| VOLUME 33, NUMBER 14 | THURSDAY, January 24, 2002 |
"General
Libraries" reorganize
By
PATRICIA DONOVAN Since the
beginning of the 2001-02 academic year, four UB libraries have assumed
a new collective name and organizational structure.
Formerly
known as the "General Libraries," the library group that includes the
Architecture and Planning Library, Lockwood Memorial Library, Oscar
A. Silverman Undergraduate Library and the Science and Engineering Library
now are known as the "Arts and Sciences Libraries."
They report
to Stephen Roberts, assistant vice president for University Libraries,
who says the organizational changes are necessary.
"The format,
packaging and marketing of scholarly resources are changing at such
a rapid pace that corresponding agility and speed of response by academic
library organizations is essential," he says.
Judith
Adams-Volpe, director of the libraries' Department of University and
External Affairs, says the new name is itself "more descriptive of the
collections and services of these libraries and of the UB colleges and
schools they serve."
The latter
include the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences, Graduate School of Education, School of Informatics,
School of Social Work, School of Management and School of Architecture
and Planning. The transformation, however, is not one in name only,
according to Adams-Volpe
"This reorganization
is structured according to function rather than place," she says. "It
is expected to provide greater visibility of library services and collections,
and greater flexibility in resource allocation and staffing.
"Planning
and funding of major electronic resources that embrace and serve many
disciplines is especially facilitated by the change," she adds. "As
structured, the new entity will respond with greater agility and effectiveness
to changing university priorities than did the previous system."
One of
those changing priorities, says Roberts, has been the expansion of electronic
library services. He notes that during the past 10 years, the amount
of money in the libraries' acquisitions budget earmarked for electronic
resources increased from 5 percent to more than 32 percent.
Leadership
and administration for the Arts and Sciences Libraries is shared by
four directors, each of whom is in charge of functional areas, rather
than specific libraries. Karen Senglaup, director of access services
for the General Libraries, continues to direct access services for the
Arts and Sciences Libraries. Austin Booth, former Lockwood Library humanities
section specialist, is in charge of collection and research activity.
Margaret
Wells, former director of the Silverman Undergraduate Library, heads
public-service efforts and Adams-Volpe, former director of Lockwood
Memorial Library, directs the libraries' university and external relations.
In addition
to the changes cited above, four cross-disciplinary teams of librarian
specialists in the academic disciplines conduct collective liaison activities
with departments. They facilitate faculty-library collaboration and
resource development, and provide individual services to faculty members
and students. The four teams cover applied arts and sciences, social
sciences, arts and humanities, and engineering and the natural sciences.
Adams-Volpe
says the Arts and Sciences Libraries are working on several initiatives
that already have been implemented or will be in the very near future.
They include
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