Connections
From the Libraries of The Claremont College
Volume 18 • Issue 2 • Spring 20 8
Contents
Featured Articles
Director's Column
3 Libraries Collections by the Numbers
Bonnie Clemens
6 Accessing History:
The Murals Of Northern Ireland
Tony Crowley, Scripps College
Faculty Perspectives
9 Kudos to " Designing & Implementing Student Research Projects for Maximum Learning"
Catherine L. Reed, Claremont McKenna College
Looking Back
10 Honnold Library in 1962, by the Numbers
14 Innovations in Libraries Services
John McDonald
Departments
8 Meet Your Librarians
8 New Staff at the Libraries 12 Libraries Staff News & Notes 16 Highlights of New Acquisitions
in the Libraries' Special Collections
Connections is published twice each year for The Claremont Colleges community by the Libraries of The Claremont Colleges:
Honnold/ Mudd, Denison, Seeley G. Mudd, and Sprague which are part of the Claremont University Consortium.
About the cover: Photo on left is from the paperbacks giveaway on April 16, 2008 in honor of National Library Week held in the Libraries new " Living Room" space; see page 14 for more about this as well as the other changes we're implementing to improve thequality ofourservice. Photoincenterisoftheconstruction of Honnold Library on August 21, 1952; see page 10 for more
information on the first few years of Honnold Library. Photo on right is from the multi- tier stacks of Honnold/ Library; see page 3 for more about our collections. These images are also available from the online version of Connections at libraries. claremont. edu/ connections.
Printed by the Copy Center, laremont University
Honnold/ Mudd Library.
onsortium © Claremont University Consortium
2007- 2008. All rights reserved.
Connections Staff:
Gale Burrow, editor gale. burrow@ libraries. claremont. edu Carrie Marsh, editor carrie. marsh@ libraries. claremont. edu Michael D. Emery, editor & designer michaeJ. emery@ libraries. claremont. edu 1Jirectors Column
Libraries Collections by the Numbers
Bonnie Clemens
PLANNING FOR TRANSFORMING THE LIBRARIES is now in its third year. A Planning Task Force has been focusing on using library spaces more creatively, providing technology- rich services, and incorporating collections seamlessly within those spaces and services. Because the collections occupy so much library space, and because of their special importance to faculty, delineating and describing these collections in different
ways is essential to understanding how they can best be managed for support of the academic programs. Four of these descriptions are enumerated below- linear feet, number of volumes, comparison of holdings to partner libraries, and use, i. e., circulation data.
Determining the " linear feet," Le., how much shelf space is occupied by collections, is particularly important to planning for library space needs. During Fall break, library
stafffanned out with measuring tapes and clip boards to gather and record
this information. As a result, we know that in aU library buildings and storage
facilities combined, we have more than 158,000 linear feet oflibrary materi-
CONNECTIONS · SPRING 2008 3
also Ifthe shelves were laid end to end, they would account manuscript and similar items not easily
stretch along the 210 Freeway from Claremont to categorized as " volumes." Also not included in this count are audio and video items, ... we have more than 158) 000 linearfeet of more than 1,460,000 microforms,
and our growing digital colleclibrary
material. Ifthe shelves were laid tions. For the latter, we have more than 46,500 electronic journals end to end) they would stretch along the 210 and tens of thousands of digital books. In addition, contributors Freewayfrom Claremont to Eagle Rock. to the Claremont Colleges DigiEagle
Rock. Books, journals, audio/ video materials,
manuscripts, and other types ofmaterials were included in this measuring project.
A more common way of describing library collections
is tallying the number of items. Although this is seemingly straightforward, it often depends upon a " built number." [ To see how this was handled
previously, read " Honnold Library in 1962, by the Numbers" on page 10.] This means that we accept
a set number from some point in the past, and we simply update that number annually with additions
and deletions. In our responses to agencies that gather this data, we report that as
tal Library have published nearly 40,000 objects in those collections.
Yet another way to understand our collections is by comparing our holdings to those of partner libraries
such as other members of LINK+. Claremont has more than 1,319,000 bibliographic records in the LINK+ online catalog. These are records for several types of library materials- books, journals, media materials, and digital items. An automated analysis of the cataloging records ofthe 43 libraries comprising
the LINK+ consortium revealed that Claremont owns more than 500,000 unique items; i. e., 38% of the items in our collection are not owned by any
of June 30, 2007, the Claremont
... as ofJune 30, 2007, the Claremont
collections number 2,604,000
volumes. This encompasses books
collections number 2,604) 000 volumes.
and journals, including those in
special collections, Asian vernacular collections, other LINK+ library. The only library that owns a and government publications. It does not take into larger number of unique items is the University
CONNECTIONS · SPRING 2008 4
of California, Riverside. Our unique holdings and their importance to other libraries was established by Claremont's designation in the early 1990S as one of 21 statewide resource libraries for CaHfornia. Although Claremont is the third largest private academic
library in California, we depend upon LINK+
original Pomona College library going back more than 100 years to newly published books. Further complicating analysis of usage, we have circulation data only going back to 1990 when the current automated
system was implemented. Thus, we have no information on materials that circulated prior
to that date. With those caveats
... analy isojthecataloging recordsofthe43 in mind, we know that 54% of the
items in the primary circulating
libraries comprising the LINK+ consortium collections have been checked out
at least once since 1990; 14% have
revealed that Claremont owns rnore than been checked out more than five
times. These percentages vary by
500,000 unique items, Le., 38% ofthe items library and by collections or locations
within each library. They
in our collection are not owned by any other are highest for the general collecLINK+
Library.
members and other libraries to lend us materials we do not own, and ofcourse, we reciprocate by sharing our collections with other libraries.
Finally, we can gain another perspective on the Libraries' coHections by investigating how they are used. Circulation data ( items checked out through the automated system) is generally the basis for this type of description, but these numbers can be misleading. Items such as reference materials, bound journals, significant numbers ofthe 800,000 items in the documents collection, special collections
items, and a major portion of the Asian vernacular
collection, etc. comprise 60% of the collections
and do not circulate through our automated system. The remaining 40% of our collections are our primary circulating collections. These are materials
that range from those that were part of the
CONNECTIONS · SPRING 2008
tions in Honnold/ Mudd Library
with percentages of 63% and 19%
respectively. A recent analysis of items added in the past several years gives us confidence
that approximately 50% of books we purchase circulate within two years and nearly 75% circulate within five years. While no library will likely reach 100%, we will continue to seek ways to ensure that our purchases correspond to the current academic and research programs.
These four ways ofanalyzing the Libraries' collections-
by the numbers- are certainly useful points for understanding the collections. However, the larger point is the significance and contribution of the collections to The Colleges' academic programs, and this is not easily represented as a number. As we ponder the future ofthe Libraries, we welcome your suggestions to help us gain a better understanding ofhow you and your students utilize the collections for learning, for teaching, and for researching. +
5
Bonnie Clen'> Een~ I, Directo' 0' e Ubranes OfThe
Clarf'mon .- lIegt: s and can be readled
IIh' ri . lkJ, III IIr
'! tll
You can contact cJ5 irectly by email or phcrp at
lihrurle:;. dort'lTIl) flr
dllldtr wry. Jnd We alw ys Welcome suggestions at Ii/ lrarl >.~ lcI, em() nr.
" l. lI l! IIA} lje5riom. Accessing History:
The Murals Of Northern Ireland
the Hare, y BUI r . A, le~ ilndd 01< llr in he Humanl ies ~ t
ScrlpP5 Collt'ge.
Tony Crowley, Scripps College
OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS, with the help of a grant from the Dean of Faculty's office at Scripps, and practical aid and advice from Scripps senior Nisa Schoonhoven and my Scripps IT colleague Candice Cetrone, along with several members of the Libraries'
staff including- principally-
Pat Vince, Allegra Gonzalez,
and Mike Emery, I have been working on a new archive in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library ( CCDL) collection. Now more or less complete, though of course historical annotation is Loyalist mllral, Cultra always liable to be updated and amended, the archive consists ofaround six hundred photographs of murals from Northern Ireland spanning
the period of the recent Troubles ( 1979- 2004). What makes this archive unique as a historical resource-
and gives it political significance- is the fact that although there are other collections of images painted after the end of the violence in 1996, this is the only digital archive which includes a large number
of the murals from the period 1979 ( when the murals first started to appear in a significant way) to 1996. In that sense this is the sole record of the development of the murals as an important medium by which the political conflict in Northern lreland was represented and indeed fought out.
The images of the collection form a record which includes
treet/' VortJl Queen Street, Belfa. st, 2000. Digital Title: nmioooo;
representations of historical events and processes, the political standpoints of all of the main players in the conflict ( including the Irish Republican Army, the Ulster Loyalist paramilitary forces, and the British
Army), the concerns oflocal communities at the centre ofviolence, and modes offormal political and ideological address. The tone and content of the murals range from overtly political declarations to brutal depictions of the violence, from death- threats to the use of humour and irony. Taken together, the
YO
ARE NOW
ENn: RING
FREE DERRY
Repllblican mural, New Lodge Road, New Republicalt mural, Bogside, Derry, 1989. Lodge, Belfas/" 1997 · DigitalTitle: mmOOQOl Digital Title: mnioo407
6
CONNECTIONS • SPRING 2008 paintings constitute an attempt by the various forces in the conflict to use the walls, streets, and public
spaces of Northern Ireland to regulate, construct, and possess space for political purposes.
Annotating the collection was a long and laborious process since for each image I had to identify LoyalLst mural, Sha/ lkill Parade, West Loyalist mural. SJwnkill Road. West the date at which it was painted Belfast, 2002. DIgital Title: ml1ioo2lJ Belfast. 1987. Digital Title: mnioosu and its location, and- most importantly-
to give a description ofthe image which low detailed access ( the images are scanned in high tells something of its historical significance. This enough quality to allow online magnification) to this meant not only using my own notes, compiled as I unique aspect of Northern Irish history. took the photographs over the twenty five year peThere
are two ways in which the archive has been riod, but checking my notes and memories against utilised thus far. First, I have used this primary official forms ofhistorical record- maps, newspaper source in my own teaching either to show how a archives, biographies and histories, online resources, key moment or event, or a significant location or and so on. The aim was to create an archive which person, is represented historically, or to require my will be searchable by non- experts and which will al- students to do their own analysis in order to encourage
them to develop some understanding
of the sheer complexity of the conflict and its representation.
Second, the materials have been accessed by a research team compiling a documentary on the The marerials in murals for British TV, and specific thiS collection Jre images have been included within ' val!<, ble i he r L two history textbooks designed at c 11 fil'IlJIEel la for use in schools. I hope that in lemom. edulrol/ lllIlI the future the archive will afford and can be found further access to this violent, difby
searching for he ficult, and complicated period of Dignal- Irle. Irish and British history.•
Republican muml, Divis Street. Falls, West Belfast. ;, 1.001. D[~ ital Title: InlIlOOQ26
CONNECTIONS · SPRING 2008 7
Meet Your Librarians
Claremont Colleges Digital Library
Lisa L. Crane has moved into the position ofDigital Production Librarian
for the Claremont Colleges Digital Library.
Her main duties include managing the operations of the production center for the digital library and staying on top of existing and emerging trends in metadata,
preservation, and technological best practices. Lisa has a Masters in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University and a BS in Criminology from the University of La Verne. Prior to her career as a librarian, she worked in accounting and finance for a medical device manufacturer as well as working on digital projects in both Special Collections and the CCDL. Lisa is an active volunteer at the Museum of History and Art, Ontario, as a board member for the Museum Associates and as a docent.
Special Collections
Russell" Rusty" Michalakjoinedthe LibrariesofThe ClaremontColleges
in February 2008, filling the Western Americana Manuscripts Librarian position in Special Collections. Before coming to the Libraries, he served as a Librarian Intern
at the North Carolina Supreme Court Library and was a Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian at Duke University's Bostock and Perkins Library. Rusty received
his MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin,
Madison and a Bachelors in History from Occidental College.
8
New Staff
at theLibraries
Copy Center Jennifer Catano is the Night Coordinator in the
Copy Center, Honnold/ Mudd Library. In addition
to her 10 years experience as a sales coordinator
and account executive for local computer and technology
companies, Jennifer has a BA in business
with a concentration in ISDS from csu Fullerton
and an Associate of Science degree in Corporate
Paralegal Studies, completed just before she came
to the Libraries.
Data Services
The Libraries have established a new Data Services
unit, which will focus on services relating to data,
statistics, datasets, government information, and GIS
instruction and assistance. Mary Martin, librarian/
subject specialist for business, law, and government
information, has been appointed Data Services manager.
Within this unit, Mary will supervise Sheree Fu,
the Data Services Librarian, who has been providing
data services to our faculty and students for the
past few years. Also joining them is Warren Roberts,
the GIS Specialist, who teaches classes on GIS and
collaborates with faculty on curriculum, courses,
and projects.
Library Information Technology Christina Parenteau has joined the Libraries staff in the new position ofUser Support Specialist, with Library Information Technology. Before coming to the Libraries, she was a Technology Assistant at the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Library and InforffiaCion Science
through San Jose State University.
CONNECTIONS. SPRING 2008 ' Faculty Perspectives
I( udos to " Designing & Implementing Student
Research Projects for Maximum Learning"
Catherine L. Reed, Claremont McI( enna College
TWICE A YEAR the Libraries of The Claremont
Colleges and the Colleges offer an excellent
workshop on " Designing & Implementing Student
Research Projects for Maximum Learning:' The
workshop is organized by Gale Burrow from the
Libraries of The Claremont Colleges and Laurie
Richlin from the PH & Learning Communities Programs
at CGU.
Time is such a precious commodity, especially
right before the semester starts. We often ask ourselves
why it would be worthwhile to attend a workshop
when everything else is so hectic. Having now
attended two of these workshops, I can give at least
four good reasons why you should attend.
1) The workshop works as advertised! It actually
does help you refine your projects and their descriptions.
The keys to this success are the well- trained
librarians who specialize in your area of teaching
and research. They can function as your teaching
aids, because not only do they have great knowledge
for where to find information both in the library and
online, but they also help students figure out how
to conceptualize the questions they are to research
as answerable questions.
In addition, these librarians provide " inside"
knowledge regarding what problems students have
encountered from previously assigned research
projects. Students come to them with their frustrations
and misunderstandings. Hearing about
these problems helped me reconstruct my research
assignments to try to pre- empt these issues. Also,
they had good ideas about how to re- state and reformulate
the projects so that students could better
understand what I want them to do.
2) For new faculty, this workshop is an easy, painless
way to find out what resources and databases the
CONNECTIONS. SPRING 2008 library system offers. Also, it connects you directly with " your" librarian, the one who specializes in in your area of expertise. These are the people the students go to for help when they are working on their research projects. It is a great way to establish
an interactive relationship that leads to better projects. The librarians are happy to provide classes at the library to help students find materials or to even come to the classroom to help students learn to use the databases.
3) The workshop provides some good pedagogical
information. It includes a presentation by Laurie
Richlan on ways to be more specific describing project and course expectations. Each time I hear this talk, I find it newly informative. I use it to think about how I can fine tune and improve my current syllabi and lectures.
4) It's great to hear what other faculty are doing. Despite being at a college surrounded by academic colleagues, faculty rarely sit down and share ideas about what works and doesn't work in the classroom. The final portion of the workshop provides such an opportunity. Listening to the other faculty discuss their research projects gave me new ideas about what I could do in current and future courses.
Finally, the workshop is pretty fun. It is enjoyable to meet the librarians and other faculty. The pace of the activities keeps things moving. And breakfast and lunch are included...
To", s", works op~ will be off", ri:: d c') ain in August ~ oo8 ' Natch . r
infOrma Ion from thE: Lit,) f ri'? s bou da'es and r" 91 tra ion
9
Cinherlne L Reed is an s; oclato: PJofessor
of Psycl olegy at Claremonr McK · ", r na~ ollegc ' Looking : Back
Honnold Library in 1962, by the Numbers
THE LIBRARIES HAVE GROWN
significantly over the years,
and while some of the different
ways of viewing our current
size can be seen in this issue in
the Director's Column, " Libraries
Collections by the Numbers;'
you may wonder what Honnold
Library looked like when it first
opened back in 1952. To get an
answer, we can go to the Honnold
Library Record, which reviewed " the numbers" in the Spring of Comt"~ tiQn ofHonflOld l. ibrary, ! n/ 1urary 25, 1952. From the Claremont Colleges
1962 by looking back over the first Photo Archive avaIlable in tile CCDL at ccdLllbraries. c! a. remOlll. edufu · !/ CCp. 2.17+
ten years of Honnold Library before
looking towards the future.
The following excerpts from that issue provide an opportunity to see just how much has changed over the last forty plus years.
The Size ofthe Collections
J
Ten Years Ago and Now When the book collections were moved into the present building, Claremont University College owned in round figures 79,000 volumes; Claremont
Men's College 7,000; Pomona College 131,000, and Scripps 42,000.
At the end ofthe last academic year the colleges possessed a total of375,000 volumes, an increase of 45%. During the same period the number of United States Government Documents has increased
from 157,000 to 242,000, an increase of 54%.
The number of periodicals currently received has risen from 1,745 in 1956 to 3,110 in 1961, an increase of 78%.
These figures reflect nine years' growth so that almost certainly the library will double in size in twenty years and very probably in less time than that.
The Increased Use ofBooks in the Last Decade During the first year of the Library's operation students and faculty checked out 36,500 books at the circulation desk. In the last academic year they checked out 70,000, an increase in nine years of 92%. This year, our tenth, the increase may well reach 100%.
Partofthisincrease isdue, ofcourse, to alarger student body, but by far the greater part is owing to the simple fact that students and faculty use more books. This increased use is the natural consequence of the steady improvement in the quality of students and the quality of work expected
of them.
The duties ofa library are two- fold and in part
CONNECTIONS. SPRING 2008 10
contradictory: to preserve books and to promote their use. We feel that while providing appropriate
safeguards for the collections, we have at the same time made it possible for the members of the colleges to use books generously and freely.
The Growth in the Rate ofAcquisitions
In the first year in the Honnold Library 8,780
books were added to the collections. Last year
17,945 volumes were added, an acceleration increase
of more than 106%.
Certainly the Colleges, the Friends of the Colleges
and of the Library may view these statistics
with satisfaction. We are frequently overpowered
with contemplating the vast numbers ofold
books we do not have and with the vast numbers
of new books pouring from the publishers. It
is some satisfaction to recall that we have been
aware of the task before us and have constantly
increased our rate of acquisitions.
Where Shall We Go
in the Next Ten Years?
In attempting to plan for books and libraries in Claremont for the next ten years, it must be borne in mind that we are presently acquiring books at the rate of 18,000 per year and that over the last nine years we acquired 85,000 government documents. Thus, if the rate of acquisition does not increase, at the end of the decade we will have nearly 300,000 more volumes than we have now, far more than the present building will hold. As has been shown, the rate ofacquisition has been constantly accelerated; hence the Library holdings
in 1972 will probably show far more than a 300,000- item increase. If, as may be the case,
CONNECTIONS • SPRING 2008 new colleges are founded, this fact will further
accelerate the rate of increase.
Undoubtedly photo- duplication methods
will be much more highly developed ten years
hence than they are now; but if past experience
is a guide, this will not materially decrease the
number ofconventional books acquired but will
simply increase the library's usefulness by adding
on microfilm, microcards, etc., books which
it would be hopeless to think of acquiring in the
conventional form.
The big library problem ten years hence will
then be simply a problem of housing. The problem
may be solved in two ways and perhaps by
both, by either adding to the present building
or constructing new buildings. We are already
committed to the idea of a joint science library
building to serve Claremont University, Harvey
Mudd, Scripps and Claremont Men's Colleges.
It would also be desirable to have a small building
adjacent to Honnold devoted entirely to rare
books and special collections. It might also be
desirable to have adjacent to these two a third
building, well lighted and conveniently arranged,
which would house those books most useful to
undergraduates.
The Honnold Library Record was a publication of the Honnold Library Society, a friends of the library group that was formed in 1954. This content is excerpted
from Volume v, Number 1. Spring 1962, which is available at ccdl. Libraries. claremont. edu/ u?/ hl1j27. All issues of the Honnold Library Record are available in the CCDL at ccdl. Libraries. claremont. edu/ col/ hlr/. ~ 11
Libraries StaffNews & Notes
Alexandra Chappell ( Reference and Instruction Librarian, Learning & Outreach Programs & Services),
Candace Lebel ( Integrated Library Systems Manager, Libraries IT), and Jezmynne Westcott ( Science Librarian) presented at Tag You're It: A Dialog
Between Social Tagging and Traditional Classification,
a one- day workshop organized by LACASIS, the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Society for Information Science, held on February 22,2008. Their presentation, " The Claremont Colleges Libraries'
Implementation of LibraryThing for Libraries;' described the implementation of LibraryThing for Libraries in Blais, the Libraries online catalog. The three were also interviewed for ACRLOg ( the blog of the Association of College and Research Libraries)
on this same topic; the blog post is available at
acrlog. orgI2008/ 03/ 08/ library- thing- for- academiclibraries/.
Sheree Fu ( Data Services Librarian) was on a NITLE data fluency panel in March 2008. In April, she and Warren Roberts ( GIS Specialist) presented " GIS and Libraries: Librarians, Learning, and Teaching" at the California Academic & Research Libraries ( CARL) Conference in Irvine, CA.
Holly Gardinier ( Music Librarian) participated in the Music Library Association national meeting held in Newport, RI, February 20- 24,2008. Holly is also the lead author of the 9,200 word article " Music Librarianship:' to be published in 2009 by Routledge ( Taylor and Frances Group) in the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science.
Sheri Irvin is retiring from her position as the Denison
Reference Librarian and the Art and Women/ Gender Studies subject specialist on May 16, 2008.
John McDonald ( Assistant Director for User Services
& Technology Innovation) presented " Usage Statistics and Information Behaviors" at the NISO ( National Information Standards Organization) Forum
in Dallas, TX, in November 2007, and he presented
" Copyright 2.0: How Do We Manage Content When Our Users Are in Control?" at the Charleston Conference, an annual conference in Charleston, SC, focusing on book and serial acquisition. In January 2008, John was appointed to the Executive Committee
of COUNTER, an international library usage statistics standards organization.
Warren Roberts ( GIS Specialist) has been supporting
the geospatial component ofecological research
and education at Firestone Reserve in Costa Rica,
managed by Pitzer College. He is also co- teaching ( with Jill Grigsby, Sociology, Pomona College) the course Mapping Inequality ( Sociology 162).
Lucas Schulte ( Circulation Student Coordinator; Ph. D. Student in Hebrew Bible, School of Religion, CGU; Adjunct Professor, CST) presented a paper entitled " The Textual Evolution of a Verse: The Eunuchs'
Assassination Plot in the Books ofEsther" at the Western Commission for the Study of Religion conference ( WECSOR) on March 31, 2008, within the regional meeting of the Society of Biblical literature
( SBL) the world's largest organization ofaca-
CONNECTIONS · SPRING 2008 12
demic scholars of the Bible. Lucas also participated in CGU'S second annual Religions in Conversation Conference, of which he is a co- founder. The conference,
held on April 13 this year, is an attempt to have constructive inter- religious dialogue among scholars, the general public, and members of religious
communities, ali within the relative safety and neutrality of an academic setting. More information
about the conference is available at www. cgu. edu/ pages/ S4S7. asP ·
Pat Vince ( Digital Initiatives Librarian, CCDL) presented
" CCDL as Platform for Digital Library, Institutional
Repository and Scholarly Publishing" at an OCLC live webinar event on November 13,2007, attended by 226 national institutions and 28 international
institutions. Using information from the webinar and an interview with Pat, OCLC developed a brochure, " Success Story: The Claremont Colleges;' available in PDF from tinyurl. com/ saetly. At the American Library Association Mid- Winter 2008 Conference in Philadelphia, Pat presented " Building the CCDL" on January 13. Highlights ofthe presentation
included background on cuc and The Colleges, driving forces for creating the CCDL, the process of selecting a digital asset management system, the development of two collaboration models for participating
in the CCDL, information on managing projects, and a discussion of user centered services and global discovery.
Jezmynne Westcott ( Science Librarian) presented " Integrating Library Resources into Sakai" at the
8th
Sakai Conference, held in Newport Beach, CA, on December 5, 2007. She presented on the same topic for a NITLE virtual conference on March 25, 2008 and at a day long, NITLE- SpOnsored workshop
at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, on April 25, 2008. Slides from these presentations are available at claimid. com/ jezmynne. In addition to these presentations and the LACASIS presentation on LibraryThing, Jez presented " Do You Really Get What You Pay For? A Comparison of Open Source and For Purchase Next Generation Catalogs" at the SCELC ( Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium)
Colloquium on March 5, 2008, and she was a guest lecturer on Science Librarianship for a class at the University ofIllinois, Urbana- Champaign on February 12, 2008.
CONNECTIONS · SPRING 2008 13
Innovation in Library Services
John McDonald
) ol1n McDonal< lls Ie AS~ js ant D, recor
for User ~ Nice & Tecllnology InriOV~'
lon 01 tn. Ubr rles ar- d c~ n be r~ ched alJoIJrI.
/;/ td()( J{ lld@/ ibuJ! 1
IN THE LAST ISSUE OF Connections, I wrote about
the Libraries' mission to develop innovative new tools to connect our users with our content. These tools will allow us to develop an information environment
that is easy to navigate, provides robust discovery options, and gives our students and faculty advanced information management functionality.
Another equally important aspect of our mission
is to provide new and innovative services to our users. In the past, our primary services- based focus was on developing rich and unique collections
and maintaining our physical spaces, while academic support centered on providing access to these collections. The Libraries continue to develop
our services including traditionallibrary
services, such as physical collections, but now we are also investing in new services to provide additional access to our librarians' expertise
( subjects and collections) as well as other tasks relating to information and research.
The Libraries continue to enhance
our services because our
The academic research library is also noltll a centerfor services) both academic and intellectual)
and we continue to strive to provide services so that our users have no need to go elsewhere to satisfy their information need.
students and faculty are faced with an increasingly complex information environment that provides them with new functionality but also more choices. For many of our users, the reason they continue to use the Libraries is because of our high quality personalized services, whether those are in person, on the phone, or via email and chat. In addition, many will continue to leverage the Libraries' services, because of the increased functionality we offer, that are unavailable from other information providers.
14
The library has always been viewed as the intellectual center of the academic campus and the academy, which is why the library is almost always located in the physical center of a campus. The academic research
library is also now a center for services, both academic and inteIlectual, and we continue to strive to provide services so that our users have no need to
go elsewhere to satisfy their information needs.
I'd like to outline a number of those innovations, some of which the Libraries initiated based on perceived
user needs and others that were developed due to requests by our students and faculty. The newest services that we have been able to provide are focused on the physical space in the Libraries,
on technology, collections, resource discovery, user support, and expertise.
The Libraries, in response to a student survey in Fall 2007, provided a number of upgrades to our physical services. We re'laxed the food and drink policy for the Honnold/ Mudd building to allow covered drink containers and snack items. We extended
hours during the Finals period and found that hundreds of students used the building during
these late study hours. We have also provided
CONNECTIONS · SPRING 2008 lockers for students to use for short term storage of items while they go to dinner or take a break from studying. Indications are that more than half are in use at any point.
Library users are also reliant on Internet access while in our buildings. The Libraries recently upgraded
and extended wireless coverage and also labeled active Ethernet ports for easier identification.
In the future, we hope to integrate our network with The Colleges' networks to provide access to each user's home campus network for file storage and retrieval.
We've also been able to reconfigure some of our collections to provide easy access to leisure reading material ( books, magazines, and newspapers) on the
2 nd
floor of Honnold/ Mudd Library. We continue
71re reconfigured " lil'iug room · I" Honnold/ Mudd Library, aCTO' from the Services Desk. You'UJi/ ld / lew papers,
magazines, puzzles, and a comfortable placl! to it.
to add digital content to The Claremont Colleges Digital Library, which provides our students with
CONNECTIONS' SPRING 2008
access to unique primary collections from both the Libraries and The Colleges.
Some of our most important services are direct services to The Colleges' faculty. We are now embarking
on a project to get our librarians onto each
\, Ve are now embarking on a
project to get our librarians onto
each campu to provide support
at thepoint ofneedforfaculty.
campus to provide support at the point of need for faculty. They will be able to provide research assistance
to students and faculty through their subject expertise, research process knowledge, and ability to utilize resources like Sakai to assist faculty in developing their courses. The overall breadth of our librarians' expertise is highlighted in " Libraries Staff News & Notes" in this issue of Connections, where you can read about their recent research and presentations.
In the future, we will continue the dialogue about what services are needed by our faculty and students, You c. ln con ac and we will revise our current service offerings to uS directly by ensure that we are meeting their needs. For example, ma" A ph er one potential area of collaboration between the libraries
and our users could be through student or 11.1/, 1" ' y, nd faculty advisory groups that can give us ideas for new services and improvements on our existing uggt:! s ions ( l' services. It's for this reason that we always want to " IIalles. elm mont hear about additional services that our faculty and students want from their Libraries. +
15 Highlights ofNew Acquisitions in the Libraries' Special Collections
Colleges Archives
Papers of Phil Dike, artist and Scripps faculty. Correspondence,
journals, scrapbooks, lecture notes, and ephemera.
Gift from the Dike family. Denison Library.
Furman Collection of world stamps, photographs, and
photo- postcards. Gift to Claremont McKenna College
by an alumnus.
Marjorie L. Harth. Pomona College, Reflections on a Campus;
with essays by Ronald Lee Fleming, George L. Gorse,
Verlyn Klinkenborg; principal photography by Henry Cabala.
Claremont, Pomona College, 2007. Gift, Pomona
College.
Literature
Susan Allix. Colours ofPersia. 2007. Artists' book. Handcolored
etchings and linocuts. Edition of 25 copies. Denison
Library, Rare Book Room.
Lewis CarrolL Alice in Wonderland. Engravings by Alicia
Scavino. [ Buenos Aires]: Ediciones Dos Amigos, 2006.
Edition of 25 copies. Denison Library, Rare Book Room.
T. S. Eliot. The Waste Land. San Francisco, Arion Press, 2007. Honnold/ Mudd Library, Special Collections.
Fourth ofJuly Orations. A Collection Of150 Speeches, Orations,
andAddressesontheFourth ofJuly ( with a few pieces of related material). Various places 1794- 1884. Gift, Ellen
Browning Scripps Foundation. Denison Library, Rare Book Room.
Manuscripts
Albert Einstein, Typed letter, signed. Gift to Harvey Mudd
College by an emeritus faculty. Honnold/ Mudd Library,
Special Collections.
Oxford Collection
Dr. John Caius. De Antiquitate Cantebrigiensis Academiae
and Assertio Antiquitatis Oxoniensis. London, John Day,
1574. Honnold/ Mudd Library, Special Collections.
Philbrick Collection
Three ink drawings of Ellen Terry and one of Henry Irving
by Eric Pape, ca. 1900- 1910. Honnold/ Mudd Library, Special Collections.
Western Americana Joaquin Miller. A Royal Highway ofthe World. Autograph Manuscript. Honnold/ Mudd Library, Special Collections.
For more information:
D nlson II rary- 6073' I or d, nlIO' ail/'... m JoWr/ l( lll( ill
5 " cial Colle~ ti ~ m; 60i' 3~ 77 or f' n/ ll'vllhw/ ip, , luI II m.~ /( 1
Campus Mail
In~ drawing 0/ Ellen Terry by & ic Pape. 1907.
