Libraries
by Ann Wolpert

Public Services
by Steve Gass

Collection Services/ Information Resources
by Diane Geraci and Marilyn G. McSweeney

Administrative Services
by Keith Glavash

Technology Planning and Administration
by MacKenzie Smith

PDF version of entire Libraries report

About Us > Annual Reports

MIT Libraries
Annual Report FY 2007-2008

Collection Services

Organizational Change

Collection Services was transformed into the newly-configured Information Resources (IR) directorate in the fourth quarter of the year.  This meant that a redefined Technology Operations department (formerly Systems and Technology Services) joined Acquisitions and Licensing Services, Cataloging and Metadata Services, Collection Management Services, and the Institute Archives and Special Collections.  The goal of the new constellation of departments is to strengthen and build strong collaborative relationships among the acquisition, discovery, and management of information resources and the processes and systems that support and promote their access and use.   The challenge is to be responsive to an environment composed of increasingly digital resources at the same time that we maintain the right balance of services and systems for the full range of resources that support our library users.

Acquisition and Licensing of Information Resources

Acquisitions highlights

The Libraries purchased nearly 24,000 tangible books this year and added 2,900 books through our Gifts Program, with significant gifts coming from three individual donors – Michael Bronski (400 literature titles), Stephen Brophy (800 contemporary films on DVD and books on film studies), and Lois Craig (11,000 architectural slides and a framed print).

Although we continue to purchase many print journal subscriptions and have standing order arrangements with organizations for their printed publications, 47% of all subscription titles are now electronic and 61% of the total serials budget is being spent on electronic versions that we access via license agreements.  As the volume of electronic products increases, the staff time spent in contract negotiation for both new products and renewal of existing titles increases each year.  This year we negotiated a total of 48 license agreements, an increase of 17% from FY07.

The Institute Archives added a total of 524 cubic feet of new material to the permanent archives collection -- 298 cubic feet of administrative records from 38 MIT offices and 226 cubic feet of manuscript papers acquired from 23 individual donors.  In addition, 300 cubic feet of Technology Licensing Office records previously reviewed for retention were formally transferred from records management to permanent holdings status.

New faculty manuscript collections were begun with donations documenting the careers of biologists and chemists, John M. Buchanan, H. Gobind Khorana, and Jeffrey Steinfeld. The Archives also acquired material of Bernard Frieden (urban studies), and of Frederick Sanders (earth sciences).  Materials were added to existing collections of previous faculty donors, including those of Harold Edgerton, Bernard Feld, Jay Forrester, Robert Mann, David Middleton, and Robert Seamans.  We also received several donations documenting student life, including material from the Graduate School Council, the Combined Music Club, and through Professor Margery Resnick and AMITA (Association of MIT Alumnae), transcripts of oral histories conducted with MIT Alumnae. 

Of particular note was the generous donation by the MITRE Corporation of 49 cubic feet of Project Whirlwind reports and documents as well as 1800 digital objects selected and created from the original paper.  Project Whirlwind started in the 1940s as a campus research project in the Servomechanisms Laboratory.  The project later continued at Lincoln Laboratory and finally at the MITRE Corporation. This collection represents the largest submission to date to the Archives of digital files, and has been a call to consider issues relating to hybrid document/digital donations.

Transition from print to electronic collections

The MIT Libraries continued the transition from print to electronic collections through licensing access to more electronic databases, expanding access to back years of journal titles, and increasing the acquisition of e-books, as well as reducing print in some areas. 

With the welcome addition of new continuing funds from the Provost, we added twelve new major electronic products, most significantly the ARTstor database of digital images, as well as a number of other products supporting astrophyics, business, communications, life sciences, materials science, and music.

We reviewed 400 dual format journal titles from four major publishers who participate in Portico, the digital archiving service.  The result was cancellation of 83% of our print subscriptions from Oxford University Press, Sage, Taylor & Francis, and John Wiley effective January 2008.  The savings from these cancellations contributed to the purchase of additional retrospective journal content, a research need identified by library users.

Focus on energy

Through a combination of funds provided by the Provost and existing library funds we acquired several databases, back files of journals, new journal titles, dozens of conference proceedings, and several hundred individual books relating to the broad spectrum of research interests within the campus-wide energy initiative.  Selected acquisitions included databases from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and CRC Press, journal back file collections from Elsevier, and conference proceedings from national and international organizations.

Access and Discovery of Information Resources

The Libraries as whole are focused on improving the user experience by expanding our ability to offer digital content and services to users wherever they prefer to work at the same time that we continue supporting more traditional formats of information resources such as books, print journals, maps, and manuscripts. We continue to create metadata for a variety of discovery environments, including Barton and DSpace@MIT; increase cataloging of e-journals and monographic e-titles; consult on metadata needs for digitization projects; collaborate with OpenCourseWare for the sixth year; maintain the integrity of Barton; and make major headway with cataloging of rare and special materials. 

IR staff were key contributors to major projects aimed at improving the overall discovery environment for information resources:

• Vera Multisearch: Our long-awaited new discovery interface for licensed resources for journal articles and other resources was beta-tested last year and moves into production this fall.
• WorldCat Local: The MIT Libraries are an early participant in OCLC's effort to provide an easily accessible on-line catalog interface with contemporary features and the ability to point users both to local holdings and a wider universe of materials.

Expanding and experimenting

In response to staff changes and new priorities, the Cataloging and Metadata Services (CAMS) staff conducted several successful experiments to collaborate across library departments and to expand the use of outside vendors for several core activities.  The results of these projects and new work flows will make materials easier to find and more readily available to our users.

• The ability to work in multiple metadata standards was expanded to include more members of CAMS.  Training and practical work in non-MARC metadata began with an introduction to creation of metatdata for the Rotch Image Collection.
• Collaborating with Rotch Library, the position of Aga Khan Cataloger was created. Using several metadata schemes, the Khan Cataloger is responsible for cataloging of all materials in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, as well as images in the Khan Image Archive.
• The "pre-cataloging” collections of books have been eliminated from each library.  The materials that were formerly part of those collections are now regularly routed to an outside cataloging vendor to expedite the addition of full records in Barton and integration with the regular book collection.
• Our music cataloging needs have been transitioned to on-site contract music catalogers.
• Staff from CAMS and Humanities Library completed the second year of a call number conversion project for the Humanities literature collection.  Existing call numbers are being converted to numbers consistent with current cataloging practice, allowing new materials to move into the collection more quickly. 
• CAMS staff participated in OCLC's Next Generation Cataloging project, evaluating publisher-provided metadata in the ONIX format, cross-walked to MARC.

Management of Information Resources

Preservation and conservation

In order to be good stewards of library materials in multiple formats and media, a variety of new projects and work practices got underway this year that leveraged the expertise of our highly talented staff.

• In collaboration with AMPS, Preservation Services developed the plan to migrate audio/video content from an obsolete analog format (Umatic tapes) to a digital format (DigiBeta with DVD service copies), in order to transfer the "What is Engineering” series of tapes to a more staple environment. We envision more collaboration and attention to "at risk"materials in the future.
• The Wunsch Conservation Laboratory made the transition from film-based photography to digital photography for conservation documentation; this also makes it easier to supply images for exhibit planning/preparation and to enrich the Preservation Services website.
• Donor funds continued to be important for conservation activities:  a grant from the Brotherton Foundation allowed us to conserve 100 items from the William Barton Rogers Papers.  With generous support from Thomas F. Peterson Jr ('57), work has begun to create a digital collection of the Vail Balloon Print Collection. Each of the 1200 items selected was conserved prior to digitization.

Library Storage Annex space changes

CRSP funding produced dramatic changes to our shelving capacity.  In spring FY07, the first floor was transformed with compact shelving and shelving was replaced on the fourth floor with a resultant gain of hundreds of feet of shelf space.  The increased capacity is coming just in time to accommodate large relocations of  materials from Barker Library and even larger ones from Dewey Library.

Records Management

Archives staff continued to consult with Institute staff on reviewing records, assessing their functionality and long-term value, and advising on various issues related to records storage, access, control, and long-term preservation of the documents vital to the mission of MIT.  Our Records Management Program, originally founded almost thirty years ago, faces a challenge and will need to undergo a major update in light of the Institute-wide transition from paper-based to electronic records and a growing need to digitize active and semi-active paper documents.

Outreach and Public Service

Information Resources staff join the work of the Public Services directorate to promote our collections, make them more accessible, and provide assistance for their use.  Several noteworthy initiatives this year as well as some ongoing activities demonstrate our direct engagement with faculty and students, alumni, and researchers from around the globe.

Maihaugen Gallery and exhibit program

Several years of work resulted in the completion of the Maihaugen Gallery – a long-sought opportunity for the MIT Libraries to showcase collections.  The Libraries are indebted to an anonymous donor and Paul G. Gregory III, Class of '74, for their generosity.  State-of-the-art security and HVAC systems were installed so that even the most valuable items in the Libraries can be exhibited.  The inaugural exhibit "A Celebration of Gifts” was kicked off with a reception well attended by MIT staff, faculty and students, and friends of the MIT Libraries.   In addition, the Libraries have named an Exhibits Committee to oversee future exhibits in the space.

Article delivery service

The pilot service to deliver digital copies of journal articles from the Library Storage Annex to faculty desktops was a success and will become a full service with a soft rollout during Summer 2008 in preparation for the upcoming academic year. 

Reference service

Visitors to the Institute Archives reading room continue to travel locally and from abroad to use our collections. The records of the Office of the President are again the most heavily used of the archival collections in the Institute Archives, reflecting their value in documenting all aspects of the academic, research and administrative life of MIT. In all, researchers used 111 different collections of archival records of the Institute and 109 manuscript collections; the most used include the papers of mathematician and information theorist Norbert Wiener, urban planner Kevin Lynch, political scientist and communications theorist Ithiel de Sola Pool, nuclear engineer Norman Rasmussen, MIT president Jerome Wiesner, electrical engineer Harold Edgerton, linguist Roman Jakobson, neuroscientist Francis O. Schmitt, and physicist Bruno Rossi.

Presentations and special events

The Institute Archives staff gave presentations to alumni during Tech Reunions, the newly constituted Cardinal and Grey Academy, and the Class of 1953. Staff provided commentary for the webcast of the Pre-ceremony Commencement exercises again this year, and delivered course-related instruction in the use of the Institute Archives.

Digital Projects and Infrastructure

The Libraries are moving forward with a DOME/DSpace initiative. Goals include digitizing valuable content from our analog collections, and looking beyond MIT to select vulnerable "born digital” content to host in DOME/DSpace.  At the same time, the Internet Archive agreed to locate an Open Content Alliance (OCA) scanning center at the Boston Public Library, and MIT Libraries has begun to use this service. Working with staff in Public Services, we are establishing common practices and standard workflows that will allow us to move the following projects into a production environment.

DOME/Digital projects

• Technical Reports: In process are the Artificial Intelligence Lab Working Papers (CSAIL), the Sloan Working Papers, and David Taylor Model Basin Technical Reports.  
• Vail Balloon Prints:  Work preparing for the presentation of the Vail Balloon images, news clippings, and broadsides was initiated this past year. Over 1,000 scans have been completed along with the aforementioned conservation treatment. (Archives collection)
• Project Whirlwind: Documents related to Jay Forrester's research project (1946-54) that produced MIT's first high speed digital computer with magnetic core memory.  Most of the collection had already been digitized, but lacked sufficient metadata.  (Archives collection)
• Kepes-Lynch: Photographs and field notes from an architectural survey of Boston conducted by Gyorgy Kepes and Kevin Lynch of the Urban Planning faculty in the 1950s and 1960s.    (Rotch and Archives collections)
• Edgerton On-Line: The Archives were asked to join a project initiated by the Edgerton Center to digitize material of Harold "Doc"Edgerton and make it accessible on-line.  The materials held by the MIT Museum, AMPS, and the Archives include film, negatives, videos, photographic prints, and notebooks.  The Archives received estimates for scanning the microfilm and metadata creation.  Digitization will commence this summer.
• Reports to the President: Working with Document Services, a project was initiated by the Archives to convert TIFF images of the Reports to the President (MIT Annual Reports) scanned by Doc Services in the 1990s to PDFs.  The PDFs, encompassing most of the annual reports from 1911-1997 were mounted on the Archives website in the spring.
• PETE (Planning for E-Thesis Enhancement) and CAMEO (Capturing and Archiving MIT E-publications Online):  Two planning projects that will set the stage for providing digital access to unique MIT content of value to researchers with the Institute and worldwide.

Future Planning

Information Resources staff have set ambitious agendas for next year in collaboration with colleagues across the Libraries that build on this year's accomplishments and that also move us forward in ways that provide true benefits for faculty and students at the Institute.

We will continue to implement new services and systems to enhance discovery and delivery of collections, experiment with ways to do our work more efficiently in order to have more staff resources to expand services in new directions, work with partners across the Institute to prepare for MIT's 150th anniversary, and work to assure that the preservation of digital collections and electronic records is as robust as our stewardship has been for our print collections.

The dedication and enthusiasm of the staff in Information Resources, as they strive to serve the Institute and shape the future of MIT Libraries, makes working with them both an honor and a real pleasure.

Diane Geraci
Associate Director for Information Resources

Marilyn G. McSweeney
Acting Associate Director for Collection Services

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