• Libraries & AcIS Six-Year Plan (created during 1998/99 academic year)
  
  
• CUL Vision Statement (October 1996)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• The Strategic Directions are:
  • Improving the Libraries as Places for Learning and Working
  • Balancing Information Ownership and Access In Support of University Needs
  • Designing and Delivering Services To Meet User Information Needs
  • Enhancing Tools of Access
  • Preserving and Conserving Research Resources
  • Increasing External Funding
  • Improving the Libraries as an Organization
• Objectives for 1994/95:
  • Improve access to materials owned by the Libraries
  • Continue development of an electronic virtual library
  • Develop plans to overhaul the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in every library
  • Establish Libraries-wide policies for acquiring, cataloging, handling, and preserving non-book materials
  • Create a Libraries-wide effort to determine users' materials and services preferences and to measure the success of programs in meeting those needs
  • Design and execute plans for comprehensive renovation of one or two branch libraries

     The Libraries began formal strategic planning in 1990 with a
review of its mission and a delineation of the vision of the Libraries
in the Year 2000.  Having determined where the Libraries should be The
Year 2000, we next developed the strategies necessary to bring this
vision to fruition.  We did so in the context of the rapidly changing
environment and a sensitivity to institutional strengths and
weaknesses.  Library planners scanned the environment, assessed
strengths and weaknesses, and identified factors critical to the
Libraries' future success.  Among the most important factors are:

     A well-functioning infrastructure, including the physical plant,
the communications network, and equipment;

     An optimal mix of local collections and other forms of access to
information resources;

     Well-designed electronic tools to search for and deliver library
resources;

     Instructional services and materials that meet a wide variety of
needs;

     Human resource programs to provide the Libraries with staff
possessing the skills necessary to operate a modern research library;
and

     Increased funding from external sources.

     Recognizing these critical factors for success, we defined seven
Strategic Directions for the 90s.  Each year, we update our progress
in achieving these directions.

The Strategic Directions are:

     The poor physical condition of most campus libraries has for
several years been the single most serious impediment to the
Libraries' ability to provide quality service.  Responding to this
need, the University has approved the initial phases of renovation of
Butler Library, the "flagship" library and the largest building on the
campus.  In addition, the Libraries have made interim improvements in
Butler, including expansion of the Electronic Text Service, a new
Libraries' training facility, and a pilot graduate reading room.  Most
campus libraries are, to varying degrees, in need of renovation and
repair.  The Music Library in Dodge Hall, perhaps the most notable in
terms of obsolescence and overcrowding, is part of a project to
renovate Dodge Hall for which preliminary architectural drawings have
been developed.  In addition, improvements such as repainting, new
furniture, improved lighting, and additional shelving have been made
at a number of branch libraries; the Journalism Library has been
restructured and refurbished; the Physics Library will undergo a major
refurbishment in early 1995; and studies for changes at Avery Library
and Lehman Library are under way.  Unfortunately, the HVAC systems in
many buildings still function poorly, causing continuing serious
damage to collections, and the shelves of most campus libraries remain
badly overcrowded.

     Butler Renovation

     Even before the Libraries' strategic planning process began,
librarians, faculty, students, and administrators had been working
with Facilities Management and the architectural firm of Shepley,
Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott to develop a plan for the long overdue
renovation of Butler Library.  The renovation plans, now being readied
for construction, include the creation of an Undergraduate Library
Service, a Research and Graduate Library Service, a Media Center,
improved seating and study spaces for students and scholars, as well
as overhauled HVAC and mechanical systems and an improved
telecommunications system.

     Repair and Renovation of Campus Libraries

     In the Spring of 1992, the Libraries formed two task forces to
review the environment for learning and working in the campus
libraries and to make recommendations for improvements.  One task
force studied the science libraries and the other reviewed conditions
in other libraries on the campus.  As a result of this work, a capital
budget request to repair and renovate campus libraries was put forward
by the library administration.  Capital funds were allocated to the
Libraries for FY 93/94 and 94/95 for renovation and repair.

     Off-Site Shelving Facility

     In 1987, the Libraries moved 400,000 volumes from the campus to
the 131st Street Annex.  Faculty did not feel appropriately involved
in the process, records of the items moved to the Annex were not put
into CLIO, and, in general, the project was not well received by the
University community.  However, because most libraries on the campus
are out of shelving space, it is necessary to continue to use off-site
facilities.  A plan has been prepared for a second phase that involves
faculty in decision-making, that records information about all items
in CLIO, and that improves retrieval and delivery.  The second-phase
shelving facility will open in Prentis Hall in spring 1995.

     Columbia's materials budget has remained relatively healthy even
in fiscally tight budget years.  During the 1980s increases of 8% or
more kept the growth of the collection comparable with libraries at
our peer institutions.  However, increases of only 4% and 5% in 1990
and 1991, together with significant increases in the cost of
periodicals, dictated a thorough review of periodicals subscription
costs in 1992.  With the assistance of faculty, we were able to
eliminate more than $200,000 in subscriptions.  This reduction,
together with an 8% increases for 1993/94 and 94/95 and a stronger
U.S. dollar, stabilized our ability to meet the needs of the academic
community.

     As the world's information base expands, library selectors find
themselves collecting an ever smaller proportion of what is published
each year.  Adding wisely to the collections and providing access to
materials held outside of Columbia are both key elements if we are to
be successful providers of information to the Columbia community.  For
Columbia, improved means of access to external collections, such as
interlibrary loan and document delivery, are critical.  In response to
this challenge, the Libraries have reassigned Interlibrary Loan
oversight to Technical Services.  In addition, the Libraries continues
to initiate a number of pilot studies and new services, such as CARL's
REVEAL (automatic e- mail delivery of tables of contents, including
the opportunity to order articles) and the South Asian Gopher.  Other
system-wide advances include new options on CLIO Plus, fax machines in
libraries, and general Internet availability.

     Developing the optimal mix of collections and document delivery
service requires a careful match to the research needs of the Columbia
community.  The 1993 Scientific Information Study was a successful
effort designed to better understand the information needs of
students, researchers, and faculty in the sciences.  Conclusions
reached from the study have resulted in significant improvements in
document delivery.

     The Libraries' user community is diverse, with needs for service
that range from providing instruction in library use for
undergraduates to connecting faculty in varied disciplines to
sophisticated and specialized sources tailored to their research.  For
these library users, the nature and complexity of information sources
change daily as new electronic resources become available.  Three
strategic planning task forces addressed the need to design and
deliver service for different segments of the Columbia user
population; their work pointed to several factors critical to
continuing success.  These included: 1) the need to create a variety
of programs and services each focused on particular user groups (the
needs of undergraduates in particular were highlighted); 2) the
importance of ongoing close communication with users about their
needs, e.g., through focus groups, library advisory committees, etc.;
and, 3) the ongoing need to measure and evaluate the performance of
each program and service.

     In response to the recommendations, a position was reallocated to
lead and coordinate services to undergraduates.  Similarly, positions
and other resources were reallocated to enhance the Electronic Text
Service in Butler Library and to develop the Electronic Data Service,
operated jointly by the Libraries and AcIS, in Lehman Library--both
focused on sophisticated needs of graduate students and other
researchers.  A variety of new programs have been established,
including, for example, specialized pre-dissertation workshops for
arts and sciences students (developed jointly with the Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences) and workshops on using electronic information
services for business information.  In addition, the Libraries and
AcIS have funded several electronic resource assistants (ERAs),
graduate students with offices in their own departments and trained as
liaisons between the Libraries, AcIS, and the departments.  The ERAs
provide hands-on expertise to faculty and students interested in
navigating the increasingly complex network of electronic information
sources.  The ERA program was expanded in 1994/95 with an allocation
from the discretionary budget fund.  Another allocation added a second
undergraduate services librarian.  The Libraries have also added,
system-wide, interactive electronic reference service.  Internally,
the Libraries continues its successful staff Internet and CLIO
training.

     Efforts to learn more from users have been fruitful.  The
Libraries has continued to assess user satisfaction through regular
surveys, has expanded its work with active advisory committees, and is
working to ensure that all academic departments have frequent contact
with a professional librarian well-versed in their needs.  A complete
listing of the Libraries' discipline-oriented liaisons was made widely
available to faculty in fall 1994.

     In a few very short years, new electronic tools have quickly
demonstrated vast improvements for tracking, searching, and locating
materials owned by the Libraries and for delivering access to a host
of information services that enhance and expand the Libraries'
collections.  The strikingly successful introductions of CLIO and then
CLIO Plus have shown the power of electronic tools of access to
re-engineer library operations, to enhance effectiveness of basic
access services such as circulation, and to open the door to a wealth
of information resources to the Columbia community.

     As CLIO Plus continues to evolve, the primary mode of access to
library resources becomes an electronic window that pulls
bibliographic tools together with a variety of textual, graphic, and
multi-media information.  The window is becoming an electronic
"virtual library," complementing the Libraries' traditional
collections by delivering resources and services over high speed
networks to users wherever they are located.  Columbia's own Project
JANUS, with its sophisticated search mechanisms, seeks to expand the
viability of the virtual library, and Columbia continues to enhance
the infrastructure necessary for delivery of these electronic
resources.

     Columbia librarians recognize that this virtual library has the
potential to grow increasingly complex and difficult to use unless it
is implemented with careful planning and design.  CLIO Plus has been
introduced and expanded with the aid of working groups focused on
issues such as menu design, database selection, and training of
librarians and users.  The strategic planning task force on Tools of
Access worked closely with focus groups of users whose comments about
CLIO Plus were incorporated into plans--and which immediately resulted
in a complete overhaul of the CLIO Plus menus.  Such interaction with
users will become an ongoing part of the development process for the
virtual library.  CLIO Plus has also introduced interactive services,
including electronic reference, rush cataloging requests, and more
effective document delivery.  The Libraries is working on a number of
projects to mount pictorial images and selected full-text works on the
network.

     While creating the virtual library is a clear direction for the
future, improving electronic access to the Libraries' significant
investment in its book and journal collections is an equally important
goal.  Close to two- thirds of the Libraries' titles are not yet
represented in CLIO, and much of the detailed holdings information for
titles in CLIO--information essential to convenient access-- is
lacking.  Projects to add information will play an important role in
the Libraries' efforts for the rest of the decade.

     At the same time, the Libraries continues to improve access
tools, including a new reference workstation, networking of CD-ROMs,
and expanded, easy-to-use CLIO Plus menus.  The Libraries has also
enacted automated serials check-in, psuedo-patron tracking, a number
of retrospective conversion projects, and the record conversion for
materials being sent to Annex II.  Finally, a number of bibliographic
and physical access goals have been accomplished, including cataloging
of ETS materials, initiation of serials clean-up and check-in,
creation of the open backlog, reform of the overdue-materials
procedure, and the completion of a Butler materials availability
study.

     The Libraries' challenge to preserve its old, rich collections is
daunting; assessment surveys indicate that approximately 30% of our
six million plus paper volumes are so deteriorated and/or damaged that
they are candidates for replacement or reformatting.  This situation
is largely due to embrittled paper.  Many non-book collections, such
as photographs and sound recordings, are similarly endangered.  The
age of the collections is one contributing factor, but another, more
serious, cause is the environments in which they are housed.  Measured
against national standards, one hundred percent of Columbia's library
facilities provide a substandard environment for the safety and
longevity of collections.  Improvements in facilities, especially HVAC
systems, fire safety systems, and leak prevention are still critical
strategic objectives for the Libraries.  To that end, Libraries staff
meets monthly with Facilities to discuss problems and encourage
renovations.  Recent advances include continued staff education for
preservation issues, a draft of a Libraries-wide food and drink
policy, which has already resulted in better signage to discourage
food and drink.  Modest improvements to HVAC have been made in the
Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the East Asian Library.

     The Libraries has been highly successful in attracting federal
and state funds for preservation.  We completed a three year
microfilming and repair project in 1993 aided by $1.6 million in NEH
funds, and have been awarded a second large NEH grant--$2.3 million
over three years--to microfilm 15,000 volumes.  New York State
provides over $100,000 annually to the Libraries for preservation, as
well as supporting a number of small projects.  However, external
grants have still not been adequate to provide the basis of support
for us to address our highest priorities for brittle material--i.e.,
our most-used volumes--so our efforts continue to increase levels of
funding for preservation.  Conservation of rare and unique materials
remains another unmet need.

     New preservation challenges for the current decade and beyond are
presented by new information technologies.  On the one hand,
electronic media used for reformatting offer the potential for much
greater ease of use than traditional microfilm.  On the other hand,
these media are short-lived; they do not substitute for microfilm as
an archival medium.  And, as we acquire new electronic library
materials, these too will add to our future preservation challenge.
Digital reformatting projects and participation in national efforts to
study approaches to preservation and new technology are high on the
Libraries' strategic agenda.

     Columbia's decentralized, school-focused development efforts have
always disadvantaged the Libraries' fundraising.  It has been said
because the Libraries have no alumni, we have no "natural
constituency."  (We have sometimes countered that all alumni should be
considered the Libraries' "natural constituency.")

     In 1989, with the encouragement of the Office of the Provost and
UDAR, the Libraries hired a Director of Development.  The efforts of
the Development Director, aided by the talented and energetic library
staff who identify funding opportunities and prepare grant requests,
have borne fruit in the past several years.

     Recently, the Libraries has been remarkably successful in
attracting grants and gifts.  In addition to the major NEH
preservation grant, the Libraries received $32,500 from Pauline
Plimpton, making possible a match from NEH to catalog the George
Arthur Plimpton Collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in
the Rare Book and Manuscript Library.  The Avery Library was awarded
$160,000 from NEH to catalog and preserve its Guastavino/Collins
archives.  The Department of Education's Title II-C program awarded
the Electronic Text Service a $64,000 continuation grant to catalog
the contents of an additional 50 electronic text sets.  And
foundations have awarded the Libraries smaller grants, including a
$60,000 grant to implement a pilot reading room for Ancient and
Medieval Studies in Butler Library.  In addition, the number of
individual contributors to the Friends stands at over 600, the largest
number ever.

     In 1993 the Libraries initiated a reorganization in order to
improve services, to enhance cooperation within the Libraries and with
AcIS, and to maximize the utilization of staff resources.  All
division directors now report to the Deputy University Librarian and,
for collection development, to the Associate University Librarian.
The successful reorganization has resulted in improved interdivisional
and Libraries/AcIS cooperation.

     Staff equipped with the talents and skills necessary to perform
the work of the Libraries are vital to the organization.  We have
inventoried skill sets and characteristics needed for all levels and
types of jobs and have incorporated them into our recruitment and
development processes.  The Libraries has greatly expanded its formal
staff training programs in regard to CLIO, CLIO Plus, and the
Internet.  Formal training programs in management, supervisory and
customer service are also offered on a regular basis.

Objectives for 1994/95

     At the Libraries' annual planning retreat, the following
objectives were identified as priorities for 1994/95:

     Too often, library users cannot actually find the item that they
want in Columbia's collections.  To combat this problem, the Libraries
has defined as its highest priority continued online-catalog
maintenance projects and the application of enhanced electronic tools
to improve access.  In addition, the Libraries is analyzing the
sources of not-on-shelf problems and is working to improve shelf
maintenance through staff training, better signage, and a review of
circulation policies.  Service in Butler Library has been the highest
priority.

     The continued addition and conversion of card-catalog records to
the online catalog, especially for those collections used most
heavily, has long been a high priority at the Libraries.  Several
conversion projects are planned for 94/95.  The largest will be the
addition to CLIO of the titles scheduled for relocation to off-site
storage.  Further, the accuracy of serials holdings in the online
catalog must be ensured, as use of the serial literature is central to
many researchers.  Several projects to improve serial information
began in 93/94 and will continue this year.  Electronic collections in
the Electronic Text Service and the Electronic Data Service, and the
growing number of electronic journals and full-text databases found
throughout the Libraries will to be cataloged--a challenge that often
requires seeking new solutions and strategies for intellectual access
to digital resources.

     The Libraries, working closely with AcIS, plans a number of
initiatives, including pilot projects, that will move us closer to the
vision of an electronic virtual library.  CLIO Plus continues to
expand--more bibliographic databases are being added both locally and
via Internet gateways.  The Columbia University Press is providing us
with additional reference texts, and we are experimenting with new
formats to search and display these texts.

     Pilot projects are under way to provide texts from the Electronic
Text Service over the campus network, along with the capability to
manipulate them, and sets of digitized images from the Avery
architectural photographs collection and from the Art History
Department's slide collection will be made widely available.  Similar
projects will be undertaken with the Electronic Data Service.  The
challenge is to integrate such projects into the CLIO Plus service in
a user-friendly production mode.  Interactive services have been
initiated with the new CLIO Plus electronic reference, and interactive
features on CLIO Plus are also making document delivery services more
effective.  Finally, discussions are under way with several publishers
to obtain book text in electronic formats for similar pilot projects.

     In order to implement this long-term recommendation, continued
close cooperation with Facilities Management is required.  Without the
improved environmental controls in all buildings that hold library
collections, Columbia's collections will continue to disintegrate due
to heat and humidity.  In most Columbia libraries, temperature and
humidity fluctuate widely, and soot falls unobstructed onto shelves
and materials.  Current HVAC systems, moreover, are often the source
of leaks, which further damage materials.  4.  Improve user assistance
programs.

     Our discussions with faculty and students confirm the importance
of personal assistance by librarians to instruct students, and to
guide and alert those who seek information resources.  As described
above, the Libraries continues to develop an array of programs; in
1994/95 we are focusing on helping the Columbia community to take best
advantage of CLIO Plus--by alerting faculty to selected resources, by
providing a variety of training programs for students, and by
distributing documentation, such as searching tips, guides, and
manuals, that can be used by dial-up users as well as in the
libraries.  The recently published CLIO Plus Users Guide describes
most of the 50-plus databases and library catalogs found on CLIO Plus,
explains search techniques for different services, and describes
special techniques for enhanced use of CLIO Plus.  We have also
developed an intensive, in-house training program for librarians in
navigating and mining the riches of the national research and
education network, Internet.  Trainees are developing Internet
"pathfinders" in different subject disciplines as tools to help
students and faculty make use of electronic journals, document
archives, scholarly discussion groups and other resources on the
Internet.  In addition, the Libraries and AcIS have hired a number of
Electronic Resource Assistants, graduate students who provide network
assistance to students and faculty in individual departments.

     The new undergraduate librarian is already working to develop and
improve our instructional programs for SEAS, College, and GS students.
At the same time consultation and seminar sessions with graduate
students increase, even as our hours at the reference desks hold
constant and we absorb the staffing cuts of recent years.  The
Libraries' challenge for 94/95--and beyond--is to find the optimal mix
of electronic aids, printed guides, group and individual sessions that
will provide the most help to the greatest number of library users.

     The Libraries will work to develop collection policies and
budgets that ensure that the Columbia community is not deprived of
needed research resources just because the resources are not in the
form of print-on-paper.  Much of the Libraries' already-acquired
non-print materials have yet to be cataloged.  While CUL has not
collected heavily in audio-visual materials, such as slides and
videotapes, the Libraries does have large, important holdings of
drawings, photographs, sound recordings, and other media.  Collections
of electronic information, particularly those in ETS and EDS, are
growing rapidly.  We need to be certain that these collections have
adequate plans for bibliographic control and that we develop projects
for providing access to uncataloged collections.

     The preservation imperative is no less compelling for these
materials than for books.  In fact, many of these non-print
collections contain unique materials.  Even though massive
reformatting or conservation efforts may not be feasible at this time,
appropriate policies and procedures for storing and handling existing
collections could prolong the life of these materials.

     The Libraries strives to set its priorities and performance
standards based on the needs of its users, with decisions about
service policies and processes driven directly by demonstrated needs
of faculty, researchers, and students.  Such an operation requires
mechanisms that provide reliable feedback from users on their needs
and their levels of satisfaction.  To that end, the Libraries has made
significant improvements over the past few years in the development
and collection of management information relating to public services
and in the development and implementation of its annual user
satisfaction survey.

     Still, more needs to be done in order to measure performance in
relation to user-driven standards.  Additional staff training in
statistics and performance measures can heighten awareness and enhance
staff efforts in this area.  All managers need to develop their own
ongoing measurements and user surveys, and an expanded Libraries-wide
program is desirable.  At the same time, the increased and expanded
effort to involve users in library planning, priority setting, and
program development will continue, including increased involvement of
library advisory committees, strengthened library liaison efforts, and
more forums for user input.

     Even more important, we need to seek opportunities for
collaborative program development with library users.  One successful
example of this collaborative approach is the new Ancient and Medieval
Studies Reading Room, a pilot project that is serving as a model for
the series of discipline- oriented graduate reading rooms that the
Libraries plans to provide in the renovated Butler.  The reading room
was planned by a joint library/faculty committee and has received
continued faculty and graduate student input since the room's opening.

     Unfortunately, all library facilities are badly in need of
renovation and refurbishment.  While the Libraries' larger facilities,
including Lehman and Butler, require massive renovation efforts and
very large capital investments, progress can be made in smaller units
through targeted refurbishment funds.

     The planning process for renovations furthers not only upgrades
and repairs of existing facilities but also the opportunity to
reconceptualize service delivery, especially where electronic
resources are transforming the modes of research.  Selected
departmental libraries should be refurbished in ways that demonstrate
to the community the extent of service improvement that can be
accomplished through renovation.  Our goal is to begin to identify at
least some sites where library users will feel their work is truly
facilitated by their surroundings.  The Journalism Library has already
undergone significant changes that include more and better electronic
resources, better use of existing space, and recarpeting and
repainting.