UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES - HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2001/02

Kentucky Library and Museum

Design and launch of "Kentucky Building Online" on February 14. Now without leaving home, one can sample the kinds of items--manuscripts, broadsides, photos, post cards, exhibits--in the Kentucky Library and Museum. Represents a major new addition to the already vast Topper InfoPortal web site and the homepage of University Libraries.

Exhibits included Kentucky Women Artists in September, a cooperative project with the Owensboro Art Museum, which included art from the Kentucky Museum collection as well as items borrowed from other museums around the state. The exhibit received the Historical Confederation of Kentucky Museum Award. P.S. I Love You: The Hilltoppers opened on May 1 to more than 230 visitors, at least half of whom were alumni living beyond Warren County.

A wide variety of programs and lectures were held throughout the year, including the 4th annual Tour of Kentucky Folk Music attended by more than 300 faculty, staff and area residents; lectures by David Dick (former CBS national reporter), Jim Holmberg (Filson Historical Society), Billy Kennedy (Irish historian/genealogist); Nancy Baird (Interim Department Head of the Kentucky Library & Museum); and "York," a Chautauqua program from the Kentucky Humanities Council about the slave who accompanied Lewis and Clark. Four book discussions were sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council and the Landmark Association.

Book signings were held for Assistant Archivist Lynn Niedermeier (A Mighty Band of Maidens: A History of Potter College for Young Ladies, Landmark, 2002) and for Special Collections Librarian Jonathan Jeffrey and Mike Wilson (Mt. Moriah Cemetery: A History and Census of Bowling Green, Kentucky's African American Cemetery, Landmark, 2002) as well as for David and Lalie Dick (Rivers of Kentucky, Plum Lick Publishing, 2001) and Louis Hatchett (Duncan Hines: The Man Behind the Cake Mix, Mercer University Press, 2002).

Programs for children--with about 6,000 attending--included five Christmas performances of The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, art classes, four summer art camps for elementary-age students, two weeks of art camp for junior and senior high students incarcerated at the Juvenile Detention Center, and Bowling Green's "New Kentuckians." The large number of art programs provided by the Museum resulted from a WKU Foundation-funded position for a part-time artist-in-residence that has greatly expanded the department's educational opportunities to reach school children.

More than a dozen public service programs on "Kentucky" topics were provided for schools as well as for civic, social and church groups.

The department was successful in receiving several grants designed to update its computer and instructional technology capabilities, thereby significantly increasing its effectiveness.

Other fund raising was similarly successful, including corporate funding obtained to underwrite exhibits and the music festival. Action Agenda funds underwrote four teacher workshops, conducted by Museum faculty for about 80 teachers at Butler County Middle School, attracting elementary teachers from Owensboro, Hopkinsville, Bowling Green and Glasgow. Action Agenda funds were also obtained to cover the costs of designing and developing a teaching and outreach video about the Kentucky Library and Museum.

Three educational traveling kits--used by WKU student teachers and classroom teachers in the field--were revised and four more developed.

The Kentucky Building became the entry site for Topper Tours; potential students and their parents while waiting for the tours, enjoy strolling through the Museum.

New acquisitions included about 60 donated artifacts, including an "all white quilt" appraised at $8,000; about 100 "gift" books, including 43 of the Nancy Drew series, which will be added to the Children's Collection.

The University recipient of the Public Service Award was Jonathan Jeffrey, Special Collections Librarian. Jonathan and Sandy Staebell were selected for the Kentucky Humanities Council Speakers Bureau that provides free, educational programs for out-of-school adults throughout the state. Sandy, Jonathan and Carol Crowe-Carrico of Western's History Department are the only WKU representatives among the 74 speakers of KHC.

Phase I of the Kentucky Building HVAC project began during the year and was expected to be completed by July 15. It involves installing pipes, electrical unit and duct work for the top floor of the 1939 portion of the building. A dependable heating, ventilating and air conditioning system is essential to the preservation of the Kentucky Library and Museum's rare books, letters, manuscripts, antique furniture and other treasures. Continuation of the Kentucky Building HVAC project--with the start-up of Phase II--needs to be a high University priority.

Department of Library Public Services

Among the many accomplishments of the Department of Library Public Services were: WKU students leading the state in its use of KYVL databases between 1999 and 2001; research instruction increasing 5% to 15,718 participants in 586 classes; nearly 25% of the Libraries' 4500 print subscriptions now being made available online through EBSCO Online (with another 700 full-text sources accessible through JSTOR and Project Muse); the launch of "Kentucky Live! Southern Culture at its Best," a monthly series of programs at Barnes & Noble that added to the department's monthly community outreach held at the super bookstore called "Far Away Places," it involves Western faculty discussing their research in foreign countries; and providing the fourth year of the "BellSouth Community Internet Workshop Series" at the South Campus.

Building improvements and changes included the move of the Glasgow Campus Library to the new Glasgow campus with no disruption in services experienced; a new chiller installed in the Helm Library; the re-carpeting and repainting of the Periodicals and Reference Units; new shelving installed in Periodicals; and new surveillance cameras installed in Helm and Cravens Libraries.

Fund raising for the department's programs and activities resulted in corporate underwriting from BellSouth (Community Internet Series), Trace Die Cast ("Kentucky Live!") and Coca Cola ("Far Away Places"). Action Agenda funds underwrote the acquisition of JSTOR, a substantial electronic database of scholarly journals in full-text; and a new library video produced for use in the Libraries' research instruction classes and the Freshman Seminar. A major gift from Lila Greene, a 1943 WKU alumnus, was received that will be used for equipping and maintaining the Listening Lab in Cravens Library. For the second year, the Educational Resources Center sponsored its Scholastic Book Fair during National Library Week, resulting in a large number of additional funds that will be directed toward new acquisitions.

The department led in the establishment of exchange agreements with the Public Library in Kawanishi, Japan (a Bowling Green sister city) and the Chongqing University of Technology and Business in Chongqing, China; the latter will include the exchange of personnel, depending on the availability of funding.

The Kentucky Academic Librarian of the Year was Elaine Moore, the Libraries' Electronic Information Coordinator. Elaine received the honor at the Annual Conference of the Kentucky Library Association in October in recognition of her substantial contributions to the development of electronic library services at WKU and the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL).

Science Librarian Charles Smith's web site on English naturalist Alfred Wallace was featured in the December 7th issue of Science and became the subject of a following discussion; Charles also opened a new web site, "Early Classics in Biogeography, Distribution, and Diversity Studies: to 1950." The "Kentucky Information in Cyberspace" (KIIC) web site maintained by Department Head Brian Coutts, Government Services Coordinator Rosemary Meszaros, and Web Site and Virtual Library Coordinator Haiwang Yuan--that is considered one of the leading sites for Kentucky information--was revised, updated and re-launched.

Other notable individual faculty achievements included editorial service by Bryan Carson (the "Legally Speaking" column for Against the Grain), Rosemary Meszaros (editorial board member of the Journal of Academic Librarianship), Brian Coutts (editorial committee chair of College & Research Libraries News), and Gay Perkins (co-editor of the Western Scholar).

The department enjoyed an especially prolific year with the publication of a book by Haiwang Yuan (Virtual Libraries: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Hua Yi Publishing House, 2002 ) and articles by Rosemary Meszaros ("The Internet, Scholarly Communication and Collaborative Research," in Libraries, the Internet and Scholarship, Marcel Dekker, 2002), Katherine Pennavaria ("Representation of Books and Libraries in Depictions of the Future," Libraries & Culture), Terri Baker (essay on Maureen O'Sullivan in the Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, and Lambrini Papangelis (section editor of "Working with Diverse Populations," in Making the Grade: Academic Libraries and Student Success, ACRL Press, 2002).

Department of Library Automation and Technical Services

The department is represented in the Freshman Seminar program of instruction through the participation of Science Catalog Librarian Rose Davis, who taught two sections in 2001/02. Retention of the Libraries' student employees in this department, as well as the others, is enhanced by providing pay increases for those students who return the following year.

TOPCAT Coordinator Nelda Sims worked closely with the WKU Computer Center to install EZ Proxy, a software product that will enable off-campus access to all the Libraries' electronic databases, including those that are currently restricted to on-campus only use. This should result in enhancements benefiting student learning as well as assist faculty in their course instruction and research.

With the addition in May, 2002, of a new online journal subscription service, EBSCO Online, nearly 25% of WKU Libraries' 4500 print subscriptions are now available online in full-text as well as abstracting and indexing for over 5,000 journals not held by the Libraries. Through two other online services, JSTOR and Project Muse, some 700 additional full-text titles are now being provided to the campus community from the Libraries' homepage and the Topper InfoPortal. EBSCO has enhanced its e-journal service, now called EBSCOhost Electronic Journal Service, and also provides links to JSTOR where users find citations using EBSCOhost. Many more user-friendly linking capabilities are anticipated with all of the Libraries' electronic information resources.

In a proactive approach to preserving the library collections, Collection Services Coordinator Jack Montgomery has started a Collection Review Program wherein to date over 600 books have been retrieved, repaired and returned to the shelves for patron use.

The department has been actively pursuing improvements to the Libraries' online catalog, TOPCAT 2000. New features include: Web OPAC enhancements; implementation of the Reserve Module by the Educational Resources Center; improvements to the Reserve Module for the main library, Helm-Cravens; and database improvements made possible by VOYAGER Reports generated by the TOPCAT Coordinator, Nelda Sims.

Several faculty members were exceedingly active professionally. Serials Coordinator Connie Foster assumed a major editorial position as editor of Serials Review, published by Elsevier Science, and also serves as the NASIG (North American Serials Interest Group) liaison to the Serials Section of the American Library Association. Jack Montgomery served as editor of the "Inside Pandora's Box" column of Against the Grain; wrote an article for ATG, "Management of Gifts to Libraries, Part III, Consignment/Trade for Credit Agreements"; continued work on two books under contract with publishers, Management of Conflict in Library Organizations and American Shammans: Journeys with Traditional Healers in the Afro-American, German-American and Appalachian Communities; and released a CD of original music, entitled "Onward to Avalon." Nelda Sims and Kentucky Catalog Librarian ShiuYue Mak had their article, "Cataloging Genealogical Materials," published in Kentucky Libraries; and Nelda Sims and Rose Davis authored "The Evolution of Technical Services, Alexandria to Virtual: Problems to Solutions" for the Serials Review.

Dean's Office

In addition to overseeing and guiding the activities of the department heads, the Dean of Libraries works closely with the Libraries' Electronic Information Coordinator, the Web Site and Virtual Library Coordinator, and the Marketing and Special Events Coordinator, as well as with the University's Director of Development for Libraries and Museum. Many accomplishments resulting from these interactions and leadership have been reported under highlights of the individual departments. Additional accomplishments that are not covered above include the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books, the library portal for personal digital assistants (PDAs), and the Internet Café in Helm Library.

The fourth annual Southern Kentucky Festival of Books, held April 19-20, at Sloan Convention Center, in partnership with the Bowling Green Public Library and Barnes & Noble, is now the largest literary event in the state, with over 200 authors. Book talks by eight authors were filmed by C-SPAN Book TV for programs later aired both nationally and internationally.

The development of the first PDA version of a library portal for academic libraries is chronicled by Dean of Libraries Michael Binder in his article, "The Development of the First PDA Library Portal for Academic Libraries," published in Against the Grain in June 2002. While this model project awaits funding to make it widely downloadable to PDAs, the contents of the entire site may be viewed at www.wku.edu/Library/tip/pda/index.htm. Also, at this summer's International Digital Libraries Symposium in Beijing, Haiwang Yuan delivered a paper on this new, innovative library service.

The new Aramark contract with the University included the provision for the creation of a coffee shop in Helm Library. Believing that having such an operation would lead to a more use-friendly library, early in this development Dean Binder lent his support to the development of a partnership with Aramark Dining Services, Facilities Management and Information Technology to make the café a reality. The concept of an Internet Café in Helm Library was successful in obtaining the support of Student Government and eventually the Board of Regents. Due to open on August 1, the café will be located in the lobby of Helm Library (renamed the "Map Room" after the large campus map on the wall, done in 1965). The café will serve the typical Starbucks fare (under the Aramark brand, "Java City") and include specialty coffees, iced coffees, smoothies and pastries. Computer services will include desktops, plug-ins for laptops, and wireless laptops (available from the Cravens Circulation Desk). The historic Helm entrance will be reopened with full electronic security control; and the patio area outside the entrance will have an initial eight tables with umbrellas. This new "library service" represents one of many efforts by the University Libraries to contribute to the University's emphasis on improving its retention of current students and recruiting prospective students.

Following the lead of his faculty, Dean Binder enjoyed an especially productive year professionally. In addition to the article on the PDA library portal reported above, he co-authored with Haiwang Yuan an article published this summer in Technical Services Quarterly, entitled "TIP--The Web-Based Library Portal at Western Kentucky University and Its Implications for Libraries Becoming 'Portals of First Choice' for Their Communities." As the title indicates, TIP(for Topper InfoPortal), a unique development first conceived by Dean Binder and then designed and developed by Haiwang Yuan and his Web Site Team, is a model library web site that libraries might study to create their own Web portals that can compete with commercial information sites. Dean Binder also served as Chair of SAALCK (the State-Assisted Academic Library Council of Kentucky) and, in that role, headed the delegation of state university librarians to the Virtual Library Advisory Committee of the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL). In the American Library Association, he served as a member of the Library Hi-Tech Award Committee of the Library Information and Technology Association and was named to the newly formed Library Advocacy Assembly as Kentucky's representative. His library advocacy activities also included serving as a national trainer for the @your library campaign of the American Library Association; in that role, with the Logan County Public Library Director, Dean Binder developed and presented a workshop on library advocacy for the October annual conference of the Kentucky Library Association.

Concluding Comments

These many varied achievements would not have been possible without the support and interest of the University community and the senior administration. It will be essential to maintain this level of support in the coming year. Specifically, the financial support to offset inflation for library resources needs to be continued; Phase II of the Kentucky Building HVAC Project should be initiated; and finding the necessary funds for the PDA library portal is essential to launch this innovative model of library service to the public.


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