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

Public Services

The Libraries' strategic plan articulates three directions: 

1. Provide immediate benefits to faculty and students.
2. Leverage the expertise of library staff and information resources.
3. Shape the future. 

This plan in combination with the Libraries' mission—to create and sustain an intuitive, trusted information environment that enables learning and the advancement of knowledge at MIT and to develop strategies and systems that promote discovery and facilitate worldwide scholarly communication—drives our ambition to create a barrier-free service environment that enables faculty, students, and staff to discover, access, and use scholarly information and library domain expertise that significantly improves their productivity.  Expectations are high, but thanks to the talent and industry of the staff of the Libraries, this past year has seen significant improvement in services. 

A cornerstone for success in today's world is an understanding of how to find, evaluate, and use scholarly information.  It is fundamental to critical thinking, and an area in which the library staff contribute significantly by working with faculty and students both within the classroom and out to teach this core set of skills.  This year saw a 356% in the number of students benefiting from course-integrated library instruction, primarily due to the d'Arbeloff-funded experiment with one of the GIR chemistry options, 3.091: Introduction to Solid State Chemistry.  By leveraging faculty support, course assignments, and video tutorials on specific topics in support of the assignments, we have shown that it's possible to have a significant impact on student learning with an innovative, sustainable staffing model.  Early studies assessing the impact of this strategy are positive.  We have leveraged the d'Arbeloff experience by creating a suite of video tutorials making it easier for students (and anyone else) to learn about the full set of skills that contribute to better searching strategies, using the right discovery tools, and getting the most out of library services.  Available via standard web browsers at anytime of day or night, this set of resources was visited over 16,000 times since introduced last September.   We have also begun experimenting with automated video capture of popular specialized workshops of interest across the community and making them available via the web, thus extending their audience. 

Along with teaching how to find and use the vast resources and expertise that we collect, license, and provide access to, we have also concentrated on improving the discovery tools available to the community.  This past year saw the launch of the beta version of Vera Multi-Search, a tool that helps users quickly find journal articles and other materials from several different library research databases all at once.  Student feedback has been enthusiastic:

"Thanks!  It's an unbelievably useful tool.  I'd call it "one-stop shopping" if that makes sense..."
"Thanks so much for building this!  It is much better than the old system."
"...multi-search is...awesome!  It makes quick search incredibly easy...I'll be using it a lot in the coming years."

Final touches are now being put in place and the new Vera Multi-Search will go into full production this August along with a completely revamped set of disciplinary research guides that will increase our ability to provide expert advice to users via the web.   Another new tool improving the ease of discovery and access is GeoWeb, which provides a web interface to search, view, and download data from the MIT Geodata Repository.  This eliminates the need for users to have to use proprietary, specialized software to discover the wealth of data in the repository.  Since its introduction in February, GeoWeb has contributed to nearly a doubling of use of the Geodata Repository and an increase of almost three-fold in the number of unique users.

Another focus of service improvements has been making our print collections more easily accessible.  In January we launched an improved BookPage service.  It makes the request process simpler by integrating it into the Barton "Your Account" system, and for the first time allows a user to request an item from a library to be pulled by staff from the shelf and held for the user at the service desk of the original library—thus making it easier for the user to find and checkout the book.  Although only launched in mid-January, use of the service jumped over 300% compared to all of the previous year.   The beta service providing desktop article delivery of articles from the Library Storage Annex will move into full production this summer.  The process for faculty to put material on course reserve was also improved by integrating two previously separate workflows based on whether the item was requested as print or online.  This allows us to build on the success we have already achieved in providing appropriate materials available through Stellar e-reserves functionality.  In addition, we are leveraging this process improvement by collaborating with DUE and IS&T to provide more timely and accurate information via Stellar to students regarding what textbooks are required for their courses.

Support for faculty, researchers, and students in managing the copyright to their own work and understanding new initiatives regarding "open access" has increased.  A three-part video tutorial on authors' rights has been downloaded nearly 6,000 times this past year, and a series of podcasts on related topics have been downloaded over 40,000 times since they were introduced last September.  "Publishing Smart" workshops have been offered throughout the year and have been very popular.  Timely and specific information on the new NIH requirements for open access to all publications funded by the NIH has also been made available in a pro-active manner.  Library staff have also continued to develop their expertise in understanding and supporting the needs of faculty, researchers, and students regarding the data they produce.  A new set of web pages documenting best practices in managing and publishing their data will be launched this fall.

Three important service and policy reviews were undertaken this past year.  1) In response to user feedback a thorough review of printing, copying, and scanning services was undertaken this past winter.  Based on this analysis the Libraries have begun implementing a new program for the upcoming academic year that will significantly improve scanning options and better integrate our other systems with the rest of the campus.  New Knowledge Imaging Centers will be deployed in Barker, Dewey, Hayden, and Rotch Libraries.  These walk-up, self-service stations will provide scanning of material up to17"x24" in size, and provide users the ability to email the image to themselves or send the images to a USB flash memory device.  Printing and copying will be integrated with MIT's TechCash system, eliminating the need for MIT users to purchase a separate print/copy card.  2) The Guidelines for Use of the MIT Libraries, first established in 2004, were also reviewed, resulting in improving expectations for the use of public space and computing.  As part of this review we also worked with the MIT Police to create a community policing position for the Libraries.  Begun in April the program has shown initial success with the Library Community Police Officer working effectively with staff across all the library units to create a safer, more secure, and friendlier environment for the MIT community.  3) A third area reviewed this year was fine policy, with the goals of insuring the policy was easy to understand, consistent across the library system, and fair.  Recommendations were approved in June and will be implemented for the new academic year.

Use of print collections remains strong and the use of online resources, while still difficult to measure accurately, is enormous.  One indicator of use is the number of article downloads from a suite of online resources monitored by the ScholarlyStats, a subscription service we employ to track the use of seven large journal packages which the MIT Libraries have licensed.  Over the past 12 months nearly two million articles were downloaded.  While these packages do not include many important society journal packages, e.g., ACM, ACS, AIP, APS, ASC, IEEE, and RCS, their usage is an indicator of the importance of online content to the community.  Even with the rich collections we collect and license, demand continues to outpace our ability to collect in all areas of interest to the community.  Interlibrary borrowing activity grew 9%, with a 10% increase in demand for items not owned or licensed by MIT.  The average turnaround time for article delivery is now less than one business day, while the average for returnable items, e.g., books, is now down to three and one-half days.

Effort has focused on developing a "roadmap" for DSpace, focusing on its improvement and integration with the Libraries' new DOME initiative.  DSpace will undergo a major upgrade this summer using the Manakin XML user interface that will significantly improve performance and provide increased opportunities for more rapid prototyping of new services in the future.  Currently a growing collection of over 20,000 digital images from Rotch Visual Collection, DOME will soon be adding other digitized collections of value to the community—the Kepes/Lynch "Images of the City" Collection, the notebooks of "Doc" Edgerton, the Project Whirlwind Archive, the Sloan Working Papers, and the Vail Print Ballooning collection. 

Requests for reference and other help assistance declined this past year.  Though difficult to prove, evidence suggests that the continued decline results from our success in providing new and improved self-help tools and information online, available anytime, anywhere.  While the numbers in aggregate are down, it's important to note that this varies across the library system—and the complexity of inquiries that do occur requires significant time from staff. 

Work continues on improving library spaces.  Aging facilities make it challenging, but staff work creatively with the user community to identify areas for improvement.  A number of units have improved power options at study spaces, making it easier for students to use laptops where they want.  Plans are currently underway to improve the study conditions in the Barker Reading Room, where poor lighting and space designed around printed journal shelving have contributed to a dated and dreary space.  Most significant is the approval by CRSP to fund a major renovation of Dewey Library.  To begin this winter and be completed within a year, the renovation will create more individual and group study space, create a new 24-hour study space, increase the shelving capacity for the book collection, and better rationalize staff space. 

Library staff have been active in the ACCORD initiative.  Significant effort has been devoted to providing a coherent view to faculty surrounding the choices available for using images for teaching and research, resulting in the launch of an Image Resource section within the Teaching with Technology website.  Another project is looking at the relationship of Stellar, OCW, and DSpace, with the goal of improving service and workflow.  Time has also been spent developing an improved understanding of the use and needs for capturing class lectures on video.  Results of this effort will be presented to the Council on Educational Technology this fall to help inform MIT's video-capture strategy for the future. 

It is impossible to do full justice to the accomplishments of library staff in improving the teaching and research environment for MIT faculty, students, and staff in the space available here.  Readers are encouraged to read the reports from individual Public Service units when they become available at http://libstaff.mit.edu/deptannual/top.html#public.  However, while much has been accomplished, there remains much to do.  The Libraries' aging physical infrastructure challenges efforts to transform ourselves into the modern library of the 21st century—to move from an organization based on the 20th-century geography of schools and departments to a new model rooted in the interdisciplinary character of the modern MIT; to move from an organization formerly based on the delivery of print resources and face-to-face service to a new vision of delivery of resources and services over the network.  Fortunately, the staff of the MIT Libraries have consistently demonstrated their ability to meet the challenges of rising expectations, limited resources, and aging infrastructure to provide the MIT community with exemplary service.  This bodes well for the future.

Selected Service Trends

Steve Gass
Associate Director for Public Services

webmaster@libraries.mit.edu
This page was last updated on Thursday, 16-Jul-2009 07:54:40 EDT