EPIC will lead that effort and will involve other people interested in contributing to the discussions.)
  • Develop plans for publicizing and providing instruction for use of WCL and NRE in time for the beginning of the fall semester
  •  Investigate and evaluation the federated search engine that OCLC is developing to determine its usefulness at Williams College

2. Electronic Resources Management [ERM] (Chris and Walter)

  • Finish ERM implementation that is fully functional for staff operations that will allow its use in the daily workflow by July 2010. Specific objectives to be carried out include:
  • Adding resource records
  • Linking records
  • Adding serials holdings information
  • Identifying permissions for collections at the individual resource level

3. Information Literacy Program [IL] (Lori)

  • Move forward with the Draft Information Literacy Plan to create a more comprehensive plan and more cohesive IL program by integrating IL into the curriculum. The instruction liaisons and the Instruction Librarian will target various categories of academic departments and programs:
  • Work with high enrollment departments, such as English and Economics, to determine at what points in the curriculum information literacy instruction is desirable.
  • Assess information literacy instruction in departments with a strong tradition of instruction in a particular course (e.g. Psychology and Biology) to ensure that their needs are being met.
  • Develop strategies for departments and programs that have high instruction numbers, but a "scattershot" approach (no articulated course or course level in the curriculum where information literacy instruction should occur).
  • Increase contact with non-participating departments and programs to increase instruction opportunities for their students.

4. Examine the Allocation of Staffing to Match Needs with Current Positions (Dave)

  • Review library goals and determine priorities for 2009/2010
  • Evaluate the allocation of positions to ensure that staff have the most appropriate responsibilities
  • Department Heads will review the allocation of staff time and responsibilities to determine whether any reassignment of staff duties or departmental responsibilities are appropriate
  • Continue to advocate for filling existing vacant positions, with the Reference and Web Services position as redefined being the highest immediate priority. [The Head of Collection Development and Acquisitions can not be submitted until the 10/11 budget cycle.]

5. Digital Resources (ERG and others)

  •  Williams Record [WR] (Chris)
  • Continue to work with the Internet Archive on getting uniform information files for the WR. Orphan files need to be resolved. (Chris)
  • Take the Internet Archives files and work with OIT so that the WR can be brought into Content DM as a resource search able across various issues. (Sylvia)
  • Continue the local scanning of the Gul yearbooks and the class Facebooks. (Sylvia)
  • Explore the feasibility of providing links in FRANCIS to Content DM projects. If yes, consider what level of link is appropriate
  • Investigate how to increase access to electronic theses by linking in FRANCIS.
  • Video materials
  • Explore digital options for the VHS collection, including but not limited to streaming and Netflix
  • Consult with Jeff Jones and OIT soon to determine legal ramifications of streaming/digitizing our collections.
  • Review/claim digital content that is specified for individual use (i.e. digital content that comes with videos, we have rights to claim one copy through publisher with password code through an individual. We would like to have additional claims that would go through the library and not just an individual having access.
  • Working with OIT, develop ways to incorporate library services and resources into Moodle as the pilot project rolls out this fall
  •  EBooks – text and audio formats (ERG)
  • Explore text-based EBook offerings and select one to implement this year
  • Work with consortia partners to determine if a joint effort is the best way to leverage our funds
  • Review services that stream audio of academic texts such as Overdrive and determine whether to add this type of resource

6. Promote the Libraries (Christine)

  • Continue ongoing promotion of theme 'friendly / welcoming' library through general promotional materials such as trading cards, READ posters, bookmarks, etc.
  • Develop new outreach/promotion activities around the theme 'our uniqueness' to emphasize what makes our library a unique service to our users (what we add to the world of information). Focus should be on demonstrating to users why they should care, not just what resources we have.
  • Promote recently added or low-use databases focusing on reason why users should care
  • Promote reference librarians as guides to information world
  • Promote assessment / evaluation of resources as our special skill
  • Position ourselves as counterpart to Google (respond to next campus-wide Google ads on campus)
  •  Resume faculty targeted outreach program
  • Organize faculty workshop series on resources and services
  • Be present where faculty are: faculty meetings, committees, open forums

7. Staff Development (Staff Development Committee)

  • Customer Service Training in a library environment
  • Bring in recommended consultant to work with librarians and supervisors (Christine)
  • Have members of the initial group extend the training to all members of the staff
  • Staff Development Committee will conduct periodic queries of the staff to identify training needs
  • Arrange for members of the staff and individuals from campus to conduct presentations and workshops
  • Continue to update the clearing house of local and regional training opportunities on the library wiki

8. Sustainability (Walter, Jo-Ann, Helena)

  • Initiate the expanded PaperCut public printer rationing system for student and the general public
  • Continue to identify ways that we can conserve resources
  • Explore ideas that could lead to another Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives grant

9. Diversity

  • Work toward 100% staff participation staff in the campus diversity training program
  • Explore opportunities to sponsor internships to (a) introduce underrepresented populations to library work or (b) provide entry-level MLS internship to the same population

10. Library Building Project

  • Southworth
  • Continue to resolve retrofit issues associated with use of Southworth apartments 1-3
  • Complete the effort to gain additional space in Southworth to increase special collections storage capacity
  • Continue the process of increasing coordination of Chapin and Archives activities
  • LSF
  • Continue to migrate Sawyer journals (30% complete) and to assist Access Services with related projects in Sawyer Library
  • Newly received government documents will go directly to LSF
  • Begin to add print government documents to the move stream from Sawyer into the LSF. Beginning in July will be the split of cataloged and non-cataloged docs. First all cataloged items will be moved to LSF. Rebecca will determine what non-cataloged docs will need to be cataloged and moved to LSF.
  • New Sawyer
  • LBC will participate in any cost cutting exercise should the updated pricing exercise reveal a project cost in excess of the project budget
  • Review the 100% construction documents to determine whether late changes were incorporated in the drawings

11. New Technologies (Walter and TAG)

  • Complete the initial implementation of WorldCat Local as a replacement for the BLC's URSA-based Virtual Catalog
  • Provide HD/DVD Support - Equipment and viewing for High Definition and Blu-ray video systems
  • Expand services for mobile users
  • Explore alternate ways to provide video materials to students, faculty, and staff, including Netflicks
  • Install the several necessary FRANCIS upgrades to bring our system up to date.
  • Determine whether additional FRANCIS modules are needed to accomplish our various goals.
  • Continue to investigate with the College Archivist open source software packages to improve management of Archives information
  • Participate in and support the PaperCut campus rollout in the libraries

12. Metadata Standards (Karen)

  • Develop Metadata Standards to connect the various elements of the Williams Memory Project
  • Continue to develop Metadata Standards for the Oral history project
  • Abstracts going online and publicly available
  • Metadata produced by part-time position
  • Participate in Content DM/ DublinCore class
  • Make Metadata expertise available beyond the library
  • Identify faculty working on digital projects and discuss the benefits of metadata standards
  • Specifically contact faculty and staff participating in the 2009 round of WIT projects to discuss Metadata

13. Marcive (Chris,Laura and Rebecca)

  • Manually enter all information (notes from order records) contained in Autodocs (old system check-in) into FRANCIS (new check-in)
  • Complete initial Marcive record loads
  • Refine government documents selections

14. Weed Collections

  •   Weed government documents legacy collection
  • Documents CDs in the summer of 2009
  • Identify possible new homes for documents microfiche by December 2009
  • Deaccession selected cataloged documents
  • Reference Collection weeding will continue removing a few reference ranges near Reference Desk.
  • Weed VHS collection
  • Complete weeding VHS items that duplicate owned DVDs
  • Evaluate whether to replace non-duplicated VHS with DVDs

15. Records Management and Scholarly Communication (Sylvia)

  • Participate in any campus records management and institutional repository initiatives
  • Identify records management beta projects
  • Work with OIT and the President's Office to archive President Schapiro's e-mail and other records
  • Work with Ed Epping on capturing the history of the Claiming Williams initiative through the archiving of their web site
  • Develop ways to store and make accessible campus documents and information in the absence of an Institutional Repository [IR]
  • Join with promotion initiative to gain faculty support
  • Reach out over multiple platforms
  • Explore with OIT additional ways to utilize ContentDM as the current de facto IR

From Retreat 6/19/09