Week 6

In Week 3 I spent some time with the librarians in access services observing the day-to-day operations of the circulation desk, shelf maintenance, inter-library loan, and document delivery.  This week I was able to talk to Professor Krista Higham, the access services librarian who supervises and manages the access services department.  She explained the work that she does as the access librarian, which ranges from managerial tasks related to supervising access services staff, including creating policies that govern the work done in access services; to evaluating new products that the library is considering purchasing; working with the information systems librarian, Professor Scott Anderson, to ensure that the library's products (such as electronic databases) work seamlessly and flawlessly for students and faculty; serving on the collection development committee; answering questions through the library's virtual reference service; and serving as an academic adviser for undeclared undergraduate students.  Krista's role as the access services librarian extends beyond simply making sure that students and faculty can get their hands on the materials they need to complete assignments and research projects - it also encompasses helping to make broader, long-term decisions about the resources available to the community to meet the demands of the university's curriculum.  The work that Krista does, as with all library faculty, ultimately supports the mission of the university:  to educate the future professionals and leaders of the world, to help them build information literacy skills they will use in both their careers and personal lives, and to support the research and teaching goals of faculty.

After taking some time to consider Krista's role as the access services librarian and why she often works closely with Scott, the composition of the collection development committee became much clearer to me.  The collection development committee is comprised of Dr. Marjorie Warmkessel, who contributes her experience as a department liaison and selector, considerations of the technical services department, and the goals of special projects, such as the patron driven acquisitions program; Scott Anderson, who can address the technological considerations of the library's information systems and draw on his experience as a selector and department liaison; Krista, who can address the concerns of the access services department, which is responsible for assisting the university community in using the collection, and who can also draw on her experience as a selector and department liaison; and Professor Melissa Gold, the science librarian, who, as a selector and department liaison for very specialized fields, can speak to the specific needs of those specialized fields.

I also attended Krista's presentation to university faculty on copyright issues surrounding course reserves.  I wanted to attend this presentation to better understand the library's policies and recommendations on fair use and course reserves.  One of my projects for a legal issues in information management course was to study the fair use policies of several colleges and universities with respect to course reserves.  After the recent George State University case, many colleges and universities have re-evaluated their copyright and fair use policies and made efforts to ensure that faculty understand what does and does not constitute fair use in an educational setting.  Attending Krista's presentation allowed me to see how Millersville University approaches their fair use policy, and how they guide faculty through the complex and difficult interpretation of fair use.  Since the library makes decisions on a regular basis about fair use and course reserves as they make content available to student through the course management system, it is poised to offer sound advice to faculty trying to navigate fair use.

I also continued to work on calculating the amount of compact shelving that will be available for the general collection on lower level 1 of the new library, and preparing a spreadsheet for calculating the amount of shelving space needed for different parts of the collection.  I also began to look at how full the shelves will need to be filled to accommodate the reference, DVD, juvenile and curriculum collections.  I also perused most of Steve Fortriede's Moving Your Library to understand various techniques and best practices for moving library collections.