Associate Dean for Public Services
Harry A Sprague Library
Annual Report for Academic Year 2006
This annual report discusses the activities of the Associate Dean for Public Services in AY 2006 as well as trends and issues affecting the Library and the Public Services division.
In reading the report, you will notice that many of the Associate Dean’s activities involved working with other members of the Library. Once again, the Associate Dean would like to note in his annual report that he is fortunate to have been able to have worked this past year with the many talented people who make Sprague Library the special place it is.
To get a real sense of all the Public Service division accomplished, one should read the reports of the individual departments and units within the division. It is a record of accomplishment of which all members of the Division should be proud.
This report will be this Associate Dean’s last report. He is leaving Montclair State to take a position at another university. The Associate Dean will miss his colleagues – professionally and personally.
LibQUAL + TM
The LibQUAL+TM survey was administered in Spring 2005. The Associate Dean prepared several reports interpreting the results of the survey and preparing recommendations on actions to take from the LibQUAL+TM results:
· A report that showed the lowest and highest ranked minimum and desired scores on the LibQUAL questions. This report will allow us to assess what our patrons think are the least and most important issues about the services and resources we provide and about the physical library.
· A report on what LibQUAL on the Library as a physical space.
· With the help of William Vincenti and Carol Nurse, a spreadsheet that compared our LibQUAL scores with those of Rutgers University, Monmouth University and William Paterson University.
· A report that organized survey participants’ comments on customer service issues. This report was shared with the appropriate department head to share with staff.
· A report interpreting the LibQUAL quantitative and qualitative results about library resources.
The Associate Dean also facilitated an all-librarians meeting on the LibQUAL+TM results.
Trends and Issues
The LibQUAL+TM survey is a very useful tool to identify how our patrons think about the Library resources, services and facilities. If the budget allows, it should be re-administered in one or two years. This will allow us to track changes in patrons’ perceptions over time.
Article Linker Implementation
This year, the Library began using Serials Solutions’ Article Linker service. Article Linker is an openURL link resolver that links from a citation to an article in an online index to the full text of that article, if available, in another database the Library provides. It took much effort to work out all the kinks and glitches associated with the implementation of an openURL link resolver and Eduardo Gil and Steven Shapiro spent many hours dealing with the issues that arose in the implementing Article Linker. The reference librarians offered regular feedback on the Article Linker implementation and Thomas Trone and William Vincenti helped present that feedback to Ed and Steve. All are to be congratulated for their efforts.
In terms of supporting the implementation of Article Liner, the Associate Dean:
· Set up our institutional preferences in Google Scholar to allow our users to use Article Linker to check to see if the full text of an article cited in Google Scholar is available from a Library database.
· Created a web page user guide to using the institutional preferences function in Google Scholar.
Trends and Issues
Article Linker is still a work in progress. It is not a turnkey system and required some effort to resolve issues related to the failure to resolve the information in a citation to an article and the full text of that article. When Article Linker works, which is most of the time, it is a real time saver. However, determining what to do when it doesn’t work takes some effort. We also experienced a problem common to libraries that use Article Linker – how to deal with patrons who assume that clicking the Article Linker image will always take you to the full text of an article.
At this point, we are reviewing the Article Linker image we use and the wording in the image to deal with some of the problems noted above. The Associate Dean is working on a web page, similar to the one he created for using Article Linker in Google Scholar, to give patrons instructions on what Article Linker is and what to do when the link resolver does not work. A print version of these instructions should also be developed.
We should also assess the value of implementing the Citation Linker function in Article Linker. According to Serials Solutions, that function allows patrons to “key citation data into a stand-alone form that librarians may position anywhere on the library web site.”
New Databases
As the reports of the different Public Services departments indicate, we added eighteen new databases/e-journal packages, upgraded the number of users in one database (Ulrich’s), changed the vendor interface in another (MLA), and added direct links to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, available as part of our ABI/Inform package. We also offered access to Scopus via a very long term trial.
The University gave us a generous addition to our budget to pay for the purchase the Historical New York Times backfile. This purchase gives us permanent access to the full text of the New York Times available in the public domain (from the 1851 to the 1920’s). By purchasing the backfile, the cost of our annual subscription to the non-public domain part of the Historical New York Times is reduced by fifty (50) percent, saving the Library over $5,000 in the cost of its annual subscription to the non-public domain and more recent potions of the Historical New York Times. This annual savings will allow the Library to recoup the money it used to purchase the back-file in less than seven years. The addition of the Historical New York Times was a very welcome addition.
The Historical New York Times subscription was a very popular one. These were a few of the comments emailed to the Associate Dean when access to the Historical New York Times was announced to the campus:
· “ It's quite a research treasure trove. ”
· “ Un millon de gracias Luis! Lo voy a usar con mis alumnos y lo usare yo mismo. Que buena adquisición! Saludos… ”
· “ WOW! Is this not the coolest?? Thanks. ”
Trends and Issues
While the number of new databases increased this year, most of those databases were made available as a result of the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative, via an extended trial (Scopus), or were available at no cost (Ebsco Online Reader & Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts). Three new databases required the Library to find money to pay for new subscriptions – ComDisDome, the Cochrane Library & Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center – and only the last one (OVRC) had a relatively large subscription cost. It should also be noted that ComDisDome and the Cochrane Library were added to support a new program – the doctoral program in Audiology – although the Cochrane Library also supports a number of other health-related programs.
Without the expected budget cut in AY 2007, the Library’s budget could have accommodated adding additional subscriptions. However, to minimize the pain of the expected budget cuts in AY 2007, we prepaid several AY 2007 subscriptions in AY 2006 (over $102,000 used to pay AY 2007 in AY 2006). Without the expected AY 2007 budget cuts, this money could have been used to add more electronic resources.
Scopus and Web of Science
In AY 2006, the Library took advantage of an extended trial offer to Scopus, Elsevier’s new index to the literature of the sciences and social sciences. One well appreciated feature of Scopus was its ability to tell users who cited an article in the database. The Library also offered a month-long trial in March 2006 of Thompson ISI’s Web of Science, another comprehensive index that provides information on who cited an article in its database.
The Associate Dean used the opportunity of faculty access to the two major citation indexes to gather feedback from faculty on the Web of Science and Scopus databases. This including soliciting feedback in our email announcements to the campus and meeting with the Biology Department and with selected members of the Mathematics Department (with Suxiao Hu). He also arranged for representatives from Elsevier and Thompson/ISI to come to the campus to provide demonstrations to faculty.
Trends and Issues
As Montclair State moves towards a more research intensive faculty and an increase in the number of doctoral students, a subscription to a citation index such as Web of Science or Scopus, becomes more warranted. Below are some of the comments the Associate Dean received when he asked for faculty feedback on Scopus and Web of Science. He did not receive many comments, and almost all he received were from CSAM faculty and about Web of Science (WofS or WOS).
“ I think this (WofS) is a great product and I hope the university can purchase it. I used it a lot when I was at Rutgers . ”
“ I can not make it to the WOS demo this Friday, but I have used it in the past and I would be thrilled to have access to it. Consider this a positive testimony from me. ”
“ ...I want to strongly support this (WofS) product. I have been using Web of Science exclusively as my search engine for the scientific literature. I think it's the most comprehensive database available (best journal coverage I know of)....I think that this could be very valuable for MSU faculty/staff. I know it's probably expensive, but in my opinion it's worth it. ”
“ I will not be able to attend the web of science demo, but I love this data base!!! It would be very helpful for me if we had it. “
“ Web of Science is an excellent resource. I hope we adopt it. ”
“I discovered Scopus on the MSU web a few weeks ago, and I have found it to be a superior product in terms of its reporting capabilities, accuracy, and a larger and more international coverage of journals which leads to more citations per article. For example, my co-author and I have an article that has 114 citations in the Web of Science but there are 148 citations to this article in Scopus.”
One faculty member the dilemma the Library faces in subscribing to either Web of Science or Scopus – what we gain in access to the literature, especially with the forward searching capabilities (the ability to see who cited an article after it was published) a citation index offers, we lose in the ability to provide the full text of the literature cited in these indexes:
“ Both products seem like they would offer very little reward in even the best scenario despite being (I’m sure) very expensive, and I’d be inclined to say that neither product should be purchased by our library, given how much more bang-per-buck we could get with other non-citation index products. ”
Because we did not get a large amount of feedback on the faculty preference for Web of Science, the Database Review Committee will need to use its own judgments and reviews in the professional literature to determine which product is better for Montclair State.
While the demonstrations of Scopus and Web of Science were not well-attended, we should still consider making more use of such trials and demonstrations to gather feedback on electronic resources to which we are considering subscribing or as means of marketing existing databases. The workshops offered by vendor representatives can serve as part of a Library presentation/workshop program.
The New Jersey Knowledge Initiative
Sprague Library benefited greatly from the free electronic resources provided by the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (the NJKI). The NJKI provided access to ten new electronic resources, as well as provided free access to Ebsco’s Academic Search Premier. Faculty and students, especially those in the College of Science and Mathematics and in the School of Business found the resources electronic resources provided by the NJKI invaluable. These are some of the comments the Associate Dean received when asking, on behalf of the New Jersey State Library, for letters/email of support for continued funding for the NJKI:
· “ My research students and I have made heavy use of the online databases and full text provided through the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative. We truly could not do our research as effectively without this tool. It gives us the ability to search out the latest scientific work in our field so that we can make our experimental plans accordingly.
“ I have used this tool to train numerous undergraduate and graduate students in scientific research. Many of the students have been able to publish their work. In turn, these skills have helped them find leverage into careers in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as find entry into graduate and medical post-baccalaureate study. ”
· “ The School of Business at Montclair State University has made heavy use of the New Jersey Knowledge Network. Initiative. Most recently we are using NJKI to complete an opportunity analysis for a new venture that will generate additional revenue for the University in these tight financial times. Without NJKI our work—if it could be done at all--would take considerable longer. Thank you for your part in providing the resource and in informing our legislators that this is money well spent. ”