Vol. XIV, no. 7  TUSCULUM COLLEGE LIBRARY  May 2004

New Book List:  The April new book list is available for your viewing on the Library Homepage. Given the library’s summer bar-coding project, it may be the last one posted for awhile.

ACA Workshops: Members of the library faculty attended the ACA Public Services Librarians annual meeting at Abington, VA on March 22-23; other members participated in an ACA workshop on process mapping held in Johnson City on April 15-16.

New Building Photos:  A selection of April  and May photographs of TC Library renovation  progress has been posted on the library web site. All indications are that the renovation is on schedule. A number of library staff have visited the site and are quite impressed and excited over the possibilities this new building will offer.

Automation:

Not only will the College have a new library building to serve its students and others in its community, but for the first time, it will have an automated library system which will permit electronic circulation, security for materials, cataloging, and so forth. This system will be installed at or about the time of the building’s opening and will be an impressive change for those used to check-out of books and other materials with a rubber stamp or catalog records generated with a DOS program.  

Automation Possibilities:

Much of what will make the new automated system work will continue to be generated behind-the-scenes, if you will. We will still have an electronic catalog, but the new system will allow us to access our holdings in many new ways, e.g., by LC number, by type of material, by ISBN, etc. The system will allow us to circulate materials by swiping a bar-coded ID card instead of asking for (often illegible) hand-written signatures; the names of users will be in a patron database which will allow us to note circulation irregularities or provide enhanced circulation services. The use of bar codes will also permit a quick annual inventory, something which has not previously been possible.  Automation will allow us to prepare and send  overdue notices electronically and to get away from the  hand-written process which was (and will be during this fall) such a time-consuming--and not always accurate--nightmare. A variety of reports concerning our collection and its strengths, weakness, and use can be quickly created employing the new system, including an instantaneous response to that most common question: “how many books do you have?” The use of security in materials will deter losses by unauthorized out-the-door liberation.

Bar-coding:

The key to making the new automated system work for its users is the placement of bar codes on our library materials: 40,000+ books, 800 videos, other items. This enormous task will occupy the library staff all summer, beginning the week of May 10. Whether or not we will finish the entire collection by the beginning of school in August is problematic. However, the project should be completed by the time the new building is occupied. Bar codes have also been prepared for the Knoxville branch and the Andrew Johnson Presidential Museum and Library.

Summer schedule:

 Unlike a number of other libraries that have undertaken summer bar-coding projects, our library is not closing May-August. However, for significant progress to be made with collection bar-coding, it is imperative that the Greeneville  library staff be kept together  in its two-person bar-coding teams during the weekdays. The situation in Knoxville is similar. No requests for special night or weekend hours can be entertained and it is vital that potential library visitors to either location note the hours of operation which are posted on the main library web page.   Evening library instruction sessions for Graduate and Professional Studies will continue as requested by GPS faculty throughout the summer.

Thespian Alert #4:   May 27-30, and June 3-6 2004, Ms. Reever will be appearing in the Morristown Theatre Guild’s production of  Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.  For more information call her at extension 5801 or contact the Theatre Guild box office at 423-586-9260.

Statistical Wrapup: 

In the place of the usual end-of-newsletter database reviews or listing of “cool” URLs, we would like to share our monthly and annual library statistical review.

Statistics (April 2004):

In the data which follows, the first of two figures is that for Tate Library – Greeneville and the second is for Tate Library – Knoxville; where there is only one number, it is combined for both. Some items do not lend themselves  to this easy breakdown and are addressed as appropriate; several people log on to visit our links library or free databases for which we have no figures, e.g., FirstGov. The various database vendors all provide access to more than one database; however, the complete list (49 different titles) is too long for breakdown here.

 Website (library only) Visits: 7,132; Subscription database searches (total): 6177; Total electronic visits to  Tate Library: 13,309.

Subscription Database Searches Breakdown by Vendor:

 Infotrac I (TEL), 2,079; Infotrac II, 1,052; EDRS,  41; EBSCOhost, 928 (CINAHL 22; MLA Bibliography 18); CQ Researcher, 151; Proquest, 1,967.

Interlibrary Loans:

Greeneville to Knoxville, 0; Knoxville to Greeneville, 0; via OCLC from other libraries for both campuses, 15; via ARIEL from other libraries for both campuses, 0. Books by Mail: 4.

Statistics (School Year 2004):

In the data which follows, the first figure is that for Tate Library – Greeneville and the second is for Tate Library – Knoxville; where there is only one number, it is combined for both. Some items do not lend themselves  to this easy breakdown and are addressed as appropriate; several people log on to visit our links library or free databases for which we have no figures, e.g., FirstGov. The various database vendors all provide access to more than one database; however, the complete list (49 different titles) is too long for breakdown here.  Cumulative totals for both libraries are in the third column.

Website (library only) Visits: 40,608; Subscription database searches (total): 63,250; Total electronic visits to Tate Library: 103,858.

Subscription Database Searches Breakdown by Vendor:

Infotrac I (TEL), 14,711; Infotrac II, 12,455; EDRS,  878; EBSCOhost, 6,181 (CINAHL 96; MLA Bibliography 222); JSTOR, 2,143; CQ Researcher, 1,620, Proquest, 14,513; Oxford, 884; Lexis-Nexis (partial figures available), 2,564.

Interlibrary Loans:

Greeneville to Knoxville, 1; Knoxville to Greeneville, 15; via OCLC from other libraries for both campuses, 170; via ARIEL from other libraries for both campuses, 26. Books by Mail: 9. Total ILL: 212