Summary

“Committed to anticipating and satisfying the information and research needs of….”

A few years ago, we swallowed hard and re-wrote our library mission statement to include those words. The commitment to not only satisfying information needs, but to anticipate them in the face of continuing changes of the Internet revolution is not an easy matter. Constant scrutiny of library services and collections is necessary to determine if current needs are being met and how those needs will evolve in the coming years. In this annual report summary, we will look at library services and materials that are changing to anticipate the information needs of our users.

Building the virtual library

Electronic Books

Projecting an increasing online student body, the library began acquiring electronic books in FY2000. Purchased in consortium with 60 academic and special libraries in Texas, the Amigos/NetLibrary Shared Resource Collection is now in its 6th round of e-book selection. The total number of titles available to online users is over 45,000. Use of the Amigos/NetLibrary collection in FY2005 was 6,109 accesses.

In FY2004, we began to look at expanding our electronic book selection to reference books and resources. Starting with the purchase of The Business Plans Handbook, we have since increased our virtual reference desk to include over 200 titles from the following sources:

• Gale Virtual Reference Library (5 encyclopedia titles purchased in FY2005 with another 190 titles to be purchased in FY2006 in consortium with the UH System Libraries)
• StatRef (a medical reference library purchased in consortium with TexShare)
• Biography Resource Center (containing biographical information pulled from over 150 biographical encyclopedia and dictionaries)
• Oxford Reference Online (electronic versions of over 100 Oxford handbooks, companions and dictionaries)

Ask-a -Librarian

Virtual library collections require virtual librarians. While we have had a toll-free telephone number for our out of county users for several years, in FY2003 we piloted a service to provide electronic reference and information services. Called “Ask a Librarian”, users can correspond with a reference librarian via email or instant messaging service.

Managed by Cataloging Librarian Paula Packard, the Ask a Librarian program serviced 336 users in FY2005, a 49% growth over the previous year.

Electronic Reserves & Copyright

In FY2000, we assigned a librarian to distance education responsibilities, the first library in the UH System to do so. We also began in that year to provide electronic course reserves to reach online students and local students with home computers. Electronic reserves (course readings) initially supplemented existing print reserve items. Over time, electronic reserves have mostly replaced print reserve items as access to electronic formats of printed items have increased.

Our Access Services Librarian, Lori Williamson, saw that issues of copyright for electronic reserve would be a larger issue in years to come, and has pursued her continuing education and training in that area. In FY2005 she was designated a Copyright Scholar (one of seven nationwide) by the American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy. She was named to the Copyright Advisory Network which responds to copyright inquiries via an online bulletin board from librarians all over the United States.

Index to Texas Magazines & Documents

Twenty years ago, our library did what no previous individual or group had been able to do. We began an ongoing index to state periodicals, Index to Texas Magazines and Documents. The index was created to get to vital information locked away in regional magazines and state documents. We are still in print and have over 50 subscribers across the state.

This year, Editor Mitzie Stewart was invited to represent Texas and our publication at the annual conference of The American Society of Indexers. The panel discussion, “From Alamo to Zydeco Music,” provided an opportunity to compare our index with regional indexes produced in six other states.

Ms. Stewart has written an article about our index and the conference, “20 Years and Counting: the Index to Texas Magazines and Documents Proves its Staying Power” in Texas Library Journal, volume 81, number4, winter 2005, pages144-147.

TexShare

The emergence of TexShare, the statewide program for library resource sharing, with its provision of electronic journals databases and indexes gave our students and faculty access to the resources once available only to the largest of academic libraries. TexShare databases provide basic electronic databases, allowing us to spend our budgeted monies on more specialized databases to serve the demands of our course offerings and programs.

Karen Locher, Head of Public Services, was appointed in FY2005 to the TexShare Electronic Information Working Group. This group is responsible for the evaluation and selection of databases for the TexShare program.

Digitization & Preservation of Unique Resources

The preservation of unique historical resources has long been a vital secondary mission of the VC/UHV Library. In the last few years, development of digitization methods and equipment have allowed the staff of the Periodicals Department and the Victoria Regional History Center to be more proactive in the preservation of these unique resources in anticipation of their continued historical value in the years to come.

The Victoria Regional History Center added over 3,000 photographs to the VRHC Photograph Collection. They also worked on a project to scan and index articles from the local history column written by Henry Wolf in the Victoria Advocate.

The Periodicals Department scanned issues of the Victoria Business Magazine and archived them in digital format in order to provide a permanent storage medium.

Networks

The VC/UHV Library was one of the first departments on campus to network personal computers in 1984, eventually joining the University of Houston-Victoria campus network a few years later.

This year, UHV Information Technology, working with Library Computing staff, mapped and installed a wireless network system throughout the library. The wireless network meets an as yet undeveloped demand by students for Internet and network access from their personal laptop computers. Users of the UHV network can access all network services, while VC students and non-affiliated users have guest access to the Internet. We will be working for the future to provide VC student access to VC network resources.

Since the installation of the wireless network, we are beginning to see laptop users dotting the library and are fielding more inquiries about wireless services.

Space Considerations & Library Collections

The ongoing use of a building designed and built long before the advent of personal computers requires ongoing, creative reallocation of space, furniture, and equipment.

In FY2005, the Interlibrary Loan department was moved to the 2nd floor and merged with Periodicals. This move was to maximize the staff in this less-used, but still vital library service point. Staff also began plans for the re-carpeting in FY2006 of the first floor of the library.

The finite space available in the Main Collection allows only for moderate collection growth. Continuing analysis of the American literature, medical, technology, and business sections were highlights of FY2005. Looking toward the next few years, it will be necessary to focus on history, social sciences, law, and other areas of literature to ensure adequate space for new acquisitions as well as collection depth and currency.

Documents/Catalog Librarian Paula Packard completed a project to evaluate the U.S. Documents Depository Collection. All items within the collection were inventoried and analyzed. Titles now produced in electronic formats (on the Internet) were noted and cataloged. This analysis resulted in many items being withdrawn from the collection. The empty shelves allowed the Texas Documents Depository Collection to expand, allowing for much needed growth in this collection of long-term regional and statewide value.

Collection depth is enhanced to a large extent by gift collections. The VC/UHV Library has been fortunate to be the recipient of several gift collections in FY05. A few of the more extensive collections are:

• The Carole Baker Collection – a personal collection of history, travel, and recreation, in memory of her husband, Hugh Baker.
• Dr. Ronald Salazar Collection – a large collection of feature films on videotape.
• The Alfreda Huck Collection – Dewitt County history, genealogical information, photographs, published works, and newspaper clippings collected by local historian Alfreda Huck.