Libraries
by Ann Wolpert

Public Services
by Steve Gass

Collection Services
by Carol Fleishauer

Administrative Services
by Keith Glavash

Technology Planning and Administration
by MacKenzie Smith

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MIT Libraries
Annual Report FY 2005-2006

Public Services

Collaboration with the MIT community continued to be at the core of the Libraries’ accomplishments this past year. The success of the Libraries depends on a deep understanding of the needs and behaviors of the faculty, students, and staff served. Major efforts focused on expanding our knowledge of these user constituencies and working with them to improve services on their behalf.

LISTENING TO FACULTY AND STUDENTS

In the fall of 2005 the Libraries undertook the largest and most detailed user survey in its history, targeting all faculty, students, postdoctoral scholars, and research staff. The survey goals were to assess the community’s perception of the quality of services and their relative importance, to help determine priorities for the future, to better understand current behavior in order to anticipate the future, to raise awareness of library services and resources, and establish benchmarks for future comparison. Over 6,400 responses were received, a 46% response rate.

Results were both gratifying and illuminating. While over 88% of users access library resources and services from outside the library, 65% still visit two or more physical libraries in the course of their work, and 40% use three or more. Consistent with the results from past questions about the Libraries that have been incorporated into quality of life surveys done by the Provost’s Office, respondents graded the Libraries highly (4.3 on a 5 point scale) when asked to rate their overall level of satisfaction with the MIT Libraries.

In particular, users were most satisfied with the help they received from library staff, the Libraries’ electronic resources, our two primary tools for discovery – Barton and Vera – and the printed collections. Users also consider these same resources and services the most important offered. At the same time, when asked about the Libraries’ priorities for the future, the message was very clear that easier searching and access to more resources online were considered the most important needs. These were followed by online tools to facilitate research and more instruction on information seeking skills incorporated into the MIT curriculum. Of the 5,600 free text comments received in the survey, 50% of them were concerned with simplifying searching. And despite not asking specifically about physical facilities, numerous comments were received asking for facility improvements.

Another key finding was an apparent lack of awareness of a number of the less traditional tools and services provided by the Libraries. While 85% or more of those responding to the survey said they use the Libraries’ web site, physical facilities, and print and e-resources, awareness of some of our newer services and resources was less deep. This next year, work will continue to develop improved methods of communication and outreach to advise the Libraries’ core constituency about the availability of new tools and services. Further analysis of the entire survey results continues, and a public web site detailing them will be provided this fall.

Complementing the results of the survey was the work of a library team focused on developing a strategy for the next generation of library discovery tools. The team produced a user needs assessment this past winter based on in-depth photo-diary studies of thirty-two students, sixteen undergraduates and sixteen graduate students. Students were asked to use their own cameras and take photos and notes of what they were doing every time they looked for information related to their academic life over the course of a week. They were then asked to bring the photos and notes to an interview with the team and use those images and words to jog their memories about the details of what they did. The team then analyzed the 277 goals and tasks and the 507 methods shared by the students in the study. The study yielded the following priorities for the Libraries’ discovery tools:

• Make topical searches easier and more effective
• Incorporate methods of trusted networks in finding tools
• Continue to explore methods to put links to the Libraries where the users are

Another important input for planning was provided this past spring when the Committee on Academics, Research, and Careers of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) sent a letter to the Faculty Committee on the Library System detailing a number of recommendations for improving the usability and usefulness of the Libraries’ digital resources and services. Building on a long-standing and positive relationship, the GSC was engaged in a series of meetings acknowledging their recommendations and detailing the work the Libraries are currently doing to achieve them. At the same time the budgetary, legal, and technical constraints that the Libraries operate under were highlighted to develop a better sense of shared expectations. The GSC has volunteered to work with the Libraries in doing usability studies of any suggested improvements and to help prioritize future developments.

This feedback and data-gathering helped shape the development of an ambitious project plan for the Libraries – Project SimpLR. Designed to provide simplified search and discovery of library resources for faculty and students, Project SimpLR builds on previous work in the Libraries and will provide a framework for continuous improvements over the next few years.

FOCUS ON INSTRUCTION

Instructional activities were again the focus of intense staff planning and execution. Close to 7,200 attendees benefited from a wide range of instructional activities, a 22% increase over the previous year (see Table 5 below). The effort the Libraries have put into developing formal instructional plans for each of the Divisional Libraries and their associated Branch Libraries continued to payoff. Course-integrated and course-related sessions increased in number by 58%, with a corresponding 28% increase in attendees. Also significant was the over 80% increase in attendance for specialized workshops. These popular workshops range in topic from how to find geographic and other data sources and manipulate them with specialized GIS software, to organizing your bibliographic references using software like RefWorks or EndNote, to accessing and using very complicated bioinformatics data sources and software, to doing business research in the most effective and efficient manner.

The Libraries also worked with the Institute’s Task Force on the Undergraduate Commons and carefully tracked its progress. Work has already begun fulfilling the Task Force’s draft recommendation that undergraduate students are instilled with the library skills necessary for successful learning and research – locating, filtering, evaluating, and using effectively the wealth of information available to them. One effective strategy for meeting these goals has been partnering with the Office of Writing Across the Curriculum, broadening the reach of library staff. Another significant achievement in this area was the successful d’Arbeloff grant proposal to develop an improved strategy for providing the 400-500 students in 3.091, Introduction to Solid State Chemistry, with the introductory information discovery and evaluation skills required for successful scholarship. Based on the existing collaboration with Professor Sadoway, this project’s expected outcomes are to provide students with the confidence and skills necessary to:

• Identify a variety of types and formats of potential sources of information relevant to their course work.
• Determine the most appropriate tool(s) or resource(s) for their information requirements and develop effective search strategies for their use.
• Critically evaluate information gathered regardless of format.
• Properly cite information sources used in assignments.
• Recognize that these skills are transferable to new subject areas and will be valuable assets for their life-long learning.

The project will start this fall with a small cohort of students from 3.091, and will involve them in designing and developing the appropriate blend of tutorials, assignments, and other activities that will be incorporated into the full 3.091 experience in the fall of 2007.

NEW TOOLS FOR TEACHING WITH IMAGES

With support from the Provost, the Libraries worked closely with Academic Computing, Academic Media Production Services (AMPS) and faculty in the History, Theory, and Criticism Section (HTC) of the Department of Architecture to transform teaching with images from the analog to digital environment. Staff in Rotch Library, the Rotch Visual Collections (RVC), and the Libraries’ Systems and Technology Services Department are creating a digital image collection using the DSpace software. Academic Computing and AMPS are creating within Stellar, MIT’s learning management system, an image tool that will allow faculty to search, gather, organize, and present these and other images both in the classroom and within the Stellar environment. This is an exiting pilot project championed both by faculty in HTC and staff in Rotch and RVC. Two courses, 4.601, taught by Professor Naginski, and 4.605, taught by Professor Friedman, will be offered this fall using these new tools.

EVOLVING THE SERVICE MODEL

As detailed in previous reports, the Libraries have been changing to support a new vision for service – a tiered information service model that enables our librarians and other technical staff to focus a greater amount of their expertise on outreach activities and the development of user self-help tools. The move to single service points in each library was advanced this past year with the full implementation of a “super” integrated service point in Hayden Library. Led by a management team from both the Humanities and Science Libraries, the staff successfully worked through a myriad list of difficult issues to develop a smooth, effective, and efficient operation. In addition, Dewey Library successfully transitioned to a single service desk, instituting a reference on-call service. Dewey staff also developed their new Research Advisor, a robust self-help tool that provides users with starting points for specific questions in the fields of business, management, and economics.

In early 2006 the Libraries offered the new Illiad request service for interlibrary borrowing requests. This new system offers several advantages over the previous interlibrary borrowing request system including empowering users to track the status of their requests without staff assistance. It also provides the potential for pickup at any library location, a major improvement from being previously limited to only pickup at Hayden Library. The option for pickup at Dewey Library went into to operation in February and has been well received. Local pickup will be expanded this summer to Barker and Rotch. In June, the Libraries also decided to implement the RAPID system for borrowing and lending articles to and from other institutions. Integrated into the Illiad system, RAPID promises to provide quicker turnaround for article level interlibrary borrowing requests.

Efforts across the system also contributed to improving the necessary human infrastructure to support the new service model. Building on the work of the previous year developing core competencies for service staff, a library team developed a set of recommendations for creating and maintaining the necessary documentation to support appropriate training efforts. Another team, working with a consultant from Human Resources, designed and delivered a successful customer service training session for all public service staff.

A year-long review of how group work is organized across the Libraries Public Service units resulted in the first major reorganization of committee work in seven years. A structure that had been built around traditional functions and groups was transformed into an integrated framework to enhance collaboration, planning, and effort around service delivery and outreach activities.

The Libraries also examined its workflows and policies regarding the management of print collections. Under the co-sponsorship of the Associate Directors for Public Services and Collection Services, R2 Consulting was engaged for this review to identify strategies for reducing the time spent managing print collections responsibly in order to devote more staff and effort in support of digital resources. R2’s report was issued in June. These recommendations are currently under review, and a project team will be formed later this summer to manage an appropriate implementation plan.

FACILITIES IMPROVEMENTS

With the decision not to include a new Dewey Library as part of the East Campus Building Project and the delays associated with planning for a possible new Engineering, Science, and Humanities Library complex, it remains vital for the Libraries to continue to improve the Libraries’ existing physical facilities to support better access to materials and create a comfortable environment for learning, research, and study. Among those many ongoing initiatives were:

Barker Library – with funding from the Institute Barker was able to replace 35 year old carpeting (much of it water damaged) on four floors and painted all its interior walls (excepting the Dome). It also redesigned its media study room into a modern group viewing facility.

Dewey Library – completed its monographic storage project which was started in the previous year, resulting in nearly 29,000 low-use volumes being sent to storage and 3,000 duplicate volumes being withdrawn. While necessitated by the space constraints in Dewey, this project improved access to the more frequently used collections remaining. Dewey received funding from the Committee for the Review of Space Planning (CRSP) to support a major renovation of its entry/exit and service desk. Work will begin late this summer and will result in a more secure environment and a service desk that better supports the new service model.

Hayden Library – after major storage efforts the previous year, the entire journal and significant parts of the book collection were shifted, resulting in the creation of approximately five years of growth space for the Humanities and Science Libraries’ collections. This also allowed for the integration of the film studies collection in the Humanities Library (transferred from Rotch). New directional signs were created and deployed throughout Hayden. The ‘browsery’ section of the Humanities Library was expanded, and the Science Library developed a plan to expand soft seating and provide collaborative computing on the first floor.

Rotch Library – the GIS Laboratory in Rotch was upgraded with support from CRSP, resulting in a doubling of workstations, a network upgrade from 10 mbps to 100 mbps, and a versatile space that supports individual work, group work, workshops, and small classes.

SERVICE TRENDS

Circulation, Reserves, and Occupancy Circulation again showed a modest reduction of 4% overall, with Hayden Library showing a slight increase. Within Hayden the Humanities collections showed an increase in loans of 9%, counterbalancing a decrease in the use of the Science collections due to the availability of more e-journals in the sciences. Despite the rapid growth in the use of e-reserves (see Table 2), the use of print reserves remained steady, with the processing of items for print reserves actually increasing 17% (see Table 3). This coming year, with special funding from the Provost to support scanning in support of e-reserves, the Libraries hope to reduce the amount of print reserve processing by increasing the adoption of e-reserves. Requests from storage also increased 17% (see Table 3). Visits to the Libraries dropped 6% across the system (see Table 4).

Table 1.  Regular Circulation and Reserve Activity (Loans, Renewals, and Holds)

Table 2. Use of Fair-Use Copyright Functionality in Stellar*

*Includes both courses supported by the Libraries’ Ereserves service and those self-supported by faculty.

Table 3. Other Key Indicators of Circulation and Reserve Activity, Print

Table 4. Library Occupancy

Table 5. Instructional Activity

Reference

Reference and other help requests continue to decrease. While still significant, it reflects an MIT culture that doesn’t like to ask for help, and appreciates the increased efforts the Libraries have engaged in to develop more self-help tools and useful information resources on the web.

Table 6. Help Requests (Reference and Other)

Use of E-Resources and Services

Use of e-resources and e-services remained high and continued to grow. Hits on the Libraries website increased 38%. This is a credit to our web team and the many subject and technical specialists across the Libraries who provide the content and contribute to the maintenance and development of the many tools, services, and resources provided through the Libraries’ website. While Vera access appeared to remain constant, this may not be a true measure of the use of the Libraries’ e-resources. This is due to the fact that it’s convenient for community members to access most of these resources directly when on-campus, and bookmark them for future access without having to go through Vera.

Table 7. Unique Hosts Served by MIT Libraries Web Site, Monthly Average

Table 8. Unique Hosts Served by Vera Home Page, Monthly Average

Interlibrary Borrowing

Interlibrary borrowing requests remained strong. Especially significant was the 33% increase in requests for monographs. Opportunities for enabling easier access to book collections from other institutions will be investigated this next year. The number of items found at MIT dropped 28%. While the number of unfilled requests jumped 21%, the total number requests that are filled either from collections outside or inside MIT was an outstanding 98%.

Table 9. Interlibrary Borrowing Requests

CONCLUSION

The successes, challenges, and work detailed above provide a picture of a staff fully engaged in advancing the mission of the MIT Libraries – to create and sustain an intuitive, trusted information environment that enables learning and the advancement of knowledge, and to develop strategies and systems that promote discovery and facilitate scholarly communication. The staff of Public Services worked creatively with their colleagues across the Libraries, the Institute, and the world in support of these worthy goals. I remain appreciative and grateful for their ongoing commitment and effort.

Steve Gass
Associate Director for Public Services

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This page was last updated on Thursday, 16-Jul-2009 07:54:40 EDT