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The North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries Application

The North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries is pleased to submit the following documentation to support its nomination for the Excellence in Academic Libraries Award. The "Context" describes how the library staff approaches its work, and the "Criteria" section gives selected examples of our achievements. Appended are articles about the NCSU Libraries from various external sources.

Context

We envision for NCSU a library that gives the university a competitive advantage-a library that is a major factor in attracting the best faculty and students to this institution and in making them want to stay. To that end, we value the ability to think and act strategically, while retaining the flexibility to capitalize on new opportunities. Responsive to the new ways in which teaching and learning occur in the digital environment, library staff have created new models of service. Through continuous interactions with faculty and students, including user surveys and other assessment tools, we stay informed about their information needs and apply our expertise creatively to anticipate them. Our goal is to enable our user community to obtain information and assistance when and where they need it, as conveniently as possible. In turn, we enjoy tremendous support from our faculty, students, administrators, and others. In the latest surveys both of NCSU sophomores and of graduating seniors, library services received the highest overall satisfaction rating among the university's academic areas. We also actively pursue state and external funding to support our initiatives.

Through an iterative planning process, the library works closely with university administrators to ensure that our programs directly support the institution's short-term priorities and its long-term educational mission. As part of this process, the library administration is consulting with university planners to explore improved ways of measuring performance that can be even more closely tied to the attainment of the university's goals.

A strategic indicator of the NCSU Libraries' transformation over the last decade is the improvement in our position in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) index. Ten years ago, we were 101st out of 107 ARL members. In the latest index, we had improved to 37th out of 111. A recent evaluation of the NCSU Libraries' accomplishments in the digital arena led to an invitation for membership by the prestigious Digital Library Federation. Our provost characterizes the NCSU Libraries as "one of the success stories of American higher education."

Criteria

I. Creativity and innovation in meeting the needs of their academic community.

Issue: In focus group interviews conducted by the Libraries, a clear priority for library services was the dire need for an organized approach-preferably, customized for each individual's subject interests-to the chaotic Internet information universe.

Action: Using open-source software, the Digital Library Initiatives staff developed MyLibrary@NCState <
>, a ground-breaking model for customized digital delivery of library collections and services. This Web interface allows each user to create a personal front page, populating it with library resources, contact persons, and services specific to the individual's own interests. Last year, the Libraries issued release 1.0 of this popular service.

Outcome: MyLibrary@NCState has been nationally cited for its innovative technical architecture and user-responsive design. Recently it was selected as an example of a Top Technology Trend (of customization, interactivity, and customer support for users) by the Library and Information Technology Association. On campus, it is being used by more than 1,000 faculty and students. We are making this database application available for use by other institutions and invite formal collaboration with other libraries on its further development.

Issue: Limited library building hours prevented quick and convenient access to library services and collections.

Action: In response to student requests, the main library began operating a 24-hour schedule, staying open continuously from 9:00 a.m. Sundays through 10:00 p.m. Fridays and from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays during fall and spring semesters. The library is now open 146 hours per week, a 36% increase over its previous hours. It is the first and perhaps only research library in the country to provide round-the-clock reference, circulation, reserves, and security staff services, in addition to keeping the entire bookstacks open for use during those hours.

Outcome: In the fall and spring semesters of 1998/99, nearly 17,000 students used the library during its overnight hours. In the 1999 UNC systemwide (16-campus) survey of sophomores, the NCSU Libraries ranked highest in student satisfaction with their library's hours of opening.

Issue: As campus computer use grew, users wanted enhancements in the NCSU Libraries Information System and access to library databases from computers off-campus.

Action: The library assigned high priority to developing a proxy service and to enhancing its information system. We hired a Web Development Librarian to oversee Web design and structure, working with a Web Innovation Team of staff from throughout the library.

Outcome: The Libraries implemented the first and only proxy service at NCSU, allowing proxy access and authentication to digital collections provided through its Web site. With the implementation of DRA Web2, NCSU users both on- and off-campus have 24-hour access to an online catalog with sophisticated search capabilities (e.g., multi-institutional searching). They also have access to MyLibrary@NCState, e-reserves, reference assistance, circulation patron account information, and Web-based forms such as interlibrary loan and materials purchase requests. The Web Development Librarian has redesigned the Libraries' homepage, following usability testing with various user groups. Connections to our Web site have doubled in the last two years. These mechanisms also strengthen support for distance education activities, a high priority in the university's plans.

Issue: Users wanted faster turnaround time in borrowing and receiving materials not held by the NCSU Libraries.

Action: We introduced TRIPSaver, a service that allows NCSU campus users to request items not owned by us but available at one of the other Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN, including Duke, N.C. Central, and UNC-Chapel Hill) libraries-and to receive them on campus in 48 hours or less. TRIPSaver hires students located on each of the other campuses to find requested materials and fax articles back or deliver books to NCSU using a daily truck service. We also expedite delivery of materials to off-campus students via Federal Express.

Outcome: In its first year, TRIPSaver filled 75% of user requests within 24 hours and 85% within 48 hours. TRIPSaver requests now outnumber requests for interlibrary loan borrowing (for items not owned within TRLN), and students and faculty have expressed their gratitude for our eliminating the need to make the time-consuming drive to Chapel Hill or Durham.

Issue: Undergraduates, our largest user population, often lack the skills to become effective users of information and creators of knowledge, especially in the digital environment.

Action: Our redesigned program of research skills instruction stresses convenience to the user: we focused on shorter "QuickStart" sessions, added evening and weekend classes, and strengthened our curriculum on the use of electronic resources. A team of reference and systems staff developed LOBO (Library Online Basic Orientation), a Web-based, multimedia instructional program in library research skills. We also improved services dedicated to undergraduates by creating the position of librarian for undergraduate research. This professional provides orientation and instruction for First Year College students, as well as offering office hours at the First Year College location.

Outcome: Individuals reached via instructional sessions increased by 66% this year. The English Department integrated LOBO with coursework in first-year English classes, allowing freshmen convenient Web access to this online tutorial. Surveys of First Year College students show their satisfaction with the help and instruction offered by the librarian for undergraduate research.

Issue: Less than 80% of NCSU students own computers; campus computer labs offer only a limited number of workstations in fixed locations.

Action: The library purchased 100 high-performance, multimedia-capable laptop computers for the Laptop Lending Service. Both PCs and Macs are available for building use by NCSU-affiliated users in the main and branch libraries. In this new "plug-and-play" environment, users are free to take laptops to their own sites of study, where they can bring print and electronic resources together for research papers and projects.

Outcome: The service was only recently introduced, but point-of-use surveys show that laptop borrowing is increasing steadily. The goal of ubiquitous computing is a campus priority, and the library has been recognized by the university as a leader in providing such an environment. With campus partners, the Libraries will also test wireless networking to expand this capacity yet further.

Issue: Committed to leadership in cutting-edge information technologies, the Libraries wished to keep the campus abreast of the latest innovations.

Action: In fall 1999 the library began offering a dozen SoftBook readers and Rocket eBooks for check-out by NCSU users. Each device is loaded with a selection of titles; all devices and individual titles are cataloged and available via our information system. We also contracted with netLibrary, Inc., to provide our campus with a virtual library of more than 4,000 online books that can be accessed via any computer connected to the Internet.

Outcome: Our work with vendors helped to inform them about library issues affecting the use of their products. Preliminary results of point-of-use surveys show that users like the readers; their comments on preferred uses will be invaluable in later assessments. Project staff were able to collaborate with colleagues across the library and to gain insights into new ways to improve service.




Issue: As part of a public institution, the library must rely on private funding to ensure continuing enhancements beyond the minimal level provided for by the state. Potential donors were deterred, however, by the $15,000 minimum required to establish a library endowment.

Action: In 1993 the NCSU Libraries created the Incubator Endowment, an innovative alternative that allows those wishing to support the library but unable to make a $15,000 investment the opportunity to establish an initial account with only a $1,000 contribution. The Incubator Endowment is made up of an unlimited number of such accounts; its annual interest income is allocated proportionally among the accounts and is spent on collection purchases.

Outcome: By 1998/99, the Incubator Endowment had attracted 106 individual accounts; of these, 14 have grown to become full-fledged, independent library endowments.

Issue: The library is a natural partner for fostering the work of authors, especially in a state well known for its rich literary tradition.

Action: In 1987 we created the Author-in-Residence program, probably the first in this country to create a formal relationship between a writer and an academic library. Raleigh author Kaye Gibbons has held the position since its inception. The inauguration of the North Carolina Writers Series at the same time was another opportunity to showcase the talents of the state's authors.

Outcome: Kaye Gibbons has visiting lecturer status at NCSU and the use of a private office in the library, equipped with a computer. She is an integral part of our Friends programs, thus gaining regular opportunities to speak before area audiences. In turn, Gibbons has contributed substantively to the growth of the Friends, including the establishment of a library endowment. She helped to attract celebrated authors to this campus, including Dominick Dunne, John Grisham, Joseph Heller, George Plimpton, and Amy Tan. Membership in the Friends of the Library has increased by 200% in the last decade, and annual gifts have increased four-fold. The writers programs have enjoyed positive publicity from articles in journals such as Library Journal and North Carolina Libraries.

II. Leadership in developing and implementing exemplary programs that other libraries can emulate.

Issue: The university needed a digital library that was more than a collection of digitized resources; faculty and students lacked specialized support services.

Action: We established the Learning and Research Center for the Digital Age (LRCDA, at <
>). In this center, we envisioned the provision by library experts of services relating to information access and retrieval, Internet-based course development, Web design, scanning and digitization, electronic-text reformatting, and copyright issues. Located together in the library, LRCDA services would be available in a central campus location.

Outcome: LRCDA encompasses the Learning Technologies Service, Scholarly Communication Center, and Digital Library Initiatives Department (an R&D unit that, among other activities, unveiled a prototype of digitized architecture and design images that are searchable over the Web). Also included is the Information Technologies Teaching Center, where librarians and Computing Services staff collaborate in online, hands-on instruction in information technologies. Awaiting completion are a Multimedia Seminar Center and the Scanning and Digitization Laboratory. LRCDA has been recognized by university administration as "one of the most important things happening at the university to encourage and support excellence by serving very real and important needs of the faculty." The university chose to situate its Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (which promotes teaching effectiveness) in LRCDA because of its convenience and the synergy of its new neighbors.

Issue: The university wanted to expedite the creation of online courses, but faculty lacked support for time-consuming developmental work.

Action: We established the Learning Technologies Service (LTS, <
>) in 1997/98 as a component of the LRCDA, where a team of library and Computing Services staff could supply expertise with digital information resources, Web design, and technical skills.

Outcome: Librarians collaborated with faculty at all stages of the process, including assistance with intellectual content in various formats, tools and techniques of production, and network delivery. This year LTS librarians had more than 100 interactions with users and participated in numerous presentations, attended by more than 3,000 individuals, including a week-long summer Distance Education Institute for faculty and graduate students on educational technologies and electronic information resources for teaching and learning. The future collaborative framework of LTS adds participation by Continuing Studies and the Office of the Provost. It offers tremendous potential to meet the challenges posed by projected growth in on-campus enrollment (another university priority) and in the distance education program.

Issue: Network infrastructure in the aging library facility was inadequate for supporting digital library activities; no university funding was available to fund plans for fiber-optic wiring.

Action: The library was an early leader in establishing a flexible network infrastructure that gives our users exceptionally powerful, very high bandwidth access to digital resources. We invested $1.4 million to complete the installation of network wiring throughout the main library.

Outcome: Direct connections to the campus backbone for the Libraries' Web and electronic catalog services allow faster remote access to online resources and make possible programs such as the Laptop Lending Service and nomadic computing.

Issue: Use of print collections of supplemental instructional materials was limited by the constraints of time and physical place.

Action: The library developed an electronic-reserve system, searchable through a Web browser, and digitizes appropriate materials for faculty.

Outcome: Our e-reserve module was enthusiastically received by faculty and students. Any student registered for a course at NCSU has the flexibility of 24-hour remote access to reserve material, without contention for a single print copy. The system was accessed nearly 24,000 times last year.

Issue: As the scope and level of the library's activities expanded, the organizational and management infrastructure became inadequate for support of our activities.

Action: The library took advantage of budget reductions to streamline the organization and reallocate positions and funds for high-priority programs that advanced the university's goals. Departmental mergers and consolidation of public services points (e.g., Reference, Documents, and the Technical Information Center combined into the Research and Information Services Department) improved accessibility for users and allowed more effective deployment of staff. Newly created departments include Digital Library Initiatives and Distance Learning Services (which will develop a model program of responsive services for nontraditional students).

Outcome: Mergers allowed service desks to extend their hours of service, with staff strengthened in numbers and in depth of expertise. Using zero-based budgeting and formation of targeted teams, the library staff honed its ability to focus quickly on key new initiatives. Specialized personnel in the new departments help to advance our priorities and are also available as resource persons for other library staff. The library is now in a better position to support the university's highest priorities. The newly defined position of Assistant Director for Organizational Effectiveness will develop library performance and productivity measures that focus on outcomes.

Issue: The number of graduates with library science degrees has declined by one-third since the 1970s. Increasing local demand for information professionals makes it extremely difficult to recruit and retain the professionals vital to the library's success.

Action: We launched the NCSU Libraries Fellows program, aimed at recent graduates with a background in, or potential for, science/engineering and technology librarianship and/or those from under-represented groups. This program will recruit annually at least two beginning librarians for two year appointments. Fellows are assigned to home departments to cultivate expertise in the daily practice of librarianship and to high-priority library projects outside their departments.

Outcome: The first pool of applicants was so strong that the Libraries reallocated resources to fund five Fellows, who began in fall 1999. Evaluation of this program is built into its implementation, but it has already sparked ideas for improving the Libraries' general orientation and training programs. The Fellows were able to make immediate contributions to our goals while building their capabilities in science and technology librarianship. The program will also contribute to the profession as a whole by introducing talented new graduates to the exciting opportunities in libraries. The university is publicizing the program in its alumni magazine.

Issue: The library wished to recognize faculty who contribute to the strategic and extraordinary enhancement of the NCSU Libraries, and to ensure their continued bonds with the library.

Action: We established the NCSU Libraries Faculty Award, bestowed annually at the Friends' Fall Luncheon. Nominations are solicited campuswide and are reviewed by a library committee. Winners enjoy privileges such as a faculty carrel, free library photocopying, free tickets to library events, and the engraving of their names on a custom-designed plaque in the library.

Outcome: Recipients of this sought-after award remain among the primary contributors to the library, both as advocates and as donors. We are able to call upon them as a group when appropriate (e.g., to celebrate special receptions, or to help interview candidates for key library positions). They stay informed about the Libraries and have an active role in its development. For faculty, this award is tangible evidence of excellence in their extension and outreach activities. A recent winner was our former chancellor, whose "Quest for Top Fifty" focused campus attention and financial resources on our low ARL index ranking, eventually helping us to reach the fiftieth percentile and then surpass it.

Issue: As a nexus of campus activity, the library in all its manifestations must reflect the diversity of the user community, of intellectual pursuits, and of individual differences.

Action: The NCSU Libraries hired a diversity and staff development librarian to establish a formal diversity program, working in concert with a Library Diversity Committee. We wish to promote a climate where students, staff, and users of any ethnicity, culture, gender, or socioeconomic background will feel welcomed and respected in the Libraries. We also opened an Assistive Technologies Center, with special equipment for library users with disabilities.

Outcome: Initial sessions in 1998/99 assessed the library climate for diversity and raised staff awareness of related issues. We invited nationally recognized consultants both to lead discussions on diversity in libraries and to assess our services for users with visual and physical disabilities. Addressing diversity issues is a top priority of the university administration, and these programs will allow the Libraries to make significant contributions to the overall effort.

Issue: As a public institution, the Libraries must rely on private funding to supplement state appropriations. We had only one endowment a decade ago and had seldom received a class gift.

Action: During the Libraries' budget cutbacks in the early 1990s, we took pains to educate the campus about the collections crisis. The response was overwhelming, with new collection endowments established by individuals, as well as by groups of faculty, of students (both undergrads and graduate students), by their parents, and by retired faculty. Donors also created endowments to support both library faculty and student positions. We established a standing Senior Class Gift Committee to generate proposals for senior classes.

Outcome: The Libraries now has 46 endowments, mostly for collections support, constituting an 800% growth in the endowment total. This year an NCSU professor emeritus established an endowment to provide the funding and recognition to recruit and retain key library faculty. We were able to hire an outstanding candidate as The Donald E. Moreland Associate Director for Public Services. In addition, a planned gift will establish a library internship endowment to fund employment of undergraduate students in the Libraries. In the last ten years, we have won a record six senior class gifts to support physical enhancements and collections.






III. Substantial and productive relationships with classroom faculty and students.

Issue: In 1995 the university was poised for a major increase in tuition, representing a unique opportunity for the Libraries to ameliorate its collections budget problems and to strengthen its digital library program.

Action: Library staff had laid the groundwork for years to ensure recognition that NCSU could remain strong only if its library was not decimated by serials cancellations or its progress stalled by an inability to capitalize on new information technologies. We worked to earn the understanding and support of campus administrators, faculty, students, Friends members, the NCSU Board of Trustees, and the N.C. legislature. Our proposal for use of the monies focused on improving collections, library hours, and digital services.

Outcome: The N.C. legislature decided to apply the monies toward financial aid, faculty salaries, and the Libraries. Our Faculty Senate generously voted to give up the faculty portion, and the Board of Trustees allocated half of the increase funds to the library. The resulting addition of $4.1 million into the library budget meant an unprecedented 35% increase in our annual state-appropriated budget. We were able to reinstate journals canceled and-for the first time in ten years-to add new subscriptions without first canceling other titles.We also succeeded in restoring our monographic acquisitions to previous high levels. We established services in direct response to student requests (e.g., the 24-hour library) and launched the Learning and Research Center for the Digital Age. Our position in the ARL index immediately improved.

Issue: Scholarly communication had reached a crisis state; librarians wanted to increase awareness of the role of faculty and administrators in redressing the excesses of the system.

Action: In 1992 the Libraries enlisted faculty and student support through the creation of a Scholarly Communication Subcommittee within the University Library Committee. The subcommittee investigated the serials pricing situation and cosponsored annual colloquia to publicize scholarly communication issues, with speakers such as Kenneth Crews, Karen Hersey, James Neal, Ann Okerson, and David Shulenburger. With the endorsement of the subcommittee, university counsel, and provost's office, we opened the Scholarly Communication Center in 1998 as part of the Learning and Research Center for the Digital Age. Staffed by an intellectual property attorney, it was to educate and guide the campus community on pressing academic issues such as copyright in the digital environment and contract negotiations for database licenses, and to advocate fair use rights in the national arena.

Outcome: The Faculty Senate passed a resolution endorsing the need for campus education in copyright. Last year, the scholarly communication librarian made 23 presentations, with nearly 1,000 participants and another 1,000 individual transactions or consultations. She developed an extensive Web site that offers a copyright tutorial at <
>. She also testified before the U.S. Copyright Committee on the distance education provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and their adverse implications for academia. Our free, annual colloquium draws increasing attendance each year. The library helped to initiate a campus Copyright Ownership Task Force and the UNC system's Intellectual Property Task Force, which are developing policies on ownership, use, and education.

Issue: Developing partnerships is a university priority. The library seeks partnerships with faculty and students to advance mutual goals, particularly in areas of the university's strengths.

Action: The Libraries' Special Collections contain the world-renowned Metcalf and Tippmann entomology collections, and we maintain a long-standing collaboration with NCSU's highly ranked Department of Entomology. Last year, librarians and entomology faculty jointly applied for a $5,000 grant to design a Web site on systematic entomology as part of the national Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC).

Outcome: The grant supported the completion of the AgNIC Web page, designed with student help (<;) and recognized by a Butterfly Best Nature Sites Award. Entomology faculty and students also initiated fundraising efforts-including a departmental yard sale and donations from corporate and private society sources-to support the purchase of E. A. Seguy's Insectes, a rare portfolio of lavishly illustrated prints, for Special Collections.

Issue: In the digital library, collaborative efforts can be enhanced by powerful tools such as GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technologies; the library sought to meet the increasing campus demand for GIS expertise.

Action: We hired a librarian for spatial and numeric data services and instituted an active outreach program to show how library expertise can contribute to the economic well-being of the state.

Outcome: This librarian collaborated with the Center for Earth Observation in the College of Forest Resources, the Institute for Transportation Research and Education, and the School of Design on the Regional Planning Project. With joint funding from a $15,000 University Extension Grant, we built a spatial data system prototype for North Carolina's Upper Neuse region and are collecting data for an additional 24 N.C. counties. With numerous layers of socioeconomic, environmental, natural resource, and infrastructure data, this public Web-based database supports the information needs of municipal, state, and private land- and water-use planners.

Issue: The University Research Committee suggested the need for a citations database of publications by NCSU faculty.

Action: We designed and built the NCSU faculty publications database, possibly the only attempt to create a single, publicly searchable database of the published scholarly output of an entire university. It comprises records downloaded from Current Contents and (now) from Web of Science, supplemented by citations volunteered via the Web (
). Though still being built, the database is populated with citations to more than 5,500 books, articles, and patents. We are expanding coverage to 20 indexes in the humanities and social sciences and are improving searchability.

Outcome: The university administration has stated its interest in this database as a potential tool for assessing programs and scholarly productivity. We are proposing the appointment of an oversight committee of faculty and librarians to set criteria for inclusion, adjudicate disputes by rejected authors, and determine reports to be disseminated. As measures of performance, the library tracks the size of database (number of articles and of authors) and number of connections to the database.

Issue: The "library as place" is an important tenet at NCSU, where the library is seen as a natural forum for social and academic interaction among the members of a campus community.

Action: The Libraries publicized the inadequacies of its aging structure, participated aggressively in senior class gift competitions, and explored faculty and student thoughts about the library in focus group interviews. With each opportunity at construction or renovation, we aimed at creating an inviting environment, furnished with comfort and style.

Outcome: Students responded with enthusiasm in making senior class gifts. The Class of 1989 Reading Room set the new tone with its Mackintosh-style cherry-and-leather chairs at long cherry tables. The Class of 1991 Periodicals Reading Room continues the motif with cherry end tables and soft leather armchairs. Throughout the main library, new carpeting, attractive lamps, wall sconces, brighter overhead lighting, and potted plants help to make the interior more inviting. The Class of 1990's support of the Information Technologies Teaching Center in the LRCDA helped to equip and furnish a state-of-the-art instructional facility. The Class of 1998 funded landscaping of an outdoor study and relaxation area beside the library, and the Class of 2000 will purchase handsome teak benches for that space. Focus group discussions revealed a depth of passion about the library, for example: "Don't take away the physical library we've always known," and "There's a level which needs to be physically attractive and serene, a convenient physical facility, being open all the time is great, being a pretty place. These aren't minor things." These comments helped to guide the library in its facilities planning.

Issue: The NCSU Libraries wished to encourage student participation in advising on library matters and to demonstrate our responsiveness to their needs and concerns.

Action: Library staff have many informal interactions with students, in person, by phone, and via the Web. More formally, the University Library Committee has both undergraduate and graduate representatives, appointed in consultation with student government. We also invite student leaders as guests to special library events (e.g., welcome receptions for the new chancellor and new provost).

Outcome: Students have played significant roles as partners in addressing deficiencies. Dedicated students on the University Library Committee have been eloquent in explaining the needs of their constituencies and creative in suggesting improvements, all of which have garnered very positive user reactions. Examples include lengthening the graduate student borrowing period to match that of faculty, the purchase of fifty small book carts placed throughout the stacks for public use in moving library materials around with ease, the addition of more photocopiers (including color and wide-format copiers), and the installation of more exterior lights behind the library building. In a 1997 survey of NCSU seniors, the Libraries ranked second highest (after campus ministry) in staff responsiveness.

Issue: Students liked the 24-hour library but wanted a place inside the building to get coffee, especially during the overnight hours.

Action: An undergraduate student on the University Library Committee made a heartfelt presentation explaining the safety concerns of students leaving the library late at night in search of coffee to sustain their studies. We responded by proposing the refurbishment of space near the main D. H. Hill Library entrance to create the "Hill of Beans" coffee bar. With the committee's unanimous endorsement, the Libraries submitted a proposal to NCSU's Parents and Families Association for renovation support.

Outcome: The Parents and Families Association selected the library coffee bar for its fund-raising campaign. Students eagerly await its completion; the student newspaper has helped to publicize it. As an immediate response, the Libraries turned an existing library staff lounge into a 24-hour public lounge, refurbishing it with attractive new furniture and vending machines for specialty coffees.