Welcome back!

Here are some updates about the MU Libraries since last semester:

Faculty and graduate students can now renew materials FIVE times online instead of two. If  you experience any glitches with the new renewal amounts, please contact Esther Schnase (Schnasee@missouri.edu or 882-9158) for a quick fix.

Thanks to funding from University administration, Ellis Library hours will be extended to 24/5, starting September 8th.

BrowZine is now available for the desktop or laptop, although it does not sync with the app.

The temporary residents from Jesse Hall have vacated Ellis Library, so rooms 114 and 202 are undergoing some renovation before reopening later this semester.

As noted in Mosaics (p.16), the new census Research Data Center will open on the 2^nd floor of Ellis Library before the end of 2015.

We are increasing our services in data and data management. DATA-ARCHIVES-L is an announcements service and forum for MU campus affiliates who use quantitative data for research, teaching and study.  To subscribe, go to https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/datasets and click on the Listserv tab or send an email to Marie Concannon, Data Librarian, at concannonm@missouri.edu. Our Data Management Plan guide offers resources and best practices for complying with data sharing requirements. For more information about data management plans, contact mulibrariesdp@missouri.edu.

We’ve also had some changes in personnel.  Ann Riley, Associate Director for Access, Collections, and Technical Services, is now Acting Director and responsible for all library operations. University administration will name a search committee for a new director later this fall.  Jim Cogswell will be continuing with the Libraries until his retirement next year.  Jim will be focusing on Advancement opportunities and the MU Libraries Centennial Celebration. 

We are delighted to welcome new librarians: Grace Atkins, User Engagement Librarian in Ellis Library, and Taira Meadowcroft, Information Services Librarian in the Health Sciences Library. Timothy Perry will join Special Collections later this fall.

We continue to recover from the mold outbreak of 2013. Salvaged materials and replacement copies are being processed back into the collections and will reappear in the MERLIN catalog as they become available for circulation. University Facilities Management is working with us on improving and expanding off-site storage options.

We also face significant budget challenges and are working with University administration on how to improve this situation. There will be a vote of the student body on a proposed student library fee in November. We are grateful for the support of MSA for this fee.

We also continue to seek solutions to the pressure of ever-increasing subscription costs. We are compiling data in preparation for a review of high-cost/low-use subscriptions to be considered for cancellation after faculty consultation later this semester. We will send more detailed information on this issue in a later communication.

Upcoming events

Friday workshops on various research tools and topics begin on August 28.  Recordings of past workshops are available online.

This year, we celebrate the centennial of Ellis Library and the history of all the MU Libraries, with these events:

• September 23, a student-focused party on the North steps of Ellis Library
• October 15, a celebration at the Health Sciences Library
• January 15, a Rededication Celebration in the grand reading room with presentation of A Place of Visions, the centennial history authored by Prof. Steve Weinberg.
• April 15, the grand finale with honored guest David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States

Upcoming exhibits in the Ellis Library colonnade and in the Bookmark Café.

Banned Books Week, Sept. 27-Oct. 3, 2015.

Open Access Week, Oct. 19-25, 2015.

Ellis Library, under construction in 1914-15.

MU Libraries News Spring 2015

It has been an eventful year for the MU Libraries! We’d like to give you a brief update and forecast of things to come. While we face many challenges, we also find opportunity for new projects and developments.

You may have seen reports in the media of the proposed student library fee. With the encouragement of Chancellor Loftin and with input from the Missouri Student Association (MSA) and the Graduate Professional Council (GPC), the MU Libraries have proposed a student library fee.

• If passed by the students, the fee will begin at $5.00 per credit hour in fall 2016 and will be followed by $2 annual increases over the five years to a total of $15.00 per credit hour.
• The fee will dramatically increase funding to the Libraries and help Mizzou to deliver library services on par with our peer institutions.
• The vote will take place in November 2015.
• For more details and opportunity to give your input, see http://library.missouri.edu/yes/

The budget is indeed challenging. With expenditures of $18,643,152, the MU Libraries rank 53rd among the 62 AAU institutions that are members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Our expenditures per FTE student are 37.33% below the ARL average. (For more detail, see our Annual Statistical Report, attached, and our Operating Expenditures report.) Special challenges this year include:

• Continued inflation of journal and database subscriptions.
• The 2% reduction in the general allocation of funds, as for all University units.
• Mandatory increases in minimum wage and for some staff classifications.
• The need to replenish our self-insurance fund following the mold outbreak and fire of recent years.
• Increased cost for rental of off-campus storage of materials.
• Flat or reduced funding of the UM Library Systems Office and other state library organizations, resulting in some cancellations and shifting some costs to the MU Libraries’ budget.

We are considering options for dealing with these issues. If the proposed student fee does not pass, we will almost certainly face a very large journal cancellation. We will begin the work of compiling usage statistics and costs this summer and will be reviewing subscriptions with faculty in the fall in order to be prepared for this eventuality. We will also need to consider curtailing services. If you share our concern regarding library funding, please convey that to your department chair, your dean, and to the Campus Library Committee.

Despite these budget woes, we have been able to make some additions and improvements:

• We are grateful to Vice Chancellor of Research Hank Foley for funding the subscription to Web of Science for MU. In addition to indexing major journals in many areas, Web of Science provides the metrics used by the AAU to measure the impact of scholarly work. Training videos are available at http://library.missouri.edu/announcements/2015/04/08/web-of-science-tutorials/.
• We have also been able to extend our subscription to BrowZine, an app that facilitates access to online journals.
• We have made some changes to our website and implemented upgrades to several technologies in order to improve access and usability.
• Thanks to the Student Fee Capital Improvement Committee we will have a new KIC scanner in the Journalism Library.
• Thanks to engineering student Nick Bira and the Interdisciplinary Innovations Fund, we have a 3D printing service available in Ellis Library.
• We will be transitioning to a new electronic reserves system, an improvement on eRes, this summer.
• We continue to increase our capacity to support online learning through the creation of online learning tools, streaming of our workshops, and effective use of tools such as Blackboard’s Collaborate.

We have also done some reorganization. The former Ellis Library Reference Department has been reconfigured as a cluster of closely related teams with the aim of developing services for new students and experienced researchers, regardless of location:

• Research Services
• Instructional Services
• Online Information Services
• Government Information & Data Services
• User Engagement

Recovery from the mold outbreak of 2013 is ongoing. Salvaged materials are returning to circulation as they are processed into the new storage facility. Applause are due to many behind-the-scenes staff who are putting in untold hours on quality control, physical processing, and record management as part of this project. Special thanks to Government Information Librarian Marie Concannon, whose coordination with other government libraries to replace documents has allowed us to use available funds to salvage more materials than would otherwise have been possible.

In July we will say farewell to our colleagues from Admissions, Financial Aid, and the Registrar’s Office as they return to Jesse Hall. Their occupancy of rooms 114 and 202 in Ellis Library has inspired us to think more creatively about our spaces. Most of the materials moved from those rooms will remain in their new locations; we have been able to open up some new spaces for study areas—notably The Nook on the 4^th floor East.

In the course of the year we have also said farewell to many colleagues who have left us, either for retirement or for new jobs, and we’ve been able to welcome some new colleagues to our team. Searches are ongoing to fill several vacancies. We appreciate your patience as we go through these transitions.

Finally, we look forward to celebrating one hundred years of library service, occasioned by the centennial of the dedication of Ellis Library. Although our history has been marked by significant challenges, there are many positive memories and achievements and exciting possibilities for the future. We hope you will join us for exhibits, performances, book signings, and other celebratory events throughout the year. Signature events include:

• September 23, a student-focused party on the North steps of Ellis Library
• January 28, a Rededication Celebration in the grand reading room
• April 15, the grand finale with honored guest David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States